BA> Replying to a message of JOHNJWILSON to BOB KLAHN:

 J>> I guess I just have to join the crowd gathered to not talk about
 J>> Klahn...

 J>> -> EH>>FIDO is dying and Klahn is not helping keep it alive.

 J>> Yeah, Bob stop leaden it down with research and statistics...no
 J>> right-winger wants THAT.

 BA> Internet research and phony statistics.  He even admitted
 BA> that statistics he uses are phony - "but they're the only
 BA> numbers we have."  Even so, they're still phony.

 Those are Bush administration stats. So, what ya gonna do? As
 long as we know they are cooked, and have enough ancillary data
 to determine a reasonable version of the truth, what else do you
 expect?

 And if I know the numbers are cooked, and they are cooked
 *AGAINST* my side, and they still support my side, then that's
 just an extra point for my side. Remember, Bush was *NOT*
 cooking the books to say what I wanted them to.

 BA> IMO the Internet is not a valid source for anything.
 BA> Anybody can put up any web site and post anything on it
 BA> they want.

 And anyone can write a book and put anything in it they want.
 And anyone can chose any number of sources that support their
 side.

 IOW, there is nothing in the world you can trust.

 I use numbers that have been kept for a long time, under
 different administrations that hold differing philosophies. If
 the numbers survive all that then you can expect to get some use
 out of them.

 The professionals typically do not want to cook the books, and
 they tend to insist on footnoting the changes. That's the key
 that makes them useful.

 You have a choice, use what is available and use judgement to
 find what is reliable, or have nothing at all to work with.

 See the tagline for a good way to judge things.


BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... If a conservative says it, it's misstated, misleading, or just plain wrong.
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