Year in review

From here

tidbits

Franken is currently up by 50 votes

The housing market crash keeping marriages together?

An oral history of the Bush White House

Drugs, money, and bias

Drug Companies & Doctors: A Story of Corruption

Many drugs that are assumed to be effective are probably little better than placebos, but there is no way to know because negative results are hidden. One clue was provided six years ago by four researchers who, using the Freedom of Information Act, obtained FDA reviews of every placebo-controlled clinical trial submitted for initial approval of the six most widely used antidepressant drugs approved between 1987 and 1999—Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, Serzone, and Effexor.[10] They found that on average, placebos were 80 percent as effective as the drugs. The difference between drug and placebo was so small that it was unlikely to be of any clinical significance. The results were much the same for all six drugs: all were equally ineffective. But because favorable results were published and unfavorable results buried (in this case, within the FDA), the public and the medical profession believed these drugs were potent antidepressants.
...
Conflicts of interest affect more than research. They also directly shape the way medicine is practiced, through their influence on practice guidelines issued by professional and governmental bodies, and through their effects on FDA decisions. A few examples: in a survey of two hundred expert panels that issued practice guidelines, one third of the panel members acknowledged that they had some financial interest in the drugs they considered.[11] In 2004, after the National Cholesterol Education Program called for sharply lowering the desired levels of "bad" cholesterol, it was revealed that eight of nine members of the panel writing the recommendations had financial ties to the makers of cholesterol-lowering drugs.[12] Of the 170 contributors to the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), ninety-five had financial ties to drug companies, including all of the contributors to the sections on mood disorders and schizophrenia.[13] Perhaps most important, many members of the standing committees of experts that advise the FDA on drug approvals also have financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.[14]

The rest of the piece is even more depressing ... but here is the money quote:

The problems I've discussed are not limited to psychiatry, although they reach their most florid form there. Similar conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.

2008

best of the web 2008, in one video

Video games may do the aging brain good

The study included 40 older adults who were randomly assigned to either the video-game group or a comparison group that received no training in the game. Over 1 month, the gamer group spent about 23 hours training in "Rise of Nations," an off-the-shelf video game where players seek world domination.

Ruling the world, the game group learned, requires a complex set of tasks, including military strategy, building cities, managing economies and feeding people.

Study participants who trained in the game ended up improving their scores in several areas of a battery of cognitive tests, Kramer and his colleagues found.

Obama on US' major scientific deptartments

Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits

I always thought that it was a bad idea to sue 13 year old kids. It's bad press and an ineffective deterrent... At least now the music industry will give it up.

The decision represents an abrupt shift of strategy for the industry, which has opened legal proceedings against about 35,000 people since 2003. Critics say the legal offensive ultimately did little to stem the tide of illegally downloaded music. And it created a public-relations disaster for the industry, whose lawsuits targeted, among others, several single mothers, a dead person and a 13-year-old girl.

However, now they might tamper with the network, which scares me more

Instead, the Recording Industry Association of America said it plans to try an approach that relies on the cooperation of Internet-service providers. The trade group said it has hashed out preliminary agreements with major ISPs under which it will send an email to the provider when it finds a provider's customers making music available online for others to take.

Depending on the agreement, the ISP will either forward the note to customers, or alert customers that they appear to be uploading music illegally, and ask them to stop. If the customers continue the file-sharing, they will get one or two more emails, perhaps accompanied by slower service from the provider. Finally, the ISP may cut off their access altogether.

Of course, people can switch providers, in theory, so they have to cut deals with everyone. They are going to have to get more creative than that...

Lessig argues for citizens' funding of the nation's elections

You can vote at change.org

Arrested Development

Making Foreign Aid a More Effective Tool

Summary: USAID has become ineffective because it is underfunded, understaffed, and losing influence. The next president should revive it by either making it autonomous or elevating it to a cabinet-level department

I always thought that foreign aid that was too tied to national and political interests would not be effective. Not that giving USAID more autonomy guarantees effectiveness, but it sure enables a lot more creative thinking and empirically based priorities...

