Category Archives: Media

Media, Politics

Obama Fights Back?

Who is responsible for this, Obama or the media? I’m not sure. But the media’s story line is that Barack Obama is fighting back at supposed attacks on his patriotism. Have you heard anyone of significance on the R side of the aisle who has attacked Barack’s patriotism? Me neither. And apparently, Reuters hasn’t either, despite the article’s title.

If you read the story, there is not one quote from anyone attacking Obama’s patriotism. Wazzupwidat? It is the media’s story line, and the left’s way of deflecting attention to what his surrogates are doing and have done, to McCain.

Isn’t it odd that a presidential wannabe is out there spontaneously explaining that he is patriotic? I think that if you have to explain that, then you’re in trouble. Once again, the Obama campaign picked the wrong fight.

related link: Obama fights back against questions on patriotism

2008 Election, Iran, Media, Politics, War On Terror

Another Corner Turned In Iraq

By now it is obvious to everyone that the so-called ‘news’ media has no interest in telling this story since they, along with the left, are invested in defeat where Iraq is concerned. This development in Iraq is the kind of success everyone has been looking for. Iraq is opening its oil fields to international oil companies for bidding for development and production.

This is not to suggest that the war there and our participation there is over. But the fact that the newly formed democratically elected government of Iraq has progressed to the point that they can make plans for their future says a lot about the success of the war so far.

The move to invite bids for the development of Iraq’s largest producing fields should mark the return of the oil majors, whose cash and expertise Iraq needs to restore its oil infrastructure that has been hard hit by sanctions and war.

By allowing international firms to help raise output at its key producing oil fields, the Iraqi government is breaking with the policy of major oil-producing neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates where national firms keep tight control of foreign investment in their oil sectors.

Iraq’s move to embrace the world economy is a corner we’ve been looking forward to turning. The left will no doubt say, ‘ya see, it was a war for oil.’

It is Iraq’s own resources that Iraq needs to join the world as a friendly and prosperous country. It’s what the Iraqi people need. The left’s premise in their whole ‘war for oil’ rant is that the oil is for us, the U.S. On the contrary, the war for oil was about keeping it from Iran and al Qaeda and saving it for the people of Iraq. The fact that theses terrorists would have all the money they could possibly need to wage war on us had they taken over Iraq still escapes the left, Barack Obama included.

related link: Iraq throws open door to foreign oil firms

Media, Uncategorized

Mayor, No Pregnancy Pact

Last year in Gloucester High School, there were 4 girls that got pregnant. This year there were 17. The initial rumor was that there was a pregnancy pact among the girls, none older than 16. But 17 of them did get pregnant, some by a homeless guy in his 20’s. I’d like to hear his story.

So the good news is, there was no pact. The bad news is, there was a 325 percent increase in reckless sluts in Gloucester High School this year.

I hope, I really hope that the media doesn’t stick to these kids. They need to leave them alone. If there was a pact, then they did it for publicity. Don’t give it to them. If they’re just sluts, don’t give it to them. Hopefully, they are humiliated enough over what they have done and will now concentrate on being a mother and giving up their childhood. I don’t want to know who had their baby and who didn’t.

Media

FEMA, Floods, Red Cross Update

The floods in Middle America are bad. Like I said in a post last week, it seems much worse than what happened in New Orleans after Katrina. The Red Cross needs resources, both financial and physical. The point of that post was that the MSM seems to be ignoring this disaster and the Red Cross compared to what we saw in New Orleans.

I sarcastically joked as to one possible explanation as to why there isn’t the media coverage you might expect . . .

Why the relative silence in the face of such a widespread tragedy? Or is the aid getting to the people, all evacuees have a roof over their head, and there’s nothing to be gained by accusing Bush of totally improving FEMA? But I haven’t seen any such stories. Like I said, you probably wouldn’t anyway. You have to ask yourself, what’s different here?

Here is the bad news that the media does not think important. A quick report from the field.

