Brock Rhodes

Ingrid

2012-02-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

A Wednesday has never meant anything to me at all. It’s a day, “Hump Day,” that’s notorious for being at the apex of the pain in the ass of this poorly constructed gameshow we call life; wasting time, 40 hours or more a week, for the right to live, or recover the others when you’re not forced to sleep.

I can’t get this Wednesday off of my mind. In the midst of working, working on a Vanadium paper for Inorganic Lab 616 in the Chemistry Library in McKinley, a Chinese friend of mine who I had seen for most of the day returned and interrupted me to tell me that Ingrid had died a few moments ago. She was at the hospital. I just missed her.

My world didn’t stop. I didn’t cry. Even by now, too early on the Monday morning after, I have yet to shed a tear. I’ve known many people who are now dead, many who are close to me. I’ve never been inconsolable but that moment on Wednesday lingers with Ingrid’s very noticeable absence.

I met Ingrid on the first day I moved into my room in the dorms a year-and-a-half ago. I was in the study room, and she was walking by outside the window. When she saw me, in a room that was filled to capacity, she turned around to walk through the door directly to me at the table and decided to talk to me about what I think was chemistry, since I had a chemistry book out. She was a 19-year-old, cute, aggressive girl from Niger who was incredibly difficult for me, a small-town Kansas boy, to understand her words. Actually, she was 15 when I first met her, and from Cameroon. She changed her story at one point, who knows why, and I bought it because I didn’t believe she was only 15 anyway. She told me her dad was a physics teacher, and left after she made me promise her that I would help her with chemistry, while assuring me that she didn’t need it.

Very soon I came to realize our rooms shared a hallway. She was always outside, always around, to make fun of me, boss me around, and be a general pain in the ass. She made me laugh, and I could see that she possessed a genuine goodness, a solid work ethic, and a desire to grow. I saw her around almost every day. She’d come over, and do chemistry, ask me ridiculous unrelated questions, complain about everything about me, and harass my roommates. Every time she saw me with a girl she’d come up and ask, slyly very unsly, “Is she your girlfriend?” She became a favorite of mine.

It was entirely through her intervention that I was unable to drink enough rum before the first anti-science meeting on campus to be a belligerent, violent asshole. I realize now, too, that her constant complaining, criticizing, of everything I said, did, or possessed didn’t just have entertainment value. I talked her out of being Pre-Med, and got her to major in Biochemistry. I spoke very highly of a professor in the Biology department that she promptly took a class from and volunteered for. I helped her for hours on end, odd hours, though she did handle most of it herself, I helped her all that I could. She was trying to help me because I was helping her.

She’d complain all the time, and not just about me. She’d complain about ‘stupid Americans’ all the time, especially during late night fire alarms when we were forced to evacuate as zombies. She’d complain a lot about the people around her, though not out of snobbery, just the disappointing realization that she was a better person than those in her company. I’ve always taken issue with people speaking better of the dead than they deserve, that it’s disrespectful. But I assure you, she was right.

Ingrid is a doll, and I love her like a sister. She worked hard, and came all the way from Africa to our humble Midwestern university. She made no victims, including herself. She was strong and charming. I felt sorry for her because she is better than the vast majority of women, but never seemed to be treated as such. Her hyperactive behavior and muscular frame made her come across like a Tomboy, which she certainly is not. The men that she liked, who I had a chance to x-ray, seemed to either treat her like a little brother or like she was disposable. I didn’t like this at all, but I knew that Ingrid wouldn’t settle until she was happy. I, the faithless, have faith in her because she gave me no other choice.

I’ve never been so geographically intertwined with someone I was so close to, and loved, who died. I’ve never mourned, ever. I’ve always avoided funerals because I don’t know how to mourn, and I don’t want to trouble the grieving. But now with this proximity the hideousness of the fact that someone as beautiful as Ingrid can be, and is, gone, deleted as readily, as simply as any of these words can be with the push of a button. And, while I haven’t cried, I’m pissed off that the problem of Ingrid’s absence, a problem because there is one less Ingrid, will never have a solution. I don’t like it, and I know she didn’t ask for it.

The last few times I saw her she hassled me for not seeing her sing in a gospel choir. I tried to explain to her that it wasn’t her, it was the gospel. Although our conversations had gotten much less incoherent from experience, I know that she didn’t understand.

