Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Mediaburn Spotlight: ABC No Rio - Community Center in NYC ABC No Rio ABC No Rio is a community center for art and activism. Our gallery and performance space was founded by artists committed to political and social engagement and we retain these values to the present. Support the Future of ABC No Rio with a donation. 9:42:37 AM

'Avoiding Imperial Entanglements' Carbonite Lego. Han Solo, frozen in Carbonite. Lifesize sculpture made out of Lego. Tsk. Via BoingBoing. [The Cartoonist] 7:57:18 AM

Film 4/67 and 4/69 An Update. While I couldn't get my head round designing a 'proper' website for the film covers yet, I've scanned in two more title pages - film 4/67 and film 4/69. I've also removed some of the articles due to copyright issues. Anyway, have fun. [The Cartoonist] 7:54:53 AM

Media Notes From Alaska For Dean Weblog Dean, the Media, and the Internet. 'Tis the season for polls, and polsters are asking questions like "if the election were held now, would you vote for candidate A or B?". But they're also asking questions like, "who do you like better personally, candidate A or B?" That plus a lot of negative spin against Governor Dean (see the hatchet job in the recent Newsweek issue with Dean on the cover) lately have got me thinking about the power of the media to shape our opinions. [Alaska For Dean] 7:52:17 AM

Next Stop, New Hampshire Dean Arrives in New Hampshire!. It was something else to see the stunned look on the staff and press as they entered the hangar to be greeted by a sea of people waving inflatable bats-- and another thing altogether to hear the roar of appreciation when the Governor finally entered and took the stage. The feeling was euphoric. Off to one side a sign read "Welcome Home, Howard!" And the crowd chanted and stomped, interupting the Governor with shouts and inflatable-bat applause: "It sure is good to be back in New Hampshire!" (Roar of approval.) "We went to Iowa as the frontrunner, it's true. But New Hampshire has a tradition of electing the underdog. And eight days from today, you're going to do just that." (The blue signs go up and the bats go crazy.) "Nobody said it was going to be easy. It shouldn't be easy. Taking on the corporate special interests and George Bush isn't easy. But we're going to win." And we will win. Dean spoke of the need to eliminate the deficit that is a result of Bush's "credit-card presidency." He spoke of the need to put the people back in power and defeat the special interests. And he spoke of a better America and a sound energy policy based on "renewables, renewables, renewables." He left to a chanting and cheering hangar full of supporters-- and then Joan Jett took the stage while an exhausted-looking press corps wearily sat down to file their stories. If you're within driving distance, you have got to come to New Hampshire. This is going to be an incredible week. And together, we're going to win one week from today. [Blog for America] 7:46:20 AM

Charles Eicher: Horsetrading in Iowa Horsetrading report from Iowa. Charles Eicher reports on his caucus experience in his blog, Disinfotainment. Specifically, he recounts an amusing little horsetrading bit of gamesmanship in which the Kerry supporters managed to screw themselves out of a delegate: After an initial vote, any candidate polling less than 15% is declared unviable, and those persons must realign to a candidate or declare they are undecided. The only viable candidates were Dean, Kerry, and Edwards. Then everyone is given an opportunity to talk to other caucusgoers, to try to get them to come to their group. And here's where it got really interesting. The Kerry group had enough votes to get 4 delegates, but the Dean/Edwards vote was tied, the remaining delegates would have to be decided by coin toss. So the Kerry people decided to screw Dean by shifting 3 surplus voters to Edwards, to make the apportion 4-3-2. When the final vote was called, the Kerry faction discovered that they had miscalculated, they should have only shifted 2 voters, and they lost their 4th delegate. The final split of delegates was 3-3-3. Suddenly the Kerry faction wanted a third vote. They were overruled by the caucus supervisor, but only after much shouting and bickering, and a call to the Democratic Party HQ for a decision on rules. The Kerry people outsmarted themselves, and screwed themselves out of a delegate instead of screwing Dean out of a delegate. At this moment, I'm watching Kerry make a "victory speech," but he's wrong. Kerry did not win Iowa. Kerry won delegates, just like Dean and Edwards. No single person wins the Iowa Caucus, it is not a winner-takes-all election. You cannot win the Iowa Caucus, you can only lose it. Gephardt, Kucinich, Lieberman, Clark and Sharpton lost, everyone else was a winner. I won't declare which candidate I voted for, but it should be obvious that one single vote changed the results of this caucus. Don't ever think that your one vote doesn't make a difference. [Edgewise] 7:30:19 AM