Thursday, November 06, 2008

Expect more of this

I like to watch Washington Journal on C-SPAN in the mornings before I head to the train--I always have a lot to think about as a result. The discussion this morning is supposed to be about Obama's transition team and what viewers expect from the Obama administration, but all the Republicans can seem to talk about is how Obama won because he was black.

Seriously.

Who knew being black was such a plus in electoral politics? I mean, there's so many examples of successful African-American presidents in our history, compared to all those white guys.

Go ahead Republicans--keep finding reasons other than those relating to your ideology for why you lost. Democrats did that for nearly a generation--it was always someone else's fault. It wasn't until we did a better job of arguing our agenda and proving it would work that we started winning again.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Yesterday was huge, but...

We can't forget that the country is still filled with people for whom the picture below is legitimate argument.



I found this on Facebook--a former student of mine had it as his profile picture. I could have simply unfriended him, and I was tempted to do just that, but instead I called him out about it on his wall, pointed out just how offensive it was. I did it that way because this kid--and he's no older than 21, so I feel I can call him that--this kid, while conservative (Huckabee supporter in the primaries), wasn't this quality of asshole in reality. He just hadn't thought the implications of this through.

I know--I was giving him a huge benefit of the doubt. After all, who doesn't understand that a Hitler comparison is beyond the pale. I mean, Moveon still gets tagged unfairly with the claim that they compared Bush to Hitler because some over-zealous morons with no sense of propriety made an ad that said that and Moveon's people missed it in the screening process. It's important to note that the ad was doing badly in the contest because people like me were voting it down, so it never would have made the finals anyway.

But something I've discovered about teenagers, since I teach them every semester, is that most of them lack both a knowledge of history and a sense of scale, and so they make really stupid decisions like making the picture above their profile photo on Facebook. I could have just unfriended him and he never would have known--when you cut people loose, Facebook doesn't notify them--but instead I took a chance and took a stand, and he responded almost immediately. I don't think I changed his mind for the long term, though he may be savable with some work, and if he hadn't responded, I'd have cut him loose without a second thought.

The thing is, we're not going to change minds overnight. The Republicans and the McCain campaign have spent the last 6 months or more casting aspersions about Barack Obama's character, questioning his patriotism and even his legal right to hold the office he won last night. We still have a significant number of people who believe Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks--it's going to take more than a few hours to convince these people that President-elect Obama isn't an IslamofascisthomocommunoliberalredistributoKenyathiesAntichrist. And some will never be convinced. But we have to try, even when it's difficult. That's part of perfecting our union.

And in the local news...

Now that the big election is over, it's time for us to concentrate a bit more on local issues, and there's no more local or personal issue than my rate of pay. See, faculty at FAU haven't gotten a real raise in 2 years, and the raise we got then was minimal. Our union has been trying to get us a raise, to their credit, but the state has been reticent, to say the least.

Part of the problem comes from the legislature's unwillingness to spend money on higher education in this state--it's hard to convince Florida's legislature to do anything other than argue for property tax decreases, after all--and the poor recent economy hasn't helped. But still, Florida's university faculty are at the bottom of the national rankings in terms of pay, and Florida's not exactly an inexpensive place to live, which makes this a double whammy.

So our union has put together a press release, and it makes our case pretty clearly.
FAU Professors Ask for Salary Increase Equal to FAU President’s

Friday, October 31, 2008.

Boca Raton – Citing the recent 10% raise given to President Frank Brogan by the Board of Trustees, Professors at Florida Atlantic University Friday asked FAU for a 10% raise for faculty. Professors noted that, under Brogan’s administration, FAU faculty salaries have fallen far below state and national averages and continue to decline at an alarming rate. FAU faculty have not had a pay raise since 2006.

While awarding Brogan with a 10% raise, the University offered the faculty a 1% raise and a one-time $1,000 bonus, which the Faculty Union (UFF) rejected. Union leaders noted that Brogan’s acceptance of the 10% raise at the same time as the faculty was offered a 1% raise has led to a general loss of confidence in his leadership and contributed to plummeting faculty morale.

