Free Republic

The 177 Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to unanimously oppose health-care legislation that would constitute the biggest expansion of insurance to Americans in decades, illustrating the huge divide that remains between the two parties on key issues and setting up a major debate in next year's elections. The universal opposition to the health-care bill, which Congress could vote on as soon as Saturday, was long expected, but Republican wins in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races on Tuesday further emboldened the GOP... If all Republicans vote no on the health reform bill, it would mean not a...

Today, this army wife is mad as hell. This afternoon I saw an interview on FOX with the Army Chief of Staff, General Casey. During the Q&A period, every question and answer centered around Combat Stress and suicides among our military. Not ONE person addressed the FACT that this was an individual practicing his view of Islamic Jihad. After the press conference, the cameras went back to Shep Smith at the FOX studios. The first thing he said was, “The question on everyone’s mind is, ‘Why did he do this?’” Why? WHY, you ask?? Let me tell you cowards in...

In an RV swing through Northern Virginia in late August, there wasn't really time for Robert F. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, to stop in West Springfield. But an urgent memo awaited from his senior advisers in Richmond...A 20-year-old academic thesis -- in which McDonnell had presented a deeply conservative vision of government and criticized working women, single mothers and homosexuals -- had surfaced. McDonnell needed to sign off on the campaign's response, and then he needed to race to a rally...That moment brought the greatest test of McDonnell's disciplined campaign. Would he be able to maintain his focus...

Voters for the first time are blaming President Obama nearly as much as President Bush for the country’s continuing economic problems. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 49% still blame the economic situation on the recession that began under Bush. But 45% now say the nation’s economic problems are caused more by Obama’s policies.

I made the New York Times last week. It even ran my picture. My mother would be proud. Unfortunately, the story was critical. It said, "Critics have leaped on Mr. Stossel's speaking engagements as the latest evidence of conservative bias on the part of Fox." Which "critics" had "leaped"? The reporter mentioned Rachel Maddow. I wouldn't think her criticism newsworthy, but Times reporters may use MSNBC as their guide to life. He also quoted an "associate professor of journalism" who said my speeches were "'pretty shameful' by traditional journalistic standards." All this because I spoke at an event for Americans...

No bias in the reporting of this new poll eh? They fail to report on some pretty significant drops in the poll....drops that if it had been swung the other way would of been in big bold letters: Fifty-four percent of respondents to the latest CNN poll disapprove of Barack Obama’s performance on the economy, a 17-point swing in six weeks. That isn’t the worst of the poll, either; 57% now disapprove of Obama’s performance on health care, a 19-point swing in that same time. ~~~ a 17-point reversal on the economy and a 19-point reversal on health care would...

POLIWOOD: D Tonight at 7:30 on Showtime. Director Barry Levinson’s 90-minute “Poliwood” is billed as a film essay. That’s like calling the back of a cereal box a novel. Say what you will about Michael Moore, but at least he knows how to spin a story. Levinson (“Rain Man”) aims to explore the crash of politics, celebrity and media. He’s fascinated as to why performers are greeted with hostility when they become politically active. He trails famous members of the Creative Coalition, Hollywood’s nonprofit, nonpartisan lobbying group for arts funding, through the 2008 Democratic and Republican presidential conventions. The coalition’s...

NEW YORK – Hopes for the fledgling economic recovery got a boost Monday from better-than-expected news on manufacturing, construction and contracts to buy homes.

ABC News fields at least one real reporter. He’s White House correspondent Jake Tapper. Most AT readers, like many Americans, are thoroughly convinced that the legacy media reports with a bias toward Obama and the policies of his administration. So, when a notable exception surfaces, it’s only right that he or she be acknowledged. Jake Tapper has a front row seat at the White House (WH) briefings. He shows all the signs of being a for-real reporter. Here’s visual evidence of that. Remember the cell phone irruption episode back on May 19th during one of Robert Gibbs’ press conferences before...