The Top 10 quotes of 2008

as compiled by the editor of the Yale Book of Quotations:

1. "I can see Russia from my house!" — Comedian Tina Fey, while impersonating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the TV comedy show "Saturday Night Live," broadcast Sept. 13.

2. "All of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years." — Palin, responding to a request by CBS anchor Katie Couric to name the newspapers or magazines she reads, broadcast Oct. 1.

3. "We have sort of become a nation of whiners." — former Sen. Phil Gramm, an economic adviser to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, quoted in The Washington Times, July 10.

4. "It's not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number." — a Treasury Department spokeswoman explaining how the $700 billion number was chosen for the initial bailout, quoted on Forbes.com Sept. 23.

5. "The fundamentals of America's economy are strong." — McCain, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, April 17.

6. "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." — the Treasury Department's proposed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, September 2008.

7. "Maybe 100." — McCain, discussing in a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, how many years U.S. troops could remain in Iraq, Jan. 3.

8. "I'll see you at the debates, b------." — Paris Hilton in a video responding to a McCain television campaign ad, August 2008.

9. "Barack, he's talking down to black people. ... I want to cut his ... off." — Rev. Jesse Jackson, overheard over a live microphone before a Fox News interview, July 6.

10. (tie) "Cash for trash." — Paul Krugman discussing the financial bailout, New York Times, Sept. 22.

10. (tie) "There are no atheists in foxholes and there are no libertarians in financial crises." — Krugman, in an interview with Bill Maher on HBO's "Real Time," broadcast Sept. 19.

10. (tie) "Anyone who says we're in a recession, or heading into one — especially the worst one since the Great Depression — is making up his own private definition of "`recession.'" — commentator Donald Luskin, the day before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, The Washington Post, Sept. 14.

Happiness is contagious: study

Misery, on the other hand, does not love company as much as happiness does

Interestingly, obesity and smoking also spread in networks...

Actual study here

Google Wants Its Own Fast Track on the Web

Who is left to support net neutrality? Even Lessig is softening his position. I guess that leaves the NRA...

UPDATE: Turns out Lessig hasn't changed his position, and google remains committed to net neutrality.

A wired analysis of the article

not such a lame duck

Shoe throwing is, of course, a celebratory activity, much like breaking plates at a Greek wedding.

Capitalist Fools

Stiglitz provides a little economic history of the credit crisis

There will come a moment when the most urgent threats posed by the credit crisis have eased and the larger task before us will be to chart a direction for the economic steps ahead. This will be a dangerous moment. Behind the debates over future policy is a debate over history—a debate over the causes of our current situation. The battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it’s crucial to get the history straight.

New Energy Secretary?

wow, a scientist. wouldn't that be novel!

Malaria vaccine halves infections in trials

This is great news, and has the potential do more for the development of Africa than almost any other intervention I can think of.

she giveth and taketh away

Melting ice may slow global warming

Evolution is being distorted by pollution, which damages genitals and the ability to father offspring, says new study.

The Iranian Revolution

Iran: A nation of bloggers from Mr.Aaron on Vimeo.

Who will he choose?

for secretary of education.

Proposition 8 the Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

RiP: a Remix Manifesto

An open source film that apparently won the audience award at the Amsterdam film festival.

Is Harper Canadian bacon?

Looks like Canadians might get a new coalition government for xmas. Interesting times in Ottawa.

vp in chains

Gettin' your war on

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

eye for an eye

literally

voter intent

Check out different challenged ballots in the Minnesota Senate election and see what you think

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

mini-bama

from here...

Images of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, each made with approximately 150 million tiny carbon nanotubes, are photographed using an electron microscope by University of Michigan Mechanical Engineering Department in this image released to Reuters November 10, 2008. The image, based on an original drawing by Shepard Fairey, is just wider than 500 microns and is made of approximately 150 million tiny carbon nanotubes, which is about the number of Americans who voted on November 4, according to John Hart at University of Michigan. (REUTERS/John Hart, Sameh Tawfick, Michael De Volder, and Will Walker/University of Michigan/Handout)

watching tv correlated

with being unhappy

Since they don't suggest a causal mechanism, who knows which way it runs. For example, perhaps those who don't work watch the most tv, and not working makes you unhappy. Anyway, I know if I watch a lot of tv, I feel less happy than if I do other things...

