More tears

From The New Republic
Dreams From My Father by Stephen Rodrick
"Why, as the son of a Navy pilot, I couldn't bring myself to choose a candidate until today."

New York Times Word Train Graphic

The New York Times website has an amazing visual representation of the mood of the country right now. You can type in the word that best describes how you're feeling and it'll go into the data. The most frequent words are the biggest at the top and you can re-describe your feeling each hour. The words are even divided by McCain and Obama supporters so you can get a pulse on how each camp is feeling.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/04/us/politics/20081104_ELECTION_WORDTRAIN.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Vote for Fear

Below, a repost of a great article Julia Whitty wrote for Mother Jones Magazine online. I find this relevant because the primary difference between McCain/Palin supporters and Obama /Biden supporters right now seems to be fear. It is fear of "the other," fear of gays, fear of Muslims, fear of the Middle East, and so on that fuels the McCain/Palin devotees. While Obama/Biden inspire and encourage hope. Read on.

Vote Your Fears

People who react strongly to bumps in the night, spiders, or the sight of a victims are more likely to support more defense spending, more government resources for fighting terrorism, and tighter immigration controls. This according to a new study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln published in the current issue of Science.

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and tested 46 people who identified themselves as having strong political opinions. The subjects were shown threatening visual images—pictures of a spider on a person's eyeball, a dazed person with a bloody face, an open wound with maggots in it. The subjects' skin was monitored for electrical conductivity—an indicator of emotion, arousal, and attention. As a separate physiological measure, the subjects were surprised by a sudden, jarring noise, while measurements were taken of their blink reflex.

Those with the strongest eye or skin reactions to unexpected noises or threatening pictures tended to endorse political positions emphasizing protecting society over preserving individual privacy. These people were found to be more willing to sacrifice their privacy in return for what they perceived as government protection. Conversely, the subjects who reacted less strongly were more likely to favor policies that protect privacy and encourage gun control. . . It's all in the biology. Even for disbelievers of biology.

Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal Award.

Sarah Silverman on The Great Schlep

Racism and the Election

My friend Anna sent this to me and I find it wholly brilliant.


From Letters to the Editor, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 9.17.08


How Racism Works

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said 'I do' to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the 'Keating 5'? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

-Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth

McSame, Business as Usual

Closets, Bathrooms & Gay Republicans

In case you missed it earlier this month, The Daily Show's brilliant take on why the Republicans chose Minneapolis/St. Paul for their convention this year:



Seeing the Daily Show correspondent in the mini-Babylon made my day.
A clip from the end of Queer as Folk, a dance scene set at Babylon, below:

McCain at the Debates

Did anyone else feel like McCain was lobbing a pity softball at us by mentioning Senator Kennedy's hospitalization during his first response to Jim Lehrer last night at the debates? I think it's important and very kind to send good thoughts out to an ailing person and their loved ones but there was something manipulative about the mention that cheapened it. It was as if McCain was saying, "I know people. People in Washington. I am connected; I rub elbows with Kennedys." Then he muttered "Lion of the Senate" and moved on.

Similarly, the McCain camp's spin on postponing the Presidential Debates (and putting McCain's campaign on pause) was transparent in its manipulation. The McCain campaign clearly wanted props for McCain's purported earnest pragmatism and ability to serve his country in its time of need. He was "needed in Washington" to do important things. It is intriguing that a decade ago McCain heavily supported deregulation of the insurance and banking industries, deregulations that have caused much of the contemporary turmoil.

I am ready for the spin to cease. There's a lack of integrity to it all. Much lipstick, on many pigs.