A few of you may remember my riff on the connections between a Koch-like figure and my local propagandapaper shortly after we all became far too familiar with the name Scott Walker. In that diary I detailed how my local propagandapaper foreshadowed Walker's war on public workers.
A couple weeks after I posted that diary, my local propagandapaper changed the rules for who can post comments on their website in an attempt to prevent anonymity. Whether my diary had anything to do with that I don't know, but let me have my moment, will ya? Of course it was a double edged sword, because living in the heart of Teabaggeropolous does intimidate me from being upfront about my political views.
So I haven't been posting comments there anymore. Or going to their website at all for that matter. But a recent story got me curious about what the Northwest Herald has been up to. Leap over the Elitist Squiggle of Death as I regale you with tales of Teabag Joe; with an additional foray into Obamacare.
The latest pablum dripping from Joe Walsh's mouth has been discussed before. To sum up, he disparaged Tammy Duckworth for talking about her sacrifice to our country.
As a quick update, I don't know if this has been written about yet, but Crazy Joe has doubled down on his attack against Duckworth's service. Fucking IOKIYAR. Am I right or am I right.
Anywho, back to my local propagandapaper. Curiosity got the best of me. I just had to see what the Northwest Herald had to say about Crazy Joe. (Note: I'm not going to link to the paper save for once at the bottom of the page. I refuse to drive their clicks unless it's to serve my ends). Surely even a propaganda outlet with a direct line to a Koch-like figure would have some words of condemnation for Crazy Joe's unhinged ramblings.
So how does the propagandapaper that covers Crazy Joe's current district and large parts of his redrawn district cover the news? They don't. Not at all. As of this writing. Not a single mention of this issue whatsoever. In fact, if you do a search of their site for the word "Duckworth," the most recent time her name appeared in the Northwest Herald at all was June 13. So if Tammy Duckworth has been talking about her service and sacrifice, you certainly haven't read about it in my local propagandapaper.
So that got me to thinking...how have they skewed other stories? And being that the biggest news in the land has been PPACA, stories and editorials were front and center. So let's see what Senior Editor Dan McCaleb had to say....
Ruling aftermath: Whether you agree with the decision or not, at least Thursday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding most of Obamacare gives us some much-needed clarity.
Right?
Not exactly. So says Gary Reece, small-business owner and president of the Crystal Lake Chamber of Commerce.
Reece, who will emcee today’s Lakeside Festival parade from near Crystal Lake’s namesake lake, started Heartland Cabinet Supply in 1999. Heartland has been at its current Crystal Lake location on Rickert Road, just off Pingree Road, since 2003. Reece employs 10 people, and he offers them health insurance coverage.
But as is the case with all businesses that offer employee health insurance, his costs have skyrocketed in recent years. He expects that to continue because of the continued uncertainty about Obamacare, and how much it ultimately will cost.
Where to begin, right? Dear Mr. President of Crystal Lake CofC, whether or not PPACA passed or was upheld as the law of the land, you WOULD NOT HAVE CERTAINTY ABOUT HOW MUCH HEALTH INSURANCE FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES WOULD COST. cc: Dan McCaleb. (note, this is not one of those nice fuzzy local CofC's that people talk about from time to time. It's members tend to be a miniature version of the national in activity and viewpoint, only on a local level).
But the purpose here is the Northwest Herald, so I'll leave the specific content alone and direct this to Mr. McCaleb alone: Perhaps the reason you don't have clarity on PPACA issues is because you have been reading the Northwest Herald.
The Northwest Herald uses AP as it's wire service. But clearly not every AP story ends up on the Northwest Herald's website. If it did, it would show up in a search on their website. So right there is an obvious indication of selectively posting stories based on their content. Somebody at the Northwest Herald is saying 'this story is in, this story is out.'
So let's see what made the cut in terms of PPACA discussion.
A search for "pre-existing condition" and review for results related to PPACA yields you two results since the SC ruling, one article in March around the time the SC heard arguments, and nothing else in the past calendar year.
You get a similar result searching for "donut hole" or "doughnut hole." A couple recent results. A handful over the past year. Other than that, nothing.
Ah, but do a search for "individual mandate." About 8 results this week alone. "Penalty tax" gives you similar results.
This does not happen without someone under Dan McCaleb's thumb, or Dan himself, deliberately excluding articles from the AP wire that talk about the benefits of PPACA while pushing those that rile up the teabaggers around here.
Yes Northwest Herald readers, it is perfectly understandable that you also don't have clarity on issues related to PPACA. A Koch-like figure has a chain of lackeys like Dan McCaleb making sure you don't.
So since the Northwest Herald decided to suppress your ability to respond to their propaganda online, perhaps we need to give them a call and let them know what you think about their editorial practices.
Editorial Department
815.459.4122 / 800.589.8910
Fax: 815.459.5640
And while you are at it, throw a wad of cash at a true American hero who is dedicated to helping other heroes.