Baroké

The Night Before...

2008-11-03T22:37:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, the world will be a very different place. We may not feel the effects immediately, but it will be a very different place. Almost everyone seems to accept this reality. Almost everyone...

Just a few predictions found on Huffington Post

Karl Rove
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 338 McCain 200

Matthew Dowd, former Bush strategist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 338 McCain 200
Senate Seats: 57 Democrats 41 Republicans
House Seats: 250 Democrats 185 Republicans

George Will, conservative columnist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 378 McCain 160
Senate Seats: 57 Democrats 41 Republicans
House Seats: 254 Democrats 181 Republicans

Donna Brazile, Democratic strategist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 343
Senate Seats: 59 Democrats 39 Republicans
House Seats: 262 Democrats 173 Republicans

George Stephanopoulos, ABC News anchor
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 353 McCain 185
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats (59 if there's a run-off in Georgia) Republicans 40
House Seats: Democrats 264 Republicans 171

Mark Halperin, Time editor
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 349 McCain 189
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats 40 Republicans
House Seats: 261 Democrats 174 Republicans

Chris Matthews, MSNBC host
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 338 McCain 200
Senate Seats: 56 Democrats 42 Republicans
House Seats: 264 Democrats 171 Republicans

Nate Silver, statistician
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 347 McCain 191
Senate Seats: 57 Democrats 41 Republicans
House Seats: 258 Democrats 177 Republicans

Chris Cillizza, Washington Post columnist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: 312 McCain 226
Senate Seats: 57 Democrats 41 Republicans
House Seats: 266 Democrats 169 Republicans

Arianna Huffington
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 318 McCain 220
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats 40 Republicans
House Seats: 254 Democrats 181 Republicans

Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard editor
Winner: McCain
Electoral College: Obama 252 McCain 286
Senate Seats: 55 Democrats 43 Republicans
House Seats: 255 Democrats 180 Republicans

Eleanor Clift, political writer
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 349 McCain 189
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats 40 Republicans
House Seats: 265 Democrats 170 Republicans

Markos Moulitas, DailyKos founder
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 390 McCain 148
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats 40 Republicans
House Seats: 268 Democrats 167 Republicans

Ed Rollins, Republican strategist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 353 McCain 185
Senate Seats: 57 Democrats 41 Republicans
House Seats: 249 Democrats 186 Republicans

Paul Begala, Democratic strategist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 325 McCain 213
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats 40 Republicans

James Carville, Democratic strategist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 330 McCain 208
Senate Seats: 60 Democrats 38 Republicans

Charles Mahtesian, Politico national politics editor
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 311 McCain 227
Senate Seats: 56 Democrats 42 Republicans
House Seats: 256 Democrats 179 Republicans

Morton Kondracke, Fox News host
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 379 McCain 159
Senate Seats: 57 Democrats 41 Republicans
House Seats: 269 Democrats 166 Republicans

David Plotz, Slate editor
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 336 McCain 202
Senate Seats: 59 Democrats 39 Republicans
House Seats: 257 Democrats 178 Republicans

Alex Castellanos, Republican media consultant
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 318 McCain 220
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats 42 Republicans

Dan Gerstein, Democratic media consultant, former manager of Sen. Joe Lieberman's re-election campaign
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 318 McCain 220
Senate Seats: 55 Democrats 43 Republicans
House Seats: 260 Democrats 175 Republicans

Tom Doherty, New York Republican consultant
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 331 McCain 207
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats 42 Republicans
House Seats: 255 Democrats 180 Republicans

Robert Y. Shapiro, Columbia University political scientist
Winner: Obama
Popular Vote: Obama 53 McCain 47
Senate Seats: 58 Democrats 40 Republicans
House Seats: 259 Democrats 176 Republicans

Gary Jacobson, (University of California-San Diego political scientist
Winner: Obama
Major Party Vote: 52.7 Obama 47.3 McCain
Senate: 57 Democrats 43 Republicans
House: 264 Democrats 171 Republican

Sandy Maisel, Colby College political scientist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College 353 Obama 185 McCain
Senate Seats 59 Democrats 41 Republicans
House 265 Democrats 170 Republicans

Robert Erickson, Columbia University political scientist
Winner: Obama
Popular Vote: Obama 52.5 McCain 47.5
Senate Seats: 59 Democrats 41 Republicans
House Seats: 253 Democrats 182 Republicans

Alan Abramowitz, Emory University political scientist
Winner: Obama
Electoral College: Obama 361 McCain 177
Senate Seats: 59 Democrats 40 Republicans (with a run-off in Georgia)
House Seats: 256 Democrats 179 Republicans

Reminds me of the Sesame Street Game "One Of These Is Not Like The Others"

The Narcotic Farm

2008-11-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

NPR provides a look into one of our society's first attempts at rehabilitation instead of punishment as a means of addressing the serious social problem of drug addiction.

The Narcotic Farm

Please Vote No on Prop 8

2008-11-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

If you live in California, or know someone who does, please read this post.

I feel incredibly moved by what I just saw.

I have to admit that although much of my political ideology is often terribly obvious and might lead one to believe that my position on this issue could simply be assumed, in reality it has not been so simple for me. This is largely a result of the time in which I grew into political maturity.

As a Democrat whose first self-initiated volunteer experience was holding signs on street corners for Al Gore, you can imagine what kind of political disappointments I have endured and what a formative impact they have had on me. I remember liking Bill Clinton but mostly because my parent did. Ever since I have been capable of independent thought on the state of the world around me, how it came to be, and how it might be different, I have only experienced that Democrats are not good enough to be part of that process.

Being beaten into the ground in this way during such personally influential years has an affect on one's psyche. Was it possible my parents didn't know everything??? This realization is an earth-shattering moment for every young adult. But it led me toward a much more critical approach to understanding politics and the deeply held beliefs that often drive it. I began to ask questions about why I believed what I believed and why most other people apparently did not.

Although I realized it was possible I wasn't "right" on every issue, mostly I just hated it when someone assumed I was naive for holding my beliefs with such ferocity. And I swore that I wouldn't do the same to others because of my experiences; I swore that I wouldn't take someone else's deeply held, fundamental beliefs for granted.

This is how I ended up ambivalent toward gay marriage. The argument I heard most often against gay marriage was that marriage was a sacred religious institution defined first in the Bible as between one man and one woman. While I personally didn't agree with this strict adherence to dogmatic tradition, especially when so many other Biblical traditions appeared to no longer be tenable in today's society, my experiences refused to let me simply brush aside other people's fundamental beliefs. Indeed, they still don't permit such dismissiveness.

While I want to respect those who still hold their beliefs about the sanctity of marriage dearly, I cannot support the idea of denying any law-abiding, loving, constructive member of society equal rights. Most especially when the upholding of those rights does not prevent anyone from fulfilling the religious and moral obligations to marriage they have prescribed for themselves.

If Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders has the courage to purge any ambivalence on this issue from his rhetoric, it is time I do as well.

If you live in California, please, please, vote NO on Proposition 8.

Abaraka!

2008-10-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

A tribute to Obama in Bambara, the most wide-spread local language in Mali.

Allah ka san chaman di Obama ma!
(May God give Obama many years!)

Thud!

2008-10-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

Same day, same opportunity to say something powerful. And this is how McCain chose to use that opportunity. It's like his eye is badly cut open and he can't even see what he is swinging at as he slowly begins to fall to the floor. Thud!

TKO

2008-10-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Obama lands his first of a probable series of knock-out punches with less than a minute left on the clock.

It is easy to forget how inspirational Obama's oratory could be. Speeches like these were what propelled him past Hillary in the primaries. But like all amazing things, his highly inspirational speeches couldn't be sustained for long stretches without people growing numb. Recall the "Obama fatigue" that began circulating throughout the news shortly after his return from a world tour this summer. So he seamlessly morphed into a much more conventional, yet adept, pol. He just kept landing persistent blows to the rib cage outside the direct vision of most spectators. We could see McCain was weakening but we couldn't understand exactly what the cause was. Obama knew that a knock-out punch would be all that more easy if he had laid the ground work in advance. This is the beginning of that last flurry of punches that will send McCain to the floor. What a finish...

WFTV or WTF V

2008-10-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

This interview from WFTV is crazy. If you feel that Obama and Biden have a socialist agenda go ahead and ask that. But what is going on here is beyond contempt for basic journalistic integrity. These are radical talking points, not investigative inquiries. I think WFTV might better be labeled WTFV, as in What The F#*@ Vision.

It's Over

2008-10-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

One could have reasonably concluded this a week ago but I believe it is undeniable now. If there was an October Surprise it would have been played by now. Even if McCain does pull something out of his sleeve, Obama's crisis management skills have been on full display this election season several times and they've been masterful. This edited clip from TPM sums it up pretty well.

Regardless of the fact that this clip has obviously been processed through the "filter of the biased media," it cannot take away the things people are saying and most importantly who is saying them.

Law School

2008-10-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

I just got my LSAT score back. When I look to the statistics from the 2008 incoming class at the University of Washington, I notice that there were 44 people last year who applied to the law school in my score/GPA range. 2 were accepted. Some pop culture wisdom seems appropriate here.

What the heck. I'm going for it.

Vote No on Prop 8

2008-10-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

I found these two videos over at Ezra Klein.

Ezra's take...

The messaging of these ads is pretty interesting: They're aimed more at turning out supporters than convincing opponents. The message is fairly clear: You can be a troglodyte, or you can step forward into the future. There's the chance that the ads will turn off as many voters as they'll turn on, but the Prop 8 opponents are making a simple bet: That when activated, their base is bigger. It's not a bet I've seen gay marriage proponents make before, and it suggests that their polling and data shows the issue changing rapidly enough that they feel able to run a campaign that attempts to win, rather than just tries to avoid losing.

I think the Prop 8 opponent's strategy is telling of just how far we have come that it is even a plausible scenario that there are more people who either support or tolerate gay marriage then are threatened by it.

(Italics mine)

Prescience

2008-10-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

If you can get past the slapstick and presentational differences between Chris Rock and Barack Obama there are some amazing similarities between the dichotomy portrayed in this clip (from the movie "Head of State" released in 2003) and the one that has emerged during this election. I especially like the "knock 'em out" line referring to parental responsibilities.

(Video found on Slate)

Mindless Fun!

2008-10-24T09:23:00.001-07:00

Collective Preferences and Voting

2008-10-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

I am loving my econ class. I just wanted to state that again.

A fun question brought up in class: "Can a voting mechanism always find a socially-optimal allocation?"

Let's begin with the following voter preference scenario...

A brief (and probably obvious) explanation. Person 1 prefers "policy option" A to policy option B. And person 1 prefers policy option B to policy option C. And so on for persons 2 and 3.

Basic logic dictates that if someone prefers A to B and B to C, then through the transitive property that person should prefer A to C. But look at how the above preferences when processed through a voting mechanism yield an illogical outcome.

If policy options A and B were on a ballot A would win because persons 1 and 3 would vote for it while only person 2 would vote for B. Likewise, if options B and C were on the ballot, B would win because persons 1 and 2 would vote for it while only person 3 would vote for C. So clearly we have established democratically that collectively the group prefers A to B and B to C.

But look what happens if you put options A and C on the ballot. C wins because persons 2 and 3 would vote for it while only person 1 would vote for A. This now has given us the following illogical result.

Collectively, the group prefers A to B and B to C. But it prefers C to A.

As it turns out, the only way for a voting mechanism to yield a socially-optimal (and logical) result is if the individuals have an identical preference ordering.

It's Been A Rough Year...

2008-10-22T19:07:00.000-07:00

A friend points out a sad truth for Seattle sports fans.

After watching our poor pathetic Seahawks lose yet another game last night, I was sad and embarrassed to hear one of the commentators sum things up for our city:

"So, the Seahawks are one and five, the Huskies are zero and six, the Mariners have lost 101 games, and their basketball team moved to Oklahoma City. It's been a rough year for Seattle."

Why yes, yes it has. Thanks for pointing that out. Ugh, totally tragic.

Yes... Totally

Economic vs. Social Populism

2008-10-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Dick Morris argues completely against my posts on income disparity in his recent article, "The Populism Divide." Not too surprising given the source but I do agree that a dichotomy of economic vs. social populism has emerged as an (if not the) issue driving this election. Dick concludes that social populism has made a comeback as if it is going to represent a real challenge to the economic populism of Obama (to be honest its Edwards' issue which almost every other democratic candidate usurped). Social populism won the day four years ago, leaving the democrats dumbfounded at how they lost the election on "values." But when the economy is in the tank as it currently is, people know that social populism is a luxury they can't afford right now. I think that has been pretty obvious over the last few weeks and will be made even more so on Nov. 4th.

Income Growth Despairity part 2.

2008-10-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Some more economic food for thought. Take a look at the first significant spike. The crash of the stock market followed immediately. Now look at where we are heading right now.

Perhaps this financial crises should not be as surprising as it has been and perhaps there are policies that could have been implemented to avoid such income disparities. This evidence does not prove causality but it does suggest that there may be a reasonable link.

Income Growth Despairity

2008-10-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

I am taking a fascinating class right now in microeconomics. This wasn't my favorite class as an undergrad but at a public policy school you get the chance to think about some basic principles of economics in terms of policy (of course) and how making certain policy decisions will have certain impacts. Today we were discussing various types of efficiency models and comparing efficiency and equity.

Over the last 20-30 years people have debated the efficacy of trickle-down economics. The question is does trickle-down economics do what its name implies? Does it trickle down and reach those at the lower strata of the socio-economic classes? What I saw in class today seemed to suggest convincingly that it doesn't and in fact did more to create income growth inequity than any other economic policy between 1947 and 1979.

Take a look at the following slide from today's lecture.

Now look at the data between 1980 and 2005.

Leaves an impression, huh?

The Powell Endorsement

2008-10-19T22:38:00.001-07:00

The significance of the Powell endorsement is not that it happened so much as the way in which it happened. He single handedly repudiated all the disjointed elements of McCain's strategy. He helps us realize that the haphazard way in which he has run his campaign should be a warning about the way he would run our country. On the flip side, one of the most compelling arguments for Obama, in my mind, has been his politically and intellectually mature and deliberate approach to his campaign and what that tells us about how he would run our country.

(Video found on Daily Kos)

Electric Sheep

2008-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

I can't tell if this guy is super- or sub-human. I keep waiting for him to say, “My mind is going, I can feel it. I'm afraid,” the famous last words of HAL. He is definitely not normal, but often times the world's geniuses are not.

(Dime dropped by Micah)

McCain at the Al Smith Dinner

2008-10-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

This is the respectable McCain that I think most of us have forgotten exits.

McCain shows some tremendous grace here. I wonder how much of the unbecoming behavior we have seen over the last few weeks is more a sign of poor judgement in letting himself be over handled by advisors. It happens to many people who run for president and usually results in that person losing. It happened to Al Gore and it happened to John Kerry, although it looked very different coming from the DNC. I wonder what McCain's campaign would have looked like had he not surrounded himself (or at least let himself be surrounded) with some truly cynical people.

Musical McCain

2008-10-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

This was too good not to post. Who knew McCain could actually be funny? His attempts at humor on the stump seem less successful.

john mccain does streisand

For more musical politicians go to Time Magazine online. There are some doozies in there. I really like John Ashcroft's Let the Eagle Soar.

Drunk Pumpkins

2008-10-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

This has been circulating for a couple of weeks now but it is entertaining enough to warrant posting!

It is pretty similar to what my Peace Corps group created in Mali a few years ago for Halloween but where only watermelon were available and the supposed catalyst was giardia not alcohol.

Substance, finally... mostly

2008-10-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

With the exception of a few distractions, substance crept its way into last night's debate. On a wide range of domestic issues ranging from health care to taxes to the economy to education the debate actually served its purpose - provide a clear contrast between the two candidates. Sure, Ayers was thrown in there and, yes, there was probably too much time devoted to the tone of the ads running on TV and the radio. While these are entertaining they really don't tell us anything about where the next president is planning on spending our time, energy, resources. Here are a few legitimate debate moments:

Health Care

Now McCain does have a point to make here on Health Care but he just didn't make it well. What he should have asked is, "Why do you think it is a good idea to force people to buy health insurance for their children? Shouldn't that be up to the parent's discretion?" That would be a legitimate question. The reason this was a legitimate debate moment despite McCain not asking this question is because he was trying to get at a fundamental difference in philosophies between the two candidates on Health Care. He was trying to establish that there is an option in this election. Either you believe in everyone pitching in to reduce overall health care costs or you believe in your personal freedom to choose what you want to do with you own health care. McCain just posed the question poorly.

Taxes

Again, fundamental differences in philosophy. Either you believe in Reagan's trickle-down economics or you believe that middle class America is the backbone of the economy. Regardless of whether Obama's plan will actually work to get this economy going again, I think Obama is going to win this debate because trickle-down economics is exactly was hasn't been working the last eight years during the Bush administration. The tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy was supposed to create millions of new jobs for middle class Americans. Of course, we know that that hasn't been the case.

Roe v Wade, Supreme Court Justices

McCain had a very respectable answer here (whether of or not you agree with a litmus test approach) until the end when he said, "I would consider anyone in their qualifications. I do not believe that someone who has supported Roe v. Wade that would be part of those qualifications. But I certainly would not impose any litmus test." I could be interpreting this incorrectly, but it sounds to me like he is saying that supporting Roe v Wade is evidence that you are not qualified. If that is what he is saying than there is a litmus test for Mccain. I am not arguing wether or not there should be a litmus test but you can't have it both ways.

Other thoughts:
There were also great exchanges on trade and climate change. Overall, I think the voters who watched the debate are the ones who really won. Bob Schieffer was by far the most effective moderator. For the full transcript go here.

(Completely shallow and substance-free thought: Do John and Cindy McCain look like a scary Halloween couple in the picture above?)

QRM

2008-10-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

School is starting to settle down a bit. The first few weeks were pretty chaotic as I tried to balance the demanding work load with studying for the LSAT (done!!!!) and two weddings. I feel like I can really start to focus on school now.

Hiatus

2008-10-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been incredibly busy. So much so that I completely abandoned this blog. I am hoping now that I have some major events behind me (LSAT, two weddings, and starting grad school), that I will be able to give this site some more attention. It was a horribly inopportune time to become busy given all the action over the last few weeks. I really regret not being able to post on the first three debates although being busy was a great excuse to not have to pretend I know anything about the economy, what drives it, and what solutions seem most practical. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with something insightful or, at a minimum, entertaining.

Unaccompanied Thought

2008-09-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

From what I have seen thus far of Charlie Gibson's interview with Palin, his questions have been almost exclusively policy related questions. Not "pig on lipstick" questions. Where was this Charlie Gibson during the ABC hosted Democratic primary debate last April?

Don't Blink, The Russians Are Coming!

2008-09-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

Not terribly informative but nonetheless pretty entertaining.

Picture of the Day

2008-09-12T10:04:00.001-07:00

AP photo found on front page of CNN.com as of 1pm Eastern.

(As if I have a picture everyday...)

Dangerous

2008-09-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

James Fallows points out that we all have our areas of interest. Some like sports, some like fine dining, some like music, some like international affairs. Our ability to speak on these issues intelligently and with fluency is directly related to our interest in them. If you are not sufficiently interested in them then you wont have familiarized yourself with broader points of an ongoing debate surrounding that issue. This interview seems to make clear this is the case with Palin and international affairs.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with not having an interest in international affairs, it does seem disqualifying for someone who is supposed to be ready to be commander in chief should they ever be required to do so for reasons tragic or otherwise.

But here is the money quote from James

A further point. The truly toxic combination of traits GW Bush brought to decision making was:

1) Ignorance
2) Lack of curiosity
3) "Decisiveness"

That is, he was not broadly informed to begin with (point 1). He did not seek out new information (#2); but he nonetheless prided himself (#3) on making broad, bold decisions quickly, and then sticking to them to show resoluteness.

This looks an awful lot like Palin's response above. To accept such a combination of qualities is not only undesirable, its dangerous.

QRM

2008-09-12T02:55:00.000-07:00

Much in the way that many of Orwell's journal entries seem to be centered around the weather, I find that most of mine seem to be centered around food. Having thus established this...

I wish to declare to the world that I love Caterpillar sushi rolls!

Drill, Baby, Drill!!!

2008-09-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

From Ezra...

This, it should be noted, is the primary solution emphasized by the woman John McCain says"knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America." At least he left a "probably" in there as a hedge.
Incidentally, that comment is actually a little chilling. Imagine Sarah Palin was actually an extremely learned governor on energy issues, rather than just an extremely effective shill for Alaskan energy interests. She still wouldn't be the country's leading energy expert. She's been governor of Alaska for 18 months. She did not study energy before that. She is not a hydrocarbon engineer, or an energy economist. She is not a geologist or a surveyor. She studied journalism in college, and did not proceed to cover energy as a beat. Obviously, it's a good and authentic thing that John McCain is utterly unaware of the existence of expert opinion on this issue, and I wouldn't dare criticize his inspiring
faith in the common-sense wisdom of the finest governor Alaska has had within the last year, but it's still worth pointing out.

Cooling a Hyper-Sensitivity

2008-09-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, it goes without saying, I was pretty depressed - a knee-jerk reaction, really, to a currently unfavorable trend for the Obama campaign. I feel I have regained a certain degree of composure and feel once again confident in Obama's (and in my opinion the American people's) future prospects. Here is where a little perspective is useful. When I think about the state of the primary race leading up to its last couple of months it was equally hand-wringing. But one thing Obama never did was listen to all the unsolicited advice calling for drastic actions. These actions betray desperation. Obama's actions on the contrary have always thus far been measured and appropriate to the task at hand - a quality that seems remarkably demonstrative of how he would approach crises as president and which reflects a temperament that has been conspicuously absent in the oval office over the last eight years. He avoids the knee-jerk reactions that seem all too inherently natural and necessary to the rest of us. The following quote from the New York Times' Adam Nagourney is relevant here...

... Mr. Obama’s aides said they were confident with the course of the campaign. They said that, other than making some shifts around the edges, particularly in response to Mr. McCain’s effort to seize the change issue from Mr. Obama, they were not planning any major deviation from a strategy that called for a steady escalation of attacks on Mr. McCain as the race heads toward the debates.

[...]

“We’re sensitive to the fluid dynamics of the campaign, but we have a game plan and a strategy,” said Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe. “We’re familiar with this. And I’m sure between now and Nov. 4 there will be another period of hand-wringing and bed-wetting. It comes with the territory.”

This may sound typical of the rhetoric one would expect from a campaign that seems to have lost a bit of steam as of late. I would believe so as well had I not already been through this during the primaries when Obama was faced with a far more formidable candidate in Clinton.

At this point, instead of screaming, yelling, ranting and raving about what Obama should do, what opportunities he is missing, what line of attack he should be taking, I think we could all do ourselves a favor and realize that thus far Obama has proven not only to be a talented speaker, and someone whose stances on the issues jive better with the broader trends of the American populace, but also a talented and redoubtable politician.

Winning Arguments

2008-09-12T01:21:00.000-07:00

I received this email over a year ago but I was just going over some old emails and I think this one deserves reissuing.

HOW TO ARGUE AND WIN EVERYTIME

I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. You too can win arguments. Simply follow these rules:

Drink liquor

Suppose you are at a party and some hotshot intellectual is expounding on the economy of Peru, a subject you know nothing about. If you're drinking some health-fanatic drink like grapefruit juice, you'll hang back, afraid to display your ignorance, while the hotshot enthralls your date. But if you drink several large martinis, you'll discover you have STRONG VIEWS about the Peruvian economy. You'll be a WEALTH of information. You'll argue forcefully, offering searing insights and possibly upsetting furniture. People will be impressed. Some may leave the room.

Make things up

Suppose, in the Peruvian economy argument, you are trying to prove that Peruvians are underpaid, a position you base solely on the fact that YOU are underpaid, and you'll be damned if you're going to let a bunch of Peruvians be better off. DON'T say: "I think Peruvians are underpaid." Say instead: "The average Peruvian's salary in 1981 dollars adjusted for the revised tax base is $1, 452.81 per annum, which is $836.07 before the mean gross poverty level."

NOTE: Always make up exact figures

If an opponent asks you where you got your information, make THAT up too. Say: "This information comes from Dr. Hovel T. Moon's study for the Buford Commission published on May 9, 1982. Didn't you read it?" Say this in the same tone of voice you would use to say, "You left your soiled underwear in my bathroom."

Use meaningless but weighty-sounding words and phrases.

Memorize this list:

Let me put it this way

In terms of

Vis-a-vis

Per se

As it were

Qua

So to speak

You should also memorize some Latin abbreviations such as "Q.E.D.", "e.g.", and "i.e." These are all short for "I speak Latin, and you don't."

Here's how to use these words and phrases. Suppose you want to say, "Peruvians would like to order appetizers more often, but they don't have enough money."

You never win arguments talking like that. But you WILL win if you say, "Let me put it this way. In terms of appetizers vis-a-vis Peruvians qua Peruvians, they would like to order them more often, so to speak, but they do not have enough money per se, as it were. Q.E.D."

Only a fool would challenge that statement.

Use snappy and irrelevant comebacks

You need an arsenal of all-purpose irrelevant phrases to fire back at your opponents when they make valid points. The best are:

You're begging the question.

You're being defensive.

Don't compare apples to oranges.

What are your parameters?

This last one is especially valuable. Nobody (other than engineers and policy wonks) has the vaguest idea what "parameters" means.

Here's how to use your comebacks:

You say: As Abraham Lincoln said in 1873...

Your opponent says: Lincoln died in 1865.

