by CODY LYON
It looks as if some Americans have finally found a cartoon they can get really upset about.
Last week's "New Yorker" cover cartoon featuring presumed Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama and wife Michelle, both in outrageous garb that included the Senator in a turbin, sandals and robe, with Michelle sporting an Angela `Davisesque' 70's afro, a gun, both fist-bumping all the while an American flag burned, has drawn condemnation and charges of "offensive and tasteless" from campaign spokespeople and supporters.
Tuesday evening, Senator Obama told CNN's Larry King that the cartoon "probably fueled misconceptions about me."
Really?
Was the cartoon offensive?
Of course it was.
Did it fuel misconceptions about the Senator and his wife?
Probably not......that's already been done.
In fact, the increasingly famous "New Yorker" cover held up a mirror to the campaign, the media and more importantly to America itself. The cartoon revealed some offensive truths about how this campaign has been conducted and covered, but also, about America in general and how out of touch with reality so many of us truly are.
First and foremost, this was the "New Yorker" being ironic, not some tabloid or sensationalistic media spook machine that was seeking to raise questions about the Senator of his wife's commitment to the nation's well being. The "New Yorker" is in fact, one the few bastions of intelligent and measured writing where analysis and good story telling pair up with meticulous investigative journalism. It is one of the few places that those with the patience, to actually read an article longer than four or five pages long,find articles that reveal facts, figures and truths about our Democracy, better yet, our world.
What might be considered offensive is the fact that so many Americans don't take the time to actually pick up the magazine and read those stories beyond that offensive cover.
But, even more offensive is the deeper truth pointed out by the cover and the seemingly insecure and condescending reaction that some Obama supporters and even some Republicans have claimed to have.
The "New Yorker" cover page makes fun of the sad fact that vast swaths of voters actually believe that the Obama's depicted in the cartoon are real. But, it also shines a light on the units of the media machine that have inadvertently helped perpetuate the rumors and innuendo that have led to misperceptions about the Obama's patriotism.
Now that's offensive.
The inability of Obama supporters to appreciate that sort of irony is offensive as well, since they know all to well, the cartoon, in its outrageousness and non-PC style, does exactly that.
But, by raising such a fuss about a cartoon in the "New Yorker", by going public with worries that it will affect voter's perception, those supporters, spokespersons, even the candidate are in essence participating in the wildfire of paranoia and condescension so common in American politics today?
If anything, "The New Yorker" that bastion of elitism was pointing out that America, despite being a place of instant information gratification is a place where vast portions of the public are ill informed, a public that shows increasing signs of collective ADD, always looking for the next shrill topic, the next scandal and not real truths that might inform them to make wise decisions in voting booths that might truly impact their communities, their nation their lives, truths often found in magazines like "The New Yorker".
It's really a shame that so many are up in arms about this cartoon. The only positive might be that more people may actually buy the magazine and read it.
This was clever satire and the jokes on `the people', not the Obamas.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
(New York Times) Bank Stocks Are Battered as Unease Grows
Bank Stocks Are Battered as Unease Grows
By LOUISE STORY and ERIC DASH "New York Times"
Published: July 15, 2008
Investors continued to beat down bank stocks on Monday, fearing that the government’s aid to help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would not hold back the rising tide of bad loans.
Link to full story at NYT
By LOUISE STORY and ERIC DASH "New York Times"
Published: July 15, 2008
Investors continued to beat down bank stocks on Monday, fearing that the government’s aid to help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would not hold back the rising tide of bad loans.
Link to full story at NYT
Sunday, July 13, 2008
From "The Raw Story"; Alabama US Attorney denies any involvement in university editor's termination
The abrupt dismissal of a veteran University of Alabama employee who blogged about the firing of seven US Attorneys has added a bizarre new twist to allegations that the state's US Attorneys targeted political opponents for prosecution.
"Raw Story's' Lindsay Beyerstein has a closer look at the firing of Roger Shuler from UAB
LINK TO FULL STORY AT "RAW STORY"
"Raw Story's' Lindsay Beyerstein has a closer look at the firing of Roger Shuler from UAB
LINK TO FULL STORY AT "RAW STORY"
From "New York Times":A New Fashion Catches On in Paris: Cheap Bicycle Rentals
A New Fashion Catches On in Paris: Cheap Bicycle Rentals
By STEVEN ERLANGER (New York Times)
Published: July 13, 2008
A year after the introduction of the sturdy gray bicycles known as Vélib’s, other major cities, including American ones, are exploring similar projects.
Link to full Story at NYT
By STEVEN ERLANGER (New York Times)
Published: July 13, 2008
A year after the introduction of the sturdy gray bicycles known as Vélib’s, other major cities, including American ones, are exploring similar projects.
Link to full Story at NYT
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
(REUTERS VIDEO) Hebron settlers accused of beating
Jul 8 - An Israeli -Palestinian rights group has released video of a Palestinian man tied to a phone pole claiming it shows the man being beaten up by Jewish settlers.
FROM REUTERS-The video was recorded by activists belonging to Ta'ayush, an Israeli-Palestinian human rights group.
The group claims it shows a bound Palestinian man being kicked by Jewish settlers while Israeli soldiers stand by. The man, a 30-year-old Palestinian teacher, was eventually freed and taken to hospital.
He later told Reuters the settlers had falsely accused him of setting fire to one of their fields before beating him. Israeli police say two settlers were arrested on suspicion of assault.
A settler leader in Hebron says the video wrongly portrays the settlers as aggressors when, in reality, they're defending themselves.
Susan Flory (REUTERS) reports.
FROM REUTERS-The video was recorded by activists belonging to Ta'ayush, an Israeli-Palestinian human rights group.
The group claims it shows a bound Palestinian man being kicked by Jewish settlers while Israeli soldiers stand by. The man, a 30-year-old Palestinian teacher, was eventually freed and taken to hospital.
He later told Reuters the settlers had falsely accused him of setting fire to one of their fields before beating him. Israeli police say two settlers were arrested on suspicion of assault.
A settler leader in Hebron says the video wrongly portrays the settlers as aggressors when, in reality, they're defending themselves.
Susan Flory (REUTERS) reports.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Downtown Gotham Laments Closure of a Meatpacking District Eatery
LINK TO MY FULL STORY AT EDGE
excerpt
The paint on the window told the whole story.
"Serving 24 hours until the bitter "sweet" end on June 29," it read.
After 23 years of serving countless steak frites, muscles and Boudin Noire in an area more known for beef racks, leather daddy’s, transgender prostitutes, club kids and Hogs and Heffers, the modern landmark 24 hour French diner that served the fashionable alongside the "freaky" has closed its doors. News reports account Morellet signed a lease for $6,000 in 1995. The landlord reportedly sought to increase the rent to around $700,000 per year-or $58,000 per month-this past year. And Morellet was left with little choice but to close shop after a period of unsuccessful negotiation.
excerpt
The paint on the window told the whole story.
"Serving 24 hours until the bitter "sweet" end on June 29," it read.
After 23 years of serving countless steak frites, muscles and Boudin Noire in an area more known for beef racks, leather daddy’s, transgender prostitutes, club kids and Hogs and Heffers, the modern landmark 24 hour French diner that served the fashionable alongside the "freaky" has closed its doors. News reports account Morellet signed a lease for $6,000 in 1995. The landlord reportedly sought to increase the rent to around $700,000 per year-or $58,000 per month-this past year. And Morellet was left with little choice but to close shop after a period of unsuccessful negotiation.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Alabama Accents (St Petersburg Times-Guest Column)
From "St Petersburg Times" guest columnist Jack Bray:
It got me to thinking. Why do we speak the same language differently? The shades of drawl even in this town are distinct. After living 15 years in Dunedin, listening to a lot of familiar New Yorkese, I found these accents to be colorful and charmin', darlins'.
LINK TO FULL COLUMN at TAMPABAY.Com (note the column cites my story on the origin of Southern Accents)
It got me to thinking. Why do we speak the same language differently? The shades of drawl even in this town are distinct. After living 15 years in Dunedin, listening to a lot of familiar New Yorkese, I found these accents to be colorful and charmin', darlins'.
LINK TO FULL COLUMN at TAMPABAY.Com (note the column cites my story on the origin of Southern Accents)
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
UN: fair Zimbabwe poll 'impossible' (REUTERS)
(REUTERS)Jun 24 - The United Nations Security Council condemns violence against Zimbabwe's opposition.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed to take its first formal action on Zimbabwe by condemning violence against the country's opposition and ruling that a free and fair presidential run-off was impossible.
Michelle Carlile-Alkhouri reports. (REUTERS)
The U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed to take its first formal action on Zimbabwe by condemning violence against the country's opposition and ruling that a free and fair presidential run-off was impossible.
Michelle Carlile-Alkhouri reports. (REUTERS)
Friday, June 20, 2008
Pennies for Votes
by CODY LYON (OPINION)
For many, many years, in elementary and middle schools across the south and perhaps other regions in the nation as well, at a certain time each year, the student body would perhaps `nominate' several young boys and girls to be Mr and Miss `small town' (or whatever the name) of that particular school may be.
But, this contest would not be based purely on popularity, being a good citizen or high academic achievement per se, but instead, by the number of pennies that each student was able to raise since each penny counted as one vote.
After the votes, no, actually, the pennies were tallied the winners would be crowned, perhaps photographed for the yearbook, maybe even ride on a float in a local parade and then carry the largely insignificant title throughout the rest of the year.
After execution of this widely accepted practice by which these schools would raise much needed funds for things like chalk, art paper, kick balls or other necessities utilized for richer educational experiences in the classroom there was an unfortunate fact that remained embedded in the minds of the millions who witnessed or lived through it.
The children who took the title Mr and Miss local school, was in fact the student who in the end, turned in the fattest check to the powers that be at that school, a check that was often written by a wealthy parent.
In the end, the contest was not about merit or popularity but wealth although perhaps in rare cases, childlike money raising prowess. Still, for millions of children, it instilled or perhaps at least reinforced the bitter pill that money equals title, perhaps too power.
What often got lost in the drama of those contests that appears to have rewarded those children who had wealthier parents, was the cold hard fact that the schools who conducted them, often operated under umbrella school systems that under-funded them, a greater system that in many states bore the stench of inequity from district to district that left individual schools in desperate need of cash to operate fully.
It was a greater reality that was complained about, but many parents and others felt powerless to change.
Interestingly, many of our most treasured rights, the very fundament(s) of what we cherish as a free democracy are tainted by similar flaws.
While there is no doubt that Barack Obama did in fact go back on his word when he announced that he would opt-out of the public financing system, irking many, both Republican and Democrat along with those who would like to extinguish the flames of influence that large moneyed private donations, be it corporate donors who bundle, be it lobbying interests who disguise donations through other methods, be it even individuals who accept the fact that in order to win an election in these free and open United States they must contribute dollars to help their choice win votes, the facts in today's electioneering process are what they are.
The United States electoral system is broken.
It truly does not matter who is nominated or who chooses to enter a campaign for any office in this country because, in the end, that candidate must go out and raise vast amounts of dollars because in this nation, in the end, a dollar can be likened to a bullhorn by which to broadcast a message more effectively and thus win a vote.
Until we as a nation begin to aggressively address the fundamental flaws that money in politics has grown into over the past few years, we are only going to continue to witness the political pollution that money buys on an increasingly grand scale.
Yes, presumed Democratic nominee appears to many to have gone back on his word. But, the nominee from Chicago is only operating under an umbrella, a system that has relegated him to this unfortunate choice. It is his political reality and more importantly, it is ours. We as a nation have yet to raise our collective voices and demand change in the way we pick our leaders.
It's really not fair for critics to bombard the Barack Obama campaign machine with criticism or to express profound disappointment in the candidate for choosing to opt out of public financing. It is more appropriate that we express our displeasure with our system of electing our leaders.
What makes this all similar to the analogy of students who go out and raise pennies for the tile of Mr or Miss School?
Well, that's fairly obvious.
But, this is not just a `title' that Senator Obama and Senator Mc Cain are raising their coins for. It is in fact, the most powerful title in the world.
For many, many years, in elementary and middle schools across the south and perhaps other regions in the nation as well, at a certain time each year, the student body would perhaps `nominate' several young boys and girls to be Mr and Miss `small town' (or whatever the name) of that particular school may be.
But, this contest would not be based purely on popularity, being a good citizen or high academic achievement per se, but instead, by the number of pennies that each student was able to raise since each penny counted as one vote.
After the votes, no, actually, the pennies were tallied the winners would be crowned, perhaps photographed for the yearbook, maybe even ride on a float in a local parade and then carry the largely insignificant title throughout the rest of the year.
After execution of this widely accepted practice by which these schools would raise much needed funds for things like chalk, art paper, kick balls or other necessities utilized for richer educational experiences in the classroom there was an unfortunate fact that remained embedded in the minds of the millions who witnessed or lived through it.
The children who took the title Mr and Miss local school, was in fact the student who in the end, turned in the fattest check to the powers that be at that school, a check that was often written by a wealthy parent.
In the end, the contest was not about merit or popularity but wealth although perhaps in rare cases, childlike money raising prowess. Still, for millions of children, it instilled or perhaps at least reinforced the bitter pill that money equals title, perhaps too power.
What often got lost in the drama of those contests that appears to have rewarded those children who had wealthier parents, was the cold hard fact that the schools who conducted them, often operated under umbrella school systems that under-funded them, a greater system that in many states bore the stench of inequity from district to district that left individual schools in desperate need of cash to operate fully.
It was a greater reality that was complained about, but many parents and others felt powerless to change.
Interestingly, many of our most treasured rights, the very fundament(s) of what we cherish as a free democracy are tainted by similar flaws.
While there is no doubt that Barack Obama did in fact go back on his word when he announced that he would opt-out of the public financing system, irking many, both Republican and Democrat along with those who would like to extinguish the flames of influence that large moneyed private donations, be it corporate donors who bundle, be it lobbying interests who disguise donations through other methods, be it even individuals who accept the fact that in order to win an election in these free and open United States they must contribute dollars to help their choice win votes, the facts in today's electioneering process are what they are.
The United States electoral system is broken.
It truly does not matter who is nominated or who chooses to enter a campaign for any office in this country because, in the end, that candidate must go out and raise vast amounts of dollars because in this nation, in the end, a dollar can be likened to a bullhorn by which to broadcast a message more effectively and thus win a vote.
