awv2006
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "awv2006" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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10:52 pm
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My weekend of Metallica!
The past 4 days was a celebration of loud & heavy music as I went to 3 Metallica shows in 4 nights- a personal record for me. After a 4+ year absence from the States Metallica was back and better than ever touring in support of their new album, "Death Magnetic".
It's a fabulous record- it's easily one of their best efforts.
Better still- live, they sound the best they ever have! The shows absolutely rocked, the seats were fantastic (thank you Metclub!), and the band was just awesome.
We rocked Nassau Coliseum on Thursday night, and then came to Newark at the Prudential Center for the weekend. Not even the Super Bowl could keep me away! (Well, okay- if the Baltimore Ravens had prevailed in the AFC Championship I would have been in a quandary.)
I am currently exhausted & nursing one of the worst cases of metallica-neck I've ever had, but it was so totally worth it!
Good news- the boys will be back in town in November for dates at Madison Square Garden! I can't wait!
Current Mood:  satisfied
Current Music: Metallica!
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12:10 pm
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How much sweeter is is! Welcome, President Obama!
Our long national nightmare is over!
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12:01 pm
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We have a new Vice President! How sweet it is!
I already feel MUCH better!
Current Mood: ecstatic
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06:39 pm
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Las Vegas- the city of sin and SNOW!
You read that right- it's friggin' snowing in Las Vegas! I come out here to the desert in December for a little less winter weather, and instead I'm watching the snow pile up on the trees and grass!
At least I didn't lug my golf clubs all the way out here for nothing. Now, if I can just get rid of the cold I got I might actually get a chance to leave my hotel room for a bit.
Ah, winter!
Current Mood: amused
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10:37 am
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Yeah... what's with that exactly?
Might send out the wrong signal to the world.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/243726.php
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11:04 pm
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It's over! Obama WINS! Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy!!!
NBC & Fox News have just called the election for Obama! Awesome!
Thank goodness! What an amazing night!
Pouring shots now!!!
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07:58 pm
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Election Night is finally here!
It's just about 8:00 PM Eastern on Tues. Nov. 4th. I'm joined by friends and family, including ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nick_kaufmann.
Great news! They're right now projecting Pennsylvania for Obama!
On our way...
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11:59 pm
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Code...bitch!
Yes- this is deliberately obscure.
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09:37 am
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Ironic- Republicans have out FDR'ed FDR.
We are witnessing the embrace of socialism at a level previously unimaginable for this country. I find it incredibly ironic that the conservative movement in this country that really got underway in the early '50s and kicked into gear under Reagan had its sights on FDR's New Deal policies that helped save this country and helped make the peace-time expansion possible.
The end result of decades of their "reform" and deregulation (never mind out and out thievery) ends up forcing us to embrace bailouts & programs that make FDR and the New Deal look positively stingy.
Amazing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3161588/Financial-Crisis-Who-is-going-to-bail-out-the-euro.html
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11:10 pm
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Mostly even, but Obama looks like the adult in the room.
McCain had a better night, but still had moments of looking (word-of-the-day) peevish. Also condescending at times.
Obama with the comeback on "Bomb-Bomb-Bomb Iran" was a great uppercut.
McCain, with the smirking "thank you" to Obama, suddenly looked like he stepped on a rake and got hit in the face cartoon-style.
As I said, McCain did well, but Obama wins by being the steadier, more mature, thoughtful, and articulate person in the room.
I agree with Josh Marshall and posters on Daily Kos- Tom Brokaw is a weenie.
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10:42 pm
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Palin is a sensation!
She did so well, I've decided to change my vote and become a true believer in the McCain-Palin ticket.
Mavericks for Reform!
I was really tickled when she said, "May I call you Joe?"
Wow! What a superstar!
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10:28 pm
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McCain is a complete jerk, but unfortunately I think he won this debate.
Despite the fact that he smirked and patronized and condescended, McCain wins by coming across as having more authority and more credibility than Obama. Obama came across more as an effete and weak intellectual.
I don't think a lot of what McCain said was right or correct or that Obama was wrong, incorrect, or weak.
What I am saying is the appearance of strength or "winning attitude" conveys the appearance & feeling of a winner.
Obama has had to play the role of nagging corrector- the annoying person who gets on you about those annoying details. He's not wrong, but he's coming across as a whiner.
Smartly played by McCain, and, I think, a major revitalization & rejuvenation of his campaign.
Obama playing it cool- didn't work.
OBVIOUS WINNER: McCain
UPDATE: Watching the chattering class go at it on this I have to ask: "Did they watch the same debate?" I imagine the whole thing will come down to the snarky sound bite and what you think constitutes as points. Obama repeatedly saying "John you're right" doesn't help him that much and it's being used by the McCain campaign in their official statement on tonight's debate.
I like Keith Olbermann & Rachel Maddow, but I couldn't disagree more with their assessment. No one is looking at the actual points! It's Kennedy/Nixon all over again, I think.
All the people who heard the debate on the radio think Nixon won it. Everyone who saw it on TV said Kennedy won it. History has borne out who did better.
Style, and not substance, wins these debates.
Like in 1984 when Reagan said he wouldn't use Mondale's youth against him, McCain, even though he was a bit of a sh*t, comes across as a fighter for America, while Obama comes across as the kindly old teacher who pushes his glasses down to the edge of nose and gently reprimands the class for their mixing up of the facts.
Which candidate comes out looking strong on this? I think that because the bar was set so low for McCain (ie. no Grandpa Simpson moments) and the bar so high for Obama (everything's going your way right now) that the result skews the opposite of what you might have thought.
We've already seen that facts-schmacts don't matter much anymore- how did they make me feel?
Joe Biden is on TV right now saying that America is a lot smarter than he thinks John McCain thinks they are. I don't necessarily agree.
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01:14 pm
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McCain wins the debate! Hands-down! 8 hours before it actually happens!
Now McCain is not only a MAVERICK, he's a TIME-TRAVELING MAVERICK! He should team-up with Hiro on "Heroes"!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/09/mccain_wins_debate.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/images/26Sep_Friday_WSJ.JPG
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02:14 pm
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"How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis"
Interesting. I'm not sure if this is accurate, historically or otherwise. It seems to me though that if the Republican-led Congress in 2005 had an interest in getting this legislation through something tells me they would have. Otherwise, this would be the 1st instance of the Republicans complaining about the mean and nasty Democrats not letting do the things they wanted to do (as if that ever really happened?).
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0
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11:33 pm
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This most solemn day.
I'm struck by the tenuous balance between mourning & grief, rememberance, and anger & frustration as well as the feeling of "life goes on" that I have felt today. I look around and see others, friends and fellow New Yorkers, as well as Americans around the world who experience(d) this day with a mix of sadness, confusion, and morbid nostalgia.
The 1st anniversary was one of utter defiance in the face of overwhelming grief, when my wife & I marched with one of 5 bagpipe groups and walkers all the way through the boroughs to Ground Zero. What an overwhelming and amazing experience.
The 2nd anniversary I experienced far more personally as I was able to reflect on what it all meant to me as an individual and what I experienced.
Today, on the 7th anniversary of that horrible day, I felt both the same sadness at the moments of silence and the replay of some audio & video (which we should always experience a little, lest we forget). As I walked from the subway to my office in Lower Manhattan only blocks away from the World Trade Center site, the thought that we as New Yorkers and Americans have continued on with our lives and not been cowed by what happened made me feel good.
But only for a moment.
The fact is that in the years since our country has suffered greater assaults & wounds to its lasting stability and survival as a democratic republic. These wounds are far more insidious and damaging than the terrifying & tragic events of September 11, 2001, and are touched upon in comments that describe the aching lack of accomplishment of our government in catching those responsible & the inability to build back up at the World Trade Center site as so eloquently put by my friend Nick today http://nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com to the full out Dylan Thomas-esque "rage, rage against the dying of the light" style scathing critiques like Keith Olbermann's special comment last night.
America's heart is hurting. It will ALWAYS hurt today, and we should never try to diminish that hurt (time will do that naturally anyway). However, we've let heartache excuse the losing of our heads & souls. That's what is most frustrating about today.
Roger Cohen's piece is haunting and would, I think, be capable of inspiring many to righteous anger and action. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/opinion/11Cohen.html?hp
However, I fear that like Nick said, we'll be here next with same time, same channel.
Current Mood:  sad, angry, melancholy
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09:28 pm
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Maybe not the best choice of music!
President Bill Clinton finishes giving a pretty decent speech in support of Barack Obama. He leaves the stage to cheers and applause.
What's the music the live band starts playing? "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer.
Ummm.... I'm going to make the obvious pun here- that's kind of a sticky subject, no?
I'm amazed sometimes at how tone deaf and mindless people can be. You simply cannot make this stuff up!
Current Mood: amused
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04:00 pm
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Freedom of speech... convention style!
