Many Voters Unaware Of Party Positions

Polling purely on issues shows that a majority support liberal positions, even if unaware they are choosing the liberal viewpoint or siding with Democrats. This is one reason that Mitt Romney is now hiding the conservative beliefs he ran on, realizing that Republican beliefs are unpopular.  One reason that Republicans still manage to win elections is that far too many voters are unaware of what each party supports. A YouGov survey had some rather disappointing findings:

In a recent YouGov poll, I asked participants about their views on abortion policy and what position they thought Obama, Romney, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party took on abortion. Only about 60% of respondents knew that Obama and the Democrats supported more pro-choice policies than Romney and Republicans. Given that the parties have had clear and long-standing positions on this issue, it’s astonishing that 40% of Americans don’t know this basic fact (other surveys find even higher levels of ignorance).

It doesn’t help matters when the Republicans such as Mitt Romney hide their views and distort the views of others. This includes taking positions entirely different from those he previously ran on to appear more moderate, along with regularly distorting the facts while campaigning and in ads, such as he is now doing regarding the auto industry. Besides being misled on issues such as abortion, voters might easily be fooled into believing that Romney supported the auto bailout which he actually opposed, along with being fooled about the manner in which his policies would severely damage Medicare and Social Security

SciFi Weekend: Major Events on Fringe (Spoilers); Doctor Who at Children in Need and on Big Bang Theory; Iron Man 3

There were major events this week on Fringe  (MAJOR SPOILERS). It was revealed that one important aspect of Etta’s position in the resistance is her ability to not only block the Observers from reading her thoughts but the ability to teach others. This answered questions as to whether Etta had a unique ability inherited from her mother (although this could be why she was the first to succeed at this). One of the people she taught was Broyles, who we learned is working with the resistance. It is a good thing that Etta has passed her skills on to at least one other person as she did not survive the episode. At least she managed to wipe out several Observers with anti-matter.

Georgina Haig, who played Etta, was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We’re not sure where to start. But I guess walk us through how much you knew before you got the script and then your reaction after you read it.
HAIG: It’s funny — going into it, I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. When I got the call that I’d be doing the fifth season, I was excited, but I didn’t know the trajectory of the character or even how many episodes I was doing. It’s so secretive even for us! [Laughs] Then I got a call from Joel [Wyman] and he took me through the four episodes and what was going to happen and I was blown away. I was really moved and also I was — I thought it was really brave to take such an emotional leap for all the characters at that point in the story. I just thought it was a really brave thing to do with the story.

Especially because I think there’s a sector of fans who really grew to love Etta in such a short time. What was that reception like for you?
I think I’m lucky because I entered as part of the family straight away. And because Fringe is like a family — literally and metaphorically — the fans sort of embrace you if the world of Fringe has embraced you, if you know what I mean. There was definitely an immediate response as soon as it was worked out that I was the daughter, they were invested. And I don’t think they needed all that much time to invest in me because the relationships were so intense from the get-go.

Last week you had a great scene with Olivia in a car. I think that definitely threw me off the scent of this twist in the story because it seemed like they were really into progressing the mother-daughter relationship. What’s your take on that?
I know! We felt like that the whole time; they were setting it up to knock it down. As an actor I felt the same thing. I was so invested and loving being there knowing I was going to die. Being there in Vancouver and being part of this show was so reflective of what my character had to go through — you left all these great people behind. But I’m just amazed. So much has to happen on Fringe in terms of the plot and the saving the world stuff and the other characters, they’re able to make so much of these moments. That moment in the car happened so quickly and carried so much weight in amongst all the action. But that’s what the show does really well — balancing out the action with these incredible poignant moments.

You had quite a few of those moments in this episode, too, with the bullet necklace. With that exchange, do you think, as a whole, Olivia and Etta had reached a point of resolution in terms of their relationship? I’m curious to get your perspective on where their relationship ended

I think it’s really sad because, of course, a million things weren’t resolved. They got to that point where it had moved from uncomfortable to slightly more comfortable in this dynamic of being reunited. But I think she could see the strain between her parents and there was still so much she couldn’t say and was still learning so much about herself. And her own world — her perspective of right and wrong [versus] Olivia’s. In episode two we explored that quite a lot. There was so much left unsaid. But in four, I think what is resolved is the love and strength between them. But if it was my choice I wouldn’t have died and played out the family drama. [Laughs] There was a lot to explore, but there’s [also] a lot for the writers to explore with me dying and the characters dealing with that. What happens next will, I’m sure, be very interesting — not that I have any idea what that is.

