“My estimate is that about 80,000 people were at the rally. Ryan Shuler, an Airphotoslive image analyst, used the same images and a different grid-density method to produce an estimate of 87,000. Considering the error margins around our separately-calculated estimates, they are statistically identical. CBS went with the [...]]]> Experienced crowd counter weighs in on Beck rally

“My estimate is that about 80,000 people were at the rally. Ryan Shuler, an Airphotoslive image analyst, used the same images and a different grid-density method to produce an estimate of 87,000. Considering the error margins around our separately-calculated estimates, they are statistically identical. CBS went with the 87,000 figure, which I certainly can accept.”

“I started doing crowd estimates back in my Miami Herald days, for local events such as a visit by Pope John Paul II or the annual Calle Ocho street festival. After the 2008 presidential election, I wrote a piece about crowd counting for MSNBC.com, and that led to news media requests for an estimate of the crowd for President Obama’s inauguration. I used a satellite image taken over the National Mall on January 20, 2009, to estimate the crowd there at about 800,000.

“Crowd counting, particularly of political events, always is controversial. The organizers of the event inevitably hype their crowd estimate — often grossly — to demonstrate the popularity of their cause, and opponents inevitably underestimate to fit their own agenda. Because of the wild pre-inauguration predictions of how many would attend in person — up to 5 million! — my reality-based estimate was ignored by many left-wing commentators and embraced by those on the right.”

“I am amused to see that those who embraced my Obama inauguration estimate as soberly realistic are now attacking the Beck rally estimate, produced using exactly the same methods, as deliberately biased.”

That’s about how many people show up for an FSU football game at Doak Campbell Stadium. (Sorry, the Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium.)

Perhaps the level of willful ignorance is equal among the left and the right and I just don’t read lefties with the same critical eye. Regardless, one [...]]]> Searching for the word “liberals” on Openbook I discovered that the link du jour for those on the right is Charles Krauthammer’s “The Last Refuge of the Liberal.”

Perhaps the level of willful ignorance is equal among the left and the right and I just don’t read lefties with the same critical eye. Regardless, one of the things that continually astonishes me about many conservatives in the US is their disdain for facts, evidence, truth, and accuracy.

Krauthammer is not happy with the charges of bigotry being leveled against those on the right. When liberals start losing an argument, they resort to name-calling. Specifically, they start calling their opponents bigots. The foundation of Krauthammer’s argument rests on the following assertion:

“Note what connects these issues. In every one, liberals have lost the argument in the court of public opinion. Majorities — often lopsided majorities — oppose President Obama’s social-democratic agenda (e.g., the stimulus, Obamacare), support the Arizona law, oppose gay marriage, and reject a Ground Zero mosque.”

Since he doesn’t actually link to any evidence of these majorities it’s up to me to track them down. No problem, I’m a blogger! (Which evidently requires a greater dedication to accuracy than being a columnist or editor for the National Review.)

Instead of cherry-picking polls, I’m heading straight to the Gallup poll page. I’m also doing this blind. I don’t know what the Gallup results are. Maybe Krauthammer is correct, and by the end of this post I’ll be eating some well-deserved crow. Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.

The most recent Gallup poll on American attitudes to legalizing same-sex relationships puts 58% of the nation in favor. Wha-? Given that 32% were willing to accept gay marriage in 1986 and we now have an all-time high of 58% it sounds to me like liberals are winning that argument.

“There is a gradual cultural shift under way in Americans’ views toward gay individuals and gay rights. While public attitudes haven’t moved consistently in gays’ and lesbians’ favor every year, the general trend is clearly in that direction. This year, the shift is apparent in a record-high level of the public seeing gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable. Meanwhile, support for legalizing gay marriage, and for the legality of gay and lesbian relations more generally, is near record highs.”

American confidence in the US health care system is up to 40% after being down in the 30s at the end of the last Bush term. The key difference between the end of the last Bush term and now? The Affordable Health Care Act. Their most recent poll specifically about the Health Care Act shows 49% saying it is a good thing and 46% showing it is a bad thing. Perhaps liberals haven’t won this argument, but it’s hardly a lopsided majority against the health care bill.

The most recent poll on the federal government using funds to stimulate the economy (the Stimulus) show 60% approve additional government spending to create jobs and stimulate the economy. Sounds like another liberal victory, precisely the opposite of Krauthammer’s claim.

The last time Gallup asked specifically about the Arizona immigration law a whopping 39% said they supported it! To be fair, that was more than opposed it. 30% opposed and 31% claimed no opinion.

