Obama Countdown
created by James Miller
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Thursday
nifty gadget!
Check out my nifty new java gadget from electoral-vote.com! (top of the sidebar to the left)
It gives you the daily predictions of the electoral vote totals (what really matters) based on the most recent state polling data.
It gives you the daily predictions of the electoral vote totals (what really matters) based on the most recent state polling data.
Tuesday
Lindsay Lohan
First post in a while. I have a lot to say but will reserve the majority of it and say only this:
When Lindsay Lohan is urging you to stick to the issues... you've gone too far.
Thank you.
When Lindsay Lohan is urging you to stick to the issues... you've gone too far.
Thank you.
offered without comment
hipsters, here it is: barackobamaisyournewfixie.com
entertain yourselves with that while I'm on vaca for a coupla weeks.
entertain yourselves with that while I'm on vaca for a coupla weeks.
Friday
Drunk History:
For the record, I think that this is awesome. Basically the premise is get somebody who knows a lot about an historical event three-sheets drunk and get them to retell the stories in all their slurred, drunken glory.
The beauty, though, and the hilarity come in the form of the reenactments. The players mime the dialog as presented by the drunk historian - hiccups, profanity and all - in a way that brings history to life!
As an example, here is episode #3 in which Jen Kirkman gets drunk on wine and recounts the tale of Oney Judge, a favorite slave of George and Martha Washington...
NSFW language... also, I've chosen #3 because several of the others involve vomiting, etc.
Good day.
The beauty, though, and the hilarity come in the form of the reenactments. The players mime the dialog as presented by the drunk historian - hiccups, profanity and all - in a way that brings history to life!
As an example, here is episode #3 in which Jen Kirkman gets drunk on wine and recounts the tale of Oney Judge, a favorite slave of George and Martha Washington...
NSFW language... also, I've chosen #3 because several of the others involve vomiting, etc.
Good day.
McCain's first attack ad
As Barack Obama is preparing for his first foreign trip as his party's nominee for President, John McCain launches his campaign's first attack ad. However, as TPM notes while he is attacking Obama's positions, both McCain and still-President Bush are also realigning themselves behind Obama on a number of issues:
- increasing troop presence in Afghanistan
- declaring victory and the promotion of a "general time horizon" (note: NOT a timetable) for troop withdrawl in Iraq
- and the beginnings of diplomacy with Iran with a top-level State Dept official meeting with Tehran nuclear agents this week
The rhetoric is still there, though. A member of McCain's "truth squad", Bud Day (best remembered for his role in the 2004 'swift boating' of John Kerry), has recently proclaimed that
"The Muslims have said either we kneel or they're going to kill us.''ooga booga booga! Be affraid... be very affraid!!
Meanwhile, McCain may have just thrown a logistical wrench in Obama's travel plans for the next week. He indicated that Obama may be in Iraq over the weekend, which for security reasons is typically information that is kept pretty secret. So despite the fact that McCain's criticisms were the ostensible impetus for Obama's current trip abroad, lately he has been:
- complaining that Obama's trip is getting more media coverage
- criticizing Obama's plans to speak in front of the Brandenburg Gate in while in Germany (the plans have been rearranged since)
- leaking Obama's potential itinerary, making security for the trip an added concern/restriction
- criticizing Obama's travel plans overall
Oh... and by the way... after a week-long hiatus, Phil Gramm is back to his advisory role in the McCain campaign (per Robert Novak, so salt grains suggested)... yes, the "nation of whiners" Phil Gramm. This time, though, he's lost his "surrogate" credentials and will merely be an advisor. So McCain was being truthful in his repudiation of Gramm when he said "Phil Gramm doesn't speak for me... I speak for me". True, Senator, but Phil Gramm does speak to you... concerning economics... which you profess to know little about... and he certainly doesn't have the economic interests of the vast majority of Americans in mind, just the vast majority of American corporations.
Good luck hearing any of that from the mainstream media though...
Monday
war crimes
This is probably a little too much like reading tea leaves to be believed, but this report indicates that some individuals in the current Bush administration are getting worried about being prosecuted for war crimes, especially in relation to torture violations.
