Barack Obama and the White House in Disarray

Wow, what a difference a year makes. Just a year ago Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States of America. Since then things have been tough for him. The economy is in the tank, he's fighting two wars, unemployment is over 10%, He failed to get an Olympic bid for Chicago (his home town ), failed in Copenhagen, putting future generations of Americans deeper and deeper in debt with each passing day,etc.
Then Tuesday losing the election of the late Senator Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts to Republican Scott Brown changed things. It seems to have put the kibosh on the Universal Healthcare Bill.

Now the White House is in disarray.

"At the end of Barack Obama’s worst week since taking power a year ago, the US president’s fortunes look set only to deteriorate over the coming days. Following the shock defeat of the Democratic candidate in Massachusetts on Tuesday, a move that deprived the president of his 60-seat super-majority in the Senate and left his legislative agenda in tatters, Mr Obama has just four days to reboot the system.

The US president had originally delayed next week’s State of the Union address to Congress in the hope he would get his signature healthcare reform bill enacted in time. That prospect, already waning, was killed dead by the voters in Massachusetts. A growing number of Democrats believe the nine-month effort could collapse altogether."

Panic within his own party

"Nor can Mr Obama rely on unity within his own party, which has been in disarray, if not panic, since Tuesday. For example, Mr Obama’s more populist tack on Wall Street re-regulation failed to attract endorsement from Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, even though he was present when Mr Obama made the announcement.

Others, such as Tim Johnson, Democratic senator for South Dakota and a senior member of the banking committee, were already opposed to elements of Mr Obama’s regulatory proposals including the plan to establish a consumer financial protection agency.

Can't keep even keep his own administration unified:

"Worse, most people do not think Mr Obama can even command unity within his own administration on the Wall Street proposals amid growing speculation about whether Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, can survive in his job. Mr Geithner was conspicuously sidelined during Thursday’s announcement by the presence of Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman, who lent his name to the push to rein in Wall Street banks"

Remember the Hope and Change thing? How's that workin' for ya, Mr. President? He was going to bring everyone together. It seemed like the second coming. Everything was going to be nirvana. Now it looks like everything is falling apart for him.

Watching what's going on to our friends and neighbors to the south makes me sad. I have a lot of relatives down there but on the other hand, I think President Obama and the Demorcatic supermajority in the House and Senate has woken a sleeping giant. Tuesday night's election proved that. The teaparty goers, is not just an aberration, it's real. They want their country back. They want their leaders to abide by their constitution. They want freedom not tyranny like the present bunch (that means both parties) in Washington are trying to impose. Good for the American people! Good for them for standing up for freedom!

In the long run, America will be better off. That in turn will make Canada better off too.

Four Years Already

Wow, it doesn't seem like it's been fours years since PM Stephen Harper won the election but it is.

January 23, 2006 Stephen Harper and the Conservatives finally broke that stronghold that the Liberals had for 13 long years.

So much has gone under the bridge since then. There have been 3 Liberal leaders (if you count interm leader, Bill Graham), threats of election every other week, stalling of important legislation by the Liberal dominated Senate (which be is to be changed shortly, thank God), a global recession that has been a real humdinger to deal with that has affected most countries on the globe.

Then there was the attempted coupe' de tat a year ago that had the "coalition of the losers" ( Libs, Dippers and the separatist,Bloc) that tried to overthrow the Harper government that had been duly elected just weeks before. Thankfully, the PM with the help of the GG, it was prevented from happening.

Iffy had wanted to make PM Harper wear the recession. Well I think the PM has worn the recession fairly well. The economy is doing better now. Markets have more or less come back.
Building permits are up etc. That's indicators of an improving economy. Sure it's still fragile but its better.

To the surprise of us all PM Harper gave a fantastic performance last fall at the NAC Gala by playing the piano and singing the Beatles song "A Little Help From My Friends" with Yo Yo Mah. It was a hit. The video went viral on Youtube with 579,446 hits.

In December, he and Minister Prentice stick handled their way through the whole Copenhagen global warming farce cabal masterfully.

With the terrible earthquake that hit Haiti Jan 12, the PM and his top Ministers, Cannon, Oda, MacKay, and Kenny, and of course our military they have been on top things within hours of the event. They are getting things done.

Our PM is still having to deal with the coalition of the losers and a hostile media for that matter but I have every confidence he's on top of things and will stick handle it through successfully like he always has.

Through all the obstacles he's had to deal with in the last four years it is really amazing, the accomplishments they have made.

If you want to read all the accomplishments they have made you can see them at Sandy's. This is with a minority and a Liberal dominated senate to boot.

Congratulations Mr. Prime Minister and the whole Conservative caucus! May God Bless You!
Here's to many more years of Conservative government! Next time it's a majority!

Glenn Beck Show, Revolutionary Holocaust

Watch this documentary that Glenn Beck has done on the true history of Hitler, Che, Stalin and Chairman Mao. Very educational.
It's nothing like you have ever seen before.

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5

Is The Media Biased?

I've had a real bee in my bonnet about the media and their bias toward anything conservative whether it be our current Conservative Prime Minister and his government or conservative ideas and policies.
This article gives some real insight into what makes our media tick especially the left wing media. Here are a couple of excerpts.

Explaining the Facts of Life - "Idea" Conservatives & The Media

The Question of Bias
"So while journalists may self-report as “moderate right” or “moderate left,” actual voting behaviour is tilted to the left, particularly so among members of the state-media outlet. The professed similarity to the public is in part due to an “I’m centrist” claim many journalists hold about themselves which I’ll soon analyze in more detail."

This particular piece from the article reminds me or the prorogation situation and how the media is handling it. They haven't really given the historical facts about prorogation.

Media facts: History is history in journalism

One useful aspect of journalistic culture to understand is that reporting and analysis too often reflects a “today” consensus, one deficient in historical perspective and which might otherwise call into question the approach some reporters take and also how the news is framed. (h/t) Canada's Journal of Ideas

Here's how you can determine media bias.

Media and The Manipulation of Public Opinion

I have been trying to make some sense of the polls that have come out since the announcement of parliament being prorogued. I found out that polls can indeed be manipulated to get a certain result to manipulate the public. We should always take polls with a grain of salt. They can be so easily manipulated. Here's what I found.

THE LITTLE SECRETS OF THE POLLSTERS

"Canadians might well ask what is going on. What are these polls about? Unfortunately, in some cases polls have become instruments of propaganda, with questions designed to generate a preferential outcome in order to manipulate public opinion, with "favourable" polls advancing a particular bias being reported. In effect, the polling results become insidious lies masquerading as news. The objective of such manipulation is to influence public opinion and undermine our democracy.

How the Manipulation is Done

Polls designed to manipulate public opinion are carried out using the following methodology:

1. Readers or viewers are saturated with "reporting" that reflects a particular bias;
   
   
2. Public opinion polls are activated in concert with like-minded organizations on social issue campaigns which reflect the bias;
   
   
3. Viewers and readers are proselytized (manipulated) into espousing the bias when these poll results are treated as "news";
   
   
4. Promoting the "bandwagon" psychology (the banal tendency of those who do not have a strong ideological foundation to aspire to the side perceived to be in the majority) is then put in place.

Examples of troubling polls include those leading up to the November 2002 US elections. None of the left-wing media in the US reported polls showing Mr. Bush winning control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, which, in fact, he did Rather, the Democratic Party was reported as having the advantage in that election.

In regards to polling on the Canadian political scene, the EKOS Polling Company, which is the number one supplier of the polling data for the federal government, recently concluded a poll commissioned by the CBC showing that the Alliance has fallen to fourth place among the political parties. Competitors, Ipsos-Reid and Environics, found that the Alliance support was in second place between 19% and 20%. Which is right? Which is pushing an agenda?

Canadians should be forewarned - don't always believe the polls and treat their results with extreme caution."

(h/t)Realwomen


Opinion Polls: Getting the results you want



Here are a few interesting tidbits from a paper I found.

The Exercise of Power Round Table:
Vox Publica: Media as Arbiter, Interpreter, and Educator
May 14, 1997
In Attendance: round table participants; E. Alboim, C. Dornan (guests); J. Graham, C. McQuillan, J.
Walker (IOG).

"What role does media take on in the political process? Mr. Alboim argued that the media's primary
political role is to "prime" public opinion. Media emphasis -- both tonnage and display -- order
importance of information, creating a hierarchy for readers and viewers. In priming, the media
establishes an agenda with permissible limits for public discourse. Rather than "shaping" public
opinion, media creates a precondition for shaping. It is society's opinion leaders (talking heads on
television as well as friends, neighbours, and relatives who are interested in political issues) who do
the shaping. Media does, however, influence the public view of leadership, by assigning causality to
leadership for societal problems (often irrespective of government influence over causes or
solutions)."

and here

"Another participant disagreed, claiming that not only is the political agenda set by media, political
opinions are often shaped by media. This participant noted that pollsters actually wait three days
after debates to poll the public, until the public has time to take in the assessments of media pundits.
Given this apparent deference to media's interpretation of issues, a seeming paradox was raised.
Media leaders are perceived as "elites" by citizens, yet they do not appear to endure the same public
derision as political leaders and public servants often do."

"