CBS News skepticism regarding the number of jobs saved by the Obama Administration’s stimulus legislation raised ire at the White House. CBS News reporter Chip Reid aired a report revealing that many of the Administration’s claimed “job saved or created” totals were either exaggerated or false. Separately, CBS investigative reporter Stephen Stock worked undercover to expose a pattern of fraud at medical clinics operating in South Florida. This is part of an estimated annual $60 billion worth of fraud perpetrated in the government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs. “We’re putting CBS on notice,” said Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel....

The latest newspaper circulation numbers, measuring copies sold from April through September of this year, show a 10.6 percent decline in daily newspaper sales, the first double-digit drop in circulation ever. Newspaper readership is now at its lowest level since before World War II. The biggest losers during this six-month period, as reported by NewsBusters's Tom Blumer, were the San Francisco Chronicle (down 25.8 percent daily), the Newark Star-Ledger (down 22.2 percent daily), and the Boston Globe (down 18.5 percent daily). The New York Times's sales during the period fell to 927,861, the first time the paper sold less...

Alan Grayson, lame Congressman Rick Sanchez, lame news readerSeparated at Birth?

Great news...ridiculous analysis. There have been a lot of bad days recently for what’s come to be known as the mainstream media — or MSM — but Monday was one of the worst. New circulation figures showed that big city papers had lost as much as a quarter of their circulation in the past six months. And new TV ratings showed that CNN, the cable network that prides itself on news coverage down the middle, finished dead last in prime time against more partisan rivals like Fox News and MSNBC. Are the two connected? Yes, but not at all in...

There have been a lot of bad days recently for what’s come to be known as the Mainstream Media – or MSM – but Monday was one of the worst. New circulation figures showed that big city papers had lost as much as a quarter of their circulation in the last six months. And new TV ratings showed that CNN, the cable network that prides itself on news coverage down the middle, finished dead last in prime-time against more partisan rivals like Fox News and MSNBC. Are the two connected? [Snip] But if CNN’s president accepts that political agendas...

U.S. companies are expected to hire and invest more in the next six months, a survey report from the National Association for Business Economics showed Monday. The group's latest Industry Survey reinforces the view that a recovery is well underway in the world's largest economy...

Last weekend, the White House fired some of its biggest guns at FOX News. But tempted as we are, we cannot allow ourselves to speak of a war because the attack represents just one battle in a conflict whose scope is profoundly greater than the current administration’s attempt to crush a cable news channel it regards as an enemy. Moreover, the actual war, which has as its object the imposing of liberal ideology upon the nation by using every social/political weapon except the ballot box, was begun in earnest more than fifty years ago by a group that represents 18%...

The path towards irrelevancy and future insolvency taken by The New York Times continues at a frenetic pace. Democracy Now! is reporting that the publication has announced the elimination of another 100 newsroom positions, or about eight percent of the paper’s news staff, due to declining advertising revenues and circulation numbers that are in freefall.

Felonious behavior is becoming more dangerous, if two recent incidents are any indication.During a home invasion on Oct. 5, one of the intruders was shot and killed by one of the occupants of the mobile home.And an armed assailant is recovering from wounds after he was shot Oct. 13 by one of the people he was attempting to herd into a building housing law offices on East Capitol Avenue.In the first case, the weapon was kept in the home, which always has been allowed to defend people and property.In the second incident, the assailant was shot by someone who qualifies...

Do the major media outlets in the U.S. have a liberal bias? Few questions evoke stronger opinions, and we cannot think of a more important question to which objective statistical techniques can lend their service. So far, the debate has largely been one of anecdotes (“How can CBS News be balanced when it calls Steve Forbes’ tax plan ‘wacky’?”) and untested theories (“if the news industry is a competitive market, then how can media outlets be systematically biased?”). Few studies provide an objective measure of the slant of news, and none has provided a way to link such a measure...

ITHACA, NY-“Why is it just so difficult to make the search for truth the highest journalistic value?” Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times Reporter Linda Greenhouse asked a packed Lewis Auditorium yesterday. Greenhouse relied on her wisdom and experience as she spoke about the state of today’s news media, questioning the very rubric by which today’s journalists operate. Adolph S. Ochs, the founder of today’s modern New York Times, laid out his goal for the creation of a newspaper that would “give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect or interests involved."Veteran mind: Linda Greenhouse, Pulitzer...

