Time's top viral campaign videos...

If you have some time, you might want to take a look at the Best viral campaign ads of 2010. I viewed all 29, didn't think all of them were that great, but I did agree a few were noteworthy:

Chuck Grassley

Dale Peterson, I wish he would have won too

Carly Fiorina's Demon Sheep of course made the list

John Hickenlooper's video is one I saw before and loved same with Mike Weinstein

Alan Grayson...has guts :-)

Op-ed piece by Sherrod Brown

TEN years ago this fall the Senate sold out American manufacturing. By a vote of 83 to 15, it established so-called permanent normal trade relations with China, paving the way for that country to join the World Trade Organization. As a result, Chinese imports to the United States fell under the same low tariffs and high quotas as those from countries like Canada and Britain.

Today, though, our trade relations with China are anything but normal. The 2000 agreement’s proponents insisted it would enable a billion Chinese consumers to buy American products. Instead, our bilateral trade deficit has increased 170 percent, largely because China has undermined free-market competition through illegal subsidies and currency manipulation.

Unless the administration takes punitive steps in response to China’s unfair trade practices, the American economy — and the American worker — will continue to suffer.

The old agreement on trade with China was never really about promoting American manufacturing. Rather, it was a cynical ploy on the part of many multinational companies. They lobbied Congress to approve it, promising a boost to American exports; then, once it passed, they closed domestic plants, moved production overseas and sold their products back to American consumers.

As for those billion Chinese consumers? We now know that what the companies were really so excited about was a billion inexpensive Chinese workers.

True, our exports to China have increased. But reporting only exports is like reporting just one team’s score in baseball: the Cubs scoring five runs sounds good, until you hear that the Reds tallied 12.

Indeed, our exports pale in comparison to the torrent of artificially cheap Chinese imports. Economists, including free-traders, estimate that price manipulation keeps Chinese products 40 percent cheaper than comparable American-made goods.

Inexpensive products might sound nice, but we lose 13,000 net jobs for every $1 billion increase in our trade deficit. Our $226 billion deficit with China has meant shuttered factories, lost jobs and devastated communities across America.

And it’s no longer just Chinese bicycles and electronics that are flooding our markets. China will soon make half the world’s wind turbines and solar panels, most of which it plans to export to America. And, as usual, China’s clean-energy industry relies on large government subsidies, in direct violation of international trade laws.

In response, the Obama administration recently accepted a petition, filed by the United Steelworkers under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, to investigate China’s state support for clean-energy exports. If the White House finds that the support violates international trade rules, Section 301 allows it to respond with a range of aggressive measures, including tariffs.

This strategy has worked before: in the 1980s and ’90s, the United States used its 301 authority to combat Japanese and Korean subsidies and trade barriers. Though critics warned of bitter trade wars, the get-tough approach actually led to more balanced trade relationships, and even encouraged foreign investors, like Asian auto companies, to build plants in America.

In trying to get China to play fair, though, Washington has instead relied on rhetoric and moral suasion. It hasn’t worked. Only rigorous enforcement of trade rules by the Obama administration can reverse the harm caused by the permanent normal trade relations agreement.

Congress has a role to play, too: when the Senate reconvenes next month, it should vote, as the House did in September, to expand the president’s authority to impose tariffs on China or any other country that unfairly manipulates its currency.

Many politicians claim they support products “made in America.” But the phrase is more than an empty slogan; it means standing up for American manufacturers. Only by learning the lessons of “normal” trade with China — and acknowledging buyer’s remorse — can we reach a truly balanced bilateral relationship that works for America.

Senator Sherrod Brown

With the Iott "Nazi" issue a national media story...

Since the election for the ninth congressional district is one that I've focused quite a bit on my local political blog, for those of you looking for coverage on that story. I recommend some of the blog posts on Glass City Jungle and a piece for the Toledo Free Press that I contributed to.

