FOX NEWS LIES BUT SO DO THE OTHERS

As the war of words between Fox News and the Obama Administration continues, one thing becomes clear -- assertions that Fox News gives slanted and biased, even dishonest coverage, applies even to the way Fox News defends itself.

Fox has been asserting that since the Obama Administration has begun their attacks their ratings are up. It's an attempt by Fox News to imply that Obama's attacks against them for bias and dishonest reporting has backfired and has driven more people to watching Fox News. This matters because it goes to the heart of the of the problem. After all if Fox News cant or wont tell the truth about itself, why would anyone think they would tell the truth about the issues they report on?

The fact is Fox ratings were up last week but not as a result of Obama's firing back at the network. The evidence is they were up because of the balloon boy incident, and it's aftermath, carried live by Fox as it was by the other cable networks and attracted a large audience on all of the cable networks and is still a story that is attracting a lot of interest.

Fox has media people who know this. But it didn't stop the News division from trying to claim that it was Obama's attacks against the network that increased their ratings.

Brit Hume, who has his good moments and bad moments tried to come to Fox's defense by asking if the other cable networks felt good about getting "a pat on the head" from the Administration. His implication is that the press' role should be adversarial in their coverage of politics and that being embraced by the Obama Administration is nothing to be proud of. But it begs the question. Distorting the news and using a purported news organization to promote right wing propaganda is nothing to be proud of either. Media Matters reported that over a four day stretch from August 24th-28th Fox News aired 22 news clips opposing health care reform and none supporting it.

And it was laughably obvious that during the Bush administration and Republican control of congress Fox News did every bit as much to deserve "a pat on the head" from Bush and the Republicans as Hume is accusing the other two cable networks of doing for Obama. Fox was about as adversarial over Iraq, Bush's failures in the 911 attacks and the economy as a trained seal is adversarial to a fish.

The real problem though, is with the media as a whole. Rick Sanchez, a CNN anchor has been blistered for airing racist Rush Limbaugh quotes that turned out to be false. And he deserves to be blistered. Sanchez is one of the sloppiest journalists on the air and his pandering to what he sees as a "young audience", probably college students who can watch his show at 3 p.m. is almost embarrassing as he keeps using the word " cool" in almost everything he says.

CNN continues a brand of journalism where their anchors just cant stop inserting their own opinions into the news, wanting to be the news as much as reporting it and their opinions are invariably wrong about everything all the time. And no one can deny that MSNBC went from being in Bush's pocket to Obama's pocket as soon as the political winds changed, though to be fair, Keith Olbermann was the lone anti-Bush voice on MSNBC when it wasn't popular be to anti-Bush.

Obama's war with Fox News is a war worth fighting,since they are hardly an unbiased objective news organization and their slogan of fair and balanced is simply a lie. But the two other cable news networks aren't much better when it comes to objectivity . The difference is, especially in CNN's case, its not an ideology that they are constantly promoting, its themselves.

THE AFGHAN WOMAN WHO DIDNT WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

While controversy continues to swirl around the selection of President Obama as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, in Afghanistan, the next momentous decision facing Obama, the news is more about the Afghan woman who was nominated for the prize but didn't win.

Her name is Dr. Sima Samar and unlike the criticism of the prize being given to Obama for having not yet accomplished anything, Dr. Samar does have a long list of accomplishments and many in Afghanistan felt she should have been given the prize.

P.J. Tobia,a journalist writing from inside Afghanistan describes her as "incredibly courageous" .

Dr. Samar has spent most of the last ten years treating women and young girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan at considerable risk to her own life. She is now the chairwoman of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and is the first woman to have received a medical degree from Kabul University which she obtained in 1982.

Dr. Samar fled Afghanistan during the war with the Soviet Union and returned in 2002 where she became, according to writer P.J. Tobia, Minister of Women's Affairs in the interim Karzai government.

Dr. Samar prominently and publicly opposed the Burka saying that it was a principle cause of bone disease in Afghan women because of it preventing sunlight on the skin. In a country that saw the Taliban throw acid in the faces of 8 year old girls simply for going to school in violation of Taliban law, simply being a woman and being a doctor put Dr. Samar at risk. But to be so outspoken on her opposition to the Burka, Dr. Samar knew that she was risking her life on a daily basis and yet continued with her work.

According to Tobia, Samar losing the prize to Obama was bigger news in Afghanistan than Obama winning it. And a bigger disappointment. And it takes on even greater poignancy and irony since the future of Afghanistan and the security threat represented by the Taliban is going to be decided by Obama in the very near future.

