Friday, January 23, 2004
Things That Make You Go YEARGH!
Let me get this straight: a third of the people that supported Howard Dean before Iowa aren't supporting him now, because he shouted "Yeah!" in a speech and it came out kind of goofy? Is that about the size of it?
Like most folks, first I heard commentary about "the scream." Then I heard a couple of stupid remixes, then I heard an excerpt from the actual speech, and finally I saw video of the actual speech. The commentary made it sound as if Dean had delivered an extended incoherent, psychotic, angry rant; the remixes (a couple of which were funny) made it sound as if he'd delivered a very short, pithy rant; the audio excerpt sounded a lot like a passionate pep talk; and the video clearly showed an impassioned leader, in high gear, his voice about to give out, rallying his supporters with a powerful, fiery speech.
The "scream" was near the beginning of the speech, and if I'd been there, by the end of that speech I'd have forgotten all about it. Watch the speech for yourself (RealOne Player). Dean comes on around 6:30. I was inspired by this speech, and reminded of why I chose to support Dean in the first place.
I support and endorse Howard Dean, and I'll continue to do so as long as he's the candidate in this race who best represents my beliefs. Among other things, he and I believe in protecting the environment, in fiscal responsibility, in health care for everyone, in fighting wars only for self-defense, and in trade agreements that give American workers a fighting chance.
He also demonstrates in this speech that he has a pair of ayotes — since when is that a bad thing? Sure, he's angry. A lot of us are angry. Bush was sold to us as a moderate, as a uniter, as someone with all our interests at heart; what we got instead was an enormous Tool of Big Business who's destroying our environment, our economy, our standing in the world — and our freedoms. If you're not angry about that, you probably haven't been paying attention.
Music In My Head
- Tori Amos — "Space Dog"
- Haysi Fantayzee — "Shiny Shiny"
- Tones On Tail — "Go!"
- Wang Chung — "Dance Hall Days"
- Earth, Wind & Fire featuring the Emotions — "Best of My Love"
- Steely Dan — "Bodhisattva"
God Bless You, Captain Kangaroo!
R.I.P. Bob Keeshan (best known as "Captain Kangaroo"). Ian has an excellent post on this great man without whom I don't think I'd have survived childhood.
Posted by Me at 22:40 link
Thursday, January 22, 2004
Politics or Football?
Definitely not basketball.
The Panthers are in the Super Bowl! I feel like I'm about 12 years old every time I think about that. I hope they win, but I don't expect to feel terribly bad even if they don't win. I decided tonight to inaugurate a new sports philosophy, based loosely on the Serenity Prayer:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
I can't change the outcome of a televised sporting event. If I were going to be there in person, I'd have a small role to play, but I won't be there.
Also absent from this year's Super Bowl will be "Child's Pay," the winning entry in MoveOn.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" ad contest. Click here to see the ad and to let CBS know what you think of their decision not to air it. See, there's something you can actually do!
Back to the emotions of sports: I've decided from now on that I'll rejoice in my favorite teams' victories, but I'll no longer despair in their losses. Is that fair? Probably not, but since I don't have any control over the outcomes of the games, why beat myself up emotionally?
What I've been up to
Eat, sleep, school, exercise, repeat. Yep. That's about it. I went up to NJ this past weekend. Here are a few photos.
These first two are from our trip to Ellis Island on Sunday.
On Monday, I went for a snowshoe hike in Worthington State Forest.
These clouds were with me for about an hour of my drive back to NC on Tuesday.
Why are long weekends never quite long enough?
Posted by Me at 22:27 link
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
I'll Be Back....
I'll start writing again soon, probably tomorrow. I have a lot to write about, having just had a really nice long weekend in NJ. I popped up to to see my Friend, on the spur-of-the-moment. We went to Ellis Island, and I found my knee had healed enough by yesterday that I could go for a hike. Now I'm back in Statesville, with a lot of homework to do for tomorrow's classes. By the way, it turns out my Econ. instructor really wasn't kidding about not believing in Freedom, nor was he swayed by my argument. I've been fuming about it ever since; just now I decided to seek some sort of a truce, and basically to let it all go. Now I've got to read more of that stupid textbook.
I'll be back, probably tomorrow, to blab about Ellis Island and/or my hike and/or the Iowa Caucuses and/or Bush's speech. If you want good stuff to read, check out Sean, or Sya, or Marvin, or Gael, or "Tom"....
Oh, and lest I forget—
Go Panthers!
Posted by Me at 22:55 link
