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Because Fox has put off the best Republican candidates, Barack Obama will be much less vulnerable at the election

Whoever wrote the political rulebook needs to start rewriting it. It used to be an iron maxim that voters’ most vital organ was neither their head nor their heart, but their wallet. If they were suffering economically, they’d throw the incumbents out. Yet in Britain a coalition presiding over barely-there growth, rising unemployment and forecasts of gloom stretching to the horizon is holding steady in the opinion polls, while in the US Barack Obama is mired in horrible numbers – except for the ones showing him beating all-comers in the election now less than 11 months away. Even though the US economy is slumped in the doldrums, some of the country’s shrewdest commentators make a serious case that Obama could be heading for a landslide victory in 2012.

How to explain such a turnaround? In the United States, at least, there is one compellingly simple, two-word answer: Fox News.

By any normal standards, Obama should be extremely vulnerable. Not only is the economy in bad shape, he has proved to be a much more hesitant, less commanding White House presence than his supporters longed for. And yet, most surveys put him comfortably ahead of his would-be rivals. That’s not a positive judgment on the president – whose approval rating stands at a meagre 44% – but an indictment of the dire quality of a Republican field almost comically packed with the scandal-plagued, gaffe-prone and downright flaky. And the finger of blame for this state of affairs points squarely at the studios of Fox News.

It’s not just usual-suspect lefties and professional Murdoch-haters who say it, mischievously exaggerating the cable TV network’s influence. Dick Morris, veteran political operative and Fox regular, noted the phenomenon himself the other day while sitting on the Fox sofa. “This is a phenomenon of this year’s election,” he said. “You don’t win Iowa in Iowa. You win it on this couch. You win it on Fox News.” In other words, it is Fox – with the largest cable news audience, representing a huge chunk of the Republican base – that is, in effect, picking the party’s nominee to face Obama next November.

This doesn’t work crudely – not that crudely, anyway. Roger Ailes, the Fox boss, does not deliver a newspaper-style endorsement of a single, anointed candidate. Rather, some are put in the sunlight, and others left to moulder in the shade. The Media Matters organisation keeps tabs on what it calls the Fox Primary, measuring by the minute who gets the most airtime. It has charted a striking correlation, with an increase in a candidate’s Fox appearances regularly followed by a surge in the opinion polls. Herman Cain and Rick Perry both benefited from that Fox effect, with Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, the latest: in the days before he broke from the pack, Gingrich topped the Fox airtime chart. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney cannot seem to break through a 20-to-25% ceiling in the polls – hardly surprising considering, as the league table shows, he has never been a Fox favourite.

But it works in a subtler way than the mere degree of exposure. Fox, serving up constant outrage and fury, favours bluster over policy coherence. Its ideal contributor is a motormouth not a wonk, someone who makes good TV rather than good policy.

Read the balance of this Guardian UK article here.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

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Post on Yahoo! News this morning says Top Marine: Fears of ending gay ban prove founded

The problem? Headline is exactly backwards. The story says that top Marine Corp general Doug Amos now admits fears of ending gay ban were proven unfounded.

Moral: The Press Always Gets it Wrong

Update

It is now several hours later and Yahoo! News still has not corrected their misleading headline

Turns out that Yahoo! News is not the source of the error. Thanks site visitor for pointing this out. The Associated Press wrote the headline. Yahoo! News has never corrected this.

Related: Does Yahoo! Hate Lesbians?

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Photo: dudewazzup on deviantart.com

Breaking News …

Faux News actually published this story today on FoxNews.com

Nov. 15, 2011: Sanitation workers gather at Zuccotti Park, the longtime Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York, Last week to begin cleanup. Private workers for Brookfield Properties discovered an assortment of weapons hidden in flower beds throughout the former base camp of the protest movement.

Despite the scary headline and dark reference to assortment of weapons the article is about one kitchen knife and some cardboard tubes with metal pipes inside.

Officials from the NYPD would only confirm that one knife was found buried in a planter on Tuesday. But the haul was believed large enough for Brookfield Security workers to collect them in the real estate company’s headquarters across from the park.

