Is Google Biased Against Conservatives?

While many out there might look at Google as an unstoppable giant and cringe at the thought of their growing empire, I have to say I have mostly held a generally positive (but only slightly above neutral) view of Google. The search engine is my standard. I use Gmail, Analytics,  and several other tools they offer for free. Good stuff right? Well, recent events have had me question a few things about Google.

Yes, I know that the people in charge are liberal and probably donate to liberal causes and all that, but you know, they are free to do that. I drink Starbucks Coffee and support the company regardless of the company’s political leanings. I would have a problem however, if Starbucks treated me differently on political grounds. Anytime I go in, I expect the same treatment, service and available products as anyone else who goes in, and expect to pay the same price for given product as anyone else. Any other treatment would be discriminatory.  Can we agree on that?

There is, of course the issue of search neutrality. I’ll direct you to a blog post by Melissa Clouthier, I have another angle to approach.

A few weeks ago, my co-blogger here, Mark Noonan, told me that his personal site Noonan for Nevada was unexpectedly dropped from Google’s Adsense program. This, if you do not know is a program that allow blog publishers like us to put contextual ads on our blogs in the hopes that we can generate some revenue.We don’t expect a huge amount of money out of it… Enough to cover the cost of hosting would satisfy me. Anyway, I wasn’t sure what to tell him. He never violated their terms of service… what explanation was there. I had no idea.

Well, a mere two days later, I found that my Google Adsense account was also suspended. Herre’s the email I received:

Hello,

While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. Since keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our advertisers in the future, we’ve decided to disable your account.

Please understand that we consider this a necessary step to protect the interests of both our advertisers and our other AdSense publishers. We realize the inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you in advance
for your understanding and cooperation.

If you have any questions about your account or the actions we’ve taken, please do not reply to this email. You can find more information by visiting https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

It is worth noting that while you can “appeal” the decision, Google maintain some secrecy on their methods of determining questionable activity. From the link they provided is the following information:

Because we have a need to protect our proprietary detection system, we’re unable to provide our publishers with any information about their account activity, including any web pages, users, or third-party services that may have been involved.

As you may know, Google treats invalid click activity very seriously, analyzing all clicks and impressions to determine whether they fit a pattern of use that may artificially drive up an advertiser’s costs or a publisher’s earnings. If we determine that an AdSense account may pose a risk to our AdWords advertisers, we may disable that account to protect our advertisers’ interests.

Lastly, please note that as outlined in our Terms and Conditions, Google will use its sole discretion when determining instances of invalid click activity.

I appealed the decision. About three hours later I got a response that my appeal was denied.

Well, that means I am down with Google Adsense. Yet, I have no idea what caused the problem, and thus no ability to determine the cause.

While I am sure that this happens regularly with sites all the time, the fact that Mark and I each got booted in a matter of days suggests to me that that our being booted off of Google’s Adsense program was not random. This can mean a few things, including someone who goes on both NoonanForNevada.com and BlogsForVictory.com deliberated created the appearance of invalid click activity, or Google is systematically dropping conservative sites from its Adsense program.

Prior to being dropped from the Adsense program, I did receive a check (for a sum larger than $100)  … Shortly after the check was deposited my bank sent it back, the money was taken out of my account, and a small fee charged to my from my bank. Great huh? Payment for a period prior to the alleged invalid activity was cancelled, despite my inability to get any information to explain the problems that lead to my removal from the program.

I would like to get back on the Google Adsense progam, but unfortunately I have no recourse at this point. I made one and only allowed appeal. All I can do is write about the situation, and maybe a pattern of this behavior from Google will surface, and we can get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, based on the circumstances surrounding this situation, the simplest conclusion to make is that there is some anti-conservative bias at Google.

Global Warming Hoax Update

Geesh:

NASA Data Worse Than Climate-Gate Data, Space Agency Admits

NASA was able to put a man on the moon, but the space agency can’t tell you what the temperature was when it did. By its own admission, NASA’s temperature records are in even worse shape than the besmirched Climate-gate data.

