Sunday, August 17, 2008

No, wait, that's 34 -- umm, 33

We have already seen that there has been some double counting in Rushfield's claim that 42 groups demand the impeachment of a Supreme Court justice (here and here and here and here).

Another example is with Rushfield's own organization, the Canadian Family Action Coalition (CFAC). This is the first group listed. The 3oth group listed is the "Niagara Chapter — CFAC". CFAC here clearly abbreviates Canadian Family Action Coalition — if you have any doubt, look at this pdf, where this chapter had petitioned Pelham town council to regulate local internet providers.

But surely we must assume that when Rushfield speaks for the CFAC he does so for the whole organization — both the central office and all its chapters. That is the whole point of having a central office. (Otherwise, we'd have to assume that some chapters disagreed with the head office position — which would negate whatever force Rushfield had when he spoke for the organization.) Thus, again, the judicious referee must rule against including the Niagara chapter. So we are down to 34.

The CFAC website, however, has pages for each province listing their chapters. Ontario is here. The 36th group on the list is the Renfrew County Family Action Coalition, which is listed by CFAC as one of its chapters. Striking it brings us to 33.