Palin and Kenyan Pentacostals

Remember when the shit hit the fan about Obama's former pastor?

I wonder if the kool-ade drinkers would be appreciative that Palin spoke/speaks highly of a Kenyan pastor that went on a witch hunt.

So, my opinion has and will always be that just because a preacher preaches doesn't mean his flock listens or even thinks he's correct. Obama is a good example when he openly criticized his former pastor's speeches. Not everyone is a blind sheep hobbling along with the rest of the deluded pack. But what does it say when you openly praise and give credit to prayer from a certified fuckwit? It says that you are either willing to create an artificial atmosphere of appreciation or that are just as demented as the person whom you are praising. Either way, the assessment is not in your favor.

McCain's cars

It isn't bad enough that McCain has seven-plus houses. He also has thirteen cars as well.

How many houses does Obama own? One? Can you guess how many cars? One.

Obama's "elitism" is laughable charge every day more financianl information about McCain surfaces. Oh look! Arugula!

Stem Cell Research and the Republican Party Platform

I'm pretty confident that the few readers I have on this blog are well-aware of the ban on federal funds supporting embryonic stem cell research. I wonder though if they are like me and let the change in party platform go by. It seems that the 2008 Republican Party position on stem cell research is for a complete ban (public or private).

Regardless of your position on whether it is "right" for taxpayers to help fund such research, I think it is easy to determine when a political party takes a very totalitarian approach to an issue of little relevance to the daily functioning of a society.

McCain needs to work on his comparisons.

I don't think what he says about what should be done about healthcare would jibe very well with some individuals:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition,
as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of
innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based
regulation.

So he wants to do to health care what the Repiblicans have been doing with the banking and credit industry. Someone needs to check his email more often before he writes.

Watering Down the VP Debate

It seems that the McCain campaign fought hard to have a strict Q&A-type format for the the VP debate between Biden and Palin. Why?

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms.
Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the
defensive.

It’s too bad she couldn’t see Joe Biden from her house. Because then she’d be an expert on him and know just what to say in the debates.

An Obama Campaign Gaffe

An viral ad made by the intellectually devoid and morally bankrupt group known as BornAliveTurth.org has been circulating the conservative blogosphere over the past few days.



The ad, of course, has no problem leaving out the reasoning behind why Obama voted against each bill. Anyone is welcome to read his website on that issue, which isn't the main point of this post. But basically, Obama does support born alive porotections, and he voting against the bill initially because it wasn't worded soundly compared to the already pre-existing bill calling for provisions of care to so-called "failed abortions".

Of course no one bothers to read the history, instead the kool-ade drinkers would rather hit the emotional zinger. "Gianna wouldn't be here today if Obama had his way" claims the site where the video is. But insert any percieved evil person for Gianna, and it can be shown that the emotionally charged statement is moot in this discussion on women's rights.

But an ad from Obama calling out the BornAliveTruth ad is simply wrong on who made the ad:

I think whoever is running the response-ad part of Obama's campaign needs to stop being so trigger happy in blaming McCain for every misleading and despicable ad put out. There do exist some grassroot initiatives that have been putting out erroneous ads, such as BornAliveTruth here and another organization distorting the relationship between Obama and Ayers to the point of beaing nearly libel.

The campaign needs to fire back at BornAliveTruth, not McCain, in this instance. They need to pull out the guns to suppress any doubts on Obama's position on women's rights and how misleading such ads are from these grassroots initiatives.

And I may suggest them looking into any possible connection between these so-called grassroots and the McCain campaign management. I'm not calling dirty politicis yet, but the Republicans have a track record of unethical actions during campaigns. Swift-boating and voter caging: need I say more?

NOTE: According to Ben Smith, the Obama ad hasn't been released to the press but was found on the BornAliveTruth's YouTube account. Here's to hoping that the Obama campaign reevaluates the integrity of the ad and revamp it to criticize the proper disgusting individuals involved.

How McCain twists Biden's words and Lies about Obama's tax plan (again, and again, and again...)

McCain distorting things? If you think he hasn't, then I have a Bridge to Nowhere to sell you.


Where do we begin? Did Biden say that paying higher taxes was patriotic, or that paying taxes is patriotic? When I watch the following and hear his speeches at various campaign stops, I sense the latter intent:

But let's put the word twisting aside. Can somebody instruct the McCain campaign that the tax increase they speak about was for individuals making more than $42,000 a year, and that this tax increase amounted to only about $15? And could somebody tell them that part of the Obama-Biden platform is to increase taxes on individuals making over $200,000 in total income?

