Long Post Today: Parties, Football, Gossip, Politics, Rallies, Etc.

Workout notes Yesterday: 5 miles of racewalking on the Davenport to Bettendorf bike trail. I wore the McCain shirt that I bought at the rally; I got one very favorable response but mostly non-responses. I’ll say more about the McCain shirt later (and yes, I am still a proud Obama supporter).

This morning: after yesterday’s long night, I got up late (7 am!) and ran about 5.5 miles and walked 4.5 miles; total time was about 2 hours. Yes, my “pure walking” 10 mile split at my last half marathon was 1:48. Believe me: this was easier.

I am planning on starting something resembling focused training when this semester ends. That means I should plan on doing my blood donation sometime this month or in November.

Football

College: ok, Notre Dame came oh-so-close to pulling it out; they were down 29-24 and completed a pass to the North Carolina 7 yard line when time expired (and aborted lateral attempt was fumbled).

But Texas rallied to knock off number 1 Oklahoma 45-35 and given that number 3 Missouri and number 4 LSU lost, it looks as if the Longhorns and the Crimson Tide will be 1-2 (what order?). My brother in law should feel pretty good about this.

Professional Football I watched the Chicago-Atlanta game and feel a bit sick.

Atlanta had a chance to put the game away with a short field goal late in the game; they missed and so Atlanta only lead 19-13.

So the Bears drove the ball down the field to get it at the 15 yard line.

With 11 seconds left, the Bears offensive line gave Orton all day to throw; Davis beat double coverage and made a beautiful catch in the left side of the end zone to give the Bears a 20-19 lead (after the extra point).

So the Bears squib kicked it. The Falcons ran it back to their own 45 yard line and there were 6 seconds to go (home cooking on the time keeping?)

A perfectly executed “out” pattern to the TV side of the field put the Falcons at the Bears 31 yard line with 1 second remaining (boy that clock sure stopped quickly!).

Of course, the Falcons made the field goal. Barf.

Oh well, at least it was exciting. You had TWO scores in the last 12 seconds of the game. That is elite caliber football. (photos from yahoo)

Vickie’s Party Yes, this is the “dead friendship”; though Vickie and I ended our previous conversation in an argument (she called it a “heated discussion”), we made up and Barbara and I went to her party.

It was in a large wooded area with a shelter and a huge pond; of course we saw the most adorable bullfrog right at the edge of the pond! It was so cute!

I decided to make a joke of it. I wore my McCain t-shirt, a Bill Clinton ball cap and an Obama fleece jacket! I joked that Vickie wouldn’t possibly be angry with me for political reasons…(she is still “undecided”).

Yes, politics came up. Yes, there were more Obama supporters there than anything else (this is Illinois, you know). But there were some Republicans too and we had a civil discussion of stuff. Yes, some of the Republicans were as wingnutty as they come; one wanted “every American” to be sure to watch Fox News at 8:30 tonight. (insert an Al Gore eyeroll and sigh here….)

But aside from getting back in touch with old friends, I found a buddy to drive to either Iowa or Indiana with! We’ll be doing an Obama GOTV effort on election day.

All in all, we had a good time and I am glad that I cooled off. I should point out that I was the one who thought our friendship was over; not her.

Social, Science and Humor stuff

Stupid is the New Smart

Deconversion asks: is science just another religion? Of course not. Yes, maybe I am not able to fact check most of science’s claims because evaluating these claims requires a great deal of expertise, time and effort. But I do see verifiable results (diseases getting cured, computers and gps systems working, etc.) that I don’t see in religion or in other forms of wooism.

Now religion can provide opportunities for people to come together, do good things and religions can provide myths that help us get through life’s troubles. Techniques such as prayer, meditation and yoga asana (poses) can be helpful as well. But none of this tells us how the world operates; religion and science are totally different things.

Now, of course, there are those of us who think that science is evil.

(click for larger)

Why do we gossip? 3-quarks daily points to a Scientific American article.

The lowest of the low People who clean jakepots and chamberpots by hand.

Cognitive dissonance Check out this hateful poltical sign:

But think about this: Obama is supposed to be a Muslim, yet be pro homosexual and pro woman’s reproductive rights. Since when is Islam noted for such stances? Hey wingnuts: you can’t have it both ways!

(hat tip to Liberals must die)

State of the Election

This site (Election Inspection) seems to get it right. It isn’t really a toss up right now; Obama has an advantage. However don’t expect the mainstream media to acknowledge this. There might be many reasons for this: for one, no one wants to have egg on their face, and that would be more embarrassing for the major media operations than the tiny, far less famous ones. Hence they will be more conservative in their projections. Then, the media doesn’t want to be seen as being partial. And, of course, a “close horse race” makes for better ratings.

Dick Morris (Republican) says that McCain can’t catch up unless the economy recovers a bit.
Of course, I’d remind Mr. Morris that Clinton caught up toward the end because she is so strong in the Appalachian areas and that is where the latter primaries were. Also, Obama was getting whipped by Hillary Clinton there; that is a very different thing than losing to John McCain.

McCain/RNC ad:

Hmm, is Obama that scary? Don’t worry; Obama saw this coming a long time ago:

By the way, just who is the “out of touch” elitist here?

Yes, it is ok to be rich, but John McCain seems to think that most who are hurting at the moment are hurting due to their own bad decisions.

Top Republican Pundit (Bill Kristol) Slams McCain’s campaign

Sarah Palin: booed at a Philadelphia hockey game.

Note: the fans held up some signs too.

An odd attack by wingnuts some claim that Obama didn’t write his first book! Really. These “claims” are analyzed here and here.

This is what you need to know (second link)

….no one with any literary training can read Cashill’s tripe without recognizing it as the shoddy work of a dim student asked to compare and contrast two texts.

Political Rallies and various hatreds

Racist McCain supporter with an Obama monkey:

A liberal and a conservative pundit talk about this; notice that the Republican talks about “race” first. Ooops!

More hate stuff:

At the McCain Davenport rally I attended, an antiwar protester attempted to interrupt the rally (Washington Post)

By Michael D. Shear
DAVENPORT, Iowa — An antiwar protestor interrupted Sen. John McCain’s rally Saturday morning, prompting a lecture from the Republican presidential nominee about the need for both parties to work together to solve America’s problem.

As McCain began his speech to about 1,000 people, a young woman was hoisted onto the shoulders of some friends right in front of the main bank of television cameras.

She held up a poster that said “War is over” but her sign was quickly ripped down by people in the audience. She then held up her hands in the “V” symbol for peace and yelled, “We want peace!”

McCain stopped speaking and at one point tried to speak to her, saying, “Hi.” The audience quickly started chanting “We want John!” and continued until the woman was pulled down from her friends’ shoulders and escorted out.

McCain then offered a lecture about bipartisanship.

“There’s a perfect example of some people that just don’t get it,” he said, prompting huge applause from the crowd.

I do not approve of such disruptions.

Someone who wears an Obama shirt in Alabama relates what she has had said to her.

Here is a contrast between Obama and McCain rallies.

Blast from the past

Here are a couple of clips of the last Bush-Gore debate. Note that Bush winks at the audience. Note how Bush said that he “won’t grow government” and will “keep the peace”.

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