Oh, Students

From a press release today:

30 Oct 2008 11:30 EDT Students hold mock funeral at Queen's Park to mark the Death of Affordable Education; Zombies claim students are being "buried by debt"

TORONTO, Oct. 30 /CNW/ - College and university students from Toronto campuses hosted a mock funeral procession through a tombstone-lined cemetery on the Queen's Park lawn this morning. Meanwhile, students dressed as zombies rose from graves to illustrate that they are being "buried by debt" in order to finance their education. "Dalton McGuinty was elected on the promise that he would be the 'Education Premier' but, from where we sit, he looks more like the Grim Reaper," said Toby Whitfield, Vice-President Finance and Services of the Ryerson Students' Union. "Under McGuinty's plan, the tuition freeze was cancelled and Ontario students faced the largest tuition increases in the country."

The GOP Goes Subliminal

Hmmm, the GOP must think that Barack Obama's design team is responsible for the Democrat's lead down the homestretch, because they seem to have ripped off BarackObama.com's sans-serif-and-italics look, replete with shiny red donation button.



Perhaps they're just hoping people will donate to the GOP, thinking it's an Obama ad? My take is that it just ain't gonna work without a car magnet.

Screenshots: GOP.com | BarackObama.com

"I Do Not Want A Black Man Running My Country"

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Sea of Clouds

October 27, 10:48 a.m.  |  Climbing into the atmosphere, outside of Detroit.

Bump

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The Really Right Answer

"I'm also troubled by ... what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as: 'Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is: he is not a Muslim. He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is: No, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she can be president?"

— Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, yesterday

The Cocoon

Conservative commentator Rod Dreher at beliefnet.com weighs in on the "conservative cocoon" -- not just the think tanks and media organizations that produce a reality-denying GOP feedback loop, but the one that exists at the grassroots level as well.

I would add that conversations I've had over the past couple of weeks with grassroots conservatives around here are kind of breathtaking in their denial of reality. I have heard conservatives talk about how all the polls are wrong, that the "silent majority" will be heard from, that Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric are evil for making Sarah Palin look bad, etc. And that anyone who claims to be a conservative who disputes any of this is a traitor to the cause.

...

We have seen this sort of thing before, among liberals who could not grasp that ordinary people actually liked Ronald Reagan and the Reaganite Republican Party. I know; I used to be one of those liberals. I had so much emotionally and psychologically invested in my politics being true that I could not imagine why people disagreed -- except that they had been bamboozled, or were wicked.

This last point of his I also find compelling. We should think twice before knowing that we have arrived at the truth - which isn't to say we shouldn't try to arrive at it. Certainly, once we feel that we have, advocate for it. But we should constantly open ourselves to the possibility that we may be wrong.

Countering The "Liberal Feminist Agenda"

"Obamacons"

That's the term being used to describe conservatives who are going for Obama. It seems like Obama has been able to reach some pragmatic and moderate conservatives, especially in light of McCain's recent off-issue attacks and the disturbing selection of Sarah Palin.

In this video, after his on-air Meet The Press endorsement of Obama, Colin Powell expounds on his thoughts.

Over at Andrew Sullivan's blog, he notes that the Houston Chronicle, which he says hasn't endorsed a Democrat since 1964, cites the Palin Problem as a major determining factor in crossing over to Obama - as other Obamacons have.

Coolest Map Ever

A friend of mine was recently telling me that the electoral maps are looking awfully red, despite the closeness of the race between the Democratic (blue) and Republican (red) campaigns. Well, here's an incredible Web page by a University of Michigan physics professor showing several renderings of maps that compensate for the population-geography disparity - they're called cartograms. They show the voting results (blue and red) of states proportionally to their respective populations and electoral vote totals.

These maps are from the 2004 presidential election. Scroll down the page and he links to another site with cartograms of all other types.

Really awesome, huh? and isn't the purple map totally rad? Our country is a lot more all mixed together than we might imagine, despite the political discourse we witness on television.

An Elegant Crossword

Download and print the NYT crossword from Monday, October 6. One of the most fun, topical and enjoyable crosswords I've done in a long time.

As Will Shortz has noted, it can be simple and still really wow you. There are five theme answers!

Petraeus' Opinion

We Have Changed

At the end of a political panel at the annual New Yorker Festival, CNN Democratic commentator Donna Brazile (well known to all of us CNN viewers) offered a passionate commentary on blackness (and womanhood) in America, and the progress we've made since the days of segregation. Rousing.

"If Obama loses... I would hope that people voted against him because they didn't like his energy plan, they didn't like his economic vision... As a child growing up in the Deep South... We have changed. This is a more tolerant, open, progressive society. And yet, we’re having this conversation because [Obama] is biracial. He spent nine months in the womb of a white woman. He was raised... by his white grandparents ... He got out of school and went to Harvard, and all of a sudden he’s 'uppity' and there’s something wrong with him? What is wrong with us?"

We Maxed It Out

Brian Williams on our legendary National Debt clock in Times Square. I remember coming into the city when I was younger and marveling at that thing. It was about four trillion dollars back then.

Now that the federal debt ceiling has been raised to about ten trill, we need an extra digit. Funny, and depressing.



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Democrats and Race

A depressing and revealing story about the holdouts in the Democratic party and the latent racism underlying their hesitance.

Key quote:

"Don't miss this opportunity because someone says to you, 'I'm not voting for him because he's Muslim,' " said Puckett. "If there's a word of truth in my body, this guy is a Christian who believes in Jesus Christ."

Ben and Beth Bailey sat in the back and clapped politely, but they remained unpersuaded. They said they were likely to break from their tradition of voting Democratic and might well not vote at all.

Obama "just doesn't seem like he's from America," said Beth Bailey, 25. Ben Bailey, 32, noted that Obama's middle name is Hussein, "and we know what that means."

Flying

A simulation of the Earth's air traffic for one full day.

This is amazing. Picture the hundreds of thousands of people in transit, mere humans, propelling ourselves in these fragile machines tens of thousands of feet above the earth and water, to go somewhere we shouldn't even be able to reach.

Pay attention to the sunrise/sunset as well, and the corresponding flight density. (It starts with the East Coast just entering darkness, and Europe soon to lighten.)



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