Clinton Claims Victory and Breath of New Hope

 

CNN.com has declared Hillary Clinton the winner of the crucial Pennsylvania primary.  This marks a monumental turnaround for the Clinton campaign and gives new hope to a candidate that looked to have run out of steam.  With this win Clinton looks to pick up the majority of the delegates and inches closer to opponent, Brock Obama.

The news of Clinton’s win comes as a bit of a shock.  For weeks the news coming out of all the major media outlets seemed to hint, or outright say, that Obama had seized the momentum and was going for the jugular in Pennsylvania.

At this point it appears that it is anyone’s campaign for the Democratic nomination.  More than likely this fight will have to be determined when the Democratic delegates meet to cast their votes in June. This brings to mind the question, “Does the system we have in place to nominate candidates actually work?”

Many Americans are not aware that the delegates “won” by a candidate following a primary are free to cast their vote any way that they deem to be appropriate.  As was the case in the 2000 election, unique circumstances shine light on the obscure nuances of our election process.  Unfortunately, these nuances tend to have the negative characteristic of appearing to exclude the masses from the election process.

I am as patriotic as the next guy, assuming the next guy is not a five star general, but I have a problem with the paralyzing stratification that is inherent to government.  The prospect of having a few thousand individuals decide who will be running for president leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  This taste is the same taste that we can all remember following the debacle with the Bush/Gore 2000 election.  That being said, I am a man of historical context, and I will not let the anomalies of the election process sour me on a system that has been around for hundreds of years.

I believe that the system we have in place, despite its problems, is a rather good one, and I will continue to put my faith in every vote that I cast. 

The great part about America is that we are all allowed to have an opinion.  I have let mine be heard, and now it is your chance.  Please leave a comment and let us all know what you think of the system the United States has in place for nominating candidates.

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“Big O” the Leader of A Cult?

Oprah is coming under attack as she is being likened to a cult leader commanding her faithful.  In this video clip from ShowBiz Tonight, on CNN.com, the question is posed, “has Oprah transitioned from popular media mogul to cult leader?”

Christian leaders are leading the charge with this accusation.  For years Christians have been put off by many of Opera’s practices including her well-documented opposition to marriage.

Though this accusation may seem outrageous, there could actually be something to it.  I don’t watch much of her show, but when I do, I am blown away by some of the personal opinions she forwards to her audience.  Maybe even more surprising, is how her audience seems to eat it up with a spoon.

From what I have observed, Opera’s audience behaves much like the followers of a cult. They are completely accepting and hang on every word that comes out of her mouth.  They applaud and add their ‘amens’.   I don’t think that it was Opera’s original intention to foster this mindless devotion, but she hasn’t done much openly to discourage it.  It appears clear that the demographic that watches her show is ripe for manipulation.

Sadly, this is all too common of celebrities these days.  It seems that anyone who appears on the television is idolized as some sort of guru, possessed of uncommon wisdom and insight.  I can’t find any other explanation for the success of characters such as Opera and Dr. Phil.  It seems that in our contemporary culture the only prerequisite for genius status is a camera and a microphone.

As for Oprah being a cult leader, she is no more a cult leader than any rock star or know nothing billionaire heiress.  The masses lack a strong general consciousness or reasonable critical thinking skills.  Group think appears to be the culprit in this case, not supposed tyrannical intentions of the most successful woman media mogul of our time. 

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St. Patrick’s Day: It’s Like Christmas For Alcoholics

First off, Happy St. Patrick’s Day everybody! I apologize for not getting to the news of the day this afternoon, but I was busy at the office and spent my free time filling out a number of brackets on Facebook. So, I can’t wait to bust out this post and head down to the Mucky Duck in Monterey and start celebrating St. Pat’s Day the only way it should be done – a couple of Guinness’s and some Irish Car Bombs.
I am going to do this post differently today. I’m opening up the mailbox and responding to the comments by, you, the reader.

David in Mountain View asks: “What do you think about Kentucky getting into the Tournament because solely based on the fact that they are a tournament team?”

