Posts from — September 2008

Does it matter if national leaders believe that dinosaurs and humans walked the earth together?

The LA Times has an article asserting that Sarah Palin has said that they did. I’m not convinced by the evidence in the article, so I won’t judge Palin by it (as if it matters at this point…), but I’m more interested in the larger question.

Scientific facts like this don’t really make a difference in decisions related to the economy, foreign policy, or even very high-level research funding. Operationally, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. What would worry me is the sort of thought process it indicates. Rejecting such a large volume of scientific evidence takes a certain mindset, and I think that sort of mindset is what got us into Iraq while ignoring and suppressing the information that countered the case for war.

I wonder if there’s a high correlation between people who believe Saddam was involved with 9/11 and people who believe dinosaurs and humans lived together for some time.

From the forbes.com article Google to celebrate SC data center opening:

The data center will have dozens of computers that will be part of the company’s worldwide network to handle Internet traffic.

I guess it doesn’t say how many dozens, but this seems accurate in the same way “at least three” would be accurate.

A few places you can register to vote or confirm your registration:
McCain’s voter registration page
Obama’s voter registration page
Rock the Vote

They all work about the same, but there’s some exchanging of personal information, so that may make you choose one over the other.

There are lots of state-specific ones, too… it doesn’t matter where you do it, but make sure to register! Deadlines are approaching in a lot of states. (now that’s a vague statement…)

I’m a bit behind on this, but here we go again…

From the second part of the Palin/Couric interview:

Here’s the transcript:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
PALIN: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

The video gets cut off, but the rest of her answer is “This bailout is part of that”.

First of all, the question is a good one that a lot of Americans doubtlessly have on their minds. It’s not random trivia or a “gotcha” question. Answering this question requires some understanding of how credit works and the effect it has on the economy. She didn’t come close to explaining it, though. I’m not going to bother to climb through the mess of words she assembled, it’s practically meaningless. I forget where I read it, but someone suggests that her response reads like it was sent through google translate several times.

This interview lead Fareed Zakaria to write:

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start.

Jack Cafferty: “If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, it should”:

“That is one of the most pathetic pieces of tape I have ever seen for someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in this country”
I can’t think of a counterexample offhand..

It’s still stunning to me that she would not hesitate at all to decide that she was ready to be VP, as she clearly isn’t. If I were suddenly offered CEO of google for some reason, I’d probably turn it down and would definitely take some time to think about it, regardless of the outcome. Every time I start to feel bad for her (an emotion that is, in all honesty, sexist, as I don’t think I’d feel bad for a man in the same situation), I remind myself that she “didn’t blink” when offered the position. She brought this upon herself.

The expectations for Thursday’s debate couldn’t be lower, and I think she’ll do OK: she’ll pull in her narrative, her family, attack Biden on his relationship with the credit card industry, and portray him as a part of the washington establishment that is screwing everything up. To be clear, I’m not criticizing her for making these arguments, this is what a debate is for. I’m fairly certain that the debate will have at least some level of hilarity, as Biden on his own is gaffe-prone.

I’m not hoping for a Palin performance similar to her Couric interview. Well, it would be sorta funny but mostly scary, and probably wouldn’t be politically meaningful. I can’t imagine what needs to happen to convince the remaining Palin fans that she isn’t ready.

In other news, Peyton has weighed in with A Poem against Pain and the McCaign

This ad from the McCain campaign is the stupidest one I’ve seen this year. It’s not full of lies or anything, it’s just such a spectacular non-sequitor that I can’t imagine the thought process behind someone who finds this convincing. I honestly think it’s preying on stupid people.

Enjoy:

So, either agreeing with John McCain means you’re not ready to lead, or leaders shouldn’t be able to agree with opponents when they have common ground. I also like how the ad poses what should just be left as a rhetorical question and then goes to the trouble of answering it for you at the very end.

I guess cognitive dissonance requires cognition…

I finally saw a couple of episodes of Flight of the Conchords this weekend, though I’d heard a few of their songs before. It was enjoyable and recommended. My favorite song by them so far is The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room, which I’ve chosen for this week.

Here’s the live (audio-only) version from their album The Distant Future:

I prefer that version over the version that occurred in the first episode, though the video does add some humor:

“… like a… tree!”

OK, that’s enough blogging for now.

I’m tired.

FactCheck.org has the rundown from tonight

Lots of errors and stretches on both sides. The bullet points in the above link are worth a look: they provide a good summary.

The weirdest item on the list:

McCain tripped up on one of his signature issues – special appropriation “earmarks.” He said they had “tripled in the last five years,” when in fact they have decreased sharply.

(more detail in the full article)

That’s an oddly specific and straightforward thing to get that wrong.

McCain’s focus on earmarks reminds me quite a bit of the talk about drilling. Sure, cutting down on earmarks and increasing domestic drilling will have some effect on those problems, but to place some much focus and importance on them creates a distraction from the real problems we should really be solving.

Colbert Report writers list 8 possible ‘October Surprises’
Slate predicts McCain’s next 10 Hail Mary stunts

Entertainment Weekly’s interview with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert is very funny, insightful, and well worth a read if you enjoy their shows.

A notable quote from Stewart:

I was convinced an Obama/McCain campaign would be measurably different on almost all standards. And to watch it become Bush/Kerry, Bush/Gore, has been one of the most dissatisfying experiences.

Agreed. I’ve been disappointed in Obama’s campaign, too. Some of his more recent ads misrepresent McCain’s positions in significant ways (factcheck.org pages here and here). We don’t need ads about how many cars McCain has and where they’re from. There’s no shortage of valid reasons to criticize McCain, stupid arguments and misrepresentation just aren’t necessary.

None of these ads are as bad as McCain’s kindergarten sex ed ad, but they’re still disappointing.

On a more positive note, I did like this ad:

It’s honest, personal, straightforward, and gives a clear high-level points while giving the viewer a path to find the details of the plan.

And finally, speaking of ads, I really enjoyed last week’s SNL opener (here’s the link- I couldn’t get it to embed). It started out with some predictable old jokes (those things weren’t that funny to begin with), but the rest of it is quite well written: funny and incisive.