Week of 10/25/2008 - 16:00 to 11/01/2008 - 15:59

Lots of fun get-out-the-vote activities are happening this weekend leading up to the elections, and we hear lawyer Steve Novick, former candidate for the U.S. Senate, will be joining the Magical Mystery Bus Tour traveling around the state.

The Bus Project's "Big Bus" from PDX will be arriving about 5:15 pm Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Amazon Community Center, 2700 Hilyard. Canvassing for Kitty Piercy will follow.

The Big Bus is off to Bend for overnight (might be room to join the rolling party) and will reappear at 4:30 pm Sunday at The Station, 570 Blair Blvd.
Anything can happen, so call 334-6727 to confirm canvassing and phone banking info. Email jessica@kittypiercy.com

Jeff Merkley's wife, Mary Sorteberg, will also be in Eugene to rally volunteers before canvassing at 11:45 am Saturday at 1178 High St. For info, call Julie at (202) 730-6272.

Before I embed the Rachel Maddow interview with my buddy Barry (I still haven't given him my ZIP code, no matter how many texts come to my cell — I like to keep the mystery alive), let me share the great genius that is Hockey Mama for Obama:

OK, through the tears of laughter (even though the magistrate line is wrong, and the line about Mexico worries me — oh, and don't you think the moose husband dude playing the piano looks like Eugene First Husband David Piercy's more bulky older brother?), I also wanted to watch Obama on Rachel Maddow.

But first: Until this morning, I had not watched a second of Rachel Maddow. Wait, there's a liberal lesbian with her own talk show? I'm kind of ... I'm ... really?

Yes, Virginia, there is. Now that is cool.

Here's the Maddow/Obama interview, Part One:

And here's Part Two:

Enjoy!

Credit to Chris Young of Obama for America

Ya know, I was in Iowa City on the night before the midterm elections of 2006. It was real cold, as it kind of tends to be in Iowa in November, but thousands of people came downtown to the Ped Mall to see this guy named Barack Obama stand on the platform with soon-to-be-Iowa-gov Chet Culver and Senator Tom Hayden.

I came back to Eugene saying, "This man is going to run. No doubt about it." Then I was lucky enough to be in Iowa City just before the Iowa caucuses this year. As I reported ad nauseam on the blog, I went to events featuring Hillary Clinton, John Edwards (twice), Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd and Obama in the two days before the caucuses.

And at the caucuses? Obama had so many supporters, I couldn't believe it. It was stunning.

Still, let me clear: I have not drunk the Kool-Aid. I've never been all about Obama the actual candidate; his policies aren't half progressive enough for me, and I really wish he could focus on the working class and poor the way Edwards did. But I gotta say that the symbol of having a president who's a person of color, who's African/American or, if you prefer, African-American, carries a massive amount of emotional power.

I think of Lorrie Moore's editorial in the New York Times (stupidly wrong about feminism and who's hurt more in a bad economy) — but great on the symbolic importance of Obama:

The children who are suffering in this country, who are having trouble in school, and for whom the murder and suicide rates and economic dropout rates are high, are boys — especially boys of color, for whom the whole educational system, starting in kindergarten, often feels a form of exile, a system designed by and for white girls. ... Mr. Obama came of age as a black man in America. He does not need (as he has done) to invoke his grandfather’s life in colonial Kenya to prove or authenticate his understanding of race. His sturdiness is equal to Mrs. Clinton’s, his plans as precise and humane. But unlike her, he is original and of the moment. He embodies, at the deepest levels, the bringing together of separate worlds. The sexes have always lived together, but the races have not. His candidacy is minted profoundly in that expropriated word “change.”

Earlier this week there was a wonderful piece on NPR. The last part of this segment, in which several African-American folks in St. Louis talk about how they'll feel on Nov. 5 if Obama wins, moved me very much.

And the segment ends with something I'd read over and over on Twitter just before I got in the car. I had thought, "Oh, that's nice, and it's sweet." But when I heard it on the radio, I cried. It's just so damn powerful!

Rosa sat so Martin could walk; Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama is running so our children can fly.

(OK, yes, historically problematic, but rhetorically genius ... atic.)

On my way home from Corvallis last night, I listened to a lot of this episode of "This American Life," in which white union guys and women try their damnedest to get their brothers and sisters to face racism and support Obama.

It was both discouraging and incredibly encouraging. It reminded me, just in case I needed to be reminded somehow, that racism remains a huge factor but that so many people of all races are banding together to fight for a better country. Or at least for Obama to get elected.

