Video below via Breitbart TV:
Read more at Big Government.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Better Red Than Dead: By The Numbers
By Susan Duclos
I so stole the headline from the first paragraph in a Forbes piece I read written by Merrill Matthews titled "The Red State in Your Future," where he delves into data that shows how Red states on the whole are doing far better than Blue states economically.
Red states are not only doing better economically than Blue states but the policies enacted in Red states are also providing conditions which make them superior, by the numbers, to Blue states in relation to job growth.
This is a point I made back in late May with a two part piece I wrote called "Red States Add More Jobs Than Blue States." The breakdown over the last decade showed that Red states had a totaled 451,600 private-sector job increase from April 2001 to April 2011, Blue states had a totaled 2,041,300 private-sector job decrease from April 2001 to April 2011 and Purple states (swing) had a totaled 597,900 private-sector job decrease from April 2001 to April 2011.
Part one is here and part 2 is here.
From part one:
Matthews@Forbes quotes a The Daily Beast article, highlighting figures which show the five biggest losers in terms of ‘residents lost to other states’ were California (Blue), New York (Blue), Illinois (Blue), Michigan (Blue), and New Jersey (Blue) and those that gained the in the "relocation sweepstakes, as he calls it, were Florida (Purple), Texas (Red) , North Carolina (Red), Arizona (Red), and Georgia (Red).
Democrats believe that the government must borrow more funds to "spend" more money to stimulate the economy and that taxes should be raised on the people who are already taxed more than any other income group to provide revenue.
Republicans believe that we need to cut government spending to live within our means, ease regulations on businesses so they can grow and provide a permanent tax level so small businesses will have stability and security so they will expand and hire.
States taking up the mantle of fiscal responsibility instead of "tax and spend" are showing impressive results.
Political parties, Republican and Democrat, and their supporters, can argue until the cows come home, on what policies work to create jobs and kick start the stalled economy, but numbers don't lie.
.
I so stole the headline from the first paragraph in a Forbes piece I read written by Merrill Matthews titled "The Red State in Your Future," where he delves into data that shows how Red states on the whole are doing far better than Blue states economically.One reason for that shift is that red states are taking fiscal responsibility while many blue states aren’t—and it shows. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a bipartisan association of conservative state legislators, recently released its fourth edition of “Rich States, Poor States,” by the well-known Reagan economist Arthur B. Laffer, the Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore, and Jonathan Williams of ALEC.
The study looks at factors that affect state prosperity and economic outlook, such as tax burdens and population change. What’s clear is that red or red-leaning states dominate the top positions while blue states have the dubious distinction of dragging in last. In the economic outlook section, for example, the top 20 states are bright red or lean red, while eight out of the bottom 10 are very blue: New York, Vermont, California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon and Rhode Island.
Most of the “poor states” states, as ALEC calls them, have the highest personal income tax rates and the largest unfunded state pension liabilities. But instead of taking the red-state approach by lowering taxes and/or cutting spending, the blue states tend to want to raise taxes even higher, just like their White House mentor.
Red states are not only doing better economically than Blue states but the policies enacted in Red states are also providing conditions which make them superior, by the numbers, to Blue states in relation to job growth.
This is a point I made back in late May with a two part piece I wrote called "Red States Add More Jobs Than Blue States." The breakdown over the last decade showed that Red states had a totaled 451,600 private-sector job increase from April 2001 to April 2011, Blue states had a totaled 2,041,300 private-sector job decrease from April 2001 to April 2011 and Purple states (swing) had a totaled 597,900 private-sector job decrease from April 2001 to April 2011.
Part one is here and part 2 is here.
From part one:
Apply state-by-state politics to the national argument that has been raging over the the federal deficit, government spending, spending cuts and job creation, where both sides of the political spectrum have their own opinion, for lack of a better word, on what needs to be done to address each issue, especially job creation.
It comes down to what set of ideas work and while everyone has their own opinion, if we go by the actual numbers, only one set of ideas seems to consistently provide the desired results in regards to private sector job creation.
Matthews@Forbes quotes a The Daily Beast article, highlighting figures which show the five biggest losers in terms of ‘residents lost to other states’ were California (Blue), New York (Blue), Illinois (Blue), Michigan (Blue), and New Jersey (Blue) and those that gained the in the "relocation sweepstakes, as he calls it, were Florida (Purple), Texas (Red) , North Carolina (Red), Arizona (Red), and Georgia (Red).
Democrats believe that the government must borrow more funds to "spend" more money to stimulate the economy and that taxes should be raised on the people who are already taxed more than any other income group to provide revenue.
Republicans believe that we need to cut government spending to live within our means, ease regulations on businesses so they can grow and provide a permanent tax level so small businesses will have stability and security so they will expand and hire.
States taking up the mantle of fiscal responsibility instead of "tax and spend" are showing impressive results.
Political parties, Republican and Democrat, and their supporters, can argue until the cows come home, on what policies work to create jobs and kick start the stalled economy, but numbers don't lie.
.
That Old Black Magic
By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle
I find it very odd that in the 21st Century there are people and nations that actually believe that Magic exists and that there are people who practice Black Magic. Yet the idea that Magic, especially Black Magic exists is prevalent in the Muslim world. Especially in Saudi Arabia.
We do not have to worry about the religious police of Saudi Arabia. After defeating the evil of Voldermort aka Moldy Shorts, the Ministry of Magic for Israel or the Department of Magic (US) can handle anything these crazy Muggles throw at them.
I find it very odd that in the 21st Century there are people and nations that actually believe that Magic exists and that there are people who practice Black Magic. Yet the idea that Magic, especially Black Magic exists is prevalent in the Muslim world. Especially in Saudi Arabia.
This is one of the heights of Muslim intellectual prowess. It ranks high along with this one. And Obama wanted to include these bozos into our NASA program.When Tara Umm Omar was a young bride in her first marriage, she and her Moroccan husband took the youngest sister of a family friend into their home. On the day the young Moroccan woman arrived, she gave Umm Omar a doll, which Umm Omar promptly placed in a dresser drawer.
When Umm Omar told a friend of the doll, the friend suspected it was an item for black magic and suggested the doll be destroyed. Instead, Umm Omar tossed it in the garbage. That’s when household items disappeared, the family dog barked incessantly, Umm Omar started fighting with her husband and she began seeing strange insects in the house. When the guest finally moved out, the couple found their bed sheets and an identical doll to Umm Omar’s among the woman’s discarded belongings.
The message to Umm Omar was clear: The woman she invited into her home sought to destroy her happiness through black magic.
Umm Omar is since remarried to a Saudi and now lives in Riyadh. She runs the popular blog, Future Husbands and Wives of Saudis, a help website for non-Saudis marrying Saudis. As a quasi-marriage counselor for brides and grooms nervously entering Saudi society, Umm Omar dispenses religious and practical advice to help ease the cultural shock. That includes providing insight to the real world concerns of black magic and the evil eye.
“The truth is that all magic is haram [prohibited] and only leads to bad ends,” Umm Omar told The Media Line.
Belief in black magic runs deep in Saudi society. The issue was raised last month when the quasi-legislative body Shoura Council granted permission for Moroccan women to work as maids in Saudi households. Hundreds of Saudi women complained to the Council that granting Moroccan maids permission to work was tantamount to allowing the use of black magic in their homes to steal their husbands. Saudi wives complained the issue was not lacking trust in their husbands, but their men were powerless to ward off spells.
While greeted with skepticism in western societies, Saudis would no more question the existence of black magic than they would Islam. Two surahs (chapters) in the Qur’an under Al Mi’wadhatyan address black magic and are often recited during or after prayer. Simply, part of being a Muslim is believing in the existence of magic.
In April of this year, members of the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice underwent special training in the Eastern Province to investigate black magic crimes.
Although also found in Christianity and Judaism, casting spells is particularly common in Oman, Sudan, Yemen, Morocco and Indonesia. Turkey is a secular Muslim country, but protection against evil eye is deeply rooted in virtually all aspects of daily life. Tools of witchcraft include using lizards, dead birds, photographs, hair, thread, dirt, blood and red ink. Hiding places to place “spells” may be in bedrooms and under beds. Written spells generally contain the intended victim’s name and one or two words to state the intention to do harm.
In 2007, the religious police in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, removed 23 black magic tokens, including knives and written spells on paper, from two graves in a cemetery. Black magic artists placed the tokens at the heads and feet of the corpses.The Saudi press reported recently that evil eye was suspected in causing the death of Mastoora Al-Ahmadi, the Saudi poet who garnered international attention for her performance on “The Million’s Poet” on Abu Dhabi TV. She was the first woman to reach the semifinals in the Arabic poetry contest. Al-Ahmadi died unexpectedly on Oct. 2 in Madinah after falling into a coma.
