RESEARCH: $100 BILLION ED. STIMULUS HURTING ECONOMY

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A July 2008 study in the Journal of Policy Sciences finds that higher spending on public schooling is associated with lower subsequent economic growth. Spending more on public schools hurts the U.S. economy.

How is that possible?

There is little debate - in academic circles - that raising human capital -- improving the skills and knowledge of workers -- boosts productivity. So an obvious interpretation of the JPS study is that raising public school spending must not increase human capital.

While this possibility surprised study authors Norman Baldwin and Stephen Borrelli, it is consistent with the data on U.S. educational productivity over the past two generations.

• Since 1970, inflation adjusted public school spending has more than doubled.
• Over the same period, achievement of students at the end of high school has stagnated according to the Department of Education's own long term National Assessment of Educational Progress.
• Meanwhile, the high school graduation rate has declined by 4 percent or 5 percent, according to Nobel laureate economist James Heckman.
• So the only thing higher public school spending has accomplished is to raise taxes by about $300 billion annually, without improving outcomes.

The fact that more schooling without more learning is not a recipe for economic growth is confirmed by the independent empirical work of economists Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann. Their key finding is that academic achievement, not schooling per se, is what matters to economic growth.

Based on this body of research, the president's decision to pump $100 billion into existing public school systems is likely slowing the U.S. economic recovery.

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image toon - edu crpt libs - Oby wants kids in school - but not voucher schools

Biden ignores problems with stimulus

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Vice President Joe Biden proclaimed success beyond expectations Thursday for the $787 billion economic stimulus, but his glowing assessment overlooks many of the program's problems, including delays in releasing money, questionable spending priorities and project picks that are under investigation.

"The Recovery Act is doing more, faster and more efficiently and more effectively than most people expected," [snip]

But most states are spending stimulus money on bridges that are already in good shape - of the 2,476 bridges scheduled to receive stimulus money so far, nearly half have passed inspections with high marks, according to federal data.

Those 1,123 sound bridges received such high inspection ratings that they normally would not qualify for federal bridge money, yet they will share in more than $1.2 billion in stimulus money.

The vice president's speech is part of a concerted White House push in advance of the 200th day of the stimulus act on Saturday. Five top administration officials also were speaking about the law's benefits on Thursday in appearances in Arkansas, Virginia, Illinois, California and Minnesota.

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President Obama: 'Recovery continues'

[HT:SE].

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image toon - mny crpt = Court jester proclaims stimulus is working

Chicago Suffers Unusually Cold Weather; Chicago Tribune Warns of Global Warming

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That pretty much sums up the "scientific" analysis in a Chicago Tribune story warning of the terrible warming the Windy City will be enduring in the not too distant future. Never mind that Chicago has been experiencing much colder than normal weather this year as your humble correspondent noted last June when quoting the WGN Weather Center blog:

The cloudy, chilly and rainy open to June here has been the talk of the town.

"So far this June is running more than 12 degrees cooler than last year, and the average temperature at O'Hare International Airport through Friday has been only 59.5 degrees: nearly 7 degrees below normal and the coldest since records there began 50 years ago.

However, the weather that is actually occurring in Chicago is completely overlooked in the global warming warning story based on sheer speculation by Jim Tankersley...

[Agan, 'scam' is more accurate than 'hoax', it's the money...]

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Attack of The Green Meanies

Saving the planet has grabbed the imagination of the naïve in the same grip as the old worker's paradise promised by the Bolsheviks

These two manifestoes share the common elements of absurdity, dogmatic conviction and the predictable dimension that the more their doctrines are proved false, the more their advocates defend them. In the case of Bolshevism, people's courts, midnight executions and propaganda were the instruments of coercion; in the case of man-made global warming, it's the Internet, politicized scientists and a mentally disabled mainstream media.

The origins of the modern green movement can be dated to another loony scientist, Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb published in 1968 that predicted the world would collapse into starvation and poverty by the year 2000 due to overpopulation. Ehrlich was wrong about everything he predicted, yet he is canonized as the spiritual leader of the environmental religion and serves as a darling of the ever-enfeebled media.

The righteous green activists are dedicated to continuing the war against capitalism by other means by promoting one-world government; subsuming the self-esteem of human beings to the vague collective good; and calling on enforcement of their policies by international fiat that trumps national interests -- just like their Bolshevik forbears.

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image toon - grn = Alarmists finding it harder to frighten citizens

Fourth Videotape Reveals ACORN Advising 'Pimp,' 'Prostitute' in California

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A fourth video (Snip) has surfaced depicting an ACORN staffer in California assisting the couple in their quest to obtain housing for their illegal sex business.

ACORN issued a statement Tuesday evening saying that Kaelke, indeed, suspected she was being set up and only responded as she did to play along with the obviously fake pimp and prostitute...

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Pattern and practice

Isn't it time for RICO investigation of ACORN?

A third videotape of ACORN employees counseling a couple posing as pimp and prostitute on evading the law has been published on BigGovernment.com. James O'Keefe, Hannah Giles, and Andrew Breitbart have demonstrated a pattern and practice of corruption in the national organization at three different locations.

