1.38% of FOX News' viewership is black. Sounds high.
CNN is at 20.7%
MSNBC is at 19.3%

If 1.38% of Fox's viewers are black and 19.3% of MSNBC's viewers are black, both stations have about the same number of black viewers then.

well, the article states 29K for Fox and 145K for MSNBC

Yes I was making a joke about the relative size in viewership of those two channels.

That said 29k blacks watch Fox News, 145k watch MSNBC, 134k watch CNN. About 10% of blacks watching cable news watch Fox News. Depending on the presidential election 5-10% of blacks vote Republican. Holy shit, shocking facts of the day courtesy of pacino/Huffington Post.

I know, I was deadpanning a response.


We need lots of smililes in our posts so we know we're both joking


edit: I think what's most important is no one watches cable news. Why does the rest of the media follow their lead?

How Many Public Workers? Albany Doesn’t Know

This is an absolutely *amazing* article about how dysfunctional NY's state government is

jerseyhoya wrote:How Many Public Workers? Albany Doesn’t Know

This is an absolutely *amazing* article about how dysfunctional NY's state government is

That is pretty amazing, in a horrible, horrible way.

I am considering voting straight Republican ticket in local/state races this year, more as protest than anything else. (In my section of Brooklyn, the Democrat--any Democrat--is in dead girl/live boy territory in terms of what it would take to lose.) Problem is that the Republicans have been no less corrupt, nor complicit in the state's dysfunction, than have the Democrats.

jerseyhoya wrote:How Many Public Workers? Albany Doesn’t Know

This is an absolutely *amazing* article about how dysfunctional NY's state government is

jeeziz don't tell any would-be employers you're clueless about the nature of public authorities

any dip shit 1st year MPA student knows they're essentially beyond any particular governor's payroll ax

read The Power Broker for fuck's sake

drsmooth wrote:read The Power Broker for $#@!'s sake

I was reading that piece and just kept thinking, "Fucking Robert Moses."

His creation of the Authorities might have the apogee of his evil genius, which is saying a lot.

OK I'm buying the Power Broker tonight

I still think that NYT article is amazing. No need to condescend me doc. Normal people should have their head explode reading that.

jerseyhoya wrote:OK I'm buying the Power Broker tonight

Quite possibly my favorite non-fiction read ever. I think you'll dig it.

Alright bought along with Tipping Point so I get free shipping from Amazon

I need to stop getting drunk some of these weeknights and read the books I've been buying before school starts

I've had the Power Broker sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read for several years now. It's so damned intimidating.

dajafi wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:How Many Public Workers? Albany Doesn’t Know

This is an absolutely *amazing* article about how dysfunctional NY's state government is

That is pretty amazing, in a horrible, horrible way.

I am considering voting straight Republican ticket in local/state races this year, more as protest than anything else. (In my section of Brooklyn, the Democrat--any Democrat--is in dead girl/live boy territory in terms of what it would take to lose.) Problem is that the Republicans have been no less corrupt, nor complicit in the state's dysfunction, than have the Democrats.

I sometimes think the same thing in Philly - the Democratic machine can be so awful here - but then I meet Republicans in bars, which are the wrong kinds of Republicans to meet. Middle aged white guys, many of them cops, almost all unashamed to say openly racist things and explain how Barack Obama is a socialist, etc.

I realize there are many rightwingers who are not like this, but this is the most objectionable kind, and the kind I always seem to find where I live. I heard one of them going off in the bank the other day. So irritating.

JH, good luck finishing The Power Broker before September.

dajafi wrote:His creation of the Authorities might have the apogee of his evil genius, which is saying a lot.

that's a terrif summation.

what's happened is, I've gotten old or something b/c I would have thought jerz had read/absorbed TPB long ago, that it was practically required reading for anyone in the politics business. I forget that the book's 30+ years old


& jerz, not my intent to condescend - I just thought that while the article is sobering, it didn't shout "all hell's breaking loose" to me, so much as "hey, many people don't realize lots of 'governmental' functions in the NYC area are carried out by entities essentially beyond elected executive command".

so, since you've forgotten more than I'll ever know about how politics really works, I figured authorities were something you were thoroughly versed in.

TenuredVulture wrote:JH, good luck finishing The Power Broker before September.

I'm gonna do it. I think the conclusion I've come to is there's plenty of time for me to read midday. Set aside a few half hour chunks each morning and afternoon. Should be golden.

jerseyhoya wrote:

TenuredVulture wrote:JH, good luck finishing The Power Broker before September.

I'm gonna do it. I think the conclusion I've come to is there's plenty of time for me to read midday. Set aside a few half hour chunks each morning and afternoon. Should be golden.

Should you fail, though, you might not finish it until after you pass your comps.

I think I got through The Power Broker in a bit more than a month. It helped that I had two days of jury duty in which I just sat in Brooklyn court buildings and read, but I also just really loved it.

The story of Caro's interactions with Moses in the course of researching the book is almost as awesome as the book itself. See here:

http://id3468.securedata.net/robertacaro/NYer.html

3. I am going to read to you a list of names of public figures. Please tell me whether your feelings toward each of them are very positive, somewhat positive, somewhat negative, or very negative -- or if you don't know who they are. Are your feelings toward (FILL PUBLIC FIGURES) very positive, somewhat positive, somewhat negative, or very negative -- or don't you know who he/she is?

4 3 2 1 0
VERY SOMEWHAT SOMEWHAT VERY
FIGURES POSITIVE POSITIVE NEUTRAL NEGATIVE NEGATIVE WHO? MEAN

Ted Stevens......36.0%....42.7%.....6.0%....10.8%.....4.5%.....0.0%...2.949
Lisa Murkowski...29.6%....43.0%.....8.3%....12.3%.....6.7%.....0.0%...2.764
Sean Parnell.....23.1%....48.5%....13.1%....12.1%.....3.2%.....0.0%...2.763
Ralph Samuels.....9.5%....19.8%....19.1%.....5.0%.....2.5%....44.1%...2.516
Bill Walker.......6.9%....21.9%....24.9%.....5.1%.....2.5%....38.7%...2.418
Mead Treadwell....7.6%....17.2%....23.5%.....7.0%.....1.0%....43.6%...2.415
Don Young........21.9%....34.9%....11.7%....20.7%....10.9%.....0.0%...2.361
Joe Miller.......11.7%....25.7%....19.1%....11.9%.....6.1%....25.4%...2.335
Sarah Palin......32.3%....23.8%.....8.1%....15.5%....20.4%.....0.0%...2.320
Jay Ramras........6.0%....26.1%....14.9%....11.9%.....5.3%....35.7%...2.241
Sheldon Fisher....2.6%.....6.5%....18.9%.....3.7%.....1.2%....67.1%...2.171
Eddie Burke.......3.4%....10.3%....15.3%....14.0%....10.0%....46.9%...1.681
Mark Begich......12.1%....23.9%....10.2%....19.4%....34.3%.....0.0%...1.603



Alaska GOP Primary voters

I'm not sure what's the more surprising number. Ted Stevens' or Palin's. Major wow at Palin's approval being so brutal.

Murkowski throttling Palin's candidate in the primary.