Lubbock Left

The wunderkinds over at Brave New Films have produced a delightful animated short film about the tax loopholes used by the 21st Century robber barons out there:

Spread this video around!

warongreed.org

Sometimes one picture says it all.

“Silly Season” in the presidential election continues as the baser political animals among us try to adopt Karl Rove’s strategy of attacking your opponent’s strengths.

Ben Smith at The Politico writes that tomorrow Obama will address the larger issue of race in a speech. I look forward to a speech that addresses core concepts, not a reflex reaction. I suspect that Obama understands the politics of frames and is not foolish enough to step into the obvious trap of responding in his opponents’ terms.

Of course, Obama’s already busy using his diplomatic skills and showcasing his stance on human rights regarding the issue of Tibet:

The diplomatic condemnation was led by Barack Obama, the American Democratic presidential hopeful, who warned China’s leaders that the eyes of the world were upon them in an Olympic year.

Mr Obama said he was deeply disturbed by reports of a crackdown and arrests, and called on the Chinese government to respect the basic human rights of the people of Tibet.

“This is the year of the Beijing Olympics. It represents an opportunity for China to show the world what it has accomplished in the last several decades,” he said. “Those accomplishments have been extraordinary and China’s people have a right to be proud of them, but the events in Tibet these last few days unfortunately show a different face of China.”

Needless to say, I don’t think the Rove Strategy will work this time. Obama has walked the walk of fighting racism in America, and I imagine that he will talk circles around anyone who tries to trap him on race issues.

Good luck, Mr. Rove, but I don’t think the American People are falling for it this time.

The etymology of the word mortgage is a fascinating one:

The great jurist Sir Edward Coke, who lived from 1552 to 1634, has explained why the term mortgage comes from the Old French words mort, “dead,” and gage, “pledge.” It seemed to him that it had to do with the doubtfulness of whether or not the mortgagor will pay the debt. If the mortgagor does not, then the land pledged to the mortgagee as security for the debt “is taken from him for ever, and so dead to him upon condition, &c. And if he doth pay the money, then the pledge is dead as to the [mortgagee].”

Our contemporary adjustable rate / subprime mortgage crisis is a little bit more complicated than a simple matter of a debt that may or may not be repaid and a house that may or may not be seized. That’s why I was delighted to find this stick figure cartoon explanation called “The Subprime Primer.” It’s hilarious, educational, and worth the five minutes it takes to read.

Lastly, what happens when someone who is foreclosed on decides that they aren’t giving up without a fight?

Joe Lents hasn’t made a payment on his $1.5 million mortgage since 2002.

That’s when Washington Mutual Inc. first tried to foreclose on his home in Boca Raton. The Seattle-based lender failed to prove that it owned Lents’ mortgage note and dropped attempts to take his house. Subsequent efforts to foreclose have stalled because no one has produced the paperwork.

“If you’re going to take my house away from me, you better own the note,” said Lents, 63, the former chief executive officer of a now-defunct voice recognition software company.

Judges in at least five states have stopped foreclosure proceedings because the banks that pool mortgages into securities and the companies that collect monthly payments haven’t been able to prove they own the mortgages.

These ripoff securities were in such a hurry to rip people off that they may not have done the appropriate paperwork to transfer ownership of the mortgages they are selling to investors! The amount of deceit and dumbassedness at every stage of our modern mortgage crisis is simply staggering.

The lesson that I am learning from the mortgage crisis is this: in a culture where regulation is frowned upon, crooks will thrive.

Tonight’s Lubbock DFA “Best of the Political Internet 2007″ event went pretty well. A group of us watched a bunch of internet video clips from last year and had a good discussion after each one. Lots of Daily Show and Colbert, for sure. “Don’t tase me, bro!” made an appearance, as did a compilation video of Alberto Gonzales’ 70+ “I don’t recall” statements strung together in one memory-busting blitz. We also watched short clips about many of the current (or currently-dropping-out) presidential candidates and had a thorough discussion of the primaries so far.

