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36% Of Americans Believe We've Been In A Recession For Four Years

Talking down the economy during Republican presidencies is a favorite activity of the mainstream media, but the results sometimes lend us absurd results.  In 2004, prior to the presidential election, a full 36% of the American Public believed we were in recession.

Considering that number is now in the 60-70% range, is the answer that we truly have been in recessionary times for four years (or is it 8 years), or could it be that the constant drumbeat of negative news has finally gotten the better of the American people? 

It's nothing new.  The cure to our economic woes is simple.  Put a Democrat in the White House, and overnight, all the news will turn rosy.  Just as soon as the giddiness of proving the MSM still runs things goes away.

Why Are Gas Prices So High?

I have to admit, the Democrats must be the world's best politicians.  They go around telling people that gas prices are high, but when it comes to doing something about it, they block all drilling and oil exploration in the country.

No oil refineries.
No offshore drilling.
No nuclear power.
No oil shale.
No drilling in Alaska.
No windfarms in view of rich people's homes. 

What exactly will they allow?  And what do they expect to tax in a few years? 

Yes, the media covers for them, but Americans aren't stupid.  Half of us are even above average in intelligence. So why is it that anyone believes that Democrats can fix an energy policy when they don't actually search for any energy supplies?

They defeated the search for oil shale in committee today.  They did so, because they know the American public is complacent and won't throw them out of office for failing to take energy policy seriously.

You don't like $5 gas?  Why not?  You're voting people into office who are giving you $5 gas.  Al Gore wrote a book where he suggested $5 gas as another kooky way to save the planet.

As I said, they are master politicians. They don't even have to lie to trick the American people.

Let Me See Your Ballot: MyPrivateBallot.com

Americans vote by way of a secret ballot.  It's one of our most cherished beliefs, and one of the best defenses against tyranny.  Open ballots allow the powerful to pressure the voters, and ruin the legitimacy of the vote.

You can be assured that if Republicans tried to make laws that forced voters to publicly display their choices, an uproar would commence.  Imagine if a black man who went to the polls was forced to show who he voted for.   

Well, if that is so why do Democrats get away with it?  The card check law is one of the more odious that the Democrats are pushing after their 2006 election win - it's payback to the unions. Basically, Orwellian -themed Employee Free Choice Act says that secret ballots won't be used to organize unions anymore - now it will be a card check, which is simply getting enough signatures from the voters.  What this means is that if you don't want a union, organizers and supporters can now, uh, lean on you. 

Considering the past that unions have with organized crime, is this really a fair and democratic idea?  So the folks at MyPrivateBallot.com drew the obvious conclusion. If you're going to open people up to intimidation and threats from union organizers, you might as well call it what it is.

And for that, you need a Sopranos character.

An interesting note about this is that Johnny Sack (actor Vincent Curatola) was in that Hillary commercial when she was picking her song. 

Congresspedia for Missouri

If you're looking for facts about Missouri, or if you're the type that likes to edit wikis, Congresspedia is building up information in their database about House and Senate races.

Billed as the citizen's encyclopedia on Congress, it's a chance for you to add your local knowhow to a national site.

Two thumbs up - and the editor, who e-mailed me to let me know I was it, understood the proper role of aggregators.  They have my permission to post anything from this site.

Kay Barnes: Polls More Accurate Than Economists

I got an e-mail from Corey Platt, the campaign manager for Kay Barnes, who is running against Sam Graves in the 6th Congressional District.  The e-mail isn't as bad as Howard Dean's worthless lying tripe, but it's not exactly stellar marketing.  They are running a campaign for the US House, aren't they?

Maybe it's the office move cutting into available time, but e-mail to bloggers shouldn't consist of stupid press releases.  And press releases that complain of recession and George Bush aren't exactly going to drive voters to change their minds.

The e-mail:

    WILL GRAVES STAND WITH BUSH OR WITH MISSOURIANS?

Last week, Kay Barnes asked Congressman Sam Graves if he agreed with President George W. Bush that the U. S. economy is not in a recession, or if he agreed with the 74% of Americans who at that time believed we are?
Now, according to a Wall Street Journal poll released today, now 80% of Americans believe we are in a recession. (see article).

I know it's only May and news is slow, but does the Barnes campaign realize that George Bush won't be on the ticket in November?  More important, does Kay Barnes believe that polling should determine how a politician votes?  What if the polling is wrong? 

8 in 10 Americans believe we're in recession?  How could that be?  Could it possibly be that a biased media has been harping on the idea that we're in recession?  Would that explain the poll data?  Since over 70% of the economy is consumer spending, and consume spending is based on confidence, perhaps the steady drumbeat of doom and gloom contributes to Missourians who believe the economy is in recession.

Unless it hasn't.  Talk about bad timing.  The news yesterday was that the economy grew in the first quarter.

That's my quick take on today's first-quarter gross domestic product number, which showed that the economy grew 0.6 percent in the first quarter. Now that's not a robust number by any means, but it's not so bad given all the worry out there that the economy is headed off a cliff. Before you declare a recession, as many economic pundits have, shouldn't the economy, well, actually recess a bit—if only for a quarter?

So if Americans believe that we're in a recession, it can only be because the source of their news is either incompetent, or willfully biased towards reporting bad news for some reason, perhaps to help one political party win at the polls in November?

So the message from Kay Barnes is that Missourians in the 6th Congressional District can be manipulated by fear and false numbers into voting for a Democrat.  Her message is to believe a media that can't report accurately on economic data, and then to demand Sam Graves disagree with the truth?