ACORN is now threatening a lawsuit against Fox News for not observing the MSM embargo on the videotapes produced by the awesome thresome from BigGovernment.com.

John Fund of the WSJ comemnts, "Bring it on!" ...

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Charles Gibson Unaware of Five Day-Old ACORN Controversy, Senate Vote to De-Fund

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Don: Okay, here’s my news question. A Senate bill yesterday passes, cutting off funds to this group called ACORN. Now, we got that bill passed and we have the embarrassing video of ACORN staffers giving tax advice on how to set up a brothel with 13-year-old hookers. It has everything you could want – corruption and sleazy action at tax-funded organizations and it’s got government ties. But nobody’s covering that story. Why?

Evidently, until that moment, the topic apparently wasn't on Gibson's mind.

Here's Gibson's jaw-dropping answer:

I didn’t even know about it. Um. So, you’ve got me at a loss. I don’t know.

Or maybe this is just one you leave to the cables...

Gibson interviewed GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, twisting her words, with the help of selective editing, to portray her as some kind of out of touch, excessively religious, militaristic rube.

With the above interview, no editing is required.

[Are we literally supposed to believe that the anchor of a major news organization hasn't been aware of ACORN's maleficence - until a radio DJ told him?

Are we allowed to call anchors liars, or is that off limits too?]

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AP Continues Trend of Failing to Identify Democrats Embroiled in Scandal

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On a day in which the AP found newsworthiness in scandals involving both Democrats and Republicans, only one party was expressly identified within the articles. Can you guess which one?

It is the grand AP tradition known as 'Name That Party' - a tradition which includes the following:

• Fraudster Hassan Nemazee, finance chair for Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
• Money laundering mayors Peter Cammarano III and Dennis Elwell.
• John Conyers wife.
• Jesse Jackson Jr. and Rod Blagojevich.
• and of course, Kwame Kilpatrick.

That's just a brief summary of the more recent transgressions committed by the AP.

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Virtue

No republic, not even our exceptional one, can survive without virtuous citizens.

One of the most famous women in the world, Sarah Palin relinquished state power in the simplest of settings. It was obviously not comfortable, nor easy. However we define Palin, as frontier feminist, movement conservative or middle class populist this will always stand as her finest hour.

It might not have been her finest performance, but it crystallized in a moment the very essence of virtue. It was Sir Thomas More resigning as Lord Chancellor and George Washington returning to Mount Vernon. It showed how rare virtue has become in our politics.

Of all the attributes we fix to her, charisma, fearlessness, wit, and most recently to our delight, formidable polemicist, we should remember that she entered national life in Dayton, Ohio as the enemy of politics as usual and a champion of the politics of virtue.

The question her political biography begs is why don't more politicians resign? Why didn't Ted Kennedy creep into a hole after Chappaquiddick? Why doesn't Robert Byrd resign, clearly too feeble to hold office effectively? Isn't fifty-four years in office enough for John Dingle? Hasn't Mark Sanders learned how to say adios? And how about Bill Clinton, and John Ensign and Charlie Rangel, and on and on.

America has always done well, when its leaders recognize and call out evil when it threatens. Ronald Reagan's evocation of the Evil Empire and George W. Bush's citation of the axis of evil stiffened our spines for the coming challenges.

Ultimately, virtue is the result of recognizing evil and ensuring that it does not prevail over good. It's a simple formulation, but who in politics is audacious enough to speak in such stark terms? Sarah Palin has, Sarah Palin still does - which explains why, even without office, she has become the most important political figure in America.

[More, Recommended > ]

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image toon - palin msm = MSM re Biden v Palin re crazy

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[HT:NF].
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Sometimes an event occurs which is transformative in a way that everyone who sees it or participates in it instantly is aware of. Yesterday's demonstration in Washington DC is one of those rare happenings in my opinion.

The Daily Mail said 2 million Americans participated. My friend Charlie Martin extrapolated from the pictures an attendance figure of 2.3 million. Here is a time lapse of the parade portion of the event so you can get a feel for yourself of the size of the crowd. Whatever the actual number it is sure to be seriously underestimated by the Obama-besotted members of the press corps who are also likely to misrepresent the participants and their views.

We are witnessing a very rare phenomenon, the genuine, broad based spontaneous political movement with no visible charismatic leaders.

As I read the many reports on the Internet, I think this one, from Mark Hemmingway at NRO, says it best:

"I asked one guy, who came up from South Carolina with 160 people on three buses, who put his trip together. He laughed and said, 'My neighbor.'"

Washington, DC appeared to be a most neighborly place on Saturday...

[Recommended > ]

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America Spoke

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Here is a series of time lapse photos of the march from 8:00 am to 11:30am. The crowd was constantly anywhere from 25 to 50 abreast. I know. I walked in the middle of it.
[look carefully down the road]

America spoke September 12th in Washington, DC. Real America. Not black America, not white America, not Hispanic or Asian America, not even conservative or liberal America. Real America.

