Obama picked up seven more superdelegates today, including two who switched from Clinton. It sounds like Clinton doing worse than expected in Indiana and North Carolina pushed things over the edge to where the media narrative is now that the primary is all over except for some formalities.

Clinton won't be the nominee, but she wants to drop out in a way that sets her up best for 2012. And Obama doesn't want to claim victory yet either, since he's expected to do poorly in the upcoming primary in West Virginia. The theory is that Obama has picked May 20th as the date he expects things to be resolved because that is after the Kentucky and Oregon primaries, where he is expected to do better.

btw, the online gambling site http://www.intrade.com/ shows the odds on Obama winning the nomination going from 74% last week to 90% today. After hovering at 40% since early March, the odds of McCain winning the November election have dropped to 38% this week.

ETA: Did I say seven new superdelegates? Now it's nine.

Republican rep from NY, Vito Fosella, was recently arrested for driving drunk. Yeah, that's not good. But then when he got bailed out, he didn't call his wife, he called his girlfriend. Oops.

That forced him to publicly admit that he's been cheating on his wife and has a three year old daughter with the other woman.

Turns out he's one of those rightwing assholes that claim that gay marriage is a threat to families and the institution of marriage. Big surprise:

H.J.RES.106 Vito voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment - Declares that marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Prohibits the Constitution or any State constitution from being construed to require that marital status or its legal incidents be conferred upon any union other than that of a man and a woman. 2004

The April 2008 Cook Report lists Vito Fosella's house seat, which is up for re-election in November, as "Likely Republican". Yeah, maybe not so likely, now.

You might have heard about Mildred Loving's recent passing. And you might have heard about how Mildred, a black woman, married a white man in 1958 and how they were arrested and convicted for their "crime". And then there's the 1967 supreme court fight that finally overturned laws against interracial marriage.

But what you probably didn't read is that last year, she wrote this on the 40th anniversary of Loving vs. Virginia:

"Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about."

It seems Bush's No Child Left Behind is even more fucked up than I thought. Texas schools, where this plan got it's start, have an official drop-out rate of about 3%. That's good right? Well, it seems some researchers found out some other interesting statistics. It seems only 75% of anglo students graduate, and about 50% of minority students graduate.

The discrepancy is due to the fact that if a student stops going to school before graduating, there are a bunch of exceptions that can keep them off the "drop out" statistics. Like getting pregnant, getting incarcerated, and intending to take the GED, among others.

Oddly enough, if students who would do poorly on the standardized tests disappear before taking the test, that means the school average goes up. If they're black, that means the schools average for black students goes up, which is interpreted by the diseased minds behind this system as closing the gap in education between blacks and whites.

Here's an article summarizing the research, and here's the original paper with all the details.

So the basic idea behind the scam is that if your school has low test scores and teaching to the test doesn't boost the scores, what you have to do is convince people to leave before the test date. If the tests scores show that your school is "leaving behind" latinos, convince the lowest performing latinos to leave. And voila, you are the model of equal education for all!

But how to convince a student to leave? Well it seems the standardized test is given in the 10th grade, and schools are given great leeway to hold underperforming 9th graders back a year. If the school thought a student was going to do poorly on the test, they'd be stuck in 9th grade year after year until took the hint.

I knew that the whole concept was flawed: "we want better education for all" ==> "test scores measure quality of education" ==> "optimize to increase test scores" ==> "higher test scores mean higher quality education". But I didn't realize just how gamey the system really is.

It's like deciding that you're unattractive because you're overweight. You use a scale to measure current weight (an approximation of "beauty") and track your progress. Now just optimize for lower weight measurements. Cut off your leg, weight drops 50lbs. You're beautiful!

I'd say that membership in the Republican party is proof of treason since they seem to want to destroy America, but I have to remember that correlation does not imply causation.

Dolly Parton - 9 to 5

(and best use of a garage door opener, evar!)

