Why I'm voting for Obama, on his own terms

Why I voted for Obama

I recently heard from a friend who has been thinking about voting for Obama, which is not the common viewpoint in her red state. She's interested in why vote FOR Obama, which gets drowned out in the loud choruses of why to vote AGAINST the other guy. So I'm attempting to answer that question by itself, with a few failures, I'm afraid.

#1) Health Care. This is the biggest one of all. The US has attempted SO many times in the last few decades to reform health care. Nixon tried to implement a system more liberal than the one Obama passed. Carter and Clinton tried, and failed. Obama has finally gotten something that is, in the opinion of my doctor friends and relatives, a step in the right direction. It's not perfect, it's complex, but it's a good step in the right direction. We need Obama to stay president for four more years to let this new health care policy come fully into implementation. If it's bad, the Democrats will lose in 2016 and the Republicans will repeal it. But if it gets repealed in a few months, we'll never know if this approach would have worked and it will be decades before enough momentum gets around health care to try reform again.

You can't just keep the popular aspects of the plan, that will be too expensive. This plan has the hope of finally pushing health care costs down. We need to let that happen.

#2) People not in power. Women, African Americans, Latinos, Gays, Lesbians, Poor. ALL these groups prefer Obama by huge margins. And I mean huge. Add the Sick to the list, too, as they benefit greatly from Obama's health care plans, and can get insurance now, even with preexisting conditions. I've found that when you are puzzled about something and can't decide, it's best to look to those who are not in power, not strong, not dominant, and see what they say. Somehow, these groups see things a bit more for what they are; they see through the smoke and mirrors that was going on during the first presidential debate; they know not only what will work better for them, but for others like them and the country as a whole. The only powerful demographic that favors Obama is the very well educated, but that is a point in his favor too.

#3) Economy. Obama inherited an awful situation and he's presided over the country and things have gotten better. It's been slow and painful, but it's gotten better. Jobs are being added, especially in the private sector, and unemployment is below 8% now for the first time in quite a while. It's worth it to let this vision move forward a bit longer to see if it really is working. Besides (here we go), much of the job losses that get pegged to Obama (as if he is the one hiring and firing), are from local and state government jobs being shuttered under (mostly) Republican governors and congresses slashing their budgets back too quickly. Then they blame Obama for this.

#4)Foreign Policy. I believe that Obama walks a very tight line between asserting American interests abroad without getting into "America is the best, everyone do what we say." As someone who has lived abroad several times, we quickly lose sight of the fact that this is how the world sees us. George Bush lacked this skill and got the US into two wars, the second on completely false pretenses. Obama uses his brain when it comes to foreign policy and isn't afraid to take a nuanced approach; he doesn't believe this looks weak, as the neoconservative crowd would have us believe. And while president (again, he didn't do it, but under his watch), the Arab Spring took place, which is a huge sign of hope in the Middle East. (Here I go again) Romney's stance on Iran as he has campaigned is very frightening and similar to George Bush's.

Downside for Obama: his extended use of drones and assassinations with them are very discouraging. He knows more than I do, but their use seems excessive to me.

#5)Energy/Environment. Obama seems to understand that the way of the future is renewable energy, not doubling down on oil and coal. He understands, if not quite able to do something about it, that fossil fuels contribute to global warming, and that this is a real issue. He believes the EPA should be active (not dismantled) in caring for our environment. He believes that the National Science Foundation should be funding environmental scientific research.

#6)Taxes. Obama does not buy into the theory that cutting taxes will result in a boost to the economy. If this were true, where is the giant economic boost after George Bush's big tax cuts? It didn't exist. In fact, it contributed to the economic collapse, as people took their tax cuts and funneled them into what?
a) creating jobs b) buying more stuff and making the economy go vroooooom! c) into iffy investments looking for quick returns?

Ah, the answer is C. All that money got added to the already precarious housing bubble and it eventually broke, sending the entire world economy with it. There was no housing bubble in Canada. Their regulations of banks prevented it (banks have to keep much more of their loans on hand in cash there), and taxes are higher there (so there was no big rush of new cash to send the bubble up more). Obama would be open to ending the tax cuts for the wealthy who make more than $250,000 per year, and this is a reasonable approach to taxes. Eventually all the tax cuts should end, but not during the sort of recovery we are in now.

