Extreme Poverty In The U.S. Has Doubled In The
Last 15 Years

post from ThinkProgress on 06 March 2012 03:00:03 PM. © ThinkProgress

According to the latest Census Bureau data, nearly 50 percent of Americans are either low-income or living in poverty in the wake of the Great Recession. And a new study from the National Poverty Center shows just how deep in poverty some of those people are, finding that the number of households living on less than $2 per day (before government benefits) has more than doubled in the last 15 years:

The number of U.S. households living on less than $2 per person per day ? which the study terms ?extreme poverty? ? more than doubled between 1996 and 2011, from 636,000 to 1.46 million, the study finds. The number of children in extremely poor households also doubled, from 1.4 million to 2.8 million.

While extreme poverty doubled overall, it tripled amongst female headed households. Of course, there’s always the tact taken North Carolina Republican State Representative George Cleveland last week, who simply denied that anyone in his state lives in extreme poverty. As we noted at the time, “the 728,842 North Carolinians who are classified as living in deep poverty might take issue with that assessment.”

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http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/03/06/438907/extreme-poverty-doubled-15-yea
rs/

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Changing How We Watch TV and What it Means for TV
Storytelling

post from ThinkProgress on 06 March 2012 03:00:03 PM. © ThinkProgress

The big news out of this New York Times story about changes in measuring the ratings is that Modern Family has finally dethroned American Idol to become truly the most-watched show on American television. But to my mind, the most fascinating tidbit, particularly given the conversation that’s been going on about is this one:

Those competition shows also tend to be recorded and viewed later much less frequently, so the DVR has been a special enhancement to scripted shows. Among the prime-time hits that get a 40 percent or higher lift among 18- to 49-year-olds because of time-shifting: Fox?s ?House,? ?Glee,? ?New Girl,? and ?Alcatraz?; ABC?s ?Grey?s Anatomy,? ?Private Practice? and ?Revenge?; and NBC?s ?The Office? and ?Up All Night.? ?It used to be that you figured even the most ardent fans of a show saw only two of every four episodes,? Mr. Levitan said. ?I don?t think that?s the case anymore. I think with DVR and other ways people can catch up more and more, people actually see the entire season of a show.?

I’d be curious to know if that’s actually true?I’ve been looking through a bunch of studies of viewership and haven’t been able to find relevant survey questions to that effect, and if you have them, I would be delighted to see them. But Nielsen has found that younger viewers (and by that, I mean viewers 6-11) in particular tend to rewatch shows that they’ve DVRed multiple times. Now, if people are actually making more of an effort to catch every episode of their favorite shows, where previously they dipped in and out, and if we’re raising a generation of kids who watch episodes over and over again, that could be a response to shows that have become more progressively serialized over time. But if those shifts are driven by technology and the culture that’s grown up around television viewing, then it would make a lot of sense that creators are responding to that trend with a move towards serialized narratives that are seeded with conversational details and easter eggs and comedies that are packed with mile-a-minute-jokes. If your viewers, or at least a chunk of them, are going to look at you in a very different way, it makes sense that you would respond to those signals and imperatives.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/03/06/437385/changing-how-we-watch-tv-and-wh
at-it-means-for-tv-storytelling/

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As Anti-Abortion Bills Gain Steam, Legislators
Push Back With Legislation Mocking The Extreme Bills

post from ThinkProgress on 06 March 2012 03:00:03 PM. © ThinkProgress

States enacted a record number of anti-abortion laws in 2011 and conservative lawmakers aren’t wasting any time advancing legislation that limits women’s access to abortion services in the first few months of 2012. The bills, if enacted into law, would not only restrict women’s constitutionally-protected right to abortion, but would also significantly hamper women’s abilities to make their own decisions about reproductive health, effectively putting the government in between a woman and her doctor.

