It's over

"Obama owned it. This election’s over unless he murders and eats the flesh of a child on live television." - Will Wilkinson.

Needless to say, I'm on record since Iowa on the Dems' big year. I hate it when I'm right.

Congratulations, Kristen and Pat!

A lovely wedding for a lovely couple. Congratulations, Pat and Kristen!

Open Political Thread (not that we need one)

So post your comments here.  Debates (pres, VP).  general thoughts 

Week 5

TEN @ BAL
ATL @ GB
KC @ CAR
SD @ MIA
WAS @ PHI
SEA @ NYG
IND @ HOU
CHI @ DET
TB @ DEN
BUF @ ARI
CIN @ DAL
NE @ SF
PIT @ JAC

Mon, Oct 06
MIN @ NO

Put your picks in the comments and pick 'em! I'll be coming back from the Fleming-Ryan nuptials, so I'll have to pick earlier than I like.

now that's a mugshot

here's a link to the full story: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0930082cow1.html

Week 4 results are up.

RET: 4, JCT: 4, VL: 2

Credit where credit is due.

The following is a nice piece of reasoning. If Obama can do so as President on a regular basis, he will have a lot of political power. At the same time, I find metaphors to be somewhat inadequate to describe the situation.

"There is plenty of blame to go around and many in Washington and on Wall Street who deserve it,” he said. “There will be time to punish those who set this fire, but now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out.

“If your neighbor’s house is burning, you’re not gonna spend a whole lot of time saying ‘well, that guy was always irresponsible. He always left the stove on. He always was smoking in bed,’” Obama told the crowd of 12,000 at the University of Nevada - Reno. “All those things may be true, but his house could end up affecting your house.”

“We’ve got to make sure that we put the fire out and then go start making sure that these folks stop leaving the stove on.”

I especially admire the FDR callback.

NFL Week 4

Put your scores in the comments and Pick 'Em!

SF @ NO
GB @ TB
HOU @ JAC
CLE @ CIN
ATL @ CAR
ARI @ NYJ
MIN @ TEN
DEN @ KC
SD @ OAK
BUF @ STL
WAS @ DAL
PHI @ CHI

Mon, Sep 29
BAL @ PIT

King Crab Fishing Just got a little deadlier.

an obit to die for

Monday, September 15, 2008 2:05 AM MDT

DOUGLAS -- A celebration of life for James William "Jim" Adams, 53, will be held at a later date.

He died Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 at Memorial Hospital of Converse County in Douglas.

Jim, who had tired of reading obituaries noting other's courageous battles with this or that disease, wanted it known that he lost his battle. It was primarily as a result of being stubborn and not following doctor's orders or maybe for just living life a little too hard for better than five decades.

He was born June 8, 1955 in Garrison, N.D. the son of James William and Ruby Helen (Clark) Adams.

He was sadly deprived of his final wish, which was to be run over by a beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a date. True to his personal style, he spent his final hours joking with medical personnel, cussing and begging for narcotics and bargaining with God to look over his loving dog, Biscuit, and his family.

He would like to thank all "his ladies" for putting up with him the last 30 years.

During his life, he excelled at anything he put his mind to. He loved to hear and tell jokes and spin tales of grand adventures he may or may not have had.

He is survived by five sons, Jeremiah Adams and his wife, Nicole, Mica Olivas, Wade Olivas, Brice Simpson and Cole Adams; sister, Jerri Giegerich; two ex-wives, Vickie Harrison and Marilyn Williams; four grandchildren; two nieces; and two great-nieces.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother-in-law.

In lieu of flowers, he asks that you make a sizeable purchase at your favorite watering hole, get rip roaring drunk and tell the stories he no longer can.

Gorman Funeral Homes - Converse Chapel of Douglas is in charge of the arrangements.

DEBATE THIS!

Not only does Johnny Mac want to suspend Fridays debate, but he wants to call off the VP debate next week? This sounds to me like someone got a whiff of the current polls and is trying to pander to voters. When this campaign gets down to the actual issues, and not bullshit like lipstick, McCain can't win. Not after 8 years of Bush. A debate on these issues Friday would, in my humble opinion, effectively end McCain's presidential run. Not only does McCain dodge this debate, but he is trying to get a pass for his VP. I for one was looking forward to "Sarah Barracuda" meeting "Joey the Shark". I guess she needs more time for her crash course on foreign policy, or maybe for more interviews....

Obama should stand firm on his position that a President should be someone who can multi-task. There is no reason to suspend the debate. I am curious to hear the opinions of the conservative voices on this blog.