Until we as a nation begin to aggressively address the fundamental flaws that money in politics has grown into over the past few years, we are only going to continue to witness the political pollution that money buys on an increasingly grand scale.
Yes, presumed Democratic nominee appears to many to have gone back on his word. But, the nominee from Chicago is only operating under an umbrella, a system that has relegated him to this unfortunate choice. It is his political reality and more importantly, it is ours. We as a nation have yet to raise our collective voices and demand change in the way we pick our leaders.
It's really not fair for critics to bombard the Barack Obama campaign machine with criticism or to express profound disappointment in the candidate for choosing to opt out of public financing. It is more appropriate that we express our displeasure with our system of electing our leaders.
What makes this all similar to the analogy of students who go out and raise pennies for the tile of Mr or Miss School?
Well, that's fairly obvious.
But, this is not just a `title' that Senator Obama and Senator Mc Cain are raising their coins for. It is in fact, the most powerful title in the world.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Marriage Race Analysis (EDGE)
LINK TO PART TWO OF MY STORY AT EDGE
EXCERPT:
A virtual who’s who of familiar right wing social conservative organizations have also converged on California and are making the overturning of the California court decision a priority. "There are a number of national religious right groups that are lending their resources to this effort," said Peter Montgomery, spokesperson at the People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington DC.
EXCERPT:
A virtual who’s who of familiar right wing social conservative organizations have also converged on California and are making the overturning of the California court decision a priority. "There are a number of national religious right groups that are lending their resources to this effort," said Peter Montgomery, spokesperson at the People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group based in Washington DC.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
CBSNEWS' Katie Couric Weighs In on Sexist Media Coverage during Dem Campaign
"It's all the people who cross the line, and all the women and all the men who let them get away with it," said Couric......
LINK TO FULL VIDEO AT CBSNEWS
LINK TO FULL VIDEO AT CBSNEWS
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Disturbing Impact of Higher Fuel Prices
Alabama freelance writer Sandy Williams owns a general store with gas pumps in the town of Crossville. Her observations in this piece published in the "Birmingham News" are powerful and moving.
LINK TO B,HAM NEWS ARTICLE
excerpt:
To the folks in this rural community, getting a paycheck on Friday afternoon means they have to drive at least 10 to 15 miles, each way, to work every day for a grueling eight-hour shift in a poultry processing plant or a sock mill. With blue-collar wages here still floating between $5 and $6 an hour, that puts them bringing home, after taxes, a mere $150 to $200 a week.
LINK TO B,HAM NEWS ARTICLE
excerpt:
To the folks in this rural community, getting a paycheck on Friday afternoon means they have to drive at least 10 to 15 miles, each way, to work every day for a grueling eight-hour shift in a poultry processing plant or a sock mill. With blue-collar wages here still floating between $5 and $6 an hour, that puts them bringing home, after taxes, a mere $150 to $200 a week.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
High Gas Prices Hit Rural Areas Worst (New York Times)
Business
Rural U.S. Takes Worst Hit as Gas Tops $4 Average
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS (NEW YORK TIMES)
Published: June 9, 2008
Across the South, Southwest and the upper Great Plains, low incomes and heavy dependence on pickup trucks and vans is putting an even tighter squeeze on family budgets.
People are giving up meat so they can buy fuel. Gasoline theft is rising. And drivers are running out of gas more often, leaving their cars by the side of the road until they can scrape together gas money.
LINK TO FULL STORY at "The New York Times"
Rural U.S. Takes Worst Hit as Gas Tops $4 Average
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS (NEW YORK TIMES)
Published: June 9, 2008
Across the South, Southwest and the upper Great Plains, low incomes and heavy dependence on pickup trucks and vans is putting an even tighter squeeze on family budgets.
People are giving up meat so they can buy fuel. Gasoline theft is rising. And drivers are running out of gas more often, leaving their cars by the side of the road until they can scrape together gas money.
LINK TO FULL STORY at "The New York Times"
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Bush Overstated Evidence on Iraq, Senators Report (NYT)
from "The New York Times"
International / Middle East
Bush Overstated Evidence on Iraq, Senators Report
By MARK MAZZETTI and SCOTT SHANE
Published: June 6, 2008
The 170-page report accuses President Bush and other top officials of repeatedly overstating the Iraqi threat in the emotional aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
LINK TO FULL STORY at New York Times
In retrospect....FROM ANOTHER TIME.....letter to the editor;
Al Qaeda and Iraq: The Panel and the President
Published: June 18, 2004
To the Editor: While it is upsetting that President Bush and his administration used fear, anger and manipulation to intimidate the American people into believing that Iraq played a role in Sept. 11, it is even more disturbing that many Americans accepted his word as fact.
LINK To full text at "New York Times"
International / Middle East
Bush Overstated Evidence on Iraq, Senators Report
By MARK MAZZETTI and SCOTT SHANE
Published: June 6, 2008
The 170-page report accuses President Bush and other top officials of repeatedly overstating the Iraqi threat in the emotional aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
LINK TO FULL STORY at New York Times
In retrospect....FROM ANOTHER TIME.....letter to the editor;
Al Qaeda and Iraq: The Panel and the President
Published: June 18, 2004
To the Editor: While it is upsetting that President Bush and his administration used fear, anger and manipulation to intimidate the American people into believing that Iraq played a role in Sept. 11, it is even more disturbing that many Americans accepted his word as fact.
LINK To full text at "New York Times"
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
The race to Marriage Equality (Analysis at EDGE)
excerpt from Part one of my piece at EDGE
Whither California, the nation? That’s the question LGBT activists and just-plain folks across the country are asking. Will legalizing marriage in the California Republic set off a wave of such actions across the country? Judging from what happened in New York, it may already have. EDGE analyzes the move toward (and away from) gay marriage state by state and handicaps the race to be next in line to the altar.
Whither California, the nation? That’s the question LGBT activists and just-plain folks across the country are asking. Will legalizing marriage in the California Republic set off a wave of such actions across the country? Judging from what happened in New York, it may already have. EDGE analyzes the move toward (and away from) gay marriage state by state and handicaps the race to be next in line to the altar.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
The Divided Democrats of Today
by CODY LYON
Perhaps a half baked play on words taken from that beloved former first lady from a far away land and time might seem inappropriate in this situation. But for some, at least some who happen to be Democrats and happen to also be just a tad bit outspoken while taking what could be politely called 'issues' with our own former first lady, not crying over the way this current Democratic campaign match up has played out, is truly an understatement.
Before moving along, it's important to note, by staying in this race until the increasingly bitter end, it is not, and never really has been, Hillary Clinton's fault, that many of her supporters now say they would not support Barack Obama in the fall. That could be blamed on any number of factors.
Still, it's become increasingly curious and offensive to some Hillary supporters and even those watching from afar, that the tone from much of what has turned into Obama-land, appears to still be immersed in arrogance and self righteous certitude, so much so, they've basically alienated a tremendous number of crucial voters that the Democratic party desperately needs come November when the new White House occupants are picked.
But, facts are facts, and one truth happens to be that there are thousands, make that millions of alienated' Clinton supporters that have been completely turned off by what they see as the sheer nastiness of media coverage and campaign tactics directed towards their candidate. They are turned off by what they see as a dismissive tone in the Obama message, turned off by what they see as the cult like dominance projected by many of his fans, turned off by the way some voices in new and the old mainstream media outlets practically played Pravda in the reporting styles and analysis of each candidate while ignoring the difficult challenge of exploring and explaining exactly how each candidate's potential policy might impact the day to day lives of people in Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, Mississippi or Florida.
Instead, they dutifully watched as the hip young "it" girls and boys sporting those Pepsi looking Obama pins would anticipate the next Obama rally as if it were a rock concert, where, when they happened, the reporters on TV would convey to viewers that the "energy here is infectious" while the pundits took turns gushing and blushing over this new message of hope, all building momentum among a new cross section of voters, built on a dynamism that might rescue the nation from its long nightmare that had been brought to the citizens courtesy the current White House of horrors.
They watched one joke of a debate after another as questions over Preachers and verification of statements became fodder for the web as the shrill and sillier took the punch lines to higher planes of nonsense, all feeding the growing divides among the voters.
Meanwhile, Clinton was actually holding her own in votes, albeit not as loudly, in the end, now we know, she takes around the same number, if not more of the popular vote from the overall screwball of a primary process.
Despite that, the calls for her to leave the race started months ago and the pundits, newspapers, blogs and others, all began to chime in louder and meaner that Clinton was dividing the Democratic party and with that, the nastiness grew thicker and the putrid tones taken by some of the punditocracy along with the simplistic labeling of voters as `less educated' verses "more educated" latte liberals all coupled with sexist and racist vitriol growing nastier and nastier until it all began what today may be called a sad climax.
Yes, there are a lot of upset Democrats in America today. They aren't as outspoken or loud with their politics as others in their party, they are not the types to go and play hardball at a caucus, they probably wouldn't show up at an Obama rally and chant "yes we can," in fact, they probably wouldn't go to far out of their way to see Hillary either, but, they've been skeptical and they have been paying very close attention to this pathetic affair we call an exercise in Democracy and in the end, they find themselves un-enthused and in many cases, resigned to defeat in the fall.
There is no need for voters in Puerto Rico to cry over Hillary Clinton, but, there are plenty of reasons for all Americans to cry over the way we pick our Presidential candidates.
Perhaps a half baked play on words taken from that beloved former first lady from a far away land and time might seem inappropriate in this situation. But for some, at least some who happen to be Democrats and happen to also be just a tad bit outspoken while taking what could be politely called 'issues' with our own former first lady, not crying over the way this current Democratic campaign match up has played out, is truly an understatement.
Before moving along, it's important to note, by staying in this race until the increasingly bitter end, it is not, and never really has been, Hillary Clinton's fault, that many of her supporters now say they would not support Barack Obama in the fall. That could be blamed on any number of factors.
Still, it's become increasingly curious and offensive to some Hillary supporters and even those watching from afar, that the tone from much of what has turned into Obama-land, appears to still be immersed in arrogance and self righteous certitude, so much so, they've basically alienated a tremendous number of crucial voters that the Democratic party desperately needs come November when the new White House occupants are picked.
But, facts are facts, and one truth happens to be that there are thousands, make that millions of alienated' Clinton supporters that have been completely turned off by what they see as the sheer nastiness of media coverage and campaign tactics directed towards their candidate. They are turned off by what they see as a dismissive tone in the Obama message, turned off by what they see as the cult like dominance projected by many of his fans, turned off by the way some voices in new and the old mainstream media outlets practically played Pravda in the reporting styles and analysis of each candidate while ignoring the difficult challenge of exploring and explaining exactly how each candidate's potential policy might impact the day to day lives of people in Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, Mississippi or Florida.
Instead, they dutifully watched as the hip young "it" girls and boys sporting those Pepsi looking Obama pins would anticipate the next Obama rally as if it were a rock concert, where, when they happened, the reporters on TV would convey to viewers that the "energy here is infectious" while the pundits took turns gushing and blushing over this new message of hope, all building momentum among a new cross section of voters, built on a dynamism that might rescue the nation from its long nightmare that had been brought to the citizens courtesy the current White House of horrors.
They watched one joke of a debate after another as questions over Preachers and verification of statements became fodder for the web as the shrill and sillier took the punch lines to higher planes of nonsense, all feeding the growing divides among the voters.
Meanwhile, Clinton was actually holding her own in votes, albeit not as loudly, in the end, now we know, she takes around the same number, if not more of the popular vote from the overall screwball of a primary process.
Despite that, the calls for her to leave the race started months ago and the pundits, newspapers, blogs and others, all began to chime in louder and meaner that Clinton was dividing the Democratic party and with that, the nastiness grew thicker and the putrid tones taken by some of the punditocracy along with the simplistic labeling of voters as `less educated' verses "more educated" latte liberals all coupled with sexist and racist vitriol growing nastier and nastier until it all began what today may be called a sad climax.
Yes, there are a lot of upset Democrats in America today. They aren't as outspoken or loud with their politics as others in their party, they are not the types to go and play hardball at a caucus, they probably wouldn't show up at an Obama rally and chant "yes we can," in fact, they probably wouldn't go to far out of their way to see Hillary either, but, they've been skeptical and they have been paying very close attention to this pathetic affair we call an exercise in Democracy and in the end, they find themselves un-enthused and in many cases, resigned to defeat in the fall.
There is no need for voters in Puerto Rico to cry over Hillary Clinton, but, there are plenty of reasons for all Americans to cry over the way we pick our Presidential candidates.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
McClellan defends tell-all book (REUTERS)
May 29 - Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan says that was he was too trusting of President Bush in the build-up to the Iraq war.
The book represents a dramatic break from the close-knit Bush inner circle by McClellan and it drew instant condemnations on from former White House colleagues and even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice-- who -- while in Sweden-- defended the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq.
Jon Decker reports. (REUTERS)
The book represents a dramatic break from the close-knit Bush inner circle by McClellan and it drew instant condemnations on from former White House colleagues and even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice-- who -- while in Sweden-- defended the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq.
Jon Decker reports. (REUTERS)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
(ABCNEWS) Camp for Kids Coping With Parents at War
This piece from ABC NEWS CHRISTINE ROMO and MEENA HARTENSTEIN and reported on WORLD NEWS by Bob Woodruff is one of the more moving pieces to emerge from broadcast television news.
More than 1.5 million troops have deployed in the last five years, meaning that as many as 700,000 children in this country have at least one parent deployed. And, according to the Department of Defense, there are at least 12,000 children with an injured parent. While their parents have been recognized for their service, these children are also veterans -- they each bear the wounds of war.(ABCNEWS)
LINK TO FULL STORY AND VIDEO REPORT AT ABCNEWS
More than 1.5 million troops have deployed in the last five years, meaning that as many as 700,000 children in this country have at least one parent deployed. And, according to the Department of Defense, there are at least 12,000 children with an injured parent. While their parents have been recognized for their service, these children are also veterans -- they each bear the wounds of war.(ABCNEWS)
LINK TO FULL STORY AND VIDEO REPORT AT ABCNEWS
Notes On a Thursday Before Memorial Day (Repost)
REPOST FROM MAY 24, 2007
By Cody Lyon
The weather goes from cool to warm and the sun is bright this particular Thursday in New York’s East Village. At a Mexican takeout shop, beef tacos are purchased, then eaten sitting on a bench in Tompkins Square Park, under a tree that appears very lush, and filled with chirping birds.
