Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Revised GDP Numbers: Good for You, Bad for Kerry

Revised GDP growth numbers for the 2nd quarter of this year were published this morning. Last month, GDP growth for Q2 was reported to be 2.8%, which was disappointing news to economists, who had projected 3.0% growth. The John Kerry campaign was all-too-happy to pounce on the numbers. Said Kerry's spokesman, Phil Singer:
    "The ink on George Bush's economic record is starting to dry. These GDP numbers are the latest piece of evidence that George Bush is misleading Americans when he says the economy has turned the corner.

Flash forward to today, and the Commerce Department reports final numbers for second quarter GDP growth. It turns out that our economy expanded at a 3.3% annual rate, much stronger than previously reported and stronger than economists had forecasted for the quarter. Key drivers behind the revision were upward revisions in US export figures, as well as a downward revision in US import figures for the quarter. USANow would like to ask Phil Singer: Tell me again who is misleading us on the economy?

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

CNN Getting Desperate

USANow has documented previous occasions when CNN headlines seem to present a distorted and biased view of the state of US politics. Today is no different.

In the wake of yet more poll results which show President Bush has a firm lead over John Kerry, CNN offers these two headlines:

  • Kerry Using Humor Read this article and you'll learn all about the budding comedian that is John Kerry. In the article's first example of "Kerry Humor", the candidate chastised Bush for saying he'd follow the same plan for Iraq if he had to do it again. Said Kerry, "How can he possibly serious?". Wow, with jokes like that I'm surprised the guy's not writing for Leno!
  • Edwards slams Bush campaign 'lies' "They will absolutely lie about anything", said Edwards. CNN considers this worthy of a headline on the main page of their website.

    Of course, there is no mention of the Bush campaign. There is no mention of their own CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll which shows Bush with a clear lead!. The results of this poll came out today, yet the headline is buried two pages removed from the main page, and the headline states Bush apparently leads Kerry in pre-debate poll. Hmmmm, the poll shows Bush ahead by 52 to 44 percent, yet the Democrats at CNN say Bush "apparently" leads. Had the results been reversed, rest assured the results would have been on the main page with the title "Kerry clearly leads Bush". Also buried in that story is the fact that the president's approval rating is the highest since January of this year.

    So there you have it, another day, and more clear examples of CNN doing their best to paint a positive picture for John Kerry.
  • Friday, September 24, 2004

    John Kerry's Big Claim: He'll Disarm North Korea!

    Yesterday, we saw that John Kerry was too busy to go to work and listen to Prime Minister Allawi speak to congress. But he was quick to question the integrity of the Prime Minister. Obviously, the campaign is desperate, and we get better insight into the character of Kerry every day as he feels the pressure of his faltering campaign.

    So what is Kerry saying today? He's speaking live right now, and he just said that he will forge an agreement with North Korea which will "end their nuclear weapons program completely and irreversibly". Excuse me? John Kerry is simply going to waltz into Pyongyang and convince dictator Kim Jong-il to end North Korea's nuclear weapons program forever? Is Kerry smoking crack? China, Russia, the United States, and South Korea have been working diplomatic channels for years to disarm North Korea, with little success to date. It's clear that North Korea's nuclear ambitions are strong, and their disarmament demands are unreasonable. Yet Kerry tells us he alone can disarm North Korea with a stroke of a pen.

    The Democratic campaign is under intense pressure as the election nears. Yesterday, their candidate proved he is a poor statesman, prone to insult visiting heads of state. Today, he showed the world that he is naive, if not totally clueless, in regards to international diplomacy and nuclear proliferation. Despite the radical machinations within the Democratic National Committee including mixed messages, forged documents, and a staff makeover which put the Clinton team in charge, polls continue to show that Bush is leading this race. Message to Terry McCauliffe: It's the candidate, stupid.

