Month: January 2006

Poll: Going Off On Abramoff

Buck Banks

Scandals and scoundrels: Today’s PollTrack from National Journal features three new surveys focusing on the ever-widening Jack Abramoff scandal(s) and what they mean for our dedicated leaders in Congress.

ABC News/Washington Post pollsters found that nearly 60% of respondents think the Abramoff case is indicative of widespread corruption in the capital; 34% said corruption was limited to just a few individuals.

Nearly 75% of ABC/Post respondents said there isn’t much difference in ethics and honesty between the two parties, but two other new surveys suggest that the GOP might feel more of the Abramoff Effect.

Among CBS News respondents, 23% said they thought Abramoff’s testimony would involve mostly Republicans; 1% said it would deal mostly with Democrats. And 38% of a half-sample in a new CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll said the GOP would be hurt the most as more details of the case became public knowledge; 6% said Democrats would be most hurt.

Majorities for both questions, however, said the scandal would impact both parties equally, so Democrats are not off the hook and many legislators’ images will likely take a big hit.

The CBS poll put Congress’ job approval at 27% and disapproval at 57% — its lowest level since 1996.

The ABC/Post poll put the split at 41/55, close to mid-December’s 43/53 split and more favorable than the 37% approval of last summer and fall.

Despite Cancellation at Theatre Owned by Homophobe, ‘Brokeback Mountain’ Tops Sales at Two Other SLC Theatres

Jon Ponder

Shot in foot: You have probably heard by now that, in an extremely unusual move, a movie theatre in Salt Lake City canceled the scheduled run of “Brokeback Mountain.”

The theatre – the poetically named Megaplex 17 – is owned by car dealer Larry H. Miller, and the movie’s run was canceled, of course, because “Brokeback Mountain” is a love story about two ranch hands who fall in love.

What you may not know is that while “Brokeback Mountain” was canceled at the Megaplex 17, it played at three other SLC theatres where it did strong business. According to Box Office Mojo:

On the four-day New Year’s frame, Brokeback Mountain earned $46,300 at the Broadway, landing among the top nationwide per-screen averages that weekend. For the weekend ending Jan. 8, the movie took in $18,823 there, still No. 1 in the complex… At the Century 16, Brokeback Mountain was also No. 1 with $12,741.

While Miller cancelled “Brokeback Mountain” assumedly on moral grounds, he had apparently no problems with “Hostel,” a (het) sex-drenched, violent horror film, for which the theatre grossed about $10,000 over the weekend.

As noted, theatre operators rarely cancel movie runs. A rep for Focus Features, the distributors of “Brokeback Mountain,” sounded outraged:

“It’s the most despicable practice that any exhibitor can do,” Focus’ head of distribution, Jack Foley, told Box Office Mojo. “It was a flagrant dismissal of a commitment, and without even a phone call. So I’m not in business with him anymore. It’s a breach of contract. It’s unethical. We can sue him.”

While a cynical observer might note that Larry Miller’s violation of his contract with Focus Features is part of a larger picture – that conservativism has a corrupting effect on its adherents that makes them put their own judgments and benighted moral positions above the law – why not focus on the positive: All the ink given this one cancellation out of 484 theatres nets out to be more free publicity for the film.

This leaves us with a win-win for the movie – nobody in Salt Lake City who wanted to see “Brokeback Mountain” was prevented from seeing it and the distributor got a lot of free publicity – and a loss Larry Miller, who lost ticket sales to other theatres in his market and comes off looking a big ol’ homophobe.

Americans — World’s Biggest Spenders

Buck Banks

The real political capital: According to a new study released today by American Demographics, Americans are the world’s biggest spenders. Indeed, collectively, what we spend in a week is equivalent to Finland’s gross national product. It’s kind of hard to say what’s good news and what’s bad news in the report, but here are some excerpted highlights for your consideration:

  • The average American household’s economic outlays for all goods
    and services reached $1,500 a week in 2005.
  • Real—after inflation—consumer spending in the U.S. rose 23% in the past 10 years, while the number of households was up only 14%.
  • The Census Bureau recently reported that 37 million people in the U.S. lived in poverty in 2004. That’s 5.4 million more than in 2000—a 17% increase in a period when the number of people who weren’t living in poverty edged up 2.5%.
  • A record 45.8 million people in the U.S. had no health insurance in 2004, 6 million more than in 2000. That’s a 15% increase compared with a tiny 2% increase for people with health insurance.
  • The highest-income 20% of U.S. households has an average annual income of $151,600. But the majority—60%—of U.S. households lives on a little more than one-fourth of all consumer income, an average of about $27,000 each.
  • Baby boomers have created more wealth than any preceding generation in part because of their cohort size (78 million Americans born 1946-64; 26% of the population), but in large part because so many of them went to college.
  • The U.S. population is predicted to hit 300 million on Sept. 15, 2006.

