Virtuous Circle

Deja Vu

Left-Theresa Heinz Kerry Right-Eva Peron

Pharma-Wake Up

Kerry said he would allow importation of cheaper drugs from Canada-
Wake up pharma-it's a global economy-Charge one price worldwide-US prices can come down-We don't want to be the world's designated driver anyway-
Subsidizing the worlds R&D is getting old-let the other developed countries pay their share-take charge of your own destiny-this means you Merck,Lilly, GSK etc

By the way-we are living longer and longer-think of all the great drugs coming off patent soon-if the dems destroy the industry the next generations of advances-Alzheimer's,cancer,parkinson's,diabetes,schizophrenia, pain -all these advances will disappear

More on Bias in the Polls

this complements my previous post

American Digest: "The Official Weblog of the Internet"?
from the above link-I found this wonderful post full text here-excerpt below
Gerard Vanderleun at American Digest is predicting a huge Bush win this November, and I agree with him, and various others such as Steven Den Beste, who have made similar predictions lately. One of the reasons Gerard gives for the predicted victory is the "stealth Democrat" - Democrats who are going to vote for Bush but won't tell anyone that they are.

In many cases, Gerard argues, the refusal to admit their intention is a simple defence against the potential harms that cold follow upon coming out in favour of Bush: lower grades in school, family bitterness, trouble with the union, and so on.

USATODAY.com-Is it Biased

USATODAY.com

Read the above link for a list of questions in the USATODAY POLLS
I wonder if there are sources of bias that are not at all apparent-I've noticed in my area which is split pretty evenly between Red and Blue-there are many more Kerry bumper stickers than those for Bush. Also many conservatives have told me they feel uncomfortable to put it mildly in stating their views. I have become reluctant and discouraged if not outright intimidated in speaking up also.

Is it possible that pollsters are viewed as part of the liberal media elite and therefore Conservatives/Republicans are uncomfortable speaking frankly. Don't the polls have names like CNN,Quinnipiac and other media type or university origins to them. Who are the pollsters-are they students on summer vacartion,what do they wear? What are their own leanings? Subtle bias may creep in. What race are they?

Has anyone looked at pollster/respondee correlations?
I'm not suggesting deliberate fraud or poor design but sure would like to address these issues.
Also are there possible pro-Republican sources of bias?
Is there anyone able to address these issues?
Did a similar phenomenon happen in the 2002 elections?

If this is a source of bias-it will certainly disappear in the voting booth.

Desert Queen-Gertrude Bell and the Creation of Modern Iraq

Left-Bell with Winston Churchill and T.E.Lawrence -Lower Right King Faisal is in foreground on the right`-On Right Bell at an unknown age-````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
I prefer biographies in which the author both admires and would appear to have enjoyed the company of the subject. In Desert Queen,a biography of Gertrude Bell, Janet Wallach meets both of these criteria.
Bell was an upper class Englishwoman (1868-1926), who, perhaps more than any other, defined the boundaries and political structures of modern Iraq. A headstrong woman and one of the first female graduates of Oxford, she was a first rate mountaineer and archeologist and an incredibly astute judge of people. A woman of prodigious physical energy and will, she was considered an honorary man by Arab sheiks and Moslem holy men. Wallach paints a vivid picture of the late and decaying Ottoman Empire and gives many vivid accounts of its' cosmopolitan flair and incredible diversity. Arabs, Christians, Greeks, Persians, Jews, Turks, businessmen, Bedouins, Shiites, Sunnis and other Europeans come to life. The noises and smells of the souk and the starkness and beauty of the desert give the book a physical dimension that complements the character and ethnic portraits.
Selected Quotes
"She stepped carefully away from the piles of dung left by camels and mules parading through the labyrinth of alleys. The narrow streets were a storefront for fortune tellers reading palms, public scribes and seal engravers selling their services…a cacophony of cries from ragged beggars and sweaty street merchants and wailing muezzins…pistachio nuts, roasted peas, sweet Damascene pastries, licorice, biscuits and all kinds of breads…. sherbet sellers in bright read aprons…." A description of Damascus: "…. pashas in gold embroidered robes, sheiks in gilt-edged cloaks; Turks covered in long silk coats with colorful turbans wound round their heads; Christians in frock coats holding rosaries in their hands; Jews with long beards, their heads in turbans, their pants in Turkish style; Armenians and Greeks in colorfully embroidered tunics; old men proudly wearing green turbans that announced they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca; Bedouin just in from the desert, in their striped blue abbas and kafeeyahs……."

