Things to do before Tuesday night

Early Tuesday night, we will all undergo a transformation. We will no longer be victims of our government; we will be winners. So prepare yourselves. Prepare your homes.

Here's my personal to do list:
shower, shave, brush teeth, cut nails, do laundry, do dishes, clean desk, sweep floor, pay bills

I don't really know what happens when we win. It is possible that when Jim Lehrer cuts to Barack Obama's acceptance speech, a transcendent moment will occur. My television might do something it's never done before. It may broadcast more than sound and picture. The spirit of Barack Obama and millions of other American's may manifest in my apartment. And if so, I want to present myself with respect, in order to give my respect for the moment meaning and value.

I also want to give the manifestation as many portals to enter my home as possible. The TV is a magic box, don't get me wrong. But I want the fragrance of victory in every corner of my home. So if I finish my list early, or if for some strange reason, the night drags on past ten, I plan on doing something constructive with my time. Like making a victory sculture out of things around the house, or painting a victory O on the back of a cereal box, or making a Barack Bust out of mashed potatoes. Really, as many entry points for potential visitations as possible. Maybe I'll write a victory song.

I know I'll be listening to lot's of the Staple Singers and Andrew W.K.

Our eight year long lesson in defeat is ending.

I can't believe it. I want to turn this into a music blog for the next few weeks. Victory rocks.

Put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day

Anti-Obama madness over at the McLaughlin Group is reaching a fever pitch as the election nears. Last Friday's episode represents a culmination of terror which Obama has been inspiring, for the past two years, among the more paranoid conservatives. Three of the show's most regular members have close ties to Richard Nixon: John McLaughlin, Pat Buchannan, Monica Crowley.

So really it is the go to place to find out what Nixon would think about present day politics. And as bearers of his legacy, they are driven by the fear that someone will out Nixon Nixon. Obama's speech on Race, which nullified the Reverend Wright issue, was as good as Nixon's Checkers Speech, which nullified the slime issue, for a few years anyway.

Robert MacNeil wrote in his memoir that Richard Nixon had a sort of charisma in color television that was lacking in black and white. With the Checkers speech it was a charisma which was conveyed by his voice. The radio helped humanized him, while black and white television, while providing more information, lowered his charisma. Obama has the political gifts of Nixon, and the comfort with each present and emerging technology which presents him to the public with his charisma intact. As Richard Nixon's head in a jar says on Futurama, "Nixon with charisma? My God, I could rule the universe!"

So you can appreciate this mad episode of McLaughlin Group now. OR put it on your pocket, save it for a rainy day sometime after November 4th. I have a feeling it will seem even funnier then.

Rainy Day Laughs with the McLaughlin Group

Mean Face

Today I was scrapping cheese of the grill and was asked by a coworker if I was okay. Things were busy, but I wasn't stressed. But I suppose I let my face drop, and I looked, perhaps, angry. Really it was my dead face. Usually at work I'm a smiley monster. Occasionally, it falls down and I'm revealed as a hateful bastard.

So I've been conscious of faces lately. Barack Obama is at risk of appearing the "Angry Black Man." John McCain is of risk of letting his face look like the old miserable motherfucker that he is. So ten minutes into the debate, I'm looking at Joe Biden's smile and Sarah Palin's stiff mouth.

What do they say? More importantly, what do people read? I thought I was just scrapping cheese, but apparently I looked stressed and angry. So far Biden and Palin are in absolute control of their faces.

I wish I didn't care about the faces. I'd rather listen to the radio, so I could use my TV for video games. Damn these faces.

McCain: "Let's not call it a bailout"

Get out your thesauruses everyone!

Phony!

Gaffe Master

Will well-loved, former stutterer, Joe Biden be able to slip out brutal, cycle grabbing attack lines which neither Obama or Biden himself will have to take credit for? Bush has used this before, 'I didn't say that I just spoke those words.' Or are Biden's day's of slipping over. Everyone at this convention seems like they've lived and learned a thousand years worth since we last saw them. Everyone's been shining and doing exactly what they need to do.

