NPR executive Vivian Schiller resigns under pressure from board and CPB

[ekg]

What idiots. We need  another 3 week extension for a budget but lets call an emergency meeting for defunding NPR. I think they should be calling emergency meetings for the budget but lets go after NPR because they think the Tea Party is racist. We pay billions in interest but concerned with the millions NPR gets. What a bunch of effing hypocrits.
I feel like I am watching a bad comedy.

after finding out O'keefe lied about that whole NPR-sting.. it's amazing this still passed..

[44nutman]

after finding out O'keefe lied about that whole NPR-sting.. it's amazing this still passed..

That way the can go back to the hardcore sheep and say we got rid of that liberal bastion, NPR. Voter:" But what about the budget, you were telling everyone you were a libertarian" Crooke politicain" I saved the American taxpayer some millions by getting rid of NPR. That is how libertarians roll. Now lets go bomb the shit out of Libya."

[Howey]

after finding out O'keefe lied about that whole NPR-sting.. it's amazing this still passed..

They don't care...remember they're the .01% who know what's going on. Not the 99.9% who follow them blindly.

Remember, Acorn was shuttered after O'Keefe pulled one of his pranks.

Yet, the Republican base still fears them.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51416.html

Fear of ACORN stealing elections runs so deep in GOP circles that a quarter of Republicans still believe the group will “steal the election” in 2012 — even now that it's been a year since the organization folded.

A new survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found that 25 percent of the Republican primary voters nationwide think the defunct community organizing group will try to “steal” votes for Democrats. Just 43 percent believe ACORN will not be able to swing votes and 32 percent are not sure.

Among Republicans who believe ACORN is still a threat in 2012, Sarah Palin is the favored presidential candidate — getting 20 percent of the their support. Newt Gingrich comes second among the ACORN-fearing, getting 19 percent, following by Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney with 16 percent apiece.

Pollster Tom Jensen noted that while “25 percent may seem like a high percentage to think that an organization no longer in existence will manage to steal a Presidential election but it's less than half the number who thought that two years ago.”

The group shut down last March after getting bombarded by the right over a series of videos showing ACORN employees in an unflattering light, including one video in which an ACORN employee was shown offering business advice to a conservative posing as a pimp.

The poll of 600 Republican primary voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

They're not just dumb. They're shit-eating dumb.

[Howey]

I fucking love this crazy Jew!



Oh? The Republican rule about 72 hour notice? I guess that only applies to Democrat bills. 

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/17/dem-tweaks-house-republicans-ahead-of-npr-defunding-vote/

Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York, called out Republicans on the House floor Thursday morning for allegedly breaking their own rules, during debate on a measure that would strip federal funding for National Public Radio.

Weiner objected to consideration of the bill, saying it violates a House rule, "which requires 72 hour layover of the bill and it to be electronically noticed in order for it to be considered by the House." He continued, "This bill did not lay over for 72 hours. It was noticed at 1:42 p.m. on Tuesday. Therefore it has to wait until 1:42 on Friday to be in compliance with the rules of the House."

The House vote on the bill was expected mid-afternoon on Thursday.

Weiner then held up a sign with a quote from House Speaker John Boehner and read aloud, "I will not bring a bill to the floor that hasn't been posted online for at least 72 hours." He then prodded Republican Rep. Ted Poe, Texas, who was sitting in the chair, "Would the Speaker please clarify for the body that the 72 hours rule is either being waived or does not exist?"

Poe responded that the rule is not predicated on a number of hours, "but rather on a number of calendar days." He said that since the measure had been electronically available online since Tuesday, that would constitute three calendar days, thus not breaking any rules.

Weiner pushed a little further asking Poe to clarify, "Did this bill age for 72 hours? Yes or no?"

Fuck. Only in BizarroAmerika!

[Howey]

O'Keefe strikes out!

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/latest_james_okeefe_npr_tape_a_dud.php

Branded as a revelatory scoop uncovering previously unknown donations from George Soros to NPR, James O'Keefe's latest sting on NPR was debunked as a non-story within hours of its release.

The news that O'Keefe purports to "break" -- that Soros had previously donated to the public broadcaster via grants from Soros' Open Society Institute -- had, in fact, long been publicly known through tax records and even press releases.

"We believe that journalism is a pillar of an open and democratic society and a critical tool for transparency and accountability," a spokeswoman for OSI, Laura Silber, told TPM after sending over a list of previous grants to NPR and affiliates. "A free and independent press serves as a watchdog of both government and the private sector. NPR, which is a respected national news organization, provides an excellent vehicle for regional and national analyses of the most critical issues facing our country."

The new audio recording features NPR director of institutional giving Betsy Liley talking with one of O'Keefe's actors, a member of a phony Muslim group claiming to want to donate $5 million to NPR. In their conversation, Liley discusses donations from George Soros, noting that after conservative attacks on him intensified he asked that his name not be mentioned on the air as a sponsor.

"George Soros and the Open Society Institute gave us $1.8 million, and they have decided not to use on-air credits because of what's happening in Congress," Liley says.


Lilely recounted past donations from Soros, saying "I think the first gift was within the first year he set up the Foundation, which was 10 or 15 years ago" and noting that there was much less media attention to his donations then.

