I've only listened to the first 30 minutes (Part I) and will now listen to the second part (Part II), but WHO KNEW this was who Reverend Wright was based on media's representations of the man?
Journalism has really sucked in the last decade and I offer kudos to Bill Moyers for giving us an example of what journalism SHOULD be.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Earth Day, the lazies, our Spring Vacation, and nuking Iran.
Just a reminder that today is Earth Day. The media seems to want to make this whole week Earth Week, which doesn't hurt my feelings AT ALL.
I'm WAY behind in blogging. I've got some stuff from our Spring vacation and some stuff regarding our peach trees, but haven't had the urge to get everything coordinated into posts because I've been distracted by Politics. It's looking like if Obama doesn't win the Democratic primary I won't be voting at all in November and that thought just rankles me. I take voting very seriously; just ask my kids.
The last Democratic Debate had Hillary mentioning how if she's POTUS she'll nuke Iran if they decide to attack any country in the Middle East. Keith Olbermann asked her about that in his interview with her last evening:
Here we go again with a warmonger vying for the White House.
We need sanity in the WhiteHouse! Nutballs at the head of governments lead people to believe that the entire populace consists of nutballs, and that's just not true.
I'm WAY behind in blogging. I've got some stuff from our Spring vacation and some stuff regarding our peach trees, but haven't had the urge to get everything coordinated into posts because I've been distracted by Politics. It's looking like if Obama doesn't win the Democratic primary I won't be voting at all in November and that thought just rankles me. I take voting very seriously; just ask my kids.
The last Democratic Debate had Hillary mentioning how if she's POTUS she'll nuke Iran if they decide to attack any country in the Middle East. Keith Olbermann asked her about that in his interview with her last evening:
Here we go again with a warmonger vying for the White House.
We need sanity in the WhiteHouse! Nutballs at the head of governments lead people to believe that the entire populace consists of nutballs, and that's just not true.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Chile's Clutter Challenge - Cognition!
If anyone has been keeping up with Chile's Clutter Challenge a lot of people have been trying to clean up their lives. This is probably part of what inspired a recent Ureka moment for me.
I'm a perpetual hopper, going from one idea to another. While this allows for massive breadth in knowledge, it normally fills the everyday mind with WAY too much to focus on. I lack focus. Well, focus is really just a function of the mind, and the mind is what you train it to be/do.
Meditation is nothing new for me. I've discussed it with quite a few different people who follow the practice and am amazed at the variety of styles people use. I've mostly followed the "no mind" philosophy and tried to eliminate though by letting ideas drift away. A friend of mine seemed appalled at that fashion. She was sure that meditation must be towards a goal or purpose. Other friends visualize different things, which seem to affect the body via suggestion or metaphore.
If meditation can manipulate the brain's ability to perform certain functions, why can't it improve focus? What about other brain functions? To test this, I'm changing my meditation to a meditation on a single object. Today was the number 1. Try to keep the word/image/concept of one in your consiousness for 5-10 minutes.
Having Trouble? I sure did.
I'm a perpetual hopper, going from one idea to another. While this allows for massive breadth in knowledge, it normally fills the everyday mind with WAY too much to focus on. I lack focus. Well, focus is really just a function of the mind, and the mind is what you train it to be/do.
Meditation is nothing new for me. I've discussed it with quite a few different people who follow the practice and am amazed at the variety of styles people use. I've mostly followed the "no mind" philosophy and tried to eliminate though by letting ideas drift away. A friend of mine seemed appalled at that fashion. She was sure that meditation must be towards a goal or purpose. Other friends visualize different things, which seem to affect the body via suggestion or metaphore.
If meditation can manipulate the brain's ability to perform certain functions, why can't it improve focus? What about other brain functions? To test this, I'm changing my meditation to a meditation on a single object. Today was the number 1. Try to keep the word/image/concept of one in your consiousness for 5-10 minutes.
Having Trouble? I sure did.
Endless War ... On The Installment Plan.
First day back from vacation (which I'll blog about later this week), but going through Email I couldn't help noticing:
Our tax dollars at work.
Our tax dollars at work.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I know ... I know ... Obama's speech from today on race IS here (just like you thought it would be!).
I've become SO predictable!
And, Diane, it's not what you think. It's worse!
