Last Post of the Year….

I’ve got a few more things to say and then some random awards to give out.

In about 3.5 hours, I’ll be at the Get Lit Fun Run, getting in my first 2 miles of 2009, Providence willing. I’ve shamed Barbara (my wife), Olivia (my daughter) and Tracy (my best friend) into going with me.

Photos will follow, then tomorrow I hope to blast myself out of bed for a long morning swim at the Riverplex (which opens at 8 am)

I am not sure as to what all I’ll do or attempt.

Articles:
The Nation continues to have interesting articles. Here is one that says that the Democrats ought to dump the corrupt members of the “old guard”:

But if (Charles) Rangel has not been corrupted absolutely by his thirty-seven years in Congress, he has come pretty damn close. Thanks to the energetic reporting of the New York Times–which has been teaching its tabloid competitors a thing or two about how to uncover and milk a local scandal–we now know:
§ Rangel has enjoyed the use of four rent-stabilized luxury apartments for which he pays a powerful local developer barely half their market value. (Almost no one in New York occupies more than one such apartment–which is a good thing, given the scarcity of affordable housing);

§ Despite the above, Rangel, as reported by the New York Post, also enjoys a “homestead” tax exemption for the four-bedroom home he owns in Washington, DC.

§ Rangel earmarked $1.9 million for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York, and solicited donors on official stationery and in person–including at least one million-dollar donation from an oil-drilling executive that was followed by Rangel’s immediate reversal on protecting a key offshore tax loophole;

§ Rangel managed to… um… forget to declare more than $75,000 in rental income from a $1,100-per-night villa in the Dominican Republic he has owned since 1988. His district is nearly half Hispanic, but Rangel claims “cultural and language barriers” have made it impossible to file the proper returns. (The willful filing of a false tax return is a state and federal felony.)

§ According to Politico, Rangel recently funneled nearly $80,000 in campaign funds to a company run by his son Steven Rangel for a couple of “slapped together” websites that “should have cost no more than $900.” (Remember, owing to the magic of a friendly gerrymandered district, Rangel has not faced any real competition for his seat in decades. His election campaigns are largely exercises in self-gratification.)

One could go on, but sheee-it, as Clay Davis would put it, our point ought to be clear by now.

[...]

In short, Charlie Rangel, no less than Rod Blagojevich, is exactly the kind of politician–regardless of ethnicity–from whom Obama and Company need to disassociate themselves if the Democratic Party is to have any hope of earning the long-term trust of those middle-class Americans who believed Obama’s promises.

Note: the article does talk about how Rangel served nobly in Korea, etc. Nevertheless, he represents part of the problem, even if he does vote the “right” way most of the time.

Another Nation article talks about the Rick Warren flap and goes on to say this:

Barack Obama’s choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration has provoked outrage from progressives, who have condemned it as a slap at his base and at gay and lesbian supporters in particular. Wasn’t Obama’s election a repudiation of the religious right? Couldn’t he have picked a more progressive figure–like civil rights leader Joseph Lowery, who supports same-sex marriage and is giving the closing benediction? Why won’t Democrats behave like Republicans, who reward their religious base with state spoils both symbolic and monetary?

I understand the left’s sense of betrayal, but this reaction to Obama’s choice is off the mark. It’s a sign of how much we have conceded to the religious right that almost nobody asked why there should be an invocation at all.

Emphasis mine. Yes, some of us asked this question.

Seriously – no snark intended – just a question. Why do we have a religious invocation at a national government function and why is the assumption that the person doing it will be Christian?

No, that wasn’t me.

Ok, “awards” in, well, random categories.

My best (least pathetic?) athletic performance of 2008: Big Shoulders 5K swim (1:36). I also had one sub 16 minute 1000 yard swim (15:53 in September, about a week after the Big Shoulders) My best walk was my half marathon at the Quad Cities. My “best run” (snicker) was probably the East Peoria 4 miler. (7:52 mpm pace…don’t laugh too hard!)

But I did spend much of the fall rebuilding from the sorry (running) shape that I was in.

Mathematically speaking, I did repair and redo a paper with a promising result; I am confident that it will eventually be accepted for publication. I am going to “aim high” for the first (re) submission, and if that doesn’t work out, I’ll aim only slightly lower.

I have some momentum and some ideas to try for 2009.

Political Highlights You might think that my political highlight was Barack Obama winning the Presidency. But actually, it wasn’t. For me the highlight was the evening of the North Carolina and the Indiana primaries. I thought that Obama won it that night (though the true decisive blow came on the Chesapeake Primary night).

