Media Ridiculousness

Why does the media have to be so freaking ridiculous?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

That's just plain stupid. People will print anything that they think someone might buy money to read.

I would accept this note...

Obama writes a student an excuse from school
Pretty cute.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Ten-year-old Kennedy Corpus has a rock-solid excuse for missing the last day of school: a personal note to her teacher from President Barack Obama.

Her father, John Corpus of Green Bay, stood to ask Obama about health care during the president's town hall-style meeting at Southwest High School on Thursday. He told Obama that his daughter was missing school to attend the event and that he hoped she didn't get in trouble.

''Do you need me to write a note?'' Obama asked. The crowd laughed, but the president was serious.

On a piece of paper, he wrote: ''To Kennedy's teacher: Please excuse Kennedy's absence. She's with me. Barack Obama.'' He stepped off the stage to hand-deliver the note -- to Kennedy's surprise.

You can't deny the man has a great sense of humor and has life in perspective.

Goodbye. Hello. Thank goodness!

Goodbye George. I can't believe I'm saying this... I am SOOOO GLAD you are coming back to Texas. :)


44.
The Man.
I'm so glad to see you.

I loved the speech. It paid tribute to those that came before, to our nation's history and values. Yet it set a path forward in a very serious and solemn way.

Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

As I watched today in Norma's classroom at lunch, we both just sat silently, tears in our eyes. It was hard to believe what we were watching. We knew this day was coming, but the excitement was so incredible.

The speech was firm, but optimistic.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.

Much of this speech was a repudiation of Bush's 8 years in office. Announcing firmly that the problems of the past 8 years are going to be solved. He pinpointed the areas and shined a light on what needs to be done. I particularly enjoyed his comments regarding education and science.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

I love it. We "will restore science to it's rightful place." What must have W been thinking?

The speech was really strong. It warned critics that they don't understand that the "ground has shifted beneath their feet" and that if you question the bold plans you have a short memory of the accomplishments of this nation. The speech also spoke directly to our enemies. To terrorists: "we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you." Very strong. Maybe the strongest line of the speech.

With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Equal parts poetry and strength. Perfect for our time. Perfect for our needs. A good day today. A new path is forged ahead.

College Football Playoff

Barack Obama needs to fix the economy. He needs to do a lot of things in his first 100 days. But, what I need him to do is personal. I need him to fix college football. (tongue firmly in cheek) You may think, is he kidding? Check the video:

Here on 60 Minutes:


And here on ESPN:


So what can be done? First determine that any team that wants to play for the National Championship has to be in a conference (sorry Notre Dame, join the Big East or Big10 and get it over with). Then have each of the conference winners play until someone wins it all. It's that simple.

Vote for Hope Video

I know the election is over, but this video is so well done. Really amazing. Unbelievable what motivated and talented people can do to communicate on the internet:


Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

Thank You Barack Obama...

Dear Mr. President-elect,

I am writing this (post) letter to say thanks. What you have done is organize my party. You have given all of us Democrats (and I do also say Americans) a direction. You send me more text messages than anyone else that I know (although I'm a 38 year-old non-texting kind of guy, I admit).

Back on February 12th, 2007 I posted this: Obama '08 I felt the emotion as you stood on the steps of the old Illinois state capital. It was real.

I posted Leaning 08Bama on July 25th, 2007. I said this:

I have to say that I am leaning towards supporting and voting for Barack Obama. He is raising the most money. (Not that it matters, just remember what happened to Howard Dean) He is doing the best in the debates. (Not that it matters, just remember what happened to Al Gore v. W in debates in 2000) What I like more than any other thing about him (and there is a lot of other things to like) is that he is and WAS opposed to this war.

And I'll never forget the excitement of Iowa in January of this year. What an amazing night Inspiration beats experience (Obama over Clinton in Iowa).

You even inspired me here in my hometown of Houston on February 19th, 2008: Thank You Houston I Love You and that's saying something down here in the conservative bible belt home of "W" himself.



This election has given me so much HOPE. I am energized and spirited. When I teach my history class and we discuss the election I have to hold back my enthusiasm, spirit, and ambition because I try to be even handed and let both sides show for my students. I want them to be good decision makers and not be handed an ideology, but rather develop one for their own. But, you made that REALLY hard to do. Thank you for challenging me in that way.

Thank you Mr. Obama (Mr. President-elect Obama, I love how that sounds) for giving me a wonderful moment with my four year-old son today. "Hey Aidan, who is the President of the United States of America?" He answered, "Barack Obama!" (with a big huge smile) February 18th, 2008: Aidan's Endorsement

I know this country is in good hands. But, more than that, I know this country is motivated to help, get involved, take our government back and start to solve the problems that challenge us. Tonight I really don't want to think about Wall Street, Mortgages, Bank Loans, Global Warming and our Educational System. I just want to smile for one night and say, "Whew, We Did It!"

Thanks for giving me this day. A day that I was able to say to my son, my students and my friends, "Anything is possible in America!"

Election thoughts

Norma and I voted last week. We are relieved that we will not have to wait in long lines today and that our vote is cast, done and over with. It takes a lot of the pressure off of the day. Aidan is sick today so I am home with him. That's the kind of reason that early voting works. It is great to be able to do it at a more convenient time and avoid surprises like 102 degree fevers from your four year old.

Luckily Aidan is feeling a lot better today. So today should be a good day. I will actually be trying to get a lot of correcting finished while he plays. :) Our end of the six week's period is on Friday, so it has been really hard to miss the last couple of days (I missed yesterday because of a field trip to Sam Houston State University for AVID).

I was really, really sad to hear that Barack Obama's grandmother passed away the day before the election. So sad to see that she did not get to see him elected as our 44th President.


This morning Obama got a good omen... Small New Hampshire Towns go to Obama in Landslide

We Have a Lot of Work To Do

Fantasy Draft, Biden, and My Classroom

What a wild day. I woke to a text message from Barack Obama. Joe Biden is his man for VP. I was very excited to start the day that way. I like Biden a lot. Blue-collar guy, great on foreign policy, and an attack dog type of guy. He will go after McCain/Bush. So I was wildly excited about that piece of news.

I went into school at 7am to work on my room. Unfortunately it wasn't open until 7:45. So I had a bit of an obstacle. But, it was ok. I rushed through what I had to do (put up posters, put away boxes, etc) and then raced home for our family fantasy football draft. Here's my squad:

The Tenacious D
Brett Favre, QB, NYJ
Andre Johnson, WR, HOU
Marques Colston, WR, NO
LaDanian Tomlinson, RB, SD
Reggie Bush, RB, NO
Antonio Gates, TE, SD
Deuce McAllister, RB, NO
Roddy White, WR, ATL
Julius Jones, RB, SEA
Kenny Watson, RB, CIN
Jay Cutler, QB, DEN
Patrick Crayton, WR, DAL
Owen Daniels, TE, HOU
Kevin Walter, WR, HOU
Bryant Johnson, WR, SF
Josh Brown, K, STL
Philadelphia Eagles D

I had the #1 pick and took LT. It's pretty much a slam dunk at this point in his career. I have a lot of talent, but a lot of injury questions. I tried to build in depth as much as I could. One thing I didn't get that I usually do - rookie RBs. They went fast! Crazy.

Favre is listed first, but I took him pretty deep in the draft. I do think his numbers will be good in New York. But, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Jay Cutler. I think he was my steal of the draft. (this statement will probably look dumb down the line! But, it is how I feel) Also, Reggie Bush in this league is VERY valuable. It's a receptions league. So everytime someone touches the ball they get a point. Reggie catches a ton of passes - so his value is higher than a normal league. I am optimistic. But, I'll be watching the injury news on these guys closely!

After the draft we went out for a salad and then darted back to school. Norma put the finishing touches on her room and I slaved in my room for about 4 more hours. One of the cool things that I was able to do is to take some video of Aidan talking about my classroom rules. I'll be putting that together tonight and tomorrow and I'll post it when it is finished. That is something I do the first week is show a video to explain the classroom procedures and rules. Much better than hearing me babble about it.



So I am going to work on the video and watch a bit of the Steelers-Vikes game. Then BED. I am tired. This has been a long week, but a very productive one. I don't believe I have ever been more excited about the beginning of a school year.

Three Speeches - Same Message

The Obama speech in Berlin today echoes the same themes we have heard from past Berlin speeches. He delivered the speech before an estimated 200,000+ people.

Obama's Full Speech:

Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity.

That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another.

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

Obama's speech reminded me of the speeches of the past from Kennedy and Reagan.

Kennedy, Berlin, 1963
Ich bin ein Berliner: John F. Kennedy Speech in Berlin, June 1963:

What is true of this city is true of Germany--real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner."

Click to hear the words of John F. Kennedy
Kennedy's Full Speech:



Reagan - "Tear Down This Wall!"
Tear Down This Wall: Ronald Regan, Berlin, June 12, 1987:

We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Obama Speech in Berlin About to Begin

Obama has drawn large crowds in the past. In Oregon there were over 50,000 to see an outdoor speech. His address at Mile High in Denver at their outdoor football stadium should be huge as well. But, today he will address people in Germany. I am watching some of the coverage pre-speech and it seems like there are tons and tons of people there. As far as the camera can see. Amazing.

Hoping it is a good speech. There is much that Europe and America have in common goalwise. The euro is kicking the dollar's butt right now. I would think this is a strong sense of pride there. Stephen Colbert believes we might just have to join the European Union:


I doubt that'll happen. The world economy though is so tightly integrated that we are all connected. Oil prices are a great example. Look at Europe though, they are so far ahead of us in terms of transportation. Their train system is amazing. You can get from one country to another in no time. In America though we have married oil and it is going to be a tough divorce. Exxon Mobile is not going to just want 1/2. :)

We'll see what Obama says. I am sitting here working on my presentation and waiting for the speech. Anxious to see how it goes. This is the last big event of the trip and it has been very successful so far.

CNN: Obama Set to give Berlin Speech

Fox Does It Again

What I have been waiting for... FINALLY Obama Does It!

Fascinating Election Night

Keith Olbermann has been saying that this election has been like Groundhog Day the 1993 movie where Bill Murray's character keeps waking up and it's the same day... over and over and over again. Tonight has been very different.

Obama won huge in North Carolina. And they are still counting the votes in Indiana and it's too close to call at 5 till midnight EST. Amazing.

This is very dramatic. It would be awesome to see Obama sweep and force Hillary's hand. And the Super Delegates begin to flood to Obama and end this thing! I can't wait to see the final results. I will be staying up a bit.

Obama in 30 Seconds

One of the many things I love about Moveon.org is how it is people powered. No wonder they are backing Obama for President. But, they have been doing a great contest called "Obama in 30 Seconds." They have the finalists up for people to vote for now: Obama in 30 Seconds

Here are my three favorites:

There are a lot of "typical" Hope ads. I want something different that explains what he is going to do. Not just the hope thing. For the general election we need more. I love the hand reaching down at the end of the ad. It just makes me feel great and that is what this election should be about - giving our kids the chance at a brighter future.


The first time I viewed this ad I said, "That is what is needed!" We do need people to forget their old ideas of party-line politics. Instead look at what this country needs. It was awesome when I was at the caucus in Kingwood, TX (a very strong GOP community) to see so many republicans voting for Obama.


This one is really good. Simple, but you can't wait to see what he is going to draw. And I love how he has Obama turn the page at the end. Straight forward message and there is no doubt that this has to be a message of the campaign.

If I was Obama, I would buy each of these finalist ads and run them through the summer for himself. They are all effective in their own ways.

Enough Is Enough

The debate last night was grizzly. Not what America is looking for or what we need.

I am very encouraged by the polls in PA and the fact that voters seem to be turned off by this negative posturing by Clinton and the media. I just hope PA voters choose Obama and we can get on to having a real discussion about our differences with Republicans. That is what is important right now.

