This Week With Barack Obama: This is why people should be concerned about that FAR RIGHT fringe (Video)

A continuous roundup of information on President Barack Obama. The 44th President of the United States of America.

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Media Matters Blows it on this article

Ok, Ms. Julie Millican, you get an “A” on your womyn studies project. But you are still way off base here:

There are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize Sarah Palin, her new book, and her policies, but you don’t have to stoop to sexism to do it. Newsweek’s November 23 issue, however, does just that by publishing on its cover a photo of Palin in short running shorts and a fitted top, leaning against the American flag. Making matters worse is the equally offensive headline Newsweek editors chose to run alongside the photo — “How Do You Solve a Problem like Sarah?” — presumably a reference to the Sound of Music song, “Maria,” in which nuns fret about “how” to “solve a problem like Maria,” a “girl” who “climbs trees” and whose “dress has a tear.”

This is the cover that she is complaining about:

Gee: Sarah Palin uses here appearance for political gain; a big part of her “public appeal” package is her image and Newsweek calls her out on that?

There is nothing “sexist” about that no matter what Ms. Millican thinks.

As far as I am concerned, Palin has brought this attention onto herself, and quite frankly, this image will be seen as POSITIVE by many.

Now for something funny:

Note: I know that there are many out there who “think” like this; fortunately I avoid such places. I am sorry that Media Matters has chosen to run such nonsense.

This is for you, “love it or leave it” types:

Workout notes Over lunch (slept in): 3100 yard swim (500 in 8:42, 1000 in 16:52 (sluggish), 500 drill/swim, 500 of free/back (10:20), 500 of 50 side, 100 paddle, then 4 x 25 fly. Then 2 miles on the AMT, 3 on Stairmaster (3.1 actually; 151 floors) in 25:30.

Comment

We’ve seen these bumper stickers:

Now what is meant by this sticker? Does someone who displays this mean: “hey America is a diverse, pluralistic, secular nation and you’d better get used to it”?

We’ve seen the tea parties: (note the crying woman 1:10 into it):

We’ve seen articles like this one:

From Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden’s November 17 column (emphasis added):

So far it’s a memorable trip. He established a new precedent for how American presidents should pay obeisance to kings, emperors, monarchs, sovereigns and assorted other authentic man-made masters of the universe. He stopped just this side of the full grovel to the emperor of Japan, risking a painful genuflection if his forehead had hit the floor with a nasty bump, which it almost did. No president before him so abused custom, traditions, protocol (and the country he represents). Several Internet sites published a rogue’s gallery showing how other national leaders – the prime ministers of Israel, India, Slovenia, South Korea, Russia and Dick Cheney among them – have greeted Emperor Akihito with a friendly handshake and an ever-so-slight but respectful nod (and sometimes not even that).

Now we know why Mr. Obama stunned everyone with an earlier similar bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, only the bow to the Japanese emperor was far more flamboyant, a sign of a really deep sense of inferiority. He was only practicing his bow in Riyadh. Sometimes rituals are learned with difficulty. It took Bill Clinton months to learn how to return a military salute worthy of a commander in chief; like any draft dodger, he kept poking a thumb in his eye until he finally got it. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, seems right at home now giving a wow of a bow. This is not the way an American president impresses evildoers that he’s strong, tough and decisive, that America is not to be trifled with.

[...]

But Mr. Obama, unlike his predecessors, likely knows no better, and many of those around him, true children of the grungy ’60s, are contemptuous of custom. Cutting America down to size is what attracts them to “hope” for “change.” It’s no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of “the 57 states” is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.

Previously:

Pruden: Obama is “our first president without an instinctive appreciation of the culture… whence America sprang”

Do you see the assumption? That’s right: the right wing morons have a well defined vision of what America really is: it is just like them. In short, they can see no validity outside of their own narrow sphere. In short, they haven’t a clue as to what America is; they haven’t come to grips with the fact that they are only a very narrow slice of America; they are not the whole or even the majority.

Morons: from here.

That’s right: according to this preacher, America’s problem is that too many men don’t pee correctly.

Patriots Not Punting: Crazy or Wise?

NFL

In last night’s Patriot-Colt game, the Patriots lead 34-28 with just over 2 minutes to go. They had the ball 4′th and 2 at their own 28 yard line.

They went for it and didn’t make it; many second guessed the call (myself included):

Bill Belichick’s swagger and arrogance helped the New England Patriots to three Super Bowl titles earlier this decade. Sunday night, those attributes put a big dent in the team’s quest for a fourth.

Nursing a six-point lead with 2:08 to go, Belichick decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 from his own 28 instead of punting the ball and making Peyton Manning(notes) and the Indianapolis Colts go 80 yards for the score. The fourth-down play failed, the Colts took over possession and scored with ease, winning their ninth straight game to start the season and getting in the driver’s seat for home-field advantage in the AFC.

Personally, I appreciated the call when it happened, mainly because I like watching teams take risks. But this wasn’t the spot to go all-in. It was too risky.

You go for it on the Colts’ 38, not your own 28. That would be daring, but not stupid. Going for it from your own 28 fits both categories. A 70 percent fourth-down success rate (which is about what the Patriots have had in the past five years) is a good bet most of the time, but not if 30 percent of the time puts Peyton Manning eight yards away from the red zone after the two-minute warning.

Punting would have put Peyton about 80 yards away, so there still would have been plenty of time for him to march down the field and get the game-winning touchdown. But there would have been plenty of work left to do. When the Pats failed to get the first down, it felt like the Colts had already scored that TD even though they were 28 yards away. I don’t think anyone involved in that game thought any differently. The mental aspect of it was huge. It wasn’t just that the Patriots gave Peyton the ball back, it’s that they were mentally defeated the instant they did. [...]

But others pointed out that this call wasn’t as crazy as it appeared:

With 2:08 left and the Colts with only one timeout, a successful 4th-and-2 conversion wins the game for all practical purposes. A conversion on 4th-and-2 would be successful 60 percent of the time. Historically, in a situation with 2:00 left and needing a TD to either win or tie, teams get the TD 53 percent of the time from that field position. The total win probability for the 4th-down conversion attempt would therefore be:

(0.60 * 1) + (0.40 * (1-0.53)) = 0.79 WP (WP stands for win probability)

A punt from the 28 typically nets 38 yards, starting the Colts at their 34. Teams historically get the TD 30 percent of the time in that situation. So the punt gives the Pats about a 0.70 WP.

Statistically, the better decision would be to go for it, and by a good amount. However, these numbers are baselines for the league as a whole. You’d have to expect the Colts had a better than 30 percent chance of scoring from their 34, and an accordingly higher chance to score from the Pats’ 28. But any adjustment in their likelihood of scoring from either field position increases the advantage of going for it. You can play with the numbers any way you like, but it’s pretty hard to come up with a realistic combination of numbers that makes punting the better option. At best, you could make it a wash.

Nate Silver weighs in on this side as well.

Fox attacks President Obama over a bow – Daily Kos TV (beta)

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Let’s get one thing straight: personally, I like that we have a President who attempts to respect the customs of the countries that he visits; I like having a President who doesn’t act like an arrogant prick in other lands.

On a similar note, on the drive home this weekend, I saw a “America: love it or leave it” sticker on a pick-up truck. Well you know what? Republicans ought to take that advice.

What these pricks mean is “America: accept MY vision of what it should be or leave”; these jerks don’t love America as it actually is. Guess what? America isn’t going to conform to your vision of it; we are a secular, pluralistic, diverse society, like it or not.

If you want a jingoistic fundamentalist Christian theocracy: fine, but you aren’t going to get it here.

16 November 09 (am)

Workout notes
2200 yard swim; stomach trouble prior, but still 500 easy (9:03), 5 x 200 on the 3:30 (3:17, 14, 13, 13, 12), 500 drill/swim, 500 paddle.

This was a fun swim.

Posts

Humor
From here.

Do sports build character? It isn’t completely clear.

In fact, the study by an American ethics centre says children involved in sports are more likely to cheat in school, are learning from their coaches how to best cut corners and are more open to forms of bullying as a way to motivate people.

