New For Your Eyes and Ears. Your Tongue Will Have to be Patient.

On the right side I've added a link to another blog out there called Minneapolisfuckingrocks (MFR). It's a quality site that keeps tabs on the local scene while putting in two cents on what's going on nationally. Check it out!

Also, Friday found me at the Triple Rock for the first live performance from Man is Doomed, the side project of Glorious Monster's Brian and Danny. It was a great show - funky and funny, drawing on all of the great pop, disco and rock influences without being pretentious or overdone. I would recommend that everyone check out their MySpace page and if you're in the area come to their next show on November 8th.

Finally, I've been enjoying The Current's Song of the Day podcast for a long time. Even though only about 20-25% of the songs fit my tastes it is totally worth it every week or so when I weed through the pile-up that I've neglected and find one or two really great bands. The Song of the Day has introduced me to such great bands as Blitzen Trapper, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Mates of State and The Saturday Knights. It's especially helpful if you're out of town and want to keep up with what's happening around here as so many SOD's are from featured local artists like Jenny Dalton, Mason Jennings and the Doomtree crew.

Persistence...

When I went to vote in the Primary, the lines were HUGE.  Jamie and I stood in line for an hour with our dog in the cold, waiting to vote for Barack Obama.

In the Primary.

There are stories across the country of longer lines and in better weather, and this is why I think Obama will win.  There will be an insane amount of people who have never voted before that will come out and vote in November.  Just like the primary, people in your neighborhood that you would never have expected to be there and maybe have never even seen will be at your polling place.  In the meantime, listen to my sister Maria's Governor Ed Rendell tell his people that you need to get out there and get your lazy ass neighbors to the voting booths and make this country a better place.

"It's on each and every one of you to bring your friends, your relatives, your co-workers, people on the block, everybody has to vote," Rendell said. "I don't care how long the lines are. Nobody leaves."

No matter where you live, bring that philosophy to your neighborhood and get people out to vote.  Drag them.  Voter registration is through the roof this year but that won't matter if people stay at home.

On a side note, that article makes Philly sound like some fucking 3rd world country when it comes to "street money."

East Coast, boyeeee!

Worse...

Holy crap, I feel like I live in Georgia. Or at least Missouri. There have been a few posts regarding the rally in my last post but the Star Tribune has at least an on paper account of her state of mind and what I'm sure is at least a secondary education...

Turns out as I click the links that TPM made the same link I did. On Halloween this woman's house is going to look like an egg farm fell on it and then God decided that this was the ass he needed to wipe. Too bad I'm too lazy to drive to Lakeville...

People are Scared of the Black Man

Here's a particularly scary piece of video that came across my RSS feed from Talking Points Memo.  Two things strike me: One, the real, palpable fear in the voices of these people as they admit to John McCain that they are afraid of a Barack Obama presidency.  I saw another clip on MSNBC earlier today that I'll look for where a man in Wisconsin almost started to cry while talking about his fear of an Obama administration.  Two, I am stunned that these people in the clip are Minnesotans (the rally was in Lakeville) and I'm embarassed, particularly of the woman in who starts talking around :51.

I can't understand how people can be this afraid and I really have a hard time wrestling with what exactly they are afraid of.  The last administration has left everyone worse off than ever but there is still this fringe element who, despite the fact that they are leading harder lives due to the Republican policies, still cling to beliefs like Obama is an "Arab" to keep their worldview intact.  How much worse could it really get at this point?

It must be true that no matter what people say to their friends and family, when we're this close to the first black president that fear-fed rascism just can't be held back or hidden anymore.

Scorpion Sez...

I think that the "Get Over Here!" moment was when Joe almost broke into tears talking about the family that he lost BEFORE it was politically expedient... maybe the make or break moment of a very 50/50 debate where Palin was very prepared with talking points and (uncharacteristically) proper name pronunciation of foreign leaders.

Finishing move?

"Ummm..."