I think now is a time for cynicism. Obama has received corporate contributions. If the masters have realized that McCain cannot win, what better way to maximize the return on the investment in Obama than to support him, at least enough to let him know where he stands?

wrote: I just got 104,000 hits when I googled:

Dick Morris idiot

But: "Dick Morris" + idiot

only gives 75,800.

Let's be fair!

Maybe being known as "the lady who stopped light" is a disadvantage because it takes you off the list for the NP and puts you in the running for "Super-Hero of the Year".

Yes, there was a time when physicists were almost considered heroes. Even better, one was known to be funny. But those days are gone. One newspaper article has blamed the current financial crisis on some moonlighting physicists. Seems they made some incorrect projections, and the whole mess came tumbling down.

I prefer:"If God had wanted us to vote republican, He would have given McCain a soul...."

wrote...changing his opinion based on new evidence.

Could be, but if the original opinion was not based on evidence, then why does one need new evidence for the new opinion?

Yes, many quants do have a physics background. And perhaps there is some sense to that article that blames it all on the quants. It is, after all, a lot easier for many folks to understand "the quants did it", than to try to figure out the contents of that pdf file that Krugman wrote (http://www.princeton.edu/~pkrugman/finmult.pdf, or find the link on his NYT blog).

wrote:If McCain is truly as bad as you think, then there's no problem.

Ah, but Bush is as bad as we think, and there was a "problem" with both elections, followed by one problem after another. So what is wrong with having some fun with one stupid lying member of the "press"? Surely a little bit of light entertainment is in order given the seriousness of the times?

As I wrote, some fun is justified in these times. And remember, shooter is illustrating an important republican technique: accuse your opponents of using the miserable techniques that your own chief guy uses. Did shooter learn this technique in troll school, or is he unaware he is using it? Or perhaps troll school taught him to use it subconsciously.

Re: Fox only on Dish.

On the other hand, my Direct-tv in Puerto Rico has CNN: the US feed, the international (in English), and the Spanish-language feed. MSNBC and Fox are not even options. Who knows what it means? (BBC international is offered, but currently "broken".)

while you are replying, you might consider these questions:

1. If something is legal, does that mean it is required? Ex: If legal, should transcripts of everyone's overseas conversations be made?

2. What is the purpose? I do not see any evidence that the cause of stopping terrorism is helped by this, do you? If so, evidence?

3. On that subject, this is from NYT yesterday:

But in a 352-page government study released on Tuesday, a committee of the National Research Council warned that successfully using these tools to deter terrorism “will be extremely difficult to achieve” because of legal, technological and logistical problems. It said a haphazard approach to using such tools threatened both Americans’ privacy rights and the country’s legitimate national security needs.

Does this affect your thinking at all?

4. Do you think there is any possibility that these transcripts might be used for other purposes, for example, blackmail?

5. Is there any limit in your faith in the US government, especially when run by republicans?

wrote:

Welcome to the world where liberals have denounced Bush and conservatives as stupid and brilliantly evil, greedy, traitorous, genocidal, and imperial. When responded to as being hyperbole, the retort is that all charges are true.

Actually liberals and others have been quite specific about listing both the evil and incompetent actions of the Bush administration, and good about stating the supporting evidence, updating it as more became available.

As for who uses the techniques you describe (and when), do you remember the names Horton and Cleland from the not so distant past? And which candidate is inciting his supporters to near riots this week?

The technique of claiming that your opposition is using the techniques that your side embraces regularly is getting very old. Could you please find a new one? If necessary, you could make a reservation for a refresher course at the troll school.

And bye the way, it was good of you to admit that you were wrong about the warrants. Perhaps a similar admission will be forthcoming about this latest post?

wrote:Meanwhile, assuming violence from Republicans is bigotry of the worst sort. Stop it.

Wake up shooter. The atmosphere at some McCain events is turning violent. The response to a shout of "kill him!" should be to back off and calm the crowd down. This is not what I see happening. People who think the "socialists" have destroyed the country while the republicans have been in charge are not rational.

but I do not think they can change direction quickly, possibly not at all in the remaining time. It might be all they know how to do. Palin is an attack dog, and McCain is just totally lost. Suppose he fired his managers. Would anyone competent take their places?

Now is the time when those currently in power start thinking seriously about the risks/benefits of just saying no when the time for the election comes. Is anymore excuse than the state of the US/world economy necessary?