Gov. Schwarzenegger: Bodybuilder, Actor, Politician – Contortionist?

Jon Ponder

As bodybuilders go, Arnold Schwarzenegger was an okay actor. As actors go, Gov. Schwarzenegger is a terrible politician.

The governor is gambling the support of the state’s conservative minority on the hope he can curry favor once again with the liberal majority. Good luck.

In fact, if you look at his record since he’s been in office, you might surmise that in his former career he was gymnast or sideshow contortionist.

On Monday, when he delivered his annual “State of the State” address, Schwarzenegger unveiled his latest trick: the 180 degree backflip. In this trick, the governor announced a plan to spend $222 billion on the state’s infrastructure over the next decade.

During the 2003 election to recall Gov. Gray Davis, the defining tenet of Schwarzenegger’s campaign for governor was fiscal responsibility in light of the state’s staggering $14 billion debt. In particular, he lambasted Davis’ plan to borrow money to solve this problem. Among other things, he also promised to fix California’s broken education system.

Once in office, not only did Schwarzenegger borrow money to resolve the debt – basically enacting Davis’ plan – he also to $2 billion out of the education budget which he has yet to pay back.

So now he’s proposing a spending spree. Granted, after 30 years of Republican governors, the California infrastructure is in terrible shape. But, as the Los Angeles Times reports today, the governor’s plan would create a mountain of debt as high as the Sierras:

Brad Williams, director of fiscal forecasting in the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, said that is the kind of ongoing spending — with no new revenue to pay for it — that can lead to budget problems when the economy falters.

“We are concerned about what these proposals will do to the state’s [deficit] problem,” he said.

“We had been making progress in bringing the budget into balance. Big spending increases and ongoing commitments would reverse some of that.”

[…]

Poll: Support for ’06 Dem Candidates Rising

Buck Banks

A rising tide: National Journal’s PollTrack reports support for 2006 Democratic candidates is increasing, with 49% of respondents saying they would want to see Dems win control of Congress if elections were held today, while only 36% said they wanted to see the GOP in control, according to a new Associated Press/Ipsos Public Affairs survey.

Curiously, recent high-profile scandals don’t seem to be affecting legislators’ numbers: 34% of respondents said they approve of how Congress is handling its job — up 3 points since December; 63% disapproved.

President Bush, however, didn’t enjoy a similar bump. Just 41 percent said they approved of his job, and 58 percent disapproved. In the last survey, his split was 42/57.

Many of Bush’s numbers on his work on individual issues slipped a few points since AP/Ipsos’ poll in the first week of December. The approve/disapprove split on his handling of domestic matters went from 39/59 to 35/63, and his split on the economy went from 42/55 to 38/60.

Poll: Alito’s Numbers Look Like Roberts’

Buck Banks

A little Alito: As the Senate cranks up its ponderous judicial confirmation process for Judge Sam Alito today, his initial polling numbers look like Chief Justice John Roberts’ survey results at the beginning of his hearings, according to National Journal’s PollTrack.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll found 53% of respondents said the Senate should confirm Alito, while 27% said they did not want Alito to be confirmed; 20% had no opinion.

Those numbers are similar to John Roberts’ figures at the same point in the process. An ABC/Post poll conducted in the days before his hearings, which started Sept. 12, showed that 55 percent of respondents wanted the Senate to confirm him. Twenty-six percent said he should not be confirmed.

Abortion is set to be a flashpoint issue during Alito’s hearings. A 38-percent plurality told pollsters that if Alito is confirmed, he would vote to leave abortion law as it currently is. Twenty-six percent predicted he would vote to impose greater restrictions on Roe v. Wade, and 18 percent predicted he would vote to overturn it.

More than 75% of Republicans and 40% of Democrats support Alito.

Is Congress Necessary?

Jon Ponder

The Framers are spinning in their graves.

Let there no longer be any doubt. President Bush sees Congress as merely a nuisance not worth bothering about – except when it is rubber-stamping his agenda. When it refuses to give him what he wants – even forbids him to act – he proceeds anyway.

Republicans see the Constitution as just another musty document “rendered quaint” by terrorists on 9/11.

Last Friday, he signed a bill that would outlaw torture, put the pen down and openly declared that his intention to violate the law he had just signed. No one can stop him from torturing prisoners.

Earlier this week, he waited until Congress was out of session to install 15 top administration officials via recess appointment. These candidates were so weak that they wouldn’t pass muster in Senate hearings – even from his lapdog fellow Republicans.

Of course, the most egregious abuse of presidential power that has come to light so far is Mr. Bush’s violation of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He deliberately disobeyed FISA by placing warrantless wiretaps on U.S. citizens at the rate of 500 calls per day for three years or more.

If this were a normal presidency, the country would be in the midst of a Constitutional crisis right now. But President Bush faces no credible opposition in his quest for power so he does as he pleases.

