Vulture Capitalism

Political Cartoon is by Steve Benson in The Arizona Republic.

Fox News - A Chicken Or Egg Conundrum

There have been studies before showing Fox News viewers are the least informed viewers of any news network. Consider this bit from a post in The Nation:

As of November 22, 2011, Think Progress had found seven studies showing Fox News’s viewers to be the worst informed of all news consumers. In a post about a report that had just come out in the International Journal of Press/Politics, by communication scholar Lauren Feldman of American University and colleagues which found that “Fox News viewing manifests a significant, negative association with global warming acceptance,” Chris Mooney cited six previous studies with similar findings.

I identified 6 separate studies showing Fox News viewers to be the most misinformed, and in a right wing direction—studies on global warming, health care, health care a second time, the Ground Zero mosque, the Iraq war, and the 2010 election.
I also asked if anyone was aware of any counterevidence, and none was forthcoming. There might very well be a survey out there showing that Fox viewers aren’t [emphasis in original] the most misinformed cable news consumers on some topic (presumably it would be a topic where Democrats have some sort of ideological blind spot), but I haven’t seen it. And I have looked.

Now there is another study about this. Researchers at Fairleigh Dickinson University's Public Mind Poll conducted a very interesting survey. They asked the viewers of certain news sources (Fox, MSNBC, CNN, Sunday Show, talk radio, Daily Show, and NPR) a short series of questions, divided into domestic and international issues. They also had a control group who did not watch (or listen to) any news source. The results (as an average score) is shown in the two charts above.

And the results don't look good for Fox News. Viewers who got most of their news from Fox did much worse than any other group -- scoring 1.04 on the domestic test and 1.08 on the international test. That is significantly lower than the group that watched no news shows. The "no news" group scored 1.22 on the domestic test and 1.28 on the international test. All of the people who watched (or listened to) the other news sources scored higher than the "no news" group (except for MSNBC, which scored slightly lower on the international test -- but still significantly higher than the Fox News group).

Of course, this brings up a sort of "chicken or egg" question. Do the dumbest people in America watch Fox News, or does Fox News make the people that watch them dumber? I suspect it may be a combination of both. Anyone who thinks they will get real news from watching Fox can't be too bright, and Fox is much more interested in spreading right-wing propaganda than reporting real news.

The news source whose listeners scored the highest on both tests was no surprise. It was NPR (National Public Radio), perhaps the most accurate and highly regarded news source in the nation. MSNBC, CNN, and talk radio should all be ashamed of themselves (even though they did finish much better than Fox News). All of them were beaten by the viewers of The Daily Show (a comedy show) on both tests.

Dogs

Political Cartoon is by Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Tx GOP Senate Primary - Bringing The Crazy

The two men pictured above are the leading candidates in the Republican primary to run for the senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. Both are rabid right-wingers, and they lead a field of rabid right-wingers. If you thought Hutchison was a bad senator (and she definitely was), just wait until you see these guys. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (on the left) is currently leading ex-Solicitor General Ted Cruz (on the right).

Cruz is so far to the right that he thinks the United Nations is conspiring to ban golf courses in the United States. I wish I could say that was a joke, but he really said that while campaigning (and of course, he's pledged to foil the nefarious U.N. plot).

Dewhurst is no better, having backed plans to rape Texas women with a sonogram wand if they want an abortion, suppress voting in the state, and gerrymander Texas' new districts to make sure they go to white Republicans (even though Hispanics made up the vast majority of population growth in Texas).

The race has gotten so crazy that Cruz is now running TV ads accusing Dewhurst of being a "moderate". That may not sound bad to reasonable people, but to teabaggers like most Texas Republicans, it is the kiss of death to be labeled as a moderate. Dewhurst has fought back by getting the endorsement of Gov. Rick Perry and running ads featuring Mike Huckabee (neither of whom could be considered moderate in any way).

The fact is that there is no moderate running for the Republican nomination (and probably none left in the Texas Republican Party at all). If Texas elects and sends to Washington either of these two men (or any of the other Republicans in the contest), then the people of this state will owe an apology to the rest of the nation. And sadly, as red as Texas is, that is very likely to happen.

So far, neither of these candidates has reached the magic 50% mark in the polls, and there is probably going to be a run-off for the nomination. But a new Public Policy Polling survey shows that Dewhurst has carved out a nice lead for himself. Here are the latest numbers:

David Dewhurst...............46%
Ted Cruz...............29%
Tom Leppert...............15%
Craig James...............3%
Others...............2%
Undecided...............5%

Return To The Past

Political Cartoon is by Mike Thompson in the Detroit Free Press.

Democrats Vs. Republicans

Democrats are better at creating jobs, increasing stock market return, growing the economy, and growing the income of all Americans. Republicans are best at destroying and exporting American jobs, creating a vast inequality in wealth and income, and starting recessions. Those are just facts.

The Majority Leader Puts His Foot Down

The gentleman pictured above is the majority leader of the United States Senate, Harry Reid (D-Nevada). In 2009 and 2010, Reid went along with the president's repeated attempts to involve the Republicans in a bipartisan effort to govern and shape legislation. It even got to the point where many progressives, including me, thought that both Reid and the president were not just being bipartisan but actually knuckling under to the GOP. I called for Reid to be replaced as majority leader.

But things have changed. Although the president is still open to bipartisanship, he has realized that the Republicans want no part of that. For the GOP, it's their way or the highway. The president has started playing some political hardball, and Reid is right their beside him (refusing to give in on any more ridiculous Republican demands). Reid has put his foot down in the Senate, and is demanding the Republicans keep their word.

Last summer, the Democrats and Republicans agreed to form a "super committee" to find a reasonable way to cut the deficit. They also agreed that if that committee could not agree on a solution, then there would be a 10% across-the-board cut in all discretionary budget items, including the military budget (which makes up nearly half of the entire world's military spending). The committee failed, and now the cuts are due to be enacted -- and the Pentagon is on board with this, saying the cuts will NOT endanger national defense.

The cuts will be hard, but at least they are fair -- and they will reduce the deficit. But the Republicans have now decided to break their word. House Republicans have produced a budget that not only restores the 10% that was supposed to be cut from the military budget, but tacks an addition $8 billion dollars on to the budget for additional military spending (in spite of the fact the Pentagon says they don't need it).

The House would pay for at least part of this additional military spending by making deeper cuts (deeper than the agreed upon 10%) in domestic social programs -- the programs that help the poor and other Americans that have been hurt by the GOP recession. None of the additional spending is offset by any new taxes on the rich (as the Democrats have asked for). Now the bill goes to the Senate.

But Majority Leader Reid is having none of it. He says the bill will not pass without substantial changes. Their will be no additional military spending and no additional cuts to social programs beyond the agreed-to cuts -- unless the Republicans are willing to discuss additional revenues (more taxes on the rich). And Reid is speaking from a position of strength, since all he has to do is keep the House bill from passing (either by voting it down or filibustering it to death).

Reid's position of strength comes from the fact that if Congress does nothing at all, two things will happen automatically -- the across-the-board 10% cuts will kick in (including the cuts to the military), and the Bush tax cuts will expire. And that would be a lot better than the Republican budget proposal going into effect. Personally, I would like to see only the Bush tax cuts expire for those making over $250,000 a year, but allowing all of the cuts to expire is better than keeping all of the cuts.

And Reid doesn't need 60 votes this time, or even a simple majority. All he needs is 41 votes -- enough to keep a filibuster alive (and the repeated abuse of the filibuster system by the Republicans leaves them without a leg to stand on).

I'm liking this new iron-willed majority leader (and president also). I hope they keep this up. The Republicans have been allowed to play their silly games with the budget and the economy for far too long.

Failure ?

Political Cartoon is by Jim Morin in The Miami Herald.

African-Americans Support Equal Rights For Gays/Lesbians

They right-wing fundamentalists have been making a big deal out of fighting to preserve their right to discriminate lately -- and a big part of this fight is to deny the right of same-sex couples to marry (a right already enjoyed by heterosexual couples). They claim that allowing same-sex couples to marry would somehow damage the institution of marriage, although none of them has been able to explain just how this "damage" would occur.

One of the communities that has been slow to accept the equality of same-sex marriages has been the African-American community (example -- a majority of African-Americans voted for Proposition 8 in California). And the right-wing has been trying to use same-sex marriage as a wedge to separate African-Americans from other progressives in this country. Thankfully, it looks like that effort is failing.

A couple of weeks ago, President Obama demonstrated some political courage in admitting to Americans that he believed same-sex couples should have the same right as other couples to marry, and to enjoy the rights and privileges that come with marriage. Then last week, for the first time, the NAACP came out publicly in favor of allowing same-sex couples to marry. Together, these two watershed events have caused a lot of people to re-examine their thoughts about same-sex marriage equality.

