A very clever and funny little video.

If you’d like to see it air on national television, go here and chip in $25.

Popularity: 3% [?]

UPDATE: Lessig weighs in on the reaction to Obama’s vote. Lessig is the man. His analysis of the possible reasons for this vote is very well stated. It doesn’t change my mind about unsubscribing from Obama’s email money train (for now).

Dear Barack,

You know I love you. Your voice and message has given me actual real hope in a presidential candidate for basically the first time in my life. That’s why it pains me to unsubscribe from your mailing list today and suspend my ongoing giving of time and money to your campaign.

On July 9, 2008 you used your power as a U.S. Senator to vote for giving telecoms retroactive immunity for actions that they KNEW were illegal. I’m just…baffled by your action on this issue. Perhaps you’re playing some kind of election chess or something. Maybe you have some masterful plan that you’re just waiting to execute. This was a pretty big disappointment for me, and many of my friends. Whatever your reasons, it comes across as being very uncharacteristic of your previous strong stances for freedom, the rule of law, accountability, etc.

I want you to know that today I joined the ACLU and donated $50 to their efforts to defend American civil rights that I would have gladly given you instead.

So far, I’ve contributed $700 of my own money to you to help you win, because I believed in you. That you were intelligent (finally!), understood sensible and subtle approaches to policy, war, and other issues. Lately, however, with your seeming backsliding on a number of issues that you previously strongly stated support for, well, it’s been harder and harder for me to consider clicking the nice red Donate button that you include in each of your emails.

I hope you win the election. I have zero desire to see McCain in the White House. Don’t be like Kerry, where in the end, it was like, oh well, guess he just wasn’t strong enough or good enough or tough enough to win it. Against Bush for God’s sake.

Have fun at your ‘open’ convention in Denver. I still hope that you really do, in fact, mean all the things that you said when you were busy drumming up support by delivering your inspiring messages. You had me inspired. Now you have me disappointed, and wondering if you’re actually real, if you really and truly have the integrity you promised. Your well-developed brand of authentic leadership has just taken a major, major hit.

Be the strong leader we want, that we need. Being strong means taking a principled stand, and not backing down, watering down, or standing down.

I still want you to win. With your recent vote, however, I’ve been ‘inspired’ to take my own action, to go ahead and donate future contributions and time to other people and parties who have demonstrated their willingness to stand up against the errors of our day.

Thanks for the ride. Good luck, and peace out.

Unsubscribed.

–
Gabriel

Cross-posted to the biggest group on Barack’s social networking site: SenatorObama-PleaseVoteAgainstFISA.

Video of Olberman’s commentary on Barack’s opportunity to do the right thing on FISA, before the vote.

More info: Barack+Obama+FISA

Popularity: 2% [?]

One of the clips that has been played over and over again was of Barack Obama’s pastor saying that America’s chickens were coming home to roost. This video reveals that he was quoting a U.S. Ambassador who had said this. Fox News and other media outlets played the quote, over and over, making it sound like it was the pastor who thought that. See the video for yourself, and see the power of selectively quoting a speech or talk.

Originally linked by Bald Eagle 08.

They’ve got some more good contextual video clips on their homepage too.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Watch Barack Obama’s speech on his vision of the future of the perfection of the United States of America:

My favorite quote from this deeply nuanced, insightful and intelligent speech:

“This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy.”

You can also view it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLUU

See the comments on Barack’s site:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGBbTW

Full text of the speech below:

(more…)

Popularity: 5% [?]

“Don’t base your votes, this time, on fear. Base them on possibility.”

The time for a thinker as our leader has come.

Watch on YouTube - Michelle Obama: Be not afraid

Popularity: 4% [?]

Popularity: 6% [?]

Barack Obama is the most intelligent, reasoned politician I have ever heard. This video is remarkable. In it, he shares his views on religion and its role in a pluralistic, progressive society.

My favorite passage of the speech (emphahsis added):

And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson’s, or Al Sharpton’s? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination? How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application? So before we get carried away, let’s read our bibles. Folks haven’t been reading their bibles.

You can read the full transcript of his speech here.

Are you hearing this America?

Popularity: 5% [?]

One of the smartest people around, noted Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig, has put together an outstanding video sharing his reasons for voting for Obama. I highly recommend watching it and thinking about the issues he raises. If you disagree, why?

Watch or download the high-quality video here (torrent).

Lots of excellent thoughts and comments on his post too (scroll down).

Popularity: 4% [?]

Missouri Primary Election Results

Popularity: 2% [?]

Last Sunday as I was driving around doing some errands I was listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the local NPR station. Garrison Keillor introduced a singer, Nellie McKay, who sang a song that I enjoyed very much. Afterwards, I looked around to see if I could buy it on iTunes. When I tried to purchase the album I got an error, so I waited until the streaming audio was released. The MP3 below is taken from that stream so you can listen to it as often as you like.

You can listen to the whole show here.

Check her out on iTunes:

Or purchase her album on Amazon’s MP3 Service (which is what I ended up doing).

Download and listen to Identity Theft by Nellie McKay, performed live at Prairie Home Companion (.mp3, 1.6MB)

Popularity: 8% [?]