Football roundup

So I've sent copies of the worksheets to the relevant people. I hope I've gotten the numbers right and I'm going to try to have Chris help me with some of the setup. Let me know if you think there's a discrepancy. These are the numbers I have so far:

Week 1: CPN: 2, JCT: 7, RET: 2, VL: 0
Week 2: CPN: 1, JCT: 8, RET: 2, VL: -
Week 3: CPN: -, JCT: 2, RET: 5.5, VL: 7.5
total: CPN: 3, JCT: 17, RET: 9.5, VL: 7.5

In other notes, I find it interesting that we're seeing 1) the resurgence of the NFC (or at least a local maxima) and 2) a half-decent Reggie Bush. I find it fascinating that of the marquee members of the 2005 USC Trojans (a.k.a. The Most Powerful College Offense of All Time), very few of them have made serious impacts in the NFL. Indicates, I suppose, the very, very treacherous leap from college to the NFL.

FREE LEVI!

BREAKING NEWS: Megan Tung acquires Goldman Sachs in spit-stock swap

NEW YORK, NY -- Infant Megan Tung has, in a surprise move, acquired the famed investment bank Goldman Sachs. Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein stated: "Ms. Tung clearly has a surplus of saliva, which is literally a liquid asset. Considering that she has a surplus of these assets for the foreseeable future, we are more than willing to accept these drool-based securities in exchange for our currently illiquid mortgage-backed securities." Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson hailed the deal as a glimmer of success in an increasingly dark economic picture: "We are quite thankful for the intervention of Ms. Tung to the benefit of Goldman -- we sincerely hope that more Wall Street firms will be willing to trade toxic debt for body fluids."

Ms. Tung had no comment, other than a soft "eh" and a quick hiding of her head in her mother's hair.

my setter

on a nonpolitical theme, here's a picture of my setter pup pointing a partridge.

and yes, that bird was tasty

Football, week 3

Sun, Sep 21
KC @ ATL 1:00 PM
OAK @ BUF 1:00 PM
TB @ CHI 1:00 PM
CAR @ MIN 1:00 PM
MIA @ NE 1:00 PM
CIN @ NYG 1:00 PM
HOU @ TEN 1:00 PM
ARI @ WAS 1:00 PM
NO @ DEN 4:05 PM
DET @ SF 4:05 PM
STL @ SEA 4:05 PM
CLE @ BAL 4:15 PM
JAC @ IND 4:15 PM
PIT @ PHI 4:15 PM
DAL @ GB 8:15 PM

Mon, Sep 22
NYJ @ SD 8:30 PM

As Chris would say, pick 'em! Why don't you do it in the comments -- I'll take care of the coding for now.

Abdicating

I'm giving it up...  I just have to many things going on right now to try to keep the pick'em thing going.  If anyone else is interested in running it, more power to you, i happily cede power.  You all have access to the spreadsheets I used, feel free to modify and run with them.  I'll try to get picks in, but quite honestly its about 8th priority to me these days, and not moving up the list at all.  Happy picking.

Fun Facts

Fun fact #1: In the past 4 days,  the US government has placed a $85 billion dollar tax burden on the American people.  The sum total of the bailouts so far is $900 billion This dollar amount is roughly twice the deficit increase every year of the 8 years of George W. Bush.

Fun fact #2: Ben Bernake -alone- controls $888 billion of that dollar amount.

Graduate Student Erin Daly wins an ACS Predoctoral Fellowship

Erin M. Daly, a fourth-year graduate student in our group has been awarded an American Chemical Society, Division of Organic Chemistry Predoctoral Fellowship sponsored by Merck Research Laboratories for the 2008-09 academic year. This award is given to students in Ph.D. programs in their third or fourth year of study. Students applying for this award must prepare a short essay on a research area of their choice. Evidence of research accomplishment is an important factor in the selection of the fellowship holders. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent resident visa holders at the time of application. The American Chemical Society, Division of Organic Chemistry Fellowship Committee chooses the recipients of the award, for more information visit their website.

Daly’s current research project entails the synthesis of both diastereomers of 14-methyl epothilone D, which subsequently will be used in binding affinity studies with the protein beta-tubulin; the latter studies will provide comprehensive evidence towards the bioactive conformation of the epothilone class of natural products. The remainder of her graduate career will be directed toward biochemical research with polyketide synthases.

Congratulations...

BREAKING NEWS: Taylor Group taken over by Fed

NOTRE DAME, IN - In an unprecedented action by government regulators, the Taylor Group of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Notre Dame has been purchased by the Federal Reserve. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced the stunning results to a crowd of shocked graduate students and two or three tired, bewildered postdoctoral fellows in the Taylor group room. Federal Reserve regulators reviewed the balance sheet of the Taylor Group and determined that, along with large drums of hexanes and acetone, Taylor Group purchasing agents had also unwittingly acquired $26 billion dollars of complex collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. It is believed that they were purchased through Aldrich, which is known for their inaccurate and bizarre shipping and accounting practices. The securities were found in the bottom drawer of the group room computer desk.