But a few state lawmakers are offering counter legislation that seeks to give men a taste of their own medicine:

EVERY SPERM HAS A RIGHT (OKLAHOMA): To poke fun a “personhood” bill that give full rights to a zygote, state Sen. Constance Johnson (D) introduced an amendment that would also declare every sperm to be sacred. “However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman?s vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child,” her amendment stated.
CHILDREN DENIED BIRTH BECAUSE OF VASCETOMIES (GEORGIA): State Rep. Yasmin Neal (D) introduced legislation that would limit vascetomies. ?Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies,? Neal explained. Her measure is in response to a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks on the grounds that a fetus can feel pain — a claim disputed by doctors.
MORE HOOPS TO CLEAR FOR VIAGRA (OHIO): In response to Ohio’s so-called Heartbeat Bill, which would prevent abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, state Sen. Nina Turner (D) will introduce a bill that would make men jump through hoops, like a psychological screening, before they could obtain Viagra and similar drugs for erectile dysfunction. “All across the country, including in Ohio, I thought since men are certainly paying great attention to women?s health that we should definitely return the favor,” Turner said.
RECTAL EXAMS FOR A VIAGRA PRESCRIPTIONS (VIRGINIA): To protest Virginia’s bill requiring women to receive an ultrasound before an abortion, state Sen. Janet Howell (D) attaced an amendment to the bill that would have required men to receive a rectal exam and pass a cardiac stress test before doctors wrote them a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication. “We need some gender equity here,” Howell said. The Virginia Senate rejected her amendment, but both chambers passed the ultrasound requirement after clarifying that women would not be forced to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound.
KNOW THE SIDE EFFECTS OF VIAGRA (ILLINOIS): State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D) decided to push back against GOP attacks on women’s health by offering an amendment that would require men to watch a “horrific video” about the side effects of Viagra before the received a prescription for the drug. His bill is in response to a measure requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion. ?If we are going to do this, we need to do it in a way that is applied equally,” Cassidy said.
PROTECT ALL SPERM (DELAWARE): Mocking the “personhood” measures, the town council in Wilmington, Delaware approved a satirical resolution “that asks state legislatures and U.S. Congress to enact laws that forbid men from destroying their semen.” The resolution notes that if lawmakers think a female egg has full rights, then they should say the same thing about sperm.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/03/06/438678/as-anti-abortion-bills-gain-ste
am-legislators-push-back-with-legislation-mocking-the-extreme-bills/

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Undocumented Foreclosure Victim Deported After
Protesting Illegal Foreclosure

post from Firedoglake on 06 March 2012 02:40:04 PM. © Firedoglake

You've heard about borrowers getting kicked out of their homes, and you've heard about undocumented immigrants getting deported. Rarely do you hear the story that combines the two. Here is one of those stories.[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/tvItsRNfZKs/

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Mitch McConnell: Congress should authorize bomb,
bomb, bombing Iran

post from Daily Kos on 06 March 2012 02:39:54 PM. © Daily Kos

(Caricature by donkeyhotey)In all the hyperventilating over the possibility of Iran joining the other nine members of the nuclear club, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has now injected a new potential escalation in a speech to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The Kentucky Republican says he would introduce an authorization for the use of force against Iran if intelligence indicates that nation has decided to build a nuclear bomb or starts enriching uranium to weapons-grade level:

McConnell, who along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will sit down with Netanyahu on Tuesday, told the pro-Israel lobby that a nuclear Iran would not only threaten Israel but other nations in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
?Israel?s security is not negotiable,? McConnell said. ?We can?t shrink from affirming that to the rest of the world, and we certainly can?t shrink from telling a sitting president how we think it?s best achieved.?

In case you're unfamiliar with AUMFs, it was just short of a decade ago when the House and Senate voted on one authorizing the president to use military force "as he determines to be necessary and appropriate" to "defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq."

The two key reasons put forth for the authorization was that Iraq was developing or had in its possession weapons of mass destruction and had a working relationship with al Qaeda. Both assertions were not supported by evidence at the time, but, as we later had confirmed by the Downing Street Memo and Bush-Blair Memo, the Cheney-Bush administration distorted intelligence reports and presented "facts" at the United Nations that it knew to be untrue in order to justify an invasion it was already set on prosecuting.