It’s much worse up here than you see on TV. It’s much further reaching than they show. You only get the devastation pictures where there are many feet in a major town – but there are countless basements that had several feet in them and even some collapsed or caved in. there are many small towns that don’t make for good footage that you’ve never heard of because gas is too expensive to go that far out in the country. There is NASTY rashes running around these lakes because all the septic holding tanks have been over run with water. there are towns dumping RAW sewage in the rivers because their city systems went under. remember – they all feed into the Mississippi, then to the gulf, if it hasn’t seeped down into the aquifer. One elected official said to me yesterday – “well, we aren’t puttin’ anything in that ain’t already there”

Here’s something else i’ll tell ya if you haven’t already figured it out: If you have any yard – you better be planting what ever vegetables you like to eat. because with the WHOLE Midwest (the corn belt, the soy belt, the WHOLE Agricultural belt) is under water and rotting in the ground – it’s all going to go up this fall. maybe sooner than we think. supply and demand is about to be upset i believe. just a word to the wise.

And here is the good news for FEMA that you haven’t seen anywhere else.

Below is an update of the support provided and the actions taken by FEMA and its federal partners as of June 18, 2008, in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin and Missouri.

Joint Federal Activities: FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the U.S. General Services Administration and the Defense Logistics Agency have worked together to provide

  • 3,222,000 liters of water – enough to provide for more than 465,000 people per day.
  • 213,120 meals ready-to-eat (MRE’s).
  • 12.8 million sand-bags bags – enough to reach from Washington, DC to San Francisco if laid side-by-side.
  • 46 generators.
  • 2,500 tarps.
  • 4,032 rolls of plastic sheeting – which would measure more than 50 miles long if laid end-to-end.
  • 23 Mobile Disaster Recovery Centers (MDRCs).
  • 30 trucks deployed to help with debris removal.
  • Another 108,000 liters of water, 50 generators and 7 MDRCs are currently on the way to impacted communities.

H/T Shery

Media, Uncategorized

New Orleans And The Mississippi River

Am I the only one who questions what will happen when the swollen Mississippi heads down to New Orleans? Ask a media figure this question and you’ll get that ‘deer in the headlights’ look.

I don’t know if New Orleans is in danger again. No one is coming out and saying anything about it. No one is saying that there’s nothing to worry about. Likewise, no one is saying that there is something to worry about. Why not?

UPDATE: Ask and ye shall receive.  donald answers the question in a comment, which I’m bringing forward.

new orleans won’t be in danger from the new flood waters because we have spillways above the city.

Media, Pensacola, Politics, Race Relations

Red Cross Needs Help

They are out of money and in need of volunteers who can spend a few weeks with them to help the flood victims in the heartland. For the flood relief program, they’ve only raised $3.2 million and have spend $15 million of borrowed money.

Ken Cromer/Red Cross Disaster Services: ‘A lot of the people that are able to go for two and three weeks, they’re retired.. They have the time available now to go out and make a difference. Plus a lot of them, they saw what happened here in Ivan and the help that they received and it helps them go out and help other people.’ The Red Cross is still looking for dozens of volunteers to help, especially as the flooding continues south into Oklahoma And Texas.

I think we know where all the money went.

The shortage in the organization’s only domestic disaster relief fund comes as it continues flood relief efforts in soaked Iowa and ramps up its work downstream in Illinois and Missouri as more flooding is expected there. Officials said the Red Cross has 2,500 workers on the ground, 89 percent of them volunteers. Joe Becker, senior vice president of disaster services, said the fund has been depleted over the past few years in the absence of large-scale disasters that bring attention to the relevance of the Red Cross.

This disaster seems to me to be a lot worse than what happened in New Orleans after Katrina passed. So why is it that there is not some publicity for help for these victims? Is the media too lazy to find the victims to tell the story? I don’t see Democrats in Washington jumping in front of TV cameras yelling at Bush. It is as if they are ignoring the victims because they don’t see a political advantage in trying to help them. Don’t they care about middle America? Where is the outrage, the 24/7 call for help? Where’s Hollywood in all this? Why the relative silence in the face of such a widespread tragedy? Or is the aid getting to the people, all evacuees have a roof over their head, and there’s nothing to be gained by accusing Bush of totally improving FEMA? But I haven’t seen any such stories. Like I said, you probably wouldn’t anyway. You have to ask yourself, what’s different here?

related link: American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted | American Red Cross – Donate Now

Iran, Media, Politics, United Nations

While You Were Out, Iran Called


While everyone was busy worrying about American Idols, the politician and the one on TV, and who’s priest said what, cranes falling, and Hollywood burning, we all missed Iran’s way of negotiating with the IAEA when it comes to their nuclear ambitions. For months now, Iran has refused to cooperate with the IAEA. Negotiations aren’t over. But negotiations do have and ending point where the problem is either solved one way or solved another way. Here is a short list of news from the wire services for the last 10 days.


