I went looking for a video yesterday and after not being able to find anything new, I came across Spike Lee's When the Levee's Broke - which I thought would serve as a suitable reminder of how shocking the Bush administration was and how good it was to be rid of them. Turns out I was on the money.
Katrina/Rita is right up there with state sanctioned torture and unnecessary wars as the blackest marks against Bush.
It's imperative that Obama puts this right - and rebuilds the levees to the same standard as those in the Netherlands. Rachel Maddow was talking about this a few weeks back - in Holland they build them to withstand a 1 in 1000 year storm - the New Orleans levees are being rebuilt to withstand a 1 in 100 year storm. By way of example, both Katrina and Rita were 1 in 300 year storms - put simply the new levees will fail again in the face of another Katrina.
Surely as a good start a decent part of the stimulus package could go down there?
Anyway, with the wonders of Google street view you can actually take a look around the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans - see below.
View Larger Map
Now I'm not 100% sure when the street view was done - but for fuck sake its been four years! If you scroll out you realise how close it is to the middle of New Orleans. So disgusting.
Showing posts with label US Elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US Elections. Show all posts
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Monday, November 24, 2008
Who let that happen?? The Sequel
Well the campaign might be over, but the Palin shambles rumbles on and they continue to provide examples for why you need to do a thorough advance.
Video below of Sarah Palin doing an interview in front of turkeys being slaughtered - the camera man asked if she would prefer to do it with a different backdrop -she said it was fine... So in answer to my question - she let that happen!
The Alaska Palin Massacre
Video below of Sarah Palin doing an interview in front of turkeys being slaughtered - the camera man asked if she would prefer to do it with a different backdrop -she said it was fine... So in answer to my question - she let that happen!
The Alaska Palin Massacre
Friday, November 07, 2008
History
Well I was actually on the money with my call for the US elections - with Obama gaining 364 electoral college votes to McCain's 174 - and while Im talking myself up I will note that I did pick Obama as an outsider to watch over two years ago - mind you at the time I was hoping for a Gore/Obama ticket - but still!
I watched the results come in at the US embassy's event and I have to say I hadn't anticipated just how euphoric and emotional the occasion would be. The result was historic for so many reasons - not only has his election smashed through the 'bradley effect', but it has also quashed the notion of blue and red states with Obama winning states like North Carolina, Indiana and Virginia, its shown that the Democrats aren't only strong on the coasts and proven that the Democrats can be elected during an economic crisis not mention a war.
Anyway - fingers crossed im not too far off tomorrow.
I watched the results come in at the US embassy's event and I have to say I hadn't anticipated just how euphoric and emotional the occasion would be. The result was historic for so many reasons - not only has his election smashed through the 'bradley effect', but it has also quashed the notion of blue and red states with Obama winning states like North Carolina, Indiana and Virginia, its shown that the Democrats aren't only strong on the coasts and proven that the Democrats can be elected during an economic crisis not mention a war.
Anyway - fingers crossed im not too far off tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Who let that happen??
You know some people I know don't see the value in having a campaign carry out advance checks ahead of the candidate's visit. Well let this little snippet be a lesson for you.
Clearly the McCain campaign don't believe in a decent advance either - unbelievably, a Palin impersonator appeared right behind McCain at a rally over the weekend. I love how she smiles, nods and waves to the crowd as McCain talks up his running mate. Who let her up there? Absolutely classic.
Clearly the McCain campaign don't believe in a decent advance either - unbelievably, a Palin impersonator appeared right behind McCain at a rally over the weekend. I love how she smiles, nods and waves to the crowd as McCain talks up his running mate. Who let her up there? Absolutely classic.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Having a good pick
This week at work we are going to do a combined US/NZ election sweep - in both cases it could either be a close win for the underdog or a landslide. We're going to pick the party vote percentages in NZ and electoral college in the states.
So here goes
NZ
National 44
Labour 38
Green 8
NZ First 5
Maori 2.3 and will win 4 seats
ACT 1.6 but will lose Epsom and be gone
UF 0.5
Prog 0.5
Ok so in Epsom I'm hoping Labourites actually use their brain and vote for Richard Worth (10-15% of Labour voters supported Hide last time FFS). On the Maori seats - I don't believe the hype that they will win all seven Maori seats, they talked up how they were going to get at least 2 new Maori seats last year when the Maori roll was open - and they were embarrassingly way off.
