If the Muslim Brotherhood conducted a poll and reported that the people of the world favored Islam as a religion, that would have as much credibility as a USA Today / Gallup Poll saying that the "Public favors union rights". (USA Today Feb. 23, 2011) It is no secret that many of the "polls" conducted by the main stream media, including USA Today, are used to influence public opinions, and even influence elections. A former executive of Gallup in a book revealed how polls can definitely be influenced to obtain a desired result.
In the USA Today / Gallup Polls we don't know specifically WHAT QUESTIONS were asked and HOW they were asked, and in WHAT CONTEXT. We also don't know WHO was asked and if, indeed, they are a representative sampling of the population. Oh yes, we know about sampling plans and statistics, but we are talking about the complexities of sampling human beings here, not widgets off a production line.
Given the above, the American people should think about the following. According to the US Census the 2008 voting age population of the United States was 226 million people. The USA Today / Gallup Poll that was conducted on the union issue supposedly polled 1,000 people. We don't know the answers to the questions above on how the poll was conducted. Add to that the extreme complexity of polling human beings (not widgets). Add to that the known fact that USA Today WANTS the result to turn out as they claim. Then think about the fact that the polling sampled 1,000 people out of 226 million or 0.000004, or .0004 % of the voting age population!
Before anybody in America puts faith in the USA Today headline, "Public favors union rights" they should think about the above. A great disservice to America is being done by these types of polls and claims. Especially since just the opposite may very well be true.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Heroes Emerging at State Level
While we have a federal government that has abdicated its responsibilities, more recently there has been an emergence of a number "hero" governors at the state level. Chris Christie in New Jersey, has taken a state in financial shambles and has begun to bring it back to fiscal reality. With the absence of the federal government doing anything about the dangerous anarchy at our southern border, Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona has had the courage to enact state legislation to begin to deal with illegal immigration that threatens her state. Governor Cuomo of New York has begun to attack the financial crisis in that state. In New York this, in particular, takes a lot of courage. The same is true of Governor Jerry Brown of California who at least is starting to deal with the massive financial crisis in that state. Let's see if they have the guts to carry out what is necessary.
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has necessarily taken on the unions to deal with the financial crisis in that state. Governor John Kasich of Ohio has begun to deal with the financial crisis in his state.
The American people, for many years now, have LONGED for and have been looking for leadership to do...not what is politically correct, not what is popular...but to have the courage to do what is right. We have several leaders who are now emerging at the state level who are demonstrating the courage to do just this. They are heroes.
In spite of the biased media coverage that attempts to convey a different impression, the VAST majority of Americans support these "hero" governors and what they are attempting to accomplish.
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has necessarily taken on the unions to deal with the financial crisis in that state. Governor John Kasich of Ohio has begun to deal with the financial crisis in his state.
The American people, for many years now, have LONGED for and have been looking for leadership to do...not what is politically correct, not what is popular...but to have the courage to do what is right. We have several leaders who are now emerging at the state level who are demonstrating the courage to do just this. They are heroes.
In spite of the biased media coverage that attempts to convey a different impression, the VAST majority of Americans support these "hero" governors and what they are attempting to accomplish.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
FANS FIRST Distribution of Super Bowl Tickets
Ray Anderson
Executive Vice President of Football Operations
The National Football League
280 Park Ave # 12W
New York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Anderson: The Following is proposed:
A "FANS FIRST" Distribution of Super Bowl Tickets - The Way It SHOULD Be Done
It has been well documented how each and every year season ticket holding fans of participating teams get screwed out of their opportunity to acquire tickets to the Super Bowl through the NFL. These are the fans that make professional football what it is today; these are the fans that week after week, through thick and thin, through cold weather, snow, rain...or whatever the conditions... faithfully support their team. Their thanks for this is a total screwing by the NFL and by the NFL owners. It has been shown, and proven, how only approximately 20% or less of the available tickets are actually made available for season ticket holding fans of the participating teams. This means that over 80% of the tickets are distributed elsewhere.
Here is what should be done:
65% of the available tickets should go to the participating teams, 32.5% to each team. Of those 30% MUST be made available to season ticket holding fans of each team through a 3 day lottery where the fans would have to make a financial commitment within those 3 days. If there are any tickets left over they would go to the team and / or to the NFL. The 30% that are made available for season ticket holding fans should be some of the best seats in the stadium. This would demonstrate true appreciation for the fans that make the game of professional football.
5% of the 65% available tickets distributed to the teams above would be for the coaches, players, and team choices; 2.5% for each of the participating teams.
35% of the available tickets would be available to the NFL to use as they choose.
