Air Guitar World Champion Hott Lixx Hulahan at West Street Market
The Holland Project is bringing Hott Lixx Hulahan to the West Street Market tomorrow night.
This Friday at Art+Music Night at the West Street Market, Holland very proudly presents the newly crowned Air Guitar Champion of the World, Hott Lixx Hulahan, performing the most awesome skills you’ve ever seen. Also performing is San Francisco’s folk hero Sonny Smith, and local favorites Buster Blue and Ashley of Sleepy Sunshine. The night starts at 5PM, ends at 9PM, and we hope to see you there!
To listen to Sonny Smith, click here: http://www.myspace.com/sonnysmithband
Sarah Palin Vetoed Your School Bus Website
This new Sarah Palin site is hilarious–enjoy.
GQR Nevada Focus Group Reactions to Sarah Palin Speech
From the Greenberg Quinlan Rosner / Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund press release:
On the night Governor Sarah Palin sought to quiet critics of McCain’s choice of a vice-presidential running-mate. The Alaska Governor impressed some women voters and allayed some doubts, but for many did not succeed in answering fundamental questions about her qualifications for this office or her plans for this country among both married and unmarried women, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner conducted qualitative research commissioned by the Women’s Voices, Women Vote Action Fund in the swing state of Nevada among 22 undecided voters or weak supporters of either candidate who watched Palin’s speech. Half were married women and half were unmarried. Both groups .included a number of women who supported Hillary Clinton in the primary, but have not committed to either nominee. Participants answered a series of questions about the election, the candidates, the major issues in this campaign, Sarah Palin in particular and the impact she had on these voters’ judgment of John McCain. They then watched Sarah Palin’s speech live, followed by another series of questions on many of the same topics. Two follow-up focus group discussions conducted separately among married and unmarried women explored reactions to the speech in detail. This is a qualitative exercise – only based on 2 focus groups - and not a representative survey, but some of the movement in attitudes toward Palin revealed both where she exceeded expectations and where she fell short.
Fundamental to the unmarried women in these groups, however, she did not sufficiently address key issues in their lives. This is particularly true of the economy, where unmarried women claim to have heard almost nothing of relevance to their economic standing. One single woman said point-blank “I didn’t get anything about the economy.” Palin did have some success. On a scale of 0 to 100, she improved her favorability scale roughly 10 points among both married and unmarried women.. We also saw improvement in the number of women who believe she was ready to be vice president. Focus group comments suggest she connected with these voters in a way that made her seem authentic, independent and strong. Her recitation of her experience and accomplishment failed to answer fundamental questions about her selection. In the discussion, many women, particularly unmarried women, just did not believe she qualified herself to be vice president or president. (These comments were often preceded by opinions on McCain’s age and health). This candidate provoked a fascinating discussion of gender roles and politics and the challenges this nominee faces. Many women, especially married women, openly questioned her ability to both serve and raise a family, particularly a family involved such a young, special-needs baby. These women acknowledged the obvious double standard (”we would not ask that if she were a man”), but the question lingered. Some even noted, “‘let’s face it, we (women) do the nurturing.” Palin took some positive steps in Minneapolis last night. She demonstrated political talent most of the country had not yet see and improved her standing among the women in the groups. But she also left these women wanting to know more, to know more about what qualifies her for this office and what she will do to change their lives. These questions precluded a moment in this campaign where she could have changed the election. Two focus groups were conducted in Las Vegas, Nevada, one with unmarried women and one with married women. Each focus group consisted of female voters between 30-60 years of age. They watched Gov. Palin’s speech and then discussed their reactions.Palins Proves Her Mettle If Not Her Ability To Be Honest
It’s late so I’m not going to write a whole lot, however, I have to hand it to Sarah Palin and tall. She showed the nation she can speechify with the best of them no thanks to Rudy Giuliani who deliberately took more time than he was allotted making it impossible for the RNC to show Palin’s biopic video. Class all the way Rudy. Palin is going to play very well in rural Nevada, hell, she played well in this living room and I know how much she fibbed throughout her national debut. Don’t believe me? Here’s a blog post Time’s Joe Klein wrote this afternoon that sums it up in very few words:
But I hope my colleagues stand strong in this case: it is important for the public to know that Palin raised taxes as governor, supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it, pursued pork-barrel projects as mayor, tried to ban books at the local library and thinks the war in Iraq is “a task from God.”
Palin RAISED taxes in Alaska. She ran Ted Stevens’ 527 and supported his infamous Bridge to Nowhere, and brought back a bucket full of pork barrel to her city as mayor. I’ll also add that Alaska has a budget SURPLUS this year and she still raised taxes. That doesn’t sound very conservative does it?