Much to their chagrin, the Obama message makers haven't been able to put the clamps on foreign media yet. Ms. Gutmann trots out some curiously older examples of the plunge off the left edge of sanity by the LA Times and CBS but didn't provide any of the six hundred million or so she could have pulled from MSNBC or even CNN since last January. Naturally, the New York Times has become such an embarrassing tabloid that it doesn't bear much examination in these discussions any more. She does make a point about the first part of the problem in...

In an interview with Orrin Hatch, Andrea Mitchell (an anchor for MSNBC) said that she would NOT classify George Soros as a left wing person. Um…. Say it with me: There’s no liberal bias in the media. There’s no liberal bias in the media. There’s no liberal bias in the media. There’s no liberal bias in the media. There’s no liberal bias in the media. Click here to see interview with Orrin and Andrea...

On October 13, 2009, (10/13 Sheriff's call reports) two small business owners arrived home after a 12-hour workday to find burglars rifling through their house and wearing their jewelry. At least one of the suspects was armed with a gun. The victims armed themselves with handguns and entered their home, confronting two or 3 suspected burglars. One burglar was killed and another wounded, with a possible third still at large. According to the Orlando Sentinel (Link to story), it seems that youths were just committing a harmless misdemeanor prank when they were attacked by two pistol-wielding vigilantes intent on killing...

El Marco reports on nationwide protests in 100 cities this weekend against the liberal media’s culture of information corruption. Not surprisingly, few media outlets covered the events

When a liberal rag tells Obama and company they need to get ahold of themselves: The Obama administration really needs to get over itself. First, the president and his aides go to war with Fox News because the network maintains a generally anti-Obama slant. Then, an anonymous administration aide attacks bloggers for failing to maintain a sufficiently pro-Obama slant. These are not disconnected developments. An administration that won the White House with an almost always on-message campaign and generally friendly coverage from old and new media is now frustrated by its inability to control the debate and get the coverage...

And you may recall from my previous post that there have also been 27 TIME Obama covers, so far: http://trackacrat.com/time-magazine-%E2%99%A1%E2%99%A1%E2%99%A1-obama/ With the difference, of course, being that Dubya’s tally appeared over a span of seven and a half years, whereas Barry’s have been concentrated into three years. In addition to the fact that The One has years – nay, decades - of sycophantic coverage left to run. Plus, there's a bit of a discrepancy between the tone of the coverage received by the two men. Gallery after the jump...

American taxpayers are e-mailing and fax-blasting mainstream media and preparing to storm press offices and stations from Maui, Hawaii, to Atlanta, Ga. – and more than 100 locations in between – this Friday and Saturday.

The Rochester Operation "Can You Hear Me Now" rallies and march, is starting at the WHEC-TV Studios on 191 East Avenue. The rally will start at 11am on Saturday, 10/17/2007. Here's the map for the rally point: We're starting things off with the Presentation of the Colors, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and a few speeches. We'll then proceed on our march that will follow this route through Downtown Rochester, across the Genesee River, ending at the Gannett Building, for a protest at our local newspaper, the Democrat and Chronicle: BTW, we are conducting a peaceful, but spirited event...

A 10th person in Maryland has died of swine flu, state health officials said Tuesday. The person, an adult from Western Maryland, had underlying health problems. As with other deaths related to the H1N1 virus, officials would not release further details.

Link only! http://www.justnews.com/news/21303179/detail.html

The Freedom Tower will play host to the first lady of the free world next week and we don't think anyone will be paying attention to what she has to say. Michelle Obama wil [sic] be the keynote speaker at a luncheon for the Florida Campus Compact 2009 awards ceremony on Oct. 15, reports the Miami Herald. But the lucky guests to the invitation-only event will likely be amped to see what Mrs. Obama will be rocking in the Miami heat. Some fashionable capris? A dressy halter top or sphaghetti-strapped get up showing off the world-famous Obama guns? Maybe she'll...

