High jobless rates persist in NC, Greensboro News Record, August 25, 2012, Guilford county 5.3 percent when Democrats took congress 10.2 percent now

High jobless rates persist in NC, Greensboro News Record, August 25, 2012, Guilford county 5.3 percent when Democrats took congress 10.2 percent now

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“North Carolina currently has the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the country and has stayed well above the national average through 2012.”…WRAL, August 17, 2012

“We tried our plan—and it worked. That’s the difference. That’s the choice in this election. That’s why I’m running for a second term.”…Barack Obama

Are there 2 versions of the Greensboro News & Record?

One in print with the facts for the older generations and one watered down for the younger folks on the internet. One designed to protect Obama?

The print edition, to my surprise and delight, has for months been presenting the truth about the economy and Jobs in NC.

From the front page top of the Print edition of the Greensboro News & Record August 25, 2012.

“High jobless rates persist in N.C.”

“Unemployment rates dropped or remained the same in most of North carolina in July, but joblessness remains high throughout the state.

In Guilford County, the unemployment rate fell by 1.3 percentage points to 10.2 percent in July, compared with 11.5 percent in July 2011.”

“But while more people now have jobs, analysts say local labor market conditions are still in distress. John Quinterno, a principal with South by North Strategies, an economic and social policy research firm, siad the labor market still isn’t generating enough jobs for all of the people who need them.”
“Is it an improvement to what it was when it was 11 percent? Yes…but it still doesn’t take away that there’s still a 10 percent unemployment rate, which is extraordinary,” Quinterno said.”

“Consider this: The unemployment rate in Guilford County was at 5.3 percent in July 2007. It hit it’s highest level—11.8 percent—in July 2009 during the height of the recesion.”

Guilford County had a  5.3 percent unemployment rate when the Democrats took control of congress in 2007.

From the internet version of the Greensboro News & Record August 24, 2012.

“Local unemployment decreases”

“Unemployment in Guilford County fell by 1.3 percentage points to 10.2 percent in July compared with 11.5 percent in July of 2011.

The Greensboro-High Point metro area, which covers employees in both cities, also fell to 10.2 percent in July from 11.5 percent in July 2011.

The state overall reported good news compared with this time last year, according to a news release from the N.C. Department of Commerce – Labor and Economic Analysis Division.

“Rates either dropped or remained the same in most of North Carolina in July,” said N.C. Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Dale Carroll. “Compared to the same time last year, nearly all of the state’s counties have a lower unemployment rate.”

North Carolina had 34 counties that were at or below the state’s not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 9.8
percent. Unemployment rates decreased in eight of the state’s 14 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

The rate increased in two and stayed the same in four.

The number of workers employed (not seasonally adjusted) increased in July by 12,968 to 4,249,084, while those unemployed fell 1,362 to 462,255.

Since July 2011, the number of workers unemployed decreased 50,996, while those employed increased 60,772.

Currituck County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in July at 4.7 percent, and Scotland County had the highest unemployment rate at 17.6 percent.”

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/08/24/article/local_unemployment_decreases

From Citizen Wells August 24, 2012.

“North Carolina’s statewide unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) was 9.8 percent in July. This was a 0.1 of a percentage-point decrease from June’s revised rate of 9.9 percent, and a 1.1 percentage-point decrease over the year.

Over the month, the unemployment rate decreased in 47 counties, increased in 26 and remained the same in 27. Thirty-four counties had unemployment rates below the state’s 9.8 percent rate.

Scotland County recorded July’s highest unemployment rate at 17.6 percent, remaining the same as the previous month. Graham County had the second-highest rate at 15.2 percent. Currituck County had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.7 percent, followed by Chatham, 7.0 percent; and Orange, 7.1 percent.”

“Mecklenburg County, the home of the 2012 Democrat convention in Charlotte, has an unemployment rate of 10 percent.”

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/us-unemployment-claims-rise-4000-nc-unemployment-rate-9-8-percent-unemployment-rate-increased-in-26-nc-counties-charlotte-mecklenburg-rate-10-percent/

Obama a Christian?, Media protects Obama slams Romney, Real economy numbers reported in late November 2012, John Hammer Rhino Times, August 9, 2012

Obama a Christian?, Media protects Obama slams Romney, Real economy numbers reported in late November 2012, John Hammer Rhino Times, August 9, 2012

“My whole family was Muslim,” …Maya Soetoro-Ng

“A light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come
down upon you, you will experience an Epiphany…and you will
suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama.”…Barack Obama

“There is no evidence that Barack Obama is a Christian”…Citizen Wells

Real reporting about Obama, in print, in NC,

From John Hammer of the Rhino Times August 9, 2012.

“The presidential campaign is still not officially underway – since neither candidate is the official candidate of their party until after the party conventions – and it is already ugly and is going to get worse. Obama, with an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent, cannot run on his record. He spent the $1 trillion in stimulus money to get the unemployment rate down and it didn’t work. If Obama talks about the $1 trillion in stimulus he opens the door for a mistake that he has admitted to making – there is no such thing as a shovel-ready project. So the $1 trillion that was for shovel-ready projects was for fantasy projects. It reminds voters how little Obama knows about how the government works, how business works or, really, how anything other than a political campaign works. And the indications are that he really doesn’t understand political campaigns either.

Four years ago Obama ran what appeared to be a flawless political campaign, but in retrospect it appears that he was running against a Republican that all the other Republicans had beaten when he ran in his campaign mode. It was only when he ran as Sen. John McCain that anyone could tolerate him. When McCain went back to being the Republican presidential candidate, instead of himself, he had already lost. Also Obama could have been caught in the act with a creature from outer space and the media would not have reported it. How many photos did you see of Obama smoking? Do you think the media would have run photos of Sarah Palin smoking if they had them? The media was only going to report good things about Obama and they did. It is why we still know so little about Obama.

The only real source of information we had about Obama was his own book, and then we found out that it is far from a memoir in that he has a composite girlfriend. If the press vetted Obama at all we would know whether or not he was really Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s protégé as he once said, or was he just someone who attended that church on occasion because of its political clout in the black community in Chicago. If he was a protégé then Obama needs to explain when he realized that Wright’s racist rants against white people in general and Jews in particular went too far and he decided not to be a follower.

If the truth is that he was never really a follower of Wright’s, and that is the only church he has ever been a member of according to his book, is he really a Christian? He wasn’t raised as Christian. Neither of his parents were Christians. If Wright did not bring him to Christ, who did? And why did he decide not to practice his religion in a formal manner while president.

These are the kinds of questions that you would expect to have answers to about the president of the United States, but evidently asking any question about Obama that he has not already answered is wrong.

