Everybody Knows...

If 'everybody knows' such-and-such, then it ain't so, by at least ten thousand to one.

--Robert A. Heinlein

Everybody knows that GM cars suck. That's why according to J.D. Power, Buick ties Lexus in vehicle dependability. Also why the Chevrolet Malibu was named car of the year for 2008, beating out a field of six shortlisted cars and trucks of which three others were GM products. 

(The car of the year for 2009 is a Ford. The Flex, to be exact.) If I'm Obama, I'm making damn sure I don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

The stuff "everybody knows." Everybody knows the name of Adam's wife in the Bible, right? Adam and Lilith, of course.  

24-karat gold is not pure. A small amount of copper is mixed in: otherwise you'd be able to mold the gold with your bare hands.'

Nuclear waste is really, really bad, right? But what about coal ash, which is up to a hundred times worse?

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that we may not have all the facts, and the facts we have could well be wrong...