Poll: Faith community against OH union/budget reforms. Not so fast!

The headline is an attention getter:

"New Poll and Petition: Ohioans of Faith Reject Gov. Kasich's Unfair Budget Proposal, Attacks on Workers"

This started appearing on Twitter feeds and Facebook pages last week and so it must be a fact, right?  If it's on Twitter, it's true.


The headline actually originated from the group Faith in Public Life (FPL), which is run by a collection of social justice gurus, community organizers, and bloggers who 'enjoy writing about the "religious right."'  Their board includes senior fellows at the leftist Center for American Progress. They tout as one of their big successes setting the 2008 post-election narrative and debunking "the false spin of the single issue “values voter.”  In other words, they want to re-frame the Christian voter as a social justice/community organizer/Democrat.  They don't like that there are sincere Christians who are genuinely against abortion and who have deeply-held beliefs in the importance of traditional marriage. These are deal-breakers,  meaning they could never in good-conscience vote for a pro-abortion candidate, whatever their party.  Never mind, FPL marches on, trying to convince the world that this is not true and that Christians are becoming Leftists at a dizzying rate.  That's their mission. 


It is in that context we take a look at their poll, taken March 25-27, surveying 2000 registered Ohio voters.  The group's press release concluded: 

"A new survey of 2,000 Ohio registered voters, commissioned by Faith in Public Life and conducted by Public Policy Polling, finds that Catholics and evangelical/born-again Christians in the battleground state of Ohio overwhelmingly reject restrictions on collective bargaining, as well as Governor Kasich's proposed budget that cuts spending on vital public services while preserving corporate tax loopholes and low tax rates for the wealthiest residents of the state."

•  Sixty-one percent of Ohio registered voters think restricting collective bargaining is the wrong thing to do, as do 57% of Catholic and 59% of evangelical/born-again Christian registered voters.
• Fifty-seven percent of evangelical/born-again Christians said 'to help make sure that citizens have a quality education and safe and healthy communities, even if it requires raising taxes on businesses and people with the highest incomes' is a more important moral responsibility for government than 'to cut taxes for all, including the wealthiest people and large businesses, even if it requires cutting education and other public services.

Wait....what?  Re-read that last bullet point.  Does it even make any sense?  It sounds like it was written by someone who does not have a good grasp of the English language.  

This is the problem with polls and surveys: they're only as good as the questions. Some questions are just poorly written and others are intentionally written to solicit pre-determined answers.  

Creative Research Systems gives guidelines for creating non-biased survey questions:

"The overriding consideration in questionnaire design is to make sure your questions can accurately tell you what you want to learn. The way you phrase a question can change the answers you get. Try to make sure the wording does not favor one answer choice over another.

Avoid emotionally charged words or leading questions that point towards a certain answer. You will get different answers from asking 'What do you think of the XYZ proposal?' than from 'What do you think of the Republican XYZ proposal?' The word 'Republican' in the second question would cause some people to favor or oppose the proposal based on their feelings about Republicans, rather than about the proposal itself."

Here are a couple of the actual questions asked by the Faith in Public Life (FPL) survey:

• You may have heard about Governor Kasich’s plan to address budget shortfalls, which involves cutting education and health care. Do you think Gov. Kasich's plan is a fair approach or an unfair approach to balancing the budget?

This was the second question in the survey.  Immediately we see the question is directing the person being interviewed toward a negative response.  It reduces and oversimplifies the debate and pits the budget shortfall against the emotionally charged issues of education and health care.  Then it asks if this is "fair."  The third question is:

• What do you think is a more important moral responsibility for our state government: to help make sure that citizens have a quality education and safe and healthy communities, even if it requires raising taxes on businesses and people with the highest incomes, OR to cut taxes for all, including the wealthiest people and large businesses, even if it requires cutting education and other public services?

Try reading that question out loud and imagining you heard it over the phone.  What are the chances you'd even understand what the caller was asking you?  There are so many odd grammatical constructs and run-on sentences that the listener would be hard-pressed to figure out how to answer, even if he or she had a strong opinion on the issue. In addition, again, it distorts the issue, as if the state can either cut taxes for the wealthiest people or have healthy communities.   Is it really accurate to assert (in a survey question, no less)  that our communities will become unhealthy if Governor Kasich's budget passes?  And to further assert approving of this budget would be immoral?  It's a fine example of the false dilemma fallacy, but it's a very poorly written survey question.  It's clear there is an agenda, designed to elicit a pre-determined outcome. 