But, last week, after a few times she had seen me on the scooter I’ve been restricted to for days of long walks, she saw me in the lobby of the dorms and begged me to let her take it for a spin. I said, “Okay, this is forward and this is backwards,” and I got off, making sure to turn the power all the way down as clandestinely as I could. She scooted forward a little bit, backwards a little bit and said, “This is fun, how do you make it go faster?!” There was a crowd around so I had to tell her that it’s the little nob on the top. She promptly turned it all the way up and zipped around in a tiny filled room turning circles through whatever path dodging bystanders could make for her while she laughed and screamed, “This is fun! I wish I was disabled!” The crowd looked mortified for my sake, with no clue how amused I was by the whole mess. When things looked like they were about to get ugly I told her to get off, so she did, and she flopped around saying, “I’m disabled! Get me one of those!” The housing lady at the front desk scolded her for her ‘behavior.’ I tried to look as sad as I could to get Ingrid in as much of that silly trouble as possible as I scooted onto the elevator to my room.

Righteously silly; mean and caring; strong and vulnerable; beautiful, casual, and professional; missed and loved. Those words do no justice to Ingrid. I miss her.

Mismeasure of Man (1981) by Stephen Jay Gould

2012-02-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

The Mismeasure of Man (1981) by the legendary Harvard biologist Stephen Jay Gould should be required reading for anyone considering to be a scientist. Though everyone would benefit a great deal from reading it.

While at times (a lot of times actually) the book is sad and stirs up harsh emotions against those who made mistakes (both intentional and unintentional) for their own political agenda or plain, disgusting bigotry. It also shows how these mistakes have had broad and lingering effects in both science and society, including in the legal system, the military, and in education. Overall, though, this book is hopeful and in a way a tribute to the strength of scientific methodology in spite of the actions of scientists.

The book focuses on the history of the science and the effects of biological determinism. This biological determinism is used in the sense that certain human races are 'more highly evolved' than other races. The general conclusion of it is that whites are the apex of man and blacks are barely human, with different shades of skin color and biological status in between. It should be noted that biological determinism is by no means a product of evolutionary theory and has creationist roots predating Darwin’s work. The whole hideous phenomenon was not just some cult of racist scientists isolated some time in the past.

That is the book’s vehicle, but it’s not its theme – the theme is huge. While there are charlatans and there are forgers and liars, any scientist’s work can be victimized by the hand of his or her own bias, intentional or not. And while the possibilities, if not the likelyhood, of bias bastardizing science into something that negatively affects the lives of millions of people, scientific methodology can come to the rescue through its use in reexamination. Science always gives us a shot at objectivity as long as we have the data and we strive for it, because scientific methodology has developed, and continues to develop, to eliminate human bias and insure objectivity. We’ll always have hope because we’re trying to grow, and the book shows that.

The Mismeasure of Man is a must read for those wanting to understand science, what it is, and that’s on top of its very important subject material that speaks about something that has affected millions of lives and the course of human history signficantly. I scored the book for a dollar in a set with The Panda’s Thumb (1980), another SJ Gould book, at a garage sale. It was the best dollar I’ve ever spent, because Gould used it to teach me a lot about science, and about people who are scientists. It's available at your local library.

Don’t Plant Your Elephant Ears Upside Down

2012-02-02T21:22:00.000-08:00

Just like pretty much every day, recently my contagious enthusiasm for indoor plants infected a dear friend of mine. Why indoor plants? Well, let me tell you.

We as humans are filthy animals, and we live in disgusting little boxes that have little to no airflow where we constantly bath ourselves in the toxic molecules we surround ourselves with by our modern way of life. Indoor plants can clean things up a bit and make our homes healthier by collecting and metabolizing these chemicals & as a result cleaning the air.

I became curious about studies on the effectiveness of different plant species at cleaning the air, and I was delighted to come across NASA studies. NASA has a heavy interest in the effectiveness of plants at recycling air for use in long space flights, and number 2 on the list of most effective is the Elephant Ear (Philodendron domesticum). In fact the top 2 of the list of 15, and 3 of 15 overall, are from the philodendron genus, which are characterized by their relatively large leaves that the studies show suck up unwanted chemicals during respiration.

