It's almost as if they were writing for Obama in a message to the Republicans:

"I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... you're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."   - Neo, The Matrix

What are they making a big deal of this for?  I mean, it's not like she'll be a 72 year old cancer survivor's heartbeat away from the presidency...

"...the questions swirling around Ms. Palin... brought anxiety to Republicans who worried that Democrats would use the selection of Ms. Palin to question Mr. McCains judgment and his ability to make crucial decisions."

Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process - NYTimes.com

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

After Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate, the AP ran with this:

"Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence"

"The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack."

I'm sorry, but that's idiotic, and it really captures what's idiotic about poltics.  People think that if you have 35 years political experience, you're an "insider" and somehow you can't work for the good of the people--that you're so wrapped up in insider politics and that you're also partly the cause of everything that has happened.

Yet, if you don't have this kind of experience, people will say you're not qualified.  Damned if you do, damned if you don't. 

To me, having a relative newcomer to Washington paired up with a veteran is what I call BALANCE.   Picking someone who chairs Senate Foreign Relations Committee is what I call COMPLEMENTARY.

When I came up with the idea for Path 101, the first thing I did was look for a tech partner who had a skills set that I didn't.  How silly would it be, after I found Alex to be the CTO, for people to say, "What's the matter Charlie?  Are you afraid your technology skills aren't up to par?  Shouldn't you understand the technology better if you're going to do a web startup?"

Afraid?  No.  Self aware?  Definitely.  I understand enough about technology to know that pairing up with a technologist to focus on it makes us a strong team.

And of course, McCain will attack.  McCain's definitely been the one to bring the campaign down in the dirt, and it's unfortunate, because elections are an opportunity to have a great dialogue on direction.  Instead, we'll have a dialogue about rhetoric. 

How long before McCain brings out the reels of Biden saying Obama didn't have enough experience?  Hi, that's called campaigning.  Biden was running for president and experience was his trump card.  Of course he's going to say that to get the edge.  At the same time, when McCain loses, is he going to continue to campaign against Obama or is he going to actually work with him as a senator, who, in the past, had always sought comprimise and worked with the other side.

I applaud Obama's choice, because it means he's going to surround himself with people who comlement him who have experience and ability to execute.  I'm glad there's someone on the team who has 35 years of Washington experience.  I just never wanted that to be the guy in charge.  I want a visionary leader who will push those who execute to make the right decisions--and someone whose decisions are informed by experience and wisdom.  Joe Biden is an excellent choice for Vice President.

"Because he’s on the wrong side of nearly every issue that has caused the majority of the problems we have today."

- from Marco

Over the weekend, 300 people showed up in Union Square for a "Pandamonium".  With some dressed as Pandas, there wasn't much point to the gathering "other than to wreak havoc," according to one of the participants.

After moving to Williamsburg, the group started getting rowdy.

"The participants were chanting, “Whose street? Our street!” and some began overturning newspaper boxes." - AMNY

Not surprisingly, my buddy "No Neck" Noel was in the middle of the action...

“Hundreds of people were out on the sidewalk, dancing, yelling, having a good time,” said Noel Hidalgo, a community activist who goes by the name No Neck and who witnessed the event. “Police were trying to control people and clear the streets and that’s when it got out of control.”

Noel, I hate to break it to you, but when 300 people go roaming the streets yelling and overturning newspaper boxes, that's about when I want the police to step in and "control people". 

What a lot of the people involved in these mass gatherings fail to realize is that they do infringe upon the rights of others.  You can't have hundreds of people randomly gathering in a single group like that without police presence...  because the chances of a riot are too great--unless you simply think all that mob mentality research is bunk.  This group didn't get out of control because of the cops--turning over newspaper boxes or anything that isn't yours, is out of control.  Chances are a wayward newsbox dented someone's car, or a sideview mirror or two got knocked off, too.  Stuff like that happens when 300 people roam the streets. 

Police presences cost money.  As a NYC taxpayer, I paid for this Panda caper.  Clogged streets cost money and they're dangerous, too.  What happens when ambulances get held up because of mass gatherings like this that clog streets with traffic?  I'd hate to have a heart attack on the Friday of the mass bike ride here in the city.

Do these folks think that EVERYONE in the surrounding neighborhoods thought the yelling Panda's were a good idea?  I'm sure a bunch of people didn't think it was so hot.  What about their rights?

How about a mass feeding of the homeless?  Or a mass graffiti cleanup?  For once, I'd like to see people do something more constructive with their energy than just prove they can "stand up" to authority.  Authority serves a purpose... it keeps your panda asses off my street and away from my car.  

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Headline from the NYT:

Poll Finds Obama Candidacy Isn’t Closing Divide on Race

Now, let's actually look at the numbers...

According to their polls, 31% of white people have a favorable opinion of Barack Obama.

...but only 35% of white people have a favorable opinion of John McCain.

Overall, 62% of whites either have a favorable impression of Barack Obama or don't know enough.

...and only 70% of white people feel that way about McCain.

I don't know about you, but these numbers don't really show me a big divide on race.  So, basically, 37% of white people don't like Obama, while 28% of white people don't like McCain.  Hmm... I wouldn't exactly call that a huge racial bias against Obama--9%  Really?  Big whoop.

There is a big racial divide in this election, though... but its not what you think.

57% of blacks don't have a favorable impression of John McCain.  In fact, only 5% do, and the rest are undecided.  So, blacks dislike John McCain by almost a 2:1 margin over whites not liking McCain.  Over six times as many, by percentage, whites like Obama as blacks like McCain.

So who's really the racially divisive one?  Seems to me it's John McCain.

22 years from now, I will be 50. There's a scary thought.

Anyway, I'll probably have teenage kids and, aside from that, I have no idea what my world will look like, mostly because I have no specific long term plans.

At least me and our government have that in common.

It seems all our government plans all run along election timelines--except for McCain, of course, who's got visionary plans to occupy Iraq for 100 years.

I think we should be thoughtful about some period in between that. Mike Bloomberg unveiled a plan for this city to cover what it would look like in 2030. It seemed like as good a an arbitrary point in the future as any.  The plan was just about sustainability, but it touched on many areas of life and our economy.

I'd like to see the US unveil a similar plan for our whole country--across all of the facets of our life: the environment, energy, education, business, culture and the arts, infrastructure. Let's kick it off with a big Davos-like conference of the leaders of today and tomorrow, as well as the people who clearly aren't on leadership paths. Mix in some soccer moms and trailer park kids and maybe even an ex convict or two (given the disproportionate number of our population in jail).

Let's set some stretch goals like, "In 2030, we will have the best and most accessible education on the planet."

Why not?

If we can't make that happen after 22 years of focusing on it, then at least we'll be trying. How about 22 years of work towards a zero carbon footprint economy?

Yeah...zero. Why not try?

I am a big believer in the idea that if you work you ass off towards a ridiculously big goal, even if you don't make it, you get a lot further than if you cut your potential short by thinking too small. Of course, that doesn't mean you just get up and swing for the fences every time. You can single an double a team to death and score 12 runs, but you still have to keep your eye on winning big.

However this process runs, it needs to be two things--apolitical and accessible.
If we just have politicians do this and it isn't a plan that administrations to come can't stick with, or if we just have two sides bickering on policy all the time, it will fail. This is no time for infighting.

It also needs to feel like something everyone ca get involved with. We need to organize both in person and online. Let's get back to town halls (Local USA 2030 Meetup Groups?). I liked Jeff Jarvis' idea for using Salesforce Ideas for the government.

No matter what tools we use, it needs to be talked about in barber shops, worked into school curriculums (aren't problem solving and goal setting skills that we should be teaching anyway?).

For once, I just want to feel like we know where we're going and that its a good place. That direction can't just come from Obama...we all need to be involved.

I don’t mean to offend anyone with this post.  I read it over several times.  I don’t think it’s so bad, but, you never know. 

That’s the existence of the white guy.  You go along thinking that everything you do is pretty much acceptable, because most of the time you’re surrounded by other equally insensitive white guys, until everything blows up in your face and you realize you’ve offended everyone and you’re just privileged scum.

Sensitivity training for you! 

You no blog, one year!

I’ll just say ahead of time that I’m sorry…  or not sorry… whatever I’m supposed to be as someone who is well intentioned, but ill-advised.

I don't think I'm any more racially biased than I am about any other natural bias that I'm probably not conscious of. I may be biased against lefties...I'm not aware of it, but its certainly possible.

Then again, I don't really have any black friends. Is that bad? Am I supposed to? If so, how many?

You know, I mentored an Indian finance student and 99% of her friends were Indian.

I said she could just call me “Token”.

Oh, wait...

Indians are white, too...or...I mean.. Caucasian. Is that the same thing?

In the UK, they're called Asian. 

Huh?

How's that one group? So Ghandi and Yao Ming are both Asian?

Really?

At that point, what's the point of doing any grouping whatsoever? Might as well just call all of them "people".

Or am I supposed to be color blind and not notice? We have a black guy on our dodgeball team, but he never shows. Maybe he doesn't like us because we're white. Are we unconsciously making him feel uncomfortable because he's black... or is it more because he's just slowfooted? Perhaps it's the latter. Are we allowed to be biased against the slow footed?

He was born that way probably--slow footed, I mean. 

I don’t know if he was born black.  That might have been a lifestyle choice.  I didn’t want to pry.

We don't have any Asians. They're not white, either, I guess—even though I’m darker than just about all of them.

I was always confused how they got counted as a "minority" anyway.  I mean, sure, there’s less of them around, but there are less of everyone when compared to some other group, if you think about it—except “people”.  There’s never more people than in the “people” group.

There's a program for getting finance students from minority groups into banks and they included Asians. Given all the cultural stereotypes that exist in the world, does the Asian guy who went to NYU Stern need an extra boost over the Italian from Bensonhurst?  Who’s more likely to convince Goldman Sachs they'd be the harder working quantitative investment banking analyst? Hey, I don't mean to offend anyone or perpetuate any stereotypes further, I'm just saying...

Besides, is "hardworking and really smart" the worst stereotype to have in the world? I don't think that's so bad.

I'll trade you the "privileged and lazy" white American stereotype for smart and hardworking any day.

I've never dated an Asian or Black girl either..not for lack of trying, though. Perhaps bald white guys don't have cross cultural curb appeal. I don't know. I tried really hard to date this Asian girl that looked like Tia Carrere in high school, but her parents wouldn't allow her to date. 

Well, that was what she told me anyway.  I guess sometimes cultural stereotypes are sometimes convenient date excuses as well.

Asian women sometimes get offended if one of the reasons that you want to date them is the fact that they’re Asian—no Asian fetishes, please!  Well, what if you actually like their culture and happen to find their look attractive?  Is that bad?  Some people love tall blondes, but you’ll never hear a Swede say, “No Scandinavian fetishes!”

No Italian fetishes, please!  I’m not interested in any girl that wants me because of my darker complexion, fuzziness, ability to cook, or thickheadedness.  Hmm… what’s left, then?

Barack Obama's impending presidency has caused a lot of white people...and frankly a lot of people in general to think about the nature of race in this country.

Frankly, us dumb white guys are a little confused about what we're supposed to be thinking about it.

We don't want to offend anyone, get sued, or get our asses kicked...so just tell us what're supposed to think and do.

Are we supposed to acknowledge the fact that he's Black (or partly) and celebrate the breaking of historical barriers?  Or, are we in a new era where we're past all that grouping and we are, in fact, all just people?

Like I said...I don't care either way. I just don't want to get in trouble or lose my radio advertisers.

That’s just cool…  

When asked for a comment on the fist bump, 71 year old John McCain said, “I don’t condone domestic violence…  and when did we start allowing women to expoxe their arms in public?” 

Now that we know who the Democratic nominee will be, it's time to go to work...

Obama for America is looking for exceptionally talented web developers who want to play a key role in a historic political campaign and help elect Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. (Interested in a security expert position?)

