MJ, this is one of the most uplifting posts I've read on this site in awhile. One of the reasons I support Obama is because when I hear him speak it's obvious that he's knowledge driven. He actually cares about the issues, and wants to know what's going on in the world. Like you said, he knows his stuff. After eight years of the most incurious, stupid president America has seen in generations, the thought of a guy who actually knows what he's talking about in the White House makes me giddy.

Posted at July 23, 2008 5:14 PM in response to Obama's Overseas Success: What's His Secret?

Believe me, he didn't need any help being freaked out. The whole desert trip was a life-changing experience for my friend from the inner city. The first time he saw a cicada, I thought he was going to have a coronary. And one day, we came upon a small murder of ravens that were so wild that I don't think they'd ever seen humans before. They spent half the day hanging around our campsite, picking at our gear and trying to steal our food. The whole experience changed his view of reality forever, I think. It was sort of fun to watch as his world fell apart and came together again in a new formation.

Posted at July 23, 2008 2:54 PM in response to The Most Important Photograph You Will Ever See

Are you who you think you are?

Before you learned the word blue, what color was the sky? Social conformity is not a requirement for survival. We don't need to follow other peoples' rules. If I choose to call a daisy a parsnip, it changes nothing. Are you who you think you are? Without words, who do you think you are?

Posted at July 23, 2008 2:13 PM in response to Are You Who You Think You Are?

Several years ago, a friend and I were camping on the desert in Utah. The night was exceptionally clear and still, and the seeing was nearly perfect. We were sitting on the edge of a canyon, dangling our feet into space and watching the sea of stars wheel overhead. It was his first experience with desert camping, and he was marveling at how many stars he could see. Suddenly, my friend whispered, "What the hell is THAT?" and pointed toward a bright, silvery object in the sky. I said, "It's the Andromeda Galaxy." He asked, "Is that ALWAYS there??" I said that it was, but that you needed dark skies or binoculars in order to see more than just the central core. He said, "That's a galaxy? Like a DIFFERENT galaxy?" I said, "Yup. Different galaxy." He was silent for fifteen or twenty minutes, just staring. I could see him working very hard to get a handle on this new, weird universe that he had suddenly been thrust into. The night was getting chilly, so I stood up to move around a little. I said, "You know, Dave, the sun is a star." He turned to me, wide-eyed, and said, "I know. I guess I just never thought about what that meant. This whole thing is sort of freaking me out. I can't believe I came this far in life without realizing what a weird place this is." I said, "What, the universe?" He said, "Yeah. Everything."

Yeah, everything is right. Sometimes it's good to remind yourself of that.

Posted at July 23, 2008 10:42 AM in response to The Most Important Photograph You Will Ever See

What I don't get is why TPM removed her email address from your post. Of COURSE she gave her permission to publish it. It's publicly available to anyone who visits HuffPost.

Personally, I agree with Sklar that the New Yorker was being spanked by the Obama campaign. But so what? They deserved it. They'll be back on the plane soon enough. Just not this trip.

Posted at July 22, 2008 7:45 AM in response to New Yorker banned from Obama press plane??? Huffpost gets it wrong.

As a "famous" troll, that despite being of the left, considers Barack Obama an obvious fraud

And it's moronic statements like that that get you labeled a troll. "An obvious fraud." What an idiotic thing to say. Why bother? Oh yeah, because you're a troll and that's what trolls do.

Posted at July 21, 2008 5:58 PM in response to How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The TPM Trolls

"Don't waste your time talking to morons. I don't"

You're a fucking coward and a pathetic twit. If you've got something to say to me, say it. Don't pretend you're replying to someone else. Jackass.

Posted at July 21, 2008 12:54 AM in response to Countdown to Confrontation with Iran?

An interesting reply:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/benny-morris-justifies-is_b_113725.html

Posted at July 20, 2008 4:37 PM in response to Countdown to Confrontation with Iran?

Whatever Billy is, he is not ignorant.

Perhaps I should have said slothful.

Posted at July 20, 2008 4:10 PM in response to Countdown to Confrontation with Iran?

It's not that people don't get it. It's that they don't accept it. Billy's view of the world is sick and violent. He thinks he's being a realist. He's not. He's just being sick and violent.

Posted at July 20, 2008 4:08 PM in response to Countdown to Confrontation with Iran?