Politics
razib | September 11, 2008Thoughts on educational attainment and voting patterns at the state level:
The percentage of a state's population with a bachelor's-plus does not correlate nearly as strongly with estimated IQ scores based on NAEP data (.46) as the percentage of a state's population with less than a high school education (.72) does. The prolish behavior HS detests might be better indicated by the less than high school percentage than by the bachelor-plus number, depending on where the cutoff is*. Both measures include similar proportions of the population (19.6% of the population over 25 years of age has less…
pontiff | September 11, 2008The techno wonder pundits say that the internet revolutionizes democracy by leveling the playing field (everyone can be an ass online, oh yeah!) But what I find more fascinating about the internet and politics is the role that search plays in polarizing politics. I mean, sure there are dissenting voices all over the internet, but google "John McCain" or "Obama" or "Sarah Palin" or "Joe Biden" and you won't discover a single dissenting opinion about any of these candidates on the front page of the search results (the exceptions to this rule are probably the small news items that Google…
j7uy5 | September 10, 2008Probably everyone has seen it by now, but the NYT has a headline about
the "culture of ethical failure" at the Department of the Interior.
In a way it is not news; I, among others,
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2006/08/culture_of_corruption_part_ii.php">wrote
about it two years ago.
Back then, I referred to it as a culture of corruption. Now,
the
department’s inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, has expanded
that.
Instead of a culture of corruption, it is now a culture of complete
ethical failure. Corruption is only part of it.
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/…
clock | September 10, 2008Under the fold, as we do here every day....
The Wars of John McCain:
John McCain believes the Vietnam War was winnable. Now he argues that an Obama administration would accept defeat in Iraq, with grave costs to American honor and national security. Is McCain's quest for victory a reflection of an antiquated pre-Vietnam mind-set? Or of a commitment to principles we abandon at our peril? Is there any war McCain thinks can't be won?
Numbers are Fun: McCain/Palin Bankrupts America edition:
To understand what that means in the context of a national campaign, all it takes is a little arithmetic.…
jrosenhouse | September 10, 2008Yes, another political post. What can I say?
Here's Michael Kinsley providing still more evidence that the Sarah Palin seen on television and discussed by the media bears little resemblance to the Sarah Palin that has been governing Alaska for the last two years:
Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn't a journalist and has never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey. Although Palin praised John McCain in her acceptance speech as a man who puts the good of his country ahead…
clock | September 10, 2008Josh Marshall:
Let's face it. Lipstick on a pig is a classic American phrase. And there's just no better way to describe the McCain-Palin ticket:
sb admin | September 10, 2008I fear for this anniversary. Like everyone else, my memories of 9/11 are vivid. It is a shared experience for Americans, but as time goes on, it is losing its shared meaning. Some of this meaning will, I'm sure, continue to be shunted into political ends, even more so with the election coming up.
I have no interest in 9/11 "Troofers", the conspiracy theorists who have all kinds of outlandish ideas about the attacks. I don't need them---the real truth is more frightening.
9/11 wasn't Pearl Harbor. We didn't wake up on the 12th to find ourselves at war, despite what the president may…
gregladen | September 10, 2008The same way, more or less, that Bush beat Gore:
Part I
Part II
See this.
gregladen | September 10, 2008In 1992, McCain sparred with Dolores Alfond, the chairwoman of the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen and Women, at a Senate hearing. McCain's prosecutorlike questioning of Alfond - available on YouTube - left her in tears.
Four years later, at her group's Washington conference, about 25 members went to a Senate office building, hoping to meet with McCain. As they stood in the hall, McCain and an aide walked by.
... McCain waved his hand to shoo away Jeannette Jenkins, whose cousin was last seen in South Vietnam in 1970, causing her to hit a wall.
As…
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.
gregladen | September 10, 2008From the Wall Street Journal:
The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.
The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague…
pharyngula | September 9, 2008I hope the Democrats cultivate some ferocity soon and start running ads based on this:
clock | September 9, 2008As usual, under the fold....
Quote of The Day:
"Do you think what is appealing here? I'll be careful here. This is not about sexual relations... Everybody watching this. This is not what I am talking about. When you see the picture together of John McCain, who is an older man, but he is a kind of Audie Murphy hero image and this obviously attractive woman much younger than him, it's like they are offering themselves up as a kind of a political couple, almost like Clinton and Mrs. Clinton, Senator... President and Senator Clin... They are offering themselves, it's a fascinating tableaux. They…
clock | September 9, 2008Read this.
Then watch this:
How does Palin fit into this?
Like this?
Or this?
Or this?
Or this (check my comments there)?
Related
gregladen | September 9, 2008A few political bits and pieces for you to look at.
The Republican Right Wing has successfully convinced the managers of NBC network to dump Kieth Olbermann and Chris Matthews in their role covering the current election. Too bad. That was the only news station I could watch and not puke very few minutes. MSNBC is no longer tuned in on my dial and this blog will no longer post (as I had been doing) MSNBC videos. I will still post videos of Keith Olbermann ranting about whatever, but they will be YouTube videos. This Blog Boycotts MSNBC. And NBC.
Dynamics of Cats exposes, summarizes…
oracknows | September 9, 2008Well, here's a rare bit of good news in the endless tedium that has become the U.S. election. It appears that Barack Obama has ticked off the antivaccine contingent. I know, I know, I said I would try to lay off this topic for a few days, but this is just too amusing. Apparently, he's gone a long way towards redeeming himself for his previous gaffe when it came to vaccines and autism, and the antivaccine zealots over at Age of Autism are all in a tizzy over it:
Last Friday evening, September 5, 2008, I had the opportunity to ask Senator Barack Obama about childhood vaccine safety/choice. His…