I listened to National Public Radio's Morning Edition this morning as I do every morning. What a superb news organization! The news stories presented are in depth, thoughtful and thorough. I'm convinced there isn't a finer news organization working today.
However.......
Today and all this week there hasn't been a single story about the most important new event since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. I'm referring, of course, to the 9/11 Anniversary attack on the Consulate in Benghazi, Libya including the rape, torture and murder of our Libyan Ambassador AND the subsequent bizarre cover-up of events by a White House in the middle of an Election Year Crisis.
This is a news worthy story. In fact there isn't a single story that even approaches this in terms of importance. Yet there is no coverage. No one on NPR is asking the important questions. No one is asking any questions.
This isn't a news blackout. The New York Post ran the story on their front page. There have been stories on CBS and ABC News. And FOX NEWS has it properly positioned as the single most important story of this decade.
FOX NEWS ratings are going through the roof. The public recognizes the importance of this story. When the story is completely ignored by MSNBC and only minimally covered by CNN, the audience goes where they must to learn the facts.
Of course FOX NEWS is presenting this story with a distinctly Republican spin. That makes the FAILURE of NPR and other major news organizations even more disturbing. The public needs an objective, dispassionate and in depth look at the facts and the White House Spin. NPR could do that. But someone, somewhere high up in their news organization is blockading the story. WHY?
The cheerleader news groups (MSNBC and FOX) do their loyal viewers no good by eliminating news unfavorable to their candidates. Better they should face the bad news head on and over it properly. But the other news outlets who claim to be unbiased really betray us all by covering up a story that they will eventually be forced to cover. All they do is lose credibility by being late to the scene.
It is simply stunning to me that a single Democrat would vote for the convoluted, wasteful, bloated, complex and pork laden Health Care Restructuring Bill that is now in the early stages of reconciliation.
It is stunning to me that a President as bright and seemingly idealistic as President Obama would ever consider signing it.
This bill is a hopeless mess of bureaucracy that institutionalizes into law Sarah Palin's notorious death panels, fails to live up to President Obama's promise of being able to keep your current insurance, raises taxes through the roof and insures drastically higher insurance costs.
Worst, it will destroy the one part of Medicare that works so exceedingly well, the Advantage Program, that is a lifeline to many senior citizens.
It is literally a damned mess.
If we, as liberals, have any principles left, we cannot endorse a program that pays off the drug companies, actually prohibits or completely eliminates competition, rewards the insurance companies, taxes current health care programs, hides new taxes under every rock (most of which will hit low wage earners hardest), and fails to cover many Americans.
What the hell are the Democrats in Washington drinking. Virtually every American KNOWS this bill is a disaster that will completely destroy our current health care system, hurt the economy, hurt Medicare, raise prices, and ultimately ration health care. How is it that there are almost no Democrats in Washington that are as aware of the facts as the voters?
I am reminded of all this as I watch Senator Ben Nelson fight for his political life. Things are so bad in Nebraska that Nelson is going to be forced to air a political ad during the Nebraska-Arizona Holiday Bowl Game and, literally, beg his constituents for forgiveness.
I'm sorry to be the one to tell you Senator, but it ain't gonna work. When you sell out your principles for this load of crap, you will be punished by the voters who used to look up to you and used to respect you.
Nelson is just the first. You cannot vote for a bill so horrifically bad that every voter on earth knows is a failure and not pay the ultimate price.