The only group in the Capitol that could stop him – the Republican leadership in Congress – is complicit with him. George Bush is as addicted to power as he is to whiskey and coke. The GOP leaders are his enablers. They have given this reckless bungler a blank check, literally and figuratively, to run the world as he sees fit.

While the Democrats in Congress stand by helplessly, muted by the Rightwing Noise Machine and their own self-doubts, unable to get a photo-op in edgewise, normal Americans watch in horror as the imperial republic morphs into a Republican empire before our eyes.

[…]

Ski Resort Fires Women Because They Got Married

Jon Ponder

You’re fired: Yes, Dorothy, you can be fired for being gay in George Bush’s America. It happened to a lesbian couple from gay-friendly Asheville, N.C., who got married in Massachusetts – only to be fired forthwith by Wolf Laurel Slopes, a ski resort in nearby Mars Hill. Pam’s House Blend, based in even-gay-friendlier Durham, is on it:

This kind of hatred and bigotry has no place in my state. While I am not surprised at the depth of contempt some have for gay and lesbian citizens, this story is a reminder that you can be fired simply for being gay.

Here’s how the couple described what happened on their website:

We at All Terrain Images, Inc., are sorry to say that we will not be able to provide photography services for skiers and snowboarders at Wolf Laurel this year.

Just before opening day, the owners of Wolf Laurel Slopes, Orville English and Rick Bussey, informed us that we were not welcome back, despite the excellent service we have provided for the past two years. The owners of Wolf Laurel Slopes have both admitted that one of the reasons they will not have us back is because All Terrain Images, Inc., is owned and operated by a lesbian couple whose wedding announcement was placed in the local Asheville newspaper. We believe this is the only reason for termination of our agreement.

Tell Wolf Laurel Slopes how you feel about workplace discrimination: marketing@skiwolflaurel.com.

Anti-Gay Pastor Arrested for Soliciting Male Undercover Officer

Buck Banks

Better to be known as a sinner than a hypocrite: Lonnie Latham, senior pastor at the South Tulsa Baptist Church and member of the executuve board of the Southern Baptist Convention (the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S.), was arrested Tuesday night for “offering to engage in an act of lewdness” with an undercover police officer. According to the Associated Press report, Latham propositioned the officer, asking him to return with Latham to his Oklahoma City hotel room for oral sex.

The arrest was in a section of Oklahoma City where residents had complained of male prostitutes flagging down drivers and propositioning them.

When he left jail after posting $500 bond, Latham reportedly said: “I was set up. I was in the area pastoring to police.”

So that’s what they call oral sex in South Tulsa, huh?

According to the AP:

[Latham] has also spoken out against same-sex marriage and in support of a Southern Baptist Convention directive urging its 42,000 churches to befriend gays and lesbians and try to convince them that they can become heterosexual “if they accept Jesus Christ as their savior and reject their ‘sinful, destructive lifestyle.”‘

Florida Supreme Court Kills Jeb’s Voucher Scheme

Trish

The sweet smell of defeat: Gov. Jeb Bush’s devious plan to privatize Florida schools took a major hit yesterday. His cornerstone voucher system — the nation’s first to be used statewide — was ruled unconstitutional by Florida’s Supreme Court.

“What we must do to is to stop hair-brained schemes of funding (private) schools and focus on adequately funding the public schools”

The elaborate scheme involved first grading schools according to Jeb’s Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT), and then punishing “failing” schools by cutting their funding and offering their students vouchers for tuition at private schools.

Chief Justice Barbara Pariente, writing for the majority, said the program “diverts public dollars into separate private systems parallel to and in competition with the free public schools,” which are the sole means set out in the state constitution for educating Florida children.

Private schools also are not uniform when compared with each other or the public system and they are exempt from many standards imposed by law on public schools, such as mandatory testing, she added.

The system has been marked by fraud, including recipients taking kickbacks to funnel the vouchers to schools which are actually post office boxes or strip center offices. The vast majority of real private schools receiving money are religious in nature, and had the court ruled other than it did, the ACLU, League of Women Votes, NAACP, and others were prepared to challenge it for violating separation of church and state.

Only two justices dissented from the majority opinion, and — surprise –” they were both appointed by Jeb.

State Sen. Rod Smith, a Democratic candidate for governor, said he was certain from the beginning that the voucher program eventually would be struck down.

“What we must do to is to stop hair-brained schemes of funding (private) schools and focus on adequately funding the public schools,” Smith said. “That’s what our constitution requires of us and our taxpayers expect of us.”

But Jeb is nothing if not a sore loser and this time is no exception . “I’m disappointed,” Bush said. “Let’s leave it at that.”

If only.

Jeb is already plotting a way around the legal decision, with a new plan that would make Tom DeLay proud — laundering the money for private schools through corporations. Jeb wants to provide voucher money to big business through tax breaks which will, in turn, pass it on to private schools.