Do you feel the media is giving a fair portrayal of Sarah Palin?
No. They don't know what to think of her. She's a strong, independent, savvy, reform minded woman that has achieved political success...all without buying into the NOW and feminist claptrap. She's got a large, happy family that is subject to the same trials and joys of most American families.
She's a threat to the established authority on women's issues, because she has rejected the negative and adversarial notions promulgated by those authorities.
Oh yeah, and she doesn't believe in abortion except to save the life of the mother. Horrors!
The media can't understand why someone they've never taken the time to understand could mean so much to regular folks. They don't get it, and it showed after her speech. Andrea Mitchell's crestfallen face was priceless. Keith Olbermann's shellshocked countenance was a refreshing change from his usual bluster. There was no thrill going up Chris Matthews' leg.
Especially satisfying, you see, because of the way these people seized upon baseless rumors borne in the deepest pits of the Daily Kos. Gross, undignified rumors of infidelity, scandal and corruption. Contrast this with the verifiable evidence of John Edwards' adultery and its laughable coverage.
No, they saw a chance to strike a blow at someone who would really shake things up. But they couldn't attack her directly, so they assaulted her teenage daughter. They assaulted her newest son. They offended me, and quite a few of the moderates I speak with.
But she said it best...she's not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. She's got work to do.
Would that the news could devote themselves to truly objective reporting on the very real questions that, I readily admit, need to be asked of McCain's VP choice. Would that they could even try...
Ewan after he missed nearly a page of his maths book:
"But Mum you know I would have got them right. Can't we just leave it at that?"
Er, NO!
I am so mean. Nearly as mean as those examiners he will come across in later life.....
Still reading? The report is actually about regulating blogs, so enjoy your freedom while you can. Although the EU's complete failure to understand the difference between the media and blogs, is both astounding and all telling.
As Raedwald reports, (and MEP Daniel Hannan has been reporting for a while):
From Danniel Hannan's Blog:The report was born from the concerns of a single MEP - Estonian Socialist Marianne Mikko (you wouldn't have guessed, would you?). It was adopted by the Culture Committee, chaired by Greek Socialist Katarina Batzeli (PES). Mikko expands on her concerns HERE.
The blogosphere has so far been a haven of good intentions and relatively honest dealing. However, with blogs becoming commonplace, less principled people will want to use them
What, really? You mean the interweb isn't full of saints and sane normal people? Go on!
we do not see bloggers as a threat. They are in position, however, to considerably pollute cyberspace. We already have too much spam, misinformation and malicious intent in cyberspace. I think the public is still very trusting towards blogs, it is still seen as sincere. And it should remain sincere. For that we need a quality mark, a disclosure of who is really writing and why.
If, for example, I told you that the CIA and MI6 had funded the "Yes" campaign in 1975, you would think me a paranoid conspiracy theorist. So, despite the admission, years later, that this is precisely what occurred, I never mention it.
It's the same when it comes to the EU's determination to clamp down on blogs. Eurocrats instinctively dislike spontaneous activity. To them, "unregulated" is almost synonymous with "illegal". The bureaucratic mindset demands uniformity, licensing, order.
Eurocrats are especially upset because many bloggers, being of an anarchic disposition, are anti-Brussels. In the French, Dutch and Irish referendums, the MSM were uniformly pro-treaty, whereas internet activity was overwhelmingly sceptical.
Edit: I see that Zehra in Gloucester has cast her lawyer's eye over the document (click here for pdf version) and comments:
A dissection of the report - which as a lawyer I can be forgiven for doing (I hope) - pretty much sums up alot about what goes on in the EU that I don't like:
To quote a few of the recommendations on page 5:
"2. Suggests in this respect the creation of independent media ombudsmen in the Member States" - more duplication and EU created bureaucracy?
"7. Proposes the introduction of fees commensurate with the commercial value of the usergenerated content as well as ethical codes and terms of usage for user-generated content in
commercial publications" - fees, more regulation?"9. Suggests clarifying the status, legal or otherwise, of weblogs and encourages their voluntary labelling according to the professional and financial responsibilities and interests of their authors and publishers" - is anything every truly voluntary? But don't take my word for it. Iain Dale writes, "We all know that 'voluntary' soon becomes 'compulsory'. My label is the title of my blog. That is quite sufficient, and I don't need some faceless Eurocrat to tell me otherwise."
"10. Recommends the inclusion of media literacy among the 9 basic competences and supports the development of the European core curriculum for media literacy" - more EU policy intrusion?
The reasons behind such recommendations become apparent when you read the Explantory Statement on pages 7 and 8:
"In this context the report points out that the undetermined and unindicated status of authors and publishers of weblogs causes uncertainties regarding impartiality, reliability, source protection, applicability of ethical codes and the assignment of liability in the event of lawsuits."
