Free Republic

ARE Californians taxed too much, or not enough? Taxes are the central question of how to fund Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's massive $12 billion expansion of government-run health care with its 4 percent payroll tax, 4 percent hospital tax and 2 percent doctor tax. Ironically, Schwarzenegger lambasted Phil Angelides during last year's gubernatorial campaign for wanting to raise taxes by $7 billion to create a new government health care entitlement. Angelides argued mightily that his proposal amounted to fees, not taxes. But the governor called Angelides' "fee" a "tax," so a "tax" it was. Now that Schwarzenegger is proposing a government...

Businesses are wary of a crop of new state health care proposals to reduce the number of uninsured, fearing the programs will drive up their expenses without solving the problem. Dissension already has surfaced: Maine's health insurers and businesses have balked at how the state's program to expand coverage has been funded and have filed several lawsuits over the policy. Smaller companies are especially worried, because they are less likely to provide health insurance than bigger concerns, and some of the proposals call for companies that don't provide coverage to pay into state funds. But experts note that if the...

Seven Days Before Election, TV Networks Give Good Press to Democrats, Smack GOP With Bad Press Media: Treats for Liberals, Tricks for GOP     Appearing on FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor last week, ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin admitted that the media elite have a bias problem. Citing this year’s adulatory coverage of liberal Democrat Nancy Pelosi compared to the mean-spirited coverage the networks dumped on Newt Gingrich back in 1994, Halperin confessed: "If I were a conservative, I understand why I would feel suspicious that I was not going to get a fair break at the end of an...

On Sept. 30, about 100 people carrying protest signs and handfuls of dirt rallied at the Alamo to protest Gov. Rick Perry's massive toll road plan. Perry's feisty challenger, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, spoke at the event, which was not covered by the Express-News. Our no-show wasn't a judgment call. A reporter who was notified about the rally simply did not pass the information on to editors who decide what to cover and who will cover it. It was a flub, primarily by the Express-News, but also by the organizer, the San Antonio Toll Party, which needs to be more effusive...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2006 – A Marine corporal quizzed top leaders at a recent Pentagon employees’ question-and-answer session about what the department can do to counter the reporting of negative news from Iraq and Afghanistan. “Negativity in the press is absolutely detrimental to the morale of our forces and our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Cpl. John A. Stukins said to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a Sept. 22 town hall meeting. “What are we doing to confront this problem and to better the morale of our...

Thousands of people on Medicaid in Michigan will not be able to fill their prescription at CVS drug stores. CVS said it will stop filling prescription from Midwest Health Plan starting Aug. 16. The drug store chain said it's taking the drastic step because it was unable to reach an agreeement with the insurer over reimbursement rates. Midwest Health is a Dearborn-based insurance carrier.

The World Cup is generating record television audiences for soccer in the U.S. But some diehard fans think the coverage deserves a red card. Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and ABC have been hit with complaints from soccer devotees that their telecasts are unsophisticated and mistake-ridden. The popular Web site Big Soccer has a thread titled "Pick your favorite insane thing said by the announcers so far."A major gripe: ESPN selected an announcer, Dave O'Brien, who had never called a soccer game before this year to serve as the tournament's lead play-by-play man. Some English-speaking viewers have switched to Spanish-language Univision,...

  For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryMay 6, 2006 President's Radio Address       Audio      In Focus: Medicare      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today I want to talk with you about the new Medicare prescription drug coverage that went into effect at the start of this year. Everyone on Medicare is eligible for this new coverage, but the enrollment deadline of May 15th is just over a week away. For those of you with Medicare who have not yet signed up, it is important for you to review your options and choose a plan. By enrolling before the deadline, you...

An Assembly committee approved a bill Tuesday that would mandate Californians buy health insurance coverage much like drivers are required to purchase auto insurance. Although California voters and politicians repeatedly have rejected forcing individuals and employers to pay for a universal insurance program, lawmakers are seeking to capitalize on the momentum from a new Massachusetts law that will make that state the first in the country to establish mandatory health insurance. "We have a choice about whether we're going to stay stuck in the mud," said Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael. "We have a situation where we have 20 percent...

South Korean media protest North Korea press freedoms 1 hour, 28 minutes ago South Korean reporters covering inter-Korean family reunions in North Korea are returning home in protest at press freedom curbs, media pool reports said. North Korean officials prevented two South Korean broadcasters from transmitting stories earlier in the week and asked one reporter from the SBS commercial television network to leave the country on Wednesday. "Because of the North's restrictions on media coverage, a reporter from SBS had to return to South Korea and the principle of press freedom has been breached," the 24 reporters said in a...