Michelle Obama's Speech

Hilary Clinton's Speech (MUST LISTEN)

Barack in Berlin

Just got back from vacation, and found a pile of news waiting for me. Including the big Barack in Berlin speech. If you want some fun, read the international response at WatchingAmerica.org. I watched it after hearing David Brooks describe it as devoid of foreign policy, just fluff. But Obama is the ascending leader, and the new voice of America, the first new voice in 7 years. It is necessary for him to speak very broadly, about what we have in common and what the goals of all mankind are. Big goals. So he still maintains Bush's dream of global power, but seems capable of explaining it to the world in a reasonable way. It reads nice, and listens even better if you want to check out the youtube, but part of me wonders if this isn't the Omega Code all over again. But hey, so long as it's interesting, right?

Now the world will watch and remember what we do here -- what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time?

Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur?

Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?

People of Berlin -- people of the world -- this is our moment. This is our time.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived -- at great cost and great sacrifice -- to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom -- indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us -- what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores -- is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please.

These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people -- everywhere -- became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation -- our generation -- must make our mark on the world.

People of Berlin -- and people of the world -- the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again.

[Transcript] [Video]

Clinton says the fix is not in

Clinton explains RFK assassination reference

"Earlier today, I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Sen. Kennedy waged in California in June in 1992 and 1968, and I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nominating primary contests that go into June. That's an historic fact."

"The Kennedys have been much on my mind in the last days because of Sen. [Edward] Kennedy, and I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and particularly for the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever,"

John McCain Protects Dictionaries, Not People

"In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity."
-- ABE LINCOLN

Buchanan Rebutts

Stan Lee Dines with Kings

More Stan Lee / Hillary Madness

wiki on Peter Paul

Rev. Wright Taught Obama Mercerism in Chicago

From yesterday's Barack Obama's speech, 'A More Perfect Union:'

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters….And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

[Vid Link] [Transcript]

The speech is mind blowing, like his earlier speech on faith. It is an involved dissection of a complex situation and like nothing we've heard in years. Better than Bill Clinton. More Nixonian, more meta, more Hollywood. And certainly more Dick.

Don't Drink the Water

It's too late to protect your POE. Your water is poisoned. It's another super-villain strike against us in the real world, the place once thought safe from their antics. Now the drugs used by some in the city, are taken by all. So it stands to reason that soon people living in different cities will begin to mutate in different directions. It's not something Dr. Charles Xavier ever wrote about, but maybe mutants will be regional and clannish. We'll see, and as long as we have humor like Tom Lehrer's even nuclear Armageddon seems manageable.

BarackBack Mountain

It's weirder than we can imagine

Before leaving the Senate, Obama was pulled aside for some jovial banter with Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho), whose men's room arrest last year caused a national stir. On Tuesday, Obama won the Democratic caucuses in Craig's state.

Clinton, meanwhile, appeared to be more strategic in her final chats. She ventured into the far left corner of the chamber reserved for newcomers, where she buttonholed Sen. James Webb (D-Va.), who has remained undeclared in advance of Tuesday's Virginia primary.

Missing was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who took a commanding lead for the GOP presidential nomination. McCain's supporters celebrated on his behalf, after Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) spied Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.). The two had spent the previous several days stumping for McCain.

"The rabbi! The rabbi!" Graham called out to Lieberman, as the two men laughed and hugged.
[link]

Bokonon '08

Today's Dictionary:

karass
A group of people who, unbeknownst to them, are collectively doing God's will in carrying out a specific, common, task. A karass is driven forward in time and space by tension within the karass.

duprass
A karass made of two persons. "A true duprass can't be invaded, not even by children born of such a union."

P.O.T.U.S.
President of the United States

_____________________
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If Hillary Clinton is elected president we would once again find ourselves living under a non-conventional presidency. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney shared a non-conventional presidency. The Vice P.O.T.U.S. had a larger office and staff than the P.O.T.U.S. Cheney did the heavy lifting, and explained the course of the nation to Bush in private meetings. Are the best interests of the republic being served? It is impossible to find out with such a strange arrangement. The Clinton's Duprass would be more of the same.

