History

It has been a while since these posts have turned toward the political. However, I came across this diary on the Open Left site that I frequent.

I won't bother running a series of quotes. If you are interested you'll read it, if not - oh well. One part I'd like to emphasize however is this part:

The leaders of the American Revolution were heavily influenced by Enlightenment thinkers, so naturally the United States was founded on progressive ideas. They're described in the Declaration of Independence:

"All men are created equal."

"Governments derive their powers from the consent of the Governed."

In other words, every citizen—a president, a clerk, a multimillionaire, a fruit picker—has the same rights and is bound by the same laws. And the nation's leaders work for its people—not the other way around.

At that time, most nations still operated according to conservative ideas: the rich and powerful should have special rights and privileges, and regular people had a duty to obey their "betters."

American colonists saw the problems with this sort of society firsthand: they were oppressed by a rich, powerful king who refused to obey his country's laws, treated them like criminals and second-class citizens, and prevented them from engaging in manufacturing and trade.

Progressive-minded colonists considered this unacceptable. They started and led a rebellion against the King's rule. They risked their lives to make progress and install a new system of government based on Democracy.

Conservative-minded colonists, called Tories, did not support the rebellion. They supported the King's rule, were afraid to change it, or thought that the costs of political progress outweighed its benefits.

Fortunately, the progressive-minded colonists prevailed and won their independence—with help from France, the birthplace of the Enlightenment. Tragically, conservative-minded colonists insisted on preserving an old evil that would tear the new nation apart: slavery.

What would Thomas Jefferson say to Sarah Palin? to Barack Obama?

How about Rand Paul or Dick Armey? (Now, THAT is a visual name, if ever one was).

Or would he organize a resistance? What kind of resistance? To which nations would he turn for aid? France, again? Are the Tea Partiers the new Minutemen, or are they just a shill, a populist veneer on the Tories of today?

This could be a sea change

I realize that our family covers a wide range of political perspectives. We may never agree. Or, maybe we do agree and our egos keep us from acknowledging such. Regardless, all who are interested in exploring a novel experiment in a form of direct democracy will find the following post intriguing.

A Web-based Tool for Bottom-up Self-organizing

Its long, I know. But ain't your life worth it? Imagine what might be able to happen if enough people were able to put aside their fears and actually attempt a political act that goes far beyond voting. I don't know where it might lead, but there are libraries full of history books detailing the evidence that complacency is the first hurdle. This tool combines social networking, polling, and something akin to a match-making site, except on the bases of real-life political out-looks rather than romance and such. There is alot of potential here, I think.

I'd like to emphasize that this democratizing tool will work for citizens of any political perspective. It is designed to match you with other citizens, at any level of civic organization (city, county, state, nation, etc.), that are over similar mind on particular policies, or issues. It will also provide polling data related to these issues, so that interested parties can build campaigns for the positions they share. The caveat is that one has to participate if one hopes to see such an endeavor bear the kind of fruit for which ones hankers.

If you are at all intrigued by this idea, take a look at this thread:

Excerpt and Discussion on Open Left

There is a lot to digest in these links. Enjoy. Empower.

Out of Exile

Self-imposed as it was. Its over. Back-to-back grant applications to two different government organizations, via two different sets of US government approved red tape networks. Not to mention collaborating with a colleague on another, and putting together a graphical depiction of our recent results concerning how human lung cancer cells cope with a loss of glucose as a cellular fuel. Good thing I lack ambition, or else I'd really be exhausted.

That poster, the last thing on the list, took me to New Orleans for a few days last week. What a town; I need to be about 15 years younger to truly appreciate it. Excellent food I was there for the Experimental Biology meeting, so it rocked both sides of my brain.

Last Monday, I tacked it up on a stand, roughly 1.5 m X 1 m, and stood around waiting for other scientists to stop by and talk with me about the information on the poster. I stood there for about 2 hrs and the meeting had roughly 11,000 registered participants. Only a fraction of the participants go to the poster session, and there are hundreds of other people doing exactly the same thing. Its a powerful display of the curiosity and commitment of my fellow human beings. I'm very pleased to be able to participate in such events.

Its even better than marching in the streets, but it lacks the immediate sense of freedom. Its less innovative than poetry and other artistic media, perhaps, but its more directly functional. The process of science in action.

Anyway, that's over. Now we wait. At least on the grant front.

Decisions are not made until late summer. The sad fact is that both are likely to be rejected. I knew this going in, but some people like to buy lottery tickets. Only one application can be resubmitted and this is my first of 3 shots. Rarely is one funded on the first attempt. I'll get some feed-back from my peers, incorporate their suggestions and answer their concerns, and try again.

The other is a one-off for the new money tossed our way by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. Conservative calculations put the success rate at 0.014 to 0.02%. But, there was simply no way I could not take that chance. Minimally, we have overwhelmingly demonstrated how under-funded our field has become. No lack of ideas, only the means and the will.

But, apparently, my tax dollars are better spent on ill-conceived military adventures, bankster bonuses (which by the way, on average are roughly equivalent to the ENTIRE allocation for the NIH from ARRA), and the development of robotic soldiers and airplanes (which by the way got 25X the allocation of the NIH in ARRA). Anyway, that the way the budget is cut.

Funny, Sad, or Ridiculous?

I came across this web-site while prowling around the other day.

While I don't agree with the views expressed, I do believe that one should make an effort to see and understand issues from a variety of perspectives.

Have at it:

Another Perspective

Today is the Day

Out with the Old
In with the New

and all.

Based on all the excitment that was buzzing around here in November, I'm a bit surprised that I'm the one to point to Washington DC on this day.

The visuals tell alot of the story. The people. The momuments. The man. The family. The world.

What will it bring and how long can it last?

That's up to us.

For now, sit back or stand up, and embrace this moment.

Made my day

A kiss goodbye

Well, That's That

Did you feel the earth move?

A historic Presidential Administration is set to begin. Are you ready for it? Can you dig it?

A Case of the Vapors

This timely report comes to us from the Onion. This is precisely the kind of President we need. No joke.

Now, I suspect that the writers at the Onion may not have completely understood how close they came to this truth. Rather, I think they are riffing on a percieved lack of substance; reality vs. dream. I think they've hit a much larger target.

Those readers that are familiar with the Temple Tapes will see the connection.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/obama_warns_he_may_cease_to