What I missed while I was driving to my third job last night? Obama's 30-minute ad. And now I'm watching it at work and just ... things keep making me tear up. I know it's manipulative! I know the music, the slow shots, the slow build ... but who cares? It's so great. Just so great to see him almost there. Please, please, please!

By the way, here's the short and great "Don't Let Up" ad from Obama:

I really want to help push Obama to be more progressive when he gets elected, but damn, do I want to see him elected.

Anyway. Here's last night's "infomercial."

If you can't cry at work, it's NSFW. Unless you hate Obama, in which case you're safe. (But then why would you watch?) Otherwise:

Wednesday nights are notoriously slow nights for clubs. It’s Hump Day, and people either want to hit the sack early in preparation for the weekend starting on Thursday night or maybe go see a flick at Movies 12 or the Bijou when the family and retiree hordes are generally busy with homework and shuffleboard. But if you want a bar with cheap drinks ($1 well drinks), casual atmosphere and tunes piped in from the ‘90s for your Wednesday night, then check out Indigo District’s ’90 Night.

I scoped it out last night, half-expecting a ton of crappy hip hop I didn’t enjoy in the ‘90s and still don’t enjoy. Instead, as I walked inside, DJ Billy was spinning Radiohead’s “Karma Police.” This was a welcome sign, as songs by Butthole Surfers, Beck, Weezer, Daft Punk, Ace of Base (by request) and a whole slough of other nostalgia-inducing songs — along with, yes, a few rap and hip hop hits thrown in the mix — were played throughout the night. At various times, it seemed like it was just me and my posse of four to five friends in the Indigo. With this event only a couple of weeks old, there's no pressure to dress up like the '90s or even dance (though how can you resist?!). It's really just nice to go to a bar that plays awesome songs.

The only advice I’d give the Indigo is to drop the cover charge for non-student men (it’s free for women and students with ID). However, this cover charge policy kept a shady-looking dude from entering the bar before us, so maybe it’s a fine policy if it will keep out the Indigo’s notorious weekend gangbangers crew. Party on, Indigo: You've regained some of the respect you lost when you went all ghetto on me last winter.

Sick of the election? It's almost over! But here's a break from it (with math!):

Image courtesy Wiki Commons

Some Official People at the UO sent out an email yesterday. Before you read it, know that I just gave my Reporting 1 students a midterm asking them to define the fog index.

Don't know the fog index?

Here's the way to calculate it, according to Tim Harrower's Inside Reporting (aka Our Beloved Reporting 1 Textbook):

• Count the number of words in your sample.
• Count the number of sentences.
• Count the number of big words (3 or more syllables).
• Calculate the average sentence length.
• Calculate the percentage of big words.
• Add the average sentence length to the percentage of big words.
• Multiply the result by .4.

Now, according to Harrower and most other sources, a readable fog index runs between 4 and 8. Harrower gives a great example of a Winston Churchill speech, very stirring, with a fog index of 4. (I think mine is pretty high. But not this high.)

With that in mind, here's the email that went to a Very Official List:

Subject: Facilities and Administrative Cost Rate – FY2009 Space Data

As you know, the recent Facilities and Administrative (F&A) cost negotiation resulted in a significantly reduced rate, impacting all research centers and institutes and others receiving ICC returns. Since F&A recoveries on sponsored projects are largely dependent on data from the university's space inventory, we are anxious to evaluate this fiscal year's space data with a goal of using fiscal year 2010 as the next base year for re-negotiating the rate.

The 2008-9 inventory of spaces allocated to your unit(s) will soon be sent to space management staff. They will be asked to update the inventory with current utilization and associated information and return it to Campus Planning and Real Estate no later than December 12, 2008.

Business Affairs and Campus Planning and Real Estate have scheduled two informational meetings tentatively scheduled for the week of November 11 to explain to departmental and research space managers how the space data impacts the F&A rate and to answer any questions related to accurate utilization coding. Each unit's space manager will be notified directly of the meeting times and locations.

Please forward this information to your responsibility units and ask them to encourage their space management staff and other appropriate staff to attend one of these meetings.

Hunh?

"Scheduled two informational meetings tentatively scheduled."
"Responsibility unit."
"Space management staff."
AAAAAAAH!

Anyhoo, let's calculate the fog index on this little puppy.

• Number of words=205
• Number of sentences=7
• Number of big words=42
• Average sentence length=205/7=29.3
• Percentage of big words=42/205*100=20.4
• Add 29.3+20.4=49.7
• Multiply 49.7*.4=19.9.

