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What is Ground Zero Dust Like?

Posted August 27, 2010 in New York

I think Bob Dylan said it best in 1962 without even knowing it:
I’ll take all the smog in Cal-i-for-ne-ay,
‘N’ every bit of dust in the Oklahoma plains,
‘N’ the dirt in the caves of the Rocky Mountain mines.
It’s all much cleaner than the New York kind.

Hyde Park on the Potomac?

Posted August 23, 2010 in District of Columbia, Map of the Day, Obama

The old quip about Obama’s home neighborhood of Hyde Park is that it is a community of blacks and whites, living together, united against the poor. The premise of the joke is of course that it’s a diverse community of high-income liberals.
While Hyde Park is certainly unique in the American landsccape, it turns out that [...]

Map of the Day: Obama All Alone in the Lone Star State?

Posted August 09, 2010 in Map of the Day, Obama, Texas

There are two parts of Texas, according to Jack Burden. “The part where the flat-footed, bilious, frog-sticker-toting Baptist biscuit-eaters live.” And the “part where the crooked-legged, high-heeled, gun-wearing, callous-assed sons of the range live.”
Both parts are a long way form Hyde Park.
Burden’s descriptions of Texas reflect the contempt that many outsiders have always felt toward [...]

Parsing the Prop 8 Map

Posted August 05, 2010 in California, Map of the Day

When a state like South Dakota outlaws abortion or a state like Vermont legalizes gay marriage, it’s because most voters in that state agree on that position. But when California makes a decision on a major cultural issue, it’s a proxy for the nation.
Twelve percent of Americans live in California, and the state has [...]

Will “Mama Grizzly” Claw White Women Away from Democrats?

Posted August 04, 2010 in Demographics, Map of the Day, Obama

A Mama Grizzly is “someone who is watching what is going on that is adversely affecting our cubs, our children, the future of America,” Sarah Palin told NBC recently. “It’s all about stopping Obama, Pelosi and Reid.”
Palin’s metaphor is a not-too-subtle suggestion to Moms that Democrats are making the country worse for their children.  Her [...]

When Ethno-Religious Groups Can’t Play Nice in the Sandbox

Posted August 02, 2010 in International, Map of the Day, Military

At the height of sectarian violence in Iraq in May, 2006, Joe Biden penned a column in the Times proposing to decentralize the Iraqi federal government, “giving each ethno-religious group — Kurd, Sunni Arab and Shiite Arab — room to run its own affairs.”
The plan called for “three largely autonomous regions,” but it stopped short [...]

Tea Party Caucus Officially More Southern and Western

Posted July 29, 2010 in Blue Dogs, Democrats, House, Map of the Day, Republicans, Tea Party

Michelle Bachmann might hail from the Land of the North Star, but most of the members of the Tea Party Caucus that she formed last week represent the southern and western wing of the Republican House delegation.
The geographic center of gravity for the Tea Party Caucus — or the average geographical location of the hometowns [...]

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