Alan Reynolds: Outsourcing And Other Trivial Pursuits

Alan Reynolds over at TOWNHALL this morning:

“If Sen. Kerry had hoped to make a big political issue out of an unemployment rate that is likely to be below 5 percent by election time, he had better start trying to change the subject as soon as possible. And his never-ending wisecracks about Herbert Hoover could to backfire, too, because Hoover enacted the same policies key Democrats now recommend — namely, higher tax rates and tariffs.”

Since they’ve been so into this topic there of late, perhaps I oughta bring this one up over at Drezner’s place.

(Chuckle)

Tom Galvin over at The Galvin Opinionnotes that things are not as rosy on the Democrats side as the press likes it to appear:

” Citing varying percentages of high voter “anger,” the media networks failed to note that primary voters were, by the vast majority, partisan Democrats. The news that these primaries were the third lowest on record fly in the face of the media theory that Democrats were rushing to make their voices heard and show their dislike for President Bush. “

INdeed, so bad is it, that:

“Democratic turnout was 11.4%! “

So, the press has been getting, polling, and interviewing the most extreme 11% of the party.

Now, do you understand the picture the press has been painting, and just how far off reality it is?

Boortz this morning:

“Wednesday, March 10, 2004
SPECULATION CONTINUES…WILL THE HILDABEAST RUN?

Now I know that this whole scenario sounds vaguely familiar to you.
It should.  I presented it to you about a week ago.  Great minds think
alike.”

Ummm… Mr Boortz, Sir? Hello?  I’ve been saying this would happen, 6 months and more ago.
Here’s a column from lst November on the point. Great minds read my weekly column, apparently. Glad to have you aboard. Thank you for Flying BitHead Air.

Speaking of The Captain, allow me to take Billy Beck to task a little, on a comment made about the Captain’s writings on THE PASSION.

Says the Captain, regarding the Aramaic dialogue and Subtitles:

“Unfortunately, it means that the First Mate won’t be able to see it in the theater, as she is blind and wouldn’t be able to follow along.”

Billy responds:

“Far be it from me to determine where others find their values. However: it’s early yet, but that could very well work out as the silliest thing I will read this week. I’m not quite sure how to make this clear to a person like that, but when we’re talking about a blind person, we are also necessarily talking about a person whose requirements call for a completely different medium from film.”

Not really, Billy.
I speak from a very personal experience, here. I dated a blind girl for years…and among other things, she was a devotee of various TV shows, including Trek TNG (which was new, at the time) Yes, film is very visual, but no less is life itself.

No, don’t misunderstand me; I’m by no means suggesting that the film should have been altered to accommodate such people.  (I can see, though where the blind might be helped out some in the DVD version by means of an narrowband English audio track mixed in for the subtitle read.)

But I AM suggesting that your assessment of film as an invalid media for the blind, as a whole, may be a bit offbase, and by extension, you assessment of the Captain, as well.  In my former girlfriend’s case, she found it very entertaining, as a rule. Particularly after the audio started getting better… 5 channel sound and all that. She said it made her feel like she was IN the story. In most cases she was able to follow the story with very minimal promptings from me.

Everything I Know Is Wrong quotes The Captain makes a valid point today about Kerry’s claim of encouragement from (unspecified) foreign leaders. assuming he’s not lying, that is….:

” If Kerry really is in clandestine communication with foreign leaders and discussing changes in American foreign policy under his proposed administration, then he is interfering with the foreign policy of the current administration, which may be an actionable offense, depending on the circumstances.”

This kind of thing is why he’s in my hot blogroll…

I’d add to this, if he IS talking to them, are they backing these wishes with MONEY… such as the Chinese…

My weekly commentary for around the last month has consisted of a laundry list of John Kerry Negatives.  So, you can imagine the look on my face this morning, after having posted another week’s worth last night, and not having included the AP saying:

WASHINGTON – The head of a civil rights and legal services advocacy group wants Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry to apologize for saying he wouldn’t be upset if he could be known as the second black president.

Ap goes on to say:

“‘John Kerry is not a black man – he is a privileged white man who has no idea what it is in this country to be a poor white in this country, let alone a black man,’ said Paula Diane Harris, founder of the Andrew Young National Center for Social Change. “

Amazing.

It’s in the usual place.

A recent Gallup Poll shows some interesting points that should not be discounted for the 2004 election cycle:

“PRINCETON, NJ — Overwhelmingly, Americans view international terrorism and the possible spread of weapons of mass destruction as the two most critical threats facing this country, according to a recent Gallup survey. Further down the list of threats to the country is the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, followed by Islamic fundamentalism, possibly high levels of immigration, the conflict between North and South Korea, and economic competition from low-wage countries. Conflicts in Asia, as well as the military power of China and Russia, are viewed with less concern.”

By the figures in the report, one can say with some certainty that the election is President Bush’s to lose.

Sorry, Gang; it’s written, but it’s stored on my server at home… and that’s giving me some trouble I wasn’t able to attend to last night. I’ll have the new Bit up tonight.

0307041748-Byron, NY–

Well, as I predicted, more lies from Kerry are being exposed. Here’s a few from the many that have come up this week, that I put into my Palm Pilot:

Kerry’s been carefully crafting this image of someone who rushed out to serve in Vietnam. But the real story seems to be coming out at last. The press has picked up on an old Harvard Crimson article that contained information about how Kerry…

“…tried to defer his military service for a year, according to a newly rediscovered article in a Harvard University newspaper.