Delay is no longer an option

Obama address Governors Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles

Hilary as Secretary of State?

The Guardian reports that Hilary will accept the offer for the SoS position

60 minute interview

Here

and here:

Intelligence Policy to Stay Largely Intact

not very promising news

feingold doesnt seem happy about this either

and who is this john brennan character?

apparently an advocate of FISA and the cia detention and interrogation camps

say it ain't so, obama.  not what i want to read.

Stretching the truth

Forget what you learned in high school, if you want to warm up and perform well, ballistic stretching is the way to go.

I got the term from an exercise video... The article refers to the good kind of stretching as dynamic stretching. Apparently, dynamic stretching should not be confused with ballistic stretching!

Ballistic stretching uses the momentum of a moving body or a limb in an attempt to force it beyond its normal range of motion. This is stretching, or "warming up", by bouncing into (or out of) a stretched position, using the stretched muscles as a spring which pulls you out of the stretched position. (e.g. bouncing down repeatedly to touch your toes.)

Dynamic stretching, according to Kurz, "involves moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both." Do not confuse dynamic stretching with ballistic stretching! Dynamic stretching consists of controlled leg and arm swings that take you (gently!) to the limits of your range of motion. Ballistic stretches involve trying to force a part of the body beyond its range of motion.

I never tried to go beyond my normal range of motion with "ballistic stretching", so perhaps I was doing dynamic stretching afterall.

Bush Spy Revelations Anticipated When Obama Is Sworn In

Whistle blowers are chomping at the bit, can't wait for Jan. 20th...

More reasons to be happy

Obama planning US trials for Guantanamo detainees

The whole thing is a legal nightmare, and it sounds like there will be some improvisation to work it out.

"It would have to be some sort of hybrid that involves military commissions that actually administer justice rather than just serve as kangaroo courts," Tribe said. "It will have to both be and appear to be fundamentally fair in light of the circumstances. I think people are going to give an Obama administration the benefit of the doubt in that regard."

Though a hybrid court may be unpopular, other advisers and Democrats involved in the Guantanamo Bay discussions say Obama has few other options.

Prosecuting all detainees in federal courts raises a host of problems. Evidence gathered through military interrogation or from intelligence sources might be thrown out. Defendants would have the right to confront witnesses, meaning undercover CIA officers or terrorist turncoats might have to take the stand, jeopardizing their cover and revealing classified intelligence tactics.

...

"I don't think we need to completely reinvent the wheel, but we need a better tribunal process that is more transparent," Schiff said.
That means something different would need to be done if detainees couldn't be released or prosecuted in traditional courts. Exactly what that something would look like remains unclear.

According to three advisers participating in the process, Obama is expected to propose a new court system, appointing a committee to decide how such a court would operate. Some detainees likely would be returned to the countries where they were first captured for further detention or rehabilitation. The rest could probably be prosecuted in U.S. criminal courts, one adviser said. All spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks, which have been private.

Whatever form it takes, Tribe said he expects Obama to move quickly.
"In reality and symbolically, the idea that we have people in legal black holes is an extremely serious black mark," Tribe said. "It has to be dealt with."

If you ask me, Bush and co. didn't have the cohones to deal with this very complex and ugly problem.

Boogie Man

The Lee Atwater story on PBS

Sanity

Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

They are seriously organized:

A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

I'm particularly happy about this:

The new president is also expected to lift a so-called global gag rule barring international family planning groups that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about the availability of abortion, even in countries where the procedure is legal, said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, he rescinded the Reagan-era regulation, known as the Mexico City policy, but Bush reimposed it.

and this:

The president-elect has said, for example, that he intends to quickly reverse the Bush administration's decision last December to deny California the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles. "Effectively tackling global warming demands bold and innovative solutions, and given the failure of this administration to act, California should be allowed to pioneer," Obama said in January.

Hide your guns

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Barack Obama's Flickr page

Flickr page here with over 50k items - dating back to when the campaign started. See below, the photo of him going to announce is candidacy.

More trouble than a pitbull

more here

In one joke doing the rounds, the Republican presidential candidate has been asking friends: what is the difference between Sarah Palin and a pitbull? The friendly canine eventually lets go, is the McCain punchline.

and apparently her shopping spree was not quite as originally reported.

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family—clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

ouch, this is getting ugly.

but do italian nuns approve?

Suddenly, it may be cool to be an American again

Obama

Bummer that Prop 8 looks like it will pass and that Stevens was re-elected (what are they thinking in Alaska?). Interesting that Franken still has a slim chance.

Largest turnout (in turns of numbers) ever, with 64% turnout... not bad.

I love the fact that Obama won this election in a non-divisive manner. He appealed to the better side and worked hard not to alienate people. Makes me think of the Dali Lama's approach to dealing with China, and I think it is the enlightened way to govern.

tracker

google election tracker

Governing people

people are a problem



on another note: the real loser of this election

and Krugman talks about that lump in the back of the GOP trunk: whatcha gunna do with all that rump?

E.L.I.T.E.

counting votes

While Bloggers Worry, Campaign Says GOP Suppression Efforts Are Failing

i worry.

Punk'd

turn down that noise!!

More Hollywood elites telling the rubes what to do

Obama's 30 minute spot

Wazzzuuuup!

Over 10 million

people have already voted. More stats here.

ZTrippin on Obama

A political groove you can bug out to.

endorsements

Going Rogue

Palin's busting free

Palin as President

What it would be like

Classy

Look out below?

Friday might not be a good day: Brutal start seen for Wall Street

The CBC Rocks

I will be spending all my travelling time listening to these.

Nighttalk with Krugman

Learning from past mistakes

Obama Assembles U.S.'s `Largest Law Firm' to Monitor Election

WaPo

endorses BO

so prescient

Big sister

From here

Bradley Effect

Is it gone?. Good stuff from fivethirtyeight.com

California Bullet train?

Prop 1A - a 10$ billion bond authorization for a bullet train. A tough cell in a broke state? Or an easy sell with high gas prices?

Young people on politics

Oct 14th Polls

Cuz I like good news.

Perhaps the CBS poll that shows Barack Obama with a 14-point lead among likely voters (12 points when third-party candidates are included) is a modest outlier. But if so, John McCain has more and more outliers that he has to explain away these days. There are now no fewer than seven current national polls that show Obama with a double-digit advantage: Newsweek (+11), ABC/Post (+10), Democracy Corps (+10), Research 2000 (+10), Battleground (+13), Gallup (+10 using their Likely Voter II model) and now this CBS News poll.

These are balanced by other results that show the race a hair tighter. Our model now projects that, were an election held today, Obama would win by 8.1 points. It also expects that the race is more likely than not to tighten some.

Nevertheless, we are a full month beyond the Lehman Brothers collapse in mid-September. Obama has enjoyed quite a remarkable run, turning a 2-point deficit into an 8-point advantage. What's especially remarkable about it is that Obama's lead has continued to increase with an eerily consistency. The collapse itself precipitated an almost immediate 3 or 4 point gain in Obama's poll numbers, moving him from a point or so down to a point or so ahead. But since then, Obama has won news cycle after news cycle, adding another two points or so to his national lead every week.

It's fairly unusual for a candidate to have such a sustained run of momentum so deep into the campaign cycle. And it does appear to be real momentum, with some real feedback loops: the worse McCain's poll numbers become, the more desperate his campaign looks, and the more desperate his campaign looks, the worse his poll numbers become.

