Media Bias?

Watching the wrap-up of the RNC last night. Some interesting folks offering insights and, of course, the top event of the whole kaboodle with the candidate's acceptance speech.

Over the whole event I got the impression that the DNC is going to have an uphill climb. Some things I noticed:

1. Concern and compassion as the planners sacrificed an entire day to insure safety and allow for preparation in case Isaac became a danger to the Florida west coast as well as the rest of the possible impact points. Isaac never became a major hurricane, but did pack an incredible amount of rain. The RNC shared the headlines without a gripe. 
2. The understated podium was a masterstroke! Unlike the massive pedestal atop Mt. Olympus which we usually see, this was a simple and tasteful wooden dias much like you might encounter in a small church, a college classroom or a corporate briefing room. 
3. The message stayed positive. Speakers addressed the solutions rather than dwell on who was to blame for the problems. There certainly were a few jabs at the incumbent but they were more like locker-room kidding than serious character attacks. The Dems will flounder at that sort of perspective. 
4. The understated but very obvious negation of the meme that the Republican Party is anti-women (notice female Republican governors?), anti-Latino (notice all the heavy-hitters both male and female with Hispanic surnames?), and anti-Black (real Black leaders making appearances of substance rather than race-baiting.)
5. Clint Eastwood is too old for stand-up. 

Then, on a whim, during a speech by a former Bain Capital official addressing the job creation, business successes and developments in a free market, I switched from Fox to MSNBC. Just wanted to see how they were covering the same event. 

I got Rachel Maddow in the left sidebar doing a voice-over of a collage of anti-Bain Obama political ads! Seriously! A live event with a real player speaking and they are doing hard-core Goebbels!

The Good News

There is always a good side. So, I thought I'd note some of the good aspects of chemo:

• I can slip on a polo, T-shirt or sweatshirt and not have to worry about finding a comb. 
• No need for after-shave...or pre-shave...or even shave.
• Huge reduction in liquor bill. 
• Lose as much weight as Terry Bradshaw without spending on Nutri-system. 
• Still don't look like Marie Osmond. 
• Able to distinguish between simple gagging and full-blown retching. 
• High blood pressure is nothing compared to really low. 

There are probably more, but those come to mind quickly. And one more really important lesson: 

My dog knows. He may not comprehend the details, but he knows. So, he changes from a rambunctious and frisky guy wanting to urge me out in the yard to kick the soccer ball into a quiet friend waiting nearby just in case I might want a friendly nose on the arm of my chair or maybe a soft furry back to rest a hand on. He knows. 

Saturday Morning Mellow

Tough Numbers to Spin

The cliche question is a tough one for the Bamster. Particularly when the WaPo is running this sort of item:

Drastic Drop in Household Income Since 2009

The Messiah took the reins and since then the direction has been consistent. But, please don't look at the man behind the curtain...the Great Oz has spoken and you must ignore the facts.

Bureaucratically Defying Logic

You are sick. You are hospitalized. You are older. You recover to a point where further hospitalization is not deemed necessary and like most rational people you would rather be at home in familiar surroundings with family than in the hospital. You go home.

A few weeks later you have a recurrence or maybe another issue. You are readmitted. The hospital takes a financial hit because you don't fit the Obamacare model.

Hospitals Fined For Treating Sick People

Is that the most ridiculous concept you've ever encountered? What would be the alternative? Extend hospitalization at great cost and squandering resources which could be better applied? Keep them because you might have to readmit them.

Or, maybe deny healthcare because they've already used their quota of care for the month? Doesn't that sound a lot like the somewhat hysterically named "Death Panels"?

Seriously, the death panel concept was a euphemism for bureaucratic rationing of healthcare without regard to medical necessity. It was budget over medicine.

Now, apparently we can see the future and it isn't sunny.

Story Music

As the Rangers continue on for a full season in number one in their American League division and the rest of the baseball monopoly cracks with new performance enhancing drug convictions, I find little on TV to watch.

That brings Netflix into the mix. It really is neat to have a TV that wirelessly connects to my network and streams the service without a burp. Last week it was season one of "Hell on Wheels" which is a contemporaneous premium channel series to compare to Deadwood but with milder language. Will probably forego the broadcast episodes of season two this year and wait for the whole series streaming release next year.

Now it is a couple of episodes per night of The Tudors. At times it gets a bit boring, what with the continuous moaning and groaning, thrusting and lusting of the court, but the political intrigues are fascinating and the good news is you can always fast-forward into the next episode.

It got me to wondering when did Henry start shortening his wives? And that led me to recall this old favorite from my high school years:

Keep the Lights On in America

Yes, keep the lights on and the food refrigerated and the air conditioner running. Keep the hundreds of thousands of coal miners, equipment builders, train operators, and power plant operators working. Keep bills low and don't let idiocy prevail.

The courts have dealt a serious blow the heavy-handed bureaucracy of the EPA with this:

Downwind Arbitrary Rulings Overturned

A detailed examination of much of the EPA activity reveals a pattern very much based on political rather than scientific goals.

But why should that be surprising?

Are You Smarter Than a Monkey?

Everybody has some phrases that inflame them. Think about it. Isn't there some brief collection of words that  raises your hackles simply by being said in your presence?

They usually imply something which upon a rational examination doesn't follow from the implication. One of the most common ones I've used in government classes is the time honored, "we've got to do it for the children." I usually follow the statement with the caution that it is time to grab your Constitution and get ready to defend it.

I heard the phrase regularly when I was on the Board of Trustees of the Pikes Peak Library District serving the greater Colorado Springs area. Well meaning folks would come in to complain that the library was an unsafe place for their children to wander. Once we had established that the library was not a child care facility and that parenting requires participation, we would get to the question of whether a library which was filled with only those materials, ideas and concepts which would be suitable for at typical third-grader would be worth funding at all.

Today's phrase is "income inequality." I simply revel in the concept of economic inequality. It means I can succeed on my merits. It means my effort has value commensurate with its scarcity. It means I can differentiate myself and through that decision I can excel. At its most basic level, it means I can gain more than you. I can get rich.

Yet, there is a certain charm to this piece. Be sure to watch the video because participant on the left (coincidence?) is very unhappy with the proceedings.

Equal Pay For Equal Work For Primates

Does the research illustrate a political truth? Maybe.

It seems to postulate subservience. It eliminates the possibility of distinction. It mandates dependence for simplistic and rote work. And it blindly accepts the principle that a dispenser of largess is obligated to dispense the same compensation equally.

Beast Bites Bamster Again

It seems to be a trend for the Daily Beast to be taking well aimed shots at the Bamster. This is more than a shot. It is fire-for-effect barrage and offers great detail regarding the failures of the administration which arguably has done more damage to the nation than any since the Civil War.

Will Anybody Notice The Elephant In The Room 

The frightening thing however is that so many folks really aren't involved with facts or details. They are simply emotional voters and their emotions are about envy and greed and sloth. But, I've said all that before.

Need proof? Here's a letter to the editor from this morning's Dallas Fishwrapper:

Save yourselves from mud

Here’s a great idea to reduce your electric bill: Unplug your TV for the next 85 days or so. You will only miss hours of political bantering and accusations, plus millions of commercials. But remember to vote in November.

Barbara Wiskow, Dallas/Park Cities

Isn't that remarkable. Start by isolating yourself from the debate. Don't get encumbered by any data. Don't read or view and certainly don't seek facts. Then remember to vote!

Well, duh, "you know..."

An interview in which nobody seems to get it. The principal character is too young to appreciate what is going on and the mother is illiterate. The interviewers are superficial and in a classic American "correctness" solution, the dumbo gets a reward:



Peewee football which espouses teaching kids who weigh 135 pounds or less, with minor exceptions, has a responsibility to protect the little folks. Introducing a 300 pound, six-footer is ludicrous and extremely dangerous. The typical sized kids don't really get to play against an adult sized, NFL scale humanoid with a fifth grade IQ. The big guy doesn't really get to hone his football skills or learn anything about the game because of the size disparity.