Another AUMF was signed by President Bush just a week after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That one authorized military force against those who "planned, authorized, committed or aided" the attacks or harbored those who did. In addition to the attack and invasion of Afghanistan that everyone who voted for the AUMF fully expected, the authorization was also used as implicit approval for domestic spying, the establishment of military tribunals, the extraordinary rendition and torture of suspected terrorists, the holding of those suspects indefinitely without trial and the set-up of the detention center in Guantánamo. The resolution was cited this month by Attorney General Eric Holder as legal backing for the assassination of U.S. citizens suspected of being terrorists.

So where might McConnell's proposed authorization take us?

(Continue reading below the fold)

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/-zBJn4eeaLs/-Mitch-McConnell-Congr
ess-should-authorize-bomb-bomb-bombing-Iran-

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Rick Santorum's Republican math

post from Daily Kos on 06 March 2012 02:30:06 PM. © Daily Kos

Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich Satan better take back Rick Santorum's calculator! (Scott Audette/Reuters)
Great news for Rick Santorum fans! Your guy says he's winning:

?We?re winning,? Santorum said in an interview with ABC News.

Andy why is he winning? Because Republicans don't like Mitt Romney:

?The problem is they know his values aren?t the values of the people of the Republican Party. As a result they are just sticking by us,? Santorum said.

But there's a caveat:

?Whether we end up with the most votes or not [in Ohio], we?re winning.?

Sorry, Rick. Unless your name is George W. Bush and this is Florida and your dad gave a Supreme Court justice or two their jobs, you need the most votes.

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/6zzGyQPsevk/-Rick-Santorum-s-Repub
lican-math

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Self-Driving Cars Can't Come Soon Enough

post from The American Prospect on 06 March 2012 02:20:52 PM. © The American Prospect

So how long will it be before this whole "driving ourselves around in cars" thing is done with? Atrios predicts that "a whole lot of public money will be spent setting up a 'driverless car' system that will never actually work." Kevin Drum is much more optimistic ? he predicts that "There will be a transition period that's likely to be messy?though probably no messier than today's all-human traffic nightmare?but eventually you won't even be allowed to drive a car. Every car on the road will be automated, and our grandchildren will be gobsmacked to learn that anything as unreliable as a human being was ever allowed to pilot a two-ton metal box traveling 60 miles an hour."

I'm with Kevin on this ? technologically speaking, the ability for cars to drive themselves is coming really soon (see this recent article in Wired for a primer). Yes, it will be difficult to get to the fully automated system where the cars speak to the roads and to each other, but between here and there, there are many incremental steps that can and will be taken to get judgment out of human hands. The transition won't be because technology is inadequate, but because it'll take time for the old dumb cars to wear out and be taken off the road. High-end cars already park themselves and override you in tricky traffic situations, and they're getting better every year. But I'd like to emphasize Kevin's point: people suck at driving. Not you, of course?you're a great driver! But as a group, we're just not up to it. Let's look at some data from the Transportation Department.

In 2009, the last year for which they appear to have data, there were 30,797 fatal car accidents in the United States. These crashes killed 24,474 vehicle occupants, 4,462 motorcyclists, 4,092 pedestrians, 630 bicycle riders, and 150 "unknown" people, for a total of 33,808 vehicle crash deaths. In other words, that's about a September 11 every month or so on our roads.

The good news is that these numbers have declined in the last couple of years?total deaths were over 43,000 in 2005. But they're still incredibly high. And think about it: do you know anyone who was killed or seriously injured in a car accident? I'll bet you do. The autonomous cars can't get here soon enough.

Read The Full Article:
http://prospect.org/article/self-driving-cars-cant-come-soon-enough

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The Reactionaries Were Right!

post from The American Prospect on 06 March 2012 02:14:27 PM. © The American Prospect

When it comes to the Obama administration?s contraception mandate, progressives minimize the extent to which this is actually about a woman?s ability to have sex without pregnancy. Despite right-wing crowing about her sex life, Sandra Fluke?s congressional testimony was about the medical need for hormonal birth control?not her desire to enjoy sex without having to worry about pregnancy. The problem with this is that it obscures the extent to which recreational, non-procreative sex is as common as breathing in the United States, and reinforces the troublesome notion that there is something shameful about female sexuality.

