Yesterday, we noted that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band would take to a hastily-constructed stage at Tampa, Florida's Raymond James Stadium to rock the hell out of the Super Bowl XLIII Halftime Show on February 1, 2009. But while the opponents in that clash of large, sweaty men is being determined throughout the fall and winter, another, more urgent contest has taken precedence in the mind of Mr. Springsteen: the Presidential election. Bruce, as you might recall, enthusiastically counts himself among the loyal supporters of the Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, and he's putting his music where his mouth is by performing at an Obama rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this Saturday (October 4).
Springsteen will perform an unplugged set on Ben Franklin Parkway between 20th and 22nd Streets in an effort to get Democrats good and registered before the hotly contested swing state's Monday registration deadline. The show is free, but tens of thousands are expected to show up-- it's a free Bruce show a hop, skip, and a jump away from Jersey, after all-- and the Obama folks encourage interested concertgoers to sign up to volunteer at various Eastern Pennsylvania Obama headquarters in order to get access to "the best viewing area."
Me, I'd encourage you to show up early, 'cuz traffic on the Parkway is always a problem, and I hear some dude's gonna be blocking it.
General admission tickets can be secured online.
If you're not gonna be in Philly this weekend, you can always catch an earful in support of Senator Obama's campaign at upcoming events in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Chicago, or Cincinnati.
UPDATE: Springsteen will also play the Obama benefit "Change Rocks" at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom on October 16. It will also feature performances from Billy Joel and "exciting guests", but who could be exciting-er than Billy Joel?! (Via Billboard.com.)
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I'm hoping this'll be broadcast on CSPAN. At the very least I'm sure some local news will come through. It'll probably be like the events he did for Kerry where he played 3-4 songs. This would be my ideal setlist:
A number of house progressives who voted against yesterday's bailout bill, including Pete DeFazio, Donna Edwards and Marcy Kaptur, have just held a press conference unveiling their own proposal. Text below. Commentary to follow:
DRAFT
No BAILOUTS Act
Bringing Accounting, Increased Liquidity, Oversight and Upholding Taxpayer Security
1. Require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require an economic value standard to measure the capital of financial institutions.
This bill will require SEC to implement a rule to suspend the application of fair value accounting standards to financial institutions, which marks assets to the market value, no matter the conditions of the market. When no meaningful market exists, as is the current market for mortgage backed securities, this standard requires institutions to value assets at fire-sale prices. This creates a capital shortfall on paper. Using the economic value standard as bank examines have traditionally done will immediately correct the capital shortfalls experienced by many institutions.
2. Require the Securities and Exchange Commission to restricting naked short sells permanently
This bill will require SEC to implement a rule that blocks naked selling, selling a stock short without first borrowing the shares or ensuring the shares can be borrowed. Such practices many times harm the companies represented in the sales and hurt their efforts to raise capital. There is no economic value produced by naked short sales, but significant negative effects.
3. Require the Securities and Exchange Commission to restore the up-tick rule permanently.
This bill will require SEC to implement a rule that blocks short sales without an up-tick in the market. On September 19, 2008, the SEC approved a temporary pause of short selling in financial companies "to protect the integrity and quality of the securities market and strengthen investor confidence." This rule prevents market crashes brought on by irrational short term market behavior.
4. "Net Worth Certificate Program"
This bill will require FDIC to implement a net worth certificate program. The FDIC would determine banks with short-term capital needs and the ability to financially recover in the foreseeable future. For those entities that qualify, the FDIC should purchase net worth certificates in these institutions. In exchange, these institutions issue promissory notes to repay the FDIC, counting the amount "borrowed" as capital on their balance sheets. This exchange provides short term capital, with not cash outlay. Interest rates on the certificates and the FDIC notes should be identical so no subsidy is necessary.
Participating banks must be subject to strict oversight by the FDIC including oversight of top executive compensation and if necessary the removal of poor management. Financial records and business plans should be subject to scrutiny while participating in the program.