So hot is the speculation that war-crimes trials will eventually follow in foreign or international courts that Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, has publicly advised Mr. Feith, Mr. Addington and Alberto Gonzales, among others, to "never travel outside the U.S., except perhaps to Saudi Arabia and Israel."It would be nice if Bush & Co. were held accountable for their various crimes over the past 7+ years in power. However, given:
- the tepid reaction to the articles of impeachment of both Bush and Cheney that have been raised by Dennis Kucinich
- the inability of Congress to hold anyone in the administration accountable (Karl Rove has yet to testify under oath as he's been subpoenaed to do several times, and continues to dodge contempt of congress citations)
- and the fact that the U.S. Senate just voted to grant retroactive immunity to the telecom companies (and, by association, the administration) for their roles in domestic spying
ouch...
The McCain campaign has had a rough go of it over the past couple of weeks in terms of economic policy. The big news last weeks was that one of his top economic advisers, former Senator Phil Gramm, indicated that America's is a "mental recession" and then quipped that America is a "nation of whiners"... turns out that's probably not going to poll well.
With the Economy becoming one of the biggest issues in the campaign this year, it's surprising that McCain hasn't made more of an effort to come up with a coherent message conveying what his approach will be.
Would you like some salt in that wound?:
With the Economy becoming one of the biggest issues in the campaign this year, it's surprising that McCain hasn't made more of an effort to come up with a coherent message conveying what his approach will be.
Would you like some salt in that wound?:
Wednesday
viral marketing
It seems that viral marketing has even made its way into marketing for biotechnologies. First there was the PCR song:
now this:
now this:
Thursday
FISA, the 4th Amendment, and YouTube...
The recent declaration by Barack Obama that he would be supporting the latest "compromise" legislation (read: capitulation legislation) on the FISA courts created a massive uproar. Many of his supporters are crying foul and claiming that he is pandering, moving to the middle, and abandoning his previous positions - he professed that he would not support the 'Protect America Act' last summer.
One of the most interesting aspects of this "new campaign" built and run on new technologies - including social networking - is how they would handle the inevitable people-powered backlash. It came this week in the form of a group organized in the Obama campaign's mybarackobama.com which is a social networking site built within the campaign's overall website. His supporters can sign on to form groups, organize events, raise funds and gives the campaign a flexibility and people-powered base that has never been seen before in politics. Truly a new monster: campaign 2.0.
In response to Obama's announcement about his imminent support of the new FISA bill a group formed on mybarackobama.com called "Senator Obama - Please Vote No on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right" - and it quickly became the biggest on the site. Just this afternoon Barack Obama responded to his supporters (which he would have had to do eventually) with this statement. This is a glimpse of how the web has given a rebirth to democracy. Fascinating.
Oh, and those Fourth Amendment rights... you wont really have those for much longer because the FISA legislation will pass (after the Independence Day recess).
As a side note, check out this decision that a federal judge has just handed down. Apparently YouTube is going to be giving Viacom a list of all of the users who watched videos on their site, and... uh... which videos they watched. (YouTube and Viacom, remember, are in a legal battle right now over the whole Daily Show/Colbert Report, copyrighted materials appearing on YouTube thing).
Enjoy your 4th of July with everybody watching what you do... just don't do anything illegal (or that might be illegal) because they're watching.
Good day.
One of the most interesting aspects of this "new campaign" built and run on new technologies - including social networking - is how they would handle the inevitable people-powered backlash. It came this week in the form of a group organized in the Obama campaign's mybarackobama.com which is a social networking site built within the campaign's overall website. His supporters can sign on to form groups, organize events, raise funds and gives the campaign a flexibility and people-powered base that has never been seen before in politics. Truly a new monster: campaign 2.0.
In response to Obama's announcement about his imminent support of the new FISA bill a group formed on mybarackobama.com called "Senator Obama - Please Vote No on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right" - and it quickly became the biggest on the site. Just this afternoon Barack Obama responded to his supporters (which he would have had to do eventually) with this statement. This is a glimpse of how the web has given a rebirth to democracy. Fascinating.