E-mail messages obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that NASA concluded that its own climate findings were inferior to those maintained by both the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) — the scandalized source of the leaked Climate-gate e-mails — and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center.

The e-mails from 2007 reveal that when a USA Today reporter asked if NASA’s data “was more accurate” than other climate-change data sets, NASA’s Dr. Reto A. Ruedy replied with an unequivocal no. He said “the National Climatic Data Center’s procedure of only using the best stations is more accurate,” admitting that some of his own procedures led to less accurate readings.

So, we’ve been relying on the “better” data which turned out to be fraudulent. Does anyone out there – other than con artists like Gore – really want to defend anthro-pogenic global warming? Its clear that the best possible face to put on this business is that we just don’t know what is happening in the overall climate. The worst-case scenario is that which has environmentalists deliberately falsifying data in service of their totalitarian goals (which is what I happen to believe is the case).

Time to ditch this albatross and concentrate our environmental efforts where they should have been all along – day by day, cleaning up a bit more and putting a bit less pollution in to the environment. Leave off the “world is coming to an end” nonsense.

Out and About on a Wednesday Morning

If the economy is improving, then why do State revenues continue to collapse?

I feel safer, already – Sarkozy and Obama teaming up to deal with Iran. Kinda like sending the Boy Scouts in to clear out a biker gang. I think we’ve rather missed our chance in dealing with Iran – there was a window of opportunity when sanctions/blockade/targeted aerial attacks in escalation could have done the trick. Now, all we seem to be going for is some rather toothless sanctions – and at a time when even military operations might not deter the Mullahs. We might be heading for a long, terrorist-violence-filled Cold War, or the necessity of full-scale war to deal with this.

Steele to survive Stripper-Gate. Which does make sense, given he had nothing to do with it.

A rancher is murdered – probably by illegal aliens. The guy was one of those who, in an act of pure, Christian mercy, would aid those poor souls struggling across the desert. Just one more innocent man murdered because our political class – slaves to ideology – refuse to secure the border. How many more rapes, robberies and murders along the border will the liberals require before we’re allowed to enforce our immigration laws?

Telegraphing our punches: should we really be saying that the Kandahar offensive will start in June? Shouldn’t that be a bit of a military secret?

Scientists discovering the secrets of the Big Bang. Or destroying the Earth. Or, just perhaps, playing around with big toys which will really tell us nothing we really need to know. Reuters reports, you decide. What are the practical applications of a “mini-Big Bang”, anyways?

Hammering Romney over his support for socialized medicine in Massachusetts. That will be a very steep hill for Romney to climb as he seeks the 2012 GOP nomination. I figure it will eventually kill his chances – but we shall see.

Visiting The Troops in Afghanistan: Bush vs. Obama

Picture are indeed worth a thousand words.

President Obama made his first trip as chief executive to Afghanistan over the weekend to, among other things, visit troops close to Kabul. He spoke to them at Bagram Airfield and we had the full text right here.

The White House released this picture by official White House photographer Pete Souza, showing the president shaking hands and grabbing a soldier’s finger, and the troops’ reactions.

The picture below was taken by official White House photographer Eric Draper of another president, George W. Bush, visiting U.S. troops in South Korea and their reactions.

I think anyone serving in the military abroad would appreciate a visit from President Bush more than a visit from Barack Obama. The difference in the reactions is very telling. This is hardly the first time we’ve seen such a difference in reaction… I’ve seen past video showing different troops reactions, and they tell the same story.

Rematch in Maryland

Former governor Ehrlich will challenge the Democrat who beat him in 2006:

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. confirmed Tuesday that he will try to reclaim his former job as governor, hoping to benefit from a national anti-incumbent sentiment that emerged since the last presidential election and has deepened during the health care debate.

