Why I Despise the Daily Show

Watch this clip first. All of it:



Now I realize this is just a comedy show. But this is just one in a thousand of segments Stewart has done that attack conservative stances on positions without providing his audience or viewers any remote semblance of the opposing rationale behind those stances.

It's one thing to mock the president. It's a natural and even a healthy part of living in a Democracy where we are blessed with the right to free speech. We all laughed when Clinton was mocked for his sex life, and similarly I laugh at Bush's inability to speak the English language.

But it's quite another issue to mock conservative policies without providing a single ounce of objectivity providing viewers with the rationale behind them. By taking tiny soundbytes out of context Michael Moore-style and ignoring the reality of the actual debate that is going on in Washington, Stewart successfully convinces his audience that Republicans are anti-poor and anti-children.

Again, Bush (who, much to my own chagrin, has actually spent the last 7 years expanding the welfare state more than any president since LBJ) vetoed the Democratic version of the SCHIP expansion because it would have unnecessarily expanded medical care to middle-class kids, most of whom already have private health insurance. This would prompt many parents to switch them to free government-run care, crowding out market incentives and essentially leaving the door wide open for the implementation of socialized medicine across the board. Bush was actually the original one pushing for expansion of the bill, but only to children living below the poverty line (hence his "poor kids first" quote). From watching this clip, you wouldn't have the slightest idea that this was the case, because the segment lacks any notion of objectivity and is instead bent on making Bush look ignorant, oblivious, and insensitive.

I guess the reason for this is that objectivity simply isn't funny. It wouldn't get ratings or laughs from brainless college kids. Statistics show a rising number of politically active voters get their news solely from this show. If that's the case, then we have serious problems.

Smug Alert: 11-30-07

Today in Orange County, California, residents will begin drinking recycled sewer water. That's right, The Orange County Water District has turned on their new system which purifies sewage into drinking water.

Not surprisingly, there was little uproar in the community; no one in Orange County thinks their shit stinks anyway.

I Have Officially Lost All Respect for CNN as a Network

Don't get me wrong, I've long been frustrated with CNN ever since it moved its headquarters from Atlanta to New York and started drifting to the left to counter Fox. Anyone forced to watch "debate" shows like Lou Dobbs Tonight or Crossfire for more than, say, 30 seconds, will know what I'm talking about. But last night was the last straw; I simply can't watch this network anymore.

For those of you out of the loop, CNN hosted a "Youtube" debate last night for the Republican candidates. A month ago or so, they used the same format for the Democrats, and it worked well: undecided liberal/Democratic voters would submit questions via Youtube for the Democratic candidates to answer, with CNN selecting the "best" questions, thus helping Democrats decide who to support.

Last night, one would think an equal format would be followed: undecided conservative/Republican questions would be used to help distinguish the Republican candidates on their positions, which is really the whole point of the primaries. One small problem: many of the the questions chosen by CNN were from Democratic supporters, not Republican ones.

So instead of helpful questions meant to evaluate each candidate's conservative credentials (some examples: "who has the best plan to overhaul the tax code?," "who's the most pro-life candidate?," "how will you reform Social Security?" or "do you think free trade is good or bad for America?"), we got a slew of planted non-questions meant to take a general swipe at the GOP as a party and that served no journalistic purpose: "Do ya'll really believe every word of the Bible?", "What do you think of the Confederate Flag?", "I'm Gay. Why should I support Republicans?", "The Death Penalty: What Would Jesus Do?", "You want to spend tons of money on national defense but what are you gonna do for black neighborhoods?", "I'm a retired general, and I'm gay. Why can't gays serve in the military?", "Would you sign a federal law that would criminalize all abortions and force young women to go to prison?" These were just some of the "questions" posed last night, all by individuals who turn out to be supporting various Democratic candidates.

The most frustrating aspect of all of this is the Democrats weren't subject to near the same standard. All of their questions actually came from their supporters. The question remains whether CNN was just lazy in screening the clips or if they intentionally chose them.

More Like "Pat Sage-ak"

I saw this on Drudge. It's nothing big, but I always appreciate discovering that an already likable celebrity is also level-headed.

Celebrity Endorsements: Does Anyone Really Care?

by Pat Sajak

Posted 11/28/2007 ET

There have been so many debates and interviews and columns and profiles and polls, it’s hard to believe the election for president is still about 11 months away. Recently, celebrity endorsements have been making news, with Oprah Winfrey saying she would campaign for Barack Obama and Barbra Streisand making the not-so-stunning announcement that she was supporting Hillary Clinton.

