these are the facts.

POLL RESULTS:
With Obama as President, do you think race issues will get more play in the mainstream?

14% said YES!
14% said no.
71% said i've seen him be consistenly IN THE MIDDLE on race issues.
and another 14% said that they will fight all of the answers above.

CONCLUSIONS:
1) Blogger can't do math.
2) 71% of you, Obama supporters or not, have not been so swayed by the race jargon slung in the last 2 years of this campaign --- leaving you a bit muddled on the basic stance of our Pres-Elect re: race relations. His admin needs to come up with some position papers, or you could just apply for a job in the ObamaCamp administration should you feel you are qualified to handle that shit correctly on your own.

Update your resumes, please.

New poll up, with a topic near and dear to my heart: INTERNET STALKING!

thank you for participating! :)

yup.

come on! there's a lot of media to catch up with re: 2008 Election. And Amy Poehler is one of the funniest beezies in the history of ever. She is just consistently on point (and she has always reminded me of Binky! Something in the mannerisms.)


As hilarious as this clip is, who really expects our political leaders to be comedic entertainers? I certainly do not. I would have rather Palin spent the time brushing up for her interviews. AMERICA, CAN YOU PLEASE CHECK YOURSELF ON YOUR RELIANCE ON CELEBRITY STATUS?! I MEAN, SERIOUSLY...WE DON'T NEED THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN TO TAKE THE PARIS HILTON ROUTE...

can you feel the bass?

And obviously it is a major change that the U.S. has elected a Black man. I don’t believe it will represent a change of this system, or a lifting of oppression, or even a significant change of policies (though we will see, of course) — but it is a change at a level of symbolism for the U.S., in exactly the ways that politics often captures the norms and expectations of society. The repudiation of Bush has combined with a repudiation of raw white racism. Of a Republican attempt to speak of “our America” — as an America defined by white christian people in conservative rural towns. Those days are gone, even if those forces are still virulent. And this defeat was palpable to those who they target.

...
The struggle for radical change now unfolds in a new context, among a new generation — and we should be taking all that in with great energy — to understand, and then to act, on a remade political stage.

...
Marx wrote “after the debauchery comes the blues.” After the honeymoon with Obama, will come stark conflicts over actual policy and actual outcomes. One of the deepest divides in American life is the class divide within the Democratic Party — between the imperialist nature of their establishment and the interests of their base. The dogs of the far right will now bite at Obama’s every step, and at the same time, the reactionary actions of this new government will collide with the expectations and hopes of its supporters.

...
The people are going to need fearless revolutionary politics — sharp, even shocking exposure, analysis, a sweeping internationalist view, a daring to uncover imperialism beneath the coming rhetoric and regroupment of empire.

(Source)

te a.m.o.

I found this on Obama's AsianAve page.


You know, flaws and all of an individual, accepted. However, you must admit that the Obama camp ORGANIZED about 45 million people. Ang daming mga masa, sobra!

Our movement should take pointers.

he's a hologram.

My election coverage highlight. He says some pretty important things, but then he's a hologram.

WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO INTERVIEW VIA HOLOGRAM AND WHY?!

now it's okay!

Is Obama president?

today's Google logo looks like this:

See more in their official archive.

today.

I will vote for Obama, because he's not the GOP.
Let us not forget that a plutocratic bipartisan system is not reflective of a direct democracy, a true democracy.

Giles makes really great points about civic engagement in his post, and what seems to be the urgency behind the "Messiah Myth" , to which many of our communities fall victim. Eventually, this disempowers loads of folks to forget about the power of collective action and group agency. Whoever you end up voting for, whatever marketing campaign each candidate employed --- irrelevant; with the millions of first time voters, and the other million who will actually show up at the polls, this is a monumental historical point showing the engagement of people who may have otherwise been apathetic to U.S. political processes.

Off to get on that line now. I'mma bring a book just in case.


alas, let me end it with humor:
1) http://thisfuckingelection.com/

and 2)

yup.

Presidential Cabbage Patch Dolls.Win Biden,Palin, Obama, and/or McCain! Really love the details: Biden's hairline, Obama's ears, Palin's get-up...but McCAin as something young kinda gives me the jibblies. More info below.

Starting Thursday, 10/30 at 9 am EST,. you can bid on a unique collection of one of the most beloved. toys in history - Cabbage Patch Kids®. 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the Cabbage Patch Kids® and, to celebrate, you can bid to "adopt". one of these amazing iconic ‘Kids™ with 100 percent of the proceeds going to charity... Source

rick roll, live on.

see what corinne and brian made!

fuck anonymity, there are credits. i loves POCs! <3

Nump

I got graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaapes!


**a nod to all of you who have dedicated your lives to "getting stupid" and "getting dumb"

Kung Fu Elections

pick a candidate, get your mortal kombat on. special moves, and all. (ps: the uppercut proves more valuable than you think!)



http://www.atom.com/spotlights/kung_fu_election/

kinda love the parodies!

from the OG trains!

how kind....

AMV (via)

Mary Menth Andersen was 31 years old at the time and had just married Norwegian Dag Andersen. She was looking forward to starting a new life in Åsgårdstrand in Vestfold with him. But first she had to get all of her belongings across to Norway. The date was November 2nd, 1988. At the airport in Miami things were hectic as usual, with long lines at the check-in counters. When it was finally Mary’s turn and she had placed her luggage on the baggage line, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness.

“You’ll have to pay a $103 surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway”, the man behind the counter said.

Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway, and she had no one else to call.

“I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions”, says Mary.

Although she explained the situation to the man behind the counter, he showed no signs of mercy.

“I started to cry, tears were pouring down my face and I had no idea what to do.”

Then I heard a gentle and friendly voice behind me saying, “That’s OK, I’ll pay for her.”

Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.

“He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was, Who is this man?”

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man.

“He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants”, says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

The piece of paper said ‘Barack Obama’ and his address in Kansas, which is the state where his mother comes from. Mary carried the slip of paper around in her wallet for years, before it was thrown out.

“He was my knight in shining armor”, says Mary, smiling.

She paid the $103 back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway. At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker* in Chicago, and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.

In the spring of 2006 Mary’s parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.

In a letter to Mary’s parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped ‘United States Senate, Washington DC’, Barack Obama writes**: ‘I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I’m happy I could help back then, and I’m delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama, United States senator’.

The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

This week VG met her and her husband in the café that she runs with her friend Lisbeth Tollefsrud in Åsgårdstrand.

“It’s amazing to think that the man who helped me 20 years ago may now become the next US president”, says Mary delightedly.

She has already voted for Obama. She recently donated 100 dollars to his campaign. She often tells the story from Miami airport, both when race issues are raised and when the conversation turns to the presidential elections.

“I sincerely hope the Americans will see reason and understand that Obama means change”, says Mary.


*Not at all sure about this part of the translation. The Norwegian word used is 'miljøarbeider', I don't know what the exact English word for that is or even if there is one, and I don't know enough about Obama to say what job of his they're talking about.
**This is my translation of the reporter's translation of the letter. From English to Norwegian and back to English. So obviously it is not correct word for word.

trains.

Hope you're registered.

mavericks?

I prefer Cartwright and sons

ps: do I dislike Palin so much that I can't tell she did a good job? I just don't see it...help me?

A speech in the rain

(source) in full:

In case you missed the debates.

why don't people understand economics?

(Source)
REAL TALK
it's not that much to ask. i don't know everything, but i know basics. here is my unsophisticated shorthand of now:

1)KETCHUP SOUP! we are in a DEPRESSION (yes, the 1930s kind!) The linked article is the first I've seen that makes the blunt comparison to THE GREAT DEPRESSION o' olde!

2) there is a presidential debate happening. someone is acting like the kid who didn't study for the midterm. why: maccain's party is largely responsible for the shape of our current economy.

3) this didn't happen suddenly. we've been on the gradual decline since Bush took office. unemployement, credit crisis, housing crisis, and the US has limited social safety nets able to protect the majority of Americans from poverty.

4) war creates "jobs" and distractions from administrative mistakes.

5) since the New Deal, practically the only "deal" still in existence is social security...which the GOP has been trying to rid of during Bush's term in office. it's suceeded in rerouting the means by which these funds are acquired.

6) without this $700 billion buyout, the FDIC funds (another New Deal creation) would be depleted. meaning, everyone's money in the dissolved corps would be absorbed in the losses. meaning, individuals will have to chalk up the losses of large corporations. most times, these people are folks like you and me. $700 means that as a colelctive, we are absorbing the losses of individuals. had WaMu not been bought out, all of you with WaMu woulda been taken down, as well. i think wachovia is next up for a buyer.

7) traditionally, the US. gov and US corps have been at odds. Corps do not want to be accountable to gov regulation. it prefers the laissez-faire treatment, but yes, corp interests have greatly increased ties in gov --- mostly due to the Regan administration. Corps/gov accountabilty = 80/20.

8) this is what $700 billion saves us from: that scene from Annie singing with folks about Hooverville.

9) $700 billion is not interchangeable with the money that should be used for socialized healthcare, therefore please do not protest about the many ways $700bil can be used. For me, that is money for 466 billion slices of pizza.

10) only show dissent if you know of someone who can lead the junta, or if you've been practicing for the coup' in the meantime. til then ---- your Sharpie marker protest signs on oaktag are a waste of money.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: well, you shouldn't. unless you care about your how a third party will justify having your money taken from you.

Get it?

Well, I'm worried for me and my family.