USA
Im going with my heart and picking a landslide - Im backing Obama to pick up Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Virginia and Indiana on top of the states Kerry won in 04. So that would make it Obama 364 votes to McCain's 174.
In saying that though - I dont think many of those will be big wins and the reality is that even if Obama picks up some of those states it won't matter if McCain can pick up Pennsylvania and hold Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida - he will win. But hey I'm a betting man and will go with the heart on this one.
So here goes
NZ
National 44
Labour 38
Green 8
NZ First 5
Maori 2.3 and will win 4 seats
ACT 1.6 but will lose Epsom and be gone
UF 0.5
Prog 0.5
Ok so in Epsom I'm hoping Labourites actually use their brain and vote for Richard Worth (10-15% of Labour voters supported Hide last time FFS). On the Maori seats - I don't believe the hype that they will win all seven Maori seats, they talked up how they were going to get at least 2 new Maori seats last year when the Maori roll was open - and they were embarrassingly way off.
USA
Im going with my heart and picking a landslide - Im backing Obama to pick up Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Virginia and Indiana on top of the states Kerry won in 04. So that would make it Obama 364 votes to McCain's 174.
In saying that though - I dont think many of those will be big wins and the reality is that even if Obama picks up some of those states it won't matter if McCain can pick up Pennsylvania and hold Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida - he will win. But hey I'm a betting man and will go with the heart on this one.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Why don't we have coverage like this?
This year Sky News has stole a march on lame-o 3 news and TVNZ's election with their Campaign 08 coverage - they have actual in-depth interviews with leaders! Well the ones that show up anyway. All the same I think its great to see the more mainstream channels being shown again how to do their jobs.
Speaking of which, here is MSNBC's very excellent Rachel Maddow opening up a can on Palin over her abuse of power in the trooper-gate episode. Its annoying that we don't get MSNBC here, but hey the interwebs mean you can get your fix through the Rachel Maddow podcast on iTunes.
Speaking of which, here is MSNBC's very excellent Rachel Maddow opening up a can on Palin over her abuse of power in the trooper-gate episode. Its annoying that we don't get MSNBC here, but hey the interwebs mean you can get your fix through the Rachel Maddow podcast on iTunes.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
First Church of Sarah Palin and Jesus Christ
Diana and co are doing some of the funniest shit on the interweb right now. This one just cracked me up.
You can see loads more of these over at Diana's blog
You can see loads more of these over at Diana's blog
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Perspective
The video below was filmed by Vanity Fair for their August 08 edition. VF editor Graydon Carter challenged Christopher Hitchens to submit to waterboarding - the torture tactic apparently used by the US military and CIA at Guatanamo to 'simulate' drowning. His reaction is telling. I really suggest you watch it.
Hat tip to the Spare Room who had a link to this.
Hat tip to the Spare Room who had a link to this.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
Leak confirms McCain will win
Diebold who make the voting machines for the US elections have accidentally leaked the result of the Presidential elections, although it has been noticed that an assassination hasn't been ruled out.
Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
More from the Onion's War for the White House here
Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
More from the Onion's War for the White House here
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Crucial moments
Tomorrow is probably the defining moment of Hillary Clinton's career - if she survives I think there is a good chance she will win the nomination - if not, well that's probably that.
But I was thinking that maybe we're fast approaching a similar point here. For some time I've maintained that if Labour can't consistently stay above 35 per cent support, its in trouble. Basically if Labour polls below 35 - it has no show, and if there are a run of such polls, it may be an indication that voters have hung up on the government - ala 1990 and 1999. If that's the case, and voters have switched off, then we could be looking at a repeat of 2002. That time voters switched off National, who blew out to only 21 per cent support, and looked for a partner for Labour that wasn't the Greens.
I'm not sure we're at such a crucial point quite yet, I think Labour still has cards to play, but we aren't far from that point and I only hope people are still listening when those cards are finally played.
But I was thinking that maybe we're fast approaching a similar point here. For some time I've maintained that if Labour can't consistently stay above 35 per cent support, its in trouble. Basically if Labour polls below 35 - it has no show, and if there are a run of such polls, it may be an indication that voters have hung up on the government - ala 1990 and 1999. If that's the case, and voters have switched off, then we could be looking at a repeat of 2002. That time voters switched off National, who blew out to only 21 per cent support, and looked for a partner for Labour that wasn't the Greens.