, , ,

Along those same lines, it is no surprise, but worth noting, that the mainstream media have become even more liberal and partisan. Back in 2010 and even 2011, with the election at least a year away, the mainstream media were willing to be critical of Obama and to admit that whoever the Republican nominee was that he or she might have some redeeming qualities.

Now that the election is less than three months away, the mainstream media pundits are back to proclaiming Obama the messiah, and Mitt Romney is just some rich guy who inherited a bunch of money, has never really done anything and now wants to buy the presidency. Four years ago when Obama raised more money than any presidential candidate ever had it was because he had the support of the people. Now that Romney is raising more money month after month than Obama it is because Romney is rich. It’s amazing how things get reported.

, , ,

One thing that has changed in this election is that no one can argue that Obama doesn’t have the experience to be president. He now has more experience than anyone still in the game. He will soon be tied with both George Herbert Walker Bush, and James Earl Carter Jr., but it is unlikely that either one of them will decide to run for another term.

Experience was a good issue for Republicans in 2008, since Obama had not completed a full term in the US Senate and had never been the chief executive of anything other than the Harvard Law Review and his own political campaigns, both of which are a little different from being president. But this time around Romney’s experience running a business, running a state and running the Olympics are all good preparation but Obama has him beat when it comes to experience being president.

Now it is easy to argue that Obama’s experience as president proves that he shouldn’t serve another term, because he hasn’t been able to get the economy back on track. It will be interesting to see what the real numbers are for the economy when the election is over. It will be a real surprise if the figures released by the government are not revised in November after the election.

I have no doubt that the government in late November will reveal that the economy is in worse shape than the figures released earlier would indicate. Unemployment will turn out to be higher and economic growth will turn out to be lower, and not reporting it earlier was simply due to an unfortunate mathematical error.”

Read more:

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2012-08-08-212799.112113-Under-the-Hammer.html

Greensboro News Record job article misleading, Orwell exuberance or Democrat pressure?, Manufacturing, jobs up in Triad, Economist Don Jud quoted

Greensboro News Record job article misleading, Orwell exuberance or Democrat pressure?, Manufacturing, jobs up in Triad, Economist Don Jud quoted

“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

Donald Patterson and the Greensboro News Record have done a decent job lately of reporting the facts on the NC jobs situation. However, yesterday, June 19, 2012, the front page headline stated:

“Manufacturing, jobs up in Triad”

and the article quoted economist Don Jud to paint a rather rosy picture of the job situation in the triad (largest city Greensboro). Any good news is welcome but this had too close a ring to Obama touting jobs created while omitting the jobs lost and drop in labor force participation rate.

From the Greensboro News Record June 18, 2012.

“It’s not often that our part of the world comes in first in anything . But economist Don Jud has found an example. And it’s a biggie.

In recent months, Jud says, the Greensboro-High Point metro area has far outpaced state and national averages for employment growth in goods production.

That means companies in Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph counties, which make up the local metro area, are hiring people to make stuff.

“That’s the best news I know,” Jud said.

But there’s just one problem: Jud and others can’t say with any certainty why we’re doing so much better than everyone else.

“I think I have spotted a trend,” said Jud, who defined goods-producing jobs as those in construction and manufacturing. “Why it is ongoing and how likely it is to continue, I really don’t know.”

Jud said that from April 2011 to April 2012, goods-producing employment in the area increased 6 percent. That compares to a 1.8 percent growth rate nationally and just 0.2 percent for North Carolina.

During those 12 months, Jud said, employment in the local metro has grown by 5,200 jobs, with more than 75 percent of that coming from the goods-producing sector.

Area people involved in economic development welcomed the surge.”

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/06/18/article/manufacturing_jobs_up_in_triad

Now compare the above to the tone of a June report by Economist Don Jud.

“Tracking the Triad Economy

The recovery from the most recent recession which began in July 2009 has generated a very anemic rate of employment growth over the past 34 months. Nationally, employment is up just 2.2% since the recovery began, which is even slower than the tepid 2.3% pace of employment growth registered during the previous two recoveries. In North Carolina, the employment recovery has been even slower, with employment growing just 2.1%. The pace of the employment recovery in the state is much slower than the average 4.2% increase recorded during the first 34 months of recovery following the previous two recessions.

Since the recovery began, employment is up in 9 of the state’s 14 metropolitan areas, but it is lower in 5 areas. The most rapid rate of employment growth has been recorded in Raleigh, with a gain of 4.6%. It is followed by Burlington and Charlotte with gains of 3.9% and 3.8% respectively. The biggest decline in employment was registered in Durham, where employment is down 1.8% since the start of the recovery. It was followed by Rocky Mount with a drop of 1.3%.

The Triad as a whole (which subsumes the Burlington, Greensboro/High Point, and Winston-Salem MSAs) has recorded a 1.2% rate of employment growth since the onset of the current recovery, lagging both the state and the nation.”

http://www.uncg.edu/bae/tbi/gdp-triad.htm

Recently I applauded the Charlotte Observer for presenting factual data on jobs.

“Only 1,400 more people had jobs in April. More than 11,000 people left the labor force in April compared to May, the figures show. More than 21,000 people had joined the North Carolina labor force since April a year ago.”

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/nc-unemployment-rate-june-15-2012-may-rate-dropping-rates-due-to-people-leaving-workforce-labor-force-participation-rate-charlotte-observer/

From the Greensboro News Record June 16, 2012.

“North Carolina’s unemployment rate was unchanged last month at 9.4 percent, breaking a four-month streak of declining unemployment rates, state officials said toay.

The total number of unemployed North Carolinians dropped by almost 4,000 people, but the rate remained the same because the size of the work force got smaller.

The rate was previously unwavering at 10.7 percent between July and September, but had been gradually declining since October.

North Carolina’s May unemployment rate is 1.1 percentage points lower than its May 2011 rate. The state fares worse than the national rate, which rose slightly to 8.2 percent in May.

“The NC state economy is continuing to not grow at a sufficient enough rate to put much of a dent in the unemployment rate,” said Harry Davis, professor of banking at Appalachian State University. “We simply are not creating enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate and absorb people entering the labor force.”

The largest job creation was in the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector, which added nearly 2,000 jobs. Government jobs slightly declined by about 700 positions. Davis noted continued declines in the construction and leisure sectors as particularly problematic.

“It’s not making the comeback needed to get the unemployment rate down very much,” Davis said of the construction industry. “It continues to flounder, and if it wasn’t for apartment buildings there wouldn’t be much going on right now.”

The size of the work force in North Carolina continues to shrink. Nearly 10,000 workers left the labor force between April and May.

“Unfortunately, I believe we’re going to live with an unemployment rate in the 9 percents for quite some time, at least for the rest of the year,” Davis said. “Hopefully, that’s not the new norm.””