There's Mitt Romney, white republican that recently dropped out of the presidential primary. He's a mormon. He believes that when he dies he can go to heaven and have a bunch of wives. His church doesn't believe in polygamy on earth any more, but a while back they actually took up arms against the U.S. military to defend the right of rich and powerful mormon men to marry a bunch of 16 year old girls. The mormon church is unapologetic to this day. They also believe that in 1975, a black man was born with the mark of cain because of sin in the before-life. Because of this mark black men were not allowed to hold any position of authority in the church and were not allowed to go to the highest level of heaven and marry a bunch of wives when they die. Mitt Romney's spiritual leaders have not repudiated this belief - it was correct, God supposedly changed the policy because even though black men in the early 70s and back through history were not worthy, black men in the 80s were different.

It was universally decalared by the press and all candidates that these beliefs and Mitt Romney's refusal to denounce them was not relevant and further, that it would be bigotry to even talk about them.

Then there's Rudy Giuliani, white republican that recently dropped out of the presidential primary. He's a catholic. A catholic that openly admits to cheating on his wives and getting multiple divorces. His church, ever since they supported fascism during WWII, has had an official policy of covering up the crimes of pedophile priests. The pope only recently mentioned that the actions of the priests were shameful, but did not repudiate the coverup. Giuliani didn't do anything to renounce his church leaders, and, in fact, keeps taking communion despite the fact that his cardinal thinks he is unworthy because of his pro-choice positions.

No candidates or the press have suggested that any of this is worthy of discussion.

Then there's McCain, white republican presidential candidate. He's actively sought the endorsement of religious leaders that publicly claim that 9/11 and hurricane katrina were righteous punishments from god because of america's tolerance of homosexuals like Dick Cheney's daughter. Under pressure, he has publicly said that he disagrees with a few things one of these religious leaders has said, though he has made it clear he does not renounce the endorsements.

The press, McCain, and Clinton seem to think that McCain has resolved this problem and it's just old news not worth mentioning now.

Next, you have Clinton, white democratic hopeful. She doesn't talk about her religious group, and you won't find the meetings up on youtube. She belongs to a group called The Family (more info on the wikipedia entry). Apparently it's a feel-good religion for elites - if you are rich and powerful it's because God thinks you're a little better than everyone else. They have quite a few "cells" (their term for small bible study groups) for powerful people in Washington. Rightwing and right-leaning can mingle and support each other. Members have also included various right-wing dictators around the world according to an article in harpers. But has Clinton publicly denounced the Family's uncritical support of brutal right-wing dictators? Nope.

And, of course, the media doesn't consider it reasonable to pry into the secrets of her weird little religious group.

And let's take a guess about which of the three candidates belongs to a church that agrees with the vast majority of Americans that the Iraq war was and is immoral? Not McCain. Not Clinton.

I have a theory. You know how whenever a plane crashes, it's in all the national and international news and it's a really big deal for weeks. Meanwhile cars crash all the time, killing thousands of people, and it's rarely more than a blip in the local news. This gives the impression that planes aren't very safe, when in reality, you're much more likely to die in a car wreck on your way to the airport. It's the novelty and associated shock value that makes plane crashes big news, not the body count.

Well, right-wing white churches have always been on the wrong side of any moral issue. They constantly say all sorts of outragious things. It really isn't news when a white person hears a white preacher say that God is going to cleanse the earth by fire in 1992, or that the latest natural disaster is literally "an act of God", a very angry god that likes to kill thousands of innocent people because of other people's tolerance of gays, or that jews secretly kill christian kids and put their blood in matzos, or that nuking random muslim countries is a good idea.

No, not news at all when a white person hears some right-wing preacher say that. But when a white person hears a black preacher? It doesn't even matter what the preacher says, the very fact that a white person heard it is news. But if it is inflammatory and plays into white fears and prejudices, and, god forbid, brings up race? Oh my god, a white person hearing a black preacher say unkind things about rich and powerful white people?! Quick! Get the TV cameras out, we have a plane crash!

(Sticker promoting a May Day rally in Istanbul last year.)

From http://seattle.indymedia.org:

MAY 1st --Seattle Events
ALL US PORTS ON THE WEST COAST WILL BE CLOSED MAY 1!!!!

