Daily Caller and Big Government Get NPR Story Wrong. A Repeat of the ACORN and Planned Parenthood Hoaxes

Daily Caller and Big Government Get NPR Story Wrong. A Repeat of the ACORN and Planned Parenthood Hoaxes

James O'Keefe III has a funny definition of the word "explosive." Earlier today, he promised over Twitter a "new explosive tape" from his "sting" on National Public Radio. But if you actually watch the video he was referring to, you get the sense that this was less of an explosion than a fizzle. Sure, O'Keefe and the rest of the right-wing attack machine are trying to play it up by claiming it proves NPR was up to something deeply sinister -- the only problem for them is that the video doesn't show that at all.

Here's what it does show: a 40-minute phone conversation between Betsy Liley, NPR's senior director of institutional giving, and O'Keefe croney Simon Templar, here pretending to be "Ibraham Kasaam" of the phony Muslim Education Action Center. The video identifies the MEAC as a "Muslim Brotherhood front group," but there's nothing in the video to give that indication.

Over the course of the call, Liley requests a written letter from the MEAC with more details about the donation and suggests that NPR's legal team and the MEAC hammer out a gift agreement. She also gently prods "Kasaam" to reveal more information about the MEAC's history and legal structure, requests a 990 form, and notes, unprompted, that "At Perdue, we've turned down some significant gifts."

The takeaway was that the discussion over a donation was in the preliminary stages at best, and NPR had not committed to accepting MEAC's offer. There is no evidence in the tape to suggest that NPR ever planned on accepting the gift -- much less that they were going to "hide it from the government" as the Daily Caller blithely suggests. When "Kasaam" asks if "NPR would be able to shield us from a government audit," Liley's response is: "I think that is the case, especially if you are anonymous, and I will acquire about that."

By the way, NPR has released a statement. Politico reported:

NPR released a statement condemning Liley's statements in the video.

"The statement made by Betsy Liley in the audio tapes released today regarding the possibility of making an anonymous gift that would remain invisible to tax authorities is factually inaccurate and not reflective of NPR's gift practices. All donations - anonymous and named - are fully reported to the IRS. NPR complies with all financial, tax and disclosure regulations."

Liley, who was caught on the initial videotape laughing at the suggestion that NPR was sometimes called National Palestinian Radio, was placed on administrative leave with Ron Schiller on Tuesday afternoon.

"Through unequivocal words and actions, NPR has renounced and condemned the secretly recorded statements of Ron Schiller and Betsy Liley. Mr. Schiller is no longer with NPR and Ms. Liley has been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation of the matter," the NPR statement continued.

"No stronger statement of disavowal and disapproval is possible. NPR will not be deterred from its news mission and will ultimately be judged by the millions and millions of listeners and readers who have come to rely on us every day."

Expect this to get a lot of play in the hysterical, cyclonic right-wing scandal factory. Big Government's Larry O'Connor, displaying either deep incredulity or a stunning ignorance of American history, has already gone so far as to label this "NPR's Watergate Moment." Others have followed and will follow. Even if there is no money to follow.

UPDATE: NPR has released a series of emails making clear that they were unwilling to accept any MEAC donations without more information about the organization, and that NPR would be required to disclose any such donations to the IRS. Here is one such email:

From: Joyce Slocum

Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 11:00 AM

To: 'okasaam@meactrust.org'

Cc: Vivian Schiller; Betsy Liley; 'ihalemkasaam@meactrust.org'

Subject: Contributing to NPR

Dear Mr. Kasaam,

We are very grateful for the kind consideration being given by the Muslim Education Action Center to a generous gift to NPR. I'm sure you will understand that we need to verify certain information with respect to any organization that proposes to make a significant gift to NPR. In the case of an organization that holds itself out as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, contributions to which are tax deductible, we need in particular to satisfy ourselves that the organization is in compliance with the applicable requirements of the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), so as to ensure against any risk of being caught up in later compliance activity. In most instances, we're able to verify this information without troubling the donor organization, by using publicly accessible information. Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate the necessary information about the Muslim Education Action Center, and so we need to ask that you provide it.

