"The use of clustering parallels the rise of the relatively homogeneous suburbs. Government policies that created tight communities of like-minded people suddenly made it possible to corral voters who for all practical purposes resembled sheep in statistical holding pens. They could then be led to large concrete boxes that painlessly relieved them of their votes and allowed them to emerge as transformed as if from a shearing. In essence the suburbanization with its geographic sorting of races, income levels and tastes intersected with the rise of the computers that make cluster analysis possible."--Ralph Brauer
"In order to be a 'support-based hierarchy' (which still seems like an oxymoron to me), wouldn't the one who commands everyone else from the top of the hierarchy be the one who supports the most--not the one who is most supported?"--Jef Godesky
"We need more viable political viewpoints in the debate than merely “I’m for big biz and weathy” vs “I’m for big biz and wealthy but the poor folks don’t have to starve”."--REkzkaRZ
"Right now, our choices are Right Wing and Supersized Right Wing with Extra Fries, and they only have to compete with each other. Any third party trying to move in on their territory can currently be banished by invoking the spectres of Ross Perot and Ralph Nader."--Max Kaehn
"If we have learned anything in the last few years, it is that the economy is no longer an effective measure of human well-being."--Barbara Ehrenreich
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