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POPSIs bicycling safer than driving? On this forum, a participant misuses statistics to show that bicycling is safer than driving. These statistics do not prove anything about the inherent safety of either mode of transportation. (the first comment is a sarcastic response by an anti-bicyclist commenting on a Philadelphia bicyclist who got critically injured by a car on a busy intersection).
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POPSState Report: Philadelphia swim club discriminated against black children Earlier this summer, a dispute between an affluent, white-dominated suburban private swim club and a camp serving minority children caught the attention of the national news. The camp accused the club of refusing to serve the kids because of members' racial bias. A state report just released bears out the club's claims. In e-mails complaining about the camp's visit, members expressed "racial animus" and "racially coded comments".
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POPSDo Tax Cuts Starve the Beast? No. indeed, the point estimates suggest that tax cuts increase spending. The results also indicate that the main effect of tax cuts on the government budget is to induce subsequent legislated tax increases. Examination of four episodes of major tax cuts reinforces these conclusions.
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POPSSane Republican Hunt John Quiggin asks if there are any Republicans who reject all forms of delusion propounded by that party: delusionism... Birtherism Creationism... 9/11 Trutherism (not, in most cases, the “Bush knew” version, but the “Saddam organised it, via meetings in Prague” version) Crank medical theories: on passive smoking, the Terri Schiavo case, abortion-breast cancer link, AIDS reappraisal, claims about stem cells (to make it easy, getting any of these right will suffice) Rejection of plate tectonics... Bonus points if we can find one who’s not from Maine.
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POPSCharity can't do it all This is about a NFP child care center serving low income people in my home town. Because foundations are tightening their belts, the center is facing the choice to either close, raise its fees, or deal with the bureaucratic hassle of accepting federal/state funding. Child care is a damn important service for working families; that a foundation cut its funding to it so it could serve even more basic needs speaks volumes about the volunteer sector's capacity to deal with the problems of poverty US society is going to deal with. We can't just cut back on government services expecting charities and foundations to pick up the slack.
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POPSHeterosexual Ivy League Professor Kills Wife Since people are entertaining the idea that we should ban gay adoption because an allegedly gay man is accused of molesting his adopted son, I think it is only fair that we ask, in light of this incident, if we should ban marriages involving straight men, economists, or Ivy League professors.
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POPSAre Republicans More Likely to Have Affairs and Get Divorces? No. We see the ecological fallacy appear here on Clipmarks all the time 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ] usually by people who want to say "conservatives are more/less _____ because red states are ______, liberals are less/more_______ because blue states are ________." Here is an example of how that logic can result in the WRONG conclusion.
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POPSIsrael Will Not Let Its Arab Citizens Read Bambi Jeremiah Haber (aka The Magnes Zionist) translates a Haaretz article on Israel banning the importation of books published in Syria and Lebanon, where 80% of Arabic books used by Israeli Arabs are published. For shame.