Yep, Faux News … fair and balanced.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Tonight’s Council Session
Second Reading of Building Code Green Amendments
Ordinances amending sections of:
• International Building Code
• International Energy Conservation Code
• International Residential Code
• International Mechanical Code
• International Fuel Gas Code
• Colorado Plumbing Code

Building Industry Representatives Appear

They said that they promote green building, prefer opt-out of residential owner occupied standards in order to provide flexibility. Building science is evolving.

First Two Items Pass Seven-Zip

ORDINANCE NO. 030, 2011
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE II, DIVISION 2, OF THE
CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF
AMENDING THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE AS ADOPTED

ORDINANCE NO. 031, 2011,
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE II, DIVISION 2, OF THE CODE
OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE AS ADOPTED

Fireworks on Residential Amendments

Support of Mayor Doug Hutchinson on the first two items – above – was conditioned on having a serious discussion of a five-year opt-out provision with respect to owner occupied residential amendments. The Mayor moved for such an amendment and it was voted down four to three with Roy, Poppaw, Ohlson, and Manval in the majority; Hutchinson, Troxell and Kottwitz in the minority. At that point the residential amentments were passed four to three with the same members voting the same way.

ORDINANCE NO. 032, 2011,
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE II, DIVISION 2, OF THE CODE
OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF
AMENDING THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE AS ADOPTED

Passed: Roy, Poppaw, Ohlson, Manval yes; Hutchinson, Troxell, Kottwitz no.

ORDINANCE NO. 033, 2011
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE IV OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL MECHANICAL CODE AS ADOPTED

Passed four to three.

ORDINANCE NO. 034, 2011
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE IV OF THE CODE OF THE
CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THE
2009 INTERNATIONAL FUEL GAS CODE AS ADOPTED

Passed four to three

ORDINANCE NO. 035, 2011
OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AMENDING CHAPTER 5, ARTICLE V OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS FOR THE PURPOSE OF REPEALING THE UNIFORM PLUMBING CODE AND ADOPTING A LOCAL AMENDMENT TO THE COLORADO PLUMBING CODE TO ESTABLISH WATER FLOW RATE RESTRICTIONS ON CERTAIN FIXTURES

Passed four to three.

Coloradoan Elects to Cover Most Newsworthy

The Coloradoan devoted its precious ink to the appeal from a hearing officer’s decision on a lot split in a historic part of old town. They gave hardly any attention at all to the green building amendments noted here. I believe that this story is far more important in the long run. Their story is certainly newsworthy. I do not fault them for covering the Council Meeting the way they did. But I am happy to step in and cover the void that they left for me.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

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Kim shows off new do

Featured Style: The Kim Cardassian
Everyone in Las Vegas wants to look like Kim Cardassian. The starlet’s long, layered and voluminous look is the most-wanted hairstyle at this salon.

Adapted from a story on AOL News.
Posted by Gypsy Chief

Posted by Gypsy Chief

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Elie Wiesel Holocaust Survivor - Nobel Prize Winner

Someone at Fox News Channel messed up. The result is pretty offensive.

Crooks and Liars has a more complete story

Turn Off Fox Campaign

While you are here … we thought you might like to know that there are campaigns to Turn Off Fox.

Fox on Climate Change

Damning new evidence proves what we’ve known all along … that Fox News is willing to lie and distort the truth to the political advantage of the far-right.

Yesterday, a memo leaked from Fox News’s Washington managing editor, Bill Sammon, instructing Fox journalists never to report on global warming without IMMEDIATELY questioning the prevailing scientific consensus.

“Liberal media watchdog: Fox News e-mail shows network’s slant on climate change,” WashingtonPost.com, 12-15-10

The memo establishing Fox’s climate reporting policy was written on December 8, 2009, shortly after Fox White House correspondent Wendell Goler reported that 2000-2009 would be the warmest decade on record, and that the scientific community remained united behind their belief in human-induced climate change.

“Fox editor urged climate skepticism,” Politico.com, 12-15-10

Posted by Gypsy Chief

How NOT to do Public Policy

Photo Credit to our friends at PR Watch which is a project of Center for Media and Democracy

What We Are Fighting. A perfect example of corporate, media government spin is a recent poll by Cow Boy Station (CBS) that says over 80 percent of the general public is OK with full body TSA scans.

