Stanley Kurtz

The best thing about this election cycle is seeing the return of the classic political machine...Chicago Style. And no it does not make pizza.

Here is the process:

Opposition POV is scheduled to be expressed on some media outlet:

Media outlet (75% of the time) invites target of opposition on to counter or at least put the criticism in context.

Target's representatives decline to show up

Target uses its network to get the rabble out.

Rabble attempts to shutdown opposition via mob tactics and to stifle debate.

Opposition (for the time being) tells them to go fark themselves. the Rabble does not see how fascist they are being instead relying on ad hominem attacks.

Repeat cycle until the Democrat Party gains enough power and influence to bring back the "fairness doctrine" which while sounding nice effectively shuts down free speech...all the while claiming to uphold...rather regulate it making it...not free.

Stanley Kurtz on the x720 program in Chicago last night began to feel this macine at work.

Multiple articles proclaiming him a slimy character assassin and the like as well as a deluge of phone calls and angry emails flooded the show.

This was in response to an "action call" by the Obama campaign and a great deal of misinformation...including their lack of knowledge that the Obama campaign was in fact invited to be on the program.

Not only did they decline to be on the program but they hung up not even really giving the show's producer a fair hearing.

The results of the show were as follows:

Proof by both the foundation and external observers that they ~110 Million Dollar grant and matching funds FAILED to improve public education in any meaningful way.

At no time did Kurtz ever call Obama a terrorist nor did he ever say that he and Ayers shared every single point of view.

He reported the facts that he had uncovered and aside from the waste of about 50 million tax payer dollars (no one gives a crap about the other ~$60M matched by local business owners and philanthropists except for the fact they got bilked).

The host did challenge Kurtz while on air in a very good and intelligent manner. He allowed Kurtz to respond and it was a very good program.

Callers were frequently uninformed as to the offer Barack's campaign. And they were unsatisfied with the efforts of the station to get a challenger on. The truth is that the station made a good faith effort and Obama's supporters just wanted to silence citicism.

a bunch of numb nuts.

To Paul Krugman

*clears throat and shakes hands*

The current economic flat-line is due to many tings. It is however all our fault. We elected people who appointed people to oversee our monetary policy. Those whom we elected got bought or already had a worldview that put them at odds with reality. Alan Greenspan is nothing but a political whore and he says whatever seems to be convenient. He does not predict anything, rather he speaks about a pre-existing trend in what seems to be a calm and intelligent mode. And because he has a reputation, people think he knows something that they do not. He does not. He examines the information that anyone can get and he makes boneheaded statements.

example: in Oct. 2006: 'I suspect that we are coming to the end of this downtrend, as
applications for new mortgages, the most important series, have
flattened out'.

Well we know that was bullshit he was shoveling.

Later in 2007: 'Mr Greenspan said he would expect “as a minimum, large single-digit”
percentage declines in US house prices from peak to trough and added
that he would not be surprised if the fall was “in double digits”.'

The covering himself..."However, he cautioned that it was very difficult to predict how large the ultimate decline would be. "- FT

And then at the end of the article for those comments: 'In his memoirs, Mr Greenspan, a lifelong Republican, criticises his
party for abandoning its small-government principles, and warns that
the trade-off between inflation and growth is likely to worsen.'

Well no shiat Sherlock. I mean goddamn...this is like Economics 101...but less informative.

But all the media and government types listen to him.

So home prices are down 16% on average nation wide and in many places much higher. Well whoopdidoo. High housing prices are a BAD thing for new homeowners. Why the heck should a person be forced to auction off their entire lives to pay for a tiny house on a postage stamp sized lawn? How about you just go to your oversimplified hell and stay there?!

Banks don't have infinite monies and neither do employers. If you keep pushing up the cost of living this is what happens. This is a housing correction...not some unfortunate deletion of equity. Many people overpaid for their McMansions or were not fit to get said loans anyhow no matter the size of the house. You are allowed to negotiate the price of your house. You, and by you I mean the plural impersonal form of you, do not have to take it at the asking price. Sure they want to upgrade but YOU and by YOU I mean ME doesn't have to finance it with my stupidity.

Its the American DREAM, not the American Birthright. You own it if you can afford it. We are still around 94% employment...which is far ahead of many nations that you are likely jealous of regarding their governmental social programs.

The Fed has gotten us in to this mess and needs to jack up interst rates in order to soak up all the inflated dollars...and make our currency WORTH something again. And kudos to you for realizing that the government can't pick up the tab...but fuck you for even suggesting the government should bail out fannie and freddie.

Let me put it this way...your employee...lets say he's a waiter and you are the restuarant owner: serves people food and they get *shock* Hepatitis. Well you don't fucking pat him on the head and say...thats all right I'll fix everything...and keep him employed. No you fire and sue his sorry ass before THEY (the customers) sue the shit out of you. Sure he lied to you and maybe you can get him for fraud...but the customers (i.e. the public) still have a case under most types of agency law as all this happened in the scope of employment making YOU liable. So if the government bails out freddie and fannie...that is like admitting that its the governments fault in the first place.

We as taxpayers ought to be outraged at this waste of our money. Our tax dollars should not be proping up financial institutions...the airlines...the automotive industry...or any other!

Barry's emergency economic plan was stupid...if $600 won't do anything then neither will another $1,000. Sure we'd all like another $1,000 but who is paying for that? Remember how your parents told you money doesn't grow on trees? Well apprarently Barry's parents didn't teach him that lesson.

Here's a real emergency plan: Cut spending on non-essentials, get out of debt ASAP, cut up all but one credit card, and make a budget and stick to it. The feds could do with this as well...especially sticking to a budget. Budgets aren't suggestions they are borders so you know where your financials stand for a given time period.

Surely you just want to help the impoverished with their home heating and other utilities. GReat...fantastic...then get out of the way of cheap energy first, allow for means testing and stop localities like New Haven Connecticut from disbursing the money to illegal aliens and political friends.

Plug the leaks before you start bailing water.

McCain (no matter how much I dislike him) isn't wrong about his economic policies just because Bush has a 20% approval rating. The two aren't connected. Get off your logical fallacied rear end and actually look at the policies and how they will work in both the short AND the long term...and try to connect it to empyrical data rather than political science.


Obama is just WRONG on his economic policies. hold on while I go to his website and read. Be right back...