Ghosts of Joe Slovo

NC and Indiana Predictions. Just Because.

2008-05-06T16:17:20Z

Lots of people make predictions about the outcomes of primaries, some of whom have actually done things like poll prospective voters, others who have crunched demographics, and still others who have crunched lots of polling data.

And then there's me. Going on nothing but gut instinct and cursory blog-entry-reading.

So I'm breaking my weeks-long silence to regale ya'll with my primary predictions:

NC: Obama by 8-10 points, say 54 or 55 to Clinton's 46 or 45.
IN: Clinton by 5 points, say 52.5 to Obama's 47.5.

Until the Rev. Wright decided to do his Buffoonery 2008 Tour I thought maybe Indiana could break for Obama, but not now. And in all fairness to Rev. Wright, if Obama had used the opportunity of his "bitter" comment to actually hammer home a populist economic theme that spoke directly to working class anxiety over the economy and the future, it wouldn't have mattered what the good Reverend was on about.

But that is the pitfall of leaving your economic messaging to University of Chicago economists.

Kick ass and get out the vote.

Futbol Blogging MLS Week 3- Soccer By Ives Column, LA v TFC

2008-04-15T00:06:27Z

Folks, here's the link to my latest effort over at Soccer By Ives. (That's pronounced "Eye-ves" - it's Peruvian.)

The Galaxy lost at home to last year's worst team. Enough said.

Except I said this, to start things off:

Ugh.
Last week I said, "[A]ny team that can string together any sequence of passes in the midfield and has even half a striker will be big trouble."
I rest my case.
The fan trivia question at halftime (correct answer gets you a gift certificate for $25 in auto parts!) was, "When Cobi Jones scored the Galaxy's first ever goal exactly 12 years ago, what other current Galaxy player was also on the field?" The answer? Greg Vanney. Here's my trivia question for this past Sunday's game. "Which Galaxy player was beaten on every one of Toronto's goals?" You get one chance.
There were some bright spots on Sunday. The Landon Donovan – David Beckham connection is just coming into its own. If they both stay healthy and can deal with the disruption of international duty, they are going to give opposing defenses fits. Ely Allen was loads better this game than he was last week. Sean Franklin gave me no reason to wish for Abel Xavier or Troy Roberts to come off the bench.

Kick ass and put it in the net.

No Kidding.

2008-04-09T18:17:36Z

From the "No duh" department, Alternet division:

The Audacity of Populism

By Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet. Posted April 7, 2008.

If Obama convinces white working-class voters that he cares about their economic plight, he will become the 44th President of the United States.

Kick ass and take names.

Futbol Blogging - First Post Up At Soccer By Ives

2008-04-09T17:44:22Z

Faithful readers!

I am pleased to report that my first posting on Soccer By Ives, one of the biggest Major League Soccer-focuses blogs out there, has posted my first weekly article.

Here's how it starts.

I watched the thoroughly enjoyable, if not always compelling, LA-SJ game with one thought just lurking below all the action: "It's a really good thing San Jose plays like an expansion team." I loved watching the team play, especially after that mess in Colorado. But any team that can string together any sequence of passes in the midfield and has even half a striker will be big trouble.
On the one hand Thursday night's game showed a glimmer of what a Beckham – Donovan partnership can deliver; it was no accident that all the scoring came with them involved. On the other hand, if Alan Gordon is the other option up top with Carlos Ruiz injured, I'm getting flashbacks to 2007. Without the benefits of a misspent youth.

20 comments so far (and only 4 from me!).

Kick ass and put it in the net.

Soccer Blogging At A "Real" Blog

2008-04-04T20:11:56Z

So, as my loyal readers know, I am something of a futbol junkie, with the perverse twist of being a futbol junkie for the domestic US-Canadian top flight league, Major League Soccer.

I've subjected both of you to many posts on this subject, but you can now rest easy on that score.

The owner of one of the biggest futbol blogs in the Unites States, Ives Galarcep, put out a call recently on Soccer By Ives, for 14 weekly correspondents to follow each of the MLS teams during the season, writing from a fan's perspective. I, who's obesession runs into such esoterica as actually playing the damn official MLS Fantasy soccer game, put in an application and a writing sample. And what do you know? Ives, who must have been suffering from a mild stroke or passing dementia, picked me to blog about the LA Galaxy.

So, starting next Tuesday you could be able to go to the site and see my 250-500 word musings on the beautiful game.

Kick ass and put it in the net!

