Afromusing

*This is a temporary departure from my normal topics - Indulge me for a sec…

Its 36 minutes into the democratic presidential debate on MSNBC - This is an open thread for those watching while logged on…feel free to comment with your thoughts:

Quick impressions so far.

Hillary Clinton is clear, sharp and looks very confident and comfortable dealing with the questions from the Giant Head of Brian Williams (mini joke from Daily Show - he makes satellite appearances where Jon refers to him as the giant head for this post his abbreviation will be GHBW). Would have her minimize the shoulder shrugs when describing the poor in her state if i were her advisor. - She was being asked about Hedge funds when she did this, but she answered the question really well, sounding like she would regulate the hedge fund industry. Edwards did not do too well on the hedge fund question. He didnt recover from the $400 dollar haircut flap sufficiently, acknowledged that they are rich and lived a priviledged life…then went into a story about his humble background - weak example of his dad not being able to pay for a bill at a restaurant and his resulting embarrassment.

Obama - Floundering abit, he appears to be getting his feet wet with this debate.

Kucinich - Anti war (esp. war as a tool of foreign policy)
Biden - Funny use of 1 word answer regarding the comment abt him being a gaffe machine (this refers to his gaffe where he referred to Obama as articulate bright and clean)

Gravel - First thought was heh wacky! wanted to tell him ‘chill abit’, After afew minutes, i think he comes off as passionate, abit on the bleeding edge, and extremely clear about his anti war and anti nuclear stance (He is a long shot as a candidate, but quite a strong character. They should have him on the next debate)

Bill Richardson - when asked why he was last to ask for Alberto Gonzales’ resignation was honest abt saying that he knows Mr. Gonzalez and wanted to give him time to answer, plus felt kinship with Gonzalez because he is also Hispanic.

Email Q: what mistakes have them made?:

Edwards sorry for voting for war.

Obama: Not staying in senate during the Terry Schiavo vote

Hillary: Healthcare - not being able to get it sorted in 93 ‘94, and how she handled it.

Richardson:Impatient with implementing change (didn’t choose his words carefully here)

Oh havent mentioned Chris Dodd, seems like a confident guy but i don’t get the sense that he is a strong contender on this one.

Hillary is looking better and better each minute. She is handling the debate deftly!

They tried to cram too much into the first hour rushing them through questions.

7pm CDT

GHBW - Who are the 3 allies for US?

Obama - Long winded answer not being specific though mentioning Japan, asia - follow up Q by GHBW on his stance abt Israel, obama acknowledged the issue of palestine and Israel (sorry i missed part of this)

3 important enemies:

Gravel - No enemies, military industrial complex is controlling culture and pointed to the fact that Iraq was not a threat to US.

Edwards - Russia, dissent being squashed suggests that America can change the underlying relationship with the rest of the world by providingprimary sch education, clean drinking water, microfinance, reposition US as caring abt humanity.

Richardson: How would you deal with Russia? His answer - control nukes, humanity towards chechnya, give energy to US, promote russian democracy within. He passionately pointed to the Darfur problem and poverty.

The myth of Dem’s being soft on Defense-

Hillary - great answer on bad foreign policy feeding into this myth.

Dodd- Absence of diplomacy and turning away from diplomatic tools - great answer.

GHBW - Part where they had a show of hands. Is there such a thing as War On Terror? - No one raised their hand.

GHBW: What would you do if there was a terrorist attack?

Hillary - Very strong IMO very presidential answer - Be swift as is prudent.

GHBW: Would you join Kucinich in calling for impeachment of Cheney? - No one bit. Kucinich pulls out a pocket copy of constitution pointing to constitutional transgressions by Bush Admin.

GHBW: Hard choices on Climate change as quoted by Friedman of NY times

Biden - legislation, fuel cells etc

GHBW: Gay Marriage Vs Civil Union - How are these things different?

Dodd - Looked at it from the parent point of view - civil unions ok, same sex marriage not

Gravel changed subject from a q asked by GHBW to address Iraq war - Terrorism is mischaracterized, invasion of Iraq has created more terror.

What have you done personally to deal with climate change - Obama - organized others to plant trees. Taught his daughters about changing light bulbs to low energy consuming ones (CFL’s i presume is what he meant though didnt mention CFL’s by name) He could have answered this better.

IRAN - Abit of sparring btwn Obama and Kucinich. Obama reiterating that a nuclear threat must be met with seriousness

GHBW: Who is your moral Leader?

Edwards - Took time thinking - Prays to God, His wife source of great conscience, his father these are the people with most impact on his views on morality.

GHBW: Is walmart good or bad?

Hillary - mixed blessing - goods to rural arkansas, with growth responsibility on discrimination provision of healthcare…points to buddy buddy relationship between corp and current bush admin.

90 minutes went by very fast.

My opinion: I would say HILLARY WON THIS ONE. by far. The talking heads on TV will deconstruct this further in the news

Update: If interested in more commentary, see what John Dickerson has to say over at slate.