You say: You're begging the question.

You say: Liberians, like most Asians...

Your opponent says: Liberia is in Africa.

You say: You're being defensive.

So that's it. You now know how to out-argue anybody.

Let Us Remember

2008-09-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

Let us remember and thus reclaim the unity that we possessed on September 11th, 2001. In some ways it was something thrust upon us but I believe that in more ways it was something claimed by each of us out of necessity. Now too is a time of necessity.

A Good Place To Start

2008-09-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

Civics is grossly underrepresented in today's classrooms. I have not read through the textbooks but Project Citizen seems to get at the right idea.

Entire classes of students or members of youth or adult organizations work cooperatively to identify a public policy problem in their community. They then research the problem, evaluate alternative solutions, develop their own solution in the form of a public policy, and create a political action plan to enlist local or state authorities to adopt their proposed policy. Participants develop a portfolio of their work and present their project in a public hearing showcase before a panel of civic-minded community members.

Quote of the Day

2008-09-11T10:14:00.000-07:00

If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

- Thomas Jefferson

Some Good Advice

2008-09-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

Not just for Obama but for all of us who are pulling our hair out.

From Andrew Sullivan...

Just a word about the usual excrescence from Karl Rove this morning. Obama knows this lipstick thing is a cynical, knowingly dishonest attempt to push the news cycle one more day into triviality before Palin has to actually face real scrutiny, and we have our first chance to see whether she is who she says she is. It's a desperate tactic to run out the clock or to find a way to navigate the now-tsunami of evidence that Sarah Palin is unfit for the vice-presidency on account of her total lack of knowledge or expertise in foreign affairs, the thinnness and extremism and recklessness of her public record as mayor and governor, and the obvious and most important fact that she clearly cannot be trusted to tell the truth.
Obama mustn't let these schoolyard tactics unbalance him. He hasn't in the slightest, so far, mind you, a feat of astonishing mental and psychological calm. My advice for what it's worth: Hang in. The facts are on your side and the issues are overwhelmingly in your favor. They're trying to force you to blink. Don't. Hysteria will end at some point.

Patience and steel.

Patience and steel

If you had told me two months ago that this would be the state of the race at this point I would have told you you were crazy. I have gone through a wide range of emotions over the last week and a half since Palin was tapped as McCain's runningmate - first shock, then cautious optimism, then tepid concern, now depression. I think the recent polls say a lot about the degree of maturity with which the electorate is approaching this election. If this election had ANYTHING to do with the issues that affect American's Obama would be blowing McCain out of the water. Unfortunately the arguments for Palin (not McCain mind you) are that she is tough, she knows what I am going through, and I can relate to her. These are admirable qualities. I have learned a concept while preparing for the LSAT that seems to me very appropriately applied here - the average voter is apparently mistaking a necessary condition for a sufficient condition. That is, while it may be necessary for our leaders to be tough and able to relate to what we are going through it is not sufficient. It does not qualify you for the position. I still have yet to hear from anyone who is not a surrogate one policy area that they agree with her on. I don't blame them - she doesn't spend much time talking about policy so how could they know. But a candidate's stance on the issues goes a long way in bridging the gap between necessary and sufficient conditions. Perhaps not the entire gap but they too are indispensable, they too are necessary. Yet they are being almost entirely ignored.

While I don't lend too much credence to polls normally, they can be indicators of broad general trends. So while a poll showing Obama up by 2 or 3 nationally doesnt really tell you whether or not he is up it does tell you that the race is relatively close. So as Obama has gone from an average of 6 or 8 point lead to being down by about 2 or 3 points it has become obvious that the trend is not in his favor regardless of his actual position. This together with what I said above is the primary source of my current depression. It is not that Obama is not doing well, its why he is not doing well and what that says about the current intellectual maturity of the electorate and the lack of seriousness with which they are approaching this election.

Road Bike

2008-09-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know where I can get this or something comparable for less than $700???

Happy Birthday!

2008-09-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Micah - my brother, my best friend, and a really tall dude. Allah ka fete diya!

Who Needs Books Anyway?

2008-09-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

Lessons learned from this video:

1) Mega sports centers good (especially ones that perpetually operate on subsidies and therefore continue to be a drain on the financial viability of a small town)

2) Libraries bad (especially ones with books containing words in them that we don't like)

And we are supposed to be believe she is a fiscal conservative??? Just imagine this type of decision making carried out on a national level.

I am not against a sports center if it is an economically intelligent idea to pursue. Especially in a small town with few other opportunities for generating revenue (so we can afford that library). But I'd love to see the business plan which suggested that this was going to be a profitable endeavor. While I value sports in society if I had to choose between a publicly funded play area and a publicly funded library and it was my job to promote the well-being of my community, I would error on the side of education.

QRM

2008-09-07T23:28:00.001-07:00

I cleaned the house from top to bottom today. How is that for mundane!

Culture Wars!

2008-09-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

Does anyone actually want to be engaged in this kind of culture war? Is this the kind of division that serves anyone's best interest? What part of community organizing does not put country first? How does Palin's rhetoric here put country first? I understand that for a long time small town America has felt looked down on by the "liberal elite." But its not the liberal elite that have shit on your country for the last eight years. And now that we are given a chance to reflect upon the destructiveness of our being so divided over the last couple of decades why are we not bleeding a desire to really put our country first by putting that which divides us aside? In this election who even attempts to offer us a chance at this? McCain? Palin???

QRM

2008-09-06T20:20:00.001-07:00

I have fallen into a bit of a crush with Carla Bruni - yes, that Carla Bruni, the first lady (or is it the third lady?) of France. Her new album, "No Promises" is as folksy and sexy as I have heard. To get an idea go to emusic and have a listen.

PS - Anyone else find the album title ironic coming from a politician's wife?

Mutual Bounce = Wash

2008-09-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

At this point it looks like the Democratic and Republican conventions provided moderate bounces for their respective candidates effectively making them a wash. What they did do was bring the electorate into the race. As hard as it might be to imagine, I think the majority of the American people have not been paying close attention to the campaigns thus far but the Palin tabloids and resulting drama have sparked people's interest and, in my opinion, reduced politics down to its lowest common denominator. Depressing. But at least people are paying attention now as was demonstrated by Obama, Palin, and McCain each grabbing record breaking ratings for their convention speeches (Palin for a VP and Obama and McCain for Ps).

So the question now is, Now that they have the audiences attention what are the candidates going to do with it? Honestly, I don't know. Most of what I have heard and read seems to cohere around the idea that Obama should ignore Palin and go after McCain. And although McCain looks better off than before the conventions in terms of having injected some life back into his campaign, I don't think there is much consensus about where he goes from here. Most people believe that he has effectively rallied the base. But in a year when only 28% of the electorate identifies themselves as Republicans, I am not sure that's really what he wanted to do.

Personally, I think Obama went too far on focusing on the issues. He needs to find a good balance. Before he was "all talk" and got a reputation as a Hollywood star with many admitting to Obama fatigue. Since then - and for the most part during the convention - he tried to get back to the meat and potatoes issues that really effect people's lives. Both are appealing to me. But, although I wish the American people at large based their decisions to a greater degree on the issues, it is pretty obvious that this most do not. If McCain can make this race about character and personal biography, he stands a chance. If Obama can make this about the issues and reclaiming America's position as a valued leader in the world then McCain is toast. We'll see...

QRM

2008-09-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

These two make a great combination!

I have found that I have a growing affinity for an almost masochistic level spiciness. Its not good until your sweating, your eyes are watering, and your nose is running.

QRM

2008-09-05T01:29:00.000-07:00

I am apparently alone among my friends who think that McCain's speech was politically effective.

Great Finish

2008-09-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

Here are my initial thought in all their unrefinedness...

The very ending of John McCain's speech sounded almost as if Obama had delivered it. Well not quite. He is not the orator Obama is but at the end I actually had a bit of goosebumpage. It was obviously from a very conservative perspective in that there was plenty of emphasis on being strong and standing up for and fighting for what's right as opposed to Obama's we can all do this together if we work together. Definitely a difference in tone between those two messages but I think they both work for their respective presenters. I didn't hear too much specifics on policies but at least he focused some of his attention back on the American people. And I still think that the majority of his speech sounded more like the acceptance speech for a Medal of Honor than a expounding of what he would do as President for the average American. Overall, though I think this will be politically effective.

Palin's Speech

2008-09-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Best response I have read so far...

