We went out to Lisa’s mom’s house/farm on Easter. It was a perfect location for an Easter Egg hunt. I spent most of the time behind the camera. Here are some of my favorite shots. (More available in my Easter 2008 set on flickr).
Also, Bethany and Kristian had an Easter baby. Heres Emma…
What would it look like if US consumers started being more responsible with their money?
The consumer electronics market would decline.
Gift cards would be used for things like groceries.
Single family home sales would slow.
It could easily be confused for a down economy or a recession. But…
The resale market would thrive:
I think my favorite part of this election are the Ron Paul supporters. Not all of them though. Some Paul supporters are just as boring as Obama supporters or Clinton supporters or Hillary supporters. There is a special breed of Ron Paul supporters though that are as resilient and persistent as cockroaches. they are more cute and cuddly than cockroaches though with their optimism and idealism.
Anywhere there is a political discussion taking place on the internet at least one of these fervent supporters will show up to make sure we have heard that Ron Paul wants to shut down the federal reserve. Usually another supporter will show up to tell how dedicated to the constitution Ron Paul is. If you are lucky you will get one of the Ron (libertarian Jesus) Paul supporters to drop by just to tell you how wonderful of a person he is.
The thing is, Ron Paul is pretty inconsequential due to his chances (or lack thereof) of winning. His supporters though are something to cherish. We have to enjoy them while we can.
Let me share a little about my political background. During the 2000 presidential primaries I had a front row seat for the action. I was living in New Hampshire working on youth voting issues and saw every major candidate (and some minor ones too). I was surrounded by optimistic and idealistic young people. We wanted to make the world a better place. I went to the Republican National Convention and to the Democratic National Convention. I went to Arianna Huffington’s Shadow Conventions. I participated in peaceful demonstrations outside the RNC and DNC as well.
During that time I was listening to what all of the candidates had to say. I saw John McCain speak a few times and I liked what I saw. He seemed like a real stand up guy who was ready to work across party lines to do what was right for America. I liked Bill Bradley who was trying to change the way politics was played. If it was McCain vs Bradley in the 2000 election I would have felt comfortable that the country was going to move in the right direction. At the end of the day my primary ballot was cast for Bill Bradley.
The primary season was capped off by the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. I was there. At the Staples Center. My credentials included a club level suite. There was fancy catered food (free) and lots and lots of maxed out donors walking around. There was a balcony on the club level that looked out over LA. I went out there and watched the Rage Against the Machine concert as the protesters yelled at me for being part of the problem. I watched as the police got ready to fire bean bag bullets into the crowd and tear gas started to fly. I went inside to watch Al Gore’s speech. He had won the nomination on a promise to capture the moderate vote and his speech and campaigning was rife with mediocrity. It was all very surreal.
As I watched what had to be thousands of dollars worth of balloons and confetti fall from the ceiling of the Staples Center I thought back to earlier in the morning. I had marched through the streets of LA with a group trying to raise awareness about sweatshops in the US. We marched through the garment district where there were quite a few sweatshops. Sweatshop labor isn’t the terminology that is being used, but it is a core element to the current immigration debate. So there I was watching this incredible waste of money in the name of mediocrity with an acute understanding of how many of my fellow Americans needed help meeting their basic needs. My optimism and idealism was falling faster than the balloons. Was there a candidate in 2000 who was going to address the needs of all Americans? Not if the donors standing next to me had anything to say about it.
In a years time I went from being optimistic, idealist, and ready to do the hard work needed to being disenchanted and bordering on apathetic. The system was failing, but I had no idea how bad it was about to get.
So what does this have to do with Barack Obama?
I don’t know if he can mend the wounds of the past 16 years of contentious partisan politics, but I do have hope. He is selling a dream that I want to believe. I have no choice but to take a chance and see. I don’t want the present course to keep spiraling down until my kids are old enough to vote. I want something different.
