Nanny State Gone Wild: Kids Better Off On The Streets

Jonathan Hoenig recently said the following on Fox News: “Government, which of course has a monopoly over the public schools, really has become the parent. If the reason for keeping this failed school system is day care, I mean honestly Tracy, believe me, it's cheaper for you to hire a baby sitter for your kids, than to fund this union dominated school system.” When his fellow right wing nuts challenged him, he went on: “They're not learning in the public schools. You want to keep them there more... an extra day? They'd do better on the streets!”

(Click here to see the clip)

Fact checking:

• A baby sitter at $10/hour would cost parents $1400 per month per child, about the same as an expensive San Francisco day care.
• A baby sitter with 30 kids at $10/hour/kid would earn $42,000 per month, which is close to what many teachers earn in an entire year.
• Drawn out over the course of a 9-month school year, this would yield a salary of $378,000, which might actually be a fair salary, considering how difficult and important the job is.
• If Unions really dominated the school system, teachers might actually earn 6-figures, instead of having to take summer jobs and continuing to live with roommates into their 30s and 40s.

Fox News Makes You Dumber

You are probably already dumb, or lazy, if you enjoy watching Fox News or consider it an accurate source of information. Or maybe you just enjoy hearing angry men raving inanely about matters they know little about. Therefore, it should be no surprise to hear that Fox executives deliberately order their staff to put out deceptive news. (See FOXLEAKS: Fox boss ordered staff to cast doubt on climate science)

Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon sent an email questioning the "veracity of climate change data" and ordered the network's journalists to "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question." Sammon also send an email to Fox journalists at the peak of the health care reform debate, ordering them to avoid using the term "public option" and instead use variations of "government option." That email echoed advice from a prominent Republican pollster on how to help turn public opinion against health care reform.

Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid

The Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey indicating that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. Here are just a few of Fox viewers’ erroneous beliefs:

• 91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
• 72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
• 72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
• 60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
• 49 percent believe income taxes have gone up under Obama
• 63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
• 56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
• 38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
• 63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S.