BareNaked Pundits! - Recommended Diaries

Brand on the Run

jhutson — Fri, 16 May 2008 19:07:40 GMT

(With apologies to Paul McCartney)

Stuck inside these Bush years, sent inside for two terms,
Never watching ABC News again.
Just BareNakedPundits, Daily Kos, Olbermann, YouTube...

If we ever close Gitmo down,
Thought of getting it back one day,
our American dignity.
All we need is a hope for change
If we ever get out of here.
If we ever get out of here.
Well, Obama exploded on the national stage as we stood in hope again,
And the first one said to the second one there, "Vote no more same old same!"

GOP brand on the run, brand on the run.
And the Preznit man and John McSame were scaring every one
with their brand on the run, brand on the run, brand on the run, brand on the run

Well, the corporate lobbyist drew a heavy sigh seeing no Republicans,
And a bell was ringing in a K Street firm for the elephants on the run.
Brand on the run, brand on the run.
And the Preznit man and John McSame, were scaring every one

With their brand on the run, brand on the run, brand on the run, brand on the run

Well, the day was dawning as the chickenhawks went home to roost again.
In the capital they're sweeping all the elephant poop, but they need a good clean rain.
Brand on the run, brand on the run

And the blogger Drudge, whose facts are fudged
Will search for evermore
For the brand on the run, brand on the run, brand on the run, brand on the run

The Obama Dream Team

JonGee — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:29:47 GMT

Now that Hillary Clinton is in the rear-view mirror, Barack Obama has his work cut out for him.

High on his agenda should be putting together a remarkable cabinet. After seeing the debacle of the Bush administration, one of the strongest arguments for a Democratic president is the strength of the team he can assemble to do the real work of the Executive Branch.

Here's one man's view of what the Obama Dream Team might look like:

Vice President: Jim Webb (Senator, Va.)- A major part of the choice for VP is the individual's ability to "fill in the blanks" of the presidential candidate. Webb's strong military record, his macho demeanor and his affable, good-ol-boy nature, make him very attractive to the kinds of voters who Hillary Clinton claims would never vote for Obama.

Secretary of Defense: Chuck Hagel (Senator, Nebraska)- Sure he's a Republican, but Obama wants a bi-partisan presidency and Hegel is as ethical and principled as they come. a member of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, he has been the most vocal anti-war Republican.

Secretary of the Treasury: Michael Bloomberg (Mayor, New York City)- Bloomberg is clearly getting bored with his mayoral duties and is looking for a new challenge. Nobody questions Bloomberg's financial expertise and if there was ever an economy in need of some serious financial expertise is is the one that will be inherited by Obama.

Secretary of State: Joe Biden (Senator, Delaware)- This is a no-brainer. Biden's decades on the Foreign Relations Committee, his knowledge of every hot-spot in the world and his natural inclination towards diplomacy make him the man for the job.

Attorney General: Henry Waxman (Congressman, California)- Waxman is brilliant and a pit bull. There will be so much cleaning up to do after the Bush presidency and Waxman is the one to do it.

Secretary of the Interior: Governor Kathleen Sibelius (Kansas)- From the heartland, terrific executive, broadbased expertise. (A tempting choice for VP, as well).

Secretary of Agriculture: John Tester(Senator, Montana)- Tester has been a lifelong famer, working on the farm that has been in his family for 100 years. Tester's knowledge of agriculture may be unmatched in the Senate.

Secretary of Labor: John Edwards (Former Senator, North Carolina)- May seem like a step down, but Edwards has been the Senate's biggest supporters of the union movement and the working man.

Secretary of Health and Human Services: Elizabeth Edwards (Attorney, advocate)- A brilliant lawyer and advocate, Elizabeth Edwards has been speaking out of health issues ever since going through her own battle with breast cancer. A charismatic speaker, Edwards can become the face of Obama's massive heath-care reforms.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Bill Bradley (Former Senator, NJ)- Bradley came out early for Obama and has been a staunch supporter. Cerebral and practical, Bradley can be a key advisor in the Obama cabinet.

Secretary of Education: Ruth Simmons (President, Brown University)- Simmons , a Harvard PhD, has served as President of Brown University since 2001 and is one of the most respected members of the educational committee. As a Black woman, she also adds to the diversity of the Obama cabinet... but earns her spot in the cabinet based on brains and talent, not race and gender.

Secretary of Energy: Al Gore (Former Vice President)- While this may seem like a come-down for such an international superstar, under an Obama presidency, this position would wield enormous power. There is already talk about changing the name of the post to Secretary of Energy and Climate Change.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Max Cleland (Former Senator, Georgia)- Cleland lost three limbs in Viet Nam. A longtime advocate for veterans' rights, Cleland can help to undo the disgraceful treatment of veterans that has been the hallmark of the Buch Administration.

Secretary of Transportation: Federico Pena (Former Cabinet member, Former Mayor of Denver)- Pena already held this post under Bill Clinton and will have his hands full cleaning up such critical probels as the crisis in the airlines industry. It is no secret that Obama needs help with the Hispanic community and Pena has been working hard on Obama's behalf (as co-Chair of his campaign).

