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Speaking out
Just thought I’d use this blog to reminds everyone that Elizabeth Edwards will be speaking on-campus tonight at 8:15 as part of the Breastival. While she will be speaking about her personal battle with breast cancer, it got me thinking about presidential candidates and their wives. Some people have accused Elizabeth Edwards of being more outspoken and harsh than her husband, saying the things it wouldn’t be so politically correct for him to say (see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092601866.html). What do you guys think about this? Should candidates use the people around them to say what they can’t, or should everyone stay on the same message?
Work and Wildlife
We made a short trip to Cumberland last month and gave my parents their first view of the place. My dad again proved to be the world’s best supervisor/handyman (highly knowledgeable, very dependable and works cheap). We hung a ceiling fan, swapped out a light fixture, replaced a jackpost supporting the deck and touched up some mortar. Later, after I had to return to Kensington, he solved two long-standing nagging problems. Turns out a loose wire was all that was troubling the garbage disposal. And the oven actually does work — it just needs a new knob. If it had been left up to me, I probably would have replaced the oven.
A neighbor told Clementine and my mom that she had recently seen a bear stomping around the Wills Mountain area. We’re not sure if he’s affiliated with the mountain lion (nicknamed Pablo de Fabio by Clem) seen there about seven or eight years ago.
Hott 4 Hill feat. Taryn Southern
Are you hot for Hillary Clinton? Taryn Southern has a great voice, but will this song help boost Clinton’s campaign? Or will it hurt? I know the song is really corny but its nice to see something that is not always thrown in by mainstream media. It goes to show how anxious some people are getting for the 2008 presidential election. The singer also performed videos for other presidential candidates, but this is by far one of the best in my opinion. It’s very “American,” and really promotes a distinct quality that she has over her competition, she’s a woman.
Too Many Choices?
The Song Remains the Same
I blog about music A LOT. But, I am not going to stop blogging about music in relation to politics, because I think it is very important. Music forms a major thread in the fabric of our culture. It allows for the expression of ideas, the use of metaphors and other literary devices to convey a point. It is often short, to the point, and readily accessible- easier than, say, a book of poems or a 500-page novel. As well, music has been used in U.S. political campaigns for at least 150 years, if not more. Campaign songs are nothing new. Neither are songs that attack politicians. This campaign’s songs have not been finalized yet, but chances are there will be some wacky choices. Currently, the only official one is Celine Dion’s You and I for Hillary’s campaign.
Originally, campaign songs were simple affairs, or written with the candidate in mind. Both Teddy Roosevelt, for his 1912 independent campaign, and Dwight D. Eisenhower had songs specifically about them. Here is a nice list of older campaign songs Other presidential hopefuls, such as JFK, used optimistic songs-i.e. “High Hopes.” Candidates also have been known to mis-step when choosing a song- most notably Ronald Reagan’s attempted use of the anti-war “Born in the U.S.A.” 
Campaign songs, though they may seem frivolous, are often an integral part of the presidential campaign. They will probably play a huge role in raising the emotional stakes in an already emotional race. Music will also play a huge role in defining the candidates’ images, especially following a president that was viciously attacked by musicians. 
Whichever songs the campaigns choose, they will have to be poignant and powerful.
As a parting thought, below is a song that should be considered the people’s campaign song in choosing a candidate and president.
Obama Rakes It In
Obama has taken the lead in the Democratic field for the number of campaign donors, acquiring 93,000 new ones and raking in $20 million this last quarter. Though Hilary has yet to release the amount of funds she’s raised and she’s the fore-runner of the Democratic candidates, Obama has out raised her. Some of the donations have been as little as $5, but that doesn’t seem to matter when you’ve had 352,000 donors. Five dollar donations seem to suggest that Obama is reaching out to more “everyday people”, not just your big business people looking out for themselves in the future. He has had large fundraisers just like the other presidential candidates including a “$3 million fundraiser with talk-show mogul Oprah Winfrey, an event with mega-investor Warren Buffet and a low-dollar match program where the campaign united small donors with people who matched the amount the smaller donor could give”, according to an article by the Washington Times, but he does have the most donors, a sure sign of popularity.
Campaigning for Cash
The fundamental question of the day is, what would you do if you had $265,098,330? If you’re fuzzy at reading reeeaally big numbers, let me spell it out for you. What would you do with more than one quarter of a billion dollars? The answer, you might be surprised or just saddened to hear, is finance the eighteen front runners is the 2008 presidential bid. At least, up until June 30, 2007 according to the link to a Washington Post Article above.
