Secrets of the City

Bachmann got in some calisthenics while in the Green Zone, according to the St. Cloud Times:

“This recorded message played four times while we were there, asking us to move away from any windows, to get on the ground and move to the center of the building,” Bachmann said.

Those fucking signs piss me off…

The blog entry on the abortion signs doesn’t give away much in the way of detail. All it does is list some of the signs, then links to a story that quotes a Planned Parenthood spokesperson as saying that one year’s worth of data on an increase doesn’t indicate a trend and that “…it could be that the decline we saw over the past three years has bottomed out, and it can’t go lower. It could be a statistical blip, or it could be the result of something in the external environment,” she added. “But I doubt it indicates an increased preference for abortion.”

Hardly a vindication for the blog post, particularly as anti-abortion people might choose to claim that the sharp drop in abortions over the past three years were directly due to the influence of these signs. Without more evidence, it isn’t really possible to draw a conclusion one way or the other.

As it stands, this post is an example of a particularly bad confusion regarding cause and effect, even assuming the figures correlate with the appearance of the signs.

For the record, I’m not wild about the signs either. But that’s freedom of speech for ya.

Presidential campaigns won’t start caring about Minnesota until the general election, and then only as long as we are a “purple” state, so I have a better idea for Minnesota — let’s scrap the caucuses altogether and just give our nominating votes to the candidate that’s going to win, anyway! It’s a free alternative to the formal way we already do this.

It was good when states more relevant than Iowa and New Hampshire moved up their primary schedules, but now it’s ridiculous. Neither of the two is especially representative of the country at large, but the momentum gained in those states is almost unstoppable.

I think we should take up a collection to erect “fishing stops a beating heart” signs all over the Northwoods.

That and something like “a walleye fry has fully formed fins at 14 hours”

I love the signs. They’re just so damn hilarious, they always brighten my day. I like “embryos are tiny babies!” best.

“As it stands, this post is an example of a particularly bad confusion regarding cause and effect . . .“

As it stands, the usual arguments from both sides of that debate tend to be examples of a particularly bad confusion regarding cause and effect.

Run away.

WHAT! I guess babies don’t know grammar?