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From Guernica: Tom Engelhardt: Rebecca Solnit, 9/11's Living Monuments

2009-09-11T12:18:00.003-04:00

On September 11, 2001, a fellow New Yorker and friend of mine, a public health historian who knew instantly what the dangers were, bicycled directly into the smoke, ash, and chemicals that hung over lower Manhattan searching for his daughter whose school was only blocks away from the collapsed buildings. She was, it turned out, "safe" in that same pall of dangerous smoke. She had been evacuated to the street with her class in time to see people leaping or falling to their deaths from the upper floors of one of the crippled towers. You probably couldn't live in New York City that day and not be connected, however indirectly, to someone who died. In my case, it was the father of a classmate of my son's, a photographer, who also advanced into the chaos near one of the towers, leaving behind an eerie, moving trail of photographs.

As for myself, I was on my bedroom floor that morning most undramatically exercising when my wife called to tell me that something was happening. By then, TV cameras were already focused on the first punctured tower and, remembering tales of the B-25 that had hit the Empire State Building in 1945, I assumed I was watching a horrifying accident. Another friend, a rare North American who remembered the first 9/11 -- that day in 1973 when Salvador Allende, the Chilean president, was overthrown and murdered in a U.S.-backed military coup -- thought it might be Chilean payback.

Any half-plausible idea was, for a while, possible. History hadn't set. The Bush administration, in disarray, hadn't yet hijacked the day or the country. September 11th, still being lived, hadn't been renamed "Patriot Day." There was, as yet, no Department of Homeland Security, no Patriot Act. No one had been rounded up. No wars had been launched.

As for New Yorkers, those of us not making our way out of -- or into -- the danger zone were on the phone checking on loved ones, listening to rumors, or outside in the streets, talking to each other, wondering while the sirens wailed. It was a memorably terrible moment, but not, in fact, a nightmare of fear; nor would New York ever, as far as I could tell, find itself in the grip of blind revenge as, it seemed, so much of the country would soon be. Not so long after 9/11, for instance, two New Yorkers I know -- one had been close indeed to the collapsing towers -- headed for Afghanistan, not armed to kill but to help.

I remember my own now-embarrassing first reaction to 9/11 (once I grasped what was actually happening). It was unexpectedly dense and unprophetic, given the American reaction to come. I thought, then, that perhaps the horror of those acts of destruction and mass murder in my own city would open Americans to the sort of pain so many others in the world had felt -- sometimes, in fact, at our own hands. It might, I thought, change our politics. It did, of course, do that, but in no way I imagined. And that was the strange, unexplained thing for me: it seemed as if living at "ground zero" during the assaults of 9/11 somehow made you the worst predictor of what our nation would feel and do.

For me, even today, an especially unnerving aspect of 9/11 was the way so many Americans donned "I [heart] New York" T-shirts and hats -- New York having, until then, been Sodom to Los Angeles's Gomorrah for much of the country -- and under the Bush administration's fear-filled ministrations, began beating the drums of war, while panicking over prospective terrorists launching improbable attacks on their local amusement parks and landmarks. It seemed craven to me then and still does today.

Eight disastrous years later, I suddenly understand that day so much better, thanks to Rebecca Solnit, whom 9/11 indirectly sent my way offering hope in dark times. Now, she's returned with her latest book, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster
, which capsizes our most basic sense of what disaster is all about, humanly speaking. As befits an author who has written a guidebook to getting lost, she is bold beyond belief and her originality matches that boldness. And here's the thing: if you take a journey into disaster with her (9/11 being but one of the many disasters she explores in the book), you won't get lost. You'll find yourself. You'll find ourselves, our better selves, even in catastrophe.

Think of Paradise as the perfect companion volume to Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. Klein explained how governments try to take advantage of disasters to optimize their power and wealth (and that of their cronies); Solnit explains what ordinary people in disasters regularly do for themselves. They don't, as we have been taught, run screaming from danger. They head for the smoke, pedaling hard, and then, without the help of governments, they begin to organize. They become, briefly, their better selves. So here's a thought: Maybe it was the lack of the actual experience of 9/11 that left the rest of America so vulnerable when the Bush administration led them toward their lesser selves.

Read Rebecca Solnit's essay on Tomdispatch.com

So, Glenn Beck, Obama is a "White Guy" Who "Has a Deep-Seated Hatred for White People"?

2009-07-30T01:27:00.012-04:00

Crossposted at the Huffington Post

A friend of mine dug up a story from Media Matters that is from all the way back on February 12, 2007 that quotes radio and television host Glenn Beck as saying that Barack Obama is "colorless. You don't notice that he is black. So he might as well be white." Adding later the unbelievable (for multiple reasons) following lines: "But if somebody who is me -- I say, 'You don't even notice his color. He might as well be white. He's a white guy.' Doesn't matter. 'To white people.' Doesn't matter. That's racist," claiming that someone can say Obama is "not black" and be considered just stupid, but not a racist.

These comments, made so long ago, are interesting in light of Beck's recent comments on Fox and Friends, where he called Obama "a racist" and claimed that he (Obama) has shown himself "over and over again" to be "a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don't know what it is..." While adding, interestingly enough, "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist." It seems to me that if someone shows us over and over again "a deep-seated hatred for white people" he should be considered anything but "colorless."

So, Glenn, putting aside the non-racial issues I have with a sentence that begins, "But if someone who is me -- I say" (excuse me?), and the interesting juxtaposition of stating that someone has a "deep-seated hatred for white people," but then claiming that you're "not saying he doesn't like white people" (dislike in no way being a prerequisite for hatred), explain this to the rest of us, please. Is it possible for a "colorless man" or a "White guy" to have a "deep-seated hatred for white people"? Is this some sort of white self-racism...with a person who is actually black...except in the eyes of "Color Blind" Glenn Beck...where he is colorless? C'mon Glenn, explain this to the rest of us who just don't have our finger on the pulse of the racial dialogue in this country the way you do.

Here's the thing, if it wasn't so obvious that these people (see: Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, et al., hosts and commentators alike) simply say things to make people look at them, to make people watch and listen to their shows, if they actually had positions upon which they stood and didn't contradict themselves constantly, then it might be worth the time to entertain their views in the ongoing political discussion. But, as it is, as they are so willing to change course, not out of rational thinking, but instead in attempts to simply shine the spotlight more in their direction, to keep their shows in the public eye, there is no real reason to consider their views thoughtful or, indeed, well thought out.

Ben Harper Nat Geo Video Courtesy of The Amazing Pudding

2009-07-20T16:28:00.002-04:00

Once again The Amazing Pudding has some great music videos up, including this one from Ben Harper. (Check out all the slide guitar clips that Trevor put up here.)

Why the Hate Crimes Prevention Act Should be Attached to the Defense Bill

2009-07-16T09:44:00.007-04:00

(Also published on the Huffington Post)

Let me state this up front: I'm not a fan of the political practice in Congress of attaching unrelated measures to bills that are considered must-pass legislation. I think it's a political tool that tarnishes our government and makes a mockery of what a legitimate government should be.

As the Senate votes today on broadening the definition of federal hate crimes to include people attacked based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disabilities, Democrats have attached the Hate Crimes Law to the Defense Bill, which, if you have been paying attention at all over the last eight years, is about as "must-pass" as legislation gets in today's political climate. But I don't see this as an unrelated matter the way many Republicans in the Senate do, including Senator John McCain:

"While we have young Americans fighting and dying in two wars we're going to take up the hate-crimes bill," McCain said, "because the majority leader thinks that's more important, more important than legislation concerning the defense of this nation." And later: "The Senate will pass a highly controversial, highly explosive piece of legislation to be attached to the authorization for the defense and the security of this nation. That's wrong."

What exactly defines the defense and security of a nation? I would argue that the defense and security of the nation implies the defense and security of its citizenry, of its people. Otherwise, just what exactly are we defending? Now, say what you will about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but those who have supported these wars have always defended them as our only means to fight for the right of every U.S. citizen to continue to live that life promised to us, one in pursuit of happiness. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act is commonly referred to as the Matthew Shepard Act, named after a young man who was kidnapped, robbed, pistol whipped, tortured, tied to a fence in a remote, rural area, and left to die. Defending the American people is not only a matter of fighting people far away who might one day come to this country to try once again to do us harm. It's a matter of defending our people against the small-minded, bigoted, hate-filled people already within our borders who would seek to do harm to fellow citizens.

Attaching the Hate Crimes Prevention Act to the Defense Bill in not in contradiction to what that bill should do (i.e. help those looking to defend our country and its people). Indeed, the Hate Crime Prevention Act looks to do exactly what the Defense Bill should be set up to do: defend the nation and allow its people to live freely.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put it well when he said, "If their country doesn't stand up for them, if we don't stand up for them, who will?" It is important to fight against anyone who might look to bring terror (and a crime like the one perpetrated against Matthew Shepard is most certainly terror) into the lives of people only trying to live freely. Just because John McCain thinks it's more important to defend a uniformed soldier in Iraq than a young homosexual man in Wyoming doesn't mean the rest of us have to come to that same conclusion.

Radio Happy Hour All the Time

2009-07-13T14:02:00.001-04:00

Radio Happy Hour will be extending its stay at LPR in October, November, and December.

RHH will wind up its summer performances with Andrew W.K. on August 8, take September off, and then return in all its glory to LPR on October 10.

If you've missed the first two episodes of Radio Happy Hour featuring Norah Jones and Michael Showalter, you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or stream the show at RadioHappyHour.com. While you're at RHH's online home, watch out for your chance to submit suggestions as to who should be the special guests for the fall and winter shows.

And Now We're Available as a Podcast on iTunes

2009-07-10T08:28:00.000-04:00

Radio Happy Hour on iTunes.

Listen to Radio Happy Hour With Norah Jones

2009-07-08T01:02:00.000-04:00

So, as I've mentioned here before, I've been lucky enough to do a little writing and editing work on my good friend Sam Osterhout's live show here in New York called Radio Happy Hour.

Well, now those of you who couldn't make it can listen online and see just what the heck this live radio broadcast that isn't really on the radio at all is all about.

We've got Michael Showalter as our guest in July and Andrew WK in August. And this first episode features the one and only, Ms. Norah Jones. She was a pro, by the way. Flew in from Spain that day (I think), read the script, and nailed it. She's hilarious. The whole thing is, in my opinion. And a couple of my jokes even got some small laughs.

Listen here, and check the Radio Happy Hour blog often for updates and hilarity in general from Sam Osterhout.

Moving On

2009-06-21T09:33:00.000-04:00

Robert Reich's Scathing Critique of the Obama Plan for Reforming Wall Street (from Guernica Mag)

2009-06-19T17:23:00.005-04:00

I've been posting Robert Reich's essays (usually on matters having to do with the economy) to Guernica Magazine's blog since before Obama was president, and rarely has he had a negative thing to say about the President. Never has he torn the administration apart like he does in his post today at Guernica.

I tend to stand along with Mr. Reich on financial matters; I like what he has to say and usually agree with him. That being said, his post today worries me immensely. It seems that President Obama has lost sight of who is important in these matters (while some may argue that his sight was never on anyone but Wall Street).

Read Robert Reich's latest (and scathing) piece at Guernica, here.

The Lab Did Some Very Cool Things This Year

2009-06-19T16:24:00.005-04:00

The Lab, a program in the St. Paul Public Schools founded by Mary Tinucci, is growing at a rate that is nearly exhausting just watching it from the outside. It's hard to imagine all the work that must have gone into it this past year.

Check out all of The Lab news from the past year here.

My favorite project of the year was the Shoe Design project. From The Lab's web site:

"[I]n the Visual Lab, students from many schools have been designing and creating their own shoes. Inspired by the collaborative project between Beautiful Losers & Nike, “Make Something!!! from Nothing,” where designer Jesse Leyva designs sneakers with youth. “Start thinking about storytelling in your art,” says Leyva to his students, encouraging them to think about their own clothing and ask, “What were they [the designers] thinking when they designed it?” and “Why did I buy this?”

Using some of these ideas, Lab students begin with an outline of a high-top shoe and plan out their color scheme, textures, and decorative accents for their shoe design. Next, they translate their design to a blank canvas shoe in the style of the “Chuck Taylor” using paints, paint markers, glitter, glue, beads and other materials. The group has used this activity to talk about individual identity, ideas of “cool” and fashion, and self-expression.

After our small groups and Enrichments are over, Lab staff will be heading out to the programs to conduct evaluations and distribute the next volume of The Lab’s Poetry Anthology. The book is at the press right now, to be printed and bound in a couple of weeks. Designed by a volunteer graphic designer and student in The Lab, it includes poems written by students through this semester. Get a sneak peak at the cover and few poems here!"

To get involved with the Lab, click here.

The Approaches of John McCain and Barack Obama

2009-06-18T15:51:00.006-04:00

As we saw so often during the presidential race, the approaches to foreign policy by John McCain and Barack Obama couldn't be farther apart. On the elections in Iran and the subsequent protests we see the same old, same old from Senator McCain: American tough talk that has only served to turn more people in the world against us, than it has rallied them to our interests.

In a New York Times article today (as well as many other places reporting on this story) we see what will surely come of U.S. officials taking a hard line on this issue:

"The [Iranian] Foreign Ministry, meantime, summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents American interests in Tehran, in protest of what it called “meddling” by the United States into its affairs because of statements by American officials on Iran’s elections."

