Cain’s two scandals

It’s almost old news now, but Herman Cain, who’s sitting in top-tier territory atop the Republican field, has been hit by a piece at Politico that dropped last night reporting two allegations of sexual harassment while he led the National Restaurant Association.

Now, how not to respond to a scandal:

“Have you ever been accused, sir, in your life of harassment by a woman?”

“He breathed audibly, glared at the reporter and stayed silent for several seconds. After the question was repeated three times, he responded by asking the reporter, ‘Have you ever been accused of sexual harassment?’”

I…I have no idea.

NBC News has confirmed that one of the women received a cash settlement. Cain has since denied the allegations.

Anyways, the report coincided with another scandal that I bet Cain’s almost happy has received far less attention. Turns out his aides may have broken tax and campaign laws:

Herman Cain’s two top campaign aides ran a private Wisconsin-based corporation that helped the GOP presidential candidate get his fledgling campaign off the ground by originally footing the bill for tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for such items as iPads, chartered flights and travel to Iowa and Las Vegas – something that might breach federal tax and campaign law, according to sources and documents.

It’s not a good week for the Cain campaign.

* One thing that’s notable is how much more badly these allegations reflect on the National Restaurant Association. Sexual harassment is a significant problem in the food service industry, and for the association that represents the industry to have so badly fumbled these situations should not sit well with their membership.

Your latest in “science is bad-ass” – Dinosaur migrations

CC photo by Flickr user Akbar Simonse

It’s been awhile since I brought you some bad-ass science. So, here is some from the Guardian, about researching dinosaur migrations:

Fricke’s team attempted to reconstruct camarasaur migrations by measuring oxygen isotopes (variants of particular elements that have different numbers of neutrons in their nucleus) in their teeth. The work relied on the fact that ratios of two oxygen isotopes differ markedly in the waters of streams and lakes, depending on local environmental conditions, such as how high and arid the landscape was at the time.

The dinosaurs kept an unwitting record of these oxygen isotopes as they roamed the land, because the oxygen in the water they drank became incorporated into successive layers of enamel as their teeth developed.

Most of the teeth, from remains collected at Thermopolis in Wyoming andDinosaur National Monument in Utah, were worn and retained only a month or two of enamel growth, but others were in far better condition with up to four or five months of enamel still intact.

The scientists analysed oxygen isotopes in the dinosaurs’ teeth and compared them with ancient soil samples from their lowland habitats and bordering uplands. From this, they pieced together the dinosaurs’ movements over several months of their lives, concluding that the beasts made seasonal migrations to the uplands. Studies of one tooth suggest the dinosaur left its lowland habitat to find food and water in the highlands and returned home within five to six months.

Friday Funny: Beavis and Butt-Head take on MGMT

This post is notice that Beavis and Butt-Head are back. You’ve been notified.

Wish: Granted

When I see a guy like Mark Block, Herman Cain’s mustachioed campaign manager who makes a—strange—appearance in Cain’s newest ad sensation, there’s one thing I think: Dear God, I hope this guy has a checkered past.

Turns out: Awesome, this guy has a checkered past!

AP:

Block has been accused of voter suppression and was banned from running Wisconsin political campaigns for three years to settle accusations he coordinated a judge’s re-election campaign with a special interest group.

Records show Block has faced foreclosure on his home, a tax warrant by the Internal Revenue Service and a lawsuit for an unpaid bill. He also acknowledges he was arrested twice for drunken driving.

Oh, man. If only they’d call him a maverick, that would be awesome.

Those who know Block say he’s long been a maverick who isn’t afraid to reset boundaries.

YES.

From the Herman Cain videos Archive: Yellow Flowers

Here’s a Herman Cain video from back when nobody thought he had a chance (he still doesn’t). Like the more recent one, it’s all kinds of strange.

“Why’s it always got to be about color? What are you guys, liberals?”

On this day in 1787, the Federalist Papers make their appearance

Today in 1787, the Federalist Papers made their appearance into the American public sphere. Printed in three New York newspapers, the essays (which were written and printed in an extremely rapid pace—often three essays per week) would help defend the idea that the United States needed a new Constitution, a Constitution that would grant far more power to the federal government than the governing Articles of Confederation.

To celebrate the day, here is one of my favorite passages from the series, from Federalist Paper 1, written by Alexander Hamilton, but signed Publius (an inspiration for my own nom de plume). I broke out some paragraphs merely for readability:

An enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be stigmatized as the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty. An over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good.

It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be infected with a spirit of narrow and illiberal distrust. On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government.

History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.

Go ahead, read the whole thing (and more of them) over here.

2.5%

The economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.5% in the third quarter of 2011, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (a division of the Commerce Department).

That’s not bad. It’s better than expected. However, it’s not really good either. See, 2.5% w0uld be absolutely, spot-on perfect if the economy was doing well. If you had 4-5% unemployment and wages were rising, this is the number you would love to see. It’s a perfect coasting—no acceleration or deceleration.

Unfortunately, it’s perfect coasting, and we need to be going faster. According to this chart, at the 2.5% growth rate, you’re looking at about 2020 before we cover the output gap we’ve been stuck in since the recession.

But, it’s kind of good news. It means that the likelihood of a double-dip recession is smaller. It means we’re picking up a little steam. It means we’re, well, coasting, not falling. The last time growth was this high was in the thick of the Recovery Act spending, and that’s not really a factor anymore.