    Thursday, September 23, 2004

    Kerry Now Insulting Foreign Heads of State

    Prime Minister Ayad Allawi spoke before congress today and gave his assessment of the situation in Iraq. As we've come to expect, John Kerry did not make the time to attend Allawi's speech. Yet that didn't stop Mr. Kerry from immediately assailing Allawi. Kerry today said, “I think the prime minister is, obviously, contradicting his own statement of a few days ago, where he said the terrorists are pouring into the country. The prime minister and the president are here to put their best face on the story"

    Is Kerry justified in accusing Allawi of changing his story? Did Allawi change his message just to paint a rosy picture for congress?

    Let's take a closer look at what Allawi said a few days ago on ABC: “Foreign terrorists are still pouring in, and they’re trying to inflict damage on Iraq to undermine Iraq and to undermine the process, democratic process in Iraq, and, indeed, this is their last stand,” Allawi said. “So they are putting a very severe fight on Iraq. We are winning. We will continue to win. We are going to prevail.

    Again, John Kerry is too busy to go to work. And again, there seems to be no limits to the depths that Kerry will sink in order to get elected, including distorting the statements of a visiting prime minister.

    =======================
    Quotes taken from MSNBC online story and video clip of Kerry on Fox News.

    Wednesday, September 22, 2004

    BREAKING NEWS: al-Zarqawi Spiritual Aid Killed

    The "spiritual aid" of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed in a US strike today.

    Waiting on details to emerge, but I'd be really surprised if the United States has been able to take out Satan.

    John Kerry in Crisis Mode

    The last 4 weeks have been the worst of times for the Kerry campaign. We've seen turnover in his campaign staff, we've seen more commercials about Kerry throwing away United States issued military medals, we've seen strong economic numbers, and we've seen George Bush surge in the polls.

    So how does Mr. Kerry respond to such a campaign crisis? Apparently, he cozies up to the comfort his old liberal idealogies in a virtual liberal fetal position, trying to isolate himself from the rest of the political world. Kerry has apparently found security in his liberal causes such as attacking the military, affirmative action, and painting US big business as the enemy.

    Speaking yesterday, Kerry labeled "every step" of the US prosecution of the war in Iraq as "arrogant" and "incompetent". I'm sure that will play well in the homes of the families of our nation's service men and women.

    Today, we hear that Kerry labeled Bush's Social Security privatization plan as a "ripoff". Citing a University of Chicago that stated that financial institutions would, heaven forbid, profit from the plan, Kerry stated the program caters to "special interests". Since when are US corporations "special interests"?

    In the strongest sign of Kerry's march to the far left, he resorted to racial division while speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus. During his speech, Kerry labeled the black community as a "nation within a nation", and he pledged to "end the division between the fortunate America and the forgotten America". I'm not sure what Kerry is alluding to here, because neither the Bush administration nor the Republican Party has "forgotten" about the African American community. Clearly, Kerry is simply trying to fire up the African American vote by inflaming racial tensions.

    Apparently when the going gets tough, Kerry goes left.

    Saturday, September 18, 2004

    Houston Tax $$ Used to 'Memorialize' White on Black Violence

    The Houston City Council, with support of mayor Bill White, approved a project which would allocate $2,000,000 city dollars to pay for a black history museum. Many have questioned the initiative, since city dollars are not typically spent on the needs of discrete racial, religious, or cultural groups.

    As stated in the Houston Chronicle, the city council felt it appropriate to buy land in the city's expensive museum district for the proposed Houston Museum of African American Culture, which would highlight the contribution of blacks to Houston's history and memorialize the discrimination and violence they suffered at the hands of whites.

    The Chronicle article continued by quoting from U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee"Nearly two centuries ago people of African ancestry helped to establish the Houston and Galveston areas by assuming some of the most oppressive jobs on the railroads, building roads, and dredging the mosquito-infested bayou to make it more navigable for shipping," em>

    So not only are tax dollars being allocated for something expressly for the African American community, the purpose of this museum is to memorialize white on black violence. And according to Jackson Lee, African Americans should be commemorated because they took tough and oppressive jobs. Does she think that blacks cornered the market on the tough jobs? Does she really believe that there were no English, Irish, Spanish, etc. who also worked hard to build Houston?

