The Art of Being Shown Up - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
The Art of Being Shown Up
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WE ALL SCREAM FOR MAINSTREAM
Re: Lorie Byrd’s Show Me:

You may also add the following to Lorie Byrd’s list of signs that liberal media bias is past practice:

…when United States military casualties in the Middle East are reported as heroic individual sacrifices in the advance of freedom and not regrettable anonymous demerits against a steadfast American President.
Deane Fish
Altamont, New York

I enjoyed the article by Lorie Byrd this morning. How silly of people to say that bloggers are not journalists.

Ms. Byrd was informative and amusing. I hope you will carry more of her writings.
Maggie Gara
New York

What would it take for me to believe that the “mainstream media” is becoming more balanced? For a start, I would settle for just one story to end with a comment from a Conservative rather than a liberal. Just one. Nah, never gonna happen. The “mainstream media” will just keep judging themselves innocent of liberal bias even while they sink into complete irrelevance.
Chris Norman
Durham, North Carolina

Thank you for sharing Lorie Byrd’s “Media Matters” list.

A few of my favorite examples to share with MSM defenders:

When NOW whines, the world hears, often on the front pages of major newspapers. Concerned Women for America, representing more American women and supporting traditional American values, can’t buy ad space.

There are 97 Senators, each with an equal voice, holding forums, supporting positions, representing constituents — and we get Reid, Clinton and Kerry, with regular scatterings of Byrd and Kennedy — OPINING as “news” across the New York Times and Washington Post front pages.

My #1 pet press peeve, proof of dangerous press bias, big time is Iraq war coverage ignoring the daily victories across Iraq, and reporting the latest enemy PR from the Palestine Hotel bar. The only Republicans who appear on Sunday “news” shows and in the front pages of the above ”papers of record” — Republicans who vocally denounced Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld.

My rule for who NOT to vote for in 2008: Any Republican who sides with Hillary, condemns Rummy, proudly claims to know more than the Generals on the ground or the CinC who attends daily security briefings about how to run the war on terror, post-9/11.

ACK!

Biased isn’t the word for today’s Seymour Hersh fans and followers.
Heather

Excellent summary of Liberal “Tells” for the MSM, but the most significant of all deserves mention: “when the Canadiens face off against the Bruins (pronounced “Broons”) on a warm day in hell.”
Gene Wright
Laguna Niguel, California

Amen, Lorie!
Kitty Myers
Painted Post, New York

WIDGETS FOR SALE
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell’s Captured by the Ethernet:

An excellent article. I particularly liked the “…unlike those for the humanities these are harder to fake” line.

It’s not so much that the activities in some disciplines might be “faked,” but the success or failure of those endeavors is judged by other humans rendering an opinion.

In the science and technology world (and some other disciplines, as well), the measure of success is not someone’s opinion, rather it is the physical output of a machine, or of a chemical process, or of an electronic transfer of a message, to take it back to the Ethernet/Internet inventors discussed in your article. If ones endeavor results in a physical phenomena that can be independently duplicated by others, faking it is out of the question. On the other hand, if one is careful in selecting the judge, almost anything can emerge as a “success.” Witness the recent Central Park nonsense by Christo. Someone must have thought that abomination to be an artistic success, or they would have not allowed its construction, regardless of the source of the funds. Kudos to those whose work led to today’s non-fake technological gadgets that we use today. These innovations have become the tools used for the next generation of innovations.

Did former Vice President Al Gore also miss the email invitation, or was he there to share the spotlight with the Internet inventors?
Rich Renken
Ballwin, Missouri

While there is no sign that the innovations are ending there are clear signs that America’s role in creating those innovations will soon be ending.

According a March 3, 2005, press release from the IEEE-USA, American technical employment has fallen by 220,000 jobs since the year 2000. The number of employed computer programmers has fallen by 24% and the number of employed electrical and electronic engineers has fallen by 23%.

Forbes reports that Singapore has surpassed the U.S. as the top tech nation.

Business Week reports in its “Outsourcing Innovation” article that 80% of American R&D engineers can easily be outsourced. The article predicts that American electronic giants may soon shrink their American R&D engineering staffs from thousands to mere hundreds. Already the article reports that cooperative R&D budgets are shrinking. For example, “Cisco Systems’ R&D budget has dropped from its old average of 17% to 14.5%.”

American engineers are being butchered on the altar of “free trade” and by the importation of H-1b workers. Enrollment in computer science programs at American universities has declined for the fourth straight year. Similar declines have been reported for enrollment in Electrical Engineering programs. American engineering students aren’t stupid. They know there are no longer any jobs in these fields and so are switching to non-technical fields where they may be able to find work.

Thanks to the suicidal stupidity of “free trade,” America soon won’t have an engineering workforce. Every American engineering job that is off-shored makes the country that receives it that much closer to overtaking the U.S. in technology. Nor can America soon recover from the loss of its engineers. It takes an average of five years to train an engineer and then another three to five years before they become fully productive.

Tell me, those of you who support free trade, if we have an economy that invents nothing and manufactures nothing, how can we ever bring down our ever-exploding trade deficit?

If the American engineering workforce is destroyed by offshoring who will build and design the next generation of weapons to defend this country? What will we do? Import weapons from China?

The invention of new technologies won’t save the American engineering work force either. If American corporations can outsource Electrical and Software Engineering jobs they will find it equally easy to offshore positions in new technologies such as nano-technology or bio-technology.

Thanks to the shortsighted stupidity of America’s business and political leaders the age of American innovation is ending and with it America’s superpower status. We were once the world leaders in technology. Without a strong American engineering workforce we can’t lead the world in technology. If we don’t lead the world in technology we won’t be a superpower.
James G. Marino

DUST OFF THE CONSTITUTION
Re: David Holman’s Filibuster or Bust:

David Holman is correct when he states that the Democrats in the Senate are becoming desperate. Yesterday I heard Chuck Schumer claim that the Constitutional or Nuclear option is “unconstitutional.” My advice to all the Democrats in the Senate is to blow the inch or so of accumulated dust off of their copies of the Constitution and refer to Article I, Section 5, Paragraph 2, which says, “Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings.” It is from this paragraph that the Senate created the rule of Filibuster and in 1917 created cloture, which was amended in 1959. Filibuster was created to allow free and extended debate, when this was used as a tactic to simply delay the business of the Senate the cloture rule was created.

Now when Sen. Schumer charges that the Republicans are engaging in an “unconstitutional” act, he is either being deliberately deceitful or merely proving his ignorance. The same portion of the Constitution that allows filibuster, allows the Republicans to change the rules regarding it. Rather, the Republicans should be charging that the Democrats are acting in an unconstitutional manner by not using the filibuster for its intended purpose, which is free and extended debate. In fact the Democrats are not using the filibuster to debate at all!

The Senate rules regarding filibuster have been changed twice before and the Republican majority is well within its rights to do so again. In fact under the Constitution, they would be within their rights if they abolished it altogether. I don’t feel that this would be wise, but it would be constitutional.

A final thought: Given that recent polls have shown that high school aged children are woefully unaware of their constitutional rights, could not one suspect that the collusion between the NEA and the Democrats in reducing role that our founding fathers and the Constitution play in the curriculum, make it easier for them to bamboozle the public at large on issues like this?
Scotty Uhrich
Glyndon, Minnesota

The Dems don’t have to worry about the nuclear option as Frist doesn’t have the nerve needed to use it.
Dan Mittelman

DEFENESTRATIONS
Re: Chris’s letter (under “Tyrants in Robes”) in Reader Mail’s The View From the Outback and George Neumayr’s Lawless Judges:

The letter from Chris of Lynwood, California, states, “Like prostitutes, homosexuals are free to make any arrangements of privilege with each other. Redefining “marriage” is not allowed to any “class” of individuals; that is up to society as a whole.” Actually, this is no longer true. Virginia has now passed laws making contracts between same sex people (whether they are homosexual or not) non-binding. Chris may not realize this but we don’t live in a democracy, but rather a Republic which means that “majority rule” is not in place. Thank God (pun intended), lest we be ruled by the stalwarts of Judeo-Christian values like Jim Bakker and Rev. Fred Phelps.

What happened to the Conservatives of 20 years ago? The Republican Party has become nothing more than religious zealots and neo-cons obsessed with abortion and gay marriage. The small “L” libertarians, like me, do not want the morality police telling us what to do or not to do. It is the height of hypocrisy and cowardice for those on the right to pass laws or constitutional amendments to dictate the behavior of others. This is particularly shameful because they are passing laws that don’t impact them because they are not gay. Interestingly, they are married but not interested in saving their own marriages (50% divorce rate), taking care of the children they create (30-70% illegitimacy), or living by their own neo-con values (rampant adultery and 1.5 million abortions every year).

Judicial activism would subside if only there were fewer discriminatory laws. Courts get involved when they have to, when legislatures are creating bad law (which it is most of the time). Chris, hopefully once you have outlawed abortion and gay marriage (and maybe even the very existence of gay people), the morality police will come after you. If we keep heading down this path of “Judeo-Christian values”, they will eventually outlaw everything and we will be the Christian version of Saudi Arabia. No thanks.
Ben
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Neumayr is living in some kind of self propounded night mare. We do not live in a tyranny of the judiciary. We live in a tyranny of the BS artist. The judiciary has no power to enforce ANY decision it makes; witness the Andrew Jackson fiasco. The declaration by Mr. Neumayr that we need to live as one nation under God is part of the BS he would subject us to. The Constitution specifically exempts us from the effects of such imposed BS. Keep your religious prejudices out of it; if you do not wish to be married to a man, then don’t marry one. It’s as simple as that.

However, when you start advocating against equal protection under law, I am overjoyed we have some judges who feel proud to uphold the rule of law over the rule of hate. For that is what your abominable attitude contains; hate for citizens who don’t live the way you want. All your bloviating about judicial tyranny means nothing. Your real intent is obvious; suppress those you don’t agree with and use God as a distraction and excuse while waving the red flag of judicial activism.

As a spectator you are a particularly bad reporter.
John B. Brown
Buffalo, Wyoming

Don’t forget that in 1618 the good people of Prague rose up against their judicial masters, appointed by the Austrian Hapsburgs. They threw them out the windows of the courthouse and the mob tore them to pieces, setting off the Thirty Years War. You are absolutely right about anarchy following tyranny. Something must be done to rein in these runaway judges. Unfortunately, the legislatures don’t seem too interested in protecting their prerogatives.
Gilbert R. Ohlson
St. Joseph, Missouri

NEXT UP
Re: Wlady Pleszczynski’s Steroids on Deck:

Now that Congress has nothing better than get the MLB on the hot seat, wouldn’t it be a good time to check in on Hollywood? They seem to have a problem with drugs or do they get a free ride because of their support for the Dems?
Clifford Gerald
Satellite Beach, Florida

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