McCain now has to go on a run of his own, a large enough run to wipe at least 8 points off of Obama's lead, and perhaps more like 9 or 10 to cover his inferior position in the Electoral College and the votes that Obama is banking in early and absentee balloting. It is imperative that McCain does not just draw tomorrow night's debate, does not just win a victory on points, but emerges with a resounding victory, the sort that leaves the spin room gasping for air. Failing that, we are getting into dead girl, live boy territory.

Targeted advertising

Look closely - this is an ad on a billboard in an XBox 360 game.

The politics of Politics 2.0

or, Open Source Politics in the US and Canada (btw - the Canadian election is today)

In the U.S., those true believers have created the extraordinary online juggernaut that appears poised to propel Barack Obama to the White House next month.

Obama uses the web for all the usual campaign functions; raising money, pushing his message, keeping supporters and the press abreast of what he is doing and saying.
But the revolutionary aspect of Obama's online operation has not been so much its ability to use the web to talk to supporters as its ability to allow them to talk to each other, to form real and virtual communities that inspire others, especially young people, who have never before been politically engaged.

On his website, Obama writes "I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington. I'm asking you to believe in yours."

He is not just running a campaign, he is using the web to try to create a political movement.

I guess the next election will incorporate aspects of the geospatial web for even more targeted campaigning.

Ads

McCain is running this nationally. Waddya think? This doesn't seem to strong to me. the blind ambition bit might work, but it is so vague that it isn't really credible. And the second bit seems especially odd - especially since it goes against the standard "wisdom", i.e. "Liberals want more regulation"...

THE GREAT SCHLEP

Don't be a douchenozzle.
[viewer discretion advised]

For those who missed it

The debate in 10 minutes

All your polls are belong to us

Want the latest number crunching on the pres race? Go to fivethirtyeight.com.

Keating Economics

Linking the Keating 5 affair and the economic meltdown... They have a 13 minute documentary. Looks like Obama has his own Oct. surprise.

lil' bill

http://view.break.com/581294 - Watch more free videos

Gettin' Ugly

So, it looks like the McCain campaign, obviously eager to change the dynamic is going to *shocker* get even more ugly. Palin has already started by saying the Obama pals around with terrorists.

On a related note, Rolling Stone has come out with a set of articles deconstructing McCain. My favourite is a piece on Palin: "Mad Dog Palin"

Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV — and this country is going to eat her up, cheering her every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation.

[update]This is Obama's jujitsu move:

Vote for the MILF

Too funny

Science of Meditaiton

Time did an issue on it

Here are pretty pictures

Fiddlesticks

The Politics of Fear

Science that explains a lot

he authors first conducted a random telephone survey of Lincoln residents to find some who held strong political opinions. Then 46 selected respondents were invited to come in to the lab and fill in questionnaires to reveal political beliefs and personality traits. Participants were then given two types of tests to measure physiological responses to threat.

First, they were attached to equipment to measure skin conductivity, which rises with emotional stress as the moisture level in skin goes up. Each participant was shown threatening images, such as a bloody face interspersed with innocuous pictures of things such as bunnies, and rise in skin conductance in response to the shocking image was measured. The other measure was the involuntary eye blink that people have in response to something startling, such as a sudden loud noise. The scientists measured the amplitude of blinks via electrodes that detected muscle contractions under people's eyes.

The researchers found that both of these responses correlated significantly with whether a person was liberal or conservative socially. Subjects who had expressed a high level of support for policies "protecting the social unit" showed a much larger change in skin conductance in response to alarming photos than those who didn't support such policies. Similarly, the mean blink amplitude for the socially protective subjects was significantly higher, the team reports in tomorrow's issue of Science. Co-author Kevin Smith says the results showed that automatic fear responses are better predictors of protective attitudes than sex or age (men and older people tend to be more conservative).

If this is right, then meditation, which reduces one's physiological reaction to such stimulus, might actually make people more liberal.

happy guy

he's back

Part 9 of 10:
Others here.

Head of Skate

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Tactics and strategy

Astute commentary on the debate

Less astute commentary:

US Americans!

Btw - that second video has been seen over 29 *million* times.

[update] A little more:

Katie and Sarah

Quaint

Looks like they hacked

into Obama's emails too

No comment

Sarah Palin's emails

Apparently someone cracked into her yahoo account, but then tipped her off.

More info on the hacking here.

The only kind of reading I can stomach

due to election stress.

The Ugly New McCain

and

MY GAL

The Palin-Gibson Interview

SNL reality

Register to vote

Make sure you do

Google backs project to connect 3bn to net

Google has thrown its weight behind ambitious plans to bring internet access to 3bn people in Africa and other emerging markets by launching at least 16 satellites to bring its services to the unconnected half of the globe.

Ready on day 1

Change

This seems to be shaping up as a change election. The republicans have bought into that meme. The funny thing is that it would seem to be a losing proposition for Republicans, but they are good at verbal jujitsu. It is time to take on McCain at his supposed strength. This is a good start:

I fear

that I am not going to sleep well for 2 months.

In the new poll, taken Friday through Sunday, McCain leads Obama by 54%-44% among those seen as most likely to vote. The survey of 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, has a margin of error of +/— 3 points for both samples.

Long lines expected

Democrats post big gains in voter registration

Since the last federal election in 2006, volunteers like Graham combined with the enthusiasm generated by the Obama-Clinton struggle to add more than 2 million Democrats to voter rolls in the 28 states that register voters according to party affiliation. The Republicans have lost nearly 344,000 thousand voters in the same states.

Here's hoping they turn out and their votes get counted...

Robot bartenders

in Burmingham

i dunno - call me old school, but me thinks people like to interact with people. 

The reason why Repubs rely on culture wars

Economics just ain't their bag

The stark contrast between the whiz-bang Clinton years and the dreary Bush years is familiar because it is so recent. But while it is extreme, it is not atypical. Data for the whole period from 1948 to 2007, during which Republicans occupied the White House for 34 years and Democrats for 26, show average annual growth of real gross national product of 1.64 percent per capita under Republican presidents versus 2.78 percent under Democrats.

That 1.14-point difference, if maintained for eight years, would yield 9.33 percent more income per person, which is a lot more than almost anyone can expect from a tax cut.

Dept. of Counterprogramming

Obama to appear on O'Reilly Thursday. Interesting move - it counters McCain's RNC speech on Thursday. Looking forward to watching that

I also like these ads directly talking about McCain and a woman's right to choose.

Obama’s new radio ad, airing widely in at least seven swing states, tells voters McCain “will make abortion illegal.” It’s airing as McCain courts female voters with the addition of the staunchly anti-abortion governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, to his ticket.

Democrats had, until now, sought to appeal to women primarily on economic issues such as health care and workplace discrimination; abortion rights were hardly mentioned at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week. But women’s rights groups have been urging Obama to attack McCain on the issue, pointing to polling showing that some women who support McCain think he supports abortion rights. In fact, the Arizona senator has long supported a ban on abortions, with exceptions for victims of rape and incest, and for pregnancies that threaten the life of the mother. Palin has an even firmer anti-abortion stance: She would require rape and incest victims to carry their pregnancies to term.

GoogleVet

One Republican strategist with close ties to the campaign described the candidate's closest supporters as "keeping their fingers crossed" in hopes that additional information does not force McCain to revisit the decision. According to this Republican, who would discuss internal campaign strategizing only on condition of anonymity, the McCain team used little more than a Google Internet search as part of a rushed effort to review Palin's potential pitfalls. Just over a week ago, Palin was not on McCain's short list of potential running mates, the Republican said.

Wow, just wow.

The "Eagleton Scenario"

Could Sarah Palin become the first running mate since Thomas Eagleton in 1972 to be dropped from a major-party ticket? Joshua Green offers a look at how such a scenario would unfold.

It won't happen, but it is interesting nonetheless...

Getting ugly

Oh man. I'll just steal the whole post:

Seems that those who read US Weekly aren't big fans of Sarah Palin (R):

Also, Mark Halperin says this is the magazine's upcoming cover. Not exactly a flattering one:

UPDATE: It gets worse for Palin, OK Magazine has its own cover.

I can only imagine how many million of women these two magazines reach -- not to mention overall eyes at the checkout stands...

UPDATE #2 (5:38 pm ET): ABC News' Rick Klein offers this on the US Weekly cover:

[T]his, to me, is the clearest evidence yet that the McCain-Palin campaign is losing the battle over Palin’s image. US Weekly readers are the voters her selection was designed to attract. There’s not much to like in this early take -- and not much to indicate that the next round will be much better.

UPDATE #3 (5:43 pm ET): An excerpt from the US Weekly story:

“Within hours of McCain’s surprise introduction of the little-known, charismatic mother of five as his running mate, the scandals began to emerge as quickly as flies at a Labor Day picnic,” Mara Reinstein writes for the magazine.

“While putting to rest one scandal, Palin appeared to have opened another of even greater significance. Staunchly antiabortion (even in cases of rape) and opposed to sex-education classes (she believes in abstinence instruction for teens), ques tions began to arise about not just her judg ment, but that of McCain’s as well,” Reinstein writes.

This is really, really bad news for Palin.

Is it possible to withdraw her from the ticket? It seems that people are beginning to speculate on that. Is that possible? I suppose so... has this ever happened before? This is McCain's Miers moment.

New word

a-Palin: adj. not thought through. Example: That idea is a-Palin!

Google to launch new browser (today)

Its called Chrome

Luntz focus groups

Undicided independent voters in Minneapolis

Another week, another Frank Luntz/AARP focus group of undecided voters--this one in Minneapolis and with some bad news for John McCain: they don't like the choice of Sarah Palin for vice president. Only one person said Palin made him more likely to vote for McCain; about half the 25-member group raised their hands when asked if Palin made them less likely to vote for McCain. They had a negative impression of Palin by a 2-1 margin...a fact that was reinforced when they were given hand-dials and asked to react to Palin's speech at her first appearance with McCain on Friday---the dials remained totally neutral as Palin went through her heart-warming(?) biography, and only blipped upwards when she said she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere--which wasn't quite the truth, as we now know.

Then there was this, from a woman named Teresa, who went to the Democratic Convention as a Hillary delegate and is leaning toward voting for McCain--obviously the target audience for the Palin pick: "His age didn't really bother me until he picked Palin. What if he dies in office and leaves us with her as President? Also she leans toward the rigid right, and I always thought he was a moderate...You know, I change my mind almost every day, but right now I"m wondering where the John McCain I really liked in 2000 went, what happened to the moderate? This John McCain has the look of someone who is being manipulated--probably by Karl Rove."

Teresa still wasn't willing to vote for Obama, whom she considers too inexperienced, but she was clearly wavering. Afterwards Luntz, good Republican that he is, made the case that Palin could win all these people back with a good convention speech, but that seemed far-fetched to me. They really saw this pick as a gimmick--and one that reflected badly on John McCain's judgment.

It really seems as if she wasn't fully vetted.

But that's ok, because Biden is a Big Blowhard Doofus.

Palin for GOP VP

Looks like McCain choose Sarah Palin Gov of Alaska for VP. Who is she?

Going off the deep end

A Speech to the Delegates, by David Brooks. I think he has really lost it - it sounds like someone stole his star wars action figures and is having a tissy fit. He makes Dowd look like a responsible adult who sticks to the important issues. Damn.

On Joe Biden

On polling

An interesting insiders look at the Obama campaign and how they use polling data.

Hillary

I want to pump

up your tires. Go Arnie, go Arnie, it's your birthday...

Hacking airport wi-fi

Get Free Airport Wi-Fi with a Simple URL Hack

I found that I could easily visit sites like slashdot, Google, or even this weblog, when adding a ?.jpg at the end of the url. The next logical step was to automate that. I downloaded Greasemonkey and wrote a 4 line script that would add ?.jpg to every link in a document. That way I was able to browse most sites without a hassle.