The NFL has the responsibility to do everything possible to keep tickets out of the hands of scalpers and the continuing and escalating outrageous prices that they ask for.
If the NFL really cares about the game of football and the fans that make it, this should be done.
Executive Vice President of Football Operations
The National Football League
280 Park Ave # 12W
New York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Anderson: The Following is proposed:
A "FANS FIRST" Distribution of Super Bowl Tickets - The Way It SHOULD Be Done
It has been well documented how each and every year season ticket holding fans of participating teams get screwed out of their opportunity to acquire tickets to the Super Bowl through the NFL. These are the fans that make professional football what it is today; these are the fans that week after week, through thick and thin, through cold weather, snow, rain...or whatever the conditions... faithfully support their team. Their thanks for this is a total screwing by the NFL and by the NFL owners. It has been shown, and proven, how only approximately 20% or less of the available tickets are actually made available for season ticket holding fans of the participating teams. This means that over 80% of the tickets are distributed elsewhere.
Here is what should be done:
65% of the available tickets should go to the participating teams, 32.5% to each team. Of those 30% MUST be made available to season ticket holding fans of each team through a 3 day lottery where the fans would have to make a financial commitment within those 3 days. If there are any tickets left over they would go to the team and / or to the NFL. The 30% that are made available for season ticket holding fans should be some of the best seats in the stadium. This would demonstrate true appreciation for the fans that make the game of professional football.
5% of the 65% available tickets distributed to the teams above would be for the coaches, players, and team choices; 2.5% for each of the participating teams.
35% of the available tickets would be available to the NFL to use as they choose.
The NFL has the responsibility to do everything possible to keep tickets out of the hands of scalpers and the continuing and escalating outrageous prices that they ask for.
If the NFL really cares about the game of football and the fans that make it, this should be done.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Letter to NFL on Super Bowl Ticket Fiasco
February 16, 2011
Ray Anderson
Executive Vice President of Football Operations
The National Football League
280 Park Ave # 12WNew York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Anderson:
Still another year that the loyal season ticket holders of participating teams get screwed when it comes to acquiring tickets to the Super Bowl. Each team playing in the Super Bowl was allocated 17.5 percent of the roughly 100,000 seats in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. The Cowboys received 5 percent and the remaining 29 teams received 1.2 percent of the seats (29 X 1.2.). The league distributed the other 25.2 percent. What actually occurs is that the teams place a lower percentage of their 17.5% allocation toward a lottery for season ticket holders. Teams use some of their allocation for players, coaches, sponsors, big money people, and celebrities. They are often secretive about how many tickets actually go into a lottery for season ticket holding fans. These are the people who sat through cold and blistery weather in Green Bay and Pittsburgh in support of their team. As an example, generously, I would guess that about 10% or 10,000 tickets went into the lottery for each team. (My research has shown in the past it was MUCH less than this.) That means that over 80,000 tickets (80%) went to those other than season ticket holders. This should NEVER be.
Now these same loyal fans, if they wished to attend the Super Bowl in support of their teams were stuck with paying anywhere from an average price of $4,000 a ticket, upwards to $30,000! Isn't it interesting that scalpers ALWAYS seem to get plentiful tickets, in fact they are so confident that they advertise tickets sales weeks in advance to the game. The fact is the NFL system is set up to feed the scalpers the Super Bowl tickets each and every year. Face value of the tickets runs from $600 to $1200, yet they charge many multiples of these numbers.
The "celebrities" at the Super Bowl should be the season ticket holders of the participating teams, but they are last on the list. Taking precedent over them are coaches, players, sponsors, big money people, celebrities, and of course, scalpers.
Year after year the NFL and owners receive complaints over Super Bowl ticket distribution. You have demonstrated over and over that you could care less.
Ray Anderson
Executive Vice President of Football Operations
The National Football League
280 Park Ave # 12WNew York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Anderson:
Still another year that the loyal season ticket holders of participating teams get screwed when it comes to acquiring tickets to the Super Bowl. Each team playing in the Super Bowl was allocated 17.5 percent of the roughly 100,000 seats in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. The Cowboys received 5 percent and the remaining 29 teams received 1.2 percent of the seats (29 X 1.2.). The league distributed the other 25.2 percent. What actually occurs is that the teams place a lower percentage of their 17.5% allocation toward a lottery for season ticket holders. Teams use some of their allocation for players, coaches, sponsors, big money people, and celebrities. They are often secretive about how many tickets actually go into a lottery for season ticket holding fans. These are the people who sat through cold and blistery weather in Green Bay and Pittsburgh in support of their team. As an example, generously, I would guess that about 10% or 10,000 tickets went into the lottery for each team. (My research has shown in the past it was MUCH less than this.) That means that over 80,000 tickets (80%) went to those other than season ticket holders. This should NEVER be.
