Monday, November 23, 2009

The sad reality of 2000 comes back yet again


In November of 2000, Vice President Al Gore was given a premature victory via faulty exit polling and a media eager to rid themselves of the Texas misfit cowboy. Hours later, Gore conceded the election to George W. Bush and within hours of that, rescinded his concession. It was at that moment, the American political system would forever be changed.

Hanging chads, absentee voters, military ballots, butterfly ballots, voter intent, and the list went on and on; it was nothing really out of the ordinary as far as elections go, but it happened in the narrowest of margins and during the biggest election of the free world.

Since the 2000 Presidential election, there have been a number of post-election challenges from state congressional races to the US Senate. The 2000 precedent of recounting and legal wrangling has been seen over and over again. The last big spectacle was between Norm Coleman and Al Franken for a senatorial seat representing the state of Minnesota. Coleman won the election initially, but team Franken kept the recounts going until their candidate was sworn in.

Now, in the wake of the tide-turning gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, the District 23 race in New York between democrat Bill Owens and conservative Doug Hoffman seems to have been decided. By a narrow victory on election night, Mr. Owen’s bested his opponent but the race wasn’t over. Out of the media spotlight, this race was close, close enough for Doug Hoffman to imitate Gore’s un-concession – leading to the dreaded chicken-or-egg electoral guesswork. Last week, the last of the district’s absentee ballots were counted, and challenger Doug Hoffman trailed the earlier declared winner, Bill Owens, by 3,129 votes.

Mr. Hoffman would have to come with a 500 vote margin to continue his challenge, a goal that is quite unlikely to be met. Staring defeat in the eye for the second time, Mr. Hoffman has made allegations that state unions and ACORN had stolen the election.

Elections are held in precincts, not courtrooms and the 2000 Presidential Election proved that; there is often a lamenting of how few Americans actually turn out to vote on Election Day, but with candidates like these, who can blame them?



-- Killswitch Politick

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Monday, November 16, 2009

Global cooling, 1970s, Global warming, 1990s, Global climate change, 2000s

June 24th, 1974, Time Magazine featured a cover story with a family gathered around a busted out console television and a fire burning inside, warming them – the cover exclaiming, ”The Cooling of America”. Inside, the story told of a coming ice age, “Telltale signs are everywhere —from the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland to the southward migration of a warmth-loving creature like the armadillo from the Midwest. Since the 1940s the mean global temperature has dropped about 2.7° F. Although that figure is at best an estimate, it is supported by other convincing data.”

Thirty-five years later and no such catastrophe unfolded. But we are still being told of the coming climate catastrophe…

  • Ted Danson stated that the oceans would be dried-up in ten years…about twenty years ago.
  • "We'll be eight degrees hotter in 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow, most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals." - Ted Turner in PBS interview with Charlie Rose

What has angered some scientists is the miscasting of carbon as some evil, destructive element. Humans are made of carbon; in fact, most every organic thing on this planet is made of carbon. Trees emit oxygen and take-in carbon. Geologist Ian Plimer, a professor from Adelaide University, contends that a modern rise in temperature around the world is caused by solar cycles and other "extra terrestrial" forces. He stated carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, commonly blamed for global warming, is a natural occurrence caused by volcanoes erupting.

"We cannot stop carbon emissions because most of them come from volcanoes. It is a normal element cycled around in the earth and my science, which is looking back in time, is saying we have had a planet that has been a green, warm wet planet 80 per cent of the time. We have had huge climate change in the past and to think the very slight variations we measure today are the result of our life - we really have to put ice blocks in our drinks."

Scientists such as Dr. Roy Spencer, Professor Ian Clark, and Dr. Tim Patterson, just to name a few of the most vocal “skeptics” have raised many questions regarding the science behind the anthropogenic contention and not only have pointed to the shaky evidence, but have sounded the follow the money bell.

Last spring Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) asked former Vice President Al Gore during a House hearing if his investments in green energy meant he would personally profit from cap-and-trade. Mr. Gore’s answer was a combination of incredulousness and condescension. Mr. Gore said that he’s not stumping for money, but rather the good of the environment. Really? In 2000, Mr. Gore was worth between $1M to $2M, and in eight years, his reported worth was about $100M – a nice perk for talking about melting iceburgs.


-- Killswitch Politick

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Monday, November 9, 2009

The pot calling the kettle black; the hypocrisy of media bias

Last week, John Stossel wrote a piece entitled, “The double standard about journalists’ bias”. It was an autobiographical piece in which he recounts the blatant hypocrisy of his colleagues.