The park is crowded, the playground full of kids, the grass covered with sun bathers, the dog run is noisy, chaotic.
At the dog run, people gather, watching the dogs, apparently a fight has broken out, first between dogs then it spreads among humans. One man pushes another, barks and shouts are traded, as all the dog owners yell at an older man, because of what they say is an aggressive dog.
But the cell phone rings, it’s a friend in Alabama, she says hello and the conversation lasts for a while.
She’s been dating a new guy, she thinks she really likes him and he’s taking her on a trip to Las Vegas.
Near the end, she asks the price of gas and says that it's over $3 a gallon down there. Fortunately, she drives a compact car.
Meanwhile, the older man in the dog run is not leaving, voices are even louder, the others appear mad, they keep shouting at him to leave, the dogs keep barking.
The phone rings again, it’s another really good friend, it goes to voicemail.
“Hey, I’ve had a problem and I need some advice” the message he left said.
Later, after doing some work, a bike ride is taken across the village on 9th Street to the Westside. The bike crosses Fifth Avenue, Washington Square Park’s arch is to the south, the sidewalks still crowded even for 8 pm, couples holding hands, more men with dogs, shopping bags are everywhere, summer fashions are here.
The bike makes it to Christopher Street the river is in sight, headed towards the pier, there’s music everywhere, smiles cross many faces, but up ahead there is congestion.
Two women in a car are blocking traffic, apparently one took another home, the street is narrow, they’re in an SUV, cars begin backing up, horns are being honked. Finally one of the women gets out, she’s young, very pretty and she appears oblivious to the anger behind her.
In one of the cars behind the two’s, a man who is driving and listening to disco music hollers at her, she doesn’t appear to hear it.
“I’d like to go home too b*tch ” he screams in a slightly southern accent, while she climbs onto the sidewalk with her IPOD head-phones on.
Once the biker makes it to the river, the sun is gone and the sky is filled with pinks, orange and streaks of red. The river glistens, almost metallic, as the rays of light glimmer from the west that is New Jersey, the mainland.
To the south, is New York’s financial district, the skyline still misses it towers but a new one has filled in at least part of the gap.
A man walks by, he smiles, a smile is returned, here appears the peace and that moment of reflection only sharable by writing it down.
A couple walks by, they are laughing, holding hands, one of them just told a story about his Mother and the fact that her voice cracks when she's angry.
A large number of joggers are out, all shapes, all sizes, some run fast, as if they're catching up on training for a marathon. They compete with bikers for space. Sometimes, the shoot each other nasty looks.
In the grass, two women on a blanket appear to have brought in some wine, they better be careful, the park police will give them a ticket.
The view to the south offers New York harbor, the statue of Liberty but then, the geographic direction of Tennessee comes to mind.
The night before, PBS “Newshour” was watched, part of a report was aired, it was called “The Costs of War in Iraq” and was reported by Economics correspondent Paul Solman. That report gave pause to this beautiful and busy day in New York City that was now saying goodbye.
Part of the story showed returning Army reservist Brad Heun of Tennessee.
The “Newshour” report showed Huen as he struggled to get up out of a chair, obviously in great pain. It also offered a photograph of Heun, at an earlier date, a well built, athletic looking young man, who’d probably have fit in with the fit and fast joggers this day in New York.
Heun’s vertebrae was crushed in a 2003 truck accident in Iraq.
He now has fused discs, a steel bar in his back and constant excruciating pain in his hip and leg according to Solman’s report.
“Literally, it feels as if somebody just took a baseball bat and blindsided you across your back” Heun told the “Newshour”.
In the report, viewers learn that the army discharged him with only 20 percent disability, which means no benefits. Heun does get medical care from the VA plus $2,500 a month to support a family of five, but no insurance for his wife or children. He’s trying to afford a COBRA policy, but that is too expensive. His 2 year old daughter now needs surgery, but the family has had to put it off, because they simply can not afford it.
Heuen’s wife Beverly tells correspondent Solman, that they don’t want to do the daughter’s surgery at the expense of her not having a home to live in.
“I think it’s a disgrace to this country for me to even be sitting here trying to tell you this” she told “Newshour”.
Earlier in the report, Brad Heun described his constant physical pain in graphic detail.
“At its worst, I have been on an emergency room gurney, curled up, and not even be able to concentrate on simple questions” he told “Newshour”.
Concentrating on simple questions, during a sunset along the Hudson in New York City overcame earlier observations of urban life. Questions about the fate of the around 25 thousand seriously injured military members coming home from Iraq begin to puncture the relative calm of an evening by the river. How many limbs have been lost, how many bones crushed, how many skulls shattered, how many bills not paid, how many minds damaged? Why?
Suddenly, some questions appeared to have answers.
Memorial Day was just a few days away.
Posted by Cody Lyon at 8:03 PM
6 comments:
Anonymous said...
Thank you for the thought not just of me but of all Soldiers who have sacrificed for this Country. I spent 1 1/2 years in surgery, recovery, and rehabilitation. That time was spent with hundreds of other Soldiers, many worse than me. We had to start fighting for a new life at that time different than anything we were used to. The Newshour barely scratched the surface of what happens to Soldiers when they become "of no use" to the military anymore. Thank you again for the thought and more importantly remembering all Soldiers and the new battles we return to.
Brad Heun
4:49 AM
Dayngr said...
Excellent post!
10:30 PM
Anonymous said...
Cody,
Thank you for finding a way to weave a tapestry of our currently American external reality (war and injustice experienced by soldiers who are/have fighting/fought in the Iraq war) with the commonplace conception and action of recognizing Memorial Day as nothing more than a 3day weekend here in NYC. My support goes out to all soldiers, their efforts and challenges faced as a result of the conflict in Iraq. I am disgusted by The Newshour sharings and even moreso by the struggles soldiers like Brad Heun are left to endure.
Keep vigil and look forward to more posts.
John Grauwiler
6:58 PM
erik said...
Cody, your simple observations of the mircocosmos of Manhattan floating along on the stream of ideals, hope, and sacrifice of our brethen is breath taking.
Thank you for sharing Brad Heun's story with a raw blind truth.
6:37 PM
Charles Sheehan-Miles said...
A friend forwarded this on to me. Thanks for posting -- you really captured some of the tragedy of war.
8:28 PM
cb said...
Thank you for bringing your compassion, and doing your part to bring awareness to an issue, and the true meaning of a day, Memorial Day, that has escaped the consciousness of so many for so long. The deplorable tragedy, and the “reasoning” behind it, that has become Brad Huen’s life, his family’s life, and the life’s of thousands more is unforgivable, but should never remove the honor he, and men and women like him have earned and deserve.
May you continue to have the fortitude and insight to enlighten those who listen, and may you continue to be steadfast in your mission.
9:30 PM
What F.B.I. Agents Saw (Editorial from "The New York Times")
Editorial-(NEW YORK TIMES)
What the F.B.I. Agents Saw
Published: May 22, 2008
In light of a report by the Justice Department, the Democrats in charge of Congress should press for full disclosure of President Bush’s inhuman policy on prisoners.
LINK TO FULL TEXT AT NYT
What the F.B.I. Agents Saw
Published: May 22, 2008
In light of a report by the Justice Department, the Democrats in charge of Congress should press for full disclosure of President Bush’s inhuman policy on prisoners.
LINK TO FULL TEXT AT NYT
Monday, May 19, 2008
China Begins Three Days of Mourning (ITN)
Remarkable footage and reporting from ITN Television News:
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Their Greatest Worry
by Cody Lyon
The rain was coming down on this chilly May night in New York City faster than Hillary's chances for winning the nomination. Inside the cavernous Crunch Gym on Lafayette, the crowd was `thinner' than usual, no pun intended, but the political chatter was louder than the 90's dance tunes blaring from the speakers on this particularly dreary East Village night.
As Campbell kept the CNN pundits under control on the TV screens above the high tech cardio machines, local gym pundits engaged in some soul searching while engaging in discussion over what they saw as increasing polarization within the Democratic party electorate and perhaps the nation itself.
In the past, the pundits had all been Pro Hillary, but this go-round, the instigator of the chatter heard the voice of a new pundit who hadn't been a part of the discussions in the past.
"Never underestimate the Clintons," said a Pro Hillary Dem to the instigator of the conversations as Clinton supporter continued his arm curls in a rush before he headed off to dinner.
Noting the tremendous numbers in Hillary Clinton's win over Barack Obama in West Virginia, this particular pundit pointed out the danger that spells for the fall, recycling worries that Obama has yet to win over large portions of the traditional Democratic loyalists.
"A lot of people just don't think he's for real or relates to them, for some reason, they don't trust him" he argued adding that the Republicans will have fun with those doubts, in unfortunate, sad and divisive ways that will probably be very ugly in the end.
The Pro Hillary gym pundit recalled the unfortunate history of disappointment of what he called, Starbucks Democrats like McGovern, Dukakis and Kerry.
"The last time a Starbucks Democrat won the Presidency," he paused, then sighed that "the closet thing to liberal who would fit that description, was JFK," he said
But, in 1960, when Senator John F. Kennedy faced Hubert Humphrey and Wayne Morris in the Democratic Presidential campaign, Kennedy did in fact go to West Virginia, and made attempts to address the prejudice and "suspicion" over his Catholicism.
In the end, Kennedy did win the primary in West Virginia.
"Barack didn't even really campaign in West Virginia," said the Pro Hillary pundit.
"When he did, he put on one of those stupid flag lapel pins" grunting as he curled his arm "they (the West Virginians) saw through that crap."
Later, the instigator of this increasingly tired chit and chat made his was over to another Crunch "pumper" and posed a general assessment question about the election, gently prodding to see who's team he was on, and quickly found himself an Obama supporter who proceeded to unleash less than kind words for Hillary and for that matter, a number of her supporters.
"Barack Obama would sail to victory if they don't keep riding him with the Wright thing," said the Obama supporter who noted how the undercurrents of racism are still alive in America.
On Clinton, he said "she morphs herself into "whatever" it takes to win a vote," calling her immoral in her tactics.
"They (the Clintons) have always done that, it's not like they really care about anyone other than themselves, she's only concerned about her power," he argued going on to say that "she's staying in the race because she wants something out of all of this."
But, the instigator felt that Clinton had perhaps learned a lesson in humility, since she'd long been held up as a shoe in, only to realize that much of the nation was not in the mood for a coronation of those individuals deemed next in line. The instigator worried that Clinton's image had been so diminished and that in the end, that image had destroyed the truly populist progressive hidden agenda lying beneath all the political baggage.
So, when seeking to challenge his Obama friend, he asked him about the lopsided Clinton victory in West Virginia along with the other wins in Pennsylvania and places like Ohio, "places" in America that progressives have work to do and trust to win, where aggressive attempts to prove to the economically disenfranchised or higher education denied and affordable universal health care starved people that government can indeed do good things for people, but then, the Obama supporter cut deep.
"In the first place, those people who support her tend to be less educated and reactionary, they always respond to that right wing thinking," and then he said "I think he (Obama) and this new movement needs to marginalize them."
At which point the Obama supporter pointed to one of the more unethical moments in American political history.
"It's still amazing to me, that the Republicans were able to use that Swift Boat shit to derail a man like John Kerry" he said noting the sleazy character assassination attempts made by the infamous Swift Boat ads in 2004.
True enough, but the political anger towards those voters outside places like the island we at Crunch gym call home, Manhattan, caught the instigator off guard.
What exactly did he mean by marginalize them?
Unable, for whatever reason to admit his offense at such a comment, since hypocrisy would be the self describing term, because he too, had expressed similar sentiments back when he participated in simplistic Red State Blue State thinking, when us verses them became a source of his own political and regional rage during the early days of the Iraqi invasion, when people and relatives in his home state of Alabama reacted to 9/11 and its horrific outcomes with what appeared to be different emotions, when he honestly believed that he and others in his adopted city saw the world through completely different lenses, so the instigator just nodded his head, listening.
In truth, the instigator had long wondered, why he had not hopped on the Obama bandwagon of spoken idealism and hope, especially since he too, had at times viewed Hillary Clinton as an opportunistic leader who spoke to the direction of the wind.
Here he was, at the height of his own educational and sometimes tortured intellectual attainment that was in a constant state of analytical stimulus, living daily in this metropolis of New York surrounded by exotic, smart, multinational, fashion forward well educated types who he'd assumed shared mostly similar values.
Perhaps at the core, they still did, yet, New York, was no longer politically unified in how to attain those values, at least it no longer seemed to be so united thanks in great part to this campaign.
. Maybe, it was his connection to his life's past, better yet, his where with all coupled with what he felt was a realistic dose of political pragmatism that led him to the other candidate although, knowing himself, at first glance, he'd have thought a bright new light like Barack Obama would have won him enthusiastically over.
He made his way back across the gym to the Hillary supporter.
"I just had a conversation with a friend who is an Obama supporter who basically just made the entire diary community of "Daily Kos" come to life" he said.
"The tone in his voice, the very dismissive nature," and before he could go on, the Hillary supporter said to the instigator " wait one minute because there are plenty of Hillary supporters who take the same tone."
He then argued that somehow, somewhere, perhaps in a smoke filled back room, a conversation or a meeting must take place. Those two, Hillary and Barack have to come together.
"Absolutely," said the instigator but there was something deeper in the Obama supporters comment and for that matter, the aggressive tones taken by other Obama friends and that drumbeat blasting from the professional pundits, other media outlets and yes, Daily Kos diarists that had let the most blood from the instigator's political being and spirit.
Do some Obama supporters believe that voters like those in West Virginia and other states, cities, towns and homes that are labeled as being absent of the widely used but equally simplistic term 'latte liberals' believe those voters could be simply dismissed?
"When you talk about those people who are less educated or those who don't fit the mold of latte' drinking liberals, you're talking about my people," said the instigator.
"Mine too," said the friend, a Florida native who is a Hillary supporter.
Despite that, a clear and deep connection to their New York lives had gained increasing strength in recent years, thanks in part, to outrage over a Republican party pattern of politicking that had successfully planted seeds of doubt in the national electorate by capitalizing on the fear, pain and tragedy the New Yorker's experienced first hand?
As the chances of Clinton's victory diminished, it was perhaps now their greatest worry about Obama as nominee, that being, that those same Republican players would use the same, misleading and fear mongering tactics yet again.