It's here that O'Keefe starts going off the rails. Touting his "scoop" in all caps on Twitter, O'Keefe wrote "BREAKING: NPR DIRECTOR ADMITS TO HAVING RECEIVED SOROS MONEY FOR YEARS..." with a link to the video, which also features O'Keefe pushing a press officer at Soros' Open Society Institute to hand over information on their grants before she finally hangs up. The Daily Caller ran with the news as well, throwing up the headline: "New O'Keefe tape shows George Soros has donated to NPR before last year."

But donations from the Open Society Institute have long been public. They reported in their IRS 990 forms for 1997 and 1998 donations of $50,000 to finance a series on criminal justice and a series of grants totaling about $80,000 to support coverage of Central Asia. In addition to these direction donations, OSI has provided dozens of grants to individual public radio stations like WNYC and Minnesota Public Radio, some of whom have produced programming used by NPR. A quick Google search by Media Matters immediately dug up two old NPR press releases from 2000 and 2001 proudly touting support from OSI for programming by affiliate stations, both documentaries that aired on All Things Considered .

As discussed on the video, Soros made his largest public donation to NPR last year, a $1.8 million award to hire 100 reporters to cover statehouses around the country. That donation was widely publicized at the time.

I'm sure Drudge even took a break from his THE RADIATION CLOUDS GOING TO DESTROY AMERICAN AND ALL OBAMA DOES IS FILL OUT HIS MARCH MADNESS BRACKET! hysteria to highlight this today...

[ekg]

I fucking love this crazy Jew!



Oh? The Republican rule about 72 hour notice? I guess that only applies to Democrat bills. 

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/17/dem-tweaks-house-republicans-ahead-of-npr-defunding-vote/

Fuck. Only in BizarroAmerika!

HA!
They're clearly talking to the Russians or Chinese

HAAAAHAA

I <3 him...

[Howey]

HA!
They're clearing talking to the Russians or Chinese

HAAAAHAA

I <3 him...

As much as I love Alan Grayson, he could have taken lessons from this guy. Smart, funny, and verrrrrrrrrrrrry liberal. Future Prez material.

Hah! Can you imagine the republican neocon take on that?

[Howey]

Here's some funny quotes from a blog, including some of Weiner's Wisdom:

"What a relief. I'm glad we got the economy back going. I'm so glad we secured our nuclear power plants. So glad Americans are going back to work," he said. "We discovered a target we can all agree on...it's Click And Clack."

Please come out and join Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Elmo and all the others at the demonstration this weekend at the Capitol Mall. Cookie will be bringing cookies, naturally, but also fresh fruit, and Oscar promises to fling some rancid banana peels he's been saving at any House Republican that walks through the crowd. And Big Bird was emphatic that, while being very mild-mannered normally, he is nonetheless eight feet tall and ready to "kick some ass."

How soon until the RNC runs the following ad?

Scary voice: Is the Democrat Party completely out of touch with America? Listen to what Representative Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York, said recently in Congress:

Weiner:The American people are not concerns with jobs or the economy or what's going on around the world.

Do you want jobs? Do you want economic growth? Send money to the RNC now!


Based on O'Keefe ethics, that's fine, right?

Under the measure, sponsored by Representative Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, stations could not buy programming from NPR or any other source using the $22 million the stations receive from the Treasury for that purpose. Local NPR stations would be able to use federal funds for operating expenses, but not content.

Remember this the next time Republicans claim to prefer local control to federal authority.

[uselesslegs]

If NPR discussed things like, oh say, the great wisdom of supply side economics, How Unions hurt the average work'in man, more of a need to have our presence in "worrisome" countries, the need for even lower taxes/extending tax breaks for the wealthy indefinitely,...things would have gone quite differently.

[ekg]

Here's some funny quotes from a blog, including some of Weiner's Wisdom:
 

How soon until the RNC runs the following ad?

Scary voice: Is the Democrat Party completely out of touch with America? Listen to what Representative Anthony Weiner, Democrat of New York, said recently in Congress:

Weiner:The American people are not concerns with jobs or the economy or what's going on around the world.

Do you want jobs? Do you want economic growth? Send money to the RNC now!


Based on O'Keefe ethics, that's fine, right?

we can laugh, but they did that very thing to Harry Reid..

remember when they were trying to stop the health care vote by adding stupid amendments to it(any amendment at that point would have killed the bill)? and one they tried was the no gov't funded Viagra for pedophiles.. Reid of course voted against it because it was a ploy to stop the healthcare vote and everyone knew it.. well, Sharon Angle used it for an add against Reid..




so yes, I expect that ad to come out.. because the "O'keefe way" is about the only way the GOP works now.. since not a single member of the party, citizen or congressman has come out against those kinds of tactics..why wouldn't they keep using them?

[uselesslegs]

I wonder if it would be considered an encroachment on Freedom of Speech, if we did like they do in Britain.

If you say it, in a public forum, and it's not true...you can be taken to court and potentially sued, not only for a retraction, but financially.

[Howey]

I wonder if it would be considered an encroachment on Freedom of Speech, if we did like they do in Britain.

If you say it, in a public forum, and it's not true...you can be taken to court and potentially sued, not only for a retraction, but financially.

I think you've hit upon the perfect solution.

Just look at all the jobs created building those bazillion new prisons to house all the Republicans!

Of course...The jobs would only be "temporary" jobs (like, say, building high speed rail) since it only takes three years to build a prison and according to some people that's just not good enough.

The same some people who fail to realize it takes people to run and maintain the prison and/or high speed rail.