NY Times examines the slim ties between Obama and Weatherman founder Bill Ayers.

Wing nuts have tried to make hay out of the connection, but as this NY Times article establishes, there is no there, there.

I am an unrepentant, unapologetic 60's radical of the Sons of Gandhi school--I thought the Weathermen and others who advocated violence for their cause had become the very thing that they opposed. And I saw it, first hand--a large Weatherman once picked me up by the throat, my feet dangling, for suggesting that violence only begat violence. He was proving the truth of my claim. It was cold comfort. With the passage of time, I have become even MORE convinced that Gandhi and the Dalai Llama are correct. Still-I never thought we would change the world. Buddhism is 2500 years old. The Prince of Peace has been dead for 2000 years. Look around you. How many of your friends and neighbors are centering their lives around the pursuit of peace, love, and understanding? A few. As John Lennon sang: 'nothing's going to change my world...nothings going to change my world...Jai Guru Deva. Om."

Still--I do understand the frustration, hopelessness, and anger that fuels the violence--I just happen to think it's an insatiable gorge--and that Picasso made a more significant impact by painting a picture: Guernica--which has launched thousands of discussions about the subject matter of the painting. The paintbrush is mightier than the sword.

"Home, home, on the range..."

Ham fisted McCain loses 10 points

Democrats may be a donkey, but John McCain is the largest Ass in modern presidential politics.

I know it's hard to believe with economic Armaggedon slouching towards Jerusalem--but the biggest story of the week was actually buried in the WaPo.

Turns out we are pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at a much greater rate than anticipated. At this rate the temperature will rise 11 degrees by the end of the century.

Of course, the Wild Weather will be upon us within a few years. I am guessing that after the first Cat 6 Tornado rolls across North America, the outliers will finally capitulate on Global Climate Change. Well, it's going to get real interesting. It is pretty doubtful that we will change our carbon producing ways in time to reverse anything. We are Terra Forming a new Venus.

Click here for article

One of the deeply offensive moment of the debate was to point at which McCain asserted that Obama, the Legal Scholar, did not understand the difference between tactics and strategy.

And, in my younger days, if someone had made a similar charge to me, in a belligerent tone of voice, I probably would have punched them in the head and said, 'that's tactics.' And then walked away saying, 'this is strategy.'

But James Fallows makes some interesting observations on these distinctions in this piece in the Atlantic that is worth reading.

One of the points he makes reminded me of the NPR townhall broadcast on race relations which was set in PA. One white woman confessed, with a certain degree of discomfort, that she felt anxious around large, black men.

There was a large black man present in the group, and the moderators asked him if he ever sensed the discomfort of whites when he was in their presence. He said, when you are large and black, you learn very early on that you have to be very friendly towards people and smile a lot. This was a painful and sad realization to me, and I empathized with this guy--being a small white guy, myself, it was a moment of clarity.

I had a similar moment of clarity about 14 years ago in a conversation with my boss, who happened to be black. He was the best Manager I have ever had, and our team was pretty tight--and we were trading stories about being stopped by the cops for traffic violations and trying to talk our way out of traffic tickets--and our Manager, who was the only black guy in the group, was telling stories about encounters with the police that were radically different than that of our own experience. So much so, and to such a dramatic degree, that we could only conclude that the only differentiating factor was his ethnic identity--and all of us in the group had this shared experience of the scales falling from our eyes--and it was very painful--because we felt the injustice of it--and we were ashamed at the obvious reality of it. It was a teaching moment.

I guess I am saying: Cut Obama some slack when he doesn't tear into the crazy old white man the way you wish he would. He probably learned early on to be very friendly with people and smile a lot. Empathize with that.