Video: Teachers Union Mouthpiece gets Smacked Down

This is an awesome exchange between Fox's Stuart Varney and Robert Craig, executive director for Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Craig defends teachers in that state who effectively called off sick en masse to protest the budget of Governor Scott Walker who, like Chris Christie in New Jersey, is making the hard decisions voters elected him to make. What's most fascinating is the incoherence of Craig's arguments.

Varney nails him right out of the gate by pointing to the fact that the teachers are setting a horrendous example to students by lying about being sick. Craig denies that's what happened despite the facts. Remember, in a socialist's mind, the ends justify the means and that's exactly the type of thinking Varney exposes here.

The line of the exchange comes from Varney after Craig denies facts played out in a video clip of students protesting but admitting to having no clue about why.

"Good God, man."



h/t The Blaze

Another Reason to De-Fund PBS: Che Guevara

Yet another reason to defund all public broadcasting can be found in the efforts of Agustin Blazquez. He is a Cuban exile who has been trying to get the truth out about men like Che Guevara. Guevara's image is everywhere. He's held up as a revolutionary hero. Lies about who he really was are repeated over and over again. In truth, Guevara was a racist and a cold-blooded killer of innocent people. Blazquez made a documentary about Guevara on a shoe-string budget and did most of the work himself. However, he did so only after trying to get the help of PBS.

Via Pajamas Media:

He learned that grants and prizes for documentaries in his series “Covering Cuba” would not be forthcoming. The latest, and seventh, titled Che: The Other Side of an Icon, was produced on a budget of $14,000. Only about $4,000 of that was from a non-profit that he had started himself. He had submitted a more typical budget of $494,000 to CPB-PBS (Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Public Broadcasting System). Blazquez had no success with the publicly supported organization, nor did he with the taxpayer-supported American Film Institute in his other projects. In fact, he could not even get an airing on POV (Point of View), the program created by PBS specifically for the purpose of airing “controversial” films.

Still, Blazquez, by changing his approach and scaling back, and doing his own editing on his own equipment, has managed to produce a compelling film that demolishes the radical heartthrob’s reputation as a brave guerrilla fighting on behalf of the oppressed.

When one contrasts that reality with the success of another film that glorified Guevara, it becomes painfully obvious that propaganda and a denial of truth is in more demand.

Nevertheless, the narrative put out in a press release by the AFI for the 2008 film by Steven Soderbergh simply titled Che, describes Che “galvanizing poor peasants into a military force that can take on trained professionals.” The same AFI turned down Blazquez’s third film on Elian Gonzalez, the young Cuban refugee who was forcibly sent back to Cuba under President Clinton after his mother had drowned during their escape.

Contrary to AFI’s depiction, Che’s delight was in shooting 240 defenseless victims, some as young as 15. Political prisoners say the real number is much higher. Che also delighted in having people and their children rounded up off the street and forced to watch executions.

Meanwhile, Democrats are bemoaning Republican attempts to defund Public Broadcasting and they're using puppets as props in doing so. If the Republicans were smart, they'd point to things like this. One man tries to use public dollars to tell the truth about a racist, cold-blooded killer and is repeatedly denied. Yet, another film that portrays Guevara as a man of the people who fought against oppression is successful.

Read it all.

Issa's First Subpoena Issued

As new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Darrell Issa (R-CA) has a virtual buffet of things to choose from but it looks like the first official thing on his plate is a subpoena for documents relating to the Countrywide scandal made infamous in large part by former Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd (CT). Assuming Issa gets the documents he's subpoenaed - based on the success of Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) in getting documents he ordered from the Dept. of Justice, they won't just be handed over - there will be a lot of slugs under the rock.

Via Daily Caller:

Top GOP oversight official Darrell Issa is issuing his first subpoena as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to demand documents related to a “VIP” program that gave key lawmakers special deals on mortgages.

The subpoena will reveal for the first time the scope of the company’s VIP program and could ensnare scores of lawmakers, congressional staffers, officials and lobbyists. Sen. Kent Conrad and former-Sen. Chris Dodd received special deals, as did dozens of top Fannie Mae executives.

An Issa report on the sweetheart deals says, “legislators, congressional staffers, lobbyists and other opinion leaders…business partners, local politicians, home builders, entertainers and law enforcement officials” were part of the program. Until now, the public has learned the names of only a few.

If Issa is able to sink his teeth into this scandal, perhaps we will be able to publicly identify all of the players that had a role in the mortgage crisis that contributed mightily to wrecking out economy.

Read it all.

Democrats Use Life-Sized Puppets to Attack Republicans

After Juan Williams was fired by NPR, Republicans attempted to defund the liberal outfit. Now that they have the majority, they're going after the entire Public Broadcasting establishment. The Democrats' strategy appears to be the use of puppets. After all, Sesame Street is a PBS staple that simply cannot disappear. It's an integral part of any child's development. So what did the Democrats do? They held a press conference outside the Capitol with a poster of Bert and Ernie getting a GOP Pink Slip along with someone in an Arthur the Aardvark suit.

Shameless doesn't even begin to describe this stunt. It's typical leftwing tactics on display with Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) leading the charge.

Via POLITICO:

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) rarely holds press conferences with animated aardvarks, but he went for it Wednesday, coaxing shy Arthur the Aardvark up to the podium.

“Come over here Arthur,” Markey beckoned to the human-sized title character in the PBS series, “Arthur: The World’s Most Famous Aardvark,” motioning for him to come up to the podium, as a small crowd of curious tourists began forming. Nearby, Rep. Betty McCollum clutched an Elmo doll and a stuffed Big Bird sat on the podium — both ready to fight in defense of funding for public broadcasting.

The House GOP leaders have announced intentions to slice funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the continuing resolution, resulting in the elimination of programming for the over 170 million people that use public media each month.

But Markey, along with Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Nita Lowey, Sam Farr, Paul Tonko, and Bill Owens plan to unveil an amendment to a spending measure that will refund educational programs like “Sesame Street” and “Arthur,” as well as funding for National Public Radio and local broadcast networks.

In particular, I thought this quote from Lowey summed up the pathetic attempt on the part of the Dems:

“The GOP should be less preoccupied with silencing cookie monster and more focused on reviving the economy.”

If it's all about silencing cookie monster, how does she explain the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) getting more than $400 million annual taxpayer dollars?

There would be more cookies for cookie monster if he went to the free market anyway.

h/t Gateway Pundit