BluegrassBulletin.com

Thank You To All My Readers- BluegrassBulletin Is Two Years Old This Week

I want to thank all of you who read, link to, share and email the work published here on The Bluegrass Bulletin.  We are two years old this week.

In those two years many blogs have faded from the scene.  Some new ones have cropped up, only to stop updating articles and eventually have gone dark.  Not The Bluegrass Bulletin.

Other than the occasional times when pressing matters have necessitated that my attention be directed elsewhere, we have published thousands of articles, received thousands of comments and now have a readership which exceeds that of many newspapers.

In the last two years the New Media has begun to take root.  Some have used their first amendment rights with a limited sense of responsibility.  I have striven to bring you news, commentary, opinion and humor with a dedication to quality writing and respect for the privilege you have given me by being a loyal reader.

In the year to come I urge you to participate more, to share your thoughts and feelings and to invite others to come here.  Whether we agree or not, we are a community.

Thank you.

Washington Post Sells Access To Obama Officials On "Health Care"

The Washington Post, desperate for revenue, has resorted to stripping off its clothes and crawling around naked on the floor for dollars.  In a recent flier the paper has announced that for a price it will arrange a private dinner for highly placed individuals with an interest in the "health care" debate to be joined by  Obama officials.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."

The offer — which essentially turns a news organization into a facilitator for private lobbyist-official encounters — is a new sign of the lengths to which news organizations will go to find revenue at a time when most newspapers are struggling for survival.

And it's a turn of the times that a lobbyist is scolding The Washington Post for its ethical practices.[Politico]

Ahhh, the fresh, clean trustworthy journalism of an unbiased media. (not)

Iran Now Banning Foreign Media Coverage Of Revolt

This from CBS News:

Iran's hard-line regime, starting to show stress under the mounting pressure of massive opposition rallies, has told foreign media that if they're seen on the streets of Tehran today with a camera, they will be arrested.

Media Feels Heat For Any Criticism Of Obama

When George Bush misspoke, a wildfire of criticism was started against him.  He was either a stupid frat boy, mentally challenged or just an ignoramus.  But let Barack Obama call "Cinco de Mayo"  "Cuarto de Cinco" during a White House photo op and hardly a word.  Why you ask?

Well one writer seems to think that the censorship is self imposed.  She believes that many in the main stream media and on late night TV are biting their tongues because it is socially unacceptable to criticize "The One".

Looks like it is just starting to dawn on some lefties that Obama is ushering in an era of oppression of free speech. So it seems for Laura Varon Brown of the Detroit Free Press, at least. Oh, she isn't saying that Obama himself is trampling on free speech, but she is starting to understand that the left's penchant for political correctness is serving the function as a sort of self-imposed oppression no matter what Obama says. It's getting so bad, according to Brown, that any criticism of Obama is treated as akin to treason... at least it is in the "circles" she runs in, anyway.

STORY AT NEWSBUSTERS HERE

Oooooo.....Associated Press Calls Obama On Carpet For His Baseless Self Congratulation

This one is worth a read folks.  When the AP publishes a story taking apart bit by bit Barack Obama's self congratulatory celebration of his first 100 days in office, odds are there will be more to come.

Now I'm not saying Barry O can't still make a reporter swoon, but since the honeymoon period is now officially over, let's see if they start complaining that he forgets to put the seat down and makes him pick up his dirty underwear, or not.

READ HERE

CNN Asks Senator Jim DeMint: "What Do You Mean By Freedom?"

Not surprisingly CNN personality Rick Sanchez while interviewing Senator Jim DeMint regarding the party switch of Arlen Specter was confronted with a concept seemingly unfamiliar to him:

He asked the senator from South Carolina if Specter was correct in his analysis that the conservative wing of the Republican Party was squeezing out a segment of the electorate.

"You're shrinking the electorate to an extreme - to a point where a regular Republican can't win," Sanchez said, paraphrasing Specter. "What do you make of that argument?"

However, DeMint explained it was which ideology was best suited to give Americans the freedom to choose in their daily lives that propagated a more prosperous society - both economically and culturally.

"What the hell does that mean?" Sanchez said. "I mean, the biggest tent is freedom? Freedom?" [NEWSBUSTERS]

DeMint went on to explain himself but the "tell" had already happened.  Sanchez was confounded by the notion of liberty and how it has been in an environment of liberty that the United States became the greatest nation in the world.

Unfamiliar territory for CNN I'm sure.

Main Stream Media Misrepresents Obama's First 100 Days

According to mainstream reports, Barack Obama is wildly popular among Americans, so much so that he is still being called a "rock star".  But as it turns out, the poll numbers tell a different story.

While according to Gallup his approval rating is at 56%, that puts him 7th out of the last nine presidents at the same time in their first term.

And, what is more, despite the coverage Michelle Obama continues to get, she's not so popular either.

Here's the story.  Interesting read on how Gallup covered up the numbers with favorably worded headlines.

FULL STORY HERE

France Fries Obama

Rock Star?  The One?  Charismatic leader?  Not terms French President Nicloas Sarkozy would use to describe Barack Obama.  In fact, according to one report, Sarkozy thinks Obama is, well, just about the way we tried to describe him to you before the American media helped him get elected:

Mr Sarkozy is pouring cold water on President Obama's efforts to recast American leadership on the world stage, depicting them as unoriginal, unsubstantial and overrated.