Having seen the DNC e-mails, it's clear that the point of these e-mails is simple.  If you're a Barnes supporter, they figure you're dumb enough to give money, but only if you really hate George Bush.  Remember that the next time you hear about Republicans playing on your fears.

*If someone wants to forward me a stupid Sam Graves e-mail, I'll be happy to mock that too.

This would have worked better with Chris Rock, but it seems the Reverend Wright is polishing up his stand-up skills.

If this was all there was to it, this wouldn't be too much of a scandal.  But in the end, it shows up Obama's true colors.  He used Trinity Church to get ahead in Chicago, and now that the nation's eyes are upon his church, he denounces them. I'd be an angry preacher too if I had been betrayed like that.

Of course, it's not saying that white people clap funny - it's saying that the government created AIDS to kill off its black citizens, and following it up with a hatred towards this country that he preaches from the pulpit.  He's a fringe lunatic, and the real shame is that black Christian churches that teach the Gospel are being unfairly smeared as part of the black church. 

Yes, the media is biased, but it's not biased towards decent Christian folk of any color.  I'll say it again - if the Democrats thought they could get the White House with three unqualified single term senators, they deserve to lose.

Of course, that means we'll end up with McCain, who will advance the liberal agenda on immigration, healthcare, and global warming.  Our best hope is that downticket votes elect enough real loyal conservatives to prevent the kind of  "well-meaning legislation" that Bush has been pushing (education, Medicare, LOST, immigration, etc.)

Misleading "News" Article From Colbert Report

Stephen Colbert reported on a study from the British saying ethanol is an inefficient fuel.  They claim that a flight across the Atlantic would take 30 football (soccer for us Yanks) fields a year of corn production.

Hello?  Have you seen soccer fields?  How much corn is grown on the field?  Very little.

That sure sounds efficient to me.

News Roundup

Way too much to cover with too little time, but the following thoughts ran across my brain in the last few days.

DNC liars - if you got the Howard Dean e-mail showing video of John McCain saying we should be in Iraq 100 years, congratulations!  You've officially been lied to by the DNC!  Seriously - reading Dean e-mails pleading for money is a laugh a minute.  We expect politicians to lie, but Dean doesn't even pretend to be truthful - and there's the nasty hint of collaboration between the DNC and the presidential campaigns.  It's going to be a lot nastier than 2004.

RNC internet neophytes - the RNC put up YouTube videos in an effort to be viral, and used names like asdf, and jkl;.  yep - those grassroots Republican types name asdf are the RNC's secret new media weapon.

Bob Frank's piece in the Washington Post says housing prices rose because of two income families.  The Volokh conspiracy says that bunk, and points out that the biggest increase on the middle class has been a rising share of the tax burden.  The tax burden of a family in the 2000 rose by over $13,000 over that in teh 1970's, almost double the rise in mortgage, car and health insurance combined.

Think about that for a moment.  The tax burden rose twice as much as car and house payments.  When we talk about the middle class being squeezed, how come the costs imposed by government aren't discussed more often?  Why is it that the government always wants more money, but no one ever talks about what we're getting for what we already pay?

And finally, the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's Voter ID law.  It turns out that asking someone to show a photo ID to vote is not considered voter suppression, which is good news for Blockbuster, who now rents movies to people with driver licenses but not utility bills.

This is big news for Missouri, which according to Nanette Laughrey and Robin Carnahan, has no vote fraud.  While vote fraud still tends to fall into the absentee ballot and campaign worker genre, at least Missouri voters won't have to worry about undocumented non-citizens voting. 

60 Minutes: Still A Joke

I watched the 60 Minutes piece put on by Leslie Stahl a few minutes ago on Antonin Scalia, and let me just say, if this is the pinnacle of journalism - then bloggers will eat the rest of the mainstream media alive.

Leslie Stahl asked questions like a first year journalism student astounded that anyone could have opinions different than her own, and her understanding of the law was about a sixth grade level.

Let me just cover one installment. 

On the issue of torture, she brought up Abu Ghraib.  Um, Ms. Stahl?  Abu Ghraib wasn't on American soil. It was a military matter that was dealt with in the middle of war. The Constitution covers American citizens and those on our soil.  An Iraqi prison is not a consitutional matter.

She continues on, citing "cruel and unusual punishment."  Um, Ms. Stahl?  The phrase cruel and unusual punishment applies to verdicts passed against prisoners convicted of a crime. Torturing, whether it be citizens or foreign terrorists, has nothing to do with the phrase, cruel and unusual punishment. Unless, for example, after a conviction a prisoner is disemboweled, broken on the rack, and then quartered.

Just because you can say the words "cruel and unusual" doesn't mean it's unconsiitutional.  Seriously - is this what passes for journalism these days?   

There was no pretense of objectivity in her questioning on abortion.  Perhaps that was an effect of the editing, but she seemed shocked that Scalia could hold his views.

The best part was the way she would say "People say," or "Your reputation among the public..."  Um, one last time, Ms. Stahl?  Any incorrect reputation the public has about Antonin Scalia can be laid at the feet of a biased press who demonize conservatives who fail to toe the newsroom line.  Where does "the public" get their views of Supreme Court Justices?  Why, irresponsible "journalists" who publish attack pieces and biased interviews?

Maybe Dan Rather wasn't the problem. 

Universal Healthcare Will Help Me Buy A BMW

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