Cut That Out

Dr. Richard Deming should use the Cyberknife to cut out the misinformation he spreads and the scientific community is united in that fact.

In a letter to the Ragister, Deming stated...

"Nearly 45,000 uninsured Americans die annually as a consequence of not having insurance. That's one needless death every 12 minutes".

Ironically, I was sitting, with my mother, not far from Deming's office when I read his letter and laughed out loud.

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts -- Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Facts are stubborn things -- Ronald Reagan

Michelle Malkin gives the history of this lie...

Data was used from a health survey conducted between 1988 and 1994. The questionnaires asked a sample of 9,000 participants whether they were insured and how they rated their own health. The federal Centers for Disease Control tracked the deaths of people in the sample group through the year 2000. Himmelstein, Woolhandler and company then crunched the numbers and attributed deaths to lack of health insurance for all the participants who initially self-reported that they had no insurance and then died for any reason over the 12-year tracking period.

The authors admit, "Our study has several limitations," the authors concede. The survey data they used "assessed health insurance at a single point in time and did not validate self-reported insurance status. We were unable to measure the effect of gaining or losing coverage after the interview."

Malkin continues...

The single-payer advocate-authors also conceded in their study limitations section that "earlier population-based surveys that did validate insurance status found that between 7 percent and 11 percent of those initially recorded as being uninsured were misclassified. If present, such misclassification might dilute the true effect of uninsurance in our sample."

To boil it all down in plain English: The single-payer scientists had no way of assessing whether the survey participants received insurance coverage between the time they answered the questionnaires and the time they died. They had no way of assessing whether the deaths could have been averted with health insurance coverage.

Thank goodness Deming is a much better Doctor than a statistician, he treated my friend Cal (Freedom's pal), but he could learn a lesson about quality from another Dr. Deming from Iowa.

Rose Colored Glasses

In August the Ragister ran an editorial telling the Big Lug Nut to Take off the rose-colored glasses, stating that his sunny outlook rests on slim evidence.

Krusty Konservative did an excellent job of chronicling BLN's denial for months of economic reality.

All that time he accused those who pointed out the need to act
as playing politics.

Suddenly the BLN is on board, "...But the fact is we need to act. We need to move. I was concerned it would literally take weeks and weeks to reach an agreement.”

Why the rush now?

Is it because the Cook Political Report changed its rating of his re-election race from a slight Culver advantage to a toss-up?

Toss the bum out on his big bum would be more accurate and the scientific community is united in that fact.

For what it's worth, I don't believe the BLN is as optimistic as much as he's a DUMBASS!

There's no other way to explain this quote...

"The fact is clear, Iowa has not spent too much; rather our revenue has fallen off by significant amounts as the result of this national economic recession."

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts -- Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Facts are stubborn things -- Ronald Reagan

Democrats for truth

I'm stunned this is out of the Boston Herald, but this is GREAT!




By Jules Crittenden
Boston Herald City Editor

Five years after Sept. 11, the Democrats have suddenly become obsessed with truth. Their version of it.
Former President Bill Clinton is incensed with the ABC docudrama "The Path to 9/11," set to run Sunday night, that depicts his administration as cavalier in its disregard for the threats al-Qaeda posed, and too distracted by the Monica Lewinski affair in any case to act decisively. Clinton is concerned a TV dramatization will become the accepted version of history. Democrats in Congress threatened to wage regulatory jihad on ABC, and ABC went back into rewrite.

Some observers are shocked by the hypocrisy and the chilling effect this kind of behavior can have on the free discussion of ideas in the United States. But I welcome this development.
For starters, I assume this means that legions of Bush-haters will be showing up at Michael Moore’s house, demanding refund of the $8 each of them spent on his falsehood-studded distort-a-palooza, "Fahrenheit 911." At the time, outright lying and revisionism were being encouraged by the left, so it was reasonable for them to subsidize Moore’s tour de force in the genre. But they are attempting to move beyond that, and we should encourage them.
More importantly than any hotdog-addicted bomb thrower’s already discredited juvenile fantasy, I assume this means we can expect Democrats to hang up the old "Bush lied" canard. With their newfound interest in truth, they will have to finally admit the following. It is a long list, so please bear with me:
George Bush was elected president of the United States. Twice.
All of the world’s major intelligence agencies, probably to include most agents in Saddam Hussein’s own Mukhabarat as well as his own generals, believed Iraq had an active WMD program. He did, as has been recently shown, have existing stockpiles of up to 700 chemical projectiles.
Iraq attempted to buy uranium in Niger. The outing of Valerie Plame was not a White House plot.
Saddam was winning the sanctions war. He had throughly corrupted the United Nations food-for-oil program and Europe was pushing to eliminate the crumbling sanctions regime. Had Saddam been allowed to remain in power, the likelihood is that he would have resumed production and development of WMD.
Oil is perhaps the world’s single most important strategic asset. Allowing control of the world’s greatest reserves to fall into the hands of a megalomaniac like Saddam would be disastrous. In today’s world, "no blood for oil" makes as much sense as "no blood for water."
If "blood for oil" is a crime, someone needs to talk to the French about their deals with Saddam at the time they were squawking about their humanitarian concerns for the Iraqi people. The French would get the oil, Saddam would get all the blood he wanted.
Saddam’s regime had contact with al-Qaeda, as his own documents attest. His regime had openly trained, financed and harbored terrorists for years. He attempted to assassinate a former United States president.

