Equal pay for women | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    Here we go again. Or maybe I should say "Here they go again". "They" would be the Anointed One and his merry group of sycophants led by Ms. Reid's boy, Harry and Ms. Schumer's boy, Charlie. They are proclaiming to all within hearing range that women are paid only 77% as much as men. Their "Talking Points Memo" has clearly been distributed far and wide. A lot of other Dems also seem to be trying to change the subject to the claimed 77% differential. What is interesting is that none of them seem even slightly ashamed to be reading and spouting these talking points as though they were really true..

    So how do you suppose they came to that figure?? They calculated the median income for women and the median income for men and are using those figures. There you have it. They are banking on our ignorance of mathematics or simply on our ignorance - the same as always. It is almost unbelievable that more of the population does not seem to be offended by these insults.

    Let's start out with how "median" is calculated and what it means. "Median" is calculated by taking a series of numbers (in this case the amount paid to each person of the male and female persuasion in a particular cohort - separately), arranging them in either ascending or descending order and, if the array contains an odd number of values, determining the value of the number which is at the center of that array. If the array contains an even number of values, the median is the average of the two numbers at the center of the array. That's it. Not so scary after all, was it??

    Their use of the "medians" in support of their argument about pay equity (or lack of pay equity) is but one more example of the level of dishonesty to which the Anointed One and his troops are willing to go to get us to believe their fairy tales.. Surely this latest misdirection is not intended to help get - or keep - the female vote in the upcoming election. Of course it isn't. Likewise, surely it is not intended to divert our attention from their "Fast and Furious" antics or their handling of the Benghazi situation, or their (lack of) openness about the IRS treatment of conservatives seeking tax exempt status for their non-profit organizations. Of course not.. And, if you believe either one of those notions.....

    A lot of folks, including me, spend a lot of time claiming that the Anointed One and his administration aren't very effective at anything. It would seem that may not be totally the case. Their stonewalling, slow walking, and outright refusal to perform their Constitutionally mandated responsibilities has been truly effective (if "effective" means getting away with implementing these tactics). I suppose we should have known that a Chief Executive who is a basketball aficionado would have thought of "running out the clock" to ensure "victory". The Anointed One and virtually his entire Administration would seem to have adopted that strategy and become quite adept it implementing it. Another strategy that has found its way into common usage is to "initiate" an investigation (seemingly an unending investigation) which then provides a reason (excuse) to not answer any questions about whatever it is. We are left to wonder why we don't ever seem to hear the outcome of any of these "investigations". They have been able to hold off the Reps for long enough that they are now beginning to tell us that those transgressions have become "old news" (ergo no longer worthy of discussion).

    Who, What, When Where, Why?? We know the "what", "when" and "where" of all those things. It is not difficult to surmise the "why". What we have been unable to find out is the "who". By keeping everyone in the dark about the "who", it is unlikely that the low information electorate will see a reason to not vote for them come the next election (or two)

    We ask for honesty and responsiveness from the Anointed One and his Attorney General and we are accused of being racists. Of course they already knew that we are racists because we support the requirement for folks to show a picture ID in order to vote. (Well, that's what they said..) I haven't heard the first factual word of justification in support of that allegation. I have heard a lot of disingenuous poorly framed emotional excuses, and little else. It remains a mystery why asking for a photo ID at our polling places is racist but asking for the same ID at our doctor's office is not.

    But I digress. Back to equal pay and median income.

    In their usual disingenuous way, the Dems use "median income" to create the impression that the income levels calculated are for equal work. They aren't!! This is just one more reminder that (unfortunately) we must carefully parse everything that these rascals tell us or we will be grossly misled. With this group making the pronouncements, we must assume nothing. Likewise, we must take nothing for granted. Otherwise, we will be totally and completely flummoxed. Period.

    As long as they continue to get away with passing off half-truths (or is it quarter truths?? - if even that much) as the Gospel, they will surely continue to rely on that strategy. One would think that sooner or later a lot of the "dependable" Dem voters will recognize that they are being taken for granted and begin to take umbrage over the insulting treatment they are being handed by the Dems... There are a lot of folks (including me) for whom that day cannot come soon enough.

    How the Anointed One gets away with talking about Equal Pay For Equal Work and backing it up with statistics that have nothing to do with "for equal work" remains a real mystery. The fact that his spear carriers seem to believe that the Dems will hold the female vote with such obviously misleading arguments should be enough to make any thinking person sick to their stomach. The fact that the Anointed One and his spear carriers are so transparently blatant in their efforts to mislead the American voters should be viewed as an insult by any self respecting person - especially those of the female persuasion...

    D'ya Think??