McKinney/Clemente on Democracy Now!
As a member of the Green Party, I feel a bit guilty about my lack of coverage of the Green Party candidates. Sure I've had an article about Kat Swift, Kent Mesplay and Jesse Johnson but the presumptive nominee for a long time has been Cynthia McKinney and I don't know that I've ever made a post about her. Even if I did, all my posts about Green Party candidates pale in comparison to my Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez posts. So when I saw that both Cynthia McKinnney and her Vice Presidential running mate Rosa Clemente were on Democracy Now! I made sure to watch. ...
I am a Green Party member, but I currently support Ralph Nader over Cynthia McKinney as his focus is more on the things that matter the most to me. Cynthia McKinney, on the other hand, is doing something I find nearly awe inspiring. She is bringing hip hop activism to the forefront of national politics by announcing Rosa Clemente as her vice presidential running mate. While I am a fan of music in general, the hip hop movement is about more than music and given my suburban white male upbringing it doesn't speak to me as much as I'm sure it does others. I found it educational when I first heard Jared Ball talk about hip hop activism at the Green Party debate in January and now I hope it begins to take hold.
The conversation that is hip hop in politics could very well change the nature of politics in America. Why do politician's have to speak about certain topics and not others? I believe the hip hop movement could, at the very least, give us more to discuss, debate and think about. I found it very intriguing, as a former fan of Public Enemy, to find a video on youTube where Professor Griff talked about why he supports Cynthia McKinney over Barack Obama.
Now how do we get him to vote? There are thousands of people who think just like him, voting doesn't do anything for him so he doesn't vote. There are thousands more people who think similar to him and yet vote for somebody who doesn't even hold the same values. How can we change this? Keep watching Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente and perhaps we will find out.
Nader's Independence day memories
Since I gave Mike Gravel yesterday's thoughts on Independence day, I thought today I would share a message from Ralph Nader about Independence day. ...
One day when I was about eight years old, my mother tossed one of her frequent "out of the blue" questions at me:
"Ralph, do you love your country?"
"Yes, mother," I said, wondering where she was going with this.
"Well, I hope when you grow up, you'll work hard to make it more lovable."
See it all at http://www.votenader.org/blog/2008/07/07/independence-day/.
Declaration of Independence 2008
Mr. Gravel, I couldn't have said it better myself. Independence day is a good time to rethink why we declared our independence from King George. As descendants of the Americans of the time, are we holding up our end of the promise to the future? ...
Do Schools kill creativity?
I found this great video from the top 10 TED talks. I thought I would share it with the world. ...
Quote of the Day
Originally posted by Cree:
Only when the last tree has withered, the last fish has been caught, and the last river has been poisoned, will you realize you cannot eat money.
Statements, Requests and Commands
Being a parent is a learning experience. A common theme while parenting is teaching your kids to be better communicators. In trying to teach my kids I am often forced to learn and re-learn concepts until I find the best way to explain something to them. Recently I had an educational encounter with my 4 year when I was trying to get him to ask for something, while I was at it I threw in a politeness lesson as well. :) ...
You may have seen this yourselves - someone says, "I want something" but you would prefer they say, "Could you get me something. Either of those statements is preferrable to, "Give me something." So why does one make more you want to act more than the other? Is it politeness?
A simple politeness test would be to add the word please to each sentence. For a litte clarity let's make the word something a tangible object.
- I want some chips please.
- Could you get me some chips please?
- Get me some chips please.
I don't know about you but the first and third sentences do not make much sense. The word please has been shortened over the long years of language evolution from if you please. In french, s'il vous plait is often translated as just please but it really is closer to if you please. For examination purposes let's see those sentences again in long form( and moved around a little ).
- If you please, I want some chips.
- If you please, would you get me some chips?
- If you please, get me some chips.
I think that translation makes it a little clearer, the word please does not make one sentence clearer than another. Sentence one is a statement. Sentence two is a request. Sentence three is a command.
A statement just lets you know some data. When my son says I want some chips he has given me some data. I could use that data and get him some chips but no request was made so I'm not clear he would like me to take any action.
A request is a question. As with all non-rhetorical questions it is looking for a response of some kind. If my son makes a request for me to get him some chips I can respond by getting chips, telling him to wait for a moment and I will get them, telling him no( because they are junk food ) or a plethora of other responses. In this situation he has allowed me the opportunity to choose a response.
If my son tells me to get him chips he is making a command. A command is interesting because it is a statement of what you need to do or face the consequences. So it still puts the ball in the other person's court, similar to a request, but it is expecting a certain response. This doesn't work well for my son because the only consequence is him being angry with me for a few minutes( if that ).
Keeping a long story long, or rather getting back to a short story, I made these distinctions for my son. He seemed to get it. The first thing he said to me this morning was, "Daddy, will you please get me some pineapple?"
Road to the Throwdown
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are one of my favorite bands. A couple years ago I checked and it looked like they were defunct. No new albums were out or forthcoming and there wasn't a website for the band anymore. It was actually a little bit sad as I have a lot of good memories of their music as well as a couple shows I had the pleasure of seeing. It made me very happy to find out that the band is back together. While they may not be road warriors like they were before, they are once again touring. ...
With many bands, getting back together often comes with a VH1 documentary about the reunion. VH1 isn't involved, but they did put together a six part documentary about the road to their first show in 5 years. The 5 day concert series that spawned the concert album, Live From The Middle East, the Hometown Throwdown is an event for Bosstonians :cheers: to enjoy an awesome small venue concert experience.
Here is part one of the Road to the Throwdown:
For a larger player that gives you easy access to all 6 parts of this documentary visit MI145 at hobnox.com
Green on Green
The following is a video I found when visiting the Green Party's website today. It's a succint look at the 4 Green Party candidates, why they are running Green, why you should vote ( and vote Green ) and the benefits of minor parties running in an election. ...
Seriously Green - Kat Swift
Polidoc Productions is currently working on a documentary called "Seriously Green." It is a documentary about the Green Party candidates running for President in 2008. A while ago I posted a clip of Kent Mesplay that was from this piece. Today I am posting a piece about Kat Swift. A very interesting candidate, Kat will be just old enough to be president on election day. ...
What I like about this clip is two very good points she brings up. The first being the reality of who can run for the office of President. Is it true that anyone can run for President, such as a full time working class citizen, or just the rich? I actually had the thought that a homeless and jobless person could probably run as well but that is a tangent we can go down in the comments section. The second point she makes is that part of why she is running is so that other people will look at her and see that running for local office is very doable.
She may not be my choice to represent the Green Party as a Presidential candidate but I am proud that she represents the Green Party in all ways.
Matt Gonzalez in Seattle
The more I hear Ralph Nader's running mate speak, the more I like him. He is a good counterpoint to Ralph while still supporting the same issues. He does a good job of talking matter of factly rather than making anyone wrong. He has an ease to him that is very respectful in a presidential candidate. ...
This is part 1 thru 4 of was is listed as a 6 part set. I will post parts 5 and 6 if and when the become available.
Edit: Part 5 & 6 are now a part of this playlist.