The Atlantic - Why America Keeps Getting More Conservative

The Atlantic-CITIES, by R. Florida.  America continues to track right, according to polling data released by the Gallup Organization last week.

Americans at this political moment are significantly more likely to identify as conservative than as liberal. Conservatives outnumber liberals by nearly two to one. 40% identify as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 21%. 

• Conservative states are considerably more religious than liberal-leaning states. And, this correlation between religion is increasing

• Conservative states are also less educated than liberal ones; This correlation between conservative affiliation and education (percent of adults who are college graduates) is also substantially higher than before.

• States with more conservatives are less diverse.

• Conservative political affiliation is highly negatively correlated with the percent of the population that are immigrants or gay and lesbian.

• There is no correlation to race or ethnicity, however, whether measured as percent white, percent black, or percent Hispanic.

• Conservative political affiliation is strongly correlated with percentage of a state’s workforce in blue-collar occupations;

• Conservative political affiliation is highly negatively correlated with proportion of workforce engaged in knowledge-based professional and creative work.

• States with more conservatives are considerably less affluent than those with more liberals.

• Conservative political affiliation is highly negatively correlated with state income levels and even more so with average hourly earnings.

Hat tip Barry Ritholz @ TBP.

Bianco Research - Retail Gas Prices and Supply

Any bets on where this is going? If you recall from 2008 the business media predicted $6 gas. And in 2005 too. Didn't get there did it?

Note price and supply correlation. Wouldn't blame it on Iran but speculators and producers.
Consumer demand is the lowest since 1997. And vehicle miles driven also down.

Got my bike ready to roll. Thinking about adding a sidecar. Squeeze in the family and hit the beach this summer. Gonna put the familymobile on blocks and cancel the insurance. Save some bucks!

Maybe Nicole can give us all some saving tips. She's real frugal - drives 100 miles to a supermarket.

Courtesy of Bianco Research

Courtesy of Bianco Research

Night Life, Spring 2012

As I recall, two years ago the T&G's Dianne Williamson offered a writing course. It wasn’t repeated. Heard the school department couldn’t afford her, wanted big bucks cause she works for the award winning T&G. Those folks want the really big bucks for doing the night school circuit.

Hey did ya know the ole girl recently won a NEN&PA award for Serious Columnist. Yeah seriously? Ya think they made that category up for her? Don’t recall seeing it before.

Anyway. It’s that time of the year and Night Life is offering really interesting stuff: bread-making, basket-making, how to make pizza... stuff to pep-up your resume. Even got a Learn to Play the Harmonica course. Now that would be sumptin for Bill Randell. And even got a Irish Tin Whistle course, sumptin for Paulie Collyer. Imagine Bill & Paulie doing a duet at NOLA 2012. Hey guys, how about doin Stairway to Heaven?

Been thinking about a second job; maybe offering my services to Night Life. Got a few courses in mind:

• Managing your public image on the Internet
• How to blog and win sycophants
• How to manage a bi-weekly newspaper in the digital age
• Practicing civility on the Internet
• How to achieve and maintain credibility on the Internet

Any takers? It'll be a lotta fun. And free beer.

A funny thing. That picture of Dianne in the T&G, next to her column. Well my grandfather said that's the same picture they been using for the past 30 years. Time just stands still in Wusta eh?

Yelp - City of Worcester

Is there a category that yelp doesn't cover?

The gentleman from Chicago (we all know how nasty that place is) doen't quite share our appreciation of our Shangri La. Well fuck him - right.

But he hit the proverbial nail on the head. The same stuff you've all been pissing & moaning about for the last 3 decades. And in all that time little to nothing has changed. Funny how we all know and bemoan the state of the city, but when someone criticizes it, ya all loose it. The truth hurts I guess.

Think I'll set-up an account and throw in my two-cents. First stop - newspapers.  One in particular.

Gawker - Inside Facebook’s Outsourced Anti-Porn and Gore Brigade

AllGov - Private Prison Company Demands 90% Occupancy

... the states must guarantee that are there are enough prisoners to ensure that the venture is profitable to the company... if the crime rate continues dropping, will police, prosecutors and judges feel compelled to supply human “product” for the prisons anyway?

90% and not a percent less! And they'll get it. Our pliable polits more than willing to accommodate corporate America. And there's plenty of riffraff out there in need of long vacation - with 3 squares, laundry, cable, and medical, it sounds pretty attractive to the homeless.

CCA has been recognized as one of the 100 best corporate citizens by Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine. The national military magazine GI Jobs has highlighted CCA as a solid employer for veterans.

Expect there will be an upsurge in incarcerations if Corrections Corporation of America gets what they want. Might have to start sending folks to jail for jaywalking. I'm all for that.

One of Those Interesting Facts About Wal-Mart

Yelp - Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Comment section is a frightening look at humanity. One person got it right.

Aren't we really like supposed to be smart and sophisticated; got like a college or university on every street corner. But  we interact like lunatics given the chance. Why aren’t we discoursing intellectual and cultural issues instead of pissing and moaning about every triviality?

Well, blame it on the T&G. They gave us the rope and we willingly hung ourselves.

Welcome to Wusta!