History will mark today, January 30th, 2005, as the day democracy gained its first foothold in the Arab world. Despite threats of bombings and beheadings, the people of Iraq stood in long lines to cast their first-ever free ballots. Early figures place turnout at about 72% nationwide, a figure far higher than the naysayers would have thought possible. In fact, the turnout, if these numbers standup over the next few weeks, are higher than the best voter turnout ever seen in a presidential election here in the United States.
It must be very difficult for those on the left who so wanted this election to be a 'bust'. But once again, freedom and democracy win over hate and fear.
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
More on Global Warming
A discussion of the economic component of the debate on global warming, by David Henderson, visiting professor at the Westminster Business School.
Excerpt: (credit: Greenie Watch)
In an official document headed 'Principles governing IPCC work', which can be viewed on its website, the role of the Panel is specified as being:
... to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impact and options for adaptation and mitigation. (Italics added).
Thus the responsibilities of the IPCC include that of advising and informing its member governments on the economic factors that may bear on 'human-induced climate change'.
The economic aspects are sometimes viewed as incidental or peripheral. For example, in a recent exchange in the House of Lords (15 July 2004) Lord Whitty, replying for the government to a question put by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson (now Lord Lawson of Blaby), said that
... the scientific basis for, and the physical effects of, climate change are virtually unchallenged by any serious scientists. The economic calculations are subject to some degree of dispute. I am happy to urge people to engage in discussing these questions, but they do not undermine or threaten the basic conclusion that, unless we do something, this world will get dangerously warmer.
This is a misleading statement. For one thing, economic considerations, and criteria, are relevant to deciding what form the 'something' that 'we do' should take. For another, projections of global warming are based on projected atmospheric concentrations of CO2, which in turn are based on the projections of CO2 and related emissions which emerge from the SRES; and the emissions figures themselves are linked to SRES projections of world output, world energy use, and the carbon-intensity of energy sources. In these latter projections economic factors are central. True, they act in conjunction with demographic and technical factors, but these are themselves subject to economic influences. If and in so far as the treatment of these latter influences is open to question, the basis for IPCC projections of global average temperature changes cannot be taken as assured.
Here is the whole article.
Excerpt: (credit: Greenie Watch)
In an official document headed 'Principles governing IPCC work', which can be viewed on its website, the role of the Panel is specified as being:
... to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impact and options for adaptation and mitigation. (Italics added).
Thus the responsibilities of the IPCC include that of advising and informing its member governments on the economic factors that may bear on 'human-induced climate change'.
The economic aspects are sometimes viewed as incidental or peripheral. For example, in a recent exchange in the House of Lords (15 July 2004) Lord Whitty, replying for the government to a question put by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson (now Lord Lawson of Blaby), said that
... the scientific basis for, and the physical effects of, climate change are virtually unchallenged by any serious scientists. The economic calculations are subject to some degree of dispute. I am happy to urge people to engage in discussing these questions, but they do not undermine or threaten the basic conclusion that, unless we do something, this world will get dangerously warmer.
This is a misleading statement. For one thing, economic considerations, and criteria, are relevant to deciding what form the 'something' that 'we do' should take. For another, projections of global warming are based on projected atmospheric concentrations of CO2, which in turn are based on the projections of CO2 and related emissions which emerge from the SRES; and the emissions figures themselves are linked to SRES projections of world output, world energy use, and the carbon-intensity of energy sources. In these latter projections economic factors are central. True, they act in conjunction with demographic and technical factors, but these are themselves subject to economic influences. If and in so far as the treatment of these latter influences is open to question, the basis for IPCC projections of global average temperature changes cannot be taken as assured.
Here is the whole article.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Global Warming
The debate over Global Warming has been heating up, so-to-speak, and we at the LTS have been following the developments with keen interest. On the one hand, we have what seems to be a majority of the scientific community accepting as fact the the view that global warming is a primarily a human-caused reality through our burning of fossil fuels and the subsequent release of CO2 in the atmosphere. On the other hand, there is a significant yet minority body of scientists who believe that the Earth's climate is far too complex to fully understand, let alone make definitive statements about what we should do or not do about it. That the atmosphere is getting slightly warmer there is no doubt, but concensus has not, in our view, been reached on whether this is a natural or human induced condition.
The "Bible" on global warming from the majority view is the Third Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. The IPCC is a UN-sponsored organization charged with investigating global warming and its causes. This report (the 4th is due soon) says essentially that the Earth is warming, and that human activity is primarily responsible. The IPCC and their reports are the basis for the Kyoto Protocols, an international treaty not yet (and not likely to be) ratified by the United States. [For more detail the IPCC website has links to all their reports.]
However, new research has lead some scientists to suggest other causes of global warming. One possible alternative is solar activity, usually sunspot activity. Increased sun spot activity coincides with past warm periods, and could be part or all of the warming source seen today.
Another alternative could be changes in ocean temperatures as known currents shift. Changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Southern Decadal Oscillation (SDO), and others can raise or lower atmospheric temperatures.
Some climatologists claim that the models used to predict climate change are seriously flawed, and don't accurately take into account aerosols in the atmosphere.
This a complex debate, and since we are not scientists we can only report what we see, hear, and read about the subject. We will continue to report on this important subject as the situation warrants.
Some links that can help inform on this important subject:
GlobalWarming.org
JunkScience.com
PittsburghLIVE.com
ReasonOnline
RealClimate.org
Reid Bryson
Competitive Edge Institute
IPCC Scientist withdraws from panel under protest
The "Bible" on global warming from the majority view is the Third Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. The IPCC is a UN-sponsored organization charged with investigating global warming and its causes. This report (the 4th is due soon) says essentially that the Earth is warming, and that human activity is primarily responsible. The IPCC and their reports are the basis for the Kyoto Protocols, an international treaty not yet (and not likely to be) ratified by the United States. [For more detail the IPCC website has links to all their reports.]