Here's how JFK handled HIS religion problems in 1960.>
And, Diane, it's not what you think. It's worse!
Here's how JFK handled HIS religion problems in 1960.>
Monday, March 03, 2008
March 4, 2008.
It's time, Texas!
March 9 update: It looks like Obama won the caucus portion of the Texas Democratic Primary, so our efforts on March 4th were not for nought. It was a REALLY exciting evening of caucusing as you can see:
Totals can be seen HERE.
March 9 update: It looks like Obama won the caucus portion of the Texas Democratic Primary, so our efforts on March 4th were not for nought. It was a REALLY exciting evening of caucusing as you can see:
Totals can be seen HERE.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Farewell, Vanessa!
I've had a lot of fun this past year reading what Vanessa's done to "green" her life. I've had a lot of fun doing some of that stuff myself.
The difference between Vanessa and myself on this whole "green" thing is that I didn't commit to a particular timeframe or a 1 thing each day during a timeframe, so I can't say when I'm done trying on the different "green" hats to see if they fit.
I doubt that she's done with it, either. I think there'll always be a little devil on her shoulder suggesting that she throw away her concerns about how the new LED nightlights came in enough packaging to kill two polar bears and an angel on her other shoulder suggesting that the wine she wants tonight was stomped by slave monkeys or something. Heh.
Good luck, Vanessa, and thanks a bunch for the fun!
The difference between Vanessa and myself on this whole "green" thing is that I didn't commit to a particular timeframe or a 1 thing each day during a timeframe, so I can't say when I'm done trying on the different "green" hats to see if they fit.
I doubt that she's done with it, either. I think there'll always be a little devil on her shoulder suggesting that she throw away her concerns about how the new LED nightlights came in enough packaging to kill two polar bears and an angel on her other shoulder suggesting that the wine she wants tonight was stomped by slave monkeys or something. Heh.
Good luck, Vanessa, and thanks a bunch for the fun!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
64 minutes with Obama and Google.
Getting close to primary elections here in Texas. I'm pretty sure we're gonna early vote today, but if we don't make it we still have tomorrow. Sunday, we're having a call party through Move-On.Org to (in particular) remind folks of how Texas has BOTH primary elections AND caucuses, so people who vote in the primaries need to return to their polling places on the evening of March 4th to vote AGAIN. Heh. We're ONE place where voting TWICE is not only LEGAL, but a sure way to get your candidate elected.
It's WONDERFUL that the 2008 election has included Texas. As you can see, we're REALLY turning out for this phenomenon.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Post for #3. It's ALL for you today, son!
Valentine's day was a yo-yo!
NPR: Interviews Michael Specter: Count Carbon Along With Calories.
If that audio tickled your fancy, move on to Michael's article here.
How to Behave on an Internet Forum
Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
Feel free to add more when you have time.
NPR: Interviews Michael Specter: Count Carbon Along With Calories.
If that audio tickled your fancy, move on to Michael's article here.
How to Behave on an Internet Forum
Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
Feel free to add more when you have time.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Stand for Change Rally
Today, Em and I went to Reunion Arena for the Stand for Change Rally.
We took the TRE to Union Station and walked half a block or so to the Arena.
Once at the Arena, we were directed to the end of the line. I think someone said there were 17 lines (one for every entrance), but our line snaked up into the parking lot. We walked 25 minutes before we got to the end of it. We'd been told that the doors opened at 10:30, so we took the train that got us there at 10:31. Obama was to speak at 12 noon. Heh. We were still in line in the parking garage at 12 noon, so didn't know if we'd miss the rally or not.
We met lots of nice people in line, so we weren't bored at all. The crowd had LOTS of young people, but there were other boomers and even people older than us. We talked to these two girls and ran into them again when we got to the TRE to go back home.
It might have been 12:30 when the line REALLY began moving. In fact, we were encouraged to not run, but walk VERY fast the last 500 feet or so before the entrance to the Arena, as Obama would be speaking soon. Em's knees were about to give out at that point, and the volunteers were just about cheering us on, thanking us for coming to the rally.
Once inside, we found our way to some seats in the nosebleed section after stopping to catch our breath sitting on some steps which we (of course) couldn't block. We listened to the last bit of a speech by a previous Dallas mayor, some inspiration from Emmitt Smith (who I think plays football down here), and then about 1pm someone introduced Obama.