Professor Richard E. Taylor expressed surprise at his group's purchage of mortgage-backed securities: "All this time, I thought we were buying precursors for Evans auxiliary -- I knew that D-phenylalanine and sodium borohydride couldn't cost that much. Well, I hope we can recycle these securities like we're supposed to recycle the cleaved auxiliary..." Senior Treasury officials believe that after the acquisition of the Taylor Group, there will be no more need for the government to keep propping up large financial institutions, total synthesis groups and your local 7-11.

Practice as you play, play as you practice.

One of the many reasons for the quality of the US Army's desert warfare is the National Training Center, which is basically a gigantic simulator for (as far as I understand) brigade-sized units to train. Cameras and observers are everywhere and there is a resident Opposing Force that kicks the butt of units that come in to train. Units are graded on their performance at the NTC; doing well or poorly can make or break the careers of senior-level officers and enlisted. TOPGUN is a similar setup for Navy fighter pilots; Red Flag serves the same purpose for the Air Force.* You learn from failure, you learn from the best.

After Katrina, some people (myself included) thought that local, state and federal officials should undergo the same process. Once every two years, obvious and non-obvious scenarios, results to be disseminated to the public. Today's reports of problems with coordination between DHS, state and local officials is more evidence for the idea.

This stuff (coordination among agencies that don't talk to each other on a regular basis) is HARD** -- that why they need to practice. Yeah, they run exercises all the time, but those drills are drills. When you get to decide that your fake earthquake is going to be at 10 am on Tuesday morning, you're going to be all prepped up for it. A recorded, game-speed simulation would be a much better measurement and learning tool for government officials at all levels.

* Air Force pilots described flying in the 1st Gulf War as being "almost as hard as Red Flag."
** An amusing point from Afghanistan: there was a funny story from the initial invasion where it was discovered (during the course of a desperate battle) that the Air Force uses degrees, minutes, and thousandths of a minute, whereas the Army uses degrees, minutes, and seconds. Now picture an F-15 backseater doing conversions on his calculator watch during bombing runs. (Everything turned out all right, read more here.

Tina Fey is Amazing!

check this out

Posting/Comments question

Chris, 

is it possible for a particualr post/comment thread to be linked to the top of the page and a little notification or indication when a new comment or post is added (ie, our "teaching" thread)?

Not a request but rather a question.  If not, then we shall scroll down..

Bruce

Week 2's up....

Week 2 picks are up on the Google Docs spreadsheet, coming soon to an inbox near you. Pick 'em there or here in the comments!

Walt Disney Presents.....

I like Rich's comment on teaching. So what can we learn from eachother.

So let's think of a good way to solve a crucial problem. How does one (or in the Socialized case, the Govt) go about giving people an opportunity when they are born into poor circumstance?

Can one fix this problem?

What's your solution?

I'm really stumped on this. I have always thought this is a problem of the individual. I have always believed that in the US anyone could make it to the middle class (make $45k-$250k a year, no debt, and retire with a net worth of $500k-$3 million).

Assumption: poor cicumstance = no family wealth, no physical handicap, poorly educated parents.

Let's Play GOD!!

So Obama would like to take tax money and "create" new jobs. I of course think it is impossible for this to work for two main reasons.

One, how the hell does he know where/what is the best thing to "invest" our tax money in. I always say the free market is better, as most people are fallible (and so are our Presidents).

Two, the govt doesn't/can't create jobs. No one wants hurricanes to hit NO, even though it "creates" jobs. It may create jobs, but it sure doesn't create wealth, it just redistributes it.... and in the Govt's case takes a chunck for an administration fee.

Anyway, here's the question:

If you were Obama (our next Pres), what would you invest the money in? Let's look back on this post and see who actually was able to determine the next generations fuel.

I'm a free market guy, so I find this question completely absurd, but Obama thinks he can do it....