The Muslim Education Action Center does not appear in IRS Publication 78, which lists all organizations which have received a 501(c)(3) determination letter from the IRS, and whose status as a tax exempt organization has not been suspended or revoked. (Only churches are exempt from the requirement of obtaining an IRS determination letter, though even many churches voluntarily do so.) Since the Muslim Education Action Center does not appear in Publication 78, we need to ask for a copy of the IRS determination letter as to its 501(c)(3) status.

Also, most tax exempt organizations are required to file an annual form 990 in order to maintain their tax exempt status. Failure to file for three consecutive years results in an automatic revocation of tax exempt status. Again, because such organizations are required to make their three most recently filed annual 990 returns and all related supporting documents available for public inspection, we are usually able to obtain copies of these from the organization's own website, or if not there, from GuideStar or the Foundation Center. We have been unable to locate the 990's for the Muslim Education Action Center through any of these sources, so need to ask that you also provide those for our review.

I would very much appreciate receiving the requested items at your earliest convenience, so that I might review them and provide appropriate guidance to my client.Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions or I may otherwise be of assistance.

Best regards,

Joyce D. Slocum

Yet another target of the unhinged right-wing conservative movement in which their hatred has blinded them to the facts. Yet another video - with amateurish narration to tell people what they are seeing and hearing - no mention of the e-mail from NPR's management. Yet another attack on an organization that is not liberal, but middle of the road. The conservative movement - whose ideology is the antithesis of a democratic republic - considers anything and anyone non-Right, the liberal enemy. The idea behind these attack and smear campaigns is not just mud slinging, it is about dehumanizing the people and democratic ideals they despise.

The Right's "Evidence" Against NPR Doesn't Support The Accusations

NPR Are Angels Compared to O'Keefe and The Republican Slime Machine

NPR Are Angels Compared to O'Keefe and The Republican Slime Machine

Come on now: Let’s take a breath and put this NPR fracas into perspective.

Just as public radio struggles against yet another assault from its long-time nemesis -- the right-wing machine that would thrill if our sole sources of information were Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and ads paid for by the Koch Brothers -- it walks into a trap perpetrated by one of the sleaziest operatives ever to climb out of a sewer.

First, in the interest of full disclosure: While not presently committing journalism on public television, the two of us have been colleagues on PBS for almost 40 years (although never for NPR). We’ve lived through every one of the fierce and often unscrupulous efforts by the right to shut down both public television and radio. Our work has sometimes been the explicit bull's eye on the dartboard, as conservative ideologues sought to extinguish the independent reporting and analysis they find so threatening to their phobic worldview.

We have come to believe, as so many others have, that only the creation of a substantial trust fund for public media will free it from the whims and biases of the politicians, including Democratic politicians (yes, after one of our documentaries tracking President Clinton's scandalous fund-raising in the mid-'90s, the knives were sharpened on the other side of the aisle).

Richard Nixon was the first who tried to shut down public broadcasting, strangling and diverting funding, attacking alleged bias and even placing public broadcasters Sander Vanocur and Robert MacNeil on his legendary enemies list. Nixon didn't succeed, and ironically his downfall was brought about, in part, by public television's nighttime rebroadcasts of the Senate Watergate hearings, exposing his crimes and misdemeanors to a wider, primetime audience.

Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich tried to gut public broadcasting, too, and the George W. Bush White House planted partisan operatives at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in an attempt to challenge journalists who didn't hew to the party line.

But what's happening now is the worst yet. Just as Republicans again clamor for the elimination of government funding and public broadcasting once more fights for life, it steps on its own oxygen line. The details are well-known: how NPR’s development chief, Ron Schiller, stupidly fell into a sting perpetrated by an organization run by the young conservative hit man James O'Keefe, a product of that grimy underworld of ideologically-based harassment which feeds the right's slime machine. Posing as members of a phony Muslim group, O'Keefe's agents provocateurs offered NPR a check for $5 million -- an offer that was rejected.

But Ron Schiller couldn’t leave it there. Unaware that he was speaking into a hidden camera and microphone, and violating everything we're told from childhood about not talking to strangers, he allowed the two co-conspirators to goad him into a loquacious display of personal opinions, including his belief that Tea Partiers are racist and cult-like. As the record shows, more than once he said he had taken off his "NPR hat" and was representing himself as no one other than who he is. His convictions, their expression so grossly ill-advised in this instance, are his own.