So the email hovers around 20. OK, that's ... doable. I mean, I read the New Yorker for fun, and I'm pretty sure the fog index in that mag is higher than 20.

Still. One sentence ...

Business Affairs and Campus Planning and Real Estate have scheduled two informational meetings tentatively scheduled for the week of November 11 to explain to departmental and research space managers how the space data impacts the F&A rate and to answer any questions related to accurate utilization coding.

... has a fog index of 28 (47 words, 11 "big"). Yowch!

But regardless of the fog index — to which I'm starting to think we should add a calculation for official jargon — what the hell are they talking about?

Seriously. Listen to yourselves, people! Pretty much assuming this email was not read aloud by the senders.

Maaaaybe a good idea from here on out?

OTOH, people who think up "utilization coding" and "space management staff" without laughing at themselves ... well, that read aloud thing may not help them.

Due to lack of space, we were unable to run Shawn Mediaclast's — aka The Audio Schizophrenic, aka Eugene's Best DJ (as voted by EW readers) — full response to our question of which DJ gig stood out most in his mind. Here is his full response.

Dance for Impeachment at the WOW Hall. It brought djs, bands, and modern dancers under one roof to raise awareness about why impeachment was necesary. The event was also a fundraiser for Iraq Veterans Against the War. And while the impeachment movement didn't succeed, I think the event helped some young folks envision a process where our elected officials can be held accountable for deception, illegality, and treason. And there’s some hope in that. Due to efforts like Dance for Impeachment there is an increased chance and hope that officials who cooked up intelligence, lied to Congress and the American people regarding our need to go to war in Iraq can be brought up on treason charges here, and possibly for war crimes at a World Court if it is determined that human rights violations and torture were routine in our war prisons.
There has been a pervasive "theres nothing we can do", "the world is controlled by a few elites" conspiracy theory sort of attitude among my generation and younger people. We've fallen victim to "here's another PBR, just be glad you don't live in Iran, the Sudan, or Russia", meanwhile our economy and standard of living is beginning to resemble Russia's. We've been trained/brainwashed to accept failure and re-enslavement of the working class. In the back of our minds there is years of brainwashing from when we were kids about how strong and stable a nation we are. Because of that Americans have gotten mentally (and in some cases physically) lazy, but its not entirely our fault. Over the last 25 years we've been tricked and fed all sorts of propaganda about how strong and great the United States is when in reality our economy has plunged into an abyss of corporate waste and abuse, a decrease in education, manufacturing, and small business, and the only thing that trickled down to us from Reaganomics was lots more high fructose corn syrup in our food products. We got too high on our horse, too comfortable, too reassured, too sweetened-up. We thought everything was always gonna be all right. But we can barely afford one square meal a day.
Our national wealth/hard earned tax money is now being used to save the crumbling banking and oil industries. Bailouts, wars, and massive tax breaks for corporations, an excess of welfare for economic elites contributes to feelings of helplessness. But that event demonstrated to me that its still possible for the energy of the youth to be focused on something positive rather than self-destructive. Some said impeachment is negative. But the achievement of accountability and justice towards those officials who have betrayed millions is extremely positive and what is needed to finally heal our society and help restore the opinion of America around the world. Maybe with a totally new administration in Washington, some degree of judgment, justice and redemption for Americans will actually come into fruition.

Word.

Ask and ye shall receive. We’ve been keeping up to date on all the Obama songs the election has inspired (umm sorry, if there have been McCain songs, I missed them). I wondered in a previous post why our local politicians didn’t have songs.

Turns out that they do! Download Kitty Piercy’s song here (thanks to Alan Pittman for getting that up for me!)

Remember how George Bush, Henry Paulson and other supporters of the $700-billion bailout for banks swore up and down how the taxpayer money was desperately needed so that banks could lend money to main street Americans?

Well, it now appears that's not what the money was really for at all.

The Bush Administration just handed Umpqua Bank, one of the Northwest’s largest financial institutions, $214 million in taxpayer bailout cash.

But as the Oregonian reports :

Umpqua is already well-capitalized, raising questions about whether the institution needed the federal money. "The bottom line is, we probably don't," said Ray Davis, president and CEO of Umpqua Holdings.. Umpqua's Davis said it made sense to accept the money, which will come in handy if the bank decides to buy out a competitor.

