Friday, May 30, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
seen on the streets
East Village, late April, 2008.
A large family gathers outside a funeral home. Mostly elderly and middle aged women, with a fair number of children. One child, wearing a t-shirt with a laser-printed image of his grandfather's face, hugs his mother, somberly.
Right next to the funeral home is a bar. On the sidewalk, bachelorettes and sorority alumni take randy pictures of each other in their slim black skirts. One girl wears a crown and carries a big novelty penis balloon, with little white cum balloons coming out of the top.
A large family gathers outside a funeral home. Mostly elderly and middle aged women, with a fair number of children. One child, wearing a t-shirt with a laser-printed image of his grandfather's face, hugs his mother, somberly.
Right next to the funeral home is a bar. On the sidewalk, bachelorettes and sorority alumni take randy pictures of each other in their slim black skirts. One girl wears a crown and carries a big novelty penis balloon, with little white cum balloons coming out of the top.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
You Heard it Here First!
William Temlett was one of England's earliest banjo makers.
You Heard it Here First!
You Heard it Here First!
These People Exist
There's a great video here that examines the reasons for Obama's losses in the Appalachian parts of America. The conclusion: Appalachian people are hilarious caricatures of themselves, and also cripplingly racist. It's a good report, but a few things really stood out:
-Multiple interviews with coal miners
-A man auctioning a plastic chicken and individual cans of beans, as his job
-Frequent toothlessness
-A "retired coal miner and voter" named Oakley Delong who:
-Multiple interviews with coal miners
-A man auctioning a plastic chicken and individual cans of beans, as his job
-Frequent toothlessness
-A "retired coal miner and voter" named Oakley Delong who:
- Has a flagpole outside his trailer which bears a large confederate flag, in the middle of which is a cartoon bulldog wearing a confederate soldier hat
- Has two empty 24-pack beer cartons right next to his chair, indicating that he puts his beer there for easy access before not throwing the boxes away (alternatively: he throws the boxes away daily, and they caught him after 3 pm)
- Is wearing a hat that appears to say "SkyCare" underneath a picture of a fish
- Claims that "the front people" kept black people at the back of the bus so long that now "we have to be careful they don't put us at the back of the bus.
- Basically lives in a bus
Obama is not an Asshole
Here's something I like about Obama:
I haven't seen a lot about this in the media, but I think an interesting pattern has been emerging wherein he gets hit with dirty politics and actually tries to take the high road instead of fighting fire with fire, which is a good way to continue burning things down.
For instance, people were upset that Obama chose a known black as his fake pastor, and they said dumb things about it. Obama responded with the best speech in America by any politician since Roosevelt, and it was nuanced and intelligent and didn't disown his friend. He eventually had to do that, but only after Wright turned out to be an actual crazy asshole.
And the gas tax thing. McCain comes up with a stupid plan that will sound good to stupid people. Clinton takes a look at her constituency and decides to back it as well. Obama says, "Well that sounds like a dumb idea," and explains why it is a dumb idea.
And more recently people have criticized him for being willing to talk to leaders of countries that Serious Politicians want to bomb. Instead of doing the easy thing and adopting a Republican foreign policy instead, he has basically continued to hold a sophisticated foreign policy not based on furious erratic bombings.
Sometimes his integrity has paid off (gas tax) and some times not so much (Wright), but I think it's cool that he maintains his positions and defends them even when it requires a patient, possibly complicated explanation. It's nice to be treated like a thinking adult even though I am still an American voter.
I haven't seen a lot about this in the media, but I think an interesting pattern has been emerging wherein he gets hit with dirty politics and actually tries to take the high road instead of fighting fire with fire, which is a good way to continue burning things down.
For instance, people were upset that Obama chose a known black as his fake pastor, and they said dumb things about it. Obama responded with the best speech in America by any politician since Roosevelt, and it was nuanced and intelligent and didn't disown his friend. He eventually had to do that, but only after Wright turned out to be an actual crazy asshole.
And the gas tax thing. McCain comes up with a stupid plan that will sound good to stupid people. Clinton takes a look at her constituency and decides to back it as well. Obama says, "Well that sounds like a dumb idea," and explains why it is a dumb idea.
And more recently people have criticized him for being willing to talk to leaders of countries that Serious Politicians want to bomb. Instead of doing the easy thing and adopting a Republican foreign policy instead, he has basically continued to hold a sophisticated foreign policy not based on furious erratic bombings.
Sometimes his integrity has paid off (gas tax) and some times not so much (Wright), but I think it's cool that he maintains his positions and defends them even when it requires a patient, possibly complicated explanation. It's nice to be treated like a thinking adult even though I am still an American voter.
Monday, May 19, 2008
target practice
Apparently the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad had to apologize profusely when a soldier was discovered to have used a copy of the Koran for target practice.
He humbly begged for forgiveness and assured the Iraqis that his men would immediately return to the old strategy of shooting local citizens instead.
He humbly begged for forgiveness and assured the Iraqis that his men would immediately return to the old strategy of shooting local citizens instead.
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