This primary has run it's course already. Enough is enough. Enough from the media and enough negativity. I hope PA does the right thing and moves this along. People are getting fatigued by it.

3 AM Girl is Obama Girl

It is probably my favorite story from the campaign: ABC NEWS: 3 A.M. Girl Wants Obama To Answer the Call

Casey Knowles of Bonney Lake, Wash., was recently watching Jon Stewart lampoon Hillary Clinton's well-known "3 a.m." ads on "The Daily Show" when her brother noticed something.

"They were parodying this ad, kind of poking fun at it. They were replaying it. We paused it. My brother was like, 'Is that Casey?' And we just erupted," Knowles said on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" today. "Sure enough, it's me."

An image of an eight-year-old Knowles appears in the ad, shown sleeping soundly in bed. The Clinton campaign legally purchased the file footage of Knowles from Getty Images.

Clinton's ad aimed to emphasize her experience and say she'd be a strong national security candidate. The ad was a play on a 1980s-era advertisement with a similar theme: if there was a middle-of-the-night national security emergency, who would you want to have answer the phone and deal with it?

Ironically, though, the now-17-year-old Knowles would want Clinton rival Barack Obama to answer any important 3 a.m. calls coming into the White House.

Knowles' image originally was shot for a railroad company advertisement, but the teen said she harbors no resentment toward the Clinton campaign for using her image.

"I'm just enjoying the irony. I'm an Obama supporter," said the high school senior, who will turn 18 next month, well before the election in November.

Still, Knowles made it clear she disliked Clinton's ad.

"What I don't like about the ad is it's fear-mongering. I think it's a cheap hit to take. I really prefer Obama's message of looking forward to a bright future," Knowles said. "I think that's a much stronger message."

Knowles was actually a precinct captain for the caucus in Washington State for Obama. This one just cracks me up.

Hillary's Math Problem

Jonathan Alter of Newsweek wrote an interesting piece today called: Hillary's Math Problem. In it he states that even if Hillary ran the table and won each and every state left, she still would be short of the pledged delegates needed for the lead over Obama.

Hillary Clinton may be poised for a big night tonight, with wins in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island. Clinton aides say this will be the beginning of her comeback against Barack Obama. There's only one problem with this analysis: they can't count.

I'm no good at math either, but with the help of Slate’s Delegate Calculator I've scoped out the rest of the primaries, and even if you assume huge Hillary wins from here on out, the numbers don't look good for Clinton. In order to show how deep a hole she's in, I've given her the benefit of the doubt every week for the rest of the primaries.

...
So at the end of regulation, Hillary's the nominee, right? Actually, this much-too-generous scenario (which doesn't even account for Texas's weird "pri-caucus" system, which favors Obama in delegate selection) still leaves the pledged-delegate score at 1,634 for Obama to 1,576 for Clinton. That's a 58-delegate lead.

This is really interesting. Yet everywhere this morning, all you hear is how Clinton won the night last night. She won the popular vote in three states, but her margins weren't big enough to net many delegates. In fact, Obama may win more delegates because he wins the populated cities, whereas she has been winning the less populated rural areas. The cities have more delegates, so the edge is to Obama there.

Hillary is claiming that she is winning the big states and that those are the states that Dems will have to win in November against John McCain. But, is that really true? Wouldn't Obama win California, New York, New Jersey easily anyway? And isn't Obama's 60-40 dominance in the cities much more important? Isn't it the urban areas that are really the Democrats strong zones? Obama is actually winning where the voters are. Those rural areas that voted for Hillary in Texas will vote for McCain in the general election - no doubt.

This thing is really complex. But, I like what MSNBC's Chuck Todd said when he broke it down: "Either Obama is going to have to win in one of Hillary's strong states, or Hillary will have to win in one of his." So, looking at the map and what is left, here are their states:

Obama - Wyoming, Mississippi, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota, North Carolina, Guam, and Puerto Rico
Clinton - Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky

It sure looks good for Obama. At the end of this process he should be able to make these claims: 1) Won more of the popular vote. 2) Won more pledged delegates. 3) Won more states. How can the Democratic party give it to Hillary if the people have voted in stronger numbers for Obama? No way.

