politics

Still feverish. Nasal congestion ahoy! Cough productive now. I would rather move than be sick right now. That’s pretty bad.

Some miscellaneous items for you:

Hindsight is 20/20: quotes about Iraq from before we started: Voices: The Quotes That Sent Us To War. My favorite:

“Having defeated and then occupied Iraq, democratizing the country should not be too tall an order for the world’s sole superpower.” – William Kristol, Weekly Standard editor, and Lawrence F. Kaplan, New Republic senior editor, 2003-02-24

Around my house we try to avoid the word “should.” Maybe that’s why.

Also, Pinguino moved her blog to DeviantArt, and in my opinion she needed RSS, so I set it up using these instructions. It took all of five minutes.

Jenn moved her blog and today wrote about a new blog type deal in San Diego. It sounds promising!

Two iconoclastic thinkers who I think would usually disagree (Barnett is an optimist/realist; Kunstler is nearly apocalypticist) are in complete agreement! This is a nice surprise.

James Kunstler (foul language, sorry):

Barack Obama caught hell last week for daring to tell the truth about the ragged thing that the American spirit has become. He said that small-town Pennsylvania voters, bitter over their economic circumstances, “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” to work out their negative emotions. He might have added that the Pope wears a funny hat (see for yourself this week), and that bears shit in the woods (something rural Pennsylvanians probably know). Nevertheless, in the manner lately prescribed for those who slip up and speak truthfully in public (and in contradiction to the reigning delusions), Obama was pressured to apologize for his statements.

The evermore loathsome and odious Hillary Clinton, co-owner of a $100 million personal wealth portfolio, seized the moment to remind voters what a normal, everyday gal she is—who would never look down on the small-town folk of Pennsylvania the way her “elitist” opponent had—forgetting, apparently, that the Clinton family’s consigliere, James Carville, famously described the Keystone State as a kind of redneck sandwich with Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as the bread, and Alabama as the lunch meat in between.

Thomas PM Barnett:

As soon as I think Obama’s pandering too much on economics, he says something this blunt and wise. Of course people get nasty and scared and cling to old shibboleths when they’re feeling vulnerable on economics! That’s the entire history of our country. Read Benjamin Friedman’s brilliant Moral Consequences of Economic Growth.

How either McCain or Clinton try to pass this off as “elitism” is just goofy. Obama’s problem is that he’s a lot more honest than either of them. He sees the world more accurately, and when he speaks truth in that direction, he gets chastised by the Boomers with their quintessential ideological view of things.

Tony Pierce pointed to some writing in his post our biggest story on la times blogs about how “right wing” bloggers were in a tizzy about this ad:

I read a few, just a few, and chuckled.

We in California live in former Mexican territory. And this ad plays on some of the history with a bit ot humor and the Mexican equivalent of “political incorrectness”—it’s silly to get outraged about an ad directed at Mexican vodka drinkers.

I did chuckle though. More ads should include maps! Maybe we Americans in particular might learn some history and geography!

9/11 Conspiracy Theories ‘Ridiculous,’ Al Qaeda Says

Maybe it really is a YouTube generation. These are some impressive numbers for the viewings of the speeches for the Obama Campaign:

Here’s the source: Welcome to the age of the sound blast by Micah L. Sifry and Andrew Rasiej on Politico.com. via Craig Newmark for Huffington Post in turn via NewsGang twitter feed.

So far, Obama’s videos have been viewed more than 33 million times on YouTube.com — and that’s not counting partial views, since YouTube only reports a full viewing as a “view.” His campaign has uploaded more than 800 video clips, and adds several more a day.

If you just look at his ten most viewed videos, here are some astonishing facts:

• The average number of views for these top ten is currently more than 1.1 million (nearly double the average from a month ago!)
• The average length of these ten videos is 13.3 minutes.
• There have been nearly 3.9 million views of the longest of Obama’s most popular videos, his “A More Perfect Union” speech on race in America.

By contrast, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s YouTube numbers are nowhere as impressive as Obama’s — a sign of her failure to understand and embrace the new medium than anything else. She’s garnered about 10.5 million views, but the average length of her top ten most viewed clips is only two minutes. Several of her top ten videos are actually 30-second TV ads, in fact.

I watched the speech on race, and subscribed to the Barack Obama videos feed at http://www.youtube.com/user/BarackObamadotcom.

