Observations on the 2012 Election

The vice presidential debate is tomorrow night and it seems to be up to VP Joe Biden to make us all forget President Obama's dismal performance in last week's debate. What Biden needs to do is force Paul Ryan to talk actual facts and figures when discussing the GOP budget plans yet not let him look like he is smarter than the rest of us. Ryan supposedly knows more about the budget than anybody in Washington and could make all our heads spin if given the chance.

While I'm looking forward to Biden's 'happy warrior' side I also hope he doesn't get too happy and stick his foot in his mouth. The media needs to be talking about the this debate and not the last one but for the right reasons. He needs to be in the form he was in for a 2008 Democratic presidential primary debate in which he had this to say about then GOP candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; “There only three things he mentions in a sentence: A noun and a verb and 9/11, I mean, there’s nothing else.” Sadly I guess he should refrain from using the f-word too.

Looking ahead to the second Presidential debate I have faith President Obama will come back strong against Willard. The format is town hall style so more suitable to the President. Also Bain and the 47% video are sure to come up with the public, or the public as the Gallup people see it, asking the questions. But if I were given just one political wish it is that this man could fill in for Obama for just one night ....

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Observations 10.9

Marriage for All Families: Stories from Minnesota


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Published on Oct 9, 2012 by NewLeftMedia

The second of a four-part series made in each of the states that have marriage equality votes this November, this short shares the experiences of same-sex couples who want to get married in Minnesota. They have the same challenges, responsibilities, and aspirations as any other couple, but they are strangers in the eyes of the law. That's why marriage equality is so important: it aligns personality reality with legal reality, as a simple matter of fairness.

The series is produced in association with The Four, a social media campaign to support marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington State. Learn more and get involved at TheFour.com


Film produced by Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll.
Music by Timmy's Work.
See the first episode here.

Observations 10.8

This man is just a national treasure, seriously, it may sound corny but I can't think of any other word to use.

"We've got to be actively involved in the electoral process," he says. "If you really appreciate the price that has been paid for that right, you should be in there participating, protecting our interests and in so doing, making our democracy a truer democracy."

George Takei


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Published on Oct 5, 2012 by BarackObamadotcom

Observations 10.7.1

I wanted to share a portion of a statement by the North Carolina National Guard on the death of Staff Sgt. Donna R. Johnson in Afghanistan. Any death is sad, made even sadder given the location, but the line I have italicized seems important to me because I don't remember seeing something like it before. It's the flip side of the photo I used in my post on the anniversary of the end of DADT.

North Carolina National Guard Press Release

Lt. Col. Robert Carver

Office of Public Affairs

October 4, 2012

RALEIGH, N.C. – Army Staff Sgt. Donna R. Johnson of the North Carolina Army National Guard’s 514th Military Police Company based in Winterville, N.C., died as a result of wounds sustained in a suicide bomber attack while on patrol in Afghanistan, on Monday, Oct. 1, 2012. Staff Sgt. Donna R. Johnson, 29, of Raeford, N.C., is survived by her mother and father Sandra and Philas Johnson, her sister Rene Albattrawi, her Nephew and Niece, Jason and Hannah Albattrawi
and by her Spouse Tracy Dice.... (Full Statement)

Donna and her wife Tracy were married on Valentines Day of this year just before her deployment to Afghanistan.

10/8 update - Just wanted to clarify myself a bit. I was excited, satisfied, proud (pick one) to see the word spouse used with no other same-sex explanation necessary, like it was totally normal, which is exactly how it should be and hopefully always will be going forward.

Observations 10.7

I watch a lot of videos and if you do the same over time you'll find they can pull every kind of emotion out of you. You laugh, sing, dance around the room, and sometimes you just cry for any of a multitude of reasons. I just hope you have a box of tissues handy when you watch this one. The bright side is you'll be smiling through those tears.

