In two words, sample size. Well, see y’all tomorrow… Okay, so there’s a bit more to it. The use of what I call micropolls is now the norm. Current US population is a bit over 327,000,000 – three hundred and twenty-seven million human beings. In order to find out what they are thinking about a given topic, modern pollsters survey 1004 people. It can vary a bit but most will be just slightly over 1000. If you try that with … Continue reading “What’s Wrong With Polls”

Marbury v Madison. Every school child knows this decision. They have no clue what case law is or why it matters – unless it’s some weird version they got from a half read Wiki article – but they know Marbury v. Madison. Well, they know the name and the effect – don’t expect that they know what the case was about. Which is true for us older folks as well. If you didn’t study it in college, you were never … Continue reading “The Marbury Mistake”

In a month I will be asking for you to buy from me – but I wanted to write this now while I don’t even have a store. Speech takes so many forms – and the humble tee shirt is one of them. We often think of political speech as being confrontational or formal, as in writing a congressman. But political speech is no different from any other speech – the whole point is to get the idea across. To … Continue reading “Buy a Tee Shirt”

My father was born at the turn of the last century. He graduated eighth grade – and yes, he actually graduated. Originally, ‘high school’ was advanced education for those planning to go on to college. Most people didn’t go to high school after they graduated from what we now call middle school. He was 62 when I was born. At that time he worked for one of the state’s largest farmers – who held property around the state. If something … Continue reading “Fact Checking, DIY”

All investigations begin this way. You have an idea of the what or you wouldn’t be investigating. Who, where and when – those you start with in varying degrees. But none of them are as critical to figuring out what is going on as why. In many cases, we can simply ‘follow the money’ – or power. Someone is getting something out of whatever is going on – or it wouldn’t be going on. Now, there are indeed a lot … Continue reading “The First Question is Always Why”

The People? The Government? The Media? The Corporations? Populace? Authority? Information? Business? The short answer is all of the above. But the complex dance all centers around the people. You don’t bother to lie to those who have no power. You don’t bother to try and regulate the powerless. You don’t bother to try to buy off non-power. Where’s the real power? That kind of depends on exactly what context you are coming from – and the circumstances of the … Continue reading “Who Governs?”

The short answer is everything – but that’s not really true. It sure seems that way and Congress’ approval ratings are managing new lows from their normal below the toilet bowl levels. Basically, everyone knows that Congress is messed up – but we usually just blame the other guy’s congressman and leave it at that. In reality, Congress has a number of systemic issues. And before we clear the congressmen themselves of the blame, we should note that most of … Continue reading “What’s Wrong With Congress?”

It’s easy to complain – heck, it’s almost a national sport because we’re all so good at it! But seriously, it’s so much easier to complain than it is to do something about the problem. Especially when that problem is political. We’re taught not to talk about politics or religion – as if avoiding the subjects somehow makes them less contentious. If anything, it makes matters worse because inevitably the subjects come up and we are so unused to discussing … Continue reading “Stupid Darkness…”