Image of the Week

Well, I guess it was a matter of time until we saw a racist poll like this surface.

From the mouth of the douche himself, Ron Fourier claims:

"40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks."

And in case that wasn't inflammatory enough, they gave us this handy little image to go along with the paranoia.


This is so offensive, but while we're looking at it, was anyone surprised by the GOP numbers?

Image of the Week: Satirizing the Smear

I don't think that I need to go into detail as to what the New Yorker was trying to convey here and, just like most the the New Yorker readership, I wasn't even terribly offended. I think it accurately depicted the absurdity of what the GOP is doing to win this election. However, the readers of the New Yorker are nowhere near the voting bloc that will fail to see beyond the racist, religious and sexist stereotype and that doesn't even include the "coverage" that the Media will give this. I think the best way to get a feeling for the effect that this tasteless caricature might have is to scour the internet to find the reactions from all sides.

Here is what the cover artist Bill Britt said.

"I think the idea that the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic [let alone as terrorists] in certain sectors is preposterous. It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is."

"It seemed to him", huh? We get it Bill, but you should have had the forethought to see the shitstorm that this kind of cover would provoke.

And here's Bill Burton of the Obama camp...

“The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

McCain camp says...

"We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it’s tasteless and offensive.”

We couldn't expect much else though could we? Obama probably wants to ignore this issue just as much as McCain, but don't think that McCain is not tucking away his pedophile grin as another major outlet goes to bat for him.

How about the news media?

CNN offers this.



And Fox.



She really thought that they should "laugh at it"? Right. She misses the point all the way around and says that he shouldn't be so sensitive and then they compare it to Bush dressed like a maid. For a woman, I would think that she would realize that it's not so easy to just laugh it off. Did she say that when Hillary was the victim of vicious sexism during the primary?

And here are a couple right-wing comments.

"For those who either can not read or care not to read, I refer you to the Koran and Shari'a. Of course Obama is a Muslim. The faith passes from father to son and the literature clearly says any person converting to another religion is an apostate to Islam and is subject to DEATH.You can not leave the Muslim faith without exposing yourself to retribution. And where do you think he went to school, a madrasa where Jews are pigs and Christians are traitors to the book. He obviously "converted" to Christ to enter politics. I seriously question his beliefs. Would it not be the heighth of insanity as we die in Irag and swear to protect Israel to elect a closet Muslim. America you are signing your own death warrent due to your ignorance. This cover may be more factual than we want to admit."

"Hey, all you Montessori schooled, children of single mothers,Liberal crybabies. How does it FEEL when someone disrespectfully mocks YOUR "Great White, umm, I mean Black Hope"? Like you haven't been continuously disrespectful to our sitting president for 8 years, right? Kiss our well fed Conservative butts, you sniveling, ill spawned products of drunken trysts between gender confused, stoned feminists and dull witted, semi-literate Irish bartenders and folk singers."

"Hussein Obama was born a Muslim. The child of a Muslim man, at birth is a Muslim. The child of a Jewish woman, at birth, is a Jew. Barack is Lying to America when he said he has never been a Muslim! "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinski!" Bill Clinton "I did not inhale!" Bill Clinton "I did not swallow!" Monica Lewinski "I have never been a Muslim!" Barack Hussein Obama."

There voters were already decided and sure that Obama was a muslim and anti-everything-that-America stands for, so no loss here.

And the left...

"As much as the cover itself bothers me, I'm almost more concerned about the number of people here at dKos who are unable or unwilling to see WHY it's a problem.
The people who argue until they're blue in the face that "It's satire! It's the New Yorker! They're Obama-friendly! Relax! Chill out! I wanted to scream last night when I kept reading that "The only people who will see it are New Yorker readers who 'get' the magazine's intent. Right, because in the months leading up to a Presidential election any magazine cover with one of the candidates on it gets no media attention whatsoever. How's that idea working out?"

It is the disrespect that they show to him as minority that offends me. They would NEVER do this crap to a white candidate. if you think they would then why have i not seen cartoon of...

Mccain and his wives fighting
Cindy popping pills
Mccain trying to blow up Iran and Iraq
POW mccain giving American secrets in Vietnam

"On my lunch break I am canceling my subscription. Like others, I will send the extra money to the Obama campaign."

This won't make a difference:

Anyone who understands this type of "humor" will get it and just laugh and move on. It won't really effect their voting decision one way or the other since they are probably discerning enough to have made up their minds about the election, using partisan reasoning. The comments above suggest that there will be no shift in voting. CNN is appalled, while Fox brings in jokers who think that Obama shouldn't be so sensitive. I don't think this is will have much of an effect and it will be gone in a week. Still, many more people will see the cover, not read the article, and will take the cartoon as a message of facts. Again, those "facts" are not going to change any minds, only make them more stubborn.

For what it's worth, I donated again to BO.

Image of the Week: Facebooking Obama

Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook, has been the man behind Obama's Internet success and netroots-driven campaign. He helped bring that connectivity from the computer screen to the real world. As I mentioned yesterday, the Obama campaign has broken the barrier that separates the candidate from the voter and is paving the way for the future of politcal campaigning.

