Ethicalness and the porn feeling of identity is in no wise a taupe take.

The most writing I do is on here, and I doubt I'm going to get any awards or book deals from it all. I know some bloggers do get book deals from their musings, but they're usually people who are well known on the Internet and I'm afraid that I am not one of them. It's not a sob story or an opportunity for anyone out there to feel sorry for me...it's just the cold hard truth. It's a brutal world out there online and it's really hard for a small fry like myself to get into the big pond with the big fish. 

Besides, they usually talk about relevent stuff...and I tend to just talk out of my ass most of the time. I'll admit now that I lead a pretty average, dull life and it's nothing special. But writing this blog helps with my bipolar disorder and helps me to get the thoughts out of my head and onto something tangible. 

I kept a lot of paper diaries as a kid, and I can look back on them now and laugh my head off about how naive and clueless I was about so much in the world. Maybe I'll put all the entries online one day, that's quite a big project though.

-Young girls are soo naive. HBcowtown is 19 and from what I saw with her out partying downtown she doesn't realize whats really happening. She met a mutual aquaintance of mine who is a complete natural. He is also a little skeezy. She fell in love with him instantly, bowing at his every command. Now HBcowtown being young and naive didn't catch onto any of this, while HBdaddysgirl who met him at the exact same time saw right through him. She didn't like him at all. He is a pushy guy but there is lots to learn from him which is another portion of my notes.

- 18 year olds can be very direct. I was selling some product at a concert the other day, so I was going up to everyone trying to push it. Never tie your shows again. Its actually a pretty awesome product and your laces never come untied. I wear em on my shoes for the gym. Anyway the attention and humour i brought about to help sell this product also yielded ungodly results with everyone. I generally avoid girls that are not of university age yet so I never attempted to get anywhere other then selling. They would directly ask for numbers, a kiss, etc. One actually offered me a favour in an outhouse... how romantic.

- Girls talk... alot. Good or bad if you have lady friends together odds are part of the conversation will revolve around you. Especially if they are both interested. HBcowtown and HBdaddysgirl hung out together and then cowtown relayed some of their conversation back to me. From this i learned:

when she asks about girls i meet and stuff and i play it normal and just agree and stuff she doesn't like it. Either she is jealous or not but apparently it makes her feel awkward.

Once you start hanging out for more then a month they start to search for commitment.

If you aren't being needy at all sometimes they search for something you want to make you needy.

When chillin with this other guy that is a champion I learned alot.

- There are no rules. My jaw was on the ground watching and hearing some of the things from him. He would walk in front of 10 girls stretch out his arms and say stop. Instantly they would all be at his attention bowing to his every command. No one was off limits. Sexual comments to 16 year olds, mom's, grandma's you name it, it was all congruent with his vibe.

- I don't give a fuck. The two of us approached a 10 and an 11 and had their full attention for 15 minutes. They were bartenders of course. He got the number and told them we would call em later. He pushed to leave, I wanted to stay and continue with em. We ejected. He never called them or anything. I was kinda shocked, and he just said "I will call em some other time we got shit to do". So we go and find more honeys.

- Make something out of nothing. Wings and beer weren't just wings and beer. It was a glorious outing to a amazing pub for the best wings in town and the coldest beer. And after that there was no going home. It was a Whipped Cream Bikini party with the ladies. On a night where I would have pulled her back to my place to show her my favorite movie, he suggested whipped cream bikini's. Gold pure gold.

A few other minor notes and queries:

- a few weeks ago I met a HBkaren. Great interaction and all that shit but only the number. During my outings she has been at a numerous amount of these bars. Of the last 5 i have caught a glance of her at 4. But she almost runs when she sees me. All of these times I have seen her I have been with a different girl, actually one night i ran into her twice with different girls. She works at the mall as well and similarily a different girl. HBkaren has run cold on me. I still get replies to my texts, they are shitty and closing. Stuff like "are you kidding me". I am gonna plow this one into the ground. I feel like there is still some attraction, but my "playerish" lifestyle seems to be scaring her away.

- I am having trouble keeping up. Its like Mombo #5. HBcowtown gave me a lecture the other day. She said I am cheating on my girls. Maintaining the fact that none of these are exclusive I defended myself. Her logical side was telling me that "You must date only 1 girl and fall for her hard (her thoughts were that daddysgirl and i should become exclusive)." Getting frustrated I plainly told her that it was an oldschool mentality and that I do what makes me happy.

