My Senator, Norm Coleman, was sworn in on January 7, 2003, just before the start of the Iraq War, when the price of oil was $31.08 per barrel. On July 21, 2008 the price of oil had risen to $131.04 a barrel, $100 higher. That's an increase of 320% in five and a half years. My Congressman, John Kline, began his career in congress at the same time, and like Norm, he still serves.
Nobody should blame any politician for normal market forces working on commodity prices. Most politicians rightly keep their hands off a well-regulated market. But there is one exception to this rule: if a currency is considered a commodity, then we must remind ourselves that politicians control the economics that underlie the currency of a nation.
Recently, the US Senate race in Minnesota stepped up a notch when the first outside 527 group began airing pro-Coleman, anti-Franken ads. This group, the "Coalition for a Democratic Workplace," (which is a coalition supporting autocratic workplaces) put up this ad:
Only two problems: the ad's statements are blatantly false. And the local media has caught on.
"I think the American people have had enough of inflexibility and stubbornness in national security policy," Scheunemann said. When asked later by the Huffington Post's Sam Stein whether the campaign was disparaging President Bush, Scheunemann dug in: "We cannot afford to replace one administration that refused for too long to acknowledge failure in Iraq with a candidate that refuses to acknowledge success in Iraq."
It's a long way from mice to people, but this is one of the most promising developments on Alzheimer's Disease I've seen in quite a while. Australian scientists have found a drug that within days reverses the effects of Alzheimer's Disease, when given orally to transgenic mice.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Most people instantly recognize these words as the second amendment to the United States Constitution. Agreement generally stops there. Right of "the people"? Does that mean individual persons or people collectively? Does "bear arms" mean gun ownership, or something else?
Yup, that's right. Three hundred million dollars. For a car battery. And yes, there's a catch.
[Today at Fresno State, McCain will] propose inspiring "the ingenuity and resolve of the American people by offering a $300 million prize for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars."
"With the exception of the cross-burning episode ... I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district"
There has been a longstanding debate in evolutionary biology regarding the genetic basis for homosexuality. Back in the mid-20th century, the first debate was whether homosexuality was genetically determined at all; but studies of twins showed that it does have a strong (but not exclusive) genetic origin, a conclusion that has been strengthened by further research.
Since homosexuals have lower reproduction rates than heterosexuals, the immediate Darwinian expectation is that those alleles responsible for homosexuality should be removed from the gene pool in a few (perhaps a very few) generations. Clearly this has not happened, and that demands an explanation.
Today, in a little-noticed address in Springfield, MO, John McCain proposed that the US build 45 new nuclear powerplants by 2030.
Those of us who have read the science on global warming know how dire the situation really is. Most people have been led to believe that cars are the biggest part of the problem. They're not.
Powerplants are the biggest part of the problem, and one of the technically easiest to solve.
I was driving home Monday afternoon, my radio tuned (as always) to Minnesota Public Radio, when this jaw-dropping promise came down like the Annunciation, straight from Fantasyland. Or, to be more precise, the Minnesota version of Fantasyland, which Michelle Bachmann's campaign to hold onto her seat in MN-06.
While we've seen endless speculation on this site about Obama's possible Vice Presidential pick, the equally interesting question of McCain's VP choice has gone almost unnoticed.
Those of you who are regulars here already know poblano, DKos's resident numbers guru, who recently revealed himself to be (in real life) sports statistician Nate Silver. You probably also know that his own blog, fivethirtyeight.com, has recently attracted national attention, and deservedly so.
Today, Nate made a major update to his methodology that re-evaluates each state's win probability in light of national trends. This allows the picture in each state, even unpolled states, to change as rapidly as the national polls do. The result is (a) a huge improvement in the win probability of Barack Obama; (b) a national popular vote projection that is much closer with national polls; and (c) a projected win percentage that is much closer to that predicted by "financial" type futures markets.
Talk about raising expectations. Or lowering them, depending on what side of the fence you're looking from.
Yesterday, Steve Singiser diaried a beaut of a quote from Sen. John Ensign, who as Chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee has the unenviable job of winning Senate seats for the GOP this fall. Or (to be honest) losing as few as possible. Ensign conceded Senate losses in Virginia and New Mexico to the Democrats.
Ensign, being interviewed at a Christian Science Monitor forum (the same one where he said losing a net of three seats would be a VICTORY for the GOP), was asked point blank about the level of support he would be giving to GOP nominees Jim Gilmore (VA) and Steven Pearce (NM).
The response?
"You don't waste money on races that don't need it or you can't win."
Ruh-roh, Republicans....
But that's not all the amazing Ensign said yesterday. More after the jump.
Subrata Roy, University of Florida (Gainesville) Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, has designed and applied for a patent on a spinning flying disk, powered by magnetohydrodanmics.
The disk has no moving parts, and the exterior surface is covered with electrodes. It works by ionizing the air around it into a plasma, which then manipulates using the electrodes and magnetohydrodynamic principals.
The inital prototype, when built, will be about six inches in diameter, but Roy believes it can be scaled up.
One of the underreported stories about Barack Obama's visit to Minnesota on Tuesday night is what happened afterwards: in a private room in the Xcel Center, Barack and Michelle Obama held a reception for prominent local supporters of Hillary Clinton.
As usual, the story is found only in MinnPost.com, which is quickly becoming the premier source for Minnesota politics, scooping both of the local pulp-printed newspapers.
Haven't seen this diaried yet today, so I thought I'd let you all know that Barack Obama has picked up two more Edwards pledged delegates in New Hampshire today.
John Edwards came out of the New Hampshire primary on January 8th with 4 pledged delegates. Since Edwards endorsed Obama last week, one of those four, Joshua Denton of Portsmouth, had already announced he is switching his allegiance to Obama.