Here's Hughes in the Chicago headquarters.

NYT's has an excellent read on how this guy has done it and what it means for Obama. It's short. Read it.

Image of the Week

This is how I interpret the Second Amnedment.

Image of the Week

First of all, I did not edit any of these images myself. I got them from Presumptuous Insect who posted them under their Kos diary. I saw them and simply could not resist.

Over the last few days, we have seen Hillary claim many new things that we did not know about her. Mt favorite part is how her supporters are acting like this is how she has always been. Right!

We heard her hunting story with her grandfather...



And her little, "I felt the Holy Spirit in me" on several occasions line.



Maybe we can get her on the televangelist cycle...



All in all, we can at least rest knowing that we will all be safe...



Seriously though, what will be next? The biggest issue is that TH has been so short-sighted in this election. She won't win this and she is making Obama look like damaged goods. Obama needs act like he has won and start focusing on McCain. It will work.

Question: What will Hillary's next line be?

1) "What would have happened if the dad in Hoosiers didn't say, 'Get outa my face!'"

2) "When I was a girl, my grandfather used to take me to Puerto Rico and say, 'Hill, one day they too will be a state.' I have always fought for you and continue to fight for you!"

3) "Together we can win Kentucky and together we can lower Kentucky's rate of adult tooth loss! I have long questioned the tooth-rating metric and will fight to make it based on race, not by state!"

4) "Together we can win North Carolina and... wait. North Carolina is not big enough to matter. Only the states that I won which have primaries count!

5) "I called Sen. Barack Obama today and congratulated him on his nomination and fully throw my support behind him!"

Image of the Week

Sadly, we have crossed another threshold (and not the one that McCain and Hillary have crossed, but Obama just isn't there yet). No, we hit 4,000 deaths this week. The timing is ironic just as McCain left screaming "Victory", I, however, think there isn't as much significance in that number as the number of overall deaths in Iraq this week (bloodiest in months). The total number will overshadow it and the MSM will yet again miss the real story.

Of course McCain, who I dislike and distrust more each day and I will NEVER say he is a "stand-up guy", is saying that since he's been to Iraq eight times, his senior moments don't count and that he knows what is going on there more than anybody in the world. Right.

It's all a mess and their blood in on many of our leaders hands, but McCain is seeing that it stains that brand new new White House couch.

So, McCain and Bush who Olberman refers to as McBush, this is for you...

Image of the Week

Now that McCain seems to have the nomination is his pocket, the MSM is going to jump on him and start digging. Initially, I was worried about the GOP having already chosen their candidate for fear that they could solidify against the Dems, and they might still do this and I expect it still, but I applaud the NYT for starting to dig and not let this phoney get a free ride.

Here's to a checkered past, Senator McCain!

Image of the Week

The week started off on a bad note in Korea as 숭례문 or Sungnyemun burned down late Sunday evening. This is a major blow for Koreans and their tangible culture. I've obviously been there and driven by it dozens of times and it was quite a sight.

It is suspected that an arsonist had it out for the inanimate object that so many in this country revere. While conspiracy theories started immediately, i.e., right-wing Japanese terrorists, a 70 year old Korean man stepped forward and admitted the crime. This man apparently had problems with authorities over eviction compensation for his home and set fire to another palace in 2006. He was still under probation.

It's a sad sight, especially since it had been standing for over 600 years...

Missed It

I've been on vacation this past week, so no posts. However, let's get right back into it...

Obama's big wins these past few days have given him a lot of momentum. However, simply praising his wins would not be fun to write about. I have a few thoughts about what's to come...

• We need to watch Hillary and her attempts to seat FL and MI.

I don't think that the delegates will be that split to warrant that attempt, but I know that the Hillary supporters will push for this and this brings me to my next point.

• Hillary supporters on all the pro-Hill blogs are claiming that Obama is not winning "properly"

They claim this because he wins a lot of caucuses where Hillary wins close to none of them. They like to say that she has one all the primaries. This is a lie of course, but the underlying theme is clear: They can not and apparently will not accept a Hillary loss. Why? Well, I think that the Dems have been so badly burnt in the last two elections (FL and OH) that their first reaction is to claim that the opposing force, be it a Dem or Repub, was dishonest. This is so bad for us Dems. Obama has won a lot and has done is within the rules of the DNC. How is that not a fair win? What would they claim if the tables were turned?

• Both Clinton and Obama should ignore GE polls

I'm worried that they both will jump on this electability wagon and if the polls change, it will be too late to reduce its significance. I think they can both beat McCain and Obama could do it more soundly than Hillary.

• Obama should not change his campaign mantra once he is thrusted into front-runner position.

As she has done, Hillary will adapt to his tactics and do it well. We can't forget how string she is and how equally loyal her base is.

It's looking up for the Obama campaign, but how high is yet to be determined. He needs to keep it up, stay away from debates and continue knockin' em dead...

Water Cooler Theme

The past month has been a very busy one for Americans. We celebrated the New Year, made it through another and final Bush SOTU address and now we have the Super Bowl. There have been a lot of newsworthy issues and events this month, but only one thing has dominated the news: The Democratic nomination.


While I can't watch all the networks due to my geography, I still read most of the network news and I have seen an overriding theme. The Dems nomination is more "important" to the Media than anything. There are a lot of supportors for both of these candidates and, from what I can gather, the Media is leaning towards Obama. Regardless of Media preference, Americans also seem to be just as eager to ingnore the rest of the events these days. What will happen on Sunday?



I will not be watching the Super Bowl. I did not watch one game this season and really could care less, but I know that many people do. I just wonder how many people on Monday morning will be talking about the Patriots perfect season or the fact that the Democratic party has never looked so strong.

We Win

Perhaps I've been distracted. Maybe I was focusing too much on the battle between Hillary and Obama, but something struck me today when I was looking at images from the debates.

Is there anything more telling than these images?

I watched the debate this evening and it was chilling. From the moment they walked out on the stage, an African American and a woman, the Democrats won. Whomever wins the nomination, whomever wins the election, Democrats won. And America won.

One blogger said that that was the most electric moment of the night, and it was for me too. I did not expect to feel that way. I knew this already. But seeing it made it different. It just did. John Edwards said he was getting out of the way of history. And as powerful as his message and campaign were, he was right

I have never been more proud to be a member of the Democratic Party. Today, I am proud to be an American.

Daily Politics

In an attempt to organize my thoughts and this blog, I am creating more and more weekly and daily features: Images of Korea, Image of the Week, News you Know and now Daily Politics. Also, check the labels. We'll see how it works.

As we know McCain won, Romney got close and Rudy folded. I'm not so sure this is as big of a win the the idiotic Media is making it. McCain has a long way to go to convince the base that he's the best way to go. The bigger story of course, is Hillary. And it's not her "win", but her attempts to seat those delegates. I don't think it will matter after Super Tuesday anyways. While this cannot be viewed as a "win" because a ton of those votes were cast long ago (before Obama was viable) and that he did not campaign in Florida because HE was following the rules, it can be a sign to the health of the Democratic party. There was a huge turnout and hopefully Florida will be so blue that the GOP can try anything in November.

Besides the possibly pivotal California debate, there will be very little action unless there is some head-butting.

My predictions:

• Both Hillary and McCain will over expose this win.
• Hillary will come across as pompous and smug in the debate and Obama will come out fighting.
• Rudy will not admit that he had the worst campaign strategy ever.
• The Media will poorly over-analyze all of this

To Us!!!

The Image of the Week this week stars Bill Clinton playing the sax in front of what appears to be his henchmen. I can't clearly identify any of them, but perhaps you can?





I put this up to show my desire to mend the fences that have been torn over the past few weeks and show the power of ther Dems when we unite. I hope we can do this together. I want the two campaigns to continue the fight and may the best (wo)man win, but I want it to be clean.

Here's to our great Party!!!

Let's Keep it in the Front

My Image of the Week this week is a satellite image of the Korean peninsula. We have all seen this image before, especially since the detrimental 2002 "Axis of Evil" speech, when Bush sadly included North Korea in that "Axis". I, like most people (even in Korea), react in the same way when we see this. We offer only short dismissive comments like, Wow! or It's so dark!, yet we don't see what that darkness means. We don't know how that darkness feels, but there are over twenty-million people that can feel that darkness everyday.



When we look at that image, we see a stark contrast between comfort and pain; hope and agony; life and death. We see that, but we continue to offer shallow and thoughtless reactions and, in my opinion, false compassion. How often do we all think about these problems? How often do we think that Korea is the ONLY nation that is divided like this? This issue is not one that I can or will ignore anymore. I'm marrying a Korean and this issue effects me and my future family now, and if you are part of my family now, well then it effects you too. And that's good!

We need to keep the lives that are being lived just kilometers away from where I am writing in the front of our mind. As humans we are responsible for this. They have stories and their stories and plight will be on here from now on.

Elie Wiesel's acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize puts it in perspective.

“Many Europeans knew about the holocaust when it was taking place. But nobody did anything about it. The Nazis are not the only ones responsible for the holocaust. To be silent is to side with the killers.” He added that when human lives and dignity are threatened, people should transcend borders and throw away their passive attitudes."

This type of apathy is so rampant and is easy to ignore because of how far removed we are, but you never know when a country like North Korea or anywhere else for that matter, can somehow become part of your life or family and change your perception on the current state of the world.

You've seen it before, but please take a moment and watch this.



You know how much I love Korea and the Korean people. No one deserves to go through this. Seeing those children in that video is the worst part. I've taught hundreds of Korean children and they are no different from the poor souls that happened to be north of the parallel. They deserve more. I know it will take governmental and economical cooperation to end this division and that will happen from the top-down.

Until then, we must remember, support and respect the lives and dreams that inhabit that darkness.