This six-month opportunity will allow you to:

• Create software tools which will enable an unprecedented nationwide voter contact and mobilization effort
• Help build and run the largest online, grassroots fundraising operation in the history of American politics
• Introduce cutting-edge social networking and online organizing to the democratic process by empowering everyday people to participate on My.BarackObama

You must have:

• At least 5 years of professional web development experience
• A deep understanding of LAMP development processes and best practices
• Experience building complex applications using PHP and MySQL
• Advanced or expert CSS, Javascript, and AJAX skills
• An abiding desire to put your technical wizardry to work for democracy and for our country

Special consideration given to candidates who have:

• Experience scaling large LAMP applications
• Posses deep knowledge of MySQL performance and query optimization
• Strong practical knowledge of web application security
• Created highly usable user interface/experience for complex web applications
• Worked in a fast‐paced web development environment and have proven their ability to write outstanding code under tight deadlines

Successful candidates will join the development team in Boston, MA. Candidates should be willing to commit to work through the election in November. This is a salaried position. Housing assistance may be available for those not located in the Boston area.

Click here to apply!

Link: Verbose Coma : Culture Gone to Brunch: The Bagel of my Discontent.

Hilarious...  Any ideas?   Personally, I think if you had a hose with hot water, you could flush it with water through the screen.  Eventually, it would thaw, then get really soggy and disintegrate.

Hillary Clinton's colossal blunder simply the last straw

We have seen an X-ray of a very dark soul. One consumed by raw ambition to where the possible assassination of an opponent is something to ponder in a strategic way.

via
Marco.org Tumblelog

From the NY Times...

Blogged with Flock

Michigan and Florida decided to move their primaries up ahead of Super Tuesday, against the wishes of the Democratic party.  So, the party decided not to count those primaries and all the candidates decided not to campaign in those states. 

After she won them, and now that she's behind in the delegate tallies, now Hillary wants those primaries to count. 

Obama's name wasn't even on the Michigan ballet!!

She says she worries about disenfranchised voters, but then when the casino workers in Nevada officially endorsed Obama, she filed suit to prevent them from caucusing inside casinos during that state's primary.

And then there's the issue of superdelegates.  WTF even knew these people even existed before this election?  Here you are thinking that your vote counts for something, and then you find out that a bunch of political insiders can outvote you come convention time. 

Obama wants superdelegates to vote along with the people of their states.

Hillary wants superdelegates not to vote for the candidate that the people in their state voted for, but to "vote their conscience."

To me, that's just about the most objectionable stance you could possibly take on this issue.  It's less democratic. 

She thinks that superdelegates should not"be swayed by current trends"...   You know, like the trend of people not voting for her.

Her campaign strategist, himself a superdelegate, said that superdelegates should vote by keeping in mind "their best judgment in the interests of the party and the country."

I hope they do just that.  

Blogged with Flock

"We're urging votes for a candidate whose political views we often disagree with. But this is a more complicated contest, and a more complex candidate, than the norm. This nation's next president inherits a war -- against terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere -- that has found many ways to divide Americans. Capitol Hill is gridlocked and uncivil. Our discourse is hostage to blame.

Obama can help this nation move forward. A Tribune profile last May labeled his eight years in Springfield as "a study in complexity, caution and calculation. In the minority party for all but his final two years in the Statehouse, he tempered a progressive agenda with a cold dash of realism, often forging consensus with conservative Republicans when other liberals wanted to crusade."Racial profiling, death penalty reform, recording of criminal interrogations, health care -- when victory was elusive, Obama seized progress.

He did so by working fluidly with Republicans and Democrats. He sought out his ideological foes. He listened closely to them. As a result, many Republicans in Illinois have warm words for Barack Obama.

Obama's key opponent, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, unifies only her foes. Her penchant for gaming every issue -- recall her clumsy dodging when asked in a Philadelphia debate whether illegal immigrants should be licensed to drive -- feeds suspicion of maneuvering that would humble Machiavelli.As this campaign has progressed, Hillary Clinton in moments of crisis hasn't been an ennobling sight. Her reliance on her husband, the less-than-presidential Bill, to trash-talk Obama reaffirms that the Clintons do whatever it takes to prevail. Depicting Obama's record on Iraq as a "fairy tale" is instructive: Think what you will of the war, but Sen. Clinton was an enabler when that was popular. In Kerryspeak, she was for the war before she was against the war."