Addition of Aasif Mandvi to The Daily show lends much more hilarity and that IT factor that was starting to slip (just a wee bit)

Forced Perspective:

Here is another link to comedy central for a spot called “Gratitude adjustment”.

2 shows that I enjoyed, check it out if you like…
The first was Nova - Newton’s Dark Secrets. Enjoyable documentary, there was so much more to Newton than i knew, preety interesting.

My little reminder about refraction of light - Swimming in the pool last friday, underestimating the distance to the wall…yeah i have a bump on my forehead. silly!

The second is ‘The Dark Side’ - After 9/11, ‘…the battle between the vice president and the CIA — a battle that many believe has destroyed the CIA.’ More info about the pre-iraq war cabal. You can watch the program on the link above on Thursday June 22nd. (Whis - Where are you?)

spicey I will get to the tag soon

This post by Juan Cole, gave me pause (who says that anymore…) anyway, read it.

Whis in case you havent already…

Whis’s post reminded me of a piece i heard on Marketplace. Click here for the 5 part series that examined immigration - exhaustively, considering the war on both sides of the border. Specifically watch or listen to part 5.

Mr. Bowden says “We have re-invented slavery…”
The interviewer asks if it is an exaggeration to say that this is modern day slavery, and Bowden asks “Where do they go to complain on how they are treated…”.
Immigration (illegal)is a complex issue, but this series made it very clear to me how and why it happens and what it would take to really tackle the issue.
The illegal immigrants often suffer in silence. Their tribulations and stories only make it to some media, i doubt the stories and the realities in this series are apparent to Lawmakers in D.C.

You can also read about what the reporter Scott Carrier learnt in the making of this series.

We spoke with people on both sides of the line–minutemen, immigrants, coyotes, home owners. Basically, what we heard were people expounding upon the points Charles Bowden made the year before, and the fear in Bowden’s voice was echoed in the voices of the people who live on and pass through the border.

It’s a war zone, right here in our own country.

Link to the quiz.

I certainly did not till i did the quiz, and was shocked at what the correct answers were.

I found David Seruyange’s blog post via White African. He has a great review of the book the ‘Quiet American’ and he wrote…

“Americans are ideologues. George Washington was an ideologue. The people who come here to find a future are also ideologues and that is where their American-ness begins. The focal point of that ideology is idealism; that good and evil exist; a notion that the world can be better, that our individual actions can find traction here to bring that “better” closer to us - for some that means closer to their children as they see thier lives as mere stepping stones for a better future.

Ideology is dangerous, and when it mixes with an idea that necessary sacrifice can be made it becomes a very potent evil. We forget to ask ourselves who sacrifices, who dies as a result of any “noble” effort. But the world needs ideas, and it most certainly needs ideals. It needs fools who believe in love. It needs the sort of simple mindedness that can say “all men are created equal.”

Barack Obama was on the Daily Show! I only caught a couple of minutes, i will be looking for the repeat tomorrow or video on C&L.

This is something i was thinking about last month after reading an article by Corey Robin in The Nation’ September issue. I was struck by the fact that the anti colonial movement, a part of Kenyan history inspired liberalism and the civil rights movement in America (60’s and 70’s). From an idealistic point of view, it brings up pride that our forbearers did effect change thousands of miles away.

However, i cannot help but feel like that special thing (for lack of a better word) that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and the feminists is gone. IMO there seems to be a fear in some parts of American society, such that there is an erosion of that progressive American quality of striving for democratic ideals. (Be it the fear of terrorists or immigration - check out the piece on why you should avoid montana if you look like/are a foreigner) I feel dissapointed. As part of the ever-evolving kenyan multi cultural set, growing up and learning of a broad spectrum of history and world affairs (you know yourselves -those geography classes?! fjords?!) America/ the west had this certain lustre. Scientific, progressive, rich, an aura of freedom, perhaps even illicit. (You know of people who would read James Hadley Chase hidden in the folds of the english textbook and other similar shenanigans).

Dont get me wrong, the work ethic of Americans is like no other. There is much that works, but lately it doesn’t appear that their is much to look at. Freedom is continually being redefined (or eroded depending on your point of view)slowly but surely with the application of the Patriot Act. Equality and ‘the new deal’? One word - Katrina. Womens rights - Politics at the FDA blocking the availability of the morning after pill even after studies deemed it safe and effective. To paraphrase, it was blocked because of an excuse, not a reason. The recent indictments of Scooter Libby also bring up lots of questions (an argument can be made that the indictments were an indication that all has ‘not gone to heck’). Guantanamo bay, the recent indications that America has overseas gulags…
This can’t all be a downer now can it? With the realization that the lustre that was, no longer is, the glint on the american silver dollar is abit dimmer now, my question is where is the next global movement? Will the legacy of that movement be that of real change? I would like to think that there is something that we can point to, but global warming is not leaving much time to ponder these questions now is it?