. . . And There You Have It

The AP and Yahoo! "published" the results of a poll trumpeting "Happy in their Personal Lives, Americans worry about country". This reminds me of a song I learned as a child: "If you're happy and you worry clap your hands! [clap clap ]" And wouldn't you know, instead of giving us numbers, the lead paragraph targets President Boosh.

Julie Murray says life is good. Yet gasoline prices are crimping her grocery budget, she can't afford a larger house, and she says President Bush is not focused enough on people's problems at home.

What we like most about these readouts is how much interpretation is left to the journalist.

Like Murray, most in the U.S. say they are personally happy and feel in control of their lives and finances, according to an extensive Associated Press-Yahoo! News survey on the mood of voters. Beneath the surface, though, personal and political discontent is bubbling.

Although "most" Americans are happy, there's "personal and political discontent"? Where does "bubbling" come in? Was it not there yesterday? If this is one poll readout and not a series of polls, why use a comparative description like "bubbling"?

There is a widespread unease—shared by 77 percent—that the country has meandered off in the wrong direction. Nearly all Democrats and more than six in 10 Republicans think the country has taken the wrong course. And although almost half express interest and hope in the upcoming elections, a third voice frustration—particularly Republicans.

"Meandered off in the wrong direction"? What are we, cattle? What question or questions were asked to come to that conclusion? A third of Republicans "voice frustration"? About what? Elections? Why? Here's one of my favorite paragraphs:

Stirred in are warning signs for Republican candidates: Democrats seething after nearly seven years under President Bush are happier and more psyched up about this election than Republicans.

"Democrats seething" -- who would have guessed? And how scientific "happier and more psyched up" sounds. This next statement I will let speak for itself:

Happy and unhappy people alike say they are likelier to vote for the Democratic nominee, with the unhappy—who are likelier to be lower-income and less educated—giving Democrats a bigger, 2-to-1 margin.

Heh.

With the limp housing and credit markets dominating recent headlines, financial problems are at the heart of many people's worries. Though three-quarters say they control their financial situation, most say they are having trouble getting ahead, including a third who say that has become very difficult.

"Most?" How can 75% respond that they "control their financial situation", but "most" say they are "having trouble getting ahead"? What defines "control"?

Here's the clincher:

The online survey of 2,230 adults was conducted Nov. 2-12 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. The survey included 1,049 Democrats, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points, and 827 Republicans, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

This Internet survey uses Knowledge Networks' online panel, which is nationally representative because people are first contacted using traditional telephone polling methods, and then followed with online interviews. People selected for the study who do not already have Internet access are provided with it for free.

Ah, a scientific internet survey. Not sure what an "online interview" is. My computer beeps at me occasionally, but I've never had a conversation with it. The last sentence -- How do you get provided free internet access? How many people own a PC and not have internet access? Does that mean these people got a PC out of the deal? I wish they’d call us; we’d tell them anything they want to hear!

Labels: angry left, online polls

I don't care who made what mistakes (low bail, lenient sentencing, leaky probation), these animals [pedophiles] belong in a category with rapists and serial killers: incurable. Lifetime suspension. Outta here. As long as our justice system treats these savages like the garden variety criminal, we're going to continue to see horrible things happen as it did in Idaho.

I have two words for these demons: penal colony. No jail, no mental hospitals. They need to keep company with their pathetic peers, grow their own food and die in obscurity.

-- ... And There You Have It (Monsters Among Us, July 6, 2005)


“Once every city, town and village passes an ordinance restricting where they can live,” said Buffalo police Lt. David F. Mann, who keeps track of the city’s sex offenders, “I don’t know where we go from there. A penal colony?”

-- The Buffalo News (Nowhere to go, sex offenders come here, September 5, 2007)

Yeah, steriods. Bonds, at 42 (he turns 43 on July 24), drills two homers out of Wrigley Field yesterday. Can we just all agree that he's the best baseball player of his generation and maybe of all time? Now Gary Player is shrieking about roids in golf. Oy.

China Executes Former Food and Drug Regulator
By JOSEPH KAHN 11:27 AM ET
The execution was meant to show that Beijing is serious about improving
the safety of Chinese products.

I'll say!