GRAYSON'S ANATOMY LESSON

Rep.Alan Grayson gave everyone a needed anatomy lesson, on the state of health care, on Republican obstructionism and Democratic weakness.

Grayson's anatomy lesson to the Democrats reminded them of what it means to have what Madeline Albright once called "cojones" and what happens when you're willing to use them. He also pointed out another part of their anatomy that many Democrats seem to have forgotten about for the last 15 years - their backbone.

Republicans made a debate over the public option because they were able to intimidate Obama and the Democrats and for a short time were winning the PR war because Democrats didn't know how to fight back. Or wouldn't.

Republicans and their allies lied about almost everything relating to the health care bill and Obama had no answer.

Obama himself opened the door to the Republican obstructionism by making bi-partisanship a goal, something that politically was stupid beyond belief.And the Republicans took full advantage.

The public option should have been a no brainer from the start. In poll after poll 65-72% of Americans said they wanted it. And for good reason. The public option, as Max Baucus pointed out as he voted against it, would accomplish everything it was intended to do from insuring uninsured Americans to creating competition that will force down premiums.

While Republicans whined about Grayson using language that was over the top, the fact is that is what good teachers sometimes do to get the attention of inattentive or unruly students. And it obviously got the attention of Republicans, Democrats and the inattentive news media. And what Grayson said wasn't far from the truth in terms of actual consequences.

For the 44,000 Americans who die every year because they don't have health insurance, the Republican obstructionism would be the kind of death sentence Republicans had dishonestly been accusing Democrats of implementing with the public option.

What Grayson gave the country and the news media was a much needed anatomy lesson in how to govern, how to make a point, how to stand up for what you believe is right, how to fight for it, and how to handle bullies. Which is smack them back and they stop. A teachable moment and anatomy lesson for everyone, not the least of which, hopefully was President Obama.

DEATH PANELS DO EXIST: THEY'RE CALLED INSURANCE COMPANIES

As President Obama likes to pepper his speeches for health care reform by giving first person stories of people who have had tragic experiences with the tyranny and injustice of insurance companies.

Probably the most tragic is the case of Nataline Sarkisyan.

In 2007 Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17 year old girl with leukemia whose family had health insurance through Cigna was told by her doctors she needed a liver transplant. Cigna refused to pay saying that the operation, one of the most expensive that can be done, was "experimental".
The assertion was absurd since liver transplants have become common, though still very expensive, but as a result of Cigna refusing to pay for the transplant Nataline was taken off the donor list.

Her family and her doctor appealed and for a second time Cigna insurance refused to pay for the operation.

When the California Nurse's Association found out, they staged a massive demonstration in front of Cigna Headquarters in Glendale California and urged their membership to call Cigna to protest.

Under the glare of the TV cameras and protesting nurses, a public relations nightmare for Cigna, they reversed themselves and said they would pay for the operation.

Two hours after Cigna's reversal Nataline Sarkisyan died.

This isn't an isolated incident but it is one of the most tragic. So much so that the Sarkisyan's lawyer, Mark Garragos had considered petitioning the Los Angeles DA to file murder charges against Cigna.

And if you think this cant happen in your family, remember, no one does.

Death panels do exist. They're called insurance companies. And most people never realize the power they have over them and the injustice they are capable of until it;'s too late.

Healthcare reform with a public option is best the way to make sure there are no more Natalines. And the best way to make sure there is a public option is for people to call their member of congress 202-224-3121. It's not a recording its a real live operator at the Capitol switchboard who will connect you with the office of any member of congress you choose.With Obama wavering from one day to the next,it is congress who will forge the bill that Obama will sign. And a reform bill with a public option will put an end to the real death panels

WILL MICHELLE OBAMA TALK ABOUT HER $300,000 A YEAR HOSPITAL PR JOB AS AN EXAMPLE OF THE NEED FOR REFORM?

As the health care debate rages there is one person whose persistent silence has become conspicuous by her absence. Michelle Obama. Until last weekend.

This isn't about a First Lady going out into the country and using her good will and a smile to further her husbands agenda. At one time before Obama ran for President, her biography lists her as having been a hospital administrator.

As such one would think she'd have something to say and contribute to the debate and it might be considered curious that she has had little to nothing to say and has been kept conspiculously silent during the debate.

That is, conspiculously silent except to the mainstream press who, before her weekend speech, hasnt seemed to notice.

