Thai protesters shut down airport

How come we couldn't/didn't do this in protest to Bush and his terrible administration? to the war in Iraq?

Excerpts-
"Flights from Thailand's international airport have been suspended after hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed the building outside Bangkok."

"We will stay until the government steps down. This government is not legitimate," retired university lecturer Sunthorn Kaewlai told the Reuters news agency."

We certainly have changed, as a people, since the founding days of our country -
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure. - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

Where was I in the run up to the war? Well, I attended one protest. Maybe I should ask how come I couldn't/didn't do that?

Miami judge rules against Florida gay adoption ban

Excerpts below

A judge on Tuesday ruled that a strict Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children is unconstitutional, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.

The state presented experts who claimed there was a higher incidence of drug and alcohol abuse among gay couples, that they were more unstable than heterosexual unions and that the children of gay couples suffer a societal stigma.

Organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association all support permitting same-sex couples to adopt.

"Everywhere in the law where children are affected, the standard must always be what is in the best interest of the child," said Stemberger, an attorney in Orlando. "What is stunning to me is that when it comes to dealing with gays, that standard goes out the window. Children do better with a mother and a father."

If that is true, Stemberger should be campaigning to prevent divorce, which has been proven to be a leading cause of single parenthood. John Stemberger should also campaign to make it illegal for parents to die, another leading cause of single parenthood. Maybe the courts could find single parents and force them into relationships. Maybe give out eHarmony or Match.com accounts to single parents at tax payers' expense.

2 degrees from Condi Rice

It's a strange world. The people pictured from left are Soye Kim, Joshua Klein, Condolezza Rice, Robert Battey and Lawrence Wallace. This quintet plays as often as every other week. You might recognize the woman on the piano. But the man on the left with the violin, Joshua Klein, was lucky enough to have gone to school (Webb and F.C.D.S) with me.

The Electoral College must Die

Texas: 34 electoral votes and 23,904,380 citizens -> 703,070 citizens per electoral vote
Florida: 34 electoral votes and 18,251,243 -> 675,972 citizens per electoral vote
California: 55 electoral votes and 36,553,215 citizens -> 664,604 citizens per electoral vote

at the other end of the spectrum

Wyoming: 3 electoral votes and 522,830 citizens -> 174,277 citizens per electoral vote
District of Columbia: 3 electoral votes and 588,292 citizens -> 196,097 citizens per electoral vote
Vermont: 3 electoral votes and 621, 254 citizens -> 207, 085 citizens per electoral vote

Is this fair? I thought democracy was based on one person, one vote. But by this system a vote in Wyoming is worth roughly 4x that of a vote in Texas and roughly 3.8x that of a vote in California. I ask again - is this fair?

Why do we have the electoral college?

Grant Griffin is a Moron

From an AP article on race threats.

Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, expressed similar sentiments: "I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change."

"If you had real change it would involve all the members of (Obama's) church being deported," he said.

I wish Grant would get deported.

Obama

Obama Obama Obama!!

Oh!!Bama!!

The 3 Phases of Creation

The number 3 rears its beautiful head again.

Improvisation implies a knowledge of relationship between elements and a desire to create something with those elements outside or different from the elements themselves.

Experimentation, the step before improvisation, also implies a knowledge of elements but less of a desire to create something outside of or different from those elements. Experimentation is the use of/ investigation into the elements to discover their possible relationships.

The step before experimentation is exploration - the discovery of the elements themselves.