Ron Schiller's a fundraiser, not a news director. NPR keeps a high, thick firewall between its successful development office and its superb news division. The "separation of church and state" -- the classic division of editorial and finance -- has been one of the glories of public radio as it has won a large and respectful audience as the place on the radio spectrum that is free of commercials and commercial values.

If you would see how this integrity is upheld, go to the NPR website and pull up any of its reporting since 2009 on the Tea Party movement. Read the transcripts or listen to its coverage -- you will find it impartial and professional, a full representation of various points of view, pro and con. Further, examine how over the past few days NPR has covered the O'Keefe/Schiller contretemps and made no attempt to cover up or ignore its own failings and responsibilities.

Then reverse the situation and contemplate how, say, Fox News would handle a similar incident if they were the target of a sting. Would their coverage be as "fair and balanced" as NPR's? Would they apologize or punish their outspoken employee if he or she demeaned liberals? Don't kid yourself. A raise and promotion would be more likely. Think of the fortune Glenn Beck has made on Fox, spewing bile and lies about progressives and their "conspiracies."

And oh, yes, something else: Remember what Fox News chief Roger Ailes said about NPR executives after they fired Fox contributor Juan Williams? "They are, of course, Nazis," Ailes told an interviewer. "They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism. These guys don’t want any other point of view." When the Anti-Defamation League objected to the characterization, Ailes apologized but then described NPR as "nasty, inflexible" bigots.

Double standard? You bet. A fundraiser for NPR is axed for his own personal bias and unprofessionalism but Ailes gets away scot free, still running a news division that is constantly pumping arsenic into democracy's drinking water while he slanders public radio as equal to the monsters and murderers of the Third Reich.

Sure, public broadcasting has made its share of mistakes, and there have been times when we who practice our craft under its aegis have been less than stalwart in taking a stand and speaking truth to power. We haven't always served well our original mandate to be "a forum for debate and controversy," or to provide "a voice for groups in the community that may be otherwise unheard," or helped our viewers and listeners "see America whole, in all its diversity." But for all its flaws, consider an America without public media. Consider a society where the distortions and dissembling would go unchallenged, where fact-based reporting is eliminated, and where the field is abandoned to the likes of James O'Keefe, whose "journalism" relies on lying and deceit.

We agree with Joel Meares who, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, expressed the wish that NPR had stood up for themselves and released a statement close to the following:

"Ron Schiller was a fundraiser who no longer works for us. He had nothing to do with our editorial decision making process. And frankly, our editorial integrity speaks for itself. We've got reporters stationed all over the world, we've won all sorts of prizes, we've got an ombudsman who is committed to examining our editorial operations. If you think our reporting is tainted, or unreliable, that’s your opinion, and you're free to express it. And to look for the evidence. But we will not be intimidated by the elaborate undercover hackwork of vindictive political point-scorers who are determined to see NPR fail."

That’s our cue. Come on, people: Speak up!

Consider the journalistic integrity of the people pushing the false narrative about NPR - O'Keefe is on probation for attempting to tamper with government property. His ACORN tapes were proven to be edited in a way that made the subjects look guilty. O'Keefe follower Lila Rose was also found to have manipulated video of Planned Parenthood. These people encourage bad behavior, than when they don't find any, they edit tapes and spin them to show what their agenda, not the truth, dictates.

They Brought a Tote Bag to a Knife Fight: The Resignation of NPR’s CEO, Vivian Schiller

I feel compelled to share my view of the events that led yesterday to the resignation of Vivian Schiller as CEO of NPR. I don’t know if they add up to a coherent response. Maybe not. In these notes I make no attempt to conceal my feelings on the matter, or to neuter myself politically.

1. As I said at PressThink four months ago: Wake up, public media people! You have no magic exemption from the requirements of political maturity. There are people out there who seek your destruction, and they are not evenly distributed. They reside among culture warriors on the political right. That is a fact, and you are in the business of reporting facts.

2. Among them is James O’Keefe, the trickster who secretly taped NPR executive Ron Schiller ranting about the Tea Party and saying other incendiary things. Like his patron, Andrew Breitbart, who has said he’s “committed to the destruction of the old media guard” (adding, “it’s a very good business model…”) O’Keefe is a performance artist who profits from the public wreckage and institutional panic his media stunts seek to create.