Thursday, May 1, 2008 @ 12:00 noon
Jack Perry Memorial Park
1729 Alaskan Way South
Between Pier 30 & Pacific Maritime Institute
March along the waterfront to Pier 66 – rally at Pier 66
(2201 Alaskan Way South at Bell Street) at 1:30 pm

Thursday, May 1, 2008 @ 4PM
Meet at Judkins Park, 2150 South Norman Street (near St. Mary's
Church). March leaves at 4:30 pm and ends at Seattle Center's Mural
Amphitheater

The noon march is in support of longshore workers shutting down west coast ports to protest the war. The 4pm march is the immigrant rights march.

I fixed the bathroom and kitchen faucets over the weekend. What amazing pieces of engineering. A gentle flick of the wrist and the water comes on. Another easy motion and the water turns off. No drips!

Nobody can tell me that such a beautiful piece of engineering comes from ape sex and random luck. Clearly someone intelligent designed the modern faucet, not to mention indoor plumbing and water treatment centers.

I don't see what all the controversy is about.

(Hieronymus Bosch's The Last Judgement, late 15th century)

malafrena and I saw In Bruges last night.

Here's a review from Christianity Today, which seemed to have a good take if you overlook their whole christian thing and their dislike of the scene with the dwarf snorting coke with prostitutes. Though funnily enough, even though they were offended by frequent use of the f-word and made a special point of raising concerns about drugs, there was no mention of the racist dwarf's rant about the coming race war.

Anyway, a good show. I liked how everyone had their own moral system that was flawed in its own way. And being in purgatory, they all seemed to be trying to live by their code even if they didn't do that great a job of it.

Not to give too much of a spoiler, but there's a central bit that is shown very explicitly in one scene that is difficult for a parent to see. Speaking for myself, it was quite a kick in the gut.

So,

• I could fly - check.
  
• I was denounced by the pope (in latin) - check.
  
• There was an evil hypnotist - check.
  

It seems William J. Rapaport invented the following grammatically correct sentence in 1972:

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."

This uses three meanings of the word "Buffalo":

• the city
  
• the animal
  
• to bully, confuse, deceive, or intimidate
  

From the wikipedia page:

"So, buffalo who live in Buffalo (e.g., at the Buffalo Zoo, which does, indeed, have buffalo), and who are buffaloed (in a way unique to Buffalo) by other buffalo from Buffalo, themselves buffalo (in the way unique to Buffalo) still other buffalo from Buffalo."

But it gets better.

It turns out that for all N >= 1, a sentence made up entirely of N occurrences of the word "buffalo" is grammatically correct according to Chomskyan theories of grammar.

Ok, Rapaport gets the credit for the original sentence, but thanks to Chomsky's linguistics research, we have this wonderful nugget of truth.

If someone were to ask you to recite a grammatically correct sentence with exactly 1000 words and no punctuation beyond the final period, you might spend days typing away and searching, and even then, you really could never be 100% certain that your answer was correct, because parsing such a large sentence would be prone to human error.

But now you can just start saying "Buffalo" and tell them to count and stop you when you hit 1000. Excellent!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-04-21-bushrating_N.htm

"President Bush has set a record he'd presumably prefer to avoid: the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll.

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt."

Though, as Dick Cheney says, "you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls."

(Ronald Reagan in a press conference where talks about a soviet conspiracy to hide a commie pinko moose under his bed)

And while I'm on the nostalgia kick... What's up with kids these days? A bunch of fucking crybabies.

"Oh Noz! The terrorists are gonna smuggle a dirty bomb in a tube of toothpaste and irradiate thousands of people who'll get really sick and may even die!"

We had AIDS and threat of nuclear fucking war - billions of people vaporized at the push of a button. The official strategy of both the U.S. and Soviet governments was actually called Mutual Assured Destruction.

"I'm sweating a bit. I think it's global warming. In 50 years it'll be a bit hotter and I'm scared."