Aside from the value that comes with affirming women?s autonomy, the upside to embracing sex in this fight is that it opens the door to stronger arguments for why the administration is right to mandate contraception coverage in insurance plans. At the New York Times, Annie Lowrey flags a study that shows contraception has been an unambiguous good for the economic advancement of women:

A study by Martha J. Bailey, Brad Hershbein and Amalia R. Miller helps assign a dollar value to those tectonic shifts. For instance, they show that young women who won access to the pill in the 1960s ended up earning an 8 percent premium on their hourly wages by age 50.
Such trends have helped narrow the earnings gap between men and women. Indeed, the paper suggests that the pill accounted for 30 percent ? 30 percent! ? of the convergence of men?s and women?s earnings from 1990 to 2000.
[T]he study also found that the pill had the greatest economic benefits for women with average IQ scores. ?Almost all of the wage gains accrued to women in the middle of the IQ distribution,? the paper said. [Emphasis mine]

In the same way that slave owners were right to attack abolition as a direct pathway to social equality, ?miscegenation,? and black political power, contemporary reactionaries are right to blame birth control for the transformation of women?s roles and the end of the traditional family. For those of us who embrace those changes, this fight is crucial. Put simply, anyone with a vested interest in the full advancement and economic participation of women should support this push to make contraception more widely available.

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http://prospect.org/article/reactionaries-were-right

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Fallen Financier Allen Stanford Convicted In $7
Billion Ponzi Scheme

The spectacular fall of former Houston billionaire Allen Stanford reached its long sought conclusion on Tuesday as a federal jury found him guilty of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

Stanford was convicted on 13 out of 14 felony counts, with the jury determining he conspired in a massive fraud that was said to have ruined the livelihoods of thousands of victims.

The former international cricket mogul saw his life tumble after his 2009 arrest for the crimes. His riches were frozen or seized and he was badly beaten while in jail awaiting trial.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TPMmuckraker/~3/oQ4-S1ffyVg/fallen_financier_allen
_stanford_convicted_in_7_billion_ponzi_scheme.php

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Conservative Media Watchdog Launches 'I Stand
With Rush'

Brent Bozell, the president and founder of the conservative Media Research Center, has launched a website in support of Rush Limbaugh in the wake of fallout over his attack on Sandra Fluke, because, as Bozell says, "this isn't about what Rush said last week, it's about roaring hypocrisy and it's about censorship."

Limbaugh apologized on Saturday for calling Fluke "a slut" on his show last week, after she spoke out on the Obama administration's birth control mandate for religious employers. Bozell, who referred to the ensuing controversy as "the pickle our friend Rush Limbaugh has been in," launched istandwithrush.org to show support for the embattled host, who Bozell says "has been singled out and condemned across the board by the national media."

"Let's all agree Rush crossed a line. He agrees. He has also apologized profusely, but the left wont accept an apology," Bozell says in a video on the site.

The left never gets mad when one of its own says something outrageous about women, Bozell argues, pointing to Bill Maher, who "called Sarah Palin, a dumb -- excuse me -- a dumb twat."

"Make no mistake about it -- there is a concerted effort under way to remove Rush Limbaugh from the airwaves. To remove all conservative voices from the airwaves. And the liberal media are putting all of their weight behind it," Bozell says.

The site also asks supporters to sign a petition pledging their support to Limbaugh:

I stand with Rush Limbaugh and appreciate the massive contribution that he has made to the conservative movement and our nation over the last 25 years. Rush has apologized. But the radical left will never accept it because they despise him and want him off the air. I condemn attempts by radical left-wing organizations and the media to censor Rush and his commonsense conservative message.

Bozell -- recently seen calling President Obama "a skinny, ghetto crackhead" -- has also written an op-ed on FoxNews.com on Limbaugh, saying that "liberals want this government-mandate controversy to be not about religious liberty, which is devastating, but about contraceptives, which works in their favor."

"To the Left," he writes, "this is simply an opportunity to put their attacks on religious liberty in a feminist frame, and an opportunity to try and shut down Limbaugh. It is all about censorship and hypocrisy."