Jamison Foser

Garbage In, Garbage Out: Gallup’s reconciliation polling

A Gallup poll question finding that 52 percent of Americans oppose the use of reconciliation to pass health care legislation is getting a lot of attention from Republicans and the media.  It shouldn’t.  

The Gallup question asked respondents how they would feel about “Democrats in Senate using a parliamentary procedure to avoid a Republican filibuster and pass healthcare bill by simple majority vote.”

At best, that means exactly nothing to most people.  Worse, it sounds devious.  “Using a parliamentary procedure to avoid” makes it seem like some sort of unprecedented trick (it isn't.)  No wonder people oppose it.

Another problem: The question suggests the entire health care reform package would be passed using this trickery.  In fact, reconciliation is generally being considered as a means of passing tweaks to the legislation that has already passed the Senate with 60 votes.

The results would, I suspect, be far different if Gallup asked a much more straightforward question: “Do you think passage of health care legislation should be decided by majority vote?” Or even the more-accurate-but-slightly-more-complicated: “Do you think passage of changes to the recently-passed health care legislation should be decided by majority vote?”

UPDATE: As I noted on The Twitter, if you ask people if they like "“heated ground bovine flesh,” the results will be significantly less reliable than if you ask them about "hamburger." Keep it simple!

My kingdom for a "Reveal Codes" feature

I miss WordPerfect.  Prior to WordPerfect 7, at least, the program did what I wanted it to do and did it quickly and efficiently -- with little if any mouse use required.  And if anything -- anything at all -- didn’t look quite right, you could easily and quickly find and eliminate the problem using the “Reveal Codes” feature. Oh, Reveal Codes was wonderful.

More recent word processors, on the other hand?  Maddening.

Just try to add a hyperlink to text in Pages, Apple’s word processing program.  Let’s say you want the word “Pages” to link to www.applejustworks.com.  You have to select the word “Pages,” then go to Insert > Hyperlink > Webpage, at which point an Inspector window pops up.  Then you have to click in the URL field and enter www.applejustworks.com.  Then you have to close the inspector window and click back to your document.

But, good news: You can map a keystroke combination to Insert > Hyperlink > Webpage using System Preferences | Keyboard, right?  Sure, that works, and I’ve mapped Command-K.  So I highlight the word “Pages,” press Command-K, and ... now I have to click over into the Inspector window -- why isn’t it already active? I obviously want to use it, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought the damn thing up -- and click in the URL field, enter my URL, close the inspector, and click back into my document.

What.  The.  Hell?

Here’s what should happen: I highlight my text and press Control-K, a box pops up with a field for the URL -- a field that is already active, so all I need to do is type (or paste) in the URL and press enter, and I’m right back in my document.  Easy!  And that’s the way it works in Apple’s Mail program, so I know they’re capable of it.

Ken Starr is not here to talk about the past

ABC's George Stephanopoulos asks Ken Starr why Monica Lewinsky wasn't allowed to call a lawyer, noting that Justice Department official blasted Starr's treatment of her. Unable to defend his conduct, Starr ducks the question completely: "These are issues from the past." Stephanopoulos politely moves on.

Stephanopoulos: The most serious charge seems to be his conclusions about the questioning of Monica Lewinsky ... He talks about a Justice Department investigation that was led by Jo Ann Harris, and she seems to take great issue with the fact that Monica Lewinsky was not allowed to call her lawyer, was dissuaded from calling her lawyer during the questioning.  She said in the book “I wouldn’t have touched her [Lewinsky] with a 10 foot poll. The minute she says ‘Can I call my lawyer?’ you stop. And when she says it for the sixth or seventh time, you really stop.”  Why wasn’t she allowed to call her lawyer?

Starr: Well, again, George, these are issues from the past.  And, again, you have a very thoughtful examination by Ken Gormley, and you know, there was a very unhappy chapter in the nation’s history.  And of course, specific tactics can be questioned, and should be questioned.  Power should be accounted for, the use of power should be accounted for.  So I accept thoughtful criticisms, and I think Ken’s book is a useful service to the country.

Stephanopoulos: Do you think you’ll ever write about it?

In short: Starr is still a loathsome little creep after all these years.

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

... or, at least, ending.  Produce returns to DC grocery stores:

 

I haven't been so happy to see vegetables since ... well, who am I kidding? I've never been so happy to see vegetables.

Why does Amazon hate the environment?

My new Microplane grater came in the mail today, along with the attachment that holds small things that need grating, while protecting your knuckles from the sharp, sharp blades.  Thanks, Amazon!  Only ... maybe you didn't need to use quite so much packaging for such small items?

SnoMas!

Via DCist, I see that Washington, DC is the nation's second-snowiest city this winter, sandwiched between Syracuse and Rochester, and three spots ahead of Buffalo, seriously undermining one of the reasons I long ago left central New York.

During the blizzard of '95/'96, a couple of friends and I survived for a couple of days on, if memory serves, pasta (no sauce), rum, lemon juice, and snow (for lemon-rum Slushees.) Things haven't gotten quite that bad this time around. Yet.

Previously: Snowpocalypse Now.

Snowpocalypse Now

Attention DC Residents: Do Not Go Outside

(Click photo for more)

A brief rant about grocery store patrons

This is probably about you, so please pay attention.

Your typical grocery store aisle is fairly narrow -- just barely wide enough for two carts to pass each other.  At any given time, you probably are not the only person in the grocery store. This means that when you leave your cart sitting directly in the middle of an aisle while you wander aimlessly away, you are grossly inconveniencing your fellow shoppers. Knock it off. It doesn’t take any additional effort to leave your cart six inches to the right.

Now, maybe you’re a reasonably good and thoughtful person, and you don’t do that.  You leave your cart all the way to one side of the aisle. Good for you! You’re ready for lesson number two. You know those mid-aisle displays the grocery store puts up to try to get you to buy Ritz Crackers or whatever? Well, those are not holograms; they are tangible objects. Carts have to go around them. This means that when you stop your cart right next to one of those displays, you are blocking off the entire aisle, grossly inconveniencing your fellow shoppers. Knock it off. Leave your cart in-line with the display, on the same side of the aisle. It really isn’t difficult.

Look, grocery stores are crowded, cluttered places with often illogical layouts, and three-quarters of the city trying to get their shopping done at the same time. They’re generally a pain in the ass, and nobody wants to be there any longer than necessary. Don’t make it worse than it needs to be. We’re all in this together. Behave. Or I’ll slip a container of caviar in your cart when you aren’t looking.