FAU faculty are among the lowest paid on average in the state and country. The average salary of an associate professor at FAU is more than $4,000 less than that of their counterparts at Florida’s other public universities, according to 2007-08 payroll data from The Chronicle of Higher Education. Associate professors at FAU are paid $7,200 less on average than those of identical rank at Florida International University. Worse, FAU pay lags by as much as $13,000 behind FAU’s national peers institutions.

The Faculty Union contends that Brogan’s stated commitment to making FAU a world-class university is not matched by a commitment to maintaining competitive faculty salaries. As a result, many of the University’s best professors are leaving to take better offers elsewhere. Brogan and the FAU administration blame low faculty salaries on the bad economy. But UFF points out that other public universities in Florida have maintained more competitive salaries while FAU has not.

FAU Faculty urge Brogan and the Board of Trustees to make faculty salaries a priority. Faculty point to FAU’s new sources of revenue from the lease of broadcast spectrum to Clearwire Corporation and from a tuition hike of six percent recently passed by the legislature.

Palin as President

The site has been updated, and the results will please, hopefully. I certainly like the new look a lot.

Thank you, women

Thomas Friedman, in his typical way, has his own opinion on who turned this election. It's based on, well, I'm not quite sure.
But there also may have been something of a “Buffett effect” that countered the supposed “Bradley effect” — white voters telling pollsters they’d vote for Obama but then voting for the white guy. The Buffett effect was just the opposite. It was white conservatives telling the guys in the men’s grill at the country club that they were voting for John McCain, but then quietly going into the booth and voting for Obama, even though they knew it would mean higher taxes.
Okay. That could make sense, I guess, except that exit polls suggest something different.
Women voters typically are crucial to a Democratic presidential victory, and Obama was pulling 55 percent of their votes, compared with 43 percent for McCain, according to exit polls. Obama and McCain were nearly even among male voters, who split 49-49 percent....

The gap between Obama and McCain was closer among married women. Those with children supported Obama 53 percent to 45 percent for McCain, exit polls showed. Those without children favored McCain 54 percent to 44 percent.

But at least 70 percent of unmarried women with and without children supported Obama, a margin of more than 2-to-1. By contrast, 53 percent of unmarried women opted for Kerry in 2004, said Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster and vice president of the research firm Greenberg, Quinlan Rosner.
There was a lot of concern in some circles when Obama defeated Clinton in the primaries that women wouldn't transfer their loyalties to him. I think it's pretty clear that not only was that inaccurate, but that they provided President-elect Obama (wow, that feels good to type) his overwhelming margin of victory. I thank you, and I hope that Obama follows through and proves himself worthy of your trust.

We're a blue state

Amy and I had work to do tonight, but to no one's surprise, it got put aside so we could watch election returns. It was pretty clear to me once Pennsylvania was called that Obama was probably going to win, and once Ohio went, it was over, for all intents and purposes. And yet, especially for Amy, it wasn't going to be over until we'd seen what happened with Florida.

Florida, as I'm sure most locals know, wasn't officially called until after Obama had been named the President-elect, so the fact that we did our part seemed a little anti-climactic, but it still feels good to know that we helped elect the first African-American president in our history, and that we elected a Democrat.

It was a touching moment for me as well, because this was the first election my daughter took place in. She lives in Mississippi, and she left her college early this morning to drive home so she could vote for the first time in her life. She cast her first vote ever for Barack Obama. She called me tonight at about 11:30 to tell me that, even though Obama hadn't won her state, her entire freshman dorm had emptied out into the quad, screaming and yelling and celebrating. The campus police had to come out to make sure they didn't get out of hand. And I envy her a bit, because while it has taken me 4 presidential elections to get a winner, she got it on her first try.

Our victory for Obama in Florida is tempered a little by our loss on Amendment 2. That one makes me sick, because it would have only taken 40% of voters to kill that purely hateful amendment, and we couldn't get that much. That bothers me, and I hope that there's eventually a response on the federal level that makes this whole thing moot, and gives our LGBT members of our society the full recognition they deserve.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

This seems like an iffy idea

Drinking games for nights like tonight are nothing new, but I've never seen a newspaper do their own, complete with drink suggestions.
In keeping with the night's political theme, we recommend you arm your guests with red and blue drinks (see ideas below).

