Thursday, May 26, 2011

Liberal bias in rating the Presidents

Politics:

Liberal Bias

Call it history’s conservative curse.

ACCORDING TO A UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI STUDY, THOSE HISTORICAL RANKINGS OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS THAT POP UP EVERY YEAR OR SO ARE SIGNIFICANTLY WEIGHTED IN FAVOR OF DEMOCRATS, thanks to the liberal leanings of academia.

Political science professor Joseph E. Uscinski, one of the study’s authors, said the new analysis shows that the overwhelmingly LIBERAL ACADEMIC COMMUNITY CONSISTENTLY RANKS REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS ABOUT 10 SPOTS LOWER THAN THE PUBLIC WOULD.
“I don’t think anyone is surprised,” Mr. Uscinski told The Washington Times. “Among the political scientists and historians that I work with, Democrats outnumber Republicans 8 to 1.”



What was eye-opening, he said, was the stark difference between the historians’ assessments of Republicans and the grades given by the public.

“On average, all the Republicans get the short end of the stick,” he said. “But the one it impacts the most is [Ronald] Reagan. It’s often difficult for people to fathom why he’s ranked as low as he is….”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/24/republican-presidents-lag-in-historical-rankings/

Nothing really surprising about this.

Obama in 2012

Many of the Republican presidential hopefuls should be able to beat President Obama in 2012. This president has a track record now and, thus, many vulnerabilities. If he is not our "worst president," as Donald Trump would have it, his sweeping domestic initiatives—especially his stimulus package and health-care reform—were so jerry-built and high-handed that they generated a virtual revolution in America's normally subdued middle class.

The president's success in having Osama bin Laden killed is an exception to a pattern of excruciatingly humble and hesitant leadership abroad. MR. OBAMA HAS BEEN DEEPLY AMBIVALENT ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF AMERICAN POWER, as if a shameful "neocolonialism" attends every U.S. action in the world. In Libya he seems actually to want American power to diminish altogether.

THIS FORMULA OF SHRINKING AMERICAN POWER ABROAD WHILE EXPANDING GOVERNMENT POWER AT HOME CONFUSES AND DISAPPOINTS MANY AMERICANS. Before bin Laden, 69% of Americans believed the country was on the wrong track, according to an Ipsos survey. A RECENT ZOGBY POLL FOUND THAT ONLY 38% OF RESPONDENTS BELIEVED MR. OBAMA DESERVED A SECOND TERM, WHILE 55% SAID THEY WANTED SOMEONE NEW.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576299241421694066.html

The author talks about Obama’s likeability rating and seems to connect that to the fact of his race. His election was a victory for America and if someone wants to unseat him they have this social iconic victory to overcome. Quite frankly I agree with Steele to a point, but I think that Obama’s continuing likeability is less about people really liking him and more about people not wanting to be seen as racist. I think in the privacy of the voting booth, Obama will fall for the same reasons as other presidents have fallen—he’s done a lousy job.

74% of Americans favor a spending cap

As the federal government rapidly approaches the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, 96 percent of Americans say it is important to reduce the national debt, according to a new Reason Foundation-Rupe poll. OF THOSE SURVEYED, 69 PERCENT BELIEVE REDUCING THE NATIONAL DEBT IS “VERY IMPORTANT.”

With the debt piling up, it is also clear that taxpayers do not trust the federal government to live within its means. In fact, the Reason-Rupe survey finds 74 PERCENT OF AMERICANS SUPPORT IMPLEMENTING A SPENDING CAP THAT WOULD PROHIBIT THE GOVERNMENT FROM SPENDING MORE MONEY THAN IT TAKES IN DURING A FISCAL YEAR. ONLY 19 PERCENT OPPOSE A GOVERNMENT SPENDING CAP.

http://reason.com/poll/2011/05/03/cut-debt-poll-finds

This was the lead item, but there’s lots more to read about in this poll.

Palin's Secret Weapon: New Film to Premiere in June

Here’s an interesting article about a film on Sarah Palin. It’s been a hush-hush project and is designed to reintroduce her to America.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/05/25/palins_secret_weapon_new_film_to_premiere_in_june_109949.html


Education:

Indoctrination begins in Kindergarten

There is a difference between an open mind and an empty head. But not everyone agrees. At Harambee Elementary in Maplewood Minnesota, kindergarteners are starting their indoctrination early. The Star Tribune reports that at this school, "A ‘community cultures specialist' tours classes to make sure students are working across racial lines and learning about multiple world view perspectives."

This absurd social engineering could be an object of humor and ridicule, if we weren't all paying for it. That's right: The Star Tribune reports that "FEDERAL GRANTS" HELP FUND THIS AGGRESSIVE INDOCTRINATION OF SMALL CHILDREN.

HARAMBEE PRINCIPAL KRISTINE BLACK SAYS, "WE DON'T SHY AWAY FROM HAVING CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE AND THE WAY WE TREAT EACH OTHER…."

….Linguist Dr. John McWhorter, who has taught at Cornell and Berkeley, notes that "CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE" ACTUALLY MEANS A ONE-SIDED LECTURE. MCWHORTER, WHO IS BLACK, SAYS THAT THE PHRASE "CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE... MEANS THAT BLACK PEOPLE HAVE SOMETHING TO TEACH WHITE PEOPLE IF WHITE PEOPLE WOULD JUST SIT AND LISTEN." That is exactly the sense in which kindergarteners at this Minnesota school have a conversation about race.