There's no sense in making it seem like we are attempting to plant a pro-Western politician, as we have been known to do so often. Let the Iranian people take up the fight. When will those of John McCain's ilk realize that tough talk isn't always the best way to go about things? As John Kerry put it in a recent Times op-ed:

"If we actually want to empower the Iranian people, we have to understand how our words can be manipulated and used against us to strengthen the clerical establishment, distract Iranians from a failing economy and rally a fiercely independent populace against outside interference. Iran’s hard-liners are already working hard to pin the election dispute, and the protests, as the result of American meddling. On Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry chastised American officials for “interventionist” statements. Government complaints of slanted coverage by the foreign press are rising in pitch...

[I]f the street protests of the last days have taught us anything, it is that this is an Iranian moment, not an American one...

What comes next in Iran is unclear. What is clear is that the tough talk that Senator McCain advocates got us nowhere for the last eight years. Our saber-rattling only empowered hard-liners and put reformers on the defensive. An Iranian president who advocated a “dialogue among civilizations” and societal reforms was replaced by one who denied the Holocaust and routinely called for the destruction of Israel."

Republicans in Congress Don't Want a Public Health Care Option, But Republican Voters Do

2009-06-16T15:49:00.006-04:00

If the following numbers from a recent Huffinton Post article are correct, then it is very clear that Republicans in Congress are in bed with Big Insurance and Big Pharma:

In a poll taken earlier this year by Lake Research, 73% of respondents favored a health plan that gives them the choice between a private plan or a public health insurance plan. Only 15% preferred to have only the choice of a private plan. And the preference for a choice between public and private health insurance plans extends across all demographic and partisan groups, including Democrats (77%), Independents (79%) and Republicans (63%).

So, what else are we to take from this? How else can you spin it when the majority of Republican voters would prefer a choice, but more than likely, ZERO Republicans in Congress would vote for health care reform that included a public health option?

If a party is not voting for their constituency, but is instead voting a certain way due to pressure from heavy lobbyists in Washington then there is certainly no obligation to attempt to pass a bill with bi-partisan Congressional support. Absolutely none.

Radio Happy Hour Tomorrow

2009-06-12T16:41:00.003-04:00

I've been working with my friend Sam Osterhout on this show he's created that should be a blast. It's called Radio Happy Hour, and tomorrow we premier at (le) Poisson Rouge in NYC with our very special guest, Norah Jones.

This is the first of three Radio Happy Hours that will happen this summer (we welcome Michael Showalter and Andrew W.K. in July and August, respectively).

Check back here to find out how you can listen to these shows after they take place.

Check out what the Onion's Decider had to say:

Host Sam Osterhout leads guests on a strange journey involving offbeat interview questions, audience participation, live performance, and plenty of drinks throughout—and he only charges five bucks for it, which makes this a fairly low-risk proposition.

And a couple other places have mentioned us.

Norman Solomon on Guernica Magazine

2009-06-08T10:29:00.002-04:00

"And henceforth," Albert Camus wrote, "the only honorable course will be to stake everything on a formidable gamble: that words are more powerful than munitions."

Read Norman Solomon's article about war, and how words are used to further our military state and mask the human costs of war.

Profits For Some or Health Care For All?

2009-06-06T13:39:00.008-04:00

People like Rick Scott, and physicians and surgeons who are in bed with Big Pharma and Big Insurance are trying to scare the public out of a public option for health care, for one reason and one reason only: profit. And while it's despicable and shameful, it's anything but new. Remember when somehow George W. came out looking like the patriotic soldier and John Kerry was painted a coward? The swiftboating is in full force again. Luckily (maybe) in today's interconnected world it's getting harder and harder for these people's true intentions to be masked, and easier and easier for people to spread the word.

So, who is Rick Scott?

From Bill Moyers Journal last night:

BILL MOYERS: CPRights.org is sponsored by Richard Scott, who had to leave his company. The largest health care chain in the world, Columbia/HCA. After the company was caught ripping off the feds and state governments for hundreds of millions dollars in bogus Medicare and Medicaid payments. He waltzed away with a $10 million severance deal. And $300 million worth of stock. And here he is telling us that his way of health reform is the way the public should go. Now, how does the public get the facts about an ad like that. And a guy like Rick Scott?

BROOKE GLADSTONE: How did you get the facts? The fact is that I've seen Scott being identified, more or less, as you did, in every single story about this campaign. You know, I think that there is now a willingness, as there wasn't even during the Kerry swiftboating earlier on, and certainly not during the sinking of the Clinton health care plan, to acknowledge the source of these ads. I think that all of us, as news consumers, as the American people, are becoming more and more aware that just because you see it on TV doesn't mean that it's true.

JAY ROSEN: I think that an ad like that is assuming that the receiver of it is an isolated person, who hearing these scary tales of government-run health care will therefore pick up the phone and pressure Congress. And the way the ad imagines the viewer is in social isolation. Where no other messages will get through. And I think that is what's changing. Is that people are not isolated anymore. They're not sitting on the end of their television sets and receiving messages from the center only.

And in a way you could see these kinds of campaigns where you raise money from rich people to scare less educated people. Or low information voters, as they call them in the political trade. As a sign of weakness. The rhetoric might be more furious, the ads might be more outrageous. But it's because this kind of communication is actually weaker and it's working less.

From Robert Reich on Guernica Magazine:

"I'ved poked around Washington [yesterday], talking with friends on the Hill who confirm the worst: Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.

You know why, of course. They don't want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, "unfair" is anything that undermines their profits."

More at Guernica Magazine...

From "The Cost Conundrum" by Atul Gawande (the New Yorker, June 1)

"Health-care costs ultimately arise from the accumulation of individual decisions doctors make about which services and treatments to write an order for. The most expensive piece of medical equipment, as the saying goes, is a doctor’s pen. And, as a rule, hospital executives don’t own the pen caps. Doctors do...

Other [physicians] think of the money as a means of improving what they do. They think about how to use the insurance money to maybe install electronic health records with colleagues, or provide easier phone and e-mail access, or offer expanded hours. They hire an extra nurse to monitor diabetic patients more closely, and to make sure that patients don’t miss their mammograms and pap smears and colonoscopies.

Then there are the physicians who see their practice primarily as a revenue stream. They instruct their secretary to have patients who call with follow-up questions schedule an appointment, because insurers don’t pay for phone calls, only office visits. They consider providing Botox injections for cash. They take a Doppler ultrasound course, buy a machine, and start doing their patients’ scans themselves, so that the insurance payments go to them rather than to the hospital. They figure out ways to increase their high-margin work and decrease their low-margin work. This is a business, after all."

Contact your Representative and Senators today and tell them we need a public health option. The days of such greed in our health care system must become a thing of the past now:

Write your Representative here.

Contact the Senate here.

Minnesota-Based Magazine, NEED, is Making Headlines Across the Country

2009-06-05T16:48:00.005-04:00

With it's "Screw the Man, Save the World" campaign NEED, the humanitarian magazine based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is making a splash across the country. NEED is looking to get rid of all of its ads in favor of a subscription-only revenue model. According to Reuters (via Market Wire), "If successful, the humanitarian magazine's nationwide "Screw the Man, Save the World" campaign could transform business models and mean the end of print advertising."

Strong words, and ones that NEED CEO Stephanie Kinnunen hopes are true: "Relying on advertising is no longer a viable business model, but readers will save the magazines they care about."

About NEED Magazine:

NEED magazine is an educational artistic hope-filled publication focusing on life changing humanitarian efforts at home and abroad.

NEED magazine's mission is to support humanitarian efforts.

NEED magazine's dynamic visual narrative is educational, drives awareness, involvement, personal connection and contributions.

Public Health Care

2009-06-05T08:57:00.001-04:00

Sign MoveOn's petition showing Congress your support for President Obama's health care reform.

The Amazing Pudding

2009-06-04T17:03:00.003-04:00

My friend Trevor's blog is a great spot for fantastic links on music and politics. I don't go back to it often enough, but every time I do I find something that passes my time just fine.

Like this (wow! seriously, wow.) & this.

2009-05-12T13:59:00.002-04:00

Like it or not we come to life in the middle of stories that are not ours. The way to knowledge and to self-knowledge is through pilgrimage. We imitate our way to the truth, finding our lives, saving them in the process.

-Paul Ely The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage

And whether I come to my own to-day or in ten thousand
or ten million years,
I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I
can wait.

-Whitman

"We get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."
- Paul Bowles

I think I don’t regret a single ‘excess’ of my responsive youth—I only regret, in my chilled age, certain occasions and possibilities I didn’t embrace.
-Henry James

2009-05-11T16:56:00.000-04:00

Language can never live up to life once and for all. Nor should it. Language can never "pin down" slavery, genocide, war. Nor should it yearn for the arrogance to be able to do so. Its force, its felicity is in its reach toward the ineffable.

-Toni Morrison Nobel Lecture December 7, 1993

2009-04-07T10:05:00.000-04:00

"Don't you care for human progress?"

"I don't know--I never saw any."

-from Henry James' The Bostonians

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T11:57:00.001-04:00

"Creativity isn't learned, it's unlearned"

2009-03-16T10:11:00.001-04:00

Sir Ken Robinson on creativity in children (and, by extension, in adults).

President Obama's Plan to Roll Back the Bush Tax Cuts

2009-03-16T09:37:00.001-04:00

From The Washington Monthly

Exactly

2009-03-06T11:40:00.002-05:00

Why is no one else saying this (from "Fears of a Clown," by Timothy Egan, New York Times, 3/04/09):

"Obama, [Limbaugh] has said since, is waging a 'war on capitalism.'

There is a war, all right. We are witnessing the worst debacle of unfettered capitalism in our lifetime brought on by — you got it, capitalism at its worst. It cannibalized itself. Government, sad to say, had nothing to do with it — except for criminal neglect of oversight.

Now that government has been forced to the rescue, just who is insisting on taxpayer bailouts? Who is in line for handouts? Who is saying that only government can save capitalism? The very leaders of unregulated markets who injected this poison into the economy, the very plutocrats that Limbaugh celebrates.

And, of course, let us never forget that the bailouts of banks and insurance companies were initiated by the Republican president Limbaugh defended for eight years."

And you want to know who said "Let 'em all fail; if they can't keep their houses in order, then let them shutter the doors" (The "they" referring to everyone from AIG to GM)? My pinko-commie self. Just about as far from Limbaugh as you can get.

I'm sick of these people who are so in love with capitalism and the free market insisting that it's such a terrible thing for government to step in and take over, that we're moving toward a socialist state. Well, how about those people who love the free market so damn much just stop asking the government for money? How about that? Let's see what happens when your free market continues to fun free.

Seriously, just stop taking the money then.

Am I Taking Crazy Pills?

2009-03-06T09:04:00.003-05:00

This from The New York Times today:

"The ability of the diminished minority to delay the bill signaled growing unease in Congress, among Democrats and Republicans, over the levels of government spending in recent months and the staggering increase in the federal deficit."

Ahem, excuse me? "[I]n recent months"?!?! WTF?! Have these people even been paying attention to this country's spending over the last eight years? Under the Clinton Administration the gross debt in the U.S. went from the low-three trillions to the mid-five trillions. Under Bush II it jumped from there to over ten trillion.

But only in "recent months" has there been a growing unease among Democrats and Republicans. Give me a break.

(Some graphs and charts for those numbers, here and here.)

New Graphic

2009-03-01T10:48:00.004-05:00

The new art work accompanying the title of this blog is courtesy of my two-year-old nephew Harper...'cause that's how he loves me.

Damn, all three of my nephews are awesome.

Marlon James' New Book Reviewed in the New York Times

2009-02-28T09:45:00.006-05:00

My friend Marlon James' new book The Book of Night Women got a great review in the New York Times today.

"Marlon James’s second novel is both beautifully written and devastating...Writing in the spirit of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker but in a style all his own, James has conducted an experiment in how to write the unspeakable — even the unthinkable. And the results of that experiment are an undeniable success."

Now go buy it. And if you're in Minnesota go see him read at Common Good Books on March 31.

Sad News: Poet and Essayist Bill Holm Dies at 65

2009-02-26T16:46:00.004-05:00

Very sad news out of Minnesota today. We have lost, in my opinion, one of our truly great American voices; the poet and essayist Bill Holm died at the too-young age of 65. He has been placed in the tradition laid down by Whitman and Twain by his Minnesota literary compatriots Emilie Buchwald and Garrison Keillor, among others, and held that place firm and strong.

I was lucky enough, as the events coordinator of Common Good Books in St. Paul, Minnesota to host Bill on a couple of different occasions. He truly was one of my literary heroes and to meet him in person was to see before you someone who understood what it meant to live life and to enjoy all that life had to offer, from pianos to politics to poetry (though, I suppose "enjoy" isn't exactly the right word for how he felt about most current politics. Maybe "engaged fully" would be a more apt phrase.)

I still have on my phone a message from Bill calling to get his "marching orders" for one of the readings we were doing at the bookstore; I just listened to it yesterday, in fact. And once again I saved it. Just as I will do the next time my phone gives me the option of either deleting or saving the voice calling me from Minneota, Minnesota, asking for his marching orders.

"This time, as so often
before, Death snatched a big one
when we could not stand to lose
his voice that spoke, not alone,
but for us millions who longed
for a world green, alive, about to bloom."