There’s Nothing Wrong with Sarah Palin Except Her Policy Positions
I’ll be the first to admit two things. First, some liberals do have the tendency to dismiss rural politicians like Sarah Palin as if they are country bumpkins not worthy of our notice almost as often as some conservatives imply that liberal Democratic candidates are either effeminate or elitist. Second, Sarah Palin is a talented and savvy politician and deserves to be congratulated for being selected by John McCain to serve as his running mate. Palin comes from pioneering western stock just like me. Perhaps her great great grandmother also walked her way west, hiking over the Sierra Nevada mountains in pushing her husband and children on to what they hoped would be a better life like mine. Western women are strong. Whether they want to or have to, they chop wood, hunt deer, drive tractors, milk cows, paddle kayaks, hike mountains–you name it–they do it. Sarah Palin, a working mom, is raising her family just like any other working mom would. And I don’t know about you, but working moms know how to multi-task, budget, manage time, and prioritize projects better than most CEOs. The U.S. would be a much better place with more working moms in office. There is nothing wrong with Sarah Palin–except for her positions on issues that effect families–otherwise known as “family values.”
On The Environment
Republicans believe in exploiting our nation’s national resources rather than protecting them and Palin is no different. Palin wants to drill for oil in protected wilderness. She is in favor of aerial hunting and against protecting polar bears. Palin does not believe that global warming exists or in preserving the Alaskan wilderness and the polar bears who live there–protected because, as a nation, we want our children to see be able to see polar bears in their natural habitat 50 years from now if they wish.
On Education
Plain believes in forcing her idea of education onto your family which means that creationism is taught in science class, violating one of our Founding Fathers’ most valued beliefs–that religion should be separated from the state for the protection of both.
On Women’s Health
Palin is against the personal freedom that reproductive choice provides. She is anti-choice (pro-government enforced pregnancy) even in cases of rape and incest and does not believe women should have access to contraception.
Like most conservative Republicans, Palin does not believe that government should provide protection for its citizens (environmental regulation, consumer protection, worker’s rights, medicare and social security), nor does she believe in supporting the empowerment of its citizens through respected institutions like the public education system, the public transportation system, and the court system. What American can achieve all that the American Dream promises without the support and protection the government provides? What American can achieve all that the American Dream promises without the support of one’s family and community? We are all connected as Obama proclaimed and we better start voting and governing like it:
“If there’s a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandmother. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It’s that fundamental belief — I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper — that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. “E pluribus unum.” Out of many, one.”
In her heart, Sarah Palin would agree with Obama, but in her policies, she does not. She agrees with John McCain most of the time, and when she doesn’t she is even more conservative than McCain and our Democracy is not served well by their politics.
Did Fred Thompson Accuse Obama of Negligent Homicide In His RNC Speech?
Honestly, I didn’t have anything to say about the Republican National Convention itself until I read the text of Fred Thompson’s speech. Thompson seemed to rally the troops a bit as they say, but right in the middle of his speech, Thompson accused Obama of not wanting to protect newborn babies:
“And we need a President who doesn’t think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade.”
What exactly does that mean? Obama doesn’t believe in protecting “a newly born baby?” Is Thompson accusing Obama of negligent homicide? It’s clear that Thompson is referencing abortion by saying that Obama doesn’t believe in protecting “the unborn,” it’s code for murder. If you carry that same meaning over to the “newly born” Thompson is implying that Obama believes in the murder of the “newly born” as well as the “unborn.” The dialogue about abortion has become increasingly more unhinged over time, but it’s simply unbelievable that anyone would say that, especially during one of the most watched televised event of the year. It’s beyond disgusting. What were RNC officials and the McCain campaign thinking by allowing such a thing to be said by anyone during their event? Where do we draw the line on political speech? Could Thompson be sued for libel because the speech was also produced as a written document I wonder? I don’t know that I want to encourage any lawsuits but saying something like that during a nationally televised speech is reprehensible. Is the press going to let Thompson and the RNC get away with that kind of public statement?
McCain’s Choice of Running Mate Reflects His Erratic And Impulsive Nature
Josh Marshall is reporting that the McCain campaign did almost no vetting of Palin before selecting her as his running mate. Okay, seriously. What kind of presidential candidate behaves this way? Palin’s “Troopergate” story had been covered by TPM for weeks so it shouldn’t be a new story to most people in political circles. We hear time and time again that McCain is a “maverick,” but perhaps it’s time to talk about this truthfully. John McCain is impulsive and erratic. Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter called John McCain and his campaign this nearly a month ago:
The list of troubling portents is growing long: repeated campaign staff upheavals reflecting poor management skills; abrupt reversals on big issues like tax cuts and relations with Russia (where he was superhawk one day and superdove the next); shameless pandering on a gas-tax holiday that even his own economic advisers think is a joke; confused handling of Social Security that annoys all sides of the debate; bogus charges (e.g., Obama is causing high gas prices, Obama didn’t visit wounded soldiers because he couldn’t take the press) that undermine his integrity; and an angry, bunker mentality among aides that one GOP operative, fearing excommunication from Team McCain if identified, describes as “lacking only a Luger and a cyanide pill.”
