Fractured Facts

I think the problem with American politics is that we have a short memory.  We forget the past.  It's as if all politicians have The Force on their side.  All they have to do is wave their hand across the front of your face and whisper, "Never mind about that...it never happened."

The GOP is doing this now with unemployment.  "Luke...we weren't losing 700,000 jobs a  month at the end of the Bush administration."

Either that or we are too trusting. "If he said that, then it must be true."

I write this as I think about a Republican that was on MSNBC last night.  He said that he would shut down the government if money for Planned Parenthood wasn't cut.  He said most American's wanted him to do that (Hey! He said it so it must me true....right?)  He said that he wanted to shut it down because it was using Federal dollars to pay for abortion.

So, I looked this up.  Turns out that 84% of the money spent by Planned Parenthood was used to either treat STDs or prevent unwanted pregnancies (which they do with condoms and birth control pills).  Also, the Hyde act of 1976 prevents Federal funds from being spent on abortions.

So, what this politician is really trying to do is eliminate planned parenthood which would actually increase unwanted pregnancies and thus increase abortions.

Actually, I'm not being fair.  I don't think he really wants to increase abortions.  So, why is he taking this stand if it Will increase abortions?  Simple:  It sounds good to his base.  It energizes his base.   He claims he is stopping the use of Federal Funds for abortion, which he is not.  This gets the Conservative base all in a tizzy and they begin to cheer.  Remember, this is a group of people that will vote for you just because you start every speech with "Let's say a prayer for our troops."  (you know, the ones they sent over there to make Bush's dad proud)

All the while, what they are really cheering for is a congressman that is trying to do just the opposite of what they want him to do.  He doesn't care that they don't understand.  He just cares that they are clapping.

Note:  Yesterday's blog has a comment that, I think implies that my economic assumptions are incorrect.  They probably are.  I say this because I think nearly 100% of all economic assumptions are incorrect.  However, the poster failed to explain how my assumptions were wrong.

Here is the deal.  I have no intention of editing out comments.  You want to post a comment, go ahead.  Constructive comments are better than judgmental ones.  Convince me I'm wrong.  I have no problem changing my mind in the face of a persuasive argument.

Onward.

Bristol Palin did 15-20 days of work for a charity in 2009 that promoted Stopping Teen Pregnancy Through Abstinence.  For this work, she got $262,500.  The charity got $35,000.   Hmmmm

Glen Beck is out.  He still has 2,000,000 viewers (a 33% decline from last year) but he has lost over 300 advertisers.  If you've seen his show, its all about the end of the world, mostly caused by Obama the Black Supremest.  It turns out that people don't do a lot of shopping if they think the world is ending so no one wants to advertise on his show.

I have a problem with this.  Where will I get my material if he is out of the picture.  And, who will run the Republican Party?  Oh yeah, there is still Hannity and O'Reilly.

I came across a web site that did a little research on which politicians were the least honest.  According to them, #1 least honest is Michele Bachman.  They checked 19 statements she made and came up with the following:

True: 0
Mostly True: 0
Half True: 3
Barely True: 2
False: 8
Pants on Fire: 6

For those of you that don't know Michele Bachman, she is the Tea Party's candidate for president.  I saw a news team ask her about all of the accusations of false statements.  Her reply was to talk about her resume.  It's as if they'd said, "Do you think it will rain today?"  and she replied with, "I like ice cream."

Number 2 was the Steele (RNC) and number 3 was Dean (DNC).  I won't go into details since they are not candidates.

Number 4 was....drum roll....Sarah Palin, another Tea Party darling.

They checked 45 statements she made and came up with the following:

True: 10

Mostly True: 6

Half True: 7

Barely True: 6

False: 12

Pants on Fire: 4

Noteworthy is the fact that Pelosi was on the list as well; not surprising to me.

There are a number of Fact Checker websites out there.  I wish they would all consolidate into one big site.  This would give them enough material for a 24 hour show akin to CNN.

Since I spent so much time on "keeping them honest" above, I will forgo my youtube video today.

The world is calling and I must go.

Up, up and away...

jim