Rockefeller on FOX and MSNBC bias:

I can so agree with the 'jist' of his remarks. The 24 hour news cycle is anything but news. You would think that with 24 hours of broadcasting they would be able to drill down and obtain more facts than a half hour of news from the over the air network news, but alas the bias is more so not less as we get 24 hours of bias commentary F...OXNews and MSNBC and less facts or balance.

Legally and constitutionally there is little that can be done other than us turning these stations OFF, but we won't because we fear balanced reporting as not being complete because it doesn't tell us what to think like FOX and MSNBC. We see stations and shows like PBS and NPR as being subtly bias [and therefore more nefarious] because they present speakers and opinions from both sides in respectful debate and leave it up to us to decide.

Since there is no screaming and hollering and no obvious 'winner' we have to make the final decision ourselves. We don't get told who's right and why which makes us uncomforted...

If your not going to watch the stations and shows that encourage you to make a decision based on civil debate then at least consider watching both sides of the argument by watching both FOXNews and MSNBC if you can stand it. Get the sane civil debate or get the insane screaming debate, but for sure get both sides of the argument, both sets of facts.

Remember when we use to tell our kids that good friends tell them what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.

 

orig post

FSA 11-1-10

Love it when people using a government program complain about it being cut when they were probably opposed to it in the first place [FSA, FMLA]…or in hindsight [Social Security, unemployment Insurance, OSHA, FDA] as long as its there when they need it, and as long as we only eliminate it after they’ve used it or qualified for it.

As long as progressive ideals benefit you then you don’t want to see it tampered with, but when your neighbors need it and you don’t [for that moment] then it becomes a government entitlement that’s wasteful.

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Things have to be paid for, FSA is a Tax cut, but since it was a Tax Cut for the little guy and not the corporations it was expendable. SO now the cut is 2500 [in 2013] instead of 5000. I'll miss it to since my out of pocket has been $4000 every year for 5 years [heart problems] and I use OTCs a lot.

For the 'blame Obama for everything' crowd I'm sure you already know your answers. For the rest of us remember he was elected on Health Care reform but from the day after the election he and health care reform were under right wing attack.

The same thing happened in 92 for Hillary and Clinton's health care reform. Add to this the disaster left by Bush AND his Republicans [who passed everyone of his budgets over 8 years] and the pressure to cave to right-wing demands made cuts like this inevitable, so you blame who you want.

Remember this FSA is: a little guy benefit, not a corporate one; a progressive idea, not a conservative one; if the limit is raised back to $5000 the Republicans will call it an entitlement, not a tax cut for the little guy; unless the OTC industry gets behind changing that benefit it won't happen.

If you want it back at $5000, OTC included and even extended periods before losing it all of those were progressive ideal, so VOTE PROGRESSIVE...put the car in 'D' [democrats] not 'R' [Republicans].

http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2010/08/30/flexible-spending-account-changes-for-2011-and-beyond/?#comment-188202