Does this work?

Mrs. Obama

Tarnishing

Assuming that the Obama campaign isn’t scared off by the P.O.W. thing, can it really win in an exchange of character attacks? Probably not — but it doesn’t have to.

The central fact of this year’s election is that voters are fed up with Republican rule. The only way Mr. McCain can win the presidential race is if it becomes a contest of personalities rather than parties — and if his campaign can instill in voters the perception that Mr. Obama is a suspicious character while Mr. McCain is a fine, upstanding gentleman.

The Obama campaign, on the other hand, doesn’t need to convince voters either that he’s the awesomest candidate ever or that Mr. McCain is a villain. All it has to do is tarnish Mr. McCain’s image enough so that voters see this as a race between a Democrat and a Republican. And that’s a race the Democrat will easily win.

Especially since 8 in 10 say the country is going in the wrong direction.

houses

you know, i *wish* politics could be civil and fairly rational and issues based... but its not.

anyway, while I find all these sorts of attacks silly (e.g., obama is a celebrity, ooh! McCain doesn't know how many houses he has, aah!) I am glad to see that finally Obama is starting to play the game.

And it is amazing how the media loves this trivial shit. It is easy to understand, petty, and right up their alley.

Anyway looks like McCain's houses gaffe is going to get some play for a while.

Here's Krugman's take on the issue.

Yes we can parties

Despite the powerful arguments made by one commenter against Fraudbama the communist... I'm going to continue to promote Barack, and if I could, I'd attend this, a Move-on sponsored DNC convention night party:

It's the biggest political night in a decade--and we're throwing our biggest party ever!

On Thursday, August 28th, MoveOn members will gather around the country to witness history: Barack Obama officially accepting the Democratic nomination in front of 75,000 supporters in Denver.

We'll share ice cream and desserts, unveil MoveOn's gigantic new campaign to help elect Barack, and watch what promises to be a "barn-burner" of a speech.

Already, an incredible 1,500 MoveOn members are hosting "Yes We Can" Parties around the country. Can you host your own or come to one that's already planned? Just

click here

to get started.

Here's what will happen at the parties: We'll get together--hopefully you'll meet some new people--and share ice cream and desserts with other Obama supporters. Every party in the country will be on a nationwide conference call where we'll kick-off a massive new effort to put Obama in the White House. Then, we'll watch Obama's speech together--and share a historic moment that we'll be talking about for years to come.

Nights like these don't come along very often, and you won't want to experience it alone. Please sign up for a "Yes We Can" Party near you and bring along some dessert to share and a few friends--or even sign up to host your own party.

Hope to see you next Thursday, and thanks for all you do.

--Eli, Lenore, Anna, Patrick S. and the rest of the team

A tale of two candidates: on how to deal with evil

Theremin

Stephen Spoonamore

He's a sweetie. There are 7 other parts to that interview.

Move on

Special Election Briefing: 5 Things You Should Know

Happiness

When being rat-brained is incredible

Rise of the rat-brained robots

A picture of a thousand words

From here.
I tell you - the hope candidate wins.

Lonely Night in Georgia

The Bush administration's feckless response to the Russian invasion

He'll make Cheney look like Gandhi

more soetoro '08

could be why hillary has never officially dropped-out of the race

although i can't say i know anything about this larry johnson guy, other than he has a bad haircut.

Baghdad, 5 years on

Part 1 of 3: City of walls

Part 2 of 3: Killing fields

Part 3 of 3: Iraq's lost generation

Parez

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

55 minutes, 5 days a week

For optimal weight loss, for women. Seems like a lot.

Soetoro '08

COLB?

Randy Pausch

has died. I can only hope to accomplish 1/100th as much as he has accomplished. See Last Lecture.

Send Karl Rove to Jail

Last TED for the day

Yochai Benkler & Billy Graham

Bob Thurman: Becoming Buddha -- on the Web