A totally biased and unreasonable list of blogs that I think you might enjoy reading.
Barack Obama is being hailed as America’s first African-American President. While that is significant, especially given this country’s complicated history on race relations, it overlooks something more significant and that is Obama represents a po…
Continue reading " Obama as the first post-ethnic U.S. president "
Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin explain in Politico why Obama won:Barack Obama’s sweeping victory to become president of the United States sends him to the White House to face what may be the worst national financial crisis since the time of Franklin R…
The Electoral College allocates votes based upon a state’s congressional delegation. But while there is a wide range of populations among states each state is guaranteed two Senators regardless of population and is guaranteed at least on Represe…
This is how we campaign in Virginia – with singing phone banks and dancing canvassers. Specifically, these old-time musicians and volunteers are jamming for Obama in Charlottesville, Virginia featuring Darrell Rose, Lydia Martin, Cleek Schrey, Liz Me…
Continue reading " Typical day in a Virginia Obama headquarters "
Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone; Masuo and Bobby Broom on guitars; Lincoln Goines on bass; and, Tommy Campbell on drums perform “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” in Prague in 1982.Sonny Rollins (born September 7, 1930 in New York City) is an American jazz…
Continue reading " Sonny Rollins: “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” (1982) "
President Bush will leave for his successor a variety of unresolved conflicts in the Middle East and South Asia including but not limited to Iraq, the orphan war – Afghanistan, the war hidden-in-plain-sight – Pakistan, the wars-in-waiting – Syria…
Continue reading " Starting from scratch – national security strategy for the next administration "
Hundreds of Obama supporters gathered in the freezing cold for over an hour last Saturday in Anchorage to form this human Obama logo. Who said Alaska is a red state? (Hat tip to Mudflats.)
This is the 30 minute program aired this evening (October 29th) by the Obama campaign. In it, Presidential candidate Barack Obama addressed the nation about his plan for the country and the issues that are at stake in this election.
This is the John Coltrane Quartet performing “Naima” in 1965.John William Coltrane (1926 – 1967), nicknamed Trane, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. His musical career started in the mid-1940’s but by the mid-1950’s was becoming…
Given the sinking prospects for success next week, more and more Republicans are arguing in favor of divided government – McCain seeing the inevitability of a Democratic Congress argues we should put a Republican (him) in the White House and Republic…
Continue reading " Please don’t lecture us that divided government is something “we like” "
Race is a social construction that usually carries a very complicated history in most societies and nations. The United States is no different but has the additional layer of that history of having imported African slaves and then through a wide range…
This is the Bill Evans Trio – Bill Evans on piano, Chuck Israels on bass and Larry Bunker on drums – performing Irving Berlin’s “How Deep Is The Ocean?” on the UK television program Jazz 625. The MC is Humphrey Lyttelton. This recording was …
Continue reading " The Bill Evans Trio: “How Deep Is The Ocean?” (1965) "
On November 5th, Sara Palin will return to Alaska not only to face a growing number of scandals swirling around her governorship but also a hostile press. The Anchorage Daily News, Alaska’s largest newspaper, endorsed Barack Obama for President thi…
The Young Turks on Sara Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe paid for by the Republican National Committee following her selection as John McCain’s running mate. The tab for the shopping sprees at Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus was picked up by Republic…
This is a summary of the New York Times’ endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President:Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation’s future truly hangs in the balance.The United States is battered and drifting …
It says a lot about how low a campaign for the Presidency has sunk when one campaign and its Know-Nothing supporters have turned the middle name of the Democratic candidate into a pejorative and engage into a whispering campaign about his religion sugg…
Continue reading " Why “Joe the plumber” and not “Kareem the soldier”? "
According to the latest from the McCain-Palin campaign, patriotism is not evenly spread around the country and parts of some states are not real. According to these fine folks Americans from many regions of the country, if not most Americans across t…
The United States has suffered globally under the leadership of George W. Bush. The international community rallied to the United States following the September 11th attacks yet seven years later that good will has clearly been squandered by unprecede…
Continue reading " How U.S. foreign policy will change under the newly elected President Obama "
It is two weeks to the election. Obama has maintained a small but significant and consistent lead in national polls while the 72-year-old McCain seems to be floundering. Ohio and Florida no longer have a monopoly on the status of “swing states” b…