We talk a lot about science on DKos, and rightly so.  It is an important part of reality-based thinking and policy.  But many of us are not professional scientists, and we don't have a chance to contribute much to real science.

Well, I've got a great opportunity for those of you who live in the NE and would like to help out in a meaningful way with some real science by reporting sightings of periodical cicadas.

The Detroit Pistons announced today that they would continue their quest for  the 2008 NBA Championship, in spite of losing four games to two to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Eastern Conference championship last week.

Give WKYC.COM a try!  The video feed is fast and clear, if a little washed out.

I know, ridiculously short diary, but I was glad to get past the buffering problems that were making the debate unwatchable on MSNBC.Com.  I wanted to share the wealth!

Count on the little, local guys to show up the national media!  Or maybe MSNBC's problems are just a function of the intense interest in this debate!  Go Dems!

Now let's hope we don't overwhelm the local guys!

I was looking for information on upcoming primaries this morning and found a great analysis of the impact that that the Culinary Workers Local 226 endorsement of Obama could have.  It's by J. Patrick Coolican a reporter for the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.

In brief, Coolican says

... the Culinary endorsement could be decisive for Obama.

Here’s why:

Although the union is coy about how many of its members are registered to vote, the endorsement is expected to give Obama at least 10,000 supporters in the caucus, in a contest whose turnout estimates have ranged from 28,000 to 100,000.

Just listening to Democracy Now!, and Amy Goodman is hosting a roundtable discussion with supporters of democratic presidential candidates about the Iowa Caucus.  

Ellen Chesler is representing the Clinton campaign.  Here is her bio:

She is Distinguished Lecturer at the City University of New York and the author of "Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America." Long-time friend and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.

In trying to explain the victory of Obama, she just characterized him as "The neighboring boy," refering to him being from Illinois.

Does this raise any racist flags for anyone else, or am I just being paranoid?

This is going to be short, I’m afraid.  Although Mitt Romney has said that he will not take orders from the LDS (Mormon) church, it is clear that many Mormons are excited about his candidacy.  He has received millions of dollars in donations from people in Utah, and many of them are Mormons.

I began to wonder if any of the so-called "General Authorities" of the church had contributed to Mitt.  So I went to opensecrets.org to check.  I couldn’t find any.  I guess they’ve sort of figured out that would be too obvious.  

But I was surprised to find that many of the children of the first presidency of the church (the prophet and his counselors) had maxed out their donations to Romney.  (OK, I wasn't really that surprised.) Details on the flip.

This is going to be short, but important.

Over the past few days, there have been four diaries on DKos about the State of Texas's pending execution of an innocent man (link to one).  They have only generated about 140 comments!  A diary about that wanker Tucker freakin' Carlson has quadrupled that total in the past few hours! (A diary I totally agree with, BTW.)  

Folks, this is about who we are as Democrats and progressives.  This about race, power, poverty, and unchecked power.  We've got to do something before an innocent man is killed.

The death penalty has always made me sick.  The thought of purposefully killing someone is beyond my comprehension.  And yet I've never been an anti-death penalty activist.  So many of the people that have been executed have committed such horrendous crimes that I've had trouble working up much energy for the cause. I know I was wrong in this, but there are a lot of innocent people who need my advocacy too.  

Well, sometimes those innocent people fall victim to the death penalty.

One of them will be killed tomorrow in Texas.

Hey all,

There have been several excellent  diaries on the Crandall Canyon mine disaster in Utah.  But no one seems to have mentioned a breathtaking quote from the mine owner found in an article on the back (web) pages of the Salt Lake Tribune.  

Back in May, Robert Murray said that Hillary Clinton was "anti-American" for suggesting that a future president should be concerned about worker safety.

More on the flip...

