In Brazil, political candidates can put any name they want on the ballot as long as it is not offensive. That explains why Obamas were running for various Brazilian offices. According to an Associated Press article titled “No Luck for Obamas in Brazil Elections” there were eight politicians who listed their names as Obama on the ballot, and all of them lost. Other famous (or infamous) names used for political gain on the ballot: Bin Laden, and French soccer player Zinedine Zidane (the headbutt guy from the 2006 World Cup). No one was listed as “John McCain”. I would have been more likely to vote for John McClain.
If you’ve been keeping up with the conventions, I’m sure you know all about the protests and scary police tactics used against journalists and protesters at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Amy Goodman, reporter for Democracy Now!, was one of the more famous journalists arrested last week, partly due to the whole incident being captured on camera and put on youtube:
Anyone who has interest in the freedom of press and/or this election, would do themselves good by heading over to hear Ms. Goodman’s talk at the University of Illinois at Chicago Student Center (828 S. Wolcott Ave). Her talk is entitled “The Politics of Race, Gender, and Economics in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Race”. The talk is free and will go from 5-6:30pm.
Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got… an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday, I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially.
[...] They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It’s not a big truck. It’s a series of tubes. And if you don’t understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it’s going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material
Prosecutors say Mr. Stevens, who referred to his home as “the chalet,” accepted goods and services worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, ranging from an outdoor grill to extensive home remodeling and architectural advice. Not only did Mr. Stevens fail to report the items on his Senate financial disclosure form, as required, but he took active steps to conceal the receipt of the goods and services, the indictment says.
I’m guessing that Senator Stevens then hid the receipts in a series of tubes in his back yard.
ZING! I’ll take my net neutrality with a side of schadenfreude please.
I really hope that the front cover of today’s Sun-Times is an example of their new style. Maybe they can just farm their covers out to Worth1000 or Something Awful. (If nothing else, I’m looking forward to Daley as Barney Fife tomorrow.)
It’s hard to walk a block in this city without seeing one of SOLVE’s eponymous stickers. And that’s not all SOLVE did — there are other stickers, paste-ups, boards, prints tucked into newspaper boxes. I never met the man, but I’m a fan of his work.
I only learned SOLVE’s real name this weekend, in the most horrible possible way. Brendan Scanlon was murdered Friday night in Logan Square. Chicago is poorer for this loss.
The Event Promoters ordinance will go before the city council at 10:00 AM, Wednesday, May 14th. I received an e-mail about a campaign to flood city hall with opponents of this ordinance. The campaign is being organized through The Point, and the goal is for 100 people to commit to attending the council meeting tomorrow. Save Chicago Culture will present a petition opposing the ordinance at the meeting.
Because the proposal was fast-tracked through committee, the Chicago arts community has had very little time to respond. I, for one, will be attending the council meeting tomorrow. If you care about preserving Chicago’s theatre, music and comedy I expect to see you there too. If you can’t make it, please e-mail your alderman today and express your opinion.
Otherwise, I suppose you could just pay a hundred bucks a pop and go see Wicked again.
This Wednesday the city council votes on the so-called “Event Promoters’ ordinance.” If this thing passes it could mean that any artist wishing to produce or promote his own work would have to pay up to $2,000 for a license. He or she would have to be over the age of 21, must get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and inform the police seven days in advance of an event. This ordinance is aimed directly at small venues and new artists who have yet to develop an audience. Larger spaces that seat over 500 — in other words, places that can actually afford the license — are exempt.
The weblog Save Chicago Culture is collecting signatures in opposition to the ordinance. On their site you can find a .pdf of the complete text of the ordinance, as well as links to the city council site, and your local alderman. The Sun-Times’ Jim DeRogatis has an in-depth analysis on his blog.
The problem is, blogs are the only place this thing has gotten any attention. So, if you don’t want to lose the Double Door, Schuba’s, Martyrs’, the Vic, the Riv or the Metro, get a message to your alderman at once.
At the beginning of the whole Monique Davis/Rob Sherman debacle, I checked out Mr. Sherman’s website and decided it kinda made him look like a of a douche. I liked what he had to say, but not always the way he said it. His douchebaggery was reinforced with this genius quote:
Now that Negroes like Representative Monique Davis have political power, it seems that they have no problem at all with discrimination, just as long as it isn’t them who are being discriminated against.
What the hell?!?
I pulled the quote from Friendly Atheist, as Mr. Sherman at least had the good sense to eventually take the quote down. For a more thorough recap of all the ridiculousness you might want to check them out.
The whole thing just sucks. Rep. Davis’ comments last week were ignorant. Mr. Sherman’s response was downright stupid. Nobody wins.
After a week’s worth of some of the worst press ever, including being named Worst Person in the World by Keith Olbermann, State Representative Monique Davis has apologized to atheist activist Rob Sherman for her attack on him on the floor of the General Assembly last week. According to the article, Rep. Davis blamed her outburst on having just learned of another student death at Chicago Public Schools. Such news is indeed upsetting; the number of Chicago students killed in gang violence this year is reaching a level difficult to believe. I suspect, however, that she revealed her true feelings about atheism in her tirade.
While it was right for you to apologize, Rep. Davis, don’t try to cover it with a lame excuse. You went off because for some reason you feel threatened by atheists. It is the typical response of the ignorant person: Attack that which you do not understand.
Holy crap! Ellen is coming to Chicago in like, three weeks!!! I love Ellen! She’s on my “people I want to meet” list! I’ve made three attempts to go to l.a. to see Ellen, but plans always fell through. And now……SHE’S COMING TO CHICAGO!!!!
</a
