• Freedom of Speech,  Nancy Pelosi

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Asks Obama Justice Department to Help Save the San Francisco Chronicle and Other Newspapers

    March 16, 2009 /
    save-the-newspapers

    The letter House Speaker Pelosi wrote to the Justice Department was released this afternoon.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, worried about the fate of The Chronicle and other financially struggling newspapers, urged the Justice Department Monday to consider giving Bay Area papers more leeway to merge or consolidate business operations to stay afloat.

    In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, released by Pelosi’s office late Monday, the San Francisco Democrat asked the department to weigh the public benefit of saving The Chronicle and other papers from closure against the agency’s antitrust mission to guard against anti-competitive behavior.

    “We must ensure that our policies enable our news organizations to survive and to engage in the news gathering and analysis that the American people expect,” Pelosi wrote.

    The speaker said the issue of newspapers’ survival and antitrust law will be the subject of a hearing soon before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, chaired by Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga.

    Pelosi’s spokesman, Brendan Daly, said the speaker was moved by the recent announcement by the Hearst Corp., the parent company of The Chronicle, that it would be forced to sell or close the paper if it could not achieve major cost-savings quickly. Hearst has said the paper lost $50 million last year and that this year’s losses will likely be worse.

    How stupid. Why should the newspaper industry which is failing in the marketplace be supported  by favorable anti-trust rules/laws set by the federal government?

    Next thing you know, Pelosi will be asking for $500 Billion of taxpayer money to bail their left-wing friends in the print media businesses out.

    How is that for freedom of the press?

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  • Dianne Feinstein,  Jerry Brown

    Why Senator Dianne Feinstein Won’t Run for California Governor in 2010

    March 16, 2009 /
    Feinstein

    Comedian / actress Wanda Sykes and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), right, arrive at the Human Rights Campaign’s 2009 Los Angeles Gala and Hero Awards, Saturday, March 14, 2009, in Los Angeles

    She is 75 years old – for the most important of a few reasons.

    Looking at California Attorney General and former Governor Jerry Brown at a news conference announcing prosecution of the Anna Nicole Smith miscreants this past week, how can you spell old?

    And, Brown is not quite 71.

    The Democrat nomination race will be between two much younger candidates: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Brown will run and split the vote, though.

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  • Chris Dodd,  Rob Simmons

    GOP’s Rob Simmons IN – Is Chris Dodd OUT?

    March 16, 2009 /
    rob simmons

    Former Rep. Rob Simmons (R) is challenging Sen. Chris Dodd (D)

    Senator Chris Dodd will be in a tough race for re-election.

    Former Rep. Rob Simmons will challenge embattled Sen. Chris Dodd next November, a recruiting success for national Republicans who believe that the Connecticut Democrat has badly imperiled his chances at reelection over the last several years.

    “The family had a long meeting today and was unanimous that I run,” Simmons e-mailed the Associated Press on Sunday. “So, I’m running.” Simmons added that a recent Quinnipiac University poll showing him in a dead heat with Dodd had helped close the deal for him.

    Republicans were quick to tout Simmons’s candidacy as evidence that the party was on its way back after a series of devastating losses in 2006 and 2008.

    “Connecticut represents a tremendous opportunity for Republicans in 2010, particularly when you have an experienced and respected candidate like Rob Simmons already polling ahead of a 30 year incumbent,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Brian Walsh.

    Well, perhaps.

    The polls are now favorable but the Democrats will Bush blast Simmons. On the other hand, have Dodd’s political opportunism and favorable personal loans with Countrywide mortage already sunk him?

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  • Animals

    Why the GOP Should Take the Lead Against the AIG Bonus Babies

    March 16, 2009 /

    Bill Kristol explains why.

    Can capitalism survive the behavior of some capitalists? It’s always been an open question. But if capitalism is to survive, shouldn’t the Republican party, the party that defends democratic capitalism, be particularly vehement in denouncing its excesses? Isn’t this a pretty spectacular one? And isn’t this a moment for the GOP to separate itself from the Bush administration as well as the Obama administration, who together have been responsible for an incompetent and improvident bailout? Figuring out the right policy going forward with respect to toxic assets and the rest is, of course, a major intellectual task. But being on the side of a healthy populist reaction to the AIG situation is at least a good political start.

    And, note: President Obama just denounced AIG in a morning event.

    And, from the GOP – CRICKETS.

    Update:

    Is it right to mock Obama and Geithner on their outrage?

    YEAH…..

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  • AIG,  Barack Obama,  William Kristol

    Why the GOP Should Take the Lead Against the AIG Bonus Babies

    March 16, 2009 /

    Bill Kristol explains why.

    Can capitalism survive the behavior of some capitalists? It’s always been an open question. But if capitalism is to survive, shouldn’t the Republican party, the party that defends democratic capitalism, be particularly vehement in denouncing its excesses? Isn’t this a pretty spectacular one? And isn’t this a moment for the GOP to separate itself from the Bush administration as well as the Obama administration, who together have been responsible for an incompetent and improvident bailout? Figuring out the right policy going forward with respect to toxic assets and the rest is, of course, a major intellectual task. But being on the side of a healthy populist reaction to the AIG situation is at least a good political start.

    And, note: President Obama just denounced AIG in a morning event.

    And, from the GOP – CRICKETS.

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  • Employee Free Choice Act

    Poll Watch: ONLY 9 Per Cent of Non-Union Workers Want to Join a Union

    March 16, 2009 /

    So says the latest Rasmussen poll:

    Union members tend to believe that most workers want to join a labor union. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 47% of union members hold that view while only 18% disagree.

    But those who don’t belong to a union hold a different perspective. By a 56% to 14% margin, they believe that most workers do not want to belong to a union.

    As for personal preference, only nine percent (9%) of non-union workers would like to join a union. Eighty-one percent (81%) would not.

    Is there any wonder why the American Union Movement is pushing “Card Check” or the Employee Free Choice Act through the Congress?

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  • Andrew Breitbart,  Bill Maher,  Pop Culture

    Andrew Bretibart: Real Time With Bill Maher

    March 16, 2009 /
    Bill Maher Real Time | March 13 2009 | Andrew Breitbart and Michael Eric Dyson

    Flap agrees with Andrew about confronting the FAR LEFT that the MORONIC Bill Maher so aptly represents.

    Pretty much everyone I respect in media and politics recommended I not go on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher.” But on Friday night, I defied that wisdom and had the time of my life.

    I sparred with Mr. Maher, Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson and a MoveOn.org audience from hell that booed my sentences before they were completed. Unfortunately, my wife and in-laws, who watched from the green room, were not as enamored with the experience as I was.

    Since the salad days of ABC’s “Politically Incorrect,” which minted countless right-wing pundits and best-selling authors, conservatives have rightly assessed the HBO version of the Maher show as R-rated and shockingly hostile to their worldview. So most opt out.

    I totally see why. But I think that’s exactly the wrong strategy.

    So, let’s take them on…….

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