Elephant Ear corms (what normal people call Elephant Ear seeds or Elephant Ear bulbs) are readily available in Kansas for about $4 a piece, so my friend and I ventured out to get ours. Corms are interesting things. They differ from bulbs because they’re made up of stems (and not leaves like bulbs are), function to protect the plant during dormancy periods like winter, and have two noticeably different sides. One side is made up of concentric circles, and the other side is rough and bumpy. I did my damndest to illustrate this difference in the picture (above) with the red drawing in the lower right hand corner of the picture of my Elephant Ear corm. The concentric circles are on the left, and the bloblike thing I drew to represent the bumpy side to the right of it. The sides on the picture correspond to the sides on the corm in the picture, and I turned the drawing a bit to make it match the picture better.

It had been a few years since I planted an Elephant Ear, so out of fear of planting it upside down, wasting $4, and the life of a useful plant that had done nothing bad to me, I asked the clerks which end was up. They didn’t know what I was talking about (that's what you get when you don't shop local). I called my Dad, he said, “Hell, I don’t remember.” I looked on the internet, and found nothing conclusive, but I did find an interesting suggestion. Plant the corm on its side and let nature figure it out.

By default, nature knows everything we don’t, so I did what I could to get it to tell me what’s up. The result is the picture at the top. That naughty looking pink thing is a stem, and what it’s growing out of is the top. That looks like a horrible place for it to grow out of if you’re looking for clarity on which end of the corm is up, but it is surely growing from the concentric circle side, and hair-like roots are growing from the other side. So the right side of the picture is down when planted.

CONCLUSION: ELEPHANT EARS ARE TO BE PLANTED CIRCLES UP!

Good luck with the indoor plants and breathing better air.

Mustard Makes Me Nervous Sometimes

2012-02-02T20:48:00.001-08:00

Dragonfly at Fall River Lake

2012-02-02T20:43:00.000-08:00

Who's important?

2012-01-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

This image has been floating around Facebook for a little while. I dig it.

The caption reads on the left "If you don't know who these people are..." referring to images of scientists Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla, & Charles Darwin. Scientist/science popularizer Carl Sagan. American founding father Thomas Jefferson. & Authors/political activists Christopher Hitchens & Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

The right caption reads "but you know who this is?" referring to a picture of Snooki, a drunk & horny woman made famous for the reality show Jersey Shore. Take a closer look at her drink if you haven't already. That pretty much sums up her & the show.

The bottom caption, the punchline, reads "Congratulations. You're what's wrong with this world."

It's a sentiment that I couldn't agree with more. This does a sweet job at criticizing the priorities of the American people. Major props to the creators of this image. Thanks to them for their service to the common good & efforts in waking us from the Great Mindfuck. If we choose more meaningful content to consume & start having real conversations about real things we would be much better off as individuals & as a people. Knowledge is power!

I instantly recognized almost everyone on the poster, which I know is more than most. I don't really watch TV anymore, but I am very interested in mass phenomena when it becomes unavoidable. References to Jersey Shore were so common that I was compelled to check it out. I found the show to be shallow & a waste of time, but it is entertaining with obvious reasons for its mass appeal. So I did recognize Snooki.

The only person I didn't know is Ali & I needed help identifying her. She's an interesting lady & I know of people who fought for the same cause.

I obsessively study too many things & recognize it would be unfair of me to trash people who didn't know about as many of these featured people as I do. But if you didn't recognize at least Charles Darwin & Albert Einstein I beg you to branch out. You'll have a great time. There are so many fascinating things out there which are much more real & entertaining than any reality show provides. Do it for purely selfish reasons as it will surely make your life better. Your effort is thanks enough.

When I looked at this poster the first time I couldn't help but think of the people on the left side & think of a few substitutions. In my opinion Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, & Antoine Lavoisier are each such fundamentally important scientific revolutionaries that their influence on mankind is forever undeniable. Also, if you need drama to be interested in something, these fellas sure had a heap of it. Galileo had a very famous fight with the Catholic Church. Lavoisier was executed during the French Revolution. And Newton is one of the weirdest dudes ever! Seriously, Isaac Newton is a freak show of epic proportions.