And his selection of Sarah Palin, who we can all agree is a skillful and likable politician, but a politician who has no foreign policy experience and what looks to be an ethics problem, confirms McCain’s penchant for making impulsive and erratic decisions. It is widely acknowledged that McCain wanted Lieberman or Ridge to be his selection for vice president, but after his campaign aides convinced him that he needed a “pro-life” candidate, he picked Palin after speaking to her once (or maybe twice) and without submitting her to a full vetting process. Steve Benen expresses the bewilderment and concern many of us feel about John McCain’s decision making:
Palin’s qualifications are, to a very real degree, secondary to the issue at hand. What matters most right now is John McCain’s comically dangerous sense of judgment. He picked a running mate he met once for 15 minutes, who’s been the governor of a small state for a year and a half, and who is in the midst of an abuse-of-power investigation in which she appears to have lied rather blatantly. She has no obvious expertise in any area, and no record of any kind of federal issues. McCain doesn’t care.
Sensible people of sound mind and character simply don’t do things like this. Leaders don’t do things like this. It’s the height of arrogance. It’s manifestly unserious. It’s reckless and irresponsible. It mocks the political process. Faced with a major presidential test, McCain thought it wise to tell an imprudent joke of lasting consequence.
A president with impulse problems could result in serious consequences for the country. McCain’s first impulse is often dangerous. Asked about dealing with Iran’s nuclear program, McCain actually sang
“Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran.” The Russia-George conflict? A chance to restart the Cold War. An energy crisis? Domestic drilling. And now, forced to make a second pick for vice president–Sarah Palin.
My little sister is still serving in Iraq and I don’t want her commander in chief to be someone who “shoots from the hip” with her life. McCain is a maverick no more. He’s shown a reckless streak that could be dangerous to the country. In selecting Palin, McCain has definitely not put our country first.
Citizen and Independent Journalists Are Using Social Media to Cover The Poltical Conventions
Social media tools are enabling citizen and independent journalists to provide compelling and instantaneous media coverage of the political conventions. Not only are mainstream media journalists, newspapers, and magazines using Twitter to send out news updates more quickly than ever, but now bloggers, citizen journalists, and independent journalists are using social media in innovative ways to provide compelling media coverage of events at the conventions in real time. I’ve written of The Uptake once already, but The Uptake is emerging as the model for providing instantaneous video episodes of protests, arrests, police searches, and other events that took place at the Democratic Convention and that are taking place at the Republican Convention in Minneapolis–the The UpTake’s hometown (St. Paul).
The Uptake is using QIK to film live video, But they aren’t must posting live video, The Uptake is mapping all of their video stories using Google Maps so readers can see exactly where events are taking place. Here is a an interview with Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyers Guild included as part of a more traditionally written story about police raids taking place in residential neighborhoods. Most of The UpTake stories are filmed and posted live and then later incorporated into written stories posted on the site. One I found particularly compelling with this interview with a Democracy Now! journalist describing events that lead to her detainment by the St. Paul Police.
It strikes me that what The Uptake is doing is what the new journalism could look like–a combination of live footage later contextualized completely in researched written reports online. It’s been a lot of fun watching The Uptake in action over the past week. As far as I know, The Uptake was the first news organization reporting on the house arrests taking place in St. Paul before the RNC began.
The Uptake Is A Must Read
If you want to see and read some fascination local coverage of the Republican National Convention, check out The Uptake. I’m following them on Twitter (@The Uptake) and they are doing some compelling work. Please check them out. They just tweeted that some of the writers may be getting arrested as we speak.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Sarah Palin
A lot of people are writing some excellent stuff about Sarah Palin, John McCain’s vice presidential selection, so I wanted to gather what I could and post it as a roundup below. First, I want to say a couple of things about the coverage of Palin.
- The Palin’s parenting choices and that of their children are off limits because they really have nothing to do with her qualifications or her positions on the issues. I don’t care if her daughter is pregnant or about her childcare decisions.
- The fact that Palin is a woman has nothing to do with her qualifications and everything to do with John McCain’s agenda to cast himself as an agent of change–nice try but Palin represents no perceptible political change–neither does McCain.
- Here is EVERYTHING you’d ever want to know about Palin and her positions on important political issues–brought to you by Progressive Accountability.
- Natasha Chart discusses just how typically conservative Palin is at MyDD.
- Joe Trippi warns Democrats to take the Palin selection very seriously because her selection signals a direct attack by the McCain campaign at Obama’s strength–change in Washington.
- Josh Marshall outlines the intricacies of Palin’s “Troopergate” and shows why it matters that McCain’s vetting process was not as thorough as it should have been.
- Heather McDonald discusses the Palin selection in the context of identity politics.
- PunditMom reminds me that she picked Palin as McCain’s selection when almost no else did and why
- Jen Nedeau compares McCain’s Palin to Bush’s Harriet Miers.
- Some Republicans are not happy with the vetting and selection process the McCain campaign followed in selecting Palin. This DailyMail article tracks Republican reactions to the Palin selection.
- What is and what is not feminist? Ruth Rosen tackles this question while discussing Palin and her association with Feminists for Life.
- Jill Miller Zimon also tackles the idea of feminism and how the Palin selection effects that idea.
- And if you still haven’t gotten your fill of Palin coverage, you can read everything on Huffington Post about Palin.
For local coverage of the Palin selection, here are some progressive Alaska bloggers who know Palin better than most:
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/
http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/
http://divasblueoasis.blogspot.com/
http://kodiakkonfidential.blogspot.com/
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/
http://alaskareport.com/blog
http://mysternyc.blogspot.com/