In 1982, Congress approved a program, known as the Net Worth Certificate Program, that allowed banks and thrifts to apply for immediate capital assistance. From 1982 to 1993, banks with total assets of $40 billion participated in the program. The majority of these banks, 75%, required no further assistance beyond the certificate program.
5. Increase the FDIC Insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000.
The bill will require the FDIC raise its limit to provide depositors confidence that their money is safe and help eliminate runs on banks which are destabilizing to the industry.
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I'm gonna have to mull this over a few times to come to a decision about weither I would support it or not. But at least they're trying. I guess.
FOUR students pulled this! Now I'm not trying to say that every student at George is racist, or that every evangelical is racist - but this incidents and others like it are indicative of a problem in the evangelical community. The focus on gay marriage, abortion and the militarization of Christian culture have all created an environment that fosters an "us vs them" mentality. The defacto segregation thats occurred between the suburban evangelical community and people of color is startling.
Its easy to see why these kids would see minority students getting different opportunities would be an injustice when they haven't been exposed to the evils of racism. Looking at what evangelical leaders write about - one could easily infer that the theological shortcomings of "The Shack", "secular" literature like the Golden Compass and their usual pet issues: gay marriage and abortion are all more important than racism. When evangelical leaders tie themselves to anti-affirmative action anti-immigrant politicians, these bonds become stronger.
What should be done about this? Churches need to make racial reconciliation a priority. Youth Pastors need to teach more social gospel theology - now I'm not saying throw the evangelical theology out the window (although again, I am not an evangelical, in case you couldn't tell), but students should be encouraged to not just to serve the poor in far away countries or in periodic visits to soup kitchens - they should build relationships with them. I'm willing to bet that in most suburban high schools and middle schools - regardless of how wealthy they are - there are probably significant immigrant populations. There lies the opportunity for an authentically "Christ-like" ministry - not sharing his word, but living it.
Now many of you might wonder why I felt the need to write this. Coupled with this dispatch from George Fox I recently heard a pretty disturbing account from a friend of mine. This friend isn't the type to make things up mind you. He hasn't been to church in some time but found himself in a conversation with someone who went to his former church. This person relayed a story about how they went to do some relief work in a place with a significant population of a certain minority. Along with an account of the work that they did they also offered their opinion about this group of people. They were "always looking for a handout", they "didn't deserve what they were getting since they weren't doing much before this disaster happened" and lastly they "certainly weren't like people in the mid west during a blizzard who knew how to pull things together".
Whats wrong with this picture? Now if this person was doing relief work out of the goodness of their own heart, or to feel better about themselves or even to brag about it thats one thing. But this person was a Christian and that Christian had done that work to follow Christ's teachings - his actions therefore, were quite simply, blasphemous in my opinion (that sentence was awful wasn't it?).
Now I'm not saying there isn't a strong social justice community in Christianity today. But my evangelical brothers and sisters have made me pretty darn concerned lately.
Less than a week after a life-size cutout of Barack Obama was found hanging from a tree on the campus of George Fox University, another public display of hatred toward the presidential hopeful appeared in a Southwest Portland neighborhood.
On Sunday morning, Sharon Martini of Bridlemile came across an Obama yard sign with the word “Nigga” spray-painted on it, just steps from the Bridlemile Elementary School playground.
“I saw the sign around 11:45 a.m.,” Martini said Monday. “In fact, it is still there, just not upright. I photographed it this morning laying on the ground."
Martini also discovered “McCain Palin Fuck Obama” written on two play structures at the school, which were painted over by Sunday night before a youth soccer event.
BY: Mariah Summers
As a community we need to watch this very closely. I know its just a handful of people, but even two or three racists can't be tolerated in my mind. At the very least I'm sending a donation as soon as I get my paycheck.