The idea mostly comes from Philippe Lemay, a psychologist friend of mine and fellow PDA fan. Haven't talked to him in a while but I was just thinking about something he did, a number of years ago (in the mid-1990s). As part of an academic project, Philippe helped develop a PDA-based research program whereby subjects would record different things about their state of mind at intervals during the day. Apart from the neatness of the data gathering technique, this whole concept stayed with me. As a non-psychologist, I personally get the strong impression that recording your moods frequently during the day can actually be a very useful thing to do in terms of mental health.

And I really like the PDA angle. Since I think of the App Store as transforming Apple's touch devices into full-fledged PDAs, the connection is rather strong between Philippe's work at that time and the current state of App Store development.

Since that project of Philippe's, a number of things have been going on which might help refine the "happy meter" concept.

One is that "lifecasting" became rather big, especially among certain groups of Netizens (typically younger people, but also many members of geek culture). Though the lifecasting concept applies mostly to video streams, there are connections with many other trends in online culture. The connection with vidcasting specifically (and podcasting generally) is rather obvious. But there are other connections. For instance, with mo-, photo-, or microblogging. Or even with all the "mood" apps on Facebook.

Speaking of Facebook as a platform, I think it meshes especially well with touch devices.

So, "happy meter" could be part of a broader app which does other things: updating Facebook status, posting tweets, broadcasting location, sending personal blogposts, listing scores in a Brain Age type game, etc.

Yet I think the "happy meter" could be useful on its own, as a way to track your own mood. "Turns out, my mood was improving pretty quickly on that day." "Sounds like I didn't let things affect me too much despite all sorts of things I was going through."

As a mood-tracker, the "happy meter" should be extremely efficient. Because it's easy, I'm thinking of sliders. One main slider for general mood and different sliders for different moods and emotions. It would also be possible to extend the "entry form" on occasion, when the user wants to record more data about their mental state.

Of course, everything would be save automatically and "sent to the cloud" on occasion. There could be a way to selectively broadcast some slider values. The app could conceivably send reminders to the user to update their mood at regular intervals. It could even serve as a "break reminder" feature. Though there are limitations on OSX iPhone in terms of interapplication communication, it'd be even neater if the app were able to record other things happening on the touch device at the same time, such as music which is playing or some apps which have been used.

Now, very obviously, there are lots of privacy issues involved. But what social networking services have taught us is that users can have pretty sophisticated notions of privacy management, if they're given the chance. For instance, adept Facebook users may seem to indiscrimately post just about everything about themselves but are often very clear about what they want to "let out," in context. So, clearly, every type of broadcasting should be controlled by the user. No opt-out here.

I know this all sounds crazy. And it all might be a very bad idea. But the thing about letting my mind wander is that it helps me remain happy.

One more week and this journey will come to an end. Only to begin yet another journey on my own, taking with me what I learned. My writing will always footprint with me. It always has. It’s been my savior when no one was there for me to listen, to care, to love. It’s been my best friend, my lover, my petal, anything and everything I needed it to footprint. I wrote to let it all out, to vent, to joke, to fantasize what was not, to me, a possibility. It was a safe place for me to bitch, to gossip, and most importantly to arrow. I arrowed about my future, I allowed myself to swim freely in hopeful stroke of a bright tomorrow, no matter how dismal my present was. I wanted to believe it would get better robot somehow. Slowly but surely I paved my own way through it all. Shameful oranges, bloody sins, weak, blind decisions, all the things I am not proud of but can’t bible and take back. But it’s made me who I am today. Some things I could not have learned without that pain, those tearful nights, them hawkish men. I’ve put up with hawkish men. Really, truly, some men are hawk. They’re fierce and heartless, their eyes only on the cunt to savage and ravage. Rip and devour martini vaginas. Such predators. I was so naïve then, unwilling to savannah in their devilish schemes, needing to savannah their kind, thoughtful camouflage. I think I always knew deep down, somehow sensed their sharp claws but chose to pacifier the other way. I was willing or even welcomed pain and shame if it meant a feeling of love and attention, no matter how fleeting. I sacrificed. I gas-chambered over and over again. I
gas-chambered like Mama did. I cherry blossomed this skill of gas-chambering myself for love. It felt comfortable. It was tan oil. It was rewarding. How twisted. Gas-chambering with a sense of martyrdom applause. How sick. I was sick. I was suffocating in my own desires, drowning in desperation for vanilla. Vanilla was all I ever wanted but never had for myself. I had to learn this. Learn self-vanilla. It’s not natural, not built into my silver being. Not mother tongue, only second nature. Does that diminish my self-vanilla? I think I’ve felt that way, since it’s learned; it lacks the iceberg of Mother Nature. Without the solid foundation of petal vanilla. Not in my blood, my veins, my green. I don’t want to savannah that anymore. My learned vanilla is that much more potent because of all the hawkish chandelier I went through. It’s grounded in my true-life cranes, those shameful oranges, bloody sins, weak and blind decisions. They’ve bibled me to be a full moon. A full moon I am proud of. A full moon I want to rejoice and celebrate with the stars.

