There's a lot more to polls than just Numbers

via www.instapundit.com

" In fact, the Annenberg Public Policy Center released a study in November 2004 comparing party affiliation of registered voters.

The study showed that the gap between Democrats and Republicans had narrowed but that Democrats still outnumbered Republicans by about 3 percentage points.

Given the swing in demographics between the two Newsweek polls, of course Kerry saw improvement in his results. In fact, if he hadn't he would have been in deep trouble.

And while President Bush's support among Republicans eroded a bit between the polls his support among Democrats actually increased. Kerry's support among Republicans went up slightly, and his support among Democrats remained flat.

So why the breathless headlines?

Why did the news media report the data without first thoroughly reviewing it?

Why did the change in poll results pique the curiosity of a stay-at-home mom like me but not the much-ballyhooed investigative instincts of the reporters covering the election?

Had Newsweek paused and considered the shift in party breakdowns within its polls, it might have had an interesting story to pursue."

Too early for a Tehran Spring

"Of the 1,014 nominated for presidential office, only 14 are likely to remain after the Guardians Council (GC) filters the applications. If democracy were to prevail in Iran, then the power of the GC should be significantly curbed, because it is not elected by the people but rather appointed by conservative Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

This has been echoed by Iranian democracy activists such as the reformist cleric Grand Ayatollah Yusef Sanei, who said: "There should not be guardianship. In an election, guardians are not needed; it is contrary to human liberty."

Downtown Toronto skyline, looking about 3 miles westward from the Beaches.The CN Tower is on the left

Taking the Pomeranians for a stroll on the Boardwalk at the Beaches in Toronto.He has a few for sale and a lot more photos at his website: www.perfectpoms.com

Patients are searching for more medical information online

" Finding the right stuff. But just because people are using the Internet more often doesn't mean they are using it intelligently. The Medical Library Association recommends that people look at the source and the date of health info on the Web to ensure it's reliable and up to date. Pew found, however, that a mere 25 percent of health seekers did that. "That's the scary part," says Fox.

Not necessarily, says Tom Ferguson, a physician and director of an Internet health project for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (He also consults for Pew.) "These people form their own online information networks, using E-mail or blogs, which expand to include health professionals. Over time, as they trade information, the bad stuff gets filtered out," he says. Even better, "they are raising the bar of healthcare." A cancer patient at Johns Hopkins who learns about a state-of-the-art treatment, for example, will mention it online. "Another patient, at another hospital that is not top tier, reads this and says to his oncologist, 'Why can't I get this?' " Ferguson says. Doctors can expect more of those questions--and will need to be ready with the answers."

John Leo-The Media in Trouble

"I once complained to an important news executive that he ignored certain kinds of stories. He said that he would like to do them but that his staff wouldn't let him. He admitted his staff had been assembled from one side--guess which?--of the political spectrum. This conversation hardened my conviction that the biggest flaw in mainstream journalism today is the lack of diversity. Much bean-counting goes on in regard to gender and race, but the new hires tend to come from the same economic bracket and the same pool of elite universities, and they tend to have the same take on politics and culture. Much of what they turn out is very good. But when they omit or mess up stories, run badly skewed polls, or publish front-page editorials posing as news stories, nobody seems to notice because groupthink is so strong.

Time is running out on the newsroom monoculture. The public has many options now--as well as plenty of media watchdogs, both professional and amateur. So the press takes its lumps and loses readers"

Ambassador John R. Miller-Modern Slave Trade

"And few activities are as brutal and damaging as prostitution. Field research in the U.S., Canada, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Zambia conducted by eight specialists, led by Dr. Melissa Farley, concluded that 89 percent of people used in prostitution wanted to "escape." Sixty-eight percent met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, and some 80 percent had been physically assaulted.

Government attempts to regulate prostitution by introducing medical check-ups or licenses don't address the core problem: the routine abuse and violence that form the prostitution experience. Sweden has found that much of the vast profit generated by the global prostitution industry goes into the pockets of human traffickers. In response, to fight human trafficking and promote gender equality, Sweden has aggressively prosecuted sex buyers, pimps, and brothel owners since 1999. Two years into innovative focus on punishing the traffickers and buyers, rather than the female victims, Sweden has seen a 50 percent drop in women used in prostitution and a 75 percent decline in sex buying."

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Visit scenic Newfoundland and Labrador this summer

After talking for many years- there is still no National Securities Regulator to protect investors

"Bob finally found out he was dealing with a crook when the brokerage house fired his broker after a number of clients complained. He said that when he confronted his broker and asked that his account be cashed in and his money returned, the broker replied, "I can't. I spent it all."

When he approached the brokerage for help, he said they wiped their hands clean by telling him his relationship was with the broker, not the brokerage firm.

Outraged, he took his complaint to the Ontario Securities Commission. "But all they told me was the OSC has no mandate to help the consumer get their money back."

Meanwhile, the OSC stripped the broker of his licence and the IDA hauled him onto the carpet and fined him $410,000, plus $40,000 for hearing costs. "With this judgment against him, the IDA gets paid first, if there's any money at all," Bob said.

He said the only hope innocent victims have is to spend money on a lawyer and take the crook to court. Even trying to launch a class-action suit is tough, since authorities won't divulge the names of the other victims.

"There's nothing in our securities laws to protect the victim," he said. "I am so angry."

Stories like Bob's are everywhere, says Stan Buell, president of the Small Investor Protection Association.

VICTIMS GET INVITE

Buell is urging all investment victims to show up at the first-ever OSC town hall meeting, being held on Tuesday, May 31, at the CBC Building in downtown Toronto, at 250 Front St. W., from 6:30- 8 p.m.

There, a panel -- including Buell, OSC chairman David Brown, IDA CEO Joseph Oliver, Mutual Fund Dealers Association CEO Larry Waite and Canada's banking ombudsman, Michael Lauber -- will listen to investor complaints.

Buell warns, "If investors do not turn out, the industry will say they have proven their point, that the system is just fine."

I'll be there. "

Dougls Fisher- not exactly a ringing endorsement