However, new research has lead some scientists to suggest other causes of global warming. One possible alternative is solar activity, usually sunspot activity. Increased sun spot activity coincides with past warm periods, and could be part or all of the warming source seen today.
Another alternative could be changes in ocean temperatures as known currents shift. Changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Southern Decadal Oscillation (SDO), and others can raise or lower atmospheric temperatures.
Some climatologists claim that the models used to predict climate change are seriously flawed, and don't accurately take into account aerosols in the atmosphere.
This a complex debate, and since we are not scientists we can only report what we see, hear, and read about the subject. We will continue to report on this important subject as the situation warrants.
Some links that can help inform on this important subject:
GlobalWarming.org
JunkScience.com
PittsburghLIVE.com
ReasonOnline
RealClimate.org
Reid Bryson
Competitive Edge Institute
IPCC Scientist withdraws from panel under protest
Does the Mainstream Media Report Accurately on Iraq?
We have often written about our dissatisfaction with the mainstream media (MSM) and its reporting from Iraq, but we were stunned when we saw this long but very astute commentary in the World Tribune by the US Army's LTC Tim Ryan. LTC Ryan lays out specific examples of why the MSM is not only not giving the American People and the world the whole story, but that they are actually impairing the Coalition's ability to complete their work. It is our belief that the MSM doesn't necessarily do this consciously, but that since they are generally biased to the left, that they believe the war should be going wrong and seek validation of their beliefs. The Rathergate story is similar. Since Dan Rather and CBS News believed the story, they didn't want to let the facts cloud their journalistic judgement.
Here is the full article.
Here is the full article.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Saturday, January 15, 2005
It's been a long time since our last post
Yes, it has been. We had to take a much-needed break from blogging since we exhausted ourselves during the election.
With our batteries now recharged, we will resume blogging at least on a weekly basis. So come back for more fun soon!
With our batteries now recharged, we will resume blogging at least on a weekly basis. So come back for more fun soon!
Friday, December 03, 2004
"Bush is Playing Chess" —Dick Morris
As Dick Morris put it so brilliantly prior to the election on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor,
"Bush is playing chess and Kerry is playing checkers."
That statement was referring to the election, of course, but may be applicable to the Iran nuclear situaion as well. Despite all the rhetoric from the left about what an idiot George W. Bush is, he keeps beating them at every turn. If he is such an idiot, why is it he keeps winning?
In retrospect, the Iraq war looks like a brilliant chess move, the second such move after taking out al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Obviously, there were clear, immediate, and justified reasons for those actions separately, but when the security and future stability of the region are also taken into account, the overarching strategy reveals itself.
Does anyone doubt that Iran would have pursued a nuclear weapons program regardless of the coalition invasion of Iraq? Of course they would have, no matter what happened in Iraq. Was anyone even talking seriously about Iran and the potential for their development of nuclear weapons BEFORE the invasion of Iraq? The coalition certainly did Iraq a favor in removing Saddam, and has freed them to build weapons for potential use on Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and even parts of southeastern Europe. Given the Iranian nuclear situation, we feel better having American armed forces, particularly American air power, now in position on both sides of Iran, along with carrier-based air power in the Persian Gulf.
"Bush is playing chess and Kerry is playing checkers."
That statement was referring to the election, of course, but may be applicable to the Iran nuclear situaion as well. Despite all the rhetoric from the left about what an idiot George W. Bush is, he keeps beating them at every turn. If he is such an idiot, why is it he keeps winning?
In retrospect, the Iraq war looks like a brilliant chess move, the second such move after taking out al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Obviously, there were clear, immediate, and justified reasons for those actions separately, but when the security and future stability of the region are also taken into account, the overarching strategy reveals itself.
Does anyone doubt that Iran would have pursued a nuclear weapons program regardless of the coalition invasion of Iraq? Of course they would have, no matter what happened in Iraq. Was anyone even talking seriously about Iran and the potential for their development of nuclear weapons BEFORE the invasion of Iraq? The coalition certainly did Iraq a favor in removing Saddam, and has freed them to build weapons for potential use on Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and even parts of southeastern Europe. Given the Iranian nuclear situation, we feel better having American armed forces, particularly American air power, now in position on both sides of Iran, along with carrier-based air power in the Persian Gulf.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Democrats and the Election
We are all growing weary of the endless election analysis, but an article in The Weekly Standard caught our eye. It is a very succinct dissection of the poor efforts of the Democrats to woo voters in middle-class America, but it illustrates an even deeper and more insurmountable problem for the Democrats in the future.
The problem Democrats face, and is well described in the article, is that the party that once represented working class America is now the party of the rich, limosine liberals from the coasts, and the far left-leaning progressives who look back fondly on the glory days of socialism in the first part of the last century. It is these two groups, along with the elitists of higher education and their accomplices in the Old Media who now control the party. They hate corporate America, a significant source of jobs and income for millions of average Americans. They want to stop all logging, oil exploration, and new housing construction to 'save the environment', but at the cost of the jobs of many of the working class Americans they claim to want to help!
While these bi-coastal elites jet across "flyover county" in their fuel-guzzeling private jets, and are chauffered around Manhattan and Beverly Hills in their equally gas-guzzleing super stretch limosines, they can't understand why "the red neck masses" below them or waiting at the bus stops as they streak by don't support their brand of politics.
Given how these groups have taken control of the party, we don't see how the Democratic party can ever regain their lost political power. Only when the true Democrats in the tradition of Democrats in the past rise up and wrest control of their party from these elites will the Democratic party be a force for positive good.
Here is the link to the article.
