Weekly Updated RRStar Stats June 2, 2008

The content of the RRStar (online Rockford Register Star) blogs have an overwhelmingly liberal slant in both content, links, and quantity.

I established this blog in an attempt to provide Rockford with political balance and to demonstrate the type and quality of content the RRStar could offer to its readers.

Checking the stats of their political blogs it is clear that they need more of a balanced portfolio of political blogs.

Again, here are the political blogs available at the RRStar:

Applesauce is a prolific far left blog that addresses national issues. The content is mainly composed of links to the left wing of the blogosphere along with a short quips, photo, and video content. Occasionally there are longer posts that include opinions on the items linked. Comments are quickly answered, often with another quip.

In Chambers is a blog that covers Illinois state politics. It appears to be right of center but that could be the result of its adversarial nature to the current state administration. There is no real interaction in the comments.

Sweeny Report is a blog written by the Political Editor of the Register Star. Postings are sporadic, concentrating on local, state and national issues and are mainly short thoughts on events with few links.

Why We Vote is a group blog consisting of the thoughts of the members of the Register Star's voters opinion panel. The posts are mostly left of center (including those from the independents to date). The conservative member who was posting, sadly, passed away recently.

The Stats for May 25, 2008 through June 1, 2008:

* Applesauce 22 posts with 19 out links 7 YouTube.
* In Chambers 5 posts with 11 out links 0 YouTube.
* Sweeny Report 5 posts with 0 out links 0 YouTube.
* Why We Blog 1 posts (0 left, 0 right, 1 center) 0 out links 0 YouTube.

Totals since I started counting March 27, 2008 through June1, 2008:

* Applesauce 233 posts with 308 out links 57 YouTube.
* In Chambers 39 posts with 271 out links 1 YouTube.
* Sweeny Report 52 posts with 20 out links 0 YouTube.
* Why We Blog 32 posts (28 left, 1 right, 4 center) 1 out links 0 YouTube.



If your interested in balance in the RRStar blogs keep coming back and let the RRStar know.
DKK

National Healthcare Kills

One of the problems with government-run healthcare is that faceless, bureaucratic rulemakers prescribe courses of treatment instead of doctors in consultation with patients. If the bureaucracy decides that a drug isn't cost-effective, it simply will not be provided, no matter what the doctors or patients want. It's not about saving lives or easing suffering. It's about plotting life-expectancy graphs and rationing finite taxpayer-provided resources.
(...)

A grandmother died from cancer after her free NHS treatment was withdrawn because she had paid privately for a drug that could extend her life.

Linda O'Boyle, 64, had been receiving state-funded care including chemotherapy after she was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

But her local health trust made her pay for her treatment after she started a course of cetuximab, which is available on the NHS in Scotland but not in England and Wales.

Yea, yea, I can hear the arguments now about that girl that didn't get a liver transplant -- but here is the difference --

The company that denied that girl a liver suffered extremely bad PR that already led to them reevaluating their medical approval procedures. In addition the customers of that company currently have the right to switch to another carrier. That wasn't possible for the victim of the NHS bureaucracy and that unaccountability and loss of freedom of choice can mean the difference between life and death.

DKK

Ace of Spades HQ

Treasury Secretary -- Law of Supply And Demand Not Repealed On Oil!

With oil at record-high prices, Paulson said there is "no quick fix" because it is an issue of supply and demand. Global demand remains strong while "production capacity has not seen new development," Paulson said.

"I don't see a lot of short-term answers," he added.

He said he would like to see "increased investment throughout the world in oil and gas and alternative sources of energy."

DKK

AP

Are Obama's Problems Going To Get Worse?

BREAKING NEWS: Michelle’s Whitey Problem (Thread #2)
New and dramatic developments. This is a heads up. I’ll post the news Monday morning by 0900 hours. Now I know why people who have seen the videotape say it is stunning. Barack’s headaches are only starting.

Earlier I posted about a rumored video of Michelle Obama giving a talk at Trinity Church. Well, here is an update with more to come this AM.

I don't know, this is the same guy who said Rove was getting indicted and we can see how that worked out.
DKK

Update: I think this longer post is it, it includes this nugget:
Barack may have quit his church but his religious problems are not over. Barack Obama has a Nation of Islam problem that will receive more attention in the coming days. Before Barack came on the scene, THE MAN in his political district was Louis Farrakhan
DKK

The Duce You Say -- It Was Just A Movie!

