The US housing and banking crisis

An interesting article from WorldWatch comes to my attention, it is in the form of an open letter to US papers and makes some rather excellent points, similar to those I made pre the election, about the US media's odd lack of investigatory zeal when it came to exposing Democrat party fault in the housing market collapse. Do read the whole article but here is a long extract from the near the end:

"Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That's what you claim you do, when you accept people's money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie -- that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad -- even bad weather -- on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth -- even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

Because that's what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth even when they don't like the probable consequences. That's what honesty means. That's how trust is earned.

Barack Obama is just another politician, and not a very wise one. He has revealed his ignorance and naivete time after time -- and you have swept it under the rug, treated it as nothing.

Meanwhile, you have participated in the borking of Sarah Palin, reporting savage attacks on her for the pregnancy of her unmarried daughter -- while you ignored the story of John Edwards's own adultery for many months.

So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know what honesty means?

Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?


...


It's not too late. You know that if the situation were reversed, and the truth would damage McCain and help Obama, you would be moving heaven and earth to get the true story out there.

If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its lending practices.

Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which put our nation's prosperity at risk so they could feel good about helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama's door.

You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a Senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis. You will tell the truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.

This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.

If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe --and vote as if -- President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis, then you are joining in that lie.

If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats -- including Barack Obama -- and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants were Republicans -- then you are not journalists by any standard.

You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a daily newspaper in our city."

Similar points could be made against the BBC in their biased coverage of the US elections and of course against the BBC for the way they shamelessly propagandise
on behalf of the Labour party in the UK.

A BBC News Quiz question

BBC News Quiz tonight, will the impeccably unbiased panel be at all satirical about Barack Obama, he is now the President elect after all, or will they stick to making fun of Sarah Palin and John McCain and treat Barack Obama with the respect due to the Obamamessiah.


UPDATE:
What do you think happened? Jeremy Hardy was particularly irritating.

Education in the US, similar things happen in the UK as well.

Apparently this teacher is a teacher in North Carolina. Here is a link to a Citizen Times article that gives Diantha Harris's attempts at excuses for her behaviour.

However disgusting you think this teacher's behaviour was, the same or worse is happening in schools in America and here in the UK. The left have a hold on education and will continue to push their views on the next generation and I don't believe there is anything we can do to stop it.

Who's the "flyest dude"? - I have no idea what that means"

Barack Obama, John McCain and Sarah Palin all do their thang - obviously nobody would believe Joe Biden could do this sort of thing...



Thanks to Tory Bear for the spot.

Beware the exit polls

This may be clutching at straws but as the media wind up the vote Obama messages, they will also be persuading people in the West that the game is over as the Exit polls come out. Read this McCain camp memeo on the matter:

"TO: McCAIN CAMPAIGN

FROM: BILL McINTURFF

RE: READING THE EXIT POLLS

DATE: NOVEMBER 3, 2008

As we have seen in previous election cycles, the exit poll results do leak early and that ends up influencing the coverage of the race before even the first state polls close at 6:00 PM Eastern.

However, we want to remind the campaign that the media’s own post-election study of the exit polls in 2004 showed that the exit polls overstate the Democratic candidate’s support. Therefore, we would discourage a rush to judgment based on the exit polls and wait until there has been a representative sampling of actual tabulated results from a variety of counties and precincts in a state.

Here are the key points to keep in mind when the exit poll data starts being leaked:

1. Historically, exit polls have tended to overstate the Democratic vote.

2. The exit polls are likely to overstate the Obama vote because Obama voters are more likely to participate in the exit poll.

3. The exit polls have tended to skew most Democratic in years where there is high turnout and high vote interest like in 1992 and 2004.

4. It is not just the national exit poll that skews Democratic, but each of the state exit polls also suffers from the same Democratic leanings.

5. The results of the exit polls are also influenced by the demographics of the voters who conduct the exit polls.

After the 2004 election, the National Election Pool completed a study investigating why the exit polls that year showed John Kerry over performing 5.5 net points[1] better than the actual results showed him to have done. Their conclusion was that the primary reason the exit polls was that Kerry voters and Democrats were more likely to participate in the exit polls.