It feels good not only to talk to fellow Democrats and digest the current state of things, but also to beef up the memory of our collective consciousness. American culture tends to be “in one ear, out the other,” especially when it comes to media. It’s important to remember that 2007 was a year when blogging became a big deal (again), that we ran an incompetent crony of an Attorney General out of office (although it took too long to do so), that a roomful of college students did nothing when one of their number was tasered right in front of them, that Republican primary voters cheered as their candidates advocated torture, and that we lived under an Administration that refused to face its own lies and mistakes with a Congress that failed to enforce consequences for those lies and mistakes.

In the end, one of the greatest contributions of the internet will be the ability to revisit our recent history and master it before moving on.

Many of us that support Barack Obama for President do so in part because he spoke so well, so passionately, and so truthfully at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Now he’s done it again, with a speech that ties together what we are all feeling now: our “deficit of empathy” in the United States.

Obama’s tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy in his home church takes the lessons of that great civil rights leader and applies them to the present day.

Here’s a sample:

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organizes for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She’s been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

So Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”

By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we begin. It is why the walls in that room began to crack and shake.

The whole speech is worth reading and watching. Obama has the right message at the right time.

Video of Barack Obama’s MLK speech
Full Text of Barack Obama’s MLK speech

I know this isn’t a local issue, but I miss fresh content on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report so much.

YouTube Video

And for some yuks:
http://xkcd.com/360

Via digg, today I learned that reservations for the extremely fuel-efficient Smart Car are a go in the USA.

Early reservations for the US Smart Car have just started and already people are lining up to purchase this tiny energy efficient vehicle. The Smart Car is a tiny subcompact vehicle, only about 9 feet long and 5 feet wide. The 3-cylinder engine has fantastic fuel consumption, 42 miles per gallon, and has a top speed of 90 mph. And while it is tiny - one feels as though you can lift it yourself - it is, in fact, surprisingly roomy for something that size. Though granted, your main concern would likely be what happens in the event of a crash. According to the company, the Smart Car gets a 4 star-crash rating, surprisingly good for a vehicle of its size. The Smart Car will cost between $11,000 to $17,000. It is available in three different models, including a gorgeous little convertible.

I am seriously considering making this my next car purchase. The price range certainly is right! And could you imagine what a hybrid version of these could get in terms of gas mileage?

Vernon’s Car Stereo at 34th and Memphis has a Smart Car manufactured by Mercedes that they are using as a show car. Believe me, it’s worth the stop to check out this incredible ride (not to mention the sound system they put in it!).

Zoom!

Gave me a chuckle, which is always nice on a Monday morning.

I recently returned from some significant travel, and I have been reflecting on the experience. In doing so, I came across the website MyBadFlight.com and browsed some stories for fun and catharsis.

Here’s a real gem:

She handed me my bag, my hoodie, my boarding pass, my shoes, and id. Have a nice flight Miss, she said. Okay, I said. Thanks. Didn’t give her a dirty look or anything. Given the quality time we had spent without the social aid of trousers, I figured we were a little closer than we had been before, and so I asked her why I had been searched. She paused, clearly uncomfortable. Well, you fit the profile of a student extremist, she said tugging at an earlobe. Okay, I said. Have a nice day, she said. Okay, I said, and walked to my gate.

(emphasis mine)

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the work that TSA employees do, and I have yet to encounter a rude TSA employee (which is remarkable given the environment in which they work).

However, our policies for airport security should be less reactionary. Right now the design of airport security policy seems to respond to media events. College campus shooting? Profile “student extremists.” Attempted shoe bomber? Take your shoes off and no gels in carry-ons. We need a sensible, top-down, publicly debated airport security policy that is designed with the end result in mind.

And I’m not even covering the many problems with modern airlines, like overbooked flights, canceled flights, anticompetitive practices, and so forth. We need a “passenger bill of rights” to address these kinds of problems.

It’s also worth mentioning that, for the mega-rich, airport security problems and airline hassles simply do not exist. Those that can afford to fly in a private jet encounter no security screening, no waiting, and no grief from the airlines.