But I guess real patriotism comes from not paying high taxes. If that's the case, then it seems Cheney is the best patriot because out of an adjusted gross income of over $3,000,000, he only spent 19% on taxes. Compared to Obama who made over $4,000,000 and spent about 33% to the IRS. It seems Obama isn't a patriot for giving so much money to the government.

McCain lieing about Obama's tax plan, again

The title really isn't shocking. We know McCain has lied before in his ads, such as with his recent one about Obama and sexual education. But let's take a look again at this 30-second soundbite:

I wish the McCain campaign could point me where in Obama's tax plan it states that electricity and heating oil would be taxed? Oh, wait. That's right. Obama is actually wanting to give people a $1,000 tax rebate on heating costs. Did McCain's campaign confuse a tax rebate with an actual tax? Or are they confusing a windfall profits tax, a tax on the coproration, with a tax on the consumer? Wait a minute...maybe they shouldn't go that route, since Palin supported a windfall tax in Alaska. Oops.

Probably not. They are claiming that in order to cover all of Obama's plans, Obama would eventually have to raise taxes. That's not what the ad implies. The ad makes the viewer believe Obama would tax such things now, not later. McCain is welcome to his opinion on the spending Obama proposes, but neither candidate has proposed anything that would cut down the budget's deficit (analysis on Obama and McCain from the Tax Policy Center).

But don't tell anyone that McCain's plans would actually increase the debt by about twice as much as Obama's plans. It may upset the kool-aid drinkers.

Spreading Misinformation in Spanish

In the first half of this political game, McCain has been attempting to use misleading and even completely false ads to gain an edge on the Obama. Now, in the second half and the home stretch, it seems both campaigns are upping their distortions.

Personally, I find it pathetic that the American audience has become so dependent on 30 second soundbites that such misnformation can be given over the airwaves. But that's for another post.

First, take a gander at the following Spanish speaking Obama ad:



For those who speak Spanish, the jest of it is linking Limbaugh with McCain, and claiming Limbaugh said that Mexicans were "stupid and unqualified" and need to "[s]hut up, or get out". Though I disagree with Limbaugh's claims that his quotes were taken out of context and that Obama is attempting to create racial antagonism, I do disagree with the Obama ad misleading viewers into thinking McCain associates with the political drek known as Limbaugh. They are not friends, and probably never will be.

I do think the Obama ad would have done a better job informing undecided voters that it was a Republican-ran coalition that filibustered an immigrant amnesty bill. The very same Republican-led coalition that now supports McCain's campaign, despite the fact that it was McCain's bipartisan legislation they opposed. The very same Republican coalition that McCain has hired to run his campaign and to operate the transition between his campaign and his potential transfer to the presidential office. Isthe new thing to do is to repackage the same-old politics as "reform" and "prosperity"? It seems so in the style of McCain.

And with that aside, we discuss the hilarious misinformation in the following McCain ad:



The legislation had poison pills? Doesn't seem so to me. The list constructed seem like reasonable plans. How does testing the waters with a new program before making it a permanent mainstay a poison pill? The truth of the matter is, though, it wasn't the "11th hour" amendments that did the imigration bill in. In the words of McCain himself, "I just think the opposition to it was very strong.”

But all of this is a moot point. The ad is misleading because it may make viewers think John McCain supports immigration reform still. He doesn't. When asked back in Janurary:

Q: At this point, if your original proposal came to a vote on the Senate floor, would you vote for it?

McCain: No, I would not, because we know what the situation is today. So to say that that would come to the floor of the Senate, it won't.

Maybe that's another thing a better Obama ad should point out? The fact that an ad criticizing Obama on immigration reform is coming from a candidate who has no interest in doing immigration reform. Nice.

Republican Geography 101

I have no itentions on turning this blog into a political discussion blog, but I can't help myself to point out a disturbing trend. The current Republican nominee seems to be lacking in geographical awareness.

I am not certain how many people remember when McCain talked about the problems at the Iraqi-Pakistan border, but we have another potential gaffe (or perhaps a serious foible in foreign policy) from the Republican candidate.