The problem Democrats face, and is well described in the article, is that the party that once represented working class America is now the party of the rich, limosine liberals from the coasts, and the far left-leaning progressives who look back fondly on the glory days of socialism in the first part of the last century. It is these two groups, along with the elitists of higher education and their accomplices in the Old Media who now control the party. They hate corporate America, a significant source of jobs and income for millions of average Americans. They want to stop all logging, oil exploration, and new housing construction to 'save the environment', but at the cost of the jobs of many of the working class Americans they claim to want to help!
While these bi-coastal elites jet across "flyover county" in their fuel-guzzeling private jets, and are chauffered around Manhattan and Beverly Hills in their equally gas-guzzleing super stretch limosines, they can't understand why "the red neck masses" below them or waiting at the bus stops as they streak by don't support their brand of politics.
Given how these groups have taken control of the party, we don't see how the Democratic party can ever regain their lost political power. Only when the true Democrats in the tradition of Democrats in the past rise up and wrest control of their party from these elites will the Democratic party be a force for positive good.
Here is the link to the article.
((Kofi Annan+the UN) x (most of Europe+Sadam Hussein))/Oil for Food = Corruption
With the election now past, and the future of Iraq riding on the upcoming elections in January, the long-simmering Oil-for-Food (OFF) scandal is beginning to heat up. The pot may soon boil over, spilling out corruption of the highest order, along with several deposed world leaders.
Senator Norm Coleman, chaiman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wrote in today's Wall Street Journal Online that he believes Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN, should resign. Senator Coleman's committee has been investigating the OFF scandal for seven months now, and as many of us have suspected, and as the Duelfer Report (discussed here) suggested, the OFF program turned into the biggest get-rich-quick scheme in history. Even Kofi Annan's son has been implicated, as well as many companies and leaders throughout the world, mostly in France, Russia, and Germany, though the investigation is not yet complete and will likely expose other countries, companies, and individuals. No wonder so much of Europe was opposed to the Iraq war; they never wanted the 'gravy train' to stop!
Here is an excerpt from Senator Coleman's column:
Our Investigative Subcommittee has gathered overwhelming evidence that Saddam turned this program on its head. Rather than erode his grip on power, the program was manipulated by Saddam to line his own pockets and actually strengthen his position at the expense of the Iraqi people. At our hearing on Nov. 15, we presented evidence that Saddam accumulated more than $21 billion through abuses of the Oil-for-Food program and U.N. sanctions. We continue to amass evidence that he used the overt support of prominent members of the U.N., such as France and Russia, along with numerous foreign officials, companies and possibly even senior U.N. officials, to exploit the program to his advantage. We have obtained evidence that indicates that Saddam doled out lucrative oil allotments to foreign officials, sympathetic journalists and even one senior U.N. official, in order to undermine international support for sanctions. In addition, we are gathering evidence that Saddam gave hundreds of thousands -- maybe even millions -- of Oil-for-Food dollars to terrorists and terrorist organizations. All of this occurred under the supposedly vigilant eye of the U.N.
Here is a link to the whole article.
Senator Norm Coleman, chaiman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wrote in today's Wall Street Journal Online that he believes Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN, should resign. Senator Coleman's committee has been investigating the OFF scandal for seven months now, and as many of us have suspected, and as the Duelfer Report (discussed here) suggested, the OFF program turned into the biggest get-rich-quick scheme in history. Even Kofi Annan's son has been implicated, as well as many companies and leaders throughout the world, mostly in France, Russia, and Germany, though the investigation is not yet complete and will likely expose other countries, companies, and individuals. No wonder so much of Europe was opposed to the Iraq war; they never wanted the 'gravy train' to stop!
Here is an excerpt from Senator Coleman's column:
Our Investigative Subcommittee has gathered overwhelming evidence that Saddam turned this program on its head. Rather than erode his grip on power, the program was manipulated by Saddam to line his own pockets and actually strengthen his position at the expense of the Iraqi people. At our hearing on Nov. 15, we presented evidence that Saddam accumulated more than $21 billion through abuses of the Oil-for-Food program and U.N. sanctions. We continue to amass evidence that he used the overt support of prominent members of the U.N., such as France and Russia, along with numerous foreign officials, companies and possibly even senior U.N. officials, to exploit the program to his advantage. We have obtained evidence that indicates that Saddam doled out lucrative oil allotments to foreign officials, sympathetic journalists and even one senior U.N. official, in order to undermine international support for sanctions. In addition, we are gathering evidence that Saddam gave hundreds of thousands -- maybe even millions -- of Oil-for-Food dollars to terrorists and terrorist organizations. All of this occurred under the supposedly vigilant eye of the U.N.
Here is a link to the whole article.
Monday, November 29, 2004
Letter to Europe
The American Thinker published this Open Letter to Europe on November 11th of this year. It is well worth a read.
Saturday, November 27, 2004
The Left Exposed
Dan Rather, long time news anchor of CBS News, announced this last week that he would be stepping down this spring. Rather, who did everything he could to help defeat George Bush's re-election efforts, including run a poorly researched story based on forged documents, put the final nail in the coffin of the traditional news media. Our colleagues in the Blogosphere that exposed this latest blatant effort by the Old Media (OM) to influence the elections to the left, shows that the internet and Bloggers specifically are the hammer that drove that nail. Were it not for Bloggers, the sham story run by Rather and CBS would likely never have been challenged, and could have influenced the outcome of the election.
In the days before blogging, no one really understood how far leftward the OM actually was, and now we know that they have always been so. We all foolishly assumed that we were being told the truth about the world, when in fact the truth was so often lost in the partisan efforts of the OM political goals. Because of this episode, we can never again trust the OM, or any single media source as a source of "truth".
How would the Vietnam war been percieved by the American people and the world if the internet and Bloggers had existed during that conflict? How many millions of innocent Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian people died because America lost her stomach for finishing the war we were winning militarily? If the daily television reports by the OM had actually shown balance, instead of bias, perhaps we could have seen what was sure to happen to those innocent people in the killing fields of Cambodia.
The OM portrayed the Tet Offensive of 1968 as a big victory for the North Vietnamese, when in fact it was a decisive win for our side. How many of our service men and women died because of emboldened Viet Cong and NVA regulars that knew they had allies in the news rooms in New York and Washington? Because of the OM and their anti-war bias tainted every single report from Vietnam to show that we were losing when we were actually winning, they are directly responsible for the catastrophic results of our early withdrawl from the Vietnan war.
Even "the most trusted man in America", Walter Cronkite, has admitted that most of the OM is biased toward the left. The left now complains about Fox News, and mocks their tag line of "fair and balanced" as being anything but. What Fox News and the Blogosphere have taught us is that all media sources have a point of view. The OM tried for decades to portray themselves as unbiased and a reliable source of truth. We know now, and Dan Rather put a fine point on the fact that the OM is very biased to the left, politically, and we at the Lost Tooth Society, as well as the world in general need to review history with a cold new dose of skepticism.
But the situation is even more grave than a simple review of history. While we conservatives were going about our lives, the partisans of the left have spent at least the last six decades infiltrating and taking control of our school systems and universities, our courts, the film industry, and as we have been discussing here, the news media. While we weren't looking, the left has been working quietly, but doggedly to gain control of 'thought'.
They seek to further their agenda first through controlling perception of our daily lives and the goings on of life. Second, they seek to control and mold the thought processes of our children through control of how history is written, and through control of what is taught in primary, secondary, and higher education. Third, they seek control of the democratic process by controlling the legal system and the courts, which in turn control how votes are cast and counted. And fourth, they have worked steadily to, at a minimum severely reduce, and ultimately eliminate religion and religious observances from society. (Note how we no longer have "Easter Break", or "Christmas Break", it's Spring and Winter Break, and Thanksgiving is now a secular holiday.)
By controlling these four aspects of our world, information, knowledge, the courts, and religion, they hope to influence the will of the people as excercised through the democratic process.
It is very clear now that conservatives have lots and lots of catching up to do. We need to take back these institutions, despite the obvious and very large head start on the part of the left. Fortunately, We the People are smarter than the left have always believed we are and counted on. By the democratic vote of the people, conservatives control two of the three branches of government, and actually extended that control in the last election, and this fact is especially troublesome for the left.
The left's reaction to their electoral defeat has exposed their now obvious elitism and condescension to the average working-class American, and their hatred of traditional values. They are in such a fit over the elections that they have, just like Dan Rather in "Memogate", tipped their hand and revealed how much they truely despise the masses and how desparately they want to "Lord" over the very people they purport to want to help the most: average Americans. Why any union or ordinary working man or woman, or anyone with any religious faith at all would support the Democrats is beyond our ability to understand.
In the days before blogging, no one really understood how far leftward the OM actually was, and now we know that they have always been so. We all foolishly assumed that we were being told the truth about the world, when in fact the truth was so often lost in the partisan efforts of the OM political goals. Because of this episode, we can never again trust the OM, or any single media source as a source of "truth".
How would the Vietnam war been percieved by the American people and the world if the internet and Bloggers had existed during that conflict? How many millions of innocent Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian people died because America lost her stomach for finishing the war we were winning militarily? If the daily television reports by the OM had actually shown balance, instead of bias, perhaps we could have seen what was sure to happen to those innocent people in the killing fields of Cambodia.
The OM portrayed the Tet Offensive of 1968 as a big victory for the North Vietnamese, when in fact it was a decisive win for our side. How many of our service men and women died because of emboldened Viet Cong and NVA regulars that knew they had allies in the news rooms in New York and Washington? Because of the OM and their anti-war bias tainted every single report from Vietnam to show that we were losing when we were actually winning, they are directly responsible for the catastrophic results of our early withdrawl from the Vietnan war.
Even "the most trusted man in America", Walter Cronkite, has admitted that most of the OM is biased toward the left. The left now complains about Fox News, and mocks their tag line of "fair and balanced" as being anything but. What Fox News and the Blogosphere have taught us is that all media sources have a point of view. The OM tried for decades to portray themselves as unbiased and a reliable source of truth. We know now, and Dan Rather put a fine point on the fact that the OM is very biased to the left, politically, and we at the Lost Tooth Society, as well as the world in general need to review history with a cold new dose of skepticism.
But the situation is even more grave than a simple review of history. While we conservatives were going about our lives, the partisans of the left have spent at least the last six decades infiltrating and taking control of our school systems and universities, our courts, the film industry, and as we have been discussing here, the news media. While we weren't looking, the left has been working quietly, but doggedly to gain control of 'thought'.
They seek to further their agenda first through controlling perception of our daily lives and the goings on of life. Second, they seek to control and mold the thought processes of our children through control of how history is written, and through control of what is taught in primary, secondary, and higher education. Third, they seek control of the democratic process by controlling the legal system and the courts, which in turn control how votes are cast and counted. And fourth, they have worked steadily to, at a minimum severely reduce, and ultimately eliminate religion and religious observances from society. (Note how we no longer have "Easter Break", or "Christmas Break", it's Spring and Winter Break, and Thanksgiving is now a secular holiday.)
By controlling these four aspects of our world, information, knowledge, the courts, and religion, they hope to influence the will of the people as excercised through the democratic process.
It is very clear now that conservatives have lots and lots of catching up to do. We need to take back these institutions, despite the obvious and very large head start on the part of the left. Fortunately, We the People are smarter than the left have always believed we are and counted on. By the democratic vote of the people, conservatives control two of the three branches of government, and actually extended that control in the last election, and this fact is especially troublesome for the left.
