More random thoughts

--I recently heard on NPR about a study done in Indiana, where part of the state observed Daylight Saving Time and part didn't. Turns out more energy was consumed in the part of the state where DST was in effect. So claims of DST saving energy are bogus. A book a few years ago (which I believe I have referenced before) stated that the research shows people drive more during the later daylight hours, thus DST costs more energy than it saves. Now the Indiana study confirms it. Turning up the thermostat an hour earlier when it's colder and keeping the air conditioner turned cooler during a later evening hour before turning it up at bedtime burns more electricity than would be used otherwise. I've never really liked DST, anyway, even though it does give me another hour to drive with the top down.

--Hillary Clinton lost my vote for good the other day. I heard her audio clip when she said, in effect, that John McCain was more prepared to be Commander-in-Chief than Barak Obama is. First, she falls into the Republican trap of calling the C-in-C role of the President the most important role, contrary to the Constitution's portrayal of that office. Then, she gives the Republicans ammunition to use against the eventual Democratic nominee in the fall. Because of that I will not vote for her in the primary, and if she wins the nomination, I will vote for a third-party candidate in November.

--I have looked at the situation, and I believe that Obama is the closest thing we have available to the President we need in these times. We need someone with the compassion of Abraham Lincoln, with the passion for the environment and trust-busting of Theodore Roosevelt, with the vision and ambition to get things done of a Franklin D. Roosevelt, the scrappy tenacity of a Harry Truman, and the vision to inspire people of a John F. Kennedy. Nobody has all that, but of all the candidates left, Barak Obama comes closest. He is talking about reaching out across the aisle (as opposed to the triangulation of the Clintons) and about inspiring hope in the population. Now, if he will appoint John Edwards as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and others of equal caliber to other important posts, we will have a good eight years ahead of us.

Enough for now. Any questions?