If Hillary gets the nomination then we are all but ensured another 4 years of politics as a game and a sport. I believe that Obama will approach the position of President of the United States as a job of service to the American people, every single one of the American people. There is no other candidate on the Democratic or Republican ballot that has convinced me they will serve the people.
So why did I vote for Barack Obama today? Because I want a better United States of America. For the first time since the balloons dropped in 2000 I feel that is possible.
Go vote.
At the beginning of the year I predicted that 2008 would be the year of the editor. In that post I said:
“There is so much great stuff out there, but so much more crap. Up until now the model (gawker, weblogs inc, etc) has been to hire some of the best creative talent and pay them to be staff writers. As far as I know, these writers are their own editors. MusicCityBloggers.com has a slew of unpaid writers and then a couple of people who are scheduling and providing some minimal editing. I think we will start to see more editors in this brave new world of conversational media.”
Today, Ivy and Ginger have announced that Music City Bloggers is moving to an editorial model. I think the structure they (and Newscoma) have created is brilliant and simple.
“We’ve tried a couple of ways to keep the quality of writing up at MCB, and we think we may have hit on a winner. Props to Newscoma for the idea. Instead of having one person be responsible for the bulk of all the writing, we have decided to piece it out to several people. Each person will cover a topic that they either have some expertise or a great interest in.
Ginger and I sat down and talked about who we wanted, who would be our dream writers. We asked the people to join with a commitment of 5 posts per week and we’ve come up with a group of people we think will be excellent editors for each subject area we have defined.
So far we know that Rachel Walden will be the health editor. It has not been announced which editorial positions will exist, but I imagine it will follow along the lines of newspapers. If this structure is productive and effective then I think we will see a fresh round of blog-hating by area papers. This model could be the nail in their coffin. MCB classifieds anyone?
update: Surprise! I am the Business & Technology editor.
The economy is in the shitter. The housing market sucks and way too much of the avg person’s net worth is tied up in it. The retail market sucks, but with the negative savings rate we have had for years, we actually need to not spur consumer spending. The US budget deficit is so large I can’t really fathom it. The average person hasn’t really had a wage increase in 10 years. Necessary expenses like food and energy are rising. We will not be able to use credit as a buffer against emergency much longer.
My generation has never seen anything like this before. As long as I have been working, the unemployment rate has been low. As long as I have had credit, interest rates have been low. As long as I have had my own place purchasing was a better idea than renting. As long as I have been on a salary it has gone up from new jobs taing advantage of last year’s experience.
I am trying not to panic, but the looming financial hard times kinda scare the shit out of me. I have never experienced anything like this. However, I do remember stories about long lines to buy bread in Russia. Part of me knows it is irrational to think that we could experience a total financial collapse, but another part of me feels that is naive and that we may be headed for just such a disaster.
On the flip side, my day job saves companies money by making them more efficient. If the economy starts to tank I will always have work making computers do what companies can no longer afford to pay people to do. (sad but true). Likewise, buying and selling used clothing is a prudent consumer activity these days. So, I am pretty confident that we will be able to keep our house barring a total collapse of the dollar. Since the US has the biggest guns, I doubt the dollar can totally collapse.
I think the trick is figuring out how to make money in a down economy.
Today is the last day to register to vote for the primary in Nashville, TN. If you are not registered to vote, please do so now.
I tend to make a fair number of predictions here. Oddly, this year, I don’t feel like predicting anything; I am just too excited to see what happens to go trying to spoil the surprise now. Here is some of what excites me most:
Barak Obama has announced that he inhaled when he smoked marijuana (note: I did too).
When I heard that news I exhaled a huge sigh of relief.
The thing I like about Obama is that he at least drops some of the bullshit. The point is not whether or not a Presidential candidate has smoked pot or not; I couldn’t care less. The point is whether or not a Presidential candidate will lie about who they are and what they have done. We have had enough lies. It is time for truth in the White House, even if that truth involves smoking a little reefer.