(from "Paul Wellstone - October 25, 2002," a poem by Bill Holm)

Read obituaries from The Minneapolis Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio, and a remembrance from Garrison Keillor.

I Love This Game

2009-02-17T09:04:00.004-05:00

I love Steve Nash and Shaq.

"How'd you get so many 'q's?" "Don't worry about it."

A (Very) New Poem

2009-01-28T10:25:00.003-05:00

Please handle with care. This poem is in its early stages. I'm pretty much putting this up here now just so my mom and sister can read it. Anyone else, feel free to skip it if you wish.

Praise Song for Everett

This is new for me: this distance.

This is what I know of you
so far: one picture.

This is what I do not know
yet: How you sleep on someone’s
lap; which one of your brother’s
you cry like, or if you’ve come up
with a whole new way to go
about it; how you grip a pinky
extended to you; the color of your
eyes; if you cry when I pick you up.

I have not picked you up.

I know one more thing: a name:
Everett. A cowboy name!
An outlaw name if ever there was one.
I see you on horseback,
Everett. I see you learning
the names of wild country flowers.

I can’t yet see myself there with you
because the buildings are huge
where I am. And, Everett, there
are so many of them.

Maybe I know one more thing:
When you finally decided to come
into the world, you did it fast.
I have always been more thought
than action; early on you appear
to be the other way around.
What do you think, though, Everett,

now that you are here?
Take your time with this one,
it might take some getting used to.

Or, fuck it, burn your way through it,
fast as you came; take it in one
bite. Don’t think, just ride.
You can tell me about it when
you finally fall asleep in my lap.

For now, let me tell you what I think:
I am shocked that the world keeps
offering things that make me believe in it.

MN Year in Review at mnartists.org

2009-01-23T14:22:00.005-05:00

The folks over at mnartists.org have collected quite a comprehensive list of artistic endeavors taken on and/or accomplished by artists, musicians, and writers from Minnesota in 2008. And they were nice enough to include a couple of my scribbles on the matter (including a shameless plug for InDigest). First is my review of my good friend Chris Koza's latest disc, which I was lucky enough to hear in its making in a small apartment in Brooklyn a couple of summers ago:

Chris Koza's Dark, Delirious Morning: This album holds some highlights in the impressive canon of Koza albums. "Straight to Video" shows a talented artist refusing to be boxed into what we might expect. This album makes me excited to see what Koza will do next, while leaving me something to work through while I'm waiting.

And then some great books by Dave Schwartz and Geoff Herbach...and a nice little magazine:

Dave Schwartz's Superpowers is an amazing novel by a local author in 2008 that is all the more so because, in less careful hands, the book could have been awful. His handling of the events of 9/11 is heartbreaking and understated and beautiful. Also released last year was Geoff Herbach's The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg (read a great review from Ashleigh Lambert at InDigest here), an unapologetically uplifting book and, as always with Herbach, hilarious. And, lastly, my shameless plug for InDigest Magazine. Although we technically launched in 2007, InDigest came into its own in 2008. From the beginning we've offered a unique home for Minnesota writers and artists to be showcased on a national and international stage, and in our anniversary issue we published many of our favorite Minnesota writers and artists again.

Check out all the lists here>>>

Lastly, if you are reading this today and you are in New York and you don't come to Chris Koza's show at Piano's tonight, then we are no longer friends.

Guernica Magazine Praised on Esquire's Blog

2009-01-22T19:37:00.002-05:00

Guernica Magazine, where I am the Blog Editor, got a little praise from Esquire for our fiction section. The Fiction section editor, Meakin Armstrong, has been published twice in InDigest and will be reading at our second InDigest 1207 on Feb. 4, along with Guernica's Poetry Editor, Erica Wright, who we've also published a couple times in InDigest.

Well played, Meakin.

The 44th President of the United States

2009-01-20T13:01:00.002-05:00

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

This is Rich

2009-01-18T09:28:00.005-05:00

Or sickening, or maddening, or just completely ridiculous...I can't even tell anymore.

An article in today's New York Times entitled "Bailout Is a Windfall to Banks, if Not to Borrowers" begins with this precious little bit:

At the Palm Beach Ritz-Carlton last November, John C. Hope III, the chairman of Whitney National Bank in New Orleans, stood before a ballroom full of Wall Street analysts and explained how his bank intended to use its $300 million in federal bailout money.

“Make more loans?” Mr. Hope said. “We’re not going to change our business model or our credit policies to accommodate the needs of the public sector as they see it to have us make more loans.”

You have to love this. As though it wasn't the business models and credit policies of banks that got us into this whole mess. This guy acts like the banking system has been a model of prudence, and maybe his bank was. But I doubt it. I have a friend who works at a small bank, as a lender, who did act responsibly before this whole fallout and he and his bank have gotten fucked from the business models and credit policies of other banks. And his bank hasn't seen a dime of TARP I.

For this John C. Hope III (It's like a name from a movie about a Depression) to act shocked that people would expect him and his bank to do with the money it received from the government what it was supposed to do (i.e. lend) is enough to make someone sick. I can't stand the hypocrisy in all of this.

Now, to amend what I just said. I used the word "supposed," but that probably isn't quite right, is it? Because, just as it did leading up to the Iraq invasion, Congress completely panicked on this one and didn't set up any checks and balances for how the money was to be used. Check out this precious bit from this story:

"Individually, banks that received some of the first $350 billion from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, have offered few public details about how they plan to spend the money, and they are not required to disclose what they do with it."

Why the hell aren't they required to do so! Why would you write a check to any institution whose business model and credit policies had sent a whole financial system into a free fall without putting in place the means to track how that check was being spent? I mean this is dumb getting dumber.

Because of Congress' lack of foresight we end up with this:

"A review of investor presentations and conference calls by executives of some two dozen banks around the country found that few cited lending as a priority. An overwhelming majority saw the bailout program as a no-strings-attached windfall that could be used to pay down debt, acquire other businesses or invest for the future."

I would be one to argue for a market-driven system, a survivor of the fittest kind of living, if the "fittest" weren't only that because of the support they are given. If banks and other financial institutions could actually keep their houses in order and everyone on Main Street were flailing about in their own financial crisis, then I'd say, we got ourselves into this, we have to get ourselves out. But, for the banks to be in such a bad way, receive loans (even though they themselves wouldn't have lent money to themselves, given that it would be such a bad investment), and then solely use it as though it is theirs to invest...and then to act as though they had some sort of inalienable right to it, as though it's a given that they should receive money while everyone else suffers, well, it's almost too much for one person to take.

For a more thorough analysis (and maybe less pissed off, or at least he doesn't swear in his analysis) of the financial crisis, follow Robert Reich's thoughts on Guernica, where three days before this story in the Times he already told us all of this when he wrote "But the easier and probably more correct argument is that American taxpayers wasted $350 billion. No one knows exactly where it went -- at least two recent reports reveal that the Treasury had no idea -- but we do know the money did not go to small businesses, struggling homeowners, students, or anyone else needing credit, which was the major public justification for the bailout."

Robert Reich on Guernica

2009-01-15T11:45:00.001-05:00

If they're going to use the second $350 billion here are some suggestions how from Robert Reich.

And by the way is anyone else sick of hearing about how only a small percentage of the people in this country actually understand the inner workings of our financial systems and therefore those people have to stay in positions managing the money from these bailouts? They obviously don't understand it very well, otherwise wouldn't it follow that we wouldn't be in this mess? It's like if you took your car to a mechanic and he told you how everything in your car works, but then couldn't even change your battery. I don't care if you can tell me how it works. Make it work. Or change it completely and put people in charge who can actually make a new system work.

On Dealing With the C.I.A.

2009-01-14T12:07:00.002-05:00

Is anyone else concerned about the apparently necessary way the C.I.A. has to be dealt with? As though if the organization is offended in any way they will just take their ball and go home and leave the rest of the country to figure out “intelligence” on our own, or at least one of the other members of the Intelligence Community will have to figure it out without them.

This is from the New York Times yesterday in an article entitled “Obama Reluctant to Look Into Bush Programs”:

“At the Central Intelligence Agency, in particular, many officers flatly oppose any further review and may protest the prospect of a broad inquiry into their past conduct.”

Of course they do and of course they would. For the last eight years they’ve been taking directions from an administration that arrogantly changed the definition of torture, so that when its members said they did not torture, they would have a definition that made that statement true. Using the old definitions and agreements between nations simply would not do, so they made their own rules. It’s no wonder that those involved with this redefining would “oppose any further review.” But who cares?

Obama says that “at the C.I.A. you’ve got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe. I don’t want them to suddenly feel like they’ve got [to] spend all their time looking over their shoulders,” and the Times article says, “Mark Lowenthal, who was the assistant director for analysis and production at the C.I.A. from 2002 to 2005, said if agents were criminally investigated for doing something that top Bush administration officials asked them to do and that they were assured was legal, intelligence officers would be less willing to take risks to protect the country.”

I realize that clandestinity is inherent in an organization like the C.I.A., but the law is the law, or should be. The Bush administration didn’t necessarily think so, and the C.I.A. was presumably willing to go along with that administration and its new definitions.

If wrongdoing occurred, then we can get into the discussion of whether the C.I.A. was only acting on orders and therefore if its members should or should not be the ones held accountable. But that is a different discussion (See: Donald Rumsfeld, the Army, and Abu Ghraib). To simply not examine the C.I.A.’s past actions because “any effort to conduct a wider re-examination would almost certainly provoke a backlash at the country’s intelligence agencies” is not a good enough reason. To not move forward on a re-examination because it might offend some people and make them less willing to do their job in the future should not be the basis upon which we decide whether or not to take a look at the last eight years.

Crossposted at Guernica Magazine

Are You Looking For a Place to Serve?

2009-01-13T22:05:00.003-05:00

I got an email from Michelle Obama telling me that January 19th is National Day of Service. Well, for those of you in MN here's a place where you can do yours.

Stay Up to Date with news at The Lab!

Get Involved & Volunteer at The Lab!

Fall 2008 Summary Highlights

As The Lab settles in to a new year, we also reflect on the accomplishments of our pioneer semester at Homecroft School! All told, since October 1st, The Lab served 247 students and 31 staff, and 28 amazing volunteers logged 230 volunteer hours working with young people!

The scope of The Lab grew as we began offering Enrichments to students in three EBD programs of St. Paul Public Schools, while simultaneously offering staff development time for the teachers, social workers, and paraprofessionals of each team. The students worked with 5 different guest performers and 17 volunteers over the course of three months, and celebrated in December with a final showcase of their work. Staff made strides in team development and program planning. In addition to the Enrichment model, Lab volunteers and staff have lead 7 different small-group based creative art experiences for students from several schools and offered 11 different one-on-one mentorships in creative arts. These have included Shaolin Kenpo (a self-defense martial art), art cars, graffiti, baking, and poetry, and visits from Pet Haven of Minnesota, sharing stories of animal rescue and responsible pet ownership.

The 6th volume of The Lab’s Poetry Chapbook and CD was released at the end of December! The book features poetry, raps and photography by students at the Lab. The CD showcases the original recordings of student's poems, raps, & beats.
The Lab's On-Line School Store

Support The Lab by shopping at our on-line School Store! Here, you can purchase your own copy of The Lab's Poetry Chapbook & CD, as well as t-shirt, Lab journals, and coffee mugs!

All proceeds from books and gear go directly to empowering young people in The Lab.

In September, we posted our first project to DonorsChoose.org, a not-for-profit web site where teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. DonorsChoose.org writes, "These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund."

Our first project, titled "Mic Check 1, 2 - Can You Hear Me?" was fully funded by 15 Citizen Philanthropists in just over three months. We now have two new microphones for our recording studio as well as blank CDs! Thank you!

Click here to read more about how DonorsChoose.org works!

Shop at Kowalski's & Support The Lab!

We are grateful for Kowalski's Market on Grand Avenue in St. Paul! For this quarter, January - March, drop your shopping receipt in The Lab charity box at the front of the store.

Through their "Groceries for Good Causes" program, Kowalski's will make a donation to The Lab based on the sheer number of receipts (not the ammount spent!) left in our box.

Kowalski's has donated over a quarter million dollars to local charities through this program. Shop at Kowalski's on Grand Avenue in St. Paul!

Kowalski's on Grand
1261 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN
open 5:00am to 1:00am

For more information about
THE LAB email Mallory Haar at mallory.haar@spps.org

2009-01-09T13:51:00.000-05:00

From Paul Schmelzer at Eyeteeth:

Design Won't Save the World

A Book Review

2009-01-08T15:50:00.003-05:00

I was going to send this book review into a site looking for reviews of novellas, but decided against it. So, rather than let it waste away on my computer, I'll post it here:

In the first chapter of Alejandro Zambra’s novella, Bonsai, the reader is given two pieces of information that are all he needs to know about the story, and the narrator frequently interrupts, reminding us what is important to the story, in order that we don’t stray from what really matters. We are told in the first paragraph that the protagonist, Julio, waits “stubbornly” for the “inevitable day when seriousness would arrive and settle into his life forever.” And we are told even before this the reason (though Julio does not know this yet; to him his inevitable seriousness is just an assumption): “In the end Emilia dies and Julio does not die. The rest is literature:”.
That colon at the end of the first paragraph is important. The rest of the novel is the literature of which the narrator speaks. This book is obsessed with literature, and through it’s characters’ reading of and telling about other literature, the book is written. Julio, before Emilia dies, almost accidentally, writes a novel called Bonsai when he is caught up in a lie about transcribing a novel for a famous writer. When he does not get that job, Julio begins writing his novel during his days and editing it at night, pretending it is the famous novelist’s. The only premise he is given from the novelist is that the protagonist “finds out that a girlfriend from his youth has died.” And then, “Everything goes to hell.”