If you want to learn to play football, then you learn skills. You don't simply outweigh and over-scale. The mother is clueless and simply seeking her Warholian fifteen minutes of fame. If she sees the giant as potentially being a competent athlete, then she needs to figure out that he needs to be somewhere with competition, not where he benefits from unfair advantage.

Results In a Petri Dish

Before injecting the national body economic with a dose of common sense and free market strategies it would be good to do a lab experiment. Look at life in a Petri dish and see how common sense works.

This is Oklahoma. It is about energy for America drawn from our own domestic resources. It is about labor flowing to jobs. It is about supply  and demand. It isn't about windmills. It is about drilling and fracking and paying for labor what the market demands.

Oil Boom Brings Job Flood And Worker Shortage

Nobody needs a minimum wage law. Nobody has to work if they don't want to, but apparently they want to.  Nobody subsidizes this product because it is in market demand. In fact, this doesn't cost the government a damn thing. All they need to do is get out of the way and then accept the tax revenues when the workers pay their annual income tax. No dependency required.

Ain't gwinna put none of dem people in no chains, Joe!

Saturday Morning Rocker

Lucrezia went back where she came from yesterday afternoon, but she'll be back in two weeks.

An Idiot

The Daily Beast is not notably conservative. Yet they offer this pithy look at the man a heartbeat away from the presidency:

Biden An Idiot Past His Sell-By Date

That is a pretty harsh look.

OK To Keep Breathing

Although our crack EPA has declared carbon dioxide, which we expel with every breath and which is essential to plant life and photosynthesis, is a carcinogen which must be controlled, they can't quite get the rate taxation level through Congress yet. That's what makes this front page item in the Dallas Morning Fishwrap so fascinating:

Carbon Dioxide Drops From Market Forces

That's right, because natural gas is cheaper and more efficient, power companies freely shift their energy requirement to the fuel thereby driving down consumer costs and simultaneously reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Almost over-looked in the piece is this significant paragraph:

Many of the world's leading climate scientists didn't see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

Whoda thunk it?

Gray Lady Down

When the erstwhile leading voice in print media of the United States, the New York Times, has this sort of thing appearing in print, you've really got to wonder:

My editor asked me to write a critique of the two men’s attire on the day of the announcement in Virginia, thinking there might be something in their casual look.

The idea of politicians deliberating over what message their clothing conveys enchants editors. They tend to overestimate the effects of a generic blazer or give too much credit to mysterious back-room handlers. It amounts to an idealization of the image-making process, a hoax. In truth, there are no real differences of style and message in the clothing of the current presidential candidates, which is too bad.

Really? Is that cutting journalism? I think, I would have turned to my editor and asked, "What are you thinking?"

But, dutifully the liberal, mouth-breathing, superficialist cobbled together an article:

First We Demean the Conservative Then We Bring in a Macho-Envy Vibe 

Does Cathy want Ryan in one of those "Look at me, I'm gay" new-style mini-suits that look as though you outgrew them five years ago and then shrunk them on purpose to give you a hip look as you sip a Cosmo?

If A, Then How B?

OK, state after state has been attempting to bring credibility to voting by simply asking that a prospective voter identify themselves with a state-issued photo ID. That takes care of things liking shopping mall booths with registration forms for any walk-up. It eliminates door-to-door and registration lists with the complete cast of Snow White and the Seven Senators. It asks that you provide exactly what you need to cash a check, ride an airline, open a bank account, or collect a welfare check.

Too tough to do claim the Dems. Disenfranchises minorities, poor, etc. Can't get that free card. Too tough.

If I accept that then what am I to make of this:

Hundreds of Thousands Across the Country Line Up

I'm sympathetic to plight of these young people. They are here. They are trying. They are established. They seek to be a part of it all.

We need to know who they are. We need to have them registered. We need to have them with driver's licenses, work visas, taxpayer identification, ability to participate in higher education and succeed. We need that without question.

But aren't these the same folks from the same demographic who are disenfranchised because it is too tough to get a photo ID? And aren't these the same folks who can't afford that ID who are ponying up $465 each for their two year deferred residence status?

The real caution of this program is that the deferred young folks, now with a driver's license and SSAN will be lining up as non-citizen voters. There is a very rough spot in this.

