Sep 13 2007
Good evening all (especially to the hundreds who signed up today).
It is a cool night in the Philly suburbs. The lights are low and my eyes are tired, but I feel the need to post.
Down below, I will share some poetry, some youtube clips and the like (some my own, some of others).
Please share in the comments something of your own, something that makes you laugh, think, all the whatnot.
Sep 13 2007
In Samuel Shem’s wonderfully satiric look at medical education, he follows some students on the final leg of that education: Internship.
Most of the older doctors are what you might expect, although Shem draws them all as neurotic and funny, in very dark ways. But one really has the truth in mind, and is intent on teaching the youngsters what life is really like. He tells them the four rules of medicine.
They are below the fold
Sep 13 2007
I was a competitive swimmer as a kid. In fact, I held a state record in one of my events. Impressed? Don’t be. ‘Cuz it twarn’t nuthin’. It was as insignificant a state record as anyone could ever hold. Why? Because I won the first event run in the first 25-meter pool in the state (before that, they were 25 yards). That day, the competition was not fierce in my event, and it ended in a tie for first place. My name was entered in the record book. And a week later, it was gone for good.
So, you see? It’s perfectly true that I held that state record. But it’s equally true that upon closer examination, its significance is underwhelming. All too often, crucial government pronouncements need to be examined closely to see if they have any more substance than my state record.
CRITICAL THINKING
One of the better classes I ever took in college was something called Data Analysis. I use its lessons regularly. In it, amongst other things, we learned that one of the seminal, oft-cited scientific papers proving that salmon navigate by magnetic orientation was fatally flawed. The prof contacted the authors, and got them to send him their raw data. They used two tanks for the studies, located in the field. And, as it turns out, the effect was only seen in one of them – the one closest to their campfire. Those ever-fascinating fish were orienting towards the light! But the paper’s still cited today. Looks like their sense of smell – shown in some other studies involving water diverted for a power plant – is much more what it’s about.
If you were giving a presentation, and that prof showed up with his calculator, it was enough to rattle you, no matter how well you knew your stuff. If only more of our journalists had been required to take a similar class!
Sep 13 2007
Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Maybe. But there’s good news from the Democrats, today, on a few different fronts.
First, and a hit tip to Granny Doc, the Associated Press is reporting:
Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner intends to run for the Senate next year, Democratic officials said Wednesday, assuring his party a competitive race for a seat long in Republican hands.
Warner scheduled an e-mail announcement of his plans for Thursday. The seat is currently held by Republican Sen. John Warner, who recently said he will retire at the end of his current term after 30 years in office.
This should be as close to a gimme as the Democrats will get, next year. Only Jeanne Shaheen, if she runs against Sununu in New Hampshire, should be as easy a pick-up. This would also mean two Democratic senators from formerly deep red Virginia.
But the news gets even better.
From Reuters:
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid vowed on Wednesday to block former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson from becoming attorney general if President George W. Bush nominates him to replace Alberto Gonzales.
Congressional and administration officials have described Olson as a leading contender for the job as chief U.S. law enforcement officer, but Reid declared, “Ted Olson will not be confirmed” by the Senate.
“He’s a partisan, and the last thing we need as an attorney general is a partisan,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told Reuters in a brief hallway interview on Capitol Hill.
Olson is very smart, and very connected, and his wife was murdered by the 9/11 terrorists, for which he deserves great sympathy, but he’s also a very sleazy man. Read a book about the actual right wing conspiracy that actually did hound the Clintons, and you’ll read about Ted Olson. He wouldn’t be the complete lapdog attorney general that Abu Gonzales was, but he might actually be worse. Because he can think for himself. And there is no reason to think he would be any more an honorable or professional attorney general than was Abu. Kudos to Senator Reid!
And then, there’s the sudden tough talk about Iraq…
Sep 13 2007
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has released their latest annual Strategic Survey report for 2007 likening the impact of global warming to nuclear war according to a story in Reuters today. The report states:
The most recent international moves towards combating global warming represent a recognition … that if the emission of greenhouse gases … is allowed to continue unchecked, the effects will be catastrophic — on the level of nuclear war.
The IISS is a forty-nine year old British think tank that describes itself as “the world’s leading authority on political military conflict”.
Sep 13 2007
The Native Artist didn’t choose to share secrets of his spirituality or ceremonies and I didn’t ask, but he told me there was a large book of newspaper articles about the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 over on the table, “Read it all,” he said. Then, he explained some things to me after I asked the right questions.
First however, I want to repost most of an earlier dairy to put the new information into historical context, then we will proceed.
Sep 13 2007
I am a part of Democrats Work.
I plant trees and then blog about it. That is my job. On a scale from one to happy that makes me damn near ecstatic. This is what politics looks like in five states across America:
Sep 13 2007
The nomination of John Kerry in 2004 was an act of “pragmatism” (to be sure, misguided pragmatism, I mean, seriously, a Massachusetts Senator as the pragmatic choice?) by the Democratic electorate. While most Democrats liked Kerry on the issues (except the big one Iraq, of course) voting for John Kerry was largely a collective act of pragmatism imo.
It’s interesting that Kerry was the pragmatic choice for the Democratic electorate as he behaved as a “pragmatic” politician in the run up to the 2004 campaign, and for too long in the general election campaign. It was a mistake for the Democratic electorate and a mistake for Kerry.
Of course after he lost, John Kerry became a brave politician. And credit to him for that. I will always have great respect for John Kerry now for one reason especially, his willingness to lead a filibuster fight against Sam Alito. Kerry and the many “idealists” at Daily Kos shamed me into joining what remains, in my estimation, the Netroots’ finest moment – leadership from the bottom up that led to a principled and WISE fight against Sam Alito’s confirmation. The interesting result of that fight, in the face of predictions of political doom, was an invigorated Democratic base and a Democratic Establishment that learned in 2006 that the sky would not fall if they ignored the DC Establishment and stood for something.
Does this have lessons for us as Democrats and activists? I think it does. I’ll explain on the flip.
Sep 13 2007
A short, somewhat meandering, but still memorable flick of Angela talkin’.
Which she does, as always, very well…
Sep 13 2007
My Favorite Things
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens;
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;
Brown paper packages tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things.
Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels;
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles;
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings;
These are a few of my favorite things.
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes;
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes;
Silver-white winters that melt into springs;
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don’t feel so bad.
Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers