Polls

Refused sex by his roommate,
young man breaks window
and urinates on her dog.

What can one make out of polls? Most everyone agrees that polls can and are sometimes manipulated to say what they want them to say. So what do you say when you just don’t believe one? For example, virtually all polls, both national and statewide, show Obama leading by anywhere from 4 to 14 points, except for one poll that claims he leads by only 1 point. I don’t know about you, but for me, I’d say I don’t believe it. In this case it seems that 50% of the sample were Evangelists, which, I guess, explains the different result. But sometimes it is not obvious what the problem may be. For example, today I saw where 33% of those polled said they would not vote for a black man. I don’t know what the sample was, where it came from, or anything else about it. But I don’t believe it. I believe there are many people in the U.S. who will not vote for a black man, I just don’t believe it could possibly be 33%. My disbelief in this poll stems simply from the fact that it does not correspond with my personal experience. My personal experience, of course, is biased because among my personal friends there are none who would say such a thing. However, even with people I know more casually, from many different walks of life and different ethnic groups, races, ages, and genders, I do not believe 1 in 3 would vote on the basis of race. I doubt that even in Idaho, the reddest of red states, you could get one in three voters to say such a thing (or even vote that way). One in eight, perhaps at most might hold such sentiments. I cannot prove this but I believe it. We have come a very long way since race-baiting was commonplace and I don’t think younger people fall for it anymore. Thus the young woman’s claim to have been attacked by a 6’ 4” black man because she was a McCain supporter, who reportedly scratched a “B” on her face after giving her a black eye, is not going anywhere (obviously now that she has admitted she lied). She has something to do with the McCain campaign and it is not clear if she thought this story up on her own or if she had help. I suspect in this case it might even end up gaining votes for Obama. Whether the McCain campaign had anything to do with this I do not know, but it is very clear they have been playing the race card all along.

After making fun of Obama’s statement about spreading the wealth around, the McCain campaign takes donor money and spreads it on Sarah Palin. They seem to be unable to do anything right. Now they are even attacking Obama’s visit to Hawaii to see his dying grandmother. Rush Limbaugh, the world’s greatest liar and windbag, thinks Obama is there because of his birth certificate. It has already been established that his Hawaiian birth certificate is perfectly genuine but morons like Rush just can’t give it up. Sarah even outdid herself in a speech when she haughtily made fun of research of fruit flies, not knowing that research on those tiny creatures has already produced material of value on autism. Nothing seems to embarrass her, she just goes on babbling about McCain’s talking points and dragging down his campaign. It has become so bad that some think she is going it on purpose to position herself for a Presidential run in 2012. Wow! It just goes to prove the old saw, “ignorance is bliss.” I hear the fat lady singing.

LKBIQ:
I always wanted a happy ending... Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.
Gilda Radner

TILT:
Cats are known to occasionally make friends with skunks.