Foreign Policy

Recall when the last campaign follies came around. We had Sarah Palin trashed for lack of foreign policy experience. She could "see Russia" from her back porch, but really couldn't go into the nuances of realpolitik or global inter-dependencies.

Across the aisle we had a guy with no apparent firm history. One which wandered through Africa, Asia, Hawaii, the Ivy League, and the gritty back streets of south-side Chicago. He'd never held a job, he "organized communities" (which sounds like a redundancy) and he stayed clean by voting "present." He needed foreign policy cred so they brought in the long time Senator with a committee position and a glib tongue. That was the foreign policy guru to save the day, Joe Biden.

How'd that work out? Look at the remnants of four years of Obama/Biden policy. Listen to the most recent Biden intellectualism, "they wanna put ya'll back in chains!" Psst, hey aide, what state am I in?

The dark side is grappling with how to trash Paul Ryan. He's got a fourteen year congressional record. He's spoken articulately on the world stage about his budget, the national debt crisis, the future economic situation and ways to get there. He has worked across the aisle repeatedly. He may be too competent for America.

But what about his global credentials? Does he "get it"? Does he understand America's role in the Twenty-First Century? It looks as though he does.

Ryan's World View Looks Well Grounded

The question that really determines the fundamental answer remains. Is America's electorate rational?

A Thought

I've named my infusion pump Lucrezia. Seems to fit. You meet once and she spends a couple of nights with you. You feel like crap for a week after she leaves. Then you fall back into her web a few days later and you get poisoned again. Never trust a Borgia.

Diplomacy

Jefferson was our first Secretary of State. We've had many since. Some good, some not so good. Some were grand intellects, thinking beyond the stereotypes and fashioning international agreements which reached well beyond their time. Consider the Marshall Plan after WW II,which effectively abandoned the punitive aspects of Versailles and saw that re-integration of defeated nations was a better choice than punishment.

Or look at Kissinger's opening of China as an economic partner. Today China may be communist, but they certainly aren't Mao's model. They are capitalist to the core economically.

Or maybe take a gander at Dulles and the idea of "containment" rather than confrontation. There are surely flaws in the outcomes from the structure of alliances which Dulles built, but NATO served us well and continues to provide a communication and integration mechanism for global military response. Not perfect but certainly innovative.

Now we've got Iran and N. Korea threatening with nuclear capabilities. We've got Libya collapsed largely without our direction and with many more casualties than might have been. We've got Egypt in turmoil and without a coherent picture of where that is going. We've got Syria. We've got Syria and that's about all we can say because we simply don't have a plan.

But, we've got this. Does this woman not realize she is being played as a buffoon? Does she not "get" the dance?



The critical thing about diplomacy is that much like a fireman, you must go to where the fire is, not simply visit all the potential sites of a fire someday.

Hillary Failing At People-to-People

How said isn't it, that actually governing is so complex?

Profile This...

If you are immersed in a culture that harbors, defends, supports, tolerates, nurtures and even glorifies crime then there is a good chance that when someone is trying to improve your situation despite your efforts to resist, they will be guilty of "profiling." Think about it. You're on a street corner at mid-night. There's a white guy with a briefcase and a dark gray suit walking down the street. His collar is open and his tie is loosened. And, there's a guy with a flat-brim baseball cap sideways on his head, a pair of oversized shorts hanging below his butt displaying an expanse of plaid blue boxer shorts that aren't the freshest, a "wife-beater" athletic shirt, an array of tatts, and a $200 pair of athletic shoes with the laces untied. He's black.

Who are you going to talk to, officer?

This is what the politically correct are doing in New Yawk City:

How To Take Back The Night For Crime

One of the most interesting aspects of that item is the fallacy of large numbers. Think about how many times you've seen a large number statistic and responded dutifully with the desired reaction. But, what if that large number is a very small percentage of the whole which is a humongous number? It is statistically insignificant.

I have no desire to ever set foot in New York City. Sorry, but that's the way it is. I've been to capitols of the world, eaten in the best restaurants, stayed in the finest hotels. I don't need NYC to be fulfilled. And I particularly don't need the elitists of NYC to look down their noses at me from their pedestals which they themselves have built.

You MIght Be a Redneck If...

Naaahhhhh, no self-respecting redneck would be involved in something like this. This one is at a whole 'nuther level:

Driving And Shaving Don't Mix

Yeah, got hubby steering as you primp for a perfect first date with somebody you met on Facebook...

Saturday Morning Country

So, if you insist, I will. This is about as country as it gets:

A Story

"Hi. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, but you're not. You're sick."

"No I'm not. I feel fine."

"You're not fine. You're sick and we've got the pictures to prove it."

"But if I were sick wouldn't I have some aches or pains or something? I'm not sick."

"Yes you are, but don't worry we can fix things for you."

"You mean you can make me not sick?"

"Well, no, we can't guarantee that. What we can do for sure is make you feel sick so that you won't have doubts about whether or not you are really sick. That way folks won't think you are playing on their sympathy. You will really feel sick. It's our specialty."

"So, you can't be sure of making me better but you can be sure of making me positive that I'm sick?"

"We do better than that. We can not only make you feel sick, we throw in making you look lousy too. No extra cost. You feel like crap and look even worse. It's all part of the deal."

These are folks that can deliver. No need to read the fine print on the money back guarantee. I'm convinced.

Creating a New Math

The last couple of days the incessant mono-themed droning of the Messiah has dribbled a new threat into the class warfare scenario. Now, it seems we've got the Romney economic plan raising taxes on the middle class and doing so by reducing taxes by $250,000.00 on those earning more than $3 million.

A rational person might ask what the entire tax burden might be on a three mill earner if they can get a quarter of a million dollar reduction and still be paying tax!

But, much more important is where this new number the Bamster got regarding the middle class came from. He asserts that Romney will raise taxes by $2000/year on middle income wage earners. Since the core of the Romney plan is an across-the-board reduction of tax RATES, it becomes reasonable to wonder how that costs a tax payer more. Where is the source for  the assertion? If you were paying 10% and now pay 8% how much more is that?

The Wall Street Journal devoted almost the full column on the editorial page to a detailed refutation of the data creation:

Making Up The Numbers As Necessary

Probably the best line in the article is after listing the results of previous tax RATE reductions on federal revenue, under both Democrat and Republican administrations, the Bamster number crunchers get the opposite conclusion.

So on four separate occasions what TPC says is "mathematically impossible"—cutting tax rates and making the tax system more progressive—actually happened. Hats off to the scholars at TPC: Their study manages to claim that what happens in real life can't happen in theory.

How stupid is the American electorate? We'll find out in a couple of months.

How Low Can You Go?

Apparently you can go as low as the electorate will allow. If you've ever been involved in a company that sometime later may have released an employee, and that employee had a spouse who then lost her coverage when leaving her job and then got diagnosed several years later, you are responsible and a very evil person.



But you've got to notice that even CNN won't buy that much of a leap. Maybe there is a good sign in that.

The real question remains though. How gullible is the electorate? When will they begin to tire of the class warfare one-trick pony who says nothing repeatedly with emphasis but without results?

Spontaneous Trumps Planning

The outrage bloomed overnight. A corporate CEO dared to express his own opinion without linking it to company policy or practices. Such an exercise of First Amendment freedom could not be tolerated if it implied politically incorrect moral and religious beliefs. The outrage came.

That afternoon former Governor and presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee suggested on his radio talk show that a Chik-Fil-A support effort might be nice to do. The next day across the nation the parking lots, drive-thrus, and dining rooms of Chik-Fil-A were crammed. Hundreds of black and white cows with poor spelling and a penchant for graffiti were overjoyed.

With that sort of challenge it was necessary to strike back. So, the GLBT crowd got activated. Organize! Spread the word! Dust off your sequins, boas and g-strings. Hit the Wal-Mart for some Chap-Stick.

What If They Gave a Kiss-In and Nobody Smooched?

Maybe they over-planned? Or maybe they are outnumbered?

Who knows. But there is a lesson to learn here about heartland America.

Whatcha Gonna Do?

