French News Channel?

Look out BBC and CNN, there is a new world power in media! (Click link in title)

Apparently we need the French's perspective on world events. Crack me up! Here are the tasteful jokes, snide remarks and historical references:

Will they bother to have a war correspondant?
Relevant topics important to the French in programming? I thought there already was a food network.
Look for the Crossforks program where they debate the merits of vintages of wine.
Do they realize there is a world outside of their border to report on?
I wonder how deeply they will investigate wine bottle and label cloning from the Chinese?

I am so looking forward to this developing story.

Bible VS Stun Gun

As much as I am taken aback by this story (linked in title) of Jerseyville Police who used tazers to take down a kid yelling "I want Jesus" and waiving a bible, I must be consistent.

This young man did not obey and respond to the authorities when they attempted to calm him. They used a tool they have when someone is unruly and not responding to their requests. They tazed him twice. He is now dead after having being taken to an ER.

A horrifying situation? Yes. The truth is that he should have responded and submitted to police authority. Even if the kid was unarmed and doing nothing wrong, he should have submitted.

Republicans Win Big Predicition

Where will we be on November 5th when the Republicans still hold both houses? Where will we be if they only hold one of the two?

Exactly where I expect we'll be.

My only question is where will the media put this. If Democrats fail to win either one or both houses will it be called the outright failure that it is? Perhaps the excuse they have been needing to eliminate Howard Dean as leader once and for all? Will it be seen as a testament for Bush and against gay marriage?

I'm going on record:
I will be surprised if the marriage amendments fail anywhere.
I will be surprised if the democrats win one (senate or congress).

Why do I go out on the limb and say such a prediction? Because I believe this generation of voters has the intelligence and fortitude to understand the issues involved here. I think the Democrats have placed themselves sqarely in the ultra-liberal camp of gay and polygamist marriages. That Democrats need to see defeat in Iraq to be politically victorious here.

I do not think America has lost heart as the media would have us believe. I believe that Ronald Reagan was right: the American people are not easliy fooled.

IF I am wrong I will be completely shocked. Then I will work tirelessly to bring back the common sense of the generations who fought WWI and WWII. Wars that were 60 to 80 years ago yet we still maintain troops in locations because of those conflicts.

Guinea Pig VS Pioneer

Here is a basic analysis of word usage to manipulate the thinking of the person hearing the statement.

Today on NPR you will hear a report about stem cell research. This is the paraphrased quote from the teaser:
"When we take these stem cells and inject them into the brains of these patients we don't know what will happen. They are pioneers in stem cell research."
I was driving when I heard this (that's why it's paraphrased) and knew I had to blog it.

Accurate? Mostly. We know that these individuals are volunteering for the process which could be dangerous. That is an accurate application of the term pioneer. However we also know in the past that other individuals have volunteered to take medical experimentation with the belief that there would be positive results. We also know that those results have not always been positive.

Case in point: when we review back in the deep dark history of last year we find the tale of TGN1412 and the disastrous results. Remember the people in Britain who "swelled" and some died in a medical experiment. The doctors working with these patients have been tried and convicted in the media for using "human Guinea Pigs" for their testing.

CAVIA PORCELLUS

It would be more accurate to say that the individuals involved in this stem cell test are in fact human guinea pigs. Yet because there is a negative connotation they choose "pioneer" to positively spin the test.

As a conservative who is concerned with the blind push for stem cell research should I view this as an "accidental" choice of words? Or should I see it as an intentional manipulation to cover up the fact that the best minds have absolutely no clue what will happen with stem cells and they are just throwing ideas against the wall until something sticks?

Ford: Artificial Racism

Does this commercial play on "racist fears of Tennessee redneck-hick-kkk voters"??? That is the spin being shoved down our throats.


"Harold, c a l l m e "

Watch it and tell me what you think?

Along with my fellow Tennesseans I watched this commercial from Thursday the 19th until Monday and then another WEEK on top of that before we got the "racism" accusation. Think about that for a moment. Why did it take so long for the "racism" accusation to come out? The Boston Globe article is dated the 28th.


"FORD is right, I have too many guns"
I heard people laughing about this superbly done commercial. I never heard anybody think it was racist until over a week later?