There are reasons, of course, why candidates welcome such help. First, there’s the bonanza of free publicity. With so many names and faces vying for attention, what could be better than the burst of news such endorsements bring? There’s also the burst of money these high-profile celebs can bring in themselves and attract from others. Then there’s the extra attention and excitement these stars engender when they appear at a candidate’s political events. It’s far easier to attract a crowd in Des Moines if a big TV, movie or recording star is standing next to the politician.

Putting those obvious benefits aside, the question remains: do these endorsements really translate into votes? Does anyone decide which candidate to choose based on the recommendation of a TV talk show host or a singer/actress? If any group of citizens is uniquely unqualified to tell someone else how to vote, it’s those of us who live in the sheltered, privileged arena of celebrityhood. It’s one thing to buy an ab machine because Chuck Norris recommends it (he’s in good shape, isn’t he?) or a grill because George Foreman’s name is on it (he’s a great guy, so it must be a great grill!), but the idea of choosing the Leader of the Free World based on the advice of someone who lives in the cloistered world of stardom seems a bit loony to me.

This is America, and we celebrities have just as much right as anyone else to speak up about any issue. The problem is that more attention is paid to what we say because we’re well known. But why should that matter? O.J. Simpson is one of the world’s best-known celebrities, but I can’t imagine anyone following his lead in a voting booth.

I suppose anything that gets people engaged in the political process is a good thing, but the idea that a gold record, a top-ten TV show or an Oscar translates into some sort of political wisdom doesn’t make much sense to me. Trust me, one’s view of the world isn’t any clearer from the back seat of a limo.

It's Official

BC to play in AA next year.

Why Hillary Will Win

Superb article by Dick Armey, one of my favorite members of the GOP, over at Freedomworks. It's pretty long, but I encourage ya'll to read it if you have time, because it will save me and everyone else a lot of breath trying to predict how this thing will unfold in the next 11 months:

If the 2008 presidential election were held today, Hillary Rodham Clinton would win.

Hillary’s minor stumbles in the MSNBC debate notwithstanding, she is simply running the most disciplined and effective campaign. She’s one of the most able politicians in America, and no one should underestimate her desire to be President and her calculating focus.

What you need to understand is that Hillary Clinton is, quite simply, craftier and more aggressive than the rest of the field. I know this firsthand, having battled with the Clinton Administration throughout the 1990’s while serving as a leader in Congress.

She’s only gotten tougher since then.

Early on, there were many fights, but one of the most important was over Hillary Clinton’s 1993 plan to expand government control of the health-care system. We were lucky to stop it, and we did so by standing our ground on the principle of putting patients ahead of bureaucracies. But now she’s back, and the health-care issue is a perfect example of the way she’s learned on the job and evolved her tactics.

Her latest health-care plan is more of the same stuff—greater federal control of our lives—but this time she’s presenting it in a way that is far more politically savvy. She leaves open questions of funding and enforcement, and is actively working to buy off the groups who opposed her plan in 1993.

Hillary Clinton and her agenda are not going to fade away. She is relentless and determined. Once she resolves a course of action in her mind, she is not going to be wishy-washy. The other candidates, and the rest of the world, will quickly learn that Hillary Clinton means business.

No doubt, Hillary Clinton has the Democrat primary all wrapped up. A couple of one-term senators are simply no match for the political machine she and her husband have built. I won’t go so far as to say that it’s not possible for a Republican to defeat her in the general election. But as things stand today, the GOP has a very real set of problems that are larger than any of the party’s candidates.

First and foremost, the Republican brand as effective stewards of the taxpayer dollar is in tatters, and the shredding doesn’t look to stop any time soon. Just last week, 138 House Republicans joined the Democrats in voting to override the president’s veto of a wasteful and pork-ridden Water Resources bill. That vote was a shameful display of personal politics over the national interest, and it contains the seeds of destruction of whatever conservative principles remain in the Republican party.

The callow accommodation to big-spending Democrats in Congress is one of the ways the Republican party will return itself to the days of serving as a compliant, permanent minority. Happy for table scraps, elected Republicans will simply abandon the ideas of their party in order to “get along”.

No wonder Americans prefer Democrats on the economy, taxes, and spending issues, according to recent polling data. When the choice is between Democrats, and the Democrat-lite ideas the GOP has become so comfortable offering, the Democrats will win every time.

The only way the Republican party will beat Hillary Clinton is to return to its limited-government roots. That’s the only way to rebuild a majority coalition.

For example, today religious conservatives are confused, disillusioned, and somewhat fractured. Too many of the current crop of self-appointed social conservative leaders have embraced an agenda that splits the GOP coalition. Big government ideas— runaway spending on “conservative” social programs, social engineering in the tax code, and greater government intervention into Americans’ personal lives—are the wrong path. This pandering has hurt the GOP in swing states, especially in the Mountain West and Great Lakes states.

To counter Hillary Clinton’s perfectly oiled political machine, Republicans need to return to their Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan roots. They need to present an alternative vision for America—a positive vision that limits government and trusts individuals and leaves families, churches, and businesses free to make their own decisions, and not have bureaucrats and politicians calling the shots.

Right now, the country is headed toward a date with Hillary Clinton, and big government is on the agenda. The only way to change that rendezvous is for candidates to offer a clear, principled, limited government alternative.

He's dead on. '08 will be another blue year unless Republicans start acting like Republicans again. No more "compassionate conservatism" B.S. (which will likely go down as the worst governing strategy in American political history), no more trying to win over the other side with senseless big government programs like No Child Left Behind and Medicaid Prescription Drug expansion (which, in case you haven't noticed, haven't won over the other side but have only served to alienate our base), no more boondoggle spending, you get the idea.

At this point, I don't care who we nominate. I'm willing to forget everybody's shady history on the hopes that, after February, the nominee will take some time off from kissing babies and start reading Reagan speeches from the 60's and 70's. Otherwise, the race is Hillary's to lose.

Hate Week Begins....

Clean Old Fashioned Hate is renewed on Saturday, but for most people, it's an all year event. The spread looks to be UGA -3.5, but I don't think it should be that close as long as Chan Gailey is coaching. All signs point to Chan having to win this game to keep his job, so the Tech players might try to use that as motivation, but I doubt it will matter. All are invited to my tailgate, located on the 5th Street bridge. If you don't know how to reach me, contact Hank or Snuffy.

Praying for Rain in Atlanta: No, we're not kidding.

Ok, so our state leaders are totally out of ideas. The continuing drought in the Atlanta area has forced water levels to all-time lows and how does our state government respond?

Pray for rain.

Governor Sonny Perdue has organized a public prayer service to appeal to God for some much needed rain. This is the most ingenious, if not irreverent, pass of the buck I have ever seen. If it fails to rain in the next few days, this will no longer be an issue of resource mismanagement.

"It's not our fault the city is having a water shortage; God wouldn't let it rain. We asked and He wouldn't do it."

Come on, publicly praying for rain? We all know that government is impotent and useless, but these are elected public officials. They at least need to pretend they have a clue about what's going on. Why don't we all get our dowsing rods and wander around Gwinnett, Fulton, and Cobb Counties looking for water in the ground?

This is 2007 and we need to behave like it.

New Classification Numbers Released

After calculating enrollment figures from this year, the Georgia High School Association has finally realigned all schools into their prospective classifications for 2008-2010. You can check out the new figures here. As expected, BC, whose enrollment figures have plummeted to 337, is now slated to play in AA.

Each high school has between now and Monday, November 26 to contact the GHSA by written notice if they wish to play up.

I think it goes without saying that we all should start an intense lobbying effort addressing everyone surrounding the alumni and athletic assocations to ensure that BC plays up and moves back into AAAAA where it belongs. And by "intense lobbying effort," I really just mean a couple of posts here and there over the next few weeks on this blog than no one reads anyway.

I mean no disrespect to Michael, but we don't want BC to become the Aquinas of Savannah, and despite football's recent successes, it looks like we'll ultimately be heading in that direction unless action is taken.

Look forward to seeing everybody at the game tonight. Go Cadets.

Were we cheated?

For those of you that haven't heard, there's been some kafuffle over a recent incident of cheating at a high school football game. Last Friday, Lakeside-Evans High School was playing Effingham County High School. In the closing seconds of the game, Lakeside-Evans had the ball and were down 7-0. The coach called for a Hail Mary and when the pass went up, a Lakeside-Evans player snuck onto the field from the sidelines. No one saw him. Fittingly, the pass was intercepted. Time expired and Effingham won 7-0. It wasn't until Effingham's coaching staff reviewed the film and discovered what had happened. The story was outed and the coach has been reprimanded, but will likely not be fired.

