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Ben Hocking

Location: Charlottesville
Age: 38
Politics: Mostly liberal
Party: Independent, mostly Democrat
Website: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/hocking
Biography: Ph.D. student in computer science at UVA. Studying neural networks in an attempt to reproduce neurophysiological and cognitive properties of the hippocampus. I also have an MS in astrophysics. Feel free to google on "Ben Hocking".
Favorite Books: Notes from Underground; Origin of Species; Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars
Favorite Quotes: "It's the beginning of the end for Obama." - readytoblowagasket : "The goal is not to bring your adversaries to their knees but to their senses." - Mahatma Gandhi

Obama vs. McCain: examinining the scorecards
Although I think it's important for each of us to make up our own minds about who to vote for in November, few of us really have the time (and/or inclination) to learn every relevant factor about our voting options....more »
Posted on May 10, 2008 10:54 AM
Price is Right politics
One seemingly constant in politics is what I've often referred to as the "Price is Right" phenomenon. On that game show, the last person bidding will usually bid $1 more than the price they think is closest to (without going...more »
Posted on May 9, 2008 12:41 PM
Obama wins Guam!
As I wrote about yesterday, Guam held its caucuses today. The current results have Obama with 1,738 votes and Clinton with 1,599. This might mean that Obama picks up a single net delegate if the delegates split 2.5:1.5 for him,...more »
Posted on May 3, 2008 9:16 AM
Guam caucus is tomorrow (or is that today?)
Just a reminder for those who'd rather talk about something other than gas tax holidays or a certain YouTube clip: Guam is holding their caucus tomorrow.Guam is so far west of us, that it's actually to the east (or vice-versa)....more »
Posted on May 2, 2008 4:15 PM
Bill Lets Florida Schools Teach Evolution Alternatives
OK, so I was reading this story on NPR about a bill that "lets" Florida school teach alternatives to the Theory of Evolution.This might surprise some of you, but I think this is a great idea, but I want to...more »
Posted on April 29, 2008 4:12 PM
Obama's double digit win in Indiana
AP has the story here.For once, I'm not going to provide a summary. Once you read the story, you'll understand why…...more »
Posted on April 26, 2008 3:01 PM
Closing time
For those who were wondering when to get the popcorn out, Pennsylvania's polls close at 8 PM. State law requires that anyone who arrives at the polls by 8 be allowed to vote, no matter how long that takes, but...more »
Posted on April 22, 2008 9:13 AM
No matter what, intraparty negative campaigning ends in June
I've heard several people say they're afraid that even after June 3rd, Clinton will stay in and continue to campaign negatively. I'll grant that she might stay in, but it will no longer make sense for her to continue her...more »
Posted on April 19, 2008 5:06 PM
Clinton endorser Barney Frank says "trailing candidate should drop out by June 3rd"
From <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/15/clinton-backer-trailing-candidates-should-drop-out-by-june-3/">CNN</a>, Clinton supporter Barney Frank is saying that the trailing candidate should drop out by June 3rd, and possibly sooner "if it seems inconceivable he or she could win the nomination." That's definitely not going to make her...more »
Posted on April 15, 2008 4:40 PM
Meta-bitterness
One thing that confused me about Obama's statement about his potential problems in Pennsylvania are the things he brought up: God and Guns. Maybe I have the context wrong, but my impression was that he was talking about these things...more »
Posted on April 14, 2008 9:06 AM

View Talk posts »

I think it remains unclear whether McCain's memory lapses and moments of confusion about important things - Shia/Sunni, League of Nations or League of Democracies, etc. - are significant impairments.

I think it also remains unclear (and probably will continue to remain unclear) whether those lapses and confusion are due to age or are just a part of who McCain is. As you say, it's not his age that's the problem.

Posted at May 10, 2008 1:35 PM in response to Doomed in 2008 by Racism and Sexism?
OK, be honest Thera. You're hoping he'll pick you, aren't you? ;)

Posted at May 10, 2008 12:10 PM in response to My theory vis-a-vis the current full throttle Clinton campaign
My pleasure. My interest in scorecards comes from trying to find an easy way to respond to posters who like to use a single bill as a litmus test for a candidate. As most of these scorecards show, you can almost always find a bill in which you think a candidate voted incorrectly. The question is: how often do they do so?

Posted at May 10, 2008 11:28 AM in response to Obama vs. McCain: examinining the scorecards
I just found one for us atheists (really for anyone who believes in separation of church and state):
Secular Coalition for America: Obama: 100, McCain: 50

Posted at May 10, 2008 11:26 AM in response to Obama vs. McCain: examinining the scorecards
I'm not aware of any polls on the joint ticket, but I believe (based primarily off of what my Republican friends and family have said) that having Clinton on the ticket would certainly increase turnout for the Republicans. Many of them have this primal hatred of her that defies explanation. My father stated that he's not a fan of McCain (but will vote for him anyway), but that if Clinton were anywhere on the ticket he'd donate to McCain's campaign, canvas the neighbor, do whatever he could to make sure that McCain won in November.

Don't get me wrong, I realize there's two sides to this and that, yes, many Hillary supporting Democrats would also be more enthusiastic with such a ticket. I honestly don't know which effect would be stronger.

Regardless, I just don't see it happening.

Posted at May 10, 2008 11:18 AM in response to Joint Ticket
No post remains on the Rec'd list 24 hours after it was posted. The post in question was posted yesterday at 5:47 PM.

Posted at May 9, 2008 8:14 PM in response to What happened to the most popular post of the day?
As momentous as that day will be, I'm much more excited about January 20, 2009. I have little doubt that's the day that Obama will be taking the oath of office!

Posted at May 9, 2008 7:15 PM in response to We will NOT stand alone on August 28, 2008...
Wait a minute—are you saying that Lieberman really said this? I'm going to need a source, because this falls under one of those too-funny-to-be-true stories that I'd hate to pass around unless I knew it actually were true.

OK, so I found where I can actually listen to it myself. Wow. He really said that.

All this time I thought it was just a joke.

Posted at May 9, 2008 5:27 PM in response to McCain's Bearing Check Up
Actually, as has been reported, it's a pretty bad fake. There's an actual person in Hamas who this guy is pretending to be. The problem is, there are already recordings of this guy, and this "endorsement" recording doesn't sound anything like him!

Posted at May 9, 2008 5:13 PM in response to McCain: Obama Has Nothing In Common With Hamas -- But The Voters Think It Should Be An Issue, Anyway
Good lord, man! Your mind is so one-dimensional it hurts! Despite what Bush and Co. has been peddling for the last 7 years, fear is not the only thing in stock!

Did it ever occur to you that our presence in Iraq has done more to help recruitment in terrorist organizations than anything they could accomplish on their own? If we pulled out, I'm sure they'd see their membership decline accordingly. Is it beginning to sink in now?

Posted at May 9, 2008 5:11 PM in response to McCain: Obama Has Nothing In Common With Hamas -- But The Voters Think It Should Be An Issue, Anyway