A recent Huffington Post article by Ron Glasser drawing parallels between Iraq and Vietnam contained a figure that caught my eye:

But the death toll in this war was never the true indication of the severity of the fighting, nor of the risks involved. Unlike Vietnam, where the number of casualties to deaths was 2.4-to-1, in this war the ratio is 16-to-1. Because of better body armor and improvements in battlefield medicine, soldiers survive today who would have been dead in Vietnam. It is not the graveyard that is legacy of this war, but the neurosurgical unit and the orthopedic ward.

This passage suggested a simple question to me: How many US service members in Iraq would be dead today if our medical capabilities were unchanged from previous wars?

All due props to the former reds who have had the scales fall from their eyes in recent months.  It takes courage and humility to admit you were wrong...

But let me ask a simple question:  What the fuck?

This guy has been a poser and charlatan for his whole life.  I don't see why people want credit for not being totally deluded dumbshits about George Bush anymore.

Hey, several days ago I posted this diary on my experiences bringing progressive radio to the conservative Central Susquehanna River Valley in Pennsylvania.

Well, I'm on the air with my program right now.  Tune in here.

I just noted that Mitt Romney has said that his favorite book is The Bible.  Perhaps Mr. Romney should review that book, specifically Exodus 20:6: "Thou shalt not bear false witness ... ." Beause his statement is a lie.  

Maybe the poor fellow can't help himself.

More on the flip

I was just reading Dick Cavett's (who the hell is he?!) latest blog entry on NYTimes.com (link is to Times select, I'm afraid, but if you have a .edu email address sign up for free access here.)  He was talking about the excellent Bill Moyers piece on the complicity of the press in the runup to Iraq, and said

There was nary a naysayer in sight, with the shining exception of the canceled Phil Donahue, who refused to roll over like a spaniel puppy and who’d been ordered to "have two conservatives on for every liberal" on his show. Phil was disposed of.

And, in spite of his good intentions, I had to disagree.  Amy Goodman at Democracy Now! was another shining exception.  

You can't make this stuff up!

Satan has a plan to destroy the United States, and his most crafty method is the invasion of illegal immigrants.  Or so says one Utah County Republican delegate.

The community that is bringing war criminal Dick Cheney to a university commencement is represented by this fellow.

Hey, really quick, I have a radio show and my get out the vote essay is appended below.  Tune in in about 10 minutes to hear me read this.

Listen here.

Sorry for the pimping.  I'm no KO, but I am a fan!

I was watching the 8 pm news on the French TV channel France2 tonight on the web.  The anchor, David Pujadas, was interviewing Al Gore about Gore's visit to 200 members of the French parliment today where he discussed global warming and screened "An Inconvenient Truth."   (We'll leave that incredibly significant event aside for now, though I can't resist asking whether such an event would be remotely possible in Gore's home country.)

At the very end of the interview, Pujadas dropped a bombshell (apologies for my on-the-fly translation):

One last question about the controversial election that took place in 2000.  You say, in the film, that it was a tough blow. Do you exclude [the possibility] of being a candidate in 2008 or is this a thought that you still entertain?

Gore's response on the flip.  (No translation required - he was speaking audible English.)

"and his name is more smilier too!"  -My daughter, age 9, on the way home tonight.

I'm just back from the debate between Chris Carney and Don Sherwood.  Sherwood is the incumbent Republican from the very red Pennsylvania 10th District, and a rubber stamp Republican with a suite of personal problems.  (See my diary from May for a rundown with relevant links.)

I enjoyed the debate, and my daughter is right, Chris Carney has a lot to smile about!

Chris Carney, a fighting Dem and candidate for one of the most vulnerable red congressional seats in the US, PA-10, released his first television comercial today, and it is a beauty.

Chris is locked in a close race with Don Sherwood, who recently settled a multi-million dollar law suit with his mistress of five years, after she accused him of choking her.  If this scuzzbucket is returned to congress, then shame on us all.

(jefffromthenjdc had an excellent and under-appreciated diary on the subject of Sherwood and domestic abuse Tuesday.  Please read his diary!)