“Our investigation of the differences between the exit poll estimates and the actual vote count point to one primary reason: in a number of precincts a higher than average Within Precinct Error most likely due to Kerry voters participating in the exit polls at a higher rate than Bush voters. There has been partisan overstatements in previous elections, more often overstating the Democrat, but occasionally overstating the Republican.”[2] (Emphasis added)

We believe that this will hold true this year. The recent Fox News survey[3] showed that 46% of Obama voters said they were very likely to participate in the exit polls, while just 35% of McCain supporters are.

In fact, even the 2004 exit poll report noted that higher turnout nationally and higher levels of voter interest in both 1992 and 2004 correlated with greater Within Precinct Error.[4]

The overstating of the Democratic vote did not only occur in the national exit polls, but also occurred in the state exit polls. The 2004 exit poll report cited that the Kerry vote was overstated by more than one standard error in 26 states, while the Bush vote was overstated in just four states.[5] So we should also expect the individual state exit polls on Tuesday to be more Democratic as well.

So given that turnout is expected to be even higher than 2004 and that Democrats are more likely to participate in the exit polls, this means we should expect greater fluctuation and variation in the exit polls from the actual election results.

The 2004 exit poll report also showed that the greatest error in the exit poll came in precincts where the interviewer was younger. The completion rates were lower and the refusal rates and Within Precinct Error was higher when the interviewers were under the age of 35.[6] Complicating this is that nearly half the interviewers were under the age of 35, including 35% who were 18-24 and another 15% were 25-34.[7]

Conclusions

Based on the previous exit poll results, we should expect once again that Tuesday’s exit poll data could overstate the Obama vote and under represent the McCain vote.

It is important that the campaign make sure the media realizes this, so that when the exit polls do leak, people do not overreact to the early exit poll data. Rather than looking at the exit polls, we should wait until we start seeing actual election results from key precincts and counties to gauge who won the election."

The trouble is that most of the media is so pro-Obama that they will do anything to get him elected and reporting exit polls before all polls have closed is nothing to what else they have done.

All US voters please read this article

An open letter to all US voters; please don't be a sheep and vote as the media say you must, instead read, learn and then vote.

If you read nothing else, read this Melanie Phillips article.

Here's a few extracts, but do please read the whole article:

"on the big picture, he (John McCain) gets it. He will defend America and the free world whereas Obama will undermine them and aid their enemies."

"Obama assumes that Islamic terrorism is driven by despair, poverty, inflammatory US policy and the American presence on Muslim soil in the Persian Gulf. Thus he adopts the agenda of the Islamists themselves. This is not surprising since many of his connections suggest that that the man who may be elected President of a country upon which the Islamists have declared war is himself firmly in the Islamists’ camp. Daniel Pipes lists Obama’s extensive connections to Islamists in general and the Nation of Islam in particular, and concludes with this astounding observation:

Obama's multiple links to anti-Americans and subversives mean he would fail the standard security clearance process for Federal employees. Islamic aggression represents America’s strategic enemy; Obama’s many insalubrious connections raise grave doubts about his fitness to serve as America's commander-in-chief."

Please US voters; you owe it to yourself, you owe it to the USA, you owe it to the world. Think before you vote.

14% undecided

Yahoo report that:

"With the sand in the 2008 campaign hourglass about depleted...One in seven, or 14 percent, can't decide or back a candidate but might switch, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll of likely voters released Friday.

Who are they? They look a lot like the voters who've already locked onto a candidate, though they're more likely to be white and less likely to be liberal. And they disproportionately backed Hillary Rodham Clinton's failed run for the Democratic nomination.

...

the survey — which has repeatedly quizzed the same group of 2,000 adults since last November — shows considerable churning below the surface. Of those now changeable, nearly three-quarters said in June their minds were made up, and half said so just last month.

"These tend to be people with a lower level of knowledge about the election; they don't follow politics as closely," said Michael McDonald, a political science professor from George Mason University who studies voting behavior. "If they can't distinguish between the candidates at this stage, the question is if they will vote."