The left's reaction to their electoral defeat has exposed their now obvious elitism and condescension to the average working-class American, and their hatred of traditional values. They are in such a fit over the elections that they have, just like Dan Rather in "Memogate", tipped their hand and revealed how much they truely despise the masses and how desparately they want to "Lord" over the very people they purport to want to help the most: average Americans. Why any union or ordinary working man or woman, or anyone with any religious faith at all would support the Democrats is beyond our ability to understand.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Bush Won
***Election Analysis***
We have taken a week's break from Blogging at this site, first as a rest from the fury of the days and weeks leading up to the recent election, but also as a way of reviewing the post-election positions of the MSM (mainstream media), the Democrats, Republicans, and all those in between and on the fringes to either side of the major parties.
We are obviously delighted at the re-election of George W. Bush, and at the gains by the Republican party in the House and Senate, as we believe that the overall direction of the country under Republican control will be the right direction. That is not to say that we agree completely with all of the positions of the Bush administration or of those in Congress, but the general goals of less government, less regulation, lower taxes, and more local control are worthy and noble goals that should be vigorously pursued. Conversely, we believe that the general goals of John Kerry and the Democrats—more government, higher taxes, more regulation, less local control— are not desirable goals, and should be resisted with equal vigor.
We are struck by the post-election analysis that has been generally discussed in the MSM that the people who voted for GWB did so for reasons of "morality", and that a 'bunch of redneck hicks from 'flyover country'' could have been so stupid as to have voted for the 'idiot' Bush.
According to exit polling conducted by a consortium of MSM organizations, the most important factor in deciding which candidate to vote for for president was "moral values" (22%), followed closely by "economy/jobs" (20%), "terrorism" (19%), "Iraq" (15%), then a big drop to "healthcare" (8%), "taxes" (5%), and finally "education" (4%). As near as we can tell, respondents to this survey were only given these choices, and could choose only one from the list.
Based on these results, 83% of those polled felt that moral values, economics, and the war on terrorism (we're lumping together those who ranked "terrorism" and "Iraq" together) are the most important issues facing the country, whereas only 17% feel that healthcare, education, and taxes are the most pressing issues. If that is true, then why didn't pre-election polls indicate such a low rating for healthcare? We thought, based on listening to the barrage of MSM converage prior to the election, that healthcare would be at least 2nd in the minds of voters to terrorism.
By examining how those polled voted based on their answers to the above categories we may find a possible answer. Those who replied that they thought 'moral values' was the most important reason to choose a candidate, 80% voted for Bush, while just 18% voted for Kerry. For those who thought 'economy/jobs' was the most important, 80% voted for Kerry, and 18% for the president. For people who thought 'terrorism' was the key to choosing their candidate, 86% chose the president, while just 14% voted for Kerry. For those voters for whom 'Iraq' was the key issue, 73% voted for Kerry, while 26% voted Bush. For those who thought that 'healthcare' and 'education' were the most important considerations in choosing a president, about 75% voted for Kerry, and about 25% for Bush.
Could it be that the MSM, so closely aligned with the Democrats and John Kerry, don't accurately reflect the true "will of the people"? Apparently not.
The most interesting part about the post-election analysis, particularly by the MSM and those ont the Left, is the absence in their analyses that any of their policies could be wrong. That's, of course, impossible. To listen to them, they believe that the reason people in "those red states" voted for Bush are because: a) "They're stupid"; and b) "We didn't get our message across".
These two messages are related, of course, but in ways the Democrats and the Left don't want to admit. First, they really do think that anyone who doesn't agree with their view of the world is stupid. Some of these idiots can be brought around, according to the Leftist way of thinking, especially if they (the Left) haven't spoken slowly enough or used simple wording to educate those common, simple people in the Red States.
If they have gotten their message across well, in their view, and they still lose elections, then it's obvious that the people who continue to disagree with their brilliant point of view are not smart enough to vote or to govern themselves. It is for that reason that they believe in government action: they are convinced that they know better, and if you idiots can't see it then goverment needs to re-educate you. It sounds eerily similar to the socialist revolutionaries of the last century. In the words of Karl Marx, the father of modern socialism, "Religion is the opiate of the masses."
We don't believe those on the Left have the ability to move even closer to Marx's position on religion than they already have, but we do believe that the Democratic party has been taken over by anti-religious zealots who have been slowly, methodically, and relatively quietly working to eliminate all references to religion from society, and to try to marginalize religion and religious people to such an extent that religion is considered a crude artifact of a society that no longer exists.
We have taken a week's break from Blogging at this site, first as a rest from the fury of the days and weeks leading up to the recent election, but also as a way of reviewing the post-election positions of the MSM (mainstream media), the Democrats, Republicans, and all those in between and on the fringes to either side of the major parties.
We are obviously delighted at the re-election of George W. Bush, and at the gains by the Republican party in the House and Senate, as we believe that the overall direction of the country under Republican control will be the right direction. That is not to say that we agree completely with all of the positions of the Bush administration or of those in Congress, but the general goals of less government, less regulation, lower taxes, and more local control are worthy and noble goals that should be vigorously pursued. Conversely, we believe that the general goals of John Kerry and the Democrats—more government, higher taxes, more regulation, less local control— are not desirable goals, and should be resisted with equal vigor.
We are struck by the post-election analysis that has been generally discussed in the MSM that the people who voted for GWB did so for reasons of "morality", and that a 'bunch of redneck hicks from 'flyover country'' could have been so stupid as to have voted for the 'idiot' Bush.
According to exit polling conducted by a consortium of MSM organizations, the most important factor in deciding which candidate to vote for for president was "moral values" (22%), followed closely by "economy/jobs" (20%), "terrorism" (19%), "Iraq" (15%), then a big drop to "healthcare" (8%), "taxes" (5%), and finally "education" (4%). As near as we can tell, respondents to this survey were only given these choices, and could choose only one from the list.
