Good News First

last week the Federal Reserve released a series of reports regarding the state of the American people. The good news is that total household net worth is now $45.91 trillion, a new record and a sign that the economy is growing.

Net worth is everything we own minus everything we owe. The bad news is that total consumer debt grew at a rate of over 9% in the second quarter of 2004 and at an annual rate of 6.5% in July. While this debt growth was accompanied by asset growth, it is still out of control.

Americans are borrowing more and more against their homes, and that borrowing and the consumption it engenders is based on the idea that home prices will continue to increase, something that may have already stopped in parts of the country. It is dangerous for our nation to owe so much.

Timothy Burger

Do It For the Money

There is a Democrat group called Texans for Truth (a four month late copy of the Swift Vets)that is now offering a $50,000 reward for evidence that President Bush somehow did not fulfill his required service in the Texas Air National guard.

In the spirit of CBS News, Rigoberta Minchu (sp), and other liberal heros, I think I will apply for the reward. I remember serving with the President in those trying times, and I remember the honor an courage he showed as we drilled day in and day out, even in our time in Alabama together. The years I spent serving with lieutenant Bush were seared into my memory and he was one of the best pilots I ever served with. I feel compelled to come forward, withstand the media scrutiny and defend my good friend, George W. Bush.

Now you may ask: Tim, you are 26 now, making you negative six years old during Bush's service in the TANG, and you live in Kansas and have only been to Texas three times, for a total of less than two weeks total, how did you serve with the President?

I respond to the "bloggers in their pajamas" by saying that true, all available evidence seems to contradict my claim, but it is my personal truth, and I speak from the heart. It is my reality, it is my life, keep your laws off of my body, I am speaking about my life and my service in Vietnam you have no right to criticize my service and my sacrifice to our nation. Additionally my producer researched my claim and she (along with a couple of experts she heavily edited and took out of context) found my claim to be credible in that it reflects what many people feel happened from 1972-1973.

You may ask, what is wrong with you?

I would simply respond, that depends on what the definition of "is" is.

So, Texans for Truth, I expect my check will be in the mail soon.

Timothy Burger

P.S. Humorous aside: when I spell checked this post, the spell check told me "bloggers" and "blogger" are not words, ironic because I use blogger and blogger's own spell check.

Six Weeks, Three Days

On Tuesday we will be six weeks away from the November 2nd election. For those of you interested in the Kansas Third District Congressional race between Dennis Moore (D) and Kris Kobach (R) there are two sites you must visit.

The first is KrisWatch officially just run by a couple of guys with a lot of time to research Kris Kobach, Adam Taff, Dennis Moore, DennisMooreWatch.com, and everything else about this race. Unofficially, a witty site run by Moore staffers and former Moore staffers. This site has been on fire. They have been updating daily, and hitting hard. After running a site dedicated to attacking Adam Taff for two years the men, women, Turks who run the site have lost no time in kicking Kobach around.

The second is Third District, as above officially just run by some guys with a lot of time (and no real names), unofficially, run by the Kobach Campaign, specifically a guy named Peter Freund. Third District is the conservative/Kobach attack site. Operating since early in the GOP primary season, and updated about every ten days, the site has attacked Republican leaders and was one of the most aggressive sources for attacks on Adam Taff. Unlike KrisWatch, Third District does have commenting and often the real action on the site is the commenting generally led by a group of people with no real names but occasionally also joined by real live people including Mike Silverman, who always provides an intelligent dissenting view.

Both sites should be active for the next six weeks, enjoy and let the games begin.

Rather Fake

Monday morning CBS News should fire Dan Rather. Rather is supposed to be a news man, he is supposed to fairly report the events as they happen and be a source of information, he is not supposed to be a political operative. Instead of doing his job he has operated as a political agent against George W. Bush and has tried to knowingly lied to the American people in an attempt to damage the president by releasing false information.

Right now CBS is trying to convince people that the memos Rather put on the air are real, they are not. The media passed over the fact that Rather's guest on CBS's 60 minutes, Ben Barnes, told a story that directly contradicted sworn testimony he gave a few years ago. Big media tried to ignore the fact that Barnes is by definition, a liar. The media tried to ignore the fact that the documents these two put on the air were created on Microsoft Word, not a typewriter in 1973. The big media tried to ignore the fact that the man who supposedly helped Bush in the Texas Air National Gaurd in 1973 actually left the National Gaurd in 1972. The media tried to ignore the whole deal.

Fortunately in 2004 we have a strong and growing New Media, faster, more disperse, and more expert than the Old Media institutions. New Media wouldn't let the story go, New Media pushed the story, disseminated it, and then asked "why is Old Media ignoring this?". Enough people heard the story, saw the documents and asked the same questions that by late Thursday the story was showing up, first as a short addition to stories based on the documents, and then later as real stories.

Will CBS fire Rather, no. Will other Old media outlets really jump on the story, probably not, should they? yes. Some of them will, some won't. The ones that will are going to be forced to take a critical look at how partisans like Rather can influence news content, they will have to critique the way news organizations will run with half baked stories so they don't get scooped by their competition, and they will have to look at how sensationalistic the news has become. Nobody wants to do that. It would be easier to run a story about the new season of Survivor, or Joey! Than it would be to take a serious look at how structural problems in the media are dangerous to the democratic process. Since most Americans would be bored by a serious look at how we learn about our leaders, I guess I can't blame them, but I can keep reminding people that media companies are entertainment companies, not news organizations.