The San Jose Bubble

Politicians talk to the media. --> Media publish what the politicians say. --> Politicians believe the media. --> Media feel really smart because the politicians believe what they publish.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Eugenicizing the "least educated" white people

An interesting article that illustrates two truths that the People Inside the Bubble simply don't know:
  1. Those people labeled as "white people" by the Bubble-ists are NOT benefiting from "white skin privilege";
  2. Poorly known (or cunningly unspoken) social, political, or cultural factors are working to selectively reduce the population of "white people" disproportionately compared to populations of other skin group demographics.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49114733/ns/us_news-#.UFx_s41lQ19

'Alarming': Life span drops sharply for least educated whites


"The steepest declines were for white women without a high school diploma, who lost five years of life between 1990 and 2008, said S. Jay Olshansky, a public health professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the lead investigator on the study, published last month in Health Affairs. By 2008, life expectancy for black women without a high school diploma had surpassed that of white women of the same education level, the study found. "

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Truth, Or a Reasonable Facsimile

http://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/entries/9_13_12_politics_media_relations_scandal/


Political Crisis Management 101

Posted by Rich Robinson on Thursday, September 13, 2012


Your elected office holder has just been photographed coming out of a seedy hotel, cigarette dangling, tie askew and he’s carrying a sheep. You are tasked with a public response. What do you do?

 Here are the options:

Denial. That’s not my Senator and that’s not his sheep. The stronger the denial the better, but denial is not really an option if the facts are true. Always be careful that if you are denying public official behavior, you are absolutely sure it did not occur.

Non-denial denial. That doesn’t appear to be my Senator or his sheep. The qualifier allows you to backtrack later on, while denying the substance of any charge up front. This tactic is particularly handy if the facts ultimately prove your Senator is innocent.

Obfuscation. Depends on what you mean by Senator and can you be sure it was a sheep? This puts doubt in the mind of the accuser, gives you more time to get the facts and is really a stalling tactic. At some point, you’ll have to answer the question. (See, “It depends on what your definition of “is” is.)

The noble stall. A very effective technique. A mistake has occurred and as soon as we ascertain the facts we will get back to you. The “catch-all” is the fact a mistake has been made without attributing who made it. The spokesperson retains their credibility while allowing them time to figure out what the hell your Senator was thinking.

Proudly accept responsibility. My personal favorite. That’s my Senator, that’s his sheep. You got a problem with that?

This is really the Ollie North approach. You’re caught red handed doing something illegal or unethical but you turn the moral tables around on your accusers. “I did it, I’m glad I did it and if I get a chance I would do it again.” This is particularly effective when there is a higher moral reason for the behavior. It is especially effective when given immunity from prosecution for your testimony. In fact, if under immunity it is best to admit everything you’ve ever done in your life. Even if they prosecute you later, there is a good chance it will get kicked on appeal.

Mea Culpa. That was the Senator and he is extremely sorry for any pain he has caused his family, constituents and colleagues. Ghandi said, “A sincere apology, followed by a promise never to do the act again is the highest form of contrition.” The public is cynical, but not mean-spirited. This form of response is designed to give the Senator time to rebuild his image before the next election.

No comment. This is not a response, it is an admission. It must be used as a last resort only when answering any question that would cause you to lie. Lying is never an option.
It is usually the lie or cover-up that causes people to resign from office. Unless the initial act is so heinous or illegal it cannot be forgiven.

 In the final analysis, whether your elected official has to resign will usually depend on their initial response. In this case, a public official could usually survive politically—unless the sheep talks.

 Rich Robinson is a political consultant in Silicon Valley.




Rush Analyzes Silicon Valley CEO's

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/09/17/policy_and_the_partisan_divide

"I would love to know why certain people who I think (by virtue of the rest of their lives) are demonstrably intelligent... These people are self-starters, and they are entrepreneurs. They're very successful. I asked myself, "How can they intellectually not just support Obama, but fund-raise and bundle for him?" A lot of high-tech people in Silicon Valley come to mind when I think of this.

There are answers to this.

Let me give you an example. Let's take, for now, a nameless CEO, although I have a person in mind. This person I'm gonna describe exists. Let's take this CEO of major, major Silicon Valley Internet company. This CEO is a huge Obama bundler. Huge! I mean, he throws fundraisers at the family abode, raises money, donates money, bundles money. He is totally devoted to Obama. It can't be because of Obama policy. It simply can't be!

 Obama's policies are diametrically opposed to every economic philosophy implemented by this person. It simply cannot be policy, this partisan divide. When I saw this religion breakdown -- 22% more people who don't go to church vote for Obama; 24% more of people who do vote for Romney; and the people that go once a week, now and then, it's evenly split -- that's cultural. There is no question. Now, what makes cultural? What comes under that umbrella? Well, it's any number of things, including religion.

 But it's also pop culture. It's movies, television shows; what's cool, what's hip, who's smart, who isn't smart. Branding. All those things are what come to the fore. So I've been asking myself: What would make otherwise smart people support somebody who's got policies that will harm their company? Why would they do this? Why would they raise money for this person? Why would they donate money?

 Again, take this mythical CEO. And for this example, this CEO does not have a knowingly traceable crony relationship with Obama.

 He's simply a political fundraiser. He simply has an emotional attachment -- as opposed to, say, somebody like the Solyndra guys, who, frankly, wouldn'ta cared whatever Obama was gonna do because he was giving them money. He was funding their business, so policy didn't matter. For this mythical CEO I'm talking about, that's not the case. In fact, this mythical CEO knows that Obama's policies are harmful. Yet something is stopping her from voting for people that will actually give her more customers with more disposable income which will grow her business.

 So what is it, if it isn't policy

 Sigmund Freud used to think that sex was the ultimate motivating power in people's lives. ... But it turns out that as Sigmund Freud got older (and as do most people who get older, he got wiser), he realized that it was not sex that was the ultimate motivating power in people's lives but rather it was the drive to be respected by their peers.

 And even further, a desire to be respected by the elites who decide who is respectable or not. ...

We're trying to win an election, and if policy is not how you go get people, then how do you do it? That's a huge question. Now, it could well be there's also this factor: This mythical CEO assumes that by being such a vocal public supporter of Obama, the CEO is gonna end up being in the elite circle of who decides who's hip and who's not and who's respected and who's not, or respectable or not.

The older I get, the more I learn that the people are totally ... governed by what people think of them. It's the desire to be respected by their peers. Well if you are in Silicon Valley, you are not gonna be respected if you're a Republican. It just ain't gonna happen. You're not gonna be respected if you're a conservative. It isn't gonna happen, and policy won't matter.
...

 So Romney's gonna continue to be -- no matter what he is -- stiff, rich, heartless, the whole cliche. But it boils down to the fact, I think, that Freud ended up being right. What people want is to be respected by their peers. And as they get older and as they move up their own ladders of success, that being respected by others then changes. It becomes being respected by the elites. The elites they want to be. The elites they want to be part of. The elites."




 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Ash Kalra at the DNC

http://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/entries/9_10_12_ash_kalra_democratic_national_convention/

Ash Kalra went to the DNC.

He mingled with people who don't much like America and hate the thought of businesses making profits.

He swooned over the speechifying of an impeached office holder who had lost his law license for civil perjury.

He was overwhelmed with emotion and got a thrill up his leg over the teleprompter reading skills of an elected official whose underlings have been charged with Contempt of Court and Contempt of Congress.

He clapped and hooted and hollered over the self-centered whining of a 31 year old bimbo who wants tax payers to buy her birth control pills to facilitate her sexual promiscuity.

Ash Kalra had fun.