Literature that is not the breath of contemporary society, that dares not transmit the pains and fears of that society, that does not warn in time against threatening moral and social dangers—such literature does not deserve the name of literature; it is only a facade. Such literature loses the confidence of its own people, and its published works are used as wastepaper instead of being read.

via Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in Wikiquote.

The more I hear about artists and writers who operated inside the USSR towards the end, the more I see the way art in the USSR has things to teach us about the US today. I wonder if The Wire, being so lauded and yet so unpopular, falls into that category. The people may only want to see the facade in their art. This worries me. So how to strive for authenticity and truth?

I know, hard questions. No answers.

Onward.

Today I am 38 years old. I think it will be a lovely day.

Followed up on some emails from Geek Dinner the other night and I’m reminded that I have yet to transcribe my notes from BarCamp which is rapidly fading from memory.

Borrowed the collected DC: The New Frontier from Jukebox and enjoying it. Halfway through it. I enjoyed the animated movie version of it—wasn’t blown away, but it was well done. The comic seems to have a bit more nuance, but they’re pretty faithful to each other.

Many birthday wishes coming in via email and FaceBook, and I got calls from my folks yesterday, plus my parents-in-law too. I even got a text message from Tyler the other day, though the kids are on vacation out of the country and without cell phones (presumably to avoid horrendous international roaming and data charges) this week.

Oh! Gift, today I gave myself the gift of donating some money (a whole $20!) to the Obama Campaign. Why don’t you do the same? The guy is clearly the most qualified, level-headed, smart person among the three on offer at the moment. I like him a lot. So, really, donate!

Let’s get this day started, eh?

UPDATE

Previous birthday posts: Today is: National Corndog Day, also my Birthday and Useless Information About My B-Day

And I totally forgot: it’s Won’t You Wear a Sweater? Day

In honor of what would have been Mister Rogers’ 80th birthday on March 20, Mr. McFeely — aka David Newell, the public relations director for Family Communications, Inc. (the nonprofit company founded in 1971 by Fred Rogers) — has a special request.

“We’re asking everyone everywhere — from Pittsburgh to Paris — to wear their favorite sweater on that day,” he asks in his best speedy delivery voice. “It doesn’t have to have a zipper down the front like the one Mister Rogers wore on the program, it just has to be special to you.”

Back in 2000, at EduPoint when we played Quake III my handle was “JoeSweater.” I was even more identified with wearing a sweater then than I am now. I think I stole a red sweater from my Grandfather when I was maybe 13 and the habit has stuck. Today perhaps I’ll wear the red one.

Okay, now the day can begin.

Nice essay in the Village Voice: village voice > news > David Mamet: Why I Am No Longer a ‘Brain-Dead Liberal’ by David Mamet

The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long.

Rather brilliant. For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms.

It turns out I think David Mamet’s Rabbi is awesome. It’s a heckuva challenge to see things as others might see them, and to care about the tone of discourse.

via the excellent Open Culture blog

I’m moved by this because it speaks to my own feelings about government: Email exchange :: Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog:

A lot of people out there convinced they are completely powerless in this world and that we’re being sucked into wars with no forethought. It’s a sad commentary on where we are right now as a nation that average citizens are so distrustful of their government, believing that it suppresses intelligence or doctors it, sensing that debates are being squelched or hidden from public view when they shouldn’t be—just a strong sense of betrayal.
As somebody who’s worked all over the national security community over the past 18 years, meeting more people than I can remember, I know there tends to be wings and factions on every issue, and that, under normal conditions, they duke it out in the best interest of the country. Average citizens tend to see too many movies and not read enough material that accurately describes the day-to-day workings of things, so their images of decision-making tend to be very dark and nefarious. Nixon’s administration had created a lot of that bad feeling—that sense of hopelessness. It’s sad to see people feeling this way again. It’s depressing.

I continue to enjoy Barnett. He’s writing a third book. I suppose given how much I think about his ideas, and pass them along, I should read one of his darn books!

Previously, previously, previously, previously.

I have never donated money to a political campaign in my life, but last month I donated fifteen bucks to Obama. Next time we’re a bit flush I’m going to do it again. It’s time for someone with a different emphasis; it’s time to not elect someone because a family member of theirs has been President before. This is not a family business, it’s the Presidency. Nepotism sucks. Whatever happened to the ideal and goal of meritocracy?

Previously.