3. To give in to that panic is to cooperate in your own demise. Which is exactly what the NPR board did by demanding that Schiller–a visionary leader who knew where NPR had to go in the digital age–resign immediately, and without a fight. This was a stupid and cowardly act, which will be justified as institutional realism, the price for one too many slip-ups. It is not realism. The decision to let Schiller go originates in a delusion, captured so well by Jon Stewart during the Juan Williams controversy when he told NPR: you brought a tote bag to a knife fight! The delusion is that you can keep doing that and somehow it will all work out in the end.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is Anti-American and Pro Terrorist

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is Anti-American and Pro Terrorist

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) will kick off his anti-Muslim hearings tomorrow on Capitol Hill which he claims will look into the radicalization of the Muslim-American community. In the face of widespread criticism of his witch-hunt, King has refused to back down, saying he is not going to bow to “political correctness.” King has made a number of erroneous and false claims in defense of his crusade, claiming that 80 percent of American mosques are run by radicals and that Muslims aren’t doing anything to combat extremism. Last night on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart observed of King’s hearings:

STEWART: It’s not enough for U.S. Muslims to be law-abiding to avoid congressional investigation, they have to be actively stopping terror plots? Oh my god, wait until they find out that I’ve done nothing to stop the West Bank settlements!

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews noted last night, “If you had had hearings on this 20 or 30 years ago, and said, ‘I’m a Protestant guy and I’m going to hold hearings on the radicalization of American Irish, and I’m going to look [for those] who might be supporting the provisional wing of the IRA, that would have been seen as a pogrom.” In fact, that sort of McCarthy-esque sleuthing may have rounded up King himself, as the New York Times reports today:

“We must pledge ourselves to support those brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry,” Mr. King told a pro-I.R.A. rally on Long Island, where he was serving as Nassau County comptroller, in 1982. Three years later he declared, “If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the I.R.A. for it.” [...]

[T]he I.R.A. was carrying out a bloody campaign of bombing and sniping, targeting the British Army, Protestant paramilitaries and sometimes pubs and other civilian gathering spots.

Stewart also aired a clip of King on CNN from 1995 in which he said, “I will say tonight what I’ve said for the past 25 years is that the moral standing of the IRA is equal to that of the British army.” “Wow!!” Stewart remarked, “wait until Congressman Peter King gets a hold of terrorist sympahizer Peter King! That’s going to be a shit storm!” Watch the clip:


King defended his support for the IRA, saying, “I understand why people who are misinformed might see a parallel. The fact is, the I.R.A. never attacked the United States. And my loyalty is to the United States.” By that logic, perhaps King also supports other terrorists groups, such as ETA, that also have not attacked the U.S.

Debunking one of King’s main justifications for his hearings, CAP’s Matt Duss reported yesterday on the Wonk Room that a new study by the Muslim American Public Opinion Survey (MAPOS), the largest study of Muslim Americans ever done, “finds that involvement with the mosque, and increased religiosity increases civic engagement and support for American democratic values.

King would fit right in with the old Soviet Politburo. He could have the mock trials of his dreams and send everyone he doesn't like off to die in the Gulag. Though Remember that King is doing all of this witch hunting with the blessing of conservative leadership and on the tax payers dime.

Without Apologies, NPR is Not Liberal, But They Are Cowards

Wisconsin's neo-Stalinists Republicans rammed through their anti-middle-class bill. That bill will not create jobs as Lying Walker claims. On the contrary, Walker and his Republican hand maidens are setting new records at losing jobs.

Walker's Assault on Middle-Class is Coming to Ohio by Way of Wing-Nut John Kasich

Walker's Assault on Middle-Class is Coming to Ohio by Way of Wing-Nut John Kasich

Today, Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich (R) delivered his State of the State address, celebrating the successful passage of his ill-conceived JobsOhio program and for securing Cleveland, OH as the setting for an upcoming movie. But when Kasich began touting the state GOP’s assault on the collective bargaining rights of 350,000 public workers, a hail of boos descended from the gallery, derailing his stream of self-promotion. Youngstown Vindicator reporter Mark Kovac noted that this was “the first time I’ve ever heard heckling” during the State of the State address.