If victorious, Ehrlich, a Republican, would become the first politician in modern Maryland history to win a rematch after losing as an incumbent governor. Ehrlich was defeated by Democrat Martin O’Malley in 2006, the only sitting governor ousted by voters that year. Ehrlich, 52, has been contemplating a rematch with O’Malley for months, and said he was encouraged by the mood of voters he encountered during recent travels.

“There’s a real sense of concern about the direction our state is taking,” Ehrlich said in a conference call with reporters, adding that he plans to launch his campaign April 7 in Rockville, followed by a stop in Baltimore County.

He won in the big GOP year of 2002, lost in the big Democrat year of 2006 – now its 2010, and it may end up being a GOP year, again. Maryland is, of course, an overwhelmingly Democrat State – and thus it is horribly mis-governed, wracked by corruption and wallowing in a fiscal morass.

Now, in any given year, none of that would matter. Democrats are used to doing what they’re told and if they’re told to re-elect the people who caused all the problems, then that is what they’ll do. Normally. But 2010 isn’t a normal year.

The mask is finally off the corrupt government system – and Democrats are the government, plain and simple. It could be, at long last, that time when people reject permanently the party of government.

Hannity Puts Out His Plan

Pulling no punches:

The GOP needs to continue to oppose Obama on every front, vocally and without fear. It needs to offer market-based solutions to liberalism’s command-and-control economy. And it needs to do what some of us have been doing since the beginning of this administration, which is to say and to show that Barack Obama is the most radical president we have ever laid eyes on. Republicans need to point out, with the intellectual force and personal charm that characterized Mr. Reagan, that Mr. Obama is a threat to the things we most cherish, the principles our country was founded on, and the documents that gave birth to this country.

If some might have found this indictment overstated and melodramatic a year ago, that is no longer true. America has lived under Obama for 14 months now, and that experience has been a harsh teacher. We now know what we are dealing with. And the American people, in growing numbers, want to hit the reset button. Out of this a conservative victory will emerge — and a new political era will dawn.

It does seem to be working – don’t attack Obama, the man, but relentlessly attack everything he’s doing. He’s a nice guy. He’s good looking. His daughters are his crowing glory. Nothing much to hit at there, even if one wishes to eschew being a gentleman. But on what he does, there is room and to spare to hit hard and keep on hitting.

ObamaCare. Cap and Trade. Card Check. Iranian nuclear weapons. Insults to Israel. Corporate bail outs. Unemployment. Pork spending. This is a target-rich environment – and a list of particulars which can be used to appeal right across from conservative Republican to libertarian Independent to disaffected Democrat.

We have the materials ready to hand – we can craft a message and campaign which will score us an immense victory in November and set the stage for an even larger victory in 2012. Have we the courage to do it? Time will tell – but I really think we’re on to something.

Jaime Escalante, RIP

A great man:

Jaime Escalante, the math teacher who transformed a tough East Los Angeles high school and inspired the movie “Stand and Deliver,” died Tuesday. He was 79.

Escalante died at his son’s home near Sacramento, after battling bladder cancer for several years, family friend Keith Miller said.

An immigrant from Bolivia, he transformed Garfield High School by motivating struggling students to excel at advanced math and science. The school had more advanced placement calculus students than all but four other public high schools in the country.

God bless you, Mr. Escalante.

ObamaCare So Unpopular it Even Helps Weak Republicans

Michael Barone notes:

When Republican Senator Christopher Bond of Missouri announced that he would not run for reelection, his seat seemed ripe for a Democratic pickup. Barack Obama had just narrowly missed carrying Missouri by 3,903 votes, Democrat Jay Nixon had just been elected governor, Democrat Clair McCaskill had defeated incumbent Republican Senator Jim Talent in 2006 and Democrats had a ready-made candidate in Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, daughter of the late Governor Mel Carnahan and of former Senator Jean Carnahan…