Blogged with Flock

As of this moment, they're predicting Hillary winning New Hampshire by 3% over Obama.

I don't call that a comeback.

John Edwards took 17% of the vote.  If Edwards doesn't win, who do you think most of those people are going to back?  Certainly not Hillary after his unrelenting attack on her special interest ties.

Not to mention the fact that, to get the nomination, you need to win delegates, not votes.  Clinton and Obama tied at 9 pledged delegates a piece.  There are 5 superdelegates from NH and who the heck knows how that works, but either way, it's not totally clear that Obama will not sill win the vote of the delegates from NH come convention time.

I think Edwards should just quit now, campaign for Obama, beat Hillary, and be VP and run again after.  He's certainly young enough.  Both him and Obama are both about change and they're going to need to combine forces to win.

Blogged with Flock

I just got this e-mail from Fresh Direct, my online grocery delivery service:

• The government spent money to go after people who came to this country to work boxing my food in a warehouse.
• Now those people will be unemployed.
• The warehouse will be short staffed and so I'll get worse quality service.
• Delivery fees will likely have to go up in the future because, without "illegal" workers, the labor pool is smaller and therefore wages need to go up.

Why do we even have any rules on who's allowed to work anyway?  How is it possible that we aren't better off as a society with free movement of labor?  If the best qualified or hardest working people get the best positions, isn't that a good thing?

Just out of curiousity, I checked out Presidential Candidate immigration policies.  Seems like they all have some kind of bone to pick, but that Obama has the most liberal one, including amnesty for existing workers.

Blogged with Flock

I'm going to write a series of posts on what I'm hoping 2008 will bring in different topic areas, and I'll start with politics.  After all, when you say "2008", the first thing people think of is the presidential election.

Just once, I want to vote in an election with a candidate I can really get behind--someone with a proven track record of accomplishment and moreover, the ability to bring people together.  Right now, I watch the political debates and I just feel bad about where this country is going and who's taking us there.

We're too busy talking about immigration and the military and we're ignoring issues like education and healthcare.  We're debating whether or not immigrants should get drivers licenses and we've going a generation of kids in our schools that are falling woefully behind their peers in other countries.  Why?  Because candidates pander to bitesized issues people can have kneejerk reactions to.  Solving the education problem in this country is too hard--its a complex issue, and so is healthcare.  Most of the current candidates don't have comprehensive healthcare plans...  why bother?  Most of us wouldn't understand the economic or coverage impacts anyway.  But we do understand big walls between us and Mexico.  Is there really anyone out there whose life would be significantly improved by a big wall?  No, but we can sure have an opinion about it.  That's what we're going to wind up voting for...  big walls and licenses.

And why the f are we still on the electoral college?  That's got to go away.  My votes don't even count directly.  Some democracy.

Did anyone notice Bush just vetoed an Iraq spending bill?  Um... wait.. if he doesn't support this thing anymore, what are we still doing there? 

I'm still waiting for Mike Bloomberg to run, but the longer this goes, the more I feel like I'm going to get left at the alter.  We need someone out there who is willing to rise above the infighting around getting nominated by our two parties...someone who just speaks their mind.  I want someone who speaks about finding real solutions and has real priorities that make sense. 

I'm usually pretty optimistic about life, but we're running out of years where we can continue with "America as usual".  We're a land of entitlement now.  I see it in the kids I teach.  Few of them know what real work means--what it's like to really challenge themselves, because they never had to.  We have a generation of kids that is having stuff handed to them and they think the real world is going to be like that.  It's also the same kids that are getting our best educations available.  Full support, no hunger.

In fact, we're doing a pretty nice job of coddling these days.  Can't pay your mortgage?  It's ok...  we'll keep your rates low... lower than the rates of financially responsible people who signed up for fixed rate mortgages on houses they could afford. 

Someone call you a bad name?  Don't worry... we'll get them fired.  You don't have to stand up for yourself.  Screw free speech, because bad words hurt. 

