Live Bloggin’ Ron Paul on the Daily Show

I’ll be live blogging Ron Paul on the Daily Show tonight. The phenomena continues…..

11:04 – Wolf Blitzer is a troll. And he used to work for AIPAC and wrote a book about how Jonathan Pollard was falsely convicted.

11:05 – Chris Dodd, who made you? Only Joe Lieberman’s existence could make you look worthwhile.

11:08 – Ha! Joe Biden. I think I get the joke…

11:09 – Oh boy! Commercial break! Time to refuel on Triscuits and put a fresh layer of Gold Bond on my testicles / grundle!

11:11 – And we’re back! And we’re talking about porn! yessssssss

11:13 – Boring, boring! This Larry Flynt skit is going on way too long.

11:14 – It’s really difficult to maintain an erection with Flynt’s toad-faced mug on half of my HD TV.

11:18 – Apparently I want popeyes! And so does that jitterbugging black male (do you think he likes… rap???)

11:19 – Please Welcome Congressman Ron Paul! Where is Guiliani’s corpse?

11:20 – No spreading democracy with guns. No foreign interventionism! Clap clap clap NYC claps clap claps.

11:21 – What’s the constitution? Apparently Ron Paul wants to use it. Disgusting.

11:22 – Third parties? Grossssssssss.

11:23 – Ut oh, Libertarian… principles… coming out… how will liberals react… no!!!!!

11:24 – Agh, Christ. Competition, free market, boring boring. Get to the good stuff!

11:25 – Romney said hello to Ron Paul once. Here come some zingers for Ron Paul. Start with Giul’s…. hahaha. He should marry terrorism, if 9/11 and abortion weren’t already his mid-wives!!

11:25 – Well, that was fucking anti-climatic. Paul just rushed off the stage afterwards to Stewart saying “Don’t leave!”. What???

11:27 – Yessssss, commercials! Shit, and I’m not even kidding now.

11:28 – Apple iPhone commercial. Conspicuous consumerism, here I come!

11:30 – I want you to raise your hand if English should be the official language of the United States. The only hand I see is Senator Gravel.

Summation: I can only imagine that hundreds of Reddit and Digg users are left flacid after that appearance. Pretty mediocre. Couldn’t we have just talked about how much we all hate Rudy and Iraq instead of talking about Libertarian principles? Apparently not, but he’ll have a few minutes at the Republican Debate tomorrow night to say something worthwhile, as long as Rudy doesn’t strangle him.

Disproportional Representation With Graphs

This is a repost of a previous entry to include graphs courtesy of Daily Background and minor adjustments to figures and syntax.

The 2006 mid-term elections were hailed as an ushering in of a new era turned against the Bush administration and politics as usual, and statistically speaking, the 110th Congress is the most diverse in US history. Yet there remains a serious disparity between the demographics of the United States population and the demographics in the Congress, which will be explored below.

Over Representation

Males – As of the 2006 congress, 83.7% of the Congress is male, while the percentage of males of the voting age population (18 plus) is only 48.4. If this is further evaluated to include the over-representation of white males, the figure is even more staggering: 36.3% of the voting age population are white males, yet there are 79 White Male senators making up the Senate (79%).

Older age groups (55 and older) – The average male and female age in the United States is 35.9 and 38.4 respectively compared to the average age of Congresspeople at 56 years old — 55 in the House of Representatives and 60 in the Senate. The age demographic breakdown in the United States is as following: 20-34: 20.9%; 35-44: 16%; 45-54: 13.4%; 55-64: 8.6%; rounded out by people of age 62 years and over in the US population at 14.7%. In the US Senate, 63% of the members are over 62 years old, topped off by Robert Byrd of West Virginia who is 90 years old.

The Wealthy/Educated – In the Senate, fifty-six senators hold degrees in the law, seven have MBA’s, and four have MD’s. The majority of COngress members come from upper-middle class to upper class income backgrounds, and the jobs themselves as Representatives and Senators pay $165,200 per year putting them in the top 5 percent of American household incomes, which does not reflect spouses income either (top 5% is deliniated by $157,000 per household).

On a similar note, the front-runner candidates for President in both parties (many of whom are currently serving in the Senate) had incomes that placed them in the top 1% of the population. Rudy Guiliani made 16.1 million dollars in 2006 with $45 million in assets, John Edwards $1.25 million in income and $29.5 million in assets, Barack Obama reported $938,000 in income and over 1 million dollars in assets, and possible third party candidate Michael Bloomberg has over 6.5 billion in his personal fortune.

Jews – While comprising 1.8% of the total United States population, Jews make up 7 percent of the Congress. This disproportional representation is extended higher in the Senate, where 13% of senators are Jewish.

Under Representation

Women – Women of voting age represent 51.6 percent of the voting age population yet are 16.3% of the Congress, putting America below the global average of 17% female representation at parliamentary level. As of 2007, the US ranks 68th in terms of women holding office in the legislature — this puts the US just above Turkmenistan, and just below El Salvador and Panama.

Latinos – Hispanics represent over 14% of the U.S. population, while their Congress representation is 3% in the Senate and about 5% in the House.

African-Americans – The Senate is 1% African American and the House is roughly 9.2% African American compared to the 12.3 percent of American population that are of Black or African-American descent.

Sources & References

http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS22007.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census%2C_2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_DP1&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States_Congress
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070416obama-tax,0,445005.story
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/17/candidates.finances.ap/index.html

Disproportional Representation

The 2006 mid-term elections were hailed as an ushering in of a new era turned against the Bush administration and politics as usual, and statistically speaking, the 110th Congress is the most diverse in US history. Yet there remains a serious disparity between the demographics of the United States population and the demographics in the Congress, which will be explored below.

Over Representation

Males – As of the 2006 congress, 83.7% of the Congress is male, while the percentage of males of the voting age population (18 plus) is only 48.4. If this is further evaluated to include the over-representation of white males, the figure is even more staggering: 36.3% of the voting age population are white males, yet there are 79 White Male senators making up the Senate (79%).

Older age groups (55 and older) – The average male and female age in the United States is 35.9 and 38.4 respectively compared to the average age of Congresspeople at 56 years old — 55 in the House of Representatives and 60 in the Senate. The age demographic breakdown in the United States is as following: 20-34: 20.9%; 35-44: 16%; 45-54: 13.4%; 55-64: 8.6%; rounded out by people of age 62 years and over in the US population at 14.7%. In the US Senate, 63% of the members are over 62 years old, topped off by Robert Byrd of West Virginia who is 90 years old.

The Wealthy/Educated – In the Senate, fifty-six senators hold degrees in the law, seven have MBA’s, and four have MD’s. The majority of COngress members come from upper-middle class to upper class income backgrounds, and the jobs themselves as Representatives and Senators pay $165,200 per year putting them in the top 5 percent of American household incomes, which does not reflect spouses income either (top 5% is deliniated by $157,000 per household).

On a similar note, the front-runner candidates for President in both parties (many of whom are currently serving in the Senate) had incomes that placed them in the top 1% of the population. Rudy Guiliani made 16.1 million dollars in 2006 with $45 million in assets, John Edwards $1.25 million in income and $29.5 million in assets, Barack Obama reported $938,000 in income and over 1 million dollars in assets, and possible third party candidate Michael Bloomberg has over 6.5 billion in his personal fortune.

Jews – While comprising 1.8% of the total United States population, Jews make up 7 percent of the Congress. This disproportional representation is extended higher in the Senate, where 13% of senators are Jewish.

Under Representation

Women – Women of voting age represent 51.6 percent of the voting age population yet are 16.3% of the Congress, putting America below the global average of 17% female representation at parliamentary level. As of 2007, the US ranks 68th in terms of women holding office in the legislature — this puts the US just above Turkmenistan, and just below El Salvador and Panama.

Latinos – Hispanics represent over 14% of the U.S. population, while their Congress representation is 3% in the Senate and about 5% in the House.

African-Americans – The Senate is 1% African American and the House is roughly 9.2% African American compared to the 12.3 percent of American population that are of Black or African-American descent

Sources & References

http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RS22007.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census%2C_2000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_DP1&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States_Congress
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-070416obama-tax,0,445005.story
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/17/candidates.finances.ap/index.html

If you like torture, you’re electable. If you look like Mr. Magoo, not so much.

After the second Republican debate, we had the pleasure of reading a plethora of reviews of who did and didn’t do well. And none managed to do it as biased as Time, who put all the front runners (McCain, Guiliani, Romney) as their top 3 performers of the debate and classified Ron Paul as unelectable because he looks like Mr. Magoo. Check out the pictures below and notice the lack of mentioning of foreign policy or anything else worthwhile for the candidates, unless of course you consider comparisons to cartoon characters an objective part of political reporting:

Keep up the good work, Mainstream Media!

Update: If you’re interested in where this story was placed on CNN, look below:

Yay, politics is barely above the best American Idol performances — this is in goddamn Time, for christs sake. But in the end, I should be thankful, because my two hands are already occupied plugging up my ears, so it’s nice to have the extra Mainstream Media appendage to put the complimentary thumb up my ass.

The Top 5 Tips to Becoming a Political Blog Maven

1. Find a polarizing figure to piggyback on.

This is the way to get started: find that certain intransigent someone that either side vehemently dislikes (Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, Al Franken for starters) and monitor them on a daily basis. Embellish, exaggerate, and lie if necessary. Flippant comparisons to the worst dictators in the world are not only helpful but necessary. Remember, every action by an undesirable political figure is as bad as Hitler killing 8 million Jews.

2. Enter in vitriolic name calling disputes with other blogs who disagree with you.

Nothing espouses progress better than two humans getting into an online shouting match about the current state of affairs. Don’t forget to mention that you once hooked up with Dennis Kucinich’s daughter for moral superiority. You will be heralded for courage in challenging others’ anonymous opinions and setting the bar for successful and tasteful discourse. Or you’ll at least get a handful of traffic from innocent bystanders who want to watch the flame show.

3. Criticize the establishment.

You know what I hate? Corruption. You know what I really, really hate? Politicians. You know what I really, really, really hate? The Media. Tackle any of these routine issues and you are sure to be a blog allstar. And if you need extra help, follow the timeless Simpsons model:

DJ 3000: Those clowns in congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns.
Bill: [laughs] How does it keep up with the news like that?”

4. Hijack others thoughts

Don’t you wish you could be that prolific writer you’ve always dreamed of or that muckracker who dug deep into the crevices of established society to reveal the truth about blah blah blah? Now you can be — with plagiarism! Simply find a well-known commentators blog, copy and paste their articles, and voila, you’re a prominent political blogger on a major news network!

5. Create a cult of personality with nonsensical rants and apparent hypocrisy

If there’s one thing the political and academic world needs more of, it’s the poorly thought out ideas of Everyday Joe. There are apparently over 100 million blogs now, and how many of these feature the rudimentary musings in an endless echo chamber? If you answered ‘not enough’, you’re correct! The world is always looking for another self-righteous bobblehead who spews caustic temper tantrums at anybody who dares to criticize them!

There you have it, if you follow my success story, you’ll quickly be on transformed from bumbling quotidian homosapien to a clairvoyant political priest!

On ProBloggers’ Top 5 Group Writing Project.