The American President's call "to free the world of the menace of a nuclear nightmare" was hot air, Mr Sarkozy's diplomatic staff told him in a report. "It was rhetoric – not a speech on American security policy but an export model aimed at improving the image of the United States," they said. Most of Mr Obama's proposals had already been made by the Bush administration

"The President [Sarkozy] is annoyed by what he sees as the naivety and the herd mentality of the media," said a journalist who is privy to Elysée thinking.

Again, according to the Sarkozy version, at the Nato summit in Strasbourg, Mr Obama was meekly yielding to Turkey's refusal to endorse Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the alliance's new Secretary-General.

Yeah, but you gotta admit, Obama's really, really smooth at a cocktail party.

From The "You Gotta Be Kidding Me" Department: NY Times Compares Obama To Hitler & Says That's Good!

Do any of you know about Adolph Hitler?  What is he remembered for?  Anything good?

When the owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Marge Schott, of German heritage, suggested that not everything Hitler had done in the beginning was bad, she was chased by the hounds through the press and eventually out of baseball.

But what will happen to Dave Leonhardt, who writing for the New York Times drew a comparison between the economic plans of Barack Obama and those of the early Hitler with this observation?

In the summer of 1933, just as they will do on Thursday, heads of government and their finance ministers met in London to talk about a global economic crisis. They accomplished little and went home to battle the crisis in their own ways.

More than any other country, Germany — Nazi Germany — then set out on a serious stimulus program. The government built up the military, expanded the autobahn, put up stadiums for the 1936 Berlin Olympics and built monuments to the Nazi Party across Munich and Berlin.

Germany did escape the Great Depression faster than other countries.

Here in the United States, many people are understandably wondering whether the $800 billion stimulus program will make much of a difference. They want to know: Does stimulus work? Fortunately, this is one economic question that’s been answered pretty clearly in the last century.

Yes, stimulus works.

When governments have taken aggressive steps to soften an economic decline, they have succeeded. The Germans did it in the 1930s.

No, I'm not kidding.  An American newspaper is making a favorable comparison between Adolph Hitler and Barack Obama without batting an eye.

God save us all.

As I Predicted ***Updated***

A few weeks ago on my Internet Radio Program, "The Marcus Carey Perspective" I said that somewhere toward the end of March through the end of April that the media would begin reporting that the economy was improving.  I suggested that this would be due to a combination of factors not the least of which would be the raging horsepower of the American engine which has been sitting at idle waiting for the first sign that it was time to take off again.

But I also suggested that the timing of the change in the tone of the news would coincide with warmer weather, which naturally increased optimism, and the desire of the media to drape credit for the improvement around the shoulders of Obama like the robe of a savior.

What I didn't forsee, however, was this dangerous combination of events as appeared in today's headlines on Drudge.  The ground work for giving victory to Obama is being laid, but at what cost to liberty?

Here are the two THREE headlines:

WORLD MARKETS SURGE AS US DATA BOOST RECOVERY HOPE

POWER: GEITHNER WON'T RULE OUT REPLACING MORE CEO'S

***UPDATED***

WALL STREET JUMPS

The danger here lies in the fact that not only will the press now begin to give Obama credit for success in rescuing the economy, they will encourage people to view the socialist agenda he has been pursuing as an acceptable "change" for America as evidenced by that success.

And joining our press in working this evil angle will be reports out of Europe that Obama is seen as "a rock star".  For those Americans who felt President Bush had given us a bad reputation oversees, Europe's love for Obama will be a salve for their wounded psyche.

Problem is, Europe is becoming increasingly more socialist, increasingly more dependent on Russian gas and oil and increasingly less willing to join the USA in defending liberty around the world.

Perhaps it is time to recall the words of Ronald Reagan from twenty years ago:

The way I see it, there were two great triumphs, two things that I'm proudest of. One is the economic recovery, in which the people of America created - and filled - 19 million new jobs. The other is the recovery of our morale. America is respected again in the world and looked to for leadership.

Something that happened to me a few years ago reflects some of this. It was back in 1981, and I was attending my first big economic summit, which was held that year in Canada. The meeting place rotates among the member countries. The opening meeting was a formal dinner for the heads of government of the seven industrialized nations. Now, I sat there like the new kid in school and listened, and it was all the Francois this and Helmut that. They dropped titles and spoke to one another on a first-name basis. Well, at one point I sort of leaned in an said, "My name's Ron." Well, in that same year, we began the actions we felt would ignite an economic comeback - cut taxes and regulation, started to cut spending. And soon the recovery began.

Two years later another economic summit, with pretty much the same cast. At the big opening meeting we all got together, and all of a sudden, just for a moment, I saw that everyone was just sitting there looking at me. And then one of them broke the silence. "Tell us about the American miracle," he said.

Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: "We the people." "We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. "We the people" are the driver, the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past eight years.

But life has a way of reminding you of big things through small incidents. Once, during the heady days of the Moscow summit, Nancy and I decided to break off from the entourage one afternoon to visit the shops on Arbat Street - that's a little street just off Moscow's main shopping area. Even though our visit was a surprise, every Russian there immediately recognized us and called out our names and reached for our hands. We were just about swept away by the warmth. You could almost feel the possibilities in all that joy. But within seconds, a KGB detail pushed their way toward us and began pushing and shoving the people in the crowd. It was an interesting moments. It reminded me that while the man of the street in the Soviet Union yearns for peace, the government is Communist. And those who run it are Communists, and that means we and they view such issues as freedom and human rights very differently.

Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time. But oddly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of in the past eight years: the resurgence of national pride that I called the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over thirty-five or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea of the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed, you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the midsixties.

We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth.