29 May mid morning/early afternoon

Workout I was going to swim over lunch but my wife just got in from being gone a week and wanted to eat lunch. So I might go for a short walk in a couple of hours.

I’ve decided to lace ‘em up and do a 5K run tomorrow; I’ve had some success with “blowing out the carbon” a week before a big event.

Afternoon entertainment

Conservative Republican Brainstorm: to fight pirates, put lasers on sharks. Really.

Of course, Krugman goes on to point out that “they” have always been nuts. Relive Senator Coburn’s “so many lesbians in school that they don’t let girls go to the bathroom in pairs” remark and Senator Inhofe’s remark about global warming:

Establishing his Christian credentials, Inhofe invoked Romans 1:25 (For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever) to suggest that taking steps to ameliorate global warming would constitute a form of idol worship.

Then there is the Limbaugh comedy hour; of course he is merely lying about Judge Sotomayor’s record than coming up with anything original.

29 May 2009 (am)

I’ll probably catch a short swim over lunch time.
Not much to say today (die of shock?) but I’ll say something:

Cool Science photos and topics:
Hubble Telescope Image via Cosmic Variance. You’ll see this there:

Besides being quite stunning (and reminding me of one of the Star-Trek movies), I was struck by the caption, which reminded me that

A delicate ribbon of gas, the remnant of a supernova explosion more than 1,000 years ago. On or around 1 May AD 1006, observers from Africa to Europe and the Far East witnessed the arrival of light from what is now called SN 1006, the final death throes of a white dwarf star nearly 7,000 light-years away. The supernova was probably the brightest star ever seen by humans, surpassing Venus as the brightest object in the night time sky after the Moon. It was visible even during the day for weeks, and remained visible to the naked eye for at least two and a half years

It is wonderful that we have the partial accounts of astrophysical events from so long ago, but at best they constitute mostly qualitative descriptions that allow us to place some bounds on certain processes and hypothesize about what the event must have looked like back then.

Cool Nature Photos:

A mouse like rodent with rabbit ears (a jerboa)

A cat with “almost wings”. Yes, it does look like photo shop.

Republican Self Destruction. A Republican Senator says that he thinks that President Obama’s nominee ought to be judged on her merits and not be attacked on personal grounds.

Cornyn, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told NPR’s “All Things Considered”:

“I think it’s terrible… This is not the kind of tone any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent.”

Cornyn dismissed Limbaugh and Gingrich, adding: “Neither one of these men are elected Republican officials. I just don’t think it’s appropriate. I certainly don’t endorse it. I think it’s wrong.”

In other words, let’s oppose her based on how she interprets the Constitution. “Oh no, not that!”

Evidently that was too much for the conservative base to take:

And some Freepers are suspicious! Hillary must be behind this!!

The RINOs are so spineless I wonder if Hillary is playing around with the FBI files again!

Perhaps Cornyn wasn’t aware that she is a card-carying member of the racist separatist group La Raza (“The Race”). It is odd that he would be so quick to pass judgement before even reviewing her background.

I’m gonna have to start wondering if they’re in on this deal to turn the country over to socialism! If they were told not to worry, they can keep their stuff, or they’d still get to have “roles” in the government, token power, or what. They just won’t stand up for anything, no matter how legitimate!

I’ve already mentioned that [Cornyn] used our church’s directory for political purposes, which indicates to me his church membership is based on politics and not Christian values and principles.

Someone on FR observed that the republicans had been infiltrated by the democrats. I see more evidence supporting this assertion daily, and now from one of my own representatives.

I will begin asserting to him that he is a democrat, usurping the party in an attempt to destroy it and America.

He should follow Specter.

Mind you, the Senator isn’t say that the Republicans ought to vote for her or even vote yes on “cloture”. He is merely saying that she shouldn’t be attacked for personal reasons.

At least at Daily Kos, we were fine with a “no vote” on cloture (although we didn’t always even get that) Note who wrote this diary.

For what it is worth: then Senator Obama voted yes on cloture with Roberts and then “no” with Alito, though both he and then Senator Clinton voted “no” at the last minute, when it became clear that cloture would “win”. That was not a proud moment for the Democrats. us.