Oh goodie, more symbolism from the GOP: House votes to cut off funds for NPR

The Hill: The House on Thursday passed a bill to defund NPR, a measure strongly opposed by the White House but one Republicans say will save taxpayer money.

The GOP-backed measure, which will be sent to the Senate, passed 228-192. One Republican voted present, and seven voted against the bill. No Democrats supported it. [MORE]

Does anyone believe for one second that this bill will make it past the Senate or Obama's veto pen?  Honestly, the Republican leadership is overdosing on symbolism.  If they are dead serious about cutting NPR's funds then they have to include this bill with something the Democrats cannot say no to.  

I think the problem with the GOP establishment is that they simply do not believe that things have changed since 2008.  There is growing support in the nation that there is too much on our plate and cuts will have to be made.  However, unless the GOP starts clearly explaining how dire our financial situation is and then act accordingly, the American public could easily slip back into believing that cuts can wait.

Enough with the symbolic gestures, get to getting.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Hill

Republicans move to defund NPR

Politico: Meredith Shiner reports from the Hill that the House Rules committee will hold an emergency meeting Wednesday at 3 p.m. on H.R. 1076, the measure “to prohibit funding of National Public Radio and the use of Federal funds to acquire radio content.”

The bill, introduced by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), who has been spearheading efforts to remove federal subsidies from public broadcasting, is here. [...]

The pending legislation is a stand-alone measure that would slash funding regardless of pending negotiations between the House and Senate on a continuing resolution. It is unlikely the standalone bill would clear the Senate, even if passed, or that the President would sign such an initiative into law.

Sorry, but this is a complete waste of time. Video or no video, Senate Democrats are going to block this bill. The better way to handle defunding NPR is to tie it to legislation that the Democrats cannot say no to. There will be plenty of opportunities to snag the Democrats this way. Republicans simply have to bide their time. Too many Republicans like to engage in these symbolic maneuvers. While they may score points with the base, these efforts do zero to actually change things.

Note: Yes, I did use an image of the NPR logo with crosshairs on it. This is because I do not give two flips about the left's "new civility".

Via: Memeorandum
Via: Politico

VIDEO: NPR Sting Part 2

James O'Keefe has released the second part of the NPR sting.  This one includes telephone conversations between NPR exec Betsy Liley (the gal in the first video) and the fake Muslims.  In the telephone conversations Liley offers to hide the $5 million from a government audit.

The Blaze: James O’Keefe and his Project Veritas have just released part two of their NPR investigation, which claims to show an NPR executive telling a fake Muslim donor how his group can be shielded from a government audit if it donates $5 million.

The video features phone calls between a member of O‘Keefe’s fake Muslim organization and Betsy Lily, the NPR executive who played a supporting role in the original video. It is a lengthy 44 minutes long, but that‘s because O’Keefe claims it also includes the unedited phone calls.

“Senior Director of NPR Betsy Liley says she may be able to shield from a govt audit $5mm donation from a reporter posing as a donor from Muslim Brotherhood front group,” the video’s YouTube description says.

Ms. Liley had better get her resume in order, because I think another head is going to roll at NPR.

Via: The Blaze

The Hits Just Keep on Coming: NPR CEO Vivian Schiller resigns

After yesterday's sting video aired, blabber mouth Ron Schiller (no relation) moved up his resignation from NPR. Now NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (again no relation) is out the door.

NPR: Vivian Schiller quickly condemned Ron Schiller's comments, and he moved up an already-announced decision to leave NPR and resigned effectively immediately. But Ron Schiller's gaffe followed last fall'sdismissal of NPR political analyst Juan Williams, for which Vivian Schiller came under harsh criticism and NPR's top news executive, Ellen Weiss, resigned.

NPR just sent this statement from NPR Board of Directors Chairman Dave Edwards to its staff and member stations:

"It is with deep regret that I tell you that the NPR Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Vivian Schiller as President and CEO of NPR, effective immediately.

"The Board accepted her resignation with understanding, genuine regret, and great respect for her leadership of NPR these past two years.

"Vivian brought vision and energy to this organization. She led NPR back from the enormous economic challenges of the previous two years. She was passionately committed to NPR's mission, and to stations and NPR working collaboratively as a local-national news network.

"According to a CEO succession plan adopted by the Board in 2009, Joyce Slocum, SVP of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, has been appointed to the position of Interim CEO. The Board will immediately establish an Executive Transition Committee that will develop a timeframe and process for the recruitment and selection of new leadership.