Romney wants to double-down on tax cuts, cutting 20% off the rate for everyone. That sounds fair, but it's only because it's his phrasing. In dollars, it amounts to $180Billion per year, of which about about $150B go to the top 5% of earners (my math and calculations, I am not repeating a party line here). Let's be clear here, if you are in the top 5% of earners, you are not experiencing a recession at all. Let's get some help from those who are before giving away boatloads of cash to those not really in recession.

My conclusion

I am an ecologist, and we study what happens to areas that have been disturbed, sometimes to the bare soil. First weeds come in, then some legumes that fix nitrogen from the air and add it to the soil, then early quick growing trees, pines here in the South, then eventually hard wood deciduous trees like oaks and hickory, perhaps followed by another slower growing set of maple and beech. I see governments and societies in much the same way. Governments start off as primitive and mostly working to keep basic order. As time progresses, they move into funding enterprises that are useful to society as a whole, but not profitable enough to drive private businesses into it. Clean water, public health, highways, trains, public transit, efficient utilities. As yet more time goes on, the social safety net becomes more important, and the government can afford it. As economies grow, managing that becomes more important. I believe we are on this trajectory, and that the left embraces it, welcoming the challenges that come with it with the benefits of a more developed society.

Some on the right love to say "we're becoming like Europe," and the implicit assumption is we need to go back to the good old days of no or low regulation, low taxes, and little safety net. They say we are becoming like Greece or Portugal. I say no, we are becoming more like Germany and England, two strong countries with strong economic engines and strong work ethics, just like the US. There is no going back to the "good old days" which weren't that good anyway. When health care is poor, a robust health care system and universal health care is not applicable. But when you have a system such as ours, you must provide care to everyone, and you must come up with a reasonable way for paying for it. These things cost money, and that is paid for with taxes, which has somehow become a swear word in the US despite the fact that our taxes are much lower than they generally have been here, and they are far lower than similar countries.

updating flash, nauseating details version

FIRST, log out of any account on your computer, then log in AS ADMINISTRATOR. Then:
A) Go to this link in firefox (select the link address below, press Ctrl-C to copy it, then open firefox, put the cursor in the address bar, delete its contents, then press Ctl-V to paste the address)
http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
If it says your version is not the same version as the recommended, latest version, continue. Otherwise, you are ok and can stop now.

B) Click this link in firefox:
http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player.exe

C) A dialog box will come up that says what do you want to do with this file. Click "Save File."

D) Now you want to run the file. The easiest way to do this is through the Firefox downloads window. To get to it, press Ctrl-J on your keyboard, or go to the Tools Menu | Downloads.

E) A new window should appear, with a list of downloaded files, perhaps just one. The top one should say "install_flash_player.exe" or "install_flash_player(2).exe" or some other number. Right-click on this and select "Open."

F) If the Windows warning/authentication dialog box appears, select OK or enter your admin password to the computer and press OK.

G) Now a new flash window should appear with a red background and a white lowercase, styled "f". Don't do anything yet.

H) We need to close the firefox windows before flash can be installed. You might want to print out these instructions now so as not to lose them if you have these instructions open in firefox. There are at least two firefox windows open now, the regular browsing window and the firefox downloads window. Use Alt-Tab or move the flash window around to get to both firefox windows and close them.

I) Back on the Flash Installer window, check the box, "I have read and agree..."

J) Click the INSTALL button on the Flash installer window. If you can't it's probably because the checkbox above is not checked.

K) A blue bar should go from left to right, indicating your progress. When it says "Installation complete," click the DONE button.

L) Now we are half-way there, we need to install the Internet Explorer Flash version. Open up Firefox again.

M) Go to this link in Firefox:
http://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_ax.exe

N) click "save file."

O) Again, go to the Firefox Downloads Window. Ctrl-J or Tools Menu | Downloads.

P) In the Firefox Downloads window, the file listed should be install_flash_player_ax.exe, or install_flash_player_ax(2).exe or some other number.

Q) Right-click on this file and select "Open"

R) A new Flash Installation Window will appear. This time, you do NOT need to quit firefox, as only Internet Explorer uses this version of Flash. If you have Internet Explorer or AOL open, close them.

S) In the new Flash Installation Window, check the "I have read and agree..." checkbox.

T) Press Install.

U) A blue bar should go from left to right, indicating your progress. When it says "Installation complete," click the DONE button.

V) Let's test to make sure it worked. Open up Firefox and go to this link:
http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
Make sure it says you have the latest version.

W) Open up Internet Explorer to this link:
http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
Make sure it says you have the latest version.

