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At last, we have a change agent we can believe in. It was a long and painful process, and I believe that Senator Clinton should have stepped out of the race earlier. After North Carolina as far as I’m concerned.

Anyway, the result is in, and now we can all focus on getting Senator Obama elected. That will take unification in the Democratic Party, as well as people pulling together to get some of Hillary Clinton’s campaign debt to Senator Clinton paid off.

 I’m happy with the result.

We’re involved in a very intense presidential campaign right now, and although I’m not allowed to vote I have long had a favorite, somebody I toot my horn for. That man is a Democrat, and he is the most inspirational I’ve seen in a long time. Yes, you’ve guessed it. Barack Obama.

In the last few weeks we have all seen signs of strong political campaigning from all leading Democrat candidates, and until recently I would say that I also admired Hillary Clinton, because she is a very professional and competent politician. However, the last week has made me change my mind. It’s not that she is no longer professional and competent. It’s more that she is so old school when it comes to campaigning.

We now have a choice between “divide and conquer” and “unite and improve”. You will have to guess which candidate stands for which.

Or to paraphrase David Bowie, “I’m afraid of Republicans,” but most of all I’m afraid of Mike Huckabee. If you care why it’s because he’s so likeable. Or rather, he has such ultra-conservative oponions and still is so likeable. That really scares me.

I remember last time there was a new president and everybody voted for him because he seemed like the kind of guy you’d like to sit down and have a beer with (disregarding the fact that he has some serious drinking problems, and probably would be fine with some pop and pretzels). Huckabee, damnit you’d like him to come to all your parties, that how well he comes across. I think those are fine qualities, but not the ones that we should use to elect the most powerful man in the world.

Mike Huckabee wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade and defends it by saying that he thinks we should disallow abortions because American people value the life of one as if it’s the life of all. I assume that means all the mothers who don’t want the child for whatever reason. It’s also ironic that he supports death penalty, but I guess that is one kind of life that has no value.

I also have a big problem with somebody who wants to even discuss creationism at the same time as evolution, and even worse wants to get students to have to suffer through it. Science is about observing and drawing conclusions. Evolution is therefore supported by science, since we can experience evolution ourselves. Just look at virii during cold and flu season.

Huckabee has also shown himself to be ignorant about things like the National Intelligence Estimate and the current writers’ strike, and he comes off as almost proud of being ignorant. If he wasn’t such a good speaker that would probably have killed his political career long time ago, not to mention his religious one.

There are some positions where I think he’s not that bad, and other areas where I think he might not have thought through the issue in enough detail.

Oh, and for the record, I don’t care whether somebody is a religous believer or not, I think that as long as there are morals and ethics that align with doing the best for the American people, then the president can believe what he or she wants. Actually, the less it’s talked about the better.

Thanks to John Furrier I got a chance to see this fantastic video again.

Enjoy!

Quote of the Day:
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
–Mark Twain

I was going through some old paper and found this photo copy that I have been dragging around with me forever simply because every time I read it, it inspires me to try to be a better person. And so I think that I should do something with it. I finally decided to just type it in here, and hopefully somebody else can find it inspiring. Here we go:

Anyway

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful you win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness makes you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you help them.

Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have got

Anyway

I hope you find it useful.

Quote of the Day:
To cease smoking is the easiest thing. I ought to know. I’ve done it a thousand times.
–Mark Twain

Ever since I moved to the US 2 years ago I have asked myself why there are so many gasoline powered cars, vans and trucks, and why almost nobody runs diesel cars. There are a few of the big pick-up trucks, and occasionally some VW Jetta, but otherwise it’s all gasoline. And I know that diesel has higher energy content, and that modern technology has made diesel engines just as good to drive as gasoline. On top op that the emissions are of a less nasty kind.

Then a while ago I spotted this company called Lovecraft Bio-Fuels in Wired Magazine, and they showed that you could easily convert a diesel engine to run on normal vegetable oil. Talk about renewable energy source, especially in a country where deep frying is popular. You can use the oil more than once. And to be honest, I’m considering switching to a diesel and convert it next time I change cars.

Then two days ago I was reading Fast Company, and I came across an article about Johnathan Goodwin, a self taught car mechanic wizard. This is how the article opens up:

“Check it out. It’s actually a jet engine,” says Johnathan Goodwin, with a low whistle. “This thing is gonna be even cooler than I thought.” We’re hunched on the floor of Goodwin’s gleaming workshop in Wichita, Kansas, surrounded by the shards of a wooden packing crate. Inside the wreckage sits his latest toy–a 1985-issue turbine engine originally designed for the military. It can spin at a blistering 60,000 rpm and burn almost any fuel. And Goodwin has some startling plans for this esoteric piece of hardware: He’s going to use it to create the most fuel-efficient Hummer in history.

What this guy has done is outright amazing. He is experimenting with putting GM semi-truck engines in GM cars and are getting 2 to 4 times the miles per gallon rating of the standard off the factory line cars. And that is even before starting to play with hybrid technology. What excites and outrages me at the same time is that Goodwin has managed to create all this using mostly off the shelf equipment, most of the time from the same car manufacturers who say that we cannot create anything but gasoline cars until a few years from now, and whose first step towards alternative fuel is an ethanol-gasoline mix. Not exactly the most forward thinking solution.

Another telling quote from the article is when Goodwin had a by chance demonstration to some GM engineers.

One engineer turned and said, “GM said this wouldn’t work.”

“Well,” Goodwin replied, “here it is.”

And that captures a lot of his gusto. I hope I will be able to join Neil Young in driving a nice 100+ mpg car in the not too distant future. Read the article and join me in wishing for a more fuel efficient, and greener, future.

Quote of the Day:
You are not what you own.
–Fugazi, American rock band