Yes, we can.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Pretty amazing pictures from Oregon, where an estimated 65,000 attended and another 15,000 were turned away.



I'm assuming that Sleepyjeff is somewhere in that picture.

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

Pretty amazing pictures from Oregon, where an estimated 65,000 attended and another 15,000 were turned away.



I'm assuming that Sleepyjeff is somewhere in that picture.

Give you a dollar if you can find me

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

Pretty amazing pictures from Oregon, where an estimated 65,000 attended and another 15,000 were turned away.

Interesting and little known fact.....there was a free 45 minute concert by a group called The Decemberists. Obama packs in the crowds, certainly, but I think this may have boosted the crowd.

Something telling to me, and others (I have no doubt) will say this is another thing that doesn't matter.....The Decemberists, according to Wikipedia, named themselves after a lesser known 1825 revolt against imperialist Russia. The thing I find most interesting - they begin their concerts with the National Anthem of the Soviet Union.

Now why the hell would a candidate want a group that plays the National Anthem of the Soviet Union on a regular basis to perform at a campaign rally? It is obviously a political statement on the behalf of the band. "He couldn't have known!" will be the cry, and that's probably true. But the people that work for him and set it up certainly did, and frankly, I find that disgusting. The Soviet Union was an oppressive, murderous place. I work with a Ukrainian immigrant and while he doesn't like to talk about it much, the stories I've heard him tell are damn scary.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Now why the hell would a candidate want a group that plays the National Anthem of the Soviet Union on a regular basis to perform at a campaign rally?

I wonder how many people look at something like this and say "that's the straw that broke the camel's back - I'm switching sides and not voting for Obama." I think this every time I hear some other slight lob from one side or the other.

I'm having some major campaign fatigue. All these minor issues are bullsh.t. No one is changing their minds over these tiny "issues". Here is what matters:

a) The candidate's Iraq stance
b) The candidate's economy stance
c) The candidate's medical care stance
d) The candidate's race/gender/other character judgments that were made ages ago and will not change no matter what nontroversy is thrown around this week

I may have missed one or two other actual issues (which none of the candidates have changed positions on for a year at least). The rest of it is the prattling of dust mites living in our skin folds.

God, how I hate politics. It reveals the ultimate triviality of our minds. I find myself sucked in to the daily feedbag of supposed happenings that don't matter in the slightest. Human systems always seem to reveal the shortcomings of their creators.

Now that I've mucked around in it for this long, I'm already feeling dirty. I know that if my candidate doesn't win, I'll feel like crap, and if my candidate wins but doesn't perform to my expectation, I'll feel guilty. Here's hoping things turn out ok.

In the meanwhile, I'm beginning to roll my eyes at all of it. I have to admit though, there is one surface problem that I think merits attention - that of Hillary Clinton not dropping out. Even that is endemic of the system, and further pushes me towards simply turning my head from the carnage.

May I say - Blech.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I wonder how many people look at something like this and say "that's the straw that broke the camel's back - I'm switching sides and not voting for Obama." I think this every time I hear some other slight lob from one side or the other.

It's rather like a woman I work with. She is husband shopping. So every first date she goes on the guy is measured by the "Is this the guy I want to spend my life with" yardstick.

Needless to say, she goes on a lot of first dates.