He thinks Spain may not be a friend of the United States. Spain, which is part of NATO and has contributed much in the intelligence gathering to fight terrorism. I guess the name of their prime minister[1] confused the poor guy. Either that, or McCain is very sore that Spain had no intentions to remain in Iraq for hundreds of years. Though Spain was part of the "coalition of the willing", the new prime minister (Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero) pulled the troops back in 2004.

Does it bother anyone else that the candidate who claims to have more foreign policy experience doesn't recognize the name of a current prime minister of an ally nation?

Oh well. I have a feeling that sometime in the near future someone will defend this gaffe/foible by saying something along the lines of "McCain was a POW for five years; so he didn't have a globe then" or something similarly inane.


Notes:
[1] His name does have a potential Latin flare to it due to being a Spanish name...but of course, since Spain speaks Spanish, one would assume it be possible for their prime minister to have a Spanish-sounding name. Is this a potential case of McCain showing prejudice?

Stephen Colbert gets it

Brilliant.

Olbermann talks about the voter caging

Michigan is one of the "swing" states this election, and so the Republican National Convention is doing what they can to gain that state. One method is to challenge people's vote by questioning their residence by the use of foreclosure lists.

The RNC has a long history of caging votes. Such programs have always been proposed as some means of creating equal and fair voting, but really that's a charade. They target minorities, a group that has a large tendency of voting against Republican candidates. It's an unethical attack against a person's right to vote, and it creates unneccessary complications which are easily avoidable once one looks at the law behind voter registration and the ability of voters to vote in Michigan (see previosuly linked article).

Olbermann had a segment on this story:



Does anyone still think McCain/Palin campaign is all about change, now? You can put lipstick on a pig...

McCain's Lack of Defense of Palin's Earmarks

It'samusing, really, to see McCain offer non sequitors and tu quoque responses to legitimate questions about his campaign. For a recent example of such behavior, one only needs to read a recent AP interview.

He was asked about nearly $200 million in congressional pet projects Palin requested for 2009 for her state, despite her boasts that she opposes such projects and his claim that she didn't ask for any. McCain responded by criticizing Obama for seeking more than $900 million in these earmarks, by one count.

"That's nearly a million every day, every working day he's been in Congress," McCain said. "And when you look at some of the planetariums and other foolishness that he asked for, he shouldn't be saying anything about Governor Palin."

I don't recall hearing Obama or anyone on Obama's camp attempting to champion him as some sort of pork reformer. But we do hear ad nauseum about Palin the Pork Reformer. The very Palin who demanded money for a bridge to no where, among other named "pork" projects.

It seems like McCain realized how to use the internet afterall. He is simply regurgitating the same bullshit the kool-aid guzzlers do in the conservative blogosphere.

Palin's email hacked

Doesn't surprise me. This is what happens when you choose to have a private email instead of one built behind a (hopefully) more secure network. People will break into it and post pictures.

Now, I don't condone such activities. But, I do find it funny.

How Would McCain Win a "Key State"?

Do you think McCain could win based off of his personality, like one of his campaign organizers said off-the-cuff?

Do you think McCain could win based off of his policies? You know, the ones he doesn't dare speak about on television but has no problem publishing on the Internet, like the proposed tax on health care?

No, those are what real politicians do. You know, go to town meetings and talk to people. McCain's campaign is all about various ways to vote cage and suppress.

How could one potentially suppress the opposition vote? Easy. Mail a flier to registered voters that pose as an absentee ballot, like the ones being sent in Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia. Another way to cause confusion is to argue the validity of a vote due to foreclosure listings.

While the McCainiacs are busy complaining about how "insulting" Obama ads have been, maybe they should reconsider their support of a campaign that would rather use Rovian tactics to rob and deceive voters.

Kool-aid drinkers miss premise of Obama Ad

This doesn't surprise me at all. Consider the following ad from Obama titled "Still":



The kool-aid drinkers at Hot Air are stuck on the premise of modern technology, but fail to address the ending message of the ad. The non-tech-savvy McCain comes from an interview done by the New York Times back in July (Politico has the summary about the technology part).

What is the ending message? The same old Republican nonsense of helping corporations over middle America. But none of the kool-aid drinkers would ever be bothered with discussing the issues and policies. Instead, they'd rather talk about their personalities.

Reviving the old blog

To deal with some issues that have sprung up with a certain dipshit and his egregious claims.

The chemists need a big toy, too

What with the opening of the LHC and the test runs on the "Squirrel Smasher", I do believe us chemists are left with nothing to smash together at ridiculous velocities.