A Public Policy Polling survey now shows that 55% of African-Americans would now join the 57% of all people in Maryland to vote to keep their new law allowing same-sex marriages. And a new ABC News/Washington Post Poll (released last Wednesday) shows that 59% of African-Americans nationwide now support the right of same-sex couples to marry. That's an even bigger majority than in the general public (where 53% support same-sex marriage).

This is wonderful news, and I'm very happy to see it. I say that because I strongly believe that if one group (any group) in this country can be denied equal rights, then any other group could also have their rights curtailed. Either everyone has equal rights are no one has those rights guaranteed.

There's still a long way to go before equal rights are established for everyone in America (in spite of constitutional guarantees), but with each passing month and year more progress toward that goal is made. To borrow a phrase from the African-American community, we just have to "keep our eyes on the prize".  

Brown Babies

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Other Religions In America

While the fundamentalists would like for everyone to believe the United States is a christian country and everyone in it should be christian, that is far from the truth. This has always been a multi-religion country, and becomes more so all the time (not to mention the fact that 30 million atheists live in this country, about 8-10% of the population).

I found the chart above very interesting (and you can click on it to make it bigger). It shows the second most popular religion in each state (behind various forms of christianity). It was made by the  Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.

I was a little surprised by a few things it shows. I had no idea that the baha'i faith was strong enogh to finish second in at least one state (South Carolina), or that the hindus were the second most popular religion in both Delaware and Arizona. And I found it odd that islam is the second most popular religion in the South (the home of rabid islamophobia).

Anyway, I thought you might find the chart interesting, too.

Scary Story

Political Cartoon is by Daryl Cagle at caglecartoons.com.

Republicans

Found at the website called Liberals Are Cool.

Hispanics Still Solidly Supporting Obama

In just the last forty years in the United States, the Hispanic population has grown from about 14.6 million to 50.5 million. Last week the U.S. Census Bureau announced that last year there were more minority babies born in the United States than white babies. Add those two facts to the fact that the fastest growing portion of the United States population in the United States was Hispanics, and you can get a pretty good picture of just how important the Hispanic vote has become -- and how it will grow in importance with each passing election.

Back in 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain got about 31% of the Hispanic vote. Obviously, Republicans must do better than that in the future to win elections (since the percentage of the vote that is Hispanic will grow with each election). With their anti-minority, anti-Hispanic, and anti-immigrant policies (which seem to be growing more prominent within their party each year), the Republicans seem to be ignoring this growing and increasingly important portion of the electorate.

Of course this brings up the question of whether Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) can do better among Hispanics this year than McCain did in 2008. Last March, a Fox News Poll showed that Romney was actually polling worse than McCain did among Hispanics. And now a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo Poll shows that Romney has not improved his position at all among Hispanics in the last few months. Here is what the poll shows:

IF THE ELECTION WAS HELD TODAY, WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR?
Obama...............61%
Romney...............27%
Neither...............5%
Undecided...............7%

DO YOU HAVE A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE FEELING ABOUT. . .
President Obama
positive...............58%
negative...............23%

Mitt Romney
positive...............26%
negative...............35%

And it's not just President Obama that has the support of most Hispanics. The Democratic Party is much more popular than the Republican Party. Here are those numbers:

DO YOU HAVE A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE FEELING ABOUT. . .
Democratic Party
positive...............51%
negative...............19%

Republican Party
positive...............22%
negative...............40%

WOULD YOU PREFER THE NEXT CONGRESS TO BE CONTROLLED BY DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICANS?
Democrats...............58%
Republicans...............30%

Obviously Romney has a lot of ground to make up (unless he thinks he can win with only the white vote -- since a majority of Asians and African-Americans polled also support President Obama). Yesterday, Romney spoke before The Latino Coalition. He mentioned nothing in his speech about immigration (an issue very important to many Hispanics). Instead, he spoke about improving education, saying:

Here we are in the most prosperous nation, but millions of kids are getting a third-world education. And, America’s minority children suffer the most. This is the civil-rights issue of our era. It’s the great challenge of our time.

The problem with that is that about a month ago he spoke to a group of his largest donors and told them he would make massive cuts in education funding. How is he going to do that and improve education for minorities at the same time. Obviously he is lying to one of those groups (and I suspect it is the Hispanics). He seems to think Hispanics are not very bright and will believe his lies. That's an assumption that he'll regret in November.