"From what I've seen thus far, much of the reporting in the U.S. and abroad has exaggerated the situation, according to General Casey. The number of attacks on mosques, as he pointed out, had been exaggerated. The number of Iraqi deaths had been exaggerated. The behavior of the Iraqi security forces had been mischaracterized in some instances. And I guess that is to say nothing of the apparently inaccurate and harmful reports of U.S. military conduct in connection with a bus filled with passengers in Iraq. Interestingly, all of the exaggerations seem to be on one side. It isn't as...

Sitting in armchairs waiting for handouts not the best way to get scoops Members of the elite White House press corps this week have acted more like animals that have been kept in captivity for so long that they can’t find news unless it is forced down their open gullets at a daily press briefing. The Cheney hunting accident story embarrassingly revealed this fact, which probably explains the greater-than-normal anger and outrage of White House correspondents over the last few days. “Why weren’t we told?” has been the refrain, not “How did we miss that story?” The White House press...

Isn't nonstop fawning press coverage wonderful? Other than entrenched, well-connected liberals like Al Franken, of course, who exactly would have an idea of how that feels? For the Radio Equalizer, the toughest task is weeding through it, otherwise we'd cover nothing but Frankenfluff (a term we coined to describe the particular level of positive press Al routinely enjoys). Even this mainstream media lovefest can have pitfalls for unsuspecting recipients, however. Why? Because it eventually leads to carelessness and overconfidence. Particularly during recent television interviews, we've already seen that in Franken, who can't seem to understand why anyone wouldn't find the...

NBC did not interrupt its broadcast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade yesterday to bring viewers the news that an M&M balloon had crashed into a light pole, injuring two sisters. In fact, when the time came in the tightly scripted three-hour program for the M&Ms' appearance, NBC weaved in tape of the balloon crossing the finish line at last year's parade - even as the damaged balloon itself was being dragged from the accident scene. At 11:47 a.m., as an 11-year-old girl and her 26-year-old sister were being treated for injuries, the parade's on-air announcers - Katie Couric, Matt...

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." -- Old adage "Well, there you go again." -- Ronald Reagan There they go indeed. And shame on anyone for believing them anymore. I mean, of course, the elite liberal media, who will stop at nothing to topple the Bush presidency. Not even if it means manipulating the news about war and natural disasters. Remember all those New Orleans horror stories, the ones that could've given Attila the Hun goosebumps? An Editor & Publisher headline that screamed, "Mortuary Director Tells Local Paper 40,000 Could Be Lost in Hurricane"?...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Allstate, the largest publicly traded homeowners and auto insurer in the U.S., said it plans to scale back its exposure to the Gulf Coast homeowner's market following the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita this summer. Speaking at the company's third quarter earnings conference call with analysts earlier Thursday, Chief Executive Edward Liddy said Allstate would continue to provide assistance to those affected by the deadly hurricanes but would curb its exposure, a company spokeswoman confirmed. Liddy didn't provide an estimate of how much the company would scale back in the region. The news came as...

Why haven't the broadcast networks been going wall-to-wall today with Katrina coverage? It's a perplexing question that baffles the Radio Equalizer. Sure, there were plenty of early morning updates, but at 9am it was abruptly cut off for a return to normal programming. Say what you want about Pat Robertson, but his 700 Club had superb Katrina coverage, while Regis and Kelly were doing trivia segments.... ...In the category of "timing is everything" comes word that among the lawsuits filed by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) against another batch of file-swappers are some against individuals living in NEW...

AIR ENRON: NO LETTING UP By Michelle Malkin · August 10, 2005 01:49 PM Al Franken is laughing it off and the elite media is still blowing it off, but the Air America/Air Enron financial fiasco continues to unfold. Ed Morrissey and his legal consultant/reader Eric Costello shine renewed light on the Piquant buyout shell game here and here, previously explored by Leon H. at Macho Nachos. The Washington Times pounds the MSM and race hustlers' blackout in a new editorial today, "Air Scamerica." And in a fascinating little side development, a former Clear Channel official has been hired by...

I don't expect much from the local WB station, but what's the problem at PBS? Do they have the ability to take a live BBC feed? With the big debate about public television's future, why don't become more relevant to the immediacy of global news developments? Did broadcast network anchors seem surprisingly caught off-guard today, considering it's just two weeks later? Or were they simply frustrated at the lack of early details? ... The busy recent news cycle has given Rush Limbaugh a huge boost, as there's lots to talk about and Rush tends to get fired-up at times like...

Complaints about the U.S. military's treatment of terrorists at Guantanamo Bay were once again featured on all three broadcast network evening newscasts Wednesday. Full stories on ABC, CBS and NBC cast the military on the defensive at congressional hearings. CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer — who has likened Guantanamo to the "Hanoi Hilton," the infamous North Vietnamese prison camp — grumped that "Congress asked a lot of questions today" about Guantanamo, but "the problem is, they didn't get many answers." ABC followed up its story on yesterday's hearings with a second full report by ABC's Terry Moran, who zeroed...