Find Your Understanding

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Published on Oct 2, 2012 by Expedia
Every trip is unique. On this trip, Artie Goldstein travels across the country to attend his daughter's same-sex wedding, a journey that will test him, challenge him, and ultimately change him in unexpected ways.
Seen on The Four 2012

Observations on Art 10.6

Jay LaPrete/Associated Press

Annie Leibovitz celebrated her 63^rd birthday a few days ago and also has a new show, "Annie Leibovitz: Master Set," that runs through the end of the year at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. "Each photograph is kind of a landmark for me or a moment or a place, or represents not only someplace in cultural history but also in photography for me,” Leibovitz said in an interview. The 147 photos in the exibit includes shots of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Mick Jagger, Hunter Thompson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Miles Davis, George W. Bush, the Obamas, Muhammad Ali and Queen Elizabeth II. Probably be well worth seeing even if it is on the campus of Ohio State University. Her Smithsonian curated "Pilgrimage" is also being shown in another gallery of the museum.


Annie Leibovitz at the Wexner Center for the Arts
from Wexner Center for the Arts on Vimeo.

Wexner Center Director Sherri Geldin, Curator at Large Bill Horrigan, and EXPRESS CEO Michael Weiss discuss Annie Leibovitz.

Observations on the 2012 Election 10.4

I know, I know, calm down, this too shall pass. Willard looked good in last night's debate, like he was giving a presentation to some board of directors, and President Obama didn't look his best, like he would much rather be somewhere else on his wedding anniversary. But when all the dust settles the President will still be ahead and in all likelihood Romney will have stuck his foot in his mouth again or had it forced there by his VP choice Paul Ryan.

I only found one thing troubling last night and that was the fact that neither Bain or the 47% video were mentioned even once. After some thought I finally decided it was on purpose, it had to be on purpose, and came up with my theory on Obama's performance last night that I think is as good as anyone else's.

Last night's debate was heavily scripted and played to Romney's strong suit, speaking to a board of directors or in a planning meeting of some sort. It was totally wrong for Obama who is at his best when he is talking to real people. If you don't believe that simply Google Obama at a rally in Denver today. My theory is that Obama decided to let Romney have his best shot, pass the baton to Biden next week, and take Romney head-on in the second debate with its town hall format where Bain and the 47% are sure to be questioned. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the President just didn't show up for some reason, either way Willard can't perform like that for another month. The only problem is in the perception because in politics if you aren't winning you seem to be losing.

One other thing that is certain after the debate is that Romney is every bit as good a liar as his partner Ryan. Hopefully next week Vice President Biden doesn't let Ryan get away with it without challenging him. I honestly can't see why anybody would decide to vote for Romney when so much of what he said last night was simply not true. But than I remembered a quote from an old Seinfeld episode.

"Jerry, just remember, it's not a lie if you believe it."

10/5 update - From Mother Jones today; "On a conference call with reporters, a defensive David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, noted that the president's supporters would have liked to see Obama slam Romney on Bain, tax returns, and the 47 percent video. But, he added, "a lot of these issues are well known to the public," and Obama's "choice was to talk about the main things people are worried about in their lives." Obama, Axelrod said, had wanted to avoid an insult-fest and instead use the debate to discuss the future. He did note that following the debate the campaign would "make some adjustments.'"

Observations on the 2012 Election 10.3

Tonight is the first of three debates between Willard and President Obama as the Presidential election campaign enters its final phase. No matter what the talking heads on both sides say I have to wonder just how important this phase is. Early voting has already begun in seven states, the latest being the all important Ohio where it began yesterday. Still a committed political geek can't help but be excited if just for the debate's entertainment value. The entertainment started early when poor Willard couldn't even get his campaign through debate prep without messing up. It was leaked by his handlers that during debate prep Willard had been given a bag full of 'zingers' to use on the President. This is nothing new, unless they are literally talking about twinkies, but you aren't supposed to announce it ahead of time. It's supposed to at least seem like the candidate came up with them on his own.

Something sure to be debated after the election is the effect that the billions of dollars poured into the campaigns by corporations had. This is the first Presidential election since the United States Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case in 2010. The Court, in a 5-4 decision, said that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations or, as Willard himself put it, corporations are people my friend. It just doesn't seem to be having the effect the Repubes and wingnuts wanted but it still needs to be overturned, something that should be high on any list of possible legislation for an Obama second term.

The dissenting opinion was written by Justice John Stevens who showed how strongly he felt by actually reading a large part of it from the bench. Stevens than retired as the third longest serving justice in the history of the court. Below are a pair of excerpts from that opinion, if you are brave, bored, or just a total political fool like me you can read the complete opinion here.

