Mc Cain jokes with Goldwater

Great John McCain story!!! John meets Barry Goldwater in Arizona, and Goldwater tells him:"You know, if I had been elected President in 1964, you never would have been held in a Vietnamese prison camp," to which McCain replied, "You're right Barry, it would have been a Chinese prison camp." Get it? very funny. McCain has a sense of humor way out on the edge.

(Goldwater retired as US Senator from Arizona in 1986, McCain replaced him in Senate). McCain haters say that Goldwater didn't like him, the McCain is not a true conservative, blah blah, but Goldwater and McCain got along ok.

Hillary Clinton, Goldwater Girl

Sec. Of State Clinton was once a supporter of Barry Goldwater for President in 1964. her family was affluent, father a doctor, and she embraced her family's politics. By the time she reached Wellesley College she became an anti war activist on campus, and wrote her senior paper on Saul Bellow, a social reformer, intellectual, and Trotskyist (communist). I have seen her picture with some goldwater supporters as a young girl, but can't find it on the net. this picture is not of her, but this is how she looked when dressed up as a Goldwater girl.

If you must eat Turkey, try to find a Kosher turkey.

Here is the Gov. Sarah palin interview, just after she pardoned the Alaska turkey, she goes outside for an interview, and behind her, is the guy who slaughters the turkeys. He puts them in this funnel, positions it and engages a automated slicing blade, and then holds it while is bleeds and empties all its blood the trough underneath -- you can see the turkey (the second one) shaking as it bleeds to death, the guy has to hold it down so it doesn't struggle.

My problem: look at how the camera person positions the interview so you can see the slaughter behind. Of course, sarah can't see it, because it is behind her. so she was kinda set up by the camera person.

Yeah, she prepare the family turkey, just like millions of women across the country. If you are vegetarian, I guess that's gross, but my point is the press really exploits her and sets her up.

BTW, animal rights activists said that the slaughter of the turkeys in the video is more humane than most slaughter houses. There are other videos about turkey abuse, some guy somewhere else grabbing and throwing turkeys in a cage, shoving them in. In contrast, these turkeys are being bled to death, but it can really get much worse in the big industrial slaughter houses.

I really do know Sarah Palin, she lives here in western PA. Since I know her I feel I can understand her. I really don't know Hillary Clinton, on the other hand (don't get me started).

BTW, I am doing a vegetarian thanksgiving. Here is a site that shows how turkeys are hatched, raised, and slaughtered.

I have no plans, maybe help out with the townships turkey meal (for elderly).

Carla Bruni - first lady of france on Letterman Show

here is the First Lady of France singing on David Letterman show, just one more reason to visit France!

She was very sophisticated, and sang very well. We are stuck with Barbara Bush!

get the dirt off your shoulder

get that dirt off your shoulder....song by Jay Z (listen) and then listen to Pres. elect Obama speak in North Carolina after a debate with hillary clinton If Obama listens to Jay Z, and understands how to apply him to a rally, and still sound Presidential (and making Hillary look the fool), then I am sorry that i didnt vote for him! Good luck Obama, and yeah keep that dirt off your shoulders and you will be a good leader. I am actually looking forward to some "Obama" change in DC.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Great movie shown at Regent Sq theater as part of the 3 rivers film festival. I had to see butch cassidy, a 35 mm film, shown with full screen. I sat in the back to see the whole effect, academy award for cinematography. i was there for Paul newman, my friend. I couldn't help but cry when this part was shown, Paul newman and Katherine Ross and the bicycle scene. he was such a great actor, and a good man.

BJ thomas by the way is a great singer, none of his hits ever showed off his range or ability to interpret. the burt bacharach song doesnt give justice to his voice. he sings gospel best.

I thought Paul newman's best movie was "nobody's fool," from the novel by Richard Russo.

Great movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - thanks Paul!

red state blue state

here is red state blue state from univ of michigan

The Republicans CANNOT win the west and south and elect a president. William Jennings Bryan carried the west and south for the Democrats in 1896 and 1900, and lost big time. FDR expanded the Democratic party, to include great lakes industrial states, NY and California.

McCain won more counties than Obama. However, Obama won the counties with the most votes.

