Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
According to Mark Twain, “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” We here at the National Institute of Prevarication are heartened at the continued use of statistics to bolster all sorts of attempts by our US Congress and White House to exert control over us.
According to NIP in-depth analysis examining 873,457 statistical postings being used to prop up all kinds of assertions, 73.9% of all statistics are just plain made up.
Here are some examples of statistical mumbo-jumbo:
December 12, 2009: Bloomberg’s Billions Buy Opinions
Nov. 23, 2009: The recent hacking of the the Hadley Climate Research Unit has the world abuzz about the apparent falsifying of data and conclusions by this formerly respected scientific agency. (Read more about the hackers here.)
Turns out this is far from the first time that the Hadley CRU has been discredited. As early as 1995 these guys were bending data, using selective recursion to manipulate results of tree ring analysis to simulate the “hockey stick” graph. This graph supposedly showed an alarming increase in world temperatures during recent years. The increase was to coincide with industrial activity, “proving” the need for unsuspecting and ill-informed government policy-makers to pass draconian measures on industry to curtail CO2 emissions. Read more how this formerly respected climate research group falsified statistics here.
Nov. 1, 2009: More Phony Job Stimulus Numbers
Oct. 29, 2009: White House Puts Out Phony Job Stimulus Numbers