I figure that the people who can identify at least a handful of those featured know who Galileo & Newton are. They are superstars in the truest sense. However, I would understand if these informed people didn't know Lavoisier because he is a bit more obscure & he takes a bit more explaining in order to understand. Part of me thinks it's a good thing that these 3 were not included. They all existed before photography & paintings don't seem to play well on the poster. Some people who can rattle off a few things about Thomas Jefferson don't recognize him because he is represented by a painting & not a photograph. Also, compared Galileo & Newton, Jefferson is pretty normal looking.

I don't know how the roster of people included was formed, but I do agree they are all people worth knowing. But there is someone whose absence I find particularly glaring due to his immense impact on the world as we know it.

There is a man with several photographs who isn't on the poster but has had an immense impact on the 20th century & the modern world. From the industrialization of science, to its relationship with government, to fertilizers, pesticides, chemical warfare & pharmaceuticals - right or wrong, good or bad, he is responsible for it all. He's been called the 'patron saint of guns and butter', and rightly so.

He has pretty much been deleted from the public memory, either by industrial propaganda or by incidental unfair treatment by the same blurbocracy of bastardizing bullshit that scrambles our brains & promotes people like Snooki.

Here he is, pictured with one of his good friends, a young Albert Einstein.

His name is Fritz Haber.

Most of the time I see him referenced in popular media, he tends to be characterized as "a Jew killing Nazi Jew." This is incredibly unfair. It's an error I attribute to sloppy anachronistic misunderstanding of history exacerbated by the misuse of his products by the Nazis. He was German & a Jew by birth though he wasn't really concerned with religious matters. He was never a Nazi. He helped secure safe exits for many Jews from Germany before he himself had to flee his beloved homeland in order to save own life from the Nazis & was welcomed with open arms by the same people who founded the Jewish state of Israel in the wake of World War 2.

It is true that Haber oversaw the massacre of thousands of people in a World War, but it was World War 1. After the Germans claimed to be attacked by chemicals they looked for a way to respond. So Haber personally oversaw the unleashing of poison clouds of chlorine gas carried by the wind to lay to waste everything in its path, resulting in high numbers of casualties (mostly French & Russian soldiers) & immense horror. Look at the pictures & you will see what I mean.

This effort gave Haber greater standing in both the German government & German science & led Haber to research & develop more chemical weapons - including phosgene which is a more deadly efficient chlorine delivery system than even elemental chlorine gas - & also pesticides which have similar chemistry & were also needed in war time to rid insects from bunkers.

One of his cyanide based pesticides, Zyklon B, was used years later in Nazi gas chambers against the Jews - an act that had nothing to do with Haber (who as I have already noted was forced to flee because of his own Jewish ancestry) except that he initially developed the product. In the end, Haber was in serious risk of having Zyklon B used on himself. Murderous asshole, hardcore patriot or both, Haber was certainly not a 'Jew killing Nazi Jew.'

If only being the father of pesticide chemistry (with pesticides everywhere now) & chemical warfare is not enough for you to think he should definitely be included on the poster, I can dig it. But there is much more Haber has done.

Nitrogen is a very important element with interesting chemistry which is important for the synthesis of everything from industrial fertilizers, to pharmaceuticals, to explosives, to A LOT of stuff. Luckily for us, roughly 80% of the fluid known as air is elemental nitrogen, which is diatomic - meaning nitrogen naturally combines with nitrogen to stabilize. Unluckily for us, it has a superstrong triple-bond which makes this readily available nitrogen extremely difficult for us to use. So nitrogen needed to be 'fixed' in order to make it more available for synthesis & Haber is the one who fixed it.

Through a multi-staged process of slamming nitrogen with heat & pressure over an iron catalyst and injecting hydrogen gas the Haber-Bosch process of nitrogen fixation created ammonia, which is nitrogen connected to hydrogen instead of itself with relatively weaker bonds. It's the brute force method, but it works! Dwindling natural sources of useful nitrogen were made obsolete as an industrial source was now available which harvested air! Ever since, what has made nations powerful - including in terms of the strength of their war machines - has been their use of this process.

Modern farming practices are flawed, wasteful, and illogical, but Haber's process has made it possible for industrial farming to keep up with demand for food. It has been estimated that the food needs of as many as half of the world's population could not be met if not for this process.

Haber's science is not only responsible for the deaths of millions, but also for the very life of billions. It is also fundamentally responsible for the scores of products which requires nitrogen to make. If that doesn't make him more important in your mind than Snooki or even say a Christopher Hitchens I don't know what could.

