Paranoia Strikes Deep...

This came across my desk the other day... actually, it appeared on my local site on Nextdoor.com. A woman posted the following:

"We received a legit looking survey in the mail supposedly from the Census Bureau. Many personal questions were on it, some like the Census bureau would ask, but we noticed that it asked what time you leave for work and how long it takes you to get home. When we had not filled it out and returned it someone called and pressured us to answer it over the phone. We refused and he said he would be calling back. After that, I did a bit of research. According to consumeraffairs.com, the census bureau would NOT ask when you leave for work and when you return."

What Can You Buy with a Minimum Wage Job?

A few years ago, I saw a graphic that claimed that in the 35 years between 1978 and 2013, the “real value” of the federal minimum wage in the U. S. has decreased by 25%, while the cost of going to a four-year college has increased by 1,120%. It’s an interesting comparison, though one immediately jumped on by chart-wielding opponents of any increase to the minimum wage. According to this chart at CNN [1], one said, the “buying power” of the minimum wage in 1978 represented $8.22 in 2013 dollars, and that’s a decrease of “only” 13 percent. No one asked the commenter how he'd feel if his salary were cut by 13%, though...

Of course, the “buying power” of a dollar is based on a market basket comprising many items, from entertainment to housing and everything in between. So what about just the necessities of keeping body and soul together? Well, there’s lots of historical data out there so perhaps a little exercise in number-crunching might bring some clarity to discussions of just what minimum wage will buy. [Note: all numbers herein are based on the references cited using brackets. Projections and estimates are based on simple linear interpolation/extrapolation using an Excel spreadsheet].

First, a couple of numbers: in 1978, the federal minimum wage was $2.60 per hour. In 2013, it was $7.25.We'll start with some common food items:

Some Statistics on the Electoral College

The following table is factual; the author intends no comment. The numbers presented are as follows:

Column 1: State name (includes D.C.)
Column 2: estimated 2016 population by state, from Census.gov
Column 3: number of Electoral College votes the state controls
Column 4: column 2 divided by column 3, rounded to the nearest whole number

The table is sorted by Column 4, in descending order of "population per Electoral College vote"

Fox Nation's Ten Core Axioms

Heard anyone decorate the phrase "politically correct" with an audible sneer lately? Sensed it when he or she said "PC" and wasn't referring to a personal computer? Then you've met a resident of the vast conservative echo chamber that calls itself Fox Nation. You know, cable-news junkies who get all their (mis)information from Rupert Murdoch's version of spin city, Fox News - or as some like to call it, Faux News.

We spent a few minutes not long ago listening to them slap each other on the back and compare horror stories about regulations run rampant and socialists in control of the country. Never mind that most of them couldn't pick out socialism on a two-choice multiple choice question... But anyway, we decided that they do have core principles (if you can call them "principles"), which require mindless adherence. By "mindless," we mean that any contradictory statement, no matter how well documented, is "a lie." 

Without further ado, here are ten (there are probably more, but thinking about them made our head hurt):

1. Barack Obama was born in Kenya and is secretly a Muslim
2. Al Gore claims he invented the internet
3. The mainstream media has a liberal bias
4. Snow in April proves global warming is a hoax
5. Actors have no right to talk about social issues, CEOs have every right to talk about social issues
6. A rising tide lifts all yachts
7. Ronald Reagan was a saint and the greatest president of all time - of any country!
8. The three most beautiful women in the world are Ann Coulter, Megyn Kelly and Sarah Palin.
9. The most evil billionaire in the world is George Soros. The rest of them are just peachy.
10. It is possible to deport every undocumented person in the country, and it won't cost the taxpayers a thing.

Know anyone who believes all of those statements with all his heart? Well, you've just met a resident of Fox Nation. 

Who Wants Honesty About the Iran Deal?

We all do. What we don't want is political posturing and spin. So here's what one person thinks about the deal:

The Congresscritters and Senators who are opposed to it have three main reasons; some of them have two of them (though I don't know of any who have all three). In no particular order, the reasons are

The Truth Behind Anti-Immigrant Fervor

If you want to see someone go from apparently normal to foaming at the mouth in two seconds, bring up the subject of immigration around a conservative. The most rabid of them think that every one of them criminal wetbacks should be shoved in an envelope and FedExed back to whatever banana republic they came from. Never mind that such a program would take years and bankrupt Homeland Security – it’s “worth it” to have the nasty little brown fuckers out of our country.

If you look around, you’ll find that some of the TEA party fanatics want to repeal the 14th amendment so that them there “anchor babies” lose their citizenship and Mommy and Daddy have to go home to spickville. Here’s one of those idiots right here.

Republicans are Fat People who Try to Kill Pedestrians

From the "You Could Look it Up" file...

In case you never noticed, twisted logic dominates political dialog. Take for instance the Texan who jumped the fence and wandered into the White House last week. Sayeth all those right-wing bloggers, "Does this White House get anything right"? No, I'm not gonna link it up and give some twit the additional stroke in search results... I'm still trying to figure out how anyone is dumb enough to try to blame a lapse in security on the people being guarded. Kindly enlighten me?

But if you want some twisted logic, I'll be happy to oblige. You can take this to the bank: Republicans are fat people who are still confused about the difference between "pedestrians" and "pederasts." Don't follow? OK, hang onto your hats - it's gonna be a bumpy ride.