Link salad, seasoned with politics

El Tinklenberg
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El is running for Congress against Republican neo-McCarthyite Michele Bachmann. A great chance to to not just flip a seat, but, leaving ideology aside, remove someone who doesn't understand that her attacks about "anti-American" figures are far more anti-American than anything her targets could do or believe. Like the line about Pat Buchanan a number of years back -- she seems afraid that America might be taken over... by Americans!

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Darcy Burner
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Darcy is whip smart, and easily able to handle the technology of the 21st Century. And I'm not just saying that because she's been known to lurk here and send me email. :) She's running locally in suburban Seattle for Congress against incumbent ne'er-do-well Dave Reichert, who seems to regard being in Congress as a way to take an 18 month vacation each term, and then spend 6 months convincing the electorate they should send him on another 18 month vacation. This wouldn't be so bad if he was a small-L libertarian, and campaigned on the platform that better he should be warming his seat and not doing a damned thing than putting it in the hands of someone who'd be well-meaning but a bit of a buttinsky... But, no, he generally tends to make the Carswell defense if pressed on this. Reichert became famous by running the investigation for the Green River Killer, but according to this report, "(Frank) Atchley, another supervisor (in the King County Sheriff's office), said Reichert "actually was more of an impediment to the investigation (of the Green River killer)."

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Barack Obama
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Our last, best chance to maintain a constitutional republic in this country.

Steady on the tiller

I've said this before -- every time John McCain speaks at a podium labeled "Country First," he campaigns for Obama. Every time he talks about a "steady hand at the tiller," he campaigns for Obama. Just like, before McCain, every time Hillary Clinton ran that "3AM" ad, it was a net pickup for Obama. In each case, Obama better suits what's ostensibly being sought than the opposing candidate who thinks it plays to their strengths.

James Fallows has a good post on Obama's steadiness these past few weeks, as everyone else on the national scene has been running around like Chicken Little.

"(W)hat struck me most, in reviewing Barack Obama's oratorical and debate performance since the first cattle-call, Gravel-equipped televised primary debate early last year, was his unchanging nature. He got better as he went along, but as an improving version of the same thing. I said I couldn't be sure whether Obama's consistency arose from deliberate strategic choice, flawlessly executed over a very long time, or whether it simply reflects the way he is. Odds favor the latter."

But, here's an interesting point Fallows makes about Obama's competitors' opinions of him:

"(A)s a subject for a later day, I remember how often, how vehemently, and with what certainty Obama's detractors during the Democratic primaries said that he could not, possibly, in any way, in any real world, withstand the onslaught of GOP negative campaigning once it geared up against him. That he's been seriously underestimated twice -- by the Hillary Clinton camp, and now by McCain -- doesn't prove his potential in office but is interesting."

"Changeling"

Speaking of "last, best hope..."

Has anyone else noticed that the script for the new Clint Eastwood-directed, Angela Jolie-starring movie Changeling is by JMS?

Myths debunked through superior graphic design

From the ever-amazing TED site: "Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen."

Rosling is able to illustrate brilliantly the amazing progress that Asia in particular has made since, say, 1960. He has a cute Swedish accent, to boot.

Stats wonks take note: www.gapminder.org provides just about all the tools he uses. I'm going to be chewing on this off and on for a while, I think.

It Keeps You Running (2)

Following up on yesterday's post about the Nike Women's Marathon...

Nike just sent me an email:

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Hello,

Nike is announcing today that it recognizes Arien O'Connell as a winner in last weekend’s Nike Women’s Marathon with the fastest chip time, completing the full race in 2:55:11. She shattered her previous time and achieved an amazing accomplishment.

Arien will receive the same recognition and prize, including a Tiffany bowl, the full marathon elite group winner received. Arien was unfortunately not immediately recognized as a race winner because she did not start the race with the elite running group, which is required by USATF standards. Because of their earlier start time, the runners in the elite group had no knowledge of the outstanding race Arien was running and could not adjust their strategies accordingly.

Learning from the unique experience in this year’s race, Nike has decided today to eliminate the elite running group from future Nike Women's Marathons. Next year, all runners will run in the same group and all will be eligible to win.

Nike has a proven track record of supporting athletes and we’re proud to be able to honor Arien and other athletes who surpass their goals and achieve great accomplishments.

Sincerely,

Nike+ / Nike Running

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"...could not adjust their strategies accordingly."

Hm. This assumes the Carl Lewis in 1984 approach -- don't do your best, do the bare minimum required to win.

Ah, well. At least Ms. O'Connell is being recognized for her achievement. Kudos to Nike for going that far, and letting concerned parties know directly from them.

UPDATED TO ADD: At this writing (7:23a, PDT), there's nothing confirming this at sfgate.com. If nothing else, we can see how long it takes for the older media to catch up.

UPDATE SQUARED: Here's the Comical's post -- at "12:18 PDT San Francisco." So, just short of a five-hour scoop on my part.