Magic Statistics

A Zimbabwean Government Minister has categorically rejected a church report saying that 700,000 people whose houses were demolished last year remain homeless and destitute.  The government destroyed the houses during Operation Murambatsvina (“Drive Out the Trash”).

Minister Didymus Mutasa said the church report was "absolutely not true".

Asked how many new houses had been built, Mr Mutasa replied: "I can't tell you the number immediately, I will have to check. But everyone in the country whether affected by Murambatsvina or not is being considered for decent housing."

Baghdad Bob couldn’t have said it better.

The BBC story doesn’t identify Mr Mutasa’s cabinet portfolio; however, according to the Contemporary Africa database, he is Minister of State for National Security.  Why is a security minister answering questions about government housing?

Previous related posts:

• Zimbabwe effectively under martial law
• Zimbabwe rounds up destitute street people

The winner of Alaska’s Republican primary for governor favours an all-Alaska route for the proposed natural gas pipeline.  Sarah Palin, official Republican candidate for state governor, wants to re-examine the US$25 billion pipeline contract with a view to keeping the route entirely within the state.

The now-lame duck governor, Republican Frank Murkowski, negotiated a deal calling for the pipeline to run overland through Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta, whence natural gas would be shipped to the American Midwest via existing pipelines.

While Ms Palin has taken a definite stand in favour of an all-Alaska route, Democratic candidate Tony Knowles has stated only that he wants to re-negotiate the pipeline contract "from a position of strength" for the benefit of Alaskans.  The Canadian section of the massive construction project could be in serious jeopardy.

The two leading candidates for governor — Ms. Palin and Democrat Tony Knowles, a former state governor — say they want to re-examine the contract with major gas producers BP PLC, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp. to build and operate the pipeline.

The proposal calls for a 5,700-kilometre pipeline through the Yukon to Alberta to connect with existing pipelines to carry the gas to the Chicago area.

Ms. Palin is known to favour an all-Alaskan route that would see the gas shipped to Valdez, liquefied and sent by ship to the U.S. West Coast.

Immediately following his defeat, Mr Murkowski indicated he would call the state legislature into special session to get final approval for his pipeline deal.  The Washington Post reports that he intends to recall the legislature on 19 September, allowing more than enough time to ratify the contract before the November general election.

To make his pipeline deal more appealing, Murkowski said he and the North Slope oil producers — BP, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil — have invited lawmakers to participate in a new round of negotiations.

The lawmakers, to be selected for their committee positions and other special expertise, will help rewrite contract provisions that have drawn the most public criticism, Murkowski said at an Anchorage news conference.

Mr Murkowski, an exceptionally unpopular one-term governor, received only 19% of votes cast in last week’s Republican primary.  Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, was astounded, saying an incumbent garnering such a low vote percentage is "literally almost unprecedented for someone who is not indicted."

New research by Prof Steve Porter of Dalhousie University indicates that people who suffer traumatic experiences typically recall such events with consistency and clarity, even many years later.  This finding flatly contradicts a popular myth that memories of traumatic incidents are often, or even typically, repressed, sometimes for decades.

[T]he study indicates that traumatic memories, such as those of physical or sexual assault, are recalled with much better accuracy than positive memories.

"The vast major [sic] of people [believe] in repression … that we go through a horrific event and that our unconscious minds will force it out of our recollection," said Steve Porter, study co-author and a Dalhousie University psychology professor. "We really found no evidence of that."

This study is based on a sample of only 29 individuals but, when combined with other studies showing similar results that have accumulated in recent years, the belief that the mind “protects” itself by blocking out painful memories is increasingly discredited.  The truth appears to be closer to the opposite: Victims of trauma are far more likely to say that disturbing and painful memories are persistent.  They wish they could forget, but they cannot.

The study is forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science.