Iott participated in Nazi re-enactments reports the Atlantic – UPDATED

Iott participation in military re-enactments raising questions

Cantor "would absolutely repudiate" Iott

Military re-enactments focus of Iott & Kaptur releases

And I recommend watching where it all started, on Bill Maher. The below link has video of the clip where Josuha Green, senior editor of the Atlantic shares the photos of Iott dressed in a German SS Wiking uniform.

Link to video.

Some of those on the Maher site slammed P. J. O'Rourke's performance on the show, I have to say the former Toledoan had some moments were he was funny. The Maher crew was also creative with their suggested campaign slogans for Iott. "Today Toledo -- tomorrow the world" was funny.

It's been interesting to watch, I personally don't believe Rich Iott is a Nazi, but I think his campaign could have handled what they knew was coming better and that if he wanted to be involved in re-enactments (which I'm fine with) he might have considered a different unit to pretend about. His comments complimenting the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking and Hitler's Germany as far as their power, easily became campaign fodder.

:-)

We have the same anti -war movement and not the same passion.

If you have wondered what's happened to the anti-war effort after President Obama was elected, you'll want to read - Anti-war groups battle for survival. One part of the recommended piece:

“We don’t have a very vibrant anti-war movement anymore,” lamented Medea Benjamin, founder of Code Pink, one of the anti-war movement’s most visible organizations. “The issues have not changed very much. … Now we have a surge [in Afghanistan] that we would have been furious about under George Bush, yet it’s hard to mobilize people under Obama. We have the same anti -war movement and not the same passion.”

The real question will be what will happen the next presidential cycle.

Men are reviewed in the Times far more often than women

What's going to be interesting is if anything changes after the recent focus on accusations being made that the New York Times book review process is preferential to white males. Slate does a nice job in summarizing as well as researching the fiction aspect in -- Fact-Checking the Franzenfreude. One tiny part:

We compared men to women and then highlighted the authors whose books had been singled out for the one-two punch of a weekday review and a review in the Sunday Times Book Review.
Here's what we found.
Of the 545 books reviewed between June 29, 2008 and Aug. 27, 2010:
—338 were written by men (62 percent of the total)
—207 were written by women (38 percent of the total)
Of the 101 books that received two reviews in that period:
—72 were written by men (71 percent)
—29 were written by women (29 percent)
What does this tell us? These overall numbers pretty well line up with what other studies have found: Men are reviewed in the Times far more often than women. One crucial bit of information missing, of course, is the percentage of all published adult fiction that has been written by men vs. women. As for the double reviews, men seem to get them twice as often as women.

You may also want to read the XX Factor and Lionel Shriver's I write a nasty book. And they want a girly cover on it.

I wrote a book, though no publisher was interested, I self published. So, I can't comment personally on how I was treated. Though I do thank the many who have bought In Memory Of: The Loved and the Forgotten of Ohio.

Misplaced priorities in spending...

Misplaced priorities in education are really clear when you read this Wall Street Journal article on the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex in California.

At $578 million—or about $140,000 per student—the 24-acre Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools complex in mid-Wilshire is the most expensive school ever constructed in U.S. history. To put the price in context, this city's Staples sports and entertainment center cost $375 million. To put it in a more important context, the school district is currently running a $640 million deficit and has had to lay off 3,000 teachers in the last two years. It also has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country and some of the worst test scores.

It's a scenario that's repeated in other districts, though not quite at the same level of grandeur, millions spent on buildings in districts that don't have enough money to pay salaries, provide transportation or buy books...

Larry Sabato & the Crystal Ball

The predictions are out:

2010 was always going to be a Republican year, in the midterm tradition. It has simply been a question of degree. Several scenarios were possible, depending in large measure on whether, or how quickly, the deeply troubled American economy recovered from the Great Recession. Had Democratic hopes on economic revitalization materialized, it is easy to see how the party could have used its superior financial resources, combined with the tendency of Republicans in some districts and states to nominate ideological fringe candidates, to keep losses to the low 30s in the House and a handful in the Senate.