I would submit that the RNC knows the cycle of the spinners for the DNC and timed the ad for maximum confusion. The DNC and Ford campaigns were totally caught flat-footed. The FORD-DNC response was slow because the DNC first went to the accusations of the ad and found that each one was CITED (check the youtube again, roll call & news accounts cited!). After tearing apart the ad for a week someone finally hit on the "white chick with black guy" and took it to the focus groups. When the focus group reacted to that spin, the democrats went national with the response.

Suddenly (2 weeks from the air date of the ad) I'm hearing commentators from PBS Newshour calling the ad racist. Thankfully there was a smart guy next to him shaking his head "NO" at the racism stupidity.

The unanswered question:
IF the commercial was SO OVERTLY racist, why did it take 10 days for that to come to the realization of the media?

I cracked up when I saw this commercial. I would have put this on the air in a heartbeat. It is factual and funny. You can't beat that.

Vincente Fox and the Fence

While Latinoissues may do a much better job of knowing the issues I'll take a stab with some common-sense insight. In the title is an article link to comments made by Fox about the 700-mile fence that Bush is putting up.

We know that Mexico's government ACTIVELY encourages, enables and instructs their citizens on how to illegally immigrate into the USA. They are obviously not concerned with the laws of the United States when they actively work to help their citizens violate them.

What Fox actually said:
"The decision made by Congress and the U.S. government is deplorable," Calderon said while on tour in Canada. "Humanity committed a grave error by constructing the Berlin wall and I am sure that today the United States is committing a grave error in constructing a wall along our northern border."

Stepping back for a moment and setting aside all issues except for his specific statement let's view the underlying message from Mexico's highest elected official: The United States is equal to the Communist Soviets who built the wall to keep their people in their country.

Is this a true and valid statement? Obviously not because our citizens are free to come and go as they please. We are trying to keep people out of our country who haven't followed proper channels to come into the country. Clearly our border fence is not equal to the wall he mentioned in any context unless viewed by someone with a short memory and poor thinking skills.

Why would Fox say such an inflated statement? Possibly because in order to maintain a stable economy and government our neighbors to the south must encourage illegal immigration. Immigrants send millions of dollars back to family members still in Mexico so encouraging immigration of any form is a way of building their economy. I would also submit that a populace that is unemployed with little options for work is ripe for unrest.

A second possibility is that he knows his statement will resonate with the liberal voters of the Los Estados Unitos who are generally equipped with poor thinking skills combined with bleeding hearts.

I am not cold to the realities of Mexico and limitations of their economy. However our reality is that we must restrain the tide at our borders as long as there are groups of individuals who are willing to kill themselves in order to harm us. Is the fence a finger in the dike? Possibly so. We have to start somewhere. Every day we delay action we increase the odds that the weak border will be taken advantage of by someone who isn't simply looking for a job. Someone who instead is looking to help attack the great Satan.

Ewww, Check Your Shoe!

Is your ecological footprint squishing the future and killing cute fuzzy polar bears? Check the article linked in the title to find out more!

Maybe I'm the jackass penguin here (60% decline 1977-1992 according to this scary article) but a very skeptical part of me is not very concerned about the consumption patterns of Finland (apparently the worst offender). I just can't help but wonder that the WWF is selling something here. I mean, if there were positive news would there be a need for donations to the WWF? Doesn't the negative news mean that the bleeding hearts need to pour out their sympathies via check, money order or credit card transactions?


Everyone check their shoes because it just might be your fault!

Looking at the conservative side, where in the globe have the greatest contributions in technology, effeciency and conservation come from? Where would the world be if the ecological "depositors" were in charge?

Like I said, it's all about money.

Michael J. Fox-Oops!

There is the big hullabaloo over voting Democrat to support stem cell research and bring the star power of Michael J. Fox in with MS to support it. Yet the market the democrats decide to open the ad in is where the Democrat incumbent voted against it?

Oops! What else can you say?

Maybe that's why I pay to watch his movies and don't pay to hear his political views.

Sheehan's Can-O-Worms

When you voluteer to be a media icon, you may sometimes forget the law of unintended consequences. Cindy has put her grief into a dog-and-pony campaign aginst everything Bush and is shocked that someone would target her back?



While I am not an advocate of the in-depth type of expose that is in this

American Mourning book,

I did expect someone to write it. The public records that are there along with the infomation that has come forward behind her beginnings (a Kerry aide at the funeral asking Cindy to make public statements during the Kerry-Bush competition for president?) are all valid for publication.

The personal stuff is going to become public once (if) the lawsuit hits. For her sake I pray she is strong enough to handle it.

Foley Slander

Ok, what Foley did do wasn't pretty. Apparently it wasn't illegal, it definitely wasn't moral, and he's out of office in the closest thing to a rehab program there can be for what he did.

Read them for yourself

When did it become true that because he's a Republican means he has to be a Saint? Only a Democrat would confuse perfection with politics. Democrats think that their law is their God so that means they expect the Republicans to think of their representatives as Saints just because we claim the moral high ground.

Let me elaborate:
Conservatives are imperfect individuals who generally aspire to make the law something like what was modeled by God. Liberals think there is no God and try to use the law as a religion to make themselves fell less imperfect.

I can't help but think that the label of pediophile is a pretty strong word. Since ABC is reporting that the FBI can't find any evidence of Clinton-style contact you must wonder when Foley's lawyer will start filing libel & defamation suits.

Ford Embellished Resume

Pretty boy democrat senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. is caught in yet another bold-face lie. He calls himself a lawyer but has never passed the Bar exam.

I really don't understand his need to embellish this since he has already been elected to Congress and has served in politics. Yet he does so anyway? I guess it's just the Ford genes making him to be a liar.

McCain-North Korea Nuke Reminder

The one Renegade Republican bulldog who always acts as the conscience of the party and who can be relied upon to shoot straight with the American people (at least according to most of the media in the previous 6 years) is targeting Hillary?

Whatever will the media say about this? Will we have Chris Matthews bring him on to talk about the Clinton era's collossal failure to control Kim Jung Il's nuke aspirations?

KIM JUNG IL ABOUT TO SPIT OUT HIS DRINK LAUGHING AT THE US

Will we hear it bashed into our heads by Tim Russert that our country may have unwittingly FUNDED their nuke program thanks to Clinton sending Jimmy Carter over there to negotiate for us?

DIDN'T HE WIN THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR THAT?

Here's some lovely reference sites:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_2002_Winter/ai_95841636
http://www.asianresearch.org/articles/2728.html

Is it a timely reminder to vote Republican? The Dems must surely be scared of it because they have labeled the nuke test a "Karl Rove orchestrated October surprise" with a certain amount of frequency and flair that is somewhat paranoid sounding. Even if they are saying it with tongue planted in cheek the frequency makes it worth noting their obvious fear.

I certainly hope so!

By the way, Corker is AHEAD for the Tenneessee seat... in case anyone missed it.

PETA: Fire the Bug Guy

PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has protested Six Flags contest to eat a roach and get to be in the front of the line for the roller coasters.

ROFLOL

HISSING COCKROACHES
I wonder if roaches get the same respect in their kitchens at home?

Chavez Kids?

The first thing I thought of when I read this article about the Venezuelan slums is how Chavez buddied up with Cindy Sheehan.

BUSH HATER CLUB

This is what gets me about wacko nutcase liberals (or even regular liberals). They will tend to be so singularly focused on their emotional hatred of something like Bush that they will lose sight of who they are teaming with or what the unintended consequences might be. Does a mom who is angry about losing her son want to support the Communist ruler of an oil rich country where thousands of sons and daughters die each year in horrible economic conditions? Isn't communism supposed to be wealth-sharing?

What about the mothers of the children who live in that slum Cindy? Why don't you get on the horn and call your buddy Chavez and ask him to do something about that. Ask him to help the sons and daughters who are still alive and under his authority.

Who is the devil. Is he the one who decries riches and proclaims the shared wealth of the people and lives in luxury while others starve in the same city? Did Chavez act as the pot calling the kettle black?

Haynesworth

I have enjoyed Haynesworth when he was a VOL and as a Titan. Today I am writing because I am ashamed of what I saw a grown man do to another man on that field Sunday.
Kicking that helmet off and then stomping the exposed head like that to me is certainly criminal and should be prosecuted.

I love football as a sport. To protect the integrity of the game you must sometimes do what hurts. It would hurt to lose Albert. It would hurt the team and the Haynesworth family. With that said, 5 games is not enough. He needs to be banned from the league and he needs to be prosecuted for assault.