Over the past week, Palin had begun looking like a character from Twin Peaks. Tonight, she looked like an up-and-coming Republican politician. It was an auspicious debut, the sort of address that would be judged a success if she were a newcomer keynoting the convention. She landed clean punches, temporarily silenced some of her critics, and retold John McCain's story with a keen sense for the drama of his experience. But I expected more. As delivered, the speech was effective as theater but curiously hollow as an enduring campaign argument: It contained the seeds of a medal ceremony for McCain, and marked Palin as a politician to watch, but it said nothing about the presidency she hopes to be part of.

An early example came in the halfhearted attempt to redefine Sarah Palin. No one doubts that things have happened in Alaska over the past 18 months, and Palin has been involved in some of them. But I wasn't quite expecting them to cede the 42 years before she assumed the governorship.

The crucial juncture came early in the speech. They had the opening to weave a narrative around her preparation for the vice presidency, and decided instead to throw it away on a jab against Barack Obama. "I was mayor of my hometown," she said. "And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

Good line. But no responsibilities followed. Instead we heard about Obama's characterization of economically depressed Americans as "bitter." Another straight shot, but a missed opportunity. Palin could have taken the moment to define her mayoralty as an education in the concerns of small town Americans, or an experience leading to the realization that government works best when it is closest. Instead, she essentially agreed with her critics: Her experience amounts to 18 months as governor of one of the smallest states. Tonight, she put the best spin on that experience, but she didn't challenge its basic shape or limitations. She chose the applause line, not the deeper argument. In that sense, the speech was slave to the same priorities that governed her selection as vice president: It was aimed at wining the news cycle, not the campaign.

Again and again, strong narratives were sacrificed for good lines. Later, Palin set forth a powerful contrast when she said, "Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things. And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk." Again, a clean shot landed on Obama, but I listened for the "great things" John McCain would do to no avail. I went back to the transcript. "It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office," Palin said a few paragraphs later.

Nowhere did we hear of the great things John McCain would do, Instead, we heard, over and over, of the agonies John McCain endured. The presidency was presented tonight as if it were the Medal of Honor, or a purple heart. As if it is only a quirk of our political process that stops us from simply finding the longest serving prisoner of war and gifting him the keys to the office. On a rhetorical level, it was effective, if only because McCain's story is so powerful. But it is not, fundamentally, a sustainable approach to this campaign. If McCain is more appealing for what he did than what he will do, he will lose the election. It is, after all, only during the convention that you get to tell your story. Throughout the rest of the campaign, you have to argue with your opponent. And tonight, Palin added very little to that argument.

From Ezra Klein

QRM

2008-09-03T09:16:00.001-07:00

Today, my brother, Micah, moves into the apartment that will be our apartment for the next year. If I recall correctly ours is the top, middle apt! I wish I could be in Seattle to help move in but with less than two weeks left in San Diego I know I will be there soon enough.

The Effects of Torture

2008-09-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

From Ezra...

After a long retelling of McCain's experience as a prisoner, Thompson intoned, "civilizations since the dawn of time have looked for this sort of character in their leaders." Which sort of raises the question: Should we just find the longest serving POW in the country and elect him president?

And a commenter takes Thompson's idea to its logical conclusion.

So torture builds character that leads to leadership.
I can only imagine the sign above Gitmo:

"Welcome future world leaders"

I do not intend to denigrate McCain's experience as a POW. I cannot begin to imagine what such a tragic and painful experience would do to me. But one can see what a profound impact it has had on his life and worldview. Whether that has an impact on your decision to vote for him up to you although I, too, am a bit skeptical of the POW=POTUS argument.

But I think the more important thing to take from the commenter's caustic remark is not that anyone who is being held at Gitmo is going to be a future world leader, but rather... What kind of worldview are we creating in the prisoners we torture and does that really serve our country's best interests?

QRM

2008-09-02T23:45:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day back to school for many today. Not for me, though. I have to admit that I am very much looking forward to starting school again. I am sure I will look back and ask why I was once school starts.

Google Chrome

2008-09-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

This could be very cool...

Low-Key Biden?

2008-09-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Ezra makes an interesting observation...

In this election, Joe Biden is proving the low-key, stable, drama-free vice presidential candidate who basically does his job and stays out of the news. Joe Biden.

Even from early on in the Democratic Primary I really liked Joe Biden. My one concern about him being a VP selection for Obama was his seeming inability to keep his mouth shut. I even speculated just after Biden was tapped that that might have been the reason he was picked. But perhaps I was mistaken. Thus far (it's still early) it does seem to be the case that Biden is the better VP pick of the two. Of course the bar doesn't seem to have been set very high.

And this brings up a second issue. There has been some comparing and contrasting between Obama's and Palin's records and whether or not their experience is sufficient to be President of the United States. Obviously, I think experience is desirable. I think most others would agree. But what sold me on Obama's readiness to be president was his book the Audacity of Hope. Point by point he laid out a comprehensive vision for the future of America on every issue from domestic policy to foreign affairs that seemed both practical and ambitious while demonstrating a great deal of maturity and sober-mindedness. But what has continued to confirm my faith in his ability has been the his management of the last 19 months. When you compare Obama's campaign to his two main rivals - Clinton and McCain - his has been one of composure and a general sense of knowing what they want to accomplish and brilliant execution. "Low-Key" Biden is just one manifestation of this tremendous demonstration of leadership.

QRM

2008-09-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

Two things perhaps not so mundane...

1) Although the damage from Hurricane Gustav will undoubtably be tragic, it seems undeniable that we learned a lot from Hurricane Katrina. Damage is one thing, lives are another.

2) Happy Labor Day!

A Good Day To Be A Blogger

2008-08-29T13:14:00.000-07:00

Between Obama's speech

and McCain's VP pick...

it's a good day to be a blogger.

Andrew Sullivan has posted 50 times today and its only mid day.

Main Point Questions

2008-08-29T02:38:00.000-07:00

For some obscure reason, on the LSAT reading comprehension questions I can answer almost any question about the passage except, "What is the author's main point?" This is truly embarrassing but perhaps by acknowledging it publicly I will force myself to be able to distinguish purpose from relevance.

In recognition of other's ability to do so I would like to quote Marc Ambinder's compendium of Barack's speech tonight...

Who he is. Why McCain is bad. We need to come together.

I do not posses a talent for pithiness. But I respect it whole-heatedly!

History

2008-08-29T01:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight I arrived at Cal Western's student lounge around 2pm. My intention was to study the whole night through, breaking only to watch Barack Obama's speech. But once the buzz began there was no point resisting. I was captivated. What would he say? Would he be aggressive and yet respectful? Would he clearly lay out, once and for all, the specifics of his policy proposals in a distilled enough fashion such that they could still be digested by the electorate at large?

My initial response is... WOW! This is a unique man in history. But it is important to define unique here. Unique does NOT mean special, nor does it mean rare. It has inherent within it a sense of singularity. That there is no one person who is like Obama. Now before someone pulls the Messiah card, it is important to distinguish between the holy and the unique. I do not intend to say that Obama is divine - rather that he is the only person right now who inspires and engages such a disparate and ostensibly mutually exclusive cast of characters towards such collective aspirations.

Many have spoken accolades of Obama's speech tonight but the comments I find most expressive of my thoughts come from Joshua Marshall of TPM...

I thought this was a very strong speech. About exactly what was needed. It was a strong speech. He made the case for himself; he laid out clear policy goals; and he aggressively set forth the stakes of the campaign. He made the case against John McCain while not attacking his character -- which makes a clear contrast with McCain's aggressively personal, denigrating campaign strategy.

I've heard a few people say that he seemed to hold back from giving the soaring speech he might have given. But I suspect that was intentional and I think a good decision. Meta-themes and tonality form the deeper structure of political communication. And the aim of this speech was not eloquence but strength.

I've said myself that Obama's campaign needs to be more aggressive. They need to hold the initiative, and attack, attack, attack. But attacking doesn't mean bludgeoning -- at least not necessarily. It means making the case and defining the argument. Not running a campaign by reacting -- well or not -- to your opponent's attacks. As Paul Begala said in our interview with him a couple days ago, it's not about rapid response but rapid attack. Personally I might prefer an even more aggressive tack from Obama's surrogates. But I think here Obama himself had the balance just right.

Contrary to what might seem as my unwavering support of Obama, there are times when I question whether his actions are are really what this country needs. Tonight I am a proud supporter of Barack Obama.

For further exploration of the accomplishments of Obama's speech tonight PLEASE see Ezra Klein.

Can I Get An Advisor?

2008-08-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

First there was Phil Gramm and the "nation of winers" slip. And now this...

Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

Ezra Klein scoffs

Yep, problem solved. If you can't afford a doctor, but the census bureau stops describing you as uninsured, voila! Your problem is solved! And if you're getting your wages garnished because you fell ill and had to be rushed to the emergency room but the census bureau puts you in a different category, voila! You problem is solved! And if you have cancer, and you go to the ER, and they refer you to a hospital for scheduled treatment, and the hospital turns you away because you don't have insurance, I bet they can call John Goodman and, voila! Problem will be solved.