There were mothers, sons, fathers, daughters, newborn children and kids on the way up; there were many, many elderly and a lot of disabled folks, young and old, in wheelchairs.

Many of these people had never been to a protest before in their lives. People were pleasant, polite and considerate. There was not a drunken eye in the house. The most unlikely bunch of domestic terrorists one could ever imagine... [snip]

We are not liberals or conservatives. We are Americans. I am not a conservative, I distain that label. I am an American. I believe in American values; that is, the principles and guiding documents on which this country was founded.

Is it 'conservative' to understand, appreciate and defend the United States Constitution? All public officials make a solemn pledge to uphold it. Are they all conservatives?

[snip]

Meanwhile, Obama traveled to Minnesota for the weekend, while the White House laughingly denied having any prior knowledge of the march. As the Washington Examiner reported:

On Friday the White House claimed they had no idea the rally was even planned.

A ridiculous assertion that shows how dismissive the Obama administration and the Democrat-led Congress are of those who oppose their agenda. It is impossible to believe that President Obama knew nothing of the event. The denial is a perfect example of why the President is losing the trust of many Americans.

He stretches his credibility to its limits, and beyond.

Amen.

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White House Says Protesters Not in Mainstream

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A majority of Americans oppose the Democrats' health care reform plans, polls show.

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of demonstrators hit the streets of Washington Saturday to protest the federal government.

And summer town hall meetings were marked by the outbursts of noisy constituents confronting their lawmakers over health care reform.

In response, the Obama administration has called this discontent

"manufactured," "misguided" and out-of-touch with the mainstream...

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NY Times Buries Massive Conservative D.C. Rally, Hails Smaller Liberal Protests

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There was a huge protest against Obama's big-government plans at the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, but one was hard-pressed to find evidence of it on the New York Times home page Sunday morning: A small headline tucked under the Political subhead.

The print edition wasn't much more forthcoming. The Times made do with one medium-sized story buried on page A37 of the Sunday paper, "Thousands Attend Broad Protest of Government,".

A much smaller Obama rally got better placement, and so had a previous ACORN-led left-wing protest numbering...40 people...

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NYT Home Page Virtually Ignores Sept. 12 DC Rally, Gives Obama MN Speech Nearly Top Billing

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Not that any of this will surprise anyone, but it should go on the record nonetheless. The New York Times's home page as of its 10:15 a.m. update looked like this (click to enlarge in a separate window):

You'll note no mention of the D.C. rally yesterday -- that drew an estimated 1-2 million people...

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Washington Post Home Page Buries Massive 9-12 Rally in Teeny-Weeny Type

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Sunday morning the Washington Post covered the 9-12 DC rally - but one had to look amazingly hard to spot it:

The top headline was "U.S. to Give More Rights to Afghan Inmates."

Below that, an evergreen story on "Wall Street Goes to Washington."

Scroll down, and the next headline is "In Minn., Obama Pushes Reform."

If you look hard underneath that, in small type: "Lashing Out at the Capitol."

But if you didn’t know that was the 9-12 rally story, you’d think the Post skipped it entirely. There’s a camera icon and four photos are rotating in the upper left corner of the home page, but none of them are about national politics.

Go figure.

[Oh cut them some slack, their reporters would have traveled all the way from - Washington - to cover the story.]

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CNBC's Santelli Rips Media for Ignoring 9/12 DC March

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Not everyone at the NBC Universal umbrella of networks got the gag order memo about the Sept. 12 march on Washington, D.C.

Rick Santelli, who has been a target of the Obama White House and is credited with being the inspiration for the 2009 tea party movement, spoke out about how the media ignored the march...

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DC Marchers Take on More than Government Fiscal Policy -- The Media

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Maybe there's a reason why the media have either denigrated or completely ignored the Sept. 12 march in Washington, D.C. - they were highly critical of their job performance as well.

The march that preceded the rally in front of the U.S. Capitol took place on Pennsylvania Avenue, from Freedom Plaza to the West Lawn of the Capitol went directly in front of the Newseum, a building erected that supposedly honors those deemed the most important practitioners of the First Amendment - the news media.

Marchers chanted, "Shame on the press," as they passed the colossal 250,000-square-foot building dedicated to the press situated between the White House and the U.S. Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue...

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Joe Wilson's War

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Discourse: The reaction to the congressman's outburst shows what happens when you judge this president by the content of his character.

In a post-racial presidency, charges of racism are the new last refuge of scoundrels...

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WaPo: 9-12 Marchers Are Racist

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On Monday a Post story on the front of the Metro section reported on how people attending the Black Family Reunion think that the million Americans who came to Washington did so because they hate black people.

"A day later, in the shadow of the Washington Monument, many participants at a much smaller gathering -- the 24th annual Black Family Reunion -- said the level of hostility toward the nation's first African American president had little to do with policy differences over health care or taxes and everything to do with race..."

The Post’s headline for this nasty smear was "Seeking Healing, Seeing Hostility."

