davidvoegtle.net » What I’m reading

Obama will visit Gulf Coast when doing so does not divert first responders from needed preparations

dbvoegtle — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:50:36 +0000

Barack Obama said a storm like Hurricane Gustav raises “bipartisan concerns” and it’s “fine” that John McCain visited Mississippi’s emergency operations center Sunday morning.

But he reiterated his worry that the security required for either presidential candidate could divert local law enforcement and other personnel from storm preparations. For that reason, Obama, the Democratic nominee, has said he has no immediate plan to travel to the area.

I’m trying to think of a good reason for McCain and Palin to visit the Gulf Coast before Gustav makes landfall that’s not political, but I can’t come up with one. Is his presence necessary? He doesn’t have any direct authority as a candidate to do anything, so other than photo-ops with Republican governors, why is he there?

Obama, on the other hand, is priming his donor network to donate money and supplies as requested (via Forbes):

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said Sunday he will tap his huge political network of donors and volunteers to help U.S. victims of Hurricane Gustav after it comes inland.

“I think we can get tons of volunteers to travel down there, if it becomes necessary,” Obama told reporters after attending St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Lima, Ohio.

Obama is staying out of the way, but still expressing interest, concern, and planning to offer assistance when it becomes necessary. He’s not, however, diverting resources from first responders or tying up elected officials in the pomp of a presidential election campaign. Any person under Secret Service protection surely requires the input and cooperation of, at least, local and state police where he or she visits.

Admittedly, I am a partisan. Perhaps there’s a perfectly innocent explanation which requires McCain’s presence in the region. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization

dbvoegtle — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:53:43 +0000

Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters: “An artificial appropriation of different styles from different eras, the hipster represents the end of Western civilization – a culture lost in the superficiality of its past and unable to create any new meaning. Not only is it unsustainable, it is suicidal. While previous youth movements have challenged the dysfunction and decadence of their elders, today we have the ‘hipster’ – a youth subculture that mirrors the doomed shallowness of mainstream society.”

Overwrought much?

It seems to me that claiming “hipster” is a sign of the coming societal apocalypse is handwringing at its worst. Every youth movement has had its critics, claiming it (whatever the current “it” was) exposed a dangerous bankruptcy among the youth of the day. Hippies were dead-enders, punks were nihilists, grunge and Gen-X were composed of slackers.

Only in retrospect can people look back and point to the truly innovative parts of the movement, and too often that retrospective view ignores the vast majority of the movement which was just a bunch of kids doing what everyone else was doing. Hipsterdom in this respect is no more or less a victim of this tendency.

Additionally, this is just false:

Hipsterdom is the first “counterculture” to be born under the advertising industry’s microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations. Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group – using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion.

Anyone who remembers the grunge explosion of the 90s surely remembers that within a season or two, even the catalogs of JC Penney’s and Sears were full of plaid shirts and baggy, ratty jeans. “Lumberjack chic” was adopted so rapidly by some of the biggest names in fashion and advertising that it quickly became a cliché, much to the chagrin of many a person in the American Pacific Northwest.

Countercultures and underground cultures are always a reaction against two things: what is going on in the broader society and the prior generation’s counterculture. If there’s one thing I’m absolutely sure of, it’s this: the hipster scene is not the end of youth culture; its’ just another step along the road. The next “scene” will come along (and, probably, is already developing even as we speak).

AFL-CIO Drops New Mailers In OH, MI, PA, WI–seeks to “dispel myths and rumors” about Obama

dbvoegtle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:19:36 +0000

Hotline On Call: AFL-CIO Drops New Mailers In OH, MI, PA, WI: One of the mailers aims directly to dispel myths and rumors about the IL senator. The other features worker testimonials on Obama’s record on jobs, health care reform and workers’ rights.

Union officials tell On Call that the mailers mark the launch of a massive August campaign to clearly define Obama for millions of union voters, and to contrast the Democrat’s’ policies and plans with those of his GOP rival, John McCain.

(Via TPM Election Central.)

It’s good to see the unions step up to educate their members.

Feminists cry foul over “Fat Princess” video game

dbvoegtle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:35:22 +0000

Feminists cry foul over Fat Princess – Video Game Feature – Yahoo! Video Games: She’s Fat Princess, the star of Sony’s upcoming video game of the same name. Debuting at last week’s E3 expo, the colorful Fat Princess is a capture-the-flag game with a twist: you can thwart capture attempts by locking the once-thin princess in a dungeon and stuffing her full of cake, thereby increasing her girth and making her harder for your enemies to haul back to home base.

Somehow abusing women makes for a good video game? C’mon, Sony, you can do better.

Bush: ‘No regime should ignore the will of its own people.’

dbvoegtle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:21:58 +0000

Think Progress » Bush: ‘No regime should ignore the will of its own people.’: In a statement regarding new sanctions against Zimbabwe today, President Bush declares that “no regime should ignore the will of its own people“

(Via nearing @ Newsvine.)

Oh irony. To laugh or to cry, that is the question.