The EU doesn't like blogs because it cannot control the content. I found it tragic that the Explanatory Statement began by saying that it welcomed all initiatives aimed at safeguarding democracy and that the media remained an influential political tool. New media has a role to play alongside mainstream journalism in safeguarding democracy and our freedom of speech. It provides an instant source of information in an intimate and often interactive format (through comments) between writer and reader. When I needed information about crises in Georgia, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, blogs were a great source of uncensored, unfiltered and raw information for me.
I am just heading for the tills at Hobbycraft this morning with arms less full than I expected and I notice some stickers that will be really pretty for a scrapbook page that kids and I are working on. As I head up the isle I hear Callum as clear as day:
"Oh! I think Mum got distracted again."
And the three of them drop down into some seats at the front of the store. I had to laugh. He has bloke shopping off pat!!
Commentary by Lance Cpl. Melissa Tugwell
Note: The Marine Corps “Lioness” program pulls female Marines from various job fields and trains them to conduct searches of Iraqi women at security checkpoints in Iraq. Muslim culture prohibits men from touching women they do not know. The program is the Corps’ way of being culturally sensitive while improving the security of the country.
The lionesses undergo seven days of intensive training during which they learn how to carry out their specific mission of searching female Iraqis. They familiarize themselves with a broader array of weapons, refresh their Marine Corps martial arts skills and learn basic Arabic. Once the training wraps up, the female Marines are paired up and then attached to units doing checkpoint operations across the Anbar Province.
Lance Cpl. Melissa Tugwell is a 23-year-old, Lake Charles, LA-native. She is a combat correspondent with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward). She is currently serving as a lioness and will file periodic firsthand reports about the mission.
Report #1: Training
When I arrived at Camp Habaniyah to become a “lioness,” I felt like I was enrolling at a women’s college in a foreign country, not knowing exactly what I was going to major in. Female Marines of all different ages, races, religions, hometowns and job specialties are tapped for this assignment.
All the soon-to-be lionesses quickly bonded, as we collectively wondered what was ahead of us. We'd heard what it's like being a lioness, but everyone had different stories and no one was really sure.
The training has been a mix of classes with Power Point demonstrations and a series of practical applications of the classroom concepts. We’ve gotten a lot of information in a short period of time. We had just seven days of training before we would officially be lionesses and sent off to different units. Every minute of these seven days of training has been jam-packed to get us completely ready.
Our first subject - Arabic 101. We learned words, phrases and numbers to communicate with the women of Iraq. We also learned how to ask basic questions such as "How are you?", "How many children do you have?”, and "Where do you live?"
Our language instructor was an Iraqi civilian who grew up in Bagdad. He quickly became a friend to all of us. He shared with us his experiences growing up and the changes that have taken place. Talking with him was insightful and gave me a deeper understanding of their culture, religion and way of living.
Everyone displayed a genuine curiosity about the Iraqi culture and language. Bridging the language barrier is critical for lionesses to effectively do our job and show the Iraqi civilians that we care and that we are here to help.
Moving out of the classroom, we conducted a practical application of a security checkpoint where role players pretended to be Iraqi females. As soon as the scenario kicked off, everyone realized just how difficult it is to apply the Arabic we learned in the classroom. There are so many dialects of Arabic and all of them have different slang. Our confidence grew, however, as we repeated the rehearsals. We learned what we needed to get the mission accomplished.
Other topics covered during the training included convoy operations, combat life-saving skills, maintaining a combat mindset, Marine Corps martial arts and the proper ways of searching female Iraqis. We also spent a lot of time at the range shooting our M-16 and M-4 service rifles, the M-240 squad automatic weapon, M-249 medium machine gun and AK-47 automatic rifles. In one day, we shot over 4,000 rounds of ammunition.
By the end of the training, our “cammies” could literally stand up alone from the sweat of training in the desert. 19 female Marines had quickly adjusted to a new environment and a new mission. The days flew by with the fast-paced schedule. I was exhausted at the end of each day, which made showering and brushing my teeth at the end of the day seem like a chore. Some spent their little free time reading and studying. Others, myself included, gathered in the smoke pit to discuss their thoughts about the experience.
*Photo courtesy of The Lioness officer-in-charge 1stLt. Jessica Millanes
And I offer my thoughts upon it.
Well, Cindy first. She needs some practice with the teleprompter. She'll have plenty of it, I'm sure. She's a good wife, though. And here's the negative part of my brain, but if I were Team McCain I'd only talk about marriage very briefly. Unfortunate end to the first one and all. But to McCain's credit, he publicly lists that failure as his greatest.
Nobody can accuse McCain of not having a personal stake in the ongoing conflict. And Cindy is a proud mother to all her children.
Bridget McCain is a testament to John and Cindy's pro-life views. McCain is from the old school, though, and doesn't make loud proclamations about his religious beliefs. So, it would be easy to ignore the very compelling story of Bridget. Easy and stupid.
I hope McCain can keep this crowd energized.
****
Here he comes.
The video is good so far. McCain's mom...funny.
Yes, this video is making its point.
Darkness. A light, and he is here. The convention stage is set up in town hall format, allowing him to be more comfortable with this very big speech.
