10.31.2008
Donate to Michele "Anti-American" Bachmann
Show your support for Rep. Michele Bachmann, who famously told MSNBC's Chris Matthews that she fears Barack Obama and other members of Congress hold "anti-American views" -- by donating a penny. Shanai writes:
Give Michelle a penny for her stupid thoughts. Really. Donate 1 cent to her campaign using a credit card and the cost of the transaction will be more than the donation and she will actually lose money.
More here
The Pedestrian Project
Yvette Helin’s Pedestrian Project is an ongoing performance work created in New York City in 1990. The project consists of several performers wearing entirely black custom-made costumes that are modeled after the generic graphic images of people used on many types of signage. The Pedestrian characters are silent.
10.29.2008
Prager and the Unenlightenment
“Equality, which is the primary value of the left, is a European value, not an American value.”
-Dennis Prager, conservative radio host, in Minneapolis last night
-Dennis Prager, conservative radio host, in Minneapolis last night
10.27.2008
10.22.2008
McCain blooper: Loves/hates W. Pennsylvania
One for the blooper reel:
McCain: Sen. Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately. Add you know, I couldn't agree with them more...[via]
10.21.2008
Design geek McCain poster
By Mike Wirthart: "Default fonts might be why McCain will lose the election." Via DesignforObama.org.
10.17.2008
"Health" of the mother: John McCain's Dr. Evil moment
From Chris Steller:
In the third 2008 presidential debate, John McCain famously made “air quotes” while referring to women’s “health” during a discussion on abortion — a procedure that both candidates say they abhor but which Barack Obama says ought to be a choice for a woman and her doctor as they consider factors, including the woman’s health. That’s where McCain’s air quotes came in. See them in a Minnesota Independent video after the jump, mashed up with air quotes by their self-professed pop culture inventor: Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies.
Washington Post endorses Obama
Key graf:
OF COURSE, Mr. Obama offers a great deal more than being not a Republican. There are two sets of issues that matter most in judging these candidacies. The first has to do with restoring and promoting prosperity and sharing its fruits more evenly in a globalizing era that has suppressed wages and heightened inequality. Here the choice is not a close call. Mr. McCain has little interest in economics and no apparent feel for the topic. His principal proposal, doubling down on the Bush tax cuts, would exacerbate the fiscal wreckage and the inequality simultaneously. Mr. Obama’s economic plan contains its share of unaffordable promises, but it pushes more in the direction of fairness and fiscal health.
10.16.2008
Photoshop McCain's gaffe
WFMU's Beware of the Blog is hosting a photoshop contest about McCain's godzilla moment. Some favorites:
McCain: Man of a Million Faces
Barack Obama politely listened when his opponent spoke at last night's debate, but when it was his turn at the mic, John McCain fidgeted, made faces and rolled his eyes.
Digg this.
Best debate photo
From AmericaBlog, a Reuters shot. Caption:US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reacts to almost heading the wrong way off the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the conclusion of the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, October 15, 2008. REUTERS/Jim Bourg (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008Update: Cynical-C gets it from a different angle:
10.14.2008
Election 2008: Embrace the absurdity
Consider the presidential campaign: Obama "is an Arab," only he isn't. John McCain addresses American citizens as "my fellow prisoners." Sarah Palin on the "Bush doctrine" and foreign policy cred based on the ability to see across water. I'm coming to think that perhaps the best way to endure the last three weeks of what's likely history's most bizarre presidential campaign is to embrace the absurdity.Continue reading at MnIndy: A dramatic reading of minutes from a Wasilla town meeting, Monty Python's John Cleese on Sarah Palin, Barack Obama's abiding love of pie -- sweet potato pie, coconut creme pie, lemon merengue pie -- "Obamacorns" and more.
McCain-Bailin' 08
Gigot, Kristol, Gingrich, Will: They're all griping about McCain. This great montage of clips by the Jed Report runs 'em down, concluding with former GOP advisor Ed Rollins predicting "this is gonna turn into a landslide" for Obama.
