Chump or citizen

Over the last year or so various corporate CEOs have been trying to justify their tax loopholes. But, surprisingly -- at least to them -- the public responds with some pretty rough verbal treatment. Daniel Gross of Newsweek sums it up this way.

In the corporate world, paying taxes may make you a chump, but in the public world, it makes you a citizen. And it is citizenship—not title or money—that gives you the right to be heard.

The science journal Environmental Research Letters published a study of thousands of peer-reviewed papers on climate change. When scientists took a position 97% of them said climate change has human causes. Christopher Dickey of Newsweek says to watch out for news articles that don't give that number.

This is important because press reports that cite doubters representing “the other side of the question,” without saying how minuscule the proportion, have convinced the public there’s an even split.

Scientists disagree on whether global warming contributes frequency of killer tornados. But there is no dissent that global warming has a human cause.



Gallup released a poll on how people view the moral acceptability of gay or lesbian relations. As in the last dozen years responses are broken down by ages -- 18-34, 35-54, and 55 and older. This is the first time the oldest bunch crossed 50% of those saying gay relations are morally acceptable. Alas, it shows the middle bunch dropping slightly in acceptance since 2010. No way to know whether this is within the margin of error. Commenters wished the older group was further broken down as 55-69 and 70 and above. Either way it shows that it is possible for the older ones to change their minds, such as when a grandson announces he is gay.