Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Bradley Effect

The Nightmare of Race in America

Is it possible that we have been rope-a-doped by the Karl Roves in this country? Tantalizing us with a once-in-a-generation politician, leading us to believe America was ready to elect someone who was of mixed race heritage.

I'm not going to give up. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but we need to gear up for an effort effective enough to overcome what became known as the Bradley effect. In 1982, Tom Bradley, the black mayor of Los Angeles, had a significant lead in the polls, and the exit polls as well, but still lost the race to the dweeb Deukmejian.

I don't think some of the voters in the primaries that voted for Clinton just because she was white will ever vote for Obama, so the strategy must be clear.

Obama must win over new voters, they must turn out in record numbers to make up for the racist turnout. McCain's keepers will not leave a single dirty trick unturned. They will lie about anything, as long as it sticks until November 4. I don't think we can shame any of these racist voters into changing their minds; we just need to outnumber them. I know we must face many hardships in our life, and no matter what happens, we must go on working for a better world, but I gotta say, the thought of losing this election is so disheartening, it's unthinkable.
Don't let anyone tell you politicians are all alike, or even
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
It makes a difference. You can make a difference. We can make a difference.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Fired Up and Ready to Go!

The Time is Now Indeed!
November 4th is not that far away. I don't know if this is a sprint to the finish line or not, but I know that if you think there's been too much slime flung at Obama so far, you ain't seen nothing yet!

They will stop at nothing, no lie is too big. Look at what they did so far: Trying to simultaneously spread innuendo that Obama is somehow a Muslim, while at the same time trying to put the albatross of his former Christian pastor around his neck. Make up your mind, is he some kind of Muslim terrorist, or a black Christian extremist? You can't have it both ways.

Watching Obama speak tonight, the possible pain of having another election stolen from us fills me with dread. I have been clapping out loud, with only Martha, Lucy, and BB here in the room with me. The hope of having someone like him as our president is overwhelmingly attractive.
We cannot turn back, we cannot turn back.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do, how to get involved, but I have to do something. It is not an exaggeration for us to ask ourselves
When the time came, when history called on us to do our part, how did we answer the call?
We have to answer the call, we have to answer the challenge.

Let Freedom Rain on Dobson

Apparently, that right-wing idiot James Dobson tried to get his followers to pray for rain, torrential rain, to come down upon Obama and the assembled multitude at Invesco Field tonight. The weather here and there is beautiful, and I know it really doesn't mean anything, but i couldn't help but borrow this image from a very interesting post in the Daily Kos today! Check it out!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

The Power of Love, not the love of power

Jedi word tricks indeed!
I missed the beginning of Bill's speech, so I don't know what I missed, but I heard enough to feel like he sealed the deal.
I was fortunate enough to hear this great line:
"People around the world have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."
I don't know if he plagiarized this line, but it still sounds great. The title of my post is a quote from a May Moore song, Bohemia, and I've always loved these lines:
Late afternoon is a time to dream
I like to listen to Coltraine's 'A Love Supreme'
Then I leave my rented room and I walk
Through the fading light down streets that talk
I always meet someone I could call a friend
Prejudice is something we must transcend
Coming into season this world will flower
With the power of love, not the love of power
To quote/warp Rachel Maddow from last night's speech, I really have to agree that
Anybody who could be persuaded would be persuaded by that speech.
At this point, anyone who doesn't want to get on board the O-Train has their own reasons.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

No way, No how, No McCain


Did she stick the landing?
I think a lot of people were holding their breath tonight, to see how Hilary's speech went down. I guess I'd rate it about a 93% effectiveness rating. I don't always like her style of speaking, sometimes it seems pretty forced, but tonight she really connected a few times.
Sure, there were plenty of platitudes, but she hit paydirt when she said "No way, no how, no McCain." The audience erupted, acknowledging a great phrase, which really made the point. I was most particularly moved when she quoted Harriet Tubbman:
If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they're shouting after you, keep going.
Don't ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.
Response at times was so overwhelming, it somewhat obscurred some really good lines from being heard clearly, like:
My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President.
The pivotal part of the speech, where she delivers the Spockian message that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, drove it all home:
I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
So, what did you think?

text of speech

Saturday, August 23, 2008

The Old Top 5 Desert Island Trap

This is ridiculous!
I was reading my future son-in-law's father's blog about his 5 favorite albums, and thought I'd give it a try. What a hopeless task. I've already changed my mind in the time it took to post this! This is one of those tricky mind games, isn't it? Well, if you don't mind, please leave your list of top 5's in the comments!

The Beatles Rubber Soul
How does one choose a favorite Beatles album?

Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland
A world within a world. The guitar will never be the same.

Grateful Dead American Beauty
How can this one not be there?




Love Forever Changes
Is there an album I've listened to more times? Hard to say.

Fleetwood Mac Then Play On
Peter Green's last hurrah before his long strange trip got really strange.

Yeah, yeah, I know these are all from the late 60's to 1970, but hey, what can I say?

Doggies Redux

The Tail End of the Party
Martha and I had band rehearsal until 5, but rode our bikes immediately afterwards to attend the La Playa Block Party, whose promo poster said 10AM - 6PM. When we got there, all that was left was the inflated bouncy play structure for the kids, and Mannie, Moe, and Jack sitting on their trailer. We noticed the posted signs from the city said "No Parking 10 AM- 5 PM."
So...it was Martha's turn to pose with the Doggies!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Mt. Rushmore?

The Dog Days of Summer

<--click to enlarge

If you were riding down the street, and saw this assemblage of canine iconography, and you had a camera in your pocket, wouldn't you stop to take a picture?

The LaPlaya Block Party is next weekend, and the three Doggie Diner heads, Manny, Moe, and Jack, are part of the stars of the show!

Rescued by East Bay neon contractor John Law, these doggies appear in the annual San Francisco St. Stupid's Day parade on April 1st.

Link: Check out the Doggie Diner page for some interesting background.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Milli Vanilli Caper

It's Showtime!

In what should come as no surprise in this American Idol world, the producers of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing opted to use the voice of one little girl, but the 'performance' of a cuter little girl with better teeth for the public show.

As AP put it:
Yang Peiyi, a 7-year-old with bright eyes and a smile made crooked by the stubs of her first grown-up teeth, was heard by an audience estimated in the billions during Friday night's ceremony, singing "Ode to the Motherland."
But they never saw her face.
Organizers passed the song off as being sung by Lin Miaoke, another perky schoolgirl who donned a sparkly red dress and soared on wires above the 91,000-strong crowd at the Bird's Nest stadium.

I guess it depends on how you feel about lip-synching. I would say that most of the time when I've seen those bloated half-time shows, it seems like the performers are lip-synching anyway. I don't like that either. I guess the problem here is a colossal case of gilding the lily. When we were watching the ceremony with some friends, we all pretty much said the same thing:
I would hate to be the next nation hosting an Olympic Games; nobody will ever top this!

Performance after performance elicited oohs, ahhs, and gasps from us all. Did someone think we would make fun of the little girl with the adult teeth growing in? Was it that necessary to be that perfect?