providing a translation for you all...
Jan. 18th, 2009 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearwhen a press report says "some sources suggest it may cost...", followed by a dollar amount, the actual meaning is "I pulled out of my ass a total guess that it might cost...".
I'm not saying this won't be expensive, though $150million still qualifies for "petty cash" in the federal budget.
I'm just saying that the current AP report that's throwing this dollar tag around is absolute soft-market fluff meant to create controversy by presenting he-said-she-said commentary on a made up dollar figure, and does nothing to justify or investigate where that dollar figure comes from or how these "sources" estimated it. It may include events that actually aren't official parts of the inauguration but some bureaucrat somewhere included them in order to pad the figure for his/her own reasons.
Keep in mind there are a LOT of balls, not all of them official and not all of them the President may attend. It's akin to the 7 or 8 post-Oscar parties out there.
But this AP report going around with its $150 has absolutely no justification for it, and makes the article about people's opinions of it rather than the FACTS about what may (or may not) be costing so much and how much of it is really taxpayer paid for.
Recession or not, Obama's people claim they raised $40 mil so far - that is NOT taxpayer money, that is freely donated through free speech first amendment expression (within the $30k limits for individuals to avoid the impression of impropriety).
Now, is the other $110 (if that's an accurate figure at all) taxpayers or admission ticket paid for? Who knows? What specifically does that $40 mil go to? Who knows? Are there any other income sources (like Ball admission prices) that can help pay for this $150 million? Who knows?
And THAT is the problem with this AP release. It tells us what people think ABOUT some claim without actually justifying if that claim is even accurate.
The "liberal" media today apparently just means the media is "free" to just make shit up now, and then justify its own existence by getting opinions on the shit it made up rather than the facts it is supposed to be researching. Rather than really informing us of what is really going on, it is asking our opinions first and using them to make up the most attractive piece. E.g., people freshly laid off don't want to see the government wasting dollars, so they'll throw out some huge dollar amount to make it look like the government is wasting (your) dollars and then ask your opinion on it to justify our "research".
I don't want to know what people THINK about what is going on (especially as I know people DON'T FUCKING THINK - they act totally on emotion and gut instinct). I want to know what is really going on so I can make my own INFORMED opinion.
Right now, my INFORMED opinion is that the AP is utterly unable to INFORM anybody of anything beyond its, and therefore their own, ignorance.
I'm not saying this won't be expensive, though $150million still qualifies for "petty cash" in the federal budget.
I'm just saying that the current AP report that's throwing this dollar tag around is absolute soft-market fluff meant to create controversy by presenting he-said-she-said commentary on a made up dollar figure, and does nothing to justify or investigate where that dollar figure comes from or how these "sources" estimated it. It may include events that actually aren't official parts of the inauguration but some bureaucrat somewhere included them in order to pad the figure for his/her own reasons.
Keep in mind there are a LOT of balls, not all of them official and not all of them the President may attend. It's akin to the 7 or 8 post-Oscar parties out there.
But this AP report going around with its $150 has absolutely no justification for it, and makes the article about people's opinions of it rather than the FACTS about what may (or may not) be costing so much and how much of it is really taxpayer paid for.
Recession or not, Obama's people claim they raised $40 mil so far - that is NOT taxpayer money, that is freely donated through free speech first amendment expression (within the $30k limits for individuals to avoid the impression of impropriety).
Now, is the other $110 (if that's an accurate figure at all) taxpayers or admission ticket paid for? Who knows? What specifically does that $40 mil go to? Who knows? Are there any other income sources (like Ball admission prices) that can help pay for this $150 million? Who knows?
And THAT is the problem with this AP release. It tells us what people think ABOUT some claim without actually justifying if that claim is even accurate.
The "liberal" media today apparently just means the media is "free" to just make shit up now, and then justify its own existence by getting opinions on the shit it made up rather than the facts it is supposed to be researching. Rather than really informing us of what is really going on, it is asking our opinions first and using them to make up the most attractive piece. E.g., people freshly laid off don't want to see the government wasting dollars, so they'll throw out some huge dollar amount to make it look like the government is wasting (your) dollars and then ask your opinion on it to justify our "research".
I don't want to know what people THINK about what is going on (especially as I know people DON'T FUCKING THINK - they act totally on emotion and gut instinct). I want to know what is really going on so I can make my own INFORMED opinion.
Right now, my INFORMED opinion is that the AP is utterly unable to INFORM anybody of anything beyond its, and therefore their own, ignorance.