You should be mad as hell at the media. ALL of them didn’t so much as mention this BIG problem. When they start connecting the dots as to why it had to be solved militarily, they better start right here.

Why the virtual blackout? From the get-go it is out of Obama’s grasp. Iran says their uranium enrichment is none of the U.N.’s concern, and, is not negotiable. That, and a threat of this magnitude would play to the Republican’s strong suit, national defense. And maybe a little circling the wagons by downplaying the reality of a threatening Iran in order to present a different ‘reality,’ that of nominating a rookie, in every sense of the word, to the most powerful job in the world. It is better for Democrats, politically, to just ignore it.

related link: Barack Obama Picks His Cabinet

2008 Election, Media, Politics, Uncategorized

Overplayed Assassin?

Is this primary season getting on your nerves just a bit? What makes ‘news’ nowadays is virtually anything that either candidate says becomes an issue of some sort of attack when in reality, they are not. Take Hillary Clinton’s statement below for example. I’m on her side (what did he say?) on this issue that ought to be a non-issue. In response to critics asking her to quit, she has said the following on more than one occasion.

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it,” she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

Coming from someone who’s life’s dream is to become the President, from someone who, obviously, is not a quitter, not when it comes to the race for the presidency, what she said was not only true but are two good reasons to reject calls from others in her party for her to drop out of the race.

This controversy is a lot like what Geraldine Ferraro stepped in when she also correctly analyzed the political landscape as relates to Sen. Barack Obama.

Here is what RFK Jr. said about Hillary’s statement.

Clinton campaign issued a statement from Robert Kennedy Jr. on Friday night in which he said Clinton’s reference to his father’s death was “clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June. I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband’s 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June. I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense.”

Continue reading Overplayed Assassin? →

Energy, Media, Pensacola, Politics, Uncategorized

Capitalism Works, When Allowed

On the subject of high gas prices and the dog and pony show that Democrat senators put on in front of the leaders of the oil industry yesterday, a local columnist was chastising capitalism and these CEO’s with all the usual stereotypes and talking points that get the dumb masses riled. Things like these execs are robbing everybody and the title, ‘Capitalism at its finest.’ Hark! An educational moment has occured. Below was my reply to the writer.

Quick quiz: assuming a free economy, which is not the case in the U.S. as pertains to the oil industry, the most regulated and taxed industry on earth, but, in a free economy, if supply and demand are just a cliche as you say, then what or who really determines selling prices? Would you prefer that the government do that?

Do you think that increasing crude oil supply will lower the price at the pump? Its a trick question, but please answer it anyway.

“If they’re so worried about demand, how about this one.”

You didn’t see it did you? They’re not concerned with demand. They know, even if you don’t, that the demand will do nothing but increase as our population, both legal and illegal, continues to grow. My private-school education tells me that when demand outstrips supply, prices will go up. Isn’t that what you are seeing at the pump or is it all just going into Hofmeister’s pocket?

I appreciate your frustration with the high prices. All we need is an energy policy that gets some.

–end of reply

One of the highlights of the senate hearing was this response from John Hofmeister, president of Shell.

“The fundamental laws of supply and demand are at work,” said Hofmeister. The market is squeezed by exporting nations managing demand for their own interest and other nations subsidizing prices to encourage economic growth, he said.

In addition, Hofmeister said access to resources in the United States has been limited for the past 30 years. “I agree, it’s not a free market,” he said.

H/T Troy Moon for the inspiration.

related links:Troy Moon| Big Oil defends profits before irate senators | Don’t blame us for prices – oil execs