The Post itself admits the Black Family Reunion was a much smaller event. So why did it draw much more prominent placement and promotion on the Post home page than the 9-12 rally?

The Post made no attempt to explain that this was an event thrown by a liberal lobbying group that opposes black people in government who are not liberals, like Clarence Thomas and Janice Rogers Brown...

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Newspaper Association Cancels Conference in South Carolina Over Rep. Wilson’s 'Racist'' Remark

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The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), also known as the Black Press of America, which is a non-partisan 501(c) 3 tax-exempt organization, has decided to show its disapproval of South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's "You Lie" remarks by canceling a convention in the state.

"Rep. Wilson's remarks were racist, disrespectful and a disingenuous violation - not only of President Obama - but to the institution of the presidency and only solidified our position and the importance in not spending Black dollars where Black people are not respected,"

NNPA Chairman Danny J. Bakewell Sr. said in a statement...

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Dems on playing the race card: 'You ain't seen nothin' yet'

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A sign of desperation? Can't see it any other way. The idea that Obama's political opponents are motivated by racism will apparently now be "mainstreamed" into the Democratic party's talking points against conservatives.

It's one thing for liberal bloggers and pundits to casually drop the "R" word in trying to smear administration opponents. But it appears, according to this Politico story by Jonathan Martin, that the race card will become an official meme of the Democrats when attacking their opponents: [snip]

point. It is apparent that many Democrats will embrace the race card - those that haven't already - and attempt to delegitimize opponent's arguments against the liberal policies of the president by smearing them as racists.

This not only shows that they are desperate but that they are unable to respond to criticisms. Rather than engage in debate, they simply wish to cut off discussion by branding their foes as haters.

The debate over the president's agenda is about to turn very ugly indeed.

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How Obama Incited Wilson's 'You Lie' Outburst

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While the state-run media jumped all over Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) for shouting "You lie" during the President's healthcare address Wednesday, few so-called journalists bothered to report what made the Congressman and others present so angry.

On Sunday's "Meet the Press," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich did.

After host David Gregory asked Gingrich whether Obama was acting like a president or a partisan Wednesday evening, the Speaker marvelously responded:

I can go through the president's speech and find a lot of things that I like. Then I go to the House Democratic bill and I don't find a single one of those things reflected in the legislation. Now, they literally had voted down efforts to make sure that health insurance only went to people who are legally in the United States.

So they would have to go back and have very significant changes, which I think would split the Democratic caucus. And I think part of the reason you saw some real anger about the speech is he kept describing things that had been explicitly not put in the bill on the House side, and the House bill has no resemblance to the president's speech.

For the record, this is what Obama said Wednesday evening before Wilson's outburst:

Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible.

It is a lie, plain and simple.

There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

As such, what the Old media have been ignoring is that the anger on display Wednesday evening was a result of Republicans being called liars by a President who was himself misrepresenting the facts concerning what's in the current healthcare bill.

Thanks for clearing that up, Mr. Speaker.

That so-called journalists still don't understand it is indeed mind boggling.

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Public Trust in Media Accuracy & Fairness Plunges, Liberal v Conservative Bias Gap at 28 Points

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“The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys,”

a new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, embargoed for release at 11 PM EDT Sunday night, discovered.

The survey, of 1,506 adults conducted in late July, found

“nearly three-quarters (74%) say news organizations tend to favor one side in dealing with political and social issues,” up 21 points from 53 percent 24 years ago, “while just 18% say they deal fairly with all sides.”

The percent who perceive the media as liberal versus conservative remains very lopsided, and the difference has increased by 7 points -- to 50 percent vs. 22 percent now, a 28 point split.

In addition -- surprise -- “Democrats hold considerably more positive views than Republicans of CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and the news operations of the broadcast networks”...

[Of course. If they don't diversify/supplement their news diet with new media content, how would they know what they're not being told? To wit...]

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Don't Blame Us, Blame the Newspaper We Copied It Out Of

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The USS Neverdock notices an emerging global trend: newspapers suckered by the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Indeed, given what Jonah calls the "Pravdaesque" coverage of the Acorn/Census Bureau split, it seems undeniable that many U.S. media outlets have decided there's a lucrative niche market in providing news to people who'd prefer to be kept in the dark...

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image toon - 1st msm bias = MSM = Van who?

'Call Fox'

Why do Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart keep scooping the New York Times?

Last week we noted that Jill Abramson, managing editor of the New York Times, had acknowledged her paper was "a beat behind" on the story of Van Jones, the Obama administration's so-called green-jobs czar, who among other things once signed a 9/11 "truther" conspiracy petition.

Times readers did not learn of the roiling Jones controversy until after he had already resigned.

Abramson pointed out that long before the Times reported the story, "it had been discussed on talk radio, Fox News and other venues."

Our conclusion: "If you want to get the news ahead of the Times, watch Fox News Channel."

On Friday, Fox delivered on Abramson's promise by scooping the Times again...

[A: One's looking for news, the other's trying to hide it.]