Election Day is Tuesday. The survey found Obama leading McCain among all likely voters, 51 percent to 43 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Almost four in 10 persuadables lean toward McCain, and about as many are considering backing Obama, while the rest are either undecided or lean toward other candidates. Viewed another way, about one in every 10 supporters of Obama or McCain says he could still change his mind.

Even so, persuadable voters could be especially fertile hunting ground for McCain in the closing days of a contest in which most polls show him trailing.

These people trust Obama less than decided voters do to handle the economy, the Iraq war and terrorism. They are less accepting that the Illinois senator has enough experience to be president. And by a 17 percentage-point spread, more see Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin favorably than unfavorably, unlike the narrow majority of voters already backing a candidate who dislike her."

Breaking News: John McCain speechwriter switches sides to Barack Obama's camp

The BBC are unsurprisingly running this story near the top of their news pages. Apparently one of John McCain's speechwriters has switched sides and is now working for Barack Obama. The speechwriter Wendy Button said:

"Since I started writing speeches more than ten years ago, I have always believed in the Republican Party. Not anymore. Not after the election of 2008. This transformation has been swift and complete and since I’m a woman writing in the election of 2008, “very emotional."

A typical good news for Barack Obama and so the BBC are highlighting this important story......................

Just one small snag, Wendy Button has actually moved from Barack Obama's campaign to John McCain's (the only word I changed in the quotation above was from "Democrat" to "Republican"). Of course this means that the BBC have decided that the story is not worth reporting - I wonder why?

McCain for President

Charles Krauthammer tells you why. Here's two reasons:

"McCain's critics are offended that he raised the issue of William Ayers. What's astonishing is that Obama was himself not offended by William Ayers.

Moreover, the most remarkable of all tactical choices of this election season is the attack that never was. Out of extreme (and unnecessary) conscientiousness, McCain refused to raise the legitimate issue of Obama's most egregious association -- with the race-baiting Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Dirty campaigning, indeed."

More of Justin Webb's unbiased coverage of the US presidential election

Skip the hard news just concentrate on the Barack Obama feel good stories...

Love and untogetherness, check the picture of the Barack Obama cutout being adored whilst John McCain's and Sarah palin's are not, then read the text:

"My BBC colleague Jeff Overs took this rather fine shot outside a political memorabilia shop - seems to sum up the whole election at the moment. He's getting the love; they are looking untogether."

Only another week of campaigning to go Justin, can you keep it up?

Barack Obama's medical records

John McCain has released 1,173 pages of medical reports, Barack Obama has issued a 276 word summary letter. Does Barack Obama have something to hide? Are we even allowed to ask that question without being accused of being a racist?

Meanwhile Sarah Palin is being hounded by various media outlets for her full medical records, I haven't noticed any such interest in Barack Obama's medical records.

Just like his birth certificate and educational records most of the US media seems to be operating under some sort of code of omerta.

US Presidential election debates

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Thanks to Dizzy Thinks for the spot.

More US politics double standards

CBS report that :

"A Halloween decoration showing a mannequin dressed as vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose from the roof of a West Hollywood home is drawing giggles from some passers-by and gasps of outrage from others.

The mannequin is dressed in brunet wig, glasses and a red business suit. Another mannequin dressed as John McCain emerges from a flaming chimney."

Can you imagine the furore if an effigy of Barack Obama was shown hanging from a noose or emerging from flames? Double standards and the usual intolerance of the left.

The BBC and not the full story

The BBC excitedly report that:

"The top newspaper in the home state of Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama for president.

Alaska's largest-circulation paper, the Anchorage Daily News, said state governor Mrs Palin was "too risky" to be one step away from the presidency.

In an editorial it says her nomination "captivated" Alaskans but that must not "overwhelm all other judgment".

The focus should be on John McCain, it said, calling him the "wrong choice"."

Is this really big news?

