ah the south...

Daily Kos: Poll: Americans love France, San Francisco, Europe, and NYC:

All of them feature the same dynamic as San Francisco -- Republicans have solidly favorable ratings (as do every other demographic tested), but head down South, and it's a whole different world, dramatically out of step with the rest of America. What's this mean? It means that all that France and Europe demonizing, and all that talk of "San Francisco liberals" and "San Francisco values", and all that New York bashing (like Rush leaving Manhattan), plays to a very small core of people, and specifically to the conservative's Southern base.

This is clear evidence that the GOP has become a rump regional party. Because everyone else in America is just scratching their head at all that hatred directed at these places. They like San Francisco a lot. They love France. They think Europe is fantastic. And not even the New York Yankees can get people to hate on the Big Apple. And the more the Rushes and Becks bash those places, the more out of step with the Real America conservatives appear. They might as well be bashing puppies, apple pie, and moms.

The irony? Even Southerners have a net positive favorability for San Francisco (+6), New York City (+2), and Europe (+2). In other words, even in their regional stronghold, they're just speaking to a minority.

Posted via web from jimnichols's posterous

Ebert takes on another bad b-flick comedy...

Thoughts on Bill O'Reilly and Squeaky the Chicago Mouse By Roger Ebert

Reviving the Dream - Bob Herbert

A co-worker and I were talking about how angry people are. Angry and reactionary was I think the term he used. The "Sarah Palin types" he said. I pondered why this is most of the day. This Herbert column hit on an important point. The decline in working American's income.

Op-Ed Columnist - Reviving the Dream - NYTimes.com:

"America used to be better than this.

The seeds of today’s disaster were sown some 30 years ago. Looking at income patterns during that period, my former colleague at The Times, David Cay Johnston, noted that from 1980 (the year Ronald Reagan was elected) to 2005, the national economy, adjusted for inflation, more than doubled. (Because of population growth, the actual increase per capita was about 66 percent.)

But the average income for the vast majority of Americans actually declined during those years. The standard of living for the average family improved not because incomes grew but because women entered the workplace in droves.

As hard as it may be to believe, the peak income year for the bottom 90 percent of Americans was way back in 1973, when the average income per taxpayer, adjusted for inflation, was $33,000. That was nearly $4,000 higher, Mr. Johnston pointed out, than in 2005.

Men have done particularly poorly. Men who are now in their 30s — the prime age for raising families — earn less money than members of their fathers’ generation did at the same age."

One impact of lower taxes, and cuts to government programs, that come from the conservative revolution is that people feel squeezed. And when you feel threatened you react... and not always in the most productive ways.

Georgia court tells gay dad he cannnot “expose” kids to homosexuals - from Pink News - all the latest gay news from the gay community - Pink News

Good old Georgia... Georgia court tells gay dad he cannnot “expose” kids to homosexuals

Thats sad... hopefully it will be corrected by a higher court...

I see the homophobia in this area all the time. Its pretty rabid at times speaking to a lot of below the surface fear, intolerance, and flat out rage from people.

Am i'm missing something...

Maybe its the influence of and my proclivity for post feminism, but this doesn't bother me at all.

Appears that M.I.A. (???) was at the Grammy's in quite an outfit, because she's pregnant it caused a stir, I guess. Aside from the god-awful polka dots I don't see what the big deal is. But over at XX Factor there were words of disapproval:

I'm not a fashion connoisseur or a hip-hop etiquette expert, or even a mother, but I don't think this disqualifies me from being able to ask the following question: What the heck was the very-pregnant rap artist M.I.A thinking when she went on stage during the Grammy Awards show on Sunday wearing this utterly ridiculous outfit?

The imagery of a scantily-clad, or should I say scandalously-clad, pregnant young women dancing on stage with a bunch of male rappers whose rhymes sometimes debase women, was just too much for me. And don't even get me started on what this cringe-worthy antic might say to impressionable teenage girl fans.

First there is some weird subconscious fear of sex that seems to be popping up, whenever a cultural conservative is around.

Plus regarding the question of debasing lyrics towards women in rap songs isn't this exactly what we want to point out to young men? Yo, kids, its not all fun and games... you create babies this way!

Sex in our culture is all flipped topsy turvy... but this doesn't seem big to me.