I'm not sure we're at such a crucial point quite yet, I think Labour still has cards to play, but we aren't far from that point and I only hope people are still listening when those cards are finally played.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Ok so maybe not Huckabee
Ah you have to love the futility of making projections don't you?
With Mitt Romney pulling out over night, McCain pretty much becomes the Republican nominee. However, an article I read in The New Republic suggests Huckabee might have an opponent to be McCain's running mate. Governor Charlie Crist of Florida got in behind McCain three days out from the Florida primary and turned an 11 point deficit into a 7 point lead.
McCain of course built on the momentum gained from Florida and is now effectively the candidate. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised if this favour is returned!
And who could argue with that anyway? Florida is a key state, and Crist was able to deliver it for McCain once, so chances are his name on the ticket wouldn't hurt.
With Mitt Romney pulling out over night, McCain pretty much becomes the Republican nominee. However, an article I read in The New Republic suggests Huckabee might have an opponent to be McCain's running mate. Governor Charlie Crist of Florida got in behind McCain three days out from the Florida primary and turned an 11 point deficit into a 7 point lead.
McCain of course built on the momentum gained from Florida and is now effectively the candidate. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised if this favour is returned!
And who could argue with that anyway? Florida is a key state, and Crist was able to deliver it for McCain once, so chances are his name on the ticket wouldn't hurt.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Super Duper Waitangi Day
With some great timing this year - I managed to watch most of the coverage of Super Duper Tuesday as it just so happened to fall on Waitangi Day!
So what can we take out of it? Well initially it looked like a better night for Clinton than Obama (if only slightly) but actually in the cold light of the day after the night before it was actually slightly advantage-Obama. Not only did he win more States (14 out of the 22 on offer) he actually also picked up slightly more delegates (most Dem contests are proportional. Essentially first candidate to get to 2025 delegates will be the Democratic candidate (theyre both around the 800 mark.
On top of this, it has been revealed today that Hillary has had to stump up US5 million of her own money to keep her campaign going. Now you might think so what? But when you consider that in the last 24 hours Obama has raised US3million through his internet campaigning - its easy to see who really has momentum. In the last quarter Obama raised over 30 million, compared to 13 million by the Clinton campaign. Of course most of Obama's donations have come in the form of small amounts - millions of times over, where as Clinton has gathered from far fewer sources (including lobby groups) and with their caps on donations already maxed out - there is a question over where the money will come from now.
On the Republican side, McCain, while not quite home and hosed, he is now unquestionably in pole-position and Romney would pretty well need to win everything from here. I expect McCain will wrap it up in the next couple of weeks and I expect fellow nominee Mike Huckabee (who nicely spoiled Romney's party by winning a handful of states and splitting the conservative vote n other areas to give the win to McCain) to end up as McCain's running mate.
A McCain administration would be great news for New Zealand - he has a soft spot for us, and has been here a number of times. He's probably our best chance of an FTA with the US.
So one is neck and neck and the other is almost in the bag. For my mind, if McCain does pull it off, then Obama would be a better choice. It will be a real contrast of old Washington vs the new vibrant blood of Obama.
So my pick - McCain/Huckabee vs Obama/Bill Richardson (New Mexico Governor of Latino descent - Obama is weak amongst Latino voters).
So what can we take out of it? Well initially it looked like a better night for Clinton than Obama (if only slightly) but actually in the cold light of the day after the night before it was actually slightly advantage-Obama. Not only did he win more States (14 out of the 22 on offer) he actually also picked up slightly more delegates (most Dem contests are proportional. Essentially first candidate to get to 2025 delegates will be the Democratic candidate (theyre both around the 800 mark.
On top of this, it has been revealed today that Hillary has had to stump up US5 million of her own money to keep her campaign going. Now you might think so what? But when you consider that in the last 24 hours Obama has raised US3million through his internet campaigning - its easy to see who really has momentum. In the last quarter Obama raised over 30 million, compared to 13 million by the Clinton campaign. Of course most of Obama's donations have come in the form of small amounts - millions of times over, where as Clinton has gathered from far fewer sources (including lobby groups) and with their caps on donations already maxed out - there is a question over where the money will come from now.
On the Republican side, McCain, while not quite home and hosed, he is now unquestionably in pole-position and Romney would pretty well need to win everything from here. I expect McCain will wrap it up in the next couple of weeks and I expect fellow nominee Mike Huckabee (who nicely spoiled Romney's party by winning a handful of states and splitting the conservative vote n other areas to give the win to McCain) to end up as McCain's running mate.