We hadn't been through security, because we were absolutely no threat at this distance from the stage.
By 1:30pm, it was all over. We left and followed the crowds back to Union Station where we talked to the girls again. TRE (as well as DART ) scheduled extra trains; we were very appreciative, as we'd just missed one.
It was a LOT of work to go through to attend a live rally for Obama, we discussed on the way home from the TRE station afterward. We could have seen HIM better from a chair in front of the TV at home, but (much like viewing live sporting events) we wouldn't have experienced the passion of the crowd. Doubt there'll be too many more years of political activism for us, though. Time for all those youngsters to pick up the torch.
UPDATE 2/23/08: Here's a video made by some folks we know about their experience (pretty much identical to ours) at the Stand for Change Rally:
Since this is "pay attention to Texas" week,
Chelsea Clinton (the blonde walking up the steps) held a question/answer session on the campus of UTA today. No. 1 took the photos and said that she really isn't a very good speaker. She also said that the crowd was mixed, with one "fan" sporting a sign that said, "Stop Hillary; Save America".
We didn't see anyone in opposition to Obama at Reunion Arena, but it's not like any of us felt that Reunion Arena was our home turf, either.
No. 1 stopped by tonight to get her voter's card and looked so cute I took a picture.
When she read this entry (which I'd just finished) she said, "You should know that Emmitt Smith is a football player! When we went to Norway, people learned that we were from Dallas and thought Em was the Dallas football player!" Heh. I've slept a few times since then.
We took the TRE to Union Station and walked half a block or so to the Arena.
Once at the Arena, we were directed to the end of the line. I think someone said there were 17 lines (one for every entrance), but our line snaked up into the parking lot. We walked 25 minutes before we got to the end of it. We'd been told that the doors opened at 10:30, so we took the train that got us there at 10:31. Obama was to speak at 12 noon. Heh. We were still in line in the parking garage at 12 noon, so didn't know if we'd miss the rally or not.
We met lots of nice people in line, so we weren't bored at all. The crowd had LOTS of young people, but there were other boomers and even people older than us. We talked to these two girls and ran into them again when we got to the TRE to go back home.
It might have been 12:30 when the line REALLY began moving. In fact, we were encouraged to not run, but walk VERY fast the last 500 feet or so before the entrance to the Arena, as Obama would be speaking soon. Em's knees were about to give out at that point, and the volunteers were just about cheering us on, thanking us for coming to the rally.
Once inside, we found our way to some seats in the nosebleed section after stopping to catch our breath sitting on some steps which we (of course) couldn't block. We listened to the last bit of a speech by a previous Dallas mayor, some inspiration from Emmitt Smith (who I think plays football down here), and then about 1pm someone introduced Obama.
We hadn't been through security, because we were absolutely no threat at this distance from the stage. By 1:30pm, it was all over. We left and followed the crowds back to Union Station where we talked to the girls again. TRE (as well as DART ) scheduled extra trains; we were very appreciative, as we'd just missed one.
It was a LOT of work to go through to attend a live rally for Obama, we discussed on the way home from the TRE station afterward. We could have seen HIM better from a chair in front of the TV at home, but (much like viewing live sporting events) we wouldn't have experienced the passion of the crowd. Doubt there'll be too many more years of political activism for us, though. Time for all those youngsters to pick up the torch.
UPDATE 2/23/08: Here's a video made by some folks we know about their experience (pretty much identical to ours) at the Stand for Change Rally:
Since this is "pay attention to Texas" week,
Chelsea Clinton (the blonde walking up the steps) held a question/answer session on the campus of UTA today. No. 1 took the photos and said that she really isn't a very good speaker. She also said that the crowd was mixed, with one "fan" sporting a sign that said, "Stop Hillary; Save America".
We didn't see anyone in opposition to Obama at Reunion Arena, but it's not like any of us felt that Reunion Arena was our home turf, either.
No. 1 stopped by tonight to get her voter's card and looked so cute I took a picture.
When she read this entry (which I'd just finished) she said, "You should know that Emmitt Smith is a football player! When we went to Norway, people learned that we were from Dallas and thought Em was the Dallas football player!" Heh. I've slept a few times since then.
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