15.10.10

The Fox Jumped Over the Box

(Fox News Poll: Republicans Maintain Lead in Midterms)
Now, Dana Blanton, the infamous and ingenious "polling" expert makes Headliner news on the front of FoxNews.com.(pictures below) The irrefutable news heavy-weights in Internet News sources has apparently conducted a recent poll that indicates that registered voters are leaning conservative. More specifically there are percentage gaps opening between Republicans and Democrats. Dana Blanton doesn't provide any links for you to view the actual poll conducted, or where FOX derived their control group from, which if you don't know what that [control group] is, then what good is your statistics? (1)

Mostly the article consists of the kind of questions where the survey respondents answers yes or no to straight-forward questions: "Do you think your children will have a better or worse future?" A lot of "registered voters" think their children will be worse off...How optimistic. Blanton brings so much light to the curiosities that bloat us everyday...

Check out the ScreenShot I got!
 Okay, Okay, enough sarcasm for one article. While Blanton's poll was serious and in-depth, the fact that there is no apparent history for this woman's reputation, there is only one link showing the resulting data of the poll, but nothing else to reference or connect the reader to the poll. I ask, where can I sign up for participating in this poll? When clicking on the link to view the raw data, you'll see that the poll was conducted for only two days and by phone. Remember class discussions when we were asked if we had a Land-line? Excellent stuff. (2)

I like to take particular note how towards the bottom of Blanton's article she states how; "the administration has failed to convince the majority of voters that patience will pay off..." The numbers are: 45% say it won't pay off, and 44% say it will...WOW what a majority.

I'm not saying that we aren't leaning towards a republican ruling this next mid-term, but where is the support for this article? Who is this article intended for? Most likely Fox News readers who are lacking confidence. The questions that were asked seemed more ambiguous than, "Are you voting republican?" and upon looking at the raw data again and again, you'll note that the approval ratings for Democratic policy are actually higher than that of the Republicans, but hey, what do I know. I don't have my Masters from George Washington State in Public Policy.(3)

I do think it is great that American Voters love their country "Very Much" as opposed to "A Lot." Find that question in the Raw Data!


Related Links:
1: http://psy.st-andrews.ac.uk/resources/glossary.shtml
2: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101014/00463611420/obvious-news-is-obvious-polls-that-only-call-landlines-may-be-biased.shtml

3: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dana-blanton/24/308/69b

1.10.10

Oil, Media, and Congress?

Corporate Media as a Toxic Dispersant.

Ah, how I love intelligent, poignant writers. Leslie Savan's article is a blast to read. She points out in the very beginning, how Media acts as a dispersant1, much like the toxic chemicals that were dropped on the BP oil-spill. She notes that these "dispersants", while clearing away top layers of the oil slick, kills all life underneath it.2 Wow, what a metaphor. But why so angry Savan?

Leslie Savan is a three-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist, She has been a contributor to a vast number of resources, such as: The New York Times, and The Huffington Post. She now writes for an Online News Blog called, The Nation.Though she takes many Liberal stances on most political issues, her intentions lie more into a passionate "call to attention" to issues that are consistently unaddressed, and have little reference from which to draw from. Savan backs her articles up with various links, exact dates and videos of quotes, that support her writings.

Considering this article, Media as a 'Toxic' Dispersant, Savan states how media had supported the move to Off-Shore Drilling just a couple weeks, and even days BEFORE the Deepwater-Horizon Disaster. She even finds a quote of President Barack Obama, endorsing the safety and probabilities of off-shore drilling. She goes on to make the argument that Obama practically sold the seat for the Department of the Interior to a little known oil-advocate named, Ryan Salazar. Thus, connecting the corruption between government and the oil companies. But how does Savan relate the media to all this?

The Media, Savan, declares as "Toxic", destroying all in its wake, in the very cover up, the very smoke and mirrors that make up the aftermath of the incident, how is it that we get distracted by certain extraordinary disaster? Savan outright declares that the Oil Companies, Media Companies, and Government Committee Programs are all run by the same group. But I think it's worth more informative research. The links in this particular article are ambiguous, and some of the statements she makes need some serious backing up. Such as: "...even with documented evidence that the regulators had accepted gifts, sex, drugs, and huge amounts of cash from the industry for years..." What regulators, I'm asking?

Still, Savan, makes a great argument for successfully linking the Government and Media as working together towards a similar goal, perhaps the corporate media is there at the Governments disposal, most notably for the conservatives, but I still feel Savan doesn't touch the broader expanse of what she is actually saying. Meaning, calling the "Corporate Media a Toxic Dispersant" for covering up the politicians endorsements of Off-Shore Drilling is viable, but it is more simple than this to point out.

Let me ask you this; seriously.

Do you as a persons living in America get the idea that you are being forced to listen to bullshit politics such as Tiger Woods and his oppressively horny lifestyle? Do  BP Commercials make you feel anything at all? I think Savan is really trying hard to state how the BP oil spill is just another Media Circus show, but the ideas that are being incepted go on for miles. Savan only just grazes how it [the media] became so disastrous with the outrageous incidences the Bush administration were a part of. She talks about how the gaps between political parties are caused by media, but this belief, that we are a divided nation, is what is killing us.

You and me, we can get even older with this Media-craze if we want to. When Clinton had a failed missile attack against Afghanistan in 1993, Osama Bin Laden managed to capture the failed missiles, reverse engineer them, and use them against us later during the Bush Administration's War on Terror.3 But what did you hear of this? Probably nothing so similar, by the time that Clinton was dealing with foreign relations to absolve this situation; was right around the same time the Monica Lewinsky scandal ripped away any other attention you may have been giving to anything else.

If I could put verbal inflection into written text.

THIS! This stated above situation is all anyone needs to know, to know how Toxic the media can be. What the Corporate Media can do and how far they can go seems never-ending. As important issues can constantly be pushed under, I believe this is Savan's attempt to clap her hands and stomp her feet for anyone to listen to the great points, and great finds regarding issues that surround us everyday!

Resource links and Footers:
1: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30158418/

2: http://www.prisonplanet.com/scientists-40-times-more-cancer-causing-toxics-in-gulf-than-before-spill-dispersants-to-blame.html

3: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2000/09/clintons-failed-missile-defense-policy
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