Well here is a list of newspapers' endorsements at the 2004 Presidential election and the Anchorage Daily News endorsed John Kerry (the Democrat candidate).

here is a list of newspapers' endorsements in the 2000 Presidential election and the Anchorage Daily News endorsed Al Gore (the Democrat candidate).


I can't find lists for 1996 or earlier but I think I can see a pattern emerging, I wonder why the BBC with its huge journalistic staff can't... No I think I know the answer to that.

Hank William’s Jr sings the praises of McCain/Palin

"McCain Palin Tradition"


Thanks to Dodgeblogium for the spot.

"lo and behold -- they'll turn out to be a silent majority after all. "

"Yet it may very well be that an army of glum, dispirited and pessimistic conservatives will reluctantly trudge to the polls on November 4, each one imagining they are only remaining person in the entire country voting for McCain, and lo and behold -- they'll turn out to be a silent majority after all."

A rather optimistic conclusion to a very interesting article from Zombietime on the McCain and Obama campaigns, do read the article.

Beware you Florida jews

Further to my post about a group campaigning to get young Jewish liberals to get their retired grandparents in Florida to vote Obama; their slogan being

"If they vote for Barack Obama, they're going to get another visit this year. If not, let's just hope they stay healthy until next year."

I see that Jesse Jackson has just mouthed off as usual but said something quite revealing, as reported in the New York Times:

"PREPARE for a new America: That's the message that the Rev. Jesse Jackson conveyed to participants in the first World Policy Forum, held at this French lakeside resort last week.

He promised "fundamental changes" in US foreign policy - saying America must "heal wounds" it has caused to other nations, revive its alliances and apologize for the "arrogance of the Bush administration."

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end.

Jackson believes that, although "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, they'll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.

"Obama is about change," Jackson told me in a wide-ranging conversation. "And the change that Obama promises is not limited to what we do in America itself. It is a change of the way America looks at the world and its place in it."

...

Jackson is especially critical of President Bush's approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

"Bush was so afraid of a snafu and of upsetting Israel that he gave the whole thing a miss," Jackson says. "Barack will change that," because, as long as the Palestinians haven't seen justice, the Middle East will "remain a source of danger to us all."

"Barack is determined to repair our relations with the world of Islam and Muslims," Jackson says. "Thanks to his background and ecumenical approach, he knows how Muslims feel while remaining committed to his own faith.""

Hmm still want to support Barack Obama just so your spoilt little New York liberal grand kids will deign to visit you? Still happy to vote the way your grandchildren tell you so they will vist you and to hell with Israel? Tell you what, why don't you tell them first where they can stick their emotional blackmail and second that you have changed your will as you are sure they wouldn't want to inherit anything from someone who voted McCain/Palin. If I am right you might even be able to persuade them that unless they vote McCain/Palin you won't put them back in your will.

Some advice for John McCain ahead of the next "debate"

Monkey Tennis Centre has some good advice for John McCain who seems shy of attacking Barack Obama. Like David Cameron in the UK, John McCain thinks that being statesmanlike will make him look better than going on the attack and will reduce the attacks by the Democrats. I have news for John McCain, the Democrats are already fighting dirty, they can't play much dirtier... The same advice goes to David Cameron re Gordon Brown and the Labour party.

Some more advice, this time from Rantings of a Sandmonkey.

The BBC coverage of the Vice Presidential debate

Biased, biased, biased - towards Joe Biden of course. Just one example of the level to which BBC correspondents have stooped, Justin Webb's comments on the live blog of the debate (my emphasis):

"2155 BBC North America editor Justin Webb: Biden did better tonight, no serious person could deny that he avoided some of the big pitfalls (sexism and bloviating) and scored some bit hits. I thought perhaps that she came over as slightly more amiable - talking about her inclusive family with a variety of views - than she has in the past and that might help her. But although she can memorise things, she plainly does not know them. Does that matter? At the end she looks like his daughter, but what is going on with her voice? It cuts glass."

Once again Justin Webb is proud to support Barack Obama and if that means sneering and attacking Sarah Palin and John McCain, then so be it.

Senator McCain is absolutely right

So sayeth the Obamamessiah...