Black Star

This is completely meaningless, but shows how good staging can create a nice juxtaposition... I like how Michelle's necklace brooch at times became rays emanating from the black microphone head... making a beautiful black star radiating from her heart.

It reminded me of Nikki Giovanni's magnificent poem "Sound in Space." Here's a bit:

Science teaches us that there is no sound in space and I think that's hogwash because if there is no sound in space how will all those wishes get up to the moon and anyone with an ounce of sense knows science fiction is much better than science fact because science fact tries to prove things like Thomas Jefferson wasn't diddling Sally Hemmings and everybody knows people diddle people all the time especially when they can't say no so yes there is sound in space and a large part of it says: I love you in a lot of different ways and when the language is unknown to the hearer other people say things like that is gibberish but love can never be gibberish . . . foolish for sure . . . silly you bet but the basis of all relationships is love which is then followed by trust and not the other way around because if trust was the basis there would be world peace and safe international travel but what I want to point out since it is always so important to do something useful is that you should, quite naturally, floss and nickels and dimes have a relationship with dollars and sense but not halves and quarters and machines that tell you deposit more money and Good Luck when it isn't luck that you need but better science which can explain how and why when all is said and done we are left with this density that forces us to recognize the Eagle Nebula is falling into itself and will one day be a planet though mostly we will not be around to see it and then there are those troublesome Black holes which are so totally fascinating though no one can exactly put their finger on what makes them so important and I am here to tell you I know: the density of a Black hole does not prevent light from escaping but rather that once light encounters the Black whole it finds such beauty and peace and comfort it no longer needs to search which is another word for love . . . and I do.

That last line gets me every time.

Replace Sheldon Silver

Sheldon Silver cowardly sinking of congestion pricing made me mad. Now I can get even, by supporting Paul Newell for his Assembly seat.

National Security

via Andrew Sullivan

"I refuse to be lectured on national security by people who are responsible for the most disastrous set of foreign policy decisions in the recent history of the United States. The other side likes to use 9/11 as a political bludgeon. Well, let’s talk about 9/11.

The people who were responsible for murdering 3,000 Americans on 9/11 have not been brought to justice."

They are Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and their sponsors – the Taliban. They were in Afghanistan. And yet George Bush and John McCain decided in 2002 that we should take our eye off of Afghanistan so that we could invade and occupy a country that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. The case for war in Iraq was so thin that George Bush and John McCain had to hype the threat of Saddam Hussein, and make false promises that we’d be greeted as liberators. They misled the American people, and took us into a misguided war.

Here are the results of their policy. Osama bin Laden and his top leadership – the people who murdered 3000 Americans – have a safe-haven in northwest Pakistan, where they operate with such freedom of action that they can still put out hate-filled audiotapes to the outside world. That’s the result of the Bush-McCain approach to the war on terrorism," - Barack Obama, yesterday.

Dap-per

Before the audacity of blowing away the eXcel Energy Center... there was the dap. Forget stand by your man, Michelle elevated spousal support to a whole new level.

Two Fronts

a) my election malaise is burning off... a twitter meme started "When Obama wins..."

My favorite: When Obama wins... we will all shower in beer and soap will be replaced with bacon.

Runner up: When Obama wins... Robert Downey Jr. will celebrate with hookers and blow.

b) I achieved my 4 mile goal on Wednesday, squeezing 4.1 miles in 26 minutes.

c) a new pair of Nike free 3.0s arrived today... when will I test them out?

**Update**  I achieved my 6-mile goal tonight in the 3.0s, squeezing 6.05 miles in 40 minutes, missing my 5-mile goal by 20 seconds, I should have tried to push on the the 10k goal, but oh well.

The Letter of the Law and the Spirit

A storyline is building in the Democratic primary of two kinds of leadership, more or less: the hard worker verses the prophet.  The line tends to continue... this is what the worker has accomplished, but the prophet just talked.

But let's run the line in a slightly different way.  My lait understand of a major difference in British and US law is that the US loves the letter of the law.  The clarity that this activity is governed by that regulation, and here are the things you can do and this is what you for forbidden. The British conversely say these are principles we have to govern our actions, how we want it to work, but let's not get into details until we have a specific case with details.

