When one votes in desperation

Today, upon waking, I had a boatload of second thoughts about Obama. I voted for him anyway. It’s the Supreme Court justice appointments that I have to think about, and not all the reasons why he isn’t an ideal choice. Uf!

I voted using computers. They weren’t as nice as the old lever machines, and the way they set them up was terrible. My complaints:

1. There was a ton of glare on the monitors, making text difficult to read. (The 11th district, not pictured above, had windows behind them.)
2. People had to walk behind you, while you were voting, to get to their machine. Voting is supposed to be private and confidential; the potential shouldn’t be there for someone to look over your shoulder. (The lever machines had an automatic curtain that was sort of awesome.)
3. You had to repeatedly confirm your choices. When you think things are over, by pressing a large, blinking, red “VOTE” button (not a joke), you still have to confirm once again. Volunteers stated that several people had walked away after this step and not cast their final ballot.

Obamarama

Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA, 27 October 2008. Rest of my photos are here.

My video. The quality isn’t too hot:

See if you can make out what he’s saying. Heh.

Dreaming of Sarah (Mix 2)

“…wait, really?” was my reaction when I returned home today to find the above pictured compact disk on my premises. Two parts adoration and one part indictment, I’m not sure if this mix CD devoted to Sarah Palin is clever or indicative of deep-seated mental illness. (Note the adept use of Microsoft Paint.) You’ll have to judge for yourself:

:: Dreaming of Sarah ::

1. John Cale – Barracuda
2. Beat Happening – You Turn Me On
3. Palace Music – New Partner
4. The Crystals – He’s a Rebel
5. of Montreal – Everything Disappears When You Come Around
6. The Mountain Goats – West Country Dream
7. Velvet Underground – Stephanie Says
8. Julie Doiron – Dark Horse
9. Bob Dylan – Girl From the North Country
10. Jenny Toomey – Cheat
11. Sonic Youth – Star Power
12. The 6ths – Movies In My Head
13. Neko Case – Thrice All-American
14. Amy Anelle – Anchorage
15. Mojave 3 – Sarah
16. Yo La Tengo – How Much I’ve Lied

For more Palin music madness, sing along with this video.

NYC Police officer assaults Critical Mass bicyclist

This is beyond belief:

Please take the time to fill out a (respectfully worded) civilian complaint at NYC.gov. (“Contact the Civilian Complaint Review Board for questions about allegations of police misconduct, complaints alleging force, abuse of authority, and related issues.”)

Found via Boing Boing.

A rather callous thing for a mother to say

There are a lot of young men and women who saw horrible things and have done terrible things and have to live with that [...] I thought, “Suck it up, Mr. Klecker.”

Deanna Casey. (Alvarez)

The above quote is from Catherine Casey, the mother of Deanna Casey (right), the 16 year old whose death was contributed to by Anthony Klecker, an Iraq war veteran with a heaping helping of post traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism.

There are so many things that are inherently wrong with Mrs. Casey’s statement, and I refuse to shy away from them because her daughter was killed. I speak not as a critic of Casey (…yet), but in general against the sentiments she conveyed.

Part 1: “There are a lot of young men and women who saw horrible things and have done terrible things and have to live with that”. I know war-time trauma isn’t an excuse, as a blanket or in this specific instance. But honestly, we knew long before Vietnam, before WWII, etc. that war seriously damages soldiers not only physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well. If you live in a society that is willing to train and send its citizens off to war, you’d better be ready for them to return, if not in killing mode, then at least in “reckless endangerment because I’m coming apart at the seams” mode.

Part 2: “Suck it up, Mr. Klecker.” Oh wow. One of the reasons Klecker felt that he couldn’t ask for help was because he had to possess – not just appear to possess – the fortitude of a marine. (“I was trying to be the tough marine I was trained to be – not to talk about problems, not to cry [...] I imprisoned myself in my own mind.”) Now you’re going to tell him to bottle up all the vile things he’s seen and done by participating in a sexist discourse that shuts men off from their emotions? Loss brings out the best in some, the worst in others. You may have bitterness to explain it away, but the moment you said those words you proved yourself a nasty piece of work, Mrs. Casey.