Oh, and those Fourth Amendment rights... you wont really have those for much longer because the FISA legislation will pass (after the Independence Day recess).
As a side note, check out this decision that a federal judge has just handed down. Apparently YouTube is going to be giving Viacom a list of all of the users who watched videos on their site, and... uh... which videos they watched. (YouTube and Viacom, remember, are in a legal battle right now over the whole Daily Show/Colbert Report, copyrighted materials appearing on YouTube thing).
Enjoy your 4th of July with everybody watching what you do... just don't do anything illegal (or that might be illegal) because they're watching.
Good day.
VP-stakes
I've been making the case here for Wes Clark as Obama's running mate. Then this happened earlier this week and the fallout has been tremendous (not to mention blown WAY out of proportion).
Wes Clark defends himself in (from?) his own words:
Whatever I may think about all of this is kind of irrelevant. Wes Clark essentially took himself out of contention for the VP slot on the ticket with these comments (with a little help from the McCain campaign and a real-life Swift Boat Vet for Truth, Bud Day... the hypocrisy runs deep, my friends). The McCain camp is probably relieved to have knocked off Clark and, as I noted earlier, if anything was to be Clark's downfall it would be his lack of experience on a national stage. He just fell through the trap door and landed square on the third rail.
So where does that leave the VP-stakes?... Are we back to Jim Webb? Wherever it is now, the NYT notes that given the Olympics and the packed convention schedule in August, the timing of the revelation of a running mate will be tricky business for the candidates this summer.
Wes Clark defends himself in (from?) his own words:
Whatever I may think about all of this is kind of irrelevant. Wes Clark essentially took himself out of contention for the VP slot on the ticket with these comments (with a little help from the McCain campaign and a real-life Swift Boat Vet for Truth, Bud Day... the hypocrisy runs deep, my friends). The McCain camp is probably relieved to have knocked off Clark and, as I noted earlier, if anything was to be Clark's downfall it would be his lack of experience on a national stage. He just fell through the trap door and landed square on the third rail.
So where does that leave the VP-stakes?... Are we back to Jim Webb? Wherever it is now, the NYT notes that given the Olympics and the packed convention schedule in August, the timing of the revelation of a running mate will be tricky business for the candidates this summer.
raw sewage?
Well, that's a pretty good monument to what it's been like in George W. Bush's America... but I bet we can do better. (some good suggestions in the comments section from that slog post)
blog catch-up...
I've been derelict in my duty as a blogger of late. (blogging is hard work during the summer!) So, other than the longer posts that I will disseminate forthwith, here are some of the (perhaps) interesting points that I've been meaning to share with you all over the past week:
- Now that it's summer, I've started to wonder why Seattle doesn't have more outdoor seating establishments... why is that?
- Ah ha! - here's an explanation.
- Do you like optical illusions? Of course you do! - here's a new one.
- They're on to you... and they know what you did with your 'stimulus' money.
- I don't have a car, so this whole expensive gas thing isn't hitting me too hard. Ultimately I think it will be an overall good thing. I mean, it's already made people appreciate public transit even more (as noted before). I'm reminded of how good (and cute) a healthy appreciation of public transportaion can be by this story, though I doubt gas prices are at the root of the kids' enthusiasm.
- The only reason I would consider becoming vegetarian/vegan is right here... and it's compelling. Animal cruelty is up there (for background see: a recent episode of 30 Days), but the cruelty-free meats and products are available.
- Speaking of animal cruelty... check out a story from my hometown paper describing recent antics at my alma mater, Colby College. It involves a pot bellied pig terrorizing a town and a hapless police force driven towards drastic measures... (spoiler: taser) [disclaimer: may actually be somewhat amusing, despite "animal cruelty" lead-in]
- For anyone who ever wanted to win a debate with a creationist, here's a blueprint. This follows up on the publication of a pretty remarkable set of experiments that demonstrate strong support for Darwin's theories. 149 years and counting...