1. Enjoy my first week of fall term 2. Enjoy my Wife's spinach lasagna 3. Punch the first person who blames this financial crises on minority homeowners directly in the mouth (for further explanation see http://www.stephenbainbridge.com/index.php/punditry/they_make_you_embarrassed_to_be_a_conservative)
National Politics Roundup:
THA BAYLOWT This bailout vote should be pretty damn interesting, set to start at 1 PM EST today. So far from the debate one could infer the battle lines look like this so far:
Yep Barney Frank (D-MA) Gary Miller (R-CA) Spencer Bachus (R-AL) Mel Watt (D-NC) Jim Marshall (D-GA) Charlie Rangel (D-NY) Tom Davis (R-VA) Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) Chris Shays (R-CT) Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) Chaka Fattah (D-PA) John Dingell (D-MI) Maxine Waters (D-CA) John Tanner (D-TN) Jim Oberstar (D-MN) Paul Ryan (R-WI) Bill Foster (D-IL) John Spratt (D-SC) John Campbell (R-CA) Melissa Bean (D-IL) Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Naw Ron Paul (R-TX) Virgil Goode (R-VA) Gresham Barrett (R-SC) Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) Barbara Lee (D-CA) Ted Poe (R-TX) Judy Biggert (R-IL) Peter DeFazio (D-OR) Darrell Issa (R-CA) Scott Garrett (R-NJ) Jeff Miller (R-FL) Jeff Flake (R-AZ) Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) Louie Gohmert (R-TX) Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI) Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) Todd Akin (R-MO) Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) Steven LaTourette (R-OH) Michelle Bachmann (R-MN)
So far what we're seeing are members going beyond party lines to assert their own positions, ie what they actually believe should be done. What do I think? Honestly I have no clue. I am afraid that if the Democrats own this bill and it becomes unpopular Obama may get dragged down and lose in November. This would be really unfortunate for a lot of reasons, the least of these being that although theres a huge amount of blame to go around for this crisis - most of it goes to the bush administration.
THA DEBAYTE:
At times the whole thing seemed pretty tedious. I think Obama really did benefit from all those primary debates, but still, neither him nor McCain are great debaters. Looking at polling it seems that the whole thing was a victory for Obama. We'll see how the daily trackers go this week. If Obama continues this lead he could very well win this election. Thats assuming there isn't an October surprise around the corner.
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Oregon Politics Roundup:
Obama effigy hung at George Fox http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlnR7kQP7tXQKA0872BAweYKqPFQD93DPDBG0
You always have to cringe about stuff like this, especially when its in our state. Honestly I'm surprised stuff like this doesn't happen more often in insular evangelical communities. In my experience with churches I've certainly come across more than my share of implicitly racist, anti-arab and us vs them sentiment. In many ways mainstream evangelical culture has become the culture of suburban white America, I have a feeling we'll be dealing with the consequences of that for a long time.
Our Senate race is now one of the most exciting races in the country. How did Merkley do it? I think a great part of it has to do with Obama's coattails and of course the large gains in voter registration for the Oregon Democratic Party. I think another part of Merkley's surge is due to Gordon Smith's campaign. His ads have been too negative, the illegal immigrant scandal at Smith Frozen Foods and the fact that hes alienated his GOP support by praising Obama in his positive ads have all contributed to this opportunity for the Democrats to pick off the last Republican senator on the west coast.
Kate Brown and Rick Dancer - who are they again?
"According to a poll conducted by the Portland Tribune and Fox 12, 33 percent of Oregonians said they would be backing Brown, and 25 percent said they would vote for Dancer. That leaves 38 percent of voters undecided in the race for Oregon's Secretary of State."
Holy smokes! 38 Percent? I keep on telling people how important this race is, as the winner will decide our new congressional boundaries in 2010. I'm sure the upcoming debates will sway some folks, and again, Obama will have some nice coattails.
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In other news.....
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND ARE PLAYING THE SUPERBOWL~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, an event over 30 years in the making. This also sets the tentative release for the next E street band album sometime in early 2009. Great news all around. My hopes for the setlist? I'd like him to play some of these kinds of songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_ynmzbFsh4
Highly unlikely I know. I just hope we get something more than Born in the USA era hits.
Movie Review:
"Slacker Uprising" - Michael Moore - 2008
Two Stars **/*****
Theres a reason why Michael Moore released this for free, it would have been panned unmercifully by critics. Although the musical performances are great the messianic attitude of moore is more than palpable. As usually he he portrays his opposition as idiotic whack jobs. Which is true in many cases, but I've encountered the same kinds of people among democratic ranks. He also makes a point of mentioning that the cities he visited went for Kerry as some evidence of his power of persuasion. Wow, large cities and college towns went for Kerry? NO SHIT SHERLOCK. Watch Michael Moore's next scathing expose about how rurual counties are more likely to vote Republican.
Man, what a day. Needless to say we are witnessing some of the most significant events in American History - certainly the most significant since 9/11. I have decided to hold any comments about McCain's decision and the bailout situation in General until this weekend. Shocking, I know.
I must say, this initiative is pretty darn impressive. I've often been underwhelmed by public transit in the emerald city so I'll be watching this with a great deal of interest. Sadly, with the economy the way it is I'm not sure residents will vote for ANY tax increases (even small ones) regardless of the potential long-term savings. Still, with fuel costs increasing its hard not to see initiatives like this being more politically viable in the future (like a high speed rail connection between Portland and Seattle? A guy can dream can't he?).
Add this to their Gubernatorial race and Washington will be pretty darn interesting this November.
PS: How cool would a high speed rail connection between Seattle and Portland be?
Thats just one scenario, albeit the most likely one in my opinion. What happens in this kind of situation? Michael Crowley fills us in:
"It goes to the House. But it's not one member, one vote. Instead, each state's delegation gets one vote, which is first determined by an internal vote within that state's delegation. Tied delegation votes nullify that state's vote. And it's the incoming House that votes--the people elected this November, that is--not the sitting House. God help us if it comes to that."
Believe it or not theres actually enough democratic delegations in red states that if delegations broke along party lines, Barack Obama would win. Now thats not accounting for the possibility of this tie happening with McCain winning the popular vote - which would certainly put pressure on representatives to elect McCain, especially those in red states.
More from Brian Beutler:
"Additionally, there's the small matter that, 204 years after the 12th amendment was ratified, we have 50 state and 50 state delegations--a dreaded even number that I suppose leaves open the possibility that the House vote could also end in a tie. I'm not sure at all what happens then, but if the House hasn't elected a President by March 4, then the vice-president (chosen by the Senate in a majority vote) becomes President. Obviously, Democrats would fare better in such circumstances."
If you think 2000 was dramatic (and it was) just imagine this scenario for a moment. We'll have to wait and see I guess.
Thats right, I'm relaunching this piece. Heres what you should know:
The title: My favorite song for 4 years straight, somewhat of a thesis for my life (the sentiment of the song that is). Check it out here:
Weekly features: At least every week I'll give my thoughts on the presidential election and several Oregon races from now until November 4th. Also notice the fun poll on the righthand corner for y'all to participate in.
Reviews: From now on I'll be reviewing each album I purchase, each film I watch and each concert I go to using a five star rating system with a paragraph summary.
Random Thoughts: Expect these to continue.
This is quite the gauntlet I've laid down for myself - but I know it'll be worth it. Thanks for taking the trip with me - Blake
Hey, I thought I'd inject some positivity up in this piece.