Given what we can see at this moment, Republicans have a good chance to win the House by picking up as many as 47 seats, net. This is a "net" number since the GOP will probably lose several of its own congressional districts in Delaware, Hawaii, and Louisiana. This estimate, which may be raised or lowered by Election Day, is based on a careful district-by-district analysis, plus electoral modeling based on trends in President Obama's Gallup job approval rating and the Democratic-versus-Republican congressional generic ballot (discussed later in this essay). If anything, we have been conservative in estimating the probable GOP House gains, if the election were being held today.

In the Senate, we now believe the GOP will do a bit better than our long-time prediction of +7 seats. Republicans have an outside shot at winning full control (+10), but are more likely to end up with +8 (or maybe +9, at which point it will be interesting to see how senators such as Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and others react). GOP leaders themselves did not believe such a result was truly possible just a few months ago. If the Republican wave on November 2 is as large as some polls are suggesting it may be, then the surprise on election night could be a full GOP takeover. Since World War II, the House of Representatives has flipped parties on six occasions (1946, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1994, and 2006). Every time, the Senate flipped too, even when it had not been predicted to do so. These few examples do not create an iron law of politics, but they do suggest an electoral tendency.

It is however not predicted at this point that Ohio's gubernatorial race will change parties...

Beck compared to Laura Schlessinger

I've never been a fan of Glenn Beck, though unfortunately my husband is so there were times when I'd feel as if I was being held captive when he'd listen to Beck on the radio -- then the one Beck event that I attended that I am probably still emotionally damaged from that my husband will owe me for until the day he dies...

Yet what I find interesting is Beck loves controversy and attention, his planned event today, that some of our local television stations actually covered live (they didn't cover the true "civil rights" one interestingly enough) worked. He's gotten lots of attention. Articles like this one by Mary Mitchell -- Boorish Beck makes mockery of King's dream will fuel the fires of the two sides. Mitchell makes her thoughts about Beck very clear, in addition to calling him boorish and a demagogue:

In fact, Beck has a lot in common with the deposed talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

Neither one of these personalities have much respect for the African-American experience.

Schlessinger, who was forced off her long-running radio show after she said the N-word 11 times during a broadcast, has been in the media long enough to know that whites can't get away with using the word.

Yes, I recognize this prohibition is a double standard.

But given the painful history the word carries, this is a double standard that whites ought to be able to live with.

Schlessinger, though, tried to defend her use of this racial slur by cloaking it in her First Amendment rights. "I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors," she said on the Larry King show.

Ironically, Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally is being promoted as a "moment" that will "reclaim the civil rights movement."

How disingenuous.

I think most people realize that Beck's brand of freedom was not what Martin Luther King Jr. had in mind.

Unfortunately, this is another area where people are divided, there are some out there that are trying to argue Beck's brand of freedom is something King would support. I'm not sure if the continued name calling is the answer, though for those interested in a balanced view, I'd recommend this Chronicle piece.

Can Obama fight the flight from facts?

The flight from facts is one that's hit our nation when it comes to more than just the President, despite the increase of fact checking sites and myth busting, study after study has demonstrated some of our population is mired in only wanting to believe what they want to believe, no matter what the facts truly are.

This Newsweek piece -- How Obama can fight the lies is an recommended read. Part of which:

Our maddening times demand that the truth be forthrightly stated at the outset, and not just that the president has nothing in common with the führer beyond the possession of a dog. The outlandish stories about Barack Hussein Obama are simply false: he wasn’t born outside the United States (the tabloid “proof” has been debunked as a crude forgery); he has never been a Muslim (he was raised by an atheist and became a practicing Christian in his 20s); his policies are not “socialist” (he explicitly rejected advice to nationalize the banks and wants the government out of General Motors and Chrysler as quickly as possible); he is not a “warmonger” (he promised in 2008 to withdraw from Iraq and escalate in Afghanistan and has done so); he is neither a coddler of terrorists (he has already ordered the killing of more “high value” Qaeda targets in 18 months than his predecessor did in eight years), nor a coddler of Wall Street (his financial-reform package, while watered down, was the most vigorous since the New Deal), nor an enemy of American business (he and the Chamber of Commerce favor tax credits for small business that were stymied by the GOP to deprive him of a victory). And that’s just the short list of lies.

Fire and Imagination and...Rain...

Bob Herbert's column Fire and Imagination made me think about James Taylor's Fire and Rain. While the song is about relationships, it fits how I feel about what's happening in our country.

The Obama administration seems to be feeling sorry for itself. Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary, is perturbed that Mr. Obama is not getting more hosannas from liberals.

Spare me. The country is a mess. The economy is horrendous, and millions of American families are running out of ammunition in their fight against destitution. Steadily increasing numbers of middle-class families, who never thought they’d be seeking charity, have been showing up at food pantries.

The war in Afghanistan, with its dreadful human toll and debilitating drain on the nation’s financial resources, is proceeding as poorly as ever. As The Times reported on Friday, an ambitious operation that was supposed to showcase the progress of the Afghan Army turned into a tragic, humiliating debacle.

And while schools are hemorrhaging resources because of budget meltdowns, and teachers are losing jobs, and libraries are finding it more and more difficult to remain open, American youngsters are falling further behind their peers in other developed countries in their graduation rates from colleges and universities.

This would be a good time for the Obama crowd to put aside its concern about the absence of giddiness among liberals and re-examine what it might do to improve what is fast becoming a depressing state of affairs.

We've seen fire and we've seen rain, it's hard not to hope at times that our nation will come back to what it was...


James Taylor - Fire and Rain (live 1970)
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Jerry Brown's attempt at a come back....

There was a time I supported Jerry Brown, to be perfectly honest I don't know how I feel about the idea of him attempting to make a "come back" -- it is however the focus of Time Magazine.

It's worth the read, no matter how you feel about Brown...He is unfortunately correct when it comes to what many voters will decide on:

One other thing Brown has learned apparently is that, in the end, the real issues at stake will probably not determine the outcome of the race. "But you know what decides it? Who f_____ up. Who says the wrong thing. Who insults someone. That will be the deciding factor ... I'm not one to stay on message. Maybe not. But if I say something, you know I mean it. You know who it's coming from. That much hasn't changed."

D.C. “Hollywood for ugly people.”

Michael C. Moynihan writes a thought provoking piece that's subtitled, A week of navel-gazing coverage of Andrew Breitbart, the Journolist, and race. As someone who was not one of the 400 on Journolist but is on a smaller list here in Ohio for the "politically connected" -- some of what Moynihan writes I identified with.

I too clearly understand my role in the world of politics and I've seen first hand some of the same behavior that I chalk up to what he describes as:

This whole “debate,” if we can charitably call it that, is a mess of straw men, hypocrisy, stupidity, and reflexive defenses of one’s own tribe. It has nothing to do with fairness, journalistic ethics, or the immorality of dragging the reputations of innocents through the mud in an attempt at scoring political points.

The only difference is I describe it as herd mentality...

Anonymous group in Utah and their list of 'alleged' 1,300 illegal immigrants

It's hard to not wonder about how far people will go to try to target Hispanics after reading this story about an anonymoust group that claims from following people around they have a list of 1,300 illegal immigrants, (link). The list came with the demand that all of these on the list be deported immediately - (link) and contained information that is raising questions as to how exactly was this information obtained:

It is not known who produced the list, although Gov. Gary Herbert has called for an investigation to see if the list was compiled by someone with access to state databases containing personal information. The list contains birth dates, workplaces, addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers. Names of children are included. Several pregnant women have their exact due dates listed. All the names seem to be Hispanic.

"This is a way to terrorize people," said Tony Yapias, director of Proyecto Latino and a former state director of Hispanic affairs.

He spent much of Tuesday calling people on the list to warn them and to figure out who may have collected the information.

"I'm nauseated," he said through tears. "All of these people are terrified. I don't have words to describe how scared they are. It just breaks my heart what they are telling me."

It was reported today that at least 2 state employees were involved in helping to access information to create the list (link) - they were escorted from their jobs.

Does cutting unemployment really equal savings?

As I read this part in USA Today - (link):

The number of people collecting benefits will fall from 10.5 million to 7 million at the end of July if Congress doesn't extend the payments.

About 400,000 Americans are exhausting their benefits every week, saving the government $2 billion since June and an estimated $34 billion through November.

The government is not really saving that much money. Those who couldn't find jobs, will likely still not be able to find jobs and if they do opt for part time employment will still qualify for food stamps and other assistance programs. Those cost money...

Demand on food banks is increasing, some receive tax support, demand on social service agencies in general is increasing, some receive tax support.

All the Republicans are doing is creating a scenario where perceived savings from one area create increased expenses in another...

Pete Du Pont is dreaming...

Hillary Clinton for President with the subheading of "The secretary of state could mount a formidable challenge to Obama"

It won't happen, when she agreed to be a part of the Obama administration any dream of her being president ended with it. It would split the party in a worse manner than happened after the last presidential primary.

The only way I can see Hillary Clinton running is if Barack Obama decides to not run for a second term...

Expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take the responsibility for them

The post title is the message sent from the NAACP to Tea Party organizers - (link):

Here's what Ben Jealous, the NAACP's president and CEO, asked of the tea party movement: "Expel the bigots and racists in your ranks or take the responsibility for them and their actions. We will no longer allow you to hide like cowards."

The NAACP is doing exactly what conservatives have done for decades in demanding that liberals and progressives separate themselves from left-wing extremists who trashed America, burned flags and praised foreign dictators. The racists are the tea partiers' flag-burners. It's fair to ask the democratic left to condemn extremism. It's fair to ask the same of the democratic right. (Note the small "d.")

I reached Jealous in Kansas City, where he was attending the NAACP convention, and he went out of his way to emphasize that his group is not making a blanket charge of racism. "We have never called the Tea Party racist," he said. "We know there are black Tea Party members and we want black people to feel comfortable taking leadership positions in all parties in this country."

But speaking of tea party leaders, he added: "We've seen the signs, we've heard the slurs, and all we're asking is for you to act responsibly and say there's no space for bigots in the Tea Party."

Law enforcement in AZ found beheaded bodies? Really?

One of the better articles that Dana Milbank has written in some time - Headless bodies and other immigration tall tales in Arizona. The only problem is most of those who believe this bunk probably don't read the Washington Post. One part I found especially noteworthy:

Jan Brewer has lost her head.

The Arizona governor, seemingly determined to repel every last tourist dollar from her pariah state, has sounded a new alarm about border violence. "Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded," she announced on local television.

Ay, caramba! Those dark-skinned foreigners are now severing the heads of fair-haired Americans? Maybe they're also scalping them or shrinking them or putting them on a spike.

But those in fear of losing parts north of the neckline can relax. There's not a follicle of evidence to support Brewer's claim.

The Arizona Guardian Web site checked with medical examiners in Arizona's border counties and the coroners said they had never seen an immigration-related beheading. I called and e-mailed Brewer's press office requesting documentation of decapitation; no reply.

I recommend the entire article, for those interested in the truth and part of the reason why so many uninformed Americans are buying the Arizona immigration hype...

The Declaration and equality...

This is kind of interesting, I actually read it hours after I posted a piece on Glass City Jungle about the little known history of the Declaration of Independence. I'm evidently far from the only person who realizes that had the original declaration gone through, slavery would not have been allowed in the new United States of America.

Hence, Fourth of July 1776, 1964, 2010 is a recommended read, though I don't agree with all of it, Part I felt most interesting:

Even as Washington paid homage to Byrd’s triumph over his origins last week, the Capitol played host to what the Supreme Court’s only black justice, Clarence Thomas, might call a “high-tech lynching.” The victim was, of all people, Thurgood Marshall — the nation’s first black solicitor general and first black Supreme Court Justice, nominated to both jobs by L.B.J.

The pretext was Elena Kagan’s confirmation hearings in the Senate. Marshall had been a mentor to Kagan, for whom she clerked in 1988. He is also a hero of our history, a brave and brilliant lawyer whose advocacy in many civil rights cases, and most especially Brown v. Board of Education, helped open the doors for landmark legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Even before last week’s ceremonial hazing of Kagan, the G.O.P.’s only national black political figure, Michael Steele, attacked her for writing approvingly of a speech Marshall had given calling the original text of the Constitution “defective” — a restrained adjective, actually, for a document that countenanced slavery. On the first day of the Kagan hearings, Marshall received many more mentions (35) than even that other Republican archenemy, President Obama, in the accounting of Talking Points Memo. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said they weren’t sure they could have voted to confirm Marshall to the court. Jon Kyl of Arizona, a state that suffered years of economic boycotts because of its opposition to the King holiday, faulted Marshall’s jurisprudence for advancing “the agenda of certain classes of litigants” (wonder who?) and for being out of the “mainstream.”

Tea Party is a party opposed to the idea of parties

While I recommend reading this article What is the Tea Party in USA Today, one part especially caught my attention:

Even so, the movement is less a party than an anti-party, with no clear consensus about whom its national leaders are and a generally dyspeptic view of organized political power.

"It's a party opposed to the idea of parties," says Jill Lepore, a Harvard historian whose book about the movement, The Whites of Their Eyes, is scheduled to be published in October. The Tea Party reminds her more of a religious revival than a political movement. She compares it to the Second Great Awakening in the 1830s, a religious resurgence that helped fuel temperance and abolitionism.

What emerges from the polls and interviews is a deeply engaged, highly skeptical group of people — even toward others in their ranks.

If those in support of the Tea Party mentality were to gain enough governmental control, I can believe their extreme conservative positions could have an impact on our nation. While it would not be temperance and abolitionism that would be the result, it's easy to predict illegal immigrants would be a target, affirmative action would be eliminated/diminished and safety net programs for the poor would be gutted.

Personally, what I find most interesting when it comes to some of the online debate encounters I have had with some Tea Party supporters is their level of anger and how easily they express hatred towards liberals and elected officials. That's not to say I have not had reasoned debates with members of the Tea Party, but it is much more rare than with those of other political philosophy. The disdain and the lack of respect expressed does not bode well for our nation as it at times easily surpasses those on the left who took issue with President Bush and Republican office holders.

Economic discontent remains the biggest threat

While not being a fan of David Plouffe or David Axelrod, I can't disagree with their comments in this Washington Post article, Democrats shaping battle plan against Republicans for November. Especially this:

"We'd better act as a party as if the House and the Senate and every major governor's race is at stake and in danger, because they could be."

Plouffe and other Democratic strategists say Obama will play an important role in making the case that the Republican Party is one of obstruction and indifference. But they think the outcome in November will depend as much on the skill of candidates in mobilizing potential supporters who are now disinclined to vote.

Economic discontent remains the biggest threat to the Democrats' political prospects this fall. The issue has become more acute with growing fears that the economy has lost steam in recent weeks. Friday's unemployment report will provide more evidence.

"I think that as long as the economy is struggling, the economy is going to be a decisive issue," White House senior adviser David Axelrod said. "The question is whether people believe at the end of the day [that] turning backward to the policies that got us into the disaster is really the answer. That's a debate we're going to have."

I don't agree that the fear of Republicans taking control will motivate the Democratic base to create victories, it may motivate the base. It will rely more on the quality and skill of the candidates because it will most likely be the voter who is not affiliated closely with either party that is the deciding factor in many of these elections.