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/06/15/article/state_unemployment_rate_holds_steady_in_may

My impression was that the News Record article was placed at the top of the front page to prop up the economy  and Obama, as a kind of peace offering for telling the truth in previous months. Or perhaps it was just exuberance over good news.

NC unemployment rate June 15, 2012, May rate 9.4, Dropping rates due to people leaving workforce, Labor force participation rate, Charlotte Observer

NC unemployment rate June 15, 2012, May rate 9.4, Dropping rates due to people leaving workforce, Labor force participation rate, Charlotte Observer

“The United States economy has lost more jobs than it has added since the recovery began over a year ago.”…NY Times Sept. 20, 2010.

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

Just in 10:01 AM, the May NC unemployment rate remained at 9.4 %.

The NC unemployment rate for May will be released in a few minutes. The dropping rate in NC and the nation has been largely due to the Labor Force Participation rate falling to historical lows. That is, droves of people leaving the work force.

I was pleased to see the Charlotte Observer reporting the facts from the AP.

From the Charlotte Observer June 15, 2012.

“NC unemployment rate for May to be released”

“RALEIGH, N.C. North Carolina’s unemployment rate is being released.

The state Division of Employment Security is scheduled to release the rate for May on Friday. The rate dropped to 9.4 percent in April, down from 9.7 a month earlier. But the main reason for the drop was the number of people leaving the workforce.

Only 1,400 more people had jobs in April. More than 11,000 people left the labor force in April compared to May, the figures show. More than 21,000 people had joined the North Carolina labor force since April a year ago.

North Carolina’s unemployment was higher than the national rate, which fell slightly to 8.1 percent in April.”

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/06/15/3319162/nc-unemployment-rate-for-may-to.html

Donald Trump speech NC GOP Convention, MSNBC Greensboro News Record cover Trump on Obama birth certificate Kenya and college records, Media threats to Romney

Donald Trump speech NC GOP Convention, MSNBC Greensboro News Record cover Trump on Obama birth certificate Kenya and college records, Media threats to Romney

“Why has Obama, since taking the White House, used Justice Department Attorneys, at taxpayer expense,  to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells

“I do not know where Barack Obama was born. I do know that he has used taxpayer dollars to keep his records hidden.”…Citizen Wells

“The Solomon Bill, requiring students at Columbia and other colleges to register for the draft and references to Obama being born in Kenya until 2008, explain why Obama did not register for the draft and why Obama’s Selective Service Application was forged.”…Citizen Wells

From MSNBC June 1, 2012.

“Donald Trump on Friday warned that the media are the biggest threat to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, but added that the press he has garnered for the Republican nominee has caused his poll numbers to rise “very substantially.”

Speaking at the North Carolina GOP Convention, Trump praised Romney for his business experience and promise to stand up against China and fight for American economic interests. But the business mogul also focused a portion of his speech on his questions about where President Obama was born. It is the reason why on Tuesday, when Romney earned the 1,144 delegates necessary to secure his party’s nomination, much of the news cycle was devoted to his decision to appear with Trump at a fundraiser that day.

A desire by the media to protect Obama is the reason Trump told the more than 1,000 people gathered here that reporters are “really dishonest” and “the biggest thing Mitt Romney has to fear is the press. They don’t tell the truth.”

But, speaking to reporters after the speech, Trump said it was the media attention he drew for Romney that led to a spike in the polls. “I think he got the headline on a day where I did get a lot of press, and interestingly, since then, his polls numbers have gone up very substantially,” Trump said of his appearance with Romney. “So I really think, and he really thinks, that the press has helped and it’s been good.”

And during his address, Trump again used his appearance as a platform to question the president’s birth certificate, the reason he has branded himself as a controversial figure on the national political scene. Calling for the president to release his college records, Trump said, “There is one line called place of birth, I’d like to see what he said..Perhaps it’s going to say Hawaii, perhaps it’s going to say Kenya.”

He dismissed that his motives were based in race by citing his recent decision to award African American actor Arsenio Hall the winner of his reality TV show “Celebrity Apprentice.”

“Somebody said, ‘Oh, because I brought up the birth certificate, I’m a racist. I said, ‘How can I be a racist, I just picked Arsenio Hall,” said Trump.
Asked after the event why he continues to bring up the issue of the president’s birth certificate, Trump said it was the demand from people who want to hear him talk about it, pointing out that the loudest applause line of his nearly hour-long speech came when he was questioning the president’s birthplace.

Trump’s speech tonight hit on many of the themes that made him a popular figure a year ago when he was mulling over his own presidential run. He called the United States “a patsy” for not take a stronger stance towards China, and he even gave credit to former President Bill Clinton and Newark Mayor Cory Booker for not condemning Romney’s work at Bain Capital. He urged the United States to take oil from Iraq to help pay for the war there.

Trump, who has said he likes making money and creating jobs, used Friday’s news of an uptick in unemployment to bolster his argument against Obama’s economic record. “This is bad news and frankly you could say good news for the Republicans in terms of an election, but I don’t care. We love the country first, so it’s bad news as far as I’m concerned.”

But despite his ability to excite some members of the Republican party, he dismissed any talk of joining a presidential ticket.
“A lot of people tell me that, but I don’t see it,” said Trump.”

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/02/12016462-trump-media-are-biggest-threat-to-romneys-presidential-campaign?lite

The Greensboro News Record, which has provided a lot of honest reporting lately on the NC and US economy, covered Trump’s speech but erroneously reported Trump as questioning Obama’s citizenship.

News Record, that is wrong and irresponsible!!!

Obama’s Natural Born Citizen status and therefore eligibility to be president is being challenged. Also, since we do not know where Obama was born, and we recently discovered that Obama’s publisher bio stated from 1991 to 2007 that Obama was born in Kenya, it is more important to see Obama’s college records.

From the Greensboro News Record, June 2, 2012.

“Trump rallies Republicans”
“Real estate mogul Donald Trump told hundreds of guests at Friday night’s N.C. GOP Convention banquet “to fight like hell” to sway people to vote for Mitt Romney and oust President Barack Obama.

Trump says the president lacks the business savvy to lead the country toward economic progress.

“We really have to do something,” Trump said to the crowd at the Koury Convention Center. “We have to do something soon. North Carolina is one of the most, if not the most, important state in terms of who’s going to become the president of the United States.”

Obama narrowly won the state when he ran for his first term in 2008.

“We need a president who’s smart, and tough, and gets it,” Trump said. “We need a president that has business acumen. … We also need a president that has heart.”

That would be former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in Trump’s opinion.”

“Trump once again expressed his doubts about Obama’s U.S. citizenship. He said he wanted to see what’s next to “place of birth” on his college records.

Trump pulled out a document from 1991 that said Obama was born in Kenya, instead of Hawaii.

