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In Divided America, Partisans Read Different Books, Watch Different Videos

Posted on November 3, 2008 by Mike Bock

Interesting article in Slate by Bill Bishop, “America’s Partisan Reading List,” that reports on work done by social scientist Valdis Krebs. Krebs has made elaborate charts showing how political books purchased at Amazon cluster together. These charts show clusters of books and show that liberal readers choose books from the universe of liberal books and conservative readers buy books from the universe of conservative books.

In the past there have been “connector books,” that were purchased by both camps. Past “connector books,” included, “What Went Wrong,” “Sleeping With The Devil,” “All the Shah’s Men,” and “Bush At War.”

Now there seem to be no connector books.

Bishops says this clustering of books is indicative of how, as a nation, we are separated: “We read apart, live apart, watch apart, blog apart, and drive apart; we are one country that lacks any shared experiences or, it seems, common purpose.”

Bishop writes, “Given a choice, people will go to places where their beliefs are reinforced. In a recent study of Yahoo Finance discussion boards, three University of Texas business professors found that stock-pickers cluster. Those who think Apple is going up talk to each other on one thread. Those who think GE will fall even more find their way to the same little spot on the Web. Technology doesn’t help people find new ways of thinking or seeing the world — even when it might be in their financial interest. We still hunker down with those who hold our opinions.”

Bishop refers to this interesting web-site that has a great chart that shows how You-tube videos also “swarm” — some downloaded by liberal web-sites and blogs, some downloaded by conservative web-sites and blogs. Most popular on liberal sites is Wassup, downloaded by 209 liberal web-sites and only 21 conservative web-sites. Most popular on conservative sites is Obama 2001 comments about Redistribution of Wealth, downloaded by 452 Conservative sites and 51 Liberal sites.

A few videos were in the middle. “Take Me On,” a clever music video, was downloaded equally by liberal and conservative sites. And “Chimpanzee Rides Seqway” was equally downloaded.

“Chimpanzee Rides Seqway”

“Take Me On”

Posted in Special Reports | 1 Comment

Joe Biden Urges Dayton Democrats To Double Efforts These Next Four Days

Posted on October 31, 2008 by Mike Bock

It was a good rally

I attended the Joe Biden rally today in Kettering, only a few blocks from my home, at the local high school in the same arena that hosted John McCain just this last Monday. The rally was lightly attended — maybe 1500 people or so. But, by very enthusiastic people.

After he spoke, Biden waded into the crowd to shake hands.

John Sweeney, President of AFL-CIO

Biden started on a wrong note by mispronouncing “Kettering,” — saying “Kittering” But he launched into a rousing speech that hit on all the themes he and Barack Obama have been hammering. He emphasized that we can’t take four more years of the failed Bush economy and that McCain would continue Bush’s policies. Biden said that the current financial crisis, the Wallstreet bailout, was simply “the final verdict of the last eight years.”

A Sarah Palin look-alike fit appeared with shopping bags from high priced stores on her arm

A Sarah Palin look-alike appeared with shopping bags from high priced stores on her arm.

Biden said that even in this Halloween season it is unbelievable that McCain would think he could dress up and appear to be “an agent of change,” that such a costume just doesn’t fit. Biden said that Bush will be judged harshly by history for how he has squandered so many opportunities. He quoted Bob Carey who said that McCain has no credibility anymore as a “maverick,” that McCain has totally supported Bush in his wrong policies, that it makes no sense for McCain to call himself a maverick, when for the last eight years, to Bush, he has simply acted as a sidekick.

Prior to Biden’s arrival, John Sweeney urged his listeners to work hard these next four days to turn out the vote and to defeat McCain. He said that “no state in the union has suffered more than Ohio under George Bush,” and gave these statistics: under Bush, Ohio unemployment has gone up from 4.1% to 7.2%; the typical family’s income in Ohio has decreased by $2300; health care premiums have increased by 50%. He warned that under McCain and Palin there would be more of the same. Sweeney said that his union is working hard for the election of Obama.

Introducing Biden was his wife, who told of Biden’s loyalty to his family and his motivation to take the train to Washington and back every day. Mrs. Biden said she has been in education for over 27 years and still teaches at a community college. She said that when she earned her doctorate in education, her husband placed a sign in their yard that read, “Welcome to the Home of Doctor and Senator Biden.”