Here's a video that demonstrates how easy it is to skew survey questions to attain a desired outcome:

Incidentally, we also find in the fine print of the survey that out of the 2000 registered Ohio voters that 45% were Democrats, 30% were Republicans and 25% were "independent or identified with another party."  I'm no expert, but I suspect that when you survey a majority of Democrats, you're going to get Democrat-leaning answers.  


As for the seemingly overwhelming number of Christians/Evangelicals supposedly opposed to Gov. Kasich's budget and union reforms?  Aside from an agenda that's clear in the questions, which seem designed to solicit certain answers,  I think many of us will agree with the great philosopher, Inigo Montoya:

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

I was privileged to hear Dr. David Noebel from Summit Ministries  speak on Saturday and he said:  

"The vast majority of Bible believing Christians have no idea what a Biblical worldview really is."

He noted that 28% of so-called Evangelical Christians voted for President Obama and probably would do so again.  


Let's start to turn this around by not taking surveys like this one at face value.  Faith in Public Life's mission is to "shape the public debate." One of their best propaganda tools is a survey that makes it appear that all or most Christians/Catholics/Evangelicals are in agreement with their agenda.  Don't buy it.  

April 7, 2011

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) cuts through the rhetoric and makes the case for his Path to Prosperity

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) "It's time to pick a fight!"


Rep. Mike Pence, sounding more presidential than any of the names being bandied about as presidential contenders, gave a lively speech to a group from Americans for Prosperity yesterday:

 "And if liberals in the Senate would rather play political games and force a government shutdown instead of accepting a modest down payment on fiscal discipline and reform, I say, ‘Shut it down.’ [crowd: 'Shut it down! Shut it down!...]...

...Republicans must show that we’re worthy of this moment, that we’re equal to this crisis, that we’re willing to face this sea of red ink, to stop and turn and square down on behalf of the American people the liberal establishment in Washington, D.C.

...So let’s put the political establishment on notice on this historic hill: Your days of dominance in our nation’s capital are coming to an end. The American people are back in charge. With their help and with God's help we will face this crisis with courage and determination. We will take a small step toward fiscal responsibility and reform and we will cut spending now to preserve this last, best hope on earth for future generations."

Pence has said that he will not run for president.  All the more reason I wish he would.  He has an 'above-the-fray' way of attacking issues and not people that sets him apart from others in the race.  He is also well known for sticking to his principals even if that means voting against his party.  All indications are that he will run for governor of Indiana.  Ah, well...maybe 2016...

~~~~~

More state bills are targeting abortion - USATODAY.com: 

"Legislatures in more than 30 states are weighing — and in some cases passing — many fast-moving bills to restrict abortion rights in a blitz that could prompt the Supreme Court to revisit the issue...

...NARAL Pro-Choice America is monitoring 362 abortion bills in this legislative session; in 2010, 174 bills were tracked. Some bills would block public or private insurance coverage for abortions, others would ban most abortions 20 weeks after conception, and others would require pregnant women to have ultrasounds before having abortions."

~~~~~

If you're prone to worrying or obsessing about all the terrible things happening in the world, don't click on the links to these "incident" maps:


GlobalIncidentMap.com Amber-Alert Map HAZMAT Situations Map Forest Fires Map Disease Outbreaks

Gang Activity Map Border Security Issues Presidential Threat Map Terrorism Event Predictions Quakes Map

Drug Interdictions Map Non-Terror Aviation Incidents NEW - Food/Medicine Incidents NEW - Human Trafficking




You need to have a paid subscription for some of the data, but you can learn plenty without subscribing. 

