Obama’s Victory Speech:
(via 37 Signals)
The Day After Obama’s Iowa Victory:
My friend Baratunde had this great post about Obama’s Iowa victory:
When the results were called, I threw my hands in the air and
screamed. It was a beautiful moment. I texted mad people, and I browsed
for as many stories as my little cell phone screen could show me. One
thing that really stood out: participation.
Democrats had a nearly EIGHTY PERCENT increase in
participation (and 30 percent on the GOP side). This is a great sign
for democracy, and I wanna thank the people of Iowa for rolling out and
representing. I think this also validates Obama’s point about bringing
more people into the process. I asked a friend in Iowa what it was like
for her on the ground. I’ll leave you with her response.
It was amazing. In my particular location, there were 315 people. 121
of us were for Obama. There were people of all different genders,
races, ages, even political parties. I was talking to a family that
were Republicans, but they were changing parties to vote for Obama. At
one point, the person in charge asked who was caucusing for the first
time. A large majority of people raised there hands. A lot of them were
older, and they were caucusing because they wanted Obama to win.
What an amazing victory. I can’t wait to see how this all plays out.
It’s Obama and Huckabee in Iowa
Wowee. I was at the movies so am listening to the replay coverage on NPR and consulting the Reuters primaries calendar. New Hampshire is next Tuesday then South Carolina on the 19th and everything goes ape-gazingy on Feb 5 with 20 states have their primaries.
This just got very interesting.
Rev. Billy at SXSW 2007
Reverend Billy exorcising a Starbucks in in Austin during SXSW 2007. I can’t believe I missed this.
Anne Coulter, My New BFF:
Political humor, my main man Baratunde notwithstanding, ain’t really my thing. But I think this has a certain kind of lite genius to it.
And because I’m not very smart, I thought the singer was Jill Sobule (via Buzz, Balls and Hype).
Mayor Booker and the Boys:
I was fascinated by this story in the New York Times about Newark Mayor Cory Booker who is mentoring three high school students during his political tenure.
Unless his public schedule gets in the way, the mayor and the boys
get together every weekend, usually on Friday nights, when they take in
a movie and dinner. The mayor sometimes brings them to lectures or
award dinners, and on many nights, they will end up back at City Hall
playing the board game Risk until midnight.
On Sundays, after
he drags them to morning church services, they loll around Mr. Booker’s
apartment watching sci-fi movies and playing video games. Members of
the mayor’s security team drive the boys to the outings and weekly
tutoring sessions. Over time, they have become mentors as well.
I remember reading an interview with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (same age as Booker, also single without kids) shortly after his election where he talked about working 14 hour days, barely eating and socializing only when the job demanded it. Booker is either better at time management, neglecting his mayoral duties, running a more manageable city. Maybe sleeping less?
I’m not sure. I’m just impressed.
The Sound of Pain:
Perhaps you heard the fabulous segment on On the Media this week about the music used to harass and interrogate combat detainees at places like Guantanamo Bay. If not, please do. It’s a real eye (ear?) opener.
The part that hit me hardest on this assessment of "sonic suffering" was the musical choices military officers made as they seemed as boneheaded as the logic behind torture as appropriate foreign policy. Neil Diamond’s "America", Bruce Springsteen’s "Born in the USA" and Eminem’s "White America" are all on the sonic harassment playlist ostensibly because repeating the word America to a Muslim detainee the height of offensive. Never mind that "America" is a paean to immigration, "Born in the USA" an excoriation of oversees war and "White America" a bludgeon aimed at racism. Rage Against the Machine, a band composed of outspoken liberal activists wrote the state department letters to ask them to stop using their music as a weapon against prisoners of war.
All this tells me is that the US Military is either a) tone deaf or b) never thought these choices would be subjected to public scrutiny. A) is sad but laughable. B) scares me to death.
Shocked…
After reading the cover story of this month’s Mother Jones, on a school for mentally disabled kids that uses electric shock and imprisonment as “treatment” techniques, I want to rinse out my eyes with borax. Has our society reached a moment of reckoning where parents are so desperate that they will accept this kind of abuse for their kids? Where we have so few nets for the most vulnerable citizens that we effectively leave them in the care of predators? And have we in fact grown so cynical that there are entire industries dedicated to barbarism as a form of rehabilitation?
I want to crawl under a rock but I fear we’re already there.
Thought of the Day: Where we come from…
"Homo sapiens are a tiny twig on an improbable branch of a contingent limb on a fortunate tree."
R.I.P Luciano Pavarotti:
The NY Times reports that Luciano Pavarotti has died. Pancreatic cancer. He was 71.
I don’t know jack about opera but man, that dude could sing.