We're nitpicking about what words which people can say, and meanwhile we're choking our planet to death.  We're the last industrialized nation not to sign the Kyoto Treaty.   I have to be honest.. I don't even know what's in the Kyoto Treaty, but I do know it's an effort to treat the environment better and every single other country thinks its a good idea.  It would be one thing if there was some competing treaty and then I'd have to compare the two side by side, but since we don't seem to have any answers of our own, it seems pretty ignorant to just stand here with our arms crossed and be the last holdout.  More screwy priorities.

People in this country need to realize that we're all on the same side...  to learn to accept differences of opinion and work together in spite of them.  Pro-life?  Pro-choice?  Gay marriage?  If we don't learn how to work together, we can forget about being a competitive, productive partner in the world economy and political scene.  I'd like a candidate that understands that, and brings people together to accomplish real advancement--putting structures in place that will help us over the long term, not win monthly popularity votes.  It's not Hilary Clinton.  It's not Rudy Giuliani.  Barak?  I dunno...  Mitt?  Meh.  Ron Paul?  Eek.

Somebody...  show me something... anything.  I'm tired of America as usual.

Blogged with Flock

I haven't decided who I want to vote for yet next year.  I don't like Hilary.  Barak is ok, but I'm a registered independent, so if he doesn't win his own primary, I can't support him anyway.  On the Republican side, I always liked Rudy as mayor, but I don't think he's the least bit qualified to be President.  As for the rest...   I dunno, just too many to keep track of at this point. 

And I keep holding out hope that Mike Bloomberg will run... that he'll go all in and spend a billion on making it to the White House...  and make the tough choices that need to be made.  When he was Mayor, he made tough, but smart decisions about closing firehouses and raising property taxes because the city was in a in a tough financial spot after 9/11.  His approval rating sunk to the lowest approval rating any mayor has ever seen since they started taking polls of mayoral approval ratings.  The way he spoke at Cooper Union the other night, he made me believe that he was a guy willing to make tough decisions in Iraq where, as he put it, "there were no good choices."

There's only one problem with Mike Bloomberg... 

...he's not running.

And, until he says he's in, his "campaign" tactic of being an outsider who just talks on the sidelines isn't going to pick up any traction.  Why?

Being the President of this country requires a ton of passion and dedication.  When I hear that the Mayor is "considering" running, that troubles me.  That would be like someone "considering" a marriage proposal.  When I ask someone to marry me, they better say yes right off the bat, because I don't think I really want to marry someone who has to think about it.  More so than anything else, I imagine that the one serious prerequisite of the Presidency is that you absolutely know you want to be President.

I think that's part of the reason people couldn't get behind Al Gore the first time around.  I think for a lot of people, it just didn't really seem like he wanted to be President that badly...  like he was running because he felt like he had to.... like that's what sitting VP's do.

I've heard that there are a lot of things Bloomberg needs to do first before to prepare to run, like selling the major media and business information company he built from the ground up.   Fine, but, at some point, this becomes like that like from Spaceballs:

"What are you preparing. You're always preparing. Just go! "

I've heard that Bloomberg doesn't want to join a race that he doesn't think he can win.  Well, sorry Mike, but that's the minimum risk that is required of you to run--to face the fact that you might lose.  This isn't going to get handed to you... especially not as a third party candidate.  You need to go out and grab it for yourself, and frankly, its surprising to hear that a successful entrepreneur would hesitate to enter a race because he doubts he could win.

You have to give people something to hang their hat on...a parade to get out in front of.  I'm not going to go join a campaign to coax you into the race.  I want you to run, but if you don't want it enough to say it, every day that passes gets me closer and closer to figuring out who else I can support that actually wants this.  Without actionable items, without something specific to ask people to do, its going to be difficult to get people to care at all.  There are plenty of people who want to support you, but even more people who don't know anything about you.  That takes time, not just money, and I'm afraid that if you wait until Super Tuesday, you're not going to have enough time to convince people that you actually want to be President.   A lot of people just aren't going to wait around that long.

So, for now, I'll support the person of Mike Bloomberg, who has done an amazing job for this city, but I can't support the campaign of Mike Bloomberg if it doesn't exist.