This is what we call a Kinsleyan gaffe: A mistake that reveals the truth. John McCain's health care plan is, by the admission of his own advisers, not particularly interested in the problem of the uninsured...

To keep reading Ezra's response click here.

QRM

2008-08-27T23:33:00.001-07:00

Today, I unleashed my inner elitist self by ordering a pizza. What was on it? Pears and arugula. And it was good!

Of Course It Was Better

2008-08-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

Like many Obama supporters, I have been pretty disgusted with some of President Bill Clinton's remarks over the last year and a half. But, man, can that guy give a speech. Last night Hillary's speech was the best I have ever seen from her. But you can tell that it was the culmination of over a year of stumping all over America and a lot of hard work.

I think for Bill Clinton it just comes naturally. Its not fair. But that's the way it is. He did everything he needed to do without once saying something that he didn't believe. He never said Obama would be better than Hillary. He never even directly said that Obama was ready to be Comander in Chief. But he did say that he is ready to be President and spoke very convincingly so. And he outlined a future for America that was not as soaring as Obama tends to be but just as inspiring (if not more so, shhh). Take a look for yourself...

The Question...

2008-08-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

I love regular old common bloggers. Everyone expects something great from the likes of Andrew Sullivan. But when you get something that is truely insightful from an unestablished blogger, the kind who has zero comments on his blogs day in day out, that is fun. John from Talent Earthquake Productions blogs much in the same way I do and seems to gravitate toward the same sources as I do. But I think for the most part he is more insightful. Today he posted his thoughts on what Obama's speech is going to look like tomorrow and suggests a question that Obama should pose that I think would be as wonderful as it is simple.

"[W]hat is [McCain's] plan to restore American greatness?"

I feel this is not something that has really been explored. Obama has touched on it but he should focus more of his energy on it. Its something that almost every American can rally around and is so simple that it requires almost no thinking. Obama has talked a lot about reclaiming America's place in the world. About a foreign policy that enables that while ceding nothing that could compromise our sovereignty. But I have yet to hear anything from McCain that speaks to this issue. What I hear instead is a series of policies that ensures that America is beholden to no one. Being beholden to no one is what North Korea is doing now. But that is something entirely different than restoring America's greatness. So the obvious question is, Do you want to be isolationist North Korea or do you want to engage in and lead a global community of shared responsibilities and shared opportunities?

Actually, President Bill Clinton hinted at this idea of restoring American greatness tonight in his address at the Democratic National Convention in a brilliant and succinct manner when he said "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

This demonstrates that our greatness lies within ourselves. It is something that is manifested not by being better than others but by being our best selves. Now some might try to point to a contradiction in the two statements I have just made - that our greatness depends on our engaging in a global community and that our greatness lies within ourselves. But the two could not be more dependent on each other. America's greatest self is actually realized through its engagement with and providing leadership within the global community.

If Obama can adopt this story line - the one that demands McCain to spell out how he will restore American greatness - he is already perfectly positioned to capitalize on it with predictable results. He has already set the tone for it, his policies are already lined up for it. All he needs to do now is ask the question.

Twitter What?

2008-08-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

As I peruse the web, more and more I have been hearing about Twitter. Most of the time I saw in in live-blogging contexts, for example when Marc Ambinder from The Atlantic Monthly twittered the DNC night two...

Live From The Floor
#DNC08 Michael Chabon will be at the Tattered Corner bookstore today. 56 minutes ago
#DNC08 Obama campaign DID review HRC speech beforehand, aides say. about an hour ago
#DNC08 Plouffe says independent swing-voting women are key to Obama election... More on blog later about 2 hours ago
#DNC08 No Springsteen at Invesco Field. about 3 hours ago
#DNC08 Live on Katie Couric's convention webcast: WWE's Battista! about 14 hours ago
#DNC08 Obama "loves" HRC's speech.. Nodding and clapping, per aide about 14 hours ago
#DNC08 HRC "twin cities" line gets loudest applause of convention. about 14 hours ago
#DNC08 about 14 hours ago
#DNC08 "Unity" signs.... about 14 hours ago

So I decided to finally find out what this Twitter thing is all about. Here it is...

Interesting for sure and it seems to be like my QRM on steroids. For now though I am not sure that I need to be spending more time online so I am not sold - although I am sure its great for others!

WOW!

2008-08-27T01:37:00.000-07:00

I'm hearing mostly good things about this speech. Personally, I think it was by far her best and I think she said almost everything that she was supposed. The one complaint I have read is that she never explicitly said that she thought Barack was ready to be Commander in Chief - one of her most strident criticisms of him during the primaries. Not sure most people will catch that unless its something that gets heavy play time among the talking heads. Overall, I was more than impressed. But when someone is saying what you want to hear you tend to be so.

(Video found over at Huffpost)

QRM

2008-08-27T01:35:00.000-07:00

I'm reverting back to taking two LSAT classes a week instead of four. This should allows me more study time to get my homework done.

House of Cards

2008-08-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a new video released by Radiohead.

The song is titled, "House of Cards" and I think the video does a good job of portraying the sense of frailty and precariousness that its title suggests.

If It's Leiberman...

2008-08-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

Ezra Klein speculates that McCain could pick Joe Lieberman as his running mate. If he does, consider the contrast to the election 4 years ago. On the one side you have a centrist Republican who has recently shifted to the right coupled with an historically centrist Democrat who recently shifted (pretty significantly) to the right vs. a quasi-centrist democrat (rhetorically at least) coupled with an intensely devoted leftist. Now compare this to four years ago when it was a leader of neocon ideology propping up a born-again christian vs. an intensely devoted leftist and a social justice advocate (although he was southern).

Initially it seemed to me that McCain's smartest choice would be Lieberman. But think of what this would do to the dynamic of the race. Lines become blurred. And despite the predictable Republican rhetoric we would have a much more nuanced decision to confront. The black and white world of good and evil that has been the foundation of the last eight years of the Bush administration would dissolve. Its tough to say exactly who this would benefit but if I were forced to guess I think overall it would benefit Democrats. In my limited experience Republicans have faired much better when lines are drawn with much greater distinction between "right and wrong," "good and evil," and "us and them."

War Prism

2008-08-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

Andrew Sullivan posted the following video today

His post's title was "Noun, Verb, POW" - a play off Joe Biden's humorous criticism of Rudy Guliani and his seeming inability to refer to anything that was not somehow related to 9/11. This meme of noun, verb, pow is starting to take hold in the media. To me, though, a more important point is becoming clear than whether or not McCain is politicizing his experience as a prisoner of war. The more I listen to McCain I realize that he refers back to his POW experience and other military experiences for the simple reason that they have had an obvious transformative effect on him. Rightfully so. And unlike many who returned from Vietnam tragically dysfunctional, McCain has been able to make something quite productive out of his life.

But to ignore the impact that his experiences have had is to ignore something very fundamental about McCain - he would be a war president. The more one listens the more it is obvious that his whole existence is lived through a military prism. I really don't think that this is somehow a relentless attempt to draw attention to his heroism. I think his experiences have had such a profound impact on him that he is no longer able to disassociate military affairs with other aspects of policy.

I do not necessarily mean to imply that one should make such distinctions. I personally feel conflicted as to whether or not one can realistically do so. But it does tell you something about who John McCain is and what to expect from him as a president. If you too believe that all matters have military implications than maybe he is your guy. If not, well, then maybe not.

QRM

2008-08-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took my second diagnostic LSAT test. Today I reviewed it. I have come to the following conclusions:

1) I apparently reason logically or at least have the ability to do so
2) I do not perform well when asked to play games and therefore manipulation of data is not my strong suit
3) What I read I understand, but I am a slow reader (of course I prefer the euphemism "deliberate" reader)
4) While I study there is someone out there surfing

Ahhh... That's Why

2008-08-24T01:35:00.000-07:00

Now I think I get it. I kept going over it in my head. Over and over. Why would Obama announce Biden as his running mate on a Friday night/Saturday morning??? BECAUSE... no one watches the news on the weekends and the majority of Biden bashing and a good chunk of McCain's initial response was going to come immediately following the announcement. So they buried it in the weekend news so that after the spewing occurred they would know how to respond once everyone was listening again. At least that is what I think. Already I can imagine the rebuttals to McCain's ad reminding us all of Biden's being unsure of Obama's being ready to lead us from "Day One." Obama has been saying for over a week now that he wants no "yes men" around him. He wants people who are going to challenge him. What better proof than choosing someone who already has. The more I think about it the more I feel happy with Obama's choice. We have had 8 years of conformity. What we need now is intellectually based dissent.

