Are those of you who voted for this drunk embarrassed yet???

Surge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTMp-YNaDdg

WE are the change we have been waiting for.

I understood, when I saw McCain's "The One" online ad, with the out-of-context sentence fragments from Obama and the image of Charlton Heston as Moses parting the waters, that the McCain campaign was issuing a coded message to the religious right:  Obama is the antichrist.  This is all over the blogs now, and is an attempt to rally the religious base, which is starting to understand in some corners that their faith has been co-opted as a political tool by those who do not necessarily share their core values.  The shame and the irony of the McCain campaign is that he's attempting to sell an image of a moral change-agent and maverick, while employing all of the same ugly, venemous, slanderous and immoral tricks of his predecessor.  The out-of-context statement--of Obama saying that "We are the change that we have been waiting for"--is in reality an echo of Ghandi's statement that "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."  The operative word, which the commentators and pundits pointedly ignore, is WE.  Obama is talking not about his personal ambition, but about a movement.  Here is the community organizer rallying us to empowerment and action.  The right sees so much of politics in terms of black and white, and ascribes motives to Obama's actions which do not match his rhetoric.  I don't think Obama is the messiah, nor do I agree with him on every position, but what he is asserting, and what I believe is the most compelling reason to vote for him, is that the people will accomplish vital changes, work for peace, and break the stranglehold of the corporatocracy only by the power of our democracy, by the strength and conviction of our collective voices.  We need someone who can put a face to that movement for change, not one who claims the monarchical mantle to enforce it by fiat.  It is our responsibility to hold him, as President, to this high standard.  WE THE PEOPLE; this is the WE to whom he speaks.

Elephant Seals & Math Students

In just 2-1/2 weeks I return to work, and in 3 weeks I will encounter my new batch of students. This is what they will look like when I gaze fondly at them from my podium and try to teach them math.

Bridges

"We build too many walls and not enough bridges."

--Isaac Newton

Then and Now

Beautiful baby on De la Vina St. 

1985 and 2008

Let the Iraqis vote

This is what I want the Sunday morning political talking politirobots--did you know that the word "robot" comes from the Czech work "robata", meaning "forced labor"?--to ask the flag-waving, pro-war, pro-100-years occupation, self-described saviors of freedom and bringers of democracy in Iraq:  since you're so proud of the "democratic" elections and surge-induced success in Iraq, can't we just agree to hold a special election in Iraq and let the people decide if they want our troops there?  If not, why not?  If it's all about democracy, as they claim, there should be no argument.  But, of course, the warmongers can't agree to such a sensible action, because everyone (who isn't dumbed into deplorable ignorance by Fox News and Rush) knows that the majority of Iraqis want us out.  

But why not ask the question a thousand times and watch them squirm?  

Why not push McBush on this issue?