Obama Signs Patriot Act Extension: MSM and the Left Silent

President Obama signed the renewal of the Patriot Act in the quiet of a slow-news Saturday–the Act was set to expire Sunday, February 28–as reported by The Hill.

Photo Credit: AP Photo

The reauthorization did NOT include any reforms to the current Patriot Act–an odd display of agreement and submission to Bush-era policy–even though the Democrats had the numbers to reform the Act. The continuance of the current Patriot Act signals that Democrats are fearful of further controversary in light of American’s distrust and poor approval ratings of the Democrat-controlled Congress. From the Hill:

The House approved the bill 315-97 on Thursday, a day after the extension passed the Senate.

The provisions, including roving wiretaps, records access and tracking terror suspects not affiliated with any group, were set to expire on Sunday. Democrats opposing the extension were unable to add desired civil-liberties protections.

The Patriot Act was first passed by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as a defense mechanism against terrorists.

The House and the Senate, behind the scenes of the healthcare fervor, quietly passed this bill with little oppostion and outrage. Democrats could have modified the Patriot Act, but didn’t.

(more…)

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Tags: ACLU, Barack Obama, civil liberties, far-left, George W. Bush
Posted Feb 28th 2010 at 8:34 am in Congress, Defense, News, Obama, Politics | 81602123 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/02/28/obama-signs-patriot-act-extension-msm-and-the-left-silent/Obama+Signs+Patriot+Act+Extension%3A+MSM+and+the+Left+Silent2010-02-28+16%3A34%3A59SusanAnne+++Hiller

Podcast: Mark Steyn and John Yoo and Rob Long and Andrew Breitbart, Oh My

Rob Long and Mark Steyn are joined by guests law professor John C. Yoo and Breitbart.com’s Andrew Breitbart. Topics covered include Miranda rights for terrorists, a report from the Tea Party convention, the joyless MSM, Al-Qaeda’s potential new bomb making strategy that may be particularly problematic for certain parts of Los Angeles, and some unconventional Super Bowl picks.

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Tags: Al Qaeda, John Yoo, Mark Steyn, Miranda rights for terrorists, MSM
Posted Feb 8th 2010 at 5:51 pm in News | 7231429 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/02/08/podcast-mark-steyn-and-john-yoo-and-rob-long-and-andrew-breitbart-oh-my/Podcast%3A+Mark+Steyn+and+John+Yoo+and+Rob+Long+and+Andrew+Breitbart%2C+Oh+My+2010-02-09+01%3A51%3A42Publius

Once Again, James O’Keefe Strips Away the MSM’s Mask of Neutrality, Revealing the Bias Below

This past week marked one of the strangest periods of my life.  And yes, the arrest of my friend and colleague James O’Keefe had a lot to do with it. James found himself, once again, in the middle of a raging media battle all because he wanted to shine a little light on public corruption.  Let me tell you something, he certainly rang in the New Year with this one.  As James said:

My goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions…

Target: Mary Landrieu. Why: she’s been taking legal “bribes” in the form of the “Louisiana Purchase” in exchange for her vote on Sen. Harry Reid’s healthcare bill, and ignoring phone calls from her outraged constituents.  Bold, dirty, rude politics at its finest.

Putting his head down, and plowing ahead, James was off to New Orleans working on a new project.  A project that would hopefully raise questions, demand answers, and spur people to action. (more…)

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Tags: bias, corruption, Galileo, Harry Reid, health care
Posted Feb 2nd 2010 at 7:12 am in ACORN, Featured Story, Justice/Legal | 68294454 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/hgiles/2010/02/02/once-again-james-okeefe-strips-away-the-msms-mask-of-neutrality-revealing-the-bias-below/Once+Again%2C+James+O%27Keefe+Strips+Away+the+MSM%27s+Mask+of+Neutrality%2C+Revealing+the+Bias+Below2010-02-02+15%3A12%3A12Hannah+Giles

Big Government Media: CRA For News Organizations?

Reading this account of discussions at the “U.S. Federal Trade Commission workshop on the future of journalism in the Internet age,” it appears “legacy media” might just slash and burn the First Amendment, shredding it to pieces on their journey to statist organ status.

In their desperation to stay alive, as newspapers and other legacy channels of distribution collapse, surviving publishers will maneuver themselves for prime suckling positions on the public teat. The keepers of the teat appear willing to enable the feast.

Federal and state officials this year have explored how the government might play a role in helping ease the financial travails of news organizations. Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D., Md.) this spring proposed a bill that would allow newspapers to operate as tax-exempt institutions. [MORE - WSJ]

“Public” money comes with a labyrinth of exponentially multiplying political strings attached. Just ask GM, AIG, and BofA.

(more…)

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Tags: Community Reinvestment Act, CRA, Legacy Media, MSM, News Organizations
Posted Dec 4th 2009 at 11:59 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 40258142 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/amarcus/2009/12/04/big-government-media-cra-for-news-organizations/Big+Government+Media%3A+CRA+For+News+Organizations%3F2009-12-04+18%3A59%3A14Andrew++Marcus

Unpacking the Job Numbers, Roadblocks for Bernanke, and the Future of Mainstream Media

Tons of news in the market today as we unpack the surprisingly good job numbers, the Senate holds placed on Ben Bernanke’s renomination, and the massive Comcast-NBC deal and what it says about the new realities for mass media. Today’s the 99th edition of Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

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Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed

You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

On Bernanke: Vitter, DeMint, Corker, Bunning
FTC on Media Bailout
New Realities for Mass Media
The FTC’s Shallow Dive into Journalism’s Future
The Real Reason Comcast is Buying NBC
Mainstream Media’s Broken Business Model

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Tags: Ben Bernanke, Comcast, Federal Reserve, FTC, GE
Posted Dec 4th 2009 at 8:58 am in Coffee and Markets, Economics, Media Criticism | 4116217 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/newledger/2009/12/04/unpacking-the-job-numbers-roadblocks-for-bernanke-and-the-future-of-mainstream-media/Unpacking+the+Job+Numbers%2C+Roadblocks+for+Bernanke%2C+and+the+Future+of+Mainstream+Media2009-12-04+15%3A58%3A11The+New+Ledger

Objective Journalism: Michael Gerson Defends a Profession That No Longer Exists

Yesterday, Washington Post columnist and former Bush II speechwriter Michael Gerson played a long slow violin solo over the death of the mainstream media. There’s nothing new in his piece. Dazed with panic as the circle of financial ruin closes in, we’ve heard this song many times before from our ink-stained dinosaurs. And true to form, Gerson can’t break the mold. It’s all there, the rose-colored glasses, denial, and a heaping helping of rationalization.

Once again, from that familiar MSM perch where one can look down their nose at the great unwashed who just don’t understand the magnificent tradition of journalism they’re about to lose, Gerson blames We the People for no longer wanting  to pay for our news and choosing partisan sources “that reinforce and exaggerate … political predispositions.”

How absurd. (more…)

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Tags: ABC, ACORN, Big Media, CBS, Clarence Thomas
Posted Nov 28th 2009 at 11:29 am in Featured Story, Media Criticism | 38002148 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/28/objective-journalism-michael-gerson-defends-a-profession-that-no-longer-exists/Objective+Journalism%3A+Michael+Gerson+Defends+a+Profession+That+No+Longer+Exists2009-11-28+18%3A29%3A33John+Nolte

Is CNN the New SNL?

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Tags: acorn scandal, Barack Obama, CNN, James Taranto, maura flynn
Posted Oct 7th 2009 at 6:15 am in Culture, News, Politics | 1384238 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mflynn/2009/10/07/is-cnn-the-new-snl/Is+CNN+the+New+SNL%3F2009-10-07+13%3A15%3A13Maura+Flynn

Astroturfing the NEA: Winner & Associates in on the Scheme?

Color me unsurprised to find out that an employee of Winner and Associates — who you’ll recall we revealed were behind the astroturfing campaign to discredit Sarah Palin — was in on the National Endowment for the Arts phone call outlining how the Obama Administration would use that government organization to push its agenda.

From a list of those participating in the conference call:

After we uncovered the link between Winner and Associates, David Axelrod, and the smear campaign against Sarah Palin designed to look as though it was coming from the “grass roots” we begged — literally begged! — the MSM to look into whether the large campaign consulting firm was subcontracted by David Axelrod for work on the Obama campaign. As I noted at the time, I’m just a blogger and don’t really have the resources necessary to conduct a thorough investigation.

As Ace notes here, once Ethan Winner confessed that he was behind the video, the MSM concluded that there was nothing more to investigate. This despite the fact that I showed that at least two other Winner and Associate employees — a subdivision of the largest advertising agency in the world — participated in the astroturfing campaign during normal business hours.

Three employees, one of them the President of the subdivision and another a VP, claimed they were doing this on their own time — which we showed could not have been the case — and on their own dime. On their own dime? Maybe, but it still seems unlikely.

And now we have another Winner and Associates guy at the NEA conference call? He’s also listed as one of the founders of Generation Obama. (more…)

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Tags: astroturfing, Bim Ayandele, Buffy Wicks, David Axelrod, Ethan Winner
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 12:03 pm in Culture, News, Politics | 672262 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/rshackleford/2009/09/22/astroturfing-the-nea-winner-associates-in-on-the-scheme/Astroturfing+the+NEA%3A+Winner+%26+Associates+in+on+the+Scheme%3F2009-09-22+19%3A03%3A04Rusty+Shackleford