blueollie

Blustery day …in more ways that one

Workout notes: yoga, and a slow 6 mile (?) run (1:07). I had to remind myself to bend my knees and to keep a somewhat decent turnover rate.

It was in the 40′s (maybe 4-5 C) and the wind was strong….but 2-3 months from now I’ll see this as a warm day. Winter is on the way…

Posts
No, President Obama has NOT received kid-gloves treatment from the media. In fact, he gets considerably more negative press than any of the main Republican candidates. Of course, much of that is because he is a President during hard economic times, and being critiqued (accurately or not) comes with the job.

Mitt Romney’s anti-Perry ads
He put this one up and then took it down:

Why he took it down? My guess: if Romney wins the nomination (Intrade has him at 65 percent) he’ll need Perry supporters, and this type of ad will infuriate them.

He has this one up instead:

Yes, he attacks Obama on the economy and shows a clip of President Obama responding accurately to a jobs report. Yes, President Obama underestimated the recession that he inherited. But jobs DID go up under him, AFTER the stimulus kicked in. But the job creation was way too small to account for those who had lost their jobs previous and for new job seekers.

Religion
Richard Dawkins will not debate a certain noisy “theologian”. Basically he says that he won’t share the stage with someone who says that the mass murders in the Bible (mostly in the book of Joshua) were ok because “God said to do it”. Jerry Coyne has some nice commentary on this. Bottom line: doing the “will” of your imaginary sky-daddy is NOT associated with morality!

If what you are doing is good, then it is moral because the act is good. If what you are doing is bad, then it is bad, not matter what you think that your sky-daddy says.

On the same line, Friendly Atheist has an interesting take on the COEXIST bumper stickers:


(click for larger)

Note: I think that this might be a spoof on a Christian “response” to the original COEXIST poster.
Frankly, I prefer the one on my sidebar. :)

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October 20, 2011 - Posted by | 2012 election, atheism, Barack Obama, economics, economy, Mitt Romney, political/social, politics, politics/social, religion, Republican, republicans, republicans political/social, republicans politics, rick perry, running, social/political

4 Comments »

  1. One reason Obama may be getting negative press is he is unpopular. The press presumably have to report on this to some extent.

    Also, as you note, Republican presidential candidates, are an unusual control group. There are earlier studies showing Obama got better (more positive) coverage than either Bush II or Clinton.
    http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/obamas_first_100_days
    Wouldn’t it be better to compare his current treatment to theirs at similar points in their terms? Or compare the treatment he got as an early presidential candidate vs. the treatment the Repub candidates are getting now?

    Dr. A

    Comment by Dr. Andy | October 20, 2011 | Reply

    • You raise some fair points. MY point is that the press is NOT “in the pocket” for Obama. But as to your points: these are hard things to measure because Bush II and Clinton came into office in very different circumstances; Bush II inherited a good economy (remember that?) and Clinton came in having won well under 50 percent of the popular vote; the economy he inherited wasn’t good but it was better than the one in free fall that Obama got.

      Confounding variables make things very messy, no?

      Comment by blueollie | October 20, 2011 | Reply

  2. http://ryskindsketchbook.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/perfect-disguise-100.jpg

    Thought this was funny even if I don’t totally agree

    Comment by Dr. Andy | October 23, 2011 | Reply

    • Yeah, I suppose for Fox News watchers, “Obama is a Kenyan born Muslim” vs. “he isn’t” is an example of a legitimate debate and a journalist who says “that is just nuts” would be said to be in Obama’s pocket.

      Comment by blueollie | October 23, 2011 | Reply


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