Politics

I was just watching Frontline's "Dreams of Obama" and I was struck by one of the segments which talked about his tenure at Harvard Law Review. He was apparently elected because of conservatives "crossing over" to vote for him, and he apparently got ten times as much criticism from the left as from the right during his time as President of the journal. I realize that doesn't prove anything with regard to his presidency, but it certainly suggests that he'll be the moderate consensus builder that he's been promising, doesn't it? I know I kinda gloat about the anger and frustration I'm predicting that the far left is going to see during this administration, but it sur…

So now that George Bush has departed the office of president and the inauguration mania has claimed down, I am wondering how people would grade Bush's Administration and where would you rank him in the list of all the presidents. Here are a few categories I can think of. Domestic Affairs: C+ -Education: B -I feel that No Child Left Behind although somewhat flawed was a large step in the right direction. -Economy: D+ -Although the economy has faced a huge collapse over last few months the problems with the economy where begun before Bush's tenure so he does not completely fail. -Other: C -George Bush was able to rally and unity a na…

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/11/17/obama.blackberry.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories This doesn't really make sense to me. They're concerned about the president's security and trackability when using a wireless communication device. Haven't all those untold trillions of DoD dollars produced a solution to this problem? I can see why the government would be paranoid about the president using a Blackberry, but seriously, isn't there some crazy satellite-based e-mail system that the US could equip the president with? As for tracking all the president's e-mail, just have that crazy device talk to Whitehouse e-mail servers which are compliant with government regulat…

Considering the profound implication for our understanding of the universe offered by the LHC, the fact that carbon-capture technology isn't in abundance, that there are plenty of diseases that are yet to be cured, and that there still people in the world who simply don't have food. I wanted to ask some general questions about scientific research. Where should funding for scientific research go to? (if you had to chose between funding research into agriculture, energy or medicine, which would you chose?) Where should it come from? (locally? nationally? internationally? from corporations?) How much of it should there be? (in the context of a recession)

Saw this story this morning. Good controversial letter from Rep. Goode to his constituents:

Some of the big names that were seeking clemency but did NOT get attention from the West Wing include Randall "Duke" Cunningham (bribery), George Ryan (racketeering), and Michael Milkin (fraud). But perhaps most significantly, there was nothing for Scooter Libby or Ted Stevens. Here are some interesting statistics. (Technically he could do more before he leaves office tomorrow at noon, but the press office says he's done.) Bush: 189 pardons 9 commutations Clinton: 396 pardons 61 commutations (source)

Any speculations as to what Bush is going to do in his remaining months?

Ran across this: The 20 most gerrymandered congressional districts in the US http://www.slate.com/id/2208216/slideshow/2208554/fs/0//entry/2208555/ Some of these are amazing,with the tenuous connection between parts of the districts. Are there any rules about this? I wonder if some mathematical limitation could be placed on how much surface length/area you have, or some limit to how convex or concave the district could be.

This is certainly shaping up to be one of the narrowest Senate races in history. With millions of votes cast, the difference between the two candidates has narrowed to a mere 200 votes, representing one hundredth of one percent of all votes cast. This is before a mandatory recount required by state law. One thing I do find interesting is how much of Coleman's meager lead has shrunk over the past week. This comes in a state with some onerous provisions that some have argued are intended to cause voter suppression and disenfranchisement, so much so that the Secretary of State's own ballot was marked as suspect.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/obama-dines-with-conservative-columnists/ So what do you think they talked about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_the_Magic_Negro I think the point of this song, which first became widely known after airing on the Rush Limbaugh show in 2007, is to suggest that many (most?) white people voted for Obama because of "white guilt". I happen to think that there were many good reasons to vote for Obama, and think that criticism remarkably short-sighted and shallow, but I see nothing wrong with the writer expressing his opinion on the subject. It's distasteful, but it doesn't seem to contain the suggestion that people shouldn't vote for him because he's black (after all, the singer is pretending to be Al Sharpton, complaining about Obama coming in la…

Exactly one week from now, George Bush will leave the White House and Obama will take his place. After 8 years, the history's stupidest president will finally take his leave. But, do you really have high hopes for Obama? I'm already having my doubts, especially with the announcement made in this thread over here...

