Archive - Sep 2008

Hamden – Democrats from around Connecticut gathered in Hamden today to kick-off the final leg of the Obama for America Presidential campaign. Speakers included Sen. Chris Dodd, Representatives John Larson, Rosa DeLauro, Joe Courtney and Chris Murphy as well as Congressional candidate Jim Himes.

A highlight of the rally was a video Jen Just made of her experiences in Denver.

Besides the major speakers, Constitutional Officers, State Legislators activists and people from all walks of life attended. The auditorium was filled to capacity, as was the cafeteria and many of the halls. Depending on who you spoke with, between 1,200 and 2,000 people were in attendance.

There was voter registration, places to sign up to help not only the Obama campaign, but various Congressional campaigns, and advocacy groups. Joe Courtney spoke about the importance of registering new voters and how important each vote is, after his experience in an extremely close election. Rosa DeLauro received very loud applause as she came up to speak, and Sen. Chris Dodd noted that if all that Palin is doing is attacking, then she isn’t bringing anything new to Washington.

Many members of the new media, including Lon Seidman, Connecticut Bob and Gabe from CT Local Politics as well as many members of My Left Nutmeg were all at the event.

Additional pictures can be found in my photoset from the event.

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Yet another overflow crowd

Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 09/06/2008 - 12:01

Yet another overflow crowd, originally uploaded by Aldon.

Yet another overflow crowd at the Obama event in Hamden

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The Fourth Estate and the Unitary Executive Theory

Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 09/06/2008 - 09:33

One of the battlegrounds in our government over the past eight years has been around executive power. It has shown up in skirmishes where people have attempted to obtain information about how Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy policy was crafted. It has shown up in repeated battles over what the congress can compel members of the Bush administration to testify about.

So, it should come as no surprise that the campaign appears to be stretching the Unitary Executive Theory to new limits. Let’s apply them to Republican candidates for Vice President with regards to the media. Yes, the far right are all up in arms that the press wants to know how Sarah Palin is and what she believes. Roger Simon, in his blog post at Politico, Why the media should apologize sums it up nicely:

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

Needless to say, McCain supporters and staff look at it in a different way. According to a blog post on Think Progress, McCain campaign strategists Rick Davis said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe,

We can afford anything we want to do. … We’re going to do what we think is in our best interest. If that means access to the press, we’ll give it to you

Yes, that is how campaigns are run. They always make their media choices. It is not only what is said on the media, but isn’t said that is important. By not addressing the press, Gov. Palin and the McCain campaign seems to be saying that they want to further the Bush Administration’s stonewalling and refusal to be accountable to the American people. They want to make sure that Cheney’s refusal to reveal how his energy policy was created is carried on for four more years. In essence, they are saying that they do not want to be a government, “Of, by and for the people.”

True, the media isn’t all that it could be, but it is better than nothing. So, yes, the McCain campaign can do whatever they want to do. Voters should do the same, and refuse to vote for a ticket that will not speak about positions, policies, or qualifications with the American media.

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September 5th

…to wound the autumnal city

Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 09/05/2008 - 09:38

Thursday night, channeling Hiroaki Protagonist and perhaps a touch of Edward Murrow, I sat on my couch watching events unfold in St. Paul at the Republican National Convention.

Murrow started off in the old established media of the age, providing radio broadcasts from Europe during World War II. Yet many people remember him for his work in the new media, television, leading to the censure of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

So, like Hiro Protagonist, broke, but connected, I watched the old media, television this time. I’ve been television recording footage of the National Conventions for Remix America. Remix America provides the opportunity for participants to share footage, both old media television, as well as online videos from the new media, and mix them together to create an interesting and informative montage of country seen through various aspects of our media ecology. On the TV, and being recorded onto my hard disk, was Cindy Lou McCain , looking like the perfectly airbrushed Stepford wife talking about her life, a snapshot out of 1950s America.

At the same time, I was jacked into the new media. Across my screen Tweets from Twitter flickered. They provided information on the protests outside of the convention center, and links to live video of friends of mine citizen journalists, videographers, members of the new media, whatever you want to call it, as they tried to track the demonstrations and police response.

There were images of rows and rows of riot police, with their helmets, shields and batons, all looking the same, as if they were computer generated graphics of Star Wars Storm Troopers wearing black, or perhaps an outtake from the Matrix. There were reports of tear gas canisters exploding and protestors being rounded up. Friends huddled in their car as they gathered footage and tried to find a way to safety.

It was surreal; Cindy Lou, smiling inside the convention center and Chuckumentary being told by police to get out of the car and F**kin run. Images of Dhalgren came to mind.

This morning, I sit in my office in far away Woodbridge, Connecticut. It is sunny outside, but Weather.com shows a projected path of Tropical Storm headed towards the Carolinas for the weekend, with Hurricane Ike on a path to hit Florida in the middle of next week. Pandora.com has been playing a medley of Paul Simon tunes. ‘Mrs. Robinson’ fades into ‘American Tune’.

The old media makes no mention of the protests and the arrest of journalists, and it almost seems like a bad dream induced by reading too much science fiction, yet the footage remains.

Growing up, I learned that when you stage a coup, the first thing you do, is seize control of the media outlets. The corporate media has been consolidating, yet is it enough? People have commented that in 1960, Kennedy defeated Nixon through a better use of the emerging media, television, instead of relying on the fading old media of radio. Will the same happen this time with the Internet and television?

So, I write my blog post and head off “… to wound the autumnal city”.

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