There is still a rural urban split that was apparent in past elections. Sarah Palin talked about the small towns, and she is right; that is where Republicans have their greatest strength. But they need urban areas too, where there are lots of voters.

The Republicans will have to find a way of combining rural areas with urban vote. The status of the so called Christian evangelical right wing is also in question: male self identified evangelical christians for Obama easily outvoted those for Mc Cain. The Republicans will have to find a way of getting james Dobson out of the Republican party. The southern born agains are ruining the Republican Party. Ever since 1994, when Newt took over the House, the republicans have had to put up with these right wing moralistic voters - most Americans dont like them, dont like their candidates. W. Bush understood them and how to use them to get votes. But along with those votes comes the moralistic expectations of their supporters. The Shiavo case in Florida really alienated most Americans from the james Dobson's of America. Remember Sen. Frist from Tennessee? he looked at videos (he is a doctor) of Terry Shiavo and claimed she had brain functioning. Her autopsy revealed her brain had shrunk, she had to consciousness at all.

What happened to the party of Lincoln, or Teddy Roosevelt?

"The Year of Living Dangerously" featuring young mel gibson before he went nuts

This is a great film and its now showing on TCM. film is about Sukarno's rule in Indonesia, in 1965, during an attempt of communist overthrow. Sukarno was no commie, and his right wing death squads executed thousands of those commie red bastards. It goes beyond that, Indonesia occupied by Japanese, happy to be rid of british rule, but they hated the japanese. Now japanese out, Indonesia granted freedom by british (thanks, mate) and Indonesia spills over with nationalism, national socialism, perhaps we could call it Fascism, as a reaction against british colonialists, japanese occupiers, and now communist 5th columnists (treason from within, backed by chinese or russian communists). My knowledge of east asia intrigue is limited, shall we say. anyway, this is an australian film, very ambitious, up there with Gallipoli and
Breaker Morant, and has a love story between Mel gibson and Sigourney Weaver. they are both young, beautiful, and it was filmed before they forgot how to act. Mel went on to make his crazy jesus films in aramaic (which is great if you are an archeologist in jerusalem and you actually KNOW aramaic) and Sigourney went on to film ghost busters and Alien. Anyway, the love story is great! the political intigue is great! the executions of commies way too realistic (VP cheney would love that part). Great film

"Come back to me..." Atonement the movie.

"Come back to me," Cecilia whispers to Robbie. Atonement is a movie I have been watching on HBO - the first time I saw it I was almost in shock at the ending. I mean it hurt.

The scenes of Robbie in France, and finally Dunkirk. and the troops arriving back home in england - They were saved, they returned to their past lives, to their loved ones. Actual footage of the Dunkirk survivors.

And then Brionny's interview. She is old, has a disease of the brain, she will soon be suffering from dementia, will forget who she is, will wither away in a nursing home. So she writes her last novel, something she must "atone" before her mind is lost. And then she explains the real ending, the real life ending of Robbie and cecilia, and that is when I gasped. I have seen painful movies before, in fact, I drive to pittsburgh to watch heart breaking films (one from england I forgot i will research and update blog when I find it). But here I am in my apt, and suddenly this movie takes an incredible turn.

and then the scene of robbie and cecilia on the beach...(it is called Redcar beach) -so absolutely beautiful. Here is the scene, but dont click it if you havent seen it, SPOILER ALERT.

I plan on watching again, several times, it is full of nuances, the director placing small details to subconsciously draw you into the plot, each scene designed to affect emotions. A well thought out movie, edited perfectly. The acting, off the charts.

Pefect picture for political film, but too many students have probably seen it. Is there atonement? What about atonement for lost love? Or atonement for the crimes and inhumanity of war?

Where we live slideshow - the urban poor of the world, and it can only get worse

Where we live. I swear I will never complain about living in slippery rock again. In many ways after watching this slideshow, slippery rock is a piece of heaven.

Law and Order episode, with chickens

Believe it or not, I swear I already saw this episode!!!

