Mitt Romney on The Corporate People

In an unscripted move that resembles that of Ronald Reagan's dramatic "I paid for this microphone" moment in a 1980 New Hampshire debate, Romney declared he would refuse to raise taxes. This led to the following quick exchange:

    Liberal Protestor: "Tax corporations!"
    Romney: "Corporations are people, my friend."

The governor then turned to the audience and asked if they wanted taxes raised, which was greeted with a loud chorus of boos.

Mitt Romney

Before the afternoon was out, NPR was jumping on Romney, running this story from reporter Frank James headlined:

    Romney's 'Corporations Are People' A Gift To Political Foes

The story said that Romney, whom all the world knows made his success in the business world:

gave his Democratic opponents an early Christmas gift by uttering those words. He just made their goal of pushing the narrative that he is a tool of corporate America much easier by providing them with that handy piece of video…. Liz Halloran of NPR was in the crowd at the state fair for Romney's "corporations are people" line. "Not his best moment," she tells us.

The story also said:

These words could haunt him all the way to Election Day if he becomes the nominee. They could follow him the way President Obama's line about rural folks clinging to their guns and religion tagged along behind the Democrat.

NPR's Corporate Funding

On November 6, 2003, NPR accepted a grant of over $225 million from the estate of the late Joan Kroc. Kroc, of course, was famous as the wife of Ray Kroc -- the founder of McDonald's. Joan Kroc had no independent wealth of her own. History records that she met her future (and already married) husband when he walked into a bar where she was the piano player. They hit it off and the rest, as they might say, was history.

The point, of course, is that Joan Kroc's ability to leave behind over $235 million for NPR is precisely because of the corporation formally known as McDonald's Corporation. And sure enough, just as Mitt Romney said, McDonald's turns out to be filled with people. Specifically:

• McDonald's employs 1.7 million people with private sector jobs
• McDonald's has 33,000 outlets in 118 countries where those 1.7 million people have those jobs
• McDonald's, as described here by the company, provides health care for its employees.

NPR Funding

What does this illustrate?  That quite aside from the issue of government funding, NPR itself exists as the result of corporate funding. Says NPR of how it gets its money:

NPR's revenue comes primarily from fees paid by

• our member stations, 
• contributions from corporate sponsors, 
• institutional foundation grants, 
• gifts from major donors, 
• and fees paid by users of The Public Radio Satellite System.

And sources like foundations -- the Ford Foundation, for example -- got their money from the success of corporations. Not Ford Motor Company -- no money for Edsel Ford to set up the Ford Foundation.

With 25 million now unemployed precisely as Romney said, NPR, literally on the air by its own admission because it takes corporate money, is now insisting corporations and the jobs they create will be an issue in this campaign.  Giving Romney and any other conservative out there a priceless opportunity to make Obamanomics the central issue of 2012.

If NPR has such a dim view of corporations, will they stop taking corporate money?

Libertarian Response

As an outsider looking in, on the duopoly that is the democrat / republican trick, I have clarity that most do not have, i.e. the ability to see the plans within plans and the motives of the lesser men that make them.  Not to call the author out or anything, but apparently he is trying to bring Mitt Romney back into the spotlight, given Gov. Perry's usurping of the supposed republican lead, contrary to what the Ron Paul campaign would suggest.

I think everyone is in agreement that a Ron Paul administration would be a bad thing, FOR BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS. And, it would definitely spell the end of federal funding of NPR to begin with.

However, given that the media and the duopoly butter each others' bread, it is no wonder they ignore the people, i.e. tea party, Ron Paul supporters, libertarian supporters.  This "minority" is now a majority of the actual voters.

Mitt Romney of course would be a 3rd generation GW Bush administration, right behind GW and Obama himself.  I know the duopoly tries to make GW and Obama look like different people, what with him being half black and all, but all 3 are corporatist and not card carrying members of neither the democrat nor republican party.

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House Cuts NPR Funding

In 2008 NPR programming was heard by 10% of adults on a weekly basis and showed a 10-year growth rate in audience share of 45%.

The House voted to strip National Public Radio's federal funding, a move that followed the release of a "sting" video showing an NPR executive criticizing the Republican Party and saying the station didn't need millions of dollars in federal money.

Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

The measure passed 228-192, along party lines, after a vigorous debate over the merits of public radio and the need for the government to reduce spending in the wake of a $1.3 trillion debt and $14 trillion deficit that threaten the economy.

"The object of this bill is to get NPR out of the taxpayer's pocket," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. "It is time for us to be good stewards and save the money of the American taxpayer."

NPR receives about $90 million in federal funding annually, but the Congressional Budget Office calculated that the net savings from defunding the network would be zero.  Democrats seized on the CBO analysis and ridiculed the GOP for trying to silence popular public radio programs like "Prairie Home Companion" and "Car Talk" for their own political reasons.

"This legislation is no more than an ideological attack on public radio masquerading as a fiscal issue," said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.

Democrats said the bill would hurt local public radio stations by preventing them from using federal funding to purchase NPR programing or pay their dues to NPR.