In Honor of King - The War On Voting Rights - Recent History Edition

2008-04-04T18:42:08Z

This was originally posted at Project Vote's blog, Voting Matters and at Project Vote's diary on DailyKos.

Steve Rosenfeld, writing in the journal Social Policy, has authored a comprehensive look at the recent history of partisan attacks on the voting process itself and the unfolding attempts to roll back all of the voting rights gains of the past 50 years that have gained speed and urgency under the Bush Administration.

Pointing out that modern voter suppression attempts and larger projects to reshape the entire electorate to favor conservatives no longer rely on the open fear and intimidation that characterized past practices from American history, Rosenfeld opens his in-depth survey with this observation,

“Jim Crow has returned to American elections, only in the 21st century he is apt to be a lawyer carrying a folder filled with briefing papers, proposed legislation and talking points about “voter fraud” and protecting the sanctity of the vote.”

The entire article, which Social Policy has placed outside their subscriber wall (pdf), is worth reading in its entirety.

From the article, here’s the overall thesis:

The newest barriers include state laws that target various phases of the voting process. Registration by individuals has been made more rigorous. Mass registration drives face new deadlines and increased potential fines. Citizens must present new identification to register and to vote, and in some states newly registered voters face increased prospects that partisan challengers will question their credentials before voting. Civil rights groups have noted that all of these new laws and procedures disproportionately fall on people of color, poor people, senior citizens and the disabled.

The Department of Justice, which for decades fought to ensure all eligible citizens could vote, has encouraged states to take these steps in the opposite direction. Political appointees who advocate for stringent requirements before ballots are cast and votes are counted now drive much of the Voting Section’s actions. As a result, the Justice Department has been pushing states to purge voter lists, and to adopt newly restrictive voter ID and provisional ballot laws – actions all that are known to cause delays if not confusion at the polls. Meanwhile, the Justice Department’s Voting Section has not enforced other federal laws, such as the requirement that state welfare offices offer public aid recipients a chance to register to vote. Similarly, the Bush Justice Department has filed few cases on behalf of minority voters.

The Department’s political appointees have also pressured federal prosecutors to pursue “voter fraud” cases against the Bush administration’s perceived opponents, such as groups like ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which conducts mass registration drives among populations that tend to vote Democratic. Two former federal prosecutors have said they believe that they lost their U.S. attorney posts for failing to pursue those cases. The proponents of this renewed impetus to police voters are almost all from a powerful and well-connected wing of the Republican Party that believes steps are needed to protect elections from what they call “voter fraud,” or allegations that Democrats – or their allies - are fabricating voter registrations en masse, and voting more than once to win. It is “an article of religious faith that voter fraud is causing us to lose elections,” Royal Masset, the former political director of the Republican Party of Texas said in a May 17, 2007 Houston Chronicle report. The report continued, “He [Masset] doesn’t agree with that, but does believe that requiring photo IDs could cause enough of a drop off in legitimate Democratic voting to add 3% to the Republican vote.”

Rosenfeld’s piece adds deeper context to the Art Levine piece we highlighted yesterday. Taken together, these two articles show the depth and breadth of recent partisan attempts to shape the electorate and the resulting corruption of independent non-partisan agencies and departments including the Department of Justice itself. They further show the mechanics of those attempts and how they centered largely on ACORN, a national organization fighting for the rights of low- and moderate-income families. (ACORN is also one of Project Vote’s field partners in our Voter Participation Program.)

In Honor Of King - The War On Voting Rights, Dallas Voter Supperssion Edition

2008-04-04T17:40:35Z

I'm going to reporduce here some recent blog posts that I've helped shepherd as part of my day job.

I'm putting these up (1) because most of my two readers are progressives and they need to know about this stuff, especially in an election year and (2) they directly relate to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movemement.

The are a comprehensive look at the recent war on voting rights carried out by conservatives, often using partisan organizations, and which culminated in the the complete subversion of the national voting rights enforcement infrastructure for partisan political gain at the Department of Justice. You may remember something about a scandal involving US Attorneys. Well, that was about this stuff.

Here's the first one, on GOP voter suppression dirty tricks in a Dallas Congressional race in 2006, originally posted on the Project Vote blog, Voting Matters:

Art Levine, writing at the Huffington Post, has an article up that sheds fresh light on a stunning example of voter suppression in a Texas Congressional race from 2006 and the complicity of the Department of Justice in letting it stand. He starts this way,

Since the resignations of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others involved in the U.S. Attorneys and Civil Rights Division scandals, you might expect that the Justice Department would come clean and show a new commitment to voting rights.