Take a sip of your red drink if:

- McCain wins a state.

- Anyone utters the word "maverick."

- Joe the Plumber makes an appearance. (double points if he's gotten his plumber's license)

- A pundit implies that Sarah Palin is hot.

- Someone refers to Barack Obama as a socialist.

- Anyone says anything nice about George Bush.

Take a sip of your blue drink if:

- Obama wins a state. - Anyone utters the word "historic" in reference to Obama's campaign.

- Hillary Clinton makes an appearance. (double points if Bill shows up too)

- A pundit implies that John McCain is senile.

- Someone mentions Tina Fey.

- Anyone says anything nice about John Kerry.

Take one sip from both drinks if:

A news anchor declares that a race is "too close to call."

Throw in the towel if:

A news anchor announces that, once again, Florida is the presidential tie-breaker.
I can't do this anymore--my head will hurt for a month.

Remember your rights

This is important--remember that you cannot be fired and your employer cannot threaten to fire you for leaving work to go vote. Your employer could be found guilty of a third-degree felony if convicted. Your employer may refuse to pay you, but your job cannot be threatened if you are exercising your right to vote.

Also, the Obama campaign just reminded me that if you're in line by 7:00 p.m., you cannot be turned away from the polls without casting a vote. They have to count you, no matter how long the line is.

And remember, Vote No on 2.

Today is the day

When I started this countdown to election day last week, I always knew we'd wind up with this song. The rest was flexible, but there was never any doubt that we would wind up here, with will.i.am's riff off of Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" speech, because no other song, old or new, could really capture what Obama's campaign inspired in so many people.

Look, I know that Barack Obama, should he close the deal and be the President for the next four years, will disappoint me. He can't help but disappoint me because, as I've said before, I'm a progressive, and no one who could possibly get elected to the Presidency could agree with me on even a majority of things. I'm a fringe type, always trying to drag the Overton window a little farther left. If I ever find myself in love with a mainstream candidate, it's time to take away my progressive card--that's just the nature of the game.

And yet, Barack Obama managed to do something no other nominee has ever pulled off for me--not Al Gore, not Bill Clinton, certainly not John Kerry. He managed to convince me that there are a lot of people in this country who are still willing to work together to make this a better country. He appealed to our better natures instead of our baser instincts.

And most of all, he made me believe that there are enough of us to win.

The last Democratic President to win a majority of the popular vote was Jimmy Carter in 1976, and he only barely squeaked out 50.1%. Before that it was LBJ's mammoth victory over Goldwater in 1964. Clinton won handily in the Electoral College, but he never broke the 50% barrier, and for six of his eight years in office, the opposition party dominated the Congress. Between that and Clinton's penchant for triangulation, progressives never felt like they were winning the debate.

In 2004, Howard Dean told Democrats to be proud of their party again, and lots of us listened. In 2006, we claimed resounding victories in the House and Senate and got a taste for winning. And now we stand ready to claim not only more seats in the Congress, but to elect the first non-white person to hold the highest position of authority we have, and by astounding margins, if the polls are accurate. It's thrilling to be a part of it, even if it's just in some small way.

Which is why I came back to this song and knew we had to end with it, because this election is the first one where I really feel like I'm voting, in a small way, not for a candidate so much as for a movement. It's the way Obama always manages to use "we" in his speeches, and that's what will.i.am picked up on so beautifully. Si se puede. Yes we can.

Monday, November 03, 2008

How low can people sink?

Pretty freaking low. In case you missed the bad news, Barack Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham died today. But how do the Freepers react? Here's some of the comments.
I put nothing past the Oboma people when it comes to encouraging votes ... even a "surprise" death ... .

I express my own sorrow, and condolences at this woman's passing.