Now these same loyal fans, if they wished to attend the Super Bowl in support of their teams were stuck with paying anywhere from an average price of $4,000 a ticket, upwards to $30,000! Isn't it interesting that scalpers ALWAYS seem to get plentiful tickets, in fact they are so confident that they advertise tickets sales weeks in advance to the game. The fact is the NFL system is set up to feed the scalpers the Super Bowl tickets each and every year. Face value of the tickets runs from $600 to $1200, yet they charge many multiples of these numbers.
The "celebrities" at the Super Bowl should be the season ticket holders of the participating teams, but they are last on the list. Taking precedent over them are coaches, players, sponsors, big money people, celebrities, and of course, scalpers.
Year after year the NFL and owners receive complaints over Super Bowl ticket distribution. You have demonstrated over and over that you could care less.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
We Are Being Fooled in Egypt
For now the Muslim Brotherhood are playing it low key, saying they aren't interested in politics and running the government...that they are "secular" and more. All of this is being done to relax the United States and Europe, and to fool the media which is easy to do since this is already their agenda. Yet within two years Egypt will be transformed into a radical Islamic theocracy, just like Iran and fiercely opposed to the United States.
As we sit idly by thinking one thing, being fooled due to a major failure of our foreign policy and intelligence, the mid east will become totally destabilized. There will be a major threat to our ally, Israel, with the probability of a world war as more mid eastern countries turn toward radical Islam. It is already happening, yet we allow the media to have us think otherwise. Our federal government, under the Obama administration, doesn't have a clue. They believe only what they WANT to believe...or what they WANT the American people to believe, not the truth.
As we sit idly by thinking one thing, being fooled due to a major failure of our foreign policy and intelligence, the mid east will become totally destabilized. There will be a major threat to our ally, Israel, with the probability of a world war as more mid eastern countries turn toward radical Islam. It is already happening, yet we allow the media to have us think otherwise. Our federal government, under the Obama administration, doesn't have a clue. They believe only what they WANT to believe...or what they WANT the American people to believe, not the truth.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Federal Government "Cooking the Books"
The federal government is "cooking the books" on the numbers that are used to report inflation and are essentially lying to the American people. The federal government selectively picks items in the Consumer Price Index and tells people that inflation is flat. Nothing could be further from the truth.
What could be more fundamental than food? In shopping for groceries people are experiencing well over a 20% increase, some say higher. Since January 2009 the average cost of gasoline has increased by 69.6%, and climbing. Mysteriously, real estate taxes have increased in spite of home values decreasing in a depressed housing market. Federal, state, and local taxes, fees, as well as many hidden taxes and fees, have increased. Home heating, electric, and energy costs have increased significantly. Health Insurance has increased dramatically, in some cases by as much as 40 to 56%, with a doubling of co-pay, or more. Most "necessary" items that we purchase to live by have increased significantly. This is the real world that the American people experience in their everyday purchases. Inflation is NOT flat. As one woman recently commented: "What planet do they live in?"
Compounding the problem of falsifying the inflation numbers, the federal government is artificially suppressing interest rates for both savings and loans to ridiculously low levels. In some twisted thinking on economics they somehow think that this helps, rather than facing the reality of true inflation. Somehow the government feels that manipulating numbers is a better way to manage the economy rather than supporting business and people, and dealing with reality. They look at only one side of the equation in believing that artificially suppressed interest rates will stimulate investment and the economy. What they don't look at is that these very low rates actually hurt banks and individuals, particularly seniors. Banks are being forced to walk the fine line of financial viability, their margin of error is very slim. Individuals have less money from their savings to spend on those extra items they may need. Banks are placed in financial jeopardy, less money flows into the economy.
China is actually doing a much better job of managing their economy than the United States. In dealing with reality, they have recently announced raising interest rates for the second time in slightly more than a month. This pushed the benchmark one year deposit rate to 3%, and their lending rate to 6.06%. This is dealing properly with reality and managing the economy! The United States, should right now be at about these same levels of interest rates.
Reality, not manipulation, should be the approach taken by our federal government to begin fixing our economy. Being honest about inflation and rational interest rates are a part of this.