The Register-Guard similarly reports :

“We can use it for pretty much anything,” Chief Financial Officer Ron Farnsworth said. “If we need it for lending, we can use it for lending. We don’t need it for that — we have plenty of money for lending (from) deposits. We look at it as an opportunity for increasing our footprint.” What the Treasury is trying to do, Farnsworth said, “is drive consolidation. They want to see the stronger banks acquire the weaker ones.”

So Umpqua doesn’t need the bailout money for lending and won’t use it for that. What it will do is use the taxpayer money to consume smaller competitors, causing big layoffs and making itself too big to fail so Umpqua can then get, you guessed it, more bailouts.

A few years ago environmentalists called for a boycott of Umpqua because some of its biggest owners were old-growth timber barons. After the $214 million taxpayer bailout was announced, those timber barons’ Umpqua stock rose more than 20 percent.

Could Kitty Piercy get an endorsement from Barack Obama in the tight Eugene mayor's race?

Sure, Obama is a little busy right now. But he did do an ad endorsing Jeff Merkley for Senate after Republican Gordon Smith ran misleading ads trying to cozy up to Obama for votes.

Piercy's opponent, erstwhile Republican Jim Torrey, has also tried to cozy up to Obama, using the same "yes we can" slogan.

While he was running as a conservative Republican against State Senator Vicki Walker two years ago, Torrey ran a TV ad cozying to Bill Clinton in an effort to win votes. But the ad backfired and prompted Clinton to endorse Walker.

How did Walker get Clinton to endorse in the local race? The Register-Guard reported, "Walker forwarded the ad to Clinton's New York office. They quickly sent back an endorsement." Simple.

UO prof and editor of Monthly Review: An Independent Socialist Magazine, John Bellamy Foster will speak about the current economic crisis on Monday, November 3, 6:00 PM at the Eugene Public Library in the Bascom-Tykeson Room.

Foster recently said in an interview with the Norwegian paper, Klassekampen: “The fact that we are confronted with the worst financial and economic crisis in the advanced capitalist world since the 1930s is an empirical fact that no informed individual at this point doubts...We should not spend time worrying about the capitalist class. The real pain is going to fall on the working class in the advanced capitalist countries, and even more so those in the poorer and "emerging" countries. We (meaning the left) should be devoting our efforts to helping those whose needs are greatest at the bottom of the economic pyramid, rather than seeking to fix a broken system (even if it could be fixed)… It is a new historical moment, when the working class everywhere, especially in the advanced capitalist states, may at last be compelled by circumstances to begin to fight back.”

The talk is brought to you by Black Sun Books (2467 Hilyard St, 484-3777) and the International Socialist Organization (ISO)-Eugene. Please see the ISO-Eugene website , for more details or call (541) 206-190

Foster is the author of several books including Marx’s Ecology, Ecology Against Capitalism, The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism, and The Critique of Intelligent Design .

Just in case you missed the air quotes, let me recreate the original:

And here's a very enjoyable Daily Show response from Sam Bee, Senior Women's "Health" Correspondent:

Ha ha ha DICK FINGERS ha ha ha.

Also, not that Obama's Mr. Super on Abortion, but the McCain-Palin team (or whatever they are) supports serious restrictions on the shrinking right to choose, not to mention the health of women and poor people in general.

Down in the polls with a week to go, the McCain/Palin campaign appears racked by infighting:

We just learned that Portland's instrumental rock/pop outfit Talkdemonic is playing Sam Bond's on Saturday, Nov. 1, so it's too late for a write-up in Thursday's print edition, but we thought we'd go ahead and post the band's new video for "Duality of Deathening," off their recent Eyes at Half Mast LP, because Talkdemonic are, like, awesome and stuff. Warning: The video is high-res, so may take awhile to load.

Talkdemonic play with World's Greatest Ghosts and Brass Clouds at 9:30pm Saturday, Nov. 1, at Sam Bond's. 21+. $6.

Video courtesy of Pitchfork.tv

Where's Kitty Piercy's song? Whose rapping for Rob Handy? I don't know that anyone has been singing for our local Democrats but the Obama songs keep coming. Check out the comments on my previous post for some of the songs I missed.

And here's a couple more:

"I got it from Obama"

"Oui, on peut -- Yes we can!" Zydeco

Kitty Piercy now has a TV ad out in the tight mayor's race that describes Jim Torrey as a "right wing Republican."

The folksy ad also notes Torrey's big contribution to George Bush's re-election campaign.

See who got serrrrrved.