10.13.2008
McCain pastor tries to use peer pressure... on God
John McCain had better win the November election -- otherwise God will be the butt of all the other gods' jokes. That's the message of one Rev. Arnold Conrad who lead a prayer at McCain's rally in Davenport, Iowa, on Saturday. "[Y]our reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November," Conrad said "because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his opponent wins, for a variety of reasons. And Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they're going to think that their god is bigger than you if that happens." Beyond the fact that Conrad thinks he can manipulate the Creator with schoolyard taunts, there's a problem with Conrad's theology: neither Hindu nor Buddha are the names of gods.
"He's an Arab": Zogby calls out McCain (not Lakeville questioner) on "decent man" comment
At Friday's John McCain rally in Lakeville, Minn., one Gayle Quinnell took the mic and told John McCain her real concern about Barack Obama. "He's an Arab." McCain cut her off and said, "No ma’am. He’s a decent family man and citizen."
As Jeff Severns Guntzel writes, "let's run the tape again," and take a look at not just what one extreme McCain supporter said but what McCain is arguing:
As Jeff Severns Guntzel writes, "let's run the tape again," and take a look at not just what one extreme McCain supporter said but what McCain is arguing:
He quotes pollster James Zogby, who calls out the fallacy here:Questioner: “He’s an Arab.”
McCain: “No, he’s decent.”
We are left to infer that an Arab man is less then a “decent family man.” Enough is enough! From the beginning of this campaign there have been those who have used Muslim and Arab in an effort to smear Barak Obama. This exploitation of bigotry and the stoking of racist fires to forward an agenda is reprehensible. This is not only offensive to the Arab Americans, but to all Americans. As any ethnic group who has ever been used to scare the electorate knows, this is a dangerous game that tragically can ends with innocent people being hurt.
And while We are pleased to see that the senator is trying to dispel rumors about Senator Obama, but we feel the need to point out that Arab Americans are also decent men and women with the full rights of citizenship as enumerated under the constitution. Arab Americans are part of the great melting pot that is this country’s strength. We work towards peace in the Middle East along side our Jewish partners. We raise our sons and daughters to be model citizens of this nation. We serve this country with honor. The suggestion that any ethnic group is treacherous and Anti-American is unacceptable, dangerous, and unbecoming of such a great nation.
Palin's "flatly false" comments on Troopergate
Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, according to an investigation looking into the "Troopergate" scandal (in which Palin is accused of pressuring Alaska officials to get her ex-brother-in-law fired as a state trooper), found that she "abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act."
How Palin spun that finding?
"Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there."
ABC's Jake Tapper runs down the list of "flatly false" assertions by Palin over the Troopergate investigation.
How Palin spun that finding?
"Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there."
ABC's Jake Tapper runs down the list of "flatly false" assertions by Palin over the Troopergate investigation.
Krugman wins Nobel
The New York Times columnist, economist Paul Krugman, has won the Nobel Prize for economics for his "analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity." Kudos!
10.10.2008
10.08.2008
Oh my. On stump, McCain addresses "My fellow prisoners"
At a rally today, John McCain addressed "my fellow prisoners." I mean, it's kinda feels that way sometimes, but could that really be what he meant?
"You and I together will confront the $10 trillion debt that the federal government has run up and balance the federal budget by the end of my term in office. Across--across this country, this is the agenda I have set before my fellow prisoners. And the same standards of clarity and candor must now be applied to my opponent! You know, we've all heard what he's said, but it's less clear what he has done, or what he will do."
Home improvement on a financial-crisis budget: Sharpie-drawn wallpaper!
OK, this Lexington, KY, resident doesn't seem to be hurting -- he's got some pricey-looking exercise equipment and a pool table -- but his home decorating idea can work for those of us not so flush: He used $10 worth of Sharpie markers to draw a mural on his walls.Resident Charles Kratzer's imagery runs from Shakespeare references to Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte to a dome-lid trash-can transformed via Sharpie into R2-D2.
