Whether to laugh or cry, that is the question

Andrew Kantor posted a Time Magazine survey titled "Now that Walter Cronkite has passed on, who is America's most trusted newscaster?" That poll produced some disturbing, at least to me, results:

• Across the country, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart is the most trusted news caster at 44% of those polled.
• Jon Stewart and Brian Williams tied in Alaska at 42% each.
• No one in Alaska likes CBS's Katie Couric.
• 65% of Iowans prefer Katie Couric.
• Only the States of Montana and Tennessee chose ABC's Charles Gibson, but those two states were huge margins in his favor.

I have written in these pages and commented on others that those who get their news exclusively from Comedy Central shouldn't be allowed to vote. This also applies to those that get all their information from The Daily Kos or other propaganda mills. I firmly believe this because a vote in ignorance is worse then no vote at all.

However, this poll partially explains the 2008 elections. We are so very screwed…

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"So, how do you want this poll to come out?"
- My cousin responding to a candidate's request to take a poll.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a Harvard Professor. But the other day he showed us that no matter what you have in the way of brains, it is still possible to be an idiot.

He was mistaken for a burglar when he and his driver forced open the stuck back door to his house. Someone witnessed this and called police reporting a burglary in progress. Police reports indicate that Gates became belligerent and abusive when he was asked to step out of his house. One thing led to another and the professor found himself handcuffed and carted off to the hotel for disorderly conduct.

That is what some of call a reality check. No one knows what he was thinking when he refused to the officer's requests and then orders that he step out of his house. The reality of the situation is that police officer involved was following  procedure for both officer safety and the safety of Professor Gates. For all the officer knew, there was a burglar in the house and Gates may not be aware of it.

In ether case the officer was trying to protect Professor Gates' home and property. That alone should generate some gratitude for the officer's efforts. But no. The professor complained so loudly that the President chimed in with both feet standing squarely on his tongue.

The other reality of the situation is that the police are going win right there on the spot. They will win every time on the scene. Better to go along with the program, especially on the off chance they are trying to keep you from becoming a victim, and complain later if you think they were out of line.

Going to war with the officers right then, right there on the scene is a losing proposition every time. You would think a highly educated man like a Harvard professor would know that.

Bernard Goldberg has an online forum on his site. Someone there posted a link to this video from the Chris Rock Show and that link inspired this post. (Not work safe for language.)

Perhaps Professor Gates should take a couple classes from Chris Rock. Mr. Rock seems to have a much better grasp on reality then the hyper-educated professor.

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"Everybody knows if the police have to come and get you, they are bringing an ass kicking with them."

- Chris Rock

The House Democratic Health Care Plan Organizational Chart

(Click image for full size PDF - 187K)
Source: Republican Chart Outlines House Democrats’ Government Takeover of Health Care 

This would be funny if it wasn't so sadly true. We are so very screwed.

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“Recent mergers have given the industry a strangle hold over the health insurance market. With fewer pressures for efficiency and no government oversight of rates, insurers have been given free rein to spend more of our health care dollars on overhead, profit, and administration. The last decade of HMO mergers has taught us that when fewer HMOs dominate the health care market, quality goes down, premiums go up, and patients get short changed. Already, 45 million Americans are uninsured because they cannot afford to pay the insurers' ransom.”
- Jerry Flanagan

Wells Fargo sues itself.

St. Louis, MO - Under the heading of "stupidity knows no bounds" we have a Fox Business Channel web site story about how Wells Fargo is suing itself in a foreclosure matter.

No, really. I'm serious. Read on…

As holder of the first, Wells Fargo is suing all other lien holders, including the holder of the second, which is itself.

"The primary reason is to clear title and ownership interest in a property to prepare it for sale," Waetke said in an email exchange. "So it really is not Wells Fargo vs. Wells Fargo."

Yet court documents clearly label "Wells Fargo Bank NA" as the plaintiff and "Wells Fargo Bank NA" as a defendant.

Fox Business Channel, Al Lewis: Wells Fargo Bank Sues Itself

Not only that, but Wells Fargo has engaged council to represent both sides of the argument.

Wells Fargo hired Florida Default Law Group., P.L., of Tampa, Fla., to file the lawsuit against itself.

And then Wells Fargo hired another Tampa law firm -- Kass, Shuler, Solomon, Spector, Foyle & Singer P.A. -- to defend itself against its own lawsuit, according to court documents.

Wells Fargo's defense lawyers even filed an answer to their client's own complaint.

"Defendant admits that it is the owner and holder of a mortgage encumbering the subject real property," the answer reads. "All other allegations of the complaint are denied."

Fox Business Channel, Al Lewis: Wells Fargo Bank Sues Itself

You just can't make this stuff up. No one would believe it.