Think again. At recent hearings before a House Judiciary subcommittee, new revelations emerged about how the Justice Department failed to investigate illegal mailers sent to African-Americans in Dallas threatening criminal punishment if they registered to vote through a community reform group called ACORN."

There are two striking aspects to the story. First, Levine does a great job connecting the dots between partisan attempts to shape the electorate and the politicization that took hold like a cancer in the belly of the Department of Justice.

Moreover, the Justice Department's response was part of a striking pattern of indifference to alleged intimidation violations. In fact, The Huffington Post has learned, President Bush's Justice Department hasn't brought a single prosecution or lawsuit in more than seven years on behalf of any African-American voters who faced direct voter intimidation threats and challenges -- despite receiving, by some estimates, roughly 12,000 criminal civil rights complaints of all kinds annually.

'The Justice Department hasn't handled these cases because they've had an unreasonable focus on voter fraud. They're more interested in disenfranchising voters," observes Tanya Clay House, the Public Policy Director of People for the American Way. (The Justice Department, and the local and national FBI, declined to answer questions about the Dallas incident and the broader lack of prosecutions aimed at voter intimidation.)'
The partisan interest in disenfranchising voters, which the Department of Justice had rushed to support under the stewardship of Alberto Gonzales and which does not seem to be abating under the new Attorney General Michael Mukasey, can be seen in the swarm of attacks leveled against the community organization ACORN, an advocate for low-income families.

"Indeed, part of what amounts to a wide-ranging GOP disenfranchisement strategy is attacking the non-partisan low-income advocacy group ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). The organization has been a favorite target of Republicans promoting the myth of widespread voter fraud because of its success in registering Democratic-leaning minority voters since 2004, according to reports by McClatchy Newspapers, The American Prospect, and other outlets. The drumbeat of voter-fraud hype is then used to justify a host of GOP-backed laws and policies, from restrictive photo ID voting laws to the Justice Department' promotion of mass purges of registered voters. Yet voter fraud, in fact, is so rare that even an intensive, four-year anti-fraud initiative by the Justice Department couldn't even find one person in the country to charge with impersonating another voter -- out of nearly 215 million votes cast in federal elections."

The other striking aspect is Levine's clear outlining of the method by which operatives bent on keeping certain voters away from the polls run voter suppression operations. Levine goes step-by-step through the voter suppression scheme implemented in the 2006 Dallas-area Congressional race, from using inflammatory and misleading press released to generate bogus stories of voter fraud in the local media, to creating attack ads based on those media stories, to circulating fliers linking the group named in the press release to suspicions of voter fraud, to a letter to the local District Attorney claiming the Democratic candidate's 2004 campaign had engaged in voter fraud. The entire scheme, Levine notes,

perfectly symbolizes the no-holds-barred Republican politics of voter fraud. The intimidating flier was part of a brazen vote-suppression and smear campaign designed to undermine a Democratic candidate, Harriet Miller, in a tight local race in 2006 to challenge Texas House Rep. Tony Goolsby in a racially mixed North Dallas district.

The entire article should be read by everyone concerned with defending voting rights and by those interested in being able to clearly identify voter suppression attempts in the run-up to the 2008 Presidential Election.

40th Anniversary of MLK's Death

2008-04-04T15:49:40Z

Martin Luther King, Jr. has now been dead more years than he was alive.

I am now one year younger than he was when we was killed by James Earl Ray in Memphis on April 4th, 1968.

Were I a man of great eloquence and insight, these facts would elicit, no doubt, some profound truths about the world, the country, and myself; profound truths that would read with something near the poetry that the Rev. King put into his most powerful prose.

However, lacking both eloquence and insight, I have only my own truth.

Reverend King changed America and I was privileged enough to grow up in a world that was just adjusting to what he and the cadres of famous, semi-famous, obscure, and faceless organizers and activists wrought through their courageous struggle before and after, but most spectacularly during, the Civil Rights Movement.

I went to first grade 8 years after King was killed. Two years after his assassination the public schools in my hometown in the South were desegregated, fully 16 years after Brown v Board (Thurgood Marshall's defining moment), the decision that was the catalyst for the "modern" Civil Rights Movement. Six years after desegregation, my elementary school, of which I've seen an early 70's newspaper photo of the last day of school with nothing but white kids bursting out the front door, was about 85%-90% black.

