Government

Andrew Hyde has a fun post and some pictures up at Colorado Caucus where he describes his experience last night.

Amy forwarded another 3QuarksDaily article titled Science Debate 2008, and Krauss on Science and the Presidential Campaign . Did you know that according to a 2006 National Science Foundation Study, 25% of Americans did not know that the earth goes around the sun? I had to stop and read that twice. I’m not talking about the age old “evolution vs. creationism” discussion that eventually devolves into a polarizing (and in my mind irrational) religious debate. I’m not talking about global climate change. I’m talking about basic science. How do plants grow? How do planes fly? What’s the difference between ice, water, and steam? What is the relationship between the earth and the sun? ...

Yesterday was a great “very little computer” day that resulted in me reading three books (one great, one 50% great, and one poor that turned into a skimmer.) More on these later. I read two things in FeedDemon this morning that spun my head around better than the Sunday morning TV political talk shows could. First was another post from Jared Polis chronicling his trip to Iraq. This was was titled Inside a Private Mercenary Compound in Iraq and is better and more authentic than virtually everything you see in the NY Times about life in Iraq. ...

Jared Polis is continuing to blog his trip to Iraq. His post – Arrival in Baghdad – was better than most stuff I see in TV (ok – I’m setting a low bar here.) He also did a live Q&A on Colorado Confidential that included a flamer under the handle “IraqWarVeteran” (created on 11/21/07 – apparently just for the live blogging event.) I’m proud of my friend Jared for making the trip and being open about his goals. I personally have no interest in going to Baghdad so I’m happy to live vicariously through someone like Jared, especially when I get to reflect about it quietly on Thanksgiving morning.

I was at a meeting with the other two TechStars founders yesterday (David Cohen and David Brown) to discuss some new and exciting things around TechStars 2008. Jared wasn’t there and in a sudden burst of amazing observation skills, I asked “where’s Jared?” Both David’s chimed in an said “he’s in Iraq.” I had one of those moments where you pause and process the words to try to make meaning of them. Then I remembered that Jared was going to Iraq for Thanksgiving to support the United Way’s efforts to assist in the development of nonprofit and humanitarian organizations. He’s blogging his trip and starts with a thought provoking post titled My Arrival in Amman, Jordan. ...

The last time I took a Select A Candidate Quiz, I ended up supporting Dennis Kucinch. I got a note from Ian Manheimer, the founder of Glassbooth.org, who suggested I take his Election 2008 quiz. I thought his quiz was a little more interesting. This time around I support Mike Gravel . A little digging informed me that he’s a democrat from Alaska (go figure) who was a Senator from 1969 to 1981. I also like Joseph Biden and Bill Richardson. ...

Amy started out my Sunday morning with the Select A Candidate Quiz from Minnesota Public Radio. I’ll leave it to her to decide whether or not to say who she selected (but it was a surprise to me). So – I figured I’d take it also. Given that I don’t know who Dennis Kucinich is, I was perplexed by how strongly I matched him. Now that I’ve read his story, I get it. My top five were Kucinich, Richardson, Gravel, Dodd, and Edwards. Clinton and Obama were tied for #6 – I disagree with them on Iraq, Immigration, Social Security, Energy, and the Death Penalty. It’s no surprise to me that the Indians (I mean Romney, McCain, Gilmore, Huckabee, and Brownback) are in the cellar. ...

Heresy makes you think. Amy sent me an essay about heresy written by the great physicist and thinker Freeman Dyson titled Heretical Thoughts About Science and Society*.* Following is the setup to what is a phenomenal essay. “The main subject of this piece is the problem of climate change. This is a contentious subject, involving politics and economics as well as science. The science is inextricably mixed up with politics. Everyone agrees that the climate is changing, but there are violently diverging opinions about the causes of change, about the consequences of change, and about possible remedies. I am promoting a heretical opinion, the first of three heresies that I will discuss in this piece. ...

It was inevitable that, with the endless crush of the upcoming elections, I’d start writing the occasional post on politics. I’ve decided to ignore the primary elections for the presidential elections, but there are some local Colorado candidates that I am putting some effort for in the primaries. One of them is my long time friend Jared Polis . Jared was one of the first people that I met when I moved to Colorado (I think we met in early 1996 via my first business partner Dave Jilk.) We’ve been involved in a number of things together, including a company called Net.Capitol, TechStars , Young Entrepreneurs Organization, and a bunch of non-profit stuff. Jared has had remarkable entrepreneurial success at both BlueMountainArts.com (acquired by Excite@Home ) and Provide Commerce (IPO, then acquired by Liberty Media.) ...

My dad has gotten involved in a Dirty Coal plant issue in Texas . The environmental issues are directly linked to the health care issues and – as usual – he’s direct, articulate, and deeply engaging about the issue. Very cool Dad! I knew you’d eventually become an environmental activist.