Conclusion: Go ahead Mrs. Casey. Rail against Klecker. I completely agree that he made some very poor, very tragic decisions that I’m disinclined to forgive him for. But I also think you should be railing against our government for doing such a poor job of ensuring the emotional and psychological wellbeing of soldiers who have seen battle (if not for the inhumanity that is war). Lobbying for these goals – no easy task – will prove the depth of your love for Deanna by attempting to prevent the selfsame conditions that lead to your daughters death, that has caused so much suffering in your home and abroad.

So many United States citizens live in bubbles where they don’t think the war(s) can affect them. It is a symbol of our supreme privilege, arrogance, and ignorance.

:: Bibliography ::

• Alvarez, Lizette. “After the Battle, Fighting the Bottle at Home.” The New York Times, 8 July 2008, sec. U.S. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/us/08vets.html?pagewanted=1&hp (8 July 2008).

I am Voting for Oprah in the ‘08 Presidential Election!

I have finally made my decision for this coming election and the answer to my dilemma was simple: Oprah. Now that I look back on the months of pining over my choice for president I realize that she was the only real option, to my mind.

But why should you write in Oprah for president? I think the answers are self evident.

1. Tenacious - If you’ve seen Oprah’s show you know that she is firm, but kind. When she has assumed an educated, ideologically sound position on an argument she will not be swayed by inferior arguments, subversive rhetoric, or logical fallacies. Her mind is a veritable bear trap working toward love and justice!
2. Change agent – It is clearly evident that Oprah is skilled at adapting. Throughout her long career she has moved with the times, her elegant fingers on the pulse of the nation. However, she does not merely react. Oprah can affect change, as evinced by her book club: “Publishers estimate that her power to sell a book is anywhere from 20 to 100 times that of any other media personality” according to BusinessWeek. Beauty. Power. She has it all.
3. Altruistic - Oprah is philanthropic at heart. She wants to give. She wants to give to you. It is, in my opinion, what fundamentally animates her. Look no further than this euphoric moment of selflessness: Case in point. She changed their lives. She brought them hope. Oprah has earned her leadership role after being tempered by the smithy of life. However, she doesn’t want others to have to pass through such a crucible.

So if you find that Obama and Clinton leave you feeling disappointed, go forth! Print out the above flier and plaster it (tastefully!) around your home, office, and third place! Proselytize, my Oprah bunnies!

Oprah for the President of the United States of America!

:: Bibliography ::

• BusinessWeek Editors. Why Oprah Opens Readers’ Wallets. BusinessWeek. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_41/b3954059.htm (25 June 2008).
• White, Deborah. Obama Gets The Top-Tier Endorsements, But Do They Matter?. About.com. http://usliberals.about.com/b/2008/01/13/obama-gets-the-top-tier-endorsements-but-do-they-matter.htm (25 June 2008).

Unhand him, frog!

Yeah, I’m boycotting the 2008 summer Olympics. And by boycotting I mean not watching them and refusing to talk about them. This photo from the BBC is from a feature about Parisian demonstrators going crazy over Tibet and mucking up the torch run. If there’s one thing that France has a long and glorious history of, it’s student demonstrations and riots.

Highlights include:

• A Green party activist being tackled by security guards as he tried to intercept the torch-bearer (Stephane Diagana) at the Eiffel Tower.
• “On the tower itself, protesters unfurled a huge banner criticising China’s human rights record and depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs.”
• Torch-bearers were repeatedly “targeted” by demonstrators, resulting in the torch being extinguished three times during the run. It was also concealed in the Olympic bus.
• A torch ceremony at the City Hall was canceled entirely.

:: Bibliography ::

• In pictures: Paris torch protests. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7335043.stm (7 April 2008).