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Listed below are comments made by southernrockies between Friday, 24th October 2008 and Friday, 27th February 2009.

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Obama's extravagant claims 6:20pm on 27 Feb 2009 #39 Interestedforeigner

Joseph Conrad, yes indeed Britain gave him a home and he became a master of the English language, his 6th or 7th I believe.

My wife and I cringed at the "first car" reference and then put it aside and listened to the rest of the speech...very refreshing after the previous 8 years.

As for the rest of the comments I stand with #48 kscurmudgeon and #59 ikamaskeip. Their perspectives and experiences reflect mine perfectly right down to the mugging of ikamaskeip's wife. In my example, it was my daughter who was the victim, in the city of San Francisco. And the rescuer of her purse, including her passport, credit cards, etc.? An Arab Muslim immigrant. So much for generalizations and stereotypes.

Be of good cheer...
Evolution vs creationism 9:29pm on 16 Feb 2009 Hi Justin,
In contrast to your experience in Utah, Darwin Day was filled with well-attended festivities here in New Mexico. Based on the past third of a century teaching evolution at a state university (to over 10,000 students), I offer the following:

While a significant proportion of my students have been fundamentalist Christians, I found that I encountered no hostility or resistance when teaching them modern evolutionary biology as long as I communicated clearly what science is and is not. I explain that the most basic aspect of science is that it is way of constructing a predictive framework and an understanding of the MATERIAL world. Therefore, what evolutionary biology provides is a material explanation for the origins and diversity of life. Meanwhile, non-material explanations, and nearly every culture that we know of has proposed one, grow out of religious belief. My job, I tell them, is to provide the very best introduction to this materialistic explanation of the origins and diversification of life, including the nature and extent of the evidence, especially where the evidence is strongest and where it is weakest. Building such a context at the beginning my course seemed to eliminate hostility that I had encountered previously. (I have to admit that it's been a relief to teach courses in Europe, where I have not had to make such accommodations and have not had to worry about evolutionary theory offending anyone.)

The second point I'd like to make is that while evolutionary theory remains contentious in parts of our population, the extent of that contention has declined substantially over the past 50 years or so, since I first became aware of the controversy in American society. It seems that, in fact, education, both formal and informal is changing the population. It appears that we are becoming, dare I say, more enlightened, despite the organized efforts by some segments of our population to prevent it.
Hispanics swing 06:15am on 14 Nov 2008 Regardless of what's been asserted here in recent posts, there is no consensus as to ethnic/linguistic/cultural terminology here in New Mexico or anywhere else in western North America. I might add that this controversy has been going on for many decades. As a consequence, an ethnic studies department at the state's flagship university considered calling one department the "Department of Hispano/Hispana, Chicano/Chicana, Latino/Latina, Mexicano/Mexicana Studies". Everyone of these labels had its aficionados/aficionadas all of whom were prepared to crucify anyone, including the sympathetic, Hispano/Chicano/Latino/Mexicano chair of the department, daring to call them by one of the alternative terms. The result was the pluralistic label. The battles continued for a couple of years and when the dust settled the department was labeled the "Department of Chicano Hispano Mexicano Studies". The only thing that is certain is that the battles will continue, all to no avail. As we learned, or should have learned, long ago, "A rose by any other name..."
Hispanics swing 05:52am on 14 Nov 2008 #7 eightypercent

You've hit the nail on the head. Dare I say, amen brother...
Stretching America 5:21pm on 05 Nov 2008 Justin,

Despite protestations to the contrary, you see Obama clearly. He is in fact centrist, and yes, Midwestern in outlook. If you listened to his victory speech in Chicago, you heard him send clear signals that he intends his administration to form alliances with individuals from both major political parties, including John McCain and his supporters. Obama is far too intelligent to marginalize his chances of solving the major problems facing this nation by pursuing an extremist agenda. He knows quite well that we cannot solve those problems by excluding major portions of the population. It will be interesting to observe how he creates and sustains these alliances. Expect him to have some major confrontations with members of his own political party.

Last night was victory for intelligence, reason, compassion, generosity, and balance! From our high elevation island of blue here in the southern Rockies, the view to the future looks bright indeed.
Are they bluffing? 01:19am on 28 Oct 2008 Justin,

Are they bluffing? No, I think this sounds more like "whistling in the dark." Otherwise, as you point out, we would see a shift in the numerous polls.
Love and untogetherness 05:13am on 26 Oct 2008 My wife and I just got back from hearing Obama speak at an evening rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico. An estimated 35,000 voters were there (probably an underestimate). Some had been waiting in line for 12 hours to hear Obama speak.

McCain also held a rally in Albuquerque today. The crowd was estimated at 1,500, which appeared to be a gross overestimate (800?), since the small venue where it was held has a much smaller capacity.

There were also qualitative differences between the two crowds. The Obama crowd was well attended by parents with small children in tow, while the McCain crowd had no small children in sight. Family values anyone?

Hmmm...You can fool some of the people some of the time but...
Why poll numbers vary 03:22am on 25 Oct 2008 #363 british-ish

"Can't be a coincidence either that they all start appearing after midnight (GMT: that's the only real time) can it?"

No coincidence at all, at least since the prime meridian moved from Paris to Greenwich. We should recall that we are on a wanning moon which will be complete on Oct 28, at the new moon. New moons are just as powerful in their gravitational effects as full moons, only darker, much darker.

I just had a few beers with a couple of expat friends, one from York, the other from Glasgow, spanning the Borders, they agree Justin, cut off posting until after All Hallows Eve before it is too late:-)
Why poll numbers vary 11:44pm on 24 Oct 2008 Hey Justin,

Reading through these posts has convinced me that you might consider declaring a moratorium on contributions until after Halloween. Maybe by then the community will be able to manage a bit more rationality. Until then, I fear that your blogs will be haunted by every sort of strange, rabid creature :-)
Uninsured 8:46pm on 24 Oct 2008 #240 jacksforge

"Where do you get your stats from?"

I'm not sure where lochraven got the statistic but here is how anyone can arrive at the same estimate.

The estimate of approximately 16% uninsured results from what is apparently the current consensus estimate of 47 million uninsured in the USA.

47million/300million x 100 = 15.67%

Still the point remains significant. This is far too many people (one in six) without health insurance, where health care costs are the highest in the world.

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