The Bush administration used Halliburton for military services under contracts signed by the Clinton administration.
The Iraqi people welcomed the arrival of the Americans with cheers and invitations to tea. The Iraq and Afghan campaigns have given 50 million people democratically elected governments. The insurgencies there are terrorist actions that do not enjoy the support of the majority of the people.
The approximately 3,000 American deaths suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the 10,000s of thousands of Iraqis killed primarily by insurgent attacks, pale compared to the deaths we could expect on both sides if the United States had to take on a rearmed Saddam. Those soldiers and civilians have died in furtherance of vital American interests.

While individual abuses have been committed and criminally prosecuted, the United States has not practiced torture, nor, beyond the isolated acts of depraved or highly stressed individuals, has the United States military engaged in war crimes. The deaths of civilians at the hands of the United States military, well below levels ever seen before in modern warfare, have been the result of honest mistakes or cynical use of human shields by our enemies.
Our enemies are not freedom fighters. They are barbaric murderers, for whom torture, brutal execution and the purposeful murder of innocents are matters of policy.
They hate us because we exist, free non-Islamic societies that are more successful and powerful than their own. They don’t give a damn what we think or do, or how understanding of them we care to be, as long as we die.
Political dissent and civil rights are alive and well in the United States. Cindy Sheehan, John Kerry and Michael Moore are free and vocal in their opposition. You, if you choose, can slap a bumper sticker on your car calling for the president’s impeachment. You may call him a murderer or an idiot. You will not end up in Guantanamo.
Legal authority exists that allows the NSA to tap phone calls made to and from foreign parties. Computerized monitoring of phone traffic within the United States is not phone tapping. Monitoring of the flow of cash around the world makes sense. If the NSA did not do these things, and there was an attack on the United States, the administration’s opponents want to know why.
The Bush administration has waged a highly effective war against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks, capturing or killing large swaths of al-Qaeda’s leadership and rank and file. To date, there has been no successful attack on the American mainland or, outside Middle Eastern combat zones, no major attack on American assets, since Sept. 11, 2001.
The United Nations is corrupt and ineffective. Relying on the United Nations to resolve any foreign crisis, without close and constant monitoring by responsible powers, is to invite disaster.
Israel has bent over backward to accommodate the existence and demands of parties that openly seek Israel’s destruction. Israel is the most open and free society in the region, a Jewish state where Arabs can vote, own property and serve in government and the military. We are bound to Israel by deep cultural, political and strategic bonds.


Lebanon is, most charitably, a state held hostage by terrorists, less charitably, a terrorist state. Israel was entirely justified in its campaign to remove this threat on its northern border, and the blame for Lebanese civilian deaths lies with Hezbollah for using Lebanon as a human shield.
Iran is a dangerous threat to the entire Middle East and to the world that must be confronted directly and forcefully. Now.
Finally, despite setbacks, misjudgments and errors, George Bush has been an effective leader, moving forward in America’s interest and making hard decisions despite considerable obstruction and dissent. He enjoys the support of many key foreign allies brave enough to buck complacency and the temptations of short-term mercenary advantage.
I await the newly truth-obsessed American left’s recognition of these facts. I encourage this remarkable new interest in accuracy by the American left, however petty and misguided it may be in its nascency. If broadly applied -- and once the Democrats get past the desire to muzzle opposing views -- it has the potential to elevate political debate in this country at a critical time when we face determined enemies, foreign and domestic.

Crittenden has covered crime, science, foreign affairs and military matters in New England, Israel, India, Pakistan, Kosovo, Kuwait and Iraq. He is now a Herald City Editor.

He can be reached at.... jcrittenden@bostonherald.com

Disconnect?

John Culver beget the Big Lug Nut and now he doesn't understand why Iowans have regrets about his boy.

John Culver: Polls indicate a disconnect with my son’s record

Hold the phone, the disconnect will come in November when Iowans will cut off his service.

Culver's dad says polls fail to grasp son's feats

Your son can't grasp his own feets and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Culver: Son Chet’s term has been ‘remarkable’

He got the bull part right.

A majority of Iowans have no idea who John Culver is because he's been disconnected from this state for so long.