More recently Gallup found that 50% of the people polled opposed the federal government’s lawsuit against the Arizona law. I may be unclear on the concept of “majority,” but I don’t think 50% counts. However, I’m perfectly willing to give this one to Krauthammer. I think Republicans ARE currently winning the argument on how to best handle illegal immigration.

There is no Gallup Poll on the “Ground Zero Mosque.” However, nearly twice as many people opposed Obama’s conditional support of the Cordoba House as supported his comments. But, since there’s no such thing as a “Ground Zero Mosque” (it’s not at ground zero and it’s not a mosque) I’m not sure how to measure this one.

What we’ve really learned is that the lopsided majority of Krauthammer’s assertions are complete fabrications, and there’s a substantial number of people who simply don’t care about facts or accuracy. Krauthammer, the National Review, and those who approvingly passed along this link are guilty of willful ignorance. Ignorance is part of the human condition. But, ignorance where knowledge is available is irresponsible. Want to restore honor? Do your research and stick to the facts. Dispel ignorance instead of embracing it.

***

UPDATE: I’m not the only one thinking along these lines.

Ignorant America by Tunku Varadarajan

“This is not dumbness, or denseness, or illiteracy, but belligerent unenlightenment.”

Building a Nation of Know-Nothings by Timothy Egan

“So what if one-in-five believe the sun revolves around the earth, or aren’t sure from which country the United States gained its independence?

“But false belief in weapons of mass-destruction led the United States to a trillion-dollar war. And trust in rising home value as a truism as reliable as a sunrise was a major contributor to the catastrophic collapse of the economy.”

American Idiots: New Left Media on the real story of the ‘Restoring Honor’ rally by Richard Metzger.

“The story that’s not being examined—but should be—is is how fucking DUMB about a quarter of this country is. It’s not Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin or Ted Nugent or any of the rest of them, who are the story, they’re merely symptoms of the greater problem: 20-25% of the American population are abject idiots. That’s the story I want to see the media tackle.”

And Rick Shenkman published a whole book about American ignorance in 2008: Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter.

Unfortunately, all of these works are short on solutions. How do we create an effective system of civic education in the US?

I recommend voting for Ridiculously inconsistent trickle of consciousness as best blog, and The Refinery as best new restaurant.

“The planned “ultra-mosque” will be a staggering 5,600ft tall – more than five times higher than the tallest building on Earth – and will be capped with an immense dome of highly-polished solid gold, carefully positioned to bounce sunlight directly [...]]]> A couple of columns from Charlie Brooker worth reading.

‘Ground Zero mosque’? The reality is less provocative

“The planned “ultra-mosque” will be a staggering 5,600ft tall – more than five times higher than the tallest building on Earth – and will be capped with an immense dome of highly-polished solid gold, carefully positioned to bounce sunlight directly toward the pavement, where it will blind pedestrians and fry small dogs. The main structure will be delimited by 600 minarets, each shaped like an upraised middle finger, and housing a powerful amplifier: when synchronised, their combined sonic might will be capable of relaying the muezzin’s call to prayer at such deafening volume, it will be clearly audible in the Afghan mountains, where thousands of terrorists are poised to celebrate by running around with scarves over their faces, firing AK-47s into the sky and yelling whatever the foreign word for “victory” is.”

Buzzwords for blowhards

“Conservatives, generally, are far more adept at politically reframing concepts by giving them snappy-but-misleading nicknames than liberals. “Loony left”. “Boom-and-bust”. “Flip-flop”. “Ground Zero mosque”. All simplifications or outright lies – but they worked. Like advertisers, the right seems breezily unconcerned about the truth of the slogan, provided it rings up a sale. They slap the words “fun-size” on the packaging and wait for the public to buy it.”

If you’re not familiar with Charlie Brooker be sure to check out this brief clip on How to report the news.

“Why did Beck choose to rally at the feet of a murdering, tyrannical President and use the word “honor”? I found it interesting that Glenn Beck had his “Restoring Honor” [...]]]> I’m still browsing Openbook, this time searching the word “honor.” I’m not sure why I find this so compelling, but I can’t seem to stop reading.

“Why did Beck choose to rally at the feet of a murdering, tyrannical President and use the word “honor”? I found it interesting that Glenn Beck had his “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial, and had pictures of Lincoln plastered on all the rally material. I guess Glenn forgot that Lincoln ordered the deaths of about 250,000 southern men and women during the War to Prevent Southern Independence.”

Which reminds me — why don’t those who oppose the Cordoba house also oppose the flying of the Confederate flag? Isn’t it a little insensitive to celebrate a gang of terrorists who tried with all their might to annihilate the United States of America?