What can we say about Mike Nifong? Well, he is a Tarheel through and through, born and raised on Tobacco Road, educated in the UNC system and a public servant.

When three rich Yankee kids were fingered by a black "exotic dancer", he saw not only a chance to grab headlines in an election year, he probably saw an opportunity to pander to the largely black population in Durham county, and railroad those rich Yankee kids.

This wasn't about race. It never was. This was about losing the Civil War. This was an anti-Yankee issue all the way and the race card (played by the news media, Nifong and Jesse Jackson) masked the root issue.

For that matter, shame on Jesse Jackson for not apologizing for his uninformed assumptions.

Just for kicks, Google "jesse jackson apologize" and "al sharpton apologize". The double standard is obvious to a lot of people.

We are not Don Imus fans. He comes across to us as an arrogant boob. But we've listened to his show enough to understand what it's about -- which isn't much.

When the news broke of his comments regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team, we thought the news would blow over in a couple of days. He is just another "shock jock" who once again made news by crossing the line again. Unfortunately, a whirlwind of media coverage during a slow news week created a much larger story than we thought it was worth.

Now the remarks themselves didn't bother us much as the fact that they were directed at a team of college coeds. OK, out of line there. Had he said it about a pro women's basketball team, we might have had a different opinion but that is moot.

Our biggest problem is CBS. If Imus committed a transgression of CBS broadcasting standards, he should have been let go the next day. Instead, CBS put its finger to the wind and relied on public outcry (ironically generated by its parters in the media) and fired him after announcing a two-week suspension. CBS (and for that matter MSNBC who also waited to make a decision) showed that they lack the acumen to define what good broadcasting standards are (we don't recall the FCC making any statements so it appears Federal standards weren't violated) and relied on hype and fringe characters like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for direction.

What we found amusing was seeing Don Imus and Al Sharpton sharing a radio mike. If Don Imus is an arrogant boob, Al Sharpton is a bigoted arrogant boob. (wither Tawana Brawley?). By the way, has anyone ever demanded an apology from Al Sharpton, much less has he ever voluntarily given one?

Headline: Chefs fight hunger -- Honolulu Star-Bulletin, March 14th, 2007

Headline: No apology from Gen. Pace for gay stance -- Associated Press, March 14, 2007

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran a front page item called, "Canoe Paddler Infected" next to a photo of a warning sign cautioning bathers of polluted water in the Ala Wai Canal. The lead-in for the article seems to describe things further:

A Punahou student was hospitalized last month after paddling in the Ala Wai Canal. The Canal was still polluted enough yesterday for the state Health Department to issue a warning to stay out of the water.

Anyone who lives in Hawaii knows that you don't fish in the Canal much less eat what you catch, so the notion the article asserts fits in with the local perception that the Ala Wai Canal water is likely contaminated.

The boy had paddled in the Ala Wai Canal on Jan. 31 and was hospitalized Feb. 2 with streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, which is potentially life-threatening, state Department of Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo said yesterday.

So the circumstances support this cause-effect. But get a load of the next paragraph:

Health Department officials believe after consulting with the federal Centers for Disease Control that it is unlikely the boy contracted the bacteria from the canal, Okubo said.

Even a local academic authority weighed in:

"There have been some concerns that these things (streptococcal bacteria) can survive in water. There may be some risk," said [Dr. Alan] Tice, a University of Hawaii associate professor.

Tice said he is not familiar with the student paddler's case, but that it would be far more likely a person would contract a bacterial infection from contact with other people.

Then the article goes on to say the infection is readily preventable:

An e-mail Monday from the Health Department to canoe paddling groups referred them to a CDC Web site for information about streptococcus and advised, "Although strep can be picked up anywhere (including practicing on the Ala Wai Canal), we remind paddlers and other water users to practice good personal hygiene, apply first aid to wounds, and at the onset of any infection or illness, see your personal physician immediately."

So a canoe paddler, who goes to the most prestigious prep school in the state, gets very sick but not very likely from paddling in the Ala Wai but still doesn't have the common sense to shower afterwards. This is a front page story? With a photo? Why do newspapers do this? Why generate artificial anxiety? Aren't we stressed out enough? AAAHHHH!