"Obama is Beautiful World" japanese video

I don't understand this video , other than this might be one more reason NOT to vote for Obama. I am still confused about Obama, in 2004 he was an Illinois state senator who spoke at the DNC, in 2006 he ran for US senate, the republican in general election withdrew since his estranged wife was suing him for divorce and revealing that he forced her to participate in kinky sex swapping in NYC.....then Alan Keynes was Republican nominee, even though he really isn't an Illinois resident, Alan was so right wing even Illinois republicans abandoned him, then Alan's daughter's blog was discovered, she is gay, he has disowned her, makes alan look like a fanatic (i mean jesus, she's his daughter, what happened to a father's love?). So Obama won, without really having to campaign. I liked him taking on the Clintons and whipping their asses, but i have no idea what he would do as Pres since he has no record. he has as much experience as Sarah Palin.....

Palin for Pres in 2012? come on, just play Bingo.

Some are already talking about it. In careful terms. If John McCain loses next week, Sarah Palin “has absolutely earned a right to run in 2012,” says Greg Mueller, who was a senior aide in the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes.

Jaysus! News sources are listening to aides to Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes about 2012? Yeah, they were really sucessful with their own candidates...Losers!

Not only that, but one cable station actually has Pat Buchanan as a full time analyst - that's like having Alexander Kerensky as a full time commentator on the Russian revolution (he was PM for a brief time before Lenin took over, he died in 1970 in a small apt in Brooklyn...).

Sarah Palin as a candidate in 2012? That assumes that the McCain race is doomed (probably is). But the point is these damn journalists (some actually have a degree in journalism, but alot do not) who know next to nothing about politics or elections or public opinion, have already decided that McCain is gone, so they are looking for spin, any kind of spin, to report on other than the current Pres race. I can't see Palin as a Pres candidate....as a VP to appeal to the far right wing of the party yes, but a candidate, no.

Don't forget, running for Pres means raising hundreds of millions of dollars. McCain has trouble keeping up with Obama, I am sure that Palin could not raise the money for any kind of viable presidential campaign.

In the meantime, relax by playing Palin Bingo....and there is no truth to the rumor that Palin's next child will be named "Bingo>"

Sons:

* Track (1989)
* Trig (2008)

Daughters:

* Bristol (1991)
* Willow (1995)
* Piper (2001)

to bad voting really doesn't matter unless you live in certain counties within Ohio.

Is this true? One of my former students just told me this (my son). Does your vote really doesn't matter unless you live in certain swing states? Mathematically, yes. In 2004, Bush won the electoral college vote on the basis of 130,000 votes in Ohio, which gave him all the electoral votes from Ohio. So the 3 million votes Bush won over Kerry (who remains a "douchebag" as they say in France....this is from SNL skit....) didnh't matter: the 2004 race was decided by those 130,000 republicans from Ohio.

Will you be allowed to vote? On slippery rock univ campus, students registered to vote but some put down wrong address: their address decides if they live in the borough, or in the township. Part of the campus in on the borough, the rest on the township.
so students may show up at the wrong polling place. Some students put down their dorm address, but also included the univ address as a permanent address - this means they claim to live in the township but live permanently in the borough.....which means the polling judges might tell them "figure out where you live next election, and then we'll let you vote..."

Then it depends if your vote will be counted: don't forget, in pittsburgh, they still use those big metal vote machines that operate with computer cards (the kind of cards they used back in the 50's and 60's). If your chad is hanging, or just dimpled, your vote won't count.

So even if you register to vote, show up on election day, you might be denied the right to vote or have your vote thrown out.

Or, there may not be enough voting machines at your polling place, so you might have to stand in line for hours, in some cases in Ohio in 2004, 3 - 5 hrs. Oddly enough ( ! ) there were too few voting machines in heavily democratic polling places in Ohio in 2004, because the Republican secretary of state ordered too few (oops! My mistake! Sorry we can't hold the election again....)

And then there is the Ohio case: If Pennsylvania goes to McCain, he has a chance of winning. Ohio is a swing state too. As are 1 or 2 counties in Maine: Obama is ahead in Maine,but Maine/'s electoral votes are awarded on the congressional district plan, not winner take all. So McCain can lose Maine, but still win one of their congressional districts, so he would get one electoral vote.

What happens if it comes down to one congressional district in maine? then your vote only counted if you lived in that one congressional district.

And THIS is why some political scientists go into mathematics and game theory - because votes only count under certain conditions in certain places.

Everyone clear now? So be sure to vote on election day, if you live in Ohio, Pennsylvania, or in one county in Maine!