Many "tea partiers" and 9-12 protesters were angered by the way the mainstream media misreported their big protest In Washington, DC held on September 12... This coming October 17, activists will be rallying outside their local elite newspaper and tv news outlets to protest media bias against conservative ideas....

The national discourse on race continues to reel forward. In his zeal to buy the St. Louis Rams, Rush Limbaugh is now part of that dialogue, having been tackled several times by MSNBC and CNN. The networks have claimed Mr. Limbaugh said that slavery "had its merits," though the radio host has flatly denied it. But an instant feedback loop has been created: in 24 hours, critics - from the NFL Players Association to assorted sports journalists and black leaders - have emerged, questioning Mr. Limbaugh's fitness to be the owner of a major sports team.

“Lord, thank you for my enemies.” Thus began El Rushbo’s interview with NBC national correspondent Jamie Gangel. It is remarkable that, even when the media sit down with Limbaugh, they still find a way to be biased. To be fair, Gangel did not conduct the interview like Keith Olbermann might have. But there were a few points of interest which must be noted – and some even pointed out by Rush during the interview.

Americans were justifiably proud last week of their many Nobel Prize winners. Eight of the nine honorees in physics, chemistry and medicine were US citizens, some native-born, some naturalized, a near total American sweep. And their achievements were glorious: better understanding how DNA works, the basis for enormous medical progress; developing fiber-optic cable, revolutionizing global communications; and advances in cell biology, with enormous implications for treating cancer. In each case, these breakthroughs, some made as long as 20 years ago, have proven themselves beyond the laboratory, and already made enormous real-world differences. Next to these marvels, how to explain the...

After listening carefully to readers and thinking deeply about the modern role of a newspaper in elections, the AJC Editorial Board is taking a new approach to election coverage, beginning with this November’s elections. Going forward, our board will use its unique position to work for readers in pursuing with candidates the issues that are critical to the future of our community. The board will provide readers with clear, concise information about candidates’ positions and records. The AJC will no longer endorse political candidates.

American taxpayers are planning to storm more than 100 mainstream media offices and stations across the nation next week in protest of a media blackout of the growing movement against Obama administration policies. Following sparse coverage of a massive 9/12 march on Washington, talk show host Rush Limbaugh urged citizens to bring their protests to the front doors of major media outlets.

The D.C. Council voted Tuesday to block Ximena Hartsock from becoming the next director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, aggravating the tension between the council and the mayor and casting fresh doubt on the future of the troubled agency. After a long debate, the council voted 7 to 5 to reject Hartsock and remove her as the head of an agency that has had seven permanent or interim directors in the past decade. It was the first time since Fenty took office in 2007 that the council had rejected one of his nominees ...The vote followed a contentious...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Since its debut on October 11, 1975, "Saturday Night Live" has spoofed, ridiculed and hammered presidents and other political figures without regard to political affiliation or any other sensitivities. The perfect parroting of Sarah Palin after her vice president nomination, by the immensely talented Tina Fey, started the downward spiraling of the governor. People started looking at her in a different light, and she was judged as a less serious candidate. Saturday's skit portraying President Obama as a man who made a lot of promises and hasn't been able to fulfill many -- if any --...

It’s all the rage these days for liberals to put on their makeup, make up a long face, and star in mini, moldy morality plays that warn of extremism, an evil they perceive only on the political right. Of course, as is the case with the product of all human endeavors, these perverse dramas are not equal, with the one-woman show written and performed by the doyenne of American liberalism hands down deserving to be labeled “Worst in Class.” In a not so remarkable coincidence, the same person (often referred to as “Madam Speaker”) should also run away with the...

Beck is completely right here. He is a bit upset that the MSM spends their time digging at his past rather then reporting on the issues he has been so right about. Van Jones? Yup, hit the nail on the head. Acorn? Yup, hit the nail on the head. (h/t Hot Air) [VIDEO AT SITE] But what does our MSM do? They fact check.....FACT CHECK....a Saturday Night Live skit. [VIDEO AT SITE] Un-freakin-believable. Did they fact check the Palin skits? Nope. Have they fact checked ANY snl skits? But when they attack their messiah they suddenly decide to fact check...