Howaizan Muhammad, 26, of Madinah, told The Media Line that she had difficulty finding a job and failed in many interviews. And she hated the jobs she did find. She broke up with her fiancé and couldn’t find a husband. “My sister told me to read the surah Al-Baqarah to protect me against any spells,” she says. “After 14 days, my father found a spell written on paper and in blood with my name on it on the roof under our water tank.”
Muhammad says she had Indonesian maids at the time, but notes that anybody could have left the spell.
Sheikh Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, an Islamic scholar based in Qatar and the author of The Exorcist Tradition in Islam, told The Media Line that Muslims must not fight witchcraft with their own magic but refer to the Qur’an. “There are a number of Qur’anic texts that the Prophet said should be read with reflection as a means of removing or reducing the effects of black magic,” he says. “Eating adjuwah dates from Madinah is also a means of protection.”
He notes there is a tendency to fight magic with magic, but it’s prohibited. “People should avoid charms, amulets and other things that people have proffered, which has become something of a business in the Muslim world.”
Philips acknowledges that Moroccans have an “international reputation” among Muslims for practicing witchcraft, but cautions against overemphasizing Moroccans as master artists of voodoo. “Historically they [Moroccans] are most noted for it. But they are not much different than most in the Muslim world. Chechnya and Bosnia probably engage in it more.”
Although Saudis may claim that witchcraft is at the heart of their distrust of foreign maids, Umm Omar suggests that old-fashioned power struggles and jealously play vital roles in conflicts.
“There is a factor that Saudis are more well-to-do than Moroccans and magic can be used to remove those blessings [of wealth] if [maids] dislike them,” Umm Omar says. “Saudi women are used to feeling superior over maids, and in some cases look down on them. Moroccan women do not like to be pushed around and will defend themselves. My experience with Moroccan and Saudi women is they both like to be in charge of the household and are naturally bossy.”
Umm Omar adds that if a maid feels threatened, she could resort to black magic. “Of course that is not to say that a Saudi woman won’t seek out magic to harm a Moroccan maid.”
Left unsaid in this battle of wills between Saudi and Moroccan women is the consequences of practicing black magic in Saudi Arabia. Practicing witchcraft is an offense punishable by death.Saudi religious police arrested popular Lebanese television personality and fortuneteller Ali Sabat in May 2008 on charges of witchcraft while he was on a pilgrimage. A Saudi court sentenced him to death. But an appellate court threw out the sentence in 2010, citing lack of evidence that Sabat harmed anybody. According to Amnesty International, the last documented execution for witchcraft in Saudi Arabia was in 2007. A Saudi court sentenced Egyptian pharmacist Mustafa Ibrahim to death for casting spells in order to separate a married couple.
“Fortune telling is not just sleight of hand tricks, but involves the spirit,” says Philips. “As evil, it’s the same thing as black magic. Sharia proscribes the same punishment for both.”
Umm Omar points to ignorance and the absence of a strong foundation in the teachings of Islam that lead some Muslims to practice magic and evil eye.
Although Philips says that ignorance is no excuse for breaking laws, forgiveness should be considered. “God does forgive ignorance,” he says. “We should be more tolerant in some cases because some people are not doing [harmful] things deliberately.”
Source
We do not have to worry about the religious police of Saudi Arabia. After defeating the evil of Voldermort aka Moldy Shorts, the Ministry of Magic for Israel or the Department of Magic (US) can handle anything these crazy Muggles throw at them.
Beirut 1983: "They came in peace"
I found this picture at the Beirut Memorial Online, and here you can find a list of the fallen from this terrible day. Go look, and think about the lives cut short, as represented by every name there.
Aerial view of the headquarters of Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 8th Marines, the ground combat element of the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, in Beirut, Lebanon where 220 Marines, 18 Sailors, and three soldiers were killed when an explosive-laden truck slammed into the building on Oct. 23, 1983, completely destroying the structure.
Source: U.S. State Department.
"...Make the people who wished us harm understand...we were not defeated...we are still here..." (source)
1983: Beirut blasts kill US and French troops
Two lorries containing 4000lb (1.4 tonnes) bombs exploded when they hit the buildings, the US Battalion Landing Team headquarters and the French paratroopers base which are situated just four miles (6km) apart.
The death toll is expected to rise to more than 200 as people remain trapped inside the collapsed buildings.
[...]The US Secretary of Defence, Caspar Weinberger, insisted there was "strong circumstantial evidence" that Iran was behind the attacks but did not rule out possible Syrian and Soviet involvement.