I recount that not to show that people benefitting from white skin privilege are sore losers (or willing to give into their fears easily), though the evidence there is stark, or to show that the advances of the Civil Rights Movement, most especially the destruction of de jure apartheid in America and the vigorous defense of voting rights for all people, were hollow or even pyhrric.

I recount that to show how fast change can come and how change can wash over everyone, even a 6 year old going to elementary school for the first time. At the time, I didn't know the context for what I was experiencing. I learned that later, in high school, and not through any curriculum, but through repeated viewing of Eyes On The Prize, the best documentary of the Civil Rights Movement in existence today.

Those experiences, which I won't detail here for lack of time and space, but which, in many ways mirror most American's schooling experiences with certain glaring exceptions, helped shape me, my values, and my world view.

And, to get back to my original point, they would never have been possible without the Civil Rights Movement and its towering champion, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even in death, his life deeply affected mine. And I say that not as hagiography, not to place Dr. King in a space in which he is clawless to whites and flawless to blacks, to use Micheal Eric Dyson's artful phrase, but to recognize this deeply courageous, deeply committed, deepy introspective and gifted strategist, and deeply, deeply flawed man for the profound influence he had on my country and the little bubble of NathanHJ-ness that has grown up and prospered in the world that he, in a very real way, made.

Kick ass, take names, and birth a new world

I'm Paying For Big Oil's $11 Billion In Tax Breaks.

2008-04-01T20:18:41Z

Crud.

For the first time in my life I owe more taxes than were taken out of my paycheck.

I suspect some kind of Bush Administration conspiracy.

But my financial advisor says it was probably due to the conversation of retirement savings from one kind of IRA to another, a change that had "tax implications" as they say in the biz.

As I was thinking about this I heard that Big Oil made a collective $143 billion PROFIT this past year and yet still get about $11 billion or so each year in tax breaks.

WTF?

Apparently the next time I convert IRA's I need to make sure that I'm also investing in R&D, exploration, and upgrading my refining equipment.

Question: If you can make $143 billion in one year (ONE YEAR!), can't you also fund your own R&D, exploration, and upgrades? I mean that's $143 billion AFTER YOU'VE PAID FOR ALL YOUR COSTS!

"Gosh, Senator, you know that $143 billion doesn't go so far anymore. You've got your salaries, your supplies, your transportation and fuel costs *snicker*, your computers and what not... After all that, there's not a whole lot left over for searching for new deposits and upgrading old refineries so they don't keep exploding like they do all the time in Contra Costa County, CA. You know how it is Senator, a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

Clearly I am in the wrong business.

Kick ass and pay $4/gallon for gasoline.

Random White Person Doings

2008-03-31T20:48:18Z

Here are a couple of random interesting tidbids from my life as a white person.

First, I ate at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse for the first time a couple of weeks ago when Tyche and I were in Oakland for her grandmother's 90's birthday party. This restaurant is ground zero for the food movement that has resulted in Slow Food, California Fusion, an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients, and the explosion of Farmer's Markets in California, among other things.

I have to say that it was pretty good. And, because we ate in the cafe, not the full-fledged restaurant, we escaped for less moola than one might have expected to spend at the flagship stop in Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto. The entire meal was quality from top to bottom and start to finish and that goes for everyone who was there. If you can afford $40-$50 per person for dinner on a special occasion, then you should go.

Second, for my own birthday, Tyche took me out to dinner at Pizzeria Mozza, another celebrity chef outpost, this time featuring Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali and this time in Los Angeles. Again the food was quality from top to bottom, but this time I didn't get why it was so amazing. Foodies in LA have been raving about the place since it opened last year and the wait for a table after 5pm is a month only because that's the furthest out they take reservations. But Tyche and I have both had equally good wood-fired pizza in Northern Californa. First, Restaurant LuLu in San Francisco by the Zeum. Second, the Big Sur Bakery in Big Sur. Third, her parents' back yard in Santa Cruz County, where they have a pizza oven.

Don't get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner and thought it was worth the price, but it wasn't some amazing new culinary wonder dropped into the middle of California by the gourmet gods. In fact, the highlight for me was the fact that we were seated 4 people down a row of tables from The Fonz. That's right, I got to watch Henry Winkler eat pizza and drink wine with some of this friends/family at 5:30 on a Saturday afternoon. In fact, before we went Tyche was wondering if we would see any celebrities (I told you, this place is as trendy as a Hollywood starlet's club-hopping itinerary) and we did. Not quite A-list, but definately big enough to qualify as "celebrity".