The FARM

Once upon a time, on a farm in Virginia , there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat. She called all of her Democrat neighbors together and said, 'If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?' 'Not I,' said the cow. 'Not I,' said the duck. 'Not I,' said the pig. 'Not I,' said the goose. 'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain. 'Who will help me reap my wheat?' asked the little red hen. 'Not I,' said the duck.. 'Out of my classification,' said the pig. 'I'd lose my seniority,' said the cow. 'I'd lose my unemployment compensation,' said the goose. 'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen, and so she did. At last it came time to bake the bread. 'Who will help me bake the bread?' asked the little red hen. 'That would be overtime for me,' said the cow. 'I'd lose my welfare benefits,' said the duck. 'I'm a dropout and never learned how,' said the pig. 'If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination,' said the goose. 'Then I will do it by myself,' said the little red hen. She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, 'No, I shall eat all five loaves.' 'Excess profits!' cried the cow. (Nancy Pelosi) 'Capitalist leech!' screamed the duck. (Barbara Boxer) 'I demand equal rights!' yelled the goose. (Jesse Jackson) The pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy) And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities. Then the farmer (Obama) came. He said to the little red hen, 'You must not be so greedy.' 'But I earned the bread,' said the little red hen. 'Exactly,' said Barack the farmer. 'That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle.' And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, 'I am grateful, for now I truly understand.' But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established. Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for. EPILOGUE Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs. Hillary got $8 million for hers. That's $20 million for the memories from two people, who for eight years, repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything. IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT? DON'T FORGET TO VOTE IN NOVEMBER

Hand to God answers wanted.

Let's play a game. No fair Googling. Just answer with your snap reaction.

1) Where in the income distribution do you (either you (unmarried) or you and your spouse) have fit in order to be called "rich"? I'm looking for a percentile here.

2) What annual income do you have to make in order to be called rich?

There's no trick to this question. Just reply with whatever your gut tells you.

Reagan, Bush, McCain...a lot in common.

In previous posts we have argued about economic policy of McCain and its similarity to Bush. He believes we (which needs to be defined) are taxed too much and has proposed extending the Bush tax cuts and additional tax cuts for the upper % income earners and big businesses. Now it is hard to have this argument even with economists because there are lots of ways to look at statistics. Last week, we heard comments like "the upper income earners are paying a higher % of the tax burden than ever before." Of course that was a comment on Fox News and it may be subjective.

Mike has previously defended Bush's influence on the deficit as minor if you consider % of GDP. Thus, the graphic above shows a clear difference between supply side economics (Reagan, Bush, and potentially McCain) and the Democratic Administrations. Notice how under the years of a Republican Administration the deficit as a percentage of GDP increase drastically. But under Clinton, a balanced budget agreement actually lowered the deficit over the eight years.

Now during the Reagan Administration there was a Democratically controlled congress which was blamed for over spending when Reagan only want to increase spending on defense. And the 6/8 years of Clinton had a Republican controlled Congress. The real test was the first 6 years of Bush where the Republicans also controlled both houses of congress and despite their platform of small government, the opposite occurred.

My main reason for this post is to learn from Mike and Jim, who understand these issues better than I, why should I support McCain who has offered a tax policy that is projected to increase the deficit by trillons of dollars.

The picks...

To those of you playing along with the pick'em league, thanks for getting things entered on your own.  makes life SO much simpler, and allows me to focus on really how badly my team played last night.  (That implies that my team showed up...)  Anyway, trying out an automatic scoring algorithm, the person in red for each game should have the winning score based on the system.  PLEASE look critically and let me know if you see errors.  its not foolproof, its just excel code.  Congrats to jim on a great start....

Country First Bank...We'll work with you.

Jims comment about "Country First" made me laugh and think of an old SNL commercial that is still funny despite the lack of rude sexual innuendo or "bleeped" curse words (Peyton Manning's "Catch the ball you little sh&t".

14 reasons why Barack Obama should be our next President

If you have considered yourself a serious scientist...

http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=40

and by the way, John McCain has said he will answer the questions, no word on when.

MASSIVE FAIL

USA, USA, USA!

10:23 PM ... I'm so glad President Bush is president. Now, let's win this election and get this country back on track.

Football

Before frothing at the mouth at the lady from Alaska, don't forget to submit your scores for tonight!

RNC and Palin...

Wow! Sarah Palin ROCKS!!!

Any doubts this Conservative had are gone.... McCain and Palin, what the country needs!

the onion nailed this one

http://www.theonion.com/content//node/68210?utm_source=embedded_video_2

Regretting not Vetting?

I know Obama has said that Palin's family is off limits, but this pregnancy story is just amazing. How does McCain pick a VP who is an advocate of "abstinence only" education, yet has a 17 year old preggo daughter? I am not condemning her daughter, but I do have to question the judgment of her mother and McCain. Her mother should not have accepted this job knowing that her family would be ridiculed and any skeletons in the closet would be revealed. In this case her daughters name is being dragged through the mud on a national level. In addition, you need to seriously question McCain's thought process on picking Palin. It almost appears that she wasn't vetted at all. With all of this being said, I still believe that Palin's family should be left out of this. However, her values and hypocrisy can be questioned.