A McCain administration would be great news for New Zealand - he has a soft spot for us, and has been here a number of times. He's probably our best chance of an FTA with the US.
So one is neck and neck and the other is almost in the bag. For my mind, if McCain does pull it off, then Obama would be a better choice. It will be a real contrast of old Washington vs the new vibrant blood of Obama.
So my pick - McCain/Huckabee vs Obama/Bill Richardson (New Mexico Governor of Latino descent - Obama is weak amongst Latino voters).
Monday, January 28, 2008
Ch ch ch ch changes
Well Obama picked up the all important South Carolina primary - thrashing Hill dog by 28 points!
Next up is Florida - which doesnt count for the Dems, and all eyes will be on the Republicans as this is Giuliani's first race. Giuliani has taken a huge gamble by opting to enter the race so late in the day - but if he can pull off an impressive win then he will be on track.
Anyway check out the video below - its pretty well done.
Next up is Florida - which doesnt count for the Dems, and all eyes will be on the Republicans as this is Giuliani's first race. Giuliani has taken a huge gamble by opting to enter the race so late in the day - but if he can pull off an impressive win then he will be on track.
Anyway check out the video below - its pretty well done.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Larry + Barack = Greatest Combination ever!
Not only has Barack Obama blown apart Clinton's 'sure win' (a late November poll showed 72 per cent of americans believed she would win) with his strong showing in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, but he has also picked the endorsement I would value highest.
Larry David has endorsed Obama and is answering phones etc and encouraging college students to vote for him. How cool is that?
Anyway South Carolina and Nevada are next up for the Dems. Apparently 50 per cent of Democrat voters in SC are black - so in (incredibly generalised) theory that should play well for Obama... mind you I expect a similar ratio are women...
Still having been written off by many early in the piece, its undeniable something is happening in the US, and Obama is riding wave the likes of which we haven't seen since Bobby Kennedy in '68 and Reagan in the '80s.
Larry David has endorsed Obama and is answering phones etc and encouraging college students to vote for him. How cool is that?
Anyway South Carolina and Nevada are next up for the Dems. Apparently 50 per cent of Democrat voters in SC are black - so in (incredibly generalised) theory that should play well for Obama... mind you I expect a similar ratio are women...
Still having been written off by many early in the piece, its undeniable something is happening in the US, and Obama is riding wave the likes of which we haven't seen since Bobby Kennedy in '68 and Reagan in the '80s.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Huckabee's first family
How disturbing is this? Its new Republican front runner, Mike Huckabee's Christmas Card... this time next year - that could be the new first family.
Suddenly the Mormon and the adulterer aren't looking so bad!
Suddenly the Mormon and the adulterer aren't looking so bad!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Obama/Oprah show
Ok I promise this is my last post this week on the US Elections!
But I had to mention the Obama/Oprah roadshow and what looks like a surge in support for Obama. Obama is a Bobby Kennedy style figure - gift of the gab, talks about 'hope' a lot and is the sort of person you would be proud to have as a leader.
However, till recently he has been well behind the Clinton machine - so he called in the big guns - namely Oprah. Oprah is able to make a book a best seller just by giving it some profile - and it may well be that her endorsement is a crucial moment in the Dem campaign.
In South Carolina, they had booked out an 18 000 seat indoor arena for their roadshow - it was too small, so they moved to a baseball stadium - and 29 000 people came to hear Obama and Oprah. In key battleground state of Iowa - 18 500 came out. Huge numbers in anyones language.
Below is a video of the "highlights" - if you want to watch their whole speeches go here
But I had to mention the Obama/Oprah roadshow and what looks like a surge in support for Obama. Obama is a Bobby Kennedy style figure - gift of the gab, talks about 'hope' a lot and is the sort of person you would be proud to have as a leader.
However, till recently he has been well behind the Clinton machine - so he called in the big guns - namely Oprah. Oprah is able to make a book a best seller just by giving it some profile - and it may well be that her endorsement is a crucial moment in the Dem campaign.
In South Carolina, they had booked out an 18 000 seat indoor arena for their roadshow - it was too small, so they moved to a baseball stadium - and 29 000 people came to hear Obama and Oprah. In key battleground state of Iowa - 18 500 came out. Huge numbers in anyones language.
Below is a video of the "highlights" - if you want to watch their whole speeches go here
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