Does this surprise anyone??

Scotsman has an article about Joseph Mengele and how new letters and diaries show he was unrepentant till the end. He was a true believer in the Nazi cause until his death in 1979.

If you are not aware of who Joseph Mengele is, please Google his name, but I wouldn't recommend doing it over lunch, you might lose your appetite.

After the war, he escaped justice by fleeing to South America and ended up in Brazil. Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay do need to look at their pasts and answer to the world why they sheltered Mengele and his ilk for so many decades after the war. Hiding these people makes these countries accomplices in the crimes these men committed.

Hybrids

I saw an entry by Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy about Hybrid cars and how they are not all they are claimed to be. Kerr said he did not know about Bob Elton, the author, or the website, but that it could be plausible. It could be but I do disagree.

In December 2003, I put an order in for my Toyota Prius and took delivery of it in late June 2004. Having driven it for almost 5 months now, I would like to make some comments about my car and some of the comments made against hybrids.

1. The gas mileage people actually get isn't as good as the EPA mileage.
My answer, no kidding. I have read about ANY car where the general public get the same mileage as the EPA. That means all the SUV's that have an EPA of 18 or 20 MPG are really getting something like 10 to 15 MPG.

So what type of mileage can a hybrid get? Well it depends on the driver. Another Prius owner I know has a (self admitted) heavy foot and only gets 28 - 30 MPG in the city. Think about that for a moment. By driving hard, quick acceleration, hard stops etc. he is able to get better mileage then many cars EPA mileage.

For me, I have a lighter foot and so I normally get 48 to 50 MPG in city driving. This latest tank of gas isn't doing as well and I'm only averaging 46 MPG, time to check tires or something. No, I'm not getting the EPA city driving of 60 MPG but I am definitely not complaining about the mileage I'm getting.

Oh yeah, for the record, I use my AC, radio, navigation system which increases my energy usage. If I didn't use them, my mileage would most likely increase.

2. Hybrid gasoline engines don't have any power or pickup.
Well, compared to a sports car that is true. Compared to our other car, a 98 Toyota Corolla or our previous car a 94 Nissan Altima, the Hybrid has plenty of acceleration and power.

No hybrid will win off the line or in the quarter mile stretch. If its horse power you want, buy a corvette or 300Z or something like that.

I've taken the car on some longer road trips and it can keep up with the traffic on the interstate without trouble, and actually has more power climbing some of the passes that one must go through to get out of the Southern California area.

So from my personal experience, the Prius has as much power with its gasoline engine as most other 4 cylinder engine cars.

3. If one would drive without the AC or better yet walk, one wouldn't need to buy a Hybrid to help the environment.

Well, since I live to far to walk to work that isn't an option. As for turning off the AC, well in city driving that doesn't help much. Before we got the Prius, I was driving the 98 Corolla to work. In the city, I was getting 23 to 25 MPG, no air conditioning and trying to get the best mileage I could. I'm now getting twice the mileage by driving the Prius. My wife is now driving the Corolla and has to drive the freeways to get to her work. The Corolla gets 36 MPG on the highway, much better then the 28 the Altima was getting when we got rid of it.

So by getting a Prius, I've doubled my MPG, or to look at it another way, I've cut my gasoline consumption in half. My wife has cut her gasoline consumption by 22%. Those type of savings don't come from turning off the air conditioning.

As to the disposals of the batteries, they will have to be recycled and not put into the landfill when they need to be replaced. But since these are not lead acid but rather Nickel-Metal Hydride they are not as dangerous and easier to recycle.

So while Hybrids are not the perfect vehicle, they will not by themselves end the US dependence on oil imports and they will not end air pollution, they are a step in the right direction.

As gasoline prices stay over $2.00 a gallon, more and more people will be interested in hybrids. As more and more people become interested and want to purchase them, manufactures will increase production to eliminate the waiting time and it will reduce the premium that dealers are currently able to charge for the cars.

The reason I ordered one a year ago is the same reason I still like the car today. The technology is neat, the car is a lot of fun to drive and I don't have to visit the pump as often as before. I purchased it because of the technology, everything else is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned.

The election - last item

There are two articles about the elections which I think are useful to read.

The first is by Tish Durkin at The New York Observer. As a Kerry supporter she has some wise words for Democrats to win the next election. Its well written and worth reading.

The second article is an open letter to Maureen Dowd, a columnist at the NY Times from J. Matt Barber at Canada Free Press. He tries to help Dowd understand why the red States voted the way they did. Its humorous and well written.

Yesterday I was driving by Home Depot and saw the petition gathers ALREADY at work. I mean the election has only been over for TWO WEEKS and people are already working on the next election. A humble plea . . . . . can't the political battles wait until January? Lets take a short break so we can concentrate on more important things for a few months.

The election

Yes the election is over but I do have one more thing to say about it and two articles to link to it.

Yesterday, Sunday, my Pastor asked the congregation what we are thankful for. One person said he was thankful for the election, that we went through a "spirited" election cycle (if you read American history you will see this was not a dirty or vindictive campaign compared to the 1800's) and the election was peaceful. As I thought about that, I had to agree with him. We have just come through an election and there were not riots in the cities, people were not informed they or their family would be killed or imprisoned if they did not vote a certain way, the party that lost has not been rounded up and herded off to prison or the firing line and there are no creditable allegations of wide scale fraud.