However liberal she may, or may not have been, she was private, and she performed her parental role twice...once for her own, and then for her grandchild when her own daughter was either incapable or unwilling to do so. She clearly loved her grandson and gave him all the opportunity she could.

i agree...how convenient,,,

I’d bet her “death” was sped up. No where is there any mention of her having CANCER. I don’t trust this ... .

I'd bet her “death” was sped up.
Heads: hit the ABUSE button; Tails: call you out for being an a-hole.

[flip]

Get lost, a-hole.

If Oboma has NO PROBLEM voting for infanticide, this would be a no brainer. Believe what you must. I see it differently/ Obama is EVIL.
There are, as you can see, a couple of decent human beings who put aside their unreasonable hatred for Obama long enough to offer their condolences, but the tone of far too many of the responses are like the majority of the ones I posted.

Update: More from Sadly, No. Don't click if you have a weak stomach.

One More Day

Sam Cooke wrote "A Change Is Gonna Come" during the Civil Rights movement, reportedly after being inspired by "Blowing in the Wind." This is Aretha Franklin's cover of the song.



No more early voting if you're in Florida--they're setting up for the big day tomorrow--so if you haven't made your choices known yet, tomorrow is your last chance. Change is coming--you can be a part of it.

About that liberal bias

Yet another Republican operative is saying that after this election, we really, really need to do something about this liberal bias in the media. Reading a guy who was the Press Secretary for Bob Dole complain about liberal media bias is akin to listening to pet-abuser argue for more laxity in animal cruelty laws--one suspects he is not coming from a position of honesty and forthrightness.

And the piece doesn't disappoint. Douglas MacKinnon quotes John Harris, Jim Vandehei, and Howard Kurtz among others, all of whom have used specious reasoning in the past in an attempt to prove the myth of the liberal media is ruining this nation. MacKinnon never points to the tons of studies that point out that political media bias is largely a myth, and never comes close to discussing the real problem, which is that objectivity is an impossible dream, and one we might want to abandon completely.

But it's this paragraph that really gave me a chuckle.
Indeed, I — as well as two newspaper editors I know — would argue that one reason newspapers are seeing a decline in circulation is because they ignore or marginalize right-of-center or conservative readers.
There are two problems with his argument. One is that it fails to take into consideration new media, and the fact that more and more people are getting their news online--via newspaper's websites, I might add--than they are through dead tree copies. But the big thing it ignores is that there are some really good examples of newspapers which cater to right-of-center and conservative readers and which lose millions of dollars every year. I'm talking, of course, about Sun-Myung Moon's Washington Times and Rupert Murdoch's New York Post. If conservatives are feeling shut out by the NY Times or the Washington Post or any of the other major papers, they have options, but they're apparently not interested enough to make those papers profitable.

The news media hasn't tilted too far to the left--in fact, I'd argue that it's not even left-leaning by any reasonable definition of "left." It's corporate, and that's going to result in a pro-business bias, if anything, which is why you'll see precious little coverage of anything that's really left-leaning. Third parties can't get coverage unless they're tied to a celebrity candidate. Articles about universal health care are always focused on getting people insurance as opposed to building a single-payer system. And on television, with the exception of programs like Democracy Now!, about the leftiest person who gets on any show is Dennis Kucinich, and he only gets airtime every four years while he's running for President.

I'd like to see more examples of media companies throwing their biases out front for all to see, because that's more honest. The real lie in all of this is that there's an objective, truthful way to look at news stories, when the reality is that our biases cloud our perceptions all the time. We need to acknowledge that and work with it.

Come on, y'all

The image below is from what can best be described as the "fold" on the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's main page. I generally try to skip past it, as it almost never has stories I'm interested in. But it caught my attention this morning, and it wasn't the cheerleaders or the review of the NKOTB reunion tour that did it.




All the way on the far right--you mean to tell me that there wasn't a single mugshot of a white person you couldn't throw in there?

It would be easy to dismiss this as a small thing, an unconscious thing, but the reality is that these sorts of images reinforce stereotypes, especially harmful ones, and for a newspaper to engage in that sort of thing is irresponsible. The implication is clear, even if it's unintended--black people wind up in mugshots, and white people don't.