"There are no words that can properly express our outrage and, I think the outrage of all Americans at this despicable act " President Reagan
Arlington Cemetery also has a section dedicated to the fallen of October 23, 1983, here.
On October 27th, President Ronald Reagan gave a national address. He said, in part:
In these last few days, I've been more sure than I've ever been that we Americans of today will keep freedom and maintain peace. I've been made to feel that by the magnificent spirit of our young men and women in uniform and by something here in our Nation's Capital. In this city, where political strife is so much a part of our lives, I've seen Democratic leaders in the Congress join their Republican colleagues, send a message to the world that we're all Americans before we're anything else, and when our country is threatened, we stand shoulder to shoulder in support of our men and women in the Armed Forces.
May I share something with you I think you'd like to know? It's something that happened to the Commandant of our Marine Corps, General Paul Kelley, while he was visiting our critically injured marines in an Air Force hospital. It says more than any of us could ever hope to say about the gallantry and heroism of these young men, young men who serve so willingly so that others might have a chance at peace and freedom in their own lives and in the life of their country.
I'll let General Kelley's words describe the incident. He spoke of a ``young marine with more tubes going in and out of his body than I have ever seen in one body.''
``He couldn't see very well. He reached up and grabbed my four stars, just to make sure I was who I said I was. He held my hand with a firm grip. He was making signals, and we realized he wanted to tell me something. We put a pad of paper in his hand -- and he wrote `Semper Fi.' ''
Well, if you've been a marine or if, like myself, you're an admirer of the marines, you know those words are a battlecry, a greeting, and a legend in the Marine Corps. They're marine shorthand for the motto of the Corps -- ``Semper Fidelis'' -- ``always faithful.''
[...]
That marine and all those others like him, living and dead, have been faithful to their ideals. They've given willingly of themselves so that a nearly defenseless people in a region of great strategic importance to the free world will have a chance someday to live lives free of murder and mayhem and terrorism. I think that young marine and all of his comrades have given every one of us something to live up to.
They were not afraid to stand up for their country or, no matter how difficult and slow the journey might be, to give to others that last, best hope of a better future. We cannot and will not dishonor them now and the sacrifices they've made by failing to remain as faithful to the cause of freedom and the pursuit of peace as they have been.
I will not ask you to pray for the dead, because they're safe in God's loving arms and beyond need of our prayers. I would like to ask you all -- wherever you may be in this blessed land -- to pray for these wounded young men and to pray for the bereaved families of those who gave their lives for our freedom.
God bless you, and God bless America.
(The whole thing here)
From the US Marine Corps site:
The 23rd of October; ‘Our first duty is to remember’
ARLINGTON, Va. — Veterans, families, friends and various dignitaries gathered under blue skies at section 59 in Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 17 to remember their loved ones and brothers in arms.Since 1984, the remembrance ceremony has been an annual event of sorrow and celebration for the men who gave their lives during a peace keeping mission in Beirut.
At approximately 6:22 a.m., on Oct. 23, 1983, an Islamic terrorist drove a yellow delivery truck into the lobby of the Marine Corps barracks at Beirut International Airport. The vehicle exploded with a force equivalent to 12,000 pounds of TNT, destroying the building and killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. Additionally, 58 French paratroopers were killed in a separate attack just two minutes later as they were mobilizing to assist their fellow service members.
“Most of our countrymen probably believe this global war on terror started on 9/11,” said Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway. “I don’t believe that for a moment. I believe it started in October of 1983 when we first saw a significant strike on the young men – Marine, Navy and Army, who were in that building in Beirut.”
During the ceremony, families of the fallen were called forward to lead everyone in the pledge of allegiance.
[...]
“We hope you will be consoled in the knowledge that others remember, you are not forgotten and never will be,” said Carmella LaSpada, executive director of the Whitehouse Commission of Remembrance. “Love has brought us together today, a love for those we honor, and a love for our nation.”
[...]
“They lost their lives while in a peace keeping mission,” [Lebanese Ambassador Antoine] Chedid said. “I’m here to pay tribute to them for their bravery. They paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of peace. Twenty-seven years later, their memory is still in our hearts.”
For the Marines, sailors soldiers who were there, the memory will forever remain etched in their minds.
Craig Renshaw, president of Beirut Veterans of America, said it’s important to remember the lives of the men who died that day. Most Marines knew at least one person who died. For them, the memory is going to be there forever, but it’s up to the chapters, those who were affected and a younger generation to remind others what happened when we suffered the first blow in the war on terror.
