Anybody got a bazooka?
Country First, or Couric First?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Colbert: Financial Moguls Entering Beauty Pageants for $10
When all you can do is laugh it off...
A Diagram depicting what would have occurred if AIG
was left to fail...
[Nuclear Fission, aka Chain Reaction]
1 a : a series of events so related to each other that each one initiates the next b : a number of events triggered by the same initial event
2 : a self-sustaining chemical or nuclear reaction yielding energy or products that cause further reactions of the same kind
- chain-re·act
/'chAn-rE-'akt/ intransitive verb
2 : a self-sustaining chemical or nuclear reaction yielding energy or products that cause further reactions of the same kind
- chain-re·act
/'chAn-rE-'akt/ intransitive verbSource: Merriam-Webster Dictionary
AIG's reach was far and wide. If any firm was too big to fail, it was them. Moral Hazard can wait for another day.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
A Reality TV Show Moment
John McCain's announcement of his vice presidential pick had all the similtudes of a reality TV show Friday. America's Next Top Veep will be airing this fall in prime time slots, be sure to tune in!
John McCain's selection of his running mate and possible Second-in-Command is a window into how a "President McCain" would make his executive decisions. A 72 year old cancer victim has opted to put the unknown and inexperienced Sarah Palin from Wasilla, Alaska a "heartbeat" away from becoming our new Commander-and-Chief. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have been campaigning longer than Mrs. Palin has been govenor of her state. The move was an obvious political hail mary pass as opposed to a serious and thoughtful choice. It was a last ditch effort to cajole some of the disaffected Hillaryites and to assuage the extreme and religious Right, but was it a presidential decision? Does this reflect prudent judgement or incautious gimmickry? It appears that Senator McCain will be looking for a new slogan because "Country First" is out the window.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Putin Has Evidence of U.S. Involvement in Georgian Offensive
RE: THE "OCTOBER" SURPRISE
Today in an interview with CNN's Mathew Chance, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of orchestrating the Georgian offensive to benefit one of its presidential candidates.
Putin told CNN that a U.S. passport with a Texas address was found where the Georgian special operations base was located. He also stated that there was evidence of United States citizens being in the area of conflict during the offensive and that they took part in combat operations.
PUTIN INTEVIEW:
Is the Prime Minister fanning the flames of a conspiracy theory that was developed out of the conspicuous relationships between John McCain's senior foreign policy adviser, Randy Sheunemann and Georgian President Saakishvilli, and the abrupt visits by Carl Rove and Condoleezza Rice to President Saakishvilli just prior to the conflict? Or, is does this corroborate the compiling evidence of an U.S. orchestrated conflict designed in part to increase the chances of continued neocon influence in the White House visa vis a McCain presidency?
This story is in desperate need of some real investigative reporting. MSM has so far given it remiss attention. Developing...
Today in an interview with CNN's Mathew Chance, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of orchestrating the Georgian offensive to benefit one of its presidential candidates.
Putin told CNN that a U.S. passport with a Texas address was found where the Georgian special operations base was located. He also stated that there was evidence of United States citizens being in the area of conflict during the offensive and that they took part in combat operations.
PUTIN INTEVIEW:
Is the Prime Minister fanning the flames of a conspiracy theory that was developed out of the conspicuous relationships between John McCain's senior foreign policy adviser, Randy Sheunemann and Georgian President Saakishvilli, and the abrupt visits by Carl Rove and Condoleezza Rice to President Saakishvilli just prior to the conflict? Or, is does this corroborate the compiling evidence of an U.S. orchestrated conflict designed in part to increase the chances of continued neocon influence in the White House visa vis a McCain presidency?
This story is in desperate need of some real investigative reporting. MSM has so far given it remiss attention. Developing...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Dear Obama Campaign
RE: NEUTRALIZING MCCAIN'S LOW-ROAD TACTICS
John McCain has brought a knife to a fist fight after promising to come empty handed. This is not a fair fight and the Obama Campaign needs to neuter this McCain advantage.
Senator Obama and the DNC need to challenge Senator McCain to run a dignified campaign as he promised all Americans not so long ago. This challenge needs to be well coordinated, prominent and ongoing to keep the Media engaged.
One way to keep the media engaged is to incorporate them into the plan. I suggest entering into an agreement with a neutral third party to track John McCain's advertisements, speeches, and statements for all character attacks, questions AND innuendos of lacking patriotism, suggestions of race, etc. The first organization that comes to mind is FACTCHECK.ORG .