Well, David, I don’t think Kentucky got into the NCAA Tournament solely based on the fact they are part of the blue bloods -a group that also includes UCLA, Kansas, Duke and North Carolina; however, I do think it helped tremendously.
Kentucky finished the season with a record of 18-12 overall and 12-4 in conference. In most years, finishing the SEC with a 12-4 record would be commendable, but this season the conference saw a drop-off in depth as many teams, including repeat champions Florida, are rebuilding.
But, and this is why I believe they got into the tourney, new coach Billy Gilipsie and his team did the best job at rebuilding. Remember, Kentucky lost some good players to the draft the past two seasons, and Tubby Smith fled Lexington with his dignity in tact for Minnesota. Despite early losses to Gardner-Webb and San Diego, the Wildcats weren’t all that bad, considering. Plus, San Diego went on a run to win the WCC, which got three teams in the tourney, so that loss doesn’t look so bad in retrospect.
Also, Kentucky finished second in the SEC East behind Tennessee, a No. 2 in the tournament.
When you look at that body of work you can’t be shocked Kentucky got in. Did Arizona St., Virginia Tech and Dayton deserve to get in ahead of them? Probably.
But when you add 70 years of history and the second most wins in college basketball history to an even mediocre team, you will get in the tournament 75 percent of the time. See the Arizona Wildcats.
And, frankly, the Marquette vs. Kentucky match up is one of the best first-round games. The winner of that game most likely plays Stanford. Stanford has the size but lacks the backcourt to keep up with real athletic teams. Despite their record, Kentucky is still chock-full of Mc Donald’s All-Americans. If they get past Marquette, I give Kentucky a fighter’s chance against Stanford.

Obama’s Church Fights Back

The church attended by Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, which came under fire this week when former minister Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s comments about Sept. 11 and the government’s involvement with AIDS were made public on news channels and YouTube, fought back Sunday on the cable news shows. 

Church officials said the news media reports on Wright are an attack “on the history of the African-American chuch.”

“Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe,” the leaders of Trinity United Church of Christ wrote Sunday in a statement distributed to the media.

The Chicago Church is the largest in the denomination known as United Church of Christ. Obama began attending the church when he was a community organizer in Chicago 20 years ago. He and his wife Michelle were married at the church.

Obama has called Wright’s comments about Sept. 11, in which Wright says America deserved what it got, “inflammatory.”

While Obama has attempted to distance himself from his former Pastor -Wright was kicked off Obama’s African-American Religious Committee- Sen. Hilary Clinton has taken a hands-off approach to the criticism, saying she doesn’t judge anyone based on comments made by somebody else.

The Life of Barack Obama

Check out this NY Times interactive about the life and milestones of Barack Obama.

Despite a week that has seen him deal non-stop with controversy and scandal, Obama still leads in delegates for the Democratic party nomination.

The April 6 Pennsylvania primary will truly inform us if voters have been influenced by Obama’s ties to a Chicago minister who made inflammatory comments about the U.S. days after Sept. 11, and Obama’s connection with Tony Rezko, a Chicago businessman facing federal charges.

Obama Pastor No Longer On Campaign Team

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose inflammatory remarks seven years ago about AIDS and Sept.11 became a liability to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign this week, has been removed from his position on Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee, an Obama spokesperson said Friday.

Wright, Obama’s longtime spiritual adviser and pastor at the Trinity Unity Church in Chicago, made comments blaming the U.S. for Sept. 11 during a sermon just days after the terrorist attacks. The news media began airing this sermon, and another in which Wright says the U.S. government brought AIDS into the black community, since rival Sen. Hilary Clinton accused the media of bias.

Obama said he wasn’t present at the Sept. 11 sermon and quickly denounced Wright’s comments earlier this week.

“If I had heard any of these statements, I probably would have walked up and I probably would have told Reverend Wright that they were wrong,” Obama, 46, told CNN.

Wright’s Sept. 11 comments have been getting major airplay on YouTube. During the sermon, he says America is getting what it deserves, including: “”Not God Bless America. God Damn America.”