The rain was coming down on this chilly May night in New York City faster than Hillary's chances for winning the nomination. Inside the cavernous Crunch Gym on Lafayette, the crowd was `thinner' than usual, no pun intended, but the political chatter was louder than the 90's dance tunes blaring from the speakers on this particularly dreary East Village night.
As Campbell kept the CNN pundits under control on the TV screens above the high tech cardio machines, local gym pundits engaged in some soul searching while engaging in discussion over what they saw as increasing polarization within the Democratic party electorate and perhaps the nation itself.
In the past, the pundits had all been Pro Hillary, but this go-round, the instigator of the chatter heard the voice of a new pundit who hadn't been a part of the discussions in the past.
"Never underestimate the Clintons," said a Pro Hillary Dem to the instigator of the conversations as Clinton supporter continued his arm curls in a rush before he headed off to dinner.
Noting the tremendous numbers in Hillary Clinton's win over Barack Obama in West Virginia, this particular pundit pointed out the danger that spells for the fall, recycling worries that Obama has yet to win over large portions of the traditional Democratic loyalists.
"A lot of people just don't think he's for real or relates to them, for some reason, they don't trust him" he argued adding that the Republicans will have fun with those doubts, in unfortunate, sad and divisive ways that will probably be very ugly in the end.
The Pro Hillary gym pundit recalled the unfortunate history of disappointment of what he called, Starbucks Democrats like McGovern, Dukakis and Kerry.
"The last time a Starbucks Democrat won the Presidency," he paused, then sighed that "the closet thing to liberal who would fit that description, was JFK," he said
But, in 1960, when Senator John F. Kennedy faced Hubert Humphrey and Wayne Morris in the Democratic Presidential campaign, Kennedy did in fact go to West Virginia, and made attempts to address the prejudice and "suspicion" over his Catholicism.
In the end, Kennedy did win the primary in West Virginia.
"Barack didn't even really campaign in West Virginia," said the Pro Hillary pundit.
"When he did, he put on one of those stupid flag lapel pins" grunting as he curled his arm "they (the West Virginians) saw through that crap."
Later, the instigator of this increasingly tired chit and chat made his was over to another Crunch "pumper" and posed a general assessment question about the election, gently prodding to see who's team he was on, and quickly found himself an Obama supporter who proceeded to unleash less than kind words for Hillary and for that matter, a number of her supporters.
"Barack Obama would sail to victory if they don't keep riding him with the Wright thing," said the Obama supporter who noted how the undercurrents of racism are still alive in America.
On Clinton, he said "she morphs herself into "whatever" it takes to win a vote," calling her immoral in her tactics.
"They (the Clintons) have always done that, it's not like they really care about anyone other than themselves, she's only concerned about her power," he argued going on to say that "she's staying in the race because she wants something out of all of this."
But, the instigator felt that Clinton had perhaps learned a lesson in humility, since she'd long been held up as a shoe in, only to realize that much of the nation was not in the mood for a coronation of those individuals deemed next in line. The instigator worried that Clinton's image had been so diminished and that in the end, that image had destroyed the truly populist progressive hidden agenda lying beneath all the political baggage.
So, when seeking to challenge his Obama friend, he asked him about the lopsided Clinton victory in West Virginia along with the other wins in Pennsylvania and places like Ohio, "places" in America that progressives have work to do and trust to win, where aggressive attempts to prove to the economically disenfranchised or higher education denied and affordable universal health care starved people that government can indeed do good things for people, but then, the Obama supporter cut deep.
"In the first place, those people who support her tend to be less educated and reactionary, they always respond to that right wing thinking," and then he said "I think he (Obama) and this new movement needs to marginalize them."
At which point the Obama supporter pointed to one of the more unethical moments in American political history.
"It's still amazing to me, that the Republicans were able to use that Swift Boat shit to derail a man like John Kerry" he said noting the sleazy character assassination attempts made by the infamous Swift Boat ads in 2004.
True enough, but the political anger towards those voters outside places like the island we at Crunch gym call home, Manhattan, caught the instigator off guard.
What exactly did he mean by marginalize them?
Unable, for whatever reason to admit his offense at such a comment, since hypocrisy would be the self describing term, because he too, had expressed similar sentiments back when he participated in simplistic Red State Blue State thinking, when us verses them became a source of his own political and regional rage during the early days of the Iraqi invasion, when people and relatives in his home state of Alabama reacted to 9/11 and its horrific outcomes with what appeared to be different emotions, when he honestly believed that he and others in his adopted city saw the world through completely different lenses, so the instigator just nodded his head, listening.
In truth, the instigator had long wondered, why he had not hopped on the Obama bandwagon of spoken idealism and hope, especially since he too, had at times viewed Hillary Clinton as an opportunistic leader who spoke to the direction of the wind.
Here he was, at the height of his own educational and sometimes tortured intellectual attainment that was in a constant state of analytical stimulus, living daily in this metropolis of New York surrounded by exotic, smart, multinational, fashion forward well educated types who he'd assumed shared mostly similar values.
Perhaps at the core, they still did, yet, New York, was no longer politically unified in how to attain those values, at least it no longer seemed to be so united thanks in great part to this campaign.
. Maybe, it was his connection to his life's past, better yet, his where with all coupled with what he felt was a realistic dose of political pragmatism that led him to the other candidate although, knowing himself, at first glance, he'd have thought a bright new light like Barack Obama would have won him enthusiastically over.
He made his way back across the gym to the Hillary supporter.
"I just had a conversation with a friend who is an Obama supporter who basically just made the entire diary community of "Daily Kos" come to life" he said.
"The tone in his voice, the very dismissive nature," and before he could go on, the Hillary supporter said to the instigator " wait one minute because there are plenty of Hillary supporters who take the same tone."
He then argued that somehow, somewhere, perhaps in a smoke filled back room, a conversation or a meeting must take place. Those two, Hillary and Barack have to come together.
"Absolutely," said the instigator but there was something deeper in the Obama supporters comment and for that matter, the aggressive tones taken by other Obama friends and that drumbeat blasting from the professional pundits, other media outlets and yes, Daily Kos diarists that had let the most blood from the instigator's political being and spirit.
Do some Obama supporters believe that voters like those in West Virginia and other states, cities, towns and homes that are labeled as being absent of the widely used but equally simplistic term 'latte liberals' believe those voters could be simply dismissed?
"When you talk about those people who are less educated or those who don't fit the mold of latte' drinking liberals, you're talking about my people," said the instigator.
"Mine too," said the friend, a Florida native who is a Hillary supporter.
Despite that, a clear and deep connection to their New York lives had gained increasing strength in recent years, thanks in part, to outrage over a Republican party pattern of politicking that had successfully planted seeds of doubt in the national electorate by capitalizing on the fear, pain and tragedy the New Yorker's experienced first hand?
As the chances of Clinton's victory diminished, it was perhaps now their greatest worry about Obama as nominee, that being, that those same Republican players would use the same, misleading and fear mongering tactics yet again.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Bin Laden's battle cry for Palestine (REUTERS)
May 16 - In a new and as yet unauthenticated audio tape, Osama Bin Laden vows to continue fighting for the Palestinian cause.
The tape's release coincides with Israel's 60th anniversary this month as a nation.
Bin Laden said the Jewish state was at the heart of the Muslim battle with the West and an inspiration to the 19 bombers who carried out the attacks on U.S. cities on Sept. 11, 2001.
Michelle Carlile-Alkhouri reports. (REUTERS)
The tape's release coincides with Israel's 60th anniversary this month as a nation.
Bin Laden said the Jewish state was at the heart of the Muslim battle with the West and an inspiration to the 19 bombers who carried out the attacks on U.S. cities on Sept. 11, 2001.
Michelle Carlile-Alkhouri reports. (REUTERS)
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Cigarette Bill Treats Menthol With Leniency (New York Times)
Cigarette Bill Treats Menthol With Leniency
By STEPHANIE SAUL (NEW YORK TIMES)
Published: May 13, 2008
A ban of most flavored cigarettes would exempt menthol cigarettes, popular among African-Americans.
The legislation, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products, would try to reduce smoking’s allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes, including clove and cinnamon.
Link to full story at "New York Times"
By STEPHANIE SAUL (NEW YORK TIMES)
Published: May 13, 2008
A ban of most flavored cigarettes would exempt menthol cigarettes, popular among African-Americans.
The legislation, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products, would try to reduce smoking’s allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes, including clove and cinnamon.
Link to full story at "New York Times"
Rove tells House panel he'll answer questions in writing
(From: AL.COM)-Mary Orndorff -- Birmingham News Washington correspondent May 12, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Former White House political adviser Karl Rove has declined a request to testify before Congress about the criminal case against former Gov. Don Siegelman and instead made a counteroffer to answer questions in writing, Rove's attorney said Monday.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee had given Rove until Monday to agree to appear voluntarily, and said they would issue a subpoena if he declined. Siegelman, a Democrat, has alleged that Rove influenced the federal investigation that led to his conviction in 2006 on corruption charges. Rove has denied he interfered in the case.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT AL.COM-"Birmingham News"
WASHINGTON -- Former White House political adviser Karl Rove has declined a request to testify before Congress about the criminal case against former Gov. Don Siegelman and instead made a counteroffer to answer questions in writing, Rove's attorney said Monday.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee had given Rove until Monday to agree to appear voluntarily, and said they would issue a subpoena if he declined. Siegelman, a Democrat, has alleged that Rove influenced the federal investigation that led to his conviction in 2006 on corruption charges. Rove has denied he interfered in the case.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT AL.COM-"Birmingham News"
Friday, May 09, 2008
Hezbollah Seize parts of Beirut (Reuters)
May 9 - Hezbollah fighters take control of large areas of the Lebanese capital.
Security sources say at least 10 people have been killed in three days of fighting that erupted after Lebanon's government said that Hezbollah's military communications network was illegal, a move the pro-Iranian group said was a declaration of war.
Paul Chapman reports. (REUTERS)
Security sources say at least 10 people have been killed in three days of fighting that erupted after Lebanon's government said that Hezbollah's military communications network was illegal, a move the pro-Iranian group said was a declaration of war.
Paul Chapman reports. (REUTERS)
Thursday, May 08, 2008
The most Diverse Accent In the United States (might surprise you)
excerpt:
In a 1999 study by Michigan State University professor Dennis Preston, 150 southeastern Michigan residents were asked to rank the "correctness" of English spoken in all 50 states. The South as a whole ranked the lowest, with Alabama at the bottom of the list.
Many Southerners have chosen to reclaim their "r's" and shun the drawl for more standardized English pronunciations worthy of a network anchor. But despite those who work to erase their twang, others are embracing it.
In fact, Preston says Southern accents are more pronounced now than they were at the time of the Civil War.
Link to my full 2006 story at the "Wilmington Star News"
In a 1999 study by Michigan State University professor Dennis Preston, 150 southeastern Michigan residents were asked to rank the "correctness" of English spoken in all 50 states. The South as a whole ranked the lowest, with Alabama at the bottom of the list.
Many Southerners have chosen to reclaim their "r's" and shun the drawl for more standardized English pronunciations worthy of a network anchor. But despite those who work to erase their twang, others are embracing it.
In fact, Preston says Southern accents are more pronounced now than they were at the time of the Civil War.
Link to my full 2006 story at the "Wilmington Star News"
Lebanon is sliding into conflict as violence increases (report from REUTERS)
May 8 - Explosions and gunfire erupt in Beirut shortly after Hezbollah leader Nasrallah accuses government of waging war.
Gunmen loyal to Hezbollah battled pro-government supporters in the Lebanese capital, security sources said. They said fierce clashes were underway in at least two Beirut districts. Violence was also seen in Tripoli and in Jieh near Sidon.
Penny Tweedie reports.
Gunmen loyal to Hezbollah battled pro-government supporters in the Lebanese capital, security sources said. They said fierce clashes were underway in at least two Beirut districts. Violence was also seen in Tripoli and in Jieh near Sidon.
Penny Tweedie reports.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Summer is on its way: So is Your Body n Soul in NYC
repost from 07/2006
by Cody Lyon
Although many New Yorkers grudgingly swear that more than half the
city’s residents are part of some loosely organized mass exodus to
a beach house on summer holiday weekends, those are actually the
weekends that the “left behind” can find the most memorable of New
York treats.
In fact, the non-jet ski set can sometimes find a dose of urban
spiritual nourishment that benefits the soul for months to come.
Not a religious experience, per se, but instead, a gathering of like
minded spirits, all very much alive, enjoying the fellowship of each
other, coming together for one reason, the music, at least that’s
what happened this past July 4th weekend.
The Body and Soul reunion party shook a collective booty to its core
at the PS-1 space in Queens, bringing together a cocktail of
cultures, families and sexual orientations that surely reminded
more than one participant that New York truly is a magnificent
mosaic as former Mayor David Dinkins once proclaimed.
Although Sunday afternoons at the Tribeca club Vinyl (later named
ARC) was the spot to meet the music on a weekly basis for many
years, the weekly Body and Soul party disbanded after facing
difficulty with the club space and other issues among the Djs and
organizers. But for one holiday weekend afternoon, Saturday from 3
til 9 was the time for church, as many of the party faithful liked
to call the Body and Soul experience, back in the day.
Djs Danny Krivit, Francois K and Joe Claussell did not disappoint a
crowd of thousands who had paid a ten dollar admission fee, and
another $6 each for ice cold draft beers that flowed far too easily
under a hot Queens sun in the concrete fortress of music at PS-1. The temperature kept getting hotter as a troubled nation moved another day closer to the 30 year anniversary of its highly celebrated bicentennial, a year that at least a third
of this party’s crowd, might actually remember.
A crowd wide chronic music infection was evidenced by smiles on faces
of every color of the human rainbow, every size on the scale, every
age from 3 to 65, all making moves to the beat of a different drum.
No judgment passed on who was cool and who was not, just pure
un-adulterated fun, joy, release and soul.
Occasionally, after a longer re-mix, or extended session people
would erupt into cheers and hollering this or that or whatever, it didn't matter as long as it felt good, real and true.
All the while, pulsing bodies poured in and out of the building at PS-1, moving among dancers on crowded steps that were crowned at the top with the DJ’s canopied booth. The sun gave everyone a glistening tone, some more than others, as sweat
flowed like a fountain, but, at this party, sweat was a badge of
success, a sign that you’d truly felt the light.
