onegoodmove

An interesting article from over at Pharyngula worth a read:http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/03/chrishedgeswastes_everyones.php

What could I possibly be thinking, something nice about Barack

Peace Brother

The Collins op-ed was saddening and maddening.

As for the earmarks, don't worry Norm, McCain's gonna make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Ain't that a peach?

Re: The Obama I Know

This blog doesn't let me forget for a single moment that Obama's air of calm intelligence and sanity could just be a carefully maintained affectation (and reputation), but nonetheless I won't dismiss the hopeful possibility that this quality of Obama's is somewhat more than superficial.

Thanks for linking the article, Norm.

Here's an editorial to compliment Collins's.

The Obama article echoes what I've heard from those associated with the Illinois legislature. Those sentiments are what has helped pull me to Obama, since Edwards's departure.

Oh shit, now I'm in for it, thousands of emails from Hillary supporters decrying a lack of balance.

I hope you're joking. You've got to be f%$ing kidding me. Perhaps some HRC supporters--note some, not all--must have joined with the Bush Republicans in achieving unintentional self-parody, and "balance" to them means "blind and unreflective support of HRC, regardless of evidence or argument." Maybe if it was an incendiary and unfair attack on HRC, similar to those that have become the staple anti-Obama attacks around here, maybe that would be (just barely) understandable. But a statement from one of Obama's *academic colleagues, detailing his personal qualities and competence, with nary any mention of HRC?

Besides, this is a blog. Who said it was going to be balanced?

I thought this was an interesting point from a comment on the Point of Inquiry article:

"Let’s face it: as long as humanism cannot provide a warm, caring community, people will always flock to those congregations who do, regardless of the garbage that’s told from the pulpit."

It has always seemed to me that most church-goers I've known go for the social element; very few because they've thought deeply about the nature of existence.

but where do atheists go for this kind of regular ongoing sense of community?

anybody?

I hope you're joking. You've got to be f*%$ing kidding me.

Come on Adam crank up your sense of humor, of course I was joking.

Come on Adam crank up your sense of humor, of course I was joking.

Dammit, you got me!

Curmudgeonly yours,

Adam

Curmudgeonly yours

What a lovely smile you have.

Don't feel bad, Adam.. my wife's best fried is very much a Hillary-bot, fanatical in her support so much so that my wife is deathly afraid to tell her we support Obama.

The woman would literally never speak to my wife again, if she knew, I'm not making that up.

Anyhoo, remembered that I had this wquote somewhere's else, thought it appropos here this political season:

In religion and politics, people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second hand, and without examination. - Mark Twain

Dear Neighbouring Americans,

As a foreign observer to your politics without the right to vote but, unfortunately, heavily impacted by your choice in presidents perhaps you would like to hear how one of your neighbours to the north sees what you are all doing here. We see Democrats participating in the destruction of their own candidates, selling their favorite candidate by knocking down the other. Perhaps you should all stop before McCain wins and we must all live with the consequences. Start talking about what is good about your candidate instead of what is bad about the other especially when it is something that is really only an accident of birth, like race or gender.

Let's face it; the two Democratic candidates left will not do much to change the status quo for the average American. You will still not get single-payer health care like the rest of the developed nations, you will not lessen the growing gap between the have and the have nots, your economy is still going to be in the tanker and you will not be getting out of Iraq in the foreseeable future…. so perhaps you should be working on your image to the rest of the world. You know, make nice…

With the exception of a few royalist here and there (particularly in England), a second Clinton Dynasty will not sit any better with the rest of the world than the current Bush Dynasty has. Although Bill was a likeable personality with intelligence, he did not improve America’s standing with the rest of the world. He did not endear himself to the rest of the world and Hilary is not near the personality he was. Perhaps it is time to at least pretend to the rest of the world that you can put on a new face, you are not the bad guys everyone thinks you are. Presenting them with a brown face really could help. Did you realize that the vast majority of people in this world are brown? Obama at least has the ability to get people to like him and that may be a really good place to start.

On the other hand, thinking of the Mark Twain quotation above, perhaps you should all vote for John McCain - after all, it seems Jon Stewart likes him! (From another foreign observer)

the tribune article was nice. it seemed to address norms' concerns about the mindless cultism that often surrounds obama and, though the evidence was "mostly anecdotal" :) at least the author didn't try to pretend it wasn't an issue.

Has anyone counted the pro-Hillary links in my daily links, and no anti-Obama is not the same as pro-Hillary

actually, there has been very little pro-hillary here (snl clips excluded) at all. it's mostly been anti-obama, and often viciously so. i think the low point for me was when mr. lemos said he would devote his personal fortune, all his free time, and sell his grandmother (or something like that, he certainly talked a lot about his liberal/philanthropist bloodline) in order to prevent this horrible man (obama) from gaining the nomination.

but pro-hillary: no, not much, not much at all.

An OT technical report FYI. I started using Firefox 3 beta 4 and this site causes it to crash. Anyone else have this problem?

Obama's air of calm intelligence and sanity could just be a carefully maintained affectation

Frenetic, if Obama can continue to fake great intelligence and calm sanity consistently throughout his presidency as he has done throughout his entire life, that would be fine with me.

"The secret of great acting is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you've got it made." - Spencer Tracy

Did someone say anti-Hillary?

If you are between 20 and 30 years old, a nerd, and a fan of Final Fantasy, Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich or Barack Obama, the following video might amuse you for a few minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAyIzBXYjvY

I will remind anyone offended by the above that it is unwise to get overly sensitive about poorly made YouTube cartoons.

Did someone say anti-Hillary?

If you are between 20 and 30 years old, a nerd, and a fan of Final Fantasy, Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich or Barack Obama, the following video might amuse you for a few minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAyIzBXYjvY

I will remind anyone offended by the above that it is unwise to get overly sensitive about poorly made YouTube cartoons.

An OT technical report FYI. I started using Firefox 3 beta 4 and this site causes it to crash. Anyone else have this problem?

On my end, the QuickTime plugins on this site often cause Opera, Firefox and (IIRC) IE to explode horribly. But I don't think I'm the first person to complain, and I get the feeling Norm enjoys torturing people who use a computer configuration different from his.

Fortunately I can disable plugins in Opera with a single mouse click, and thus Norm's evil plot is foiled! ...As long as I remember to make sure plugins are disabled before visiting OGM.

It should also be noted that no other site on the entire Web gives me this problem. Just OGM.

It should also be noted that no other site on the entire Web gives me this problem. Just OGM.

I have an old slow computer because that's all that I can afford to have. Odd thing is, OGM is the only site which doesn't give me problems. ;)

Whenever I want to listen to a video on Youtube or Google or whatever, I have to wait forever for them to download. Only here, at 1GM do the videos only take maybe 30 seconds at most to download.