“I’m not a believer, but we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “I’m about jobs. I’m about economic development.””

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/06/01/article/trump_rallies_republicans

Charlotte Observer hides unemployment facts, Greensboro News Record presents truth, Democrat Convention in Charlotte reason?, NC shrinking labor force

Charlotte Observer hides unemployment facts, Greensboro News Record presents truth, Democrat Convention in Charlotte reason?, NC shrinking labor force

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” ….Edward R. Murrow

“Not every item of news should be published: rather must
those who control news policies endeavor to make every item
of news serve a certain purpose.”… Joseph Goebbels

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

I have noticed a lot of honest reporting from the Greensboro News and Record regarding the unemployment situation in NC in recent months. The Charlotte Observer on the other hand, recently endorsed Jim Pendergraph for congress and then after he questioned Obama the Observer retracted that endorsement. The latest unemployment data for NC was just released. First the Charlotte Observer article, which I had to really dig to find.

From The Vail Business Journal May 26, 2012.

“Charlotte region’s unemployment rate drops

By Celeste Smith, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

May 25–The Charlotte region’s unemployment rate stayed below 10?percent in April for the second straight month, and it dropped significantly from a year earlier, according to figures released Friday by the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Division of Employment Security.

Unemployment in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metropolitan area declined to 9.1?percent from 9.6?percent the month before. The unemployment rate a year earlier was 10.6?percent.

Statewide, unemployment rates fell in April from the previous month in 93 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, including Mecklenburg, where the rate fell to 9.0?percent from 9.5 percent. Rates are not seasonally adjusted.

Mecklenburg’s unemployment rate beat the state average of 9.1?percent. But more than 43,700 people remained unemployed in the county.

Some surrounding counties fared better than Mecklenburg in year-to-year comparisons, said UNC?Charlotte economics professor John Connaughton. For example, the 1.7?percent drop in Catawba County’s unemployment rate compared to April 2011 exceeded Mecklenburg’s 1.2?percent.

But Connaughton said that’s also a sign the region’s economy is improving.

“We’ve gotten a lot better in the last year,” Connaughton said.

“What it’s suggesting is, after the great financial collapse and the impact on a lot of our manufacturing (sector) in the surrounding counties, those things seem to be getting back on track.”

Statewide, April 2012 unemployment rates declined in 88 counties compared with last April. Rates increased in 11 counties, and remained the same in one.

“Looking at over-the-year numbers, most of North Carolina’s counties have lower unemployment rates which is certainly positive,” said commerce Deputy Secretary Dale Carroll.

For the second straight month, unemployment rates decreased in all 14 of the state’s metro areas, according to the state data.

Connaughton predicts the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill metro area will beat the state’s rate in upcoming months.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re below 8?percent by the end of the year. Not that that’s great, but it’s a lot better than the last couple of years,” Connaughton said.

“We’re starting to see some job growth come back, and that’s really important, and it’s been consistent.”"

http://www.vailbusinessjournal.com/print-article.php?type=yb&id=55093&sid=11

From the Greensboro News Record May 26, 2012.

“By DONALD W. PATTERSON
Staff Writer”

“Unemployment rates fell in 93 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in April , including those in the Triad .

That’s good news, obviously.

Yet, analysts said, those numbers mask a deeper, more troubling trend — the shrinkage of the state’s labor force.

Over the last year, only the Piedmont Triad and the Research Triangle have posted gains in their labor pools, which represent those people who have jobs or are actively looking for work.

The 12-county Piedmont Triad economic development region saw its workforce grow by 0.3 percent in the past year. Granted, that’s a small increase, but aside from the Triangle, the other five regions of the state experienced declines in their labor pools during that period.

“Although the drop in the unemployment rate is unquestionably a positive sign, we should not read too much into this as a measure of the state’s long-term recovery,” Allan Freyer , a policy analyst with the N.C. Budget & Tax Center in Raleigh , wrote in his April jobs report. “Much of the mathematical drop in the unemployment rate is simply due to the decrease in the labor force in most of these regions across the state.”

Freyer said the unemployment rate can drop when job seekers become discouraged and stop looking for a job.

“We’re seeing troubling signs of a two-tier recovery in the state,” his report said. “ … Regions like the Triangle and the Piedmont (are) growing their labor force and employment base, while the rest of the state gets left behind.”

In the past year, Freyer said, the Piedmont Triad’s employment has grown by 1.5 percent. In the Triangle, it’s gone up 1.9 percent.

“The biggest areas (in the state) are the ones getting the most job growth,” Freyer said in an interview. “The Piedmont Triad region is growing because its metro areas are growing.”

In the Greensboro-High Point metropolitan area, for example, manufacturing jobs increased over the past year by 2,300 , or 4.5 percent. In the Winston-Salem metro, leisure and hospitality jobs rose by 800 , or 3.9 percent. In the Burlington metro, government jobs jumped by 5.5 percent, or 400 jobs.

Even so, six area counties still have unemployment rates at 9 percent or higher.

The rate in Guilford County , for example, dropped to 9.1 percent compared with 10.2 percent in April of 2011 .

Area rates ranged from 8.5 percent in Forsyth to 10.4 percent in Rockingham .

Statewide, the unemployment rate stood at 9.1 percent in April .

Compared with last December , the state has added nearly 26,000 jobs, but 85 percent of the gain occurred in January .

“Over the last two months, North Carolina has essentially netted no new jobs,” John Quinterno , a principal with South by North Strategies , a research firm in Chapel Hill , wrote in his monthly jobs report. “While North Carolina’s job market began 2012 moving in a positive direction, it has failed to maintain that momentum.”

In all, more than 421,000 North Carolinians were unemployed in April . That’s nearly twice the number without jobs in December 2007 , when the recession started.

In addition, just 56.6 percent of the state’s total population had a job last month.

“This suggests that the state’s economy is creating just enough jobs to keep treading water,” Freyer’s report said. “(That’s) nowhere near enough to keep up with population growth and replace those jobs lost during the recession.””

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/05/25/article/job_growth_stalls_across_state

Were they writing about the same state?

Greensboro is the largest city of the Triad. Raleigh  the largest city of the Triangle.

Compare the following exerpt from the News Record to the Observer article:

“Over the last year, only the Piedmont Triad and the Research Triangle have posted gains in their labor pools, which represent those people who have jobs or are actively looking for work.

The 12-county Piedmont Triad economic development region saw its workforce grow by 0.3 percent in the past year. Granted, that’s a small increase, but aside from the Triangle, the other five regions of the state experienced declines in their labor pools during that period.”

On May 18, 2012 Raleigh WRAL was noted for their honest reporting on NC employment.