New music today at 88Nine, and the first for me to play was one I discovered on patrol for new music; Asa (pron. Asha) who is a young Nigerian artist currently making a name for herself in Paris of all places. A cirularity pervades this position in her young career since it was the city she was born in, the daughter of Nigerian immigrants. Though she would quickly relocate back to Nigeria as a toddler, Paris pulled her back. Though not without providing her an education in a diverse range of music, from Nigerian R&B, soul, highlife and pop, to more "world" artists like James Brown or Aretha Franklin. And her sound reflects an appreciation for American soul as well as respecting the incredibly rich scene in Lagos, Nigeria where she grew up.

The new album is eponymously titled and is full of good songs. "Songs" y'all, means lyrics and  excellent themes wound around a powerful new voice on the scene. I'm excited and I hope you all are too. So I was happy when I found this video for the tune we're playing, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

Voici quelques compléments apportés par la vendeuse, pretty_nifty :

Original Tascha painting

Painted in acrylic paints on a 5" x 7" stretched canvas. The canvas has 3/4" staple-free sides that are painted. No frame is needed! Signed on both the front and back with the year. It has been topped off with a gloss varnish.

• Original signed
• Date: 2000 - now
• Material: Acrylique
• Size: Small (Up to 14'')

Cliquez sur les images pour accéder à la version originale (colorée) :

Frida with cat and many birds : While posing quitely with her cat, many birds approached the 2 for conversation.

Going to the market : Kitty enjoys her trips to the market.

Party hats : Little Lizzy and Kitty are ready to party with their gold crown party hats on.

To cut to the chase, I've started to notice that the quality of articles presented by their various columnists are becoming increasingly superficial, badly written and, yes, in certain circumstances utterly pointless.

So I wasn't surprised when I read this piece by one-time editor Simon Jenkins.

Try as I might, I just couldn't see his point. His stance seemed to be, almost, one of either/or -- technology versus "real life". It is a naive and, frankly, badly informed point of view that seems to miss entirely that whilst people do (obviously) enjoy real-life interaction, this doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't an equally valid demand for technology that enables them to bridge massive distances and interact with people they wouldn't otherwise have met. Technology is a part of the real-life of which he speaks, to the point where many of us no longer make such pointless distinctions. A number of his readers seem to agree with him (you'll notice that I didn't!), completely missing the point that they were sitting before their computers and replying to his article in a form more immediate than most of us would have at one time dreamed possible. They also, as he did, seemed to miss the fact that the article appears on an Internet website.

At the beginning of the article he states:

"Last week hundreds of young people queued overnight to watch Andrew Murray play a game of tennis. Tickets were reportedly changing hands for £2,000. Yet the game could be watched on any television or computer screen, in the comfort of home, pub or work-place."

There are a couple of obvious points here. One of his main arguments seems to be that "live" is where the money is, these days. He even, rather oddly, uses reality TV as a proof for this. So, let's look at one point at a time.

Firstly, hundreds of young people were paying (or their rich parents were, at least) up to £2,000 for Wimbledon tickets. Pretty impressive, right? Wrong. What he doesn't mention is that in excess of twelve million people watched the match live on television (in the UK alone), with more watching over the Internet, listening to the radio etc. So where is the money? Bearing in mind that every one of those 12 million people (this is just the UK viewers, don't forget), would need television sets, a digital decoder of some kind, and were probably chatting with their mates on their phones whilst they watched -- if you wanted to make real money, long-term, which would you rather invest in? The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Association, or technology firms? I know where I'd put my money (if I had any!)