That, in the end, is Bonsai’s story: The reader is told at the beginning that Emilia dies; that Julio waits for seriousness to arrive, and it does (though a sort of pointlessness has by this time already arrived in Julio’s life) when Emilia dies and he is finally, truly alone. The rest of Bonsai’s cyclical journey—and though it begins and ends at the same point, it is certainly a journey—is literature.

InDigest Has Been Planning Things

2008-12-05T15:19:00.003-05:00

InDigest Issue 8

2008-11-30T11:27:00.002-05:00

Not sure why it's taken me so long to post this, as InDigest Issue 8 has been up for about a week now, but here it is:

InDigest Issue 8, including new poems, a new short story, new work in the Gallery (including painting included here), and columns from Bedside Stacks, Is That Cowardly?, and The Ulysses Sage.

Hope you like it. Let me know.

It's Been a While

2008-11-21T00:06:00.003-05:00

Wow, it's been two weeks since my last post. I have been extremely busy and, like a lot of people, just breathing a long sigh of relief after that great election. I don't have much to share, but Dustin is keeping up a little better: He's obsessed with Randy Newman at the moment, and, in a drastically different opinion than his own, I am astounded that Brad Liening's Daily Poem Factory is still going and I think it's awesome!!!

Look for a new issue of InD soon.

My Response to "Drinking the Kool-Aid"

2008-11-06T23:10:00.006-05:00

The joke, and possibly the actual concern of the day seems to be that too many Obama supporters are just "drinking the Kool-Aid,"* or in other words, we believe too strongly in this one man's ability to bring about change. It's silly, really, and those who will fall prey to this are destined for heartbreak. More importantly, they are missing the message, the point of this whole campaign: it has never been about this one man, no matter what "cult of personality" labels some have tried to pin on him. Yes, Obama has certain attributes that have allowed him an unlikely and ridiculously fast ascension, but many of these can be found in any great leader. Again, what has led him to the presidency is not so much him, as his ability to make the rest of us believe, and further still, to want to do something about what we believe in. The difference, therefore, will come from us, not him. Let there be no mistake, as I told my father over all these months, the man who told me (and with whom I wholeheartedly agreed) on those occasions when my fervor for Obama started boiling, "Obama is no savior," the real work began on November 5.

That being said, here are my two initial responses to people who are joking or are genuinely concerned about succumbing to "Drinking the Kool-Aid":

1) Don't. It simple. Just don't. Don't believe that Obama can do everything all by himself or even with his staff. That--to use a tired expression--is politics as usual. The change that is being called for is not just a change of president. The change is in the citizenry's apathy, in our indifference. Don't be apathetic and don't be indifferent and you won't have drunk anything. Here's one way those of you in St. Paul can get involved: The Lab, a program through the St. Paul Public Schools that offers a small group experience where youth are inspired, encouraged and empowered to discover, understand and share their voices and the truth of their lives, is always looking for volunteers. If you're not in St. Paul, 826 National is another organization always looking for volunteers to work with kids. There are seven 826 chapters across the country, from Seattle to LA to New York. Their goal is to assist students ages six to eighteen with their writing skills, and to help teachers get their classes excited about writing.

Volunteering some of your time to your community is one concrete way you can have an impact. These are just two places that need volunteers. The list is endless (if you know of others, please leave suggestions in the "comments" portion of this post). Don't let others decide how things will be different. Change them yourself.

2) I just picked up the book Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency by Robert Kuttner. (Please also leave book recommendations on this topic in the comments portion of the post.) Though I'm only about 20 pages into it, it seems like a book that will show how Obama must stay true to progressive ideas while convincing those on the other side of the aisle to come closer to those (progressive) ideas, rather than the reverse: the president moving toward the center. On page seven, Mr. Kuttner makes it clear that he hasn't drunk anything:

So either Barack Obama will be a transformative president, or the bad economic circumstances that he inherits will sink his promise and America's, and the moment will have been lost. He will be a great president--or a failed one, his presidency grounded "in shallows and miseries."**

Those are scary, but true words. I, for one, don't want this presidency to be a failed one. So, again, if you don't want to "drink the Kool-Aide," then don't. Stay involved. Volunteer. Keep reading about policy issues and decisions (just because David Plouffe doesn't send you an email about it, doesn't mean you can't find the information for yourself). Keep following Obama like you have over the last year (or two). Just don't rely on him to do everything. I'm telling you, you will be heartbroken if you do.

*From Wiki: "Having 'drunk the Kool-Aid' also refers to being a strong or fervent believer in a particular philosophy or mission — wholeheartedly or blindly believing in its virtues."

**Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Dear Mr. President

2008-11-05T13:59:00.006-05:00

Dear Mr. President,

I have had tears in my eyes on and off since last night when you took the stage in Grant Park, Chicago. When you implored us to fully believe that mantra "Yes we can," repeating it calmly and humbly, I knew it was finally true.

Your face, as you walked onto that stage last night held something often shadowed by your confidence (though your confidence is of a different sort than we have come to know, so refreshingly lacking in arrogance). You were humbled and in your humility, you cemented your humanity. And it was all there on your face, before you spoke one word. People have praised and attacked your oration these past several months. But there, standing before tens of thousands in Chicago and millions more watching across the world, you did not need to say a word. Your face held more eloquence than any speech you have ever given.

When you did finally speak, your modesty did not allow you to run away to some perch of hyperbole and expectation, too lofty to reach. Even in this moment of jubilation, you were realistic. And you showed great respect for your listeners by not making grand promises that would leave us disheartened in the end. Instead you did what you have done until now. You told us the truth. You told us that the road ahead will be long. The road ahead will be difficult. And you reminded us once again that it was not you that allowed for your standing there in Grant Park (though our praise may outweigh your modesty today), but us. As you have called on us before, you asked us to believe not just in your ability to bring change, but to believe in ours as well.

This last point is what will make you a great leader, Mr. President. No matter how many times it is repeated, let this fact never lose the weight it carries: You have inspired millions of people across the world to believe that their voices matter. Where before they had none, today they have one. And it is loud. And it is clear. And it is spoken through you, Mr. President.

As the world celebrates--and it is truly a world celebration--we recognize that there is so much work to be done. You would not let us forget this, even in your proudest moment. Today the real work begins. Having taken a giant leap for man, we are still great leaps and bounds from where we wish to be. You know this, Mr. President, as well as anyone. Still, today, facing in this new direction, the sun shining brightly on my face, I join the world in this celebration. And I say with more fervor than I have ever said before: I am proud to be an American. Because being an American today once again feels as though I am a part of the world.

Thank you for that, Mr. President.

Yours sincerely,
David Doody

An Election Day Poem

2008-11-04T18:49:00.006-05:00

When I was in New York this past week I was lucky enough to attend a poetry reading where the poet Rick Barot read. He went out on a limb and read some very new poems. They were excellent, and I'm sure will only get better as he edits. After the reading I told him that I particularly enjoyed one, which was about John McCain. I told him that it did something that I felt I would currently be too angry to do in any form, namely humanize John McCain in a way that none of the "war hero" propaganda has done over these last few months. Rick was nice enough to give me that poem, which inspired a poem of my own, and Rick's reading of it--so soon after writing it--has inspired me to share my poem (something that, if you know me, you know I don't do easily). It is about as new as a poem can be, and may, in the end, look very different from this, but I am going to share it here, now.

Election Day, 2008

for Rick Barot

You fell down before I did, but while I was listening
to gospel music this morning I cried in the shower.
You fell, but I keep breaking down.

They’re telling us a new day is rising, and I’m too nervous
to believe them. There’s a landing strip on the other side,
they say, but I don’t even recognize what we’re flying.

Much less how to touch down softly.

We are all jungle cats skinned and placed on display
in markets we didn’t even know existed.
Our meat isn’t sold, but left where we were shot down

and skinned.

And these days I have learned to hate the flies
for being flies,
their lack of compassion for me.

I am angry. Other poets can still humanize
those in whom I can’t see the humanity anymore.
They sign their poems and hand them to me.
This is the closest I will get to understanding.

But maybe tomorrow I will break down for other reasons.

I Could Be Wrong, but...

2008-11-04T15:59:00.002-05:00

aren't all taxes inherently socialistic--i.e. paying into a fund to be redistributed to where money is "needed"? So, if one is going to call any tax plan socialism, it's really just what degree of socialism he or she is comfortable with. Otherwise these people should refuse to pay taxes and demand to take it upon themselves to fix the roads near them, educate their own children, protect the land around them, et al. People just take for granted things that have come before and say things as if we don't have all these precedents to go on. It's like, you already pay taxes, and that's ok, uh? But others aren't ok, uh? Well, why aren't you fighting to stop the ones you already pay. Why isn't that socialism? Because you didn't have a say in them? So there's nothing you can do about them? I'm confused.

Bringing Sexy Back

2008-11-04T15:38:00.002-05:00

Doesn't Obama look like he's in a Justin Timberlake video in this picture from the New York Times?

On This Election Day, Some Wise Words From Ben Harper and Some Blind Boys

2008-11-04T13:56:00.001-05:00

I wish we could live forever
Then melt into the sun
Melt into the sun
Time is gonna change you
Once it gets you on the run
Gets you on the run

There will be
There will be
There will be a light
There will be a light
There will be
There will be
There will be a light
There will be a light

I've been running
Ever since
Ever since I was a child
Some call it free
And some call it wild

There will be
There will be
There will be a light
There will be a light
There will be
There will be
There will be a light
There will be a light

Let the warmth of my love
Dry away all your tears
Fear not for I am with you
I will fear not - fear not - with you here

There will be
There will be
There will be a light
There will be a light
There will be
There will be
There will be a light
There will be a light

There will be
There will be
There will be a light
There will be a light

Stories of Change: While I hear many things that should assuage my fears about Tuesday, I am still nervous.

2008-10-31T16:42:00.011-04:00

As you know, the election is this Tuesday. As you may not know, unless you know me personally, and I've told you, I'm nervous as hell. I'm hoping that my nerves are just paranoia, but the last two elections brought with them almost unbelievable outcomes, and since that pretty much encapsulates my presidential election career, I'm a little cautious when it comes to anything resembling a prediction.

Still, there are many good signs that point to a change. And not just a change in the Executive Branch, but a change in how we approach politics. One such sign was posted last week at Guernica Magazine and is what Guernica founder and editor Joel Whitney is calling "The Obama Consensus": a list of Republicans who, as Joel put it, "are thinking more broadly than party affiliation this time." This is a sign of actual change. People thinking about what is good for the country, and not just what is good for getting them elected.

A friend of mine sent me another good story earlier this month that I think points to actual change. She is a teacher in Northeast Minneapolis and her fifth and sixth graders, frustrated by the fact that they could not vote, hit the streets to register people to vote. Now this seems like the kind of thing we need. Unlike the "mock elections" that took place in schools when I was growing up, this seems like it may actually instill in these young people a desire and an ability to be involved in the political process.

Obviously there are many other promising things to point to that should assuage my fears, but it's stories like these that are making me hopeful, even if I'm still nervous as hell.

-David Doody

From Maggie Struck, teacher in Northeast Minneapolis:

So, today, my fifth and sixth graders took to the streets and registered people to vote at the local grocery store in the neighborhood in North Minneapolis that our school is in. It was a great surge of energy...they all decided that since they could not let their voices be heard by voting, they would help get the people in their community registered to speak their voice through a vote.

I just thought with all the buzz that is going on with the upcoming election, these photos would speak to the power of that vote, and the right we have in our country. My students are definitely hopeful for a change that will impact their future. The optimism and resilience of children continues to inspire and amaze me.

Regardless of which way your vote is going to go, I hope these pictures encourage you to at least act out your right as a citizen of the United States to head to the polls in November.

Tax Questions Answered

2008-10-31T13:00:00.000-04:00

Clear answers and examples, here>>>

A Video With Me In It

2008-10-23T00:18:00.002-04:00

When I read the email from MoveOn with this video in it, I thought it would probably be pretty lame. But it's actually really funny, I think:

Michele Bachmann "Represents" Minnesota on Hardball

2008-10-20T01:14:00.009-04:00

Admitting that the United States is imperfect is not the same as being "anti-American."

States like Minnesota are getting a lot of attention these days as we close in on the final two weeks of the race for the presidency. Political parties and the media alike are looking at the states that could swing the election one way or another. Unfortunately this week one of Minnesota's representatives (and I use that term loosely) Michele Bachmann found a national stage on Chris Matthews' Hardball to fan the flames of Sarah Palin's recent incendiary statements.

Steve Perry, writing for The Minnesota Independent, had this to say about the interview:

"Following Rep. Michele Bachmann's appearance with Chris Matthews [Friday], America is learning what many in Minnesota already knew, which is that putting Bachmann in front of a live microphone is like handing an excitable 15-year-old a bottle of gin and a loaded gun. The only question is when something unspeakable is going to happen."