“Remembrance is not letting the memory of the guys who gave their lives be forgotten,” he said. “It’s all about them.” [emphasis mine]
Go read the rest here.
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Semper Fi, Marines.
Yes, this IS a repost from last year, but this quote still remains true - and always will
“Remembrance is not letting the memory of the guys who gave their lives be forgotten,” he said. “It’s all about them.”
Just the other day I found this video, posted by someone who says:
This is a Tribute to my Fallen USMC Brothers who Died 6:22 am October 23rd, 1983.
Uploaded by tashan6969 on Oct 21, 2011
I came home from Beirut. They did not.
Semper Fi my Brothers.
I will,,
Remember the Peacekeepers.
You My Brothers ..
You Are NOT forgotten
Always remembered. ALWAYS honoured.
*Cross posted from Assoluta Tranquillita*
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Mr. President, How Dare You...
By Paul N. Marston from www.marstonchronicles.info. I have always thought that any President of the United States of either party, no matter how much I disagreed with his policies, had the best interest of his country and his fellow citizens at heart. He might be going about it the wrong way in my opinion, but there is no way that he would deliberately make life worse for his fellow Americans. Strangely enough, it was an episode in a television series that caused me to change my mind. My wife and I never watch television because we cannot stand the mind numbing insipid commercials we would be subject to if we did. We watch last year's programs that we enjoy on a rented DVD minus the commercials instead.
Thus it was that we watched this week an episode of Criminal Minds called "Coda" that was broadcast last February. During this program I suddenly became absolutely furious as I called our current president every foul name I could think of because I knew what I was seeing was all his fault and his fault alone. It was not that a couple in Louisiana had been kidnapped leaving their autistic son alone that set me off but what the screen was showing had happened to this town in Southern Louisiana instead. This couple was at risk because unlike anyone else in this town they had managed to get a measly $42,000 loan when no one else could do that. This was so unusual that most everybody knew they had gotten this loan and it pushed one desperate man who was losing everything to do something he would ordinarily never think of doing.
This episode was fiction but the economic situation it was depicting is tragically true. What made me so furious was that all this economic misery could be so easily solved by you, Mr. President. The entire Gulf Coast has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs and it is solely your doing, Mr. President. While I know how devastating this has been to the Gulf Coast intellectually, seeing a dramatization of the effects of it really brought it all home. Mr. President, how dare you let these Americans suffer needlessly? Yes, there was an unfortunate oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been plugged and in spite of numerous scare stories in the mass media, the damage to the environment has not been catastrophic. You and your appointees totally overreacted and shut down all drilling in the area and have refused to issue all but a handful of permits since. You have done this even in the face of a court order telling you not to do this. Mr. President, how dare you defy a federal court order and put all these people out of work?
All you have to do to fix this is to issue an executive order and tell your Secretaries of Energy and Interior to quit stalling and start issuing permits. You do not need the co-operation of those "obstructionist" Republicans in the House to do this. Indeed, they would be happy to co-operate on this particular subject. You are the obstructionist here and not them. Mr. President, how dare you continue to drag your feet and keep thousands of Americans out of work? What about that pipeline from Canada that would bring in much needed revenue and thousands of jobs? You could get this approved all by yourself by just telling your appointees to do it.
In order to protect some damn little fish that nobody but a bunch of wacko environmentalists gives a damn about, you have allowed hundreds of thousands of acres of the best farmland in America lie fallow. This has caused an economic disaster in the counties containing this land where unemployment is pushing 40%. A lot of these idled workers are Hispanics that you profess to be so concerned about. Mr. President, how dare you leave these Hispanics literally high and dry? With a stroke of a pen you could fix this and yet you cannot be bothered. You seem to be perfectly content to let Americans suffer because of your ritualistic commitment to the environment. Only an idiot fouls his own nest and we all want to see an improved environment but the environment is already greatly improved from 40 years ago. We should not rest on our laurels but there is no need to be so environmentally conscious that you are willing to let millions of Americans lose their jobs all because of one species here and there that is just not all that important in the overall scheme of things.
You and your ilk make fun of hidebound fundamentalists who believe that every word in the Bible is literally true and therefore the Universe was created in 7007 BC in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. Yet you are equally hidebound in thinking that wind and solar power are the answers to our energy needs now when all the evidence says that we are decades away from that happening if ever. In the meantime we need fossil fuels to keep us going. Instead of encouraging more exploration for fossil fuels here at home, you are content to force us to send billions of dollars to countries that hate our guts to buy their fossil fuels. Those billions could stay right here in our economy and provide much needed jobs. Mr. President, how dare you deliberately put us at such a security risk?