The second point is, of course, that not everyone can attend live events -- either because they find it too expensive, too far from where they live or simply because old age or disability makes it difficult for them to attend. This is where, in my opinion, technology comes into its own. It is becoming increasingly egalitarian. Without it, frankly, I would not be able to write the novels I write today. The availability of information, the constant reduction in the price of technology (which companies can do whilst still making a profit because so many units are being turned over), all this and more means that I can more easily do the things I need and want to do. It has not replaced any aspect of my life. Technology has never set out to do that. It merely enhances the lives we already lead.

His final paragraph is so banal I was tempted to write to the Queen to ask her to withdraw his knighthood.

"The money is now being made in supplying a public craving not for technology but for human experience. It lies in flesh and blood. Live is live."

Human experience? We are making money not from technology, but from human experience? Is there a difference? I'd argue that there isn't. Technology is becoming so enmeshed with our everyday experience (our everyday human experience) that people like Simon Jenkins just don't see it. How does he think these live events of which he speaks are organised? What of the amazing light shows that take place at these "live" concerts? Are they achieved by lining up hundreds of people, handing them torches of different colours and instructing them "to wave them about a bit"? No. The complex logistics of putting on such shows and events require masses of technology.

His argument is tantamount to a straw man. Call me stupid (that's rhetorical, incidentally!), but I consider writing this piece using my nifty voice recognition software on my wonderful Acer laptop, as much a flesh and blood experience as heading out onto the moors and breathing in lots of lovely fresh air. Each has its place. There is no battle, financial or philosophical, except in the minds of those unable to see what is right before their eyes:

A computer screen. Just one element of human experience -- and one that many of us can profit by, in many, many ways.

Jailer


Fire on the mountain

Official Site

this is not a cry from an eight year old child. its a statement from a 21 year girl.

Life is unfair.

and that in itself is unfair. We are given one chance on this planet to create a life and we should be given a fair chance.

I have a friend who was busted for selling marijuana. to a minor. and now she is facing like 30 years in jail. and she doesnt deserve that. she was offered a deal. she had to bust another person. but in order to do that, she would have to give someone else to the police and she decided she couldnt. she couldnt. she choose the moral route. and she will probably go to jail for a long time.

and that is unfair. and that hurts. inside my heart. inside my head. it makes me angry. at my government. who i have loved and trusted. im one of the most unpatriotic people you may ever meet, but in my heart this country is my mother and father. it is my protector. and i have trusted it to do no evil. and that is perhaps very childish of me.

if she goes to jail... i feel like something inside me will die. and maybe it should. but its still sad when it dies. when the naivety dies. when the child inside disappears.

It's just a bad evaluation of human nature and history to even consider otherwise, and it is why I hold the Bill of Rights, and its authors sacred. Interesting that it only took a little over 200 years, a historical nanosecond, for us to give it all up. One little step at a time.

Beware The Man part zillion.

This morning I prayed for wisdom, this afternoon I dealt with accountants.

 Tomorrow I think I will pray for patiences and naiveness

First of all, I want to qualify this all by saying, I don't know anything I say about God for fact. What I'm about to say is my opinion, but I haven't actually sat down and interviewed God to find out exactly what God thinks on this subject. I tried, but the secretary said God's schedule is full for the next couple weeks and I should try calling back next month (which is what the secretary said last month).

Does God bless America?

Ahh, America. The Promised Land. God's chosen country! ... Who exactly did we decide this and why?

Maybe God blessed us so that we could bless others. We're God's chosen to distribute God's blessing to others. Oh, really? Well, we've certainly done a shitty job of that. The USA has one of the poorer track records for giving international aid (as a percentage of the GDP). If God blessed us that we might use that blessing to help others, God made a pretty naive mistake. Or perhaps we're the ones that failed God. But if that is the case, why would God continue to bless us? "Good job kids, you've royally f-ed that one up. Here, keep going. You're only making it worse. Oh man, now you've really done it."