To make the challenge 'catchy' the Obama campaign should create a ticking time clock for how many days, minutes, and seconds John McCain has gone without making attacks and not addressing real issues Americans care about. See if he can go a week or even a month. This can be done as a 'widget' on your website and others (much like what the RNC did to Senator Obama counting the days before visiting Iraq). The media loves it. It could be even more effective if Obama himself participated in the challenge. After all, this is where he wants to take the fight, bare knuckles, above the fray. This is where Senator Obama excels and where Senator McCain obviously had trouble operating due to his quick change-up in campaign officials and strategy.
Make the McCain campaign fight on your turf. Give the media a quick and easy reference to gauge who's fighting dirty. Let the media sensationalize on the issues, not the latest negative ad and if it "worked." It is time to focus on the issues this will help us get there.
I urge you to take this idea in consideration.
Regards,
Mark Casias
Obama Supporter
John McCain has brought a knife to a fist fight after promising to come empty handed. This is not a fair fight and the Obama Campaign needs to neuter this McCain advantage.
Senator Obama and the DNC need to challenge Senator McCain to run a dignified campaign as he promised all Americans not so long ago. This challenge needs to be well coordinated, prominent and ongoing to keep the Media engaged.
One way to keep the media engaged is to incorporate them into the plan. I suggest entering into an agreement with a neutral third party to track John McCain's advertisements, speeches, and statements for all character attacks, questions AND innuendos of lacking patriotism, suggestions of race, etc. The first organization that comes to mind is FACTCHECK.ORG .
To make the challenge 'catchy' the Obama campaign should create a ticking time clock for how many days, minutes, and seconds John McCain has gone without making attacks and not addressing real issues Americans care about. See if he can go a week or even a month. This can be done as a 'widget' on your website and others (much like what the RNC did to Senator Obama counting the days before visiting Iraq). The media loves it. It could be even more effective if Obama himself participated in the challenge. After all, this is where he wants to take the fight, bare knuckles, above the fray. This is where Senator Obama excels and where Senator McCain obviously had trouble operating due to his quick change-up in campaign officials and strategy.
Make the McCain campaign fight on your turf. Give the media a quick and easy reference to gauge who's fighting dirty. Let the media sensationalize on the issues, not the latest negative ad and if it "worked." It is time to focus on the issues this will help us get there.
I urge you to take this idea in consideration.
Regards,
Mark Casias
Obama Supporter
Friday, August 15, 2008
The "October" Surprise
Has the Media Failed Us Once Again?
Since the attack was during the Olympics there was little reporting of the Georgian attack and much more coverage of the Russian retaliation. When the world woke up Saturday morning President Saakshvilli was pleading to the world for help from the bombardment of the Russian imperialists. The West responded accordingly, backing our ally and NATO candidate Georgia. Mainstream media (MSM) covered the story as Russia the aggressor, Georgia the victim of an imperialist neighbor, and the United States (and the West) as the condemner of the Russian response. This viewpoint continues through today.
There may have been an active information campaign to influence MSM's coverage of this flare up. The timing of the invasion, President Micheil Saakshvilli's relentless TV appearances desperately attempting to frame the issue, and President Bush and company's continuous statements warning the Kremlin have successfully guided the media to report on just that, and nothing more. Russian renditions of the incidents are quickly disregarded as product of the KGB propaganda machine. The start of the conflict was not adequately reported and it has still been left ambiguous at best.
Aside from MSM, there are a few sources who have explanations other than Russian neo-imperialism for the conflict in the Caucuses. Paul Craig Roberts, the former assistant secretary of the treasury under Ronald Reagan, defines the turn of events differently. He sees this as a planned aggression by American neoconservatives in an attempt to further their ideological beliefs that America is a dominating hegemon that should neutralize Russia by surrounding it with NATO nations. In an interview with Larry King Thursday night, Mikhael Gorbecov stated that Georgia had instigated the conflict and that "it was a well-prepared project" with strong signs that "they [Georgia] wanted to put the blame on Russia." Mikheil Saakishvilli was interviewed on the same show after Gorbecov. Saakishvilli entered into an ad hominem argument against Gorbecov attacking his character for "vindicating lies and deceptions." Gorbecov also said Saakishvilli "misled the United States, unless to think that it was an American project and that Saakashvilli just implemented it." Robert Shear expanded on these thoughts by reporting the links between Senator McCain's top foreign policy advisor, McCain himself and the Georgian government. Please read Mr. Shear's article.