Homeland Security Director: Colin Powell- Powell brings a lot of baggage to the table, but there may not be a better choice for the job. Powell's military and diplomatic experience cannot just be tossed aside because of mistakes made in the name of loyalty to George Bush.

Hear and Now: A Standing… and Loud Ovation!

JonGee — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:44:33 GMT

Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky has performed a minor miracle with her documentary film Hear and Now. In just 85 minutes, Brodsky presents us with not one, but two incredible movies.

The first is a sensational medical drama. It is the story of a married couple in their mid-60s, deaf from birth, who choose to undergo a radical surgical procedure which, if successful, will give them the ability to hear.

The drama begins in the weeks leading up to the surgery and ends one year after the operations are performed. As a dramatic piece, the film is a tour de force. We see the hopes, the dreams, the victories and the heartbreaks as the two go through thirteen roller-coaster months in their lives.

We witness the doctor visits, the surgery, the recovery and the physical and emotional effects of the operation. Unlike fiction, where we can anticipate a happy ending, as a documentary, we are promised no happy endings, no dramatic turns of events. We are given reality... at least the reality as captured and edited by Brodsky.

But the medical drama is only a small piece of the puzzle provided by Hear and Now. The heart and soul of this movie is the story of the lives of Paul and Sally Taylor, the 65-year-old centerpieces of the film. The Taylors happen to be Brodsky's parents, and with this film, Brodsky shares with the world one of the greatest love stories ever told.

While the medical story is told in real time, the love story is presented through home movies and remembrances. It takes us all the way back to their first meeting, when they were three-year-old students at the Central Institute for the Deaf. They were separated through their high school years, and then reunite while in college. We see them as they fall in love, marry, develop their professional careers (this subject along could fill a two-hour film) and how they raised their three children.

We are privy to tales both heartbreaking and inspirational... tales of how they faced prejudice, adversity and frustration. They persevere, though. Paul becomes an extremely successful engineer, Sally a gifted teacher.

The old clips and memories can tell us just so much, though. It is the "real time" footage of the two as they go through their mutual cochlear implants that shows the true depth of their love and devotion.

Without giving too much away, there is a moment when Paul tries to console Sally during a particularly difficult phase of her recovery. As she sobs, Paul gently, tenderly scratches her back. It is a scene with more love and more pure intimacy than I can ever remember seeing on film.

Hear and Nowwas a major award winner at the Sundance Film Festival and is now being shown on HBO. Even if you don't have premium cable, or even if you don't have a television- find a way to see this film.

At a time where there is so much cynicism, so much negative in the world... it does the heart good to see humanity in it's purest form. It almost gives you the audacity to hope for something better from mankind.

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Overt… Racism

JonGee — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:21:13 GMT

Watching Hillary Clinton's performance this week is like rubber-necking a 20-car pile up. It's gruesome to look at, but you just can't take your eyes off of it. If the stakes weren't so damned important, it would almost be fascinating to watch Hillary Clinton committing political suicide in front of our very eyes.

Hillary's ambition has taken on Shakespearean proportions.

Like Caesar, her ambition is a grievous fault and, like Caesar, she is likely to answer for it in a most grievous manner. It should be sad to see a true public servant like Hillary implode the way she has, but her act of political suicide is not a victimless crime.

Her venom and vitriol won't just spell the end of her political career, it may spell the end for any real hope of a Democratic Party victory in November. As she's going down, she's trying to drag the whole party with her.

Following her resounding defeat in North Carolina and her razor-thin victory in Indiana, Clinton should have had the decency to pull out of the race. The numbers don't lie. Barack Obama is going to be the party's nominee.

But backed into her proverbial political corner, Clinton pulled out the race card (yet again) and is using it in her last desperate attempt to steal the nomination. Earlier in the campaign, Hillary has made subtle racial digs at Obama (He's not a Muslim, "as far as I know").

Now, any hint of subtlety is gone.

I'm sure, by now, you've heard Hillary's remarks to the Associated Press, but they are worth repeating:

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on. There was just an AP article posted that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me. There's a pattern emerging here."

Nothing subtle there. To paraphrase Hillary:

America is a country filled with old, racist, hard-working, uneducated men. They are the backbone of this country. They are the heart of the electorate. They are not about to vote for any Black man, let alone an uppity, coke snorting, Harvard-educated elitist with ties to the radical Black community.

Who do you want as your nominee, the candidate that appeals to our highest ideals or the one that appeals to the lowest common denominator? Vote for hate and fear... because it's the expedient thing to do. Vote for me!

This is not what the Democratic Party is supposed to be about. This is about one woman's blind ambition. Every day she remains in the race, every day she has a mathematical chance of winning, is another day where the Democratic Party suffers a black eye.

That's why the race must end today.

The power to end the race is in the hands of the Superdelegates. Hillary's quote should have provided all of the motivation and ammunition they needed to get off the fence. By committing, in huge numbers, for Obama, the Superdelegates can immediately end the primary, giving Obama all the votes he needs for an incontestable victory.

This will finally put an end to the debacle that has been the Clinton candidacy and put the Democratic Party back on track for November.

Just as important, it will send a message to America. It is a message of appealing to our highest ideals. More than just a message about a hope for a better America, the Obama presidency is about a path to a better America.