Is Congress getting dumber, or just more plainspoken? (This post was prepared in collaboration with Dan Drinkard) Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did just seven years ago, with the most conservative members of Congress speaking on average at the lowest grade level, according to a new Sunlight Foundation analysis of the Congressional Record using Capitol Words. Of course, what some might interpret as a dumbing down of Congress, others will see as more effective communications. And lawmakers of both parties still speak over the heads of the average American, who reads at between at 8th and 9th grade level.
Today’s Congress collectively speaks at a 10.6 grade level, down from 11.5 in 2005. By comparison, the U.S. In looking at the data more closely, a few other important patterns jump out: Controlling for other factors, it is generally the most moderate members of both parties who speak at the highest grade levels, and the most extreme members who speak at the lowest grade levels. So what does it all add up to? Eric Cantor Meets Occupy Wall Street - The Encounter. We recently brought you Michele Bachmann’s encounter with some Occupiers at one of her campaign stops. Well, she wasn’t the only Republican to have an unofficial introduction to the Occupy Movement. At a recent speech at Rice University, Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, had his first encounter too. As he stepped to the podium, Rice University students, in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement, began their “mic check” chant, coined by the Occupiers when they are about to announce their grievances publicly.
Cantor fell in line and allowed the 99% to have their voices heard. Now, if only if he’d fall in line along with the House of Representatives, and do the work that the bottom 99% elected him to do, instead of for the top 1% that bought his loyalty and his votes. 14 total views, 3 views today Ezra Grant I'm just tired of the lies and nonsense coming from the GOP, so this is my little contribution to combat the nonsense! Latest posts by Ezra Grant (see all) One Year of Prison Costs More Than One Year at Princeton. The comparison between higher education spending and correction spending highlighted in the following chart is not perfect. Universities have means to fund themselves; prisons rely on the government. So it makes some sense that a disproportional amount of money flows to the correction centers. Also, take note, comparing African Americans in college and African Americans in dorms is not completely fair. For one, college implies an 18-22 age range, and incarcerated adults can be of any age.
Despite these shortcomings, this chart helps illustrate a large discrepancy in this country: America has the highest incarceration rate by population, but is only 6th in the world when it comes to college degrees. Created by: Public Administration. Women bloggers call for a stop to 'hateful' trolling by misogynist men | World news | The Observer. Laurie Penny is one of a number of women writers who have decided to go public with their concerns.
Photograph: Guardian Crude insults, aggressive threats and unstinting ridicule: it's business as usual in the world of website news commentary – at least for the women who regularly contribute to the national debate. The frequency of the violent online invective – or "trolling" – levelled at female commentators and columnists is now causing some of the best known names in journalism to hesitate before publishing their opinions. As a result, women writers across the political spectrum are joining to call for a stop to the largely anonymous name-calling. The columnist Laurie Penny, who writes for the Guardian, New Statesman and Independent, has decided to reveal the amount of abuse she receives in an effort to persuade online discussion forums to police threatening comments more effectively. The author and feminist writer Natasha Walter has also been deterred. The Koch Brothers - People & Power.
By People & Power reporter Bob Abeshouse Charles and David Koch are each worth about $25bn, which makes them the fourth richest Americans. When you combine their fortunes, they are the third wealthiest people in the world. Radical libertarians who use their money to oppose government and virtually all regulation as interference with the free market, the Kochs are in a class of their own as players on the American political stage. Their web of influence in the US stretches from state capitals to the halls of congress in Washington DC.
The Koch brothers fueled the conservative Tea Party movement that vigorously opposes Barack Obama, the US president. Koch industries, the second largest privately-held company in the US, is an oil refining, chemical, paper products and financial services company with revenues of a $100bn a year. The Kochs rarely talk to the press, and conduct their affairs behind closed doors. American Nazi Party Endorses Occupy Wall Street‘s ’Courage,‘ Tells Members to Support Protests and Fight ’Judeo-Capitalist Banksters’ The Blaze has been reporting on the numerous incidents of anti-Semitism taking place during the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests and similar demonstrations throughout the country. Now, it appears the movement has been given the nod of approval from the American Nazi Party itself. In a message posted Thursday on its official website, organization head Rocky Suhayda said members of the “pro-white” movement should join and support the Occupy demonstrators because they share a common enemy: The “judeo-capitalist banksters.”
Suhayda said though many “racialists” are concerned about the demonstrations because the “many protesters are non-white and/or ‘communists,’” that shouldn’t matter because they are all against the same “evil, corrupted, degenerate capitalist elitists.” Suhayda’s full message follows: Many racialists are unsure about, and even against, these Occupy Wall Street protests all around the country. Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond) Analysis: The Tea Party Is Outraged, Mocking...and Worried.