If either doesn't have the latest version, try again. If that doesn't work, you'll need to try uninstalling the old version of flash first:
See step #1 of:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html#main_ManualInstaller

CONGRATS, you are all done.

updating plugins. Sigh.

Firefox, Flash, and Java have been updated lately. Those should be updated on your computer too, if you haven't done that in the last two days:

For each install, you have to download the file, then find the file on your computer (right-click on the file in the Firefox downloads window and select open containing folder) and double-click the file to run and install it.

Check flash: http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
Install Flash: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/191/tn_19166.html#main_ManualInstaller
(this is the manual installer, a much simpler install, and you don't have to uninstall old versions unless they are really old - you do have to install flash twice, once for IE, once for all other browsers).

Check/install Java: http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp?detect=jre&try=1
(be sure to UNCHECK the Yahoo Toolbar in the installation process!)

Install Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Thanks for doing this as this helps prevent malware on your computer, and thus all the other computers!

Firefox has a "plugin check" which is also really useful:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/

I know, I know, I know... this takes time, but not as much as recovering from a virus trashing your machine and your data.

My hill to work

I ride up a pretty steep hill when I bike to work. Now I know how steep:

132 feet elevation gain in about a half mile.

Here's where to find the site that told me.

Waking up at ridiculous hours

What is it about waking up in the middle of the night to watch sports on the other side of the world? I love doing this, though I admit it's crazy. Quite often, you have to watch alone. There's no party atmosphere, no beer. Does tea just make sports more enjoyable? I don't think so.

I was pulling for Andy Murray today in the Australian Open 2010 Final, and though he lost in straight sets, I'm glad I got up at 4am to watch it. I even woke up before my alarm went off, fearing I'd wake my 19-month old and have a distraction to consider as I tried to watch. I had to tiptoe around the kitchen not to wake anyone up making tea, and watched some good tennis, enjoying chatting with folks similarly obsessed on a blog.

When you wake up in the middle of the night to watch a sporting event, you are doing it because you love the event. There's no "I'm just hanging out with friends for the party of it" like you have at other events. No one proposes playing Scrabble during a break in the action, much less during the action (this has happened during Super Bowls I've watched, and the board game actually materialized for those bored with the game).

I have many memories of waking up early - often the World Cup and sometimes the Australian Open. Glad to add another one today. It's especially good when you have to bike or walk through an eerily quiet town to watch the match, but today is too snowy for that.

I enjoyed the banter on a Craig Hickman's excellent tennis blog with other people crazy enough to wake up so early to watch this match.

Yes you can use Regular Expressions in MS-Access

I've heard it was not possible, but it is:

Private Function testRE()
  Dim re As Object, strText as String
  strText = ""the short brown fox, jumped over " _
    & "the Foxy lad of foxtown in Fox-ville."
  Set re = CreateObject("vbscript.regexp")
    Dim colMatches
    With re
        .Pattern = "\bfox\b"
        .IgnoreCase = True
        .Global = True
    End With
    'Debug.Assert False
    Dim myNum
    Set colMatches = re.Execute(strText)
    Debug.Print colMatches.Count & " matched"
    Dim inttemp As Integer
    For inttemp = 0 To colMatches.Count - 1
      Debug.Print ">" & colMatches(inttemp)
    Next inttemp
    
    Debug.Print re.Replace(strText, "Dog")
    
End Function

The results:

results:
2 matched
>fox
>Fox
the short brown Dog, jumped over the Foxy lad of Newtown foxtown in Dog-ville.

Hurricans are the bane to NJ Devils

For the fourth time this decade, the Carolina Hurricanes have made the playoffs. Every single time they've been there, they've played the New Jersey Devils.

Back in 2001, the Hurricanes lost to the Devils in the first round 4-2, including two shutouts by the Devils, but Carolina won the only game going to overtime.

Since then, it's been all Hurricanes:
2002: the Hurricanes won 4-2, where all four games won by Carolina were won by one goal, including both overtime games in the series.

2006: After the league took a break for a year and the Hurricanes took a break from the playoffs for a while, they once again encounter New Jersey, this time in the second round, and this time only needed 5 games to beat New Jersey, again winning the only game in overtime.

2009: Again, New Jersey in the first round, and this time New Jersey won an overtime game for the first time against Carolina in the playoffs this decade, game 3. But Carolina won in seven, winning one game in overtime and two games with a goal in the last minute. Game 4's goal came with 0.2 seconds left to win 4-3. Game 7's goal came less than a minute after the tying goal, with ~30 seconds left. Which is more dramatic? Gotta go with Game 7.