The Dish

2012-01-27T11:57:00.000-08:00

Defending Science Blog

2012-01-26T10:36:00.000-08:00

I have this old blog Defending Science, Scientists, & Non-Scientists.

The name for the web-address, silkworm.wordpress.com, is based on a name that I used in many science related causes, Silkworm. I felt the name suited me in these efforts in regards to the sad existence of the bombyx mori through its history of human directed evolution via over-cultivation to fill the demand for fancy garments & frilly underwear. I admit that I have a complicated sense of humor.

I haven't been to the blog in years, but I'm happy with the work I did & feel that I achieved some real goals through it. When I went on hiatus I was presented much delightful evidence that I've helped shift the scientific community into a more active role with a successful diplomatic strategy by which to engage the public. Accounts were sent to me of people in other communities (including in other nations) who attended similar events following the lead I present on my blog & were successful.

I certainly could have done better, but I assure you that I continue to evolve.

I miss the good people who helped in these efforts & I thank them for it. Out of respect I won't name them here, but I will never forget them. As I get older it becomes more & more apparent to me how unfortunately rare such people are. It takes chutzpah to fight for truth in the courts of charlatans supported by hostile crowds which have already been misdirected to hate you & everything you stand for. I admire the courage & patience they mustered in traveling with this madman into the abyss.

My life took a rough turn as I went on hiatus. My health failed & I reached a point of physical & mental collapse. After several hard years, I feel better than ever now. I continue down a similar path, but one that exceeds the boundaries of the Defending Science & intend on having greater success.

HOW OBAMA CAN WIN MY VOTE

2012-01-25T10:45:00.000-08:00

Dear Most Esteemed President of these United States of America,

Several really good people who I hold dear still support you & feel that I'm being too rough on you because I judge you by your actions & not just your suave style & oratory. I can't seem to convince them that you are just another authoritarian RepubliCrat Hell-bent on perpetuating the madness of this (what Raplh Nader rightly calls) corporate socialism rigged not only to steal resources from the American people as a whole & redirect them to the well-connected, to undermine the rights of Americans at their directive & to perpetuate campaigns which trade the life & liberty of peoples both here & abroad for their 'profit.'

Admit your role in the NDAA in terms of its inclusion of American citizens. Admit that you have assassinated American citizens. Divorce the Patriot Act & all Bush Era policies that corrupt the rights to privacy of American citizens. Guarantee all Americans their Constitutional rights. Set up an area in the Oval Office to physically kiss the ass of every American man woman & child & say these words:

“The United States government recognizes you as a human who deserves all of the rights guaranteed by it in the Bill of Rights. I apologize for my previous denial of these rights. I realize the immense danger of my UNFORGIVABLE errors surrounding the NDAA. It would be unwise for anyone with any self-respect to support anyone who has done what I've done. But now I recognize I was wrong & I beg your forgiveness.”

Eliminate the DHS, the TSA, & the DEA. Make the CIA publicly accountable. Reaffirm America's commitment to individual & human rights & bring ALL the troops home to illustrate America's founding principle of the right to self-rule extends to all people of the world for the sake of peace & prosperity. End all foreign aid programs in respect to their sovereignty. Force the United States federal government from this practice of making state's rights moot except in cases determined by the Supreme Court that a specific state action is unConstitutional.

2. Admit your ties to Monsanto. Fire Tom Vilsack as the Agriculture Secretary & replace him with Vandana Shiva. Eliminate all government approvals & promotions of GMO food. Demand all GMO food be labeled. Use your office to investigate & prosecute Monsanto for any & all crimes involving their activities resulting in reckless endangerment (if not destruction) of personal property, the environment, & life. Sign an executive order banning the United States government from promoting or protecting Monsanto products both here & abroad. Sign another executive order forcing all GMO cultivation & research to be done in isolated environments to eliminate the possibility of their corruption of the world's ecosystems. Then ratify a Constitutional Amendment banning patents on life.

3. Harshly reject SOPA, PIPA, ACTA & all of their mutations. Ratify a Constitutional Amendment banning all government regulation of the internet. Have the text of the 1^st Amendment tattooed on your forehead.