Occupy Wall Street last night outside Cipriani's, where New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was at a gala dinner (Photo: J.B. Nicholas/Splash News) See also Occupy Wall Street Special: Canadian Caption Writer Goes Rogue and Takes Down CelebritiesOccupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Is It Now "We are the World"? Understandably, various Tea Party and conservative groups have looked on in alarm the last few days as the Occupy Wall Street protests threaten to displace them as the "authentic" voice of citizens' dissatisfaction with politics as usual in the US.
For more than two years, the Tea Party has been able, with some justification, to claim it is speaking for a "forgotten" America, but the emergence of groups throughout the country representing the “99%” of Americans has called into question what the Tea Party were beginning to regard as their unchallenged mandate to change Washington. As usual, some of the more reasoned Tea Party analysis of current affairs has come from its St.
Semper Fi: Marines Coming To Protect Protesters On Wall Street. The thousands of indefatigable Wall Street protestors, risking their eyes and recording equipment against Wall Street’s personal jack-booted thugs in the NYPD, recently garnered even more support– the US Marines. That’s the type of support that may make an NYPD cop think twice before he decides to go all Tiananmen Square on a group of teenage girls, armed with chalk and cardboard signs (maybe it’s because they are spelled properly?). The Occupy Wall Street movement may have thought it broke new ground when the NYC Transit Union joined their movement, but that ground just tipped the Richter Scale with news that United States Army and Marine troops are reportedly on their way to various protest locations to support the movement and to protect the protesters.
Here’s the message Ward Reilly relayed from another Marine, on his facebook page: “I’m heading up there tonight in my dress blues. So far, 15 of my fellow marine buddies are meeting me there, also in Uniform. Kudos, Mr Reilly! Classic: Sex-Crazed. I love it when they talk dirty on c-span. Scanning the public service network Monday, one found mostly the usual highbrow fare.
There was a segment on "Federal-Tribal Relations" and a "First Amendment Report Card. " At night, c-span scheduled something called "Government Leaders. " But this cagily titled segment was no Brookings forum. The sponsor: Larry Flynt. The topic: Republican adultery. Parental discretion: advised. OK, I confess. I am not proud of this craving for the salacious. The latest wave began just after New Year's Day, in the first White House briefing of the year. Q: Joe, did you mean to suggest this morning that you would disinvite any reporter who asked about this report of an illegitimate child? Lockhart: No. Q: Well, Joe, isn't it legitimate to ask about reports such as that? Lockhart: Not like that. Q: But this is a new report. Lockhart: I'm not getting into it.... Lockhart: I'm not trying to smear.... Lockhart: That's good. Q: Do we have some of your DNA?
More: Oh? Clocking Out: Eternal Recurrence of Budget Fights Edition. Those Roman Colosseum–Worthy G.O.P.-Debate Audiences: Who Will They Boo or Cheer Next? At last night’s Republican-candidates debate, a question from a gay veteran of the Iraq war provoked boos. In earlier debates, references to Rick Perry’s having presided over a record-setting 254 executions drew cheers, as did the suggestion that if a hypothetical sick person lacked health insurance “society should just let him die.”
(Exactly. We don’t need Obama’s socialist nanny state forcing us to accept free, life-saving medical attention.) With the next debate scheduled for October 11, at Dartmouth, Las Vegas odds-makers are already taking bets on that audience’s behavior. The early lines: "Hoods in the Hizzy" feat. Eric Bolling, FOX's Premier Race-Baiter. Hardknoxfirst: "RT @BlueTrooth: Maybe if # SNL Presents The 7th Or 8th GOP Debate With Host Fox’s ‘Shepard Smith’
Constitutional Progressives. Presidential race loses fizz for Tea Party. Republicans Cheering for Death Panels. Breitbart Fantasizes About Killing Liberals: ‘We outnumber them and we have the guns’ (Video) Tea Party darling Andrew Breitbart fantasized about killing Liberals — and especially union members — claiming that conservatives outnumber Liberals, and are the ones who have guns. The pseudo-journalist and media mogul also said he is the subject of death threats, and complained people on Twitter call him “gay.” Breitbart claimed he is favored by U.S. military officers, who, in a civil war, would come to his aid, and several times belittled political activist Janeane Garofalo. Breitbart said all this, and far more, at the Red Mass Group greater Boston Tea Party event in Lexington, Massachusetts on September 16. READ: Discredited Journalist Breitbart Joins Gay GOP Group GOProud Shockingly, Breitbart (archives) seemed to threaten the children of ABC News journalist Katie Couric, saying, ”What if we went to Katie Couric’s house, what if the Tea Party showed up at Katie Couric’s house and scared the living crap out of her teenaged kids?”
Breitbart, 42, has a long history of attacking Couric. What If the Tea Party Wins? SOURCE: AP/J. Scott Applewhite Education is on the Tea Party’s chopping block. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), pictured above, routinely grills education secretaries at congressional hearings, insisting that the Constitution does not authorize any federal involvement in education. By Ian Millhiser | September 16, 2011 Download this issue brief (pdf) Read the issue brief in your web browser (Scribd) In the Tea Party’s America, families must mortgage their home to pay for their mother’s end-of-life care. At least, that’s what would happen if the Tea Party succeeds in its effort to reimagine the Constitution as an antigovernment manifesto.