I just happened across this article on PLoS Biology, and figured it could spark some good discussion. It's fairly short, and an easy read:Historical and Genetic Perspectives on Cousin Marriage So, basically, should these bans be in place? IMHO, this has interesting sub-questions: 1) Does the government have the right to forbid pre-natal activities that will result in injury or risk of injury to a child? 2) Does the governmental responsibility depend on the level of risk? What is more appropriate, the relative increase in risk, or the absolute increase in risk? 3) What if one person taking the risk increases the chances of damage for everyone else (inclu…

npts2020; I think you have a sub-point, possibly a waste of resources that could be used for social needs opposed to protection, but that billion dollars worth of bombs, involved a whole list of non military business to create each bomb. Steel Mills, fabrication, mineral mining, administrative and all the transportation involved. It does end with the dropping of those bombs and if protection is not important so does the economic value. Housing is probably the best example of a useful item, Where all that goes into building one home is bought by one family, spending probably up to half their income (for years, then a portion) on all it takes to own the home bought. Thi…

This has come up many times in discussions here at SFN -- the question of whether western nations are politically capable of putting their standard of living at a lower tier of importance than the problem of global warming. I realize this is a complex question that is not easily answered with a simple example like the one I'm giving here, but I think it does form an indication of how far we're willing (or unwilling) to go. Economic crisis to delay other Obama goals The key point here being that even a Democratic president, presiding over a Democratic congress, with no possibility of partisan veto and almost no possibility of partisan filibuster, still believ…

Just wondering what you all think of the situation over there. I am no mindless supporter of Israel, often criticizing their behavior on this forum. But this time it seems to me that they've shown astounding restraint given the way they are being constantly and inexcusably attacked. There is no country on this green earth that would stand for that -- not a single one. For the UN to say that they've not been responding proportionally is insane -- that's putting body counts ahead of justice and fairness. Since when is the number of deaths even relevant in the issue of justice? How does that even enter into the discussion? And frankly it WAS a proportio…

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2009/01/06/obama_wants_journalist_for_sur.html?hpid=topnews Interesting choice. Gupta hosts a health program on CNN and is a frequent guest all over that network. The media is reporting it as the selection of a journalist for the job, which certainly had to be a major influence on the decision, but he certainly has his bona fides as well. Politically speaking, the most interesting aspect of the choice is that it will tick off some on the far left. It was Gupta who attacked Michael Moore over inaccuracies in Sicko, and CNN defended him right down the line, to the complete consternation of sickophantic Moorophites everyw…

http://www.pjtv.com/ Mediocrity seems to be very attractive these days. I had never heard of this "news" site, so I guess it is drawing some attention for them.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1183459207651&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull Israel and British Gas intend to drill for natural gas 36 kilometers off of the Gaza coast, in an area that was designated as Palestinian territory following the Oslo Accords. They intend for 10% of the profits to go to Palestine, however they don't want the profits to go to Hamas. So, they're setting up a bank account to put the money in until a government other than Hamas can claim it. Then they invade Gaza. WTF? Does this smell funny to you? It does to me. Hamas has stated they would support the arrangement however they want changes to the deal, like gett…

i believe the economic recesscion came at the perfect time as it will show how barrack obama handles these situations, i know the crisis is cooling now but it will still require a helluva lot of thinking to get through this without WW3

This is a conservative meme which has been going around for quite some time, but seems to actually gained some traction as of late: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/01/02/sirota_fdr_depression/ This is one of those "I ignore your reality and substitute my own"-type arguments. How exactly is it these people can spout blatant lies and then follow them up with "historians pretty much agree on that"? I'm reminded of the Fox Noise response to Peter Schiff. The effect on the New Deal on the Great Depression is certainly debatable. What do you think. Did the New Deal actually prolong the Great Depression? After all, most historians agree!

Obama's team has set up a new website asking for questions from the public: http://change.gov/page/content/openforquestions The idea is that questions can be voted on by the public and the popular questions will be answered by Obama and his team. (It's based on Google's Moderator software, which they use in speeches and discussions at Google HQ.) The first few questions are predictable, but there are some great questions in the top set, I think. I had actually been thinking about this sort of thing before. It would do volumes of good (in terms of image and PR) if he'd make good on the idea and honestly answer the top questions. I'd like to know what my pre…

So, in the context of a "redistribution of wealth" discussion in another thread, the idea of socialism came up repeatedly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and the creation of an egalitarian society. Often, it was described as inherently bad (like the woman at the McCain rally who said Obama was an Arab, as if that too were inherently bad). This thread is intended to explore the relative positive and negative aspects of socialism. It is not to throw p…

There's a chance I'll meet both G Bushs and maybe even Obama in 3 weeks. I'll at least see them on the ship. I'll report back with my take on any speeches(unless, of course, I'm on watch during them).

The story today that the deficit will top $1.2 trillion was bad enough, but the accompanying story from the Obama camp that this will likely be the case for years to come was a tough pill to swallow. The budget is only (only?) $3 trillion, so we're talking about spending another 50% on top of that. Yowsa. But aside from a couple hundred million in Defense spending (if you're lucky), what can really be cut? Most of the programs in place are either employing people (at a time when layoffs are ill advised) or help the economy in some indirect way. I think we're on the right track, scary as the numbers are. The hard part's actually going to be trimming the bud…