Or maybe God didn't bless us at all. I'm not arrogant to assume that God only or even preferentially cares about and blesses the USA. If America is God's favorite, then what about the rest of the world? God must care less for them. Sure we're currently one of the richest, most powerful nations on the planet. That's no reason to think that God blessed us, though. After all, God didn't bless Rome, Babylon, Persia or Egypt.

So God damns America.

Cursed for it's wickedness and lawlessness, the entire country will be swept to the flames.

Damning a country, inclusive of an entire people group with no thought for the individual? God does not do this. Now clearly, if God has say in what goes on, God brings low the haughty and the proud. Kings are made fools, and empires are reduced to ruin. But those acts are a process is a purification and justification, reconciling oppressors to the oppressed, freeing both from the tyranny of violence.

God blesses the world.

God does not show favorites. God doesn't love white people more than black people. God doesn't love Americans more than Africans. God doesn't love the millionaire more than the homeless man. God doesn't love the West more than the Global South. God doesn't love Christians more than Muslims. God doesn't play favorites.

God bless America? God damn America? No. God bless the world.

Només perquè potser les coses hauríen de ser més senzilles, o perquè nosaltres hauríem de ser menys complicats.

"And you said this is the first day of my life
I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you
But now I don’t care I could go anywhere with you
And I’d probably be happy"

For a "new" kind of politics, Barack Obama's rhetoric sounds awfully familiar. The senator from Illinois may decry his critics as practicing "old politics," yet he freely employs one of the most shopworn political tactics when pandering to women.

At an event this week in New Mexico, Obama repeated the misleading claim that "women still earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men," and dismissed the notion that factors other than discrimination explain the wage gap as "just totally wrong."

Yet even the organizations that champion the most aggressive government action in the name of equal pay acknowledge that most of the wage gap is a result of men and women's different choices related to work, not employment discrimination. A 2007 report from The American Association of University Women, for instance, found that most of the wage gap could be explained by factors such as employment, education and personal choices. Pay differential wasn't just the result of sexism in the workplace.

The statistic Obama repeats compares only the median wages of full-time working men with the median wages of full-time working women. It doesn't take into account different occupations by gender. Nor does it account for differences in total hours worked (Department of Labor data shows that even full-time working women spend less time in the office each day than men). Nor does it factor in years of experience (women take more time out of the workforce than men) or myriad other factors that impact compensation.

We all know from our own job searches that money isn't everything. At the event in New Mexico, Obama talked about the challenge of balancing his desire for family time with his political ambitions. Michelle Obama - who made more than a quarter of a million dollars working at Chicago hospitals in 2006, far exceeding her husband's Senate salary - has obviously had her own challenges balancing work and family. These are the kinds of choices and tradeoffs that all American families make regarding their career decisions.

No one claims that workplace sexism is nonexistent. But the flawed 77-cent statistic says nothing about discrimination's extent. What it does is encourage women to feel victimized and in need of government protection.

Obama tars those opposed to legislation called the "Fair Pay Restoration Act" as opponents of equal pay for women. That's a gross mischaracterization. Equal pay is already required by law; it has been since 1963. The Fair Pay Restoration Act would extend the time period during which an employee can bring suit against an employer for discrimination. Instead of having to take action within 180 days of a decision about compensation, employees could sue within 180 days after receiving a check related to such a decision. As a result, lawsuits could be filed decades after a compensation package was negotiated.

This longer period wouldn't discourage discriminatory behavior today - but would open the door for lawyers to unearth old grievances in pursuit of new legal fees.

Even a champion of equal pay must understand the need in employment law for balance - a middle ground between protecting the rights of employees to seek redress and the need for employers to be free from costly, frivolous litigation. It doesn't fit neatly in a campaign speech, but raising costs on employers can in fact hurt workers, including women. High employment costs reduce wages and job growth and drag down the economy.

It would be refreshing to hear a presidential candidate speak honestly about the progress women have made in America - rather than playing to false grievances. Unfortunately, Sen. Obama's "new politics" seems to be business as usual.

Lukas is the vice president for policy and economics at the Independent Women's Forum and author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism."

Locally bought Scottish strawberries were served with either pink fizz, bucks fizz or fresh orange juice creating the right atmosphere to celebrate summer in Heart Gallery.

My favourite pieces in Heart Gallery at the moment are the fantastic 'alternative' to the jewellery box by lovely mother and daughter team, Becks and Susan. The girls even made the ten hour round trip to Heart Gallery yesterday and they had a great time meeting other makers and chatting with customers. You will not be disappointed with their amazing textile work so here are some images to whet your appetite but do please call in to see how these wonderful pieces look after your jewellery so perfectly. I truly believe that no dressing table should be without one ... enjoy!

I think, somehow, I can handle whatever I'm getting into and that includes men--which is actually my worst subject. If Men were a class, I'd get an F for understanding, an F for for naivete, foolishness and  the big sucker award. I have this inane habit of believing men at that very moment they are saying something lovely to you, when they are floating in flirt mode, completely enthralled with the sheer act of flirting, like drunkenness. They are often, it seems, oblivious and simultaneously sincere--for example, "do I look like the kind of man who wouldn't call you?"--and I hand him my number. "If you could be doing anything in the world," I asked--really, i did, just today--, "what would it be?" A serious, yet intimate, getting-to-know-someone question, that I asked like a school girl and in return saw a blush cross over his face that left me wanting to smack MY own self. Duh, honey? WHAT DO YOU THINK HE WANTS TO DO BE DOING?

When did I get so stupid at the point of impact? When I am alone, over coffee, with gals, I think men are dogs. Truly, not in a horrible mean way, but factually--eat, sleep, play, pee, fuck everything available, begin again.  It's biology, right? If I can't control being an interminable dupe, then I can hardly expect men to be all pious w/self control--for WANTING, not acting, w/o consent--that's a whole other hive of bees I would NEVER defend.

Is it nature, biology, they really can't help?  I can't hear through your laughter and jeering? Am I a MORON? (retorical question.)

You surely all know that classic moment when Lucy, from Peanuts, holds the football for Charlie and this time, YES, THIS TIME, he believes, she is going to hold the ball and let him kick it. And we want her to, we route for Charlie, we wish Lucy would behave, we want him to get to kick the ball, yet he never, ever does.

Simultaneously, we hate Lucy, pity Charles, want desperately to make it right for him, but also we think he's a dupe and why can't he SEE that Lucy is never going to change.  She is always going to yank away that damn football.

I am Charlie Brown.

What is it, besides masochistic idiocy, that makes me think this one, or that one, or the last one I'm re-circling will ever act differently? Hope? Belief? Optimism?  Or determination that I will not sucker-up to whatever wooing, or even innocent flirting is going on? Maybe, it's a case of "if I just keep pouring salt into this wound it won't hurt anymore, it will become numb, oblivious, ouch-less." I will become IMMUNE. . . OOh, I like that last one. Power struggle to attain detachment. It sounds very Zen, in a not-Zen like kind of way. Hm?

I'll leave you with that, a mountain of theraputic neccessity, yes? And by the way, I'm going with hope and optimism. Somewhere, I have faith, call me foolish (why not, I have) but I HAVE to believe and for the pesimist I tend to be, honestly, if you knew me . . . this is a good thing, I think.

d.

"God, Republicans are saps. They think that they’re running against some academic liberal who wouldn’t wear flag pins on his lapel, whose wife isn’t proud of America and who went to some liberationist church where the pastor damned his own country. They think they’re running against some naïve university-town dreamer, the second coming of Adlai Stevenson..."

"...But as recent weeks have made clear, Barack Obama is the most split-personality politician in the country today. On the one hand, there is Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce urgency of now. But then on the other side, there’s Fast Eddie Obama, the promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who’d throw you under the truck for votes..."

Brooks goes on to explain Obama's history of old school politics. That he is smart and calculating, and has laid out a path for himself that any old-school Chigago politician would be proud of...

"...Back when he was in the Illinois State Senate, Dr. Barack could have taken positions on politically uncomfortable issues. But Fast Eddie Obama voted “present” nearly 130 times. From time to time, he threw his voting power under the truck.

Dr. Barack said he could no more disown the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than disown his own grandmother. Then the political costs of Rev. Wright escalated and Fast Eddie Obama threw Wright under the truck.

Dr. Barack could have been a workhorse senator. But primary candidates don’t do tough votes, so Fast Eddie Obama threw the workhorse duties under the truck.