There are many people who think you are a closet Muslim and have been foisted off on us by some cabal who is intent on destroying this country and everything it stands for. Ordinarily these people would be totally dismissed as wild theory conspiracists. The only reason they have any traction with this idea is because of your behavior, Mr. President. They say that if their theory is incorrect why is it that everything you do seems to be deliberately chosen to make matters worse for America and Americans? A President who was determined to destroy America would do exactly what you are doing so even if you are not deliberately trying to destroy America, you might as well be in their opinion.
Right now most American businesses and especially the finance industry are sitting on trillions of dollars and not investing in new businesses and expanding old ones all because of you. They are not willing to hire any new employees because you demonize business at every turn. Rightly or wrongly, they believe that you are out to make their life miserable. That being the case, they are simply waiting your term of office out in hopes that you will be defeated and your successor will let them get back to the business of making all Americans more prosperous. Mr. President, how dare you do everything in your power to inhibit business and cause them to stop hiring people who are desperate to find a job?
In addition to your counterproductive economic policies you seem to be fomenting further divisions among Americans along racial and class lines. Anyone who opposes you is a racist yet blacks are only one out of eight Americans so how did you ever get elected without tremendous white support? When you and your supporters are not calling your opponents racists, you are accusing them of being willing to let people die and let murder and rape run rampant when they refuse to throw more money into your redistribute the wealth schemes. Mr. President, how dare you deliberately foster divisions among people you supposedly represent?
All one has to do is read the news to see you in constant campaign mode and never doing anything to help put Americans back to work. All you seem to care about is getting your sorry ass re-elected. Do you even care about your fellow Americans anymore if you ever did? Maybe you do care but it sure does not look like it given your actions. Mr. President, how dare you let us all suffer why you, your family and your cronies are riding high on our dime? You might not be suffering but we sure are. I suggest you get busy doing things to encourage businesses to put Americans back to work instead of beating up on them. We can't afford to wait until we can elect someone else who will do something to ease our suffering.
Audio- Howard Stern Exposes ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Morons
By Susan Duclos
Two YouTube audios of interviews with Occupiers.
Part one below:
Part Two:
H/T Twitter @Stips620 and Conservative byte.com.
.
Two YouTube audios of interviews with Occupiers.
Part one below:
Part Two:
H/T Twitter @Stips620 and Conservative byte.com.
.
NPR Dumps 'World of Opera' Because Of Host Lisa Simeone's Occupier Participation
By Susan Duclos
Following up on recent news of "World of Opera" host Lisa Simeone’s participation in an Occupy DC group where as a freelancer associated with NPR it appeared she violated NPR's code of ethics, we now see news that NPR will no longer distribute the member station-produced program "World of Opera" to about 60 stations across the country because the show host helped organize an ongoing Washington protest. (Via Huffington Post)
Also according to Rehm, NPR does not need to cite their code of ethics because an overriding factor is it's position on hosts' political activities which they say is "even more fundamental."
[Update]Funny but I don't remember these people complaining very much when NPR took action against Juan Williams.
Please, if you saw either of these bloggers pitching a fit about William's firing by NPR, leave a link and I will add it as an update.
Following up on recent news of "World of Opera" host Lisa Simeone’s participation in an Occupy DC group where as a freelancer associated with NPR it appeared she violated NPR's code of ethics, we now see news that NPR will no longer distribute the member station-produced program "World of Opera" to about 60 stations across the country because the show host helped organize an ongoing Washington protest. (Via Huffington Post)
Instead, North Carolina-based classical music station WDAV, which produces the show, said it will distribute the nationally syndicated program on its own beginning Nov. 11. The station said it plans to keep Lisa Simeone as host and has said her involvement in a political protest does not affect her job as a music program host.
NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm said the network disagrees with the station on the role of program hosts but respects its position.
"Our view is it's a potential conflict of interest for any journalist or any individual who plays a public role on behalf of NPR to take an active part in a political movement or advocacy campaign," she told The Associated Press. "Doing so has the potential to compromise our reputation as an organization that strives to be impartial and unbiased."
Also according to Rehm, NPR does not need to cite their code of ethics because an overriding factor is it's position on hosts' political activities which they say is "even more fundamental."
[Update]Funny but I don't remember these people complaining very much when NPR took action against Juan Williams.
Please, if you saw either of these bloggers pitching a fit about William's firing by NPR, leave a link and I will add it as an update.
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