In the US we see often see the negative implications in things like three-strikes, or the regulatory differences between regular and investment banks, or hedge funds and derivatives. More recently there was the TSA stomping on the civil rights of the poor woman with the nipple piercings.  I'd argue that you also nurture a legal personality that parses words to build in loop holes, as we see with HRC.  Sometimes the burden of keeping all that parsing clear becomes too difficult.

The problem with conflating the letter of the law as the best means to attain the spirit is that the letter is of the law is merely a means of measurement, but not a true representation of what is.  "What is" takes context, descretion, consideration of impact, things that seem soft with out context, but crucial in the heart of any difficult problem.

Obama on the otherhand, while not being so detailed in the interest or tax rates, carries a heavy burden to deliver principles.  Principles aren't so vulnerable to context.  Principles see the effects of the details and realizes that the means of enforcement need to change (where the three strikes, the TSA fair particularly poorly).   

Religion and Gender

Obama's speech on race and religion has me thinking back to the church I grew up with. But for me, it was gender instead of race that disgusted me.

I grew up in the rather conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran Church since there was not a practically available parish from our family's (more conservative) Evangelical, or Norwegian Lutheran Synod. Here are churches that don't see women fit to vote on church matters, and who, in my experience, frequently called on wives to submit to their husbands in weddings.

I feel that I couldn't get out quick enough and spent several years with no interest to belong to a church. When I did, I went to Quaker meeting. And yet my parents still attend those synods, knowing that women and men are equal in the eyes of God... but also because church is important for spirituality and community, despite the shortcomings of those that preach there.

Campaigns Need to Cool It, Supporters Do Too

From the LA Times, a great piece of leadership...

"It is important for me as well as Sen. Clinton to communicate to our staffs as well that . . . we're both trying out for quarterback, but we're on the same team," he said in a press conference, where he picked up the endorsement of Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.).

With tensions rising between the two remaining Democratic candidates, Obama was asked about Clinton's mocking comment that he was selling a vision of "celestial choirs" in attempting to persuade voters he could solve problems.

"I think things have gotten a little hotter over the last couple of days, but these things have gone, sort of, in ebbs and flows," Obama said.

One day after allegations that the Clinton campaign had circulated a photo showing Obama in Somali native dress, a reminder to voters of his African ancestry, Obama attempted to move on from the controversy.

"At this stage of the campaign, there are going to be dust-ups, particularly at the staff level," Obama said. "Certainly I don't think that photograph was circulated to enhance my candidacy. I think that's fair to say. Do I think it's reflective of Sen. Clinton's approach to campaigning? Probably not. And so at this point, my interest is just moving forward and talking about the issues that are going to be helpful to the people of Ohio.

This goes for supporters too.

Guess who has a posse?

Another piece of supporter created campaign material... from the street artist cum graphic designer Shepard Fairey.

Larry Lessig said of Wil.i.am's video that "It means something important about the potential for this man to bring together a nation, to signal change, to inspire, that he is literally the only candidate for whom something like this can look real." I think the same applies here, particularly since any other character would come off as Owellian in his oeuvre.

Lessig has his own interesting take on OBama.

Better Media

I've never really understood how campaigns go through millions, and still have really lame content.  So will.i.am's video is pretty moving, particularly capturing a beautiful multi-cultural, idealistic modern United States.  And it was done on his own.

Motorhead Says It's OBama!

I've been listening to Motorhead lately. I noticed that Bomber could be a rallying cut for Barack.

Ain't a hope in hell,
Nothing's gonna bring us down,
The way we fly,
Five miles off the ground,
Because we shoot to kill,
And you know we always will,
It's OBama

...
Because, you know we do it right,
A mission every night,
It's OBama

No night fighter,
Gonna stop us getting through,
The sirens make you shiver,
You bet my aim is true,
Because, you know we aim to please,
Bring you to your knees,
It's OBama

OB in 08

I just noticed how convergent OBama is to 08, OB 08 verses Ob 08.