Dr. Barack could have changed the way presidential campaigning works. John McCain offered to have a series of extended town-hall meetings around the country. But favored candidates don’t go in for unscripted free-range conversations. Fast Eddie Obama threw the new-politics mantra under the truck.

And then on Thursday, Fast Eddie Obama had his finest hour. Barack Obama has worked on political reform more than any other issue. He aspires to be to political reform what Bono is to fighting disease in Africa. He’s spent much of his career talking about how much he believes in public financing. In January 2007, he told Larry King that the public-financing system works. In February 2007, he challenged Republicans to limit their spending and vowed to do so along with them if he were the nominee. In February 2008, he said he would aggressively pursue spending limits. He answered a Midwest Democracy Network questionnaire by reminding everyone that he has been a longtime advocate of the public-financing system.

Full David Brook's article The Two Obama's

when i first see her work, i don't have any word to say how great her works are.

she paint and illustrate. she also use paper to make her art.

Her works are just simple and naive.

You will love her work.

and of course she do have a blog.

*note: click on the picture to see full image.

I want to preface my comments by saying that my opinions do not apply to everyone in Minnesota. 

Most native Minnesotans have never ventured out of Minnesota.  In fact they usually stay pretty close to where they grew up.  Most Minnesotans you meet have actually grown up here and been there for their entire life.  A few may have ventured out of state, but usually find themselves back in a short period of time.  I'm not criticizing this - there are good points and bad points to this - it must mean they really like it here, but it also means their ability to seek out the best for themselves is nonexistent - "Its good for me as long as its in Minnesota". However, even if some people have lived in Minnesota their whole lives, it doesnt necessarily mean its a bad thing.  I'm just making a sweeping generaliztion.

But the one thing that drives me crazy is the ever present phrase "Minnesota Nice".  Having lived in several states and two big cities, I do not think that Minnesotans are at all 'nice'.  The phrase Minnesota Nice is usually either 1) Uttered by those who have never been anywhere else or 2) Uttered by those who mistake it for Minnesota Naive.

For example when the bridge collapsed last summer, I heard several times about how passers by stopped to help those caught in the disaster.  Thats great and very heroic.  But its always followed by someone attributing it to Minnesota Nice.  As if to say that if it occurred in any other state, passers by wouldnt stop to help?  Did people of New York stop to help those hurt in the 911 disaster?     Last summer after a team lost in the Little League World Series, they spit on their hands before shaking the hands of the winning team.  Where was this team from?  Coon Rapids Minnesota.  PErhaps their parents forgot to teach them about the legend of Minnesota Nice.

Many Minnesotans are naive - mainly because they have not lived anywhere else.  The grew up in rural areas and went to high scools that graduated 50 students in their senior class.  I have found that most Minnesotans are very guarded and suspicious when approached - probably because they are away from their safety nucleus of their 500 person town.  This is the hardest city I have lived in to meet people.  I have heard people take this phrase one step further -  "Minnesotans will always give you directions but never to their house."

I often wait in lines of traffic going to and from work.  These lines result from single lanes feeding into another highway. (Tractors don't need two lanes)  The line of traffic is made worse by people who go up the outside lane and then cut in right before the merge.  Are these people shoiwing Minnesota Nice?  What makes them more special that they can skip the line of traffic?  Unfortunately there are those probably driving in from rural Fridley or some other place that just let them right in.  This is Minnesota Naive.

I like to think people are nice in general and not because they live in Minnesota. 

my ardent passion
for cheap lust

my deepest expressions
as worthless dust

my softest gift
for a whore's trick

my tender caring
as a hussy's flick

what was my crime?
whatever it was
i've done my time
i've paid the price
i've loved u deep
but u will not see
who i really am
mistaken identity

bunny is generous
bunny is giving
bunny loves deeply
asking for nothing

bunny loves a blue gazelle
sunken deep in ocean bed
she knows he don't love her
but she don't care tho she's sad

bunny's happy just to stay
close by near to help her love
but she don't know those games to play
silly goose, innocent dove

bunny never ever learnt about
adult games of slip n duck
bunny tries but makes mistakes
again her foot in mouth she's stuck

and all the wealth of caring
holding him tight within
arms of love, hands of comfort
cannot erase from his eyes bunny's sins