Things I learned from these maps:  The plague is alive and well and living in Indonesia.  Alaska experiences more than its fair share of earthquakes - and Japan is still quaking. There is a spot in the middle of the U.S. that either has almost no drug activity or drug laws aren't enforced.  I no longer believe those people who tell me how safe air travel is.  Every day there are dozens of "incidents" involving aircraft of various sizes.  

~~~~~

Today was a harrowing day in the eagle's nest in Decorah, Iowa.  For much of the day, one parent was absent from the nest and food was in short supply.  I was concerned that something had happened to the missing parent.  When I got home tonight I was happy to see that not only had the missing parent returned with a fish for dinner, but the third eaglet had hatched (see video below).  I'm not all that optimistic about #3's survival.  It's siblings have several days on him it's not unheard of for siblings to kill the weaker nestlings.  

Wired Science has some interesting facts about the tech side of the eagle cam:

"The eagle family is filmed from two cameras positioned near their nest 80 feet up a tree near the Decorah Fish Hatchery. [Bob] Anderson, [director of the Raptor Resource Center], remotely points, zooms and pans one camera from a nearby shed.

The other camera runs automatically 24/7 and switches to infrared at night, picking up the eagles’ body heat and converting it to a black-and-white image. The view can look like there’s a spotlight shining on the nest, but the eagles are completely in the dark.

“We would never put a spotlight on an eagle nest,” Anderson said, and added that he’s been getting angry phone calls in the middle of the night demanding that he turn off the lights.

“It’s kind of an insult to my research and my conservation work. People don’t understand,” he said. “I wish they would trust me for my life’s work with conservation, and do a little bit of research. We have many infrared cameras out there in wildlife, and we would never put a spotlight on an eagle.”

Still, he said, “for every crank I get we have 2,000 thank yous. I’m really happy we have such great video and audio going out to the internet.”

I love the indignant tone when defending his "life's work."  Having done a lot of public animal education programs I completely understand.  People sometimes ask really insulting questions (i.e. 'Does that owl live in the verikennel all the time?'....'Is that snake going to suffocate in that pillow case?').  It's never the children who ask these questions, always the adults.  Just read the comments from the article above.  At least two people are squawking because they didn't actually read the article and they think they're putting spotlights on the eagles at night.  Maddening, really!  

March 7, 2011

Ohio GOP State Senator faces nasty threats from unions on Facebook, in restaurant - The Daily Caller

"Newly-elected Ohio Republican State Sen. Frank LaRose has received several distasteful threats from his state’s union members, including a high-ranking official in the police officers’ union....

"...LaRose, a 31-year-old Iraq war veteran, was the tiebreaking vote in Ohio’s Senate, which just sent a bill similar to Wisconsin’s budget bill to the State’s House of Representatives. That caused Michael Piotrowski, the general counsel for the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), to siege LaRose’s Facebook page.
“Funny thing about cops,” Piotrowski posted on LaRose’s Facebook wall, “they hold a grudge.”
"...The folks who discovered Piotrowski’s comments and identity were College Republicans from the University of Akron.
"...After Piotrowski wrote the nasty comment on LaRose’s Facebook wall, Manno and other College Republicans took to defending LaRose under the impression that Piotrowski was “just some upset cop.” But, after Googling around for him, Manno said he and his friends found out he was a high-ranking leader in the state’s cop union.
..."To LaRose’s defense came Tim Monaco, who wrote: “Frank, got my vote for life, and as I’m in his district, unlike you, that matters.” But, Monaco’s comment didn’t stop them either. In a response to him, another union-supporter, likely a firefighter given his comment, Robert Hoch, said: “Tim you must be a coward just Laposer. We live in his district and lots of blue collar workers won’t be voting for him. Oh and one more thing Tim, next time ur house is on fire call a tea bagger. They have all the answers.”

"...LaRose faced even more nasty behavior from union organizers when he was at dinner after voting for the bill. The Columbus Dispatch reported he and a few other Republicans were at dinner that night at a restaurant near the Capitol when union supporters spotted them and came into the restaurant causing a stir. LaRose said “it could have [gotten physical.]” Police were called in, who dispersed the situation without making any arrests."

Jesse Jackson Jr.:  A home, a laptop, and an iPod in every pot

You can't make this stuff up!  Jackson thinks the answer to our unemployment crisis is a Constitutional amendment to guarantee the right of every American to housing, healthcare, and laptops and iPods for the kiddos in schools.  Jobs for everyone!  