He did express curiosity about the filming of a chase scene in “North by Northwest,” Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 classic starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint that included a death-defying scramble over Rushmore’s presidential faces.

“How did they get up there in the first place?” he asked ranger Wesley Jensen.

“They didn’t. It was a movie set,” Jensen told him.

(...)

How many times did Quayle misspell potato before the American media and popular culture proclaimed him an idiot? We can add this to Obama’s existing list of gaffes and blunders:

• The Selma March in 1965 did not contribute to his birth in 1961.
• Kansas tornadoes in May 2007 killed 12 people, not “ten thousand”.
• Afghans do not speak Arabic.
• Misunderstanding Memorial Day, and then claiming to see “fallen heroes” in the Memorial Day audience.
• Same day: putting Auschwitz in western Germany, not Poland.
• “57 states”.

• 
  

DKK
Ed Morrissey -- Hot Air -- One potatoe, two potatoe, three potatoe, four

Violence In Iraq Drops -- Coverage Of Success Follows Suit

Conservative pundits have made this complaint ever since the beginning of the surge, but now the editorial board of the Washington Post adds its voice to the protest. They note the “odd” lull in reporting and debate on Iraq over the last few weeks, but fail to draw the obvious conclusion. The American media and the Democrats became so invested in American defeat that they have decided to ignore the collapse of their position as Iraq stabilizes

DKK
Hot Air

Adult Trust

The culture I was brought up in, taught me to respect dangerous objects and situations. To be an adult, one was expected to be adult-like around such things as bandsaws, punch presses, moving belts, and firearms. Anyone who was not trusted, was not an adult.

Somewhere between 1975 and now, the culture I was promised, was changed.

A Canadian, Fenris Badwulf, on gun control.
DKK
Via -- Four Right Wing Wacko's

Iraq -- Changing Circumstances and Mr. Obama

U.S. troop deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest level last month since the 2003 invasion and officials said on Sunday improved security also helped the country boost oil production in May to a post-war high.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Iraq's oil minister credited better security for the two milestones, which illustrated a dramatic turnabout in the fortunes of a country on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war just 12 months ago.

"We've still got a distance to go but I think lower casualty rates are a reflection of some real progress," Gates told reporters in Singapore. "The key will be to continue to sustain the progress we have seen."

Again I ask, Mr. Obama -- If you can reevaluate your 20 year membership at Trinity Church when the circumstances change, why can't you do the same thing with something as important as Iraq?
DKK

Kennedy To Undergo Surgery

Breaking News:

AP is reporting that Senator Kennedy to undergo surgery at Duke University!

Reported on Fox and Friends

Update:

Here is the AP Story, it appears he is in surgery now, Monday morning.
DKK

Update:

The surgery was an apparent success and Mr. Kennedy is recovering. He will require chemo and radiation therapy.
DKK

Copenhagen Consensus 2008

I have talked about The Copenhagen Consensus since their last meeting in 2004. It has now released its 2008 Consensus report:

Eight leading economists, including five Nobelists, were asked to prioritize 30 different proposed solutions to ten of the world's biggest problems. The proposed solutions were developed by more than 50 specialist scholars over the past two years and were presented as reports to the panel over the past week. Since we live in a world of scarce resources, not all good projects can be funded. So the experts were constrained in their decision making by allocating a budget of an "extra" $75 billion among the solutions over four years.

The number one solution was:

Supplying the micronutrients vitamin A and zinc to 80 percent of the 140 million children who lack them in developing countries is ranked as the highest priority by the expert panel at the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Conference. The cost is $60 million per year, yielding benefits in health and cognitive development of over $1 billion.

Second was expanding free trade.

Nancy Stokey explained,"Trade reform is not just for the long run, it would make people in developing countries better off right now. There are large benefits in the short run and the long run benefits are enormous."

Where was Anthropogenic Global Warming?

So what proposed solutions are at the bottom of the list? At number 30, the lowest priority is a proposal to mitigate man-made global warming by cutting the emissions of greenhouse gases. This ranking caused some consternation among the European journalists at the press conference. Nobelist and University of Maryland economist Thomas Schelling noted that part of the reason for the low ranking is that spending $75 billion on cutting greenhouses gases would achieve almost nothing. In fact, the climate change analysis presented to the panel found that spending $800 billion until 2100 would yield just $685 billion in climate change benefits.

DKK
Reason Magazine -- The Top Ten Solutions To The Worlds Biggest Problems