Tea Party Jesus

Inspired blog:  Tea Party Jesus.

It has a simple concept that I'm glad someone put into practice:  Take quotes from Tea Party members and put them into Jesus' mouth.

Hope: Obama Musical

Hope: The Obama Musical

"Hope," a musical about Barack Obama, opens in Germany on the 17th of January.  The official website of the musical can be found here.

Further, the auditorium has been fitted with "musical furniture" so that the audience can participate in the performance by (as far as I can tell) using the seats as percussion instruments.

Is this musical (furniture included) a bad idea, is it an example of bad execution, or is it all just a gimmick?  Or possibly all of the above?

Discuss.

Word of the day

My submission to the Addictionary was chosen as today's Word of the Day:

proselytute - noun, Someone who receives pay for presenting political or religious opinions disguised as fact or news

USAGE - The cable news station's pundit made millions working as a proselytute, but his lucrative career was cut short when he was arrested in a proselytution sting.

Count the puns

Teabagging

In this MSNBC report on Republican Tea Parties, count the teabagging puns, including the obvious one on Dick Armey's name.

When typos attack

Jim Knight, Member of Parliament, keeps a political blog and an online diary and a Facebook page. He updates them all himself, and apparently he's been a little lax about spelling and grammar checks in recent days. On Thursday, he made the following post to his political blog:

"You may have seen reports in the media today about spelling errors on my blog. Good spelling is really important, as is always checking your work. I update my own blog and facebook page, often from my phone when I am on the move. As a result, mistakes do occasionally creep in. In the future, I ‘must do better’ and always check my work."

So why would people be running news stories about an MP's misspellings and typographical errors? What's the big deal?

Oh. Did I forget to mention? Jim Knight is Schools Minister.

The Telegraph's headline: "Education minister's blog littered with spelling mistakes"

The BBC's headline: "Education minister's online typos"

Here is the Telegraph's list of misspelled words found on the blog: maintainence (maintenance); convicned (convinced); curently (currently); similiar (similar); foce (force); pernsioners (pensioners); reccess (recess); archeaological (archeological); acheiving (achieving); and receieved (received).

According to the BBC, "Some of his sentences also had words missing or were otherwise mangled," and they give a few examples, including this:

"In one entry, Mr Knight talks of his pride at steering through Parliament the legislation raising the education or training age to 18.

"He says: 'This is something that Winston Churchill first proposed 100 years when he put forward the idea of raising the age to 17, then another attempt to raise the leaving age after the First and Second World Wars.'"

The BBC also points out, "The heading of Mr Knight's blog includes the verb 'to feedback'."

Inauguration prank

Via SFist:

Over this past weekend, Alex Zecca put stickers on street signs down Bush Street "from Presidio to Grant" that renamed Bush Street to "Obama" Street.

The police made him go back and take them all down.

Low key inauguration day

(Picture via Huffington Post)

I was kind of surprised on my way to work that everything (and everyone) was pretty low key.

I stayed at home long enough to hear President Obama (I do like being able to type that) give his inauguration speech, then I left for work. I made a point to walk down 18th so I could walk up Castro on my way to work, expecting to encounter some signs of celebration, even if only small and localized. But it was quiet. Relatively few cars on the streets for 9:30 a.m., many empty parking spaces on Castro Street. Through the open window of one bar, I saw several people (including an elderly black man in uniform) with their eyes glued to a television, but otherwise, everyone seemed to be going about their daily routine.

I took the F-Market to work, and it was pretty much the same story all the way up Market Street. I saw an occasional person wearing an Obama shirt, but no outward displays of jubilation.

The only thing of note (totally unrelated to the inauguration) was a homeless man on the F who seemed to be entertaining himself, which seemed kind of fitting after the events of my commute home last night. At first, this 300-plus pound man was flopping his limp-wristed hands around and talking to no one in particular, I couldn't even understand what he was saying. Then he turned around and stared purposefully toward the rear of the car. He turned his head and scanned everyone on the F and said, "ARF! ARF, everyone, ARF!"

Then he stood up and grabbed his Hefty bag full of possessions and stopped beside the young woman seated in front of where he had been sitting, leaned down into her face and snapped, "ARF!" He stopped at every seat between him and the front door and said "ARF!" into each and every face on the right side of the car, most of whom were children under the age of 12. Once he got off the streetcar, everyone who had been holding their breath exhaled and started laughing.

Anyway, the long national nightmare is ended. We have a new president. Finally.

I know a lot of people who have been so burned so badly and so often over the last eight years that they are afraid to have genuine hope for anything. They're convinced that something or someone will come along to take their hope away from them yet again, either by violence or by politcal maneuvering by the extreme right or political blunders by the extreme left. And I have to admit that maybe they're justified to some degree, given our country's recent history.

But I think that they secretly hope for hope.

On a related note (no pun intended): The Freedom Band has a tradition. When politics permit, the band keeps "Happy Days Are Here Again" as an active number in the marching music. You can imagine that the band has had this song in storage since the year 2000, not playing it at all for the last eight years. I have been wondering whether it was the right time to bring it back out, given the mixed blessing of the election of Obama versus the passage of Proposition 8. But I have been informed that the band is officially adding "Happy Days Are Here Again" back to its standard repertoire.

For what that's worth.

Buh-Bye.

Top Ten Bush Moments

The video is from over a year ago, but now seems like a good time to reflect on just a few of the many ways in which the President restored dignity to his office.

We just like the names.....

From BBC News:

The extreme right-wing political party, "Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore (MS-FT)," is offering 1,500 Euros to new parents who name their children "Benito" or "Rachele."

They claim that there is no connection between this offer and the fact that "Benito" and "Rachele" were the first names of the former Italian Fascist dictator and his wife.

The offer is good only in several areas in the southern part of Italy. MS-FT also insist that at least one of the two parents must be Italian in order to qualify for this baby rebate.

Democrat or Porn Star?

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

You would think that porn stars might have straighter, whiter teeth...

Why doesn't this happen in America?

Darryl Choronzey (or Cronzy) hosts a Canadian fishing show called "Going Fishing."

In September 2007, approaching a national election, his guest was Conservative Party leader John Tory.

According to a Reuters report:

"'Toward the end of the program, Cronzy said, "Listen, I'm not telling you who to vote for" and then contradicted his verbal statement by pointing at John Tory in an obvious and exaggerated manner,' the council said in a formal ruling.

"Cronzy also said Tory would be 'hopefully, in a couple of months, the head honcho of Ontario.' The two men also joked that one particular fish 'went down, just like the Liberals.

'"The overly political overtones of the show prompted a viewer to complain to the council on the grounds 'that fishing programs are supposed to be about fishing'."

Here's the text of the ruling. It further states that "In his concluding remarks, Cronzy also urged viewers, 'When you go to the polls, whether you’re voting federally or provincially, think of your fish and your wildlife, okay? Get some of these clowns out of politics and get the good guys in.'"

The decision?

"The broadcaster ought to have been entirely aware of the content of the episode. There was not a modicum of subtlety in host Cronzy’s approach, which the broadcaster made its own by running the episode of the program in the midst of an electoral contest. The policy exposure opportunities afforded to the leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and the overtly partisan perspective of the program host combined to provide an inequitable advantage to that party. Nor was there any indication in the correspondence that a comparable opportunity was offered to the Conservative Party’s political rivals. Consequently, in the view of the National Conventional Television Panel, the broadcast of the September 29 episode halfway through the Ontario election campaign breached the fairness requirements of both Clauses 6 and 7 of the CAB Code of Ethics."

"New World Order"

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

It seems that everyone is passing this video around, so I guess I need to do my part as well.

It is pretty funny, though.

Odd e-mail

A couple of months ago, I purchased the David Byrne/Brian Eno album, "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today" from the only place it is for sale -- the album's website.

This past Monday, November 3, I received this e-mail (Subject: I Can't, But You Can) from "music@ everythingthathappens.com" (identified as "David Byrne"):

"Pardon the bulk mailing. I Can't Vote. I am an immigrant with a Green Card and, therefore, I am not eligible to vote in a federal election. FYI - I can get drafted (luckily, Daniel Berrigan burned my draft board's records) and I pay taxes, yet I cannot vote for President. On Election Day, I see my neighbors heading to the nearby elementary school to cast their ballots. The voting booth joint is a great leveler; the whole neighborhood - rich, poor, old, young, decrepit and spunky - they all turn out in one day.

"But most of you can vote. What can I say? The Republicans have made us less safe than before 9/11, bankrupted this economy, started an illegal war they can't - and don't intend to - finish, removed what sympathy (after 9/11) and respect the world had for the US, and have robbed US citizens of many of their basic rights. Global warming? What's that? Science and education? Investment in our future? No, thanks - we'll stick with a good 'ole hockey mom. Ignorant, and fucking proud of it, as is always the case.