The Beginning

2008-08-24T00:30:00.000-07:00

Almost 4 years ago, the following was my plan:

-Finish my year with an international reseller of hardware and software
-Peace Corps for two years
-Return home
-Get my MBA
-Pursue work with an international Ben-and-Jerry's-socially-conscious company

Here I am 4 years later and definitely not heading in that direction. I think the seeds of not heading in that direction were probably sewn in me a while ago but I don't think they pushed through the rough soil of pragmatism until several months into my Peace Corps service.

Why am I writing about this now? I saw a photo on Andrew Sullivan today that reminded me of what first pushed those seeds forth into the light.

This picture was the lead photo of a Newsweek article that I read almost 3 years ago that made me think that it was no longer necessary to try to conflate my honest desire to contribute to my society with a not so sincere business angle. Its not that I am anti-capitalist. Quite the contrary. But we all have your interests - that which drives us. And the article I read in Newsweek that featured the photo above was the catalyst that precipitated my realization that my passions lied outside the corporate realm. Indeed, I think that perhaps the whole reason I felt it necessary to merge such unlikely bedfellows was the commonly shared and nearly ubiquitous feeling that politics was not for people that seriously wanted to see things change. It was a broken system beyond repair in which progress was measured by the blockade of "the other side" and not by the furthering of any specific policy.

But what I saw in the picture above really stirred something inside me. We are allowed to be frustrated with those who see things differently. We are allowed to engage them in heated debate. But always... always, must we comport ourselves with dignity and respect for those with apposing views. This photo embodied that notion - the very notion that led me away from my attempt to conjoin two things - one for which I felt deeply and the other to which I approached tepidly. I realized that both these men - both Barack and John - were willing to look each other in the eye and say, "hey dumbass! lets talk..."

The article I read was not painted with roses and spoke in detail of the differences between these two men but it simultaneously inspired a realization in me that we need not demonize our opposition in order to win. In fact we need not see those with different views as opposition at all. Perhaps we may just yet be able to view others with different views as partners in negotiation. This view does not preclude one from having a particular agenda and pursuing it fervently but it does demand of us civility and scope of perspective boarder than is customary.

I recognize my youth and possible naivety. I hope I am not in error of judgement. I hope that my recent acceptance of politics as a possible arena for civil and constructive debate has not been arrived at in ignorance. This is my starting point.

QRM

2008-08-23T18:52:00.001-07:00

Today I was driving to the grocery store - listening to some music. Right as I pulled out of the apartment building complex I heard a cruise ship's blowhorn sound a note that completed the harmony to the song playing on the radio... and it was on beat. It seemed a very metaphysical experience to me and made me happy.

Biden, By Process of Elimination

2008-08-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

It appears almost certain that Biden will be Obama's choice for VP. This becomes clear as reports of Kaine and Bayhe being told that they are not "the guy" are skipping around the internet coupled with the fact that Obama has been consistantly refering to his VP with a masculine pronoun thus seemingly ruling out Sebelius. Overall, I think I would have preferred Webb. Then Kaine (what's up with Virginia?). But I like Biden. I'm just not sure he can keep his mouth shut. But maybe that's the point.

QRM

2008-08-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Studied all day today. But, alas, when the day is done I will eat ribs for dinner.

QRM

2008-08-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the hiatus. I went to Minnesota for a Peace Corps reunion and then to Seattle to find an apartment and see Radiohead - one of the best concerts I have ever been to by the way.

Today, I am back in San Diego and studied for the LSAT... again... pretty much all day. Happy to feel that I haven't fallen too far behind during my time away.

QRM

2008-08-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today I tried Huevos Rancheros for the first time. With a healthy dose of Tabasco sauce, absolutely delicious.

A Quotidian Report on the Mundane

2008-08-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

A Quotidian Report on the Mundane has been inspired by The Orwell Prize's publishing of George Orwell’s diaries as a blog. According to the site, "From 9th August 2008, Orwell’s domestic and political diaries (from 9th August 1938 until October 1942) will be posted in real-time, exactly 70 years after the entries were written."

I, in no way, am planning on mimicking Orwell's journal style but in reading it I have come to think that there is no reason for something to be important to record it. So the goal will be to have at least one post a day that is most likely of absolutely no consequence.

Today, I studied from 3pm until 10pm in preperation of the LSAT, breaking only to snack, drink water, use the restroom, and of course fold laundry - a genetically inherited, and, thus, involuntary behavior.

Obama Concept Painting

2008-08-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

Who has McCain inspired today?

(Painting by Mike Cuffe from The Obama Experiment)

McCain's Action

2008-08-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today, TPM reported that McCain is sending his own delegation to Georgia saying, "This is quite hilarious." Normally I find myself in agreement with Joshua Marshall but I really don't see what is wrong with this. I don't expect much out of it but overall I think its a great move on the McCain campaign in terms of painting himself as a 'man of action,' especially while Obama is on vacation. It's too bad that it took the pleading of Georgia's president for him to do something but nonetheless I think its probably the best way for him to get a more accurate assessment of what is going on over there (if such a thing is actually possible).

It really irked me when, during Obama's MidEast and European tour people were accusing him of acting too presidential. Is he not trying out for the role of president? Would you really start a college basketball player in the NBA without first putting him in the arena of professional basketball to see how he will perform?

So now McCain is acting presidential. I don't know what he is going to get out of sending this delegation but I don't think the act itself is something to mock.

If I am missing something, please let me know!

What Counts as Reading?

2008-08-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here is an interesting look into the reading habits of today's children and how they compare with other generations. The question is does online reading really count as reading? Does a non-linear approach to information consumption benefit readers in a non-linear world or does it promote laziness and hamper children with a sense that sustained focus no longer necessary.

My take is that we need both traditional and newer reading skill sets. They are very different forms of information intake and accomplish very different things. Today's pace often requires people to make decisions quickly. My international business professor at Western Washington University often assigned us way more reading that was humanly possible to consume. When we complained that what he had assigned was beyond reasonable, he said, "sometimes it is better to know 10% of 90% of what is going on out there than to know 90% of 10% of what is going on." The Jack of All Trades theory I guess. But I think there is some validity to it.

This is not to take away from traditional reading skills that kids will also need. But these skill sets need not be mutually exclusive and can actually be quite complementary. To be able to quickly get a sense of a topic and promptly provide general feedback on it is a necessary skill to have in the modern workplace. A skill that is particularly well suited to non-linear, online searching. Once generalities have been established you often need to go back and flesh out your understanding of that topic. But the groundwork laid out in advance allows your co-workers to move on once a general direction has been established.

This isn't to say that every thing is just fine. I think we do need to find ways of measuring the effectiveness of children's online reading habits. But overall I think kid's behaviors are a product of our societies dynamic culture - a reaction to an increasingly fast paced world.

(PS - I didn't finish the above mentioned article... it was too long!)

Better!

2008-08-11T07:56:00.000-07:00

Now that is more like it. Positive, forward thinking, clear and honest. But most importantly, solution oriented!

What?

2008-08-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Come on Obama, lead. Don't follow. Even if this ends up being effective, you are better than this.

Today's Letter is "Z"

2008-08-11T00:28:00.000-07:00

This Z holds together the shutters to a window at a popular swimming pool.

This obviously concludes this series. I would love to hear form everyone whether or not you liked it or if there is something you would have done differently. I hope overall you have all enjoyed seeing these posts!

Again, to see all the letters together in a single photo album feel free to click here.

Today's Letter is "Y"

2008-08-10T00:20:00.000-07:00

The design on a metal gate/door.

The Slipping Landslide?

2008-08-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

This article by Mark Nickolas from the Huffington Post on the MSM's ignorance regarding electoral history needed to be posted for a couple of reasons. One, it pretty much goes along with what I have been telling everyone who will listen - popular vote is not the metric by which we elect our president. Whether or not it should be is open for debate. But currently it is not.

To demonstrate the significance of such a distinction let's assume the following - as unlikely as it is. If John McCain beats Barack Obama by a half a percent in each of the 50 states he would claim all 538 electoral votes thus accomplishing a "landslide" regardless of the fact that he won by only .5 percent of the overall popular vote. This is why looking at national polls, while not useless, is really not a good way to gauge where things really stand.

Take a look at Real Clear Politics website. They currently have Obama ahead of McCain by 3.6% in an average of all recent national polls. But when you look at how that translates to the electoral college you get Barack claiming 238 electoral votes to McCain's 163 with 137 still considered 'toss-ups' - that is states that cold go either way. That gives Obama a lead of 75 electoral votes. Not a landslide, but being ahead by 19% of the assigned electoral votes, it certainly looks better. But if you eliminate the toss-ups and assign them to the person who currently holds a lead in those states (which is exactly what happens come November) then the lead increases even more yielding a 322 to 216 lead for Obama, or a difference of 106 electoral votes, or almost a difference of 20% of the available electoral votes. So by looking exclusively at the national polls one is left with an entirely incorrect understanding of where things actually stand.