Biden concluded his speech by asking his audience to “Imagine an America.” He gave many examples and spoke of how America must live up to its promise. He brought the audience to its feet, challenging them to double their efforts these next four days. The crowd continued to cheer until Biden’s conclusion.

It was a good rally. I noticed a lot of people signing up to help Get Out The Vote.

Andi Eveslage, Democrat candidate for Ohio House District 37, shakes hands with her Dad. Dr. Eveslage is retired from the University of Dayton. Andi’s Mom is in the foreground. I’ve gotten to know these nice people from attending the South of Dayton Democrat Club. Andi claims that her parents, as active Democrats, have had the opportunity over the years to shake the hand of a lot of aspiring presidential candidates and that those whose hands they shake always win. She is hoping that that magic touch will work on Ohio House races as well.

Posted in Special Reports | 6 Comments

The DDN Misses The Big Picture, Its Reasons To Support Congressman Turner Are Nonsense

Posted on October 31, 2008 by Mike Bock

In its editorial today, The Dayton Daily News descends into a gibberish that is truly nonsense. The DDN opines that Republican Congressman Mike Turner should be reelected, because, “judged on non ideological, nonpartisan grounds, he has earned reelection.”

Earned reelection? Please. The premise of the DDN editorial is that while many voters choose a candidate on how the candidate will vote on the big issues, “Some voters are focused on: competence, energy, ethics, personality, impact, experience,” that is, “non ideological, nonpartisan grounds.”

The paper proclaims, “He (Turner) has done his job competently and energetically,” but, good grief, what was the job, really, that voters in the 3rd District asked Turner to do? The DDN seems mighty proud of the minimal accomplishments of Turner that its discussed in its initial endorsement a couple of weeks ago. The paper uses these minimal accomplishments to proclaim Turner “competent.” But any congressman, however mediocre, would have done the same. Turner did nothing special. We deserve and need a better definition of “competence,” when evaluating the work of our congressmen.

The point is, Turner failed miserably in the big job he should have been focused on: fairly and wisely making independent judgments that would best represent the interests of the 3rd District.

The DDN misses the big picture. Turner has voted over 90% of the time to support the policies of George Bush, and these policies have been disastrous. For six years, Turner has empowered the gross incompetence of congress. He has shown no independence, no interest in supporting oversight. He has simply played the political game. Bush’s approval rating is at 22%. How can we have such a low opinion of the President and still favor those, like Turner, who empowered Bush’s every bad decision and every incompetent act? My Lord. How can this seem so obvious to me, and evidently, so unobvious to the editorial writers at the DDN? In my view, they miss the big picture.

I’m sputtering to find an analogy. Suppose your personal business manager has run your company into the ground and you are facing bankruptcy and disgrace because of this manager’s incompetence. The manager’s argument in defense — look, here I made some money, look how energetic I am, look at my good appearance, my pleasant personality, look at my resume — would fall flat. You would fire the manager, because you would see the impact of his incompetence. You would look at the big picture.

Turner looks good, only if the big picture is ignored. I took a crack at the whole topic a couple of weeks ago when I wrote, Mike Turner Is A Bum, For Our Democracy’s Sake, Let’s Throw The Bum Out. Such strong language. I said to a friend that I hoped that one of Turner’s children wouldn’t ask him, “Daddy, are you a Bum?”

In that article I wrote, “The crux of DDN’s endorsement of Turner is: ‘Turner kept a sharp eye on matters of local interest, and he has made a difference.’ Wow. The DDN’s definition of ‘local interest’ is mighty narrow. There is an enormous local interest in economic stability. Turner’s votes caused the national debt to explode; Turner’s utter loyalty to Republican mismanagement and Republican deregulation imperiled us all. These are matters of enormous ’local interest.’ How can the DDN be so obtuse?

“Turner was derelict in his duty. The fact is, Turner did what most politicians sent to Washington do. He played along, he got in line, he kept his mouth shut. Turner, and every political worm he identifies with, is the problem. And, if our democracy has any reality, in this election, an aroused and awakened electorate will vote Turner out.”

It does not help our democracy to have our local newspaper confuse its readers about the big picture and instead spread misinformation via faulty logic.