Republicans have long been critical of public broadcasting and accuse it of having a liberal slant. Many felt their suspicions were confirmed when an undercover video produced by conservative activist James O'Keefe showed NPR executive Ron Schiller calling the Tea Party movement "scary" and "racist" at a meeting with a potential donor who claimed to be from a Muslim organization that supports Sharia law. Both the donor and organization were fake, part of a sting operation set up by O'Keefe.  Critics claim O'Keefe edited the video in a way that misrepresented what Schiller was saying.

Both Schiller and NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation) were forced out following the video's release.

"I think the image that we have seen on the videos tells us something about the internal culture of NPR," said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

Earlier this year, Republicans were angered by NPR's firing of commentator Juan Williams after he said he feared boarding an airplane with someone dressed in Muslim garb.

Republicans are also highly critical of the salaries of public broadcasting executives and used that to bolster their argument that taxpayer funds for their operations should be cut.

Protestors Say to End NPR Federal Funding

One former NPR president earned $1.2 million while the president of the Public Broadcasting System earned $632,000.

On Tuesday, the House voted to cut $50 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, from which NPR draws some funding.

Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., told The Washington Examiner on Thursday that Democrats who control the Senate would block House attempts to cut NPR and PBS funding. President Obama said Thursday he opposes the funding cut.

Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said voters could have the final say if defunding becomes law.

Republicans, he said, "are going to run into a razor blade-sharp reaction from the American public as they find that in place of 'Car Talk' and 'All Things Considered,' there is radio silence."

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Bogus News Reports: Wisconsin

False / Fraud News Reports: Wisconsin

You read the headline on Yahoo News:

Wisconsin voters express buyer’s remorse over Gov. Scott Walker

and think to yourself that the sky is falling and that somehow what Governor Scott Walker is doing is wrong. What you don't know is that the reporters writing the drivel are bought and paid for, and the newspaper itself is a democrat supported branch. They are not going to tell you that public unions have a benefits package that's completely free of charge, bloated and completely out of sync with the private sector. No private sector employee, these days, receives a free medical, dental and retirement package, fully paid.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

So, why the deception by the news media? They want the Wisconsin governor out of there. The teacher's union and public unions want their cake at tax payer's expense. While private company employees have to pay for their own healthcare, retirement, dental, insurance out of their own pocket 75% - 100%, depending on employer.  State workers are getting a free ride. Also, state workers now have higher salaries than private sector employees, in quite a few cross-compatible markets.

If you're reading this and think that state workers SHOULD get higher salaries, then you're not understanding what a public job is.

• It is paid for by taxpayers and therefor should be minimized at all possibilities
• any tax payer paid job is a burden on the working class
• any extra benefits that a public worker receives is an additional burden on a tax payer
• any raise or new hire is an additional burden on tax payers
• public jobs do not generate any money: i.e. they do not create money, any an all money they gain is from tax payers
• any political position is a burden on tax payers
• any agency is a burden on tax payers
• police are also state workers, so the creation of extra branches within the police are a burden on tax payers: very often new departments within the police department are created without showing any need for them, nor showing how they even affect the crime rate.  They are just an extra burden on tax payers, for no other reason than to get shiny new riot gear or military grade equipment.  When a town, with a population of 250,000 creates a drug task force, without any showing of a drug epidemic in that small village, the police department is wasting public funds, and someone is getting rich in the process.

There has been no scientific polling done in the state of Wisconsin, yet the news is calling for the governors head.  The average tax payer in Wisconsin has NOT been asked if they agree with the governor.  I am sure if the governor sat down and explained how money was being taken out of their $13.00 / hr paycheck, they would ALL side with him.

Gov. Scott Walker (courtesy LA Times)

Also, state budgets and state funding is done by the state, not the federal government.  No national poll or national opinion has anything to do with that state's internal affairs.  The news is being used outside of the state to try and put political pressure on this man.  He is trying to get out of a very deep and dark financial hole.  Yet, people think that the cash cow, the Wisconsin tax payer, is some how going to come up with more money and just keep throwing money in the hole.

When the governor is faced with a hole and the state budget is leaking, you need to fix the leak.  His proposals are not even enough to fix the leaks they have.  Yet, the news media is being used to put pressure on him to stop doing what he is trying to do, i.e. fix a little of the problem.

What is really wrong with the picture is that the governor is trying to SAVE state worker's jobs.  It seems that the members would rather fire a huge portion of their workers than take a small pay cut or ACTUALLY contribute to their own benefits.

Walker says he's actually working to preserve jobs for state workers. By ending collective bargaining and forcing state workers to contribute 5.8% of their salaries toward pensions and doubling their health insurance contribution, his administration would save 1,500 jobs between now and July, Walker says.

Seems kind of pointless to argue with those who are not intellectually honest about a situation.  I understand politics, but when you present something  as direct as the above, there's no politics behind it.  Those are crisp, shiny numbers.  As the saying goes, numbers don't lie.