"Although it looks like a shoo-in, it ain't over 'til Florida. And there are plenty of racists in this country who will vote against their own best interests. So please, get to your local elementary school, post office, town hall, or whatever, and cast your vote and make this a country we can all be proud of. We can get out of this mess, and life can be better than it is.

"David Byrne, NYC"

What is weird about this message to me is that the content of this message is not weird enough to make me believe that David Byrne actually sent it. So who did send it? And why bother trying to make it look like it came from David Byrne, of all people?

For all I know, it might be as simple as a disgruntled former employee who stole their mailing list. I've checked the website a few times to see if some kind of message appears regarding this e-mail, but no such luck as yet.

Any ideas?

Half mast

The flag is wrapped around the pole and, therefore, not waving in the breeze. But the giant Pride flag at Castro and Market is flying at half mast this morning.

"No on 8" sent out this message this morning:

"Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8 – out of 10 million votes tallied.

"Based on turnout estimates reported yesterday, we expect that there are more than 3 million and possibly as many as 4 million absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.

"Given that fundamental rights are at stake, we must wait to hear from the Secretary of State tomorrow how many votes are yet to be counted as well as where they are from.

"It is clearly a very close election and we monitored the results all evening and this morning.

"As of this point, the election is too close to call.

"Because Prop 8 involves the sensitive matter of individual rights, we believe it is important to wait until we receive further information about the outcome.".

SF Chronicle wimps out

(Click to enlarge)

This is the "Doonesbury" that Garry Trudeau wrote for today.

Knowing that his prediction that Obama would win might be controversial, Trudeau and his distributor made several old strips as alternatives that could be run today.

And the Chronicle ran one of the alternatives.

Wimps.

Dancing in the streets

The question of Prop 8 is still unanswered as I write this, but it doesn't look great -- 52.5% to 47.5% with 24% of precincts reporting. That doesn't really answer anything, but a lot of people seem to have the attitude of "I don't dare have that much hope."

But that hasn't stopped people from dancing in the streets on Castro Street.

We hung around the house until McCain gave his concession speech, then we headed out to where all the noise was. The block of Castro from 17th to 18th was closed to traffic, but not many people were wandering around as yet. Mostly, people were crowding into Moby Dick and The Midnight Sun and The Bar on Castro and especially Harvey's to watch Obama's acceptance speech.

Meanwhile, people were setting up a makeshift stage and projection TV. It took them quite a while to get it set up, but they finally got Channel 4's news up on the screen, and they started playing music. Just like Halloween, television helicopters have been circling the Castro all evening (total Los Angeles deja vu twice in five days).

So at least for now, there's a party going on. Not having to see Sarah Palin or John McCain or Cindy McCain on a daily basis is something worth celebrating. It is now safe to go back to the gym (where CNN is always on, always unavoidable, and always seems like it has been giving a lot more air time to Palin/McCain than to Obama/Biden).

Oh, yeah. P.S.

I have to confess something.

On my way to the doctor this morning, I found a small stack of "Yes on 8" flyers that someone had left on MUNI. I picked them up just in case I got the opportunity to return them to their rightful owner. But, unfortunately, I lost my grip on them, and they fell into a recycling bin.

It was an accident. I swear.

[UPDATE Midnight: The helicopters seem to gone home for the night. Here's hoping they don't come back for a long, long time.]

Election Day Interlude

American Tune

For election day.

Not to bring you down, or anything, but reportedly, Paul Simon wrote this song (based on a Bach melody) in response to Nixon having been re-elected.

Prop 8 on the Daily Show

I kind of wish some of these things had been said on national TV before now.

But at least they got said before election day.

Election Day Part 2

(No, this is not a picture from today. It's a stock image from photobucket.)

I noticed this morning how sedate the city seems to be today.

Usually on election day, the area at the top of the steps at Harvey Milk Plaza (Castro/17th/Market) is swarming with politics. Usually there are candidates trying to get that last minute "personal touch" in. Usually there are scads and scads of volunteers waving signs and handing out flyers and plastering people with stickers. Usually Carole Migden is there pushing some proposition or candidate whle trying to shake everyone's hand.

Not today.

This morning, both on my way to the doctor (9 a.m.) and on my way to work after voting, (10:45 a.m.), I was struck by the fact that there were only four people at Castro and Market -- two standing on the corners and waving "No on 8" placards, and a third standing at the top of the stairs offering "No on 8" stickers to anyone who would have one. The fourth was a somewhat timid young woman in a "Yes on A" T-shirt (at least I think it was "A").