Recently, the McClatchy-owned The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash. and the left-leaning Salon.com ran stories questioning whether or not Glenn Beck's mother, Mary Beck committed suicide. It was later propagated by the left-wing storefronts. And, on Fox News Channel's Oct. 5 "Glenn Beck" program, Beck addressed that and some of the gripes he had about the media for not doing their job. "I tell you all the time, I'm not a journalist," Beck said "I'm not. I joked that I'm a rodeo clown, but you know what - I take that back. I no longer am a rodeo clown. I...

Apologies all for the previous post with the link missing (http://trackacrat.com/time-magazine-%E2%99%A1%E2%99%A1%E2%99%A1-obama/). You can also follow the jump for a gallery of all 26 TIME covers featuring the Obamas. Bet you just can't wait to witness its glory...

Via Taegen Goddard's Political Wire -Consumers Union publisher of the Consumers Reports monthly products ratings and review magazine, has stepped outside its' area of expertise and into the health care debate. President Jim Guest attempts to justify an endorsement of Democrats' health care reform while suggesting they are maintaining an impartial view: "You may wonder why we are injecting ourselves so publicly into a heated debate that has generated an enormous amount of concern and confusion... We are in the business of providing information and advice that helps consumers. We don't make campaign contributions. We don't endorse candidates. And we...

... one starts to wonder if the country wouldn't be better off without them and if Republicans should be cut out of the health-care system entirely and simply provided with aspirin and hand sanitizer. Thirty-two percent of the population identifies with the GOP, and if we cut off health care to them, we could probably pay off the deficit in short order.

It’s been five days since questions were raised about the White House’s apparent desire to create a Department of Propaganda by leveraging Government funding for the NEA to create art that will push the administration’s agenda for Health Care. A cursory search on CNN and MSNBC’s website show no stories about this by either “news” organizations. ABC and CBS both did one story about the scandal, but nothing since Yoshi Sergent, one of the key players in the conference call, resigned late last week from the White House. Read more HERE

I am so sick of the Left being allowed to make the rules. Imagine the absurdity of a competition in which one side is allowed to set the rules against their opponent. The Left tells us what is racist. The Left tells us what we can and cannot say. The Left published a cartoon depicting former black Secretary of State Condolezza Rice as an Aunt Jemima; another depicted Rice as a huge lip parrot for her Massa Bush. Neither were considered racist by their creators or publishers, or even widely condemned on the Left. In opposition to black Republican Michael...

As we all know, in the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. Last night's episode of television's longest running drama -- NBC's "Law & Order" -- featured District Attorney Jack McCoy prosecuting a John Yoo-esque Bush administration Justice Department attorney for writing a legal memo authorizing the torture of detainees. "Jack, you want to prosecute a member of the Bush administration for assaulting suspected terrorists?" McCoy is asked in the season premiere episode, titled "Memo from the Dark Side."...

Results from a national Sacred Heart University survey released today reveal that many news consumers believe the media played a significant role in electing President Barack Obama and that the media continue to promote his presidency. Titled "Trust and Satisfaction with the National News Media," the national survey of 800 Americans renews attention to the issue of liberal media bias and its effect on political coverage. "A large majority, 89.3 percent, suggested the national media played a very or somewhat strong role in helping to elect President Obama," according to a summary of the findings. "Just 10.0 percent suggested the...

A New York judge on Monday rejected CBS Corp's bid to dismiss former TV news anchor Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit claiming he was fired over a controversial election-year report on former President George W. Bush's Vietnam War-era military service. New York State Supreme Court Justice Ira Gammerman set a December 22 hearing in the case and directed that testimony be taken from witnesses, including Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Viacom Inc, which controlled CBS at the time. "Let's get this case moving," Gammerman said. "I would really like to get this case ready for trial." Rather, 77, sued CBS,...