Speakers surrounded the main courtyard of the former school and
sound boomed against the old red brick walls rising up like a volcanic
eruption, only the lava was the sound, carried even further by
speakers in the back of the complex where others danced and played
in wading pools with their kids.
In its later years, Body and Soul saw pilgrimages by the curious
who’d heard about this place where the emphasis was on the music,
not the “scene.” Even European tourists began to make Body and
Soul part of the New York itinerary. According to those who’d
been, Sunday nights at Vinyl (ARC) were where one could still find
the real spirit of New York.
Certainly, like every nightclub party, there was rivalry,
differences, and any other number of shady events or normal human
interaction issues, but unlike most other dance club experiences,
Body and Soul was true to its name.
Martha Graham once said “I am absorbed in the magic of movement and
light. Movement never lies”.
Body and Soul did not lie to the participants left in the city this
past July 4th weekend. That day in Queens let everyone at PS-1 know
that movement is alive and well in New York City and New York is
still filled with magic.
by Cody Lyon
Although many New Yorkers grudgingly swear that more than half the
city’s residents are part of some loosely organized mass exodus to
a beach house on summer holiday weekends, those are actually the
weekends that the “left behind” can find the most memorable of New
York treats.
In fact, the non-jet ski set can sometimes find a dose of urban
spiritual nourishment that benefits the soul for months to come.
Not a religious experience, per se, but instead, a gathering of like
minded spirits, all very much alive, enjoying the fellowship of each
other, coming together for one reason, the music, at least that’s
what happened this past July 4th weekend.
The Body and Soul reunion party shook a collective booty to its core
at the PS-1 space in Queens, bringing together a cocktail of
cultures, families and sexual orientations that surely reminded
more than one participant that New York truly is a magnificent
mosaic as former Mayor David Dinkins once proclaimed.
Although Sunday afternoons at the Tribeca club Vinyl (later named
ARC) was the spot to meet the music on a weekly basis for many
years, the weekly Body and Soul party disbanded after facing
difficulty with the club space and other issues among the Djs and
organizers. But for one holiday weekend afternoon, Saturday from 3
til 9 was the time for church, as many of the party faithful liked
to call the Body and Soul experience, back in the day.
Djs Danny Krivit, Francois K and Joe Claussell did not disappoint a
crowd of thousands who had paid a ten dollar admission fee, and
another $6 each for ice cold draft beers that flowed far too easily
under a hot Queens sun in the concrete fortress of music at PS-1. The temperature kept getting hotter as a troubled nation moved another day closer to the 30 year anniversary of its highly celebrated bicentennial, a year that at least a third
of this party’s crowd, might actually remember.
A crowd wide chronic music infection was evidenced by smiles on faces
of every color of the human rainbow, every size on the scale, every
age from 3 to 65, all making moves to the beat of a different drum.
No judgment passed on who was cool and who was not, just pure
un-adulterated fun, joy, release and soul.
Occasionally, after a longer re-mix, or extended session people
would erupt into cheers and hollering this or that or whatever, it didn't matter as long as it felt good, real and true.
All the while, pulsing bodies poured in and out of the building at PS-1, moving among dancers on crowded steps that were crowned at the top with the DJ’s canopied booth. The sun gave everyone a glistening tone, some more than others, as sweat
flowed like a fountain, but, at this party, sweat was a badge of
success, a sign that you’d truly felt the light.
Speakers surrounded the main courtyard of the former school and
sound boomed against the old red brick walls rising up like a volcanic
eruption, only the lava was the sound, carried even further by
speakers in the back of the complex where others danced and played
in wading pools with their kids.
In its later years, Body and Soul saw pilgrimages by the curious
who’d heard about this place where the emphasis was on the music,
not the “scene.” Even European tourists began to make Body and
Soul part of the New York itinerary. According to those who’d
been, Sunday nights at Vinyl (ARC) were where one could still find
the real spirit of New York.
Certainly, like every nightclub party, there was rivalry,
differences, and any other number of shady events or normal human
interaction issues, but unlike most other dance club experiences,
Body and Soul was true to its name.
Martha Graham once said “I am absorbed in the magic of movement and
light. Movement never lies”.
Body and Soul did not lie to the participants left in the city this
past July 4th weekend. That day in Queens let everyone at PS-1 know
that movement is alive and well in New York City and New York is
still filled with magic.
Working poor stand in food lines (REUTERS)
May 6. - Skyrocketing food prices have sent people with jobs and homes to soup kitchens and food pantries in New York.
The global food crisis is even gripping the world's richest nation.
Fred Katayama reports.(REUTERS)
The global food crisis is even gripping the world's richest nation.
Fred Katayama reports.(REUTERS)
Aid agencies appeal to Myanmar junta (REUTERS)
May 7 - Relief groups and governments urge Myanmar's rulers to let humanitarian assistance flow into the country following deadly cyclone.
Cyclone Nargis has killed around 22,500 people and thousands are still missing. Residents in Myanmar's main city of Yangon have been queuing for scarce clean water as disease, hunger and thirst pose a new threat to hundreds of thousands following the deadly storm.
Michelle Carlile-Alkhouri reports. (REUTERS)
Cyclone Nargis has killed around 22,500 people and thousands are still missing. Residents in Myanmar's main city of Yangon have been queuing for scarce clean water as disease, hunger and thirst pose a new threat to hundreds of thousands following the deadly storm.
Michelle Carlile-Alkhouri reports. (REUTERS)
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Footage of Deadly Cyclone (REUTERS)
May 6 - Video emerges that shows at first hand the full force of the cyclone that hit Myanmar at the weekend.
Latest estimates put the death toll at around 15,000 and rising, with 30,000 more still unaccounted for after what is now emerging as the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991.
Paul Chapman reports. (REUTERS)
Latest estimates put the death toll at around 15,000 and rising, with 30,000 more still unaccounted for after what is now emerging as the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991.
Paul Chapman reports. (REUTERS)
Monday, May 05, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Was there something wrong with my service?
by Cody Lyon
It’s a scene played out in restaurants across the country:
A meal is finished, the check is paid but soon a dismayed waiter returns to the table to confront a dissatisfied customer.
“Was there something wrong with my service?” the waiter asks with an earnest look of concern on his face.
The question might be answered with a litany of complaints that ends with an unhappy guest, a stiffed waiter and ruffled feathers for everyone involved.
The word “tip” has been called an acronym for “to insure promptness” in the service industry. But in the United States, tipping has become more of an expectation, rather than a reward for excellent service.
Webster’s dictionary defines the word tip as “a gift or a sum of money tendered for a service performed or anticipated."
The practice of tipping was actually a European import. In the United States, tipping took off in the 1920s after overcoming great opposition from those who saw it as patronizing and un-American.
And, up until the 1970s, waiters and waitresses could expect to earn an average 10 percent gratuity on restaurant checks. At some point, during the period from 1970 to 1980, servers across the country got a raise to the current 15 percent.
But even among individual American patrons, tipping habits can vary wildly.
In the United Sates, the current social norm is that a customer in a restaurant leaves 15 to 20 percent of the bill as gratuity. Despite such norms, there are many guests who are not necessarily aware that that servers and bartenders depend almost entirely on tips for the bulk of their pay. To be sure, usually, there are no guides on most restaurant menus, no signs in nightclubs and bars that explicitly describe tipping guidelines and as a result, tip amounts are often at the mercy of the customer’s whim.
Sometimes misunderstandings over tipping can even set the stage for national, cultural and class differences and in worst cases, seterotyping.
At the most basic level, the ritual of tipping raises a perennial question: Why do we still rely on tipping as a legitimate way of making a living?
The truth is, jobs in restaurants and bars that rely on tips as income can be quiet lucrative.
Ask any waiter or bartender in a busy restaurant anywhere across the nation and you’ll likely hear dollar amounts that have been known to evoke envy from many a 9 to fivers.
With that in mind, some experts point to a surprising psychological relationship that develops between the server and guest during service situations in the United States.
According to Michael Lynn, an associate professor of market and consumer behavior at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Management, and a former waiter, there are other reasons why restaurant guests feel compelled to leave extra money for their waiter or waitress, the money we call a tip.
“People tip mostly for social approval of the server,” Lynn said, noting that failure to do so makes the server upset with them.
University of New Hampshire hospitality professor Joseph F. Durocher says the fear of a tense moment looms over customers who are paying for a pleasant experience as much as they are a meal.
“Most people are afraid to tip less for fear of an altercation,” said Durocher, who is the author of the book “The Wealthy Waiter.”
According to a survey conducted by the Web site Tipping.org, 70 percent of a group of restaurant customers the website surveyed felt pressured to tip, even if they felt the service was bad.
But, what about those customers who come from cultures and countries where no such psychology exists, where there is no real desire to seek a server’s approval or perhaps more importantly, places like France where there is no 15 to 20 percent tipping rule?
Unfortunately, this has resulted in many restaurants and bars becoming hotbeds of unfortunate stereotyping and unnecessary misunderstanding and tensions.
As a result, some establishments, especially those in areas with heavy tourist clientele, management allows servers to indicate on a check that service is not included, even allowing for the adding of a gratuity.
“I actually get offended when I’m in tourist spots like Miami and the tips are already added, leaving one no choice, even if the service is poor,” said Markus Schwade, a resident of New York who was born and raised in Germany.
Schwade says that in his country the tip is a reward for good service and not a customary action, let alone the principal part of a waiter’s income.
Antoine Maisani, a native of Paris, co-owns a bar in New York’s East Village. He says because his European friends are so used to the gratuity being included in the check, adding another 15 to 20 percent seems out of place.
“It’s as if you went to China, and in China, the custom was to tip another 40 percent,” said Maisani, arguing that Americans would see this extra charge as outrageous.
Maisani says he has been with groups of French friends in New York for dinners, and when the check arrives, it usually has the tip added.
“I find it upsetting and somewhat offensive, but I understand,” Maisani said.
Professor Lynn, who has written over 25 publications on tipping, says domestic tensions sometimes bubble up due to the fact that more than one-third of the nation’s population is not aware of proper tip amounts. He says that figure varies among various ethnic groups, often fueling cycles of distrust and resentment between servers and customers.
The end results can be hurtful.
Sherie Weldon, a New York resident who once worked in a restaurant as a server, says that she notices a difference in the service she receives as an African American woman.
“I notice the shady service, and sometimes the less- presentable looking food,” said Weldon, who relayed an incident at a high-end restaurant in New York where the service was lacking.
“I guess because of our race, they didn’t think we had the economics to be there,” she said.
Lynn says such disparities could be avoided with a proliferation of better information nationally so all patrons were more aware of the norms.
“We need to get more knowledge about what the tipping norms are into the hands of consumers, which will decrease some of the differences of behavior, which will in turn decrease much of the server stereotyping,” he said.
That does not mean that restaurants in the United States are going to start including the gratuity in the checks anytime soon. Many argue that Americans would not tolerate a uniform service charge added because it would take away the server’s incentive to go the extra mile.
Professor Durocher underscores this belief rooted in the service side with a quote by the 19th-century hotelier E.M. Statler: “Life is service. The one who progresses is the one who gives his fellow man a little more, a little better service.”
The Short End of the Longer Life (New York Times)
Counting Birthdays- "THE NEW YORK TIMES"
The Short End of the Longer Life
By KEVIN SACK
Published: April 27, 2008
Ever rising longevity is not a given for all Americans anymore, especially women.
excerpt:
The most startling evidence came last week in a government-sponsored study by Harvard researchers who found that life expectancy actually declined in a substantial number of counties from 1983 to 1999, particularly for women. Most of the counties with declines are in the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, and in Appalachia, as well as in the southern Plains and Texas.
LINK TO FULL TEXT
The Short End of the Longer Life
By KEVIN SACK
Published: April 27, 2008
Ever rising longevity is not a given for all Americans anymore, especially women.
excerpt:
The most startling evidence came last week in a government-sponsored study by Harvard researchers who found that life expectancy actually declined in a substantial number of counties from 1983 to 1999, particularly for women. Most of the counties with declines are in the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, and in Appalachia, as well as in the southern Plains and Texas.
LINK TO FULL TEXT
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Quilliam to combat Islamic extremism (REUTERS)
FROM REUTERS-
Apr. 23 - Groups like the Quilliam Foundation in England look to prevent young British Muslims from taking to extremism.
Theologians, Muslim community leaders and former radicals met in London to discuss hardline Islamist ideologies and the reason why many young men join al Qaeda affiliated groups.
Siddhartha Dubey reports.
Apr. 23 - Groups like the Quilliam Foundation in England look to prevent young British Muslims from taking to extremism.
Theologians, Muslim community leaders and former radicals met in London to discuss hardline Islamist ideologies and the reason why many young men join al Qaeda affiliated groups.
Siddhartha Dubey reports.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The Debate's Missed Opportunity for a Real Hit Job
by CODY LYON
Thanks in part to a still common reliance on ‘rabbit ears,’ record numbers of viewers tuned in to the ABC News Democratic Presidential debate this past Wednesday night.
What they witnessed was Barack Obama fumble and Hillary Clinton stretch, under the pressure of trivial irrelevance during the first portion of a live prime time meet up, and the viewing experience left many clearly upset.
What many appeared to be most miffed about was the unusual barrage of seemingly un-important salvos leveled by moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos at Senator Barack Obama.
The truth is, voters should be upset, because if the moderators were looking to perform some sort of hit job on Senator Obama, they could have at least attempted to aim above the belt and attack issues of substance and relevance.
Folks are really not so concerned over whether Obama attended a fund raiser at the home of a 60’s radical or whether his church was friendly with Louis Farakhan. Those juicy tidbits might make for a great shrill headline or a slimy Republican attack ad.
Voters with real concerns might rather know, if for instance, special and corporate interests are looking to curry favor in a future Obama or Clinton administration
In Obama’s case, why not take a closer look at campaign finance money trails and confront the highly promoted “agent of change” about his financially cozy relationships with Washington insiders and corporate influence peddlers?
After all, its those well moneyed players who might someday seek to influence policy that could potentially impact day to day lives across the nation.
During the ABC debate, Obama said “I believe that change does not happen from the top down, it happens from the bottom up.”
He went on to say “that’s why we decided we weren’t going to take PAC money or money from federal registered lobbyists, that we were not going to be subject to special interest influence, but instead we were going to enlist the American people in a project of changing this country” Obama said Wednesday on ABC.