Answer:  Journey to the Center of the Earth

Question:  What happens when the Founding Father simultaneously hear this speech and roll over in their graves?

 Babies who are born at 23 weeks should be left to die, says NHS chief - UK Daily Mail

"Babies born after just 23 weeks of pregnancy or earlier should be left to die, a leading NHS official has said

Dr Daphne Austin said that despite millions being spent on specialised treatments, very few of these children survive as their tiny bodies are too underdeveloped ‘If it was my child, from all the evidence and information that I know, I would not resuscitate,’ she said.  

‘For me the big issue is that we’re spending an awful lot of money on treatments that have very marginal benefit.‘We are doing more harm than good by resuscitating 23-weekers. I can’t think of very many interventions that have such poor outcomes. ‘I would prefer to free up that money to spend on providing support to people who have much more lifelong chronic conditions.’ 

She added: ‘There’s a lot of emphasis on the parents’ views and what they want. But somewhere in there, there needs to be an advocate for the baby."

That last sentence is especially chilling. That Dr. Austin would even suggest that the parents should not have the final authority over their children's health care decisions is very disturbing.   The term "death panels" comes to mind.  All the more reason to consider the Parental Rights Amendment.


Speaking of the Parental Rights Amendment, the group promoting it is premiering the video "The Child" tonight at 8:00 EST on a limited number of stations (see link above for channels).  It will also be streaming live here.  Preview:





Bill Gates weighs in on state budgets - Gates Foundation

"There are long-term problems with state budgets that a return to economic growth won’t solve. Health-care costs and pension obligations are projected to grow at rates that look to be completely unsustainable, unless something is done. But so far, many states aren’t doing much to deal with their fundamental problems. Instead they’re building budgets on tricks – selling off assets, creative accounting – and fictions, like assuming that pension fund investments will produce much higher gains than anyone should reasonably expect. 

Eventually they’ll have to make some hard decisions about priorities, and I’m worried that education will suffer, even more than it is suffering already because of budget cuts. The issues are complicated and obscured by the complexities of accounting, so most people don’t fully understand what’s going on. More people need to investigate their state’s budget and get involved in helping to make the right choices. "

Red State reports that Gates has put up a website that shows the healthcare and pension liabilities for each state.  It looks like a very useful site.  I wouldn't know.  Bill Gates won't let me look at it without installing M$ $ilverlight.  My quirky (but free) Google Chrome OS CR-48 notebook computer won't let me view it through the Google Silverlight app.  

Mardi Gras Culture in Bible Belt America - Russell Moore
Dr. Moore has an interesting blog post comparing the Mardi Gras excesses to the "typical" Christian life in the Bible belt:"

"The cycle went something like this. You were born, then reared up in Sunday school until you were old enough to raise your hand when the teacher asked who believes in Jesus and wants to go to heaven. At this point you were baptized, usually long before the first pimple of puberty, and shortly thereafter you had your first spaghetti dinner fund-raise to go to summer youth camp. And then sometime between fifteen and twenty you’d go completely wild.

 In many Baptist churches, the “College and Career” Sunday school class was somewhat like our view of purgatory. It might be there, technically, but there was no one in it. After a few years of carnality, you’d settle down, get married, start having kids, and you’d be back in church, just in time to get those kids into Sunday school and start that cycle all over again. If you didn’t get divorced or indicted, you’d be chairman of deacons or head of the Woman’s Missionary Union by the time your own kids were going completely wild.

It was just kind of expected. You were going to get things out of your system before you settled down. You know, I never could find that in the Book of Acts either."

Ouch!  Moore concludes:

"The end result of this kind of “Christianity” is as bleak as the morning after Mardi Gras. Settling down isn’t the same as repentance. Giving up one appetite for another isn’t the same as grace."

Have you seen this?  Just like in the movie, Up, scientists managed to make a house float using balloons!

"A lightweight 16 x 16ft 'house' was built and then attached to 300 coloured weather balloons making the experimental aircraft more than the equivilant of a 10 story building. 

Filmed for the National Geographic Channel the ballon house was then taken to an altitude of over 10,000 feet and flew for approximately one hour. Carl Frederickson would be proud. The stunt - a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted - was part of a new National Geographic Channel series called 'How Hard Can It Be?' which will air later this year."