Texas... it's time!

Can't sleep tonight. I am feeling really crummy. Staying home with Aidan tomorrow. He has an ear infection.

So I am sitting her contemplating the election. I will go tomorrow night to caucus for Obama at our local polling place. I am very interested to see how it works. Never been to one before.

All I can hope is that he is able to do well enough tomorrow night (probably means winning in Tx, Ohio, and at least Vermont) that Hillary will see the hand writing on the wall and drop out. That sure would be nice. As a Democrat, I don't like all the negative spin that the Clinton machine is unleashing. It is only hurting us in the general election.

The election in Texas has been a good one though. I loved this clip done by the Obama for Texas folks which recaps the Texas campaign:

I voted today...

We went to the Kingwood Library today to vote. X Barack Obama!

Aidan was so cute. This morning when we were getting dressed I said, "We are going to go vote." He replied, "For Barack Obama?" Man I laughed. Then he asked Norma later if Barack Obama was going to be there because he would like to meet him. Aidan is all about "meeting" people right now. He says, "Nice to meet you" to people all the time. And "Remember me?" to people he has never met.

It was pretty neat voting early today. They stamped my voter card with "DEMOCRATIC." That way I can vote in the Dem caucus on March 4th at 7pm. It was kind of funny how the polling lady told one person, "it's not two votes, you just go to the caucus to have an delegate represent your district." Well, yeah, but it is like voting two times in my book. You need to go to the caucus to be sure your original vote counts as much as it can. Makes me wonder what kind of impact the caucus will have on the delegates. It is possible that someone could win the popular vote and lose the delegate count by a bunch. 30% of the delegates are selected through caucus in Texas.

Voting today made me think of a song by Pearl Jam called "Undone." I have always loved the song and it is about Election Day and voting. But, in Texas we never really have a vote that seems to matter much. This year is a lot different. This year Texas matters. And it was a powerful feeling to go to the voting booth and make my choice. I think those who were voting early today like me felt the same way. Norma and I over heard people saying things like, "I am a Democrat." "I can vote Democrat here today, right?" And, "I am a Republican, but can I vote for a Democrat today." All three comments and questions were made during the 10 minutes we were in there. I am not joking. And we live in one of the Reddest cities and Reddest states in the Union. :)

"Undone"

Last stop on the westcoast line
South of the northern border
One small corner on my mind

Everybody, they know me there
Don't get any second glances
Chances are that they don't care

The world has come undone
Like to change it everyday
Change don't come at once
It's a wave building before it breaks
Can't wait for election day

Witness the occupation
Corporations rule the day
Well you know the pendulum throws
Farther out to the one side, swinging
Has to sweep back the other way

The world has come undone
Another day and who can wait
Change don't come at once
It's a wave building before it breaks
All this hope and nowhere to go
This is how i used to feel, but no more

The world has come undone
Like a game that few can play
Change don't come from one
It's a wave building before it breaks

And hopefully in November I won't be singing these lyrics this year by Nora Jones - "Nothing is as scary as Election Day":

NORAH JONES LYRICS

"My Dear Country"

'Twas Halloween and the ghosts were out,
And everywhere they'd go, they shout,
And though I covered my eyes I knew,
They'd go away.

But fear's the only thing I saw,
And three days later 'twas clear to all,
That nothing is as scary as election day.

But the day after is darker,
And darker and darker it goes,
Who knows, maybe the plans will change,
Who knows, maybe he's not deranged.

The news men know what they know, but they,
Know even less than what they say,
And I don't know who I can trust,
For they come what may.

'cause we believed in our candidate,
But even more it's the one we hate,
I needed someone I could shake,
On election day.

But the day after is darker,
And deeper and deeper we go,
Who knows, maybe it's all a dream,
Who knows if I'll wake up and scream.

I love the things that you've given me,
I cherish you my dear country,
But sometimes I don't understand,
The way we play.

I love the things that you've given me,
And most of all that I am free,
To have a song that I can sing,
On election day.