Based on these results, 83% of those polled felt that moral values, economics, and the war on terrorism (we're lumping together those who ranked "terrorism" and "Iraq" together) are the most important issues facing the country, whereas only 17% feel that healthcare, education, and taxes are the most pressing issues. If that is true, then why didn't pre-election polls indicate such a low rating for healthcare? We thought, based on listening to the barrage of MSM converage prior to the election, that healthcare would be at least 2nd in the minds of voters to terrorism.
By examining how those polled voted based on their answers to the above categories we may find a possible answer. Those who replied that they thought 'moral values' was the most important reason to choose a candidate, 80% voted for Bush, while just 18% voted for Kerry. For those who thought 'economy/jobs' was the most important, 80% voted for Kerry, and 18% for the president. For people who thought 'terrorism' was the key to choosing their candidate, 86% chose the president, while just 14% voted for Kerry. For those voters for whom 'Iraq' was the key issue, 73% voted for Kerry, while 26% voted Bush. For those who thought that 'healthcare' and 'education' were the most important considerations in choosing a president, about 75% voted for Kerry, and about 25% for Bush.
Could it be that the MSM, so closely aligned with the Democrats and John Kerry, don't accurately reflect the true "will of the people"? Apparently not.
The most interesting part about the post-election analysis, particularly by the MSM and those ont the Left, is the absence in their analyses that any of their policies could be wrong. That's, of course, impossible. To listen to them, they believe that the reason people in "those red states" voted for Bush are because: a) "They're stupid"; and b) "We didn't get our message across".
These two messages are related, of course, but in ways the Democrats and the Left don't want to admit. First, they really do think that anyone who doesn't agree with their view of the world is stupid. Some of these idiots can be brought around, according to the Leftist way of thinking, especially if they (the Left) haven't spoken slowly enough or used simple wording to educate those common, simple people in the Red States.
If they have gotten their message across well, in their view, and they still lose elections, then it's obvious that the people who continue to disagree with their brilliant point of view are not smart enough to vote or to govern themselves. It is for that reason that they believe in government action: they are convinced that they know better, and if you idiots can't see it then goverment needs to re-educate you. It sounds eerily similar to the socialist revolutionaries of the last century. In the words of Karl Marx, the father of modern socialism, "Religion is the opiate of the masses."
We don't believe those on the Left have the ability to move even closer to Marx's position on religion than they already have, but we do believe that the Democratic party has been taken over by anti-religious zealots who have been slowly, methodically, and relatively quietly working to eliminate all references to religion from society, and to try to marginalize religion and religious people to such an extent that religion is considered a crude artifact of a society that no longer exists.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Stolen Honor
Stolen Honor, the documentary recently broadcast by the Sinclair Broadcast Group is available for viewing online FREE.
See it here.
See it here.
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Too Close to Call
The presidential race is too close to call at this writing, as almost all the polling data we have seen shows a slim lead for GW Bush, but within the margin of error. Zogby shows a slight lead for Kerry, and John Zogby himself is calling the race for Kerry. He was right in 1996 and again in 2000, so many on the left will be comforted by this news. However, this race is so polarized and so close compared to 2000 and 1996 that we don't think any of the polling is really very accurate. Based on RealClearPolitics' nationally averaged polls, however, Bush is UP by 2.5% over Kerry (at this writing).
Zogby, we wouldn't be surprised, is calling this race to try to cement his reputation among pollsters as the One Who Got it Right, but the race is so tight that a flip of the coin would be as accurate.
If more polling comes out prior to election day that shows a clear trend to one or the other candidate, then it may be prudent to make a prediction. But there are so few truely "undecided" voters out there that it may come down to one word: turnout.
If John Kerry should end up winning this presidential election, this is one Blogging Group who will not stoop to the hate-mongering of those opposed to Bush for the last 4 years have done, nor as those opposed to Clinton for his term did. We are disgusted with the level of partisanship that has gripped the nation in these last twelve years. The LTS has been on one side of the debate, as the blogging world and some of the electronic media and talk radio are the only voice of the conservative point of view, but everyone who is active in the political debate needs to tone down the rhetoric and turn UP the civility.
We hope that we will know for sure the result of the election on Tuesday night, but don't count on it. The Democrats have plans in place for challenging almost any close race with charges of "voter intimidation" and "voter disinfranchisement", and have teams of lawyers across the country waiting to file their lawsuits.
Zogby, we wouldn't be surprised, is calling this race to try to cement his reputation among pollsters as the One Who Got it Right, but the race is so tight that a flip of the coin would be as accurate.
If more polling comes out prior to election day that shows a clear trend to one or the other candidate, then it may be prudent to make a prediction. But there are so few truely "undecided" voters out there that it may come down to one word: turnout.
If John Kerry should end up winning this presidential election, this is one Blogging Group who will not stoop to the hate-mongering of those opposed to Bush for the last 4 years have done, nor as those opposed to Clinton for his term did. We are disgusted with the level of partisanship that has gripped the nation in these last twelve years. The LTS has been on one side of the debate, as the blogging world and some of the electronic media and talk radio are the only voice of the conservative point of view, but everyone who is active in the political debate needs to tone down the rhetoric and turn UP the civility.
We hope that we will know for sure the result of the election on Tuesday night, but don't count on it. The Democrats have plans in place for challenging almost any close race with charges of "voter intimidation" and "voter disinfranchisement", and have teams of lawyers across the country waiting to file their lawsuits.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Liberal Observations
Why are liberals so concerned about what the Europeans think of America? One of the more common themes to emerge when a liberal is talking or writing about why they don't like GW Bush is their strong desire to for the world, especially Europeans (and even more so the French), to "like us". Their feelings seem to get hurt if they think the Europeans don't like us, as they tend to go on and on about how much "the world has grown to hate America under George Bush."
What they don't seem to understand, apparently, is that much of Europe, and ESPECIALLY the French have NEVER liked Americans, and nothing we can do will ever change that! At best the French and many of the European elites have considered Americans to be loud, obnoxious, crude oafs, useful only for swatting back the occasional genocidal maniac.
