I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I need a hobby – I am spending far too much time lately doing nothing. So, in a moment worthy of the rejuvenation machine, and with the encouragement of several friends wondering about my disappearance from the cyber sphere, I am hopping back into blogging.  This serves as a small shot across the rather sizable bow of the blogging community – I’m back. For the first time since since March 2008. GD, that’s a long time. See you again in a bit, Interwebbers.

Michael Jordan, who is perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, famously refused to endorse a Democratic candidate because he reasoned that “Republicans” buy sneakers. Tiger Woods, who could be referred to as the spiritual successor to Jordan as the most recognizable athlete in the world, has similarly been silent on many of the pressing issues of the day. I seek neither to castigate or praise them for their failure to engage in the political system.

I, for one, fall somewhere in between the Charles Barkley thought that “Athletes aren’t role models” Spiderman ideal that “With great power comes great responsibility.” Although it should not be demanded of them, athletes and celebrities can and should feel comfortable in asserting their wealth and fame in order to serve as a catalyst for change. People like Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, and Bill Gates have all contributed enormous amounts of their time and money to better the world. Many others, such as Sean Penn or Tim Robbins, have donated funds and time to not only charity, but to preferred political causes.

I am not good-looking enough to be a leading man in Hollywood, nor am I tall enough to play in the NBA. I am merely a blogger. However, that does not mean I cannot make a contribution to the world of politics in my own way. First things first, if you have not already seen the Obama video put together by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, please do so. It’s easy to find all over YouTube..

So you’ve watched it. Pretty exciting stuff, huh? For those of you about to dismiss me as just another young person who has fallen head over heels for a cult figure, I would suggest you have two options:

1. Consider an alternative to the mindset you have are stuck in by continuing to read this post.
2. Go away. I won’t be offended. This blog is not a source of income for me, so I couldn’t care less about my readership. If you are so opposed to change, in all likelihood, you are either an avid Republican or old. Anyone who is still a Republican after the debacle of the last seven years is unlikely to change their mind, and old people generally are pretty well set in their ways, as well.

If you chose Option Number One, congratulations – I hope you don’t regret your decision by the time you’re done reading. The only truly logical place to go next is the beginning, so let’s take a trip back in time to November 2000. I had just arrived on campus as a freshman at the University of Massachusetts. A historical election had just been decided, and Al Gore, a man who won the popular vote and all likelihood had been screwed out of Florida, somehow lost the Presidency. George W. Bush, a man who campaigned on a platform of “compassionate conservatism” and as a moderate conservative, was due to take power in a few months. I had voted Gore, and was disappointed and disheartened in the result of the election, but I decided to be fair and give Bush a chance to prove me wrong. Unfortunately, we all know what happened next: Bush proved me right and millions of other Americans wrong.

There are many theories about what went wrong not only on 9/11/2001, but also in the weeks, months and years leading up to that tragic day. In many ways, what happened before that day is relatively insignificant compared to what happened on that fateful morning, and what has happened since. To recap all the blunders of the Bush administration is impossible, but a partial list of his greatest misses must include:

-Iraq…Entering into conflict with a country that posed no immediate threat to the U.S. under false pretenses despite the wishes of many Americans and pretty much the entire international community

-Largely ignoring the developing situations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia

-An immense failure to respond to Hurricane Katrina in any meaningful way

-Stripping U.S. citizens of their right to lawyers and habeas corpus

-Running up the largest debt in U.S. history – close to $10,000,000,000,000

-Vetoing many social welfare programs, such as SCHIP, on the ground that they are too expensive when they cost a pittance compared to a week in Iraq

-Suppressing science (evolution, stem cell research, global warming) in favor of religious fundamentalism

-Giving repeated huge tax cuts to the superrich while cutting aid to social welfare programs.

-The No Child Left Behind Act

-Refusing to condemn, and, in fact, condoning torture.

-Failure to create an improved health insurance program at a time when 50,000,000 Americans are uninsured.

The list goes on and on, but my fingers cannot. Bush is almost certainly the worst President in United States history, and I cannot wait until he is replaced. I have spent my entire voting life huddled under the dark clouds of oppression he has spread over the U.S. and the world. However, this eagerness for change in no way has blinded me or many of my peers to the flaws of many of the candidates for President. John McCain is in many ways a good man who bravely served his country in Vietnam. So did Forrest Gump. I’d vote for Forrest before I voted for 100 years in Iraq “would be fine with me” McCain.

