Day: February 1, 2010

Bill O’Reilly Cannot Do Simple Math! :) Or Is He Simply Manipulating The Facts And The Truth?

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Bill O’Reilly of Fox News Channel made a public speech recently in which he declared that the Obama Administration’s plans to hold civil trials for the September 11 conspirators and terrorists would cost too much money.

The Obama Administration has declared that it would cost about $200 million for a year to conduct the trials, and O’Reilly claims that it would take three to four years, which is highly unlikely.

But let’s say he is correct. If it was $200 million for three to four years, it would cost $600 million to $800 million, certainly not a small sum.

BUT, O’Reilly stated that if it cost $200 million per year for three to four years, it would cost ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!

Does O’Reilly realize that ONE TRILLION DOLLARS is ONE THOUSAND BILLION DOLLARS? Yes, one thousand billion dollars as compared to $600 million to $800 million!

Does O’Reilly have inability to know the difference between millions, billions, and a trillion dollars? Is he that stupid and ignorant, or is it that he thinks he can “pull the wool” over people’s eyes, which may sometimes be the case for those who cannot understand basic math?

In any case, it is more likely that it is the latter,and that Bill O’Reilly is again actively manipulating and distorting the facts and the truth in his quest to gain more notoriety and also, face it, wealth, at the expense of the masses who believe in him and treat him as a reputable human being, which he has proved many times he is not! 🙁

Parental Censorship Of Public School Dictionaries And Books Unwarranted!

Ronald 2 Comments

Lately, there have been crazy stories about a single parent intervening in various public school districts around the country and insisting that dictionaries and books be withdrawn from the curriculum and library, because of something seen as promoting sex.

In one case in California, a parent protested when it was discovered that a Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary included the word and definition of “oral sex”.

In a Virginia district, the Diary of Anne Frank, the best literature dealing with the Holocaust, was temporarily removed from the curriculum because one parent did not like that there was evidence in the updated edition of Anne Frank’s growing sexual awakening at age 14.

Why do administrators allow a single person, a parent, who is uptight about sexual matters, to dictate to the school and district what should be allowed to be read and utilized? Since when are most parents qualified to judge what is a good educational experience or appropriate sources?

Do we allow people in other professions to be told how to run their field of expertise by parents or the general public? NO, and it must not be the policy of educators and school districts to cater to every parent who has prejudice or narrow mindedness toward minority groups, or uptight attitudes about sexuality. These parents have no right to decide what everyone else must see or hear or read.

If they have that much objection to the public schools and wish to shelter their children from the real world, these parents have the privilege to withdraw their children from the public schools and enroll them in religiously based schools, or home school them. But it must be a firm NO to the idea that these single examples or even multiple examples of interfering parents should have the power to promote censorship!

John Edwards Scandal: How Low Can One Go? :(

Ronald Leave a comment

I must admit that I was fascinated with John Edwards in 2004, when John Kerry picked him as his Vice Presidential running mate, and saw him for a while as my favorite for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008.

Thank God that Edwards flopped and did not end up as the nominee of the Democrats for President or Vice President in 2008, or end up in President Obama’s cabinet as Attorney General! He would have destroyed his party and the nation! Instead, he just destroyed everyone that should have meant everything to him–his wife and children! 🙁

What gall for this man to seek such high positions while covering up a love scandal that produced a child, lying about it to his wife and the nation, cheating on his wife who has terminal cancer, and being a disgrace to his children and all people who want to trust and believe in politicians! 🙁

The best thing that John Edwards could do now is go into hiding as Tiger Woods has, work on restoring his relationship with his children, and beg the forgiveness of his estranged wife, Elizabeth.

Imagine when the time comes and Elizabeth dies! How is John Edwards going to look? Like the jerk, bum, disgrace that he is! 🙁

Roger Ailes, Fox News Channel, And The Republican Showdown With Barack Obama

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Roger Ailes, the President of Fox News Channel, was on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, and defended his station as the “fair and balanced” news channel.

After recovering from laughing over this, one must realize that Fox News Channel basically admitted that President Obama did very well in his showdown with House GOP members in Baltimore on Friday.

How do we know this? Because Fox News did not cover the whole session, which one would think they would do, since they are the mouthpiece for the GOP. That tells us what they began to realize, that Obama was overwhelming his GOP opponents, all 140 or more of them!

Anybody in their right mind recognizes that Obama did a fantastic job in this “question and answer session”, and that is why I would suggest he continue to offer the opposition the opportunity to have more public meetings!

At this rate, the Republican party will be in very poor shape, as they have no means to overwhelm the President, as any realistic observer recognizes that the mess the President is in and trying to work his way out of, is not due to Democrats, but to Republicans who controlled the Congress for 12 years and the Presidency for 8 years.

There will be bumps in the road, but one has to believe that despite insecurity and anger displayed at times, it seems clear that a majority of the American people, if they looked in the mirror, KNOW that Obama is working very hard and trying his best to produce miracles, and that there is a limit to what they can expect in short periods of time.

Fox News abandoning the confrontation between Obama and the House GOP is an admission that Obama was winning! 🙂 No question!

Scott Brown For President?

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Even before Scott Brown, the newly elected GOP senator from Massachusetts, joins the upper chamber, rumor has it, which he denies, that he might seek the Presidency in 2012!

This may seem crazy, but after all, a newly elected Senator, who had served in the State Senate in Illinois, became President after only four years in the Senate–Barack Obama. Scott Brown will have served almost three years by the time of the 2012 election, has charisma like Obama does, and who can say what might happen?

