Saul Williams: Dear History

Just got an email from Saul Williams' mailing list with this video in it. I thought it was just going to be him talking but he does his spoken word thang and it's pretty cool. I'm still sad none of us could make it to see him in Berkeley.

Dear History,
You are behind us and we are no longer looking back. We are standing on the threshold of new times, new days, new worlds, and charging forward without battle cry or trumpet, while cynicism, apathy, and cowardice take their place beside you, behind us.

Obama Roasts McCain!

This little gem was tucked away in some comments on Crooks and Liars. It was from earlier this evening at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a stop for most presidential candidates. Quote of the night:

"I have never, not once, put lipstick on a pig, or a pitbull, or myself.
Rudy Giuliani, that's one for you. Who would have thought a cross dressing mayor from New York City would have a tough time running the republican nomination? It's shocking. That was a tough primary you had their John."

It's funny because it's true... and so sad...

Sarah Palin = Bush with Lipstick

Her insane gibberish non-answers could only rival our current President for lack of intelligible content. Apparently she's coming to CA to promote her good ol values and tell people to support Prop 4 and Prop 8. I'm sure we all remember our favorite abortion related Prop that we've seen twice before and rejected twice before. And who could forget the attempt to undo same-sex marriage in the ongoing battle of Brad Pitt vs Utah Mormons. With McCain looking more and more like a propped up corpse paying for $5k+ makoevers to hide things like his drooping left eye, the thought of her being president makes me want to beat my head against a wall. So if anyone can think of a good 50 character message to have displayed over her event, pop over to Courage Campaign and make the suggestion. It might be flown back and forth over the event and the Los Angeles area. (DEADLINE for submissions: 9 p.m. Wednesday)

Welcome to the Police State Minneapolis

I was just talking with Lorenzo about this last night at the gym. Apparently when the RNC comes to town you lose all your rights, as homes of protesters were raided by police in full riot gear with automatic weapons drawn. Sounds a bit much to me. The warrants used to pull the harassment off sounds like a load of shit as well, some being for "fire code violations" others for possession of molotov cocktails. Last time I checked, peaceful gatherings were guaranteed to citizens by the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. There was even a journalist of 20 years arrested because she wanted to know what was going on. Well at least the activists haven't lost their laughter. Hopefully that day will never come. [via Crooks and Liars]

Bill Moyers at NCMR 2008

This is the speech Bill Moyers gave at the National Conference for Media Reform 2008. If you don't know him he's a journalist for PBS and apparently was formerly it's president. It's probably one of the best speeches I've heard. I doubt anyone will watch/listen to this in its entirety, though I do recommend it, as it rounds out at 39mins. It has a strong positive message despite pointing out the harsh realities our country faces with our relationship to media and the media's to the government.

Democratic Primary is Over

Just watched this vid a little bit ago from Crooks and Liars. It's Obama's speech from last night, the last night of the Democratic Primary for this coming election. After our discussion over Skype, watching this, and Hillary's speech from last night, I cant help but wonder if they are actually going to run together. A good portion of his speech is praise for Hillary and a sureness of her involvement in the years to come. It seemed as though he was prepping his supporters to accept her. Hillary's speech did not mention throwing in the towel, despite the fact that numerically she can no longer win the nomination. She simply thanks her supporters and makes no mention of what's to come. Both campaigns have broken records for fund raising and getting people involved in voting and it's not even the general election. If they combined the momentum of their campaigns in terms of people involvement and fund raising, I'd be pretty surprised if they wouldn't completely steamroll McCain at the polls in November. On the flip side, I don't think that Obama would need Hillary to clinch a victory in November. Perhaps he will choose Edwards as his running mate, but I think there's a strong likeliness that the two former foes will join forces. Time will tell.