Howdy everyone. I'm off to Europe for the next month. Greece and Amsterdam. So any submissions made for any shows will be checked at the start of August when I come back. Until then, everyone have a great summer and don't watch too much TV, it'll ruin your eyes.
Last night I heard Obama's eloquent speech on race and found myself quite moved listening to it. I just wanted to share that with you all along with this link which goes to the full speech and this excerpt from the speech which I think is just fantastic. I hope this will convince those that Obama is the genuine article and I also hope, as he does, that things will get better for our country if he get elected as our President. Thanks for reading.
EXCERPT
But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
February 5th is slowly approaching and most likely, we will know who our next presidential candidates are going to be. So get out there folks, and vote your heart and most especially, your minds for the best candidate, OBAMA. Yes, I am an Obama supporter. After years of political science classes and even more time and money spent getting my law degree, I am finally going to vote for the first time in my 29 years in the United States. Why now you may ask? Well, Obama is the first candidate I really ever felt passionate about. Way back when, I used to like Howard Dean, and planned to vote for him to beat Bush in 2004. But he screamed and the media crucified him. I remember seeing it liv on television and thought wow, he's so enthusiastic and energized, just pumped up about going out there and winning it. And then the media and papers started making fun of him and Dean's scream was reduced to a tiny whimper. So ladies and germs, I, flinched of tv.com do hereby cast my vote for Obama and think you should too. Thank you for listening, and may the best man or woman win.
Two quotes stand out this week as both bizarre and funny at the same time. First, Miss Teen South Carolina is asked why a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a map. As if that isn't a sad fact in and of itself, look at her response:
"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for."
And finally, our good friend Senator Larry Craig explains how his feet happened to bump into an undercover officers feet under a bathroom stall:
Officer: Okay. Did you do anything with your feet?
Larry Craig: Positioned them, I don't know. I don't know at the time. I'm a fairly wide guy.
Officer: I understand.
Larry Craig: I had to spread my legs.
Officer: Okay.
Larry Craig: When I lower my pants so they won't slide.
Officer: Okay.
Larry Craig: Did I slide them too close to yours? Did I, I looked down once, your foot was close to mine.
Officer: Yes.
Larry Craig: Did we bump? Ah, you said so, I don't recall that, but apparently we were close.
No sooner thanI posted the previous blog message in the wee hours of early morning on the 24th, as I strolled through the local supermarket shopping for odds and ends today, I came upon the Sun-Times with a large headline proclaiming that BP has backed off it's pollution plans. I guess my blog commentary was the final straw that broke the oil giants back. Excuse my delusions of grandeur, as Han Solo would say. Democracy in action folks, or is it the free market in action. Threaten a boycott in a major newspaper and the company folds. Makes you wonder what else this boycott tool might be able to change.
As Rove resigned, an angel got its wings. Affectionately known by Bush as the Boy Genius or Turd Blossom, Rove will effectively be gone at the end of August. Realizing he can no longer do anything inside the Bush administration since Bush has lost all his clout, Rove has had enough. Can't say I'll miss the guy. He's a very dirty and shrewd political beast. Saw a documentary on him called Bush's Brain that I highly recommend if you want to learn more about Rove's past.
As for the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq, it appears to be working and I fully expect Petraus to come back in September with good news. But the key word is appear. It's all about appearances. Apparently the U.S. is backing the Sunni's in the civil war and have gave them guns and are unleashing them on al Qaeda. This also has the added effect of trying to shift the balance of power against Iran who is backing the Shiite militias. A deep hypocracy lies behind it all as we pick sides in this civil war, all the while proclaiming were trying to unite the country. Not to mention going against the Iraqi government, which is essentially Shiites, the very same government were trying to support. The level of violence has decreased, but this is mainly due to the fact that these Sunni's and Shiites have effectively segregated themselves. And therein lies the political cover needed to make our great escape. But what remains is the aftermath of our departure. As each side, both Sunni and Shiia, consolodate their power and build up their forces, when the U.S. leaves, it will most likely erupt into a full blown civil war for control of the country. IT won't be this 10-20 bodies a day thing going on over there now, but then again, who cares, the U.S. will be gone when it all explodes.
My head hurts. The politics of this war and the subtle moves played on this chessboard of war are so complex. And predicting the outcome, trying to see three, four moves ahead, it's quite bewildering. And what we tend to forget is the cold reality of this chess game. I saw on the news the other night about this Iraqi sniper who shot one U.S. soldier, then as 4 other soldiers were hunting the sniper, once they entered the building where the shot came from, it blew up. 5 U.S. soldiers dead. Not to mention the scores of Iraqi's who die over their everyday. Deaths numbering from some estimates as high as 600,000. This is the unfortunate reality. Playing politics here in the U.S. disguises the reality of those 5 U.S. deaths and the unfathomable number of Iraqi dead.
On a lighter note, something to cheer you all up. I discovered this amazing artist named Phil Hansen. I'll let this cool video and article documenting some of his work describe it all. Check it out. Finally, here's a link to his website.
Was web surfing and found this video of Dick Cheney back from 1994 explaining why it was a good thing not to invade Baghdad and occupy Iraq during the 1st Gulf War. How can anyone say the Bush administration had no foresight at the potential problems that would plague the country if we invaded it. They knew and just didn't care. By 'they' I mean Cheney and Rumsfeld, partners in crime.The warcontinues on and will do sountil the end of the Bush administration. Regardless of what Petraus will say this September, Bush will stay the course. What remains to be seen is whether the Democrats will do anything after the September progress report, a.k.a political cover report.
PIMP and HO BALL 2007 is comin' to Chicago this Memorial Day, and Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun Times suggests we head to Pimpdaddy.com, a site selling anything and everything for that pimp within us all. Here's the full article.
The cicadas are coming back this year, in the next few weeks. The cicadas are on a 17 year cycle. Every 17 years they come out of the ground, mate, then die. The babies dig and bury themselves feeding on tree roots and emerge once again 17 years from now. I remember the last time they came, I was about 10 or 11, they were everywhere, you couldn't drive in a car without running them over. They were even serving them at the Taste of Chicago, dipping them in chocolate from what I remember.
Also, a woman stabbed her former husband who wouldn't stop eating off her plate. Apparently alcohol was involved, no surprise there. Short tempers and alcohol don't mix. Full article.
And finally, even though your compelled to see Spider-Man 3 as I was given the last two films were really good, the movie was horrible. It goes from one random scene to another with no structure whatsoever. The final battle scene just comes out of nowhere. I was really disappointed with Sam Raimi, especially since I've been a big fan of his films since the first movies, the Evil Dead Trilogy. This is by far his worst movie.
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