Careful Tim; you're opening a Pandora's Box here and we're all guilty of quickly turning this into a pure non-SAS topic.

Why is it a Republican "bias"; b/c they don't want sampling? Do you think the Dems desire for sampling is pure altruism and not what you call bias, in reverse?

Are you sure the census under counts are b/c the census takers are afraid to venture into certain neighborhoods *OR* might it be b/c many potential respondents choose not to respond (for whatever reasons)?

My basic premise still holds and follows closely a personal philosophy that I've picked up over the last 20 years via all my kids different *sports*:

Keep to a minimum "rules/laws/situations" that are "gray" (ambiguous) b/c if you don't you'll inevitably invite controversy/arguments and/or shenanigans (e.g., think of the backstroke and the backstroke flip turn: you wouldn't believe the number of DQ's I've seen b/c of the grayness of a term called "continuation", despite the "good will' of the stroke and turn judges).

Also, e.g., before Calif.'s stupid Prop 187, the reality, and the Reps and Dems views, were that the Latino vote is pretty much up for grabs (not now of course <g>). If that was the case, was the Reps aversion to sampling b/c the were biased against Latinos? I think not, rather, I suspect it was b/c they shared, somewhat, the philosophy I described above.

Did you notice how the Clinton had the INS expedite naturalization apps before the 96 election? From somewhere like 18 months to under one or two *and* now it's back up to nearly two years? (I've got a staff of Vietnamese folks in my second business, some who were applying then and some now, so I have 1st hand knowledge of this drastic change in turnaround). Did you notice the controversy over Loretta Sanchez's upset victory over B-1 Bob (Dornan) and the non-citizens votes, most of which were from a "naturalization clinic", federally funded, based in Santa Ana?

Bottom line: I still do not put politicians at the top of my "trustworthy" list.

All the political Orwellian double-speak is getting to me.

You being an independent contractor (and general wizard <g>), I'm curious: do think a 1 percent cut in the marginal tax rates is a "give away" to the rich? $800 bill over 10 years (think percents!)?

This will be my last "public" post; sorry to those I flamed in the past for off topic posts.

Later

At 09:38 AM 8/9/1999 -0700, Berryhill, Tim wrote: >Uhm, You guys do know that the absolute headcount substantially undercounts >minorities and folks who live in areas where census takers do not like to >hang around, don't you? That is, while the bias of sampling can be debated, >the bias of headcount is Republican? If the headcount were perfect, it >would be the best way to go. Given that it is really a sample of the people >census takers can find, perhaps the sample should rest on a firmer sampling >plan. > >Tim Berryhill - Contract Programmer and General Wizard >TWB2@PGE.COM or http://www.aartwolf.com/twb.html >Frequently at Pacific Gas & Electric Co., San Francisco >The correlation coefficient between their views and >my postings is slightly less than 0 >> ---------- >> From: William W. Viergever[SMTP:wwvierg@IBM.NET] >> Reply To: William W. Viergever >> Sent: Friday, August 06, 1999 5:39 PM >> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU >> Subject: Re: Real stats on real big data? >> >> Right on Jerry. >> >> At 05:25 PM 8/6/1999 -0400, Musial Jerry wrote: >> >It would be absurd, except for the fact that the Constitution of the >> United >> >States specifically states there must be a head count every 10 years, not >> a >> >statistical sample. But alas, it appears that being politically correct >> is >> >more important than following the rules set down by our founding fathers. >> > Jerry Musial >> > BSCC >>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- William W. Viergever Voice : (916) 483-8398 Viergever & Associates Fax : (916) 486-1488 A SAS Institute Quality Partner (USA) E-mail : wwvierg@ibm.net Sacramento, CA 95825

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