Who's Counting?
Word leaked out today that Obama has chosen Robert Groves to be the new census director, setting off the next political skirmish over how the 2010 census should be conducted. Groves is currently a professor of statistics at the University of Michigan, and Mark Blumenthal describes him as "arguably the leading authority on the subject of non-response in surveys." (Blumenthal's take on the selection, along with an interview he conducted with Groves on the subject of non-response, is here.)
This is a big deal, a very big deal. As you'll recall, at the heart of the census dispute is the question of whether the government uses a strict headcount to arrive at population totals or if it supplements those numbers with sampling to account for those individuals who fall between the cracks. (The 1990 census missed some 8 million people--mostly immigrants and urban minorities--while at the same time double-counting about 4 million white Americans.)
It would be hard to find someone more predisposed to filling in the gaps--or more knowledgable about the techniques for doing so--than Groves. That's one reason House Republicans wasted no time bemoaning his selection, calling the move "incredibly troubling" and charging that it "contradicts the Administration's assurances that the census process would not be used to advance an ulterior political agenda."
-
1
"contradicts the Administration's assurances that the census process would not be used to advance an ulterior political agenda."
.
Now tell that to the august mathmaticians who developed tried and true statistical modeling to handle such situations!
.
They must have been plotting the Democratic takover 200 years ago!
.
You know what I think Obama should do?
.
Run 'em over. To hell with bipartisanship! -
2
Heh. The GOP have cried wolf on so many things at this point that precious few will be drawn into this latest outrage. Too bad for them.
-
3
Maybe we should let them be outraged, and even encourage it!
.
Those numbskull Republicans will start dying off in droves from heart attacks.
.
Only intelligent Republicans will be left... -
4
Evidently the Republicans think it's "an ulterior political agenda" to have accurate information about who lives in this country. Hell, it could even lead to equal representation, and Lord knows we can't stand for that!
-
5
My timbers have officially been shivered. I hope the democrats count dead people and aliens too. I want ACORN to do the census. The madder they get, the happier I get. I want to see arms waving, spittle flying and mouths foaming. Thanks Amy.
-
6
Come on this do nothing crowd is going to object to anyone wit the capability to do something anything. First principles: Revere stupidity, reject reality, respond vitriolically -- what else is there to know?
-
7
I have only two words for Republicans:
.
Thump-thump Thump-thump -
8
Have I told you people lately that you're family?
-
9
In the grand cafeteria of ideas in the civilized world, I guess the republicans have decided to pass on math as well as science and logic.
-
10
They're so mad they're going to walk right off the edge of the earth.
-
11
They can't, sacredh. There's a fence built around it.
-
12
53_3: If they turn off the electricity to the fence, the collars don't work.
-
13
.
There. -
14
click
.
There. It's off. -
15
53, sacred, lol, I choked on my water.
-
16
Sorry, Dee.
.
Wanna watch? -
17
We are here to brighten the days of our fellow sufferers.
-
18
Oh, no. Let us pray.
-
19
LOL A FENCE?! I get it, you all are making fun of those silly Republicans trying to control our borders! Why have security when you can have guns and drug criminals flowing back and forth? It's MUCH more
fun that way! -
20
LOL A FENCE?! I get it
.
No, I don't think you do. -
21
Hey sacred, didja see that one?
.
That last one (apollyon07) was kinda funny in a Wiley-Coyote-falling-off-a-cliff sort of way. Never seen one fall that way before.
.
He was just mouthing off, talking all this stuff as he walked past toward the edge, when in mid sentance ZING....................poof. -
22
Okay. If the fence remark wasn't about a border fence for immigration, could somebody explain to me what you meant? If it wasn't, I guess I just think about that subject more than most.
-
23
And if I completely misinterpreted that, then I'll be damned.
53_3, I thought the joke you made (Wiley-Coyote) was pretty funny, despite it being at my expense, especially given the imagery it produces. Gotta be able to laugh at yourself sometimes.
-
24
apollyon07:
.
Republicans right now have a particularly nasty problem in that they swarm like lemmings toward anything that seems to massage the "recreational" anger that the likes of Rusn Limbaugh dish out.
.
They follow so blindly that they completely ignore facts and work themselves into a froth about any number of percieved or even baldly manufactured "faults" that accrue to Obama/Dems/Liberals/Whatever.
.
An example is Micheal Steele and Rush Limbaugh, which is one of the most blatent displays of not only cowardice on the part of Micheal Steele, but also a complete lack of dignity and respect for one's self and one's heritage.
.
The 'edge of the Earth' is a metaphor for the stunning contrafactualness of Republican arguments for nearly everything under the sun:
.
Everything from Rahm's pay on a board being supposedly 'equivalent' to the AIG bonus debate to constantly trying to blame Bill Clinton for everything but the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake to invoking Bill Ayers to whipping up fears of 'socialism' and/or 'communism' when most of these idiots weren't even alive during the real cold war and know nothing about what real communism or socialism is. Not to mention just how far we really are from such a state.
.
Ergo, Republicans are 'flat Earthers' who, in their anger, will walk 'right off the edge of the Earth'.
.
And I, having watched this foul brood fester for over 30 years, decided upon sacredh's clairvoiyant observation that if the electricity was turned off, their collars wouldn't warn them of impending doom.
.
Ergo, I, without any remorse whatsoever, turned the power off.
.
What better, and more fitting, way to go for a group of idiots that don't know fact from fiction! -
25
apollyon07:
.
Remember, also, my remarks precede our discussion and the two apologies I extended.
.
The entire show, though, still applies to the near-insane contrafactualness of Republicans in general and is not by any means, withdrawn!
Most Popular »
- "Personal Sins Should Not Require Press Releases"
- False Economy: Think You're Saving Money? Think Again
- The 'Alice' Interview: A Very Different Brand of Wonderland
- Congress's Tepid Reaction to Obama's Afghanistan Plan
- Tiger Speaks
- Rep. Woolsey: Majority Of Dems Will Vote Against War Funding
- State Dinner, Uh, Fashion
- Gleeks and Shrieks: Fox Unveils Midseason, Glee Gone Until April
- White House Hypocritical Attack on Politico
- The Dreaded X
- Dogfight: Can Rescued Attack Dogs, Pit Bulls Be Saved?
- Rachel Uchitel: Tiger Woods' Alleged Affair Connection
- Helicopter Parents: The Backlash Against Overparenting
- Europe's Secret Nuclear Weapons: What Should NATO Do?
- Italian Town Dreams of a White (No Foreigners) Christmas
- Tiger Woods Admits 'Transgressions': Will Image Be Hurt?
- Ireland: Lack of New Catholic Priests Spurs Campaign
- Why Fritz Henderson Resigned as GM's CEO
- The End of the 2000s: Goodbye to a Decade from Hell
- Could White House Party Crashers the Salahis Go to Jail?













RSS