An ABC reporter has apparently been arrested for recording video while standing on a public street of people (well, lobbyists and Democratic Party donors anyway) entering and leaving the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Conventions/story?id=5668622&page=1
Go Democrats! Yay freedom! Yay First Amendment!
Current Mood:  irritated
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12:46 pm
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What have we doneas a nation? It bears repeating so that we might change.
Glenn Greenwald summarizes as succinctly and (correctly so) dispassionately as one possibly can:
What we've done over the last seven years -- at least much of it -- isn't a secret. It's worthwhile to state frequently in clear, dispassionate terms what our country has done. Our Government has kidnapped people off the street and from their homes and sent them to places like Syria to be tortured for months (including completely innocent people) and then invoked National Security claims to bar them from holding our Government accountable in a court of law. We've disappeared others into secret prisons beyond even the reach of the Red Cross, or encaged them in a lawless black hole on a Cuban island. We've tortured them, sometimes to death, even with the knowledge that many were innocent. We attacked and completely demolished another country that couldn't attack us even if it wanted to. And our President openly declared that he has the power to break our laws, spy on U.S. citizens with no warrants, and indefinitely imprison even our own citizens with no process of any kind. Those are all just facts that aren't really subject to dispute or debate.
Worst of all, having done all of that -- not for weeks or months following the 9/11 attacks, but for years, still -- we've collectively decided, without much turmoil or debate, that it should all be forgiven, that none of it should be punished or even investigated, that it's best just to keep these crimes concealed and, when accidentally disclosed, to immunize the criminals. And all of that is being done right out in the open, so that our formal human rights reports are self-evident, almost laughable, farces, and even countries like Zimbabwe, when their governments want to engage in tyrannical acts, can and do rationally point to the U.S. as the leading example which they're following.
The full post may be found here: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/28/russia/
A quote from Daniel Ellsberg from his Salon.com interview: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it STOOD..."
I fervently hope we can return to where we can truthfully & accurately say "and to the Republic, for which it STANDS...".
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10:22 am
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Something to think about.
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."
- Thomas Jefferson
I guess we've allowed more than a foothold, eh?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/07/16/al_marri/
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12:52 am
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July 9, 2008: Another date which will live in infamy.
The U.S. Senate vote to approve the FISA legislation that immunized telecom companies for breaking the law and provided startlingly vast & broad powers to spy on Americans without court orders and/or oversight is a deep stain on the history of this country.
A shameful day for the United States of America, where our representatives who are sworn to uphold the Constitution betrayed their oaths.
A sincere thank you to the 28 Senators who voted 'Nay' on this most odious piece of legislation.
Endless scorn and heaps of disgust, anger and outrage to the 69 Senators who voted 'Yea'. It is our job as citizens and patriots to ensure that those who voted to overturn the rule of law in this country be removed from their position of power and trust. In a response to a comment on his blog, Glenn Greenwald articulates the appropriate response:
>> casual_observer
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>> Don't get angry
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>> Just get even. End the political careers of those who perpetrate this fraud.
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>> Exactly. And succeeding in that will serve the dual effects of justice and deterrence.
Whatever we can do we are honor-bound to do so here as part & parcel of our citizenship; we cannot stand idly by and watch those holding office break the law with impunity.
Along those lines, a certain individual has earned himself eternal shame & disgrace.
Barack Obama has revealed himself to be a treasonous, deceitful, empty suit of a politician. To vote for this legislation when he had pledged to restore the rule of law is the highest form of hypocrisy and is a gross act of betrayal of his oath of office. As I said in an earlier post, a vote for this legislation, going against everything he has stated (in terms of principles), shows him to be the emptiest of empty suits.
As such, he is completely unworthy and undeserving of the office of President of the United States of America.
He has lost my support and my vote. I suspect I am not alone here.
Obama should not be the nominee of the party. I would at this time support several others, including Clinton, Dodd, Gore, etc. That of course is the longest of long shots but not out of the realm of possibility. I can only hope that someone other than him ends up being the nominee, but it is unlikely as no one wants to rock the boat and ruin a possible win for the Democrats.
The irony is- I feel he's already lost no matter what happens.
This is not over. I am encouraged by the lawsuits to be filed by the EFF and the ACLU the moment President Bush signs the legislation. Let's keep our fingers crossed and let's keep working to uphold and restore the rule of law in this great country.
Thanks to Glenn Greenwald for his tireless work on this issue. He demonstrates in his critique & debate the passion and thinking that made this country possible.
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