Temporary Features

If there's time to blog in Utah, I'll be doing it here:

http://temporaryfeatures.blogspot.com/

The Land of Art Posters

Check it out. Our trip along the Colorado Plateau takes us through the land of art posters. I am thinking that if I get a new office, I will decorate it with stuff like this:

Arches


Canyonlands


Escalante


Bryce Canyon


Cedar Breaks


Zion

Motorcycle Music

MP3 CDs so far:

• 25 Years of Motown
• Black Sabbath
  
• Led Zeppelin
• The Who
• Daft Punk
• Smashing Pumpkins
• Velvet Underground
• Beastie Boys
  

Q. Are We Not Men? A. We are DEVO

The first DEVO record is brilliant. I have always thought so. So there!

2008 Harley Street Glide

Just got a call from my dad with good (but as of yet secret) news about his role in a potential Obama administration. We are still psyched about this trip that will begin a week from tonight.

Right now, I am starting to put together some of the music I'll take with me. The bike has an mp3 player, so I plan to take several mp3 discs; I've also asked my friends to make me mp3 CDs.

I need some really good tunes for this trip. My idea is to have single-artist mp3 CDs with hours of music on them.

I'm starting to get psyched about the bike trip in Utah. I called SLC Harley today to see what color my ride will be. Pewter Denim:



And here's the rider POV shot with a good look at the audio system:



And an Jing! movie about the route:

New YouTube Video from Obama Rally

The campaign posted another video from the Flint rally:




And you can see my head in one of the shots:

My Electoral Map

My Electoral Math

I couldn't get to sleep thinking about the EC math. I think Plouffe has it basically right: we need to start Kerry's 2004 states plus Iowa and New Mexico. That gets us to 264. As a spectator, I am only watching 4 states this year: Virginia, Ohio, Nevada, and Colorado. My thoughts from there:

Michigan & Pennsylvania

We can't do this without winning both. Technically toss-ups, Obama just has to carry these two states. I won't watch these states because if we lose either one, we are done.

Forget Florida

The campaign can't forget Florida, but I am going to. They need to play to win down there to make the other team spend lots of money. At the end of the day, I predict we lose it closely. The resources the other guys expend down there make it possible for us to win in MI and PA. But I won't watch, because I just can't re-live that nightmare again.

UPDATE: The Obama campaign needs to send Ed Koch to retirement communities in Florida and keep him there until the election.

Big States to Watch: Virginia & Ohio

There's a path to win without winning either of these states. In fact, we can lose them both and win if we pick up one of the small states below. I think we have a better shot in these states than in FL. I am kind of bullish on VA. I think we might be able win there, especially with the northern DC suburbs.

Small States to Watch: Nevada & Colorado

I don't think it's clear yet if the pick of Palin will boost McCain in these two Western swing states (and by Western Swing, we ain't talking Bob Wills---yeeeeee haaaaaaaa!). I think we could take either one; again, there's a path to win without either.

The encouraging thing about my math is that we only need one state above my starting point to win. Any of the four will do. Among these, the two most likely to go our way, IMHO, are Colorado and Virginia. As much as I'd like to, I can't forget Ohio along with Florida. But I'm not optimistic.

Go For It, Frank!

AP is reporting that Ron Paul has asked his supporters not to support one of the two major party candidates this November. Here's a comment from a reader named Frank in today's LA Times:

I liked Ron Paul and I've got to say... I don't need him to tell me not to vote for either of the two socialists we have running for office. McCain was written off by the conservatives over the immigration nonsense. Obama is a complete joke and just like McCain, he's a complete phony.

Go for it, Frank! Join Ron Paul in showing us how out of date the two-party system is. I just hope that more people on your side of the ideological spectrum make that choice than end up doing the same on mine.

From the far right, both major party candidates look like big-government socialists; from the far-left, they both look like corporate warmongers. I've always found myself in the center (or center left I guess).

Obama Rally at MCC

My Husband Went to the Obama Rally, and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt



Kathy wasn't the only person a little envious that I landed a ticket to the Obama event. While waiting on line (I've taken to using the preposition "on" instead of "in" for line waiting--is that pretentious?), I purchased this bootleg t-shirt for $10. I managed to snatch it up before the bootleggers were chased off. And it's quite astounding that I actually had $10 with me, as I very rarely carry cash.

At any rate, it's a pretty cool t-shirt. And it's also cool that Obama rallies can support t-shirt bootleggers. I mean, it's like the Stanley Cup or something. I should have taken pictures of all the different Obama t-shirts I saw in the crowd. There are a bazillion of them. Most of them, I think, bootlegs.

Ceci n'est pas un SUV



Perhaps I took too many linguistics courses in college, but the most interesting thing about today's Obama rally was the signifier/signified pairing behind him on the floor. Three GMC hybrid SUVs were parked there, and each of them had a little placard taped to the side-view mirror. The placards, in the Obama campaign signature font and color scheme, read simply "HYBRID VEHICLE."

Now, immediately I thought that this was the campaign staff trying to counteract the image created by three giganitc SUVs. I still think that. But I am intrigued by the whole idea of the signs. I want to learn more about it.

Did you ever have a roommate who was trying to learn a foreign language? You know that stage when they make labels for everything in the apartment? Every time you look for something in the kitchen, you encounter little tags that say "el horno microondas," el refrigerador," or "la tostadora." I mean, geez.... is this really going to work?

It also reminded me, strangely, of the scene in True Stories when David Byrne drives up to the camera lens and proclaims: "this is not a rental car; it is privately owned."

I was hoping to see other placards identifying objects in the hall. "FOLDING CHAIR," "VIDEO CAMERA," and "AMERICAN FLAG" would have come in handy, as there were plenty of each. Lots of people could have used placards, too. "ELECTED OFFICIAL," "LAID OFF WORKER," and "UNION MEMBER" would have been useful. Some people did have placards on, now that I think of it. "PRESS" and "STAFF" were two that I saw. Or maybe the Dickensian placard "HE BITES." I would have worn that one.

But Seriously

Why am I being so sarcastic? Well, I am nervous. I am nervous we might lose this election, and John McCain and Sarah Palin might be in charge of the country. And that means they will appoint Supreme Court Justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade. And they will continue this far-right power grab. And they will continue the war in Iraq. All because some people like hockey moms and some other people think there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans. And that will suck. So I am being silly.

Tickets, Please...

Tickets were pretty hard to come by at this event. There were definitely fewer than 300 people in the high bay area of the RTC; I heard that the College only received 30 tickets. When I was waiting in line, I stood next to Jim Ananich, an old pal of mine and a member of the Flint City Council. He didn't have a ticket until right before we went in. I saw a number of people turned away. When I got the front of the line, they looked for my name on a list before they let me in. I was on a very short list of MCC employees.

I was pretty close at today's rally (6th row center, actually) and got some decent shots with my small camera. Right now I am uploading the photos I took. I'll do a little blog here tonight. Great event--it was fun.

When the Obama event from today is available on YouTube, I will embed it here. Meanwhile, here are my snapshots. I also took 3 very short movies.

Get Your Motor Runnin'

With only a couple of weeks to go until the Utah motorcycle trip with my dad, it was quite a site to see 40 Michigan State Police ElectraGlide Harley Davidsons lined up in the Obama motorcade. Very, very cool. It was just starting to rain as these troopers waited for Obama to emerge from the RTC. They casually donned their rain gear (it's not a short drive to Farmington Hills). It got me pyched for the Utah trip (though I am renting a StreetGlide).