GOP Failure Watch Part III

Red girls get knocked up early and often.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...conservative_states_have_most_teen_moms_.html

I'd love to see this map adjusted for ethnicity/education/income. Anybody seen such a thing?

 

I'm guessing the poverty/Bible Belt combo is the culprit.

Either that, or hot and humid conditions make kids horny.

 

it's so obviously the liberal media's fault

 

Some people claim lack of sex education. Maybe maybe not. Larger nonwhite population and income levels are surely issues.

 

Damn I want to be the liberal media, it's getting a lot of action.

 

Obviously they're not getting raped.

 

well, not legitimately anyhow

 

And definitely not forcible. Probably polite, considerate rapes.

 

Cousins can be so kind.

 

These idiots got rid of Lugar for a guy who promises obstructionism as a campaign goal.

 

Republican voter fraud. As if rigging the system weren't enough http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Electi...al?cmpid=addthis_twitter#.UGcwBh6Tzi0.twitter

 

http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhvJDGF21QKfxXUGI3

 

I got to meet one of these wackos doing Voter Reg a couple of weeks ago. He hasn't been around lately; I don't think their civic duty keeps up after the paychecks stop.

 

Saying the party has “zero tolerance” for voter fraud, the GOP also filed complaints against the company with the Florida Secretary of State’s office. The company, run by long-time GOP operative Nathan Sproul, says a single employee was responsible for the forged signatures, though the problem, by Friday, had spread to 10 counties.

Fella must have had a bike I guess

 

I don't like this guy very much.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/magazine/john-sununus-a-teddy-bear.html

 

This phrase right here bugs me with its meaningless simple-mindedness.

 

This casual assumption that America is obviously broken is racism at its most nefarious.

Also: criticizing the President's manner of walking, then calling him the substance free politician.

 

The way to fix America is to institute more socialism. People -- and countries -- who are isolated, distrustful, and self-centered are not content. In contrast, people who feel connected and attached to community and society feel a high level of fulfillment. This is why the Northern European countries dominate the surveys of the world's happiest countries.

In other words, the way to fix America is to do the opposite of whatever John Sununu proposes.

Which pretty much anybody outside the States instantly sees. This guy only gets play inside the U.S. Elsewhere, he would be immediately dismissed as the blustering clown that he is.

 

From the Times Literary Supplement: "Does Economic Growth Make You Happy?" (Evidently Not

It's a review of a new book by British Economist Adair Turner

The case against making increased GDP per capita the overriding policy objective is that it doesn’t deliver the increased happiness or welfare if promises. In 1974, the economist Richard Easterlin published a famous paper, “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot?”. The answer, he concluded, after correlating per capita incomes and self-reported happiness levels across a number of countries is probably “no”. In a refinement dating from 1995, Easterlin found no relationship between income and happiness above an average per capita income level of between $15,000 and $20,000. Other findings confirm Easterlin. Data from the UK show that from 1973 to 2009, there was a continuous rise in GDP per head, but no increase in reported life-satisfaction. What is more, some of the “happiest” countries are also the poorest. However, inequality within countries does matter for happiness: the rich in the UK are on the whole happier than the poor.

Why, above a quite low income threshold, does a person’s happiness not increase with more income? The intuitive explanation must be that rising incomes produce dissatisfactions which offset the pleasure which the increase affords. Turner discusses some of the ills of wealth. The richer societies are, the more “status” goods people want, but because status is relative there is never, so to speak, enough of it to go round. The same is true of “positional” goods. “If the supply of pleasant homes is restricted then you have to seek to win in the relative income competition.” But there are only a few winners. Growth in wealth also worsens the environment, thus degrading the benefits it seems to make more generally available. ​

​

That's the framework. More detailed critique in the review, and I would hope even more detailed analysis in the book.

 

Why Obamacare is a conservative's dream

 

http://www.upworthy.com/the-most-hilarious-attack-on-science-ive-ever-seen

 

It's always an adventure. You never know if she's going to be "sane" when you come home.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...state-voter-sign-up-after-firing-company.html

Now they're just gonna stop.