What seems to be getting the most attention (even prompting a challenge for Bachmann's Congressional seat from within the GOP) is Bachmann's call for the media to investigate members of Congress to see which ones may have "anti-American views."

The problem with statements like this, as well as Sarah Palin's "Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists... " is that they allow Americans to never have to learn from the past and change for the better. If something is already perfect then there is no reason to change it.

These statements are in direct contradiction with anything these leaders of the GOP might say about future change. When Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann claim to know that mistakes have been made and, therefore, changes need to be made, well, that is contradictory to the idea of perfection. Either something is perfect or it is imperfect. And (spoiler alert) nothing, including America, is perfect. Therefore, stating that you want to change what is wrong with it should not be seen as being in opposition to loving it.

When we strive for the best possible version of something, we are refusing to sell it short. When we say that the U.S., like everything else, is imperfect, that it needs to be worked on--in order to learn from where we have been and end up in a better place--that in no way should be seen negatively.

And it certainly should not be seen as anti-American. Allowing the country to continue down the same path, deeper and deeper into failure, should, however, be seen that way.

Crossposted at Guernica Magazine

Joe Henry in Three Easy Steps

2008-10-11T22:36:00.004-04:00

Step 1:
Read this interview by Jim Walsh with Joe Henry in Reveille.

Step 2:
Listen to some Joe Henry here.

Step 3:
Do yourself a favor and go buy some Joe Henry music.

The RNC That Should Have Been

2008-10-09T13:47:00.001-04:00

I love the editing in this clip. Just how confused and sort of pissed off McCain looks. (Thanks for sending, Molly.)

Vote

2008-10-09T01:07:00.000-04:00

Poor Judgment

2008-10-07T10:55:00.000-04:00

Way to Go America!

2008-10-03T10:45:00.002-04:00

I just voted in every national poll asking the question "Who won last night's VP Debate." I don't think I've ever voted in such a poll, but it seems that for the time being these things play a big role in people's opinions or at least people put a lot of trust in them. So I went ahead and cast my votes for Joe "six pack" Biden. I was pleasantly surprised by these polls. Even the Fox News polls had Joe "commutes in and out of Washington everyday, proving he is not part of the boy's club that is D.C." Biden winning the debate like 59% to 40%. Maybe Americans can see through the note-card reading, tag-line saying, unable to actually answer a question, winking b.s. that was Sarah Palin's side of the debate last night. Thus, Wat to go America!!

If you feel like taking a couple minutes to respond to these polls click here>>>. Every little bit helps, right?

Ok, I wasn't going to write any more about last night's debate, because it already seems like spinning wheels (everyone seems to be on the same page), but I have to talk about the woman who was commenting on msnbc.com immediately following the debate. I think it was Geraldine Anne Ferraro, but I can't find the video. Anyway, she said something along the lines of she wanted her granddaughters to be able to look back on last night as an historic moment for women, and she thought that, given Sarah Palin's performance, they would be able to do that. I am still floored by some women's response to Sarah Palin. It really does seem that only because she is a woman they feel proud. It just doesn't make sense to me. Why is this not more of an insult? Why does any woman who actually has even a minimal amount of intelligence feel anything resembling pride when this woman speaks? I'm baffled by it. If anyone has seen the clip from msnbc.com please let me know, so I can post it.

2008-10-02T13:29:00.002-04:00

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Thomas Jefferson 1802

Point, Counterpoint

2008-10-02T13:02:00.003-04:00

I left a response to a post Dustin put up over at Blogs Are About Ego and thought I'd put it over here as well, as a point/counterpoint post. Let the discussion continue:

Point (Question):
Why Do the Candidates Continue to Refuse to Talk About Anything

It seems like the election has been a constant contest to seem who can say the least. I'm really amazed that we are only five weeks away from this being over. It feels like they are just getting started. Obama and Biden have really receded from the headlines and McCain is either stealing the headlines with Palin's idiocy (I believe my recent favorite was that she can't name a supreme court case outside of Roe v. Wade), or he's in the news aimlessly attacking Obama. What about what's actually happening, particularly the erosion of American civil liberties. Neither candidate would touch that topic with a ten foot pole. In their defense, it's lethal. What can you say on the topic that wouldn't piss someone off? But isn't that what we really want? I leader who isn't scared of opinion polls or talking about a something that people might get sensitive about? It's a real issue. The Bush administration has slowly but surely given the executive branch increased control of torture, spying, and all intelligence routes through the government. This is a flagrant violation of our constitution, of our rights. Yet, no one really seems to want to prod the candidates into speaking on the subject.

Obama is scared of looking left wing. And McCain has voted with Bush through the entire erosion. (and Obama is not innocent here) Why doesn't someone try to make them talk about it in a debate, or why aren't reporters hitting them with these questions. Katie Couric made Palin look dumb, but Palin has nothing to do with this, she is not a national politician, in my mind she's not much of a politician at all, but that's besides the point. Why can't we actually have an open discussion about these kind of issues in an election year? I think I know the answer, and maybe I'm being naive and idealistic in hoping that this could be possible, but dammit I don't care, I want to hear them speak about this. This may be a great plan for McCain in fact. It seems as though the debate would go to Obama, because McCain has always followed Bush through this erosion of our rights, and anyone that cares would have to side with Obama. But what if Obama can't defend a somewhat patchy track record here? What if he can't speak about it as eloquently as you would imagine? It might be a good chance for McCain to win over some of the liberal vote...try it, see what happens. It won't happen, but it's fun to imagine what kind of democracy you would wish for.
-Dustin Luke Nelson

Counterpoint:
There's a book by Dana Nelson called "Bad for Democracy" that shows how over decades and decades--not just through the W years--the presidency has sought and received more and more power, throwing the balance of government completely out of whack. The position becomes more and more like that of a king, and all the while the American people have accepted this piracy of the balance originally sought after by our founding fathers. Think of the language we use: "The leader of the free world," "The most powerful position in the land," et al. This is not what the presidency was supposed to be. It was supposed to be just one branch with no more and no less power than the others, or at least it was supposed to be able to be checked and put in line when it stepped out of that line.

But, more specifically in response to this post, you're right, they won't talk about incendiary issues because they cannot afford to piss anyone off who may be on the fence about those issues. It's like when they say "middle class" but never utter the word "poverty." It's spinning what they say to get votes...a watered down version of tackling the tough topics in order to get votes.

The point is, the position of president carries too much power and importance in the average American's mind. Yes, it is important that our representatives actually discuss important issues. But it's even more important that we not rely on them as much as we do to do anything about those important issues.

The fight does not end on November 5th, even if Obama is elected. Yes, we can all breath a sigh of relief if that is the outcome, because we will have taken a step in the right direction. But, and be sure of this, he is not a savior. He cannot undo all that has been done. He will not be able to retroactively give back all the civil liberties lost over the years. And you can be sure that there will be those fighting tooth and nail to keep the powers and tactics they have become accustomed to. The president is not our king and we cannot simply rely on him to answer all of our questions.
-David Luke Doody

I've Been Writing

2008-10-01T09:30:00.003-04:00

Hi all,

This is kind of a redundant post, as some of you may have already seen these elsewhere, but it's been kind of a nice week for me as far as writing goes. So.

I have a story up at mnartists.org here>>>

And I have my first ever post up at The Huffington Post (It's the same one as is on Guernica, but it's at the Huff Post, which is cool.) Read it here>>>

Anyway, thanks for reading my ramblings everyone, and for letting me know what you think. It warms the soul.

You Don't Even Have to Change Sarah Palin's Words to Make Fun of Her on SNL

2008-09-30T14:04:00.003-04:00

Watch Sarah Palin's original answer here, then watch the SNL spoof on it. Tina Fey pretty much just reads the transcript.

A Story

2008-09-28T09:22:00.002-04:00

Hey, so I have a short fiction piece up over at mnartists.org. They describe it as:

David Doody's winning flash fiction, "On Telling Her about the Short Story 'On Wanting to Get Three Walls Up Before She Gets Home,'" is a funny little meta-fiction gem about love, writing, and home improvement.

I kind of like that. Read it here>>>

Live-Blogging from the Debates

2008-09-28T09:16:00.002-04:00

So, I'm going to condense all of the live-blogging from the debates into one post here. In case anyone cared.

Friday, September 26, 2008
"The Iranians have a lousy Government. Therefore they have a lousy economy." Hmmm, so he just called the U.S. gov't lousy.
Posted by David at 10:05 PM 0 comments
Obama just answered John McCain's story about parents telling him not to have let their children have died for no reason. All the parents except those who want to pull the troops out because they don't want other parents to go through what they have gone through.
Posted by David at 9:59 PM 0 comments
Add threats to Russia to the list of Iran and N. Korea.
Posted by David at 9:56 PM 0 comments
Did McCain just admit to starting the Taliban? I think if people can say that Al Gore said he started the internet, McCain's statement just indicted him as one of the founders of the Taliban.
Posted by David at 9:53 PM 0 comments
Live-blogging with the knowledge that no one is reading the live-blogging. How big of a loser does that make me? (Leave answers in the comments section)
Posted by David at 9:51 PM 1 comments
Actually, John, in Senator Obama's original plan we never would have been in Iraq, so no need for the surge.
Posted by David at 9:49 PM 0 comments
Actually, John, in Senator Obama's original plan we never would have been in Iraq, so no need for the surge.
Posted by David at 9:49 PM 0 comments
What the fuck does winning in Iraq mean anyway?! Does it mean killing 20,000 more Iraqis? 40,000? How many?
Posted by David at 9:46 PM 0 comments
"John, you like to pretend that the war started in 2007." -Barack Obama. Nice.
Posted by David at 9:44 PM 0 comments
10 billion dollars a month...hmmm, let's go back to that question on where we could cut spending.
Posted by David at 9:42 PM 0 comments
Do you think that John McCain knows what the Sunni Awakening is? Or do you think it's like the Bush Doctrine for Sarah Palin?
Posted by David at 9:40 PM 0 comments
Oh good. The Iraq War. Again, let's not just look back a couple years to what may or may not have succeeded then. Let's go ahead and look back to the lead up to the war when Obama OPPOSED a needless war. Such short term memories on these people.
Posted by David at 9:39 PM 0 comments
Apparently John McCain hasn't been elected as Ms. Congeniality. I didn't even know he was in the running.
Posted by David at 9:38 PM 0 comments
"I want to make sure we're not handing the health care system over to the federal government." -John McCain.

Really? But handing over our whole economic system is ok? Hmmmmmm.
Posted by David at 9:36 PM 0 comments
Friday, September 26, 2008
How can these people still argue for less regulation when it has shown that the market will not right itself? And then they only want regulation when they need to bail out their rich friends. If it's broke, change it. Don't keep arguing it will correct itself.
Posted by David at 9:30 PM 0 comments

Someone tell John McCain to stop fucking laughing.

2008-09-26T21:51:00.001-04:00

Live-blogging with the knowledge that no one is reading the live-blogging. How big of a loser does that make me? (Leave answers in the comments section)

On "The Daily Show"

2008-09-26T11:45:00.003-04:00

A while back New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani wrote of John Stewart and "The Daily Show":

"Mr. Stewart … and his writers have energetically tackled the big issues of the day -- ‘the stuff we find most interesting,’ as he said in an interview at the show’s Midtown Manhattan offices, the stuff that gives them the most ‘agita,’ the sometimes somber stories he refers to as his ‘morning cup of sadness.’ And they’ve done so in ways that straight news programs cannot: speaking truth to power in blunt, sometimes profane language, while using satire and playful looniness to ensure that their political analysis never becomes solemn or pretentious."

It's amazing that, in the pages of the New York Times the sentence "they’ve done so in ways that straight news programs cannot" can be written with seemingly little shame, apology, or call to action. Media critic Norman Solomon was perturbed by this praise in the pages of a "straight news" source as well, which led him to write this at Guernica in response:

"If -- as the New York Times soberly reported in the article -- 'straight news programs cannot' tackle the 'big issues of the day' while 'speaking truth to power,' we should ask a key question: Why not?"

Exactly. Why can't the New York Times and other "straight news programs" do this:

Forget about speaking truth to power, let's just speak truth to the people of this country whose memories are so short or whose lives are too comfortable to care that they are lied to repeatedly, over and over and over.

It's Fun to Laugh

2008-09-26T00:47:00.001-04:00

Retelling of historical events from extremely drunk people...why didn't I think of that?

Pictures of Obama

2008-09-25T12:46:00.003-04:00

A while back MoveOn had a contest called "Manifest Hope Gallery Contest...to help spread the word about Barack Obama and the inspirational themes of his candidacy." Some of the finalists' artwork is pretty great, like this one from Larissa Brown Marantz from Orange, CA.

Free Wilco Cover of Bob Dylan Song

2008-09-25T11:18:00.004-04:00

Click here to get the song. You just have to promise to vote.

Blaming Bill Clinton for the Bush Years? Really?

2008-09-24T15:34:00.003-04:00

I don't usually respond to articles I read online, but his one kind of pissed me off, so I wrote this. Turns out the Huffington Post doesn't let you post more than 250 words. Probably for the best, some people (ahem) can go on and on.

Here's the story from Paul Slansky at the HP about how Bill Clinton is to blame for the Bush years and how it will "be on" him if Obama loses. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?