The second reason I needed to post on this article is because Mark demonstrates an elegantly simple and beautiful use of Excel - my favorite pastime. His application of the trendline just made my heart all fuzzy.

Lastly, I would like to disagree with Mark's assertion that MSM badly needs a history lesson. I think they know exactly what they are doing. By reporting on how close the race is they accomplish two things - they appear more objective thus earning neutrality points, and second they captivate the audience. The more they can convince the majority of viewers that this IS a close race the more people will feel the need to tune in to every detail of the campaign. They thus create a bigger story than there really is and viewership soars at the expense of journalistic integrity. But no one would ever call them on it because they appear neutral. Brilliant, really.

The Royals

2008-08-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

The other day I was, for no particular reason, wondering... what is the last name of the British Royal Family? You always heard about Princess Dianna. You always hear about Prince William, Prince Harry, and Charles the Prince of Whales. But do any of these guys have a last name? So I went on Wikipedia and checked it out. Here is what I found.

Diana, Princess of Wales was Diana Frances

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is Charles Philip Arthur George.

Prince Henry of Wales is Henry Charles Albert David

Prince William of Wales is William Arthur Philip Louis

So that solves it for Princess Dianna. But that still left me completely perplexed by the fact that these men had no official last names. Not that they really need one. It isn't like people are asking, "Which Prince William are you referring to?" But I still was not satisfied so I dug a bit deeper and discovered that "As a titled royal, Charles holds no surname, but, when one is used, it is Mountbatten-Windsor, although, according to letters patent dated February 1960, his official surname was Windsor." So for now I am going to assume that officially or unofficially Prince William and Prince Harry hold the same surname.

Today's Letter is "X"

2008-08-09T03:37:00.001-07:00

A train-crossing sign - downtown Bamako.

Two Degrees from Matt

2008-08-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Me

Craig

Matt

Last night I was out on the town in San Diego and met Craig from the Mole. You know... the Mole. Actually I had never heard of it either but I guess it is a reality TV show. Craig was a very cool guy and seemed pretty unaffected by his new-found stardom. While engaged in conversation about dancing and what a funny cultural thing it is that we humans do. I asked him if he had seen the YouTube phenomenon "Where the Hell is Matt," which I posted about earlier. Craig told me that he did indeed know who I was talking about and - in the course of his travels for the The Mole - had actually met him! So now I know Craig from The Mole and am two degrees of separation from Matt the dancing icon!

Today's Letter is "W"

2008-08-08T03:36:00.001-07:00

This W was found in the back a "bachee" - Mali's most commonly used form of public transportation.

My "Male" Browsing Habits

2008-08-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

Andrew Sullivan points to a web tool that analyzes your browsing history to determine your sex.

My results...

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 5%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 95%

So that is good news. But what I found interesting is what this calculation was based on.

Site.......................... Male-Female Ratio
youtube.com................... 1
craigslist.org.................... 1.13
facebook.com.................. 0.83
cnn.com.......................... 1.35
blogger.com.................... 1.06
nytimes.com................... 1.13
washingtonpost.com....... 1.15
foodnetwork.com............ 0.63
orbitz.com...................... 0.83
huffingtonpost.com........ 1.35
slate.com........................ 1.11
barackobama.com.......... 0.68
hotmail.com................... 0.83
politico.com................... 1.7
nfl.com........................... 1.5
johnmccain.com............. 1.27
realclearpolitics.com....... 1.82
gmail.com....................... 0.9
dailykos.com................... 1.56

So according to this it is more masculine to visit Politico, Real Clear Politics, and the Daily Kos than the NFL! Politics is apparently more masculine that sports.

PS - if there is a sign that Barack has cornered the female demographic just compare the assigned ratios to his and John McCain's websites.

Today's Letter is "V"

2008-08-06T00:54:00.000-07:00

This V is shaped by two spokes from an old wagen wheel found in the Campagnard Hotel in downtown Bamako.

On Energy continued...

2008-08-05T23:53:00.000-07:00

The Obama I see in the video below has been conspicuously absent from the daily back and forth since he came back from his world tour. He needs to do more of this.

I saw John McCain stumping today and it was literally like he was saying that Obama's energy plan was solely comprised of tire gauges. Which is of course immensely ironic given the fact that Obama's energy plan seems much more forward thinking and it gets much more specific with regards to plans for alternative fuels and reducing our overall consumption. Compared to the McCain "we need to drill now and expand nuclear," it is a far more comprehensive plan even if I don't agree with every aspect of it. McCain's approach seems to be almost exclusively supply oriented - that is we need more energy, period. Well, McCain is half right. We do need more energy, but we can also reduce our demand for energy. This side of the story I am only hearing from Obama.

Obama could go around handing out drill bits but that's probably not his style. Instead he just calls McCain's team out on their taking "pride in being ignorant." I'm not so sure that McCain is as ignorant as he is making himself look. If you go to his website you will see that he touches on many of the important issues and addresses both supply and demand and even takes a stab at clean alternative fuels. But given his one-sided rhetoric, I don't see how McCain is going to come out on top of this energy debate. Compare John McCain's website to Barack's speech below (there appears to be a dearth of McCain energy policy speeches on YouTube).

What Obama accomplishes in a 30 minute speech, McCain doesn't given all the time and webspace in the world. This is probably the fairest match up. But if you want to see Obama blow McCain out of the water and you have way too much time on your hands check out McCain's website and then check out Obama's. The contrast is pretty stark

Today's Letter is "U"

2008-08-05T10:51:00.001-07:00

This U was found on a street in downtown Bamako and serves as the hook on a sewer cover

Today's Letter is "T"

2008-08-04T11:11:00.001-07:00

This T - part of a clothesline - was found on the street in front of my house.

The Difference on Energy

2008-08-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago I expressed my disappointment with Barack's willingness to consider offshore drilling. I still think its the wrong call but upon further reading it does appear to be more of a nuanced concession contingent upon the development of a comprehensive energy plan. McCain on the other hand has made the same concession - and has actually become an ardent supporter of offshore drilling - but I have yet to see any sense that he has a plan for the future of this country's energy problems. Just compare...

Now watch an overview of Obama's speech on energy found today on Huffington Post (sorry I couldn't embed the video).

Now, I am sure there are videos out there that show Obama whole-heartedly rejecting offshore drilling. So is this a shift? Probably. But anyone who can maneuver himself around two Clintons has to be politically deft.

So while I am not thrilled with Obama's recent tepid acceptance of offshore drilling, at least the man has a vision for where we should be heading. Obama is a politician. But I'll take a politician who I disagree with on the specifics over a politician who has no vision any day.

Today's Letter is "S"

2008-08-03T01:04:00.000-07:00

This S was superimposed onto the wall in my bedroom by the iron bars on the window.

Today's Letter is "R"

2008-08-02T00:41:00.000-07:00

The "hunter's monument" in Niarela, Bamako.

Offshore disappointment

2008-08-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

First of all, as if it needed expressing, I love Barack. But the recent admission by Obama that he could support offshore drilling under certain circumstances is ultimately disappointing. Perhaps he is smarter than I or more politically deft. But it is nonetheless disappointing. I can not think of any arguments - other than political ones - that could be made in support of this idea. Offshore drilling, according to most experts on the matter, at best, would have tangible results in ten years. From what I have heard 5 years before drilling can actually occur and 5 years before there is a product that is purchasable.

Obama knows that offshore drilling is not the right answer. He knows that investing in alternative fuels and energies is the future (which is exactly where we will be in ten years). The slogan goes... Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less... But in an attempt to "feel your pain" he is forsaking logic in favor of political expedience. He is in Florida afterall. But in a state that is tailor made for McCain is is only running behind by half a point according to Real Clear Politics. Perhaps he knows congress and its inner workings better than I and he is seeking compromise to move forward. It is an unnecessary concession in my opinion. But maybe he understands the electorate better than I too. After all, as much as I disapprove, I will most likely end up voting for him anyway. Hmmm...

Today's Letter is "Q"

2008-08-01T02:23:00.000-07:00

The reflection of a motorcycle's front wheel.

Today's Letter is "P"

2008-07-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

This "P" was found as part of a new apartment building going up in the Badalabougou neighborhood in Bamako.

Today's Letter is "O"

2008-07-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

A forsaken tire found in an ally in Timbuktu serves as an effective "O."