On election day morning, Elka and Jeff hit their park for a frisbee session. Elka looks especially fly on the fall leaves and happily jogging about in the crisp air.
November 08, 2008
November 07, 2008
Amazing Photo Gallery of the Obama Campaign
Thank you Jen for sharing this link to the Boston Globe's photo journal of Obama and the historic and mind-bending Presidential campaign. Click to view the gallery "The Next President of the United States".
October 22, 2008
Congratulations Joe. You're rich!
During the last Presidential debate, John McCain introduced us to "Joe the Plumber" in an embarrassingly obvious campaign tactic to promote "the average guy" and talk about how Barack Obama's tax policy would gravely impact their personal finances. Joe was someone at an Obama rally earlier in the week who had a chance to ask the Senator a question, and his question was whether or not under Obama's plan, he would be taxed more. Turns out Joe isn't actually a licensed plumber, and he owes back taxes, but regardless...
The highlight of McCain's debate strategy was when, after talking about how Joe would be taxed more under Obama's plan because he (hypothetically) would be making more than $250,000 per year, McCain turned awkwardly toward the viewers at home and exhorted, "Congratulations Joe. You're rich!" in a head wobbling sarcasm only the 72 year old campaign veteran could pull off with such wry cynicism.
Well, actually Joe - if you clear $250,000 a year, you ARE rich! In fact, you will be making more than 95% of Americans. The important point to remember is that 95% of Americans, including plumbers (the average income for a plumber in the United States is between $40-50,000) would benefit from tax relief under Obama's plan, while they would continue to suffer under McCain's standard Republican policy of tax breaks for the wealthiest corporations and CEOs, while cutting benefits for the middle and lower income majority of Americans. Read more about McCain vs Obama on Taxes
October 15, 2008
Donate to ACORN in the name of this Republican Voter Suppression Specialist
With Election Day approaching, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), finds itself in the cross hairs. Over the past year and a half, ACORN has helped 1.3 million mostly young, mostly poor people register to vote. Then, last week, ACORN was thrust into the national spotlight when the McCain campaign accused it of engaging in fraudulent voter registration on a massive scale. We host a debate between ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis and Cleta Mitchell, a Republican attorney specializing in election law.
After hearing this podcast, I was compelled to donate to ACORN, the single largest non profit for middle to low income citizens in the country, specifically to help them with their efforts to register largely disenfranchised voters across the United States.
Even better, when donating to ACORN here you can specify the donation in someone's name. I donated in the name of Cleta Mitchell, the loud mouth republican thug that was so abrasive and classically singing from the Republican song book with regard to voter suppression to win elections that it made me want to throttle her.
So on the ACORN donation form, you can enter her name, and you can even use the form to automatically email her to tell her that you just donated to ACORN in her name. Her email address is cmitchell@foley.com.
September 25, 2008
September 23, 2008
An Economic Coup?
Article by Laura Flanders: From The Nation
A threatened elite seeks to consolidate control and tighten its grip on a nation's resources ...
You could be forgiven for thinking I'm describing Bolivia, where conflict between landowners and backers of the democratically elected president Evo Morales claimed 30 lives so far this month, but I'm not. Reading the economic plan proposed by the Bush Administration for Wal St., I'm struck by the thought that what we're going through right here might not be an election season, but rather a coup.
The oligarchs in Bolivia used bullets and batons to undermine democracy. Here the weapons look like bailouts and blank checks, but the end goal is the same: Put the economy in a vice and you've tied the hands of whomever's in office. You, the voter, may not vote for the team that promises -- as the GOP service-cutters have promised -- to shrink the Treasury to a puddle that can be drowned in a bathtub. But no matter, your candidate gets the keys to the Treasury and - presto, the Treasury is bare.
Read the full story here.
September 11, 2008
Photos from the RNC Convention in St. Paul
I got to attend the RNC convention in St. Paul to take photographs for an upcoming documentary called 'Papers' - A film about immigrant youth and the challenges they face when they become adults without legal status in the United States.