Also, popular suburban-white-kid-sport, soccer, had its opening day over the weekend as Major League Soccer started its 13th season with a game in Columbus between the Crew and Toronto FC. I watched 6 games over the weekend. And I still made granola and double batches of choizo chili and sun-dried tomato and avocado fusilli, did the grocery shopping and vacuumed the house.

And, for the record, while I believe the choice of dishes is a fair representation of my white heritage, I fear that I'm venturing outside my traditional boundaries with all this chore-doing. Yep, I just checked Stuff White People Like and I can't find anything about cleaning and doing chores, though I suppose you could argue that those are things no one likes and would therefore not be subject to examination on the website. Still, it really doesn't feel like I'm staying true to my race here...

Note To Self: Must investigate the connections between this and suggestions that I look into getting "someone" to handle this.

Kick ass and advance the race.

Red lights can kiss my ass.

2008-03-26T15:11:30Z

I ride my bike to work three or four days a week. It's not far, about five miles, and takes 25-30 minutes.

Over the 1.5 years I've been doing this I've developed a rhythm keyed to my body's fluctuating fitness level (I don't recommend taking three months off of riding like I did from November - January) and the timing of the traffic lights. I get this good speed going, my legs are pumping, I'm getting a good cardio workout and I'm going for blocks and blocks without hitting red lights.

This is great because the biggest pain in the ass as an urban cylcing commuter is accelerating after decelerating. You've got to push hard on the pedals, your stroke isn't smooth so the bike wobbles, and the cars and busses are accelerating next to you. It's not fun, it screws with your breathing cycle and it totally breaks your rhythm.

So for the past 1.5 years the path I chose was pretty great for me. I could go great stretches without having to worry about stoplights and the lines of cars they create and I could work all that to minimize getting passed by busses.

But two weeks ago the traffic engineers did something to the timing of all the stoplights through downtown on Grand and Figeroua streets. They subtly adjusted the timinig of the lights, just by a few seconds each, but man, that has really screwed my rhythm up!

There was this one stretch on Grand from Bunker Hill by the Library all the way to 13th Street where, if you hit the 6th street light right you could go the whole way at high speed without stopping once. Today I hit the 6th street light correctly, but had to stop at 3 different lights on the way, including one I've never had to stop at before.

This is really pissing me off. Changing the rhythm of a bicycle commuter is dangerous. It increases the number of things we have to pay attention to and throws us surprises where it used to be smooth sailing. I know this is your basic self-centered whining, but I think it is things like this that really affect the tenor of my day. Starting the day out with such frustration spills over into everything else I'm going to do. I suspect this is the case with car commuters who have to fight traffic every morning as well. We get to work cranky and stressed out.

But I'm not trying to make a larger point here. I just want the traffic signals to allow for what I used to have: long stretches of uninterrupted bike riding.

Kick ass and put air in the tires.

New Analysis of Cancer

2008-03-24T17:15:19Z

The great thing about the Internets is that anyone can reach out and touch you, using this great tool for communication to exapnd one's world view.

One of my far-flung correspondents, one Khalid Mahmoud from Bahrain, has reached out to me for the first time and has educated me on the evolution of cancer and its attempts to evade medical treatments.

Mr. Mahmoud's cancer, though, seems to have taken its defiance of the healing professions to the next step.

I'll let my man Khalid explain in his own words, as taken directly from the e-mail he sent me:

" I am khalid mahmoud from Bahrain,I have been diagnosed with Oesophageal cancer. It has defiled [my emphasis] all forms of medical treatment, I have few months to live."

Wow, not only has it been unresponsive to attempts to arrest it, it has been downright heretical. That is one nasty and aggressive Oesophageal cancer. The next thing you know it will be sacking the operating room and laying waste to the nurses' stations.

In sympathy with Mr. Mahmoud, I am going to help him carry out his last wish,

"I have Eighteen Million dollars ($18,000,000,00) with a finance House abroad. Can you help me collect this deposit and dispatch it to charity organizations? You will take 20% for your assistance."

Why yes, my new friend Khalid, I CAN "dispatch" it to charity organizations. Just make the check out to "N-a-t-h-a-n-H-J" and I'll see it gets "dispatched" appropriately.

Kick ass and dispatch with alacrity.

For All My Oakland A's Lovin's Peeps

2008-03-24T04:58:32Z

Stuff White People Like comes through again, this time with quality You Tube-linkage in an entry about San Francisco.