Bush's War on Science continues
This time through sheer neglect. For anyone who hasn't heard about this... here's Jon Stewart of the Daily Show who sums it up quite nicely:
AMAZING!
AMAZING!
Tuesday
John McCain: "aware of the Internet"
well I feel better... now we just have to convince him that it isn't a series of tubes that Al Gore invented and we'll be halfway there!You don’t necessarily have to use a computer to understand, you know, how it shapes the country. … John McCain is aware of the Internet.
--Mark SooHoo, McCain aide
Monday
I want to see:
the new Coen brothers film "Burn After Reading". It seems (from the trailer) to be less "No Country for Old Men" and more "The Big Lebowski". Check it:
Sunday
Wednesday
Tuesday
Monday
Presidential politics in the YouTube era...
The past few years have restored my faith in the democratic process. Overall it seemed as though politics (on a national scale) was so beholden to a corporate media, and the media was so beholden to the politicians, that it was a never-ending cycle and self fulfilling prophecy whenever there was an election.
Then, in February of 2005, a group of former paypal employees came together to create YouTube. I, for one, didn't appreciate the political impact it would have until the summer of 2006 when VA Senator George Allen referred to one of his opponents aides (who was videotaping the rally) as 'macaca' and the video spread around the internet (thanks, in part, to YouTube). Because of the interest on the web it hit the mainstream press and before Allen could think of a way to excuse the whole incident away, Jim Webb was being sworn in as the freshman Senator from VA.
Now it seems as though the real power of YouTube isn't in waiting for 'gotcha' moments (such as Allen's 'macacalypse') but for exposing the truth behind the rhetoric. McCain's going to have an especially tough time over the next few months if he doesn't learn the power of this new medium really quickly (which might be difficult given his admitted technical ineptitude). It almost reminds me of the Kennedy-Nixon race in 1960 when Kennedy wore makeup for the first televised debates and Nixon chose not to. Those who listened on the radio thought Nixon won the debate whereas those who watched on television gave an overwhelming victory (in the debate) to Kennedy. Hence the power of controlling the medium of the day.
Here are some examples of McCain's inability to shape the argument as in the days of old because of the power of YouTube:
Then, in February of 2005, a group of former paypal employees came together to create YouTube. I, for one, didn't appreciate the political impact it would have until the summer of 2006 when VA Senator George Allen referred to one of his opponents aides (who was videotaping the rally) as 'macaca' and the video spread around the internet (thanks, in part, to YouTube). Because of the interest on the web it hit the mainstream press and before Allen could think of a way to excuse the whole incident away, Jim Webb was being sworn in as the freshman Senator from VA.
Now it seems as though the real power of YouTube isn't in waiting for 'gotcha' moments (such as Allen's 'macacalypse') but for exposing the truth behind the rhetoric. McCain's going to have an especially tough time over the next few months if he doesn't learn the power of this new medium really quickly (which might be difficult given his admitted technical ineptitude). It almost reminds me of the Kennedy-Nixon race in 1960 when Kennedy wore makeup for the first televised debates and Nixon chose not to. Those who listened on the radio thought Nixon won the debate whereas those who watched on television gave an overwhelming victory (in the debate) to Kennedy. Hence the power of controlling the medium of the day.
Here are some examples of McCain's inability to shape the argument as in the days of old because of the power of YouTube:
another benefit of $4/gallon gas?
It appears as though gas prices are going to stay in the stratosphere for the foreseeable future (or indefinitely). While everyone is focusing on all of the negatives of this current energy situation, there is as always a silver lining. Among the benefits is the fact the politicians and the citizenry are finally getting serious about public transportation (aka the 'light rail') in the Seattle metro area. This is something that Seattle has needed for a long time, and it has consistently been tripped up by the crazy Washington state politics (as recently as November '07) - all it took was a trumped-up war, the fall of the Dollar, the rise of China, and people being ridiculously selfish.
all in the past
if the past were the future, then this would be a relevant analysis... meanwhile, I'm still going to fight tooth and nail until Obama takes the oath of office on 1/20/2009.
Friday
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