I took the F-Market to work today, so I saw pretty much everything on Market Street from Castro to the end. Most corners had some number of "No on 8" people (anywhere from 3 to a dozen), but no Obama people, no Mark Leno or Tom Ammiano or Nancy Pelosi people, no one pushing for or against any props other than 8.

I guess that this time everyone figures that everyone has already made up their minds.

[UPDATE 6 p.m.: Well, I guess they were just waiting for the post-work voters. As I was coming home, the number of campaigners at Castro and Market was considerably larger and more varied. No Carole Migden, though.]

Election Day

Not to brag, but it only took me about 10 minutes to vote. But only because I lucked out.

First, I have a sinus infection that descended on me fairly quickly yesterday. (That's not the lucky part.) As a result, I slept fitfully, waking up every two hours like clockwork (unable to breathe and coughing -- that's not the luck part, either). So when I woke up at 6:00, I just stayed up. (That's the lucky part -- accidentally waking up early.)

Second, I had a doctor's appointment this morning at 10:00 -- a five-minute visit with my podiatrist to confirm that the orthotics I got a month ago were free from defects.

So, between being up earlier than usual and not having to be anywhere until later than usual, I thought this might be my opportunity to go vote early.

Unfortunately, being sick(ish), it took me longer to get ready than usual, so it wasn't until nearly 8:30 that I was ready to go. I walked the one block to our polling place, and the line coming out of the door went for about a quarter of a block. Figuring that I had about 45 minutes at most before I had to leave for the doctor's office, I decided I should wait until later.

After I got out of the doctor's office, I went back home and checked the polling place again -- virtually no line now. I walked in the door at 10:35, and I walked out again at 10:42.

For those of you not in the Bay Area, let me describe the process, just as background for what I want to say later:

At our polling place, you are greeted by three people. One finds your name on their first list and has you sign your name. The second confirms your address with their second list and then writes down the hour during which you showed up. The third hands you your ballots (there is only one electronic voting booth at our polling site, as opposed to about ten booths for manually marking paper ballots) and a "Privacy Sleeve" to hold your completed ballots in until you feed the ballot box. Specifically, the polling place for our neighborhood is in the lobby of an old folks' home, so it's not unusual while waiting to vote for you to see caregivers helping little old ladies adjust their underwear (yes, I saw that once today).

Also, there are two kinds of propositions on our ballots. State propositions are numbered, whereas City propositions are assigned letters. So Prop 8 is a State of California proposition, while Prop H is a City of San Francisco proposition. Today, we have Props 1 through 12 plus A through V (the closest I've ever seen the city come to running out of alphabet). We have a total of 34 propositions, plus School Board, Community College Board, State Assembly and several other local elected officials. So we have three very long ballots (one for people, one for numbered props and one for lettered props) printed on both front and back.

The volunteers at the polling place were extra-vigilant today. The woman in line in front of me had brought the Bay Guardian's endorsement mailer with her, and a volunteer told her to put it out of sight. She looked shocked and said, "Are you telling me that I can't have this with me?" He said, "You can have that with you. You just can't carry it out in the open. Hide it."

Behind me in line was a rather scraggly looking man. While Volunteer #2 was checking my address, Volunteer #1 asked him his name. I won't actually swear that he scratched his crotch as he answered, but what he said was "Uh, yeah. I wanna vote for Barack Obama. Whadda I gotta do?"

Entertaining on the one hand, but encouraging from another point of view: This must have been his first time voting, either the first time in a very long time or the first time ever in his life.

Then, more evidence of first-time voting. As I was marking my ballots, it became obvious that the two young men (early to mid-20s) were friends who had come to vote together. What made it obvious was the way in which they started discussing the ballots and the propositions.

"Prop 8 is the gay marriage one, right?"

"Yeah."

"We're supposed to vote 'No' on that one, right?"

"Yeah."

The volunteer (the same one who made the woman put away the Bay Guardian mailer) came over to them.

"Guys. You can't talk out loud about anything being voted on."

"Oh. Sorry."

Again, it has its own entertainment value, but it also seems to indicate voters who don't have a lot of experience in the polling place.

As I was feeding my ballots into the electronic ballot box (kind of like feeding a really big dollar bill into a change machine), a little old man came shuffling into the lobby and shouted, "Everybody needs to vote the same way as I did. I'm not telling you how to vote, and I'm telling you how I voted, but I'm telling you that everybody has to vote the same way as me." Then he chuckled to himself and shuffled out onto the sidewalk for a cigarette.