The heat, dust and other physical discomforts are contrasted with the gardens of dates and magnificent flowers. The stark beauty of the desert, the poetry, the rhythm of the souk, the concept of honor and the feudal nature of society are all apparent from the narrative. It is not clear how much of these descriptions are derived from Bell herself or are Wallachs interpretations, however Wallach a woman who has apparently traveled extensively in the Middle East, is capable of painting or at least transcribing the essential "feel" of specific locales. She is able to bring to life a society of gracious manners, cutthroat rogues, and cunning sheiks while not ignoring the timeless poverty and the slavish condition of women.
Bell, a women bitterly disappointed in her love life, is overwhelmed by the romance of the Middle East. She is consumed with the vision of an Arabian kingdom which will progress in tandem with its' British guides and which will be able to integrate British legal, educational and economic features, while maintaining the essential features of an Arabian identity. At the core of the vision of Bell, as filtered through Wallach (as I have not read any of the primary source material), is a dual vision of the Arab world. At once romantic in both the noble savage sense, as well as the cosmopolitan world of the late Ottoman Empire, and yet capable of progressing into a modern democracy. These considerations are obviously important today and not much has changed in the last 80-90 years.

Conservative Silence Not Apathy

Zero Base Thinking

This link talks about Bush hatred as an irrational obsession. I have noticed that several people lately have been feeling me out on my political views and when they realize I am supporting President Bush are relieved and let me know how afraid they are of voicing their opinions. This portends a good outcome at the ballot box-at least I hope so.

Fahrenheit 911-Breaking the Code

Living on the cusp of red/blue America leads occasionally to the occasionally extremely unpleasant and awkward encounter. The provinciality of most liberals, many of whom clearly do not know any conservatives, never fails to surprise me and has led the virtuous wife to shake her head in dismay whenever I am caught up in another futile and frustrating discussion with one of the local liberal worthies. Somehow I still feel that engaging them on their own turf and being reasonable and Socratic may occasionally bear fruit. Unfortunately this is now almost impossible.
The summer weekends in New England have been almost unbearably beautiful and poignant. After last summers cold and rainy season, which wiped out many of our local events, this summer has been sunny, not too hot and with a Colorado like humidity. Rain, on the rare occasions it has occurred has stuck to the Camelot script. This weekend was loaded with events. The American Cancer Society sponsored a cancer walk and fundraiser and since our middle son is a survivor of childhood leukemia it was moving and a time for great gratitude. A friend in his mid fifties who recently received a bone marrow transplant for lymphoma from his brother was a keynote speaker. Today there was a fair on our town green with rides, book and bake sales, food and an auction. In the evening there was a "Pickin' & Fiddlin' competition. Coupled with children going in all directions all the time it has been quite a weekend and it's still only Saturday night.

Happy Fourth

From All of Us-(Save 18 Year Old)

The Championships, Wimbledon 2004 - Grand Slam Tennis - Official Site by IBM - News

The Championships, Wimbledon 2004 - Grand Slam Tennis - Official Site by IBM - News

17 year old Sharapova defeats Serena Williams to win Wimbledon 6-1,6-4
If this link disappears I'm including this picture.
I am not a particular tennis fan but watched the Ladies final from Wimbleodn while on the treadmill at the gym this morning. Besides Miss Sharapova being quite easy to look at her style of tennis was terriffic. Too young to be afraid she hit deep and decisively and disguised her shots well. In the second set down a service break she won a key point with a wonderful top-spin lob after Serena Williams came to the net.
Ordinarily I root for the American and if in a quandary often favor the underdog or the older player which means I could favor anybody on any day.

The story of the young "Russian" lady was remarkable. She came here at the age of 8 with her father only as her mother could not get a visa. They only had 700 dollars and struggled until several years later her talent resulted in a scholarship at Nick Bolliteri's academy.
People from all over the world will come here and withstand severe hardship to persue their dreams. This is being played out in our cities continuously. I'm not generally in favor of politicizing sports but the American dream was the big winner today. Good luck to both ladies in the future.

Scotland-Savagery to Modernity-A Model for the Present-Cuba Best Bet

I have been reading the book, "How the Scots Invented the Modern World and Everything In It" for a report to the Junto meeting this week. I volunteered for this based on a talk by David Kelly last month on the "Prospects for Modernity in the Moslem World".
While I'm certainly not an expert on either field I suggested that this book, which was in the large" To Read" stack at home might offer some clues regarding requirements for vaulting from a semi barbaric state to the modern world in a short period.

As late as the eighteenth century Scotland, especially in the highlands was in a semi-barbaric state. Much of the country was still hunter-gatherers or at the feudal agricultural state. People were bound to the land and to their lairds by a complex legal system and centuries of tradition. The much romanticized clan system was based not so much on kinship but rather on property and resembled a contemporary mafia family more than anything else. There was no middle class and the more modern commercial society had not yet penetrated very far.

Their religion was harsh-a very pure version of Calvinist doctrine as filtered through John Knox (a remarkable figure). Witches were still executed as late as the cusp of the eighteenth century and a university student was hanged for blasphemy in the same period in Edinburgh itself.