Saratoga Racing 08 Version

Another great year with a great group of friends. Good food, good walks, good talk and not so good gambling.

Albany Airport Art

A hanging of spools of colored thread.

But look through a golf ball-sized crystal and you see the farmer and his wife.



Check out the shadows on the wall. Wire art that looks like nothing until a light is shined on it at a certain angle.

Saratoga Springs Racing

This is our annual weekend at the track in Saratoga Springs. Our group has grown from 7 to 12. Maybe I'll have some pictures when I get back.

John McCain and Honor

John McCain refuses to define honor in this interview.

There's a theme that recurs in your books and your speeches, both about putting country first but also about honor. I wonder if you could define honor for us?
Read it in my books.

I've read your books.
No, I'm not going to define it.

But honor in politics?
I defined it in five books. Read my books.

What's McCains problem? Couldn't he think of a definition? Was he worried that the concept of honor would be discussed in relation to his campaign? Is he just mentally deficient compared to the man he was 4 years ago?

McCain Worse Than Bush?

Here is a good post from conservative Andrew Sullivan called "The Christianist Triumph At The GOP". The GOP platform is calling for the banning of stem cell research not only in publically funded research but also in privately funded research.

The Bush administration actually encouraged privately funded research on stem cells.

John McCain was also in favor of stem cell research before he was against it.

Briggs-Rauscher Reaction

This is a popular classroom demo that shows an oscillating reaction. It basically shows that two reactions can switch back and forth - the product of one reaction is the reactant for the other reaction.

I'm guessing this might be an applause getting demo. I've just ordered the chemicals for my own demo.

Denying Evolution

I'm currently reading "Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism and the Nature of Science" by Massimo Pigliucci. Chapter 3 is titled "One side of the coin: the dangers of anti-intellectualism". The first thing Prof. Pigliucci points out is that there is some justification for the distrust of rationalism. Basically, he points out that "sterile" rationalism a la Star Treks Spock can be as equally devastating as someone who is completely irrational.

But the point that first caught my eye concerned education, evolution and the "right" of the majority. A 2004 poll showed that 55% of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form. This is a completely irrational belief based on evidence. But it is a majority opinion. Should we then teach that God created humans in their present form in our schools and do away with the concept of evolution? Or, are we going to teach the best of what we currently understand about the natural world? Prof. Pigulucci asks whether we should vote on other scientific issues. Is the Earth flat or round? Does the Earth revolve around the Sun or is it the other way around? Prof. Pigulucci asks, do we base our teaching on the best science available or on political demagoguery?

These are questions worth pondering during this Presidential election year. Republicans tend to behave in an anti-intellectual fashion for some reason. Especially when it comes time to elect a President. Wouldn't you rather elect a guy you'd like to have a beer with than some effete, intellectual that actually thinks about problems? Well, G.W. Bush has answered that question for me. Still, John McCain, who cannot operate a computer, doesn't know how many houses he owns (or his wife owns), and can't remember which countries no longer exist, is the preferred Republican candidate for President. McCain, by the way, graduated near the bottom of his class at Annapolis. McCain probably wouldn't have been qualified to be admitted to Annapolis if it wasn't for his father's position in the US Navy. Yeah, yeah, I know John McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a POW so I need to cut him some slack.

Now, on the other hand, the Democrats are nominating a younger, thinking person, who wasn't brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He worked his way into an Ivy League university and got a law degree. They nominated a guy who doesn't think the answer to the question "when does life begin" can be answered in two words.

So based somewhat on anti-intellectualism, Republicans are arguing that we need at least 4 more years of what G.W. Bush brought us....maybe even worse.

Bob Casey is Awesome

A great line from Bob Casey's speech at the DNC.

"McCain likes to call himself a 'maverick,' but he votes with George W. Bush more than 90% of the time. That's not a maverick; that's a sidekick."

McCain: Maverick or Sidekick? Good bumper sticker.

Work

Today was my first day of full-time work as a professor. Believe me, it pays much better than at the adjunct level. No students yet, that won't come til next Monday. My first lecture section will be on Wednesday with a class of 68 students. Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be spent in Malone. My prime goal is to teach students to think rationally, but I don't have high hopes in this regard. My life as a semi-retired individual has come to a close, at least for awhile. I'm going to miss my afternoon naps.

Should Terrorists Be Allowed to Purchase Handguns?

