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12/19/2004: Gem o'the day:
goes to Sister Novena for this observation (a reaction to news stories reporting that almost half the U.S. population approves of the government curtailing the civil liberties of Muslim-Americans):
So now we know... half of the citizenry of the United States is willing to suspend the constitution for some Americans; thus, half of US citizens are fundamentally anti-American. And it ain't the half that usually gets that label thrown at it.Being myself a member of the half that usually gets that label thrown at it, I wholeheartedly concur.
Len on 12.19.04 @ 02:11 PM CST
Replies: 5 comments
on Monday, December 20th, 2004 at 11:23 AM CST, mike hollihan said
Fear not so much, Len. This is yet another case of reporters being statistically ignorant and researchers being over-reaching and muddy.
If you dig into the actual data (I think it was http://www.powerlineblog.com that did this), and not just the conclusions, you see that there were a series of questions asked. Each question proposed a specific action: registration, deportation, restrictng movement, etc. The *highest* approval rating any *specific* action got was only 29% -- not even a third of Americans. The researchers apparently went a step further and amalgamated the answers, divining some root group that favored all the specifics taken together. No data in the report is given to support how this was done, hence it can likely be safely discounted.
Reporters being statistically ignorant and in a hurry, they don't look at this stuff closely, but report the press release breathlessly. Taking Statistics in college (and paying attention!) was one of the smartest things I ever did for my adult life.
Again, fear not so much!
on Monday, December 20th, 2004 at 5:06 PM CST, Len Cleavelin said
I'm glad you phrased that as "fear not so much"; while your news is a bit of welcome relief, the fact that 29% of the population is in favor of such restrictions is still a bit disquieting. But not as disquieting as almost half.
Oh, and I'm fessing up that I edited your comment a little; you made a small typo in the URL to powerlineblog.com, which I took the liberty of fixing (doesn't affect your content at all). Hope you don't mind....
on Monday, December 20th, 2004 at 11:04 PM CST, mike hollihan said
You TOUCHED my writing?!?!?! You put your Commie, liberal, pinko, Mike Moore-loving, Democratic hands on MY words? How dare you!!
Pistols at dawn, sir.
;-)
on Tuesday, December 21st, 2004 at 10:45 AM CST, Len Cleavelin said
Channeling Harlan Ellison again, are we?
;-)
on Tuesday, December 21st, 2004 at 10:55 AM CST, mike hollihan said
ROTFLMAO!
I actually wrote a Star Trek fanfic story once positing that Odo (the shapeshifter cop on Deep Space 9) was insane, in the style of Ellison. On the surface, he was the Odo we know, but underneath he was a ravening madman convinced that Major Kira was his personal torturer. It was titled, "I Have No Tears and I Must Cry." It's not a bad approximation of Ellison's style. Go to the Trekiverse archives some time. http://www.trekiverse.net