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/nc-unemployment-rate-declines-drop-in-labor-force-big-reason-9-4-percent-wral-honest-report-nc-employment-among-worst-in-nation/

For what can only be described at best as misleading reporting on the employment situation in NC I award the Charlotte Observer 4 Orwells.

Greensboro is the hometown of Edward R. Murrow. I believe that Mr. Murrow would be pleased with the News and Record for this report.

The Democrat Convention will be held in Charlotte, NC.

Jim Pendergraph runoff election July 17, 2012, Pendergraph endorsed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio questioned Obama eligibility, Charlotte Observer attacked

Jim Pendergraph runoff election July 17, 2012, Pendergraph endorsed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio questioned Obama eligibility, Charlotte Observer attacked

“Why has Obama, since taking the White House, used Justice Department Attorneys, at taxpayer expense,  to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records?”…Citizen Wells

“Why is Obama now employing private attorneys to keep his name on state ballots, despite compelling evidence that he is not a natural born citizen?…Citizen Wells

“Pendergraph’s long experience as a public servant, especially his 12 years as Mecklenburg County sheriff, would be an asset. He understands the value of service to constituents and responding quickly and efficiently to their cares and concerns.”…Charlotte Observer

Jim Pendergraph, who entered the race for NC 9th Congressional District Republican Congressman late (Feb. 2012), will be in a runoff election with the other top vote getter Robert Pittenger on July 17, 2012. This despite the efforts of the Charlotte Observer to discredit him after endorsing him.

From the Charlotte Observer May 9, 2012.

“District 9: Runoff looms for Pittenger, Pendergraph

Pittenger, Pendergraph lead in chase for Myrick’s seat”

“Republicans Robert Pittenger and Jim Pendergraph, whose feuding dominated the crowded primary in the 9th Congressional District, are poised to take it into a July 17 runoff.

Buoyed by strong showings in the Charlotte suburbs, Pittenger led the 10-man field with about 33 percent of the vote. Pendergraph had about 25 percent.

While each fell short of the 40 percent needed to win outright, both lapped the 10-man field. Edwin Peacock, a former Charlotte city council member, ran third with about 12 percent. State Rep. Ric Killian had about 10 percent. No one else had more than 7 percent.

The eventual winner will be the favorite in November against Democrat Jennifer Roberts and Libertarian Curtis Campbell in the heavily Republican district that includes most of Mecklenburg County and parts of Iredell and Union.

The candidates are running for the seat being vacated by Republican U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte. It’s open for the first time in 18 years, and only the fifth time in six decades.

“I think we brought a clear, conservative message to the voters,” Pittenger said Tuesday night. “They know that I will stand for those values in the future. … This has been a grass-roots effort with lots of involvement. It hasn’t just been Pittenger.”

Comparing spending

But only two House candidates in the country spent more of their own money. Outpacing his rivals, the Charlotte real estate investor and former state senator gave his campaign $1.1 million.

Pendergraph, a Mecklenburg County commissioner and former sheriff, has run as Myrick’s hand-picked successor. He was the target of a barrage of ads by Pittenger.

“He spent a million and a half dollars, and I’m nipping at his heels,” Pendergraph said Tuesday night. “If I had spent (that) I’d be really disappointed if I don’t blow out all the candidates. … Everything he has said, he either has stretched the truth or out-and-out lied.”

Pendergraph, under attack from Pittenger and a super PAC that supports him, struggled to compete financially.

Through mid-April, he’d raised $173,000, less than three rivals. Last week he loaned his campaign $20,000, saying, “The well’s near dry.”

Pittenger defended his ads, which have flooded mailboxes as well as airwaves.

“Of course Mr. Pendergraph has pandered and flip-flopped,” he said. “We’ll show the distinctions between the two of us.”

Pittenger, a social as well as fiscal conservative, won support from voters like Carter Brydon, a south Charlotte Republican. He said he liked Pittenger’s “big-time Christian values.””

“Last week Pendergraph stirred controversy when he said he had “reason to be suspicious” of President Barack Obama’s claim that he was born in the U.S. and thereby eligible for the presidency. His remarks on the “birther” issue prompted the Observer to retract its endorsement for the first time.

It also appeared to cost him some votes.

“I was going to go with Pendergraph (until) the birther stuff,” said Richard Ellis, a south Charlotte Republican. “That’s kind of silly. I think it’s an issue that’s been put to rest.””

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/08/3227717/district-9-us-house-runoff-looms.html

Mr. Ellis, you have been lied to by the mainstream media.

Jim Pendergraph, I applaud you.

When in the Charlotte area in recent years, I heard nothing but good things about Jim Pendergraph. Obviously the Charlotte Observer had the same opinion before Pendergraph questioned the messiah, Obama (see quote above).

“But we give our nod to Mecklenburg County commissioner Jim Pendergraph. We believe he has broad appeal and understands the district’s needs best. He speaks with a strong conservative voice but seems pragmatic in how he would represent the district – focusing on constituent needs and getting things done.”

Read the history of Jim Pendergraph being endorsed by the Charlotte Observer and then attacked by them.

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/charlotte-observer-obama-media-arm-media-bias-example-times-of-1984-praises-jim-pendergraph-one-minute-then-attacks-him-orwellian-two-minute-hate/

Why any concerned American should question Obama.

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/charlotte-observer-obama-facts-obama-hides-birth-certificate-college-and-other-records-taxpayer-dollars-aid-in-obama-deception-sheriffs-arpaio-and-pendergraph-question-obama/

NC unemployment worse than reported, Over 10 percent, North carolina fourth highest, Economy worse than first thought, Truth Team notification

NC unemployment worse than reported, Over 10 percent, North carolina fourth highest, Economy worse than first thought, Truth Team notification

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”…Jesus, John 8:32

We told you so.

Citizen Wells, Rush Limbaugh and others criticized the stated unemployment rate from the past several months. I knew from my math background and cursory examination of the data that the reported rates were wrong and the economy much worse.

However, I am confident that the Truth Team is on top of this. As part of my efforts to work with the Truth Team to make certain that the candidates quote the correct numbers, I gave them a heads up several weeks ago.

From Citizen Wells February 16, 2012.

“NC Truth Team, Citizen Wells provides facts for Obama Truth Team and Republicans, North Carolina jobs unemployment hardships, No more lies”

““While the job market showed signs of growth last year, both Guilford and the state ended 2011 with more people unemployed than was the case the previous
December.

In Guilford , nearly 24,500 didn’t have jobs; statewide, the number surpassed 446,000.

And both the county and the state ended the year with jobless rates of 9.9 percent. That’s equal to or higher than the rates a year earlier.”

“At the current rate of growth–adding 8,300 annually–it will take 3.5 years–or until 2016–to regain the positions lost during and after the Great recession.

“Looking ahead, Quinterno said he expects more of the same this year.

“Absent robust job growth, joblessness and associated hardships will remain widespread,” he wrote. “2012 could well be the fifth consecutive year of negative or minimal job growth in North Carolina.””

“The employment picture is much bleaker.”

““The weak job growth recorded during 2011 did little to replace the jobs lost earlier in the business cycle. Since the onset of the “Great Recession,” North Carolina has lost, on net, 295,300 positions, or 7.1 percent of its payroll employment base. The maximum job loss recorded during the business cycle occurred in February 2010, when the state had 323,000 fewer jobs (-7.7 percent) than it did 26 months before. Since that time, North Carolina has netted 27,700 positions (+0.7 percent), for an average monthly gain of nearly 1,300 jobs. While the state’s economy added more jobs in 2011 than in 2010 (+19,600 versus +5,400), the growth was too weak to materially alter the employment situation. Even if the annual level of job growth were to triple, it still would take roughly five years to close the current jobs gap, holding all else equal.”

“Estimates of the underemployment rate, a broader measure of labor under-utilization prepared by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that 17.9 percent of North Carolina’s adjusted labor force was underemployed, on average, in 2011. That measure includes not only individuals who meet the formal definition of unemployment, but also those working part-time despite preferring full-time work and those marginally attached to the workforce. Over the year, the statewide underemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points, rising to 17.9 percent from a level of 17.4 percent in 2010.

Regardless of the exact measure used, a sizable amount of labor in North Carolina is currently sitting idle. Nearly 10 of every 100 members of the state’s labor force are unemployed (seasonally adjusted), while almost 18 of every 100 are underemployed. Moreover, the share of adult North Carolinians with a job has fallen sharply since late 2007. In December 2011, only 55.6 percent of working-age North Carolinians (seasonally adjusted) had jobs, a level no different from the one posted one year prior. This rate actually fell to a low of 55.3 percent near the end of 2011.Q3. At no other time since 1976 has the employment-to-population been as low as it has been in recent months (fig. 7). The current ratio also is well below the historical average rate of 63.6 recorded between January 1976 and December 2007.””

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/nc-truth-team-citizen-wells-provides-facts-for-obama-truth-team-and-republicans-north-carolina-jobs-unemployment-hardships-no-more-lies/

I would like to thank the Greensboro News Record for reporting this today, March 14, 2012.

“Update: N.C. jobless rate still above 10 percent”

“New, more-accurate estimates show North Carolina’s unemployment rate stayed above 10 percent throughout 2011, falling to 10.2 percent in January in a key election battleground state, the state Commerce Department reported today.

North Carolina’s jobless rate was the fourth-highest in the country in January, trailing California, Rhode Island and Nevada, which leads the nation with a 12.7 percent unemployment rate.

The report also pointed to some bright spots amid signs of slow improvement in the national economy. An additional 14,213 people were drawing paychecks in January. An extra 6,245 entered the workforce as previously discouraged or young workers started looking for jobs.

On the downside, nearly 8,000 more people were on unemployment rolls in January than in the previous month.

“These new data say the economy is improving, but it’s also saying the economy is worse than we first thought,” said James Kleckley, director of the Bureau of Business Research at East Carolina University.

The estimates were revised in an annual re-examination of available data coupled with U.S. Census information of people reporting themselves as working or unemployed.

The result was that earlier estimates of North Carolina’s unemployment rate dropping below 10 percent in December were revised upward. The new estimates are that the state’s unemployment rate was 10.4 percent in November and December before falling to 10.2 percent in January. The national average was 8.3 percent in January.

“What everything’s been saying is that North Carolina has been improving but not by leaps and bounds by any means,” Kleckley said. “This will make me have to rethink some of the other data. I didn’t expect it. I expected the unemployment rate to be a little lower.”

North Carolina lost more than 330,000 jobs by the time the national recession bottomed out in February 2010, state data showed Tuesday. Since then, the state has gained back about 80,000 jobs, or about a quarter of the jobs lost, John Connaughton, an economic forecaster at UNC-Charlotte.

In January, North Carolina employers added 17,000 more payroll jobs than they cut.

“We had a big January jump,” said Connaughton, who predicts the state’s businesses to add about 50,000 jobs this year.

“The issue here is I think the economy has turned a corner. 2012 is going to start to feel like a recovery for most people,” he said. “People are going to say, ‘Yep, things are getting better. I’ve got job opportunities. I’ve got options.’ “

Tuesday’s report comes during an election year in which the economy and job prospects are expected to be a huge issue. President Barack Obama is targeting North Carolina as key to his re-election prospects. He narrowly won the state in 2008, reversing a generation of voters picking Republican presidential candidates.

With rising stock markets, increased manufacturing and other indicators pointing to a slowly improving U.S. economy, North Carolina residents have reported increasing optimism. An Elon University poll released last week found about two-thirds of state residents think the economy either will stay the same or get better in the months ahead. More than half of the poll’s respondents said the economy was the most important issue facing the state.

Small-business owners across the country reported increasing optimism for the sixth straight month in February, the National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday. The hopeful forecast is spreading among North Carolina’s main-street business community, but it’s far too early to celebrate, NFIB state director Gregg Thompson said.

“It looks like things are finally turning around, but unless the pace of recovery picks up, it’ll be years before we’re back where we started,” he said.”

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/03/13/article/nc_jobless_rate_still_above_10_percent

 

Obama Rezko Daniel Frawley $ 400000 reported in NC by John Hammer, Rhino Times, FDIC lawsuit against Mutual Bank ties Obama to Rezko Chicago corruption

Obama Rezko Daniel Frawley $ 400000 reported in NC by John Hammer, Rhino Times, FDIC lawsuit against Mutual Bank ties Obama to Rezko Chicago corruption

“Why did the Illinois Senate Health & Human Services Committee, with Obama as chairman, create and push Bill 1332, “Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act,” early in 2003, which reduced the number of members on the Board from 15 to 9, just prior to rigging by Tony Rezko and Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“Why did Patrick Fitzgerald and the US Justice Department wait until December 2008 to arrest Rod Blagojevich?”…Citizen Wells

“Why did Daniel Frawley provide $ 400,000 for Tony Rezko to give to Obama?”…Citizen Wells

“I believe I’m more pristine on Rezko than him.”…Rod Blagojevich

John Hammer, Editor and Publisher of the Rhino (Rhinoceros) Times, is a good man. He is also a rare commodity these days. He has consistently put into print in NC articles that are critical of Barack Obama. I met with John last year and I was just thinking I should meet with him again about the possibility of a larger, real news organization. I finally got around to reading his latest opinions in “Under the Hammer.” I was pleased as usual but even more so because he quoted Illinois Pay to Play, a site that Citizen Wells has quoted and been quoted at. John Hammer, in print in North Carolina, the state that is hosting the Democrat Convention, has covered the Daniel Frawley $400,000 for Rezko to give to Obama.

