JJG Journal

A brief follow up on yesterday’s post about the impending rude awakening that the US is facing in Afghanistan:

The U.S. bumbling class erroneously defined Afghanistan primarily as a military mission. It is not. I was visiting Europe during the Summer of 2007 and learned that Europeans were shocked and saddened by the level of collateral casualties that the harsh military tactics of the US inflicts on everyday Afghans. Simultaneously many humanitarian efforts failed spectacularly...Continue Reading »

Yesterday’s Science Daily reported on the results of a recent extensive study that found a correlation between regular physical exercise and aging: Sedentary Lifestyles Associated with Accelerated Aging Process. For most people that exercise on a regular basis the results of this study are not surprising. Taking pills on a regular basis is good for the pharmaceutical industry but does little else.

Here’s my subjective rating of the relative importance of lifestyle choices that will...Continue Reading »

means that about half of the Democrats in the US Congress are in reality Republican covert operatives. These guys and girls usually act in lockstep with Republicans on most important and controversial legislative issues, thus making sure that the regressive policy agenda of the Republican Party wins the day. As long as this is the case progressive policy will remain a distant hope and our country will not live up to its potential. We need to kick out the Republican Operatives (e.g., Feinstein, Lieberman, Clinton, etc.) and replace them with progressive Patriots (e.g., Feingold, Lee, Wexler,...Continue Reading »

By taking our eyes off the ball and letting Afghanistan slip back into a state of de-facto chaos we have created a big problem to future US Administrations to deal with. Afghanistan has a good chance...Continue Reading »

At this time Congress is debating various amendments on the Cheney/Rockefeller FISA bill. Among others, these amendments include retroactive legal immunity for US Telecom companies that may have illegally given the US government private customer phone records. Retroactive immunity is a concept that is better now in totalitarian forms of Government and is of questionable constitutional validity. I am proud that one of the representatives of my current home state of New Jersey, Rep. Rush Holt (a fellow physicist) had the courage to make this statement today:

While working out last night at the local gym I had some comic relief presented to me on one of the facilities’ TV monitors: Mr. Bush’s final State on the Union address. The broadcast was closed captioned so I had to read the man’s words instead of listening to his funky southern accent. Funny nonetheless. Here’s my impression: I think we, the American people, should insist that Mr. Bush stay on for another term as president of the US. We should insist that he remain president as long as it takes to give him the opportunity to leave this great country in as good a state...Continue Reading »

Question: How many American Troops are currently deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Answer: The U.S. troop level in Afghanistan was just increased by 3,200 so that now a...Continue Reading »

Sorry,...Continue Reading »

Well, that’s the way it goes. My predictions on the outcome of yesterday’s NH Primaries were, shall we say, less than accurate.  Bummer. Life goes on. Obama still has the lead when it comes to the number of Democratic Delegates so far allocated. He’s got 25 (16 from IA and 9 from NH), Hillary’s got 24 (15 from IA and 9 from NH), but these numbers do not mean much. Turns out that this thing is chaotic and unpredictable. I thought that the ...Continue Reading »

It’s the morning of the NH Primary elections and some voting booths in that state have opened just after midnight this morning. Some towns like this one already closed  their polling stations an...Continue Reading »