And people wonder how banks could have been so stupid as to buy up all that sub-prime paper…

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Bankers - pillars of society who are going to hell if there is a God and He has been accurately quoted.
- John Ralston Saul

Al Gore's Church of Global Warming wants Inquisitional Powers to Quash Heresy

Los Angeles, CA - The movers and shakers among the Church of Global Warming recently made some noises that are fairly amusing. But at the same time, they are also a little scary. It seems several are using harsh terms and suggesting even harsher measures against those that would utter heresy against their dogma. Check it out:

And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.

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Given this contempt for hard science, I’m almost reluctant to mention the deniers’ dishonesty on matters economic. But in addition to rejecting climate science, the opponents of the climate bill made a point of misrepresenting the results of studies of the bill’s economic impact, which all suggest that the cost will be relatively low.

Still, is it fair to call climate denial a form of treason? Isn’t it politics as usual?

Yes, it is — and that’s why it’s unforgivable.
Paul Krugman writing in a New York Times Op-Ed piece

Global warming is hard science. Right…

Then there is this clown that wants to bring criminal tribunals against corporate naysayers:

I wonder how future juries might view the actions of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who, in full knowledge of the realities of climate change, continue to preach their gospel of denial in the service of Big Oil dollars. I wonder what sentences judges might hand down at future international criminal tribunals on those who will be partially but directly responsible for millions of deaths from starvation, famine and disease in decades ahead. I put this in a similar moral category to Holocaust denial – except that this time the Holocaust is yet to come, and we still have time to avoid it. Those who try to ensure we don’t will one day have to answer for their crimes.
Mark Lynas

Global warming denial equates to denying the Holocaust. Criminal tribunals. Uh-huh…

James Hansen, the man that first preached Global Warming to the US Congress is looking to put energy company executives on trial:

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.
The Guardian: Put oil firm chiefs on trial, says leading climate change scientist

Does anyone have any idea what a high crime against humanity or nature might be? Are their statutes on law books somewhere that I can read?

George Monbiot writing in his new book says:

It's about the climate-change "denial industry," which most of you are probably familiar with. What you may not know about is the peculiar role of the tobacco industry in the whole mess. I've read about this stuff for years and even I was surprised by some of the details.

When we've finally gotten serious about global warming, when the impacts are really hitting us and we're in a full worldwide scramble to minimize the damage, we should have war crimes trials for these bastards -- some sort of climate Nuremberg.
David Roberts writing on Grist: An excerpt from a new book by George Monbiot

War crimes? Don't you have to have a war before you can do that?

This is troubling to me because all of the above people want to stifle free speech and the free exchange of ideas to preserve a politically correct idea. And they want to do so using some fairly hefty penalties.

It appears that Disciples of the Church of Global Warming don't think their dogma will stand up under open and honest debate. I can't imagine why they would think that..

I'm seeing more and more of this lately and curve is rising at an alarming rate. And it has to be stopped regardless of the subject at hand.

A tip of the hat to the Christian Science Monitor and Eoin O'Carroll's article, "Are climate-change deniers guilty of treason?" for inspiring this piece.

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Global Warming: It is a hoax. It is bad science. It is high-jacking public policy. It is the greatest scam in history.
- John Coleman, Founder and former chief meteorologist of The Weather Channel

A solution to the affirmative action debate

Santa Monica, CA -  Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against the city of New Haven, CT, finding the city wrongfully through out firefighter promotion test results based on race. The decision was made because 19 out of the top 20 scores were made by white men. The other one was Latino.

This could be the beginning of the end for discrimination in the United States. You see, no matter how you dress it up, Affirmative Action is still discrimination based on race, ethnicity or sex.

Those of you that have no problem with reverse discrimination need not worry. My friend Bernard Goldberg came up with a great idea. Allow me to quote:

I have devised a plan that will bring much more diversity into the workplace and into our universities and into the culture at large without the pain and discontent that has been inflicted by the old affirmative action plan. My plan represents real change - change we can believe in.  Because with my plan we will see results not in another 10 or 20 or 30 years, but literally overnight!

Here’s how it works:  every white person in America who thinks affirmative action based on race and ethnicity is a good idea, an idea that will make America a better place, voluntarily gives up his and her job on one and only one condition:  that they be replaced by someone who is not white!

Bernard Goldberg: Generosity without Sacrifice …

Bravo! I'm all in favor of it. I call upon each and everyone of the Caucasian people who have read these pages and reacted negatively to my complaints about Affirmative Action to step up to the plate. Now is the time for you to put your job where your mouth is.

In this piece, Goldberg also writes about conversations he had about his proposal with two network executives that are proud of their Affirmative Action efforts. I recommend reading the entire work.

Bernard Goldberg was a twenty year veteran of CBS News when he wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal called Bias. That column led to his departure from the network and his book Bias. He also wrote 110 people who are screwing up America and A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media.

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Affirmative action has a negative effect on our society when it means counting us like so many beans and dividing us into separate piles.
- John Kasich