Hey crazy people

If you for some reason have this bookmarked as my wordpress site, you missed the hosting switch. So be cool. Go here. (www.liberalwill.com)

Good thing I’m still here.

Courtesy of Freakonimics Daily Calendar 2008:

“In 1987 [A very important year in history], the Internal Revenue Service changed one simple rule: instead of merely listing the name of each dependent child in order to get a deduction, tax filers were now required to provide a Social Security number for each child. On April 15 of that year, seven million American children suddenly vanished from the tax rolls.”

Read: Largest conspiracy kidnapping in history. Someone write a Cold Case script now.

In other news:

I’m changing my hosting yet again so expect random changes and temporary down time for this blog.

Firenze!

Tonight, I take a break from politics and  honor the fact that I now know that I have to be in Florence by September 8 and that classes start on my 21st birthday. Thus, I post this video. Lord knows how many times I’ve danced to this song at the Bunker and memorized the lyrics. And, it’s by Eiffel 65, much more loved now that they sing almost completely in Italian. Who knew?

[See Link for Lyrics - I promise about the last minute and a half is the best combination of lyrics in English you've ever heard.]

“Voglia di Dance All Night” - Eiffel 65

Off-peak

Off-peak: Primary Season

I think like many people, I’m suffering from what can only be called a Primary Lull. For four weeks (and another two on the way), there have been no CNN primary parties, no Dems Watch parties and, surprisingly, no elections. It’s kind of weird, actually, not to have this constant reminder of just how nail-biting the race is, just how black Obama is, just how much jewelry Hillary wear, how inaccurate polls can really be and how ridiculous the majority of the pundits really are. It’s also kind of weird to adjust to the kind of issues this little primary hiatus has exposed–real campaign issues.

First, there was the Reverend Wright “scandal” that had several people outraged about his ties to Barack and many more people saying “Hey wait, I’ve said those same things before. I hope no one was listening.” Because of the timing of this scandal, pundits were able to spend days on it and actually really discuss the issue of race, as well as Obama’s momentous speech on the subject in America. If there had been a primary around that time, the media would have had an hour to cover it and Obama’s sudden drop in the polls would have had more of an effect on the dynamics of this race. However, since there was no primary, I don’t think people, especially politicians, are going to talk about race in the same way again.

Then there was the economy. Though no government employer (who’s more likely than not a conservative) or an economist (who makes no claims without data-which lags behind by six months), will tell you we’re in a recession–we’re in a recession. The lack of primaries gave all candidates time to roll out new Economic Stimulus packages and begin to show what they’re made of policy wise. (It’s important to note that, while both Clinton and Obama came up with decent ’stimulus’ packages, Obama’s is the only one that touches the heart of the issue: politicians can do nothing about the problem other than rebuild confidence. The recession was caused by the Fed and banks (both completely independent entities) and can only be fixed by the Fed and banks. Thus Obama can gain even further by showing he is actually strong on foreign relations.)

And now, there is Mark Penn. (Well, there’s always been Mark Penn but this time he’s a legit problem.) He’s in hot water this week for being hired by the Columbian government to negotiate a free trade agreement with the US that Hillary opposes. Not only does this demonstrate that Hillary only hired people who saw her campaign as a personal business investment and didn’t have the best interests of the American people at heart, but it also shows how little Hillary has attempted to surround herself with people who actually support her own positions. Since we have two more weeks before a primary, I think now would be a good time not only for Obama to get back at Hillary for her revelation of his negotiations with Canada but also to point out that Hillary’s completely anti-free trade stance is actually bad for Americans. He needs to take this time to point out the bigger picture (as he is so good at doing) and set and agenda for America’s role in trade. He doesn’t even have to argue for free trade. He can be in favor of fair trade (which any economist, and I actually include myself in this, will tell you is really just a step in the direction of free trade).

My, it’s amazing what petty things come up when the media doesn’t have anything to create a football stadium-esque commentary around.

Inhaling

In true yes-I-smoked-but-didn’t-inhale-style, a Federal Judge has ruled that uploading copyrighted material to P2P/torrent software isn’t illegal…until someone downloads it.

Umm, confused.

a) Isn’t the point of uploading so that other people can have access to the song/software/movie being uploaded?

and

b) What mind games are they playing? Does this judge think that he’ll deter downloads because he thinks kids are going to say, “Oh no, I shouldn’t download this song; it might send some poor other kid to jail”?

Response: Oh well. At least it’s not me, suckers!

Happy weekend everyone!

Em

It’s April: News Roundup

It’s April! (News Round-up)

Here are the morning news stories of interest. Check back frequently throughout the day because it’s going to get longer. The catch: you decide which ones are really and which ones are fake (no you cannot feel them).

- Never turn a paper in late again.
- I hate stalkers, too.
- Bush nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
- The Web is Closing for Spring Cleaning
- Clinton didn’t pay health insurance bills
- 50 cent sees the light, realizes he’s black.
- Reusable? Who knew!

Ciao tutti

- Em

The Return

After a brief and unannounced Spring hiatus, I have returned. I have returned to new chairs in Ross dining hall, ever noisy Lacrosse neighbors, familiar yet surprisingly unwanted stacks of homework, an angry Democrat party, and shittier weather than the first day of Spring semester. Woo hoo!

So now, I sleep because the time between today and the day I return to SD for Charlie’s graduation party is exactly 2 days less than the time between when I returned to campus from Dominica/NYC and yesterday. Thus, I need my beauty rest for seven fun filled weeks of work, friends, parties, Italian sing-a-longs, orchestra, weekends, and general enjoyment of every moment because, come May 17, I will not be back Midd for nine months (my parole officer finally figured out that I left the State so I actually have to serve some time). And damn is it all going to go quickly.

So alas, tonight, instead of leaving you with more of me waxing poetic, I give you:

Spring Quidditch Round-up: Because We all Need to Know.

-A valiant effort on the part of CBS to make the game seem credible.
-A vid of Midd at Dartmouth. (Entertaining, but not the one to watch if you want to leave my blog asap)
-An actually non-condescending (not too much, at least) mention by Gawker.
-MUST READ: A favorable review from skeptical Princeton.
-AND A MUST WATCH: MTVu just got really cool. And so did Quidditch.

Morning News Flash

Morning News Flash    (Flash! Flash!)

Bill Richardson has endorsed Barack Obama. (Surprise Surprise). Basically, he says this.

“Earlier this week, Senator Barack Obama gave an historic speech. that addressed the issue of race with the eloquence, sincerity, and optimism we have come to expect of him. He inspired us by reminding us of the awesome potential residing in our own responsibility. He asked us to rise above our racially divided past, and to seize the opportunity to carry forward the work of many patriots of all races, who struggled and died to bring us together.”

Nothing ground breaking, but it adds legitimacy (not that it was really needed) to Obama’s speech on race. He also points out in the email (sent at 3AM in the morning–sneaky sneaky) that he’s Hispanic and for Obama. Gosh, you’d think he’d campaigned before.

Anyway, I think this is good news. Richardson makes at least the second person I know of who has actually been convinced to support Obama because of the speech. Awesome! Let’s just hope that balanced any nimrods out there who choose not to support him because Obama said, at was point, “Wright was like family.” Dude, you’re like my family. Does that make me as rascist as you? Nope. Get over it.

Ok, work out time!

- Em

5 Years Later

5 Years Later

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. War in Iraq. 5 Years: that’s as long as the Civil War, slightly longer than WWII, and about one third the length of the Vietnam War (officially speaking). After five years, you’d think we’d have accomplished something, moved forward (or, at the very least, backward) a little. Sure, we’ve had our ups and downs, five years punctuated by the execution of Saddam Hussein, failed elections and the troop surge. However, as I walked across our largest quad today, through the sea of tiny American flags that line the snow and grass, I was struck by how stuck in the middle we are.

It’s the epitome of “we’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” no matter how many times Bush tells us all that “we’re on the track towards victory.” We pull our troops out now, Iraq falls apart, tearing itself to shreds. We stay for another 50 or 100 years and Iraq still tears itself apart. It’s really quite unsettling how much everything seems just plain stuck. One general resigns and he’s replaced with an equally unsuccessful  one. For every Iraqi citizen saved, another one is tortured. It doesn’t help that there seems to be a large chasm between everything. Not only are the two countries physically separated by the ocean but there’s a immaterial chasm that separates what the U.S. wants and what Iraq wants, what our interests are and what are theirs. And all this is symbollicaly manifested by the large sea of cement that separates those reading the names of the fallen on the chapel steps from the flags across campus to which each of those flags belongs, by the fact that all the flags are stuck outside in a season that’s not really winter anymore but not yet spring.

So the question is, how do we get ‘unstuck’? Who or what gives us the push or at least some WD-40? God I wish I had an answer to that. My International Economics Working Paper this semester is going to explore the potential correlation between increased foreign direct investment and peace, but that’s not an answer; it’s just a hypothesis. That’s all we have, hypotheses that no one’s testing. Even the most knowledgeable of people have adopted a fatalistic approach and have opted for doing nothing. And though such sitting and watching strengthens the case for those of us opposed to the war in the first place, it’s still disheartening. OK, I get it. We went to war. We fought some people, killed some bad guys. We can’t go back. But now what? How hard is it to move forward, to at least try something other than letting the soldiers repeat the same thing day after day, keeping them longer from their families?

- Em

Because Barack Cares

Because Barack Cares

I think at this point it is more than obvious that I want Barack to be my next President. Now, after today’s speech on race, I think it should be clear to everyone why he should be our  next President.

I’m going to repeat exactly what everyone else is saying now about the speech and point out that it was incredibly complex, nuanced, erudite and even moving. What I love most about it is that he starts off explicitly talking about race in a formal setting (for probably the first time in his campaign), then talks about the whole Wright issue while simultaneously condemning, condoning, defending and distancing the pastor’s remarks and the black community. And in the end, he brings it all back to the issues. He reminds us why everyone should be worried and not worried about race at the same time. Race is what makes our ideal “union” not perfect and yet it is what moves us forward. He points out how, to solve the issues of the economy (which he actually brings up in this speech), health care, and education, we should be talking and yet not talking about race at the same time. We should be talking about his speech today and how he changed the dialogue over Wright’s remarks but we should not be talking about which way the exit polls show each of the reaces are going to vote.

Basically, if this were a lecture, I would have gone to it and I still would have almost cried. It impressed me that he chose not to deliver this as one of his inspirational speeches. In fact, that’s actually what I thought I wanted to hear. I wanted fodder for another “Yes We Can” video. But in the end, I was so much more moved by the honesty of his tone. This speech was meant to be blunt, to be honest and to be explicit. If it divides people, then so what? It just proves his point more. For some people on both sides of the aisle, I know this will not be enough. And for others it will completely go over their heads. But can’t we all just step back and look at the big picture for a moment? Here was a political candidate, an actual politician even, giving an honest, defensive and personal speech about the true State of the Union. He did it without too much ceremony and he did it without tears. How often do we get that these days?

Anyway, I posted the video. It’s over 37 min long. But it’s more honest than what you’re going to get on TV.

Ciao tutti,

- Em

PS: My favorite Wonkette response is, “Dow is up 270 points. Coincidence? I think not.”