Friday News Roundup - Hour 1
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-03-11/friday-news-roundup-hour-1
Wisconsin’s Senate Republicans bypass Democrats to pass an anti-union bill. The Senate rejects two partisan budget plans. And a House committee begins hearings on American Muslim radicalization. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
Lynn Sweet
Washington bureau chief, Chicago Sun-Times, and columnist at politicsdaily.com.
Lisa Lerer
politics reporter, Bloomberg News.
Shailagh Murray
reporter, The Washington Post.
News Roundup Video
A caller comments on Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) past support for the IRA. King's past comments revealing his support for the IRA have come under fire in light of his running of this week's House committee hearings on the radicalization of Muslim-Americans as the current head of the House Homeland Security Committee. According to the Associated Press, in 1985 King said, "If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it:"
Comments
Please familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct and Terms of Use before posting your comments.
The incredible arrogance of Diane and others to believe NPR is so important! I notice a lot reference to Fox News as if this is the only other news source. I don't think you complainers even watch Fox News and only repeat what you here other liberals say about it. You must be incredibly jealous of the success of fox news and your vile contempt for things for which you disagree only uncovers you have indeed become what you claim to hate.
I don't understand why people put so much enphasis on "well, so and so only said what he said because he didn't know he was being taped or listened to by others." I'm not sure that makes a difference. If someone said it, they said it, and must have had a reason to want to say it. I think the reason this kind of "sting" reporting is popular is because people always want to know "is this public face we see from this person how he truly feels", and i think often times it's not. We like to know what he's really like underneath the facade, for that will show how he will act in the future. And don't tell me that "true journalism doesn't use deception as a tool" HA! They all (both sides) use it constantly
Meangreen: Walker did not run on union busting. And, if you examine the giveaways to private industry, you will also see that he is not intent upon balancing the Wisconsin budget.
He is also removing funds from public schools but giving publicly-funded vouchers to be used for students attending private schools. This is directly aimed at dimenishing opportunities for poor and working class students in Wisconsin.
Your view of this man as a hero is sorely misplaced. You live in a 70% consumer society. What happens to such an economy when you remove the consumers?
Michael Bloomburg, Bill &Melinda Gates, & Robert Wood Johnson all support NPR & maybe that's why none of your savvy reporters have not investigated the financial impact of smoking bans all over the country. Those three are supporting groups who support establishing bans and tobacco related excessive taxation. The EPA claims that there is no or little financial impact of these bans but there is reems of reports that reflect the opposite to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars of lost city, state,& federal revenue. In this time of budget cutbacks we can look back at the folly of our representatives who were gullible enough to believe the EPA & the World Health Organization's jaded statistics inthe health impact of 2nd hand smoke & passed these bans. Texas Congresspersons Myra Cronwover &Rodney Ellis "drank the EPA Kool-Aid" and are pushing for a state wide smoking ban usurping the rights of the citizens of progressive towns & cities who allow smoking in their bars. It's time for NPR to expose the incredible loss of tax revenue, the attack on personal rights, & the dissolution of property rights that these bans create.
i agree! regardless of what they may think or what they claim, i think it's pretty clear that NPR is often one-sided in views, as i think it's pretty clear that Fox news often is. The difference = Fox news doesn't get govt. funds. And that is the bottom line. People don't want to have to pay for a one-sided program, especially if it is their own side.
And complaining that if their funds are cut they will have to somehow find $975,00.00 in a year's time. WAH! Guess what folks, a lot of us citizens have had to deal with similar situations in our own bank accounts because of this economy and loss of jobs. Where's my funding?
One of the biggest lies Scott Walker has perpetuated is that stripping the state employees of collective bargaining will help balance the budget. The only way that the Republicans were able to force this bill through without a quorum in the senate was to strip out all the fiscal aspects. Furthermore, the unions agreed to concessions on health care and pay cuts, but the governor refused to negotiate.
This reveals what a bare-faced lie this bill was from the beginning. Walkers real goal was to break the unions. The budget crisis is a farce because one of the first acts he passed on taking office was tax breaks for corporations. Finally, the Senate Republican Speaker Fitgerald stated on Fox news that breaking the unions was necessary to undermine funding for democratic candidates, virtually ensuring that Obama could not be re-elected to a second term.
This naked power grab could yet backfire on those republicans who stripped state workers of their rights!
reply to Mike Sergeant
Yes, that's unfortunately true. However, you still have the choice to not pay for cable, or even go to another form or company. You're not required to buy it. I don't have cable, and regardless of the views of the shows, i don't want to be forced to pay for everyone to get it. that's the difference.
