... , the muddle-headed defenses and the appropriate sarcasm delivered at the White House by a handful of media sources, there is a quite serious purpose at work with the President's lies, damned lies and falsified statistics. Note these points made by Republican Congressman Darrell Issa from California, the ranking member of the House Committee on ...

... : Anne-christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images A morbid one in our ongoing series on mistakes and lies in statistics, from a news report some weeks ago: French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde Thursday voiced ... the statement. (source) More on the problems caused by averages is here. Posted in health, lies and statistics, statistics, work Tagged: average, france telecom, lies, lying with statistics ...

This struck me as an example of how statistics can be used to reach any conclusion, especially if we don't pay close attention. Yesterday's Associated Press had an AP Impact story about the missteps of the Cash for Clunkers program. Titled Clunker Pickups Traded for New Pickups, the scandalous exposé reveals some dirty laundry from the now-discontinued government stimulus program. In ...

Oddly enough, Verizon Wireless’s latest round of AT&T/iPhone-bashing ads–one of which relegates the iPhone to the Island of Misfit Toys–haven’t made AT&T any happier than the earlier spots did. It’s updated its legal complaint against Verizon to gripe about the new ads, and wants the court to force Verizon to pull them off the air. It’s also published a ...

Honestly, I didn't wake up this morning expecting to spend the day sort-of defending Jay Cutler, but justice demands it. David Haugh: Between now and the evening kickoff Nov. 22 against the Eagles, can the Park District petition to close Soldier Field after dark so the game can be played at noon? We can call it the Cutler Decree. He is worse at night than a solar watch. This was mentioned ...

UMR survey shows voters want MMP A new survey has found a majority of voters don't want to change from the MMP electoral system. The UMR opinion poll, released today, contradicts previous surveys which have shown the opposite. A referendum will be held at the same time as the 2011 general election asking voters whether they want to change from MMP, and if they do they will be able to tick ...

and healthcare groups with an agenda, oh and BS stats to back it up. A report from Agence France Presse indicates that the number of American veterans who died in 2008 because they didn't have healthcare, is 14 times higher than the military death toll in Afghanistan, for the entire year. Why they are comparing these two disparate groups I have no earthly idea, well beyond the fact that ...

"Hiring someone to write your autobiography is like hiring someone to take a bath for you." —Mae West I am an ardent quotations collector— I collect my favorites on slips of paper, write them on my hand, hoard hundreds on my hard drive. I belong to a brilliant "Quotation of...

The Confluence has the preliminaries on the DNC Memo/hit job on Sarah Palin, but I wanted to take a closer look for those who are interested in that kind of rhetorical analysis. Boston Boomer is right that what we are seeing is reaction-formation, and this explains the rising media chorus that has been Palin coverage

One of the biggest scientific scandals of our age, described in two sentences: That supposed scientific "consensus" about global warming may actually be a conspiracy. E-mails from a British climate-research organization -- obtained by an Australian magazine, Investigate -- disclose scientists discussing a statistical "trick" to "hide the decline" of global ...