Another common feature of liberal argument today is the liberal's penchant for labeling anyone who disagrees with them politically as "brainwashed", or "robots", or sometimes "clueless". It is frankly quite odd to us that so many liberals cannot understand nor accept any point of view other than their own. If someone does dare to disagree, and is not convinced by the liberal's 'obviously brilliant argument', then the only conclusion the liberal can arrive at is that this person is clearly brainwashed or simply to stupid to understand. How classically leftist is this line of thinking?
Dr. John Ray, MA, PhD, a psychometrician from Australia has an excellent site (here and in Interesting Links, right) with links to many of his acedemic publications on the psychology of the Left.
What they don't seem to understand, apparently, is that much of Europe, and ESPECIALLY the French have NEVER liked Americans, and nothing we can do will ever change that! At best the French and many of the European elites have considered Americans to be loud, obnoxious, crude oafs, useful only for swatting back the occasional genocidal maniac.
Another common feature of liberal argument today is the liberal's penchant for labeling anyone who disagrees with them politically as "brainwashed", or "robots", or sometimes "clueless". It is frankly quite odd to us that so many liberals cannot understand nor accept any point of view other than their own. If someone does dare to disagree, and is not convinced by the liberal's 'obviously brilliant argument', then the only conclusion the liberal can arrive at is that this person is clearly brainwashed or simply to stupid to understand. How classically leftist is this line of thinking?
Dr. John Ray, MA, PhD, a psychometrician from Australia has an excellent site (here and in Interesting Links, right) with links to many of his acedemic publications on the psychology of the Left.
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Reader Comment
We at the LTS love to hear from readers. An anonymous reader commented recently about our recent post (below) regarding a report from Fox News discussing how the media portrayed the economy in 1994 versus 2004. Here are his comments:
[T]his first problem with such ridiculous analysis is that '96 and '04 are not even close economically. The second is that republicans need to get over Clinton.
Apparently, our reader misunderstood the article's objective, which was to show how differently the "mainstream media" has portrayed economic conditions in this economy today versus those in the fall of 1996. No doubt there are differences between the underlying economic forces at work on the economy today compared to 1996, but the resulting key indicators are virtually the same, yet these nearly identical numbers were reported in a positive light in 1996 when Bill Clinton was running for re-election, and negatively today. The authors of the Fox article cite Business Week's chief economist Michael J. Mandel's article in the September 6th issue about how strikingly similar the economic situations are today and in 1996. We don't know the credentials of our anonymous commenter, and since no supporting data or references were cited in his comments, we have no facts on which to place value on the commenter's point of view.
We thought it also worth noting that the unemployment rate in 1996 was 5.6%, but is only 5.4% today.
As far as our commenter's point about Clinton, we believe that almost all Republicans are "over" Clinton. The economy, thanks in part to Clinton, was good in the 1990's. In fact, we believe that presidents get too much blame and too much credit for good or bad economies. We believe that government has very little effect on the economy, except when it is an excessive burden by way of high taxes and excessive regulation. The only role we would like to see government take in the economy is one to help foster a positive, commerce-friendly environment where individuals by themselves or collectively in businesses and corporations are free to create jobs, wealth, and prosperity for all Americans. Regulation should be used to protect the health and safety of all Americans, but not as a tool for social engineering. The government should get out of the way of the Free Market and let market forces come to bear on the problems of our society.
Healthcare is an area where much more market forces can and should be brought to bear. For most people with health insurance, and that is by far the large majority of Americans, going to the doctor costs $10. Yup, a $10 or $20 copay is all most Americans pay, and as a result, we have no idea how much these things actually cost, and have no incentive to shop around or to let the market determine what these costs should be. We haven't yet done the research, but we suspect that if a graph was drawn showing the average annual cost per person for healthcare, that that line would spike up and remain on a high trend line immediately after the start of Medicare and Medicaid. These programs, while well intentioned, quickly removed any market forces from the costs associated with healthcare. No one actually had to pay for things from their own pocket, so they didn't care how much it cost. The only cost containment structure in place are bureaucrats in Washington.
For those of us not yet on Medicare, most of us have a similar health insurance plan, which still has no real ability to apply market forces on the cost of healthcare, not with the behemoth of Medicare/Medicaid sucking up the lion's share of our national healthcare dollars.
We agree that healthcare is broken in this country. We strongly DISAGREE that more government intervention is the answer. On the contrary, more government intervention, as espoused by the Democrats, would only bring rationing and even poorer healthcare for all but the most privileged.
[T]his first problem with such ridiculous analysis is that '96 and '04 are not even close economically. The second is that republicans need to get over Clinton.
Apparently, our reader misunderstood the article's objective, which was to show how differently the "mainstream media" has portrayed economic conditions in this economy today versus those in the fall of 1996. No doubt there are differences between the underlying economic forces at work on the economy today compared to 1996, but the resulting key indicators are virtually the same, yet these nearly identical numbers were reported in a positive light in 1996 when Bill Clinton was running for re-election, and negatively today. The authors of the Fox article cite Business Week's chief economist Michael J. Mandel's article in the September 6th issue about how strikingly similar the economic situations are today and in 1996. We don't know the credentials of our anonymous commenter, and since no supporting data or references were cited in his comments, we have no facts on which to place value on the commenter's point of view.
We thought it also worth noting that the unemployment rate in 1996 was 5.6%, but is only 5.4% today.
As far as our commenter's point about Clinton, we believe that almost all Republicans are "over" Clinton. The economy, thanks in part to Clinton, was good in the 1990's. In fact, we believe that presidents get too much blame and too much credit for good or bad economies. We believe that government has very little effect on the economy, except when it is an excessive burden by way of high taxes and excessive regulation. The only role we would like to see government take in the economy is one to help foster a positive, commerce-friendly environment where individuals by themselves or collectively in businesses and corporations are free to create jobs, wealth, and prosperity for all Americans. Regulation should be used to protect the health and safety of all Americans, but not as a tool for social engineering. The government should get out of the way of the Free Market and let market forces come to bear on the problems of our society.