I love how daddy lives in D.C., when not in Massachusetts, and uses words like "we" and "our" while discussing this state.

He also blames "the media" for his boys problems -- people are confused from the amount of information distributed by media that is nowhere near as dependable or credible as it once was.

“We have an overwhelming proliferation of news, from ... media we never had before. So much of it is not checked (for facts).”

I can't help but wonder about what the facts are about the Culver family.

I couldn't come up with anything on John's parents, and I'm not sure who he's married to.

Chet's mom is Ann Cooper Culver, in this bio John's wife is listed as Mary Jane Checchi, but in this article he says his wife's name is Kate(?).

Look at me, Look who I can talk to

In a name dropping column that appears to be written to foster her own self importance, RekHA Basu writes about a recent call she received from MADeleine NOT-SO-bright.

Ms. MADeleine is calling to plug Hellary to the fiberal shill.

Rekha did want to know...

But what about her Iraq war vote?

To which Ms. NOT-SO-bright said...

"I don't think people see her as having voted for the war," said Albright, asserting the resolution gave President Bush only the authority to go to the U.N. to get weapons inspectors back in, which he didn't do.

Here's Hellary's own words of October 10 2002, from her Senate web-site.

She titled it...

Floor Speech of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
on S.J. Res. 45, A Resolution to Authorize the Use of
United States Armed Forces Against Iraq

Aah, now I understand the ambiguity and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Wait, there's more in the first paragraph...

As Delivered

Today we are asked whether to give the President of the United States authority to use force in Iraq should diplomatic efforts fail...

On December 15, 2003 Hellary said...

"I was one who supported giving President Bush the authority, if necessary, to use force against Saddam Hussein. I believe that that was the right vote."

Here's Hellary from an April 20, 2004 interview with Larry King...

"I don't regret giving the President the authority because at the time it was in the context of weapons of mass destruction, grave threats to the United States, and clearly, Saddam Hussein had been a real problem for the international community for more than a decade." Asked whether she thinks she was "fooled," she replies: "The consensus was the same, from the Clinton Administration to the Bush Administration. It was the same intelligence belief that our allies and friends around the world shared about the weapons of mass destruction."

I've grown accustomed to the great unwashed not being capable of independent thought, but I believe a journalist should be up on the facts or at least capable of quick research(ie...GOOGLE).

I digress because this is Basu and she does work for the Ragister.

You CAN tell a lot about a person by who they associate with and are impressed by.

Csonka'd

It's been a while since we flipped one out, but once again the Ragister wins a Csonka.

Congratulations on showing that you don't even read your own product.

Last Monday they ran an article with this title...

DART requires bus ridership for employees

The first sentence stated...

A new policy at Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority requires that administrative employees ride the bus at least once a month.

Yesterday, the Ragister gave DART's General manager a rose for asking his administrative staff to ride the bus more often.

There's a huge difference between asking and requiring and the scientific community is united in that fact.

The Ragister continued...

It's always seemed odd that some people who make a living providing a service would not at least occasionally try it out themselves. We are reminded of an old city editor who fumed when he discovered that reporters hadn't been reading their own newspaper.

Maybe that wasn't the best example when you couldn't get the facts right.

Of course last Monday brought another change to their layout, it is possible they just got confused.

I think the publisher summed up the decline of this relic when she said...

It's not the layout that makes the Des Moines Register what it is - it is our people.

Therapy for me

Before I started this blog, I used to write Letters to the Editor of the Ragister. On average I'd get 9 letters published yearly.

The reason I started blogging was because the Ragister LIED about printing the last two letters I had written them. They called to confirm my personal info (name, address and that I had indeed written the letter) and advised me that it would be published. Those last two letters NEVER appeared in print.

I find that I don't need to write to them to espouse what I believe. The Ragister was too limiting in too many ways.

I almost fell off the wagon on Friday...it was CLOSE!

The Ragister put into print two musings of morons.... one they actually pay(pictured, small as to not offend sensiblities).

RekHA Basu's opinion piece went off on allegations of U.S. troops killing Iraqi civilians. "This is the fourth investigation in four months...". She then mentions Gitmo and Abu Ghraib and how she's "tired of human-rights concerns being dismissed....". She also wondered what if a foreign occupied force raped, tortured and killed Americans?

THERE'S THE RUB!

Americans have been tortured and killed!

Roughly 3,000 on our own soil that started this whole mess to begin with. It would just be nice if those "majority" of Muslims and Ms. Basu would get as worked up over those FACTS as they do over these allegations!

The second moron was from Indianola. She continues "to be dumb-struck by the Republicans who are rejoicing over the death of al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi".

Shelly Dugan, in my humble opinion, I do believe you were struck dumb way before then!

Her letter assumes that his death "could only infuriate the evil al-Qaida and make them hate us more."

Ms. Dugan your assume makes an ass out of you, but I will not allow it to make one out of me.

I don't believe they can hate us more(See previous paragraph about the 3,000 dead Americans). Most people, not all Republicans, realize the hate runs so deep that they won't stop til we're all dead. Those struck dumb will probably be among the last struck dead because you'll be so busy appeasing them that they'll enjoy toying with you.

Aaahhh, I feel a bit better!

*****UPDATE*****

I did have to e-mail Basu....

Roughly 3,000 Americans were killed in The World Trade Centers, The Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania by an invading force called al-Qaida. Americans have been tortured, killed, and raped throughout the world by members of al-Qaida. Al-Qaida, and other terrorist organizations, have a long range goal of our permanent destruction. It would be nice if you got as worked up over these FACTS as you have over these four ALLEGATIONS! Please forward to me the dates of those columns that address those human rights abuses.

I doubt that she'll respond.

Drip, Drip, Drip

Slowly, like a leaky faucet, facts continue to ooze out and spread about Barry.

Obambi had to admit that Tony Rezko had raised substantially more money for his campaigns than was previously avowed, $90,000 of which has not been donated to charity.

Obambi asked Rezko to tour, and assess, the Hyde Park house he bought.

Barry didn't believe the information to be "salient" that's why it wasn't disclosed before.

What is salient is that the Rezko's purchased the adjoining property on the exact same day, at a time when Barry knew that Rezko was involved in controversies.

Barry later bought a piece of Rezko's land and Rezko built a fence that Barry wanted.

Obambi also had to own up to a $1 million pork-barrel spending request made in 2006 for the University of Chicago Hospitals, where his wife served as a vice president at the time.

I'm not getting the feeling of Real Change That We Can Believe In and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Barry's backers better hope that this is the last embarrassing information to leak out and doesn't turn into a Niagara Falls.

Do Facts Matter?

The title of an excellent Thomas Sowell column...

the country does not deserve to be put in the hands of a glib and cocky know-it-all, who has accomplished absolutely nothing beyond the advancement of his own career with rhetoric, and who has for years allied himself with a succession of people who have openly expressed their hatred of America.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

She's A Rainbow

I've thought about posting before regarding writings of Rainbow Rowell in the Omaha World-Herald, but her name is RAINBOW and I just couldn't take her seriously.

Apparently, she can hardly get her husband to read her column.

After reading about Vaginal fluids and Endometrium, I can see why.

Auto correct wanted to insert Econometric instead of Endometrium and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Rainbow wants to get real because there now are grown men walking around hosting talk shows and running for office (and having sex, presumably) who don't understand how women's bodies work.

Heck, there are women who don't know how they work.

Rainbow then tries to ream men a new one with the facts on how birth control works, You take one pill. Every day. At the same time. Whether you plan to have "so much sex" or none at all.

That's correct for oral contraceptives, but Sandra Fluke's testimony was on "contraception coverage" and "birth control" not just oral contraceptives.

Contraceptive methods can include Intrauterine Devices (IUDs), Implanon, Injections, Birth Control Patch, Vaginal Ring and Sterilization.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires new private health plans written on or after August 1, 2012 to cover contraceptive counseling and services and all FDA-approved methods without out-of-pocket costs to patients.

Remember -- "A government big enough to give you everything you need, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have...."

Or, impose it's own family planning policy.

Rainbow continued, And you don't pay per pill. You pay for your monthly prescription.

Not completely true, a three month supply can be obtained, for a $25 co-pay, with my insurer.

I guess I'm expecting too much from an optical illusion.

Debate Exposes Doubt

Round 2 in the Steve King - Christie Vilsack debates, although the Omaha World-Herald  has this as the first debate.

It sounds like this round was similar to the first go around (Shark Attack), although Vilsack's attacks are wearing thin on Democrats & Republicans.

Bob Johnson, of Dickens, said Vilsack may have been too contentious in her approach.

“Rather than spending her time answering the questions, she spent her time attacking Steve, where he actually addressed the questions and actually agreed with her on a couple of points,” Johnson said. “He was more professional in the debate.”

Dickinson County Democratic Party Co-Chair Denny Perry said he didn’t think there were too many independents at the debate to be swayed in their vote.

“But I do wish both sides would have had a fact-checker there because it seemed like many of the facts they presented may or may not have been true,” Perry said.

It speaks volumes when a Party Co-Chair doesn't even believe their own candidate and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Former Iowa Republican legislator Russell Eddie, of Storm Lake, said he was surprised that while Vilsack talks about being a consensus-builder, she seemed confrontational toward King.

Something has turned rotten in that seven layer salad of Christie's.

Potluck? It's more like a crapshoot with Christie.