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image toon msm bias lbrty = Dems don't support free speech supports - chopping Fox

ACORN Story Grows But Mainstream Media Refuse to Cover It

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This story has everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers...

It is a network news director’s dream. Imagine the ratings.

But almost no one is covering it...

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Media Ignore ACORN Giving Business Advice to Pimp and [child] Prostitute[s]

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You would think videos exposing representatives of the controversial organization ACORN giving advice on how a couple can get a loan to set up a brothel would be BIG NEWS.


Such would seem especially the case if the proposed house of ill repute would be employing minors illegally smuggled across the border from Central America.

Yet, when Andrew Breitbart's new website Big Government published such videos Thursday morning, media normally fascinated with sex stories almost completely ignored it.

The MSM boycott continued even after several ACORNers were fired as a result (sting videos embedded below the fold):

• ABC, CBS, NBC, and MSNBC have not aired one television report concerning this matter
• The New York Times has not published one article concerning this matter
• USA Today has not published one article concerning this matter
• The Boston Globe has not published one article concerning this matter
• The Los Angeles Times has not published one article concerning this matter
• The Chicago Tribune has not published one article concerning this matter

Bucking the boycott trend were the Washington Post, the Associated Press, CNN, and Fox News. ABC's Jake Tapper also wrote about this at his Political Punch blog.

Not surprisingly, one of the people to report this on Thursday was Fox News's Glenn Beck who opened his program that day:

BECK: Tonight -- these are the things that you have to ask yourself. ... But you have to ask yourself these three questions -- one, how does the media sleep at night? When you see the story that broke this morning, and can you tell me how many hits has this story received on CNN, MSNBC or any other network? Zero. Zero.

I have the only ones that are on it, the "National Review Online," "The Wall Street Journal," WBAL Radio, and FOX. Whoa! It's not like there's a big -- it's not like your tax dollars are going to fund ACORN. No, why cover that?

I always thought the media was by biased one way or another. But this isn't biased. This is complicit. This is criminal. This is criminal what the media is doing right now. And all of you in the media, every single one of you, you should be ashamed of yourself -- ashamed.

How do you sleep at night, media?

How do they sleep, indeed.

After all, in the summer and fall of 2006, America's media on a daily basis harped on the word "macaca" as well as electronic messages sent to male pages by a little known Florida Congressman.

Now, three years later, a tax payer funded organization with close ties to the President of the United States had to fire several of its representatives for giving criminal 'advice' to a couple looking to import under-aged girls to be used as prostitutes --- and these same news outlets couldn't care less...

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image toon 1st msm bias crpt mny = Stimulus dollars at work = Acorn prostitutes in trees

Maryland May Prosecute ACORN Sting Video Makers

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In a shocking twist to Thursday's ACORN sting video story, the Baltimore city state's attorney is considering charging the two people that exposed the activity.

Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe (pictured) caught on video several ACORN representatives giving them advice as to how to get a loan to purchase a house to be used as a brothel whose employees would be under-aged illegal immigrants.

Despite the long list of laws possibly broken by these ACORN representatives, the Baltimore city state's attorneys office is looking into whether or not Giles and O'Keefe 'violated statutes' concerning taping people without their consent...

[That's funny, 60 Minutes does it all the time, and I don't recall their being criminally charged. But then, the MSM generally target companies, not 'community activists' groups...

And any 'statues' on child prostitution to be 'looked into'?]

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[Don't despair, speak up and fight - not everyone's nuts...]

Census Bureau cuts ties with ACORN

The Census Bureau on Friday severed its ties with ACORN, a community organization that has been hit with accusations of voter-registration fraud. "We do not come to this decision lightly," Census director Robert Groves wrote in a letter to ACORN, which was obtained by The Associated Press. In splitting with ACORN, Groves sought to tamp down concerns and negative publicity that the partnership will taint the 2010 head count.

"It is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 census efforts,"

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Senate votes to deny funds to ACORN

The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in several voter-registration fraud cases.

The 83-7 vote would deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN, which stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

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[my favorite 9-12 March photo - probably because I've been saying for a while now that all the 'testicular fortitude' in the Republican party seems to be possessed by the fairer sex...]

-end 090915 post-

Up to two million march to US Capitol to protest against Obama's spending

The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the Washington Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.

Demonstrators waved U.S. flags and held signs reading "Go Green Recycle Congress" and "I'm Not Your ATM." Men wore colonial costumes as they listened to speakers who warned of "judgment day" - Election Day 2010.

Richard Brigle, 57, a Vietnam War veteran and former Teamster, came from Michigan. He said health care needs to be reformed - but not according to President Barack Obama's plan.

"My grandkids are going to be paying for this. It's going to cost too much money that we don't have,"

he said while marching, bracing himself with a wooden cane as he walked.

Organizers say they built on momentum from the April "tea party" demonstrations held nationwide to protest tax policies, along with growing resentment over the economic stimulus packages and bank bailouts.

Terri Hall, 45, of Florida, said she felt compelled to become political for the first time this year because she was upset by government spending.

