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Gallup: Obama 45, Romney 45
Fact That Things Suck Cited As Impediment To Re-Election
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From the Dagbloggers
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Questions: The Inaugural Edition
OK, so I didnt find a way to scrounge up an Inauguration ticket. I'm certainly not going to spend one of the most beautiful and meaningful weeks in recent memory being bitter. At least A-man and the Big O are making me feel like I'm there with their insanely comprehensive coverage (although how about a little more multimedia please!). In the meantime, as my own little contribution to the week's festivities, I hereby offer up a special Inauguration version of my Questions column. Now these are no fun without reader participation, so you need to contribute by answering!
1) I've been to the mountaintop and I've seen the inevitable references.
2) A well-stocked Cabinet?
3) The over/under.
4) In case Orlando has some free time in DC.
5) For the love of god.
6) First line of business.
7) I still cannot believe his reign is over.
8) The pundits.
9) It's never too early to think ahead.
10) What is the biggest miracle of the week: Black man become POTUS, Passenger plane crashes in river without any fatalities, Cardinals make the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.
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In the News
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SPIN METER: Rivals airbrush anti-Romney words
By Nancy Benac, Associated Press, May 16, 2012
After the nastiness of the Republican primary race, former candidates have collective amnesia about Romney disses
Note to self: you think you're so smart about this kinda stuff, but you yourself fell for it once again.....so much for all the prognostication about one of our political parties disintegrating from all the primary campaign animosity.
Read the article at http://www.salon.com/2012/05/16/spin_meter_rivals_airbrush_anti_romney_words/ -
Assessing the Representativeness of Public Opinion Surveys
Pew Resarch Center for the People and the Press, May 15, 2012
For decades survey research has provided trusted data about political attitudes and voting behavior, the economy, health, education, demography and many other topics. But political and media surveys are facing significant challenges as a consequence of societal and technological changes.
It has become increasingly difficult to contact potential respondents and to persuade them to participate. The percentage of households in a sample that are successfully interviewed – the response rate – has fallen dramatically. At Pew Research, the response rate of a typical telephone survey was 36% in 1997 and is just 9% today. The general decline in response rates is evident across nearly all types of surveys, in the United States and abroad. At the same time, greater effort and expense are required to achieve even the diminished response rates of today. These challenges have led many to question whether surveys are still providing accurate and unbiased information [....]
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Ride of Silence
On May 16, 2012 at 7:00 PM, the Ride of Silence will begin in North America and roll across the globe. Cyclists will take to the roads in a silent procession to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured while cycling on public roadways. Although cyclists have a legal right to share the road with motorists, the motoring public often isn't aware of these rights, and sometimes not aware of the cyclists themselves.
...
The Ride of Silence is a free ride that asks its cyclists to ride no faster than 12 mph, wear helmets, follow the rules of the road and remain silent during the ride. There are no sponsors and no registration fees. The ride, which is held during National Bike Month, aims to raise the awareness of motorists, police and city officials that cyclists have a legal right to the public roadways. The ride is also a chance to show respect for and honor the lives of those who have been killed or injured.
Read the article at http://www.rideofsilence.org/main.php -
Sugar makes you stupid: Study shows high-fructose diet...
A new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning — and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology publishes the findings in its May 15 edition.
"Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. "Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage."
While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain.
The UCLA team zeroed in on high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid six times sweeter than cane sugar, that is commonly added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. The average American consumes more than 40 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"We're not talking about naturally occurring fructose in fruits, which also contain important antioxidants," explained Gomez-Pinilla, who is also a member of UCLA's Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center. "We're concerned about high-fructose corn syrup that is added to manufactured food products as a sweetener and preservative."[Better write this down]
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Insider tells why Anonymous ‘might well be the most...
Christopher Doyon, a.k.a. Commander X, sits atop a hillside in an undisclosed location in Canada, watching a reporter and photographer make their way along a narrow path to join him, away from the prying eyes of law enforcement.
It’s been a few weeks of encrypted emails back and forth, working out the security protocol to follow for interviewing Doyon, one of the brains behind Anonymous, now a fugitive from the FBI.
Doyon, who readily admits taking part in some of the highest-profile hacktivist attacks on websites last year — from Tunisia to Orlando, Sony to PayPal — was arrested in September for a comparatively minor assault on the county website of Santa Cruz, Calif., where he was living, in retaliation for the town forcibly removing a homeless encampment on the courthouse steps.
The “virtual sit-in” lasted half an hour. For that, Doyon is facing 15 years in jail.
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1) Isn't it awesome that America will officially inaugurate its first black president one day after the country celebrates the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? How much credit do you think Dr. King can take for making this inauguration a possibility? Do you think Obama will reference King's mountaintop speech, i have a dream speech, both or neither in his inaugural address?
Yes, it's awesome. King and those who preceded him paved the way, as did the entertainment media: once people (and not just white folk) came to accept someone like Morgan Freeman or Jimmy Smits in the role, an eventual black president became inevitable.
But it was the audacity and smarts of Barack Obama himself that short-circuited the slow plodding of history. Instead of two or three election cycles from now, it's happening tomorrow. That's the incredible part.
If Obama refers to King, it is likely to be obliquely. Beginning now, and certainly by the end of his first term, he wants everyone to see him as the president -- not the first African-American president.
No reference to Dr. King. A couple of subtle, appropriate references to the civil rights struggle to note the historical significance of the moment. I suppose the fact that Obama made several King references on Monday took away the necessity for any further mention of the man. But i think there's no doubt that the good Dr. did more than almost any man to make this dream a reality.
2) Aside from the Clintonites, I'm not too familiar with much of Obama's cabinet. Which nomination are you most impressed with and why? What about the worst selection (Richardson not an option)?
Vilsack and LaHood are in a race to see who is deeper in the pockets of the industry they're supposed to be regulating.
I guess it's not technically a cabinet post, but Panetta as CIA director had me smiling -- especially since it pissed off Feinstein and Rockefeller, the incoming and outgoing Democratic intelligence committee chairs. The U.S. spy apparatus needs a serious shakeup, and Panetta with Obama's backing can deliver it. Feinstein and Rockefeller had way too cozy a relationship.
Hilda Solis as labor secretary may have all the right instincts, but her apparent evasiveness on policy at her nomination hearing didn't bode well. I still don't know if Hillary can be the team player Obama needs her to be, but I'll give her the benefit of a doubt.
3) Give me a time estimate, down to the seconds, for the length of Obama's inauguration speech. Closest to the actual number wins the right to give me a topic for one of my next two question columns. (Edit: Length will be determined by timing speech on Tivo from moment Obama begins actual speech to the point when he says God Bless America, or similar ending, i.e. no thank yous, wife kissing time included)
come on. any other guesses? it wont count if its after the fact!
We know it'll be longer than Lincoln's second inaugural. I'll shoot high: 20 minutes.
according to my tivo, it took 18 minutes and 28 seconds from the time he uttered 'Dear fellow citizens' to the time he said '...and god bless the United States of America.'
So acanuck wins the prize - congrats, and feel free to reply here with a questions column topic if you are so inclined!!
4) What's your favorite tourist attraction in Washington D.C.?
Rock Creek bike paths
I haven't been a real tourist in DC since I was a kid, but I loved the Washington Memorial and surrounding area, and the Smithsonian was awesome when i was a kid.
5) Will Rev. Rick Warren utter the word Jesus or Jesus Christ in his inauguration invocation. If so, how many times will he say it? If not, what word or phrase will he utter that will be closest (i.e. savior, Holy Trinity, son of God, J.C., etc.)?
Either Warren or Orlando will say, "Jesus F'ing Christ it's cold!"
No. He'll say God but keep the references generic and non-denominational. He also won't use the words abortion, gay or same-sex.
well, dijamo, he said Jesus once though he proceeded to utter his name in several different languages, which I guess he thought would be all cool and multiculturalism of him. instead, it just sounded like he was being a typical evangelist, wanting to be a missionary and act as if jesus was the true god for everybody, no matter where they lived or what language they spoke. He also threw a bone to Jews with the recitation of the shema. Im not going to say the invocation was awful - the guy can clearly deliver a speech with passion - but it wasn't inclusive and I still don't think it was a necessary choice given his antigay rhetoric.
6) What will be the first executive order signed by Obama? What about the first bill passed by Congress?
Tomorrow, he'll quietly block or overturn a slew of last-minute Bush executive orders. Wednesday, he'll meet the top military brass, officially give them the mission of bringing the Iraq troops home. As he's announcing that, he'll also say he's ordered Gitmo closed and maybe for good measure that he's ending don't-ask-don't-tell.
I'm cheating here since CNN source is predicting this, but honestly eliminating the prohibition on funding int'l family planning agencies that provide info on abortion would have been my first guess.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/19/obama.abortion/index.html
First bill passed by Congress their own payraise :) Something they can all agree on.
7) And George W: What do you think will be the first non-vacation(ranch)-related thing of significance he does after leaving office?
He's planning something of significance?
haha. good point acanuck. but i'd actually be surprised if he doesn't eventually work hard to rehabilitate his reputation with some good work and charitable activity. he's a young man, and while we know he likes his ranch and texas, i'm hoping he continues some of the important work he did for africa (one of the very few good things he did during his administration).
if he ends up just trying to use his title as ex-president to make money by giving speeches, i'll be shocked.
8) Which channel's television coverage of the Inauguration will you be watching the most? Whose opinion of Obama's inaugural address are you most interested in hearing?
CBC is sending a team down to view things from a Canadian perspective. I'll give that a shot, along with CNN. And I'll tune in Dagblog for in-depth analysis.
9) OK, let's keep thinking big: What will be the next minority to reach the highest office in the land? Hispanic, Jewish, Gay, Female, Asian (I know, I know, I've excluded a ton of others) ... List them in order of likelihood.
given our whole debate about warren's invocation, i should have added non-believer to the mix of groups. That's probably the last thing we'll ever see, at least a non-believer who's out of the closet...
10) I know it's an inauguration column, but I still have football on the mind right now. So please give me you Super Bowl Winner, Final Score and MVP Predictions. For those of you who don't care about the game or follow sports, please predict whether Springsteen's halftime act will suck ass or not.
Steelers, 24-14, Polamalu
Springsteen never sucks.
Cardinals 24, Steelers 20. Warner. I hate halftime shows, tho i agree prince gave a rahter good one. Springsteen will be fine but not that memorable.