And here's my (extended) response (I can't even find my truncated version in the comment section of the article. Shows how much I do this. If anyone finds it--under dluke--let me know what page it's on.):

I'm assuming someone already would have mentioned all of this, but I it's important enough to state again. First, it's not Bill's job to do anything for Obama. It's just not. Second, blaming Bill Clinton and the blowjobs he received while in office for the Bush years is absolutely absurd. I, as a Democrat, am offended by such an accusation. Let's not lose sight of who is actually to blame for the Bush year, namely, Bush and his cronies. To suggest it was in some way Clinton's fault is a joke. If you want to look to some Democrats for blame, why not look at the complete ineptitude of both the Al Gore and John Kerry campaigns. But certainly not Bill Clinton. If a campaign needs one person to put them over the top (as Mr. Slansky is suggesting for the Obama campaign, and I'm sure would be his explanation for the Gore "loss.") then some serious retooling of that campaign needs to be done. Third, having Bill campaign as rigorously as Mr. Slansky is calling for could easily do as much damage as good. I know many independent voters who can't stand Hillary or Bill and their praise for Obama does nothing for these voters if not make them think twice about voting for him. So, if you want to be as black and white as this piece is, one could say that if, for the last month of this campaign Bill does what Mr. Slansky is suggesting and campaigns so rigorously, and Obama loses one of the states where, had Bill not been such a strong supporter, Obama would have won that state, then Mr. Slansky and this whole article is to blame for the WarFest that would be McCain/Palin. Doesn't that sound ridiculous? Of course it does. As does blaming Bill Clinton for any of the past eight years or the next four. Lastly, "We forgave you for Monica, Bill..."? Who's "We"? You are definitely not talking about me. I have never felt a need to "forgive" Bill for anything he did with Monica. His response to the issue can be called into question, but that is not what is being suggested here. What is being suggested here is that "we" need to forgive Bill for the unholy act of an extramarital affair. As though "we" are in some righteous place to do so. That kind of speak sounds far too similar to things that come out of Sarah Palin's mouth, and I for one don't associate with the "we" referred to here.

What to do About the Finacial Crisis: Some Ideas From Great Minds

2008-09-24T02:17:00.004-04:00

I have been posting all of Robert Reich's blog posts about the issues on Wall Street lately at Guernica Mag. He was the secretary of labor under President Clinton and gives very clear explanations and solutions to the current woes. Read those here, here, here, here, and here.

And then there's this from Barack Obama late last night:

The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has created a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression.

Congress and the President are debating a bailout of our financial institutions with a price tag of $700 billion or more in taxpayer dollars. We cannot underestimate our responsibility in taking such an enormous step.

Whatever shape our recovery plan takes, it must be guided by core principles of fairness, balance, and responsibility to one another.

Please sign on to show your support for an economic recovery plan based on the following:

• No Golden Parachutes -- Taxpayer dollars should not be used to reward the irresponsible Wall Street executives who helmed this disaster.

• Main Street, Not Just Wall Street -- Any bailout plan must include a payback strategy for taxpayers who are footing the bill and aid to innocent homeowners who are facing foreclosure.

• Bipartisan Oversight -- The staggering amount of taxpayer money involved demands a bipartisan board to ensure accountability and oversight.
Show your support and encourage your friends and family to join you:

http://my.barackobama.com/ourplan

The failed economic policies and the same corrupt culture that led us into this mess will not help get us out of it. We need to get to work immediately on reforming the broken government -- and the broken politics -- that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place.

And we have to understand that a recovery package is just the beginning. We have a plan that will guarantee our long-term prosperity -- including tax cuts for 95 percent of families, an economic stimulus package that creates millions of new jobs and leads us towards energy independence, and health care that is affordable to every American.

It won't be easy. The kind of change we're looking for never is.

But if we work together and stand by these principles, we can get through this crisis and emerge a stronger nation.

Thank you,

Barack

Another Conservative for Obama

2008-09-23T12:56:00.003-04:00

Any rationally thinking person can see the game John McCain is playing. If I were a conservative (especially one with strong religious beliefs) or a woman I would be offended by his attacks on my intelligence. That is apparently how this guy, Wick Allison, feels. He has a column in his magazine, D, that addresses why he feels Obama is the better presidential candidate. The article is titled "A Conservative for Obama." Read it here>>>

It's refreshing to hear from conservatives who aren't buying McCains BS, especially from one who used to be on the board of directors of the National Review, a magazine that I am not all that familiar with, but in which today this idiotic story was published as the main feature on its home page. Really? If that's the type of nonsense you lead with, I don't feel much of a need to go any deeper.

(Thanks for sending the article, Molly)

"Trouble the Water" Opens in Mpls.

2008-09-20T10:16:00.002-04:00

A documentary on Katrina and the government's lack of response is now playing at the Lagoon in Minneapolis. If you're in the Twin Cities go check it out.

Republican's Love Nixon

2008-09-20T09:53:00.007-04:00

Though Republicans always extol the virtues of the Reagan years, when it comes time to practice what they preach they are much closer to Nixon.

Illustration by KAL from the Economist

My favorite part of this article from the Economist (Thanks, Trev):

"Nixon's original insight remains as true now as it was in the late
1960s: lots of liberals do, indeed, look down on flyover Americans as
stump-toothed imbeciles and, for some strange reason, lots of flyover Americans resent them for it." (emphasis added)

Why do you care if someone from Vermont or New York thinks you're an idiot?

Link Round Up

2008-09-17T21:05:00.007-04:00

It's getting hard just to keep up, isn't it?

Well, since these days I'm wearing my political thoughts and concerns (and anger) on my sleeve more and more, the good people around me are sending me a lot of important links to important stories. Here are a few of those:

Not a lot of national attention given to the police state that was St. Paul during the RNC (if you read local sites like The Minnesota Independent and Twin Cities Daily Planet you were kept abreast.). Here's something from the New York Times>>>

McCain's radical ideas for the health care system would result in fewer young people covered and unsophisticated consumers into a marketplace that is driven and controlled by sophisticated salespeople. It will be the housing crisis all over again (as this article points out): The people selling the product on the "open market" know all the ins and outs and are only out to maximize profits, all the while hoodwinking the consumer who, necessarily based on both parties' job descriptions, knows less. And guess who will pay the price when everyone involved gets burned? If you don't know the answer to that, you haven't been paying attention, which is exactly what this article argues>>>

I've talked about McCain's total reversal of the man he once was on this blog before. Here, in the Washington Post Richard Cohen does it as well. He says, "His opportunistic and irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his political heir -- the person in whose hands he would leave the country -- is a form of personal treason, a betrayal of all he once stood for." I'd take it a step further and take out the "personal" before the "treason." The decision betrayed this country's trust in politicians so greatly that the man should be put on trial. Along with all his cohorts who have committed crimes against this country and many others around the world for the last eight years. I wouldn't change another word in this article>>>

Sarah Palin is Barack Obama's shadow:

In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of "the other."

A call to bring everything into the light to be examined by Deepak Chopra>>>

I was sent an email called Different Outlooks, which I assume many people got--it seems like one of those viral emails that makes it's way around quickly and people talk about it for a while. Still, if you haven't gotten it in your inbox, it's worth checking out. Since the author is, apparently, unknown, I'll just link to the first blog that came up when I googled "Different Outlooks Obama Palin." Looks like you may be able to stock up on some Obama gear at this site, too. Read the list of different outlooks here>>>

For a woman "to vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs.'" I have said on this blog that I think John McCain's citizenship should be revoked for his Palin decision. Let me say this as well: If you are a woman and you vote for McCain/Palin, you will have your feminist card revoked. I'm not 100% sure I have the authority to do that, but I do know with a McCain/Palin vote you will do nothing to help the advancement of your gender (check McCain's voting record on issues that are historically of concern for women voters) and in fact will be setting back the cause that so many women--and men--have fought for for so long. Here it is: She is a pretty face who can deliver a prepared speech. That's it. Now some say the same thing about Obama, but, if anyone seriously takes the time to compare the records of the two, the claim does not hold up (and Obama can hold up in an interview; Palin's handlers won't even let her be interviewed after the Charlie Gibson debacle). If you are a woman who votes for McCain/Palin, you have never known a time when girls were shipped across the country to have their babies, where the only people affected by abortion laws were the poor and minorities. And apparently you don't care to learn about those times. More from Gloria Steinem here>>>

An unbelievably important issue that does not get enough attention: election fraud and votes going uncounted. Even if the number is 100 and not the staggeringly high numbers some people claim (180,000 votes not counted in Florida), that would be enough for a massive investigation into this issue. The biggest elephant standing in the room right now is that racism still looms large in this country. We like to think that having Obama as a serious contender for the Presidency sweeps that all under the rug. Well, it doesn't. This county is still a hugely racist one, and the manipulation of votes is a testimony to this. Check out a preview of a documentary about this issue here>>>

My mom said this evening that "The media makes the news, it doesn't report it. And it makes me sick." Well said. Here's a story from Glenn Greenwald on Salon that eerily reports the consequences of this fact (and it is a fact). (This is an old one, and many of you are probably fully aware of this story. Sorry, I'm behind on all the details of it, so I'm posting it here>>>)

Thanks to all who send me this much needed information. It is our responsibility, since the mainstream media doesn't seem to really want it, to spread this news to as many people as we can. Keep talking. If we talk about the issues, the Republicans cannot win an argument. Go ahead, keep talking about Palin, but talk about her lack of qualifications and John McCain's recklessness in choosing her. And talk about all the other issues, too. Every day for the next month and a half. That's all the time we have, so say as much as possible from now until then.

John Cusack and Chris Farley

2008-09-17T02:25:00.004-04:00

In an article in the Huffington Post yesterday John Cusack had some insightful and scathing things to say about the McCain/Palin ticket taking the horrid and criminal tactics of the Bush/Cheney years to a whole new level. Scary thought, but one that's becoming easier and easier to imagine the more and more these people talk...and by talk, I mean lie. Can you imagine looking back two years from now if McCain is president (or maybe it would be at his funeral when president Palin is being sworn in) and thinking, "Wow, I sure wish W was still president"? I can. I had no idea that this threat existed. I thought we had seen the worst.

But, you're probably wondering just what Chris Farley has to do with any of this. Well, here's a bit from Cusack's piece at HP:

Now, no one in their right mind -- including reasonable independents and Republicans -- wants to double down on neocon ideology, but here comes the "maverick" and his economic advisers to use the crises we face to implement more "change" and "reform" to the system by privatizing everything in sight. Is this what the American people want? When they are aware of it, the answer is always no. It's the same bullshit re-branded.

Remind you of something?

Customer: But why do they put a guarantee on the box?

Tommy: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.

(From the 1995 movie Tommy Boy starring Chris Farley)

Replace "customer's" with "country's" and "daughter's" with "economy's" and I think we have a pretty dead-on description of what we've had to deal with and what we will continue to deal with if we let McCain/Palin shit in a box and stamp it with the Bush seal of approval, the same seal of approval that, as Cusack put it, allowed for "a fuck of a lot of innocent people die." All the while being branded and guaranteed as the right thing to do.

I Can Handle Conservatives if They're Not Complete Idiots

2008-09-14T20:32:00.002-04:00

Like this guy (at least here. I haven't read anything else by him.)

Clinton/Palin Hypocrisy

2008-09-14T20:18:00.003-04:00

I can't believe I hadn't made this connection. When the Clintons have a private matter, let's impeach Bill. When the Palins have a private family matter, then let's just stay the hell out of it.

From Frank Rich's The Palin-Whatshisname Ticket in the Times:

The same gang that once fueled Internet rumors and media feeding frenzies over the Clintons’ private lives now express pious outrage when the same fate befalls the Palins.

These people have no principles. It's all about staying in power. It has nothing to do with beliefs. But, well, by now that's an obvious statement. Otherwise someone wouldn't be up for the job of VP.

In Case You Haven't Seen It

2008-09-14T01:59:00.005-04:00

I can't say it better than my friend Paul, so:

And a clue to Palin: It ain't no "worldview," it's an approach to foreign policy that took us preemptively into Iraq, and it could take us preemptively into Iran, North Korea, or Syria. Whether you agree with it or not, a vice president should have some semblance of an idea what it means. A lot is at stake folks.

The most important part of that quote is, "Whether you agree with it or not, a vice president should have some semblance of an idea what it means." It hearkens back to John Stewart's comments on the Obama/elitist issue: These people should be a whole lot smarter than us. So smart, in fact, that if we were to ever walk into a room with them, we should immediately feel embarrassed by just how stupid we are. I don't want someone in power who I think I might possibly be smarter than. I have enough friends; I don't give a fuck if I think it might be a good time to have a beer with one of them.

John McCain Rips Sarah Palin

2008-09-13T19:51:00.001-04:00

John McCain, Oct. 21, 2007 (discrediting the experience of former NYC mayor Giuliani and former Massachussets Gov. Mitt Romney):

“I need no on-the-job training. I wasn’t a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn’t a governor for a short period of time.”

Check out Eyeteeth for Sarah Palin ripping John McCain.

Exactly

2008-09-12T03:27:00.000-04:00

"It's absurd. It's totally absurd."

2008-09-11T20:41:00.001-04:00

The Facts About John McCain's "Education" Ad

2008-09-11T19:10:00.004-04:00

Here is everything you need to know about that obscene ad that John McCain put out a couple of days ago. From FactCheck.org.

My favorite parts:

The bill, which would have allowed only "age appropriate" material and a no-questions-asked opt-out policy for parents, was not his accomplishment to claim in any case, since he was not even a cosponsor – and the bill never left the state Senate.