But the answer to why we havent heard from Michelle Obama might lie in the administration trying to keep her old job at the non-profit University of Chicago Hospital out of the limelight because it is clear her job was part of the problem regarding health care costs and not part oft the solution.

Michelle Obama having been part of the problem could actually be something the administration could use to their advantage if they were willing to be honest about it, but asking most politicians to be honest is like asking a dog not to bark and Obama might view it as politically embarrassing.

Probably because Michelle Obama's job as a "hospital administrator" had nothing to with medicine and nothing to do with administrating. It was all about PR.

Her official title was Vice President for External and Community Affairs. But that title and that job was so unnecessary, that , it not only didnt exist before she got it, when she resigned the position to campaign with her husband, no one was ever rehired to fill it, and the job itself was terminated after she resigned..

The circumstantial evidence is that it was only Barrack Obama's election to the US senate in 2005 that caused the creation of the position specifially for Michelle Obama.

Michelle Obama had been working for the University of Chicago Hospital at a salary of $121,000 a year. But in 2005 after Barrack Obama was elected U.S. senator, Michelle got the promotion to Vice President of External Community Affairs, -- a position that didn't previously exist -- and a $200,000 a year raise -- to $316,000.

John Easton, a spokesman for the University of Chicago Hospital told the Chicago Tribune that Mrs. Obama was one of 16 other vice presidents at the non-profit hospital making a similar salary which was approximately $100,000 a year more than an anesthesiologist made.

And salaries like that, especially for a postiion as unneccesary as Michelle Obama's helps to drive up the cost of medical care which in turn drives up the cost of insurance premiums people pay.

This is the kind of waste Obama is talking about eliminating and that argument and need for reform would be made pretty powerfully if Michelle Obama herself helped make it.

Would it be embarrassing? Momentarily. But it would also be honest. And the honesty and sincerity and the conviction behind the need for reform would trump the embarrassment in the long run. People respect honesty and respond to it. .

Michelle Obama standing up for the good of the country and making the case about hospital waste from personal experience and admitting she was part of the problem, would have a powerful effect.

It's obvious that the President has made a personal decision to keep Michelle out of the debate to keep her from politically embarrassing questions rather than use her and her experience to further the reform the country needs.

Using Michelle Obama's former job and that of the 16 other vice presidents at Chicago University Hospital in what seems like unnecessary positions and over payment, would make the point in even a stronger way of why radical reform, including a public option is needed.. There is no doubt that a government paid public option would never be spending tax dollars on medical care that factored in anything as frivolous as those salaries.

But so far Obama has chosen to try and keep it buried. But it would help the cause of reform if he didnt.

The word from the White House is that they hope to use Michelle Obama in a "softer" way. I hope not. She can have a much stronger impact talking about the 17 vice-presidents at Chicago University Hospital, a non-profit hospital, who are making over $300,000 a year and how we need to eliminate things like this to bring down the cost of health care, even if it means biting the hand that once fed her.

THE HYPOCRISY OF TEA PARTY CONSERVATIVES

The Tea Party Express hit Washington and while there are many sincere people involved in the Tea Party protests and they have valid points to make about government spending, the entire movement is stained by the fact that its organized by conservatives who are the ones responsible for the mess in the first place and who haven't to this day, taken responsibility for their own mistakes and the economic mess they created by letting George W Bush get away with his disastrous policies.

The problem for the sincere Tea Party protesters is the entire movement is conservative organized which. unfortunately completely undermines iits credibility.

It was the conservatives who, after 8 years of the greatest economic expansion in history during the Clinton years, came to power and intentionally undid everything Clinton did, reversing all of Clinton's policies. And anyone with half a brain knows that if you do the opposite of anything you will get the opposite results. And that's what the Republicans did. And that's what the country got. Now the conservatives are shaking their baby rattles and complaining.

It was a conservative Republican administration and a conservative Republican congress who blew a $5 1/2 trillion budget surplus. They destroyed the balanced budget they inherited, and after Clinton had eliminated the deficit, they exploded the deficit to record levels with their war and tax policies.

It was a conservative Republican government that took the country from the greatest economic expansion in history, lowest unemployment in 40 years, a balanced budget and record surpluses to deficits, unemployment and the greatest economic crisis since the 1930's.

So during these Tea Party protests conservatives are showing why the word "hypocrite" should be part of the dictionary definition of conservative.

