Rev. Jeremiah Wright: 'I've Been Preaching The Same Thing For 40 Years'

They don't come much whiter than myself, but I believe I see where Wright is coming from. I probably would have been shocked by the comments that were all over the media if I'd heard them a decade ago, but not now. I've become friends with black men around Wright's age, and heard some of their stories. One was in the wrong place at the wrong time in LA (across the street from an incident), and was beaten by the cops so badly he lay in jail overnight struggling to breath, while another man futilely yelled for someone to get a doctor for him. He's currently a missionary.



Stories like that opened my eyes as to where the anger comes from. It's easy to forget that it hasn't been that long since the civil rights era. I wasn't born yet, so it was difficult for me to comprehend just how recent it was.



Obama is trying to move beyond Wright's era and message, and I think Wright understands that, too. It seems to me he's willing to be marginalized if it's for the good of the black community, though I think he's understandably upset that much of what he was saying was taken out of context and mis-characterized.



I think Wright's message was better suited to a different time, but that doesn't mean he should be forgotten or made into a villain. He has my respect.
About Jeremiah Wright
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Why Palin ensures I can't vote McCain

I've already been an Obama supporter for quite a while now, but I did have a certain amount of respect for McCain. He was my candidate of choice back in 2000, but I just haven't felt he's the right guy for the job this time around.

However, while his VP selection of Sarah Palin has been news-grabbing, the things I've read about her actual decisions and governance style leave me certain I could never support a ticket that includes her.

Personally, I find her strong support for killing wolves the most offensive. I like wolves, and I've studied enough to know that killing wolves is very rarely necessary. They moderate their populations themselves, tend to stay clear of people, and prefer to hunt sick and weak animals. They are apex predators, and messing with their population tends to mess with the entire ecosystem.

Below are a few quotes and links to some articles on Palin I find particularly relevant.

"Many lawmakers contend that Ms. Palin is overly reliant on a small inner circle that leaves her isolated. Democrats and Republicans alike describe her as often missing in action. Since taking office in 2007, Ms. Palin has spent 312 nights at her Wasilla home, some 600 miles to the north of the governor's mansion in Juneau, records show.

"During the last legislative session, some lawmakers became so frustrated with her absences that they took to wearing "Where's Sarah?" pins." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?em

"Governor Palin is an active promoter of Alaska's aerial hunting program whereby wolves and bears are shot from the air or chased by airplanes to the point of exhaustion before the pilot lands the plane and a gunner shoots the animals point blank." http://www.defendersactionfund.org/newsroom/sarah_palin.html

"The cunning of the Palin choice as a political strategy is that a candidate who embodies fear of change can be sold as a "maverick" simply because she looks the part. Her marketers have a lot to work with. Palin is not only the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket, but she is young, vibrant and a Washington outsider with no explicit connection to Bush or the war in Iraq. That package looks like change even if what's inside is anything but." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14rich.html?em

What is Your World View? Quiz

It's an interesting quiz. Lots to think about as you answer the questions. The author does use some jargon at a few points, but it's not bad overall.

My results:

You scored as Cultural Creative, Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 88% Romanticist 50% Postmodernist 50% Existentialist 38% Fundamentalist 31% Idealist 31% Modernist 19% Materialist 19% What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com

Dont Feed the Trolls

OK, this is just crappy reporting by Newsweek. It's fearmongering with little hard evidence. All the authors probably did was a quick websearch to find what they wanted.

However, what seems completely lost on them is that comments left on blogs or social sites often do not reflect real-life viewpoints. Extreme viewpoints will often be the most visible, and it's very common for idiots to mimic that kind of thing in order to gain attention. It's much like kids who emulate Jackass by hurting themselves pulling stupid stunts, then post it on YouTube.

As with the theory by Penny Arcade (profanity warning) I previously mentioned, people act like complete morons when they feel they have a certain level of anonimity and an audience.

So, back to the blog I referenced initially. The offending comment was quoted as,

“Koreans are the most hotheaded and macho of East Asians,” wrote one unnamed commentator on the Sepia Mutiny blog. “They are also sick and tired of losing their Korean girlfriends to white men with an Asian fetish.”

Note that this guy isn't targeting Koreans in general, but Korean men, and is making the effort at an extra over-the-top jab with the comment about their girlfriends. That's the point. It's a juvenile attention-getting device: the guy is emulating racist behavior so that people will attack him. He probably thought that last part was pretty darn clever.

So, congratulations, Newsweek. You gave some stupid kid more fame than he could have hoped for just for making an ass of himself.

Disturbing Internet Behavior

The anonymity the internet can so easily provide has made for ups and downs. Some people feel enabled to express themselves in various good ways, and some just waste it by treating others like crap. I really hat to see cyberbullying get this disgusting. It's not an unusual problem on the internet, but this has been worse than most. Death threats are just unacceptable, and illegal for a reason.

Unfortunately, discovering the identity of this person may be quite difficult. It appears that this started with a script kiddie (a pejorative term for a hacker wannabe who just uses tools others develop) hijacking another blogger's computer.

This is not new behavior. A webcomic called Penny Arcade came up with their own theory for this behavior in 2004 (warning: profanity). Unfortunately, some people never develop much of a moral code beyond avoiding getting caught. I got to see this in retail, in which customers or employees would steal things the minute they thought no-one was looking.

This is just silly.

I've seen stuff from 9/11 conspiracy theorists before, and, while I don't necessarily believe it, I could see how it would appeal to those so inclined. However, I am completely baffled by the way they seem to be rallying around the recent discovery that a BBC reporter apparently said that building 7 of the World Trade Center had fallen about 20 minutes beforehand. For them, it apparently is proof that the building was intentionally demolished using explosives, because someone apparently sent out a press release of some kind too early, or a reporter read from a script too soon.

Laying aside everything else a person may or may not believe about 9/11, there is only one word needed to poke a huge hole in this latest piece of "evidence": Why? Why would a press release be necessary, much less a script? Every camera that any news agency could find was being pointed in that direction by then, so why would it be necessary to script what is completely obvious to all? There was plenty of speculation for a large period of time beforehand regarding the expected fall of WTC 7, so everyone was already watching for it to happen. A press release or script would put the conspiracists in the delicate position of trusting that none of the large number of people involved in the media would expose them. Why would people supposedly smart enough to pull off such a massive attack under false pretenses do something so stupid?

I find it particularly bizarre the number of times I've seen this referred to as a "smoking gun" or some other reference to how conclusive this discovery is. Even if there is some kind of conspiracy, this has to be some of the worst evidence for it I've heard yet.



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Sometimes reading the article makes all the difference.

"Virgos have an increased risk of vomiting during pregnancy, Pisces have an increased risk of heart failure, and Libras have an increased risk of fracturing their pelvises, according to latest research." Sounds like the latest attempt to legitimize pseudoscience, right? Nope, it actually part of a study that "was conducted to highlight that research sometimes finds patterns even when there is no association in reality."

There is no shortage of people out there who will draw dubious conclusions from the latest research. This is essentially a parody of that. Statistics are an attempt to turn real life things into numbers, which is imperfect, and can produce anomalies, or may not mean what they seem at first glance.

"One way to reduce the chances of drawing a wrong conclusion is to try and reproduce unexpected results in further studies." However, a repeat of the study did not replicate the results, meaning that it is very unlikely that the statistical probabilities exist in real life. Sorry, astrologers of the world, this one doesn't really help you after all.



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