    More importantly, why should violence from 100 years ago be "memorialized"? 100 years from now, will the City of Houston pay for a museum to memorialize the black on white crime that takes place in our city every day? Some how I doubt it, because even mentioning the fact that black on white crime is far too prevalent in this nation is viewed as "intolerant" and "racist". White and Jackson would prefer that we close our eyes to black on white violence while at the same time spend tax dollars to "memorialize" white on black violence.

    Thursday, September 16, 2004

    CNN Biased or USANow too Sensitive?

    We've all heard the accusations that the media is clearly liberal. Study after study reveals a liberal bias in the media, but is this bias obvious and influential, or subtle and benign?

    Right now, CNN's website has 3 headlines related to the presidential election. These are the headline titles:
  • Kerry:Bush 'living in fantasy world' on Iraq - This headline is conveniently placed beneath two other headlines with negative news on Iraq.
  • Kerry focusing on Bush record
  • Kerry rips Bush on jobs.

    There you have it: 3 headlines from CNN and every one highlights Kerry attacks on Bush, even to the point of including Kerry talking points in the headline.

    Subtle and benign, or obvious and influential?
  • Wednesday, September 15, 2004

    More Good News on the Economy

    As reported by CBS MarketWatch, output of U.S. factories, mines and utilities rose modestly in August after July's gains were revised upward, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday. Industrial output rose 0.1 percent last month to 116.6 on the Fed's index, surpassing the pre-recession peak of 116.4 recorded in June, 2000. What CBS did not mention was that the size of the July revision, which was a robust .6%.

    What does all this mean? United States industrial production is now at an all-time high, 116.6% of it's 1997 average. Obviously, one would expect our economy to grow most years, so 'all-time high' industrial production numbers are not necessarily a big story, unless of course you're John Kerry and you're trying to paint our economy as faltering. However, after the recession of 2000 and the terrorist attack on 9/11/01, industrial output plummeted and stood at 110 as of June last year. The climb from 110 to 116.6 over the prior 14 months is yet another indicator that our economy is indeed steadily growing, despite what the Kerry camp would lead you to believe.

    Monday, September 13, 2004

    Kerry is Desperate: Again Turns to Lies and Distortions

    Question: What does the Democratic nominee for president do when the going gets tough?

    Answer: Stirs up racial tensions through lies and distortions.

    From an AP report this weekend, John Kerry said: "We are not going to stand by and allow another million African American votes to go uncounted in this election," the Democratic presidential nominee told the Congressional Black Caucus. "We are not going to stand by and allow acts of voter suppression, and we're hearing those things again in this election."

    These are major accusations made by Mr. Kerry. As you would expect, a principled man like John Kerry would never make such a public accusation without considerable evidence to support his cause. Here is the littany of substantiating facts that John Kerry has produced in support of his allegations:





  • There you have it. Outrageous, race-baiting accusations, without so much as 1 piece of supporting evidence. Tell me again why I should vote for this man?
  • Friday, September 10, 2004

    Wow! The Tide has Turned!

    Few would argue that this has been a bad couple of weeks for John Kerry. The Republican National Convention was a clear success, Democrats are unable to convince the nation that John Kerry is indeed strong on defense, and the economy is picking up steam.

    I heard last week that Bush had taken a double digit lead in the polls, but I was skeptical. Then more polls came out showing Bush up anywhere from 5 to 11 points. However, Fox News/Opinion Dynamic's poll, which typically seemed to favor Bush, showed the incumbent with a mere 2% lead. What to believe?

    Well, take a look at the latest story from MSNBC, which includes an opinion poll on the election. Over the past several months, this poll seems to consistently show Kerry with a double digit lead, even when other polls were much closer. I had written this up to the fact that perhaps MSNBC online viewers were more heavily Democratic than the rest of the population. However, today MSNBC's poll shows George Bush with an 11% lead, 55% to 44%! This poll includes over 219,000 respondents.

    Of course, there could be some shenanigans going on by clever Republicans, but it's more likely that even among MSNBC online readers, George Bush has now surged ahead of Kerry by a wide margin.

    Thanks be to God.

    Thursday, September 09, 2004

    HaloScan Comments Down

    My comment provider, HaloScan, has been having technical difficulties lately. Performance has been horrible, and tonight they are not rendering on my blog. I've recently received several comments challenging my point of view. I sincerely welcome any and all comments, so I want to make it clear that I haven't disabled comments just to avoid taking any heat.

    On another note....are those documents about Bush's National Guard service that were surfaced by CBS forgeries? Apparently the document has superscripts on military unit numbers. My IBM Selectric didn't have superscripting in 1982, so it would be a surprise if military typewriters in 1972 supported superscripting. The companion document does not show any superscripts, but there is a space between unit numbers and the 'th'. For those of you familiar with Microsoft word, the user must put a space before the 'th' in order to avoid a superscript. Perhaps the 2nd forger was a little smarter than the first, and tried to avoid the telltale superscript. This story is still developing, and at this point I'll assume the documents are legitimate, but between the superscripting issue and the purported proportional font used on the documents, they appear circa 2004 as opposed to 1972.

    Taking On FactCheck.org

    FactCheck.org is a purported non-partisan group attempting to uncover the real truth behind political advertisements and campaign rhetoric. After a quick review of one of their fact checking analyses, it appears they are simply another flagrant example of the media dressing up as non-partisan. FactCheck readers are led to believe they are consuming unbiased analysis, when in fact they are only getting liberal spin.

    FactCheck recently published this analysis of Zell Miller's speech at the Republican National Convention. This analysis has been used throughout blogsphere and on political bulletin boards as de facto proof that Miller's characterization of Kerry's military service was inaccurate. FactCheck attempts to paint Kerry as strong on defense, and labels Miller's speech as "out of date".

    After a quick review of FactCheck's analysis, the errors and false premises become obvious to even the most casual observer. Here are but a few:

  • FactCheck admits that "Kerry did oppose all the weapons Miller cited when he was a candidate for the Senate in 1984, and did vote against the B-2 bomber, Trident nuclear subs and "star wars" anti-missile system more than a decade ago. Kerry also voted in three different years against the entire Pentagon budget."
  • In defense of Kerry, the analysis goes on to state "in his nearly 20 years in office Kerry's record has evolved. Kerry hasn't opposed an annual Pentagon appropriation since 1996. And he's voted for them far more often than against them." The only "pro-defense" evidence that is uncovered by FactCheck are Kerry's votes for general Pentagon appropriations...hardly the hallmark of a strong-on-defense senator.
  • In chastising the Republicans, FactCheck.org states "The best they (Republicans) can do is point to occasional votes Kerry cast against the entire Pentagon budget, which hardly constitutes opposition to any specific weapon." How can this statement be made in good faith when the site admits that Kerry voted against the B-2, Trident subs, anti-missile systems, etc.? Secondly, if casting a vote against the entire Pentagon budget "hardly constitutes opposition to any specific weapon", then how can voting for the appropriations bills in other years constitute support for specific weapons? The answer is that it cannot. FactCheck attempts to use a double standard, and as a result their partisan bias becomes clear.
  • Finally, the article states: "Miller (in his speech at the RNC) was a bit more careful in his wording than some previous Republican critics, and avoided saying anything factually incorrect."

    This is the best the Democrats can do? We get a half-baked, swiss cheese analysis from a supposedly 'non-partisan' group? This group states Miller and the Republicans are off-base in criticizing Kerry, but even they admit that everything Miller said was factually correct. Given the incompetence of Democratic organizations like FactCheck, it is little wonder that Bush is surging ahead in the polls.
  • Wednesday, September 08, 2004

    Another Judge OKs Partial Birth Abortion

    In another blow to the pro-life movement, US District Judge Richard Kopf from Nebraska ruled against the government's ban of Partial Birth Abortion. See the full story here.

    "Highlights" of the story reveal that 1,200,000 abortions are performed in the United States each year. It is estimated that the number of partial birth abortions range from 2,200 to 5,000 each year.

    In issuing his ruling, Judge Kopf stated that he ruled against the law passed by congress because it does not include a health exception for the woman. Let's be clear that the law does include an exception if the mother's life is in danger. A rational person would expect that this law, in its current form, as passed by both houses of congress and by the president, would not be subject to the whims of radical judges. Unfortunately this ruling makes it clear that activist judges are hell-bent on legislating from the bench in order to protect a woman's right to terminate her preganancy anytime, anywhere, for any reason, using any means.