I say fire the workers and let them keep their salary.  The firing of 1,500 employees would massively save on the budget.  The real numbers are probably way above 1,500 to save the budget.  I am just guessing though.  I read somewhere that it's actually 5,500 jobs that would balance the budget.  It does include teachers, so people might be a little frustrated at firing that many people.

Libertarian View

Of course, this is just another republican governor being slammed by a democrat supported newspaper.  There is frankly, nothing to see here and nothing is going to change.  If libertarians were in charge we wouldn't be in this position at all.  There would be no massive spending and massive budgets.  The government would be tiny and the tax burden on state tax payers would be minuscule.  This very same Governor Scott Walker, usurped the Libertarian originated "tea party" and crowned himself a tea party conservative.

At the end of the day, Governor Scott Walker, if allowed to do what he wants to, will probably come close to balancing the budget, however, in the wake of it the unions for state workers will be destroyed.  As a Libertarian, I don't know if that is a good or bad thing, but not allowing any collective bargaining in the current system is in fact a bad thing.  Under a Libertarian system it wouldn't be bad to not have collective bargaining, because Libertarians aren't out to destroy the American family, just the opposite, we're here to rebuild it.

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This American Lifestyle: October Questions

Things That Make Us Americans

These are questions I present to you that if people answered in the positive, I feel, our country would be back on track. If you answer no to all of the, then maybe you need to stop and reevaluate your life and how you're living it. Sounds judgmental I know, but I think it's high time we stop avoiding issues and high time we take responsibility for the things we absolutely can change. You need to be confronted. You need to be told you are not right. You need to be told it IS your fault.



Here are the questions. Enjoy!

• When was the last time you cuddled on the couch with your wife/husband? Without the T.V. being on.

• When was the last time you baked a pie for your neighbor?

• When was the last time you played catch with your kids?

• When was the last time you went to church with the whole family?

• When was the last time you washed your car with your kids?

• When was the last time you removed the rust, painted that messy wall, fixed the sprinklers or did chores around the house?

• When was the last time you played board games with your kids?

• When was the last time you just sat and gossiped with your neighbors on the front porch?

• When was the last time you saw a sunset with your wife / husband?

• When was the last time you saw an intellectually stimulating independent film?

• When was the last time you read to your children?

• When was the last time you had a block party with all the neighbors?

• When was the last time you went fishing with your kids?

• When was the last time you voted for an independent candidate i.e. not republican nor democrat?

• When was the last time you read the newspaper cover to cover?

• When was the last time you invited those poor neighbors over for dinner? You know the one's down the street that just lost their job?

• When was the last time you went to a school board meeting?

• When was the last time you looked over all your kid's text books?

• When was the last time you gave your kid a treat that didn't have sugar in it?

• When was the last time you told your kid "no" for their own good and not just because you were annoyed?

• When was the last time you went to a city / power company / water company meeting? Researched what was going on and stood up and confronted them about raising your bills?

• When was the last time you wrote your congressman / senator / president?

• When was the last time you wrote your state congressman / senator / governor?

• When was the last time you confronted your mayor about a financial issue?

• When was the last time you confronted your local sherriff about unjust laws implimented just to make the city / police money?

• When was the last time you actually looked at the real numbers of deaths by: DUI in your city / state; murder in your city / state; deaths by lack of seat belts; deaths or murder by drugs like marijuana; deaths by terrorists; deaths by supposed flu? [ I encourage you to go find the real numbers. You'll be surprised how low they are, yet millions or billions are being spent on them or people are being charged for them for no reason. ]

• When was the last time you deposited money into your regular, plain old, savings account?

• When was the last time you compared your interest rate being paid to your savings account to other banks and credit unions?

• When was the last time you compared the fees being charged to you by your bank to other banks and credit unions?

• When was the last time you stopped and calculated how much you spend on food / clothing / stuff each week / month / year?

• When was the last time you bought something you did not need? i.e. that wasn't real food: breakfast / lunch / dinner; or real clothes: for summer / winter; or real bills: rent / basic car note [yes one single car, not 2 or 3] / power / water / trash / basic telephone [yes just basic, not cell phone]

• When was the last time your child bought something he / she did not need? i.e. your child shouldn't be buying anything, you should provide them with the basic necessities, anything else should go into their college fund, not toys, video games etc.

• When was the last time you were behind on bills, yet: ate out or went shopping or bought something rather expensive?

• When was the last time you went on patrol for your neighborhood watch?
  

These questions are mainly to make you stop and think. Think about your habits you've been getting into. Think about the example you set your children. Think about how you neglect your neighbors. Think about how you neglect your spouse or children. Our country really was a set of villages and we were all involved with each other and were interested in each other. Now we don't have the time for anything.

We are slowly being dumbed down and our children are being dumbed down by what they learn in school, see on t.v. and see in the movies. Yes, your child isn't going to turn out as smart as you. You might think because they play with video games and computers that they are far smarter than you, but those are simply different tools. Your children will turn out dumb. The system wants them as dumb as possible. The system wants them to do drugs, regardless of what you hear. Think about it for a second. When you hear a report about drugs on t.v. do they tell you all about the drug so you can know where / when / how to buy it?

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