From the Rhino Times March 08, 2012.

“Isn’t it funny what the mainstream media decides is news? According to the website Illinoispaytoplay.com, Obama has been implicated in the investigation of Obama’s good friend Tony Rezko, who has been convicted and sentenced to 10-and-a-half years for corruption involving, among others, Obama’s good friend former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption.

Before Blagojevich was caught trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat, Obama bragged about running Blagojevich’s campaign and getting him elected.

Rezko, or to be more precise Rezko’s wife, bought the lot next door to Obama’s house in Chicago on the same day that Obama bought the house. And while Obama paid less than the asking price for the house, the Rezkos paid the full asking price for the lot. Later the Rezkos sold part of the lot to the Obamas for less than they had paid for it.

But according to Illinoispaytoplay.com, a witness being deposed as part of the investigation said that he gave Rezko $400,000 to give to Obama. Since Obama happens to be the most powerful man in the world, it seems like people who were known to deal with corrupt politicians claiming to have given money to Rezko for Obama would be news, but for some reason the mainstream media have decided that it is not.”

“It has become accepted by everyone except diehard supporters of other candidates that Romney is going to win the nomination. Romney doesn’t have anywhere near the votes he needs to win at the convention, but he has more than twice as many as Santorum, who is the only candidate who is even close. While Gingrich shot himself in the foot, and it felt so good that he shot himself in the other foot.

No one seems to be able to withstand the withering attack ads that Romney focuses on the front-runner. That is actually a good sign because Romney is not going to beat Obama unless he is willing to go on the attack. Romney is going to have to attack early and often. Romney will be called a racist, not just by Obama but by the liberal media, and they won’t relent. But he isn’t going to get that vote anyway.

It will be interesting to see what Obama does long term if Romney runs a real campaign against him. The closest Obama has come to a real campaign was his race against Hillary Clinton, and by the time Hillary Clinton knew what hit her she had lost and attacking Obama would have only made her look bad.

One thing Romney should do is release every single bit of information that exists about himself and his family. If he has his first grade report card he should put it out there for everyone to examine. The public knows very little about Obama. He is president of the United States. I’d like to read his senior thesis or something that indicates his thought process as a young man. I’d be interested to know how he got to Columbia University, and the answer to the overriding question of did he play freshman basketball at Occidental College. (If he did not, why did a respectable newspaper like the Los Angeles Times report that he did?)

According to Wikipedia, Obama’s parents didn’t live together even before his father was accepted at Harvard and moved east. The story is always told of his father getting accepted to Harvard and leaving his wife (who was still a teenager) and child. But according to Wikipedia his mother attended the University of Washington in Seattle after Barack Jr. was born until Barack Obama Sr. left for Harvard. She then transferred back to the University of Hawaii. If that is true it certainly puts Barack Obama Sr. in a different light.

It is the kind of fact that the American people ordinarily know about their presidents.”

Read more:

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-Columns-c-2012-03-07-211274.112113-Under-the-Hammer.html

It is past time for another meeting with John Hammer to discuss the possibility of a real news organization and to bring him up to speed on the rest of the Obama Rezko corruption. For example the FDIC lawsuit against Mutual Bank, which is currently underway. The bank that loaned money to Rita Rezko for the lot the Obama’s bought. The same bank that fired whistleblower Kenneth J. Connor . Connor stated that the appraisal for the lot was to high.

Hats off to John.

Media Matters Orwellian spin for Obama, Daily Caller investigation, Arm of Obama White House, Writing MSNBC prime time, Political agenda violates tax status

Media Matters Orwellian spin for Obama, Daily Caller investigation, Arm of Obama White House, Writing MSNBC prime time, Political agenda violates tax status

“As soon as all the corrections which happened to be necessary in any partiucular number of the Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted, the original copy destroyed, and the corrected copy placed on the files in it’s stead. This process of continuation alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound tracks, cartoons, photographs–to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to be correct; nor was any item of news, or expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to be on record.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed –if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”…Joseph Goebbels

From Sean Hannity at Fox News February 15, 2012 .

“This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” February 15, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And finally tonight, the blatant bias of Media Matters has been exposed, thanks to shocking internal memos uncovered by the Daily Caller. And one of the main target of that left-leaning organization is none other than the Fox News Channel.
Now, one memo from 2009 written to the founder and president reads quote, “Simply put, the progressive movement is in need of an enemy. George W. Bush is gone. We really don’t have John McCain to kick around anymore. Filling the lack of leadership on the right, Fox News has emerged as the central enemy and antagonist of the Obama administration, our Congressional majorities and the progressive movement as a whole.”

Now, the same memo also suggested that it would be a good idea to do opposition research on the people that work at this network. It reads, quote, “We should also hire a team of trackers to stake out private and public events with Fox News anchors, hosts, reporters, prominent contributors and senior network corporate staff.”

And now Congress is reportedly planning to question the group’s tax exempt status.

Joining me now with reaction, from the Fox Business Network, Sandra Smith and the co-host of “The Five,” she deals with Beckel five days a week, Andrea Tantaros. She has our undying admiration.

All right. Let’s start with a couple of things here. Before we get to just the tactics of trying to smear and destroy people’s lives, bad enough and enough itself. The collaboration that they talk about on a weekly basis with the White House means — this is a political operation. This is not a 501c3. You know, tax exempt organization. This sounds like a political organization in close collaboration with the White House.

ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST, “THE FIVE”: Yes. Designed to quote, “smear and conduct sabotage and guerrilla warfare,” as its head David Brock told Politico in an interview. And he said many times. There’s nothing charitable or educational about Media Matters. And just because they are labeled a charity folks, doesn’t mean they are doing good work. Their sole existence, Sean, the sole purpose of Media Matters is to take out a for profit company which is News Corp, the parent company of this network.”

“HANNITY: How does NBC get out of this from the point of view, because the next installment, I don’t –they said it publicly, and I’ve spoken to the guys of the Daily Caller — the next installment is going to be, they are going to show you examples. Media Matters wrote this and this was the script on NBC News.”

“HANNITY: Unbelievable. It’s actually scary, if you go to the White House, the interaction on a weekly basis, then you go to filtering to the media, it just reminds me of a propaganda campaign to destroy people.

TANTAROS: Liberal tolerance on display everybody, isn’t it wrong?

HANNITY: You know, politics of personal, real personal destruction because they don’t want other voices, that is frightening.”

http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/2012/02/16/inside-media-matters-should-group-lose-tax-exempt-status

From Daily Caller February 12, 2012.

“This is the first in a Daily Caller investigative series on Media Matters For America.”