    USANows' prediction: If a revised law is passed to include a health exception, abortion rights activists will continue to support the grisly procedure using the mother's mental health as the basis on which to make exceptions.

    Tuesday, September 07, 2004

    More Bush Records Uncovered

    We now have a clearer picture of George Bush's military record during his Air National Guard. Notable findings include:
  • Bush was ranked number 22 out of 53 pilots.
  • Bush made a grade of 88 on total airmanship and a perfect 100 for flying without navigational instruments.
  • Other scores ranged from 89 in flight planning to 98 in aviation physiology.

    Quite interesting how Bush's record of achievement offers a stark contrast to critic's claims that Bush is a dimwit. Although questions remain about why Bush missed a medical exam and therefore lost his pilot's status in August of 1972, it's clear that he performed well while in the Air National Guard.
  • Monday, September 06, 2004

    Jobs News

    Late last week the Department of Labor announced that 144,000 new jobs were created in August. In addition, the minimal gain of 12,000 jobs previously reported for the month of July was revised upwards to 73,000. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%.

    Over the past 12 months, 1.68 million new jobs have been created. Year to date, 1.44 million new jobs have been created in the US. At our current pace this year, nearly 2.5 million jobs will be created in 2004, which exceeds the administration's projections. You might recall that the Bush administration was largely ridiculed when their projections for 2.2 million new jobs was announced.

    This is great news for everyone, except possibly the John Kerry campaign. Of course, the Kerry campaign will likely respond to the tune "these aren't the right kind of jobs, they're low paying". Just to head that argument off at the pass, the Department of Labor just announced that average hourly wages for non-supervisory workersagain increased last month. The wage gains realized in July and August represent the largest back to back gains in 2 years.

    It's fair to conclude that our economy is growing, new jobs are being created, and hourly workers are indeed seeing wage growth.

    Friday, September 03, 2004

    US Navy Now Challenging Kerry's Medals

    Check out this story on Newsmax which cites a Navy spokesman as stating that the Kerry campaign website overstates his number of bronze stars, and overstates the nature of his Silver Star medal.

    The Silver Star is the third highest medal our nation offers. Kerry's website lists his Silver Star with a 'combat V' for valor. However, the 'V' designation is never awarded with the Silver Star.

    Personally, I think this is a non-issue. Take a look at John Kerry's DD214 and you'll see that his records do indeed state the 'combat V' designation for his Silver Star. We can conclude that either 1)some desk clerk made an error decades ago, 2)the Navy spokesman is incorrect, or 3) the records have been altered. USANow chalks it up to a desk clerk error at this point, but I suspect this isn't the last word on the story.

    Liberal Comedienne Plays Radical Feminist on MSNBC

    How in the world Janeane Garofalo ever landed a spot on MSNBC's political analysis desk during the Republican Convention I'll never know. For a little background, Garofalo is the former Saturday Night Live actress who has now taken up radical feminist causes. She is an out-spoken supporter of abortion rights, and has participated in several feminists marches and demonstrations.


    Janeane Garofalo

    Her performance last night suggests she should stick to acting. Bemoaning Bush's usage of the "ownership society" term, Garofalo went on a tirade at other Republican slogans. Stated Garofalo: "It's not partial birth abortion. There's no such thing....it's 'dilation and extraction'!".

    Wow, for somebody so confident in her support of anytime/anywhere abortions, she sure is defensive about this partial birth abortion thing. If something is such an inalienable right, if a 6 month old unborn child really is part of his/her's mother's body, what difference does it make what we call it? And why are radical feminists trying to coin a term that doesn't even include the word 'aboortion'?

    As previously covered by USANow, partial birth abortion involves partially delivering the unborn child prior to performing the abortion. Partial birth abortion is a term which is 100% accurately descriptive of this inhumane procedure. How this label is offensive to Garofalo is beyond me...unless of course hearing the truth hurts.