Election 2008
grrlscientist | January 20, 2009tags: politics, President Obama
Presidential hopeful (Now President) Barack Obama
greets the packed house at Fogelman Arena at Tulane University
after he speaks.
Image: Michael DeMocker
FINALLY! After eight long, miserable, horrible years of unmitigated failure at the hands of GW and his goons, this nation has a real PRESIDENT that was voted into office by the PEOPLE instead of sneaking in through a series of criminal behind-the-scenes machinations that resulted in the first peace-time coup that this nation has ever experienced. I know that this nation will see more GWs in the future who…
grrlscientist | November 5, 2008tags: Barack Obama, politics, victory speech, election2008, streaming video
This is the third and last part of Obama's victory speech delivered on 4 November 2008 [9:47]
grrlscientist | November 5, 2008tags: Barack Obama, politics, victory speech, election2008, streaming video
This is the second part of Obama's victory speech delivered on 4 November 2008 [10:31]
grrlscientist | November 5, 2008tags: Barack Obama, politics, victory speech, election2008, streaming video
This is the first part of Obama's victory speech delivered on 4 November 2008 [4:12]
grrlscientist | November 4, 2008tags: Barack Obama, election2008, politics, NYC, Times Square
Image: orphaned [larger view].
One of the nice things about living in NYC is the fact that there are often fun things happening that are both spontaneous and free-of-charge. One of those events occurred last evening and continued through the wee hours of today, when I spent election eve in NYC's Times Square, along with half a million other people.
Even though I am not normally very tolerant of crowds, I do really enjoy walking around Times Square at night, and this was a pleasant evening; not too warm nor too cold, and the…
grrlscientist | November 4, 2008tags: Sarah Palin, politics, satire, humor, streaming video
Sarah Palin cannot tell the truth if you held a moose gun to her head, and she proves it while standing in front of her own fellow morons, spouting lies that can easily be proven wrong. Do we want a lying misogynistic asshole like this in the White House, representing this nation to the world? [3:48]
scientificactivist | November 3, 2008If you haven't already, do it now. We have a chance today to move our country in a new much needed direction. One vote could be the difference between waking up tomorrow to a bright new future or another four/eight years of regret.
Go to voteforchange.com to find your polling location and to access detailed state-specific voter information.
scientificactivist | October 22, 2008Today we learned that the Republican Party spent an almost unfathomable $150,000 in the month of September alone on clothes and makeup for Sarah "Joe Sixpack" Palin. This is a breathtaking figure, and the irony is certainly delicious. However, I can't escape the feeling that something here is still missing.
Now, if only I could find some sort of aphorism to really get at the heart of this situation....
scientificactivist | October 9, 2008I was excited when I saw that The New England Journal of Medicine had today published summaries by Obama and McCain of their health care plans, expecting something quite detailed to appeal to a highly critical expert audience. However, their summaries were still as general and vague as ever. Regardless, these new write-ups are still a nice resource for people interested in the two candidates' plans. You can read Obama's plan here, McCain's here, or see a pdf of both side-by-side here.
On many aspects, both plans--at least as they're presented here--are quite similar. Both stress…
scientificactivist | October 8, 2008When I think back to the presidential debate last night, one moment stands out in my mind more than any other. And, no, it wasn't McCain calling Obama "that one". It was the discussion following Tom Brokaw's question "Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?"
Health care came up several times throughout the debate, but here I thought the answers were most telling. This is in spite of the fact that I took issue with the way the question was phrased. Specifically, I felt that the third choice ("responsibility") was unnecessary and just gave the candidates an easy…
scientificactivist | October 5, 2008Recent polls have shown that voters trust Obama over McCain in addressing the economy by a margin of about 10-15%. But, what do the experts think?
The Economist conducted its own poll of economists (appropriately), and found that they agreed that Obama is the stronger candidate when it comes to the economy--but by a much wider margin. Eighty percent respondents agreed that Obama has a better grasp of economics (versus 8% for McCain), and 81% believed that Obama would pick the better economic team (versus 14% for McCain). On a scale of 1-5, respondents gave Obama's economic plan a 3.3 and…
scientificactivist | September 26, 2008Yesterday, the Obama campaign released a letter of endorsement signed by 61 Nobel Laureates (click here for a nicer looking pdf). Michael Stebbins of Scientists and Engineers for America points out that "this is the largest number of Nobel Laureates to ever endorse a candidate for office."
And, why should we be surprised? Obama's answers to a scientific questionnaire released last month were scientifically sound and indicative of good scientific advising. Then, earlier this month, we got to find out who has been behind that solid scientific advising. Wired gave a good rundown of the five-…
grrlscientist | September 25, 2008tags: Palin-Couric interview, Sarah Palin, Katie Couric, Palin Foreign Policy experience, streaming video
Apparently, during an interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin made a mockery of herself as a vice presidential candidate, as a governor of the state of Alaska, and as a woman. I have a video (below the fold) of part of this interview with Katie, along with the transcripts of part of that interview where Sarah describes her foreign policy experience.
Hey Sarah, what do Alaska and Russia trade? Polar Bears??
There is NO WAY this moron is qualified to do anything at all. I have potted…
scientificactivist | September 25, 2008Yes, these are really the front and back covers of this week's issue of Nature.
Really.
The dog on the left looks so hopeful. The dog on the right... confused.
On a more serious note, Nature does have a full section on the upcoming election, including Obama's answers to some science-related questions (McCain declined to participate). Check it out.
Hat tip to Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science.
grrlscientist | September 20, 2008tags: political views, politics, physiology, threat response, psychology, philosophyfight or flight, nature versus nurture
Most Americans have been actively engaged in the frustrating sport of arguing about politics, which often leads to the common refrain; "You just don't get it!" So this made me wonder why people who seem to have similar life experiences can end up with such dramatically different personal philosophies -- philosophies that ultimately affect their political views and voting behavior. Apparently, I am not the only one to wonder about such things, because a paper was just…
illconsidered | September 10, 2008For those of you who read this blog and don't read Pharyngula, (there must be a few!), I found this video to be too compelling to stop wathcing, and very powerful and moving in its message.
There really is a lot at stake in the coming election, but I have less and less hope as each week goes by.
scientificactivist | September 1, 2008On Saturday, ScienceDebate 2008 and Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) announced that Barack Obama answered a fourteen-part questionnaire that they put together along with several other scientifically oriented organizations. Major props to ScienceDebate, SEA, and these other organizations for making this happen and to Barack Obama for thoroughly answering these fourteen questions.
I'd encourage you to check out his answers for yourself, at either of the links above. My own analysis is that his answers overall are quite satisfactory. He says all of the right things for the most part…
scientificactivist | July 23, 2008For those of my readers in the UK (or anywhere else where you have access to Sky News), I'll be appearing live on Sky News at about 10:30 11:30 BST this Friday to talk about Barack Obama's visit to the UK and his support among Americans living abroad. I'm not sure if the video will be posted online afterward, but if it is, I'll post a link to it here.
scientificactivist | July 1, 2008Am I taking crazy pills, or do people honestly believe that saying that being a prisoner of war doesn't automatically qualify you to be president is the same as attacking someone's service record? Because, this latest media flare-up over Wesley Clark's remarks is getting exceedingly absurd.
John McCain went through hell in Vietnam, and he dealt with it in a way that demonstrated a tremendous amount of character. However, even if the sole responsibility of the President of the United States were to be commander-in-chief of the military, that experience alone would not qualify McCain to be…