That’s some campaign rally. Obama in Oregon:
McSame Old Thing
McCain vows to name more ‘Alitos’ and ‘Robertses’
WASHINGTON
Show Me the Legislation!
I keep out of the primary fights for the most part. At this point I could not be more of a Yellow Dog Democrat
Economic Inequality
It’s not just in the U.S., and it’s worse than you think. Read this Washington Post article on the superrich of the world. They’re not like you and me.
Today, the world’s more than 1,100 billionaires have a net worth that’s roughly double that of the bottom 2.5 billion people on the planet. The richest 10 percent of adults worldwide own 85 percent of global wealth, while the poorest half only barely one percent. The world’s almost 10 million millionaires have seen their wealth double to nearly $37 trillion over the past 10 years.
Codpiece Day
It’s a sad occasion really, thinking back on the last five years of death, destruction, waste, incompetence and media collusion.
Yes, that’s quite a package.
McCain and Bush – Out of Touch
McCain’s Endless War
Random Friday
Numbers, numbers
I was curious about the voting totals for Clinton and Obama, since Clinton has been declaring that she’s won the most votes cast so far. So I once again ran to the USA Today Election Results page, and tossed a bunch of things in my spreadsheet.
It really is remarkable how close these two candidates are. I’m going to lay out the percentages to each candidate below, along with the “other” percentage. There’s something interesting here.
| Clinton | Obama | Other | |
| Total w/o FL or MI | 47.4 | 49.2 | 3.4 |
| Total w/FL only | 47.5 | 48.3 | 4.2 |
| Total w/FL & MI | 47.7 | 47.3 | 5.0 |
I didn’t muck around with leaving out caucuses or any of that silly stuff the Clinton campaign is doing. Obama leads in the “legal” count, which excludes FL and MI. Obama leads with FL in, where at least his name was on the ballot. Only when you add in MI as well, where Clinton was the only name on the ballot, does she eke out a slight lead.
In all cases the “Other” vote is larger than the difference between the candidates’ vote totals. And as you add in the two “extra-legal” states, the “Other” vote gets larger and larger, especially when it comes to adding in MI, of course, which went nearly 45% “Undecided”.
If you compare the “Other” vote, which includes undecideds, to the difference in vote totals between the two candidates, you find that in the first, legal case, there are still almost twice as many “Other” votes as the difference in vote totals between the two candidates. Adding in FL, it becomes almost six times as many “Other” votes, as the difference between the vote totals. And by adding in MI, you finally get the “Other” count to nearly 15 times the difference between the two candidates’ vote totals.
I personally think the only vote total that matters is the legal vote total under the party rules that all candidates agreed to. I know this sucks, especially for Florida, but there it is. Once you start adding in the two states that voted outside the rules, the level of uncertainty rises to a point where Hillary’s claims of being ahead in the popular vote just doesn’t hold water.
Food Shortages?
Some disturbing stories:
Costco CEO: demand rises for rice, flour
Costco Wholesale Corp, the No. 1 warehouse club operator, has seen increased demand for items like rice and flour as customers, worried about global food shortages, stock up, its chief executive said in an interview on Tuesday.
James Sinegal, the CEO, told Reuters the retailer had seen a spike in demand in the past week and a half, and some stores, including locations in California’s Bay Area, had limited quantities.
“There’s been an increase in purchasing, but we think it’s manageable. At the moment, we think we have it relatively under control,” he said….
“Relatively” under control. That’s good to know. How about this?
Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club limits rice purchases
Sam’s Club warehouse division said on Wednesday it is limiting sales of several types of rice, the latest sign that fears of a rice shortage are rippling around the world.
Sam’s Club, the No. 2 U.S. warehouse club operator, said it is limiting sales of Jasmine, Basmati and long grain white rice “due to recent supply and demand trends.”…
Hmmm…. But wait, there’s more…
Bakers feeling pinch of short supplies
Already feeling the pinch from soaring wheat and flour prices, U.S. bakers are now beginning to experience some supply shortages.
Rye flour stocks have been depleted in the United States, and by June or July there will be no more U.S. rye flour to purchase…
That’s in the U.S., where we aren’t used to shortages of this kind but where most of us can manage, even with short stocks and rising prices. In other, less wealthy places around the globe, there are food riots happening now, some of them bloody.
…”A wave of food-price inflation is moving through the world, leaving riots and shaken governments in its wake,” says the Economist.
Demonstrations over the prices of rice are occurring all over Asia and food riots in Haiti claimed the lives of six people earlier this week….
Some of it driven by drought…
A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice
…The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia