Government
Abusing Reconciliation?
Datagraphics can be used to inject civility into public debates. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (and others) has been quoted as saying that reconciliation has never been used to pass something like health care before. And people who are pre-disposed to believe what the right says believe him without checking further. And people pre-disposed... »
Reviewing an NYTimes Infographic
Recently the New York Times ran an infographic on the proposed 2011 Federal Budget. It’s a nearly perfect use of the treemap capability in data visualization where the size of the boxes is proportional to the amount of spending. If you click on a region it zooms in revealing a bit more information than... »
Gerrymandering and Congressional Power
Last time we saw that mathematical tools allow us to identify congressional districts that may be gerrymandered. These congressional districts are oddly shaped, but what isn’t immediately clear is whether these shapes are that way for legitimate political purposes (eg AZ-02) or for legitimate boundary purposes (eg rivers, coastlines) or signs of true gerrymandering.... »
Gerrymandering and the 2010 Census
When a state gains population it may also gain a new congressional representative. Frequently this causes the state to redraw its congressional district boundaries. Since 2010 is a Census year, states that gain or lose a representative will be going through the redistricting process. Therefore this is a good time to look into gerrymandering. A... »
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