Was the election perfect? Of course not. Some who were registered were not allowed to vote because their registration was lost or not processed properly. In a few cases this was done deliberately, in most it was due to human error. Some people claim they were intimidated from voting because poll monitors rolled their eyes or the voter might be asked to provide identification. In all honesty, those people need to grow up and read what intimidation is. Intimidation is where if you vote, you or your family will be harmed by others who don't want you to vote. Asking John Doe to produce a drivers license or an ID card or a voter registration card isn't too much to ask I personally think. After all we didn't have the Taliban threaten to kill all the women who voted or threaten to attack polling stations. We didn't have the rebels in El Salvador (1984) threaten to kill anyone who dared to vote in the country (over 80% of the people voted in that election inspite of the threats). And we didn't have employers or political operatives watching us AS WE VOTED to see who we voted for (see Austria in 1938 when the Nazi's had an "election to ratify the union between Germany and Austria).

So the election was a success, and even if your candidate didn't not win, Bush is still your President. Well, that is as long as your a US Citizen he is. One does not have to agree with the President and many can and will work against his plans, that is not only legal but is desirable in a democracy. A healthy debate will help us find the best answers to our questions and problems.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day. The original name of the holiday was Armistice Day. To commemorate the ending of World War 1. On the eleventh month, the eleventh day, the eleventh hour (11 am) and the eleventh minute, the guns on the Western Front fell silent to end the War.

It was not the War to end all Wars, as Europe went back to war only 21 years later, just enough time for a new generation to come of age, ready to be killed in an even more bloody war.

I'm not sure of when they changed the name of the holiday from Armistice Day to Veterans Day, but believe it was after World War 2. It was a good move for today many, if not most, people are ignorant of the day and its origin. Originally it was a day to celebrate our victory in war. Now its a day to honor all our veterans and to thank them for protecting us and our freedoms. For without them and their service, our Constitution would only be an interesting piece of paper.

Thank a veteran and thank someone still on active duty today for they will be veterans one day and are still protecting us and our freedoms.

The New York Post has an editorial which is worth reading. They say it better then I could but I wanted to write my own anyway.

We've been sold

We just got the press release today that my company has agreed to be acquired by a UK Telecom company.

So today we got the management announcement (Bloomberg broke the story on Friday) and the usual promise that no jobs will be lost due to the transaction.

My company's firewall is also blocking my IM so I won't be on there too much anymore.

Guess that means I'll have to be blogging more and it won't all be politics. No, I won't treat this place as a Xanga site but it will be more personable then a new link blog like I was primarily doing before.

French Diplomacy

Way to win friends and influence people, Chirac! Dude decides that he wants to dis the Iraqi PM and visit an ailing Arafat, instead.

Awesome. Turn your back on an elected leader to hug the leader of a terrorist organization.

The concession speech

This is probably the worst thing a politician has to do in an election and it is also one of the most important things a politician has to do.

One of the reasons to the stability of the US has been the concession speech by the politician that loses the election. Most elections for president in the US have been close over the years. I’m not talking about electoral college close, but popular vote close. The 1944, 1948, 1952, 1960, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 were only separated by 3.5 million or less votes. Actually not counting the 2004 election, the number of votes separating the winner and loser drops to 2.5 million or less.

When one thinks about how many people voted in an election, (120 million in 2004 for example), 3.5 million is not a lot of votes for the victor to win by. What if Kerry said “man the barricades” instead of “Bush won” in his speech? Well today we’d be looking at a civil war of words and some hot heads would try to make it a civil war in deeds.

The concession speech where the candidate that looses the election says he lost it and it was not because of fraud does a lot to cool the passions people put into elections and helps to channel their energy and frustration into a productive mode rather then destructive mode. You can bet the Democratic Party is already thinking of 2008 and how to win back the Presidency.

If Kerry had won, this entry would have Kerry and Bush trade places and replace Democratic with Republican and that’s it.

When I was in college, one of my Political Science Professors talked about the importance of the concession speech. Back in 1952 he was a young idealistic democratic campaign worker and was crushed when Stevenson lost to Eisenhower. He was so convinced that Stevenson should have won and was so anti-Ike that he was (he said) ready to man the barricades. And there were other folks who were willing to join him. Then Stevenson came on the air and said Ike won and he lost. It took the steam out of my professors anger and let him think again.

I do not agree with Al Gore on most political issues, and I do not think he did his reputation any service on how he conducted himself after the 2000 election. But he did earn my gratitude when he conceded the election in December.

I do not agree with John Kerry on most political issues, but I have more respect for him now then I did before the election (due to the things he said or his people said) because instead of saying “man the barricades” he said “Bush won”, even though it hurt like crazy to say it. It shows he is a man who loves his country more then his ambition.

Its over - now what to write about?

Hmm, how do I as a Political Science major manage to take a break from blogging in the final 3 weeks or so of a Presidential campaign in a nation that is closely divided?

I did have opinions on the race and on the propositions in California, but never posted them.

I could come up with a number of excuses, but think the truth is I just got burned out too early. By Tuesday night, I wanted Bush to win, but was getting closer to the point where I wanted it to be over more then Bush winning.

Now the election is over and we can move on.

Time to Move On. . .

and concede, Sen. Kerry. Ohio is virtually a done deal. I'm heartened that the American public turned out in greater numbers than ever before to vote. We need that kind of enthusiasm. However, it would be good to be as gracious in victory as defeat.

Vote Dem or Die

Osama wants you to vote Democrat.

Now THAT'S a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one. Kerry is right, he does have the support of foreign nations.