Healthcare is an area where much more market forces can and should be brought to bear. For most people with health insurance, and that is by far the large majority of Americans, going to the doctor costs $10. Yup, a $10 or $20 copay is all most Americans pay, and as a result, we have no idea how much these things actually cost, and have no incentive to shop around or to let the market determine what these costs should be. We haven't yet done the research, but we suspect that if a graph was drawn showing the average annual cost per person for healthcare, that that line would spike up and remain on a high trend line immediately after the start of Medicare and Medicaid. These programs, while well intentioned, quickly removed any market forces from the costs associated with healthcare. No one actually had to pay for things from their own pocket, so they didn't care how much it cost. The only cost containment structure in place are bureaucrats in Washington.
For those of us not yet on Medicare, most of us have a similar health insurance plan, which still has no real ability to apply market forces on the cost of healthcare, not with the behemoth of Medicare/Medicaid sucking up the lion's share of our national healthcare dollars.
We agree that healthcare is broken in this country. We strongly DISAGREE that more government intervention is the answer. On the contrary, more government intervention, as espoused by the Democrats, would only bring rationing and even poorer healthcare for all but the most privileged.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
So, Senator Kerry, was Iraq a Threat or Not?
We can't figure out John Kerry. For several weeks now, he has been saying that Iraq was a "diversion" from the War on Terror, and was not an imminent threat, but now with the FALSE report (as outlined on this site previously) of missing high explosives he has been saying that Bush was guilty of gross incompetence for not securing these explosives, and they may have fallen into the hands of—terrorists! So which is it today, Mr. Flip-Flopping Kerry, was Iraq a threat, or not?
Here is another article showing the true gross incompetence: John Kerry.
Here is another article showing the true gross incompetence: John Kerry.
A Vietnam Veteran for Bush (and he's a life-long Democrat)
We received an email from a reader with a link to a site run by a Vietnam veteran who pulled three tours of duty so that his two brothers would not have to go themselves. The rules in those days wouldn't allow brothers to be deployed to Vietnam at the same time, so this brave man went for them all. He was badly injured during his third tour. He is a life-long Democrat but is stronly supporting George W. Bush. His site is excellent, and we especially urge you read "Ashley's Story".
The link.
The link.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Economic SPIN
Fox News has a great article about the bias of the news media.
We can't do it justice, so read it here.
We can't do it justice, so read it here.
Attempted UN Intervention in the US Elections
The recent October Surprise from the left, the "missing" 380 tons of high-explosives MDX and RDX from the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility in Iraq, is a clear attempt by the UN to interfere and influence next week's US presidential elections.
The story first broke yesterday in the NY Times, citing a letter from the Iraqi interim government to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressing concern about the missing high explosives. However, NBC News reported today that they had embedded reporters with the 101st Airborne Division when US forces first arrived at the Al-Qaqaa facility, three weeks into the war, and that while they found larger stockpiles of bombs, there was no sign of any of MDX or RDX.
The now clear fact that these highly explosive weapons had already disappeared from huge Al-Qaqaa complex, a site described by CNN in January of 2003 as belonging "to the Iraqi Military Industrialization Commission and was listed on a dossier of weapons of mass destruction facilities released by the British government last year.", is apparently lost on John Kerry, the Democrats, and the mainstream media, with the notable exception of NBC. Kerry was quick to jump on this now false story and continues today to deny the facts.
Even more disturbing than the left's continous disregard for the truth, is the fact that the UN, though the IAEA, have deliberately involved themselves in the US election is trying to discredit the Bush administration and boost the flagging Kerry campaign. Any American even considering voting for Kerry should think long and hard about a candidate who so strongly supports the UN, an agency who has proven over an over its utter uselessness.
One last comment on this subject: while the missing 380 tons of highly explosive material, that was intended, by the way, be used on Iraq's NUCLEAR weapons program (WMD's), is scary, to suggest as some on the left have, that the US has failed at securing WMD's (we thought Iraq didn't have any?), remember that those 380 tons pales in comparison to the over 400,000 tons of ordinance already destroyed or about to be destroyed.
The story first broke yesterday in the NY Times, citing a letter from the Iraqi interim government to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expressing concern about the missing high explosives. However, NBC News reported today that they had embedded reporters with the 101st Airborne Division when US forces first arrived at the Al-Qaqaa facility, three weeks into the war, and that while they found larger stockpiles of bombs, there was no sign of any of MDX or RDX.
The now clear fact that these highly explosive weapons had already disappeared from huge Al-Qaqaa complex, a site described by CNN in January of 2003 as belonging "to the Iraqi Military Industrialization Commission and was listed on a dossier of weapons of mass destruction facilities released by the British government last year.", is apparently lost on John Kerry, the Democrats, and the mainstream media, with the notable exception of NBC. Kerry was quick to jump on this now false story and continues today to deny the facts.
Even more disturbing than the left's continous disregard for the truth, is the fact that the UN, though the IAEA, have deliberately involved themselves in the US election is trying to discredit the Bush administration and boost the flagging Kerry campaign. Any American even considering voting for Kerry should think long and hard about a candidate who so strongly supports the UN, an agency who has proven over an over its utter uselessness.
One last comment on this subject: while the missing 380 tons of highly explosive material, that was intended, by the way, be used on Iraq's NUCLEAR weapons program (WMD's), is scary, to suggest as some on the left have, that the US has failed at securing WMD's (we thought Iraq didn't have any?), remember that those 380 tons pales in comparison to the over 400,000 tons of ordinance already destroyed or about to be destroyed.
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