"Our government has lost sight of the powers they were granted,"

she said. She added that the deficit spending was out of control, and said she thought it was putting the country at risk.

Anna Hayes, 58, a nurse from Fairfax County, said she was worried about "Obamacare," Hayes explained:

"This is the first rally I've been to that demonstrates against something, the first in my life. I just couldn't stay home anymore."

Like countless others at the rally, Joan Wright, 78, of Ocean Pines, Md., sounded angry.

"I'm not taking this crap anymore," ... "I don't like the health-care [plan]. I don't like the czars. And I don't like the elitists telling us what we should do..."

Americans protesting against run away spending first began rising to prominence in April, when the governor of Texas threatened to secede from the union in protest against government spending.

Waves of tea party protests have crossed America since.

[57, 58, 78, veterans nurses. These must be the right wing extremists and racists the MSM is so persistently 'reporting' on...]

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Not Easily Ignored (but they'll try)

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[Wasn't sure about the >1M claim until I say this - realize that the crowd is in motion through the intersection and at one point fills the boulevard from end to end...]

This time lapse video comes from The Rhetorican:

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'Glenn Beck is an Actual Terrorist, and the People Attending his Rally in DC Tomorrow Are al-Qaeda in America'

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In a Sept. 11 post by Alex Pareene that was allegedly meant to reflect on the passing of eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pareene launched into a hate-and-expletive-filled anti-President George W. Bush, anti-conservative and anti-Glenn Beck attack in his post. His first assault was on the prior administration.

"Shortly after (or maybe during) that day, our president at the time, a little [expletive] no one liked, handed over the reins to the most psychotic elements of his administration," ... "In the vast national wave of jingoism, paranoia, dread, and fear that followed, he and his friends led us into an unrelated war they'd been planning beforehand, allowed the CIA to wiretap and torture anyone they liked, and regularly insisted that our memory of that day should not be sullied with critical thinking or expressions of anything other than still-palpable fear."

He then took a shot at Fox News host Glenn Beck and those participating in tomorrow's 9/12 March on DC.

"On 9/12, people in New York (and DC) did not feel as ‘great' as Glenn Beck," ... "They just felt like [expletive]. They felt scared and confused and depressed. Many of them were drunk. And eight years later, normal people, with brains and souls, have decided that some emotional distance from that disaster is healthier and wiser than trying to recapture the dread. So thank [expletive] Christ that the Commander in Chief is no longer subjecting the nation to death porn."

Pareene hurled more insults at 9-12 Project participants and capped it off by referring to them as "al-Qaeda in America."

"No, this year it's limited to a nutty little cult leader on basic cable who is encouraging his radicalized band of fanatical followers to invade the cities where the tragedy actually happened in order to shock the populace back into fear," ... "Glenn Beck is an actual terrorist, and the people attending his rally in DC tomorrow are al-Qaeda in America."

Pareene and other left-wing critics of Beck's 9-12 Project have totally misunderstood Beck's intent. It's not to create euphoria, but as the Web site explains, it "is designed to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001" and overcome political divides.

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"Taxpayer March on Washington"

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Videos of [Saturday's] "Taxpayer March on Washington" are starting to get uploaded to YouTube, and some of them are just priceless. As most readers likely couldn't attend, it seems fitting to share what went on in our nation's capital Saturday.

To get you in the mood, let's start with author and motivational speaker Mason Weaver marvelously telling the crowd, "I thought you would want to hear a black man speak to you without a teleprompter," followed by Lloyd Marcus singing "2010" and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) saying, "It is time Washington, D.C., became a No Czar Zone"

[extremist]

[racist]

[terrorists]

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Debate over protest numbers masks the historic nature of the event

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The battle over numbers who attended the protests at the Capitol continues today. ABC News actually had the temerity to publish the laughable estimate of 70,000. But I believe these guesstimates are missing the point.

No matter how you slice it, yesterday's outpouring was historic in nature; the first, genuine conservative grass roots protest movement in American history.

"What makes today's massive turnout around the country so significant is that it is the first truly conservative mass movement in American history.

Conservatism has had very little interest in developing a mass movement like labor, socialists, or communists have focused on. Even the candidacies of Goldwater and Reagan were more party-oriented than ideological in nature... I think it unfair for the media or the left to characterize this movement as "Republican."

It is definitely an opposition movement, however. Certainly there is mass unhappiness with President Obama and his policies. And there is opposition to the Democrats in Congress. But I doubt it all translates into electoral strength for Republicans.

The anger here is a reaction against a growing government, higher taxes, and the sense that the country that they grew up in is slipping away right before their eyes.

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Tea Party Protesters Chant 'Tell the Truth' to CNN Reporter

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With chants of "tell the truth," and "Glenn Beck," protesters made known their great displeasure with the former #1 cable network. The Beck taunt, of course, is a reference to the former CNN host turned FNC star.

