Democracy Corps, the research organization formed by Democratic consultants James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, released a report on Friday it called “The Very Separate World of Conservative Republicans.” This research was based on focus groups of “white, ’strong’ or ‘weak’ Republicans who ideologically self-identify as conservative or moderate and who voted for John McCain AND the Republican congressional candidate in 2008.”

You can, of course, choose to take any research from an organization founded by two highly partisan political operatives such as Carville and Greenberg with a grain of salt. But what may be more interesting than the report itself is the online embrace of its conclusions by at least some in the same political demographic.

Here’s a little something to brighten your Monday. The employed will enjoy a “there but for the Grace of God” moment, and the jobless will get a little boost because they’re doing better, at least, than a Web cartoon. So watch this laid-off dude stare at the wall, eat fudge dried cookies and Pringles, and [...]

Our second Great Recession photo gallery. Click on each photo to see it full-size. Last week’s photo gallery here.

In the process of researching yesterday’s post on the lack of Social Security cost of living increasing, we found Social Security News, maintained by a law firm that deals with Social Security Disability. Anyone interested in the minutiae of the giant bureaucracy that is the Social Security system will find oodles of information here, such [...]

For senior citizens, it’s going to be an UnCOLA year. From CNNMoney: There will be no cost-of-living increase (COLA) for 57 million Social Security beneficiaries next year because consumer prices have fallen, the Social Security Administration announced on Thursday. It marks the first time that Social Security benefits have not been increased year over year [...]

Seen the New York Times’s Health Care Conversations page? They’ve taken all of their reader comments on health care and categorized them into a rectangular grid made up of 20 areas like The Public Option, Abortion, Illegal Immigrants, and Health Care Abroad. The amount of space each section takes up on the grid is commensurate [...]

After reading countless articles and opinion pieces on the health care debate, and watching dozens of talking heads slug it out over individual mandates, insurance co-ops, and the public option, we remained thoroughly confused. So we decided the only thing left to do was to turn to the explanatory device of the napkin. This was [...]

Much is being made of Sen. Olympia Snowe’s lone Republican vote in favor of the Senate Finance Committee health care bill. From the New York Times: “Is this bill all that I would want?” Ms. Snowe said. “Far from it. Is it all that it can be? No. But when history calls, history calls. And [...]

There’s a decent chance that some ill-fated PowerPoint presentations got us into this mess in the first place. Still, the last post whetted our appetite for that most maligned of media formats: the slide show. These recession-appropriate visual productions were found on SlideShare: Traditional resumes – just don’t cut it any more, according to this [...]

Michael Moore’s latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, is perhaps his most radical. Aside from recounting Big Business’ recent Greatest Hits in terms of corruption and mercenary behavior, it also classifies our entire economic system as “evil,” antithetical to democracy, and in need of not just an overhaul, but eradication.

So how have audiences responded? Well, on Rotten Tomatoes, a movie review site, users have given it a score of 68% out of 100%, while on Yahoo! Movies, the film recieves an average grade of B.

Here are some audience comments that have been voted “most helpful” by the Yahoo! Movies community.