(Jim, as always, was right on the money with this pick. It was a "hook and ladder" type play to try to score a touchdown at the end of the game. This play has a .0001% chance of working and usually ends with the team fumbling the ball. The "hook and ladder" Palin pick seems to be failing miserably.)

Obama

So a while back, I listed three things I liked about McCain, personally and politically. Here's my list of likes and dislikes for Obama:

Things I dislike, politically:

1. Pharma/Health Care: the cost savings in health care aren't to be found (as the Democrats say) in administration. It's going to be in procedures, labor costs and drug prices. Considering the latter two are how my family sucks America dry earns its bread, it's pretty easy to be against Obama.
2. His stance on the war. Let's face it: I disagree with America.

Things I dislike, stylistically/personally:

1. Obama has little executive experience. His campaign is the largest organization he's ever run; he's been very good at it. How much credit can we give him? Caveats: Palin, McCain, Palin.
2. Obama has very little political courage. He has not fought against the Establishment (whoever they are) -- he's consistently gone along. Prediction: his calls for teacher pay/education reform will be the first to get traded away.
3. His stance on free trade. Considering that's the path to future American competitiveness, that's a bad thing.

Things I like, issues-wise:

1. I like his noises on transparency in government.
2. I hope he'll take on the teacher's unions -- I just don't think it will happen.
3. I think he'll fund NIH even more ridiculously lavishly than it has been better; I simply hope that NSF (representing the physical sciences) gets similar increases.

Things I like, personally:

1. He appears to be a genuinely thoughtful person and a half-decent writer.
2. He seems 'cool' and a hell of a lot less awkward and a better speaker than Bush.
3. I like how his faith informs him.

There it is. In a couple of weeks, I'll hit my 2 page list of things I don't like about McCain.

Shark steak

Dunno if anyone else will find this funny (other than Rich), but in a recent EW interview, Obama revealed his favorite fiction president was from "The Contender".



It's a great movie, in that liberal crusading way.

Not to distract... but its that time of year again....

Week one is upon us, and with it the pickem league is back with a vengeance.  I'll start by saying the SIMPLEST way to do this is for you all to enter your scores into the spreadsheet yourselves, but I'll start the year with the old ways, i'll post the games, you comment your scores in.  If any of you want to access the spreadsheet and add your scores on your own, let me know and I'll share the document...  Get 'em in early, things kick off thursday! (By the way, any of you out there who don't usually play and want to start let me know, any of you who no longer care to play, let me know, thanks!)

Thursday, Sept. 4

Washington @ NY Giants

Sunday, Sept. 7

Seattle @ Buffalo

Houston @ Pittsburgh

Tampa Bay @ New Orleans

Detroit @ Atlanta

St. Louis @ Philadelphia

Jacksonville @ Tennessee

NY Jets @ Miami

Cincinnati @ Baltimore

Kansas City @ New Orleans

Arizona @ San Francisco

Carolina @ San Diego

Dallas @ Cleveland

Chicago @ Indianapolis

Monday, Sept. 8

Minnesota @ Green Bay

Denver @ Oakland

Obama's Speech Inspired by Kennedy, Clinton, and Shepard

VEEPILF!!!

I am not going to vote for him but I want to ____ his vice president! I am huge proponent of the "sexy librarian" look.

Sidekick

“John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush 95% of the time. That’s not a maverick. That’s a sidekick.”

Thanks Sen. Casey! The original "maverick" is nothing more than Robin to Bush's Batman.

Daily Kos gets the props for the pic.

The most irritating thing I heard tonight.

Former Virginia governor Mark Warner:

"In a global economy, you should not have to leave your home town to find a world-class job. "

Sigh. Well, I'll guess I'll head back to Aloha, Oregon then.

Caveats: Convention, hyperbole, non-literalness, annoying conservative guy, etc., etc.

Pre-Season NFL

Topic: Should there be a pre-season in the NFL? Discuss....

You're Invited: RSVP

First, Dick Morris spanks ins-Hannity on the Biden-Cheney analogy and then a producer in his ear reminds him of the talking points or he won't return as a guest.

Morris then rips into Obama's position that we could have been in a better position in the Russian-Georgian conflict if we hadn't invaded Iraq. Obama: “We’ve got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies,” Obama told a crowd of supporters in Virginia. “They can’t charge into other countries. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point.”

(Neo)- conservatives slam Obama by reminding all us that we always have moral authority against the evil-doers.

Dick Morris: "We went into Iraq at the invitation of the government, not as an invasion."

3AM? What about 3PM?

I hate to admit it, but, based on this photo Obama IS too inexperienced for that 3AM phone call.

Excellent logic

check this out from Andrew Sullivan via Daily Kos

Andrew Sullivan makes an excellent point.

In all the discussion of John McCain's recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?

According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.

Cheney denies that McCain was tortured; as does Bush. So do John Yoo and David Addington and George Tenet. In the one indisputably authentic version of the story of a Vietnamese guard showing compassion, McCain talks of the agony of long-time standing. A quarter century later, Don Rumsfeld was putting his signature to memos lengthening the agony of "long-time standing" that victims of Bush's torture regime would have to endure. These torture techniques are, according to the president of the United States, merely "enhanced interrogation."

No war crimes were committed against McCain. And the techniques used are, according to the president, tools to extract accurate information. And so the false confessions that McCain was forced to make were, according to the logic of the Bush administration, as accurate as the "intelligence" we have procured from "interrogating" terror suspects. Feel safer?

Veepstakes

Simple post. Simple Question. Who would you choose as Obama's running mate? Leave your answer in the comments section.

Putting your money where your mouth is, legally

Dave's going to laugh at this, considering it's mostly used for commodities trading, but...

Last night (with the proceeds of a birthday gift from my better half), I bought 24 futures contracts for the Democratic candidate for the Presidency at 0.615 dollars per contract on the Iowa Electronic Markets. They will pay 1.00 dollar if the Democrat candidate wins. They will pay nothing if he/she loses.

While I don't find this (the prospect of an Obama presidency) to be a extraordinarily satisfactory outcome, I think there is somewhat of a win/win for my personal happiness.

McCain needs to reschedule his speeches...

ʇnoʇs s,ɹǝpunoɟ

ɥɔıɹ uıɐƃɐ noʎ ƃuıǝǝs ʇɐǝɹƃ 'ʎɐʍʎuɐ

ʇnoʇs s,ɹǝpunoɟ ɥɔnɯ ooʇ pɐɥ ı ǝqʎɐɯ

˙llǝʍ puɐ ǝʌılɐ sı ʎɹǝʍǝɹq ɐʞɐʍɐɥsıɯ ǝɥʇ ʇɐɥʇ punoɟ ı ʎɐpıɹɟ ʇsɐl pu ƃuıʇısıʌ ɹǝʇɟɐ llǝʍ

Colmes Grows a SACK!!

"in the 21st century nations don't invade other nations"

Remarkable.

Is there any hope for ND Football

Ever since he grew his long hair, I always thought Clausen kind of looked like an East German woman. Well this definitely proves he is the catcher of the team.

John Edwards

I have nothing to say. I'm simply stunned.

Well, okay, one thing. When you're a politician, you bet the reputation of yourself and your family. That's pretty big. You also ask for the support, time and money of your supporters. Edwards' affair is a huge betrayal (in my opinion) of those supporters.

Perhaps they don't care. In that case, coming full circle, I have nothing to say. I'm just stunned.

1,555,223 ways to please your man

'Cosmopolitan' Institute Completes Decades-Long Study On How To Please Your Man

The Straight Talk Express

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, often mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said Wednesday GOP candidates would do well to adopt a positive tone like that of McCain's Democratic rival, Barack Obama.

Wall Street is investing heavily in Barack Obama.

Barack Obama has collected nearly twice as much money as John McCain
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
Updated Tuesday, July 1st 2008, 4:23 AM

Zurga/Bloomberg
Wall Street firms have chipped in more than $9 million to Barack Obama.

Wall Street is investing heavily in Barack Obama.
Although the Democratic presidential hopeful has vowed to raise capital gains and corporate taxes, financial industry bigs have contributed almost twice as much to Obama as to GOP rival John McCain, a Daily News analysis of campaign records shows.
"Wall Street wants change and wants a curtailment in spending. It wants someone who focuses on the domestic economy," said Jim Cramer, the boisterous host of CNBC's "Mad Money."
Cramer also does not discount nostalgia for the go-go 1990s, when Bill Clinton led the largest economic expansion in history.
"It wants a Clinton like in 1992, but not a Hillary Clinton," he said. "That's Barack Obama."

In contrast to Mike's post I am not going to state that McCain's economic policy will be the end of the world; actually it is pro-business. But...

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=mccains_delusional_tax_plan

He proposes cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, costing $100 billion a year, but fails to eliminate a single corporate tax break. A 25 percent rate would be below the average rate of other industrialized countries and the lowest among G-7 countries by a significant margin.

But McCain does not stop there. He would let companies immediately write off all investment in equipment and technology. Companies would get an immediate up-front deduction for their investments, rather than being forced to deduct their costs over time. The change is very valuable for companies because a $100 deduction today is worth a lot more than $10 a year for ten years. For the same reason, it is very expensive for the Treasury -- to the tune of about $75 billion a year.

McCain's top policy advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin claims that such a write-off has no long-term cost. In fact, when Holtz-Eakin headed the Congressional Budget Office, it concluded that a similar, smaller proposal cost $440 billion over a decade. Reagan tax official Ron Pearlman labeled Holtz-Eakin's claim "so intellectually dishonest it's outrageous."

Maverick McCain stated that payroll taxes might be necessary to fix social security until his campaign reminded him that he was the Republican nominee. Moreover, despite the fact that his website is still selling Obama Energy Plan Tire Gauges, he contradicted his campaign with “Obama said a couple of days ago says we all should inflate our tires. I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it." Unfortunately, he did not add that it would return more barrels of oil than new off-shore drilling he proposes. 

I need feedback

Because I'm not going to fuss with the weekly picks if people have out grown it.  If no one expresses an interest I'll let it die on the table, if you would rather do something else football related (fantasy or a weekly picks league on Yahoo or something) let me know.  Thats all, you may resume political ramblings...

States Red Ink: Does this correlate to the Federal level? I think so!

States Red Ink: Does this article extend / correlate to the Federal level? I think so! If you are more Anti-Business at the Federal level (read if Obama is elected) are we headed for more trouble in the economy?

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2008/08/antibusiness_states_awash_in_r.html

Paris Hilton Responds to McCain

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

Now this is Funny!

A little preseason housekeeping...

So I'd like to get this done now so I can have a working system set up in time for preseason warm-ups.  So I'd like your comments about the following ideas:

1) Who all is interested in participating?

2) Any issues with the Google spreadsheet we used last year?

3) Any issues with everyone putting their own scores into the spreadsheet, rather than me entering them all?

4) Do we want to modify the scoring?  Last year it was a sum of differences model, with a margain of victory tiebreaker.

5) Anything I missed?  Throw up some ideas in the comments section, its a flexible structure.

Welcome back football, my how we have missed you...

On a lighter note....

The future is FINALLY starting to arrive.  For all of you wondering when you could hop from Mishawaka to campus with your jetpack, its here, and better yet, it runs on premium unleaded gas.  

For those of you with a longer commute, or looking to get back for football games, now you can knock some of that out in the air with your flying car.  

Thats all for now, but the show goes on all week, stay tuned!

While we're throwing gas on the fire...

I think the Colts will go 9-7. My margin of error is no more than 2 games.

Details in the comments -- you're welcome to match my prediction.

Obama: To destroy the economy, lose a war, and basically do nothing but talk!

On the Economy:
About economics
http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_3_economics.html
Obama's Plan
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121728762442091427.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

On the War:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/obama-in-iraq-s-quicksand-11869

On his Resume/Accomplishments:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/what_has_obama_accomplished.html

Are you really going to vote for this guy?!!! You must be kidding!!! I guess eloquence is more important than actual substance and character.

McCain is a Maverick!! If you really want change he's your guy!! Plus he won't destroy the economy or lose a war.

Andrew Giuliani = Giant Douche

It took me a while to realize that this kid was immortalized in an SNL sketch by Chris Farley. No surprise he turned out to be a huge turd.

Downloading

Thought this was an interesting article. And I swear this isn't me Rich!

Greg Oden is funny

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

New Career Paths....

And credit to NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me...   for this gem.  I must say, as a pilot there are 2 kinds of people telling you where to go.  Absolutely great folks who do an outstanding job (about 90% of ATC) and, well, people I'm convinced filled out this form...

Want to work for British ATC?

Because you can never have too many pee jokes....

From the NASA Watch.com website, just another way you can help NASA maintain our dominance in space...  by marking your territory.

Check it out...

Awesome!

Is this an insult to Homer Simpson?

Proof Jesus Rode Dinosaurs

View the first link and then read the second...

Raptor Jesus

Raptor Jesus does not approve of the previous post....

Jesus Horses

This picture will make you go blind from sheer awesomeness!

Med Chem Symposium anyone?

Is anyone going to the National Med Chem Symposium?

One of my postdocs and I will be there. If you're going and want to hook up with an one of the oldest Taylor Group members let me know.

Steve

New training camp drills?

I can just see Peyton out there for scrimage in water wings...   Brought to you by Mother Nature, Lost Creek, and Rose-Hulman, the training camp location for the Colts.  Gives new meaning to Dwight Freeny's swim move, doesnt it?

Round 1....

