The problem with punditry

An event takes place.  Within hours or sometimes minutes multitudes of pundits will have postings, columns, or a statement out in the media (or personal blog).  Unfortunately in their haste to be like the MSM, they often make the same mistake.  The don’t have all the facts.  They can’t.  Yet, they believe that they must make a comment to stay relevant in the commentator world.  This is the problem.  Nobody actually takes the time to think anything out anymore.  Frankly unless your commenting on a subject that you have been abreast (just wanted to use that word) of for some time you don’t know what the hell you talking about.  Yes there are people who’s area of expertise might give them the ability to comment much faster but for most pundits it should take at least a day or so from any event to have a real opinion on the issue.

For example if Congress passes a late night bill you might be able to comment on the complete BS of passing a bill late at night and adding an additional 300 pages say to said bill, but you really couldn’t comment much on the bill since like most Congressmen you wouldn’t have read it.  I’m not saying you have to read every line of every bill to comment, but at least get some cliff notes.  Comment accurately.  That’s why I don’t write much about Bills’.  I can’t understand the language anyway.

If you take any recent event from Michael Jacksons death to Sarah Palin every pundit in pundit land*  felt the need to come out and give their opinion of what happened.  Most with no more information than a twenty second blurb on one of the 24 hour news channels. 

Sometimes you just must let the situation develop. 

I wonder what media punditry would be like if they were paid based on the number of time they were actually right about something.  I would bet it would take longer than ten minutes after an announcement to right their commentary.

That’s why I wait a few days before I say something that still won’t pin me down too much.. **

If you actually read the paid pundits you’ll find they need to write something so often that their columns are like Louis Lamour westerns novels, the same thing over and over.  Fortunately Louis is still fun to read.

 

*(a place where you can take back all you’ve said the next week with brand new analysis)

**(Of course I only have about 4 readers to satisfy)

What’s Sarah Palin doing?

Sarah Palin has announced she will resign from the office of Governor of Alaska. The speculation is going wild. Frankly it’s kind of funny. She is someone that many claim is not relevant and a bit crazy yet is getting a lot of attention.

I don’t know why she resigned and neither do most others. So I don’t know if this is a good idea or not. I do know that the attacks on her are unprecedented. I do believe there are many in the political world the fear her, else the attacks would not be necessary.

Does she owe the state of Alaska her full term? Did Hillary Clinton owe the state of New York? Only those constituents can say.

She has continually answered the critics and the charges leveled against her only to face more and more. How depressing would that be?

Perhaps she’s just looking for a better way to fight. Either way, I hope she continues to be a force on the political scene.

Finally good news, Supreme court on firefighters in Conn

Standards should be standards.  Promotions based on race or anything other than standards and qualifications is wrong. Simple as that. 

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

Cap and trade. Just more good news.

So the house has passed the Cap and Trade bill.  I’d like to point out all the bad parts of this particular bill but like our congressmen and women I haven’t read it either.  So based on the public conversations, some internet research and a general distrust for anything Nancy Pelosi touches I’m against it for now.  

Links –

Eight reasons why CAP and Trade is bad for the economy

Cap and Trade systems pros and cons

More Pro and cons

The dangers of CAP and TRADE

Beware of Cap and Trade climate bill

Cap and Trade, a system made for fraudsters

Weak response by Obama?

Iran, are President Obama’s words strong enough?  Would she think so?

The Daily Gut.

MONDAY’S GREGALOGUE – NOW, BECAUSE I’M PISSED

Am I an old fart or am I right to be pissed that some jackass is skateboarding down the halls of the White House while all this Iranian shit is going down?

 
We truly have succumbed to the idiocy of the MTV/Mountain Dew/Road Rules backward hat and baggy short culture. Did I miss something, or is the White House the future set for the next Real World? Where are the wallet chains? Is Hot Topic handling our foreign policy? Obama should be grounded for a week for letting Tony Hawk play in OUR house. Where in hell are the adults?

 
Look: Tony Hawk is in his mid forties. He’s a grown man…and he skateboards. Could you imagine your dad or anyone who lived during World War II treating a man who skateboards with anything less than scorn and ridicule?

 
Right now, people are risking their lives for the glimmer of freedom, and Tony Hawk is in the White House tweeting about Frosted Flakes.
Someone please dig up Reagan. I’d take a dead leader with balls over a living camp counselor who wants all the cool kids to like him.
What a screaming joke.

Get used to that feeling Greg…..

Are protesters promoting terrorism?

A written exam administered by the Pentagon labels "protests" as a form of “low-level terrorism” — enraging civil liberties advocates and activist groups who say it shows blatant disregard of the First Amendment.

The written exam, given as part of Department of Defense employees’ routine training, includes a multiple-choice question that asks:

“Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism?”

— Attacking the Pentagon

— IEDs

— Hate crimes against racial groups

— Protests

The correct answer, according to the exam, is "Protests."

“Its part of a pattern of equating dissent and protest with terrorism," said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained a copy of the question after a Defense Department employee who was taking the test printed the screen on his or her computer terminal.

"It undermines the core constitutional values the Department of Defense is supposed to be defending,” Brick said, referring to the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble.

I don’t usually agree with the ACLU but I must on this one.  We see this attitude with local and federal police all the time.  Frankly way too often money for departments is linked to results, not necessarily results of lower crime but rather bigger bust.  What’s the saying, when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail.  Homeland security in my humble opinion is mostly a mess.  But if we see terrorist in every crowd how convenient could that be?  Just saying…

This would however back-up Iran’s position on their protesters wouldn’t it? 

 

Limited Government folks…..

Was the Iranian election rigged?

What a dumb question I know.  But did we really suspect it would be otherwise.  Let the truth be known, if the opposition candidate would have won it would have been because the mullahs wanted that outcome.  They control all. 

 

Jimmy Carter, why does he still makes news.

NEVE DANIEL, West Bank —  Former President Jimmy Carter, an outspoken critic of Israeli settlements, met Sunday with West Bank settlers in what he described as a chance to “listen” and make his views known.

Carter met with settler leader Shaul Goldstein and others at the pastoral settlement of Neve Daniel, south of Jerusalem. Carter said he was “here to listen” to the settlers, and that he hoped to “make sure they understand my own attitude toward Israel and the Jewish population in the world and toward the Jewish settlers.”

Carter has shown his anti-Israel views throughout the years.  He was a poor President and is a poor former President.  I suppose his desire to stay somewhere in the spot light keeps him on this mid-east run.  Jimmy keep to habitat for humanity, that has a hell of a lot more honor than politics and your better and swinging a hammer than diplomacy. 

What does it take to be a CEO of a large US company

Apparently not good economic or management skills. 

 

Six Flags Amusement Park Company Declares Bankruptcy Saturday, June 13, 2009

NEW YORK — The amusement park company Six Flags is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it needs to reorganize and shed $1.8 billion of debt.
Mark Shapiro, the New York-based company’s chief executive officer, says the move won’t affect the operation of its 20 theme parks in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Six Flags says it actually had a great year in 2008. It saw 25 million visitors and posted record revenues. But executives are trying to lighten a $2.4 billion debt load that they say is unsustainable.

Saturday’s bankruptcy filing came after an earlier plan to negotiate an out-of-court deal with creditors failed.
Six Flags shares have traded below $1 since September. They closed at 26 cents on Friday

Funny they had a good year but still can’t sustain the debt.  I wonder how they forecast their investments.  I’m seriously in the wrong business.