60% of Americans say ham is evil! So why does this administration continue to support the use of ham in schools!

     Sound outrageous? Of course it does. It is an outrageous claim. If I actually expected you to believe this it would be reasonable to ask me for a link to the source of my claim. If you asked for proof of it and I couldn't provide it you would be justified in assuming that I was full of shit.

     This same principle applies to generalized statements in blogs. If you say that "most of America does/doesn't support X" then you need to be prepared to back it up. Getting huffy when someone asks for proof is usually the first sign that someone doesn't have any proof or that they inferred something from a source that doesn't actually say what they implied it did.

     By the same token when supplying "proof" to a questioner it doesn't help you to provide a link to a source that is obviously partisan or from the loony bin. An example of non-proof would be "proving" the existance of space liens on the Moon by linking to a source like Enterprisemission.com. This sort of link proves exactly nothing. If you want to "prove" a public opinion on an issue you need accepted sources like Gallup, CNN, FOX, ABC, USA Today's polls (done by scientific method) and not the polls on Bill O'Reilly.com. Bill's polls are interesting but not accurate (as he tells you up front).

     Asking for proof of claims isn't "lawyering" it is the standard by which your postings are judged. Screw this up often enough and no one will read your posts anymore.