RIP Don LaFontaine. Discipline, commitment, excellence. If I had a choice to be known as the American President or unknown as the movie voice of God Himself “in a world where both of our cars are underwater”, I know who I’d want to be.
Month: September 2008
Goodbye St. Paul; and other stuff
Interesting article on theRoot.com about “From Piyush to Bobby,” as a look at Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and what Indian-Americans (Asian Americans overall) are struggling with their identity and getting their place on the table of American politics. Just in time for the Republican National Convention and Hurricane Gustav! (ok, sure, no coincidence).
So, yeah, I watched the RNC. It was more unappetizing to watch than I realized. I so disagreed with a lot that was said; perhaps I am reaching my own political evolution in my thinking. At the least, I had to hear out the thinking of the opposition, even if I disagreed with it.
Slate has an FAQ on Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), since we ought to know just a bit more about her. Factually, that is. I can’t really swallow silly gossip.
Her speech had good delivery; low expectations – and so a nice surprise for the Republicans, I suppose. Then again, I disagreed with a lot that was said.
John McCain’s speech — well, I suppose it was riveting in terms of biographical aspects; he’s not an orator; but good enough for him. Then again, I disagreed with a lot that was said.
Slate’s Timothy Noah on the scuttlebutt on Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska), the VP nominee – hilarious! The big laugh for me: Noah says (I retained his italics; removed his hyperlinks),
The woman who made this complaint about big government taking your money is the governor of Alaska. Please take a moment to look at this U.S. Census chart showing federal-government expenditures, per capita, in the 50 states. You will observe that Alaska receives about $14,000 per citizen from the federal government. That’s more than any other state except Virginia, Maryland, New Mexico, and North Dakota. The chart is from the Census Bureau’s Consolidated Federal Funds Report for Fiscal Year 2005. I skipped over the 2006 report, the most recent one available, because Hurricane Katrina put Louisiana and Mississippi ahead of Alaska that year. But that’s an anomaly. Alaska held the per-capita record for sucking on the federal teat in 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 2000. According to the nonprofit Tax Foundation, Alaska gets back $1.84 for every dollar it pays into the U.S. Treasury—even though Alaska enjoys a higher per-capita income than 34 of the 50 states. This is a state that preaches right-wing libertarianism while it practices middle-class socialism.
NY Times’ Bob Herbert raises an important point: that the Democrats be very careful and don’t get distracted. His last line in the column was great: “[FDR’s] words echo across the decades because they resonate with the very meaning of America, a meaning that is so much deeper than what our politics have become. ‘We are fighting,’ he told his audience, ‘to save a great and precious form of government, for ourselves and for the world.'”
NY Times’ Seth Kugel on ideas of a weekend at and near Bryant Park.
The passing of Don LaFontaine, the movie trailer voice-over guy.
The passing of Bill Melendez, animator – especially known for the Snoopy and Peanuts cartoons – see LA Times obit. I didn’t know he was also the voice of Snoopy! God bless Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez for making these characters come to life for us.
Post-Labor Day; Goodbye Gustav!
Hurricane Gustav wasn’t as bad as feared; but a storm’s no fun.
Spent Labor Day weekend in Washington, D.C. with the siblings – We saw a Nationals v. Braves game on Saturday night; otherwise much sightseeing. Weather was nice and the sights were amazing.
Saturday: lunch at Fuddruckers in Alexandria, VA – quite a salmon burger! Walking the Mall – walking over to the Washington Memorial.
The World War II Memorial – quite a memorial! I liked it for giving quite the feeling of the American contribution – the 50 states and the territories.
Walked toward the Lincoln Memorial. The Reflecting Pool seemed to have a lot of duck crap along the way… hmm…
Sunday:
Thomas Jefferson Memorial; nice photos in Wikipedia. Took awhile to walk over there; I’m so out of shape!
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial was interesting, but not my cup of tea – yes, seeing FDR’s words etched on walls were quite powerful but seeing the statue of him straight out of the old photos of the Yalta summit and sitting by his little dog Fala — well, I can’t say that I felt impressed. The Wikipedia entry has some nice photos of the memorial.
Walked passed by and took a look at the International Spy Museum; hmm.
Walking through D.C.’s Chinatown felt strangely disappointing; felt very corporate, actually.
Took a break in the National Building Museum – beautiful building!
I kind of thought that D.C.’s Metro was impressive – more or less clean; fast; plus electronic signage that tells you the next train’s ETA. It did look a lot like PATH, in my mind; but PATH’s trains looks more like something out of the 1970’s – so you can’t have everything.
Watching some of the Republican convention, mostly out of trying to get context and to watch history in the making; I can’t say that I agreed with much of what was said on Tuesday night. Hmm. Anyway, I credit PBS for airing the full Joe Lieberman speech; ABC cut it off to get to local news; come on, networks – you’re doing people a disservice!
Slate’s John Dickerson on Hurricane Gustav’s effect on presidential politics; interesting point that he has: that maybe the candidates should just join forces to make ads to help the folks, instead of ads attacking each other.
Newsweek columnist Rabbi Gellman on how we can somehow move past our biases in this election; that is the question: can we?