"In the context of election to public office, the distinction between corporate and human speakers is significant. Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters. The financial resources, legal structure, and instrumental orientation of corporations raise legitimate concerns about their role in the electoral process. Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in local and national races....

At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."

If you got this far thanks for reading and that concludes today's lesson. Don't forget, the circus begins tonight at 9 PM Eastern.

Observations from the Gallery 10.2

Warning, phone generated mini-vent to follow ....

Ash is tired of listening so I'm going to vent hear. I saw something on twitter that just irritated the hell out of me. I didn't bother replying to it because sometimes that's just what people are looking for and besides 140 characters just wouldn't do the job anyway. Also I really don't use twitter to chat, it's more I micro-blog, empty my mind, this is what I'm looking at, reading, or thinking about at any given moment.

October is LGBT History Month and somebody, who shall remain nameless, evidently tired 'history months' tweeted wanting to know when white history month is. Think about that for a minute, when is white history month?

Well let me tell them something. Whites really don't need a month because they wrote history so every month is white history month. For that matter every day is white history day. The history of art, politics, religion, and any other area you care to name. Except for rare instances whites wrote it because the winner writes the history and I can't think of any time in the last millennium where whites weren't the winners. Now that may sound racist at some level but as you can see by the photo I happen to be white so by definition this can't be racist. Hell I don't even like the term white unless we are talking about photography.

Before you ask about Women's History Month read the last paragraph again, insert men wherever I wrote white.

Vent over, Ash thanks you for listening.

Observations 10.2

Marriage for All Families: Stories from Maine


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Published on Oct 2, 2012 by NewLeftMedia

The first of a four-part series made in each of the states that have marriage equality votes this November, this short shares the experiences of same-sex couples who want to get married in Maine.They have the same challenges, responsibilities, and aspirations as any other couple, but they are strangers in the eyes of the law. That's why marriage equality is so important: it aligns personality reality with legal reality, as a simple matter of fairness.

The series is produced in association with The Four, a social media campaign to support marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington State. Learn more and get involved at TheFour.com

Film produced by Chase Whiteside and Erick Stoll.
Music by Timmy's Work.

Observations from the Window 10.1

Saturday I mentioned how one of the fun things about the NY Art Book Fair is its lack of auctions, super high priced items, and "celebrity" booths. I hadn't read my brochure ahead of time so I was in for a bit of a surprise when we walked downstairs. In the basement was a faux library called "Homage To Mike Kelley" and assembled by Larry Gagosian. Kelley died of an apparent suicide in January of this year. The room was dominated by two cases filled with books and music selected by friends from Kelley's personal collection and included a copy of Milton's Paradise Lost, Nietzsche's The Birth Of Tragedy, and a complete collection of The Stooges' CDs. It was a cool idea, even if Gagosian came up with it, so I suppose I was pleasantly surprised.

Another fun element of the NYABF is watching people deal with the cash only policy. There was a time I loved going to flea markets and yard sales back in Pennsylvania, collecting old CDs and books, so I'm totally used to that. Art people in New York don't often seem to have cash so after dropping whatever they have on a vintage program or book they madly scramble for the one ATM machine in the building.

Than there is the Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society. Leave any questions you have on this in the comments, otherwise some other time.

Later I was again pleasantly surprised, this time by a movie we watched after dinner. I'm in no way a fan of Woody Allen but I really wanted to see Midnight In Paris, probably as much for the gorgeous scenery as anything else. Well now I can honestly say I have seen a Woody Allen movie that I would watch again, actually I already have. Most of the nostalgia scenes take place in the Montmartre district, the same district of Paris as Christopher Moore's "Sacre Bleu" just forty years later, so next time I'm in Paris I must go there at midnight, I'll meet Hemingway yet. If you haven't seen it yet it's well worth renting, the cinematography is at times is just totally stunning, and it's a fun story to think about.

Before I finish, one line that did irritate me, yes even movies do irritate me sometimes, was when a present day intellectual type says that nostalgia is nothing but denial of one's present life. Now it's true I can be nostalgic to a fault sometimes, so that was one irritant, but I also figure that if nostalgia is denial than art history is denial on a grand scale. Than I had to remember that it was a Woody Allen movie and I also remembered why I don't like him. That 'I want to be somewhere else' feeling sparks creativity in more artists and writers than almost anything else, in all likelihood including Woody Allen.