"I recognize the magnitude of this news – and that it comes on top of what has been a traumatic period for NPR and the larger public radio community. The Board is committed to supporting NPR through this interim period and has confidence in NPR's leadership team."

Once again NPR's mask has slipped and once again we see another left wing organization hiding behind "objectivity" as they leech off the taxpayer. Sorry NPR, but the cat is out of the bag and a change of faces simply will not do.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: NPR

UPDATED: Busted: NPR Execs caught on tape showing their true colors

The Daily Caller: In a new video released Tuesday morning by conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe, Schiller and Betsy Liley, NPR’s director of institutional giving, are seen meeting with two men who, unbeknownst to the NPR executives, are posing as members of a Muslim Brotherhood front group. The men, who identified themselves as Ibrahim Kasaam and Amir Malik from the fictitious Muslim Education Action Center (MEAC) Trust, met with Schiller and Liley at Café Milano, a well-known Georgetown restaurant, and explained their desire to give up to $5 million to NPR because, “the Zionist coverage is quite substantial elsewhere.”

On the tapes, Schiller wastes little time before attacking conservatives. The Republican Party, Schiller says, has been “hijacked by this group.” The man posing as Malik finishes the sentence by adding, “the radical, racist, Islamaphobic, Tea Party people.” Schiller agrees and intensifies the criticism, saying that the Tea Party people aren’t “just Islamaphobic, but really xenophobic, I mean basically they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it’s scary. They’re seriously racist, racist people.”

No liberal bias here, folks [sarcasm off]. If Schiller is correct that liberals are so much smarter than conservatives, how come they keep falling for all these undercover sting videos? Project Veritas had better release the unedited version of this video quickly, because you just know NPR is going to scream that the video is doctored.

For me the real kicker in this video was this part.

Later in the lunch, Schiller explains that NPR would be better positioned free of federal funding. “Well frankly, it is clear that we would be better off in the long-run without federal funding,” he says. “The challenge right now is that if we lost it all together we would have a lot of stations go dark.”

When one of O’Keefe’s associates asked, “How confident are you, with all the donors that are available, if they should pull the funding right now that you would survive?,” Schiller answered this way: “Yes, NPR would definitely survive and most of the stations would survive.”

OK Congress, you heard the man, now how about saving the taxpayer $90 million? If you are interested in making NPR "better off without federal funding" you can sign the petition to defund them here.


UPDATE: Full two hour unedited version

Project Veritas: Project Veritas, in order to offer transparency in reporting, has released the full two-hour video later today related to Part 1 of our NPR Investigation.

 The video, which is largely the raw video and audio of the entire conversation with NPR Foundation's President Ron Schiller, does contain one brief section in which the audio is redacted in order to ensure the safety of an NPR overseas correspondent.  

Click here for the full two hour unedited version.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: The Daily Caller
Via: Project Veritas

House fails to eliminate NPR funding

The Hill: The House on Thursday voted to move forward on legislation without voting on a proposal put forth by Republicans to defund NPR. 

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the next majority leader, said the vote demonstrates that Democrats "are still not ready to listen" following their sweeping midterm election losses. […]

The House voted 239-171 to move forward on a teleworking bill without taking up the stripping of NPR's funding. Republicans put the item on the floor through their YouCut program, an initiative that allows the public to vote online on spending cuts they want to see enacted by Congress. […]

Three Democrats, Reps. John Adler (N.J.), Gene Taylor (Miss.) and Gabrielle Giffords (Ariz.), voted with Republicans. Adler and Taylor lost their elections two weeks ago. 

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Republicans would not have to try again if they simply waited until next year.  Eric Cantor is clearly playing political games by trying to get Democrats on record for not wanting to cut spending.  That is cute, but at this stage of game it would be far better to actually cut the funding.

Political games like this is what I worry about most with the Republican leadership.  These are the games of yesterday; people are looking for real action from Republicans this time around.

Regarding funding for NPR, it should be terribly obvious that it is unnecessary at this point. Way back in the day before cable and the internet there was a need to fund NPR to provide an independent voice.  Not anymore.  If a ordinary black man from New Jersey can one day get up off his couch one day, start a blog for free and a year later is quoted by the New York Times, Washington Post, National Review and Associated Press, then it is a pretty safe bet that NPR can get their message out without taxpayer dollars. If they can’t, they can always bum a few bucks off the spooky dude.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Hill