From the Office of the Future President of the United States of America Continue reading Hillary Clinton’s Latest Statement on the Primary Race
Tag Archives: Politics
Obama Takes Super Delegate Lead
Apparently, Obama has taken the super delegate lead. He previously had the popular vote lead. And he had the elected pledged delegate lead. Now he also has the super delegate lead. All together, it seems like he is just plain in the lead. Continue reading Obama Takes Super Delegate Lead
Online Poll: Pledge of Allegiance in Small Town Minnesota
How should public school administrators react to students who sit through the pledge of allegiance in the US? This issue came up recently in a small town in western Minnesota, where kids were suspended and possibly humiliated because they failed to stand (in once case entirely by accident) for the pledge.There is now an on line poll being run by the Star Tribune in Minneapolis asking your opinion on this issue. Here.Hat Tip: Stephanie Z
Alabama antievolution bill dies
NCSE Press Release:
House Bill 923 was among the hundreds of bills that died in the Alabama legislature “because they did not pass in the house where they were introduced,” the Associated Press (May 7, 2008) reports. The latest in a string of “academic freedom” bills aimed at undermining the teaching of evolution in Alabama, HB 923 purported to protect the right of teachers in the state’s public schools (including both K-12 and colleges and universities) to “present scientific information pertaining to the full range of scientific views in any curricula or course of learning,” especially with regard to topics that “may generate controversy, such as biological or chemical origins.” The bill also purported to address the rights of students, providing that “no student in any public school or institution of higher education … shall be penalized in any way because he or she may subscribe to a particular position on any views.” In 2004, a cosponsor of a previous version of the bill, SB 336, told the Montgomery Advertiser (February 18, 2004), “This bill will level the playing field because it allows a teacher to bring forward the biblical creation story of humankind.”
Pledge of Allegiance Suspension: Maybe homeschooling is the better choice in Yahooland, Minnesota
Dilworth Minnesota is not far from Fargo. On Thursday, three eighth graders in this small town have been suspended from school because they sat down during the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. Continue reading Pledge of Allegiance Suspension: Maybe homeschooling is the better choice in Yahooland, Minnesota
No More UN Aid to Burma
The first deliver of aid from the UN World Food Programme was stolen by officials from the Burma military Junta. As a result, the shipment of aid into the country by the UN has stopped.This is as earlier reports indicating that the death toll would surpass 100,000 are starting to look realistic, if not optimistic. Yesterday, a BBC reporter, under cover, was taken on a tour of the peninsula, where he and his crew filmed rice fields with a thin scatter of corpses. Tradition in this region dictates that the dead are cremated, but local monks claim that there is not enough firewood to cremate even a small percentage of the dead. Continue reading No More UN Aid to Burma
Pastoralism
The Futility and Frustration of Democracy
It is obvious in the United States that we need to replace the executive with a Democrat and add a few senators in the mix, in order to undo 8 years of Republican policy and replace it with four to 8 years of Democratic policy. This is because Democratic policy is better. Not great, just better. Also, Republican policy has a few elements that are truly evil, far more nefarious than anything the democrats have to offer. For instance, we really don’t want to have a supreme court staffed entirely by yahoos. We are almost there now. Let’s please not go all the way. Continue reading The Futility and Frustration of Democracy
It Is Over
Obama has not only won North Carolina, but he has apparently TROUNCED Clinton. The Clinton Campaign put a great deal of effort into North Carolina in an effort to take the state (and thus truly throw Obama’s viability into question) or at least make it close. It looks like it is not close. Not even close to close.It does not matter who wins in Indiana, because it will be close. If by some chance Obama happens to take that state as well, you can expect Clinton to suspend her campaign within a day or two. Either way, the slow and steady flow of Super Delegates to Obama will continue and likely speed up.But just in case, I have a plan for Obama to finish it tomorrow… Continue reading It Is Over
Latest Campaign News
Happy May Day
May Day is the day that we traditionally get our military hardware out and parade it around Moscow and Havana. It is also International Worker’s Day and International Labor Day. As with all holidays, there are spooky ancient origins as well. May Day is the half way point between Solstice and Equinox, so it is a good day for a blood sacrifice, ritual sex, or repainting the temple. Whatever suits your particular “world view.” Continue reading Happy May Day
Actifest!!!!
Actifest promotes student political involvement and civic engagement by providing students and community members alike with a wide range of free events supporting different causes during a one-week span. Continue reading Actifest!!!!
Trends in Inequality of Mortality in the U.S.
Inequality in mortality is the most poignant reminder of persistent, often multi-generational differences in socioeconomic status (SES). Poor people are more likely to get sick and die than rich people. As a society develops over time, one would hope that this disparity would be reduced, but in fact, it often increases. Recent research published in PLoS Medicine heralds this bad news.This study is fairly unique in that it examines life expectancy across counties, which are the smallest demographic unit for which the appropriate kind of data are collected. The study examines death rates by county in all US states and D.C. from 1961 to 1999. The data are broken down by sex and disease type.The following general patterns were noted: Continue reading Trends in Inequality of Mortality in the U.S.
Meltdown at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
The Chernobyl Meltdown happened on this day in 1986. 
On 26 April 1986 at 01:23:40 a.m. (UTC+3) reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant located in the Soviet Union near Pripyat in Ukraine exploded. Further explosions and the resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. Nearly thirty to forty times more fallout was released than Hiroshima. The plume drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Northern Europe, and eastern North America. Large areas in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. According to official post-Soviet data, about 60% of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus. *
From the UN’s Chernobyl site:
Recent research has shown that people in the Chernobyl region still lack the information they need to lead healthy, productive lives. Information itself is not in short supply; what is missing are creative ways of disseminating information in a way that induces people to change their behavior. Moreover, propagation of healthy lifestyles is at least as important as providing information on living safely with low-dose radiation. To improve the population’s mental health and ease fears, community activists will be mobilized to deliver truthful and reassuring messages to dispel the misconceptions surrounding Chernobyl. *
Chernobyl Legacy (Film) SitePhotos by Robert KnothThe Chernobyl Forum Publication (PDF)
Obama-Rama
Why wait. You can vote for Obama now.