Olbermann’s commentary on Prop 8
The fact that Proposition 8 passed this last week in Califonia is a sad commentary on people’s morays and the discrimination that they still think is ok to pass on to others. Of course the statistic that African Americans (whose strong turnout is being attributed to Obama) voting 2 to 1 *for* the measure is particularly ironic. The best commentary I’ve heard on this issue comes from Keith Olbermann, who says all I’d like to, and more. While it’s small solace, we just have to remember that this kind of racism is dying off.
A rural county pining for a racist past
Ah, good memories
With all the polls it feels like there’s been a sea change in how America sees race, or maybe not. Maybe it’s W’s 22% approval rating skewing the numbers, because there are obvious still some serious misconceptions and racism playing big in the election. Interviews in the ‘bootheal’ region of Missouri (only a few hours South of me here in St. Louis, where Obama drew 100,000 people under the Arch last week) show that indifference, mixed with the old school racism and ignorance, is still alive and well. My favorite part is:
“But Douglas’ cousin Ronnie Johnson is voting for McCain. Or rather, against Obama.
He is reluctant to explain this at first — “You don’t want to know why,” he says.
The others on the porch goad him. And Johnson, a lanky 20-year-old white man who works as a meatcutter at a grocery store, starts to talk about an issue that has persisted throughout the campaign: race.
It is not just that Obama is black, Johnson says. He has heard that Obama is Muslim. (Obama is Christian.) He also has heard rumors that Obama refuses to salute the American flag, and that Obama has promised that black men will have more rights than white men. (Independent fact-checking groups say these rumors are false.)
So Johnson is voting for McCain.
“He’s white,” Johnson says.”
And we wonder why W was elected twice. Someone save us…
Join the McCain G00gle b0mb – spread the truth
Moved by Obama’s acceptance speech in Denver? Yeah, me too. I wanted to find out how I could help highlight the differences in Obama’s vs McCain’s stances. Chris Bowers had some great points about finding factual McCain quotes and the easiest way to get these facts in front of voters is to raise their prominence in search engine results; this is my attempt to help. If you have a site and want to participate, read Chris’ comments here. So, lets get on with it:
If you are anything like me, you are sick and tired of the national image of John McCain as some sort of independent, principled, Republican moderate. Examples of McCain’s departure from the Bush administration’s agenda are truly few and far between. Despite reports to the contrary, he has consistently supported and facilitated the most egregiously radical aspects of that agenda. Further, in an attempt to improve his prospects for the Republican nomination in 2008, he has spent much of the last three years sucking up to the theocon wing of the Republican Party that he once decried. Most famously, this included retracting comments he made about Jerry Falwell and then speaking at Falwell’s Liberty University. Pandering to extremists you once denounced in order to improve your electoral prospects hardly sounds “principled” to me.
What especially irks me about McCain’s pure as the driven snow national image is how the Washington pundit elites have continued to help manufacture it. McCain is the most frequent guest on Sunday morning talk shows, whose hosts clearly have done a terrible job of exposing the truth about him. We simply can’t trust the gatekeepers of our conventional wisdom to treat John McCain with any skepticism whatsoever. I am sure we will see much of the same lapdog treatment from the pundit elite when it comes to the McCain doctrine, otherwise known as escalation in Iraq. Already, pundits are bending over backward to label this idea serious, and the people who support it as principled.
Well, I say enough is enough. The line on McCain’s national image will be drawn here, and drawn now. Today, I am proposing a long-term, anti-McCain googlebomb project similar to the Googlebomb the Elections campaign I founded in 2006. The goal on this project is the search engine optimization of articles from established news sources that tell the truth on John McCain. I want to make certain that when people search for information about John McCain online, that they are presented with the truth on John McCain. I hope you will join me in this campaign. Here is what it entails:
Free Obama – Biden bumper sticker
UPDATE: check it – now MoveOn has, free buttons available too.
It’s old news now, but earlier today Obama chose Senator Joe Biden to be his running mate. What a great pick, I’ve always been a fan of Biden, especially his appearances on The Daily Show. He has generally voted with Obama, and along party lines but has been outspoken on many issues. He’s a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and national security issues which should help blunt Republican attacks on Obama’s lack of experience in these areas. You can get a Free Obama/Biden bumper sticker over at MoveOn. Man, November can’t come fast enough! Obama and Biden FTW in 08!
Robert De Niro on Obama’s inexperience
http://www.fak3r.com
Today one of the greats gave Obama the nod at a rally in New Jersey. He surprised people by seeming attacking the Senator though, “Barack Obama does not have the experience to be president of the United States. He wasn’t experienced enough to authorize the invasion of Iraq. And that’s not all, it’s clear Barack Obama does not have the experience to let the special interests run the government. That’s the kind of inexperience I can get used to. I’ve never made a speech like this at a political event before, so, what am I doing here? Finally, one person has inspired me“
It’s time to lose the faith talk in politics
We’ve got to find a way to take the conservative symbolic message of faith talk out of American politics. First let me state what I believe in as far as religion; I believe religion is a very personal thing, and I feel it should be that way for everyone. This goes a long way in understanding my disdain for so called ‘faith-based politics’, examples of which have been in abundance this campaign season. Now, before you jump on me, I am talking about ‘both’ (anyone find a viable 3rd party candidate that can raise 100 bazillion dollars to go the dance? I wish we could…but that’s another post 
) parties, Democrats and Republicans. When you hear any of them kowtowing to the evangelicals (who have been the sweet target these past few months), you know they’re deliberately targeting those people, and those people only. The fact that so many have been called out to ‘prove’ their conviction is the true one, and in line with the vote heavy evangelicals, is a sad commentary on how people vote.
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The premature crowning of Hillary
Hillary is being crowned the ‘come from behind kid’ after ‘winning’ the New Hampshire primary; but this appears to be nothing but spin. First of all the results, Hillary took 39% of the popular vote to Barack ’s 37%, so Hillary wins, right? Not exactly, if you look at the delegate count you’ll see a different picture. Remember, people can win the popular vote and loose the election (Gore). From the article/discussion on CNN’s Political Ticker you’ll see the results: (more…)
Hi, I'm fak3r and I've been online for over 15 years, blogging for 10. I work with open source software, various hardware and whatever else that I can hack on. I enjoy learning by doing, painting infrequently and listening to more music than the law allows. Feel free to follow me and comment on my thoughts and ideas; we're all in it together kid.