The findings, by the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute, fly in the face of the most widely held view of athletics: that it builds strong character, honesty and team-building skills. Those who make their living from such activities say those beliefs still hold true.

“Participation in sports will encourage positive behaviours,” says Jean Côté, acting director of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University.

But in an era of star athletes glorified over team effort, performance-enhancing drugs being used in sports such as professional baseball and bike racing (and even auto racing in the form of fuel additives) and bench-clearing brawls, the Josephson Institute thought the matter was worth further investigation.

The two-year survey of 5,275 high school athletes from across the U.S. yielded some surprising results – at least for anyone who loves sports.

Two-thirds of the athletes admitted to cheating on an exam at least once in the previous year, compared with 60 per cent in the rest of the student population.

Football players were the worst, at 72 per cent.

“For most kids, sport promotes rather than discourages cheating,” the report says.

It would be interesting to see how, say, runners would respond.

Politics: 10 ways Fox is different than MSNBC. Ok, 9.

I’ll add another: the MSNBC audience is smarter and better informed than the Fox audience.

Paul Krugman: proposes extending Godwin’s law.

Back From St. Louis (15 November 2009)

We got back from our St. Louis trip.

The Saints-Rams game was a blast; the Saints won 28-23.

My impressions of the game:

1. The Rams really don’t have a deep threat. The offensive line blocked for the running game very well; their “grind it out” running game was solid. But all of the passing was short to medium stuff; there was nothing to really stretch out the defense.

2. The Saints were balanced; they had explosion on the running game, a 99 yard kick off return for a touchdown and other big runs.

3. True, the Saints threw an interception and fumbled the ball while going into the end zone, but the Rams also threw an end zone interception.

4. The Rams really did play hard and didn’t fold when they had the chance. But the Rams cut the lead to 28-23 with 2:44 left and elected to try an onside kick rather than kick it deep. Hence they ended up with the ball at their own 20 with a bit over 1 minute left and no time outs; they burned lots of time with over the middle throws and basically ran out of time at the Saint 32 at the end of the game.

Socially going to the game was my wife’s idea. But she is probably the worst possible football buddy; she didn’t even know what an “incomplete pass” was or what the result of it is.

Photos from yahoo.

Social

This was the view we had from our room at the Ballpark Hilton Inn:

This was the stadium; we were in the opposite end zone.

15 November 09 (am)

Up and at ‘em; did my 5 miles on the elliptical and am ready for breakfast and an NFL game!

Ok, the Saints are the overwhelming favorites, but the Rams are an NFL team too and maybe they are sick of hearing about how they are going to get creamed.

Injury note: my hamstrings cramp up when I sit for a while, and I did notice some “whine” in the calf at about 25-30 minutes; changing the incline on the elliptical did the trick.

In St. Louis, 14 November

We made it in to St. Louis; tomorrow we take in the Rams vs. Saints game. Sure, we have the undefeated Saints against a team that has only won once the whole year (against the Lions, no less).

But hey, these are NFL players and even a bad team has talent on it.

In the college ranks: USC sure looks like a mortal team this year; Stanford just outright hammered them.

Oh yes, our hotel is 6 blocks from the Edward Jones dome and this place has a good workout room; so I should get in a nice elliptical workout prior to the game.

14 November 09 (noon)

Workout notes Perfect conditions; walked 1 loop of McNaughton in 2:54. My right leg barked just a little bit (ok, more “yapped”; it was dull but there) and I took no pain killers.

I got home and put on the Texas versus Baylor game; it was 40-0 AT THE HALF. Texas is too strong, fast, etc. for Baylor; this really looks like a division I versus as division II team at the moment.

McNaughton notes:

Just for the heck of it, I tallied my McNaughton miles:

2003: 47 (31 during a race)
2004: 60 (50 mile race)
2005: 120 (100 during a race)
2006: 159 (70 in one race; DNF 100)
2007: 120 miles (injured so couldn’t do the race)
2008: 122 miles (52 for a race; finished a 50 but added 2 miles due to dropping out and reentering)
2009: 193 miles (100 for one race, 30 for another)

Total: 821 miles, 433 for 7 races.