I received the following email on Wednesday:

We have compiled a list of Tampa blogs which we think are fantastic resources for those who have an interest in the popular city. We have commended your website to our visitors and you can see your website listed at the following link:

http://www.tripbase.com/d/tampa/

On the right hand side of [...]]]> Thanks, Tripbase!

I received the following email on Wednesday:

We have compiled a list of Tampa blogs which we think are fantastic resources for those who have an interest in the popular city. We have commended your website to our visitors and you can see your website listed at the following link:

http://www.tripbase.com/d/tampa/

On the right hand side of the page you will see a section where you can copy the HTML code for an award badge that you can then display with pride on your website.

Millions of visitors a year use Tripbase for travel tips and inspirational vacation ideas. Tripbase eliminates the time-consuming and frustrating online search process by providing travelers with personalized travel recommendations for their next trip – where ever it may be.

Kind regards,

My cynical nature got the better of me and I ignored it. Today I noticed that Michael Hussey at Pushing Rope graciously acknowledged Tripbase’s recognition. I asked Michael if he thought I was being too cynical and he responded – “Probably.”

Fair enough. It’s always nice to be recognized. So, Thanks Tripbase.

Here’s what they had to say about Re/Creating Tampa:

“Dave’s long-standing Tampa blog is a glorious display of absolutely everything related to the city, as well as other novel bits and pieces from across the ‘net.”

Other Tampa sites recognized by Tripbase are:

Sticks of Fire

My Tampa Life

Brand Tampa

If I Could Escape

Our Radiant Tampa

Tampa Sports History

The Daily Loaf

Will Report for Food

Pushing Rope

OK, that’s pretty hilarious and scary, but as I searched around I found a few status updates I thought [...]]]> I’ve been wasting (too much) time the last couple of hours searching Openbook, a search engine just for Facebook pages with their privacy settings set to the most transparent option. Wonkette recommended using the search term “mosk.”

OK, that’s pretty hilarious and scary, but as I searched around I found a few status updates I thought made fair or reasonable points.

“Mark Phillips — At the Restore America Rally today in Washington DC 500,000 people turned out. There was absolutely nothing racist or disrespectful during this entire gathering.They all spoke of love, honor, faith and prayer. They prayed for service people and our nation. Very well run event and a moment America can be proud of.”

Fair enough. Beck’s whole Restore Honor event is so permeated with symbolism for both the right and left of the political media it’s easy to forget it’s a peaceful event of hundreds of thousands 80,000+ of people exercising their rights of assembly. Good for them! [Update: I was willing to accept Beck's crowd numbers which was a mistake. The link is to a professional crowd counter who analyzed images of the event.]

“Alan Skorski My question to the media and other liberals: If just one protester at a Tea Party event carries a sign of questionable taste, you denounce the movement as a whole, but when 19 Muslims kill 3000 Americans (at Ground Zero) you dismiss them as a “few bad apples?”"

Excellent point. There’s wayyy too much guilt-by-association going on among the liberal bloggers, pundits, and the MSM. Just because one tea-partier holds up a misspelled sign doesn’t mean they’re all illiterate. Just because some racists are attracted to the event doesn’t mean that they are all bigots. Etc.

We would all be better served if we stopped using shorthand (and I’m as guilty of this as anyone) and started being specific. Just as all liberals don’t agree perfectly on every issue, neither do conservatives, Republicans, Christians, or Muslims.

However, if you are not familiar, let me recommend adding it to your regular [...]]]> I read Pushing Rope regularly, but don’t link to it so much because it deals mostly with national politics and I try to keep those posts to a minimum. I also assume folks who read this blog are also familiar with PR.

However, if you are not familiar, let me recommend adding it to your regular blog reading.

Michael Hussey puts up the majority of the posts, but is occasionally joined by LitBrit, another west central Florida blogger you should probably be reading.

Hussey isn’t just about national politics, he also does his share of local and state coverage. Here are some posts you may find interesting.

“GOP strategist Frank Luntz raves about the ad campaign Alex Sink is running.”

SB 360 declared unconstitutional.

“SB 360 allowed developers to be exempt from building or paying for construction of new roads.”

Economic Study on Tampa Economy.

“The conservative Tampa Bay Partnership released a study a found the Tampa area ranked last in economic recovery amongst six cities.”

One attendee said he wants “government to stay out of people’s lives.”