It is difficult to count how many essential laws would simply cease to exist if the Tea Party won its battle to reshape our founding document, but a short list includes: Indeed, as this paper explains, many state lawmakers even embrace a discredited constitutional doctrine that threatens the union itself. What’s at stake Social Security and Medicare Sen. Sen. Sen. CNN Tea Party Debate Live-Blog. Police Brutality and Tea Party Hypocrisy in Phoenix, 4/15/2011. The dog-whistle dictionary - War Room. When appealing to Christian conservatives, Republican presidential candidates sometimes use phrases, rhetoric and imagery that are unknown to voters unfamiliar either with the religious meaning of such language or where they fit in the mythology of the “Christian nation.” Thus candidates can signal sympathy with religious conservatives without making overt appeals that might alienate more secular voters. Such phrases have become popularly known as “dog whistles,” a reference to the high-pitched devices that emit sounds inaudible to humans but attention-grabbing for canines.
The candidates for the GOP’s 2012 nomination have used dog-whistle phrases in previous debates and may again in the debate tonight at the Reagan Library. Here is guide to what to listen for and what these phrases mean: “Tip of the spear” Campaigning in Iowa last month, and in the Fox News debate just before the state GOP’s straw poll, Rep. Dred Scott When George W. This usage persists. Republicans Bash No Child Left Behind, Then Bash Obama For Trying To Unravel It. By Marie Diamond on September 23, 2011 at 2:40 pm "Republicans Bash No Child Left Behind, Then Bash Obama For Trying To Unravel It" Last night’s Republican debate in Florida was filled with candidates’ tirades about the federal government’s role in education. No Child Left Behind, the sweeping and unpopular education law signed by President George W. Bush, was singled out for criticism, with Rep.
Ron Paul (R-TX) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) saying they’d do away with it altogether. Many Republicans want to either scrap the law or substantially change it, including House Education Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MI), who calls NCLB “too large of an intrusion of the federal government.” Yet after bashing No Child Left Behind — while doing nothing to fix it themselves — the GOP has turned right around and criticized the administration for moving ahead with reforms to scale it back. But Obama’s move is understood nationwide as a move towards ending the most-hated parts of NCLB. Welcome to Tea Party rule in America where life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Another Republican debate last night – and this time the crowd stole the show. CNN hosted the Tea Party debate down in Tampa, Florida – which took place in front of a raucous crowd of Tea Partiers unafraid to cheer on radical claims made by the candidates.
The debate itself featured some heated exchanges between front-runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney – over Perry’s description of Social Security as a Ponzi scheme – a claim he slightly walked back from last night. It also featured a full assault led by Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum against Perry for mandating young girls in Texas receive HPV vaccines – clearly not an issue that millions of American who’ve lost their jobs care about – yet an issue that piques the interest of Republican culture warriors.
But the most shocking moment of the debate came when moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Libertarian Ron Paul if a 30-year-old who didn’t have health insurance was in dire need of medical care – should our nation just let him die. The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party. Muddy Politics: Republicans aren’t reading their Bibles. It’s About The Audience, Stupid! #CNNTeaParty Debate | Sally Kohn's Movement Vision Lab. Tea Party: Don’t build public transit, because the terrorists might attack it. Alan Grayson Blasts Tea Party Debate Audience's Reaction To Health Care Question: 'It's Sadism'
Stephen Hill | GOP Debate | Boos | Video. Our degraded discourse: Fox News' Eric Bolling goes flat-out racist -- and the rest of the media yawn. Liberal Media Believes Palin/Tea Party Supporters Toothless Racists | Tea Party Tribune - Tea Party & Political News. Arizona State Capitol Protests, 2011: Students fight back. Thomas Roberts: Republicans Want Time Machine To When Slavery Was Cool. Constitutional Conservatives vs. the Constitution. Never mind the candidates, can you believe what GOP debate audiences are telling us? | Ana Marie Cox. Tea Party Caught in Dirty Election Scam. Eugene Robinson: Where Are the Compassionate Conservatives? Apocalyptic GOP Is Dragging Us Into a Civil War | Rolling Stone Politics | Taibblog | Matt Taibbi on Politics and the Economy.
The 3 Biggest Lies Uttered In The CNN/Tea Party Express GOP Debate. A Cold Cup of Bitter Tea. What Happens If The Tea Party Wins? What You Missed While Not Watching Last Night’s Tea Party Debate. Fact checking the CNN and Tea Party Express debate in Tampa - The Fact Checker. Livewire. David Shuster on anti-intellectualism in the GOP. Glory Days. The Most Powerful Response To The ‘Let Him Die’ Party.