Look i’m one of these people who believes that Barack is genuine. Because i’ve read his accounts of working as a community organiser in the South side of Chicago. Here he talks about that experience with a bunch of kids who just got him re-elected. And i know that success for him is not just gaining the presidency, it’s training these individuals, this new generation of people who can change the world. Who will make a difference.

Via the Huffington Post: Obama Tears Up While Addressing Campaign Staff.

No, he’s not perfect. He’s just an individual, just a man. But i like the way he works.

Okay, i’m going to gather all those US election videos in the one post. Yes i did get a bit obsessed during the election.

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Aaaaah! Sally played this for me at work the other week. “You won’t be able to get it out of your head,” she said.

And that’s true.

Then i watched it again with Tim and Sam up at Elphinstone the other day. How we laughed.

Apparently the song spent weeks at number one in NZ Aotearoa, and raised about $1 million and a hundred and ten and twenty one. In a bowl.

via Flight of the Conchords – Feel Inside (and stuff like that) – official Cure Kids long version – YouTube.

I love Murray at the start, “Yes and i gave some money back in 1988, so that’s all done now?”

And Jemaine talking about the songs in the Muppet Movie, “They were pretty derivative though, don’t you think?”

From the punch: an interesting perspective on an awkward tv moment. I didn’t see Q&A last night but I’ll see it on iView now!! Amusing comparisons of greg combet with clark kent, and suggestions that sophie mirabella looked as though she may have poisoned her fellow presenter. Can’t wait to see it.

Here’s the video. Yikes. Mirabella received a pasting from the twitterati because of the way she recoiled in horror, but GetUp and others came to her defense:

Wendy Harmer was quoted as saying,

Okay this one got me.

An interesting take on anti-smoking ads.

No scare tactics.

I love this story. 40,000 people singing a children’s protest song from the sixties. A song about how we should all just get along and be nice to each other.

Thousands in Norway Sing Peace Song Children Of The Rainbow Against Right-Wing Terrorism Edited – YouTube.

Such an awful reason to be singing. So sad watching, you can feel the grief of the crowd.

77 people killed because a guy had very bad ideas in his head.

And it’s interesting listening to the people in the news story speak Norwegian. You have no idea what they’re actually saying, but at the same time, it’s really clear what they would be saying.

Aah Jon Stewart. Sometimes you need a little heavy-handed humour. i know the whole experience has been very Team America: World Police; and what we’re looking at is a political assassination of the craziest kind. Killing an unarmed alleged mass murderer in his pyjamas etc. Not to mention the singing and dancing in the street. But ..How About the Bush People trying to take credit for killing Bin Laden?! No wait, it was Reagan who got him. If you need some laughter on the topic, watch this video.

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photo credit: freestylee

What about the nerve of Donald Rumsbum, trying to take credit for the Egyptian revolution!! Let me see, how is this similar to the kind of “pro democracy” outings of Donald and Dubya?

Did a hundred thousand people get killed?

Did countless precious ancient artefacts get destroyed?

Did the west start a civil war and then 5 years later work out how to manage the situation?

did Western govts lie to their citizens in order to invvde a sovereign nation, almost bankrupting the world in the process?

This article from the Guardian strongly makes the case that Rumsfold is delusional. Which we knew, but it’s nice to read a well-worded case innit!

A better way to push democracy, but the west’s love-bombing has risks too | Jonathan Freedland

Recently i read this very interesting article from the Guardian about Gene Sharp – the little known author of a world best-seller. In some places, bookshops have been burned to the ground for selling his work, according to this article in the guardian.

Apparently the book has been translated into many languages. It was originally written for the people of Burma, and explores the full range of weapons that people have at their disposal (apart from weapons of violence). Yes, colour and flags can be weapons, because they aim at the heart of the tyrannical regime. The basic idea is that if the population refuse to be drawn into violence or fear, then they must win

Who knows more about the book? Can you give me more details?

More links over there:
Tales from the Lou gives a good write-up and background.
Gene Sharp on the wikipedia.
Some of his books you can download over at online books, Uni Pennsylvania.

Some key steps, quoted from the book:

Develop a strategy for winning freedom and a vision of the society you want,
Overcome fear by small acts of resistance,
Use colours and symbols to demonstrate unity of resistance,
Learn from historical examples of the successes of non-violent movements,
Use non-violent “weapons”,
Identify the dictatorship’s pillars of support and develop a strategy for undermining each,
Use oppressive or brutal acts by the regime as a recruiting tool for your movement,
Isolate or remove from the movement people who use or advocate violence.

Following the shooting in Tucson i found this speech by Robert F Kennedy from April 1968 – after the assassination of Martin Luther King. It’s really worth listening. Very much of its time, yet still very relevant. You can also find the full transcript over here.

via YouTube – Robert F. Kennedy speech ~ Mindless Menace of Violence.

i liked what the sheriff said after the shooting: all this violent, hateful and abusive rhetoric that fills the tv and radio channels of the US mass media may well be free speech, but it can have consequences.

(Found the Kennedy speech via ‘The only adult in the room‘ – an unabashed fan site for the current president of the US (POTUS) – one of the commenters posted it.)

Nice work from a rapper known as Jasiri X in the United States of Hell: “What if the Tea Party was black?”.

The Tea Party have been seriously dissing their president. If they were left-wing or non-white, the media would interpret their messages as seditious, treacherous and Anti-American. They would be vilified in the most ugly ways imaginable. But no, the Tea Party is the darling of the media with their horribly misguided and intellectually-damaged thought missiles. Reprehensible rubbish.

Thanks for this video!!

via YouTube – What if the Tea Party was Black?.

Ok, irony alert. i got the video from “Stuff White people do”, chapter entitled: listen to anti-racist music. Yes i’m trying to salve my bruised conscience. Whatever.

While i’m talking of anti-racist music, one of my all-time favourites is “George Bush don’t like black people” by the Legendary KO. Impressed to see this song has its own wikipedia page.

..and here’s the original quote from Kanye West that led to the remix:

..and another video mix

This originally came out back in ’05. Xeni at BoingBoing pointed everyone toward it. You can still get the mp3 file too: “George Bush Don’t Like Black People” MP3 (8.7MB). [Lyrics here.]

On the other side of The Pond, a 15 year old gains notoriety with this stirring speech during the recent demonstrations around education fees. Good to see the next generation coming up and with such strength and passion. Really like the way he weaves narrative into the invective. No music, but a really good talk eh.

via YouTube – 15 year old Tells Establishment to Stick-it..