If people were perplexed by news of Sarah Palin’s decision to become a “news analyst,” they were hardly shocked by her choice of television real estate: FOX News. It seems like a perfect political fit, of course, and one that Palin highlighted on the O’Reilly Factor this week when she said she looked forward to presenting “fair and balanced” views while on the air, rather than buying into other network’s “biased journalism.” Cue the collective, all-too-familiar groan: “How can they even claim to be fair and balanced?” And that’s definitely true – on the surface. A deeper look at News Corp’s political action committee, News America Holdings, reveals a more complex network: one that exhibits surprising trends.
It’s not unusual for broadcasting companies to have political action committee fighting proxy political wars. Or, at least, getting involved in the fray. Comcast, Disney and Time Warner all have committees working for their interests in Washington. Considering News Corp’s right-wing slant, one would think that their PAC would be dedicated to the network’s ideological adherents. In some cases that’s true, but it turns out News America Holdings has a far more diversified portfolio than one would imagine.
For example, during the 2008 election cycle, News America Holdings donated a total of $165,500 to House candidates, according to OpenSecrets and FEC filings. The majority of that cash, $95,000, went to Democrats, including $5,000 to Edolphus Towns, Kendrick Meek and Edward Markey, the latter of which sits on the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet. Though the Democrats won News America Holdings’ heart in the House, the Republicans managed to come out on top in the 2008 Senate race, during which the Fox PAC handed them $42,850, while the poor Democrats received only $33,500. The top Senate candidate back then was Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican who was fighting a fierce battle against Democrat Jeff Merkley. Smith ended up losing, we know, but never fear, because now he’s the President of the National Association of Broadcasters, where I’m sure he hobnobs with many News Corp insiders. While the Smith funding doesn’t astound, News America Holdings’ preferred Democrat last year did raise my eyebrows: Harry Reid.
News America Holdings donated $5,500 to Reid’s 2008 campaign, and have already sent over at least $3,500 this cycle to Friends of Harry Reid, which will run his already turbulent reelection campaign out in Nevada. It makes sense that News America Holdings would want to court Reid: he is, after all, the Senate majority leader. But he’s also a frequent FOX News target, as he has been this week over the now infamous “negro dialect” remark. Reid’s counterpart in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also finds herself in Fox News’ sites.
Just Monday, while hosting new analyst Palin, Bill O’Reilly suggested, quite literally, that Pelosi may be “crazy.” That doesn’t mean that News America Holdings isn’t lavishing the Democrat with funding: last year they donated $10,000 to her PAC, PAC to the Future. That’s only $5,000 less than News America sent to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, however, received double: $20,000, one of the only clues to the Fox’s on air leanings. Those leanings are also only slightly evident in the PAC’s 2008 Congressional Campaign Committee donations: the Democrats received $25,000, while the GOP took home $30,000. Still, things seem pretty even on that front.
Yes, there are some kooks among the News America Holdings candidates – like Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, one of the most right-wing politicians around, and Virginian Congressman Bob Goodlatte. Goodlatte supported the so-called birther bill, which would require all presidential candidates to provide their birth certificate. His PAC, the Good Fund, received $5,000 from News America Holdings for the current election cycle. But almost all PACs, especially in the business world, will have to deal with politicians with whom the public disagrees. That’s the name of the political game. But who’s steering News America Holdings’ political ship?
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One of the most hectic days in South Korea just occurred. Nearly 700,000 high school students took the national college entrance exam. This is no minor ordeal. The annual test determines a student’s future. There is so much importance placed on the exam that planes can’t even take off near the test site, and the workday begins one hour later so students may get to the testing center ontime.
Law enforcement even usher girls toward their school. There are 1,100 examination locations throughout the nation. Many parents escort their children to the test and encouragethem while others wait outside and observe their students taking the test. Students even come ready with water bottles and cushions to sit on.
Students prepare for this test their whole life. One student reported studying six hours per day outside of school in order to prepare. The tension is high because that’s what colleges look at. One student said “It’s all going to be changed by this.”
The pressure gets so high for some students that they end up taking their own lives. For those that have opted to take the test and spent a large percent of their time studying have parents and relatives praying at Buddhist temples in Seoul and throughout the country. Parents pray their child’s college placement exams will go well and the scores will be high. Some parents have been praying for this over the past 100 days.
A students future careers and ultimately their existence comes down to a single test on a single day. Because the country does emphasize education 83 percent of high school graduates go to universities. But in order to get to a university they have to score well on the nine hour long test.
The stress and pressure placed on these kids is huge. A child’s potential shouldn’t depend on one day and one test. Along with the fact that many kids don’t test very well. It goes back to the fact that people learn and test differently. Some do well on tests while others do better on interviews or projects. The government should give students more of a chance to show that they can be successful in life without this one test.
Even though South Korea’s graduation rates are high, and their college attendance at 83 percent students still need to be able to live a life. They need to waste time with friends socializing, playing sports, and spending time with relatives. Not everything can be learned in the classroom. They need to experience high school and College because for many of us that was the greatest time of our life.
