Desultory Thoughts

Let’s be honest, this presidential election is nothing but an image war.  The new, sleek and beautiful vs. the old, gruff and ugly.  Of all the people out there who tell polsters they’re votiing for Obama, how many actually know anything about his past?  Sure, there’ve been the laughable, easily snopes-debunked anti-Obama emails started by Hillary staffers and forwarded like a virus by baby boomers.

But there’s also the whitewashed, “nothing to see here” image portrayed by the Obama campaign and his foot soldiers, the mainstream media.

One thing that’s bugged me ever since I read about it during the ‘04 Democratic Convention is Obama’s “friendly” (that word comes from the Obama campaign, not me) relationship with unapologetic homegrown terrorist William Ayers.

The following is an ad produced by the American Issues Project, which Obama’s lawyers are hastily attempting to silence.  Check it out.  Do some googling.  Be careful, though.  Stories at left-wing blogs, the Washington Post, and New York Times conveniently leave out the little part about Obama’s pilgrimage to Ayers’ house.  Make sure you include that in your google search.

What I don’t like about this ad:  It’s a classic negative political ad, complete with spooky music and the familiar political ad voice.  Still, the ad’s claims are valid and the ad itself is effective.

What I like about this ad:  References to each claim made are listed below the claims, so you can check them out yourself.  Nice.

Do you know enough?

I’ve been planning a big Obama post now for a while, but haven’t yet found time to organize my thoughts into a thorough, coherent post. When I do it, I want to do it right. It’s no news to anybody at this point (well, except maybe Hillary) that Obama’s coronation as the Democrat nominee for president is inevitable, so sometime in the next few weeks I’ll have a lot to say about His Highness.

In the meantime, I thought I’d make one observation about the conservative vs. liberal personality- at least when it comes to Internet media.

I’ll be perfectly honest- when it comes to the blogosphere, the Left all but has the market cornered. For every decent conservative blog in cyberspace, there are several hard-hitting liberal blogs. Lately I’ve filled my spare time commenting on a host of them (because let’s face it, it’s much more convenient to react to somebody’s content than create your own- plus stirring up pots in the Left wing of the blogosphere fills my soul with delight).

Liberals pride themselves on their influence and organization when it comes to the Web. I’ll hand it to them, they’ve utilized the Web very wisely in recent years. But outside the arena of ideas (where we eat their lunch every day), the huge difference between liberals and conservatives on the Web is the former’s utter inability to laugh at themselves and the latter’s irreverent sense of humor (this is also true in the world of stand-up comedy. Other than Mark Marin, I can’t think of a single liberal comedian that’s ever truly made me laugh). The fact that we can laugh at both ourselves and them is a long-term advantage.

What sparked this post was a comment Obama made the other day at a speech in Beaverton, Oregon:

“Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it.”

57 states, huh? Impressive indeed!

Now of course I give the guy a break. He’s got to be exhausted, and when all you do is talk all day you’re bound to say something dumb.

But don’t throw conservatives a softball and expect them not to hit it out of the park.

Suitably Flip has produced and is now selling the official Barack Obama 57 state lapel pin!

This pin is even funnier now that Barack has apparently started wearing a U.S. Flag lapel pin, after dismissing the practice earlier in the campaign as “a substitute for true patriotism.”

The more I learn about Barack Obama, the more I’m convinced that Hillary would make a much better president. But one thing’s for sure, conservatives in cyberspace will have just as much fun flaming him as we’ve had flaming her.

In 2007 a funny thing happened.  People began expressing their opinion on education issues like never before.  (I have no study to back that up, it’s just something I noticed and as I’ve talked to others they have noticed it too.)  It probably had a lot to do with the great voucher debate, but I saw more than just a discussion about vouchers.  I saw a lot of talk about making our public schools better.  I read many voucher debates, but I also read why public schools were good and how they could become better.  My kids attend public school so of course I want them to be the best they can be, we all want that. We all discussed that in 2007.  Somehow that discussion is no longer taking place; it died with the vouchers.  Or did it?  Has blogging about issues in education really gone out of style?  Is it no longer popular?

Yes, this year is an election year.  It would seem that many of the blogs have shifted gears and are talking about the candidates now, but isn’t there still room to talk about and put into action our plans to make education for children in Utah better?  Or did we all just blog about it back then because it was the latest craze?

I don’t think so!  I think that everyone that wrote about it last year can continue to write about it this year!  And they will write because they care!  And they care because they’re outstanding human beings that want to make a difference, not just hear themselves talk.

I was curious to see just how dead the subject had become so I went back to many of the blogs that I read during the voucher debate (not all of them because it took me several weeks just to get to where I am now)  to see how many of you have continued to keep education issues on your front page from time to time.  It would seem that my suspicions are correct because most blogs that wrote about vouchers in 2007 haven’t written one education-based post since last November.  The issues are still there, they’re just not being talked about in the blogosphere anymore.

