Catching up

Although it appears that I’ve been slacking lately it’s really a case of over-immersion in work. Apologies to long time readers for all the quick posts of videos, which is really sort of cheating. Blogs are driven mostly by orignal content and perspective, which hasn’t been provided the past two weeks. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, but first some quick thoughts on recent events.

Politics:

Obama’s speech was ho hum and forgettable, people have already stopped talking about it. I expect a bit more bounce out of the convention than the average Republican pundit has predicted, but it’s going to melt quickly as the Republican convention takes off and with the news of Sarah Palin’s selection as John McCain’s choice as running mate.

The choice is being billed as brilliant, and as an Alaskan, I can’t help but be proud of John McCain’s selection. Like most Alaskans Sarah loves the state itself even with its flaws. This is evidenced by the names she has given some of her children; town and place names from Alaska. (Paxson, Bristol, Willow.) Of course they aren’t all named after Alaskan places, but Piper Indy Grace Palin is named for one of the main means of travel and communication in Alaska.

People are going to be surprised by the competency of Sarah Palin. LIke many Alaskans she has struggled with a harsh environment, vast distances, a cyclical boom-bust ecomony, and a business. That makes most Alaskans realists, and no-nonsense people who like to get things done expeditiously. The other thing that Alaskans have in their favor is an outcome of the long winters, the dark, and the cold — they have a lot of time to read, and are generally better informed than the average US citizen on most issues. The press will be trying to catch her out from the get-go, but they are going to have some rough sledding trying to do that.

To sum up on this subject, McCain’s choice was very smart for several reasons: it diversifies the ticket while almost instantly healing some rifts in the party (something the general press is overlooking at the moment,) it has potential to pull some Hillary voters, but most of all it displays McCain’s ability to make a principled decision once again. Sarah is not from a populous state that the Republicans need to pull in the win column, this is a strong blow from McCain against business as usual “realpolitik”. [ For pics of the ground breaking announcement and the McCain and Palin families as well as the great crowd response please see McCain Blogette.com ]

Ongoing things:

In the coming weeks I plan to pick the investigative articles on WE back up, as well as delineate the benefits of high energy environmentalism better than I have. I will also bring you up to date on happenings in Pakistan and the subcontinent, as well as follow the campaigns. If you are real lucky, I will put up a few more pictures of Kasey too.

Who Owns the Democrats and the Superdelegates?

Whoever does own the delegates, the Denver Police department doesn’t want us to know. According to ABC news their reporter was arrested covering one of the many high dollar meetings and trying to film the donors while they were leaving.

Whoever does own the delegates, the Denver Police department doesn’t want us to know. According to ABC news their reporter was arrested covering one of the many high dollar meetings in Denver this week at the Brown Palace Hotel. He was arrested trying to film the donors while they were leaving. Story here.

Here again is the ad:

More on Ayers and the Annenberg project at Lawhawk’s.

Tiny? Iran’s Leader Might be “Tiny”

Iran’s leader might be tiny, but that doesn’t make the threat tiny. Other would be world conquerers started out small, and built on success. Hitler, Mussolini, and Bonaparte were all small in stature, but large on destruction.

Iran’s leader might be tiny (5′ 6″,) but that doesn’t make the threat tiny. Other would be world conquerers started out small, and built on success. Hitler (5′ 9″), Mussolini (5′ 6″), and Bonaparte (4′ 11″) were all small in stature by today’s standards, but large on destruction.

For Discussion of this ad please see Little Green Footballs.

The One II: The Road to Denver

Early on Obama was billed by journalists as having a tech-savvy media team but so far they aren’t showing it as they fail to counter the McCain camp’s one or more viral videos per day, here’s the latest: