Obama's Win = Racial unity among children

"Awesome picture of two kids at a rally and a poignant image of American history, one which marks the historic presidency of Barack Obama. "

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Quicky blog post

I just wrote this on the videoblogging group list and thought I'd repost....

This day began for the Edwards entourage in the early wee hours, in the devastated 9th ward of New Orleans. From there it was on to Des Moines Iowa for a town hall meeting and blogger meetup, and now I'm in New Hampshire about to crash after a totally surreal day that feels like 3 days. (3 awesome days!)

The announcement was your typical press event, my camera had nothing unique to offer. So I interviewed Scoble on how he got involved and what he thought of the whole thing and the process. I interviewed a vlogger from North Carolina who was invited by the Edwards folks and was very excited
to be there. Lastly I found some church volunteers down the block from all the Edwards hoopla, where the "real" work was going on -- they were gutting a house of all it's moldy exoskeleton. They were working like mad ripping it up, finding some remnants of the owner (beads, a moldy bible). The guy giving me the tour was a big Rocketboom fan which I did not expect!

For what it's worth I'm convinced Edwards is a passionate, smart, authentic person who would make a great president. He has some people on his team I interviewed 3 years ago -- the people who made the Dean campaign legendary for its use of technology to engage and make the campaign "people powered." But now, it's evolved to include video and frankly there's a better candidate.

I've got a few bad phonecam photos and thoughts on my flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blogumentary/

Edwards: "I intend to run in '08"

NY Times story

I'm currently in New Orleans. Arrived too late to be part of Edwards motorcade to the lower ninth ward. I'm hoping to catch a ride with the press shuttle, if they let me.

I've never been to NOLA before. Flying in and driving by the Superdome brought a strange nostalgic weightiness to my transit - from my TV memory. Graffiti spotted on a building downtown: "Katrina was here."

Michelle Malkin Opposes Freedom of Press

That's putting it lightly. I'm almost surprised at the degree to which the far-right lunatic fringe overreacts to a free press. To them, it's a crime to report on the actions of our government toward Americans.

That should send a clear signal that something is terribly, terribly wrong with this small but influential group of extremists. When national security universally trumps a free press and an informed electorate, we're no longer living in a democracy.

DEMAND ACCOUNABILITY

Restore the Rule of Law

INDEPENDENCE

To celebrate, here's a (repeat) snippet of one of the Americans I admire most, Joe Trippi:

Joe Trippi [Quicktime, 9 MB]

Now, be a good citizen and relearn about the American Revolution. Then take your pants off and light some fireworks, and post it on your blog vlog.

WTF?

I'm sorry, I'm trying to be a grownup about this.

I made this lovely little graphic when Bush was elected appointed 4 years ago. I whipped it out again two years ago, when Coleman and Pawlenty won in Minnesota. Today I'm depressed, and that's surely turning to rage, but I'm beyond calling Bush names. We really do need to think about the culture war, and what went wrong. I'm not yet sure what to think of Jeff Jarvis' Post-Election Peace Pledge. I think it's a good idea, an attempt at unity, but I have to crawl out of my dark place before I can go there. I've taken much solace in this BoingBoing post:

Xeni Jardin's dad

"Get over it," he said, "The way you feel now is exactly how I felt when Nixon won a second term -- crushed. I just couldn't believe America was that stupid. But remember what happened to Nixon that term."

Then again, perhaps it's all a wicked promotional stunt by George Lucas.

Crystal is angry too, wanting to move toward the positive. Everytime Bush does something that harms us and our world, she wants us to remind Bush voters that this is what you voted for.

And, finally, for the truly desparate: Harper's Guide to Expatriation. Maybe better to for us northerners to just join the United States of Canada and leave the red states to be Jesusland.

Here's a nice variation from Mena Trott: Canada 2.0

INSIDE THE DEAN MACHINE

Join Dana Dunnan for an examination of the first great political phenomenon of the Internet age - the Howard Dean campaign. Dana is touring with his book, Burning at the Grassroots: Inside the Dean Machine. Mark your calendars! He'll be in the Twin Cities mid-September, with other dates scheduled in the Midwest and Northeast: Bookin' It for Barack Book Tour.

TROUBLE'S BREWIN'

Above: A message of hope from Luke Francl (BushOut.tv and DFLers.org).

More conspirators in the hizzouse, hosted by me and Lorika (Secret Farm):
Chris Dykstra (also of DFLers.org) and Lynn, Mark Gisleson (Norwegianity), Crystal (Space Waitress) and Josh, Jonathan (Acetylenic) and Kelly, and of course Mark Desrosiers (CHEEK).

Hmm, an astute observer might notice political affinity among these folks. Said observer will also note with great pride: All the beer was chugged. It was great meeting you guys!

KERRY/EDWARDS RALLY, XCEL CENTER

Kerry/Edwards Rally + Bush Protest [Quicktime, 20 MB]
Kerry/Edwards Rally + Bush Protest [Windows, 5 MB]

Silly sites like these, with pictures of the more inflammatory protest signs (Bush is a fascist, etc.) may give right-wingers a chuckle, but to argue that (a) it represents the Democratic Party, and (b) therefore the Democratic Party has no positive agenda, is just plain false and ridiculous. Or would they have Hannity/Savage/Limbaugh be spokesmen for the Republican Party?

I might add: Bush's lockstep control of his public appearances certainly don't help him refute the content of those signs.