He wrote to his local recruitment board seeking permission to spend a further 12 months studying in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale University in the mid-1960s.”

Which of course means that his whole ‘I served this country willingly’ shtick is brought into serious question. For months now, the left has charged Mr. Bush with lying to the American people. Now, we find out what they charge The President with, Kerry has done.

Further, it seems that Kerry was negotiating with the enemy in 1971. He told Congress during his testimony:
….I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government…”

Other news:

Kerry, it seems has missed on the order of 64% of the Senate roll Call votes. Says the Boston Herald:

“The Herald reported yesterday that Kerry, the Democratic front-runner, has missed every one of the 22 roll call votes in the Senate this year and 292, or 64 percent, last year.”

Now, Kerry and his supporters, like to tell us about how using an attack on our shores is inappropriate. But let’s look back into history, with some help from Jen, over at The Greatest Jeneration:

Says Jen:

“This is a photo of an actual lapel button for Roosevelt’s 1944 re-election campaign.

IN YOUR FACE to all those whining Leftist Libs who think it’s “offensive” and “inappropriate” for President Bush to include images from the 9/11 attacks in his re-election ads!”

So, not only is Bush not the first, but it seems that the bighest example of such is the liberal icon himself, FDR.

A picture, it seems, is worth 1000 words, after all.

Elsewhere, we’ve all seen the ad:

“Announcer: Times are tough. So you work overtime to make ends meet. Then you find out George Bush wants to eliminate overtime pay for 8 million workers. Two million jobs lost. Jobs going overseas. And now, no overtime pay. When it comes to choosing between corporate values and family values, face it, George Bush is not on our side.”

Trouble is, as usual the Democrats are basing their arguments on a flat-out lie.

Says FactCheck.org :

“The 8-million figure (hotly denied by the Bush administration, of course) comes from a study by the labor-funded Economic Policy Institute.

The ad misquotes the study, however. What the study actually says is that an estimated 8 million would lose the legal right to premium overtime rates should they work more than 40 hours per week. It does not say they would actually lose pay as the ad says. In fact, the 8-million figure is inflated by many part-time workers who never get overtime work, or overtime pay, even though they now have the right to it.”

Apparently with all of the problems surrounding Kerry, the people most likely to get Kerry’s call as his running mate aren’t too happy about their chances of winning. ABC’s story goes into detail.

“Three top Democrats, all talked about as possible running mates for presumptive presidential nominee John Kerry, on Sunday suggested a lack of interest in being vice president but none ruled it out.”

From North Korea comes news that:

“North Korea’s state-controlled media are well known for reverential reporting about Kim Jong-il, the country’s dictatorial leader. But the Dear Leader is not the only one getting deferential treatment from the communist state’s propaganda machine: John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic candidate, is also getting good play in Pyongyang.”

You can’t make up stuff like this.
I can’t imagine this won’t be something the Kerry campaign won’t try to downplay… If the Republicans are smart, (And they are) they won’t let that one pass unmarked.

Finally, a note from the Boston Herald, who reported a direct quote from the flip-flopable Mr. Kerry:

“The first definition of patriotism is keeping faith with those who have worn the uniform of the country,’ said Kerry, who argued in the Democrats’ weekly radio address that Bush has not given the troops sufficient logistical support.”

You oughta know, Idiot… You’re the one who voted against what they now don’t have.

And does ‘keeping faith’ include calling those who have worn the uniform ‘baby killers, as you did’?

And the Kerry saga continues….

My Way News gives us classic John Kerry:

“The first definition of patriotism is keeping faith with those who have worn the uniform of the country,’ said Kerry, who argued in the Democrats’ weekly radio address that Bush has not given the troops sufficient logistical support.”

You oughta know, Idiot… You’re the one who voted against what they now don’t have.

And does ‘keeping faith’ include calling those who have worn the uniform ‘baby killers, as you did’?

NEWS.com.au is reporting something the US papers won’t TOUCH, apparently…:

“US diva Barbra Streisand is allegedly refusing to pay the $US220,000 ($293,940) legal bill run up by a man she unsuccessfully sued for invasion of privacy.

The superstar singer and actress lost her bid for $US10 million ($13.36 million) from Adelman.”

Funny how that works, huh?

Dean Esmay makes it clear the recent troubes he’s been through have not dulled his mind..:

“Democrats have become a party of bitter, mean, angry people who stand for nothing except ‘Bush sucks’ and ‘Republicans are evil.’ It’s really quite revolting to watch. Ideas? Principles? What matter those, when the more important task of tearing apart Bush, never giving him credit for anything and blaming him for everything possible, is so much easier?”

We’ve all seen the ad:

“Announcer: Times are tough. So you work overtime to make ends meet. Then you find out George Bush wants to eliminate overtime pay for 8 million workers. Two million jobs lost. Jobs going overseas. And now, no overtime pay.
When it comes to choosing between corporate values and family values, face it, George Bush is not on our side.”

Trouble is, as usual the Democrats are basing their arguments on a flat-out lie.

Says FactCheck.org :

The 8-million figure (hotly denied by the Bush administration, of course) comes from a study by the labor-funded Economic Policy Institute.

The ad misquotes the study, however. What the study actually says is that an estimated 8 million would lose the legal right to premium overtime rates should they work more than 40 hours per week. It does not say they would actually lose pay as the ad says. In fact, the 8-million figure is inflated by many part-time workers who never get overtime work, or overtime pay, even though they now have the right to it.

A tip of the hat to Right Moment for adding Bit’sBlog to the Blogroll.