4. End this war against Wikileaks. Free Bradley Manning & award him the Medal of Honor for his role in the Arab Spring. Grant Julian Assange political asylum in the United States, award him the Medal of Freedom & make him your press secretary.

5. Stop this love affair you have with Wal-Mart & sever all ties the United States government has with it. Prosecute it for its monopolistic practices & demand it to compensate the public for what it has taken from it. Prevent it from future expansion as punishment for its unAmerican business practices.

6. Demand the Federal Reserve open itself to public & private audits.

There is plenty more to be done (or 'undone' in most cases), but for the sake of practicality & fairness I thought I'd stop here. You have less than a year to accomplish these goals & win my vote. Best of luck to you, Mr. President. I do sincerely wish you immense success in these endeavors.

PS. This offer is invalidated by more war.

My Paintings From 2011

2012-01-15T00:25:00.000-08:00

Turns out "Yes We Can" backwords sounds like "Thank You, Satan" & Vice Versa

2012-01-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

BEHOLD: The Awesomeness of Vermin Supreme

2012-01-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

While monitoring the Ron Paul campaign during the New Hampshire primary from my home in glorious Kansas, I was lucky enough to witness through several articles & web videos another truly patriotic campaign - that of Democratic Candidate Vermin Supreme.

Those unfamiliar with US federal political processes may not know that Democratic primaries are also proceeding but really more of a formality due to HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENDER Barack Obama being the incumbent. The Republican primaries proceed to select a “new” presidential candidate for the party.

The first exposure I had to Vermin's message was through this YouTube video of his appearance in front of New Hampshire Democrats, which was also broadcast on C-Span.

Vermin Supreme promises all Americans a free pony, sees dental hygiene as the right path to a better America, & has defense & energy policies that, in my opinion, are far more responsible than the status-quo. He is a gifted speaker who is a joy to listen to & I felt he did well taking questions from the panel. But the little lady & I had much discussion on whether or not the video was real. It seemed too good, too funny & smart, to be true. We retired for the evening uncertain.

When I checked to see how Ron Paul was doing in New Hampshire the next day, I took this link to an article about Paul being mobbed & found this in the text: [“Ron Paul: We have you surrounded. We are the media,” sounded the voice from a megaphone as Paul staffers ushered him into a waiting SUV, just minutes after he arrived at the restaurant. Holding the megaphone was a man dressed roughly as a wizard, with shaggy hair and tousled beard, wearing a massive black boot upside down on his head.] As I kept looking I found the same story on the Drudge Report with a picture of Vermin Supreme & that big boot on his head with a megaphone standing behind a mob of people surrounding Ron Paul & had a good laugh.

This was proof that Vermin Supreme was not only real, but he was actively campaigning in New Hampshire!

By dancing around in this circus, Vermin Supreme showed his American patriotism with highlights such as hijacking Rick Santorum's audience before the frothy authoritarian substance oozed in. Supreme delivers his platform to what appears to be a receptive audience & declares his intention to debate Santorum when he arrives. Soon, he's asked to leave. Video here . Later, Santorum's handlers apparently assaulted him. It's interesting that Santorum's handlers assaulted another presidential candidate & there seems to be no outrage. Don't fool youself. Vermin Supreme IS a legitimate candidate. He ended up 3rd with 831 votes among the Democrats (over 3 times better than Michelle Bachmann on the GOP side). Call me old fashioned, but I would have hated to see how Santorum would have handled Bachmann under similar circumstances. Bachmann is as legitimate a presidential candidate as Mr. Supreme & I'd hope he'd at least have the decency to not treat a woman so rough.

After a little more research I learned that Vermin is a veteran when it comes to politics. He has a solid history of campaigning & his unpredictable party affiliation & whimsical authoritarian policies should make him attractive to most modern moderate American voters. What appeals to me is that just as Vermin admits he is a 'friendly fascist' it is revealed that similar to Ron Paul, Vermin Supreme understands. I wish that more voters would take him seriously, but I fear that his failure to condemn right to trial, dismiss the 1st Amendment & promote mass murder campaigns overseas will limit his electability among Democrats.

I believe that when it comes to US President votes for Ron Paul are the only ones that count. All of the other candidates (the Republicrats), including Obama, all look so ridiculous that the truth that bursts through the cracks of Vermin Supreme's not-so-ridiculous message I found to be refreshing satire. Enjoy!