While Kasich painted a rosy picture inside the chamber, thousands of protesters filled the capitol, chanting slogans like “kill the bill” and “we won’t quit” in an attempt to “drown out” Kasich. The Columbus Dispatch captured the pandemonium outside, as teachers, firefighters, policemen, librarians, and other public servants fought to be heard. One of those workers, a 58-year-old teacher Portia Boulger from Chillicothe, OH, broke down in tears over Kasich’s treatment of public employees:

BOULGER: When he says he respects us, it’s a lie. He doesn’t respect me I’m 58 years old. I’ve been working since I was 13 and he wants to take my retirement away from me. Is that respect? Is that respect? No it’s not. He cares nothing about me. He cares about the Koch brothers and the money they put in his pocket. And I’m extremely angry and upset. And I’m not greedy. I am a hard worker and he doesn’t care about me or any of my kind.



While Kasich’s seemingly off-the-cuff speech was light on the details, Kasich previewed a budget proposal that would balance the budget on the backs of the less fortunate. While he reiterated his no-taxes pledge, Kasich “will look to save money” by, among other things, “administering the Medicaid insurance program differently.” Given his party’s stated goals this fall, that plan could include cutting Medicaid eligibility in half. Kasich also foreshadowed cuts to Ohio’s school systems. The total damage Kasich plans to inflict, however, will not be known until he releases his budget proposal on March 15. But if precedent serves any guide, Kasich will surely sacrifice the welfare of the majority of Ohioans to pad the pockets of the wealthy few.

Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich (R) seems to take his marching orders from the same cater to the elite agenda as Wisconsin's Scott Walker. They are reverse Robin Hoods, robbing the middle-class to give to their wealthy puppet masters.

Déjà Vu: NPR Becomes a Right-Wing Target. James O'Keefe Releases Yet Another Suspicious Video

Given O'Keefe's long history of doctoring video and using dishonest tactics, this latest release warrants much skepticism.

The video is posted on O'Keefe's site Project Veritas, along with a disclosure that it "does contain one brief section in which the audio is redacted in order to ensure the safety of an NPR overseas correspondent." The redacted portion starts at about 00:59:43 and ends at about 01:01:00. This is not the portion being called into question.

Who Cares If James O'Keefe Is A Lying Creep With A Criminal History? He Hates ACORN And NPR, So What's Not To Like If You're Fox News?

So an executive, not a journalist says the tea nuts have some racists in their ranks. That is obviously true. No one needs to apologize for stating the obvious. Some people who work at NPR are Democrats. So what. Being a Democrat and having an opinion is not against the law. Right-wing Republican "journalists" are on TV and radio 24 hours a day giving their slanted opinions of politics, religion and cultural issues. If it is OK for them to have such freedom, it is OK for Democrats.

America's Largest Corporate Banks Pay Little or No Taxes - We Could Rehire Teachers Laid Off During The Recession

America's Largest Corporate Banks Pay Little or No Taxes - We Could Rehire Teachers Laid Off During The Recession

Today, hundreds of people from Make Wall Street Pay, one member of a larger Main Street Movement that seeks to defend the American middle class, shut down a Bank of America branch in Washington, D.C. over the bank’s tax dodging. In 2009, the bank used loopholes in the tax code to avoid paying a penny of taxes. The protesters, many of them homeowners who had been abused by the bank’s mortgage policies, were outraged that the nation’s biggest bank was paying less taxes than they were in 2009.

Last week, National People’s Action and the Public Accountability Initiative, both of whom are organizing the Make Wall Street Pay protests, put out a report, “Big Bank Tax Drain.” The report lays out the costs that average Americans — who are being asked to sacrifice their education, their health, and their pensions — incur from the egregious tax dodging by the big banks.

In one particularly shocking statistic, the report notes that the six biggest banks in the United States together paid “income tax at an approximate rate of 11? percent in 2009 and 2010. If they had paid 35 percent, which is the legally mandated rate without loopholes, the federal government would have received “$13 billion in tax revenue” — a sum which would cover the salaries, for two years, of every single one of the 132,000 teachers laid off since the beginning of the economic recession:

Six banks – Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley together paid income tax at an approximate rate of 11% of their pre-tax US earnings in 2009 and 2010. Had they paid at 35%, what they are legally mandated to pay, the federal government would have received an additional $13 billion in tax revenue. This would cover more than two years of salaries for the 132,000 teacher jobs lost since the economic crisis began in 2008.