Not only is this about the Oakland A's, the only team I care about in a sport that has consistently broken new ground in the "How To Be Boring" category, but it also includes shots of white people, the Oakland hills, and ghost riding, three things that most people thought would never be brought together in the same place at the same time. But that is the genius of the white peoples.

(Note, the video gets extra street cred for referencing both hyphy and the Black Panthers.)

Because I love you I am embedding it here so all you have to do is click play.

Kick ass and ghost ride your whip.

'Cuz that's hyphy.

A moment for satire.

2008-03-07T17:00:44Z

There are two funny websites that I've stumbled upon recently.

One is a fine piece of racial satire done by a Canadian writer now living in Culver City. It's called Stuff White People Like. All white people and the people who have to deal with us should find this funny. And if you don't, then you don't understand the pain of the white man...

Then, in a an example of taking an idea and running with it, there is now a satirical blog called Stuff Educated Black People Like. My favorite part of this so far is Number 5: Poetry Slams. This is also funny because the dude who runs Stuff Black People Hate claimed that he was going to add Poetry Slams to his blog recently. Oh Lord, the ironicalness....

Of course, all these sites owe their success to the seminal website Black People Love Us, started by a brother-sister team of New Yorkers who grew up in Oakland, CA. They were also responsible for the phone number that you could give out to people who you didn't want to embarrass at the club by refusing buy had no intention of ever talking to again. The number rang to a recording that basically told you that the person they had talked to didn't want to talk to them, but did it nicely and gently. It was hilarious.

Kick ass and write of the satiricallyness.

Elections. And then more elections.

2008-03-05T16:41:28Z

Okay, first off, I'd be happy if the Dems picked either of the two people currently kicking the shit out of each other. I'd prefer Obama, not necessarily from a policy perspective, since his articulated policies are clearly the less progressive, but because of the way he's running for President. He's investing huge amounts of money and effort in training his staff and volunteers in the basics of organizing and he's running his campaign as if it were a giant community organizing effort. This will have ramifications for the next generation of progressive work and substantially builds progressive infrastructure, which can then be used to kick a little right-wing ass.

My bias is front and center in this. So take that into consideration when I say that I'm fairly disappointed with Clinton's campaign right now. Choosing to go with the red phone ad, which plays into people's fears and insecurities, in effect scaring them into voting for her, is, to my mind, unethical in this particular primary race. It's not dirty, it's not harsh, but it is unethical.

Why? Because it accepts the GOP frame on this election: that is is the 3rd security election (2002, 2004, 2008 - 2006 was clearly about the direction of the country and the meltdown of the Republicans) and the decision should be made on who the next Commander In Chief should be.

Well, first of all, thanks for appealing to the most primitive and base part of a person's emotional make-up as you try to make your case. Second, do you seriously think that the Dems can compete on CIC issues running against a former GOP prisoner of war who was tortured? Third, there is a golden opportunity to make this election about economic issues, effectively reframing "security" to include economic security. Do that and you win. Do this red phone business and you lose.

The winning contrast for the Democrats in November will not be between relative competancies in dealing with military threats, it will be between those who speak for people who are hurting and for people who are energized by the idea of a new direction for the country and those who want a 3rd Bush Presidency run by a guy who went to high school with Methusalah.

That's why I'm disappointed in Clinton right now and find myself actually dreading a drawn-out primary contest. It only gets bloodier from here and, not to only blame Clinton in all this, Obama needs to add some economic populism to his message of hope and post-partisanship (and he can start that by giving the heave-ho to all those U of Chicago economic advisors) because he's not going to win as a Democrat appleaing only to the well-educated, the young, and the economically well off. (See also, Latino Vote, Winning the.) Seriously, dude, use that soaring rhetoric to channel your inner Paul Wellstone.

That's all.

Kick ass and watch the primary season of a thouand cuts grind on.

Really really cool.

2008-02-29T21:10:32Z

I just got the largest one-year raise of my entire life. It works out to an-over-12% increase from last year.

What makes this extra-specially nifty is that we finish payment's on Tyche's car this summer so starting in July or August we get another bump.

Overall, for the year the take home pay will jump by 11%.

Middle-class people seem to never talk about money, at least the middle-class people I surround myself with don't. So feel a bit like I'm telling tales out of school here. However, despite the fact that is all a non-profit salary we're talking about here, that increase is going to have a real positive impact on the quality of life that Tyche and I enjoy.

People, it is morning again in George Bush's America! I'm thinking of changing the party on my voter registration card! I'm suddently feeling very positive about the fact that McCain is running for a 3rd Bush term! I'm starting to understand how a REAL economic stimulus targets the supply side! Make the tax cuts permanent! Cut the capital gains tax! Elminate the death tax! Oh, BABY, STOCK PORTFOLIO HERE I COME! (Just after I get back from jetting off to Europe for the weekend.)

Kick ass and screw all ya'll who just want crack whores and drunks to piss away my hard earned money through so-called "social" programs.

Countdown Revisited

2008-02-27T18:26:55Z

Counting today, 11 days until Daylight Savings Time.

I've been saving mine since November...

Kick ass and no longer ride my bike home in the dark.

Subprime Primer

2008-02-26T01:10:06Z

For anyone confused about the mortgage mess and in need of some humor aobut the economy, I've got the thing you've been looking for.

http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&pli=1

(It turns out that the explanation you find here is actually 100% accurate, not just 100% snarky.)

Kick ass and watch the economy do a face plant into the crapper.

Endorsement Update

2008-02-21T23:45:55Z

I mentioned the other day that the ACORN PAC might be making an endorsement this week. Well, they did.

On Wednesday night, ACORN Votes, the ACORN PAC, endorsed Barack Obama for President.

ACORN President Maude Hurd had this to say,

“Last night, Sen. Obama received more than the two-thirds majority needed from our elected national leadership to secure the endorsement. Over the past months, we have worked with all leading candidates. ACORN’s members have deep appreciation and respect for Senators Clinton and Edwards and their work on behalf of our communities. What it came down to was that Senator Obama is the candidate who best understands and can effect change on the issues ACORN cares about like stopping foreclosures, enacting fair and comprehensive immigration reform, and building stronger and safer communities across America.”

ACORN's membership is probably about 35% Latino and 65% African-American. I don't think this will have much effect in Texas, since Texas ACORN's presence is concentrated in a few areas. But this could have a major impact on African-American turnout in Ohio, where ACORN has a major presence and a demonstrated track record in moving state-wide issues and conducting statewide voter contact programs. ACORN ran the field for the 2006 Ohio Minimum Wage ballot measure and reached between 250K and 350K largely African-American voters.

I would expect that this means that ACORN members will hit the streets for Obama immediately in Ohio (and Texas, but more in Ohio). Down the line this could mean more boots on the ground in places like Pennsylvania as well.

Interesting.

Kick ass and take names.

More Proof That I Am A Gigantic Nerd

2008-02-19T23:34:09Z

Here's a recent IM exchange regarding some fundraising for a program to get states to comply with teh National Voter Registration Act of 1994. This was the "motor voter" bill. It also has a provision that requires public assitance agencies to offer voter reg to people coming in for assistance. So basically in addition to people getting driver's liscenses, you are supposed to be reaching the really poor people too.

Guess what part of the law goes unenforced? If you said the part that targets poor people exclusively (and also disproportionate numbers of poeple of color), then you win the prize!

So we're running a program to get the states to comply with this aspect of the law. Here's an exchange based on raising money for that and the relative cost savings of registering people this way versus large-scale voter registration drives.

Kevin: Mike (redacted) was comfortable estimating that 100,000 voters were left out per year. a back of the envelope % of citizens in CA who are latinos would be a fine way to make a very conservative esimate
Nathan: Oh, must have missed that estimate in the drill down in these proposals. I'll get a "conservative estimate" based on that.

Kevin: it was back of the envelope in a way that i won't even tell you research gurus -- you would have a stroke

Nathan: Believe me, I'm familiar with a lot of "quick and dirty" techniques here. That Doug (redacted) response was more of an example of someone ready for an anyeurism. I asked a very simple question and even told him I'd be will to do something very dodgy just to get any kind of number, and got that paragraph back.

Kevin: then don't tell doug this, but 120,000K is what Oregon does and we know CA must be able to do at least that. Again, a very conservative estimate, if not very precise.

Nathan: And since they only did 20K in 2006... bingo on the 100K. (Which puts 2006 CA at the same level as 2006 OR).

Nathan: 36,000 (35.9% Latino)

Nathan: Cost per latino registrant via enforcement = $2.78, via voter registration program = $15. Assumes $100K budget, which is overstated by quite a bit.

Kevin: what a deal! PLUS there is a match, so it is really half price--now how much would you pay--don't answer yet, because you get a free press hit on the Governater at the same time!

