links for 2009-09-21

It would be a mistake to dismiss this story as unimportant because there is no jaw-dropping angle like ACORN staffers’ apparent complicity in trafficking in under-age children for prostitution. Consider what is happening: the NEA is encouraging artists to create propaganda for a president’s policy initiatives. This is a corrosive precedent — and what’s more, it illustrates the overarching danger of the Obama administration: government, by increasingly taking over various aspects of American society, threatens to bend society to the will of a single man.

It would also be a mistake to dismiss the story as old just because the basic contours of the story were revealed in August. Since then, the NEA and the Obama administration have denied pursuing a legislative agenda in the call; today it is clear that they lied. What’s more, they tried to cover it up with the reassignment of Sergant. And the media played right along, for the most part acting as though that was the end of it.

One final point: note how Buffy Wicks' solicitation of artists to join in a propaganda campaign to sway public opinion in favor of President Obama's policies represents the precise opposite of the supposed mission of the agency for which she works, "to allow ordinary Americans to offer their stories and ideas regarding issues that concern them and share their views on important topics." Talk about Astroturf! What is supposed to be a bottom-up opportunity for average Americans to be heard is turned into a top-down effort to use the powers of the federal government to organize propaganda in support of the administration's policies.

In short, we have by no means gotten to the bottom of the NEA story. Further investigation is in order.

Former Gov. George Pataki, a Republican, said it was wrong for Obama to inject himself in New York politics.

"To weaken and undermine the governor beyond the weakness that already exists to me doesn't serve the interest of our state, doesn't serve the interest of our country and I would just focus a lot more on policy than politics if I were leading the county today," Pataki said.

As noted over at Contentions, Russia has greeted our decision to scrap a land-based missile-defense system partially based in Poland by . . . going forward with plans to deploy their own missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian territory that borders Poland.

Way to go, Mr. President. We make a concession, they concede nothing.

It has been nearly a month since the car-buying frenzy of the Cash for Clunkers program ended, and many area auto dealers are longing for the good old days of July and August.
Like consumers nationwide, Massachusetts residents rushed to take advantage of the federal voucher program, which offered them up to $4,500 on old gas-guzzlers to be put toward the purchase of new, more fuel-efficient vehicles. About $65 million worth of vouchers were handed out statewide during the monthlong program that ended Aug. 24.

But once the federal money dried up, so did the sales rally. Now, customers at dealerships like Silko Honda in Raynham are few and far between, and inventory is once again accumulating.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that the health-care plan that President Barack Obama is pushing in Congress is now dead and will not pass.

Boehner made the observation in an interview this morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he appeared after President Obama.

“There’s been no bipartisan conversation on Capitol Hill about health care,” Boehner said in an interview with "Meet the Press" host David Gregory. “At some point when these big government plans fail—and they will, the Congress will not pass this—it’s really time for the president to hit the reset button, just stop all of this and let’s sit down and start over in a bipartisan way to build a plan that Americans will support.”

“So you think the plan is dead?” asked Gregory.

“I think it is,” said Boehner.

The president said he is "happy to look at" bills before Congress that would give struggling news organizations tax breaks if they were to restructure as nonprofit businesses.

"I haven't seen detailed proposals yet, but I'll be happy to look at them," Obama told the editors of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Toledo Blade in an interview.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) has introduced S. 673, the so-called "Newspaper Revitalization Act," that would give outlets tax deals if they were to restructure as 501(c)(3) corporations. That bill has so far attracted one cosponsor, Cardin's Maryland colleague Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D).