Credit fraud

BestView finally got around to freezing our credit. It was a pain to contact the three credit rating companies to do this, but it really eliminates one worry. Regardless if someone hacks into some data base and steals your credit card information or social security number, they can't establish new credit in your name. So identity theft is not possible so long as the freeze remains in place. If you want to temporarily lift the freeze to open some new account, there is a pin number which allows this. I recommend it.

Victims of Global Warming

This is a wonderful collection of reports in the idiotic press which attribute various things to global warming. This has been successful, of course, because the majority of the people in the U.S. are victims of our education system and completely incapable of thinking for themselves. It is instructive to look some of these over if for no other reason to finally conclude that the whole thing is a gigantic hoax. For example, there are separate reports that global warming is causing the oceans to become more salty and another less salty. Bad science is rampant.

The mid-east "problem"

Since President Bush is hosting the required summit dealing with the Israel/Palestinian "problem" this week, it is probably worthwhile to keep in mind what the problem is. If the situation was simply one of borders, it would be possible to deal with this by either negotiation or by some external imposition of a solution. That is not, however, the case. The problem is one based on the insistence of one side that the other side cease to exist. As long as that is the Arab position, there will be no solution negotiated.

Want to lose weight?

There is a new business being formed which is offering binding contracts to assist individuals in reaching goals. For example, if you want to lose weight, you could set a goal and agree to pay some predetermined amount in case you don't reach that goal. The word is it works for weight and other things. Makes sense to me. Read about it here.

Thomas Jefferson

BestView is always suspicious of history presentations since my scientific background demands more rigor in relating "facts" than I find in many historical representations. Despite that, this is a very interesting essay on Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, which is an amazing edifice. Read it here.

Thanksgiving Procamation

Here is the start of the original Thanksgiving Proclamation by George Washington. Can you imagine the response if Bush made this today?

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houfes of Congress have, by their joint committee, requefted me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to eftablifh a form of government for their safety and happiness..."

Thanks to Tammy Bruce.

The Ott take on the U.N.

The U.N. had to admit that it made a drastic overestimation of the number of aids cases worldwide. In an attempt to resurrect its faulty prediction record, Scott Ott suggests that the U.N. is now predicting that those who did not die of Aids will now drown in the rising tide of man-made global climate change.

Makes sense to BestView.

A losing proposition

Just ran across a story of interest. First, a fisherman ensnares a giant (1,125 lb) shark in his nets and once he takes it on his ship, the shark all but destroys his boat. Then when he gets it to market, it fetches less than the damages to his boat. Read the story here.

Iraq situation must be improving

When the weekly magazines which are at least as liberal as the major media in general say Iraq is improving, it is getting so obvious that the dems in Congress may be the only ones left in denial. The following is from Newsweek:

Al Qaeda in Iraq is starting to look like a spent force, especially in Baghdad. The civil war is in the midst of a huge, though nervous, pause. Most Shiite militias are honoring a truce. Iran appears to have stopped shipping deadly arms to Iraqi militants. The indigenous Sunni insurgency has declared for the Americans across broad swaths of the country, especially in the capital.

Gotta be careful in public

Media Bias

First the findings of a recent study.

1. 1,742 presidential campaign stories were examined in 48 print, online, network TV, cable and radio news outlets. Democrats got more coverage than Republicans -----49% of stories compared to 31%. Of these, the coverage was favorable in 35% for democrats and 26% for Republicans.

2. On TV, evening news gave 49% of the campaign coverage to dems and 28% to Republican candidates. As for tone, 39.5% of the coverage of dems was positive vs. 17.1% negative. Republican coverage was positive in 18.6% of the segments and negative in 37.2%.

The source of this study was the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

BestView assumes that if there is a liberal media bias recognizable even at Harvard, it must be a fact.

Just wondering

Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development officials have announced a ban on any decorations in HUD housing complexes that mention Jesus or represent religion for the Christmas season.

Other examples are given in this article. When George Bush was elected, would you have predicted this would happen 7 years later?

Double jeopardy

For years the education establishment in Washington, D.C. has cheated the students through an inept school system, but now they have been caught stealing money from them as well. Read about it in the Washington Post.

Of course, if you criticize any of this you would be called a racist.

Missle Defense

The U.S. Missle Defense Agency based on Lake Erie recently shot down two short range missles fired from Hawaii. They were on alert but had no advance notice of the launch. Pretty impressive to all but the liberals in the Dem party. They just cut $85 million wanted to build an interceptor site in Poland. Given the instability of the situation in Pakistan and elsewhere you have to ask whether the Bush-hating libs are afraid the system won't work (as they claim against all evidence) or that it will. Once again, evidence that Dems are on our side is lacking.

Beware tax credits

There is a proposal in South Carolina to allow parents who home school to obtain a tax credit to offset expenses. My daughters both home school and I am sure a tax credit would be welcomed, but I am dubious. Once the government gets you hooked with taxes they then gain more control over your education efforts and that is the problem with traditional schools.