@ Mike Sergeant wrote:
"What about the fact that my cable company forces me to pay for Fox news even though I don't want it. This is really the same thing as funding of NPR. "
Get a satellite dish. Your cable company does not force you to get FOX News anymore than they force you to get MSNBC. It is part of the package tier. How is using taxpayer money to fund NPR the same as you electing to purchase cable TV programming?
Hi, Mike S. No, you don't have to have cable. It's your choice.
"NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Resigns After Hidden Camera Sting Snares Top Fundraiser"
NPR getting a dose of karma.
Gotta love how Rehm initially referred to the video as an "illegal" activity before amending that to being "surreptitiously" recorded. WAMU gets $975,000 from the feds? How about Rehm and some other higher paid hosts volunteer a pay cut to help out NPR in their funding?
Lynn Sweet is moving on? She never condemned the comments made by Shiller, only objected to how Shiller was caught on tape.
In regards to John Barton's post about smoking "rights". I'm a musician that spends most of my weekend nights working in bars and clubs. I can't tell you what a difference it makes not having to inhale sidestream smoke for 4 hours on a gig. The non-existent figures you offer about the "financial impact of smoking bans" mean nothing in the face of the truth. For my band and many others that I interact with your sidestream smoke makes those of us that work in these establishments, and generate tax revenue for them, sick.
Most people that don't smoke don't want to inhale your poison. Go outside and put that stuff in your lungs. I've seen very little evidence in the clubs and bars that I frequent that the smoking ban has had a negative impact on their business and in many cases, I see the opposite. If people are enjoying themselves and not having to inhale a bunch of poisonous smoke, so you can feed your addiction to nicotine, it's likely they're going to stay longer and purchase more goods, therefore increasing business.
ndelany47:
They's one startling difference between Ireland and Libya.
Ireland don't got no oil.
Mr. John Baton would have to be a heavy smoker not to be able to smell the stench. Many times those addicted to a substance voice the interests of that substance, even the economic interests of its producers. It's called coevolutionary consciousness. Dr. Fatima Jackson is a botanist/anthropologist who can explain and demonstrate this thesis better than I. Smoking is more of an enslavement than a freedom, as many struggling to quit will tell you. We are too far advanced for a profitability based upon slavery.
Mike Sergeant: Many people mistakenly assume cable/satellite TV reception is a free market proposition when it is actually a well-controlled merchantilist cartel on a similar model to major league sports franchises, where only billionaires can play. As for Fox, they continue to run Glenn Beck here and in England at "house expense" because he can draw no commercial sponsorship. His rant then must reveal the aberrant corporate line. The FCC, if they had the power, or otherwise Congress, could mandate
"a la carte" packaging for satellite and cable subscription so that you and I could subscribe to exactly what we prefer. Shopping channels and much of the crackpot religion (like John Hagee) would probably disappear, and Fox might become a mini-me of its present self. A good first step in the public re-possessing our airwaves (our bandwidth) would be "a la carte" reform. Right now I assemble my own custom selection from a global menu using streaming and bit torrent. The NPR and independent public stations I support are 500, even 3,000 miles from where I live because I like particular things they offer. I also support Pacifica where a significant portion of the excluded political spectrum yet survives. Maybe the American poor need media stamp welfare to be fully informed. I'd give my entire tax obligation for that, had I any choice.
I am a dead ringer for Vivian Schiller, though I'm younger and might be an inch or two taller. Please, if you're a right wing extremist intent on harassing Ms. Schiller please be sure to check that your target in the crosshairs is she and not a totally innocent by-stander such as myself. If payback is a batch, then collateral damage is the devil incarnate.
@Pancake Rankin ,
"I am a dead ringer for Vivian Schiller."
If you resemble Shiller, your beef is with your parents. Don't blame politics for poor genetics.
http://www.menwithfoilhats.com/2010/10/nprs-tax-payer-funding-much-more-...
Can Fox news actually discuss anything related to science objectively? They can’t speak to the issues of global warming or even evolution objectively for fear of offending their viewers.
Can mainstream news channels discuss issues such as we are living more now in a plutocracy than a democracy? The richest among us collectively yield far more clout and power than our government and can pretty much influence elections as they choose. Can this be discussed on mainstream media?
All this bickering about cutting government discretionary spending without touching military spending will not effect trillion dollar deficits. Can this be discussed on mainstream media?
Mainstream TV, newspapers for fear of turning off a percentage of their audience, especially since mighty W was elected, has drifted to the right. Left-wing media??? - baloney
There are very few Progressive media sources and NPR isn’t one of them. NPR is moderate and too often they drift way to the right.