As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo writes, “Though the U.S. has a high statutory corporate tax rate, the effective tax rate that corporations actually pay is far lower, due to the myriad loopholes and credits in the corporate tax code, as well as the widespread sheltering of income in tax havens. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found, ‘corporate tax revenues are now at historical lows as a share of the economy.’”

In addition to shutting down a local Bank of America branch, Make Wall Street Pay protesters also demonstrated outside the convention of the National Association of Attorneys General, demanding action on the foreclosure crisis. They also flooded the offices of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), demanding that both support policies that would make big Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup pay their fair share before attacking investments and crucial services in Main Street America.

The Republican argument for not taxing corporations - which is the goal of many conservatives - Is these corporations will create jobs. The facts just do not support that argument. Corporations like the ones above paid the same low rates during the years Republicans controlled Congress and Bush was president. The Bush era had the lowest rate of job creation since Herbert Hoover was president. Corporate profits are now at pre-Recession levels and unemployment is still over 8%. Low to no taxes have little to do with a healthy economy and fair profits - they have to do with greed. Corporations take advantage of America's infrastructure and expertise of students taught largely in public schools and universities. It is time for them to pay America back and stop living off corporate welfare.

"Fox News Lies" While Covering Pro-Labor Protests In Wisconsin

Sadly, Republicans Are Lying About Unions. Why employee pensions aren't bankrupting states

Sadly, Republicans Are Lying About Unions. Why employee pensions aren't bankrupting states

From state legislatures to Congress to tea party rallies, a vocal backlash is rising against what are perceived as too-generous retirement benefits for state and local government workers. However, that widespread perception doesn't match reality.

A close look at state and local pension plans across the nation, and a comparison of them to those in the private sector, reveals a more complicated story. However, the short answer is that there's simply no evidence that state pensions are the current burden to public finances that their critics claim.

Pension contributions from state and local employers aren't blowing up budgets. They amount to just 2.9 percent of state spending, on average, according to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College puts the figure a bit higher at 3.8 percent.

Though there's no direct comparison, state and local pension contributions approximate the burden shouldered by private companies. The nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates that retirement funding for private employers amounts to about 3.5 percent of employee compensation.

Nor are state and local government pension funds broke. They're underfunded, in large measure because — like the investments held in 401(k) plans by American private-sector employees — they sunk along with the entire stock market during the Great Recession of 2007-2009. And like 401(k) plans, the investments made by public-sector pension plans are increasingly on firmer footing as the rising tide on Wall Street lifts all boats.

Boston College researchers project that if the assets in state and local pension plans were frozen tomorrow and there was no more growth in investment returns, there'd still be enough money in most state plans to pay benefits for years to come.

"On average, with the assets on hand today, plans are able to pay annual benefits at their current level for another 13 years. This assumes, pessimistically, that plans make no future pension contributions and there is no growth in assets," said Jean-Pierre Aubry, a researcher specializing in state and local pensions for the nonpartisan Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

In 2006, when the economy was humming before the financial crisis began, the value of assets in state and local pension funds covered promised benefits for a period of just over 19 years.

At the bottom of Aubry's list is Kentucky, which would have enough assets to cover 4.7 years. Other states do much better: North Carolina local government pensions are funded to cover 19 years of promised benefits; Florida's state plan could cover 17 years; and California's plans about 15 years.

"On the whole, the pension system isn't bankrupting every state in the country," Aubry said.

States having the biggest problems with pension obligations tend to be struggling with overall fiscal woes — New Jersey and Illinois in particular. Many states are now wrestling with underfunding because they didn't contribute enough during boom years.

Most state and local employees government across the nation have defined-benefit plans that promise employees either a percentage of their final salary during retirement or some fixed amount. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 91 percent of full-time state and local government workers have access to defined-benefit plans.

Several states_ including Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado and Washington_ have adopted competing defined-contribution plans, or a hybrid plan that provides government employees both a partial defined benefit in retirement and a supplementary defined-contribution plan.

Defined-contribution 401(k) plans divert on a tax-deferred basis a portion of pay, generally partially matched by the employer, into an account that invests in stocks and bonds. In 1980, 84 percent of workers at medium and large companies in the U.S. had a defined-benefit plan like those still predominate in the public sector. By last year, just 30 percent of workers in these larger companies were covered under such plans.

