Where Does McCain Stand?

McCain claims that only he can work across party lines to stop gridlock. Then why won't he commit to do so?

Whipping Up Anti-Obama Anger

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (in video on CNN Anderson Cooper show). When you have an Obama, Pelosi and the rest of the hooligans up there going to run this country, we have got to have our head examined. It's time that you two are representing us, and we are mad. So, go get them.

It's clear that the Palin/McCain campaign has been successful in whipping up some serious anger, or hate, fear and ignorance, among a certain portion of the American populace. We've heard an example of this type of rhetoric in Saranac Lake from out own "Gary from Bloomingdale". We are almost at the point that we need to fear for Obama's life.

With all this anger, it is going to be difficult for Obama to get anything accomplished once he is President (and it looks pretty likely that he will be elected President, unless race is a huge factor).

At this point we can only hope that Democrats get the 60 seats in the US Senate that would be necessary for Obama to have any hopes of preventing the USA from going down the economic tubes.

Might complete Democratic control of the government result in socialism and disaster? Maybe, but at least we will have a party in control of government that believes government can work.

We've had almost 8 years of incompetent government. Incompetent because those in power don't believe in government. Look where it has led us. Never ending war; a city in still ruins, an economy in the tank and the "hands off" government eavesdropping on their own citizens. I'm not willing to take the chance that a new Republican President will be any more effective than the current President.

If anybody needs their "heads examined" it's those who will vote for 4 more years of disaster under Republicans.

Green Fluorescent Protein and Green Mice

The discovery and isolation of a relatively simple fluorescent protein in jellyfish that glows green when stimulated with the correct wavelength of light has led to the winning of the Nobel Prize in chemistry to one Japanese and two American scientists.

The green fluorescent protein consists of a chain of 238 amino acids bent into a beer can-like cylindrical shape, and for two and a half decades it remained a little-known biological curiosity.

Actually, the isolation of the gene that encodes the protein is what has led to a very powerful technique using the gene to label certain cells. The GFP gene can be inserted into almost any cell to make that cell and its progeny glow green. It can be inserted into almost any gene of any cell to make that cell and its progeny glow green if it expresses some other specific protein.



The gene has even been put into mice and rabbits to make green mice and rabbits.

Current Electoral Map

How does the electoral map look for Barack Obama? Not too bad actually. The above map is from princeton election.

Gary From Bloomingdale Hates Everyone

We haven't heard a really good rant from "Gary from Bloomingdale" in awhile. Today, on WNBZ radio "Talk of the Town" morning call-in show Gary was in great form. Listen to Gary tell us how Barack Obama is the same as a terrorist. You can hear the hatred (maybe racism) dripping from Gary's voice. In fact, Gary wonders where common sense in Americans has gone. We're all crazy to listen to Barack Obama. No, intead, listen to Gary, the moral, common sense, voice of America.

UPDATE:

Gary apologizes sort of but not really. Maybe Gary is worried about a visit from the Secret Service.

My Fellow Prisoners? Huh?

What is happening to John McCain? Why is he addressing his supporters as his "fellow prisoners"? Is he referring to us as all being prisoners of a Republican-controlled government for the last 7 years? Does he have his POW status on his mind so much that he is continually trying to figure out how to insert it into his speech? Did anyone in that audience even hear McCain call them his fellow prisoners? Are they even listening to him or are they all just daydreaming about something else? Just what is the state of John McCain's health?

Iraq Path to Victory

John McCain repeatedly reminds us that the "surge worked" and that we are on a path to victory in Iraq. It appears that the latest National Intelligence Estimate does not agree with McCain.

The new NIE, which reflects the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, has significant implications for Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, whose differences over the Iraq war are a major issue in the presidential campaign.

The findings seem to cast doubts on McCain's frequent assertions that the United States is "on a path to victory" in Iraq by underscoring the deep uncertainties of the situation despite the 30,000-strong U.S. troop surge for which he was the leading congressional advocate.

So it's clear the surge did not accomplish its true purpose, which was to allow for political reconciliation among Iraqis. So do we continue to spend 10 billion dollars a month and the lives of our soldiers keeping a "peace" in Iraq that the Iraqis themselves don't seem to want - or what?

McCain's Secret Plan

John McCain knows how to get Osama bin Laden and he has promised voters that he will do so.

"I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him. I'll get him no matter what and I know how to do it."

This is confusing to me and many others. If John McCain is so sure he knows how to get Osama bin Laden, why isn't he sharing his plan with the Pentagon? What does this say about John McCain? He is sure he knows how to get Osama bin Laden but he's not going to share this information with the White House or Pentagon. Sure doesn't sound like a very loyal 'Merican to me. This is very reminiscent of Richard Nixon's "secret plan" to end the Vietnam War in the 70's.

NYT Usually Right

Sarah Palin has said the New York Times is usually right. Here is what the Times has to say today:

Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember.

They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia. Senator Barack Obama has taken some cheap shots at Mr. McCain, but there is no comparison.

Meanwhile, Cindy McCain whines that Obama has "waged the dirtiest campaign in American history”. I'm not surprised she forgets the campaign G.W. Bush waged against John Kerry. But how does she forget the dirty campaign Bush waged against her husband? She should also critically examine the campaign her husband has and is waging against Barack "that one" Obama.

Sarah Palin - Palling Around with America-Haters

Does she support the Alaska Independence Party or not? It's clear they support her.

McCain Campaign Dangerous Business

The Palin/McCain campaign has pulled out all the stops. Getting crowds worked up about Obama paling around with terrorist to the point that one man yells "kill him". McCain asks his supporters "who is Barack Obama" and someone yells out "terrorist".

If anyone other than a presidential or vp candidate incited crowds to that level of anger against another presidential candidate I'm pretty sure they'd find themselves in the custody of the Secret Service. It is McCain that has shown his true self lately.

Keating Five Scandal and John McCain

While we're talking about the close relationship between William Ayers and Barack Obama, I guess it's fair to review the last major banking scandal involving John McCain. There is now a website www.keatingeconomics.com with a documentary that will be made available at noon today.

The Keating Five Scandal was not guilt by association. Money was paid to McCain in an attempt to influence regulators. It also seems that the Keating Five banking scandal is somewhat relevant to today's economic problems.

Personally, I don't see the need to bring up the Keating Five Scandal. John McCain's association with George W. Bush over the last 4 years should be damning enough.

Palin and the New York Times

Now that we know that Sarah Palin reads The Economist and the New York Times we can test her reading comprehension skills. Here is what Palin has to say after her latest reading of the NYT.

"Well, I was reading my copy of today's New York Times and I was interested to read about Barack's friends from Chicago," Ms. Palin said at the fund-raiser in Englewood, Colo. "Turns out one of Barack's earliest supporters is a man who, according to The New York Times, and they are hardly ever wrong, was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.' Wow."

First, it's nice to know that as a conservative, Palin believes the NYT is "hardly ever wrong". Naturally, in conservative talk that means the NYT is hardly ever wrong if I agree with what they print.

Unfortunately, we have to question whether Palin actually read the article concerning the relationship between Ayers and Obama, or, if she did read the article, exactly what are her reading comprehension skills. Try as they might to find a real relationship between Obama and Ayers, the NYT could not do it. And, we know that they are almost always right.

McCain - Make-Believe Maverick

Rollingstone Magazine writes about John McCain in an article called Make-Believe Maverick. Here is a small sample of the article.

In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.