Positive thing #1: Obama Rising
McCain's bounce is all but over. Obama is up as of today in Gallup, down by only 1 in Rass and leading in several other daily trackers as well. State by state polls coming out this week will probably favor mccain partly because of a lapse, but take a look at where John Kerry was: http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2004/Pres/Maps/Sep16.html now take a look at where Obama is: http://www.electoral-vote.com/ Holy cow do we have less work to do. Kerry was barely holding IL! All Obama has to do is hold all the states Kerry did and pick up states like IA, VA, CO and NM where hes polling strongly and he wins. McCain doesn't really have many options when it comes to picking off a Kerry state (assuming PA and MI hold where they are) and will now be on defense in states like VA, NM and CO. Theres also the outside chance of picking up OH or FL, and if Obama does that, McCain is toast.
Lets not forget Obamas ground game. Pretty massive voter registration going on and unlike 2004 the Obama campaign has registered these folks and will have the resources in place to get them to the polls.
Obviously in many ways this thing is still a coin toss. Estimates have undecideds as high as 10%. Nobody knows which way those folks will break, and anybody that pretends to know is full of it. There are other unknown factors at play as well. What effect will Obama's race have on the end result? African American turnout may be unprecedented but there also may be some hesitance among whites to vote for an African American. Then again, there may be some undecided white voters who will vote for Obama just to make history. We just don't know. I am more hopeful now than I was last week though.
#2 Ted Leo has a new EP out Really, he does. It Rocks. All proceeds go to charity. Check it out http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/album.php?id=478
#3 Fall is the best season to live in Portland
#4 Lisa Hannigans new record kicks ass
#5 September will be my last concert-less month of the year - and its halfway over.
The New York Times Dukakis Lead Widens, According to New Poll Published: July 26, 1988
LEAD: In the aftermath of the Democratic National Convention, the party's nominee, Michael S. Dukakis, has expanded his lead among registered voters over Vice President Bush, the probable Republican nominee, according to a Gallup Poll.
In the aftermath of the Democratic National Convention, the party's nominee, Michael S. Dukakis, has expanded his lead among registered voters over Vice President Bush, the probable Republican nominee, according to a Gallup Poll.
This was among the findings of a national public opinion poll of 948 registered voters conducted late last week for Newsweek magazine by the Gallup Organization. The telephone interviews took place on July 21, which was the last night of the convention, and on the night after that.
Fifty-five percent of the 948 registered voters interviewed in the poll said they preferred to see Mr. Dukakis win the 1988 Presidential election, while 38 percent said they preferred to see Mr. Bush win. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.
This represented a shift in Mr. Dukakis's lead from the 47 percent to 41 percent advantage he held in the last pre-convention Gallup Poll, taken by telephone July 8-10. In that poll, 1,001 registered voters were interviewed.
Nominees usually enjoy a lift in the polls after the nomination. Ed Slaughter, project director at Gallup, pointed out that in 1984, Walter Mondale's standing rose 12 points after the Democratic convention that year. But the improved standing dissipated within ten days, Mr. Slaughter said.
Another poll, conducted in Texas, also showed Mr. Dukakis gaining ground from the convention. The survey of 504 registered voters likely to cast ballots, conducted on Friday and Saturday by Peter Hart, a Democratic poll taker, showed Mr. Dukakis leading Mr. Bush by 50 percent to 40 percent. A survey of that size has a sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points. A Hart survey of 265 such voters for The Chicago Tribune from July 5 to 9 had shown the race even in Texas - 46 percent for Mr. Dukakis, 46 percent for Mr. Bush, with a sampling error of plus or minus six percentage points. DON'T BITE!!!
Things don't look good for the Obama campaign lately. This will be one of many posts on the internet today addressing the state of the race, and if you lean left you probably have the same sense of dread that I do. Its obvious that the polls are moving towards McCain. This may be a convention bounce but it may be something else, we don't know now, we may not know until its too late. All of us who thought Palin was a horrible pick are wrong - dead wrong in terms of the political ramifications. She has united and enthused a dying brand. Although I do think she'll have her share of mis-steps, maybe even a ton, maybe even enough to dissuade independent voters the Christian right won't care because they don't care whos right, they care about who shares their values.
Although I hoped Joe Biden would be at the top of the ticket this year I've invested a lot of emotional energy into Obama. His win in Iowa inspired me, his win in what was termed the "Potomac" primary (MD, DC and VA) moved me to tears his selection of Joe Biden thrilled me. I worked hard as a canvasser for his Oregon campaign. If he loses, I will feel a certain degree of responsibility.
Today I've been thinking about how other candidates might be doing had they prevailed. If Clinton had won we'd be hearing reporters question whether or not Black voters would desert the democratic party. The Clintons would probably be hitting McCain (and Pawlenty? who knows) hard, and more effectively. But Hilary would have a ton of work to do getting independents. How might Biden have played on the top of the ticket? I like him, but many surveys show that when he was picked as Obamas running mate he had low favorables. Richardson would have been interesting - Edwards would have been a disaster.
Is there any point to this? Probably not. But I'm definitely concerned about the Obama camp. Our best hope of winning was for Obama to stay ahead and simply nurse that lead through November. Now that hes down, I feel that only two options remain.
1. Win the debates. I don't mean to underestimate Palin, but I really do think that Biden will defeat her handily. My concern lies with Obama. Hes a great speaker, but was consistently criticized for underperformed in primary debates (I admit it, Hilary would have really shined here). Americans seem to mistake thoughtful answers for insincere ones. Obama will try to show both sides of every issue and McCain will be unequivocal and decisive. Obama needs to learn how to appear decisive.
2. Win the ad war. Americans say they hate negative ads, but they believe them anyway. The Obama campaign needs to form two narratives: a. McCain = Bush and b. Palin = Crook. They need to hit hard.
This is a good start:
There are some things keeping me optimistic. The Obama campaign's voter registration is one thing. The fact that the electoral college still looks decent is another. There is still a large block of undecided voters. I have a feeling most of them will go in the same direction down one of two paths. Obviously these voters are undecided for a reason - intrinsically they aren't enthused by either candidate. Do they go with the McCain = Bush narrative and vote against McCain as a referendum on Bush regardless of their concerns/lack of enthusiasm about Obama? Do they go with the Obama = dangerous meme and vote for McCain in the interest of safety regardless of their opinion about the Bush years? Do they stay home? Do they vote Nader/Barr/Write-in? We'll find out less than two months from now.
Gov. Sarah Palin made her first potentially major gaffe during her time on the national scene while discussing the developments of the perilous housing market this past weekend.
Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."
After Joe Biden's mysterious disappearance in what has been called "a stunning gambit" a "Bold decision" and "fucking retarded" Barack Obama has selected Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler as his vice presidential nominee. In his remarks Wheeler said "I asked Barack Obama if he was sure about my chances of becoming Vice President and he said 'you bet', I then asked 'no seriously, are you sure' to which he replied 'yeah, quit asking so many questions already'".
"I wanted someone to go against Sarah Palin" the Land of Lincolner told reporters on Sunday "As many of you know Multnomah County is roughly the same population as Alaska only much cooler, they have a fucking aerial tram people - would you rather ride on a bridge to nowhere or a tram? I thought so". Ted Wheeler took office as Multnomah County Chair on January 1, 2007 after winning election in 2006 with 70% of the vote. He is both the Chief Executive Officer of Multnomah County government and the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners.
Senator John Kerry defended the decision on Sundays Meet The Press by saying "Multnomah County is just across the pacific ocean from China and Japan, logically Ted Wheeler has just as much foreign policy experience as Sarah Palin". Blogger Andrew Sullivan commented that Ted Wheeler might be the "key for Obama to tap into the disaffected Log Cabin Republican vote, oh wait, he didn't pick the Gay mayor of Portland? Bloody Hell".
When Obama campaign manager David Plouffe was asked to comment on McCain's decision to replace Sarah Palin with Joe Liberman he ran out of the room screaming "I told that asshole to pick Chuck Hagel - what did I do to deserve this shit?"