There is a "gap" in Federal Law that allows persons on the terrorist watchlist to purchase guns in the United States. Seems like that might be a loophole that you might want to close.

Where does John McCain stand on the issue? He doesn't know or refuses to say. Of course he refuses to say. He needs the votes of the members of the gun lovers organizations.

Too Rich To Be President

From Glenn Greenwald's post at Salon:

But if there is one characteristic of Kerry's life that should disqualify him absolutely as a candidate for president, it is the fact that he has sought out millionaire wives to take care of him. Not to put too fine a point on it, he's a serial gigolo.

What do you consider a fair wage? John Kerry considers a fair wage a wife with 500 million

ANN COULTER: ... a kept man. He lives off the money made by other men and left to their daughters or wives.


Comedians have tried the Rich Guy persona along with a variation of the Gold Digger, which Jay Leno used in explaining how Mr. Kerry would eliminate the federal deficit: "He said all we have to do is find a really rich country like Switzerland and marry it."

[Kerry] has lived the life of a millionaire living off the inherited wealth of his two wives. As an Ivy League educated millionaire who did not have to work for his fortune, Mr. Kerry never had to worry about the money he earned, the taxes he paid

Now, having a wife who provides you with a private jet and eight multimillion-dollar vacation homes provides for a comfortable life. But is this the right preparation for becoming president? . . .

Will any of those above quotes by conservatives be applied to John McCain? I doubt it.

How Many Houses?

Ok, seven houses....but that doesn't count estates that have more than one house. And, we can forget about McCain's primary residence where he bought two condos in Phoenix and combined them into one 6-7000 sq. ft. megacondo.

Go here to read about all of John McCain's houses.

McCain Ads Lie the Most

From Newsweeks Jonathan Alter:

The now famous Britney Spears and Paris Hilton ad, accusing Obama of being a celebrity, wasn't false, just dopey. But it detracted attention from a string of false McCain spots on taxes. One ad said that Obama would raise taxes on electricity. Nope, not in Obama's plan. Another said 23 million small-business owners would pay higher taxes under Obama. Factcheck.org found that the "vast majority" of small-business owners would pay the same in taxes as they do now, and "many" would pay less. An ad saying Obama had voted for a bill raising taxes, for families making more than $42,000 a year, was found to be "false." And McCain's consistent claim that Obama would "raise taxes on the middle class"--a major theme of his campaign--is "simply false," according to this neutral policy center. In truth, under Obama's plan, families earning less than $150,000 a year would get a tax cut, and only those making more than $250,000 would see their taxes rise. Maybe by the time the Democratic Congress got done with it, Obama's tax program would look different. It's reasonable to speculate that Democrats will raise taxes. But the McCain ads weren't talking about that, they were talking about Obama's plan, which is easily accessed on his Web site. McCain's description of his opponent's plan was and is untrue. This isn't opinion, it's fact.

Alter points out that in the past, ads of these types were sponsored by the Republican or Democratic National Committees. Not in the above cited cases.....McCain approves everyone of those ads personally.

Withdrawing from Iraq to be Announced?

The Wall Street Journal has announced that there is an agreement to withdraw all combat troops out of Iraq by 2011.

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached agreement on a security deal that calls for American military forces to leave Iraq's cities by next summer as a prelude to a full withdrawal from the country, according to senior American officials.

The draft agreement sets 2011 as the date by which all remaining U.S. troops will leave Iraq, according to Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Humood and other people familiar with the matter.

Looks like Bush is finally taking the advice of Democrats and the majority of the American people.

If this is an accurate report, it brings up a few issues for the Fall campaign for President. Bush will be pulling out the troops....does this mean he "wants to lose the war" or that he is "unpatriotic"? Are we "cutting and running"? Is this a "timetable" or a "horizon"? Will McCain now lose his most important campaign issue...that we need to win the war in Iraq? Will McCain have to admit that he was mistaken when he told us that Maliki didn't really want a timetable for withdrawal.

I wonder how much the fact that Afghanistan seems to be falling apart has to do with this decision? But at least now McCain will have the extra troops necessary to protect Georgia and the Ukraine and Poland from the Russians.

John McCain and Wealth

Poor John McCain. He apparently doesn't know how many houses he owns. No, he really doesn't know! I wonder how many "regular, non-celebrity" people have that same problem. John McCain also has a real problem defining wealth. And, it's not just that 5 million dollar quip he made the other day.

