Mobtown Shank

Random Factoid: Study Finds Porn Harmless

Despite what the prudes may say, consuming pornography does not make you a pervert, at least according to a published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

The study found no direct correlation between viewing pornography and acting out wild sex acts in real life.

This means that "porn is only one factor among many that may influence the sexual behaviors of young people, according to Time.com."

"Researchers in the Netherlands conducted an online survey of 4,600 people between ages 15-25 and discovered that 90 percent of the males and nearly half of females had used porn in the previous 12 months."

Source.

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Check-Up: How Are Americans Doing?

48.5 million Americans live in poverty
16 million children live in poverty
(US Census 2012)

US Family Median Net Worth Fell by 40% from 2007 - 2010.
(Federal Reserve 2012)

50% of American jobs pay less than $33,000
25% of American jobs pay less than $22,000
(Demos)  

So, that's how we're doing. Keep that in mind as the Dow continues to reach record heights and large corporations continue to post the greatest profits in the entire history of humankind.

What Marylanders Think

Woo! The new Goucher Poll is out! This poll asks Maryland citizens what they think of their elected officials.

Here's what the poll found!

56% - favorable view of Barack Obama
57% - approve of Barack Obama's job handling

51% - favorable view of Senator Barbara Mikulski
41% - favorable view of Senator Ben Cardin

10% - approve of Congress' job handling
84% - disapprove of Congress' job handling
51% - don't trust the federal government

37% - hold the Republicans in Congress responsible for The Sequester
4% - hold the Democrats in Congress responsible for The Sequester
20% - hold President Obama responsible for The Sequester
22% - hold all of Congress and President Obama equally responsible for The Sequester

47% believe the sequester will have a negative impact on their personal financial situation
75% believe the sequester will have a negative impact on the Maryland economy
68% believe the sequester will have a negative impact on the U.S. economy

What We Talk About When We Talk About Debt

by Benn Ray

We hear it a lot.

"We have to do something about our national debt!"

"Government has gotten too big!"

"We have to cut our spending or we're all gonna die!"

Okay that last one was a tad hyperbolic, but it does underline the seemingly increasing hysteria we hear when concern over the supposed growing debt is expressed.

Despite that fact that these attitudes are inherently Republican, we frequently hear them presented as simply non-partisan, common wisdom.

But here's the thing, it's not true. And not only is it not true, but the people who scream the loudest about cutting government spending don't really mean it. What they mean is they want to cut government spending on ourselves - on our infrastructure and on social programs. Almost all of the people who are calling to cut government spending also want to increase government spending - on the military.

And The Republican Party - the ironically self-appointed party of fiscal responsibility - well they're the worst when it comes to spending our tax money.

For example, the financial cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars started by George W. Bush: $1,415,000,000,000.

Now, remember back when Bush also wanted to cut taxes? And Progressives were yelling, "Cut taxes during war time?! Are you freaking insane!?!!" And then everyone looked at us like we were trying to pee all over their good times parade? Funny. Turns out Progressives weren't just being dicks, seems we actually had a legitimate point.

The cost of Bush tax cuts: $2,800,000,000,000.

So, as a result of Republican "economics" and George W. Bush economic policies, we're down $4,215,000,000,000.

In fact, this is the level of US debt when George W. Bush left office: $10,627,000,000,000,000

It's also good to remember that when George W. Bush took office, he inherited a budget surplus of $5,600,000,000,000.

So, over eight years of the Bush Administration, Republicans blew through $16,227,000,000,000 of our money.

During that time did you hear any Republicans griping that we had to get government under control? That we had to reign in our spending? That we had to shrink the size of government?

No. 

And why would they? After all, it was Republican Vice-President  Dick Cheney who told his acolytes, "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter."

So, when you hear Republicans freaking out about the debt, tell them to shut the fuck up.

The Republican Party is, historically, worse for our economy than the Democrats.

Our debt, despite their best efforts, isn't even as bad as the 1950s, that Golden Era conservatives yearn to drag us back to.
Source: CBO

Conservatives & The Return On Their Investment

Remember back when Republicans used to try to convince us they were the party of fiscal responsibility? Sadly for them, the facts don't back them up and that claim is now seen largely as a spit-take inducing myth.

And when Republicans go after Social Security, they argue that they want Americans to "be free to" take the money they'll need later in life to get by, and instead of having a government guaranteed return on what they pay in, they want Americans to invest in the private sector.

Nevermind what the Republican-caused Great Recession we're still trying to climb out of would have done to so many seniors' savings, let's take a quick look at how good conservatives are when they invest large sums of their money and the yields those investments get by looking at how their SuperPACs fared in the 2012 campaign.

Keep this in mind whenever you year a Republican offering any kind of finanical/investement advice.

National Rifle Association (America Political Victory Fund)
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $11,787,523
Return on investment: 0.82%

National Rifle Association (Institute For Legislative Action)
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $7,448,017
Return on investment: 10.71%

American Crossroads
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $104,710,472
Return on investment: 1.29%

Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $70,709,963
Return on investment: 14.40%

American Future Fund
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $23,959,072
Return on investment: 5.57%

Freedomworks For America
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $19,234,074
Return on investment: 24.59%

US Chamber of Commerce
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $32,676,075
Return on investment: 6.90%

National Republican Congressional Committee
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $64,653, 292
Return on investment: 31.88%

National Republican Senatorial Committee
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $31,740,841
Return on investment: 24.05%

Ending Spending Action Fund
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $13,238,296
Return on investment: 15.34%

Americans For Responsible Leadership
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $5,022,762
Return on investment: 1.96%

Now or Never Pack
Total 2012 Campaign Spending: $7,760,174
Return on investment: 14.50%

Source: Sunlight Foundation reporting Group

Obama/Romney: Comparing Investment Batting Averages

The Obama Administration, via the Department of Energy awarded  substantial grants to 63 companies.

Out of those 63 companies, 8% went bankrupt.

During its Mitt Romney-era, Bain invested in 77 businesses.

Out of those 77 businesses, 22% filed for bankruptcy or closed.

The Obama Administration has a better record picking losers and winners than Mitt Romney.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Searching Presidential Candidates On Facebook

When I search Mitt Romney on Facebook, I get this result:

However, when I search Barack Obama on Facebook, these are the results that come up:

Note, Mitt Romney comes up as a "sponsored search" for Barack Obama before Barack Obama's page actually comes up. However, with Mitt Romney, something called "Top Hit" comes up, ensuring that despite the sponsored results, Mitt Rommeny's page will still come up before Farmville or, theoretically, before Obama shoudl the Obama campaign deside to burn through some cash by sponsoring search results for his opponent on Facebook. 

Beer & Politics Chart

(click for larger image)
This chart shows what the beer you drink might say about your politics.

I find it interesting that despite being a progressive, I tend to like as many supposedly Republican beers (Shiner Bock, Lone Star, Yuengling) than supposedly Democratic beers (Sierra Nevada, Corona, Doe Equis).

I assume if they broke up the "microbrews" grouping though, I'd find many more beer I like on the Democrat skew side.

Source.

The Rich - They're Not Like The Rest Of Us

In The Philadelphia Story, Jimmy Stewart's character Macauley Conner  utters the line, "With the rich and mighty, always a little a patience."

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves.  Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different."

Ernest Hemingway's response was, "Yes, they have more money."

Turns out the wealthy, they're really not like you or me. And it would seem that these days our patience is running thin.

In fact, on many things, imporant things, the wealthy hold very different and opposing opinions than the rest of us.

These findings are from a study by Benjamin Page, Larry Bartels and Jason Seawright called Democracy and the Policy Preferences of Wealthy Americans.  [.pdf]

Government must see that no one is without food, clothing or shelter.
43% of the wealthy agree.
68% of the general public agree.

Minimum wage high enough so that no family with a full-time worker falls below official poverty line.
40% of the wealthy agree.
78% of the general public agree.

The government should provide a decent standard of living for the unemployed.
23% of the wealthy agree.
50% of the general public agree.

The government in Washington ought to see to it that everyone who wants to work can find a job.
19% of the wealthy agree.
68% of the general public agree.

The federal government should provide jobs for everyone able and willing to work who cannot find a job in private employment.
8% of the wealthy agree.
53% of the general public agree.

We should have national health insurance, which would be financed by tax money, paying for most forms of health care.
32% of the wealthy agree.
61% of the general public agree.

Willing to pay more taxes in order to provide health coverage for everyone.
41% of the wealthy agree.
59% of the general public agree.

The federal government should spend whatever is necessary to ensure that all children have really god public schools so they can go.
35% of the wealthy agree.
87% of the general public agree.

The federal government should make sure that everyone who wants to go to college can do so.
28% of the wealthy agree.
78% of the general public agree.

The federal government should invest more in worker retraining and education to help workers adapt changes in the economy.
30% of the wealthy agree.
57% of the general public agree.

Favor cuts in spending on domestic programs like Medicare, education, and highways in order to cut federal budget deficits.
58% of the wealthy agree.
27% of the general public agree.

It is the responsibility of the government to reduce the differences in income between people with high incomes and those with low incomes.
13% of the wealthy agree.
46% of the general public agree.

Our government should redistribute wealth by heavy taxes on the rich.
17% of the wealthy agree.
52% of the general pubic agree.

And this last statistic is important, as it illustrates why many Republicans and conservatives don't actually believe in democracy.

Ocean City's Bikini Fail

On Saturday, Ocean City, MD tried to take the bikini parade world record away from Huludao City in China, who got 1,085 bikinis on the beach at one time earlier this month.

Unfortunately, Ocean City only able to muster approximately 325 bikini clad women.

There was a $10 entrance fee to benefit charity, the parade was 25 blocks long, and it rained.

Source.