Even if we wanted to argue about the merits of the bill, which I would be more than happy to do, as would Obama (which he did against Alan Keyes' same accusations in 2004), it's not even something that he could take credit for!

And this:

The last quote used in McCain's ad is attributed to the Chicago Tribune and says that Obama is "a 'staunch defender of the existing public school monopoly.' " This is actually from a piece by Steve Chapman, former associate editor of The New Republic and contributing writer to Slate and the conservative publications The Weekly Standard and The National Review. The piece isn't a Chicago Tribune editorial at all, though it's made to appear that way in the ad. And Chapman, none too pleased about how his opinion piece was featured in the ad, responded in a Sept. 10 Tribune blog entry with this:

Chapman: ... the ad itself doesn't bother explaining how the candidates differ on school vouchers, the subject of my column. Instead, it insults our intelligence by expecting us to believe that Obama thinks kindergarteners should be taught how to use condoms before they're taught to read. Right. And Joe Biden eats puppies for breakfast.

They continue to just make things up. It's unbelievable.

Maybe the World Will Be Ok

2008-09-11T12:08:00.003-04:00

So we all know how terrible the Republicans are and how awful America's complacency is in the face of horrific acts occurring throughout the world, but maybe, just maybe, if this is a legitimate video, everything may be ok.

I'm Making Jason Doyle a Famous Photographer

2008-09-11T02:08:00.003-04:00

Just look at all the places he is on the web with his photo credit: here and here and one more coming...

p.s. Thanks to Jay over at Twin Cities Daily Planet.

Ok, This is Just Fucking Scary

2008-09-10T15:28:00.004-04:00

I don't think John McCain should be allowed to be a citizen of this country any longer. I don't give a shit how many years he spent in a POW camp. Fuck him. This ad is sick. When you so blatantly make someone look like a pedophile...I mean seriously?! This is a presidential election and all McCain's camp can do is put out shit like this. And the morons who I apparently have to call fellow citizens eat it up and they're too stupid to even know what they are eating. Half this country should do all of us a favor and commit a mass suicide and go onto their precious afterlife and leave the rest of us here. If your god's so great, please, visit him sooner than he's expecting you.

Some responses from the Huffington Post here and here.

A Missed Opportunity: Rappers at Take Back Labor Day Concert Didn't Do Enough to Speak to Young People in the Crowd

2008-09-09T13:42:00.015-04:00

Last week as the Republicans’ trip to St. Paul was delayed due to weather, some musicians still came to town for the Take Back Labor Day concert on Harriet Island, directly across the Mississippi river from downtown St. Paul and the Xcel Energy Center, where the Republicans were going to congregate to talk about their version of change, which is funny, given that if they actually wanted change it seems like, having control of two branches of the government for six out of the last eight years, they could have made some decisions to create some change. I guess change really does take time. But I digress; the concert and the musicians is what I want to talk about today.

The concert was put on by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and was an effort to “draw attention to the issues that America’s working people care about.” On the bill for the St. Paul show was (and this is the order they played in) Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Tom Morello (guitarist for Rage Against the Machine), Atmosphere, Mos Def, and The Pharcyde.

It quickly became clear that, coming from the direction we were coming from, it was going to be difficult to get to the island. From the west and north we would have to walk by the Xcel Energy Center. The blockades surrounding the arena were many and the organization of the concertgoers was of little concern to the thousands of police present for the RNC. Our convenience was not their top priority, though it does seem like keeping a massive crowd orderly would be of some concern to these uniformed men and women. Again, I digress. By the time we reached the island we had been knocked off schedule so much that we didn’t get to see even one song by Billy Bragg, the outspoken Englishman.

Just after getting across the bridge to the concert, riot police formed a blockade. Photo credit: Jason Doyle

I trust, given that I saw him two days later in concert, that Bragg’s set was politically charged, which given the location, the timing, and the host of the show—SEIU—one would expect. Both Steve Earle and Tom Morello (playing as The Nightwatchman) did their part to fill the air with political ideas and bring attention to labor unions. Before his song, “City of Immigrants” Steve Earle said, “It is election time again, and here I am again at the wrong convention. I think it’s fairly obvious that I’m not going to vote for any Republican.” While Tom Morello started his set off by saying, “First of all I’d like to say, it’s an insult and a crime that the Republican Convention would start on Labor Day of all days. With their long history of union busting and support of U.S.-based corporations that use sweatshops at home and abroad, I think it’s a crime, and they should be ashamed of themselves. Which is why I’m here, to help you take back Labor Day.” Later he brought out members of the group Iraq Veterans Against the War and played the classic Woody Guthrie song, “This Land is Your Land,” with about 15 members of that group standing and singing behind him.

The last half of the show was dedicated to hip hop, which I believe has been the most overtly political genre of music as of late. Hip hop artists have attacked some of the most important issues of the day; The Roots latest album, Rising Down, Brother Ali’s “Uncle Sam Goddamn,” and Mos Def’s “Dollar Day” are just a few examples of artists becoming—with the mainstream press’ refusal to do so—the Fourth Estate and speaking truth to power. Unfortunately on this day, on this stage there was little to none of this for the people in attendance.

After Steve Earle came Twin Cities hip-hop hero, Slug, with DJ/producer Ant, who together make up Atmosphere. Slug came out wearing an Obama ’08 t-shirt and the set that Atmosphere put together was obviously very intentional—meant to focus on the “working man” or the downtrodden that they often sing about. The song “Guarantees” is a well-drawn portrait of what it means to be working poor in this country and all the hardships that come with that title. Still, the message was not obvious enough and was made all the more disappointing by the fact that Slug said little to address the labor unions or the RNC between songs (Slug’s only real comment about the day was a question: “Do you think you can make enough noise to make them hear us across the river?”). It can be noble for an artist to let his work speak for him, and in this regard, Atmosphere did their duty on Labor Day. But by the time they came on many in the crowd had been “celebrating” Labor Day for a few hours and their minds may not have been working on the level needed to pick up on the underlying message; something a little more obvious—something along the lines of Morello’s, “I got a feeling this land was not made for war criminals in the White House” would have been more effective in reaching the crowd. This is more disheartening when one takes into account that year after year Atmosphere continues to add younger and younger fans to its audience, and Slug has an uncanny ability to take on something of an idol role to the younger members of his fan base, and therefore wields an immense ability to influence them. Any words spoken that day would have resonated hugely for everyone, but especially in the ears of those young people, many of whom may be voting for the first time this November. Or, as we have seen time and again with young people, may not be voting this fall.

When Mos Def came out I expected the show to get back on track politically. This is a man who was arrested two years ago for playing his song, then titled “Katrina Clap,” on a flatbed truck outside of Radio City Music Hall in an attempt to raise awareness about the poor conditions still affecting the people of the Gulf Coast as a result of hurricane Katrina. Surely, with the Republicans rushing to that area of the nation for photo-ops as hurricane Gustav descended, Mighty Mos would have something to say about the matter. But no. Instead, Mos Def was even less straight forward than Atmosphere, only telling a brief proverb of sorts about the role of the underdog throughout history. And, as far as I could tell, unlike Atmosphere’s set, Mos Def’s wasn't particularly political.

By the time The Pharcyde came out, with the unbelievably self-conscious move of playing their videos behind them on the big screen while they preformed (“Hey, remember us? If not, remember these videos? That’s us, we swear.) and one member’s self-centered diatribe about rumors of his crack addiction, I was done. And I like The Pharcyde! Still, the only reason I was still in the crowd was in hopes that Bragg, Earle, and Morello might come back on stage for an encore.

I left Harriet Island that day disappointed by a missed opportunity. All the old hippies who came out for Bragg and Earle, and who maybe stuck around for Morello, were gone or trickling out as the second half of the concert played. Who was left were the young people, the ones who have never gotten involved in the political process. The ones who did not already go through this in the Sixties. The older audience members had seen the effect music can have on a political landscape. The people who need to stand up and take hold of politics now were all standing there until the end. And, unfortunately, these artists missed an opportunity to actually speak to them, to motivate them. It was just another hip hop concert—one that, on that basis alone, would have been very good, but given the timing and the setting, was anything but.

Crossposted at Guernica Mag.

Wish I Could've Been There

2008-09-08T23:50:00.002-04:00

But I'm glad this video exists. At the 5:50 mark Tom Morello tells it like it is. Preach on, brother:

Some Things I Learned From the Speeches: The politicizing of issues that, apparently, should be too human for politics.

2008-09-06T23:29:00.002-04:00

Last Monday as the Republican Party was supposed to be descending upon my little town of St. Paul, an opportunity arose for them to, finally after three years, play hero in the face of a storm. This whole week has been full of pleas to not politicize human events that are happening and could happen to any of us—hurricanes, military service, pregnancy, special-needs children, et al. It started with Gustav, and John McCain, instead of flying to St. Paul, flying to the Gulf Coast. Why exactly would an Arizona Senator need to be in Mississippi during a hurricane, other than for (as many, including Barack Obama have pointed out) a photo op? He is not president and he has never had anything to do with a state that must be concerned about hurricanes. I’ve been to Arizona once. Before I went I always thought it was a bit of hyperbole when people spoke of a “dry heat”—“Oh, it’s not that bad when it’s 110 in the shade, because it’s a dry heat.” Coming from a place that can reach 100 degrees with 85% humidity in the summer I just couldn’t believe it. After visiting, I realized that there was truth to the statement; indeed I realized just how dry a place could be. So, why was McCain in the Gulf Coast? The simple fact that he had a chance to look like he was doing something that his party failed so colossally to do three years ago when Katrina hit—to actually appear like he was a caring, compassionate human being.

In another bit of politicizing, we are all now, after watching the Republican nominee for vice president’s speech at the RNC, fully aware that Sarah Palin’s son is in the Army after she told us:

“[John McCain]'s a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.

Our son Track is 19.

And one week from tomorrow — Sept. 11 — he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew Kasey also enlisted and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.

My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform.”

Contrast this with Beau Biden’s speech, and his reference to his future service:

“I know my father will be a great vice president. As I mentioned, my dad has always been there for me, my brother and my sister, every day. But because of other duties, it won't be possible for me to be here this fall to stand by him the way he stood by me. So I have something to ask of you. Be there for my dad like he was for me.”

And add to that Joe Biden’s response to his son; he said only, “Beau, I love you. I am so proud of you. Proud of the son you are. Proud of the father you've become.”

There is no debating here which Party is using “service to this country” for its own political gain. One Party puts country first out of obligation to fellow citizens. One uses “country first” as a stepping-stone to another platform. And I’m not only talking about military service here. I’m talking about the larger call to serve that even John McCain called for in his acceptance speech at the RNC. He said:

“If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you're disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. Enlist in our armed forces. Become a teacher. Enter the ministry. Run for public office. Feed a hungry child. Teach an illiterate adult to read. Comfort the afflicted. Defend the rights of the oppressed. Our country will be the better, and you will be the happier. Because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself.”

Which brings me to perhaps the most infuriating part of what took place inside the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul over these last few days (Much time can be spent debating the most infuriating parts that happened outside of those walls, on the streets and bridges of this city). Even as the leader of their party planned to call each citizen to action in the final speech of the RNC, two of the most publicized members of his party openly mocked that call to action in their own speeches. Referring to Obama, Rudy Giuliani said the following:

“On the other hand, you have a resume from a gifted man with an Ivy League education. He worked as a community organizer. What? He worked -- I said -- I said, OK, OK, maybe this is the first problem on the resume.

He worked as a community organizer. He immersed himself in Chicago machine politics.”

And the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska (population roughly 5,000 when she was mayor) said, “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”

So much for “American hats.” When it comes to the level of importance of what John McCain called “serv[ing] a cause greater than yourself,” the Republican Party will be the judge.

And then there is the politicizing of the future grandchild of the Republican VP nominee. I will only say this about this issue: If you make it your position to make it so government can categorically go into the homes of families and would-be or would-not-be families, then do not expect people to stay out of yours when you’d like them to. The Republican Party’s policies already politicize this issue; it is, in fact, one of their absolutely necessary issues—one that has helped them feed their frenzied members and galvanized them to vote in huge numbers. Simply because you wish to spin the politicizing of such an issue so it will be seen in a positive light by your base (Read: at least no abortion), does not make it an issue that only you can politicize.

So here’s what I learned from the speeches and talk that came to my hometown this last week: There seems to be a turning in the way some are thinking about politics and a steadfastness in others to adhere to a view of politics that somehow became the norm. When did it become unfashionable to know about what is going on in our country? When did the political process become something that should be put to the side when more important human matters need to take center stage? Isn’t that process inherent in our country’s DNA (to steal another line from an RNC speech), in the words, “For the People, by the People”? It became abundantly clear this past week that the Republican Party is not averse to using anything and everything to gain a political leg-up. What did not become abundantly clear is why they claim to want to be separate from the political means towards their end, indeed from the process that makes this country what it is, or should be, or could be.

Crossposted at Guernica Magazine

616 Votes to Win the 1996 Mayor's Election in Wasilla, Alaska. I Bet Obama Talked to That Many People In a Couple of Days Back in the Windy City

2008-09-04T16:04:00.005-04:00

I have to admit that I have not finished watching Palin's speech from last night; I was simply too pissed off by what I was watching to take it all in one shot. I did, however, listen long enough to hear her joke about Obama's experience as a community organizer, which pissed me off more than anything up to that point.

Here's a response sent out from the Obama camp today that I agree strongly with.

From David Plouffe, Campaign Manager, Obama for America:

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed.

Let's clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.

And it's no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America's promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it's happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.

Meanwhile, we still haven't gotten a single idea during the entire Republican convention about the economy and how to lift a middle class so harmed by the Bush-McCain policies.

It's now clear that John McCain's campaign has decided that desperate lies and personal attacks -- on Barack Obama and on you -- are the only way they can earn a third term for the Bush policies that McCain has supported more than 90 percent of the time.

But you can send a crystal clear message.

Enough is enough. Make your voice heard loud and clear by making a $25 donation right now:

https://donate.barackobama.com/fightback

Thank you for joining more than 2 million ordinary Americans who refuse to be silenced.

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

And check out this story breaking down all the lies Palin and McCain and their cronies are passing off as their talking points.

Who Is Sarah Palin?

2008-09-02T10:56:00.003-04:00

It's becoming abundantly clear that not even the man who chose this woman as his running mate can answer that question, having met her only once or twice before offering her the position. McCain's decision to choose Palin as his running mate is like a child who can't get his way and frustrated by that fact pouts and says fine, do whatever you want: "But I want my buddy Joe Lieberman. I can't have him?!?! Fine you just pick it then, I don't care."

Here is some useful information about the person Republicans want as their future VP, someone who apparently they believe could step up on Day 1 and handle the responsibilities of the presidency. Screw what they said before, it's a new ball game, and experience is not, apparently, as important as they have been claiming it is:

MSNBC

Yahoo News

Frederick Lane at Guernica

Robert Reich at Guernica

MoveOn.org

Dustin L. Nelson: "I am Robin Gunningham" on Guernica

2008-08-28T13:11:00.003-04:00

My writer/editor partner-in-crime Dustin wrote a cool little article about the artist Banksy, so I put it up on Guernica.

Check it out here>>>

Baron Davis and Steve Nash--Something Fun For Everyone

2008-08-26T12:01:00.000-04:00

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

John McCain's Disingenuous Years

2008-08-19T23:51:00.009-04:00

The other day I was discussing my thoughts about John McCain (as I find myself doing often these days) with someone who is still on the fence and who has obviously been affected by the smear tactics used by Republicans against Barack Obama (read a fantastic short piece about this matter from Robert Reich that recently went up on Guernica). This person is one of the many who doesn't necessarily vote Republican or Democrat; he believes that neither party--or anyone in politics for that matter--has his best interest in mind. He groups them all together as one lump of disingenuous, to use his word, assholes. I can't necessarily disagree with that sentiment. I do think there is a tremendous amount of self-interest in any political endeavor. And this won't ever drastically change while we are under a strictly two-party system. There are just too many political moves one must make when adhering to a certain dogma, to which a number of other people have hitched their wagons. That being said, on this point I argued that in this particular election we at least have an option who is drastically different than any other in recent memory. I do not need to give Barack Obama's life story here, since he has done so already in a book and many others have given shortened versions elsewhere. But I don't think it's a stretch to say that that story is radically different than the upbringing--and in some cases it's more like breeding--of many of our current politicians. He is not a Clinton, a Kennedy, or a Bush (Full disclosure: I will count myself among the camp that now considers John McCain a third Bush). I told my discussion partner that if he actually wanted to cast a vote in November for someone different than what he has seen, then there is really only one choice. (To this person's credit, in my eyes anyway, he does put his money where his mouth is, so to speak, having voted for both Ross Perot and Jesse Ventura. An attempt anyway to jettison the two-party system.)

But this whole discussion isn't why I am writing this. What I have been pondering lately more than how Obama is different than those who have come before is just how far John McCain has come to being exactly the same, or worse, than those who have come before. What sparked my interest most in this discussion I was having was my discussion partner's statement that at least John McCain was "genuine," to which I replied, "I may have said the same thing eight years ago." Now, eight years ago I was a junior in college and maybe more worried about a creative writing class, the lacrosse club, and which party I was going to attend on a Friday night than about the senator from Arizona. That is to say, my political interests didn't get fully piqued until the nominees for both parties were already in place, so I wasn't fully aware of all the skullduggery that led to G.W. being awarded that nomination. But it does seem to me that at least back then John McCain stood for something. Even if what he stood for wouldn't always have fallen in line with my beliefs, he seemed to stand behind his own thoughts and opinions. His indictments of Bush in those days were scathing, to no political gain. But these last years have been nothing but a political ploy on the AZ Senator's part. Once McCain knew he could not beat Bush he started, slowly at first and now full steam ahead, to put his ducks in a row for this very moment, for the chance to be President of the United States. Beliefs be damned, the man only wants one thing. That title is his only desire, and apparently his only reason for anything he does right now. I see no other way to explain how someone who was courted by the Democrats four years ago to jump ship and run as Vice President with John Kerry could fall so in line with the Right's agenda, other than, as Robert Reich puts it, the ends justify the means. What I have seen from John McCain over the last eight years does not strike me as actions I would attribute to a "genuine" person.

Crossposted at Guernica

Election '08: Take Nothing for Granted

2008-08-17T10:35:00.002-04:00

An important message/reminder from MoveOn.org. Let's not assume anything.

A Few Recommendations

2008-08-16T19:44:00.004-04:00

Just a quick list of books I've recently finished that I would recommend to all of you:

Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya. This is a paranoid freak fest. The guy doesn't care for periods too much, which adds to the main character's (often) seemingly delusional state. And while this stylistic choice is good for the voice of the story telling, it can wear on you as you near the end. However, the last few lines make it all worthwhile.

Superpowers by David J. Schwartz. The way in which David Schwartz uses the events of 9/11 in this book are, to me, stunning. A lesser writer could have easily, in a book that stars five superheroes, sensationalized and exploited those events for the purpose of his story. The way Schwartz writes about it makes the characters all the more real.

The Man in the Blizzard by Bart Schneider. Read this one in the next couple of weeks because it is set in the Twin Cities in the months leading up to the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The private eye is a pothead and the St. Paul Police detective quotes poetry throughout.

Next on the list is Drama City by George Pelecanos, who also wrote for The Wire, and Graceland by Chris Abani, an author whom I've never read, but saw reading his poetry twice last summer in New York. One of the times he played the sax, too. This guy was locked up for his first novel, which he wrote at the age of 16 (I should check that, but I think it's right). He probably should be more widely read, which is why I'm going to start reading him.

Tom Waits is Cooler Than You

2008-08-09T23:47:00.002-04:00

And this is for me to listen to later. You should listen to it now.

New Post Up at Guernica

2008-08-06T16:30:00.003-04:00

I have a new post up over at Guernica. Actually it's an introduction for a new blogger we have over there. She writes about the effectiveness of literature on politics, which is a topic I've brought up on this blog before. Here's my intro with a link to the rest:

If you click on the Guernica History link in the side bar you'll get the story behind this magazine. It began as a meeting place between arts and politics and to this day continues to focus on that crossroads. There is the Picasso painting of the same name invoking a brutal and unnecessary massacre in an historic Basque city during the Spanish Civil War, which, maybe as well as anything, captures the synchronicity of arts and politics.

The magazine also grew out of a poetry and fiction reading series that took place at a bar called Guernica.

The essence of this magazine is therefore cradled in the arms of arts and politics, and the magazine itself nurtures the notion that art and literature can have an immediate and lasting effect on the political sphere. Likewise, our current political state ("our current" meaning everyone, at any present moment) is reflected in the dialogue artists and writers attempt to have through their work.

Today on Guernica's blog we welcome a new voice that comes with a grand challenge for us--one that, if risen to, would surely have a positive effect on our current state. Here Jennifer Nix calls for a resurgence of a Gilded Age where Henry James, Mark Twain, William Thackeray and Joseph Conrad, among others, ran short stories and serialized novels in newspapers, offering the public an alternative to the world they saw in front of them. An alternative that, though written on the page, was every bit as real as their own.

How does literature do this? "Great literature creates a level of empathy for other people's lives," Jennifer writes, "with all its emotional, intellectual and philosophical complexities, in a way that no polemic or journalism, memoir or blogging can do."

Edward Abbey once wrote to Annie Dillard that he thought a novel could change the world, he just wasn't sure how long it would take. So he constantly called for people to take action in the present. Yet he could not keep himself from writing novels. Jennifer, like many of us over these last few years, has questioned whether literature can really do anything to change what we've seen in the Bush years. This is not new. Ed Abbey had to ask himself the same question in order to come to his conclusion. The key, as Jennifer points out here, is this: There is no need to choose between the two. A great novel will open a reader's mind, forcing her to see the world anew, and, seeing anew, she will react differently to the world. That is why we need literature to permeate the political scene. To allow for that "level of empathy for other people's lives." To make it so the "reality makers" don't overshadow the "reality interpreters" and show us only the reality they want us to see.

How best to do this? Jennifer has an idea of how to bring about a new Gilded Age.

As always, thanks for reading.

- David Doody

Click here for the rest of this post.

Irony Goes the Way of the Dodo

2008-08-06T00:37:00.006-04:00

In a shocking report released today by the Social Science Institute Dr. J.W. Bullenger claims that Irony is dead and has been replaced by Earnestness.

"It seems that more and more people are choosing to actually consider issues of the day," claimed Dr. Bullenger in an interview with the New York Times. "Rather than just make snide remarks about those issues, it seems that some people may actually care. Some for the first time ever."

While many question the findings or, as is the case at at least one web site--imhipandyourenot.blogspot.com, call Dr. Bullenger's study biased, many more seem to agree with the findings.

One man wearing small, black-rimmed glasses, a haircut with bangs that hung over one eyebrow, and a cardigan, stopped in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis said, "Yeah, Irony is SOOO dead." The man then took a call on his iPhone.

Most agree that the death of Irony has come as a direct result of one man: Barack Obama.

Picture: Barack Obama apparently caring about something.

Jill Sarsay, a marketing consultant, claims she used to love Irony and used it daily to brush people aside and show an overall apathy towards the world. No longer, though.

"It's like I just want to be all, 'Yeah, I REALLY think that's cool,' and make some douche bag feel like an idiot for thinking his shit's cool when really it sucks," said Ms. Sarsay. "But, I just feel bitchy now when I talk to people like that. Instead of feeling superior I feel, like, the opposite."

As many across the country welcome the change from Irony to Earnestness, others are not so thrilled.

Picture: Bill O'Reilly: "Barack Obama is a murderer."

Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News network exclaimed on his show tonight, "Barack Obama is a killer. He's killed Irony! Plain and simple, the man is a murderer. First he wants to seduce young, white girls, and now he thinks he can go around killing! Irony is as American as apple pie, and I for one won't stand by as Mr. Barack Hussein Obama marches his rock-star personality all over the grave of something as American as Apple Pie."

Attempts to reach the Obama camp have thus far been unsuccessful. Likewise, messages left for Alanis Morissette were not answered.

The Secret Identity of The Artist Behind the Controversial New Yorker Cover

2008-08-01T01:42:00.010-04:00

Peter Sieve, or Peter de Seve, makes a lemon levitate.

Press Release from I Watch So You Don't Have To
July 28, 2008
Will the Real Peter Sieve Please Stand Up?

It has been brought to my attention that the cartoonist responsible for the controversial New Yorker cover depicting lobsters escaping certain doom (see last post) may be none other than Peter Sieve, lead guitarist of the Minneapolis-based Chris Koza band. Though the name attributed to the cartoon is Peter de Seve, many sources tell me that the hands behind such melodious tunes as "Adjust" and the soon-to-be classic "Straight to Video" are also the hands behind the soon-to-be infamous cartoon.

When reached for comment, Mr. Sieve had this to say:

"Listen, yo, Chris writes the songs that make the whole world sing. I just try to kick in some nice licks behind them. I have no alter-cartoonist-ego. I haven't drawn since I was a kid."

At least one fan's story would lead one to believe otherwise. According to Stacey Jorghanson of Souix City, South Dakota the lobster now tatooed on her right breast was originally drawn there with a Sharpie marker by Mr. Sieve after he performed with Mr. Koza and the rest of the band at Hogs Wild, a local saloon and music venue in Soiux City.

Ms. Jorghanson:

"I just fell in love with him on stage. He had this long, flowing hair and these super cool black glasses. He was so, you know, sophisticated. Not like these idiots I usually hang around with."

Ms. Jorghanson said that after the show she and Mr. Sieve "drank like 20 Captain Cokes" and she told him to sign her "wherever he wanted to." At which time Mr. Sieve apparently drew a lobster in lieu of signing his name on the 21-year-old's right breast. Ms. Jorghanson had the drawing turned into a tattoo the following day.

The tattoo bears a striking resemblance to the lobsters on the latest cover of The New Yorker.

Mr. Sieve denies ever having met Ms. Jorghanson. Though, when asked about the night in question, Chris Koza told me that although he could not say whether or not Mr. Sieve and Ms. Jorghanson were in one another's company after the Souix Falls show, it would not be the first time Mr. Sieve has autographed a female fan's chest.

Peter Sieve (right) and Chris Koza

Brought to you by I Watch So You Don't Have To, a media watch dog, hounding the mainstream media to get it Right since 2002.

-See previous post for backstory on this post-