THE DAILY BLADE: Cutting Edge Political Analysis
The Stiletto was reading an article in The Washington Post about The House passing a bill that would ease President Bush's restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research by a vote of 253 to 174 - short of the two-thirds majority needed to override an expected presidential veto. She then decided to check out which Republicans voted with the Dems in favor of H.R. 3 and vice versa. The Post broke the vote down by party affiliation, state, region, "boomer status," gender and – get this – astrological sign.
Though The Stiletto can’t quite figure out how this information could possibly be predictive, it turns out that those born under the signs of Aries, Leo, Sagittarius and Scorpio voted 2:1 in favor of embryonic stem cell research, while those born under the sign of Pisces went for the bill by a ratio of nearly 3:1. The only group voting against the bill in greater numbers than for it was Gemini (26 to 24).
The Stiletto consulted Wikipedia to determine whether these signs correlated with personality traits that would explain the votes (emphasis hers):
† Aries: The first sign of the Zodiac, associated with fresh vigor and new beginnings. Individuals born under this sign are thought to have a confident, energetic, adventurous, enthusiastic, fair, passionate, and pioneering character but one which is also prone to selfishness, boastfulness, intolerance, impulsiveness, and impatience.
† Leo: The fifth sign of the Zodiac, associated with creativity and drama. Individuals born under this sign are thought of to have a proud, honest, generous, self-motivated, charismatic, warm-hearted, and enthusiastic character, but one which is also prone to conceit, bullying, rigidity, intolerance, and snobbery.
† Sagittarius: The ninth sign of the Zodiac, associated with travel and expansion. Individuals born under this sign are thought to have a dynamic, ethical, humorous, generous, open-hearted, compassionate, and energetic character, but one which is also prone to pridefulness, foolishness, impulsiveness, impracticality, and superstition.
† Scorpio: The eighth sign of the Zodiac, associated with intensity, passion, and power. Individuals born under this sign are thought to have a complex, emotional, analytical, keenly perceptive, inquisitive, focused, determined, hypnotic, and self-contained character, but one which is also prone to extremity, jealousy, secretiveness, possessiveness, stubbornness, cruelty and cunning.
† Pisces: The twelfth sign and last sign of the Zodiac, associated with human emotions. Individuals born under this sign are thought to have a dreamy, romantic, generous, emotional, receptive, affectionate, and honest character, but one which is also prone to exaggeration, fickleness, passiveness, hypersensitivity, and paranoia. It is notable that early believers in Christianity often used the symbol of Pisces (two fish swimming in opposing directions) in order to secretly identify themselves.
† Gemini: The third sign of the Zodiac, associated with youth and versatility. Individuals born under this sign are thought to have a lively, communicative … witty, inquisitive, clever, and adaptable character but one which is also prone to superficiality, maliciousness, inconsistency, cowardice, nervousness, and cunning.
Putting all of this together, Pisces is associated with Christianity, and legislators born under this sign supported embryonic stem cell research more enthusiastically than any other group. On the flip side, Geminis - the only group voting against the bill, albeit by a razor-thin margin - are superficial, malicious, inconsistent and cowardly.
It’s just as The Stiletto suspected all along: Astrology is as fraudulent as Freudian psychology.
The Stiletto decided to slice-and-dice the vote by surname to see if any interesting patterns were evident (hey, this analysis should be at least as valid as one based on the Zodiac):
† Davis: Among the Dems, the Davis vote was a wash: one for, one against. Among Republicans, three Davis’ voted against and one voted for it. In total, the Davis vote went 2:1 against the bill.
† Diaz-Balart: Both voted against the bill.
† Johnson: Both voted against the bill.
† King: Both voted against the bill.
† Miller: Both voted against the bill.
† Smith: All three voted against the bill.
† Wilson: One for, one against the bill.
† Young: Both voted for the bill.
The Stiletto’s vote breakdown shows that House members who share a surname have an unusually high propensity to vote in lockstep. She will perform this surname analysis on other votes of particular interest, and report the results in future editions of The Stiletto Blog to see if the correlation holds up.
San Franciscans Gone Wild
For some reason The Stiletto can’t fathom, New Yorkers have a reputation for having ‘tude and for being rude. But we’re purring pussycats compared to those surly, furious San Franciscans.
The Baker's Dozen, a 16-member all-male a cappella group from Yale University that has performed for the president, performed "The Star Spangled Banner" for guests at a New Year's Eve party hosted by the daughter of Reno Rapagnani, a retired San Francisco police officer and former mayoral bodyguard.
Several of the partygoers began ridiculing the singers, calling them preppies because they wore sports jackets and ties, and taunted them with anti-gay epithets. As the singing group left the party, they were set upon by the thugs. One singer whose jaw was broken in two places required reconstructive surgery; another needed medical attention for a concussion; a third was treated for cuts and a swollen ankle.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the attackers "allegedly include graduates from Sacred Heart Cathedral, one of the city's oldest and best-known private schools." To date, no one has been arrested for the melee.
And if you think the kids are rotten, get a load of the "grownups." The New York Times reports that 28 parking control officers were attacked last year, up from 17 in 2005:
People in the field say abuse is common, often frightening and, occasionally, humiliating. In November, an officer was spat on, another was punched through the window of his Geo Metro, and an irate illegal parker smashed the windshield of another officer’s golf-cart-like vehicle.
Even more shocking than "parking rage" attacks that landed two parking control officers in the hospital last November, a young man was killed about three months earlier "trying to defend a spot he had found."
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February 21, 2007
The Stiletto wrote:
The Stiletto believes she may have broken new ground in political analysis with her hypothesis that Representatives who have the same last names have an increased probability of voting in tandem on legislation and resolutions passed by the House.She first noticed the correlation in last month’s 253 to 174 vote to loosen President Bush's restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research. In Friday’s 246 to 182 vote in favor of the nonbinding House resolution to oppose the administration's planned deployment of an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq, 229 Dems voted Yea, 2 Nay and 2 did ...
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