“Extensive interviews with a number of Brock’s current and former colleagues at Media Matters, as well as with leaders from across the spectrum of Democratic politics, reveal an organization roiled by its leader’s volatile and erratic behavior and struggles with mental illness, and an office where Brock’s executive assistant carried a handgun to public events in order to defend his boss from unseen threats.
Yet those same interviews, as well as a detailed organizational planning memo obtained by The Daily Caller, also suggest that Media Matters has to a great extent achieved its central goal of influencing the national media.

Founded by Brock in 2004 as a liberal counterweight to “conservative misinformation” in the press, Media Matters has in less than a decade become a powerful player in Democratic politics. The group operates in regular coordination with the highest levels of the Obama White House, as well as with members of Congress and progressive groups around the country. Brock, who collected over $250,000 in salary from Media Matters in 2010, has himself become a major fundraiser on the left. According to an internal memo obtained by TheDC, Media Matters intends to spend nearly $20 million in 2012 to influence news coverage.

Donors have every reason to expect success, as the group’s effect on many news organizations has already been profound. “We were pretty much writing their prime time,” a former Media Matters employee said of the cable channel MSNBC. “But then virtually all the mainstream media was using our stuff.”

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/12/inside-media-matters-sources-memos-reveal-erratic-behavior-close-coordination-with-white-house-and-news-organizations/

I began warning you of the Orwellian tactics of the Obama camp early in 2008 as well as the extreme media bias of such entities as Media Matters.

From Citizen Wells December 3, 2009 in it’s entirety.

Recently on the Citizen Wells blog.

“So we have the Obama camp continually broadcasting that anyone challenging Obama’s eligibility is a fringe birther, right wing extremist and as many of the so called elitists would portray as a sub human low intellect. That Orly Taitz is the leader of the birthers and that all court cases challenging Obama’s eligibility have been thrown out as having no merits. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Most people questioning Obama’s eligibility are normal, hard working Americans who follow the US Constitution as their legal compass. They are people like me who are well educated, well read and non racially motivated. They are current or retired military and some high ranking officers. There are a few in the MSM, such as Lou Dobbs who asked the common sense question of why doesn’t Obama simply provide a legitimate birth certificate.”
The age of Big Brother

Rush Limbaugh has mentioned the Barack Obama eligibility issues. Lou Dobbs, several weeks ago on his CNN show, referred to the Hawaii COLB as a piece of paper that refers to another piece of paper. Mr Dobbs also asked the no brainer, common sense question of why doesn’t Obama just provide a legitimate Birth Certificate. I have requested that Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity ask the simple question, the question that a fifth grader can understand and draw the obvious conclusion from.

Why?

“1. Barack Obama has employed a legion of private and government attorneys to prevent revealing his country of birth. Innocent and eligible persons seeking the office of president do not do that.”

One of the cadre of Orwellian spin masters, blindly following, obeying and perhaps being remunerated by the Obama camp is Media Matters’, Eric Boehlert. In July 2009, when Lou Dobbs began devoting time to Obama’s eligibility issues, Boehlert wrote the following article on July 27, 2009.

“How Lou Dobbs scared Rush Limbaugh off the birther story”

“I can think of three (inadvertent) positives that came out of Lou Dobbs’ ill-advised embrace of the birther movement:

1) The CNN host has permanently tarnished his reputation
2) The birther movement is officially kaput (like, stick-a-fork-in-it done)
3) Rush Limbaugh is afraid to talk about birthers.

Talk about a win-win-win.

It’s true that Dobbs irresponsibly mainstreamed radical right-fringe players by championing their half-baked claims that Barack Obama isn’t a natural born citizen and is ineligible to serve as president of the United States. Dobbs, at least indirectly, lent the birther movement some fleeting credence as he dragged its misbegotten detective work into the spotlight. And it’s still vitally important to monitor Dobbs and call out CNN management for its dreadful hypocrisy on the birther issue (i.e. The story is “dead” but it’s OK for Dobbs to keep flogging it on national TV).”

Citizen Wells response

Eric Boehlert, prepare to become the “deer in the headlights.” Caution, you are about to be confused by the facts.

Eric Boehlert, I refer you to the question above. Do you have an answer? For a moment you must drop your modus operandi of attack mode and insults. This is not about plaintiff attorneys, court case merits, judge’s decisions or your elitist beliefs that anyone questioning Obama is not educated or informed.

This is about Barack Obama spending lots of somebody’s money and employing legions of private and government attorneys to avoid presenting a legitimate birth certificate and college records.

Mr. Boehlert, I have read other articles you have written. You clearly have a pro Obama agenda.

Here are some more exerpts from the Boehlert article, written in typical Obama camp fashion, heavy on attacks and light on facts. Place these paragraphs in Orwell’s book “1984″ and they would seamlesly fit in. Instead of the two minute hate directed at OBrien in “1984″ Boehlert goes after Limbaugh, Dobbs and concerned Americans.

“Of course, it’s always dangerous when hateful and cuckoo conspiracy theories are ushered into the mainstream and right-wing critics are given a platform to peddle their hateful whodunits about Obama’s nationality the way Dobbs did. But, in this case, I almost think it was worth running that risk in order to watch the tidal wave of media disapproval that Dobbs’ fearmongering unleashed.

Because in retrospect, the birthers, who had spent months lurking on the sidelines, needed to be called out on national TV; they needed to be ridiculed mercilessly and have their cheerleaders thoroughly mocked. They needed to be turned into the butt of a joke, and thanks to Lou Dobbs, last week they were.”

“Think about it, without Dobbs suddenly out front leading the stragglers who make the birther parade, do you think NBC would have devoted four minutes of its Nightly News to thoroughly debunk the story? I doubt it. And that’s why I think everyone now owes Dobbs a hearty round of applause. Because let’s face it, he did in one week what nobody else had been able to do during the previous 51: put an end to the birther movement.

And while we’re patting Dobbs on the back, I’m pretty sure Dobbs scared Limbaugh off the birther story — or, more precisely, the pummeling Dobbs received scared Limbaugh off the birther story. And that’s a big deal within the Republican Noise Machine. Birthers had been courting Limbaugh for months and cheered in June when the turbo talker at least made a birther joke on the air: “Barack Obama has one thing in common with God. Do you know what it is? God does not have a birth certificate either.””

Read more (if you can stomach it)

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200907270015

Were Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and others threatened by this “Thought Police” article?

I am not.

Once again, Eric Boehlert, I challenge you to answer the simple question above.

http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/media-matters-aka-big-brother-editor-orwellian-lies-rush-limbaugh-lou-dobbs-citizen-wells-challenges-eric-boehlert-orwellian-birther-spin-simple-question-why-has-obama-employed-private-and-gove/