Category Archives: Uncategorized

Categorically, All Things Uncategorized.

Dump Duhbya, Election, Uncategorized

Shadenfreude

I fully understand the shadenfreude Republicans in New Mexico feel over troubles with the Democratic caucus. I hope conservatives will continue to hoot, snort and cat-call. Their letters to the editor serve as an unneeded reminder of just how mean-spirited and uncharitable true conservatives are. Laugh your asses off — perhaps that will take the sting away from landslide losses for conservatives in the Fall. Snicker all you like — it may distract you from your own party’s collapse and the premature end of the “generation of conservative rule” envisioned just 4 years ago by BushCo.

Every primary and caucus has shown one thing: Democrats are fired up as never before. Twice as many Dems are voting as Republicans. Unless the Republicans find a way to suppress voter turn out or totally disgust everyone — still possible; call Karl Rove — Republicans should hang on to anything that makes them happy for the time being. Democrats won’t begrudge you one last haw-haw. mjh

THE DEMOCRATS can’t run their own primary, but they want to run our country?— S.S. [mjh: Right, there’ no difference between volunteers and professionals, which may be why conservatives want an all volunteer government.]

WHEN NO ONE’S there to bail them out, it’s interesting to see just how inept the Democrats are.— M.L.C.

I THINK IT was Will Rogers that said, “I don’t belong to an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” It must be an embarrassment to be a New Mexico Democrat. I’m glad I’m not one.— A.J. [mjh: Not half as glad as we are that you aren’t one.]

In the last election we were reduced to banana-republic status with the mandate by the Democrats we had to use paper ballots. There are a lot of things you can fix, but stupid is not one of them.— J.M. [mjh: Straight from the horse’s mouth.]

Election, Uncategorized

“The world as it is, is not the world as it has to be.”

I was stunned by this Obama campaign ad. It makes me want to cry. It has a Sixties vibe that surely enrages some, but it seems to reach the very young and Boomers simultaneously. (Though I can’t really speak for either group — or any group.) mjh

The Page – by Mark Halperin – TIME
“Script for Obama Ad “Join”

“I’m Barack Obama and I approve this message. We want an end to this war and we want diplomacy and peace. Not only can we save the environment, we can create jobs and opportunity. We’re tired of fear; we’re tired of division. We want something new. We want to turn the page. The world as it is is not the world as it has to be.””

http://thepage.time.com/script-for-obama-ad-join/

my.barackobama.com | “Join” – On the Air in New Mexico
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/nm_join_ad

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1386357098/bctid1387918194

NADA - New American Dark Ages, Uncategorized

Oh, gawd, Huckabee is worse than I thought

3 Comments

The Raw Story | Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in ‘God’s standards’ by David Edwards and Muriel Kane

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution,” Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. “But I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that’s what we need to do — to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than try to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view.”

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Huckabee_Amend_Constitution_to_meet_Gods_0115.html

[hattip to newmexiken.com]

Uncategorized

That’s My Clone, Not My Twin

Mature Human Embryos Created From Adult Skin Cells – washingtonpost.com, By Rick Weiss

Cloning involves fusing an ordinary body cell with a female’s egg cell whose DNA has been removed. Chemical factors inside the egg reprogram the body cell’s DNA so that the newly created cell develops into an embryo that is a genetic twin of the person or animal that donated the body cell.

I’ve long had a question about cloning. As I understand the process, you take one cell (typically an egg cell), remove its nucleus and insert a nucleus from another cell, creating a clone of the cell the nucleus came from. If the cell into which this nucleus was inserted is an egg, you grow a cloned individual.

What I never hear discussed in this is mitochondria. Mitochondria are the so-called powerhouses in cells, responsible for converting fuel into energy. Oddly, mitochondria reproduce themselves separately from the more famous mitosis. As I understand it — and I’m no scientist, as may be more than obvious to one — your mitochondria all come from your mother. Which is to say, mitochondria come from the egg.

So, my clone and I are not exact duplicates. I have my mother’s mitochondria (as would my twin). He does not. Is the explanation simply that lay-people misunderstand the word ‘clone’ to mean an exact duplicate? Or do scientist simply shrug this off because — as far as we know now (the key phrase in science) — mitochondria are irrelevant to individuality? mjh

Uncategorized

UVa German Club

1 Comment

Tina Fey and I have some things in common. We are both graduates of the University of Virginia — Mr. Jefferson’s university. (Tina Fey graduated 15 years after I did.) We both speak German, as well. Which leads me to wonder/assume that Tina Fey studied German at UVa, as I did. Was she even in the UVa German Club, of which I was president at one time? I still have my brown T-shirt (yes, arguable taste) with “Mehr Licht” on the back.

Die Tina Fey is ja ganz toll, sogar ‘super’. Sie ist eine heutigen Lucille Ball. Friede, mjh

PS: Until the early 1900’s, German was America’s second language, more widely spoken than any other. (I grant that everyone may have been ignoring Spanish speakers at that point.) There were many native German speakers, immigrants and their descendants, and German was the most popular language in school. It is understandable that two world wars changed that. Deutsch is aber eine schöne Sprache, die klinkt so schön. Leide, dass so viele Leute erkennen das nicht.

PPS: “Mind providing some context for this cavedweller?,” a friend asks. Tina Fey is a comedian, even a comedienne, and a comic writer. I learned of her through her position as writer and weekend news anchor on Saturday Night Live, a popular late-night sketch-comedy show on Saturdays. As I said above, Tina Fey is reminiscent of Lucy Ball: She is hilarious, wickedly clever and beautiful. She currently writes, produces and stars in 30Rock, a must-see comedy on NBC Thursday nights. She co-stars with Alec Baldwin, whom I love nearly as much as brilliantly funny. They are a dynamic duo — both are brilliantly funny. A recurring thread in the show is that, now and then, Liz Lemon (Tina) and Jack Dohnagy (Alec) speak German, with subtitles. (Now, we learn, Kenneth the Page also speaks German.) Last night’s episode involved 3 Germans. Part of the joke hinged on Fey misspeaking in German, selling NBC rather than buying the German cable network. I am so grateful that this twist was not translated as it happened. I feel it was a deep-inside joke. Vielen dank!

[tweaked 1/12/08]

Election, Uncategorized

The New Hampshire Debates

[tweaked 1/12/08]

I hope you saw some of the two, back-to-back debates last Saturday. (And very little of the professional prattle of Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopolus).

The very best idea of the evening was to have all of the candidates (whom ABC deemed worthy) standing on the stage together, Democrats and Republicans. It was a little odd how they paired up, with Ron Paul and Richardson together, for example, but it was a good, symbolic gesture.

Another good thing about the debates was having everyone seated and allowing a longer period of free-form discussion. The classic Q&A that is usually called “debate” for candidates is woefully inadequate. Kudos to everyone.

On the negative side, it was weird to watch several Republican candidates snip and snipe at Romney, in between sneers of Hilarycare. They looked juvenile, though Romney sometimes looked a little too pompous and rigid. I was actually shocked the Huckabee was part of that — he’s not the nice guy he pretends to be.

I thought it was interesting that the Facebook (itself an innovation in this context, albeit a little silly for TV) poll asking what topic people wish Republicans spent more time discussing put immigration last and environment second — not even acknowledge by the media. The Facebook poll was an innovation in this context, albeit a little silly for TV. Immigration was last among the topics people wish Republicans spent more time discussing. The environment was second most important, though none of the commentators pointed that out. It appears McCain is the only one who believes in global warming, while all of the candidates believe immigration is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE OF OUR TIME! Yeah, right.

On the Democratic side, there were fewer candidates and less real fighting. Richardson seemed out of his league. He spends too much time reintroducing himself, repeating his platform. The others clearly don’t see the need to define themselves as Richardson does. On the other hand, Richardson got the most and best laughs, all intentional, I think.

Most weird/amusing is that every goddamn candidate believes in change and believes they are the best agent of change. Bullshit, unless the change is simply that of going from candidate to president. It is a sign of the total collapse of the Republican party that all of its candidates claim to embrace change: By definition, conservatism opposes change, unless rolling back the clock is considered change.

Question: How do you reconcile claiming to be for change while attacking anyone who has ever changed their position on anything even slightly? Blame the Republicans for making “flip-flopper” a bigger crime than Constitution-burner or war-monger.

It appears that for Democrats, the choice will be between Obama and Clinton, while the Republicans will remain deeply divided until they unite to oppose the newly elected Democratic president and majorities in both house of Congress. mjh

PS: Obama+Biden? Obama+Richardson? vs McCain+Huckabee?

PPS: A pox on Charlie Gibson for his horrible opening scenario to the Democrats: What would you do in the event of a terrorist nuclear attack? Please, Chuckie, try not to be a fear-monger (VOTE REPUBLICAN TO BE SAFE). The odds of a nuclear attack in the US, in spite of Chucky G’s statistics, are far lower than IEDs popping up in dozens of cities. Remember, we’ve trained the terrorists on two fronts how to succeed with IEDs. You can thank Duhbya for that.