RSS

Campus Chatter – November 2, 2010

November 2, 2010

Today's Buzz

Campus Chatter – November 2, 2010

General George Washington bade the army farewell today (1783). Also, North and South Dakota became states (1889), the University of Minnesota began football cheerleading (1898), and the Balfour Declaration created a Jewish homeland in Palestine (1917). And Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday became a national holiday (1983).

Greetings and social banter here.

Good morning! ::hugggggs::

advert

31 Responses to “Campus Chatter – November 2, 2010”

  1. JanF Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 6:47 am

    1983 – Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday became a holiday. And the first layers of “it’s not about the racism” were peeled away to reveal that it really is about the racism:

    Senator Jesse Helms (Republican of North Carolina) led opposition to the bill and questioned whether King was important enough to receive such an honor. He also criticized King’s opposition to the Vietnam War and accused him of espousing “action-oriented Marxism”.

    Ronald Reagan was also at first opposed to the holiday, citing cost concerns. He signed the measure after Congress passed it with an overwhelming veto-proof majority (338 to 90 in the House of Representatives and 78 to 22 in the Senate).

    Noted racist Jesse Helms and noted race-baiter Ronald Reagan opposed the holiday for various reasons…none of which stated explicitly: “A Black Man? Are you kidding me? We can’t honor the life work of a Black Man.”

    • NCrissieB Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 7:01 am

      Excellent point, Jan. People who are so inclined can always find a pretext for dismissing the work of Others based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, etc. Having a reason for a decision is not the same as making a reasonable decision….

      Good morning! ::hugggggs::

    • J Brunner fan Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 7:01 am

      When someone says it’s not about race….racism….money….class war….sexism……gay bashing

      It is.

      • NCrissieB Says:
        November 2, 2010 at 7:39 am

        That will be our topic next week in Morning Feature, JBF. What you say is true, but there is another person in these scenes: the Aspirational Self … or The Person I Want To Be.

        We often hear people say “I’m not X, but” and then continue by saying something that plainly is X. Or they may reverse the sequence, e.g.: President Reagan’s “I spent over 20 years in politics, but I never saw myself as a career politician.” Such statements expose a division between The Person I Am and The Person I Want To Be:

        The Person I Want To Be is not racist … but The Person I Am believes [racist statement].

        The Person I Am was in politics for over 20 years … but The Person I Want To Be is not a career politician.

        Able is not wealthy … but The Person He Wants To Be would be wealthy. So Able votes for the interests of the wealthy.

        Those examples are negative, but the division can also be positive:

        I want to say/do this … but The Person I Want To Be would not say/do this. So I won’t say/do this.

        We’ll talk about how to build on someone’s awareness of The Person I Want To Be (e.g.: “I’m not racist”) to help him/her change behavior (stop saying/doing racist things).

        Good morning! ::hugggggs::

  2. J Brunner fan Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 6:55 am

    Thanks Crissie,
    Not bad for less than a day’s work. Was going to cut out the same info.

    Hope everyone has a good day!
    GOTV!
    A mighty fist bump to you all!
    :smile: :!:

    • NCrissieB Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 6:58 am

      Please check your email, JBF. If you decide to crosspost your article at DailyKos, you’ll have to delete the video. The C-SPAN embed code will not work there.

      Good morning! ::hugggggs::

  3. NCrissieB Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 7:03 am

    Congratulations to DBunn’s San Francisco Giants, who finally brought a World Series championship to that city last night with a 3-1 win over the Texas Rangers. I don’t much believe in omens, so I won’t speculate about the victory of Speaker Pelosi’s hometown team over the team President Bush owned. Better to just GOTV today and try to make the omen happen….

    Good morning! ::hugggggs::

  4. winterbanyan Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 7:20 am

    The Balfour Declaration, leading to decades of strife, war and death as a colonial power sought to “solve” a problem in a way that would leave them in the driver’s seat. Nearly a hundred years later a lot of people are still paying for an outsider’s view of how to handle the problem.

    Would things have been different if the Balfour Declaration hadn’t created the idea of the Jewish homeland, and the U.N. hadn’t reinforced it with the Partition in 1947? I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that plenty of Jews settled among the Druse, who were the occupants before the Partition, and they were rubbing along if not perfectly, with common cause against the Brits. Wonder how that would have played out if we’d stayed out.

    • NCrissieB Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 7:50 am

      The first Balfour Declaration – there was another in 1926 – was a wartime public relations move. British troops fighting the Ottoman Turks in Palestine, a peripheral campaign of World War I, were about to capture Jerusalem. They would be the first western army to occupy Jerusalem since the Crusades, and Arthur Balfour thought that required a weighty political statement to bolster morale at home: a This Is Why We’re Fighting message. Neither he nor anyone else in the British government put much thought into the implications of declaring a Jewish homeland within Palestine.

      We’ll never know whether the establishment of a Jewish state could have been accomplished with less bloodshed than we’ve seen, but the Balfour Declaration of 1917 is an excellent example of the old adage: “Act in haste, repent in leisure.”

      Good morning! ::hugggggs::

  5. glendaw271 Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 8:05 am

    Good morning!!!

    Arrgh! I love my family, but it’s tough sometimes to be the lone Democrat among Republicans. (Although some of them are at least smart enough to know that they can vote Democratic when the Republicans are idiots, like my Dad voting against W for Governor of Texas, then against W for President).