Now you're asking, what does this have to do with us? I'm getting to that.

Lakeside-Evans High School is in Evans, GA. In today's (Friday's) Savannah Morning news, there is a letter to the editor from the publisher of the local paper in Columbia County. He tells the story of another act of cheating from 1987 in the game between Evans High and Effingham County High where the Evans High coach put a radio headset in the quarterback's helmet.

Is it just a major coincidence that both cheating attempts came against Effingham County? Or could it reasonably be assumed that the football programs in the city of Evans have had a tradition of cheating for twenty years, possibly more? Is it so unbelievable to think that these teams could have been cheating all along?

Now, to my point. We all remember the 2000 BC football season. We suffered a 17-0 loss at the hands of Evans High School. I don't recall if the game was televised, but I want to see the film. If they beat us fairly, I can accept that, but if those bastards cheated, I demand the game be replayed with the original players from both teams that year. Maybe then I'll see some playing time against the Knights.

A Reading From the Book of Snuffy

Go forth now to the Boro of Wayne. A maroon-clad cavalry approaches from the South. In their path lies the bear's den. Slay the beast and a crown awaits. Huteth One! Huteth Two!

The History of Global Warming

A new British book has been released detailing the history of "Global Warming" promulgated by Al Gore and many over zealous scientists. Along with it's 5 historical stages, the book spells out the evidence contradicting each apocalyptic claim that CO2 emissions are producing higher temperatures.

The article is rather lengthy, but it should shed some light on the ridiculousness of Al Gore and his cronies.

So, don't worry about recycling and buy whatever car you can afford since Earth is cooling off anyhow.

The Economic Update

Beware of Democrats in November of 2008. Besides the attacks on the justified war in Iraq, the Communist Democrats will use ridiculous arguments to push universal health care, closing the income tax "loop holes" used by the rich, and improving our "disastrous" economy.

Even with the busted housing bubble, America's economy has never been better. Here are a couple of clips I received in my daily tax news update.

Americans' personal income increased $47.4 billion in September, according to figures released by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis on November 1, 2007. Revised figures for August show an increase of $52.8 billion. Personal outlays in September increased $33.0 billion, after an increase of $54.3 billion in August. Personal consumption expenditures increased $30.1 billion in September, compared with an August increase of $51.4 billion. Personal saving was $89.7 billion in September, compared with $82.1 billion in August.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.9 percent in the third quarter of 2007, according to advance estimates released by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis on October 31, 2007. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.8 percent. Real gross domestic purchases, or purchases by U.S. residents of goods and services wherever produced, increased 2.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with an increase of 2.4 percent in the second quarter. The major contributors to the increase in real GDP in the third quarter were: personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, federal government spending, equipment and software, nonresidential structures, private inventory investment and state and local government spending.

Is Donny real?

While discussing The Big Lebowski with a coworker, something was brought to my attention. Throughout the film, Walter (John Goodman) is seen conversing with Donny (Steve Buscemi). If you pay close attention, no one else addresses him. Is he a figment of Walter's imagination? Is Donny real?

There are a few instances where this is debatable, specifically during the scene when the three of them go to little Larry Sellars house looking for the briefcase. After Walter smashes the Corvette, the owner runs out to smash the Dude's car, which is where they left Donny. However, next time we see the Dude's car, Donny's gone. Did he go to In-N-Out? Was he ever there?

This myth is laid to rest after the failed drop with the kidnappers. As Walter, Donny, and the Dude are leaving the bowling alley, Donny says, "Phone's ringin', Dude," to which Dude replys, "Thanks, Donny."

I found this interesting and I hope you all have as well. If you haven't seen The Big Lebowski, this has been a waste of your time.

You Got Listserved 11/2/07

This post is in response to a girl accused of beating puppies to death:

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/14491979/detail.html

I don't know a lot about how the legal system works but I guess if you
are indicted by a grand jury, there must be at least some evidence of
possible guilt, enough to go to trial I guess. Poor, poor pupplies,
whoever hurt them, I hope to see them one day at Rainbow Bridge
and tell them I love them and smell their little pupply breath. :```(