Crowd is enthused. I think they are ready for a real humdinger of a speech.
You can't let the crowd have its way with you.
Damn camera keeps going to the protester up in the balcony. Whatever, bro. You look like Ed Norton from American History X.
"Much more unites us than divides us"...that's hard to keep in mind sometimes. I hear genuine emotion coming from him.
Fracking Code Pinkers. Good on you, McCain. Play 'em off.
McCain really takes corruption personally. Hopefully he'll run out of Veto ink and have to spend $1.50 of our tax money on a new Veto pen. I'd gladly allow that gov't expenditure.
I remember when I wrote John McCain off in the primaries. I'm not as smart as I thought.
John McCain's message on domestic issues hasn't been really addressed this week, until now. He needs to stick with this theme.
"Culture of Life" wot wot!
He needs to talk more about his health insurance plans. Specifics will come, hopefully soon.
Education: Big issue. Help bad teachers find another line of work! Word up.
Gotta stop making Russian billionaires and Middle Eastern Sultans.
DRILL BABY DRILL!
We need to use nuclear power. It's safe, it's clean, and it's efficient. Let's use all the tools at our disposal to help ourselves.
On to Russia...Call them out, McCain.
Wise to not keep Obama at the forefront, but to mention him. This is about McCain, but it's about how he's more suited than Obama.
I can't imagine this man's experience in Vietnam. I can only admire it.
He is right on about service. Humanity needs a cause bigger than itself to serve, individuals need a cause.
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. We make history. Damn right. Hell to the yes.
Aw sh%t. Not that Raising McCain song again. Who thought that was a good idea?
Ok, but that's ok. Here comes Sarah Palin and some instrumental music. And confetti!! Whee!
They're playing Barracuda. Nice.
So overall, this was a positive speech. I think it did a lot to solidify his positions, and it's got me feeling assured that we'll make a good go of it in the next two months.
One of those emails that make you giggle:
BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a change! The chicken wanted change!
JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure right from Day One! that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun?
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road.
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with that chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE: I invented the chicken.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on this side of the road before it goes after the problem on the other side of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his current problems before adding new problems.
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's guilty! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.
JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth? That's why they call it the other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay, too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its lifelong dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2008, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken 2008. This new platform is much more stable and will never crash or need to be rebooted.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?
Sorry!
Sorry more American politics, but this time from the family perspective.
Albert Mohler posted a blog entry way back in May 6, 2008, entitled "Welcome to the World, Trig Paxson Van Palin" about Governor Sarah Palin's pregnancy and the birth of her son with Down's Syndrome. I urge you to go read it and the AP article to which it links.
She loves her baby boy and is proud of him. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin told the Associated Press. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"
Trig Paxson Van Palin has an extra chromosome, two proud and loving parents, four very happy siblings, and he will bring his own joy to untold numbers of lives.
He will face some unique challenges, but he has a loving family who will face those with him. They will learn together the wonder and beauty of a Down syndrome child and will learn to see the glory of God in his trusting face.
Mothers Day 2008 is certain to be a special day in the Alaska Governor's Mansion. What an unspeakable tragedy that so many other homes will have aborted that joy.
Hat tip to Chris for the link.
Sibling dynamics are an interesting study! Today I am missing the two older children. Ewan and Evie have spent the early part of the morning arguing. Ewan is trying to build Lego and Evie is getting in the way. She isn't really very good at building Lego and he has very clear ideas of what he wants to go where. Evie is playing the annoying little sister very well.
Ewan is trying to play the big brother. Usually he leaves that to Callum but he seems to feel that there is a role to be filled now that Callum is away. Evie has other plans. She considers that they are equal even though there is a four year age gap. Conflict is inevitable!
When the children are together there is a well rehearsed and fiercely fought hierarchy. When the numbers change, they are thrown into a bit of confusion! As the morning has gone on, things have settled into a more settled pattern. Well really they have just decided to leave each other alone!
Take a look at the graphs below (from the Washington Post), and look past the obvious Republican vs Democrat arguments:
Obama and McCain Tax Proposals
According to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are both proposing tax plans that would result in cuts for most American families. Obama's plan gives the biggest cuts to those who make the least, while McCain would give the largest cuts to the very wealthy. For the approximately 147,000 families that make up the top 0.1 percent of the income scale, the difference between the two plans is stark. While McCain offers a $269,364 tax cut, Obama would raise their taxes, on average, by $701,885 - a difference of nearly $1 million.
If one of the political parties in the UK were to present tax cut plans to us, quoting 2% vs 0.3% which one would you vote for? Now look at the way the cuts are spread over the income bands, now tell me which one looks the fairest to you? Which one actually supports the average family and those that need the money most?
I know Philippa would argue, from her tax experience, that such a large tax rise for high earners would have a detrimental impact on investment into this country, particularly within the financial sector. However, I can't help but see this kind of adjustment of the tax regime as being just what the UK needs right now...
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