In addition, the lead Republican candidate, 7th district Congressman Roy Blunt, at first seemed to be burdened with disadvantages: he spent 14 years in Washington as a congressman, much of it as part of the Republican leadership, he is married to a Washington lobbyist and his son Matt Blunt left the governorship in 2008 after one term with a low job rating. But in the four public polls conducted this year, Blunt has led Carnahan by a 47%-41% margin. In the most recent, conducted by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, he leads 45%-41%–despite the fact that his favorables/unfavorables are perfectly dreadful (25%-41%) and much lower than Carnahan’s (38%-43%). So what’s going on? Reaction to “President Obama’s health care plan” is hugely negative: only 37% support it and 54% oppose it…

That is just astounding. The Democrat talking point remains “now that its passed, Republicans will be toast if they run against it”. Perhaps something like that would have worked 20 or 25 years ago – when the Democrats could rely upon the MSM to hammer home the message. And when people weren’t quite as disgusted with government as they are, today.

Now, however, things have changed. All a Republican has to do to get thunderous applause is announce he will work to repeal ObamaCare – not “healthcare” and not “healthcare reform” – ObamaCare. That is the key – the people don’t want this bill passed by this Congress and signed by this President. Democrats can yammer on endlessly about how wonderful the bill is but the fact remains that the way in which it was done has assured its unpopularity no matter what is in it.

And as we learn what is in it, it seems like its full of holes, doesn’t even cover the basic Democrat promises about and appears to have been written by insurance company lobbyists. Its a toxic stew, and Democrats may very much rue it by November.

So Much for the ObamaCare Bounce

Dropping like a rock – and taking Obama with it:

The One’s bounce has already started to fade but the numbers for the bill itself were an open question since Gallup’s shocker last week showing a surge of support to 49/40. Momentary spike due to glowing media coverage of the historic historicness of passage? Or a sustained rise as Americans reconcile themselves psychologically to their horrific new boondoggle?

An answer, perhaps:

In the poll, 50% call passage of the bill “a bad thing” and 47% say it was “a good thing.” That’s at odds with the findings of a one-day USA TODAY Poll taken a week ago — a day after the U.S. House approved the legislation — in which a 49%-40% plurality called the bill “a good thing.”…

The failure of the new law to get even plurality support is especially sobering for House Democrats from competitive congressional districts who heeded pleas from the White House and congressional leaders to vote “yes.” The legislation passed 219-212, with just three votes to spare…

Further in to the article is Gallup’s latest on the “generic ballot” question. To nutshell it – if the election were held today, Democrats would lose about 60 seats. It looks like all ObamaCare has done is give a temporary boost to Democrats among Democrats while also lighting a massive fire under GOPers and Independents to oppose not just ObamaCare, but the entire Democrat agenda.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen has Obama back on a -14 in the strongly approve/strongly disapprove metric.

Now, don’t cocky, Republicans – its a looong way to November and the Democrats will pull out all the stops. Get ready for the political battle of a life time.

Mindless Liberal Says We're Just Racists

Frank Rich decides that we really don’t mind ObamaCare – but we don’t like the fact that Obama is black:

If Obama’s first legislative priority had been immigration or financial reform or climate change, we would have seen the same trajectory. The conjunction of a black president and a female speaker of the House — topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay Congressional committee chairman — would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play.

One does begin to wonder: are they really that stupid, or is it that they money-bags writing the checks are just insisting upon such hackneyed, party-line views? I mean, come on.

Meanwhile, out in the real world, two of the people causing the most excitement in grass-roots conservatism are the hispanic Marco Rubio and the black Allen West. And, as we reported, there are a very large number of black Americans seeking GOP office here in 2010.

Some of my neighbors are black. My department manager is black. My boss is a woman (and she voted for Obama!). I have gay friends. My parish priest is from south Asia. If I’m out to save White America, then I’m a bit late. And yet a pinhead like Rich is telling his readers that I’m motivated by fear of “the other”.

Stupid. They’ll never learn. We’ll just have to beat them, very badly, and then reform the country so they don’t matter, at all.