Unlike her former colleague Susan Roesgen who insulted tea party protesters and was confronted on her bias, Desjardins didn't dismiss the protesters but instead asked them what they thought of congressman Joe Wilson, famous for his recent outburst that President Obama was lying about his health plan covering illegal immigrants.

Estimates for crowd sizes are starting to come in. We're talking at least a million people, folks.

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When truth trumps protocol

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After 8 years of blistering attacks on President Bush by the top echelon of the Democrat Party, suddenly they've become prudish about references to the country's Chief Executive.

How quickly they forget the instances when Bush was booed by the liberal side of the aisle when addressing the Congress in that same "hallowed" hall. Let's also recall an interview in December 2004 on Meet the Press in which Democrat Senator Harry Reid said

"President Bush is a liar." ... " That's how I feel, and that's how I felt. People may not like what I said, but I said it, and I don't back off one bit." [snip]

Lost in this entire deceptive diatribe is whether President Obama was telling the truth when he said millions of illegal aliens will not be covered in his healthcare plan. The fact is that Republicans have served on committees that proposed amendments to the president's plan which would assure that illegal aliens would not get coverage, but those amendments were defeated by Democrats.

Rep. Wilson served on such a committee and came away believing that the president was lying. If he was correct, his outburst may have been the only way to expose legislation that could be disastrous for the future of this country. If he was incorrect, all he did was breach a protocol that has been breached many times before.

[I dislike the disrespect that's taking place - but I dislike it less than the outright deception that's being passed off as sincere dialog - it's not, it's all an insulting play. We're being blatantly deceived, at which point anger and volume are an appropriate response to our being lied to - and a moderate tactic considering that if these folks don't knock off the deceit the next step is appropriately pitchforks...]

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Dems to Turn Joe Wilson into Sheehan-like 'Clownish Figure of Ridicule'

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You know Cindy Sheehan's star has really fallen with the liberal media when the likes of Mike Barnicle, compare her to GOP Congressman Joe "You lie!" Wilson. On Thursday's "Hardball," Barnicle, substitute hosting for Chris Matthews, declared,

"Democrats hope to turn Wilson into the Cindy Sheehan of the anti-health care reform movement. A clownish figure of ridicule who hurts his own side, more than he helps."

As the MRC's Brent Baker noted in research titled "Sheehan More Consistent Than Media: She Protests Bush and Obama, Media Only Bush", now that she is opposing a Democratic president, the media have turned on Sheehan...

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Flashback 2007: Bloody-Handed Condi Rice Protester Never Painted as 'Ugly' or Even Liberal

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Brent Baker revealed how the network news on Thursday night described Rep. Joe Wilson’s "you lie" comment at President Obama as almost an international incident, a "shout heard ‘round the world" that symbolized the "ugly" tone of anti-Obama sentiment and a sign of disrespect on Capitol Hill.

It’s probably not shocking to remember that on Wednesday, October 24, 2007, when Code Pink protester Desiree al-Fairooz screamed at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that she was a "war criminal" at a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, none of the networks described it as "ugly," and NBC painted it as another sign of disarray for Team Bush...

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Maureen Dowd: Joe Wilson's 'You Lie' Outburst All About Racism

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One of the biggest concerns most conservatives had about a Barack Obama presidency was that any criticism of him or his policies would be reported by liberal media members as an act of racism.

Sadly, such fears ended up actually being understated, for since Inauguration Day, the left-wing punditry have routinely depicted anyone with the guts to question the new President -- from Tea Party goers to town hall meeting protesters -- as wearing white robes and burning crosses on folks' lawns.

The latest example is New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd who in her most recent screed attributed Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-S.C.) "You lie" outburst during Wednesday's healthcare speech to the ignorant notion that

"Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it"

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MSNBC Hosts: Rep. Joe Wilson A White Southern Racist

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According to MSNBC’s David Shuster on Friday, South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson shouting ‘you lie’ to President Obama was racism on display:

“The fact that Joe Wilson is from South Carolina...it strikes a lot of people as awfully close to the idea that maybe there was some sort of racist or bigoted element there.”

[Again and again; disagree with Obama (admittedly rudely), and it's really because you're a racist.]

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Maher Charges Racism Fuels Disrespect of Obama, Sees 'Subliminal Racism' on Drudge

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As an instance of “what I mean by subliminally racist,” Maher displayed on screen an actual DrudgeReport.com headline beneath a photo of Obama, “POLL HELL: OBAMA NEGS RISE.” In quite a stretch, he implied the racist angle:

“I just think for a certain number of people, when they see 'Negs Rise'-” ....

He trailed off, leaving viewers to imagine how he presumes “a certain number of people” will translate those words.

Cuing off that real headline, Maher then put up his own made up racist headlines as they would look on Drudge.

“some of the right-wingers are always dropping subliminally racist messages.”

[It's the Right that's always playing a race card. Uh-huh.]

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CNN's Lemon Praises Maher for Raising Anti-Obama Racism

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Left-wing “comedian” Bill Maher is setting the news agenda for CNN. Literally. With “Motivated by Race?” on screen, CNN anchor Don Lemon previewed his 7 PM hour Saturday night by citing Joe Wilson, “town hallers yelling at lawmakers” and those “refusing to let kids hear the commander in chief. And on and on and on.