We interviewed over 40 people inside and out at the Xcel Center in St. Paul and it was an amazing experience. I was surprised how you build a relationship with folks you interview for something like this - and it made all of us think hard about being respectful and straight-forward about how we represent these interviews in the documentary.
It was especially cool to talk with people from all walks of life, and across the political spectrum, and from protesters to delegates. We even got several interviews with locals not attending the convention for either side.
Here are some more photos from Thursday outside the convention.
September 08, 2008
"Hand Made" Signs at the RNC Convention
I had the opportunity to attend the RNC convention in St. Paul last week. I was helping to shoot an upcoming documentary film called "Papers" about the challenges faced by undocumented youth when they turn 18 and are considered (illegal) adults. Learn more at www.papersthemovie.com.
On Wednesday night, GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin addressed the assembled delegates and the world, and the mood was electric. The major news outlets were crawling all over the place, and their was a great deal of coverage, particularly on CNN, MSNBC and the late night shows like The Daily Show and Leno.
While I watched the crowd rally toward fever pitch in anticipation of the grand finale of Palin's speech, I noticed what appeared to be RNC (or McCain) campaign staff, all in bright yellow caps, in the aisles around the Excel Center, working the crowd.
As I watched these folks from my balcony perch, I saw as they began to hand out large posters to the crowd, with hand written lettering saying things like "Keep America Strong' and "Hockey Moms for Palin". I watched the staffer below us hand out about a dozen of these signs, and as I scanned the stadium, I saw staffers handing them out all over the place. They were even showing the convention attendees how to wave them over their head, and when they should do it.
The staffers would motion for people to stand and clap, and even to sit back down and be quiet. The staffers in front of us were actually quite good, complete with super-animated faces and grand arm gestures, not unlike a team mascot leading 'the wave' at a major league baseball game.
The view of these waving signs gave the impression that they had been made by supporters and brought to the convention to show their 'grassroots support' for Palin and the RNC. Of course nearly all of the signs in the arena were the same signs created en masse by the campaign, and handed out to the crowd by campaign staff.
The full impact of what I was watching was driven home later that night, back at my hotel watching post convention coverage. MSNBC was playing back highlights from speeches by Romney, Gulliani, and Palin and in each speech snippet, the network would cut from the speaker out to a 'hand made' rally sign in the crowd. Problem is, the signs were 'hand made' by the campaign expressly for the purpose of the TV shots, and the entire process was engineered to feign 'grassroots' rallying for the event. Check out more photos here.
May 12, 2008
"The Whitehouse Dog Ate My eMail"
From the 5/7/2008 Washington Post:
White House tells court of missing emails from beginning of Iraq war
The White House has admitted in court that it has lost three months of email backups from the initial days of the Iraq war, raising questions about the possible deletion of politically sensitive records.
The disclosure came in a lawsuit filed by the National Security Archive, a non-profit group that specialises in uncovering classified documents.
The archive was told it could not receive emails relating to Iraq, despite a 30-year-old law requiring the preservation of presidential records, because a system upgrade had deleted up to 5m emails.
George Bush's administration faced a deadline of this week to outline the contents of 438 backup tapes that were believed to contain emails deleted in 2003 between March—when the US invaded Iraq—and September.
In a court filing yesterday, however, White House chief information officer Theresa Payne said "the earliest date" with email on any of the tapes was May 23 2003: the date the UN gave formal approval to the US occupation of Iraq. Read the full post
February 03, 2008
Yes, We Can. Artists Release Music Video Based on Barack Obama's Speech
From CNN
With just a few days to go before the critical Super Tuesday primaries, Black Eyed Peas' frontman will.i.am and director Jesse Dylan, son of legendary musician Bob Dylan, have released a new song featuring a host of celebrities and one very unlikely music video star: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
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Watch the Video and please share it now. This Tuesday, February 5th is the single most important day of voting in the Presidential Primary and hope CAN beat fear. It only takes people. Our democracy allows us a bloodless revolution by our votes and our voices. Speak up!
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"Yes We Can," released Friday, is centered around footage of the speech the Illinois senator gave after the New Hampshire primary last month.
Continue reading "Yes, We Can. Artists Release Music Video Based on Barack Obama's Speech" »