    Rather than antagonize them and start off today’s GOTV efforts, I decided to ignore the e-mail from my niece this morning reminding everyone of how bad Obama is for business.

    I’m going to be out working to GOTV so that the Iowa Statehouse can remain solidly Democratic, and avoid revoking the liberal marriage definition, among other things. I just discovered yesterday that the Iowa legislature took the Federal HealthCare legislation for students further, making it the law of Iowa that any full-time college student can be covered under their parent’s health insurance. I’m not sure that the law has taken effect yet, but when it does, age is not an issue for children as long as they carry a full-time class load.

    • NCrissieB Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 8:53 am

      The TGOP are amazingly successful at accusing Democrats of everything the TGOP themselves do. “Democrats are all about big business.” “Democrats are rolling in corporate money.” “Democrats are trying to steal this election.” Here in Florida, twice-indicted TGOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott – who was CEO of Columbia Health Care when they were hit with $1.4 billion in fines, the largest Medicare fraud case in history – made up lies saying Democrat Alex Sink is corrupt.

      This has two effects. First, the TGOP make these charges sooner, longer, and louder than Democrats, so some people actually believe them. Second, and more important, if Democrats point out that the TGOP actually do the things they falsely accuse Democrats of doing … the media present the story as “he said she said,” so voters assume both sides are equally guilty.

      Our only way to challenge that is with one-to-one contacts.

      Good morning! ::hugggggs::

    • winterbanyan Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 9:11 am

      Go for it, Glenda :) I’m trying to find my equanimity because it’s time for me to start my GOTV, too. I’m calling from home, but I still ran across enough stuff this morning to seriously irritate me. I’m banishing the news for now.

      That’s great news about Iowa extending health care to students. :) Wish this state were half as progressive.

      Now for some deep breaths, then to dive in. Good luck!

  6. HurrikanEagle Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 9:18 am

    My Favorite topic I took from another student off Facebook was the following:

    “I’m a college student, what are the Republican’s going to do to help me?”

    A Republican responded with “Well for running on a platform of improving college tuition etc. Obama really hasn’t come through on that either.”

    I respond with “Well funny you should mention that, he really has. I got my first Pell Grant this year in college exactly because of Obama’s policies which is helping me further my education.”

    Various finger pointing was made by them after that but occasionally that Truthy thing meets that Hope and Change thing. And when you’re someone who has been directly affected by that Hopey Changey thing it makes your argument stronger when you talk to fellow students. :smile:

    Now it’s just reminding everyone I encounter today to vote.

    • NCrissieB Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 9:45 am

      Thank you for your activism, HurrikanEagle, and for having the courage to bring actual facts – how dare you?!? – into a Facebook political discussion. ;-)

      And thank you for linking to BPI each day on your Facebook page. We notice the page hits! :grin:

      Good morning! ::hugggggs::

  7. addisnana Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 10:01 am

    Slept in and off to GOTV shortly. I am excited about an evening campus chatter.

    Tarryl Clark had a wonderful conference call last night with 20,000 volunteers.

    Pinoneer press reports which apparently set off another round of name calling.

    I am so glad today is election day. See you all later.

    • NCrissieB Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 10:26 am

      The Special Election Night Edition of Campus Chatter was Jan’s idea, and I’m excited about it also. It will nice to share whatever happens with our friends here at BPI.

      Good morning! ::hugggggs::

    • JanF Says:
      November 2, 2010 at 2:14 pm

      Great comments on that Pioneer Press link. :

      We were the recipient of Bachman’s continuous robo-calls that would eat up several hours on our answering machine. We had NO preexisting relationship with Bachman and we did NOT sign up for updates. She lies. It took multiple calls to get her to quit robo-calling us. Again, she lies about many many things.

      I’ve not gotten robo-calls from Clark, but have in previous elections gotten them from Bachmann.

      I, too, have not had a previous relationship with Bachmann, or even Clark.

      Bachmann’s campaign knows they use robo-calls, so why try to smear the opponent when it’s just going to fly back in your face? Obviously, no intelligence there.

  8. winterbanyan Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 11:03 am

    I’m excited about the evening campus chatter, too. Great idea, Jan.

    Plus, GOTV is incredibly easy today. No discussion of candidates, simply “Today is election day and I’m calling to ask you to vote if you haven’t already.”

    So much more pleasant. What I’m hearing is, “Hon, I’ve already voted, straight Democrat.” Or, “I’m on my way out to vote right now, and I’m voting Democrat.” Some aren’t saying who they’re voting for, but they’re voting. And since they’re registered Dems, I’m assuming the best.

    It’s so nice to hear one person after another say, “I’m voting. I have voted.” Such a change from yesterday.

  9. LakeToba Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    Voted!

  10. HurrikanEagle Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 12:35 pm

    http://tampabaytimes.fl.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=3d2da1eec

    I think this should give most of my fellow chatters in blogistan some laughs

  11. JanF Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    Rachel Maddow on the 111th Congress:

    Starting with the Lilly Ledbetter Act…to Credit Card reform…to FDA regulating tobacco…hate crime bills…HCR…SCHIP…Student Loans…saving the auto industry. That is what undivided government does.

  12. LakeToba Says:
    November 2, 2010 at 2:06 pm

    Squirrels bite?

    http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-funniest-signs/26

About NCrissieB

View all posts by NCrissieB →