What's behind it? Is it racial?”

In the subsequent segment, Lemon revealed his motivation was Maher, who Friday night on his HBO show charged racism drove Wilson's “you lie” shout and those concerned about Obama's address to school children. Lemon announced:

“I was watching Real Talk, Real Time with Bill Maher and I was like 'finally someone's talking about this, finally someone is talking about this.'”

Lemon made his exultation to guest Tim Wise, author of 'Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama.'

[Don't disagree with Obama.]

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MSNBC, Thy Name is Racist

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You would think MSNBC would have learned after getting caught in a deliberately doctored piece of video, which tried to portray town hall protestors as white racists. The video showed a man ‘packing heat' outside an event where the President was speaking, but was edited in such a way as to conceal the fact that the man was actually African-American.

Since that video aired (and was immediately exposed as altered Kyle Drennen on August 18th), MSNBC has continuously hammered home the message that town hall and Tea Party attendees, conservatives, Republicans, or generally anyone who opposes the President, is racist.

Some examples:

• Keith Olbermann, calling Fox News viewers ‘tin foil hatters, conspiracy theorists, paranoids and racists.'
• David Shuster profiling the Republican Party as ‘all white males with short haircuts.' ... angry and unhinged, with ‘no women, no minorities.'
• Tamron Hall was appalled "to have that southern white male shout down the first black president'.
• Ed Schultz echoes the ‘crazies' sentiment, and stating that some are likely ‘lunatics' who feel it is their ‘responsibility to take out the president'.
• Have reservations about former Obama appointed green-jobs czar Van Jones and committed 9/11 truther, and you are most definitely a racist according to Keith Olbermann.
• Mike Barnicle and Chuck Todd discussing 'if' race is the real reason for all opposition to President Obama.
• Chris Matthews saying that opposition to the President is based on ‘who he is, where he comes from, his background'.

This is a pretty significant race baiting resume submitted by MSNBC. Remember, this list only includes events happening since the bait and switch charge of racism that the network put forth using a doctored video.

As a general rule of thumb, those who continually play the race card to make an argument are, in fact, racists themselves.

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image toon - vals bdd libs = Dems see nothing but racism in ink blot tests

ABC’s Pierre Thomas Quizzes AG Holder on Race; Skips ‘Nation of Cowards’ Quote

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ABC’s Pierre Thomas landed an exclusive interview with Eric Holder on Wednesday’s Nightline, quizzing the Attorney General on race relations in America.

Somehow, however, the reporter managed to completely ignore Holder’s incendiary remark from February that America is a "nation of cowards" when dealing with race relations.

One would assume such a statement might be relevant to Thomas’ questions about the ongoing controversy involving the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Gates. But our correspondent ignored that context, even as he explained,

"[Holder] said the controversy in Cambridge proves more needs to be done in race relations."

[Now that most Americans are waking up to the fact that they elected an extremist they don't agree with, the left intends to 'hijack' the discussion and change it to one of race relations where they can rely on white guilt to silence all decent.

We can't let them; it's despicable in principle and such a distraction could have dire consequences if it allows the Left's agenda to move forward. Remember, once institutions are in place they're never removed... ]

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Liberal media insanity hits new high

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Mark today as the date that the mainstream media put a gun in its mouth and pulled the trigger.

The cover of Newsweek:

IS YOUR BABY RACIST?

Illustrated with a close up photo of a (white) baby. To ask the question is to answer it.

Welcome to the post-racial world of Barack Obama...

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[on the positive side {and consider the tea party posts positive}]


Remembering 9/11: We Are Americans

It has been eight years since the United States suffered the worst attack on our soil since Pearl Harbor. As we look back, we should take stock of what has transpired since then. We have sent our nation's soldiers into battlefields far from home to defend us. These brave men and women live in treacherous conditions, facing improvised roadside bombs, suicide bombers and other attacks. Yet they fight on in their mission to defend the United States and all of us without complaint.

Our all-volunteer service is made up of Americans of all races, creeds, and economic backgrounds. These soldiers are on the front lines of this battle, and there are others in the fight as well. We must continue to give our utmost support to the United States military and those that support their efforts. In light of this, I have added my name to a letter sent to President Obama urging him to remain committed to prosecuting the War on Terror in Afghanistan. Never have so few defended the liberty of so many. We must continue to support their mission because they will continue to fight for us.

President Reagan ended his first inaugural with this story:

Under one such marker lies a young man-Martin Treptow-who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire. We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone." The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us. And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.

As we look back to that tragic day eight years ago we take pride in the fact that we came together as a nation in the days, months and years that followed. We rose to the challenge that fateful day and we still can. And why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.

I thank all our servicemen and women, in and out of uniform, for keeping us safe over the last eight years in the face of enormous odds.

Please thank a veteran today. They certainly do not look for those thanks, but they have more than earned it.

- Sarah Palin

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