Any suggestions? We need to smash something before we are left with nothing to smash together.

Biochemistry shouldn't be this fun

It is a cardinal rule written somewhere that biochemistry needs to be designed to suck the last bit of liveliness from any budding scientist.

How can biochemistry succeed in such a goal when it produces such a fun video game? I mean, that's not fair. Not only are you having fun, but you're learning the amino acid groups.

I think I need to write Congress.

"Chancygate": An Unfortunate Hoax

So it appears that the chancellor's email about Rush is a hoax, according to the Daily Illini and an email from Assc. Chancellor Kaler. Which makes sense from the perspective of certain contributing alum being part of the infrastructure known as Greek life, and it would be terrible to upset the contributors to university coffers.

But in all fairness, I am a first year graduate student, and I have yet to receive an official correspondence from the chancellor (or it was ages ago and I had deleted it, which amounts to the same thing pragmatically). So I didn't know about the typical format of emails from his office. Secondly, I was on my laptop in the union using the CITES express mail, and so didn't have access (nor any suspicion) to the e-mail header, which would've thrown red flags.

But here is a morsel for all you disgruntled anon's that disagree with my position toward Greek life. I know such blanket statements as I've made in person and the email made offend you. But you should ask yourself, did you fall within the roughly (or more) 70% of Greeks that comprise of the "stereotype", as research in higher education shows, particularly with regards to alcoholic intake and GPA? Could you see the concern of those with making diversity work on campus and developing an inclusive community on a university have some initial criticisms of the structure of first-year Rush?

And I know some of you are saying "I am not this stereotype". Of course you probably aren't. This is another instance of the description being a normal (or Gaussian) distribution. A good majority of Greeks have responded on surveys of being moderate to heavy drinkers, listing escapism and the desire for social inclusiveness (or "in-group acceptance") as two major reasons/motivations. Of course these reasons aren't dependent on simply being Greek; it exists in non-Greek social groups as well. However, there is a significantly larger frequency found amongst Greek members.

If you claim you are/were not a moderate to heavy drinker and Greek, then congratulations. You are beyond the normal distribution. But my next question would be when did you rush. This is important, because as time increases between starting college life and rushing, the less influential Greek life has on peer-group exclusivity and impact on GPA. This is also documented in the literature.

These are concerns which float in the minds of administrators when the topic of Greek life comes up in any meeting: drinking, academics, campus community. I have plenty of anecdotal stories about people who became complete failures after they rushed, and I have several anecdotal accounts of people who had great successes as being a member of the Greek community. But you have to ask yourself this: is it a "stereotype" wrongfully placed, or is it an accurate portrayal of the normal distribution of Greek members?

I know my answer. What is yours?

Kudos to Chancellor Herman of UIUC

My undergraduate Alma Mater is heavily influenced by Greek life (eg. fraternities and sororities...not people from Greece). It was nearly impossible to meet someone in one of your classes who was not part of or at one time was part of the Greek community. In fact, student government elections were basically a joke since it came down to voting on either this Greek or that Greek, with student government policies heavily favoring the advancement of the Greek life.

So, it is really shocking to see a chancellor at another university sending a mass criticism of the Greek life to the student body. And, being a silent observer of the activities and antics of the Greeks at my university, I have no problem agreeing with the opinion in Chancellor Hermon's e-mail. It follows (all emphasis mine):

Dear Students,

Many of you may be aware of an event known as Rush. It is my objective to warn you of the potential downsides of Greek organizations. I advise you to not succumb to the aggressive recruitment tactics used by these organizations. It has been my concern over the years, that the Greek culture of alcoholism and lack of respect for the community degrades campus life. These organizations present themselves as prestigious, yet are discriminatory, serve to perpetuate social inequality, especially with respect to the opposite gender, and promote a lack of diversity. Many students have expressed concerns with regards to safety on campus, particularly due to Greek culture and behavior. It is my hope that a student's experience on campus strengthens one's individuality, but the Greek system emphasizes the group above all, without cause or reason. This is detrimental to the purpose of universities.

I hope that you will consider wisely.

GDI Chancellor Richard Herman

Wow. I have no additional commentary, since he wrapped up my sentiments precisely. I know several people who were Greek, and they were cool. But I also have met my fair share of Greeks who fit the xenophobic, close-minded type expressed in the chancellor's e-mail.

Consider his e-mail a general overview of my perspective as well.