I just have to say it, because I have to say it: the idea that somehow Bush43 has kept us "safe" these last seven years is just such ludicrous nonsense.

First, our state security apparatus and our military has undoubtedly been successful in thwarting any number of terrorist attacks. But what really has that success to do with the administration over the last seven years?

What the administration did NOT do is anything to anticipate the "economic Pearl Harbor" that has occurred, to quote Warren Buffet (LINK). Perhaps most of us were living with blinders on with respect to this Pearl Harbor, but if a comparative analysis were possible, I am sure that many Republicans and Democrats would have at least paid better attention as commander in chief and raised a higher level of concern earlier. The fact that we haven't suffered a military terrorist attack under Bush43 does nothing to prove that he prevented one. This economic Pearl Harbor however does definitively prove that he didn't keep us safe and that an "attack" much more effective and insidious has occurred than any terrorist could have devised. And we've done it to ourselves. During the watch of Bush43.

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In the largely indigenous communities in and around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into gay and straight. While Mexico can be intolerant of homosexuality; it can also be quite liberal. In Mexico City, for instance, same-sex domestic partnerships are legally recognized. But nowhere are attitudes toward sex and gender quite as elastic as in towns like Juchitán in the far reaches of the southern state of Oaxaca.

NYTimes article: LINK

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BoingBoing LINK

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LINK

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(Relatively) new Nokia sponsored "What can you buy for $5" website at http://fivedollarcomparison.org/. You can post your own pictures of US$5 items to their Flickr group. (via Jan Chipchase, of course LINK)

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Interesting how the Right is now interpreting every little move of Obama's as impending Socialism. During the last eight years, every little move of the Bush administration was indication of impending Fascism. The hot button of civil liberties for the left is by some measure quite equivalent to the hot button of overreaching taxation by the right.

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That last post about George Bush . . . enough. I won't do that anymore. I just watched Rachel Maddow interview Barack Obama (October 30, LINK ). She questions him about why he never talks about how the Republican party has been bad for the country. Obama says that he believes that the Republican party was high jacked by minority group of incompetent extremists. He believes that there are many self-identified Republicans who like him believe that the Bush administration has been bad for the nation. He doesn't want to alienate them and he chides Maddow for always cruising for a brawl. These comments indirectly point the finger at McCain and Palin and the way in which they chose to divide and alienate the electorate. It's no wonder they lost. And it was sad to see McCain give his concession speech, free now of the physical tics that had bedeviled him throughout the campaign, emerge as the McCain that people remembered, evoking a little of the sort of sentiment that Obama carried with him every day of the campaign.

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George Bush to Barack Obama: "What an awesome night for you, your family and your supporters. You are about to go on one of the great journeys of life. Congratulations and go enjoy yourself.''

LINK

What is that??

Perhaps it's out of context but all I could think of was George following this with, "You get to watch pre-release movies, get free food, have a big house for your friends, and land on aircraft carriers and stuff! It's a blast, this job! You're going to have such a fun time--I did!"

And Barack saying: "Well, at least clean-up your room before you leave. I hope it's not as much of a mess as you left the world."

Again, I'll admit it could be out of context but . . . that's what occured to me. It's about time that we had someone who brings the level of seriousness and intellect to the job that President of the United States demands.

Sorry my Repub friends, but come on! At some point people have to accept that they are responsible for the impression that they leave with people, whether that impression is "true" or not. George, John and his ilk are just so out of sync.

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LINK to Maya Angelou. Yes, Jezebel you're right. I did tear up.

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We are all going to have to pay, because this meltdown comes in the context of what has been “perhaps the greatest wealth transfer since the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917,” says Michael Mandelbaum, author of “Democracy’s Good Name.” “It is not a wealth transfer from rich to poor that the Bush administration will be remembered for. It is a wealth transfer from the future to the present.”

From Thomas Friedman: LINK

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From The Economist (LINK )

How much do these Obamacons matter? More than Mr McCain would like to think. The Obamacons are manifestations of a deeper turmoil in the Republican rank-and-file, as the old coalition of small-government activists, social conservatives and business Republicans falls apart. They also influence opinion. This is obvious in the case of Mr Powell: Mr Obama is making liberal use of his endorsement to refute the latest Republican criticism that he is a “socialist”. But it is also true of lesser-known scribblers. At least 27 newspapers that backed Mr Bush in 2004 have endorsed Mr Obama.

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Mashavu, Dizziness Diagnostics, CalSolAgua, Robopsy, Minewerks, SurgyPack, ELF-SD, Nano Precision medical, Whole Tree

Names of student venture teams presenting at the ASME iShow (LINK )

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"And Alaska we’re set up, unlike other states in the Union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of those resources occur." -- Governor Sarah Palin, to The New Yorker (LINK) and also (LINK)

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Click here for his piece in RealClimate: LINK

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"It’s pretty well safe. I wouldn’t worry about it."

Comment about whether early voting ballots will count.

No wonder people are paranoid!

http://twurl.nl/wodkgu

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George Will, you are so lost, so last century. That is such a tired, tired line about feel-good liberals. And your comments about Powell supporting Obama based 2:1 on race? Powell has supported inexperienced candidates before like . . . George Bush. He would have been perfectly comfortable siding with McCain and Lieberman et al if he hadn't made a reasoned argument to himself that his old friend John McCain is first for himself in this campaign and second for America, as evidenced by his choice of VP and other actions by his campaign. Is it because of race that newspapers, even ones that have supported Bush in the past, are overwhelmingly going over to Obama? Or are judgments like these race-based when made by a black but not race-based when the same judgments are made by white guy editors? Wake up Mr. Will! And hey, isn't Obama 1/2 white?

YouTube: http://is.gd/4nHE

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Jezebel: LINK

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If green is the new red, this one definitely appears to have it. (Thanks Juliet). LINK

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via The Sunday Times (link)

1 Skepticism is effortful and costly. It is better to be skeptical about matters of large consequences, and be imperfect, foolish and human in the small and the aesthetic.

2 Go to parties. You can’t even start to know what you may find on the envelope of serendipity. If you suffer from agoraphobia, send colleagues.

3 It’s not a good idea to take a forecast from someone wearing a tie. If possible, tease people who take themselves and their knowledge too seriously.

4 Wear your best for your execution and stand dignified. Your last recourse against randomness is how you act — if you can’t control outcomes, you can control the elegance of your behavior. You will always have the last word.

5 Don’t disturb complicated systems that have been around for a very long time. We don’t understand their logic. Don’t pollute the planet. Leave it the way we found it, regardless of scientific ‘evidence’.

6 Learn to fail with pride — and do so fast and cleanly. Maximize trial and error — by mastering the error part.

7 Avoid losers. If you hear someone use the words ‘impossible’, ‘never’, ‘too difficult’ too often, drop him or her from your social network. Never take ‘no’ for an answer (conversely, take most ‘yeses’ as ‘most probably’).

8 Don’t read newspapers for the news (just for the gossip and, of course, profiles of authors). The best filter to know if the news matters is if you hear it in cafes, restaurants... or (again) parties.

9 Hard work will get you a professorship or a BMW. You need both work and luck for a Booker, a Nobel or a private jet.

10 Answer e-mails from junior people before more senior ones. Junior people have further to go and tend to remember who slighted them.

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"Answer e-mails from junior people before more senior ones. Junior people have further to go and tend to remember who slighted them." LINK

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