The Real America

Here is a little excerpt from Paul Krugman's recent blog post during a visit to the Emergency Room:

But here’s the thing — what strikes me here (as it does whenever I spend some time in a workplace) is how much the real America resembles the idealized multiracial, multicultural casting you see on TV. The staff here includes whites, blacks, Asians, Hispancis, a young Muslim woman in a headscarf, all mingling and working together cheerfully.

I wanted to highlight this paragraph because I have often felt the same way. Our medical school class is pretty diverse, and even the faculty is as well. I'm sure there are still plenty of tensions and I think that there is still a lot of self-segregation when people are left to their own devices, but nonetheless, a lot of progress has been made.

DNC Acceptance Speech

I just watched Obama's 2008 presidential nomination acceptance speech. I thought it was decent, but frankly, it paled in comparison to his 2004 convention speech. The 2004 speech was about the American dream; how people can be accepted and thrive in the US, and how that opportunity is unique, and how that opportunity is a source of pride for our nation. Basically, the speech focused on positives of America and it's potential. Barack talked about the unity of all Americans; we're all in this together. It's impressive to watch how the crowd grows more and more excited as they hear the speech. I remember reading an article about it a day later proclaiming "A Star Is Born," talking about how Obama made an incredible impression. I watched the speech and was impressed with how well he captured the moment. Re-watching the speech now, I found it fascinating to see that he talks about hope, a word which has become synonymous with his campaign this year.

The 2008 speech, however, didn't quite stir me. Sure, I liked the platform planks, his plans for energy independence, getting out of Iraq responsibly, offering college education to those who serve their communities, and many more. I liked that he did mention the American dream. But I suppose that what turned me off were all of the negative comments about McCain and Bush. I think that the hope and positive message in the 2004 speech were what made it so special. I found the shots at McCain to be unnecessary and out of place. A lot of them were from old information, like bring up his economic advisor's "nation of whiners" comment. That was from months ago. If people are undecided or voted for Bush or McCain at some point in the past, but are curious and happen to be tuning into the DNC, they're probably going to be turned off to hear the candidate bashing the other candidate. I think that there is plenty of room for criticizing other candidates, but doing it while the national spotlight is on you isn't really the best timing. I think it'd be fine if Obama created a youtube channel and posted videos of John McCain contradicting himself, saying stupid comments, and generally making himself look bad. Or if he put such ads on television for voters to see. I think that's a better place to criticize someone. But if the country is tuning in for a convention, and times are bad, I think they're going to want hope and encouragement more than seeing the blame game old cracks on Bush. Some people don't appreciate it when you say mean things, but I think appreciates inspiration. Anyway, I'm mostly rambling at this point and I only heard his speech live, so I should think a little more before I write anything else.

Here is the 2004 speech in case you haven't seen it in a while:

Part 1:


Part 2:

Live Explosive Removed From Soldier's Body

Here is an inspiring video they showed us in school about a soldier in Afghanistan who was impaled with a live RPG. He was airlifted out and operated on to remove the live explosive from his body. Wow.

How The Democrats Can Blow It....in Six Easy Steps

A nice little piece from Michael Moore:

For years now, nearly every poll has shown that the American people are right in sync with the platform of the Democratic Party. They are pro-environment, pro-women's rights and pro-choice. They don't like war. They want the minimum wage raised, and they want a single-payer universal health-care system. The American public agrees with the Republican Party on only one major issue: They support the death penalty.

via Crooks and Liars and Rolling Stone

Holy Ghost

From xkcd

Energy Policy

Crooks and Liars had an interesting post about the Republican response to Obama's energy policy.