The Clinton vs. Obama contest was sort of like the days when the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49′ers were the best teams in the NFL, but because they were in the NFC, they met in the title game rather than in the Superbowl. You knew thought that who won the SF vs. Dallas game would win the Superbowl. The facts: the Cowboys met the 49′ers in the 1970-71, 1971-72, 1981-1982, 1992-1993, 1993-1994, 1994-1995 games with the Cowboys winning in 1971, 72, 92, 93, and the 49′ers winning in 1982 and 1995. In all but the first meeting (1971), the victor went on to win the Superbowl, and only once (1982) was the Superbowl even close.

A second highlight was the California Democratic debate when it was down to Obama vs. Clinton for the first time. When those two took the stage, I got a tear in my eye and stood up and clapped, right in my own living room. I was touched in a fundamental way; it is hard to explain. I still thought that Hillary Clinton was going to win at that time (remember this was prior to Super Tuesday). And on some level, I knew that I was seeing the next President of the United States.

External stuff

I’ve enjoyed reading many blogs in 2008. Here are my favorites:

3-quarks daily: best source of articles. If I had to read only one non-personal blog, this one would be it. This is a bit like the Utne Reader of blogs.

Science and science related blogs and sites:

Sandwalk (mostly stuff on evolution and molecular biology, but Larry Moran also explains some of the nuances of evolution and the various competing schools of thought.

Cosmic Variance: (mostly cosmology, duh)

Richard Dawkins: tons of articles here. Many are about science (evolution), and some are about religion and atheism. But I should point out that this site carries articles from the opposition (which is unusual).

Political and Social Issues blogs

538.com has some of the best election analysis and political predictions around. Nate Silver (the blog’s owner) has won awards for his work.

Robert Reich’s blog: read this if you want to learn about current economic issues. Reich was Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and is an Obama economic adviser.

DemComWatch: an interesting political blog. This covers roughly the same ground as The Jed Report, which is also worth reading.

Hate group watch: The Southern Poverty Law Center blog is worth reading. Nikki’s Nest used to be worth following, but things have gotten silent since Bill White got arrested.

History and Social Issues: I enjoy The Edge of the American West.

Social Issues (often issues affecting African Americans): Brotherpeacemaker. It is useful for me to see how others see life; sometimes we can live next to someone but not understand how they see the world.

Open water swimming: everything you want to know can be found here. You’ll find news, tips on how to train, and even discussion on finisher’s awards.

Right Wing Watch: great stuff, regularly updated.

Academia: Rate Your Students.

Personal Blogs which have a public interest theme:
Of course, I enjoy reading the blogs of my friends and family. These include my sister’s blog, Tammy’s blog, Jason’s blog (the runner), and Damon’s blog.

The ones that I am going to include below are those who mostly write so as to stimulate public discussion rather than those who write to keep their friends and family informed.

Science Avenger: a pull no punched blog of opinion backed by facts.

Mano Singham’s Journal: A physics professor talks about many issues. He includes links, but most of his stuff here is his original thought. Much of it is worth reading; you won’t find much ranting but rather careful introspection.

Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. General purpose educational, environmental and science stuff. Pet causes: science education in public school and the wars over DDT.

Evolved and Rational. If you want intellectual ranting that ruthlessly goes after the jugular of the enemies of reason, this is the place. True, some of the posts are about internet computer geek culture (e. g., slams on those of us who are too unsophisticated to use Linux) but she really takes it to the “theistards”.

Friendly Atheist: mostly stuff of concern to atheists. The author wrote the book “I sold my soul on e-bay”.

Local Flavor Blogs

O’brien’s Briar patch, Blargen Blog, A Knight in Dragon Land and A Good Year for the Outlaw are blogs written by locals, all of which talk about national issues from time to time. Peoria Pundit mostly discusses Peoria area issues and features many bloggers.

Humor blogs

Fail Blog.

The Good Kentuckian.

Republican Faith Chat.

Liberals Must Die.

Promising Blogs: I haven’t read these long enough to be able to recommend them as yet, but I find myself following them:

The Conservation Report

The Legal Satyricon (hilarious legal cases and some interesting social issues)

All That is Necessary This guy is a conservative but I don’t disagree with him as often as I thought that I would.

A contest: guess the story behind these photos, drawings or pictures:

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(you’ll just have to guess this one….I’ll fess up if you guess correctly )

These next two go together:

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