But despite the drum beat of that message, according to an April 11, 2008 article by Matthew Mosk and Alec MacGillis of the “The Washington Post,” “wealth and power also played have also played a critical role in creating Obama’s fundraising machine, and their generosity has earned them a prominent voice in shaping his campaign.”
According to the “Post” article, a large portion of Obama’s campaign money has come from seventy nine “bundlers” who helped recruit more than 27 thousand donors to write checks for $2,300, the maximum allowed. The “Post” reported that donors who have given more than $200 account for about half of Obama’s total haul of $240 million.
According to the non partisan group Public Citizen, Bundling describes the activity of fundraisers who pool a large number of campaign contributions from political action committees (PACs) and individuals. Bundlers, who are often corporate CEOs, lobbyists, hedge fund managers or independently wealthy people, are able to funnel far more money to campaigns than they could personally give under campaign finance laws.
The “Washington Post” article says that in Obama’s case, the list of bundlers includes traditional Democratic givers like trial lawyers and also includes partners from 18 top law firms, 21 Wall Street executives and power brokers from Fortune 500 companies.
The bundling groups include businessmen like billionaire Kenneth Griffin who started backing Obama just as he hired a team of lobbyist to urge Congress to preserve a “lucrative tax loophole,” according to the “Washington Post.”
Also on the list, a billionaire casino developer who plans to put a slot parlor in Philadelphia, this, despite Obama’s reported opposition to gambling, according to the “Washington Post.”
Mosk and MacGillis also report that big Obama bundlers include the director of General Dynamics, a military supplier that has seen profits soar since the onset of the Iraq War and has benefited from at least one Obama earmark, according to the Post.
Another revealing peak at Obama’s powerful fundraisers had come earlier in a February 3, “New York Times” article by Mike McIntire. The “Times” reported that Exelon Corporation, the nation’s largest nuclear plant operator is in fact, one of Obama’s largest campaign donors.
That piece noted that Exelon chairman John W. Rowe has been an Obama donor and is also chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry’s largest lobbying group.
The “Times” article did not mention that Exelon chairman Rowe, like several other powerful energy power players also sits on the influential, right wing and neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute's Board, an organization some have called an early and leading voice for regime change in Iraq through military action.
According to a January 2008 article in the “Baltimore Sun” last year Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan accused Exelon and another company of overpricing electricity to achieve "a massive transfer of money" from consumers.
In the end, Exelon agreed to pay an $800 million settlement.
Further evidence for concern came in a recent “USA Today” report by Ken Dilianian that noted lobbyist representing some of America’s most powerful corporate interests have been major players in Obama’s fundraising apparatus with some members even serving as advisers on his campaign.
That report said that the campaign has received $2.26 million from employees of ten former federal lobbyists.
The “USA Today” report said that those former lobbyist’s law firms were paid “$138 million last year to lobby the federal government” according to the article.
This again, despite a common Obama boast, that he is the “only candidate who isn’t taking a dime from Washington lobbyist.”
In recent months, the Clinton campaign, referring to the Exelon influence, charged that Senator Obama had allowed the nuclear industry to water down a 2006 bill regulating the nuclear power industry.
That charge was met by Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton rebutting that his campaign “does not need any lectures on special interests from the candidate who’s taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any Republican running from President.”
Glass Houses aside, if there were ever a vetting hit job that needed to be done, Charlie and George failed on that point since those Democrats with doubts about Obama often point to these charges of influence by well moneyed insiders, even energy powerhouses like Exelon, as a point of concern for anyone that’s thinking about throwing political support behind a very pronounced message of change in Washington’s influence laden landscape.
Michael Malbin, director of the Campaign Finance Institute, a non partisan think tank told “USA Today” that “it makes no difference whether the person is a registered lobbyist, if the person is raising money to get access or curry favor.”
And, as Ken Silverstein’s November, 2006 “Harpers” article, “The Making of a Washington Machine” noted when he quoted an anonymous lobbyist who said, “big donors would not be helping out Obama if they didn’t see him as a player.”
“What’s the value of a starry eyed idealist,” the lobbyist said according to “Harpers.”
So, how much influence might those looking to impact policy expect to exert if Obama makes his way to the White House?
It is, after all, the toxic culture of special interest and corporate influence in Washington that the Obama campaign has built so much of its foundation on during its crusade to take the White House.
Still, who can blame voters for their own often shrill attacks on those who profess to doubt the Obama message? They, like millions of voters are desperate for a political savior to help rectify all these years of inflicted political misery administered by the current secretive and tight lipped White House that has contributed to so much heartache and disparity.
But, the reality is, there are still questions, there are still doubts, all any observer need do is look at the divided polling numbers and infighting among Democrats.
Yes, it is important that our candidates are grilled on the hot seat during debates but the hope was, and perhaps still is, that the coals producing the heat, will eventually stoke up the fire, and ask controversial questions of relevance, not controversial questions of muck. And, it is then, that voters can make a truly informed decision on who it is they can believe in to make that necessary change.
Thanks in part to a still common reliance on ‘rabbit ears,’ record numbers of viewers tuned in to the ABC News Democratic Presidential debate this past Wednesday night.
What they witnessed was Barack Obama fumble and Hillary Clinton stretch, under the pressure of trivial irrelevance during the first portion of a live prime time meet up, and the viewing experience left many clearly upset.
What many appeared to be most miffed about was the unusual barrage of seemingly un-important salvos leveled by moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos at Senator Barack Obama.
The truth is, voters should be upset, because if the moderators were looking to perform some sort of hit job on Senator Obama, they could have at least attempted to aim above the belt and attack issues of substance and relevance.
Folks are really not so concerned over whether Obama attended a fund raiser at the home of a 60’s radical or whether his church was friendly with Louis Farakhan. Those juicy tidbits might make for a great shrill headline or a slimy Republican attack ad.
Voters with real concerns might rather know, if for instance, special and corporate interests are looking to curry favor in a future Obama or Clinton administration
In Obama’s case, why not take a closer look at campaign finance money trails and confront the highly promoted “agent of change” about his financially cozy relationships with Washington insiders and corporate influence peddlers?
After all, its those well moneyed players who might someday seek to influence policy that could potentially impact day to day lives across the nation.
During the ABC debate, Obama said “I believe that change does not happen from the top down, it happens from the bottom up.”
He went on to say “that’s why we decided we weren’t going to take PAC money or money from federal registered lobbyists, that we were not going to be subject to special interest influence, but instead we were going to enlist the American people in a project of changing this country” Obama said Wednesday on ABC.
But despite the drum beat of that message, according to an April 11, 2008 article by Matthew Mosk and Alec MacGillis of the “The Washington Post,” “wealth and power also played have also played a critical role in creating Obama’s fundraising machine, and their generosity has earned them a prominent voice in shaping his campaign.”
According to the “Post” article, a large portion of Obama’s campaign money has come from seventy nine “bundlers” who helped recruit more than 27 thousand donors to write checks for $2,300, the maximum allowed. The “Post” reported that donors who have given more than $200 account for about half of Obama’s total haul of $240 million.
According to the non partisan group Public Citizen, Bundling describes the activity of fundraisers who pool a large number of campaign contributions from political action committees (PACs) and individuals. Bundlers, who are often corporate CEOs, lobbyists, hedge fund managers or independently wealthy people, are able to funnel far more money to campaigns than they could personally give under campaign finance laws.
The “Washington Post” article says that in Obama’s case, the list of bundlers includes traditional Democratic givers like trial lawyers and also includes partners from 18 top law firms, 21 Wall Street executives and power brokers from Fortune 500 companies.
The bundling groups include businessmen like billionaire Kenneth Griffin who started backing Obama just as he hired a team of lobbyist to urge Congress to preserve a “lucrative tax loophole,” according to the “Washington Post.”
Also on the list, a billionaire casino developer who plans to put a slot parlor in Philadelphia, this, despite Obama’s reported opposition to gambling, according to the “Washington Post.”
Mosk and MacGillis also report that big Obama bundlers include the director of General Dynamics, a military supplier that has seen profits soar since the onset of the Iraq War and has benefited from at least one Obama earmark, according to the Post.
Another revealing peak at Obama’s powerful fundraisers had come earlier in a February 3, “New York Times” article by Mike McIntire. The “Times” reported that Exelon Corporation, the nation’s largest nuclear plant operator is in fact, one of Obama’s largest campaign donors.
That piece noted that Exelon chairman John W. Rowe has been an Obama donor and is also chairman of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry’s largest lobbying group.
The “Times” article did not mention that Exelon chairman Rowe, like several other powerful energy power players also sits on the influential, right wing and neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute's Board, an organization some have called an early and leading voice for regime change in Iraq through military action.
According to a January 2008 article in the “Baltimore Sun” last year Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan accused Exelon and another company of overpricing electricity to achieve "a massive transfer of money" from consumers.
In the end, Exelon agreed to pay an $800 million settlement.
Further evidence for concern came in a recent “USA Today” report by Ken Dilianian that noted lobbyist representing some of America’s most powerful corporate interests have been major players in Obama’s fundraising apparatus with some members even serving as advisers on his campaign.
That report said that the campaign has received $2.26 million from employees of ten former federal lobbyists.
The “USA Today” report said that those former lobbyist’s law firms were paid “$138 million last year to lobby the federal government” according to the article.
This again, despite a common Obama boast, that he is the “only candidate who isn’t taking a dime from Washington lobbyist.”
In recent months, the Clinton campaign, referring to the Exelon influence, charged that Senator Obama had allowed the nuclear industry to water down a 2006 bill regulating the nuclear power industry.
That charge was met by Obama campaign spokesperson Bill Burton rebutting that his campaign “does not need any lectures on special interests from the candidate who’s taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any Republican running from President.”
Glass Houses aside, if there were ever a vetting hit job that needed to be done, Charlie and George failed on that point since those Democrats with doubts about Obama often point to these charges of influence by well moneyed insiders, even energy powerhouses like Exelon, as a point of concern for anyone that’s thinking about throwing political support behind a very pronounced message of change in Washington’s influence laden landscape.
Michael Malbin, director of the Campaign Finance Institute, a non partisan think tank told “USA Today” that “it makes no difference whether the person is a registered lobbyist, if the person is raising money to get access or curry favor.”
And, as Ken Silverstein’s November, 2006 “Harpers” article, “The Making of a Washington Machine” noted when he quoted an anonymous lobbyist who said, “big donors would not be helping out Obama if they didn’t see him as a player.”
“What’s the value of a starry eyed idealist,” the lobbyist said according to “Harpers.”
So, how much influence might those looking to impact policy expect to exert if Obama makes his way to the White House?
It is, after all, the toxic culture of special interest and corporate influence in Washington that the Obama campaign has built so much of its foundation on during its crusade to take the White House.
Still, who can blame voters for their own often shrill attacks on those who profess to doubt the Obama message? They, like millions of voters are desperate for a political savior to help rectify all these years of inflicted political misery administered by the current secretive and tight lipped White House that has contributed to so much heartache and disparity.
But, the reality is, there are still questions, there are still doubts, all any observer need do is look at the divided polling numbers and infighting among Democrats.
Yes, it is important that our candidates are grilled on the hot seat during debates but the hope was, and perhaps still is, that the coals producing the heat, will eventually stoke up the fire, and ask controversial questions of relevance, not controversial questions of muck. And, it is then, that voters can make a truly informed decision on who it is they can believe in to make that necessary change.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Physical Education Equals Better Grades At School
by CODY LYON
On a recent afternoon at a public school in New York’s East Village, a mass of first and second graders barreled into a recreation room and charged toward a pile of hula hoops.
Even before the lesson began, the children launched into a flurry of made-up games, dances, jumps and spins. Soon, J. Alexander Nixon, a 27-year-old counselor with the Oasis for Children after-school program, brought the crowd to attention with his first challenge of the day. All the children then joined in a traditional hula spin, the first set in a 30-minute aerobic class for kids called Hula in Motion.
“Parents are more apprehensive about letting their kids play on the street these days,” said Nixon as he wiped sweat from his brow. “With this hula hoop exercise, they get a full workout.”
If the children in this group are like the majority of American children, this after-school hula-hoop class will have been the most, if not the only physically active period during their day.
Fewer than one in four children gets 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although experts now recommend one hour.
Another CDC study determined that on average, only about 7 percent of today’s schoolchildren receive any daily physical education.
Some worry that this has contributed to a national epidemic of inactivity. And since 1980, the number of overweight children has doubled, making this generation of youngsters the most overweight children in U.S. history, according to the CDC. Of these children, an estimated 70 percent will probably become overweight adults, increasing their chances for developing ailments like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and depression.
As more American children show signs of obesity, new physical fitness programs are springing up across the country despite often limited resources (the Hula in Motion program is paid for in part by parent fees and some state funding).
Fitness advocates are seeking to transform physical education into a lifestyle that incorporates physical activity, health and wellness. And while the health benefits of exercise are obvious, more experts are also pointing out that physically fit students do better academically.
Physical education classes appeared in American schools prior to World War I after the federal government mandated them for the purpose of military readiness.
During the 1980s and '90s, thanks to tight budgets and a refocusing of state curriculums, the number of physical education programs started to dwindle nationwide. More recently, local school districts came under tremendous pressure after the No Child Left Behind legislation of 2001 to pass standardized tests or face cuts in federal funding.
“No Child Left Behind came on board and suddenly the focus was on testing,” noted Phil Lawler of Naperville, Ill., who has been a middle school coach for 34 years. “Federal funding is going to be cut if they don’t get their reading, math and science scores up,” said Lawler, who is also academy director at PE 4 Life, a national nonprofit organization that promotes quality daily physical education programs.
But advocates like Lawler point to data that shows students actually do better on tests when they are more physically fit.
“If you have more active and fit kids, you are going to see positive changes in test scores,” said Dr. Retta Evans, a health education professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
One example that supports Evan’s assertion is a study by the California Department of Education conducted in 2002. A statewide standardized math and reading test of all fifth, seventh and ninth graders in California public schools concluded that there was a direct correlation between higher test scores in math and reading and higher levels of fitness.
“Physical exercise is the best way to optimize the brain,” said Dr. John Ratey, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “The public has been unaware of the connection.”
Despite such data, advocates say, changing people's perceptions about physical education and making it a priority will take tremendous effort.