For an opposing view consider this comment: Am I the only one who read the actual survey questions? Before the controversy started they call up a thousand or so random people and tell them that “‘full body’ x-ray scanners have started being used at airports, do you support this?” with no additional information about them. Most people I know would think of the x-rays at their doctors office where you see bones and such with nothing distinguishing. Show them an actual image from a scan and explain what they actually do or explain how the new pat downs are done and see how fast the poll flips on it’s head. This is a clear case of manipulation by the media with a poll designed to generate the desired response and then trumpeted as the success of the system in the face of public opposition. The fact that many of the respondants may well not even fly is just icing on the cake.

The Center for Media and Democracy is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan media and consumer watchdog group that focuses on:

• Investigating and countering P.R. campaigns and spin by corporations, industries, and government agencies about products and issues that affect our health, liberty, economic opportunities, environment, and the vitality of the democratic process.
• Reporting that promotes informed decision-making about products and policies, especially those affecting health, the economy, the environment, and individual rights, and aids citizen involvement and grassroots action.
• Advancing transparency and media literacy to help consumers recognize the forces shaping the information they receive about products and issues affecting their lives.
• Promoting “open content” media that enable people from all walks of life to “be the media” and help write the history of companies, front groups, opinion leaders, and public policy.

Do Airport Screenings Really Make Us Safer?

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been taking a beating lately over its new, full-body X-Ray imaging scanners that show people naked. People are concerned about both the humiliation of the procedure and the extra doses of X-rays they get from these scanners, but travelers who refuse to be scanned must submit to a TSA “enhanced pat-down,” which now involves a newer, more aggressive policy: frisking with the front of the hand instead of the back of the hand, and feeling people’s crotches and women’s bras. These more invasive practices are leading the public from skepticism to rage and outright resistance to the new procedures, and for good reason, since TSA’s track record of facilitating crime against travelers arguably far outstrips the amount of crime the agency has prevented. [more]

Read the full PR Watch article here.

Man covered in own urine

Normally I would not blog about the TSA – Transportation Security Administration. There was a story over the weekend which just is so appalling it could not be ignored. See TSA Pat-Down Leaves Passenger … Covered In Own Urine

This is a story about a passenger with an ostomy – a fairly common occurance in an aging population. TSA screeners, many of whom could not get a job flipping burgers, bungled an examination so badly that they broke the seal, left urine running down the passenger’s leg and failed to even acknowledge or apologize for their mistake. How does that make the travelling public safer? It is not security – it is security theater. Join FDL Action petition to investigate TSA Abuse of Authority.

update to urine atrocity

Thomas Sawyer, whose ostomy bag was broken open by a ham handed TSA operative, appeared Monday November 22 on The Last Word MSNBC together with Rob McNeil, a TSA supervisor from Philadelphia. The joint appearance was not even close. Sawyer came off as victimized while McNeil came off as just plain stupid. First he said he could not comment because he did not witness the event in Detroit. After it was stipulated that Sawyer’s account would be accepted, McNeil tried to say all TSA screeners are trained on medical devices. That didn’t wash. After that he didn’t have much of anything to say. Frankly, I think MSNBC set him up. They must have scoured the country to find the worst TSA spokesman they could find. If our safety is in the hands of TSA supervisors like Rob McNeil then the nation is truly in peril.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Dancing around the issues

This article ties right in to our previous article about being sick of the tea party. The press reports on activities of the Tea Party movement and in doing so they repeat misconceptions widely held. Is it any wonder that the electorate seems so poorly informed?

Article Summary:

Eight False Things The Public “Knows”.
1. President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush’s last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama’s first reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2. President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the “stimulus” was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3. President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the “stimulus” with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be “non-reviewable by any court or any agency.”) The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4. The stimulus didn’t work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5. Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.

6. Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is “going broke,” people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8. Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on “welfare” and “foreign aid” when that is only a small part of the government’s budget.

Posted by Gypsy Chief