What do you do when the tax base of a community leaves? What do you do when the administration fails to demand performance? What do you do when the NEA and AFT control the ability to manage incompetence and adjust your available funds to the current situation? What happens when a generation of children will fail because the existing system has failed them:

Why You Outsource To a Performance Model 

The concept of local school districts has been bedrock of America for centuries. But the unionization, politicization and corruption of America's schools in the last sixty years has necessitated drastic action.

Michigan City MI might be a model for the nation. It surely will be a battle ground for perpetuating the incompetence of a vested class of so-called "educators."

Saturday Morning Rocker

It Makes Me Wonder...

Clearly he is a man with drive and with ambition. We've hardly been spared from watching him blaze across the political landscape from his riveting keynote at the 2004 Democratic Convention to his startling elevation on the Presidential stage. He is talented, arguably charismatic, and maybe even intelligent.

It makes me wonder what he might have done had he directed that talent toward executive function, management, leadership and governance rather than power-seeking, kick-backs and campaigning.

Phelps Needs to Share Those Medals

When he asked us to place the phrase fully into context, it didn't sound any better.

This makes "Read my lips, no new taxes" into a throw-away line.

Remember, whatever you've got, you didn't build it, you didn't earn it, you don't deserve it, and it isn't all yours. The Bamster has spoken. So let it be written.

Can I Get That iPhone 5?

The older generation which thinks it knows everything and what it doesn't know it once knew and chose to forget because it was irrelevant tends to ascribe laziness, ignorance and venality to the new-comers. At least I do.

But what if we were looking at them from the wrong perspective. What if we really weren't applying the youth perspective to the political arena. What if they really have an ethic and a perspective on the future which we simply don't understand?

I think Henninger grabs it pretty well in this WSJ piece:

On Hope and Change v. 2.0

The question becomes whether a young adult wants to wait in the bread line for his dole or be able to access the bold new world of information, technology and (dare we whisper it,) success?

Running Amok

This would be funny if he weren't the Senate Majority Leader speaking in the legislature:



"The Word Is Out..." Harry Reid is a known pedophile, secretly eats lunch at Chik-fil-A, once hid in the pit under the women's out house in a campground, and takes money for laundering from drug cartels in Monrovia. Let him prove otherwise.

But, wait a second, isn't there an executive branch agency called the IRS which is supposed to handle these returns, audit them if necessary, and apply the law as written to these issues?

And if those "secret" accounts in the Caimans are so secret, how do we know about them? And where do we have legislation which makes establishing an account for your own money in a bank somewhere illegal? Is this innuendo?

Does Romney make more money than Joe Bagadonutz? Yes. Is that unique? No. Does Harrry play the class warfare card poorly? Yes.

When did you stop beating your wife, Harry? The word is out on you and we want proof.

Backlash

Maybe it's a photo-shop, but I doubt it since most of those outlets are franchise and very much subject to the vagaries of local ownership and clientele:

Defining Success Downward

He saved millions of jobs. He transferred billions in wealth from investors holding debt to unions holding political capital. He turned around an industry. He put us all in a Volt...or not.

Listen to the gloating and backslapping about the GM second quarter profits. Gotta admit $1.5 billion ain't chump change.  Attaboy, Bamster!

But, wait a second. Is there a context? Unfortunately there is. A big bunch of bucks is fine but only relative to  other big bunches of bucks.

GM Profits Slip 41% For the Comparable Quarter

And this is the team touting their business management acumen over the free-market and equity investment successes?

How Can You Miss the Message

This piece is a bit dated. The WSJ ran it in April when the Bamster had just launched his no-holds barred class warfare strategy. You know the one; it has morphed into "You didn't build that..."

The essence is if you have something you should share it. If you have nothing you should get the other guy's something. Economic equity is the catch-phrase. It used to be called communism, but that got a bit long in the tooth and frayed at the edges.

It's Not About Debt or Responsibility. It's About Fairness

Even with the mainstream media in lock-step ignorance mode, it is hard to miss the message. It is even harder to embrace it.

BTW, did you notice that with the final count completed that Ted Cruz took the TX Republican senate nomination by a margin of 14%! In American elections that is called an ass-whuppin!