Politics
Entries related to things political.
Does Size Matter?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 15:53As I try to catch up on all the emails that have piled up in my in box while I was on the road, I was struck by an interesting juxtaposition.
From: Suren espiritu
Subj: Increasing your size and girth in just 1 simple step - GUARANTEED.
followed by,
From: Bill Clinton
Subj: What matters in this race
In just 24 hours, you closed the $1.3 million advertising gap with Obama this week. In response, their campaign has bought another $1.9 million worth of airtime.
For Hillary to win on March 4, we must close this gap -- and we have to do it quickly. We cannot let this race be decided by Obama's spending advantage on the air.
The email goes on to say, "So let's show the Obama campaign that they can't win this race just by throwing more money at it."
Um, how are they going to do this, by throwing more money at it? Maybe what matters in this race is size.
Questioning CNN's Patriotism
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 02/26/2008 - 15:14During the 2004 Republican National Convention, MSNBC had a poll asking if Rudy Giuliani’s speech reassured you or moved you to support President Bush, as if those were the only two choices. In response, I created this poll.
Recently, CNN took a page from this playbook and had a poll questioning Sen. Barack Obama’s patriotism. It seems like my poll questioning whether MSNBC has any journalistic integrity left could equally apply to CNN. Perhaps we should be asking if Wolf Blitzer has stopped beating his secret lover or if he is now, or ever has been, a member of the Communist party.
House Sale, Work, Upcoming Events
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 21:14T.S. Eliot said April is the cruelest month, but it looks like March might be more complicated for me. Tomorrow, I leave for the American Group Psychotherapy Association annual meeting in Washington, DC. I’ll be gone through Sunday. I’m busy making plans for trying to keep on top of everything that is piling up and leading towards a busy March.
First, there has been a steady stream of potential buyers visiting the old house back in Stamford. I am expecting an offer or two any day. It is a welcome relief. I had been thinking that the house would be sold off at an auction, but now that seems much less likely. So, while I’ll have to stay in touch for developments on that.
Then, there is work related stuff. I haven’t found the steady source of income I need, but consulting gigs are turning up more and more, and I may end up working on a few projects during my train ride to DC.
Added to the mix is the Avery Doninger case. It is now scheduled to be heard in the Second Circuit in New York City on March 4th. I’ve spoken with several people who talk about what an experience it is to attend the Second Circuit. So, I’ll go from blogging a Group Psychotherapy conference to blogging a trial at the Second Circuit. It should be very interesting.
To tie things all together, there is an exciting development with the house in Stamford that I can’t blog about yet. It adds one more level of complexity to the whole situation, but looks beneficial to everyone, and very cool as well.
Now, this evening, I’m on a conference call, that is a mixed reality event in Second Life with Rockridge Nation. I am getting more information about the Virtual State Fair, sponsored by the Cooperative Extension and I’m trying to follow all of the latest Second Life Stock Exchange drama. Meanwhile, Kim and Fiona watch American Idol and I’m hoping to follow some of the Wisconsin primary returns.
So, I try to get all everything organized for me trip, amidst interruptions.
Finding Obama’s Reality Check at a gathering of disabled people in Second Life
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 09:59Last night, as I sat at a gathering of disabled people in Second Life, friends were providing me quotes from Sen. Obama’s speech at the Wisconsin Founders Dinner via Twitter. The juxtaposition was striking.
Those who read my blog know that I write about whatever strikes my fancy, from technology, to Second Life, to group dynamics, to politics, to the personal. I seek to draw themes from all of them to mix them together and the combination of Obama’s speech and the talk in Second Life provides a wonderful opportunity.
In politics, I supported Sen. Edwards this time around. Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama both seem a little too conservative for me, a little too closely connected to the corporate interests and existing power structure. Yet the current criticisms of Obama actually lead me to be more supportive of him. His critics talk about all that he has to offer is just words. Well, as a writer, I find that criticism offensive. Legislation is, after all, just words. The landmark civil rights bill of the 1960s is just words. More importantly, it is the ‘just words’ of Martin Luther King, Jr. that helped bring about such legislation. The Letter from a Birmingham Jail was just words. The “I have a dream” speech was just words. No, if you want to alienate people, disparaging other for having just words seems like a good starting point. Maybe that is part of why Oprah has endorsed Obama. She realizes that words are important, that they can move people to action.
Yet more importantly is the question of Barack Obama needing a ‘reality check’. Personally, I think we’ve had a few too many reality checks of late. We do need a little more hope. Dr. King’s letter from Birmingham jail was a response to those asking for reality checks back then. Critics were calling the actions of Dr. King that landed him in Birmingham jail, “unwise and untimely” and the calls for a reality check on Sen. Obama sound very similar.
So, let’s take a reality check from an unlikely and unreal venue, Second Life. Second Life is a place where people can create avatars, representations of themselves, that interact with one another. These avatars can be different from how people are in real life. The unattractive can become more attractive, people can become animals, they can change genders and they can experience disabilities or freedom from disabilities that they can’t in real life. The woman with a fused backbone can jump on a trampoline, a wheelchair bound person fighting MS can go down a waterslide.
Institutional Memory
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 02/16/2008 - 20:38I believe it was at SXSW Interactive 2005, that I was on a panel exploring the future of democracy, deliberative, direct and digital. As we explored the role of political parties, the idea of institutional memory came up, and it seems as if the Internet is changing the way we maintain institutional memory.
In 2003 and 2004, I was a volunteer in Gov. Dean’s presidential campaign. I established many close friendships during that time. When Gov. Dean decided to end his presidential bid, many of us reached out to each other online. We dealt with our grief about seeing the person we thought would best lead the country leave the race. We talked about what Gov. Dean’s delegates should do, and whether we should still vote for him in the primary, or if not, whom we should support.
We vented our frustrations about the sort of campaigns other candidates had run. We complained about the media, and most importantly, we sought ways to remain together to work on the issues that were important to us.
During that time quite a few mailing lists and websites formed. Sometimes there were conflicts between people from different groups. After all, we were all people that had cared passionately about Gov. Dean and the issues he stood for, and we cared passionately for how things would be handled afterwards.
People looked created different legal entities, 501(c)3’s, 501(c)4’s, State PACs, Federal PACs, 527s, and so on. Dean for America shut down, and a new organization, Democracy for America emerged.
I wasn’t involved with the Kucinich campaign in 2004, but it seemed like a similar process happened there, and out of it the Progressive Democrats of America emerged. PDA and DFA had a lot of similar goals and looked at ways to work together, me, and many of my friends ended up getting involved in both.
Now, it is 2008. This time around, I was a Sen. Edwards supporter. He has now suspended his campaign, and I’ve been invited to join two mailing lists of Edwards supporters, in addition the dozen or so I had been on during the campaign. I’ve been asked to participate in various online sites and hear discussions about other ones yet to emerge. Like in 2004, I, and all of us, wait to hear what Sen. Edwards will suggest we do going forward.