And what kind of educational results are parents getting from this bizarre indoctrination? THESE CHILDREN ARE GETTING THE BEST MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION THAT TAXPAYER MONEY CAN BUY, BUT THEIR READING AND MATH SCORES COMPARE POORLY WITH THE "REGULAR" SCHOOL DISTRICTS NEARBY. $25 million was spent on 13,000 students in one year. We are dousing children with every frenzied PC dogma and educational fad imaginable, and nothing works. Minnesota's experiment with social engineering has turned out so poorly that the legislature cut funding for the "integration districts."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/open_mind_or_empty_head.html

The left’s continuing war against human nature.

Vouchers

…Obama's key claim -- i.e., that vouchers don't work -- has been exploded repeatedly. The recent piece by Jason Riley, for example, reminds us that three years ago, OBAMA THROTTLED THE D.C. VOUCHER PROGRAM, DESPITE KNOWING FULL WELL THAT HIS OWN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAD CONDUCTED A STUDY SHOWING THAT STUDENTS IN THE VOUCHER PROGRAM MADE SIGNIFICANT GAINS IN THEIR READING SCORES compared to the students who didn't get vouchers and had to stay in public schools. (The report showed that the students in voucher schools scored the same in math.) Obama kept that report from getting to Congress before it voted at his urging to end the program.

While Obama later pooh-poohed those reading score gains, he touted an even smaller one as reason to expand the boondoggle known as Head Start.

Moreover, Riley notes that a recent study by Patrick Wolf, a professor at the University of Arkansas, shows that the GRADUATION RATE OF THE D.C. VOUCHER SCHOOL KIDS WAS 91%, MUCH HIGHER THAN THAT OF THE KIDS WHO APPLIED FOR VOUCHERS BUT DIDN'T RECEIVE THEM (70%), AND VASTLY HIGHER THAN THAT OF THE OTHER KIDS IN THE D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS (56%). The statistical confidence level for this study is about 99%....
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/good_news_for_school_choice.html

The last statistic about graduation rates should push us to instituting vouchers across the country. We cannot afford to have kids not graduate from high school in the 21st Century.


Energy:

Oil and it’s place in our economy

.….THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY DOES NOT RECEIVE “SUBSIDIES” TO PRODUCE OIL AND NATURAL GAS. IT DOESN’T EVEN GET “SPECIAL TAX BREAKS” OR OUTRIGHT TAX CREDITS. What are falsely described in these terms are ACTUALLY TAX DEDUCTIONS FOR COSTS INCURRED BY COMPANIES IN THE PROCESS OF EXPLORING, DRILLING, PRODUCING AND REFINING THE OIL AND NATURAL GAS that energize this nation’s economy and living standards.

These tax deductions are equivalent or similar to deductions claimed by every US business, large and small, for things like facilities depreciation, equipment, utilities, payroll, and research and development. They are intended to ensure that businesses, like individuals, recover their costs and get taxed only on their net incomes.

Informed Americans also recognize that, IN 2008, OIL AND NATURAL GAS PROVIDED 61% OF THE ENERGY THAT POWERS AMERICA. NATURAL GAS GENERATES ALMOST A QUARTER OF OUR ELECTRICITY. THESE FUELS PROVIDED AFFORDABLE ENERGY 24/7/365, SUPPORTED 9.2 MILLION JOBS, KEPT MILLIONS OFF WELFARE AND FOOD STAMP ROLLS, AND GENERATED BILLIONS IN REVENUE FOR FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

WIND AND SOLAR COMBINED ACCOUNTED FOR BARELY 0.6% OF TOTAL US ENERGY, AND 1.9% OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION, IN 2008 – PROVIDING EXPENSIVE, INTERMITTENT, HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED ENERGY 8/6/312 or less.
IN SUBSIDIES PER UNIT OF ENERGY ACTUALLY PRODUCED, gas-fired electricity generation got 25 cents per megawatt-hour in 2007 subsidies; coal received 44 cents (mostly for clean technology research). By comparison, wind turbines got 23.4 dollars and photovoltaic solar received 24.3 dollars per MWh.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/36764

Lots of misinformation out there by people who absolutely want to bite the hand that provides them with warmth in the winter and power for their living standard.

Society

Genderless upbringing

Kathy Witterick, 38, and David Stocker, 39, are RAISING THEIR THIRD CHILD, STORM, TO BE FREE OF SOCIETAL NORMS REGARDING GENDER. Is Storm male or female? The parents won't say, so no one knows except Storm's older brothers, Jazz and Kio, as well as a close family friend and two midwives who helped deliver the baby.

Lucky Storm, Jazz and Kio to have life-partner parents who aren't constrained by silly "social norm" ... like biology. Practitioners of that pseudo-science called psychology "saw several advantages to the atypical scenario, including true self-determination for Storm."

A pro-family group summed up the situation rather succinctly by noting: "THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE HAVE ENOUGH COMMON SENSE TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS IS LUNACY."

http://nlt.ashbrook.org/2011/05/genderless.php

This is nuts.

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