Coca-Cola to begin using hybrid trucks in Florida

dbvoegtle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:36:25 +0000

Coca-Cola to begin using hybrid trucks in Florida: While other companies are shying away from the considerable costs involved, Coca-Cola announced Monday it is rolling out 10 heavy-duty hybrid trucks in South Florida, part of a national campaign to put 142 of these so-called green trucks on the road in North America in the next several weeks.

(Via McClatchy.)

Now there’s no reason to hate Coca Cola for contributing to environmental devastation, just for contributing to obesity, tooth decay, and other associated health problems.

SC Judge removed after racial comment

dbvoegtle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:05:01 +0000

Judge removed after racial comment: A South Carolina judge who admitted calling crack cocaine addiction “black man’s disease” has been banned from the bench, the state’s Supreme Court said in an order Monday.

(Via MSNBC.com: Crime & courts.)

Wow. Just wow.

It’s nice to see that the state supreme court stepped in and did the right thing, but it’s still a shame that this could even happen. However, given South Carolina’s recent spate of freak-outs, it’s perhaps not that surprising.

Consider:

The state recently freaked out over a gay travel ad campaign, and then lied about it.

SC state Senator Kevin L. Bryant made a blatantly offensive and un-American t-shirt attempting to link Osama bin Laden and Barack Obama.

Christian Reconstructionists targeted South Carolina as a state in which to set up a theocracy.

South Carolina has a long way to go, I think.

Texas failed to outline Bible classes for schools: aerobics class standards more specific Your Opinion : Abilene Reporter-News

dbvoegtle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:42:33 +0000

State failed to outline Bible classes for schools: I was sure the state board would give this matter the same thoughtful evaluation as it gave courses in aerobics and apparel in our public schools. In fact, the state board’s aerobics standards are specific to the point of making sure students can identify appropriate footwear. Standards for apparel courses specify that students will “apply principles of effective wardrobe planning.”

Surely the best-selling book in history, the book that hundreds of millions of Christians hold as their sacred scripture, would be given the respect and care given to aerobics and apparel.

I was wrong.

(Via Texas Freedom Network.)

When the creationist plurality currently on the state board of education loses a Baptist minister who can get an editorial like this published in the Abilene paper, you know they’ve lost a good part of their base. Texans might have an ornery, independent streak, but no one likes being laughed at. It’s time for voters to recognize the laughingstock this current BOE is making Texas, and vote appropriately at the next election.

Bush Forced al-Maliki to Back Down on Pullout in 2006

dbvoegtle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:28:55 +0000

POLITICS: Bush Forced al-Maliki to Back Down on Pullout in 2006: WASHINGTON, Jul 28 (IPS) – Many official and unofficial proponents of a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq are dismissing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s demand for a U.S. timeline for withdrawal as political posturing, assuming that he will abandon it under pressure.

But that demand was foreshadowed by an episode in June 2006 in which al-Maliki circulated a draft policy calling for negotiation of just such a withdrawal timetable and the George W. Bush administration had to intervene to force the prime minister to drop it.

(Via IPS Inter Press Service.)

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has been consistently and regularly browbeat into toeing the administration’s demands on Iraq. It’s no wonder that he’s recently been using rhetoric seeking to establish his independence. For a “sovereign” nation, Iraq sure seems to cave a lot on questions of determining their own destiny.

Steve Chapman: Are the media biased against Obama?

dbvoegtle — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:24:05 +0000

Steve Chapman: Are the media biased against Obama?: A study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, which conservatives have always regarded as sympathetic, says the three broadcast networks have been more critical of Obama than of John McCain in their recent news coverage.

(Via Chicago Tribune.)

Not a surprise to many Obama supporters, who have noted a sustained negative campaign against their candidate for several months. As I noted in a Newsvine comment recently in response to someone who claimed Obama received universally positive coverage:

Rev. Wright? Terrorist fist jab? “Limping” across the finish line? Can he close the deal? Can he win over Hillary supporters? Just what is Obama’s probably with white voters, anyway? With Jewish voters? Incessant handwringing about Kentucky and West Virginia? How can Obama win if he doesn’t win the working class (never mind that a Democrat hasn’t won the working class in forty years)? Just why does Michelle hate America?

Every major story (e.g. those stories that go on for multiple news cycles), just about, except this one has been a highly negative one for Obama, except stories dealing with his fundraising (and perhaps the race speech, which itself was tied to the Wright flap).

In politics, there definitely is such a thing as bad publicity. Ask Mark Foley or Geoge Allen.

This, also: Much of what is perceived as media bias is simply bias toward what’s newsworthy, is a point I’ve been arguing regularly. McCain’s own narrative of this campaign, that he is the more experienced in foreign affairs due to his many trips to Iraq (and the many trips themselves), have served to make his overseas trips less newsworthy than Obama’s by dint if their admitted commonness.

The news organizations report what is newsworthy, not with an eye towards providing one Republican story for every one Democratic story. For a party that worked so hard to eliminate the Fairness Doctrine, they sure whine a lot about perceived unfairness in the media.