Nathan: All this AND [organization] will throw in African-Americans AT NO EXTRA CHARGE! That's right, you get the Latinos, the African-Americans, AND THE Guvernator ALL FOR ONE LOW PRICE! Now how much would you pay? WAIT DON'T ANSWER YET! Because you ALSO GET ALL POOR PEOPLE GENERALLY! All at a gigantic cost savings to YOU the feel-good liberal philanthropy community. Operators are standing by, please have your credit card numbers ready and GIVE GENEROUSLY!

.

Kick ass and take names

More Endorsment Chatter

2008-02-18T20:26:52Z

Word on the street is that ACORN, which has massive field capacity amongst low and moderate income voters and communities of color in Ohio and Pennsylvania, might be making a Presidential endorsement this week, Wednesday at the earliest.

The organization's membership has been divided amongst the Big Three on the Democratic side, reflecting how voters voting in Democratic primaries have broken down nationally. But with Edwards out and the fight down to two, with only a few big states remaining, it looks like there is mounting support to pick a candidate. The winning candidate needs two-thirds support of the voting membership and no one's willing to go on record as to who the membership is supporting.

My own guess is Obama, but Clinton has always played well with ACORN's membership and NY ACORN members are especially fierce in their support. They could move the rest of the voting leadership or gather enough votes to block any endorsement at all.

This is particularly important for the endorsee in Ohio because of ACORN's demostrated ability to reach voters in majority minority districts, last seen in 2006's election when they ran the field for the minimum wage ballot initiative and reached well over 250,000 voters with multiple contacts over a 6 week period.

We'll see what happens...

Kick ass and take names.

More With The Politics

2008-02-18T20:17:35Z

See how I title these posts so the uninterested can keep on truckin'?

See how that leaves me with the same two loyal readers? (Thanks, ya'll.)

Quick questions:

Does John Edwards endorse? If he does endorse, does he do it before March 4? If he endorses before the delegate count for either candidate is insurmountable, who does he endorse?

My take:

Unless someone either makes the pitch of the century or makes the gaffe of the century, I think there is not a compelling enough reason to endorse before March 4. Endorsing Obama could be seen as a bandwagon move and endorsing Clinton could be seen as both toeing the party line and saying Obama has fatal weaknesses.

The whole reason to get an Edwards endorsement at this point would be to win Ohio and possibly Pennsylvania. So if the endorsement were to mean anything outside of the Convention, then it would have to come in the next 10-12 days.

I'm not sure that, on the whole, Edwards is served by making an endorsement here. If the thing is still as close as it is now after North Carolina in May, the last decent sized state to vote, then he's better off leveraging his power in Denver. He won't implicitly criticize either candidate and he won't have to deal with the backlash from the other person's supporters. He'll have enough pledged delegates to be a prize in Denver and he can play up his role as the conscience of the process by calling repeatedly for economic populism to be a centerpiece of both candidates' campaigns.

But that's just me.

What do ya'll think?

Kick ass and think endorsements.

Countdown!

2008-02-18T19:25:24Z

Only 21 days (counting today) until Daylight Savings Time.

Countdown!

2008-02-16T23:16:22Z

22 day until Daylight Savings Time!

Something I'm Still Not Used To.

2008-02-15T23:53:04Z

Here's a thing that never ceases to disconcert me: being called "Sir".

I actually remember the first time it happened, which was one time coming home from college and being addressed as such by one of the flight attendants. I was probably 20. Definately not a "Sir" any way you slice it.

Basically I just don't feel like I've got enough personal gravitas to get this honorific.

I'm often double disconcerted when older black people call me "Sir". Growing up in the South I've been strongly aware of the deeply-held cultural norm of respect for elders within the black community since I was a kid. (Obviously this goes for may aspects of American cultural and ethnic sub-groups, but the tradition in the black community is expecially pronounced.) I'm also strongly aware of the history of relations between black and white folk in the US and I'm not at all comfortable with being called "Sir" by someone who should, by virtue of age and accomplishment, be so addressed by me. It dredges up pictures of servents, backs of the bus, and signs with the word "colored" on them. It feels like an unearned privilege and it is an acute reminder of the white skin privilege I bring with me whereever I go.

I'm thinking once I'm a grandfather, you can call me "Sir" and I'll be alright with it. But I'm still going to be a bit weirded out to hear it from the mouths of black folk older than I. I think that's one of the most esoteric aspects of my relationship with white supremacy and all contained in one very small word.

Kick ass and don't call me sir.