Recreational Poli Sci

Screen capture of the New York Times politics subsection of its website at 13:25 on March 17, 2010. Worth a bit of a chuckle.

Heads up, friends, it’s Census time. Yes, the Ye Olde Tradition from the first article of the Constitution says we must count heads to apportion congressional juice, but we also learn a lot about population changes from the form that folks fill out. I’m looking forward to learning what percent of Americans self-describe themselves with Scotch-Irish ancestry. That “ethnicity,” as you might describe it, is central to a particular senator’s identity without doubt (who sought to “redeem them from their redneck, hillbilly stereotype and place them at the center of American history and culture”).

Yet, there was a massive drop in the number of people identifying as Scotch-Irish between 1990 and 2000— according to the Census Bureau’s report on ancestry, from 5.6m to 4.3m, representing a 23% drop. So, if you’re S-I, fight your way to that census and make your belligerent presence felt!

Almost the anniversary of the start of my little tumblrblog, and I thought I’d celebrate bemoan visually how the number of entries appears like most folks’ gym membership usage patterns for their new year’s resolutions…

A late development in MA’s off-cycle senate race involves AG Martha Coakley, the Democrat, committing an unthinkable gaffe in Boston: referring to Curt Schilling as a Yankee fan. Oops. Maybe Coakley should take heart from John Kerry, though. As ‘Sconis can remember, John Kerry referred to the hallowed ground in Green Bay as “Lambert Field,” and still carried the state (if only by a whisker) two months later despite mangling Curly Lambeau’s name.