What could be more fundamental than food? In shopping for groceries people are experiencing well over a 20% increase, some say higher. Since January 2009 the average cost of gasoline has increased by 69.6%, and climbing. Mysteriously, real estate taxes have increased in spite of home values decreasing in a depressed housing market. Federal, state, and local taxes, fees, as well as many hidden taxes and fees, have increased. Home heating, electric, and energy costs have increased significantly. Health Insurance has increased dramatically, in some cases by as much as 40 to 56%, with a doubling of co-pay, or more. Most "necessary" items that we purchase to live by have increased significantly. This is the real world that the American people experience in their everyday purchases. Inflation is NOT flat. As one woman recently commented: "What planet do they live in?"
Compounding the problem of falsifying the inflation numbers, the federal government is artificially suppressing interest rates for both savings and loans to ridiculously low levels. In some twisted thinking on economics they somehow think that this helps, rather than facing the reality of true inflation. Somehow the government feels that manipulating numbers is a better way to manage the economy rather than supporting business and people, and dealing with reality. They look at only one side of the equation in believing that artificially suppressed interest rates will stimulate investment and the economy. What they don't look at is that these very low rates actually hurt banks and individuals, particularly seniors. Banks are being forced to walk the fine line of financial viability, their margin of error is very slim. Individuals have less money from their savings to spend on those extra items they may need. Banks are placed in financial jeopardy, less money flows into the economy.
China is actually doing a much better job of managing their economy than the United States. In dealing with reality, they have recently announced raising interest rates for the second time in slightly more than a month. This pushed the benchmark one year deposit rate to 3%, and their lending rate to 6.06%. This is dealing properly with reality and managing the economy! The United States, should right now be at about these same levels of interest rates.
Reality, not manipulation, should be the approach taken by our federal government to begin fixing our economy. Being honest about inflation and rational interest rates are a part of this.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Youth Shall Show the Way
March for Life, Washington, DCJanuary 24, 2011
Following Submitted as Letter to the Editor:
Youth Shall Show the Way
Abortion activist, Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, commented about last year’s March for Life in Washington: “I just thought, my gosh, they are so young,” she told Newsweek. “There are so many of them, and they are so young.” This year there appeared to be even more young people at the 2011 March for Life in Washington, an apparent increasing trend.
No surprise, the March for Life this year was covered sparingly and in some cases inaccurately. First, the estimated number of 300,000 marchers did not appear to be newsworthy to many in the media. Secondly, the great number of high school and college age students wasn't reported. Further, there were some reports that the march consisted of both Pro-Choice and Pro-Life marchers. This was a distortion by first mentioning Pro-Choice, and by making it appear that they were represented equally when in reality the overwhelming number of people were marching against abortion. Only scattered handfuls of Pro-Choice people were present. Sadly, young people across our nation are learning early about the major bias of the media. As a result, even many young people no longer trust the media, a sad statement for America.
In reality, it was indeed a March for Life!
The most interesting trend, however, observed by those who really paid attention, were the great numbers of young people. This is very significant and indicative of what to expect in the future. It is a VERY positive sign for the Pro-Life cause. There is something about the purity of youth, not encumbered by years of propaganda, looking at the issue from a clear perspective...a human life is being taken and that is wrong!
In 2009 a Gallup Poll reflected that 51% of Americans were opposed to abortion, 42% in favor. With the increasing number of young people becoming involved, we may expect the trend to continue. The youth shall show the way.
Youth Shall Show the Way
Abortion activist, Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, commented about last year’s March for Life in Washington: “I just thought, my gosh, they are so young,” she told Newsweek. “There are so many of them, and they are so young.” This year there appeared to be even more young people at the 2011 March for Life in Washington, an apparent increasing trend.
No surprise, the March for Life this year was covered sparingly and in some cases inaccurately. First, the estimated number of 300,000 marchers did not appear to be newsworthy to many in the media. Secondly, the great number of high school and college age students wasn't reported. Further, there were some reports that the march consisted of both Pro-Choice and Pro-Life marchers. This was a distortion by first mentioning Pro-Choice, and by making it appear that they were represented equally when in reality the overwhelming number of people were marching against abortion. Only scattered handfuls of Pro-Choice people were present. Sadly, young people across our nation are learning early about the major bias of the media. As a result, even many young people no longer trust the media, a sad statement for America.
In reality, it was indeed a March for Life!
The most interesting trend, however, observed by those who really paid attention, were the great numbers of young people. This is very significant and indicative of what to expect in the future. It is a VERY positive sign for the Pro-Life cause. There is something about the purity of youth, not encumbered by years of propaganda, looking at the issue from a clear perspective...a human life is being taken and that is wrong!
In 2009 a Gallup Poll reflected that 51% of Americans were opposed to abortion, 42% in favor. With the increasing number of young people becoming involved, we may expect the trend to continue. The youth shall show the way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)