They said nothing and did nothing while Bush and the Republican congress were getting the country into deeper and deeper trouble. The conservatives who organize the Tea Party protests sat on their hands and did nothing. They did nothing when the balanced budget was destroyed, nothing when Bush exploded the deficit, nothing when Bush cut taxes instead of raising them to pay for the war he started.

This means that nothing the conservative organizers have to say can or should be taken seriously or be seen as anything other than cheap partisan politics. And that is too bad since there are legitimate issues to be dealt with. And while not everyone who is protesting is a conservative, the protests bear the conservative stamp. And that is the Kiss of Death. Because conservatives forfeited their right to be taken seriously by playing Hear No Evil ,See No Evil ,Speak No Evil during 8 years of the disastrous Bush Administration.

They proved there are no real principles behind the organizing of these protests even if some of the people who join them do so out of principle. But for the organizers its only a lust for power and their motivation is politics.

When Bush became the first President in history to take the country to war and cut taxes at the same time they said nothing. They just happily took their tax cuts, supported the unnecessary war in Iraq and were happy not to pay for it and pass the cost along. Exactly what they are complaining about now. They simply don't want to pay for their mistakes. But they will, like it or not. Which is why the Tea Party protests from conservatives have not so much to do with tea but with whine.

If the legitimate Tea Party protestors want to be taken seriously they are going to have to split from the conservative Republican organizers of the movement who have no credibility. As long as the Tea Party protests are conservative organized and motivated they will never be taken seriously by the only people in congress who matter -- the Democrats who control both houses.

The Tea Party conservatives not only don't want to pay for their mistakes they don't want to admit they even made mistakes while Bush and the Republicans ran the country's economy into the ground. Instead they want to blame the current president and the current congress.

It isn't a coincidence that now that the Democrats are in power these fiscally concerned conservatives have suddenly found their voice.

The honest Tea Party protestors will need to divorce themselves from any affiliation with Republicans or conservatives, the people who created the problem in the first place and did nothing, if they want to be taken seriously.. Otherwise the only thing these protesters can expect in the end is a lot of tea but no sympathy.

OBAMA SPEECH MAY HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IT'S GOALS

President Obama finally got specific and did what people have been wanting him to do for months -- put down some markers.

On the most controversial issue, the public option, he made it clear he supported the public option, even though, almost in the same breath, he equivocated and said he was open to other ideas.

This is what he said:

"But an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange. Let me be clear – it would only be an option for those who don't have insurance. ...It’s worth noting that a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I've proposed tonight."

He did leave the door open for some squabbling when he said..".....some have suggested that the public option go into effect only in those markets where insurance companies are not providing affordable policies. Others propose a co-op or another non-profit entity to administer the plan. These are all constructive ideas worth exploring."

Actually they are not worth exploring and would only put off a public option and make it more complicated than it needs to be, but it's hard for Obama to be definitive about anything and this is as close as he's going to get. And it may be enough. It is unlikely the Democratically controlled congress will put out a bill that doesnt contain the public option as originally conceived.

He made it clear enough with this: "...but I will not back down on the basic principle that if Americans can't find affordable coverage, we will provide you with a choice"

That choice is the public option and Obama's laying down a marker that health care reform has to include it in some way, probably is enough to propel the public option in the senate where Democrats favor it by a count of 46 yes, 13 maybe, No 0 .

In the House the public option has overwhelming support.

Obama may have accomplished what he set out to do with the speech. Stop the squabbling among any Democrats that opposed the public option, as small a minority as they are, since its clear it is now part of the agenda. And he may have also made it clear that Republican opposition is not going to be enough to stop it or even slow it down and that, taking the cue from Dick Durbin, a bill will be passed even if it means without any Republican support.

There seems little the opposition can do now. It is up to the Democrats to draft the bills, vote them out of committee and send them to the floor for final votes. Bills that will have the public option. And get the show on the road.

As for the Republicans, Joe Wilson, a Republican member of the House yelled out during the speech that Obama was a liar. Obviously he has future training conservatives who go to town hall meetings. He may have done Obama a lot of good since it generated so much condemnation from members of Congress it could be an end to Republicans lying about the reform package and if they have legitimate issues with it, to deal with those instead of the "pulling the plug on grandma" nonsense.

There is a good chance that the speech and its specifics might have spelled the end of any hopes the Republicans have of derailing the public option. Had Obama given the same speech three months ago, it would have solidified support for the public option then, and avoided all the nonsense of the last three months instead of empowering Republicans.

But, as the saying goes, better late then never. Now lets hope Obama continues to to break his mold, and not change his mind.