To further the suspicions of such an "october surprise" Carl Rove met Mikeil Saakishvilli at a Conference in Yalta on July 12. Also Condi Rice met with Saakishvilli days earlier.
Was the Media tooled again? Was there in fact a plot to shift the election to a platform that John McCain can win on? The dots continue to connect. Developing...
Monday, August 11, 2008
Dumb Media = Dumb Public = Dumb Policy
The prospect of offshore oil drilling has been discussed with much ballyhoo over the past month in the United States. The republican congress and a few democrats looking to capitalize on the public outrage of high gas prices have managed to stage an exaggerated fuss in order to get the attention of mainstream media. The likes of Newt Gingrich, President Bush, and others have used their bully pulpits to push this agenda on behalf of big oil. As expected, the media took the bait. Offshore drilling flooded the airwaves and the World Wide Web.
Pundits and commentators from news channels across the land were touting the latest polls that showed the majority of Americans now favor opening up restricted land to the oil companies. The usual news outlets like CNN, CBS, NBC, and FOX unanimously conferred that indeed an ostensible public consensus on drilling existed. They quoted polling results from the likes of Rasmussen, reporting 67% support for offshore drilling, CNN/Opinion Research Corp finding 69% support, an ABC News/Stanford University poll reporting 63%, and the list goes on and on. What the media failed to report was that some of the very polls they quoted also found that some alternatives to the energy crisis were even more favorable in the public's eye. In fact, the ABC News/Standford University poll found that 78% of Americans favor making "fuel efficiency standards for cars stricter." This was the story that mainstream media should have been talking about, not this drilling nonsense.
The bump in offshore drilling support reflected the public’s concerns and frustrations with our energy situation, and not necessarily a smart means to ameliorate them. When the polling actually provided attractive alternatives like raising the CAFE standards, offshore drilling seemed less appealing. Raising the fuel economy standards on cars would do more to reduce midterm gas prices, increase oil independence, fight climate change and air pollution than any attempt to put more land in the hands of oil companies. By the way, the U.S. is not exactly at the top of its class in this regard [see chart below]. As David Moore points out, many false conclusions about polls can be formed when you do not take into consideration how the issues are framed. He also states that many of the public opinion polls quoted did not make mention of the environmental trade-offs or reveal it likely would takes 5-7 years to start producing oil.
These are all reasons why the media frenzy behind lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling is unfounded. If we cannot count on a truthful national discussion about our energy challenges how can we expect to make wise decisions? Is this not the role of the media, to be a critical third party to powerful interests? The media's superficial and myopic coverage of America's energy issues is doing us all a grave disservice.
Pundits and commentators from news channels across the land were touting the latest polls that showed the majority of Americans now favor opening up restricted land to the oil companies. The usual news outlets like CNN, CBS, NBC, and FOX unanimously conferred that indeed an ostensible public consensus on drilling existed. They quoted polling results from the likes of Rasmussen, reporting 67% support for offshore drilling, CNN/Opinion Research Corp finding 69% support, an ABC News/Stanford University poll reporting 63%, and the list goes on and on. What the media failed to report was that some of the very polls they quoted also found that some alternatives to the energy crisis were even more favorable in the public's eye. In fact, the ABC News/Standford University poll found that 78% of Americans favor making "fuel efficiency standards for cars stricter." This was the story that mainstream media should have been talking about, not this drilling nonsense.
The bump in offshore drilling support reflected the public’s concerns and frustrations with our energy situation, and not necessarily a smart means to ameliorate them. When the polling actually provided attractive alternatives like raising the CAFE standards, offshore drilling seemed less appealing. Raising the fuel economy standards on cars would do more to reduce midterm gas prices, increase oil independence, fight climate change and air pollution than any attempt to put more land in the hands of oil companies. By the way, the U.S. is not exactly at the top of its class in this regard [see chart below]. As David Moore points out, many false conclusions about polls can be formed when you do not take into consideration how the issues are framed. He also states that many of the public opinion polls quoted did not make mention of the environmental trade-offs or reveal it likely would takes 5-7 years to start producing oil.
These are all reasons why the media frenzy behind lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling is unfounded. If we cannot count on a truthful national discussion about our energy challenges how can we expect to make wise decisions? Is this not the role of the media, to be a critical third party to powerful interests? The media's superficial and myopic coverage of America's energy issues is doing us all a grave disservice.
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