Defenders of the public pension system say anti-government, anti-union elected officials and interest groups have exaggerated the problem to score political points, and that as the economy heals, public pension plans will gain value and prove critics wrong.

"There's a window that's closing as market conditions improve and interest rates rise, the funding of these plans is going to look better than depicted by some," insisted Keith Brainard, the director of research for the National Association of State Retirement Administrators in Georgetown, Texas.

Republicans cannot admit that public employee retirement plans are not to blame for state budget problems because the real cause can be traced back to conservative Republican economic policies. The fact is that public employee unions pay 100% of their retirement benefits - portions of their wages are used in big investment portfolios in the stock market. Just like states and cities invest their money. Because Republicans ran up a huge debt, expanded government, lied us into a three trillion dollar war in Iraq and refused to rise revenue to cover their spending while they let Wall St run wild we're having some hard times. We're not having hard times because public employees are making too many demands. Union members, who are also tax payers and consumers who spend their money on the same consumer goods, at the same businesses as everyone else. Losing union jobs means American business will pay the price.

Republicans Big Budget Cuts? Eliminating Poison Control Centers

Republicans Big Budget Cuts? Eliminating Poison Control Centers

Eliminating nearly all the money for poison control centers would save $27 million — not even a rounding error when it comes to the deficit. Yet it is so foolish that it perfectly illustrates the thoughtlessness of the House Republican bill to cut $61 billion from the budget over the next seven months.

The nation’s network of 57 poison control centers takes four million calls a year about people who may have been exposed to a toxic substance. In three-quarters of all cases, the centers are able to provide treatment advice that does not require a visit to a hospital or a doctor, saving tens of millions of dollars in medical costs.

While a single visit to an emergency room can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars (often paid for by the government), a call to a poison center costs the government only $30 or $40. A study in the Journal of Medical Toxicology estimated that the poison centers saved the State of Arizona alone $33 million a year. Louisiana eliminated its centers in the 1980s but restored them when it realized how much money they saved.

The centers, which collect poison reports, can also act as an early warning system for pandemics or large toxic exposures, allowing a quick response.

The federal government pays about 20 percent of the cost of the centers, with states, cities and philanthropy picking up the rest. Many strapped state and local governments have cut back their financing, and experts say that the virtual elimination of federal money would force many centers to close and sharply damage the effectiveness of the national network.

Could savings be achieved by consolidating centers? Possibly. House Republicans didn’t bother to examine that or how much the cuts would actually increase spending on emergency care. If they get their way, lines at emergency rooms will be longer.

When I was growing up there was a saying about the kind of meanness and spitefulness being displayed by the tea baggers inspired crop of House Republicans - cutting off your nose to spite your face. Republicans seem ready to cut anything and everything just to say they made cuts. It does not seem to matter whether those cuts will actually costs states many more millions in the long run.

We are a nation of laws. Then there is unhinged vindictiveness combined with ethnocentricity , Arizona GOP Bill Would Let Gov. Brewer Create An Armed Militia For Whatever She ‘Considers Necessary’

Arizona’s GOP-run legislature has taken to marginalizing and villainizing the immigrant population with zeal — be it through SB 1070, HB 2191, or SB 1070 “on steroids.” Now, the Pheonix New Times reports that state Sen. Sylvia Allen (R-AZ) is pushing a bill to give Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) a “blank check to establish a ‘state guard’ that would do her bidding, whatever that bidding might be.”

Allen’s SB 1495 not only establishes a “state guard” independent of the national guard and finances that guard with national guard funding, but it allows Brewer to created this “Armed force” for “any reason the governor considers to be necessary”:

Given the current agitation within the state’s ad hoc militias, this GOP-generated “state guard” represents an official opportunity for anti-immigrant extremists already active in Arizona. Bill Davis, the neo-nazi supported founder of Arizona’s “border vigilante group” the Cochise County Militia, has been recruiting “combat veterans, with kill records, to camp out and patrol” along the U.S. – Mexico border. He also created a “private military company” to “stop border crossers” when the Border Patrol won’t. Shawna Forde, the vigilante leader of Arizona’s Minutemen American Defense, just received the death sentence for the murder of a 9-year-old Hispanic-American girl and her father.

There is the law and justice and than there is murder. Some Republicans apparently think murder is fair substitute for the rule of law.