“Many administrators have the opinion that PE stands for poor excuse for teacher,” said Nancy Bailey, a health and physical education teacher in Kansas City, Mo.
Programs like PE 4 Life are attempting to change that by educating school districts and community groups through fitness “academies" based on a model devised by Lawler.
PE for Life’s teaching philosophy focuses on wellness and sports rather than athletic skill by grading students on how long they stay in their heart rate zone, rather than how well they throw a ball.
PE 4 Life was instrumental in securing the creation of a national Physical Education for Progress grant program, which has been used to enhance physical education programs across the country. Sixty-three grants of up to $250,000 are awarded each year for training teaching professionals in modern health and wellness-based physical education and for acquiring modern fitness equipment.
Beyond grants, physical education programs in public schools are established at the state and local level. Most states do not require physical education, leaving local districts to decide how much PE to provide and how to pay for it.
For now, programs like New York’s Oasis is working to keep children active and fit through a positive healthy environment, which instructors hope will benefit them beyond the exercise class.
“We hope to arm our children with the tools and confidence to succeed in life” said Rachel Lynn of Oasis. “Obviously, one of those is physical fitness.”
Nixon, the Oasis counselor, says that even though children may not yet recognize the benefits of twirling a hoop, they respond with gusto.
“They light up," he said. “It gives them confidence which helps them all around.”
Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill (NEW YORK TIMES)
Business-NEW YORK TIMES
Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill
By STEPHEN LABATON and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: April 16, 2008
Consumer groups say the housing relief bill is adding up to a bailout for big businesses, as automakers and airlines stand to gain billions of dollars in tax relief.
LINK TO FULL STORY
Big Tax Breaks for Businesses in Housing Bill
By STEPHEN LABATON and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Published: April 16, 2008
Consumer groups say the housing relief bill is adding up to a bailout for big businesses, as automakers and airlines stand to gain billions of dollars in tax relief.
LINK TO FULL STORY
Sunday, April 13, 2008
City plan an attempt to balance scales of justice for Birmingham's poor (BIRMINGHAM NEWS)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
JOSEPH D. BRYANT
News staff writer
EXCERPT FROM STORY AT "THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS"
Costs are being figured, but (Birmingham Mayor) Langford said the city might save money with alternative sentencing. He pulled 15 cases in which the city spent more than $378,000 to jail people owing slightly more than $20,000 combined.
Langford called it a tragic irony that Birmingham, a city known for civil rights struggles, has maintained a dual justice system based on financial status. "It is now incumbent on us to become leaders in the field of human rights along with civil rights," Langford said.
Lloyd served 102 days before a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge ordered him released based on a handwritten petition Lloyd filed challenging his long sentence.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT BIRMINGHAM NEWS-AL.COM
JOSEPH D. BRYANT
News staff writer
EXCERPT FROM STORY AT "THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS"
Costs are being figured, but (Birmingham Mayor) Langford said the city might save money with alternative sentencing. He pulled 15 cases in which the city spent more than $378,000 to jail people owing slightly more than $20,000 combined.
Langford called it a tragic irony that Birmingham, a city known for civil rights struggles, has maintained a dual justice system based on financial status. "It is now incumbent on us to become leaders in the field of human rights along with civil rights," Langford said.
Lloyd served 102 days before a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge ordered him released based on a handwritten petition Lloyd filed challenging his long sentence.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT BIRMINGHAM NEWS-AL.COM
Former Alabama Governor Turns Tables On Justice Department (Washington Post)
Siegelman Connects His Case to Accusations of Interference
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 13, 2008; Page A02
The successful criminal prosecution of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman (D) has become tangled in political charges and countercharges that reflect contrasting views about the independence of the Justice Department.
In the two weeks since his release from prison pending an appeal, Siegelman has sharply increased the volume of his assertions that he was railroaded. He says that Karl Rove, who was a White House adviser, targeted him for prosecution to ensure he did not win reelection to the governor's office and displace a Republican there.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT "WASHINGTON POST"
Friday, April 11, 2008
Gay Men Face Jail in Egypt, Kuwait in Bid to Appease Islamists (BLOOMBERG)
By Daniel Williams-BLOOMBERG NEWS
April 8 (Bloomberg) -For three months, Egyptian police have embarked on periodic sweeps of downtown streets to clear them of presumed homosexuals. The raids, independent observers and human-rights activists say, reflect not simply official disgust. They're part of an effort by governments throughout the Middle East to out-moralize Islamic parties that have denounced the perceived depravity of Arab societies under autocratic rule.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT BLOOMBERG
April 8 (Bloomberg) -For three months, Egyptian police have embarked on periodic sweeps of downtown streets to clear them of presumed homosexuals. The raids, independent observers and human-rights activists say, reflect not simply official disgust. They're part of an effort by governments throughout the Middle East to out-moralize Islamic parties that have denounced the perceived depravity of Arab societies under autocratic rule.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT BLOOMBERG
Healthcare Horror Stories- (Paul Krugman at New York Times)
Op-Ed Columnist-(New York Times)
Health Care Horror Stories
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: April 11, 2008
If being a progressive means anything, it means believing that we need universal health care.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT NYT
Health Care Horror Stories
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: April 11, 2008
If being a progressive means anything, it means believing that we need universal health care.
LINK TO FULL STORY AT NYT
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Food Riots in Haiti (Reuters)
Apr 9 - Protests over the high cost of food continue in Haiti, as food becomes issue in the region.
Rising global food prices are affecting the world's poorest people who are finding it difficult to purchase even basic commodities.
Deborah Lutterbeck reports. (REUTERS)
SOUNDBITE: Unidentified person, (Creole) saying:
"We can't live. A kilo of rice is selling at $30 Haitian dollars. We can't afford to feed our children."
Rising global food prices are affecting the world's poorest people who are finding it difficult to purchase even basic commodities.
Deborah Lutterbeck reports. (REUTERS)
SOUNDBITE: Unidentified person, (Creole) saying:
"We can't live. A kilo of rice is selling at $30 Haitian dollars. We can't afford to feed our children."
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Brotherhood of Man
In the April 6 edition of "The New York Times magazine, Professor Beverly Gage offers a fascinating glance at former President Warren G. Harding’s possible racial history, or “negro” heritage, detailed by accounts by historian William Estabrook Chancellor who said Harding was the descendant of a great grandmother who was black.
In the article, Gage points out that United States voters may have in fact, already voted for a black President if one considers the “one drop” rule, which at that time, determined how individuals were racially “classified”..
The one drop rule held that in the United States, any individual with any trace of sub-Saharan ancestry can not be considered “white” unless that person has an alternative non-white ancestry that they could claim.
A historically significant political point, regardless of Harding’s racial makeup, one thing is certain, even in the face of rising outspoken and virulent racism that had manifest, even legitimized itself in the national politics of the 1920’s through groups like the Ku Klux Klan, as President, Harding brought the discussion of race to the table, even in what was then, perhaps the nation’s most most segregated city.
As Diane McWhorter’s meticulously reported Pulitzer Prize winning 2001 book “Carry Me Home” notes, (pg. 463) ‘in October 1921, then President Harding went to Birmingham Ala., for the city’s 50th anniversary celebration where he abandoned his boilerplate speech, instead using the moment to discuss “the problem of democracy everywhere” race.
In a speech there, Harding said “whether you like it or not” “unless our democracy everywhere is a lie, you must stand for that equality.”
According to New York Time’s archives from that year, in a telegrammed response to the Birmingham speech, Marcus Garvey, President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association said negroes did not seek “social equality” a conclusion that was later condemned by several other black equal rights groups of the time.
But Garvey also wrote “the negroes of the world this time when the world is gone wild in its injustice to weaker peoples greet you as a wise and great statesman and feel that with principles such as you stand for, humanity will lose its prejudice and the brotherhood of man will be established.”
Perhaps now, the quest for social equality continues but so to does the hope for a “brotherhood of man,” even in politics as the issue of race continues to play a role among millions of voters.
LINK TO ESSAY BY PROFESSOR GAGE
In the article, Gage points out that United States voters may have in fact, already voted for a black President if one considers the “one drop” rule, which at that time, determined how individuals were racially “classified”..
The one drop rule held that in the United States, any individual with any trace of sub-Saharan ancestry can not be considered “white” unless that person has an alternative non-white ancestry that they could claim.
A historically significant political point, regardless of Harding’s racial makeup, one thing is certain, even in the face of rising outspoken and virulent racism that had manifest, even legitimized itself in the national politics of the 1920’s through groups like the Ku Klux Klan, as President, Harding brought the discussion of race to the table, even in what was then, perhaps the nation’s most most segregated city.
As Diane McWhorter’s meticulously reported Pulitzer Prize winning 2001 book “Carry Me Home” notes, (pg. 463) ‘in October 1921, then President Harding went to Birmingham Ala., for the city’s 50th anniversary celebration where he abandoned his boilerplate speech, instead using the moment to discuss “the problem of democracy everywhere” race.
In a speech there, Harding said “whether you like it or not” “unless our democracy everywhere is a lie, you must stand for that equality.”
According to New York Time’s archives from that year, in a telegrammed response to the Birmingham speech, Marcus Garvey, President of the Universal Negro Improvement Association said negroes did not seek “social equality” a conclusion that was later condemned by several other black equal rights groups of the time.
But Garvey also wrote “the negroes of the world this time when the world is gone wild in its injustice to weaker peoples greet you as a wise and great statesman and feel that with principles such as you stand for, humanity will lose its prejudice and the brotherhood of man will be established.”
Perhaps now, the quest for social equality continues but so to does the hope for a “brotherhood of man,” even in politics as the issue of race continues to play a role among millions of voters.
LINK TO ESSAY BY PROFESSOR GAGE
Sunday, April 06, 2008
FORECAST ON IRAQ (Face the Nation- CBS NEWS)
FROM CBSNEWS "FACE THE NATION"-Nancy Youssef of the McClatchy Newspapers and the Washington Post's Rajiv Chandrasekaran tell Bob Schieffer about General Petraeus' forthcoming progress report on Iraq.
LINK TO FULL REPORT FROM "Face the Nation" CBS NEWS
LINK TO FULL REPORT FROM "Face the Nation" CBS NEWS
Friday, April 04, 2008
NYC Gym Pundits Frustrated Over Hillary Hate
by CODY LYON
Politics was flowing from mouths faster than the sweat from brows at New York City’s Crunch Gym on Lafayette this past Wednesday as a group of amateur pundits gathered within the downtown house of body worship engaging in more chit and chat than arms on curls.
Background beats from Madonna and Justin Timberlake’s “4 Minutes to save the world” kept heads bobbin while the pundits voiced frustration over continued calls by Democrats and media bullhorns to kick “their girl” off the playing field in the race for the White House this season.
As he sat and strained with a tortured look on his face pushing down a tricep machine, one of them began his diatribe.
“I just don’t get it, she’s like that girl in school with the real big glasses who knows everything, you just can’t trip her up, no matter how hard you try… of course I want her as my President,” he said of Hillary.
But his friend shot back with a sarcastic tone, “that’s not want they want at CNN” as he glanced over at the TV screens airing the nightly punditry from the Cable giant.
“They (the media) are blowing so much smoke up the Obama campaign’s bottom it’s pretty obvious they so want him to win” he said, standing, hands on hips, scoping the happy hour crowd that frequents the East Village institution on this busier than usual night.
Yet another chimed in “I want someone who is going to kick some butt” and “she’s really the only one that I think will do that, forget this coming together with Republicans crap.”
Obviously, there was some anger in this gym pundit’s tone that night, and it wasn’t because his set had been interrupted. Politics seems to be the one excuse an instigator of conversation can use these days when interrupting Downtown Manhattan gym routines.
Later, while pedaling and reading the “Village Voice” on a stationary bike, really fast, as if he was actually trying to outrun the police or a mad lover another pundit was interrupted
“What are you reading that liberal rag for” the instigator said jokingly to the reader pundit on his way to no place.
“Can you believe this cover” he said
On the cover of the alt press king, is a cartoon image of Hillary Clinton, looking less than flattering, as cartoonist often draw politicians, with bandages on her face and all swollen.
“It’s about MSNBC for God’s sake so why so cruel,” he said.
“MSNBC hates her” the biker/reader concluded saying that despite the art-work, the “Voice” article written by Wayne Barret, was an excellent indictment of the shrill antics at the NBC cable network.
But then, as if on cue, the instigator of the gym pundits, allowed his mind to distract into deeper reality, a reality that inspired his own private rage at the way politics in America is conducted today, the way the issues get reported, the frustration with an epidemic of disconnect that some party officials and outspoken elites often appear to embellish when it came to the best most productive ways government can and should affect change in everyday lives.
Why did we not openly discuss the legacies of racism in America and instead focused on shrill, offensive but essentially true words uttered or preached by public figures and ministers? Why readers and viewers hear more about a ‘most dangerous cities’ list as if, entire American cities were somehow places we should not go? Why do we not see or hear about the thousands of Mother’s who shed millions of tears for sons or daughters that have been gunned down on our own streets? Why have we not spoken of the unjust and still racist ways we fund our public schools, a system that perpetuates a festering culture of poverty and an un-prepared workforce?
Why do we not ask our candidates how they would address the shocking high school dropout rates in many of our nation’s cities and rural areas? Where is the talk of providing solid and equal ladders of opportunity in the delta or the black belt of the south? Instead of the negative blasting between the Obama’s and Clinton’s, where are the loud and proud solutions to the ongoing injustice, black, white and elderly, that is on vivid display within our nation’s healthcare system, a system so rotten that many of our people are subject to inhumanity in of all things, their health? How did we all allow ourselves to become so embroiled in such tawdry rhetoric when it came to engaging, challenging and getting to know our would be public servants, especially, our President?
“And while I was in Florida, I asked some people are you upset as voters about being potentially disenfranchised at the Democratic Convention”? said the biker.
Suddenly, the instigator of the gym pundits returned from his trance, and inner rant, continuing yet again in his punditry.
What the biker found in the Sunshine State was several of those quizzed in hanging-chad land had apparently given up on their voices ever being heard in this contest, shrugging it all off and saying “well, I guess so,” he reported.
“That state is so discombobulated,” he said as he wondered aloud.
Then, the biker shared an example of the political “meanness” floating around liberal rumor land about Clinton. A co-worker of his who is an Obama supporter, apparently is under the false impression that if Senator Clinton does not win the Democratic nomination, she would then resign as Senator of New York.