However, it is certainly highly unlikely, particularly because Brown is a member of a party, the Republicans, who do not welcome moderation. Realize that Scott Brown said this weekend he is a social moderate, and supports abortion rights for women, which should be enough to kill off any chance for him to have a run at the Presidency.

Brown is very charismatic and charming, and comes across now as less conservative than was first thought. But again, he is in the wrong party, and has already stated that he might vote against the party at times, as he sees himself as a independent minded Republican. This disqualifies him from serious consideration for the GOP Presidential nomination!

New Gallup Poll On Party Affiliation Good News For Democrats Despite Slippage

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A new Gallup poll indicates that the Democrats have lost some of their edge in party affiliation across the country, but still show great advantage on a lesser level.

In 2008, the Democrats had a party affiliation edge of 18 points, while now it is down to ten points. 39 states have shown shrinkage in Democratic support, but yet 33 states show a Democratic edge of at least five points, as compared to just 5 states showing a GOP edge. 12 states show a swing state (less than five point edge) status.

23 states were strongly Democratic (more than 10 points) and ten states were Democratic leaning (five to ten point edge). Four states were strongly Republicans (Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Alaska), and one state was leaning Republican (Alabama).

Eight states showed substantial loss of Democratic support, including Ohio (8); Hawaii, Louisiana and Montana (7); and Iowa, Maine, Vermont, and Wisconsin (6). The drop in Democratic support in Ohio and Wisconsin, the largest of these eight states, is most worrisome.

Overall, the Democrats are still in good shape, but while they still have the clear edge for the Presidential election of 2012, there are danger signs with the withering economy that could complicate the campaign of Barack Obama for a second term.

Charlie Crist In Deep Trouble In Florida Senate Race

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Governor Charlie Crist is in deep trouble in his bid to win a Senate seat in Florida this coming November.

In one poll, he is behind former State House Speaker Marco Rubio 47-44 percent in the state Republican primary race. In another more disastrous poll, Crist is behind by 14 points, 44-30!

Conservative Republicans, self identified, preferred Rubio 52-27 percent, while moderates preferred Crist by 43-35 percent.

Speculation is that Crist might decide to run as an Independent, and make the Senate race three ways, with Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek. But that would make it hard for him to run for the Presidency, if he ever chose to do that, if he abandoned his party in his Senate run this year, and defeated Rubio in November.

One such poll indicates that Crist could win 25 percent of Democrats and of Republicans, and 41 percent of Independents.

Crist would still be the better general election nominee against Kendrick Meek, but if he cannot win the GOP nomination and does not run as an Independent, then his career is over.

So will Crist take his chances and remain in the GOP primary, or decide to go Independent, have a good chance at winning the election in a three way race, and give up any hopes of running for President in the future?

I would think that for Crist to believe seriously that he could be President in a party that is going to the far right is to be living in a fantasy world! What is wrong with being an independent minded senator who wishes to do a good job and make a career in that chamber, and forget the “impossible dream” of being President?

My prediction is that Charlie Crist, after the legislative session in Florida ends, and he has signed all the bills into law, will announce that he is running as an Independent, knowing by so doing that the only way he could run for President in the future is as an independent, third party candidate, which would mean he would be a spoiler, nothing more!

Hillary Clinton: Only One Term As Secretary Of State?

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has indicated in an interview that she intends to serve only one term, a statement that certainly has raised eyebrows.

Clinton said that she loves her job and finds it very challenging, but that it is a 24-7 job, and that in three more years, she is going to want to retire, and then do a lot of reading and writing and some teaching. She claims no interest in pursuing the Presidency ever again.

Hillary will be 65 in October 2012, and certainly it is not uncommon for people of that age to wish to retire and take it easy. But somehow, it is hard to fathom Hillary wanting to be out of the center of politics and public affairs, so it is probably a smart thing to assume that she will change her mind or have President Obama convince her to stay on.

Barack Obama And The Space Program: Don’t Cut Out Government Involvement!

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President Obama has included dropping the space program from the government budget, and privatizing it, as part of his plans to cut “unnecessary” spending in his Fiscal 2011 Budget proposal.

It is perfectly understandable that the President wants to cut spending wherever he can, a very difficult task in any case.

But taking the National Aeronautics and Space Administration out of government funding will likely kill off major elements of the astronaut program and the proposal to return to the moon by the end of the decade and eventual space travel to Mars.

It is an issue of science and an issue of defense that intertwine, and it would be a tragedy if the government withdraws from the space business, just as it was a tragedy that Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter held back on space investments, only finally to be reversed by Ronald Reagan’s promotion of the space shuttle program, which has made many wise technological contributions to this country.

A country that loses its vision of the future is a country that will later regret what it has wrought. The space program should NOT be cut back, as we must have a sense of our future always present as we face the challenges of the present!

Unemployment Rate Prediction For 2010, 2011, 2012 Grim :(

Ronald 9 Comments

The Obama Administration has released projections of the unemployment rate expected at the end of 2010, 2011 and 2012, and they are indeed extremely grim news! 🙁

9.8 percent is expected at the end of this year, down only two tenths of one percent from what it is now. That is extremely bad news for Democrats in the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections.

In 2011, the expectation is that the unemployment rate will drop to 8.9 percent, a drop of only about a point from the end of 2010. That is very slow progress toward lower unemployment.

And in 2012, as the year ends, and the Presidential election is taking place, it is expected that the unemployment rate will only have dropped another point to 7.8 percent, higher than it was when Obama took the oath of office. This will make Obama’s unemployment rate in office higher than any other President since World War II at the end of the first term of office.

This all bodes badly for the future of the Democrats, as it is likely that the American people will blame the party for the slow progress downward on unemployment. It will make the job of reelecting President Obama all the more difficult! 🙁