November 29, 2012

President Obama will not make nominations on a political basis

I am confident that anyone whom this president nominates for a position is a person whom the president believes is well qualified and capable for the job.

It surprises me how the lack of political hackery in this administration is overlooked so frequently.

Take his very first appointment - Joe Biden. Now does anyone think he picked Joe because it had some kind of electoral advantage? That Joe was needed to pull in the crucial Delaware three electoral votes, or to appease some factional constituency?

Hell no. The formal role of the VP is to do two things - break ties in the senate and replace the president if needed. That's it, and that's all - and the first one is irrelevant anyway. He picked Joe because he apparently considers him to be the best replacement, and because of Joe's longstanding Senate experience, he is a valuable advisor.

There seems to be a genuine resistance to people accepting the simple fact that the president takes his job seriously. He is not playing at being president, but is consistently making what he believes to be the objectively best decisions. In that process, it is also apparent that political considerations are way at the bottom of factors he weighs when making those decisions.

November 28, 2012

What's the matter with the Large Hadron Collider?

http://dvice.com/archives/2012/11/lhc-accidentall.php

LHC accidentally creates new form of matter

November 27, 2012

Has anyone said "Recess Appointment" yet?

Or is nobody going to utter those words?

November 27, 2012

Why don't we just keep calling it "Burma"?

There seemed to be some different takes in news organizations of "Myanmar" and "Burma", which was interesting... to me, at least.

It's a little too simplistic to say "Because that's what they call their country!"

I don't know a single German who calls their country "Germany". It's "Deutschland" - which doesn't resemble "Germany" in any way.

I don't know a single Spaniard who calls their country "Spain".

We don't refer to "Italy" as "Italia".

The number of countries to which we do not refer, in American English usage, by "what they call themselves" are legion.

So, it is clear that there is no "we have to call the country whatever they call it" rule, and that is trivially obvious. Why then, do we only apply this rule to some countries, and not to other countries?

November 15, 2012

Will the GOP object to Obama's large inaugural balls?

We should predict the outrages in advance.

They will probably compare the size of Obama's inaugural balls to the size of every other president, and be apoplectic over Obama's massive inaugural balls.

"Suspend your huge inaugural balls" will be the teabaggers' next demand.

November 15, 2012

What is your favorite flavor of Slurpee?

I am in 7-11 maybe once every two years, and it seems like they always have different flavors.

What flavors do they have now?

November 15, 2012

Can Obama salvage the rest of this failed second term

I was very pleased with the election last week, but after reading DU, I think we can safely conclude that the second term has been an abject failure.

The question remains whether, in the few remaining days of this second term, is there anything that can be salvaged, or have we hit the point of no return?

The second term was a heady several hours of optimism and hopes, which have now been dashed - kicked to the curb under the bus to slurp the final remains of vomit there.

I guess the only thing left to do is for him to order the invasion of Iran. Not once in the last five minutes has he clearly denied his obvious intention to do so.

November 14, 2012

Pulitzer for report of Kelley or Broadwell at Seymour Johnson AFB

http://www.seymourjohnson.af.mil/

Welcome to the official World Wide Web site of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. This site is provided as a public service through the cooperative efforts of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base (4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs) and Air Combat Command Public Affairs.

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Seymour Johnson is THE place for public affairs.

What post could be better for an unpaid social liaison.

November 13, 2012

It is not conducive to civil discussion to have a "Latest Threats" tab

If we want people to discuss things civilly, then I don't see any good purpose served by highlighting the most obnoxious posts on DU with its own navigation tab. It only serves to foster and promote a Jerry Springer Show atmosphere to direct people to find the "Latest Threats".

I, for one, refuse to use it.

November 10, 2012

Petraeus to run in 2016 on "plural marriage equality"

Well, the GOP has been looking for a new platform.