The only reason they seem to some to be the left because all people hear otherwise leans hopelessly to the right.
But maybe some of you are right- we really don’t need any objective news sources- We certainly don’t need any source that encourages INTELLIGENT DEBATE. We should all learn to simply eat happily from the right-wing think tanks and corporate sponsors. That after all is what America is all about- crushing free speech and endorsing the rich in all regards. No?
Progressives maintain visions of a better world. Conservatives say, “get real- it’s not gonna get better”.
Which school of thought are you in?
And as a thought provoking change of subject. Lincoln was Republican, but not conservative.
The Boston tea party weren’t a bunch of raging Conservatives- they were progressive-
AS WERE MOST OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS.
@Drew Kelly
"There are very few Progressive media sources and NPR isn’t one of them. NPR is moderate and too often they drift way to the right"
Do you write for the Onion? In what parallel universe do NPR hosts (all of them liberal) ever "drift way to the right?" If there were any instances surely you would have cited them in your post. Maybe, if you asked for help, you might manage to fabricate one instance.
meangreen on March 10, 2011 @ 7:26 pm wrote: "Thank you Gov. Walker and the rest of the Republican legislators for standing up for what you stated you would do during the campaign. You showed real courage for standing up to this mob. . . ."
Tell me, sir, did you denounce the "mob" of Teabaggers that stormed Democratic townhall meetings over the past two years (many of them bussed in from out of the district by their corporate masters)? Did you denounce the "mob" who stormed the election boards of Florida to prevent a recount of the disputed ballots?
Of course not. They were "good" Republi-Con "mobs". It's only when people exercise their First Amendment rights for things you don't agree with that they become "mobs" you disapprove of.
I hope the "mobs" of Wisconsin will continue to exercise their rights, and throw Walker and his "thugs" out of office!
To hainc, writing on March 11, 2011 @ 8:51 am :
Some questions, sir.
1) Middle East: if you are so eager for war, why don't you do what supporters of freedom did in the 1930's (during the Spanish Civil War) and volunteer to fight there yourself?
2) Budget: Why do you igore the proof that Governor Walker lied when he claimed union busting was a budgetary matter?
3) Wisconsin: When are you (and other Republi-Cons) going to stop insisting that other people have to make sacrifices, and offer some you will have to bear yourselves?
4) And just what the heck does "hainc" stand for anyway.
I fully expect you to never honestly answer these questions, but you might try to evade them.
nobleraptor on March 11, 2011 @ 10:21 am wrote:"Governor Walker did the right thing for the right reason . . . . collective bargaining for public employees makes absolutely no sense. Who are they bargaining with...the taxpayers who have no say in the process except in November of election years. Last November, in case you forgot, the taxpayers of Wisconsin made their wishes heard."
Typical Republi-Con tirade: long on rhetoric and empty ideology, short on facts.
Collective bargaining with the unions makes perfect sense. Apparently you forget the unions had already agreed to the budget cuts, proving collective bargaining worked.
What they didn't agree to was their destruction, which was not discussed in the elections last year and thus wasn't part of the wishes of the taxpayers.
Walker did the wrong (and dishonest) thing, for the wrong reasons, and I hope the voters of Wisconsin "reward" him and his gang by introducing them to the unemployment lines!
Oh, and I almost forgot, raptor old buddy, if "collective bargaining for public employees makes absolutely no sense", why did Walker allow this to continue for the Police, Fire, and State Trooper unions? It couldn't be due to the fact that they supported him during the elections, could it? That would mean that despite all the "noble" (and empty) rhetoric, this was nothing more than a power grab as political payback.
Another fact you, and people like hainc and meangreen, conveniently ignore!
nobleraptor on March 11, 2011 @ 10:30 am wrote: "Where's the reporting and "outrage" from NPR over death threats from union activists against Wisconsin Republican State Senators and their families?"
Maybe it's because (so far as I've been able to determine) the source of this allegation appears to be that 'old reliable source' anonymous chain e-mails! If you can provide a link to a reputable news source (sorry, right-wing mouthpieces like Fox don't count) reporting such threats it would greatly increase the (utterly lacking) credibility of this allegation.
Let me add that if such threats have been made, of course the people doing it should be condemned, and hopefully identified, located, and prosecuted.
tdermott on March 11, 2011 @ 10:45 am wrote: "I find that NPR shows treats O'keefe differently from any other investigative reporter though his techniques seem the same. Is there anything that differentiates him from other muckrakers other than the political views of NPR commentators."
Well, let's see: he's been caught repeatedly "editing" his videos to create a false impression; he regularly practices deceit; he's been convicted of violating criminal laws.
I'd say that makes him pretty different.