We had looming nuclear fucking winter. Temperatures drop 30+ degrees within a week, and we wouldn't see the sun for years. That is if we didn't all starve to death because food production would drop to almost nothing for more than a year.

And what's up with their music? I can understand *all* the words, and how the *hell* am I supposed to mosh to it? In my day, we had lyrics sheets in our albums and we had to fucking read to know what the bands were singing.

Whaddya lookin' at? And get off my lawn.

According to wikipedia, "straightedge has gone through three different eras since its creation in 1980.[2] Associated with punk-rock, the early years of the straightedge subculture are now called the Old School Era." That would seem to indicate that I was a part of the variety known as "Old School." So old school, apparently, that I don't know if I even heard the term "straight edge" until what came to be known as the "Youth Crew" era in the late 80s and 90s. That's when "the straightedge subculture seemed to drift further and further away from the punk culture" and towards vegetarianism and Krishna. Maybe that's why I lost interest.

Anyway, came across some old 7 Seconds classics. Their cover of 99 Red Balloons:


And a couple of great songs for pissed off youngsters, Red and Black, and Diehard Youth:

Saturday, April 26th at 7pm
Sieg Hall - Room 225 at the University of Washington, Seattle
Map - http://www.washington.edu/home/maps/northcentral.html?SIG



Andrew Flood is an active anarchist organizer and writer, with twenty years experience in Ireland, most of that time as a member of the Workers Solidarity Movement (http://wsm.ie). More recently, he has been become a member of the Northeast Federation of Anarchist Communists (http://nefac.net) and is a founder member of Common Cause, Ontario (http://linchpin.ca). His publishing record includes well over one hundred articles, translated into over nine languages, chapters published in three books, and articles in seven English language anti-authoritarian magazines and newspapers. As well as numerous events in Ireland he has been the speaker at meetings in Britain, Italy, Canada, the Czech Republic and the USA and attended conferences in the Netherlands, France, Spain and Mexico.

The tour is presented by Class Action Alliance, a new organization being built in Washington and Oregon which identifies with the specific international anarchist traditions recognizing four main tenets of anarchist organization. The core of these traditions are the need for anarchist political organizations that seek to develop theoretical unity, tactical unity, collective action and discipline, and federalism. We are loosely based on the Anarkismo editorial statement
(http://www.anarkismo.net/docs.php?id=1)

http://www.classactionalliance.org

Seattle stop sponsored by Team Victory
http://www.teamvictorywillwin.org/

Ood.

Damn.

Not only did the pope refuse to visit with Catholics that were raped by their priests as children, but apparently blame rests not with the church hierarchy that covered up the problem and protected the perpetrators for decades, but with secular society.

Pope blames church sex scandal on breakdown of society:

"What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?" the pontiff said on the first full day of his US visit.

I guess being a former member of the Nazi youth has given him lots of experience in sticking his fingers in his ears and shouting "not my fault! not my fault! I can't hear you! Na Na Na Na!"

I thought Catholics were all about being humble before god and always confessing guilt, because, you know, we're all guilty, original sin, yada yada. Maybe that doesn't apply to Mr. Big Pope Man.

I bet he and Bush had some great laughs together...

ETA - It seems I spoke too soon. After refusing to meet the victims, the Cardinal of Boston was able to convince the pope to have a short visit with five victims:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/04/exclusive_pope.html

Options:
1 - pour down the drain
2 - pour down the drain while running hot water
3 - pour down the drain with grease-cutting detergent
4 - pour into compost
5 - pour in your garden
6 - pour into your garbage
7 - pour into tightly sealed container in garbage
8 - mix with kitty litter until saturated, put in sealed container in garbage
9 - mix with kitty litter until saturated, put in sealed container, double bag sealed container, and put in garbage
10 - take to household hazardous waste disposal site
11 - drive to a biodiesel producer to recycle it
12 - bike to a biodiesel producer to recycle it
13 - strain and reuse it
14 - bake, don't fry

( I bet nobody knows, cuz I'm not stupid and I wasn't sure )

Come and knock on our door...
We've been waiting for you...