First question:

Are you extremely worried, very worried, worried, not so worried, not at all worried that a hurricane will hit your area this year? (I live in South Florida).

I asked if they wanted to know if I was “worried” about hurricanes or if they wanted to know my feelings towards the probability of a hit. I am not at all worried but do believe the probability is there.

She responded by repeating the question verbatim – “I am sorry sir, I can only ask the question as written”.

I wish I knew how they interpeted my answer.

This went on for 20 minutes.

On the bright side she probably put me on some type of do-not-survey list.

“In a tape dating to April 1995, Saddam and several aides discuss the fact that U.N. inspectors had found traces of Iraq’s biological weapons program. On the tape, Hussein Kamel, Saddam’s son-in-law, is heard gloating about fooling the inspectors.

“We did not reveal all that we have,” he says. “Not the type of weapons, not the volume of the materials we imported, not the volume of the production we told them about, not the volume of use. None of this was correct.”

There’s more. Indeed, as late as 2000, Saddam can be heard in his office talking with Iraqi scientists about his ongoing plans to build a nuclear device. At one point, he discusses Iraq’s plasma uranium program something that was missed entirely by U.N. weapons inspectors combing Iraq for WMD.

This is particularly troubling, since it indicates an active, ongoing attempt by Saddam to build an Iraqi nuclear bomb.

“What was most disturbing,” said John Tierney, the ex- FBI agent who translated the tapes, “was the fact that the individuals briefing Saddam were totally unknown to the U.N. Special Commission (or UNSCOM, the group set up to look into Iraq’s WMD programs).”

Perhaps most chillingly, the tapes record Iraq Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz talking about how easy it would be to set off a WMD in Washington. The comments come shortly after Saddam muses about using “proxies” in a terror attack.”

http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=1&issue=20060224

However, what we discovered was so much less than what was predicted as to make the “we didn’t find any” belief roughly accurate.

On the other, other hand, we found lots of very nasty stuff, including forbidden missile-delivery systems, chemical components, and programs. Additionally, we found that records had been destroyed. On that score, someone could legitimately say “we didn’t find gold, but we found silver,” and answer the WMD question in the affirmative.

So I would be among the 30% saying “yes, we found WMD” on a yes-no poll question, though I would qualify that answer in a discussion.

To the main point, people also believe contradictory things, mostly because they don’t think about them very hard. There are creationists proud of their children’s knowledge of dinosaurs, and folks who believe different things about global warming in different contexts. Snapshot questions only suggest what group beliefs are.

However, what we discovered was so much less than what was predicted as to make the “we didn’t find any” belief roughly accurate.

On the other, other hand, we found lots of very nasty stuff, including forbidden missile-delivery systems, chemical components, and programs. Additionally, we found that records had been destroyed. On that score, someone could legitimately say “we didn’t find gold, but we found silver,” and answer the WMD question in the affirmative.

So I would be among the 30% saying “yes, we found WMD” on a yes-no poll question, though I would qualify that answer in a discussion.

To the main point, people also believe contradictory things, mostly because they don’t think about them very hard. There are creationists proud of their children’s knowledge of dinosaurs, and folks who believe different things about global warming in different contexts. Snapshot questions only suggest what group beliefs are.

However, what we discovered was so much less than what was predicted as to make the “we didn’t find any” belief roughly accurate.

On the other, other hand, we found lots of very nasty stuff, including forbidden missile-delivery systems, chemical components, and programs. Additionally, we found that records had been destroyed. On that score, someone could legitimately say “we didn’t find gold, but we found silver,” and answer the WMD question in the affirmative.

So I would be among the 30% saying “yes, we found WMD” on a yes-no poll question, though I would qualify that answer in a discussion.

To the main point, people also believe contradictory things, mostly because they don’t think about them very hard. There are creationists proud of their children’s knowledge of dinosaurs, and folks who believe different things about global warming in different contexts. Snapshot questions only suggest what group beliefs are.

The fact that the number is only 30% is surprising.

There is the known pattern of people being polled telling pollsters what they think they want to hear. People tend to be overly PC so as to appear more urbane or “compassionate.”

The 30% number also seems less credible even in light of the responses given here. I didn’t see anyone arguing for President Bush’s prior knowledge of 9/11 or that the sun orbits earth.

The President’s idea of replacing Saddam Hussein’s thugocracy with a democracy that could be a model for other terrorist-producing countries to strive for was a good one. Poor planning and poor implementation have delayed this process. Electing a Democratic president will end that process.

Chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, but not in large quantities. Since our invasion was telegraphed months in advance, the Iraqi military had time to truck the weapons to depots in Syria. We just haven’t had the nerve to find and destroy them, just as we haven’t had the nerve to find and destroy the terrorist bases in Iran (where most of the terrorists now in Iraq come from).

Back in high school we took anonymous multiple choice surveys on drug use. For a brief moment I become a pot smoking, heroine addict that shot up more than 5 times a week.

“it is a well established fact that 78% of statistics are overstated.”

Thanks for the laugh. Also, don’t forget that one should never make broad generalizations.

Not according to the 14+ resolutions passed by the UN. Unless by “well” you actually meant “not at all.”