Excellent! [...]]]> I don’t think those attending the Beck/Palin rally are clear on the concept of honor. One aspect of honor is to have principles; to have an integrity of thought; to maintain an ethical philosophy that doesn’t shift with changing opinion or political expediency.

One attendee said he wants “government to stay out of people’s lives.”

Excellent! Then he should probably be voting for Democratic candidates instead of supporting political conservatives.

Here are some ways to keep government out of people’s lives.

1) Repeal the REAL ID Act. The REAL ID Act creates a official ID for every American citizen. It was authored by Republican James Sensenbrenner, and attached as a rider to a bill funding the military. No one wants to vote against money for the soldiers, so it passed unanimously. The implementation of the Act has been delayed by Janet Napolitano, who opposes it, with the support of President Obama, who opposes it. Creating a permanent database of every single American and mandating that all citizens get an official ID, is a tremendous intrusion into the lives of Americans. And yet, it is supported by conservative politicians.

2) Allow same sex marriage. Why is the government intruding into people’s lives when it comes to marriage? Keep the government out of it and allow same sex couples the same rights as everyone else.

3) Decriminalize marijuana. Keep the government out of it. I should have the freedom to put anything into my body I want.

4) Decriminalize prostitution.

5) In fact, let’s decriminalize all victimless crimes. There should be no government intrusion when it comes to public nudity, recreational drug use, prostitution, or the sell or purchase of sex toys.

6) Keep the government out of abortion. Some religions may say that life starts at conception, but science doesn’t. And history tells us that abortion has been practiced through all times and in all cultures.

7) End the war. As conservative critics like Russell Kirk have noted, war always increases the size of the government. Our most recent war ushered in the Department of Homeland Security. Stop the war and stop the fear-mongering that persuades the American public that the DHS is necessary. Let’s fight for ending the Transportation Security Administration while we’re at it. Airlines are not part of the US government and should be providing their own security.

8.) Support euthanasia. It is not the government’s business whether I take my own life. That is a decision that should be between me, my family, and my God. Keep the government out of it.

9) Support first amendment rights for freedom of religion. Downtown New York is not hallowed ground. Nor is anywhere else where Mosque-building is being protested. Keep the government out of church, temple, and mosque building.

10) Stop supporting the transfer of public funds to private coffers. One of the most important government intrusions that needs to be stopped is the government directing tax dollars to private companies instead of to the public sector. Stop spending tax-payer dollars supporting Archer Daniels Midland, for example, and use that money to help small, independent farmers. Stop using Microsoft products, and start using open source software. Stop outsourcing defense spending to benefit the war profiteers.

Tea-partiers, and their leaders Beck and Palin, are not honorable. They are guided by their hatred of liberals and rely on ethics that change with the situation. They don’t want to see a reduction in government intrusion into the lives of citizens. They want to see less government intrusion into corporate behavior. They don’t care about REAL ID, but want BP to be able to pollute as much as they want. They’re happy to have the government in your bedroom, passing laws against sodomy, but think there should be no laws against corporations polluting public lands.

If you really want government out of your life you support liberal candidates.

“Anyway, you can imagine my surprise and joy when I discovered that Temple Terrace does actually have a few hills. My first concern was whether it had enough of a hill to constitute four minutes, as mandated by [...]]]> Zoe’s running a freaking marathon! And keeping track of her training at I’m running a freaking marathon!

“Anyway, you can imagine my surprise and joy when I discovered that Temple Terrace does actually have a few hills. My first concern was whether it had enough of a hill to constitute four minutes, as mandated by my training plan for today. I decided to tackle ‘the hill’ to see how long it took, and wouldn’t you know it? Two minutes up. So I ran it, circled around a lovely treed neighborhood, then ran it again. Problem solved!”

***

The SOG City Oracle points us to Natalie Merchant’s review of Ybor City’s venerable The Columbia restaurant.

“[The Columbia] gave me the worst case of food poisoning of my life. That’s not Spanish food. The house salad looked like something in my compost bucket.”

Ouch.

***

Sunshine Skyway to Hell has a busy weekend planned.

Battle of the Bay Fixed Gear Bike Race on Saturday
The People’s Pool Party @ Czar on Saturday
Summer Jam 6, also on Saturday
The PBR Pub Bike Ride with our favorite people from Give & Take on Sunday

***

Tampania posts all to infrequently, but is a terrific blog “about Tampa’s built history and development.”

***

Gonzmart responds to Merchant’s complaints.

“I was discouraged that she would slander us without proof (of what caused her illness),” Gonzmart said. “Our restaurants are up in sales. That isn’t happening everywhere right now. So we must be doing something right.”