Linda Roberts on March 11, 2011 @ 10:59 am wrote: "Lontime listener, you are not forced to buy cable. One must pay taxes."
And you miss the point, to get cable one must support Fox (and the Golf channel, and TBN, and MTV, and VH1, and a host of other channels I have no interest in). In any other business that would be called a "tie-in" and would be illegal under the Anti-Trust laws. I've often wondered if there's an exemption for the cable media - I suspect there is.
Happily, the day is coming when we will be able to get all our programming through the internet, and can kiss cable (and satellite TV) a fond goodbye.
monte on March 11, 2011 @ 11:17 am wrote: "I don't think you complainers even watch Fox News and only repeat what you here other liberals say about it. You must be incredibly jealous of the success of fox news and your vile contempt for things for which you disagree only uncovers you have indeed become what you claim to hate."
I can speak only for myself, what I have contempt for is the mindless propaganda and train of lies proffered by Fox "commentators" like Glenn Beck.
One example: In his book Arguing with Idiots he launched an anti-immigrant tirade based on Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution. This was a provision that allowed Congress to impose a tax (maximum of $10) on each person "imported" into the U.S. That, he trumpeted, showed the value the Founders placed on the "privilege" of coming to and living in America. (Dirt cheap I'd say.)
The problem? As anyone with half a brain (and knowledge of history) can tell you, that provision has nothing to do with immigration, it was about slavery! In fact, it was one of the shamefull compromises with that "peculiar institution" necessary to get the Constitution passed at all. Congress was prevented from stopping the slave trade until 1808, with the $10 tax on the trade as a sop in return.
This is an example of the mindless ideology, distortion of history and law, and just plain lies that are the stock-in-trade of creatures like Beck, spread with the resources of Fox, and you wonder why people who care about TRUTH have such "contempt" for that media conglomerate. What should we have instead, the fawning admiration the right-wing provides, simply because they like what they hear?
pistoljenn on March 11, 2011 @ 11:18 am wrote: "And don't tell me that "true journalism doesn't use deception as a tool" HA! They all (both sides) use it constantly"
It depends what you mean. If you are referring to "undercover reporting", that is completely different from what O'Keefe does. First, the reporters don't edit their tapes to create a false impression (those that may have done so got fired). Second, there is a big difference between (for example) working in a grocery store to photograph unsanitary conditions and violations of health laws, and pretending to be a pimp to "trick" someone into saying something embarrassing, and then only reporting the incidents where the trick worked so you can (again) create a false impression. Again, that kind of conduct is what O'Keefe does.
That being said, I agree with you that recording what people say voluntarily (without prompting) is an important source of information. In fact, I'd like to see a constitutional amendment passed mandating that all meetings of government officials, political parties, and their members, must be recorded, and the recordings immediately released to the public. Wouldn't you love to know exactly what goes on "behind closed doors" when donors make big contributions to their favorite candidates, or what's said at those fundraisers? I would!
Cicero
Not all that familiar with the Onion.
I don't need to fabricate anything. There have been many instances of the DR show, when important issues are discussed when there is no one on her panel that has moderate much less Progressive views. I will be happy to refer you to some of those shows if it would make your day.
Yesterday she spent an hour with that liberal idealogue David Brooks.
I think you would discover should you decide to actually to listen to NPR once in a while that Conservatives are interviewed regularly and when they are, they leave the interviews having been allowed to express their opinions adequately and are treated with the same respect as all other folks.
You can't say that about Fox in in the reverse scenerio.
I live in that parall universe were free rational thought is actually valued- you may not be familiar with it.
John Barton on March 11, 2011 @ 11:22 am wrote: ". . . why none of your savvy reporters have . . . investigated the financial impact of smoking bans all over the country."
Yeah, and what about the impact of the ban on illegal drugs? Think of the revenue lost because we can't buy heroin or cocaine (and be taxed for it)!
And what about the laws banning murder and arson? Think of the revenue to be gained by taxing contract killings and arson for hire!
Let's "expose the incredible loss of tax revenue, the attack on personal rights, & the dissolution of property rights that these bans create."
But first, sir, please look up the term: sarcasm.
MoniqueDC: What give aways is he giving to private industry? My company who has it corp base in Wisconsin is going to hire 13,000 people world wide this year according to our CEO. We were just voted as the best company to work
What wrong with giving away taxpayer vouchers. You are from DC and you know that per pupil cost is around $12,000 per year. Yet these students from poor ethic minorities are still failing. Have you ever stop to think that some of us that have our children in private school that we are still required by our property taxes to support public schools?
It is the consumer that brings prosperity to our economy, not the government as you are seeing now.