The privacy of the Clintons' marriage, and the unique decision-making process they have built together, is not healthy for a democracy, even if they feel it produces good decisions. The non-conventional presidency's we've experimented with have damaged our nation, by virtue of their ability to remain unchecked within the system. We need transparency. Without it, we have nothing.

Because this country, to my way of thinking, cannot be successful if it ever divides on sectarian lines. If there are any considerable number of our people that are going to listen to appeals to their passions and to their prejudice, if bigotry and intolerance and their sister vices are going to succeed, it is dangerous for the future life of the Republic, and the best way to kill anything un-American is to drag it out into the open; because anything un-American cannot live in the sunlight.
--Al Smith

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Obama on Healthcare:

"I would have a table, around which you'd have doctors, nurses, patient advocates. The insurance ...companies would get a seat at the table; they just would not get to buy every chair.

"I would put my plan forward ... and these negotiations would be on C-SPAN ... so the public would be part of the conversation and would see the choices being made"

News has a kind of mystery

I just got back from the polls, hopefully I'm not the only one in the mood for news:

ROMNEY REVILED BY ALL WHO KNOW HIM

The night of the Iowa caucuses, after getting a congratulatory call from McCain, Huckabee told the candidate, according to aides: "Now it's your turn to kick his butt."
Before and after debates, rival campaign staffers note, Romney tends not to mingle with the other candidates — most of whom know each other professionally — preferring instead to keep close to his family and staff. And those same staffers delight in trading stories about Romney's odd behavior. The day before the Republican primary, Huckabee mocked Romney for ordering lunch at a Kentucky Fried Chicken, then peeling off the fried coating and eating it with a knife and fork. Presented with a golf club, Huckabee said he wouldn't be very good at the game: "I'd be like Mitt Romney eating fried chicken."
[link]

The article makes some speculation as to why all the other Republicans hate Romney. Is he just too Mormon? As someone who lived in Massachusetts while Mitt was governor, I can assure you he is a total scumbag. And hating him is a perfectly rational response. I would like to see him eaten by wolves.


MCCAIN/HUCKABEE '08 - SUPER SCARY?

McCain and Huckabee have seemed awfully palsy-walsy. Might Huckabee join McCain's ticket once he's completed his task of spending all Mitt's money? Have the Republicans actually come up with a ticket and a scenario that could bring them victory? Maybe. I've been convinced that there will be no way any Republican could run for president in 2008 without his party's history of vampirism and moloch worship getting in the way. McCain has cultivated the respect of most democratic leaders, who show their hawkish hearts with their affinity towards him. McCain and Huckabee pull in different groups of similar Americans who could easily be united, especially against the Clintons. Scary, huh?


RICHARDSON RESTS BEFORE UPCOMING CABINET POSITION IN '08
In a perfect world, Bill Richardson would be elected president in 2008, and America could just chill out. Since stepping out of the race, Obama and the Clintons have been courting his endorsement. Bill and Bill watched the super bowl together. But I still think he might endorse Obama or wait until after the convention.

The walls of Richardson's office are covered with large portraits of Native Americans. Indian pottery is on display around the room. The governor was holding court on a leather couch, avoiding the pain of getting up to greet visitors because he had wrenched his back exercising.

Richardson doesn't appear to be a guy who spends a lot of time on a treadmill. Unlike skinny Barack Obama, Richardson looks like a man who enjoys a meal. Unlike John Edwards or Mitt Romney, Richardson looks as if he can get along without hairspray and a starched shirt.

The governor's tie was pulled loose, his collar unbuttoned. When he crossed his legs, his black cowboy boots were on full display. A two-week growth of black whiskers covered his jaw.

Richardson said he grows a beard whenever he goes through a period of decompression. His wife hates it, as do his advisers, who tell him he'll look terrible on "Meet the Press," but Richardson doesn't care. Besides, the East Coast pundits only want to ask him whom he's going to endorse, Clinton or Obama, and the follow-up question, what is he going to get for his endorsement. His answer to the media: "Screw you."