“I define rich in other ways besides income,” he said. “Some people are wealthy and rich in their lives and their children and their ability to educate them. Others are poor if they’re billionaires.”

Now the old guy may have a point....but imagine the uproar there would be if that celebrity Barack Obama had made such a remark.

It continues to amaze me that people are impressed with the likes of John McCain. Want to discuss evil? John McCain has only two words...."defeat it". Very nice, very understandable, fits on a bumper sticker so conservatives love the quip. No thinking involved, no real world analysis, no specifics....perfect!

McCain is so out of touch with reality that he makes GW Bush look like some sort of savant. This isn't straight talk, it's Reaganesque quiping.

Jack Cafferty - McCain is Bush

It occurs to me that John McCain is as intellectually shallow as our current president. When asked what his Christian faith means to him, his answer was a one-liner. "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Great scholars have wrestled with the meaning of faith for centuries.....

One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.

Where are John McCain's writings exploring the vexing moral issues of our time? Where are his position papers setting forth his careful consideration of foreign policy, the welfare state, education, America's moral responsibility in the world, etc., etc., etc.?

John McCain graduated 894th in a class of 899 at the Naval Academy at Annapolis. His father and grandfather were four star admirals in the Navy. Some have suggested that might have played a role in McCain being admitted. His academic record was awful. And it shows over and over again whenever McCain is called upon to think on his feet.

He no longer allows reporters unfettered access to him aboard the "Straight Talk Express" for a reason. He simply makes too many mistakes. Unless he's reciting talking points or reading from notes or a TelePrompTer, John McCain is lost. He can drop bon mots at a bowling alley or diner -- short glib responses that get a chuckle, but beyond that McCain gets in over his head very quickly.

I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladimir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.

George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.

He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.

I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

Read it all here.

Stupid is as Stupid Does

I haven't visited the Mahablog in some time, but there is an excellent post about the GOP advantage and I think it hits the nail on the head. The advantage...stupid is easy, smart is hard. I think the advantage all started with Reagan's "quips". They were funny and easy to understand. You didn't need to think much at all. "There you go again". In "rightieland", Mahablog points out that being smart and analytical is just boring.

But, here is how Mahablog sees the conservative way of doing business:

Now, let’s think about that last sentence. To me, weighing, analyzing and explaining issues are inseparable from “confronting” them. You have to understand an issue thoroughly before you can deal with it wisely, and sometimes the wisest course is to leave the dadblamed issue alone. In Rightieworld, however, “confronting” an issue takes these steps:

1. Identify what you want to do (e.g., attack Iraq; help your oil industry buddies increase their profits).
2. Find or manufacture a reason why you should do what you want to do.
3. Overwhelm news media and the American people with blustering rhetoric about why America must do what you want to do, accompanied by juvenile taunting of anyone who disagrees with your doing what you want to do.
4. Do the thing you want to do.
5. Spend the next several months or years denying or making excuses for the mess you made by doing what you wanted to do.
6. Eventually, when the mess turns out to be an undeniable failure — blame liberals.

Notice there is neither weighing nor analyzing in the list above. Weighing and analyzing is for academics and women. Red-blooded Americans take the hairy-chested, Neanderthal approach and just smash the hell out of whatever is bothering them.

Drill here, drill now to solve our energy problems. Attack the Russian imperialists for invading an independent nation. If you are sick, go to the emergency room. When was the last time an American President called upon the American people to achieve excellence - the moon race? We are still living off the benefits of that "race".

The USA seems to becoming increasing populated by citizens that believe being smart is being "elite". Electing smart people is French and dangerous. Voting for someone that actually wants to help you improve your life will result in the terrorists winning. No, it is so much easier to listen to quips and three word slogans, then vote for the same type of guy that wants to continue the policies of the last 7 years.

Senator Lieberman a Prick?

Hey I didn't say it...it's right here in an Associated Press story.

His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.

Who says the press is never accurate?

Vietnam POW Will Not Vote for McCain

I get several updates from military.com every week. I was a bit surprised to find this article by Dr. Philip Butler, a graduate of the US Naval Academy, classmate of John McCain and a Vietnam POW. Dr. Butler was a prisoner of war for 2.5 years longer than John McCain. Butler discusses why he thinks prisoner of war status should not be a qualification for President of the USA.

A Good Question

Do you support George Bush more than you did 4 years ago? John McCain does.