Utah Educatiton Issues is a blog that, even in title, has determined to keep education on the front page.  It’s written by a teacher and recently has blogged quite a bit about candidates and parties, but continues to keep issues like class size reduction in the mix.  Many of you have participated in the comments there and if we’re serious about making education better the discussion (and more importantly the action) needs to continue.   Which brings up a possible answer to my question; perhaps we haven’t had time for blogging but we’ve been out there fighting hard to make education better.  Why don’t we take an hour and let others know what we’ve done to improve education this month?  By sharing these experiences we can inspire others to do the same.  We can continue to keep the debate alive!

I am not beyond reproach.  I could have posted my experience in participating in public comment at the State Board of Education in April, or attending a “What Counts?” meeting organized by the Tooele County School District Board and giving input as to how they can do better and what they should focus on.  I could (and should) blog more about my involvement with the PTA and our efforts to reduce class size and improve the education of all children in Utah.  Why aren’t we all doing this more?

In hopes that it will get people talking again, I’d like to call a few people out on this.  As bloggers we’re all quite aware of who is linking to us and why and I’m pretty sure that’s how you might have ended up reading this post, but that’s the idea.  Now that you’re here, defend yourself, won’t you?  Tell us all why you cared about education last year but this year you’ve fallen silent.  Express your awesome opinions once again!  Make a commitment today to keep education issues on your front page.  If you’re a political blog, talk about the candidates’ commitment to education.  Don’t permanently die and never post again when you did so much for us last year!  There are a few of you that continue to talk about education and we all thank you!

I hope 2008 will be another banner year for making a difference for our children.  We’d all give up our lives for our children if it ever came to that.  Let’s do them one better and give up our time and energy for them while they’re young and when it counts the most!  Commit today to write at least one post a month on an education related issue.  We can do this!  We have to do this!  If you don’t have a blog, participate in the comments!  We can all make a difference by working together!  I’ve overused exclamation points in this paragraph so it’s time to end!  NOW!

I think my family is pretty cool - of course I’m biased. Heather gave a wonderful talk in church today on Easter Sunday. She’s a spiritual woman and I’m very proud of her. My kids sang with the primary and they both did so well, especially my mischievous Griff. Last week when they were practicing for the performance he was just clowning it up and making everyone laugh. Luckily today he just sang nice and loud like you would expect a cute 4-year-old to do. His favorite song is “I Am a Child of God” and he sang especially well during that song.

I also have a cousin (Kerstin Tenney) that recently made it into the Orchestra at Temple Square. She plays the violin. They recently performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the rededication of the Utah State Capitol building and Kerstin is featured at the 4:10 mark and the 7:00 mark. It was written by Kurt Bestor, a composer I’ve loved ever since the “Innovators” release.

I just want to warn anyone thinking about attending the new “more-than-just-lasers” U2 show at the Clark Planetarium that it sucked. Even the great music of U2 couldn’t save it, it just sucked. I wish I could say it was cool, but I nearly walked out. The only reason I didn’t was because of the danger of being zapped by one of the lasers. They tout the show as such:

Clark Planetarium launches a new, much-anticipated, music entertainment show featuring one of the greatest bands of the last two decades. “U2” is the first ever full-dome production featuring U2’s timeless classics and modern hits, set to lighting and animation effects using the latest in CGI and laser technology. Special effects performed live by our theater presenters make each show a one-of-a-kind experience.

The latest CGI technology? Really? Maybe I’ve been spoiled by HD content (which I don’t even enjoy in my own home) so I expect to see everything in vivid detail, but that’s what I expect when a show is touted as “using the latest in CGI and laser technology”. I’m really interested to know what part of that show involved anything that can be considered the “latest”. Judge for yourself. The graphics looks like something out of Doom, only these graphics were faded in color - the opposite of vivid. Maybe the lack of vivid color and clear details in graphics had something to do with the fact that we were viewing the dome through thick, latest-in-technology smoke that made it possible for us to view the latest-in-technology lasers. Then there was the “Star Operator” that kept begging for approval. “Do you like it? Come on!!! I gotta hear you! If you like it, let me hear you!” He just wouldn’t shut up and he even threatened not to show us the last song if we didn’t scream and cheer for more. By the way, the entire show only lasted 40 minutes! We were in line for 15 minutes (which resulted in us getting front row seats - not a good thing in a dome config) and then we sat there waiting for the show to start for 15 minutes.

Maybe I was only so disappointed because it’s how my wife and I chose to celebrate our 11 years of marriage. I would rather have seen U23D for a third time, which brings me to the second part of my opinion. U23D is awesome! If you’ve always wanted to go to a U2 concert but couldn’t get tickets in time or refused to pay $100 per ticket, this is your chance to get front row seats! I don’t know how much longer it will be in theaters, but I hope to make it at least one more time. My biggest desire would be to go with a theater full of die-hard U2 fans. I can’t help but to clap and cheer after each song because that’s what I’ve done at the three U2 concerts I’ve attended, and never did I have as good a seat at any of them as I did at this one. The only problem with that is some people come for the movie experience instead of the concert experience. They have a drink and popcorn and they watch it as if it were a movie, but it’s really not! That’s why it would be nice to attend with a bunch of fans that are there for the concert experience.

If you’re plan on seeing something U2 in the next little bit, see U23D and avoid the Planetarium at all costs!