I am glad your Dr. was honest with you. I was so annoyed with my dentist because he implied that having my wisdom teech pulled as an adult was no big deal, and instead I could barely eat for 2 weeks right before Thanksgiving.

I am quite grateful that she didn't pull any punches and told me exactly what I was signing up for. Sorry about the bizarre dreams and ickyness, Sophia. Dreams should be more programmable.

The conventions are all about firing up the base; I don't think any minds are changed by them. Maybe the debates will change minds or influence the undecideds. In a completely biased assessment I have to think the DNC is doing a better job with firing up the base job, but I have no objective reason for thinking this.

There are some youth my colleague knows who will not apply for Dream status because the person figures when a Repub administration gets in they now have a database of "illegals" and could be tacked down and deported.

I don't think that perspective is wrong but it is a shame.

Unfortunately, I understand that concern, le nubian. I have physicians that won't apply for EHR incentives because they think the government is going to take their data and use it against them in some way. They are paranoid, but it isn't like they don't have plenty of cases of government abuse to point at as proof.

In a completely biased assessment I have to think the DNC is doing a better job with firing up the base job, but I have no objective reason for thinking this.

I think (some of) the GOP base has been "fired up" since November of 2008, when they realized that we'd elected a black man for President. The Democratic base has been slower to rouse, but this convention is sure doing its best.

le n, I think that is definitely a possibility. But I am heartened by the fact that these "kids" are the best and brightest of the undocumented population. Deporting them en masse would be extremely difficult and the more people apply, the more difficult it would be.

There are some youth my colleague knows who will not apply for Dream status because the person figures when a Repub administration gets in they now have a database of "illegals" and could be tacked down and deported.

That's very sad. And even moreso that I don't think it's entirely unjustified.

I probably wouldn't do it. I will not participate in our "employee wellness screenings" at work, as I fear someday they will use my weight to either raise my insurance or fire me. I am a little paranoid.

I get the fear but I don't think it's very likely. This is something that I've been thinking a lot about because people have been asking me that question every day. I hope I don't come across as overly strident about this, but my hope is that should anyone ever try to deport these kids, the courts would stop it.

Most of these kids work with fake social security numbers or fake IDs. Getting convicted of that is usually a felony and almost always makes any future legal immigration status extremely difficult or impossible. So having a valid SSN can make a huge difference in that regard, not to mention the ability to get a better paying job and the ever present fear of deportation.

I'm in court at the moment watching people get deported as I type so this may be a bit shorter/not as well thought out as it could be.

Some good news from Nate Silver at 538.

Apparently the vote on the floor was loudly against putting the references to God back in the platform, so it was kind of embarrassing that it passed. Fuck it, I don't care.

Aside from everything else? Listening to Clinton wasn't dessert; that was a satisfying, well balanced, nutritious substantive meal.

Thought! Ideas! Rebuttal! Clear lines of argument!

Something that wasn't bullshit, fearmongering, jerk-yourself-off-with-the-flag rhetoric.

I have a lot of disagreements with Clinton, but he is one of the best rhetoricians (presenters of oral argument)in America. I think most the men and women that are better speakers than he is are black. (Because of the black churches, most of the best rhetoricians are black. I don't what the difference is but white churches don't train their preachers as well as the black ones. And since church is still a big influence in America, if your preachers are better speakers, more of the people who attend the churches will be better speakers, and some of those who know people who attend the churches will better speakers. It is like tons of great popular musicians come out of church choirs; churches influence rhetorical skill as well.)