April 23, 2010 4:00 A.M.

Mister RightNetwork
A new conservative TV network is about entertainment, not news.

A few days ago, the public saw the first glimpses of RightNetwork, described by its founders as an “independently-owned media company, launching on television, web and mobile in 2010” that aims to “entertain, engage, and enlighten Americans who are looking for content that reflects and reinforces their perspective and worldview.”

While the title gave a hint of the network’s fundamentally conservative viewpoint, there’s been considerable buzz and discussion about what, precisely, the new company would be — a competitor to Fox News? An on-demand niche? The easygoing folks at True/Slant instantly denounced it as “media built specifically for teabaggers. It exists not to inform, or encourage critical thinking, but to reassure far-right, fringe ideologies. Quite simply: it’s propaganda.” (If only everyone could encourage critical thinking as well as those who insist upon calling the other side “Teabaggers.”) So what will viewers see on RightNetwork?

“The short videos you see on what we’re calling the ‘micro-site’ are just a taste of what’s in store,” says Kevin McFeeley, the network’s president and chief operating officer. “The goal is to launch the full site on the Fourth of July, full of original content, enhanced content, social media tools, all the bells and whistles.”

McFeeley said that RightNetwork’s mission is entertainment, not news, and thus the comparisons to Fox News don’t fit. “News is what Fox News does really well. Our aim is to be programming that is more complementary or supplementary to what they’re doing. . . . We’ve been struck by the surveys and reports that indicate the number of young people get their news from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, entertainment shows that clearly have a point of view. There’s an appetite on this side to do something in the realm of entertainment.”

http://article.nationalreview.com/432366/mister-rightnetwork/jim-geraghty

Arizona governor signs immigration bill

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/04/23/barney_frank_blames_sec_porn_scandal_on_republicans.html

This is from one of the very few, if any, conservative journalists (Quin Hillyer) that share many of my same views on Palin. He is not afraid to criticize Palin even though many are on the right and he ultimately believes that Palin as I rightly believe is not ready to be president as her past experience shows and that she really may be no conservative.

Here it is:

The Problem With Palin

By Quin Hillyer from the April 2010 issue

Sarah Palin, 55 percent unfavorable poll ratings notwithstanding, is a political phenomenon the likes of which American public life rarely has seen. There's something distinctive, something deeply personal, about the way her legions of strong supporters rush not just to defend her but to counter-attack any and all of her critics. Palin has a way of establishing a sense of connectedness with her backers -- such a strong, attitudinal sense that she is not just like them but one of them -- that she has created what amounts to a one-woman, conservative "identity politics" writ very, very large.

Yet if conservatives are to continue a political love affair with this admirable and galvanizing woman, we need to insist on more than mere identity. And more than mere attitude.

We know that Sarah Palin shares our conservative values. But is she the leader conservatives need?

IN HER RECENTLY RELEASED memoir, Going Rogue, Palin tells a story about how she approached the first state budget she handled as governor. It sounds like something right out of the 1993 Kevin Kline movie, Dave, except that Palin's tale is fact instead of fiction.

http://spectator.org/archives/2010/04/19/the-problem-with-palin/

Liberals and the Violence Card

Conservative protest is motivated by a love of what America stands for.

By RUSH LIMBAUGH

The latest liberal meme is to equate skepticism of the Obama administration with a tendency toward violence. That takes me back 15 years ago to the time President Bill Clinton accused "loud and angry voices" on the airwaves (i.e., radio talk-show hosts like me) of having incited Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. What self-serving nonsense. Liberals are perfectly comfortable with antigovernment protest when they're not in power.

From the halls of the Ivy League to the halls of Congress, from the antiwar protests during the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq to the anticapitalist protests during International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings, we're used to seeing leftist malcontents take to the streets. Sometimes they're violent, breaking shop windows with bricks and throwing rocks at police. Sometimes there are arrests. Not all leftists are violent, of course. But most are angry. It's in their DNA. They view the culture as corrupt and capitalism as unjust.

Now the liberals run the government and they're using their power to implement their radical agenda. Mr. Obama and his party believe that the election of November 2008 entitled them to make permanent, "transformational" changes to our society. In just 16 months they've added more than $2 trillion to the national debt, essentially nationalized the health-care system, the student-loan industry, and have their sights set on draconian cap-and-trade regulations on carbon emissions and amnesty for illegal aliens.

Had President Obama campaigned on this agenda, he wouldn't have garnered 30% of the popular vote.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703876404575199743566950622.html

April 22, 2010 12:00 P.M.

Earth Day Turns 40
For those whose worldview requires a pristine and undisturbed natural world, the fight to reduce pollution will never be over.

When Earth Day was first celebrated 40 years ago, there were many good reasons to be concerned about the environment. Not only did trash litter the landscape, but rivers were catching fire and massive numbers of fish were dying due to unrestricted pollution from factories. Lake Erie was essentially a dead lake. Lead in paint and auto exhaust were real health hazards for many.

Today, these problems have been largely alleviated. But for those whose worldview requires a pristine and undisturbed natural world, the fight to reduce pollution will never be over. That’s because as long as there are humans using natural resources, the world will never be pristine or undisturbed.

What, exactly, is “pollution”? Like pornography, it is difficult to define, but we all know it when we see it. Yet it is useful to explore how we might define the term, because it will help us to understand that the whole concept of pollution really is a philosophical, or even religious, concept.

One definition of pollution that comes to mind as I write this is: any byproduct of human activity that presents a significant danger to the health of either humans or other forms of life.

http://article.nationalreview.com/432225/earth-day-turns-40/roy-spencer

Hoyer regrets calling protests 'un-American'  

By Stephen Dinan

UPDATED:

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Thursday he and Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a mistake when they called anti-health care protests "un-American" last year.

"That was not a good phrase, not a good use of language, it was not correct," Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, said, adding that he did not see anything wrong with vigorous debating of philosophies.

In August, in the middle of a summer in which members of Congress were sometimes shouted down at town halls by constituents furious over the health care bill, Mr. Hoyer and Mrs. Pelosi wrote an op-ed article in USA Today decrying the tenor of the debate and complaining about baseless charges.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/22/hoyer-regrets-calling-tea-party-protests-un-americ/

Judge Clears Second Navy SEAL in Iraqi Abuse Case

Associated Press

BAGHDAD

Judge clears second Navy SEAL in Iraqi abuse case linked to 2004 Blackwater killings

Across Capitol Hill, Republicans are asking just one question about Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid: Are they really going to do it?

Will the president, the speaker, and the majority leader try to pass "comprehensive" immigration reform in a midterm election year that already threatens to be a disaster for Democrats?

The question comes after reports top Democrats believe they have a "moral imperative" to pursue an immigration deal and are setting aside energy and environmental legislation (which had major problems of its own) to do it.

Whatever they choose, Obama, Pelosi and Reid seem to be driven by a desire to avoid, not confront, the voters' top priority, which is the economy and jobs. By huge margins, Americans want their leaders to concentrate on getting people back to work. While it's not quite true to say that nothing else matters, the fact is, nothing else matters nearly as much.

Just to cite one poll, although there are many, many more: In mid-April, when the New York Times asked people to name the most important problem facing the country, the economy came in first, with 50 percent. Health care came in second, with 8 percent, and after that came the deficit, with 5 percent. Immigration was named by 1 percent of the poll's respondents.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Will-Dems-_go-for-it_-on-immigration-reform_-91859749.html

Chicago native Ben loves his country and is proud to be an American. Yet the longtime resident of Melbourne has just relinquished his U.S. citizenship. "This is not something I did lightly or happily, but I saw no other choice," says Ben, a businessman who became an Australian citizen two years ago.

His words resonate with another American expatriate, John, a business owner based near Lausanne, Switzerland, who like Ben asked that his last name be withheld for fear of alienating his family in the U.S. "Giving up my U.S. citizenship is a genuine option," says the Ohio native, who recently received his Swiss passport and is considering relinquishing his American one. "I am at a breaking point — being American costs me time [and] money, but mostly aggravation." (See 50 authentic American experiences.)

For U.S. citizens, cutting ties with their native land is a drastic and irrevocable step. But as Overseas American Week, a lobbying effort by expatriate-advocacy groups, convenes in Washington this week, it's one that an increasing number of American expats are willing to take. According to government records, 502 expatriates renounced U.S. citizenship or permanent residency in the fourth quarter of 2009 — more than double the number of expatriations in all of 2008. And these figures don't include the hundreds — some experts say thousands — of applications languishing in various U.S. consulates and embassies around the world, waiting to be processed. While a small number of Americans hand in their passports each year for political reasons, the new surge in permanent expatriations is mainly because of taxes.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1983238,00.html?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

A controversial bill approved by Arizona’s State Legislature pushing the immigration debate to the forefront of the U.S. Senate.

President Barack Obama on Friday criticized the legislation, which would allow Arizona’s state police to check the documents of people they suspect are illegal immigrants. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, has said she will decide whether to sign the legislation soon.

The issue has galvanized people on both sides of one of the most divisive issues in American politics just as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) mulls whether his chamber should move to immigration reform or climate change legislation after it completes work on a Wall Street reform bill.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/93971-arizona-immigration-bill-galvanizes-advocates-pushes-issue-to-forefront-of-senate

4/22: Making Change with the 50 Dollar Bill

April 22, 2010 by Marist Poll 

A Republican congressman from North Carolina has proposed legislation that would replace the image of President Ulysses S. Grant on the fifty dollar bill with that of President Ronald Reagan. Do Americans want this change to occur?

Most do not.  79% think this suggestion is a bad idea while 12% say it’s a good one.  9% are unsure.

Reagan is the modern day hero of many Republicans, but even more than seven in ten members of the nation’s GOP — 71% — believe the switch is a bad idea.  83% of Democrats and 79% of independents agree.

http://maristpoll.marist.edu/422-making-change-with-the-50-dollar-bill/

Hoyer Sees Election Trouble for House Democrats

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Nationally-recognized election prognosticator Charlie Cook isn't the only one who sees the majority for House Democrats slipping away. Today, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer agreed, but said that he and others will mount a strong campaign to try and convince the public that better times are right around the corner.

In his recent analysis, Cook suggested a 30-40 seat lost in November for House Democrats, adding it could be worse if the current anti-incumbent and anti-Democrat trend continues. Republicans need to pick up 41 seats to take back the majority.

Asked about it at a media breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor today, Hoyer says, "It's an accurate view of what the polls reflect right now. Yes. I have great respect for Charlie Cook."

He explained that Americans are "angry and fearful" because of job losses and that's blinding them to the recovery on Wall Street and other areas of the economy. "Roosevelt said, 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself,' and what he meant by that is fear can prevent sort of reasoned analysis. The proposition that I think that I've made is that things are in fact improving and they are improving as a result of policies put in place in '09 and that we continue to pursue. If that occurs over the next five months, six months, I think that's going to change the perception of the public," says Hoyer.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2010/04/22/hoyer-sees-election-trouble-for-house-democrats.html