At some level I could just relate to the movie. Seriously, who wouldn't want to drift back in time and visit some heroes in their element? 

Observations from the Window 9.29

A beautifully dreary fall morning in the Village, beautiful because the air is clear, dreary because it's cloudy and not supposed to get above 70° today. Maybe also a little dreary because the Flyers' should be hosting Boston next week in the season opener but instead the NHL players remained locked out in what Yahoo Sports today called Day 14 of dumb. Nothing like the spectacle of millionaires fighting millionaires over millions of dollars, but wait, this is the NHL so I doubt millions of dollars are involved which makes it all the more laughable. Laughable if you aren't a peanut vendor or parking attendant or just a hockey fan stuck in a fall without hockey. At least the NFL refs are back, there is that.

In football Penn State (2-2) travels to Illinois (2-2) in an interesting Big Ten opener for both teams. Penn State will try to give Bill O'Brien his first Big Ten win as head coach and also his first winning record. But what makes this game so intriguing is something that happened over the past summer. The day after the NCAA announced its sanctions seven schools had coaches waiting outside after State's football practice to try and entice players to their schools. Legal? Technically yes because the NCAA had not, and still hasn't, come up with any rules regarding teams "recruiting" Penn State players. In bad taste? According to O'Brien very much so. Only one Big Ten school was among the seven, Illinois.

Also this weekend is the New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1, I know I'll totally spend too much there but I'm looking forward to going. I do love my books so what could be better than art books? What I found to be fun last time is that everybody is pretty much the same, art fans there because they love art or love books. There aren't any big-ticket auctions, no lounges to schmooze in, and no ulterior reasons to be seen, just lots of awesome books. I'll update this later with anything exciting.

From the MoMa PS1 website; "Free and open to the public, the NY Art Book Fair is the world's premier event for artists’ books, catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines presented by more than 250 international presses, booksellers, antiquarians, artists, and independent publishers from over twenty countries."

So maybe not such a dreary day at all. Football and books, I just have to cram beer and food into it sometime. And, speaking of beer, did you happen to see Krystal Ball drinking a bottle of Sam Adams on The Cycle yesterday afternoon? Sadly it wasn't a Corona.

update - Penn State defeated Illinois 35-7 in a game that wasn't at all that close, it's a cliche I know but also true.  There was no coaches handshake before the game and very perfunctory one after. More like Coach O'Brien wanted Tim Beckman to personally know he had just had his ass kicked. Maybe Beckman should have spent more time coaching the players he had over the summer and less at PSU recruiting.

Observations on Sports 9.29

It's a given that I can sometimes be sports obsessed but this movie would look awesome even if I wasn't. It's a documentary about the Lithuanian basketball team during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics which was and is dominated by the original "dream team" in American sports lore. I first heard of the movie because it was selected for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival but I didn't remember the story. At ten I may have already been sports crazed but I hadn't yet discovered politics, hard to believe I'm sure. this is a much more compelling story than a group of millionaires doing what was totally expected of them.

From the Sundance website; "After leading the USSR to a gold medal (and victory over the U.S.A.) at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Sarunas Marciulionis and Arvydas Sabonis were poster boys for their oppressor’s sports machine. Four years later, after the fall of the Soviet Union, they emerged as symbols of democracy, helping their country break free from the shackles of Communism, and willing newly independent Lithuania to the medal stand at the Barcelona Olympics...." (full story)

The Other Dream Team


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Release Date: 28 September 2012
Genre: Documentary
Cast: Greg Speirs, Jim Lampley and Bill Walton
Directors: Marius A. Markevicius
Writer: Jon Weinbach, Marius A. Markevicius
Studio: The Film Arcade

Observations on the 2012 Election 9.28

Some videos just speak for themselves. There is nothing I could possibly add to this other than fill in the beeps but I have faith in your ability fill them in for yourself. If not let me know ....


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9/29 update - The previous link was removed from youtube due to copyright blah, blah, blah so here is a new video and link.