I don't want to ascribe any bad intent to the person who chose those photos--I'm not trying to play this like the photo-editor is some white-supremacist out to keep people of color down. I don't think there was any hostile intent at play--but that's irrelevant. Intent doesn't matter. What matters is the action itself, and this action reinforces negative and inaccurate stereotypes about the nature of crime in this nation and of the African-American community as a whole. It's the sort of thing that an editor needs to be more aware of, especially in a place as culturally and ethnically diverse as south Florida.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Hey Joe,

Enjoy the attention you get for the next two days, because it's likely the last you'll get for a while. Neil Cavuto isn't going to have you back on his show after the election, no matter who wins. Neither will Bill O'Reilly, or Sean Hannity or any of the other right-wingers with a tv show, because you'll have served your purpose by then. You'll have been the useful idiot for the right, who questions Barack Obama's loyalty to the country he's likely to be the President of next January 20, who repeats talking points like a trained parrot, and who ultimately proves that the last thing this nation needs as a leader is a regular guy, because regular guys--and I include myself in this category--don't know enough about how the world works to find our asses with both hands and a road map.

But enjoy the next couple of days, Joe. Read your press clippings and treasure them, because when this thing is over, you'll no longer be Joe the Plumber, media sweetheart. You'll be Joe Wurzelbacher, local dumbass who'll be sitting at his local watering hole regaling the regulars with the stories of how you campaigned for John McCain once upon a time until they get sick of it and break a pool cue over your head and dump you in the alley.

Two More Days

I was reminded of this John Legend song when he performed it on Real Time with Bill Maher Friday night; it's the one he performed at the Democratic National Convention, which is what I'm posting tonight.



Two more days y'all.

How do they get out of bed in the morning?

For the last seven years, I've really despised the rule of George W. Bush, and I've had moments of fear over where this country is going--not cringe-inducing fear, not "I have to leave the country because I'll be put in the gulag" fear; it was more of a dread and a sickening feeling that what I thought my country stood for had been co-opted by people who were more concerned with what was good for corporations than for citizens. But I don't think I was ever really pants-crappingly afraid.

But man, it seems like right-wingers are finding more and more stuff to really be afraid of Obama for, which is rich considering thay they've spent the last seven years using fear to push through huge restrictions on civil liberties, to start unnecessary wars, and oddly enough, to give huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. And the latest thing they're crapping their pants over? An expanded Peace Corps. Seriously.

I first heard about this yesterday when an old fraternity brother barfed all over my Facebook wall, presenting this idea as if it's the end of the world, and when I googled the term, I understood why, because the top hits are all from sites like Little Green Footballs, RightWingNews, babalu, and so on. The first non-partisan mention I could find of it was on the second page, and it was an article originally printed by McClatchy News Services. Here's what Obama actually said, with some context.
Obama repeated his pledge to boost the size of the active military. But he also said the nation's future and safety depends on more than just additional soldiers.

"It also depends on the teacher in East L.A., or the nurse in Appalachia, the after-school worker in New Orleans, the Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, the Foreign Service officer in Indonesia," he said....

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set," he said Wednesday. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

He said he would make federal assistance conditional on school districts establishing service programs and set the goal of 50 hours of service a year for middle and high school students.

For college students, Obama would set the goal at 100 hours of service a year and create a $4,000 annual tax credit for college students that would be tied to that level of service.
What a shock--right-wingers are taking a portion of an Obama speech and making ludicrous claims about the content. The wingnuts are seizing on the word "powerful" and automatically assuming "armed," when the rest of the context makes clear he's talking about educators, first responders, and volunteers who spread goodwill around the world. Power doesn't have to come from the barrel of a gun, from making people afraid of you--we can see just how much it can backfire over the last seven years, after all. Live by the sword, die by the sword, anyone?

Two more days, y'all. Then we can get on with the business of rebuilding the country.

Dear Lord

It's an article titled "Praying for Election Day miracles" and is subtitled "Religious Americans turn to a higher power on the candidates' behalf," and this is the photo that accompanies the story before you get to the text. What's the message?