There is way too much pressure placed on these South Korean students. The U.S. also has an important test but there isn’t as much stress involved. While the ACT or SAT in America are the big test they don’t determine your potential. They give a background to present what you have learned. Yet students can go on to college and live a thriving life with the value of hard work and even if you have poor scores many still get into college.
Education is terribly important but many Americans go on to college, own their own businesses, and have successful lives even if they didn’t do well on the test. While the American system isn’t the greatest and there is a lot of room for improvement, the South Koreans need to calm down a little bit. There is no way one test can establish the brains or importance of a student.
About the Author Info
Diane Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Utah and enjoys writing about current events, politics, college degrees, online school, and the office.
None of the Socialists who are rushing for universal health care control are discussing the real reasoning behind the push and why it is so very important to shove it quickly down the throats of Americans. Forget the platitudes. Forget the predictions of utopia (the opposite of utopia is what will happen). It is necessary to cut through the lies and the promotional deception to look at what really motivates the people who want to spring this albatross on the nation. Most of the media will gladly have you be ignorant of the attempted scam.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20).
Ask Your Bible
First of all, one of the features of the push for universal health care control is this: one half trillion will be cut from Medicare. Old folks will get less treatment for specific things, hospice, for example. Hospice is people coming to you when you are dying and helping you along the way, helping you prepare for the end of your life, including providing you with pain killers so you don’t have to die a painful death.
Why would the government want to stop or cut funding for hospice for old folks? Could it be they want to provide end-of-life services for a younger group? Yes, indeed, you nailed it! They need hefty funding for the Aids people. A tiny percentage of Aids is represented by druggies, whose behavior has caused them to have Aids. The vast majority, however, are homosexuals, whose behavior has caused them to have aids. According to GlobalHealthReporting.org, there are, in the United States, 1.1 million people living with Aids, 56,000 per year coming down with Aids (based on 2006 statistics). Do the math. That’s a lot of health care for a lot of Aids patients. Obviously, the government wants to pour the money in, and suck the money out of the old folks fund, Medicare. It’s to the tune of one half trillion dollars! That’s right. These Socialists who pretend to be so compassionate are happy to see old people die a painful death so they can spread the wealth where they choose and to their own cronies and to their own bribe givers.
“For I comprehend your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: They afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right” (Amos 5:12).
When corruption rules the land the poor and the old go to the back of the line.
Another totally obvious reason for the push for universal health care control is: it is a Trojan horse for government to get their hands into your pockets. Once they get their hands in, their hands will never come out. They are trying to devise the bill in such a way that it cannot be repealed. I have news for them. Anything can be repealed that is devised by man! Such arrogance is absolutely despicable. They obviously do not care that they are going to be booted out of office either in the next election or they will be impeached for the multiple layers of corruption they have been guilty of over the years.
Reality-Clip
Finally, the most important reason for pushing for universal health care control, is: it rewards the special interest groups (looking for the status quo supercharged) who have greased the rails so nicely for the politicians over the past decades. The AMA will maintain the status quo with bigger paychecks for themselves. The hospitals will continue to gouge the patients with $10.00 aspirin and $5.00 band-aids and hospital rooms that cost double or triple the cost of hotel rooms the same size. The drug companies will have wind fall profits as they continue to make money hand over fist. After all, health care will be mandatory. You don’t want health care? Pay a fine. You don’t want to pay a fine? Go to jail. You think it is ridiculous how many people are in jail only because they had some marijuana in their possession? You haven’t seen anything yet. Huge chunks of the population will be behind bars for not buying the mandatory health care. Now you can realize why so many empty prisons are being prepared for the future.
wilyelder@wilyelder.com
Every moment that passes is another chance to turn it all around.
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Lester Pearson, the name which graces the world’s largest airport, was not only a Canadian Leader, he was also instrumental in the creation of the United Nations and the creation of the State of Israel. After serving admirably in World War I, and subsequently pursuing the study of modern history. Pearson received his degree in history from the University of Toronto, where he subsequently received a teaching position. After a short teaching career, Pearson went on to join the foreign service, in which he excelled.
Pearson served for a while in the Canadian embassy in London, and subsequently during World War Two was transferred to Washington. In Washington, Pearson eventually rose to the rank of Ambassador, as World War Two drew to a close. He had an important role in the founding of the United Nations and NATO.
Between 1946 and 1956, Pearson led the Canadian delegation to the United Nations. He laid the groundwork for the creation of the State of Israel in 1947. In 1957, he won the Nobel prize for his work in defusing the Suez Crisis of 1957, through the United Nations. In the words of the Nobel committee, he was credited with having “saved the world.” Pearson was credited with having developed the United Nations Emergency Force, and even more than that, he is credited with having developed the whole modern concept of peacekeeping. During the Suez crisis, Pearson met with the leaders of all the countries that had a stake in the Suez Canal area. He was able to engineer a peace keeping agreement, which allowed, the parties to withdraw without further loss.
It is only appropriate, that Toronto International Airport, the largest international airport in the world, should bear the name of a man who was so dedicated to international peace and well being.
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