So what about Hillary? I hear all sorts of compelling arguments about her candidacy. I am all for giving women a chance – no woman could do worse than Dubya Dubya Three, but “The first woman President” can’t really stand as a monument to equality if she got there on her husband’s coattails, can it? However, that is not the problem I have with Hillary Clinton. The problem I have is that she and her husband play dirty, and I am sick of dirty politics. Bill Clinton did a lot of good things for the nation, but he and his wife are clearly not angels. They have engaged in plenty of mud-slinging and misdeeds in their days, and I would choose not to back to those days. As maddening as any of Bush’s failures is his complete unwillingness to work with anyone who had even a mildly different worldview than he did. “You’re either with us or you’re against us” ring any bells? Hillary seems to come from much the same mold as Bush, which is undoubtedly why he expressed a preference for her several months ago. She is a war hawk who voted to go to Iraq and voted to label the Iranian National Guard a terrorist organization. She has not apologized for, or indeed, shown any reflection on either vote. She is as beholden to special interests as Bush is, and her claims that Obama is the establishment candidate are laughable. She passes herself off as the experienced candidate, despite the fact that her main two projects as First Lady were monumental failures, and her Congressional activities, such as her lack of significant legislation, her boneheaded votes on Iraq and Iran, plus her decision to skip the vote on removing telecom immunity from FISA have been abysmal compared to Obama’s intelligent votes and significant legislative record.

Her husband has continued to try to act as an oral assassin, but it is clear his day has passed – his weak efforts at discrediting her opponents are tawdry and embarrassing. When one thinks tawdry, one must also consider the tactics Hillary is employing to try to get the delegates from Florida and Michigan counted, despite the fact that she agreed those delegates would be banned from the convention. After such an agreement, an honorable person would have done what Obama did in Michigan by not having his name on the ballot. It is little surprise that Hillary would want the delegates to count considering she essentially ran unopposed in both states. She refuses to release her tax returns to prove to the American people that she has come by her money honestly, something Obama did months ago. That is hardly the only reason I find it near impossible to trust Hillary. She criticized a commentator for MSNBC for referring to her “pimping out” of her daughter, and sought to have him fired. Shortly after that story broke, it was revealed that Chelsea in fact went out on a date with a super delegate, one of the elite members of the Democratic party that may well decide the party’s presidential candidate. I am no etymologist, so I won’t argue the true meaning of “pimping,” but if sending your attractive daughter to woo the mind and heart of a college-aged male isn’t a bit seedy, I don’t know what would be. One thing is that Hillary the President would become a habitual line stepper, just as Hillary the candidate has been.

By process of elimination, that brings me to Obama. People decry his candidacy as a “cult of personality,” as a movement supported mainly by naïve young voters. My response is simple. Much of Obama’s appeal lies in his bipartisanship, his snappy speeches, and his charisma. For anyone who has lived through the impeachment hearings of Bill Clinton and the disastrous reign of King Bush, there is no need to reinforce why bipartisanship is appealing to Americans. Because he is such a good speaker, I will lift from Obama in defending his penchant for good speeches. For some reason, being a skilled orator in this era is a Scarlet Letter against one’s character, and so Obama was asked about his emotional and motivational speeches. He responded, and I paraphrase: “So what if I am a good speaker? I’m a lot more, too.” He clearly is much more. He is intelligent, he is compassionate, he is open-minded, and he is unafraid of change. All of these things appeal to young voters who have lived through the blind bigotry, disdain of knowledge, and pure idiocy of the past seven years. Quite simply, at a time when the work of politicians of the Bush and Clinton dynasties have robbed us of so much (an affordable education, a reasonable expectation of a decent job, a healthy economy, the lives and minds of many of our peers in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ability to receive quality and affordable medical care, faith in financial institutions thanks to the work of Enron and banks that granted subprime loans, and a near assurance that Social Security will be dead by the time our generation reaches retirement), Obama gives us hope for a better tomorrow. My entire life as a member of the electorate has been one of watching impeachment hearings and choosing whether to laugh or cry at the lunacy of a delusional theocrat. I am sick of that existence, and so are many others – we are ready for hope and change. Obama gives people of my age bracket the idea that America can once again become a beacon of freedom, righteousness, and prosperity for the rest of the world to admire and try to emulate. That’s why his speeches are so powerful. That’s why many college students and many young adults are screaming for Obama. That’s why hundreds of thousands of more young people are voting than ever before.

Some people, especially those who have reached the age of fifty or so, deride this movement as foolish, as youthful naiveté. There are many people of this age that are Obama supporters, and progressives, and to them, I tip my cap. However, the vast majority of Obama haters come from those who have reached an age of “maturity” that they feel entitles them to belittle those who are young. To those people, I have one admonishment, and one warning.

The vast majority of you have no right to criticize our generation in any way. In your infinite wisdom, most of you stood by while a brave minority struggled to pass basic civil rights legislation in the 1960’s. Many of you failed to speak up as the war in Vietnam raged, or verbally or physically attacked soldiers who had been drafted against their will. Neither extreme is acceptable. You elected George H.W. Bush, a man who is an angel compared to his son, but a devil compared to the rest of the populace. You clamored for the details of Bill Clinton’s sex life while ignoring the unrest and atrocities in Yugoslavia and other spots around the world. You elected the worst president in U.S. history twice. Statistically, people of your age stand at the forefront of movements that seek to prohibit gay marriage, to deny global warming, to continue the war with Iraq or to incite war with Iran, to cut funding to social welfare programs, and deny many other popular movements in the United States. In short, you stand in the way of a changing world, and you stand in thwe way of progress. Such stubbornness and willful ignorance it what brings me to a warning of sorts. We will not be stopped.

You may succeed in electing McCrazy or Billary, but soon enough, your influence will have eroded. Your woeful track record will become a thing of the past, and your ideas will become consigned to the trash heap of history. Members of the Millennial generation are only now awakening to the raw power we hold. We are young and while we may not have much money, we have plenty of passion and aren’t afraid to throw ourselves into the things we care about. We like to vote. We are significantly more liberal, more tolerant, and more internationally aware than our predecessors. Thanks to the Internet, we are much more able to organize and come together. For the most part, we are better read and better informed than anyone believes. If that isn’t enough, consider our size: twice the size of Generation X , and larger than the Baby Boomers, as well. Not yet convinced? Think about all the passion and all the enthusiasm that is so evident in this election. Now consider the fact that only those born before 1990 will be able to vote in this election. The Millennial Generation is comprised of those born between 1982 and 2000. Anyone can do the math – less than half of collective power is being exercised in this election. No matter what happens in 2008, subsequent elections belong to us. Americans are becoming more diverse, more educated, and more liberal. Americans are changing, and so too will America. For the first time in a long while, there is a candidate that can make me and my fellow Americans proud of our country and our government. Barack Obama. Yes we can.

Eff yeah, Montel.

Eff yo, Faux News.

This is actually what it has come to in the U.S. – express your opinion and get fired.  Hey, the Constitution was cool while it lasted, right?

Speaking about endorsing Obama:

“There was another time,” Kennedy said, “when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a New Frontier.” But, he continued, another former Democratic president, Harry Truman, said he should have patience. He said he lacked experience. John Kennedy replied: “The world is changing. The old ways will not do!”

I’m in Prague. Just thought you should know. Also, for the next few weeks, I won’t have regular Internet access, so you probably won’t hear too much from me. Savor the break, because I’ll be coming back with a vengeance in February. Happy New Year, everybody

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, kiss my ass. Kiss his ass. Kiss your ass. Happy Hanukkah. — Clark Griswold

Hey all, your 3rd or 4th favorite blogger (depending on how Internet-savvy you may be) is back. I apologize for the long absence, but the holiday season has been a busy one, with trips all over the country and a few days breaking bread with the family, boozing, and busting open presents. The holidays are always a strange/wondrous/busy time, and this year was no exception. I arrived back from Atlanta on Christmas Eve, and I had just enough time to wrap my presents and get my suit steamed and pressed before it was time to go to Mass. (BTW – it was 60 degrees in Hotlanta – thank goodness I live in Boston, where the concept of a White Christmas exists not only in song but in reality). After Mass came a trip to Brighton where we were hosted by various family members that we haven’t seen since last Christmas. Good times, indeed.

The wake-up call came early the next morning, and I joined my family in opening a glorious pile of presents. I won’t bore you with what I got, but even if it is better to give than to receive, it was a very merry Christmas. The merriment continued with dinner at my grandmother’s house, where I saw the extended maternal family. A good time was had by all, but unfortunately, as soon as we left the house the post-holiday hangover began.

I don’t mean that in the hangover sense, even if I did have a few cocktails on the holiday. I mean it in the sense that the first few days after any big day (Christmas, birthday, graduation day, wedding day, etc.) seem like a huge letdown merely because they are relatively uneventful. Such has been life the last few days. I have spent quality time with several friends and friends of family members, and have enjoyed myself thoroughly, but nothing can compare to the high that comes on a big holiday. Everything else suffers by comparison.

Complicating this cocktail of emotion is the impending reality of Prague. As of writing this, I officially have slightly less than a week until I head to Central Europe for a period of indeterminable length. Am I freaking out? Well, that depends on your definition of “freaking out” is. It is clearly coming up fast, and yet, I have so much to do in the meantime, I have yet to really seriously contemplate the big changes in my life. I have to decide which jacket(s)/shirt(s)/pair of shoes/book(s) to bring with me, and which to leave behind to languish in my closet. Once I make those decisions, I have massive amounts of cleaning, organizing, packing, and laundry to do. I have to see many friends and family in the next few days. I have to decide whether to purchase the iPod classic or the iPod Touch. I have to book a train from Frankfurt to Prague. I have to figure out what I am doing for New Year’s Eve…any ideas that are cheap and fun? Well, you get the point – life is hectic, frantic, and exciting. But never fear, brave reader – no matter how crazy life gets, I will have time to share my thoughts and occasionally irrational viewpoints with the cyber community. Coming tomorrow or soon thereafter will be a wrap of the year in music, featuring my partial and probably completely irrational and arbitrary ranking of the Top 10 albums of the year. Enjoy the leftover eggnog, readers, and check back early and check back often.

P.S. Enjoy the falling snow – it’s my way of bringing the holiday spirit to the Internetz.  (Or at the least the microscopically small portion of the  Internet that reads my blog).   In any case, happy holidays, and best wishes for a happy and healthy  2008. 

The lies belong to Bush and the statistics confirm them:

Challenging laws essentially means that the President chooses to disregard laws because he has decided they don’t really apply to him or the U.S. in a particular situation. As evidenced by the graph, every President does come across laws that are unsuitable or unenforceable, so there will always be Presidential challenges. However, when it becomes clear that Dubya Dubya III has challenged more than twice as many laws as the three U.S. Presidents before him, it becomes pretty concerning. It is even more concerning when one notices the date of the data – roughly halfway into his eight years as Chief Executive of the United States of America. It is impossible to determine how many more laws Bushie has since bent or broken, but it’s safe to say the number has gone up in the last 3 years – ignoring subpoenas and leaking the identities of covert agents are two rather prominent examples of illegal acts. Pretty disgusting disregard for the law from someone who is nominally supposed to be enforcing them, wouldn’t you say?

I’ve waited too long (try about 21 years) for this:

I’d write more, but the professional football team based in the New England region has a match going on right now, so I’m going to get back to that. Never fear, brave readers, I will write more soon – including a big news update and some mildly entertaining ramblings. Refresh daily. Later gators…

Many people point to George Bush and his cabal of neocons as the big reason why America is sinking into the deepest recesses of the toilet of history. However, those people are only partially right. It’s true that pretty much everyone in the current administration deserves to be thrown in jail, but that’s only a slice of the problem pie. One of the other problems is the widespread growth of religious fundamentalists that have stressed the value of faith over any sort of reason or intellectual integrity. Don’t believe me? Then read this study.

Think about that: more people believe in a character they have never met, or had any cause to believe in, than do believe in evolution; a scientific phenomenon that has been confirmed by millions of studies, theories, anecdotes, fossils, and other bits of physical evidence. The most appropriate corollary I can think of is a situation in which millions of Americans disregard the scientific evidence that certain acts lead to tooth decay in favor of intentionally abusing their teeth. Their reasoning? Hoping to have their misdeeds rewarded with $0.25 from the Tooth Fairy. Such a ludicrous mindset helps to explain why people who try to educate children (rather than subject them to the horrors of a curriculum circumscribed by the worst educational act in the history of the U.S.) end up getting marginalized, ridiculed, and ultimately, fired. Awesome. Anyone still willing to argue the idea that reason and dissent have been effectively outlawed in this country?

P.S. As debating my argument would be a form of dissent, I would wholeheartedly welcome such a conversation…

I don’t know what it is – maybe the fact that the NBA standings look something like this:

Or maybe just the fact that this long-suffering hardcore Celtics fan finally has many things to cheer about now that KG is on the team. In any case – this commercial makes me very happy in funny places. Watch and enjoy:

Damn – the music, the images, the message – it all comes together to make a beautiful commercial. Let’s hope the Celtics keep it up…

P.S. Between Wes Welker’s golden interview with Andrea Kremer the other night (Google it) and Garnett’s bon mot last night…

Is it possible Boston is the now the hub of the entertaining sports interview universe, as well?