He seemed pretty happy for a guy who has just gone through a big rejection.

"Some people, they run for president, they don't make it, they're devastated," he said. "I bounced back the next day. (Still) there is a little element of sadness. I'm actually sad to leave the campaign trail because I loved campaigning, I loved running; I loved being in the debates."

It helped to have the immediate task of dealing with the Legislature. Only hours before I met with him, he got a domestic partners bill passed. That's no small feat in a fairly conservative state. However, Richardson said, a red state in the West is not the same as a red state elsewhere.

"This is a state, like many in the West, that prizes individualism," he said.
[Link]

FOLLOWING AMERICA WITHOUT A TV
Newshour Interactive 2008 Coverage


THEY'VE DONE YEOMAN DUTY
A quick follow up to the ongoing attempt of the Bush Administration to get telecoms immunity for spying on Americans. Howard Dean's brother hassled me into caring about this, I even sent an e-mail to Keith Olbermann asking him to push it. Well it sounds like the people won this battle. Now if Bush wants to protect the telecoms, he'll need to veto a defense bill he said we needed life or death style. We'll keep you posted.


WHY WE VOTE
Because we still can.

Please Vote Obama This Tuesday

The G'st is proud to join living Kennedys, Ted and Caroline in endorsing Barack Obama for president. February 5 is Super Tuesday, when 52% of all primary delegates are at stake. Odds are you'll be voting then. And my friends, I know there are some of you out there who are thinking about voting for Hilary Clinton. And I would like to dissuade you from that. There's a lot I want to say, but I don't want to distract from the matter at hand. So first, the evidence:



Two very important, must-read articles on the Clinton's brutal and racist attacks on Obama.
Ghettoizing Barack
Obama’s Hollow Victory


These are the options:
Clinton v. McCain
Obama v. McCain
Clinton v. Romney
Obama v. Romney

Only Obama can energize the American voter, not only to win in November, but to win so decisively as to have a mandate for change. In Obama we finally have a candidate the people don't need to be tricked into liking. A candidate who's best spokesman for his ideas is himself. A candidate who's core ideas and personal convictions come from within, not from polls and consultants.

I realize there are a lot of women out there who would like to see a woman elected president. I would too. But seriously, not this woman. While so many of us had the common sense to oppose going to war with Iraq, she voted for the Iraq War. Her Senate career proves her to be a friend of the defense (WAR) industry, the bane of American freedom and independence. Our great nation has never needed change more, not just for progress, but for survival. Having the same two families in the White House for 24-28 years is poison for a democracy.

If you want change. If you want a better America. If you want to tell Bush, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Only one candidate can do that. Only one candidate will change the course Dick Cheney has set this nation on. Please join me in supporting Obama at the primaries.

It was one of the most public manifestations to date of the odd friendship and mutual need of two dynasties that, on the surface at least, have almost nothing in common. But as President Bush put it in an interview with CBS News last month, "Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton." Mr. Bush made the remark in a telling exchange with Bob Schieffer, who said, "Well, you know, if Senator Clinton becomes president."

"There we go," Mr. Bush said.

"Maybe we'll see a day," Mr. Schieffer continued.

"Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton," Mr. Bush responded.
[Link to full New York Times Article]

Couldn't hold it together 'til the convention

Edwards drops out

Praise Jesus! The Republic is Saved!

Giuliani to Quit Republican Presidential Race

Charges of Sadism Hound Republican Candidates

Romney clan less brutal to fuzzy animals than Huckabee according to a recent old story.From Kinky Friedman's Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch:

(Miller County, Arkansas) Two boy scout counselors, 17 year old Clayton Frady and 18 year old David litickabee, the son of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, have admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death.

Camp officials, who did not report the crime to law enforcement officials, have admitted that the act did occur and have fired the boys from their positions. However, no charges have been filed against the young men.

Arkansas State Police conducted a perfunctory investigation, but did not attempt to locate witnesses to the crime.

Huckabee denies all. Romney tortures dogs. Giuliani would kill everything if he got the chance. And ol' Hil says, "I will be a good president for dogs."