It's the same message the media has sent at the behest of the Republican party for the last 28 years--Republicans are the party of American Christianity. Forget that the second paragraph mentions Barack Obama--the first one mentions opposition to abortion, and that means Republicans. The title, the picture and the lede all reinforce the notion that the Republican party is the party of belief.

"But Brian," you say, "you're an atheist. What do you care?" I'm also a political realist, and I understand that to win election, you have to be religious. Christian is the most effective, especially in a larger race--atheists need not apply. So when major media outlets reinforce the notion that one party is holier than another, it peeves me a bit, especially when it's as blatant as this.

Look, this nation is about 75% Christian, 15% who won't say, and the rest is a mix of the other major religions, which means there's a significant number vast majority of Democrats--pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-social justice Democrats--who are Christians. When media organizations make these sorts of skewed associations between Republicans and Christianity, especially this close to an election, they're sending a false message.

I'll be glad when the country gets to a point where questions about faith are considered not only unnecessary, but pointless and rude, but we're not there yet, and until we are, the media needs to do a better job of making sure that they show a realistic view of how both parties are full of religious people.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

3 Days Left

Wyclef Jean with "If I Was President." It's a bit of a downer, but it's poignant and certainly fits the definition of rebel music, which is what I'm feeling right now. Sedmikrasky suggested it in the comments yesterday, and it was on my short list, so great minds and all that.



Further suggestions are welcome, though I can't promise they will make a post. Maybe I'll do an extravaganza on November 5.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

The trend in infant costumes seems to be making our children into FOOD for Halloween. But our old friend from grad school, Abram, took it one step further with his kids -- he let the older one be the COOK.



This may be the best picture I've ever seen! :-)

Thanks to Abram for letting me share this!

4 More Days

As part of my countdown to Election Day, I present Nas and Tupac Shakur with "Black President."



I have a couple of ideas for the rest of the run, but I'm definitely open to suggestions--all genres and musical styles considered. Leave your suggestions in the comments.

Happy Halloween!

More classy Republicans and the Random Ten

David Storck, you're the next contestant on who can make the Republicans look more racist today, and it looks like you might be the big winner.
The head of the Hillsborough GOP, David Storck, distributed an email from a Republican Party volunteer saying the voters are a threat.

That's because, as the volunteer says in the email, he sees "car loads of black Obama supporters coming from the inner city to cast their votes for Obama."

It goes on to say, "This is their chance to get a black president and they seem to care little the he is at minimum a socialist and probably Marxist in his core beliefs." The Republican volunteer says that is because, "After all he is black- no experience or accomplishments but he is black."
But the best part is his not-quite-an-apology and explanation for the email.
Storck says he didn't pay enough attention to the email before he sent it out. "Now I know that was a mistake. I never should have done it. I do not agree with the statement or anything else. That's not what we're all about."
What part of that email could be put down to not paying enough attention before he sent it out? Would it be the suggestion that it's racist for black voters to support a black candidate? Or the suggestion that black voters are a threat because they're from the inner city?

You would think that by this point, people would have learned that you shouldn't put anything in an email that you're afraid would become public, nor should you pass along an email without reading it carefully, because if you're in the public spotlight, there's a good chance someone will use it to embarrass you. And you just might deserve it.

Here's the Random Ten--put the iTunes on party shuffle and post the next ten songs to pop up. No cheating to make yourself look cooler--or less cool, if that's your thing. Just don't tell us that you relate to the speaker in MC Frontalot's "Yellow Laser Beam." That's way too much information. Here we go.
1. Mista Mista--The Fugees
2. Tell Somebody (Repeal the Patriot Act Now)--Rickie Lee Jones
3. All Day Sucker--Stevie Wonder
4. Violeta--Ozomatli
5. Soul Train--Snooks Eaglin
6. More More More--Andrea True Connection (Amy's Favorite Song Evar!!)
7. Everybody's Gonna Be Happy--The Kinks
8. Lover's Lane--Squirrel Nut Zippers
9. Don't Let Me Down--The Beatles
10. Friar's Point--Susan Tedeschi
So what are you listening to this fine day?

Hat tip to anonymous in comments