Sarah Palin. Paging Sarah Palin, Irony is on line two, and the Pot has called about your color scheme.
When cutting money will actually cost you more. Sometimes, as a government, you find that you need to spend money in one direction to save yourself spending multiples of that amount in another direction. (Defunding PPACA, the HCA, will cost more next year than it saves this year)
O'Keefe would lie about the issues surrounding his latest "video gotcha journalism"? Shocked, shocked I am to hear that…
I've written and trashed several attempts at a post surrounding the 60 Minutes report on homeless children that aired last Sunday. Until I can either get out a coherent rage about it, or put some distance from it, I'll merely point to the text of the show. And I'll say that if you ever wanted to know why I take a stand in politics (instead of just going about my life in what would be a happier state I'm sure) or am hitting so hard on the topic of income disparity… this. This is why. Note to those of you who don't know: a short history, I was born in the middle class and lived there until my parents divorced when I was 9. In two years we lost the house and had to live with my grandparents for several years. We were lucky we had that option, and it wasn't easy on any of us. I've spend much of the rest of my life crawling my way back into the middle class. My Mom is still stuck back there (although she now has the house her and my grandmother were able to buy). There are those who have it harder than these kids, and had it harder than me. It doesn't take away the shame and anger I feel.
So, if you ever have to ask yourself why I bang on the toppers like Sarah Palin, fret about what direction our government is going and to whom they bow down to, or that idiot clown wannabes decide to protect their own special interests in trying to preserve their privilege and to beg for crumbs from the tables of the likes of the Koches, listen to those kids stories. I, luckily, don't go to bed hungry anymore. I didn't miss many meals to begin with (thanks to our grandparents and the federal lunch program). And I got to do a lot of things most other people don't (did you know you can get a scholarship to summer camp?). But if you for one moment think that the prospect of going right back there isn't ever present in my mind, you don't know me at all. I've lived on Raman Noodles for months and stolen toilet paper to make ends meet. I never want to go back. And I want all those kids who would think that my earlier life was a step up to have at least a chance of something better.
So, yeah, I'm a bleeding heart liberal. And if you don't get why, bite me.
5 comments:
So I read the actual NPR memos and don't see them turning down the money, only saying that forms must be produced before they can accept the funds. Then we have the second conversation with NPR Senior Director of Institutional Giving Betsy Liley that's full of misstatements per their own statement: "The statement made by Betsy Liley in the audiotapes 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.
I think TPM's spin is pretty twisted.
YMMV.
Anonymous Cassie, who does listen to NPR on a semi-regular basis.
Cassie, actually O'Keefe and Project Veritas has spun this story as Shiller didn't "blink an eye" when the fake muslims made comments about Jewish ownership of the media (which actually he does refute a few minutes down the road) and that NPR was begging for the check (which these email show that they weren't). He also twists the line about how NPR was going to make sure the fake group wasn't reported to the IRS for their donation (which all that happened was that Liley said she would see what she could do).
Steve. Steve. Steve.
Read your own link again, especially that last part with the statement from NPR where they renounce everything that Schiller said. The NPR ombudsman doesn't even try to spin Schiller - who can try to justify what he said? His anti-Semitic comments are only one part.
Betsy Liley's failure is unbelievable to me; as part of her job, as Director of Institutional Giving, why on earth did she prevaricate?
We still haven't seen any evidence of their rejection of the money, only that they required paperwork first. There very well may be a note, email or private conversation declining the offer - but it hasn't been produced yet. So it's thin ice to be skating on, claiming that they did turn it down. I think TPM is straw-manning the argument.
AC
Cassie, so what's the story line being drawn out of this, that the original Shiller was a dick? No. The line being drawn out is that NPR takes money from questionable groups, hides it from the government, and doesn't want/need government funding.
1) O'Keefe's group tried constantly to give them a check, which even Shiller wouldn't accept. Behind the scenes it looks like NPR, internally, had lots of questions about the group and were going to break off negotiations.
2) In response to a question, one of the gift managers said, "Yeah, we might be able to do that." Of which she was shut down by her manager and the legal team. Is it so strange that a person whose job it is to get large donations would try their best to meet a donor's request (as a condition of that donation)?
3) Is it also so strange that someone in charge of landing large charitable donations would think that they didn't "need" government funding (actually, I think the quote is, "would be better off without") because that would make their own job more important? Or that he would seem to agree with the political positions of those donors (when later, he does soft peddle that he doesn't actually see their point)?
"Hey, here's a check for $5M made out to 'cash'. The sky is purple." What do you say? Make a full throated defense right there that they're wrong and the sky is blue, or do you waffle and say the sky could be seen as purplish. It would be like if I went into Sears and judged the entire company's stance on issues from my contact with one sales person.
That Shiller filled the exact stereo type the right has of NPR is unfortunate. I think you've also commented on how unfair it would be for the left to label both the Republicans/Conservatives and the Tea Party by the actions of one of their members (if we do, I pick Glenn Beck and Mark Williams). Why now are you supporting the right in that same manner?
Also, that a "Senior Director" would make misstatements, I'm not surprised. Again, 1) she's trying to land a big donation, it's her job to do everything possible to get that money (and this is probably the first time she's been asked to do this), 2) just like there's grade inflation, there's also title inflation (just this week I did an org chart where one COO reports to another COO), 3) she's basically a sales person and her job is basically a sales position. Would it be so strange to find a sales person that doesn't know their process, doesn't know their product, and would lie or make something up rather than say, "I don't know"?
It's a massive rhetorical argument expecting that people won't think or have experience in the real world (or at least won't apply it here).
Instead of starting a new post on this, Cassie, I hope you're still reading the comments. In case you missed it this morning, the full tapes show a more balanced picture. Strange that.
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