Last Pre-2008 Election Friday

Humor

Blogger Brotherpeacemaker has some truly scary Halloween thoughts.

Funny spoof story about Richard Dawkins:

Confirmed atheist Richard Dawkins was forced onto the defensive yesterday after he died but subsequently rose from the dead in a miraculous resurrection, much like that of the son of God Jesus Christ.

‘There are a number of perfectly logical scientific explanations for what has happened’ he told journalists flocking to hear his story or just touch the hem of his clothing. ‘Although I was pronounced dead after the unfortunate incident on Friday, the doctors clearly made a mistake. The fact that there was thunder and lightning, and those around claim to have heard the sound of angelic voices is completely irrelevant.’ [...]

Ed Current

Oh now…things look bleak! Cheer up; it might be the end of the world!

Now to see that Ed Current’s satire isn’t that different from reality (PBS-NOW special)

And a wingnut gets irritated at what Obama says (hey wingnut: Obama understands the Bible much better than you do!) I post a playlist of the whole talk below.

This guy is pretty much on my wavelength

Update This is supposed to be serious.

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama’s associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate’s free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.

“If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations,” Palin told host Chris Plante, “then I don’t know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media.”

Got that? Governor Palin says that the media criticizing her campaign behavior is a violation of First Amendment rights. Uh…you have that backwards. What a moron!

Now my candidate Barack Obama talks about his view of faith and society and politics. We don’t see totally eye-to-eye here; however we do agree on much of what he says, and I acknowledge that he does not seek a theocracy. And I agree on his “moral problem” view (e. g., “holes in the heart”) but I don’t agree that somehow embracing some religious myth as “truth” fixes this.

He also points out that some of the biggest proponent of separation of church and state were the religious types. That makes sense; after all, one form of wooism is not much different than some other form. But what is religion to one person might be apostasy to another.

Or put another way: if I mutter a prayer to a deity, it doesn’t matter to me whether it is Zeus, Baal, Wotan, Allah, Ganesh, Yahweh or Satan. To me, these are all fictional. But to someone else, saying a prayer to another deity is considered a “sin” or a moral wrong.

More on the state of the race

The GOP is in meltdown. (Jed Report) Here a Reagan official endorses Obama.

John McCain: has to campaign in Arizona; Obama runs ads in North Dakota, Arizona and in Georgia too!

Reporting of the election: CNN is talking about “buyers remorse”; Obama’s support slipping?

They should read their own website: the state of the race at the moment. (yes, they have a calculator so you can make your office pool prediction)

Current polls at CNN.

For good measure, look at the Gallup trackers.

Election: common misconceptions about this election, and who is backing who.

Here are some interesting findings from the above article:

Among Hispanic voters, Kerry had a 9 point lead over Bush. Obama has a 26 point lead over McCain.
Among those with graduate degrees, Kerry lead by 11, Obama by 28.
Among moderates, Kerry lead by 9, Obama leads by 26.
Among college grads with no postgraduate degree: Bush lead Kerry by 6, Obama leads McCain by 11.
Among those whose household income is 100,000 per year or more, Bush lead by 17; Obama and McCain are tied.
Among white voters, Bush lead by 17, whereas McCain leads by 5.
Among white voters with only a high school education: Bush lead by 4, and McCain leads by 5.