That’s right, 16 months before the fateful day in November still more than a year away; the candidates had raised sufficient funds to send 1,506 people to American University for all four years, free of charge. Go ahead, do the math. Realize that the entire incoming freshman class could be here on a full ride for all four years with that money, and there would still be cash to spare. Better yet, with that money you could shack up 1,767,322 homeless people in a $150 dollar hotel room for a night with that cash.
Of course, there are other and probably better uses of 17.6 times the value of the Louisiana purchase, but the fact remains that the candidates raised what is to me at least, an absolutely incomprehensible amount of money, a full year and a third before the election. If that isn’t mind boggling enough, according to http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp, it’s projected that the eventual nominees will round up half a billion dollars a piece for their presidential bids.
Can you imagine the kind of good that could be done with a billion dollars? The lives that could be saved, the futures that could be brightened, here and abroad. Presidential elections and U.S. elections in general, cost too much money. Newt Gingrich, conservative that he is, brought up an excellent point. Elections have metamorphosed from campaigns of ideas to campaigns of ideas for fundraising. Perhaps there is in fact a relationship, but to me at least there seems to be little relevance between the ability to raise more money than most people will ever fathom, and running a country. It’s no longer the best candidate but instead the best fundraiser.
I don’t know how a less gluttonous presidential election could be held, but I do know that there are far better ways to spent hundreds of millions of dollars. Roll the phrase around on your tongue: hundreds of millions of dollars. Who do you think would do more good with that money, a presidential committee or a nonprofit organization?
Truth in Humor
show takes place in Medora, Wisconsin, and chronicles the Justin Toluchuk’s awkward high school plight, as he tries to navigate his way through the social scene. His family is not much help either, from his well-meaning mom and idealistic dad to his overtly popular sister. Hoping to find a remedy to her son’s social situation, Justin’s mother, Franny, signs the family up for the school’s international exchange student program.
“Picturing an athletic, brilliant Nordic teen, Franny is sure this new friendship will bestow instant coolness on her outsider son. However, when the Tolchuck’s exchange student arrives, he turns out to be Raja Musharaff a 16-year-old Muslim from a small village in Pakistan…While the rest of the family is slightly freaked out by the Muslim in their midst, Gary is comforted by the fact that the host family receives a monthly check to help with expenses.”
Freaked out by the Muslin in their midst? He’s Muslim. Not a charging rhinoceros. 
The kid is named Raja, though, which is the same name as Jasmine’s pet tiger in “Aladdin.” Something still tells me that the family is not freaked out by the “Aladdin” connection. In fact, it’s very clear that the reason why the family freaked out is solely because of Raja’s religious identity. It’s his skin color. The initial reaction upon the family’s faces when they first see Raja (prior to learning of his faith) is one of utter shock with a surprising lingering sense of disappointment.
What The CW has in its hands is a golden opportunity to explore culture clash in the realm of high school America. It could also present a sobering satirical examination of American fears regarding Muslims. It could chronicle Raja’s Americanization. The worst thing that “Aliens in America” could do is do nothing and just present American fear with little analysis.
This show could even pick up with 2005’s “Crash” left off. Heralded as an essential study of race in America, “Crash” went onto win the Academy Award for Best Picture. What “Crash” strove to achieve was indeed admirable, yet flatly presenting the thesis that everyone(regardless of whether we’re honest with ourselves about it) is racist to a degree does not really change much. I mean, racists I know are not going to magically realize the error of their ways after Paul Haggis bangs his argument over their heads. Especially with a screenplay that horrendous.
People respond differently to humor, though. There is something more appealing about being told that you are doing something wrong in funny manner. So who knows: “Aliens in America” really does have the potential to do something great. As to whether or not the writers will pursue this opportunity to the degree they should…that’s a different story. The worst thing that could happen would be if Raja ends up being a token plot device who exercises his Muslim traditions as a means to generate tired, empty jokes.
So Why Does He Still Have a Job?
On tonight’s Countdown with Keith Olberman, Olberman had a segment about Bill O’Reilly’s radio show and his comments he made last week about a resturant in New York City. In the segment, Olberman teaches us, the American public, how to defend ourselves from an O’Reilly attack. Last week, O’Reilly continued to stir and justifiy his statements about the Harlem resturant.
I have been listening to pundits back and forth about O’Reilly and his comments and I just ask myself, why do we still let Bill O’Reilly have a job when so many people can not stand what he says? Granted, O’Reilly gets paid to say these very controversial things. It’s really frustrating that O’Reilly gets so much press and he seems to be a detriment to the idea of better discussion. It’s a real shame that we let someone like O’Reilly continue to speak about things that really should not be mentioned. O’Reilly does not bring anything useful to the table. Why don’t we do the best thing we can do against this type of speech: not listen to it. We shouldn’t feed into these kinds of people. We can only hope…
M. Appeal (Mass Appeal) 