Which was my last question. What do you know?
I know a little bit, but even the little bit I know is kind of vague. They don’t give too much away because they probably know we will be asked. [Laughs] But it’s going to be awesome.

Well, there are a lot of returns on Fringe. Any chance of you being a part of it in some way? Any hopes of a return?
It’s so funny because I was all emotional, and everybody was just like, ‘Ugh, whatever, Georgina, you’ll just be back. It’s Fringe. Everybody dies about four times.” And I was like, “Yeah, but I’ve been obliterated into millions of pieces!” [Laughs] It wasn’t just a death, it was a mega-death. It was a death with a full stop. So I don’t know. Anything is possible.

Anything is possible, especially on Fringe. We have already seen two parallel worlds and alternative time lines. Presumably the series will end with the defeat of the Observers. Will this be limited to the world of fifteen years from now, or will victory mean changing the timeline so that Earth was never conquered by the Observers? Somehow a plot by the Observers to go back in time to conquer their ancestors and change the world to make inhabitable to their human ancestors does seem a lot like the classic science fiction plot of going back in time and killing your grandfather. If the timeline is changed, perhaps we will return to that day in the park without any Observers arriving to take Etta, and perhaps see a future where Olivia, Peter, and Etta are a happy family.

The question of whether Etta returns was also asked in an interview from Huffington Post:

Is Etta really, truly dead, though — no time travel, no sneaky switcheroos?
Oh, man, I know. I was having a great time in Vancouver, you know? I would stay! I had my last day and I was really upset, obviously … just like, “Oh God. That was final. I could learn to ski if I stayed!” Everyone’s like, “Oh, Georgina, it’s ‘Fringe,’ you never know what could happen.” They were so nonplussed. They’re just like, “Whatever, it’s Fringe.” Whereas I was like, “No. I’ve been obliterated into a million pieces. I haven’t just died, I was like self-combobulated or whatever it was. It’s done.” And then they’re like, “But it’s ‘Fringe.’” So who knows? I feel like these guys can get around any corner but I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen.

Unfortunately Huffington Post ran this interview right after the show ended with the headline: ‘Fringe’ Season 5: Georgina Haig On Etta’s Shocking Death And Where The Team Goes From Here. Do they understand that many of us record Friday night shows and watch later in the weekend? There was a spoiler warning beneath this headline, but by this time it was too late. Spoilers of this nature should never be included in headlines with many people recording shows to watch at a later time. Normally I go through my RSS reader and save stories about genre shows I have not seen yet. Anyone using a RSS reader, or looking at headlines directly on the site, would have been tipped off about Etta’s death.

After finishing his work on Fringe, show runner Joel Wyman will be working on a new show with J. J Abrams, a futuristic cop series which deals humanity versus technology.

Doctor Who was mentioned once again on Big Bang Theory (video above). Previous references to Doctor Who on Big Bang Theory have been collected here.

Another Spoiler: Later in the episode Leonard and Penny had sex in the TARDIS at Stewart’s Halloween Party. While Doctor Who is technically a children’s show and presumably will not show sex on the TARDIS, Topless Robot found this porn parody trailer, Doctor Screw:

I think I prefer the clean but more amusing Inspector Spacetime parody from Community.

The BBC will once again include Doctor Who in their annual Children in Need special:

Doctor Who, featuring Matt Smith, will also bring viewers an extra special ‘prequel’ to its Christmas special, with a bespoke storyline made for Children in Need, and an exclusive preview trailer of the Christmas special including the first glimpse of the Doctor with his new companion. There will also be an exclusive preview of the Call The Midwife Christmas special.

The full Iron Man 3 trailer came out this week, showing why superheroes need to have a secret identity. Discussion of the scenes can be found here and here.