Stossel said after years of reporting on business crooks at the local level, he was surprised to find a challenge in finding like crooks when he went national on 20/20, “As a local TV reporter, I could find plenty of crooks. But once I got to the national stage…it was hard to find comparable national scams.”

Mr. Stossel deduces the reason for this is simple: free markets are regulators. They reward those companies who put forth a quality product or service and punish those that don’t, “Regulation barely deters cheaters, but competition does.”

Certainly a sound concept but as Mr. Stossel would learn in his move from network news to the most viewed cable news network, suddenly competition isn’t such a good thing – that is, when you’re beating your competition hands-down.

After nearly forty years as a reporter, Stossel has gone from media hero to media zero; why? Because after so many years of championing government regulation, he came to realize it was counterproductive to business and to the American consumer. His 19 Emmy wins would stop, invitations to speak at journalism conferences were no longer extended – all because the veteran consumer reporter had the audacity to change his mind about the good of government regulation.

He titled segments accordingly; “Are we scaring you to death?” analyzed the scare-for-ratings tactics of newscasts and media coverage.

When Glenn Beck was at CNN, not much attention was paid to him, but at FOX News, it’s an entirely different story; as in the amount of stories done about him and not the scandals he uncovers. Mr. Beck drove the Van Jones story at FOX News. He uncovered what the White House vetting process failed to find, a radical, avowed communist.

Beck and Bill O’Reilly have done yeoman’s work in investigating ACORN and have come to uncover scandal after scandal, from millions flowing through a former funeral home in New Orleans to rampant voter registration fraud. Do the mainstream media back them like Deep Throat? No. They accuse them of making mountains out of molehills or fabricating scandals.

When the shoe is on the other foot, the mainstream media is conspicuously silent – Dan Rather used phony documents, aided and abetted by producer Mary Mapes to try and destroy President Bush from being reelected. Jayson Blair made-up entire interviews when writing for the New York Times – his explanation? The liberal news of record expected too much from him.

To quote Mr. Stossel from one of his most popular segments, “Give me a break!”

-- The Editors, Killswitch Politick

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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The blame game and its unintended consequences


Iran is nuking up. North Korea is demanding one-on-one talks. China and France are lecturing the US to get our financial house in order. Afghanistan spirals toward chaos. The Obama administration’s reaction: it’s all Bush’s fault.

A very clear and discernable pattern has emerged from the office of the 45th President: blame the 44th President and then excuse itself from any criticism, now or in the future.

Valerie Jarrett declared "I think that what the administration has said very clearly is that we're going to speak truth to power. When we saw all of the distortions in the course of the summer, when people were coming down to town hall meetings and putting up signs that were scaring seniors to death."

Ms. Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama, doesn’t mince words – except these don’t make much sense. Truth to power? To whom or what is she bestowing such power? In this case, it’s a cable news network, and one that has the audacity to run stories contrary to the accounting shell game that’s being put out by the White House and the democrat majority Congress. Too bad the most powerful man in the world doesn’t have enough power.

While it may be a politically calculated distraction tactic, it certainly is preposterous that the White House doesn’t have a large enough megaphone or the clout to get their message out.

And when it isn’t targeting a news network, the administration seems perfectly content to go about a methodical blame-game, “It's clear that basically we had a war for eight years that was going on, that's adrift," said Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. "That we're beginning at scratch, and just from the starting point, after eight years."

President Obama recently explained why his economic policies have not had a positive impact on the economy, "I don't mind cleaning up the mess that some other folks made…that's what I signed up to do. But while I'm there mopping the floor, I don't want somebody standing there saying, 'You're not mopping fast enough.'

A continuation of his post-inaugural speeches, with all-too familiar little chestnuts like, "…we have chosen hope over fear," and "restore science to its rightful place," and that he would never allow America to "give [our ideals] up for expedience's sake."

But it doesn’t just end with blaming Bush, it necessarily includes exempting and holding harmless any of his policies, "I expect to be held responsible for these issues because I'm the president. But I don't want the folks who created the mess…to do a lot of talking. I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess." While in France Mr. Obama stated, "there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."

While Mr. Obama may find comfort in point his finger backward, the American people are reading his explanations as excuses and his rationalizations as “I can’t handle the pressure of the office you elected me to”. With Rasmussen showing his approval rating at 46%, there is less confidence in the man about hope.

-- Killswitch Politick

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