10.04.2008
Pixelator: DIY ad abstractor in NYC
Since 2003, the MTA has made available for exhibition purposes 80 LED screens located at subway entrances across New York City. Unfortunately, the high cost of exhibiting (an estimated $274,000 per month per screen) prevents most artists from having access to these facilities. While the MTA's effort to create more opportunities for video art exhibition in public spaces is to be commended, selected works remain wholly fixated on commercial goods and media conglomerate events, a short-sighted curatorial choice that regrettably ignores the full potential of these promising exhibition spaces.Make one of your own! Via A Life Less Mediated.
In an attempt to broaden the scope of MTA's video art series, Pixelator takes video pieces currently on display and diffuses them into a pleasant array of 45 blinking, color-changing squares. Since the project is an anonymous collaboration, the resulting video is almost entirely unplanned and unanticipated, with the original artists helping to create new works of art without any knowledge of their participation.
(Translation: Pixelator turns those ugly, blinding video billboard ads into art.)
10.03.2008
Situationists for (or against?) Sarah!
Dadaist Democrats? Photos by Brett Marty of FiveThirtyEight.com, taken at last night's vice presidential debate (used with permission). Read more at MnIndy.
NYT on Palin's "wildly circular logic"
NYTimes editorial:
...Ms. Palin’s primary tactic was simply to repeat the same thing over and over: John McCain is a maverick. So is she. To stay on that course, she had to indulge in some wildly circular logic: America does not want another Washington insider. They want Mr. McCain (who has been in Congress for nearly 26 years). Ms. Palin condemned Wall Street greed and said she and Mr. McCain would “demand” strict oversight. In virtually the next breath, she said government should “get out of the way” of American business...
Biden v. Palin: Best debate moments
Many of the polls gauging reactions to last night's vice presidential debate, especially those surveying undecideds, show Joe Biden the clear winner (CBS' poll had undecideds siding with Biden by a margin of more than two to one). Two favorite moments from the debate: Biden debunking Palin's repetitive McCain's-a-maverick spiel, and Biden's emotional recollection of being a single dad and understanding what it's like to have a child that "you're not sure is gonna make it." (Here's what he was referring to.)
10.02.2008
Field guide to Sarah Palin's religious worldview
The Minnesota Independent:A primer on Palin's religion, from Dominionism to "Young Earth" Creationism.From her stance on abortion and her inquiries about book-banning to her appearances as governor of Alaska at religious events and her earmarks for faith-based projects in Alaska, Palin has clearly injected religion into her view of governance, much to the excitement of religious conservatives. But what are her beliefs, exactly? What do the words used to describe Palin’s background mean?
Please Digg this story.
D'oh: Homer _tries_ to vote for Obama
In its annual Halloween episode -- this year falling just two days before the presidential election -- The Simpson's will feature a segment where Homer heads into a "double-wide" voting booth in an attempt to cast his vote for Barack Obama. But the electronic voting booth ends up tallying not one, but six votes for John McCain. As a door in the machine opens to start sucking Homer into what looks like a paper shredder, he screams: "This doesn't happen in America! Maybe Ohio -- but not in America!" The "Treehouse of Horror" episode, airing Nov. 2 on Fox, isn't supposed to be an endorsement of Obama, says executive producer Al Jean, but a commentary on voting irregularities.
Contradictions
Filippo Minelli's Contraddictions (all three images shot in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2007). Via New Art.
10.01.2008
Cannon cozies: Happiness is a warm gun?
Anna Campbell's Warm Guns series (via Wooster Collective) features the artist knitting, hauling (past an Army recruiting office, in one documentation shot) and placing on Civil War cannons red-and-white, hand-knit cozies. The works seem nostalgic for our well-intended and mythologized colonial roots, while also either feminizing or dampening the sharp edges of wartime symbols. Or, more directly, perhaps it says said "warm guns" -- unlike the just-fired variety -- are better kept warm using other methods. While Campbell's website offers no specific statement on the project, she does say that her work "indulges in the guilty pleasures of romanticizing failure and idolizing drive for its own sake, but the high stakes attached to unromanticized failures, whose consequences are particularly disabling for marginalized people, tempers this idealization and creates a central tension in my work."
Guerilla gas-station signs
Donny Miller does some public critique of oil companies that continue to thrive while the economy's swirling around the drain..