A Comparison of Bush and Obama

As Obama spoke to over 100,000 cheering people recently in Berlin, I couldn't help remember what happened when President Bush spoke in Germany. A couple days before I arrived in Germany in 2005, Bush had visited. Though I didn't hear much about it in the US, once I got to Germany, I heard that thousands of people showed up to protest his official visit. I have a feeling that these protests were only minimally covered in the American media as I spent some time searching and had a difficult time finding an article about it in English. As reported in the German magazine Spiegel, about 12,000 people protested to show their displeasure with the American president. Turns out that Germans have built a tradition of protesting Bush on every visit he made over the last six years (article in English), until his visit this past June, when the Germans gave up. American foreign relations has come a long way in the last few months.

Education in America

I just wanted to direct you to a good piece by David Brooks in the NY Times about the slide of education in America over the last 40 years. He terms it "The Biggest Issue." Let's hope he really considers it the biggest issue when he votes this November:

If you look at Barack Obama’s education proposals — especially his emphasis on early childhood — you see that they flow naturally and persuasively from this research [on the importance of early childhood education]... McCain’s policies seem largely oblivious to these findings. There’s some vague talk about school choice, but Republicans are inept when talking about human capital policies.

Nozzle Rage

A little video about gasoline:


via: Essays and Effluvia

New Yorker and Obama

Lost in all of the hoopla surrounding this week's controversial New Yorker cover is the fact that the article inside about Obama is quite interesting. The sprawling article discussing Obama's entrance into and ascension in Chicago politics, which is a topic I've heard little about. It hasn't always been easy for the golden boy, and he even lost a congressional race. But, as far as I can tell, he has seemed to be pretty ideologically consistent throughout. I'd recommend reading the physical magazine rather than the piece online just so that you don't have to stare into a computer screen for too long.

Picken' Green Energy

Looks like oilman and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens is doing something good and honest at age 80. His efforts to invest in green energy are impressive and I hope he has enough sway to pull some other oilmen and energy lobbyists in with him. I'm rather impressed that someone who funded the Swiftboating of John Kerry is going green; quite a turn around, and let's hope that he can keep it real.

Marilyn Einstein

Check out this cool effect: if you look at the picture from up close, it's Einstein. If you back up 15 feet, it's Marilyn Monroe. Crazy. How does someone go about inventing this or get the idea for this? Why does it work? It's fun to back up and watch Einstein's moustache disappear into Marilyn's mouth.


via Random Cool Stuff

Jesse Jackson and Obama

Oh news anchors:

via: NY Times humor

Warning: yet another Obama post

I found this article by Bob Herbert to be pretty representative of a lot of the concerns I've had (along with many others) about Obama lately. As Herbert sums it up, "the Iowa caucuses seem a very long time ago."

How Wine is Marketed/Purchased

A little anecdote followed by a link to the article:
The story is told of a sales call that Ernest Gallo made to a New York customer in the dark days of the depression. He offered sample glasses of two red wines - one costing five cents per bottle and the other ten cents. The buyer tasted both and pronounced, “I’ll take the ten-cent one.” The wine in the two glasses was exactly the same. Clearly, the customer wanted to buy an identity - the image of someone who wouldn’t drink that five-cent rotgut- even if he couldn’t actually taste the difference.

They always buy the ten cent wine, Ernest Gallo said.

Article can be found here.

Ira Glass on Hard Work

via 43 Folders

I feel the same way about this blog and other projects of mine. I know that the quality isn't great, but I feel it's a sort of working space to develop certain skills.

Bush Surveying Damage

From the Onion

John McCain is Computer Illiterate

Frankly, I would have a hard time believing this, but it's in the tape:


I'm worried about potentially electing a president who seems to not even use a computer, much less know how one works.

Credit Report Companies

Terry Gross talks with Elizabeth Warren in a very eye-opening chat about the dirty credit-rating industry. Turns out that you might have a terrible credit report because these companies make mistakes all the time, and there are few mechanisms in place to prevent errors, or even easily correct errors. About 1/4 of reports have serious mistakes that hurt someone's credit rating. I highly recommend this episode of Fresh Air.

I love the subway too

Post on little boys who love the subway. Very cute.