Not that important

The following is the lead sentence in a story the New York Times felt was so important that it put it on page 19.

BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 — American forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network, from every neighborhood of Baghdad, a top American general said today, allowing American troops involved in the “surge” to depart as planned.

Michael Savage on Islam

""I'm not gonna put my wife in a hijab. And I'm not gonna put my daughter in a burqa. And I'm not gettin on my all-fours and braying to Mecca. And you could drop dead if you don't like it. You can shove it up your pipe. I don't wanna hear anymore about Islam. I don't wanna hear one more word about Islam. Take your religion and shove it up your behind. I'm sick of you."

"What kind of religion is this? What kind of world are you living in when you let them in here with that throwback document in their hand, which is a book of hate. Don't tell me I need reeducation. They need deportation. I don't need reeducation. Deportation, not reeducation. You can take C-A-I-R and throw 'em out of my country. I'd raise the American flag and I'd get out my trumpet if you did it. Without due process. You can take your due process and shove it."

"What sane nation that worships the U.S. constitution, which is the greatest document of freedom ever written, would bring in people who worship a book that tells them the exact opposite. Make no mistake about it, the Quran is not a document of freedom. The Quran is a document of slavery and chattel. It teaches you that you are a slave."

As I understand it, certain Islamists are upset by his opinion.

Random Thoughts

1. Have we fixed all the bridges in the U.S. since the one collapsed in Minnesota? One doesn't hear much about our bridges from the politicians who were so concerned about the situation when the cars were in the water.

2. This economy is in real trouble and will be until the credit obligations issued by mortgage companies gets sorted out. If the Federal Reserve has to lower interest rates to cover for these mortgage problems with our financial institutions, the dollar will go even lower and if this keeps up, countries like China which have a lot of our dollars will move to another currency and then we will have real recession problems. Think about how damaging it will be when we have to buy oil at some elevated price with something other than dollars which are losing their pizzazz.

3. Rosie O'Donnell is rumored to be in line to host a program on MSNBC at 9:00pm against Larry King and Hannity and Colmes. It will be fun to read about how desperate she gets to boost ratings. I won't be watching.

4. I am constantly surprised how much interest there seems to be in who manages the New York Yankees and where A-Rod plays once he leaves them.

Rationed Medical Care

Giuliani is being criticized by the loony leftists like Paul Krugman of New York Times fame for stating that his prostate cancer cure was more likely in the U.S. than it would have been in England. The statistics he cited are complicated as all statistical comparisons are, but if you dig into it, you will find that Rudy was right and cancer survival is better here than in England. Any country with socialized medicine limits health care resources and that is why you have long waiting lists in Canada and England. In addition, you have fewer patients being screened in these countries with fewer PET scanners available, for example.

You don't really need to do any fancy statistical analysis to evaluate the truth of Rudy's statement, however. All you have to do is look at how many Americans go to Canada or England for cancer treatment compared to the number who come here. Don't look for Krugman to address that matter.

Pork Report

Here is a list of some of the votes against proposals by conservatives to eliminate pork earmarks from appropriations bills in the U.S. Senate. Liberals from both parties killed them all by the margins indicated.

• $100 million for the 2008 Republican and Democratic nominating conventions. Amendment failed 45-51.
• Adding sand to San Diego’s beaches. Amendment failed 12-77.
• Millions of dollars for bicycle paths instead of using the funds to improve bridge safety. Amendment failed 18-80.
• A visitors' center in Louisiana instead of providing shelter for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Amendment failed 11-79.
• Funds for a baseball field in Montana, the International Peace Garden in North Dakota, and a wetlands center in Louisiana. Amendment failed 32-63.
• $2 million for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, requested by Charles B. Rangel. Amendment failed 34-61.

Liberals doing it to us in energy policy

The loony left is adept at demonizing "Big Oil" and threatens to tax it back to the stone age. Hillary wants those profits to fund some of her boondoggle give-aways. In the mean time, Beijing's PetroChina which is 90% owned by the Chinese government just became the first company to be valued at one trillion dollars. It is 4x as expensive as the Exxon Mobile Corporation the leftists in Congress decry as too large. Furthermore, of the dozen largest oil companies in the world, most are owned by governments that are either hostile to the U.S. or could be very rapidly. Think Saudi Arabia and Iran and Venezuela and Russia here. U.S. oil firms are using their profits to drill for oil. More than 4500 oil wells were completed in the 3rd quarter of 2007 which is twice the level of drilling in the 90s. Since liberals always seem to take actions contrary to the best economic interest of the U.S., it is only logical to expect them to try to tax them out of existence while other countries pursue energy sources aggressively.

BestView out of the loop

BestView is on the road and evidently has missed out on the latest brush fire not in California. The word is the L.A. Times is sitting on a hot political story and since it hasn't been published yet, it must be dem related. Most of the blogosphere has concluded it relates to Hillary's lesbianism and we even have her significant other identified. We don't have time to give exhaustive links to the story, but here is a good place to start. It is hard to know how much it would help Hillary with her base if the story gets out completely.