Duke Univ Weekend

I drove to Duke Univ for the weekend, eldest son Nathaniel had an interview with the MBA program. His friend Zack gave us the grand tour, even got us free food (BBQ and Beans) and football tickets. (Duke lost to Miami). the mileage on the MR2? 1242. I took highway 501 from NC to Lexington VA, and toward lexington 501 goes through the mountains - it was dark, and I threw the transmission down for the curves, the car was amazing, the tires never slipped, no squealing, the car performed like it had velcro on the tires, so that tells me I could have gone much faster. Great weekend, good to see Nathan, fantastic university.

Burn After Reading - Coen Brothers Strike again !!!

Burn After Reading is so funny, I mean, I had to stifle my laughter so as not to miss the dialogue. I cant spoil it for anyone, just be assured that this movie really takes some strange turns ("lots of ins and outs"). The coens are incredible writers - they must feed off each other somehow. My colleague Daniel McIntosh has got to see this - we saw the french satire OSS 117 and that was funny, but Burn After Reading is off the chart. I cant tell you what's funny without ruining it - suffice it to say its great.

(I was so depressed saturday night, esp after Vanderbilt lost to Miss State, and on top of that I saw "Atonement" a second time on HBO, cried once again at the end - what an incredibly sad, heart breaking ending, "come back to me" whispers Keira Knightly, and the older Briony invents an ending which somehow atones for the terrible mistake she made as a child...)

Sooooo, I was definitely in for a funny movie sunday night, and I wasn't disappointed. Go see Burn After Reading and laugh your ass off!!!

Mos Def reveals how dumb Bill Maher is...

I like Mos Def, but not more than any other rappers, until I saw him on bill maher, and he told off maher. Bill maher has this thing about Islam and the Koran, calls it a violent religion, appeals to nut cases and so forth. Bill, read the bible some time, skip over the first four books of old testament, because after the first four, the reading gets really violent, I mean, jews killing hittites, not just in battle, but I mean killing everyone, children, burning whole villages, the violence in the bible is numbing. Even the first four books are full of incest, child rape. Any way, here is Mos Def putting maher straight, BTW, Mos def first studied Islam when he was 9, he converted when he was 13, so he knows what he is talking about. He also says, he doesn't believe the planes brought down the towers, or that OJ is guilty, but he does believe in Big Foot. He is funny, but he is making a point. That's Cornell West next to him, Princeton Prof, and Cornell understands what Mos Def is talking about (Cornell is an intellectual, but he still walks the talk...)

Clayton Bigsby, White Supremacist

Clayton Bigsby, white supremacist. classic dave chappelle skit. I like the part where the man's head blows up. Also that Clayton divorced his wife when he found out she was white, because.......dear god I just found another one, this is really offensive, dave chappelle as the spanish pixie convincing a customer to buy leopard seat covers and the jesus air freshener....we are all going to hell for this one

Grace is Gone most popular film this semester

Grace is Gone has been the most popular movie in Political Film so far this semester, more students wrote about that film than any other. Amazing, given that the film was never released other than to a few independent theaters to test the audience. Other than that, it went straight to video, I guess, i haven't seen it in any video stores. great film, I love the ending. beautiful. One student who is in music education learned the theme song on piano and played it for her studio class - now that's a positive sign - she loved the film and the haunting music score (written by clint eastwood - i checked on clint eastwook on IMDB.com and he has written many songs for films. Dont forget he has appeared in musicals, so he does sing and he is very musically gifted). "To live in hearts you leave behind, is not to die, Grace."

Vanderbilt 14, Auburn 13

Incredible game, Vanderbilt beats Auburn 14-13 with their backup quarterback. Mackenzie Adams is the backup, but my son nathaniel (a Vandy football letterman) explained to me at the beginning of the season that both Chris Nickson and mackenzie are very good, emphasis on VERY good. Vandy is 5 and 0, and finally has got its program moving. Recruitment should be further helped with this season. Bobby Johnson deserves this, (coach), he has kept up trying to build this program, heart breaking seasons (3 yrs ago, a loss to middle Tenn state from a blocked field goal, then a loss to Florida due to an excessive "celebration' after a touchdown) so he is long overdue for some breaks, like the turnovers they have had, and Auburn's failure to make a point after touchdown last saturday.