Here are some particulars:

This is the second quarter that nonresidential fixed investment has gone up by double-digits. Structures are down a tad, but equipment and software are way up. This I believe is the confluence of a number of factors, not the least important are companies adopting Windows 7 (I know personally of three large companies that made the switch over the late summer) and iPads, and abandoning Blackberries for more modern devices. Those are the biggest tech stories of the past year, and I think that’s starting to show.

Another good sign: Consumer spending is up 2.4%. Durable goods are up 4.1% (compared to a loss last quarter). That’s appliances, but, more importantly, cars. People are buying cars.

Those number would lead you to believe that the overall growth rate would be higher. Usually. However, a drop in inventories killed the total rate by 1.08%. Why? What happens when you fear that the economy is about to collapse? You stop making stuff. So, people bought out the store and the producers stopped making more. So, if the companies made enough stuff to compensate for what they sold, you’d be looking at something like 3.6% growth.

That’s good news.

Rick Perry promises to create fewer jobs than President Obama

Old Rick “The Hair” Perry has come out with a new ad in which he promises to create 2.5 million jobs in his first term. Are you impressed? That sure does sound like a lot. Except: Since President Obama took office, the economy has added more than that. Steve Benan:

If Perry believes voters should be impressed with his vow to create 2.5 million jobs, the Texas governor should probably be more impressed with President Obama’s jobs record.

Let’s consider the jobs data. Over the last year and a half, as the economic recovery has slowly progressed, the economy has added 2.56 million private-sector jobs. Over that same period — March 2010 through September 2011 — the overall economy has added 2.1 million jobs, and should reach the 2.5 million mark by early next year.

To be fair, nobody ever accused Perry of being good at math.

I’ll be damned: Tim Heidecker actually made a fake Herman Cain ad

Well, I guess since people probably thought he was the one who made the real Herman Cain ad, he decided to make a absolutely bizarre ad himself.

Absolutely bizarre.

Ride the Cain Train.

Guys, fine, here is that Herman Cain ad everybody’s talking about

It’s kind of pure genius. Or a Tim and Eric sketch. Probably both.

Damn all those Obama regulations messin’ up the ‘conomy

Oh, wait:

Obama’s White House has approved fewer regulations than his predecessor George W. Bush at this same point in their tenures, and the estimated costs of those rules haven’t reached the annual peak set in fiscal 1992 under Bush’s father, according to government data reviewed by Bloomberg News.

….

Obama’s White House approved 613 federal rules during the first 33 months of his term, 4.7 percent fewer than the 643 cleared by President George W. Bush’s administration in the same time frame, according to an Office of Management and Budget statistical database reviewed by Bloomberg.

Hump-Day Song of the Week: Fireman by Jawbreaker

Your V+V POWER RANKINGS: Third Edition

1. Willard “Mittens” Romney

While the other contenders sit around the table (or stand around the stage) grasping onto whatever attention they can (and, no, not all attention is good attention), only this guy looks and acts like he belongs there.

He’s been running for president for over four years now, and, compared to the rest of the field, it’s showing. He’s already unveiled an economic plan and, more recently, given a major foreign policy address (sure, it managed to avoid mentioning al-Qaeda, but its still a step beyond any of the other candidates).

I got the following email from one of the V+V family late last night:

“He’s going to do it, I think you were right on this one.  They like going with who they know.  No one else can hold on as a front runner, Pawlenty, Bachman, Perry…Cain?  Iowa is less than 80 days.”

Yup. Not to mention that if Sen. DeMint endorses him (as is rumored), this thing is over.

Over/Under: 23.9 (+)

Prediction: Over

I’m guessing his numbers start really going up soon.

Numbers 2-7 after the fold.

Continue reading »

News media loves Perry, hates Obama

Pew is out today with a new report on the tone of media coverage of all the current candidates. It’s interesting first because it adds data to my assertion that Rick Perry enjoyed a good amount of positive coverage, explaining his sudden rise in the polls early on in his race. Also worth mentioning:

One man running for president has suffered the most unrelentingly negative treatment of all, the study found: Barack Obama. Though covered largely as president rather than a candidate, negative assessments of Obama have outweighed positive by a ratio of almost 4-1. Those assessments of the president have also been substantially more negative than positive every one of the 23 weeks studied. And in no week during these five months was more than 10% of the coverage about the president positive in tone.

Friday Funny: Waiting for the Bus

Double-secret probabtion

Gov. Rick Perry, once a “front-runner” (we never said so) in the race for the Republican nomination for president, made a bizarre choice for a post-debate hang-out. While the rest of the candidates went over to the prestigious Leede Arena at Dartmoth, Perry chose a frat house. Andy Ross at The Daily Beast:

Maybe somebody should put his campaign on double-secret probation for the time being.

Hump-Day Song of the Week: Because They Made it That Way by Mr. Lif

Friday Funny: Dance Assassin

People really bad at knowing who’s running

I’m really not sure how to explain this. From Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism News Index Survey, they found that fewer people are aware of the fact that Mittens is running than they did at the same point in 2007.

That’s strange. The dude’s been running for president for four years.

Like, Bush’s (relatively, jeez) high number makes sense, because he was the frickin’ vice president. Dole’s is oddly high, but I guess he was the odds-on favorite early. I guess. Giuliani was America’s Mayor (TM), so I guess people may have known about that guy.

You’d say, “Well, maybe nobody’s paying attention this time around.” I’d generally agree. Except, well, the poll also found that interest in the campaign is about the same as it was in 2007.

Westboro, hateful, accidentally makes a funny

Posted without comment. Carry on.