Ok, so here's the deal, I want gut reaction electoral college predictions and popular vote percentage predictions.  What I'll do is post the Electoral College maps from 2000 and 2004 .  Respond in the comments section with a list of the states you expect to go for each party and the total electoral college tally.  This is supposed to be a first guess, we'll do it again after the Conventions when we know full tickets.  We'll find some kind of bragging rights trophy for the winner, a hanging chad or something.  So there ya go, Pick 'em!  (man, I can't wait to say that about football again....)

* Note* - The 2008 Electoral College is the same as 2004, so use the right tallies!

America, this is our moment.

This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that...

this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless; 

this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; 

this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

This was the moment -- this was the time -- when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.

Let the nano-wars begin!

Courtesy of an old friend...

http://www.sciencehumor.org/2007/nanobot-nanohell/

I hope those damn nano-cars can drive pretty fast!

George McCain?

Keeping his ties very close with the current regime cannot be good for his campaign. What does everyone think?

The "Id"-iocy of the Unconscious Mind...

A couple of months ago, Hayden and I were having dinner at Cici's pizza. Hayden will bounce between the small game room and the table to occasionally take a bite between dumping quarters for superballs and plastic bling. At the table next to me was two teenage girls embedded in conversation covering the expected range of topics. I tried to drown out the chaos by watching the news until the girls conversation switched to something more interesting, the democratic nomination. Believe it or not, it was back in early March that Obama had been placed in a position to inevitably win. "He will be shot, " one of the girls said to the other. "A black won't be president for long." Maybe I am naive, but this was the first time, this horrible potentiality had crossed my mind. I spent the next few moments wondering if I was more uncomfortable with the subject or the fact the girl made the statement with the same tone and inflection as her previous blabber about "The Hills."

A new Taylor group member

Megan was born this morning at 5:02 AM PDT. 8 pounds, 3 ounces, 20.5 inches long. Mother is fine, if just a little worse for the wear.

Check this out...

Our myriaporone synthesis is in an MIT professor's lecture slides...

http://stuff.mit.edu/afs/athena/course/5/5.511/www/12-05-07.pdf

Loofa Bill Rage

For the hell of it....

Funny, but foul.

This is a pretty funny little video, but I might note that it contains some awfully naughty words and violates Godwin's law.

A short description: an imagined conversation between Hillary Clinton and her advisors.

I might note that the video and audio has also been attributed to a certain European leader and his love of the Dallas Cowboys.

Our Next President...

A brief pause for chemistry

Highlight of the day:

Hearing a Nobel laureate (when asked to comment/improve on a low yielding reaction) say "You know, it's hard to help improve a reaction when you don't know the byproducts. What else is in there?"

Someday, I'm going to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, asking "Where's the rest of the material?"

We now return to you to your regularly scheduled Obama-hoping.

Hoth and Endor Superdelegates Support Obama...

Unfortunately, Endor is destroyed on May 31, 2008 (nuclear option).

Prediction: NC, Obama by 7, Indiana, Clinton by 5. Obama increases lead in both delegate count and popular vote but Clinton claims victory.

Indiana is an open primary. If you are registered to vote in Indiana (R, D, or I) please vote.

Media *Hearts* McCain

Why does the media love this man so much? He has received ZERO questions about his constant flip-flopping on foreign policy, the economy and torture. In addition to this no one has brought up McCain's crazy pastor Hagee and his hatred towards pretty much everyone who isn't Evangelical. Obama can't fart with someone catching a whiff, and this guy may be bat shit crazy and it receives no attention from the MSM.

Roger, Roger, why do you persecute me?

With the lucky 13th pick, the Carolina Panthers selected Jonathan Stewart, the running back from the University of Oregon. I like him, but I am unconvinced by the wisdom of this selection. Prove me wrong, J-Stew.

NFL Commissioner/Sheriff Roger Goodell just committed the cardinal Oregon sin of pronouncing the Beaver State as "Or-A-Gone". For those unaware, the correct pronunciation of my state, land of the setting sun, is "Orygun."

"Cuff and Link" hope for a surprise!

an engineer's guide to cats

Rich, do you still have those cats?

and if you have about 7 minutes to kill check this out. I think even those who aren't wild about cats will enjoy it (assuming all of you haven't seen it yet)




SEP

LinkedIn?

I've had the interesting experience of talking to two recruiters in two days; they both asked if I had a LinkedIn profile, which I do. Nothing huge came of the conversations, I don't think, but they were enjoyable.

It'd be great to get everyone in the group on here; it's like Facebook, but job-related. Signing up isn't hard, either.

Hope everyone's having a good day out there.

Gridlock!