Tuesday, February 3, 2009

B.A.D. 2009

Okay, I've been missing in action, well, it seems like forever. But when I recieved an e-mail from Jon Swift this past Saturday, I resolved to actually post something. And then I forgot. Yes, I'm lame. But today I did post his message at the Independent Bloggers' Alliance. And I tweeted a link to that.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to fulfill the mission of finding new blogs to link to, as I still need to finish getting ready for tonight's class. Would really love to NOT teach tonight, but A) the class meets only once a week, so missing a class is a big deal and B) I'm pretty sure "dark night of the soul" is not an appropriate malady to cite when calling in sick.

But hopefully this small effort helps even a little bit to raise awareness.

One more thought--while this blog has been defunct or in stasis or something for ages, it still seems to show up when one does a web search about blogroll amnesty. So--and I'm just tossing this thought out there--if any of the supporters of Blogroll Amnesty Day as a celebration of smaller blogs would like to crosspost your B.A.D. offererings here, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at ohiorenee(at)gmail.com, and I can add you as a contributor.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

so, [today or everyday], take a moment to click thru to a smaller blog/s, and read a new perspective. Happy blogroll amnesty day ( a celebration of small blogs) to everyone! The day that we share the little spaces on the internet(s) that we love and think should get more attention.

Thanks,
Amanda Crowe
my site

navas said...

Here are the keyords in the essay:

13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 2012 Election, B.E.T., Barack Hussein Obama, Booker T. Washington, Bryant Park, Cipriani's, Colin Powell, Criminal Industrial Complex, Deb Slott, Do The Right Thing, Heidi Klum, Hip-Hop, Mark Penn, Melting Pot, Pink Elephant, Racism, Reconstruction, Robert Johnson, Seal, Segregation, Shelby Steele, Sidney Poiter, Sonia Sotomayor, Spike Lee, Tavis Smiley, Terrence Yang, The Dance Flick, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Virginia Davies, W.E.B. Dubois, Zero Mostel, Politics






Prologue to Obama 2012







We approach the future walking backwards, our gaze forever fixated on the past. Predicting the future is not a passive exercise; we invent it every day with our actions.

I began the sketches for what would ultimately become Obama 2012 in March 2007, a month after Barack Obama declared his candidacy. I had spent much of the previous 18 months living abroad as an entrepreneur and statesman of sorts, and I was slightly out of touch with the pulse of life on the street in the United States. I learnt about Sen. Barack Obama’s Springfield, IL speech formally declaring his candidacy for president of the United States through one of the international cable news channels and thought how great it would be to have a fresh start after years of mediocrity in Washington and a plummeting reputation around the world.

By September, after what seemed like raising a six-month-old child, my sketches had turned into Why the Democrats Will Win in 2008 the Road to an Obama White House. It was my answer to the burning question everyone had back in March: Can he really win? Actually, not everyone thought it was a question. For many people, including Mark Penn, director of the Clinton campaign, the answer was an easy “no way.” This strategic blunder made it that much easier for the Clinton campaign to be defeated. Then there were Black pundits like Shelby Steele, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, who came out with a 2007 book entitled A Bound Man, Why Obama Can't Win.

Being Black did seem to be an automatic disqualification, but then why did someone need to write an entire book arguing what should have been patently obvious? Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell came to my mind and I remembered that he could have run for president in 1992 as a war hero. But Colin Powell was Ronald Reagan’s protégé and got a special pass on the race question. Black conservatives like Justice Thomas, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell were careful to disassociate themselves from liberal thinkers and activists like Jesse Jackson, who lost, as expected, the 1984 and 1988 Democratic primaries. Ultimately, Colin Powell, in spite of all his honors, declined to run for president. His wife Alma feared for his safety. Common sense said that a candidate like Obama, for numerous insurmountable reasons, didn't stand a chance of winning the Democratic primary, let alone a general election in which 10% of the electorate is African American and Republicans controlled the White House for 20 of the preceding 28 years. But I decided that Obama's chances merited a closer examination. In it, I would bring to bear my gambling skills.

Unknown said...

New essay "The Gates Affair:Why We Care" yours to publish
Dear readers and webmasters,

Author Daniel Bruno Sanz has written an essay about Gatesgate. We encourage its publication and distribution.

Regards,

Navas S.


"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

- 4th Amendment to the The Constitution of the United States of America