“That would prove she just used New York,” the pundit’s co-worker allegedly said to which both proceeded to take to blast the apparent hate expressed by some Obama supporters towards Clinton as her supporters feel increasingly alienated by people they thought they had shared values.
He then said “look, it’s not that I don’t like Obama, I just like Hillary “more” and I think she could win against McCain and I’m sick of people who say she ought to quit.”
“Don’t these people know history?”
He went on to remind the other that in 1980, current Obama supporter, then Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Edward Kennedy, entered the summer behind candidate Jimmy Carter by 24 states to ten, further trailing Carter by 2.4 million popular votes yet he still did not drop out of the race. Instead, Kennedy took his fight all the way to the convention floor, intent on somehow wrestling a victory from the party.
“I’m really tired of all these whining babies who complain about how the party is being torn apart, this is politics,” said the biker who said it’s Clinton that stands the only chance in winning a general election.
“If they think things are ugly now, just wait until November, I mean, what the hell are they thinking, she’ll kick their ass,” he said.
As the night moved on, a glance over at the leg’s section of the gym brought dread as the observer of the night’s discussion contemplated squats. But then, almost like a convenient distortion from the physical pain that awaited, a curious thought popped up.
A certain news story from earlier that day had not grown legs of its own.
Earlier that day, “Reuters’ had reported on a Quinnipiac University poll that served up a dose of reality from the ground, news that anyone who calls himself political junkie ought to partake of and ponder if they are curious about truths of what to expect come November.
The poll, not only found Hillary Clinton ahead of Barack Obama 50 to 41 percent in Pennsylvania, the report said she runs better against Republican Senator John McCain in that same state as well as discombobulated Florida and the buckeye state Ohio.
Reuters reported that McCain trails Clinton 42 to 44 percent in Florida but McCain leads Obama 46 to 37 percent in the Sunshine State.
The same report said that in Ohio, Clinton has a 48 to 39 percent lead over McCain while Obama would lead McCain only by one percent at 43 to 42 percent.
In Pennsylvania, Clinton leads McCain 48 to 40 percent while Obama leads the Arizona Senator by only 43 to 39 percent according to Reuters.
The countless scattered voices in thousands of other gyms or other places where people gather and unintentionally find themselves embroiled in heated political discussion often represent more of the nation’s voice than they’re given credit.
But it’s still what takes place deep inside the mind that is at the heart of the deeper mission and quest for a better tomorrow.
The people, they all still talk and debate, even in the face of 24 hour news cycle soothsayers with platforms who attempt to convince them that they are either out of touch, perhaps outside the norm, somehow destroying any efforts at unity, which in itself is a ridiculous notion in the end. This is after all, part of the beauty of a free political system, where no matter how much power some believe they have in shaping opinion, it is in the end, individuals who still think and ultimately decide for themselves.
Perhaps, the chit and chat occurring inside this spec of space within the 35 square mile island that is Manhattan, here deep inside this, the nation’s biggest city, has its ear closer to the ground that is America, and yet again, that’s why this all continues with the hope that whoever wins keeps their ear to the ground and their finger on the pulse of that which is all of America.
,
Politics was flowing from mouths faster than the sweat from brows at New York City’s Crunch Gym on Lafayette this past Wednesday as a group of amateur pundits gathered within the downtown house of body worship engaging in more chit and chat than arms on curls.
Background beats from Madonna and Justin Timberlake’s “4 Minutes to save the world” kept heads bobbin while the pundits voiced frustration over continued calls by Democrats and media bullhorns to kick “their girl” off the playing field in the race for the White House this season.
As he sat and strained with a tortured look on his face pushing down a tricep machine, one of them began his diatribe.
“I just don’t get it, she’s like that girl in school with the real big glasses who knows everything, you just can’t trip her up, no matter how hard you try… of course I want her as my President,” he said of Hillary.
But his friend shot back with a sarcastic tone, “that’s not want they want at CNN” as he glanced over at the TV screens airing the nightly punditry from the Cable giant.
“They (the media) are blowing so much smoke up the Obama campaign’s bottom it’s pretty obvious they so want him to win” he said, standing, hands on hips, scoping the happy hour crowd that frequents the East Village institution on this busier than usual night.
Yet another chimed in “I want someone who is going to kick some butt” and “she’s really the only one that I think will do that, forget this coming together with Republicans crap.”
Obviously, there was some anger in this gym pundit’s tone that night, and it wasn’t because his set had been interrupted. Politics seems to be the one excuse an instigator of conversation can use these days when interrupting Downtown Manhattan gym routines.
Later, while pedaling and reading the “Village Voice” on a stationary bike, really fast, as if he was actually trying to outrun the police or a mad lover another pundit was interrupted
“What are you reading that liberal rag for” the instigator said jokingly to the reader pundit on his way to no place.
“Can you believe this cover” he said
On the cover of the alt press king, is a cartoon image of Hillary Clinton, looking less than flattering, as cartoonist often draw politicians, with bandages on her face and all swollen.
“It’s about MSNBC for God’s sake so why so cruel,” he said.
“MSNBC hates her” the biker/reader concluded saying that despite the art-work, the “Voice” article written by Wayne Barret, was an excellent indictment of the shrill antics at the NBC cable network.
But then, as if on cue, the instigator of the gym pundits, allowed his mind to distract into deeper reality, a reality that inspired his own private rage at the way politics in America is conducted today, the way the issues get reported, the frustration with an epidemic of disconnect that some party officials and outspoken elites often appear to embellish when it came to the best most productive ways government can and should affect change in everyday lives.
Why did we not openly discuss the legacies of racism in America and instead focused on shrill, offensive but essentially true words uttered or preached by public figures and ministers? Why readers and viewers hear more about a ‘most dangerous cities’ list as if, entire American cities were somehow places we should not go? Why do we not see or hear about the thousands of Mother’s who shed millions of tears for sons or daughters that have been gunned down on our own streets? Why have we not spoken of the unjust and still racist ways we fund our public schools, a system that perpetuates a festering culture of poverty and an un-prepared workforce?
Why do we not ask our candidates how they would address the shocking high school dropout rates in many of our nation’s cities and rural areas? Where is the talk of providing solid and equal ladders of opportunity in the delta or the black belt of the south? Instead of the negative blasting between the Obama’s and Clinton’s, where are the loud and proud solutions to the ongoing injustice, black, white and elderly, that is on vivid display within our nation’s healthcare system, a system so rotten that many of our people are subject to inhumanity in of all things, their health? How did we all allow ourselves to become so embroiled in such tawdry rhetoric when it came to engaging, challenging and getting to know our would be public servants, especially, our President?
“And while I was in Florida, I asked some people are you upset as voters about being potentially disenfranchised at the Democratic Convention”? said the biker.
Suddenly, the instigator of the gym pundits returned from his trance, and inner rant, continuing yet again in his punditry.
What the biker found in the Sunshine State was several of those quizzed in hanging-chad land had apparently given up on their voices ever being heard in this contest, shrugging it all off and saying “well, I guess so,” he reported.
“That state is so discombobulated,” he said as he wondered aloud.
Then, the biker shared an example of the political “meanness” floating around liberal rumor land about Clinton. A co-worker of his who is an Obama supporter, apparently is under the false impression that if Senator Clinton does not win the Democratic nomination, she would then resign as Senator of New York.
“That would prove she just used New York,” the pundit’s co-worker allegedly said to which both proceeded to take to blast the apparent hate expressed by some Obama supporters towards Clinton as her supporters feel increasingly alienated by people they thought they had shared values.
He then said “look, it’s not that I don’t like Obama, I just like Hillary “more” and I think she could win against McCain and I’m sick of people who say she ought to quit.”
“Don’t these people know history?”
He went on to remind the other that in 1980, current Obama supporter, then Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Edward Kennedy, entered the summer behind candidate Jimmy Carter by 24 states to ten, further trailing Carter by 2.4 million popular votes yet he still did not drop out of the race. Instead, Kennedy took his fight all the way to the convention floor, intent on somehow wrestling a victory from the party.
“I’m really tired of all these whining babies who complain about how the party is being torn apart, this is politics,” said the biker who said it’s Clinton that stands the only chance in winning a general election.
“If they think things are ugly now, just wait until November, I mean, what the hell are they thinking, she’ll kick their ass,” he said.
As the night moved on, a glance over at the leg’s section of the gym brought dread as the observer of the night’s discussion contemplated squats. But then, almost like a convenient distortion from the physical pain that awaited, a curious thought popped up.
A certain news story from earlier that day had not grown legs of its own.
Earlier that day, “Reuters’ had reported on a Quinnipiac University poll that served up a dose of reality from the ground, news that anyone who calls himself political junkie ought to partake of and ponder if they are curious about truths of what to expect come November.
The poll, not only found Hillary Clinton ahead of Barack Obama 50 to 41 percent in Pennsylvania, the report said she runs better against Republican Senator John McCain in that same state as well as discombobulated Florida and the buckeye state Ohio.
Reuters reported that McCain trails Clinton 42 to 44 percent in Florida but McCain leads Obama 46 to 37 percent in the Sunshine State.
The same report said that in Ohio, Clinton has a 48 to 39 percent lead over McCain while Obama would lead McCain only by one percent at 43 to 42 percent.
In Pennsylvania, Clinton leads McCain 48 to 40 percent while Obama leads the Arizona Senator by only 43 to 39 percent according to Reuters.
The countless scattered voices in thousands of other gyms or other places where people gather and unintentionally find themselves embroiled in heated political discussion often represent more of the nation’s voice than they’re given credit.
But it’s still what takes place deep inside the mind that is at the heart of the deeper mission and quest for a better tomorrow.
The people, they all still talk and debate, even in the face of 24 hour news cycle soothsayers with platforms who attempt to convince them that they are either out of touch, perhaps outside the norm, somehow destroying any efforts at unity, which in itself is a ridiculous notion in the end. This is after all, part of the beauty of a free political system, where no matter how much power some believe they have in shaping opinion, it is in the end, individuals who still think and ultimately decide for themselves.
Perhaps, the chit and chat occurring inside this spec of space within the 35 square mile island that is Manhattan, here deep inside this, the nation’s biggest city, has its ear closer to the ground that is America, and yet again, that’s why this all continues with the hope that whoever wins keeps their ear to the ground and their finger on the pulse of that which is all of America.
,
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Bear Stearns CEO in hot seat (REUTERS)
Apr. 3 - Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz was in the hot seat on Capitol Hill as lawmakers review rescue plan.
In the days leading up to the fire sale of investment bank firm Bear Stearns, the company was the topic of rumors, speculation and fear that led the venerable Wall Street firm to the brink of ruin.
Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz, testified about those uncertain days before the Senate Banking Committee.
Deborah Lutterbeck reports.(REUTERS)
In the days leading up to the fire sale of investment bank firm Bear Stearns, the company was the topic of rumors, speculation and fear that led the venerable Wall Street firm to the brink of ruin.
Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz, testified about those uncertain days before the Senate Banking Committee.
Deborah Lutterbeck reports.(REUTERS)
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Clinton leads Obama, McCain in key matchups: poll (REUTERS)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton holds a 9-point lead over rival Barack Obama among likely Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters ahead of the state's April 22 primary, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.
Clinton, a New York senator who would be the first female president, leads the Illinois senator 50 percent to 41 percent, the poll found. She also runs better against the likely Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, in Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio -- all important swing states in the general election.
In a general election matchup in Florida, McCain closely trails Clinton 42 percent to 44 percent but McCain leads Obama, who would be the first black president, 46 percent to 37 percent, according to the poll.
LINK TO FULL TEXT AT REUTERS
Clinton, a New York senator who would be the first female president, leads the Illinois senator 50 percent to 41 percent, the poll found. She also runs better against the likely Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, in Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio -- all important swing states in the general election.
In a general election matchup in Florida, McCain closely trails Clinton 42 percent to 44 percent but McCain leads Obama, who would be the first black president, 46 percent to 37 percent, according to the poll.
LINK TO FULL TEXT AT REUTERS
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
A Reason for Supporting Congestion Pricing In Manhattan.....Cycling
Regarding Reasons to Support Congestion Pricing...The battle between cyclists and automobiles...
Excerpt from my 2006 piece at OMNI
But, truth be told, there is a daily battle taking place on the streets of New York City between automobiles and bicycles.
Automobiles, whose weight is measured in tons and can reach speeds capable of triple digits, maintain the clear safety advantage over the pedaling human eggshells called cyclists.
Cyclists glide through streets on two wheels all the while dodging arrogant SUVs, cumbersome bullying buses and manic trucks on deadlines making deliveries to homes and businesses across the five boroughs.
Yellow Cabs race for fare-paying customers, phantom looking black sedans zip through lanes ignoring all around them, and lost or intoxicated commuters attempt to pass, cut in front of, or compete for parking in the chaotic, poorly policed traffic-choked streets of New York City.
In addition to the unpredictable cars, cyclists must be on the lookout for the thousands of Carries and Bills, who while frantically discussing the evening's plans or an earlier lunchtime meeting on their cell phone, tend to jaywalk, wandering aimlessly into a crosswalk or bike lane, disregarding traffic signals or worse yet, completely ignoring the moving human on the bike headed right for them.
Link to the full Story
Excerpt from my 2006 piece at OMNI
But, truth be told, there is a daily battle taking place on the streets of New York City between automobiles and bicycles.
Automobiles, whose weight is measured in tons and can reach speeds capable of triple digits, maintain the clear safety advantage over the pedaling human eggshells called cyclists.
Cyclists glide through streets on two wheels all the while dodging arrogant SUVs, cumbersome bullying buses and manic trucks on deadlines making deliveries to homes and businesses across the five boroughs.
Yellow Cabs race for fare-paying customers, phantom looking black sedans zip through lanes ignoring all around them, and lost or intoxicated commuters attempt to pass, cut in front of, or compete for parking in the chaotic, poorly policed traffic-choked streets of New York City.
In addition to the unpredictable cars, cyclists must be on the lookout for the thousands of Carries and Bills, who while frantically discussing the evening's plans or an earlier lunchtime meeting on their cell phone, tend to jaywalk, wandering aimlessly into a crosswalk or bike lane, disregarding traffic signals or worse yet, completely ignoring the moving human on the bike headed right for them.
Link to the full Story
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
Stumble It!