Despite winning the Mississippi primary and increasing his delegate lead against Clinton, it has been a rough week for Obama. Not only has the senator dealt with Wright’s inflammatory remarks, but it also became known this week that indicted business man Tony Rezko contributed more money to Obama’s campaign than originally thought.

We will probably not see the full effects of this weeks controversy until April, when Democrats in Pennsylvania will go to the polls and choose their nominee for president. If Obama wins Pennsylvania, he will come away with a dominant lead in the delegate count. Meanwhile, if Clinton is victorious she can make a strong argument the controversy surrounding Obama is too great to defeat Republican nominee Sen. John McCain.

The Governor’s Girl

The New York Times has identified the high-priced prostitute who met former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer for a “rendezvous” at a Manhattan hotel room on Feb. 13.

Ashley Alexandra Dupre is believed to be Kristen, a girl paid $1,000 by the Emperor’s Club V.I.P. escort service to meet at a Mayflower hotel room in Washington with “Client 9,” the alleged alias of Spitzer.

Spitzer stepped down as governor during a press conference on Wednesday.

According to Dupree’s MySpace profile, she moved to New York City from her home in New Jersey at 17 to pursue a music career. Her written profile also states that she comes from a broken home and suffered from drug abuse.

In an interview with the Times, Dupree said she hasn’t had any sleep since the scandal broke on Monday and that she “doesn’t want to be thought of as a monster.”

Her musical influences are her brother, Mary J. Blige, Madonna and Amy Winehouse, according to her MySpace page.

Does Local News Need A New Model For Exclusivity?

Here is great prose by Lost Remote founder Cory Bergman, who is also the Digital Media Executive at King5.com in Seattle.

Bergman writes about an experience he had covering the Casey Knowles story for King5.com. King5 broke the story about Knowles, the 18-year-old Obama supporter who was shocked to see herself in the Clinton “3 a.m.” ad in footage taken from a railroad ad nearly 10 years ago.

Although King5, and King5.com, had first rights to the story, Bergman says a blogger copied the text and posted it on his blog which was linked to by Digg and Drudge among others. Also, the video was stolen and put up on YouTube.

Bergman argues for the need of a new model for exclusive stories with national potential reported by local news outlets.   Otherwise, there will be no desire for local news staffs to report on stories that will just be taken by the blogesphere and the national media.

Billionaire Quitley Gives Fourtune Away

Los Angeles Times writer Margot Roosevelt writes this fabulous article about a billionaire who plans on giving away his vast fortune through his almost anonymous philanthropy.

Chuck Feeney, 76, said he intends to give away $8 billion by 2016 through his foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies. The foundation has already given hundreds of millions of dollars to University’s such as Stanford, UC San Francisco and Cornell -the University Feeney attended.

“I’m not going to die until I spend it,” Feeney said.

Feeney, the founder of the conglomerate Duty Free Shoppers, transfered the bulk of his fortune to the foundation when he was 53, and eight years ago instructed the Atlantic Philanthropies board to pay out every last cent by 2016.

America Gives 4 ‘Idols’ The Boot

Then there was 12. Four semi-finalists were kicked off “American Idol” Thursday night, including the obnoxious text speaking Danny Noriega.

Contestants Luke Menard, Kady Malloy and Asia Epperson accompanied Noriega as those voted out of the finals round.

The finals competition will begin next Tuesday and remaining contestants include: a gay stripper, a “Star Search” winner, an Irish pop-singer and a commercial actress.

Here is my rundown of the finalists and their odds for winning the competition:

David Archuleta: Excellent vocalist and likable teen is the front-runner to be the next American Idol unless something drastic occurs: Like a sex-tape is released with him and Vanessa Hudgens.

Jason Castro: Singer-songwriter won’t win this competition because he doesn’t posses the pure vocals of Archuleta, but I am willing to bet his albums outsell everyone else’s from this season.

David Cook: This year’s Chris Daughtry is a major sleeper to win it all. His cover of Lionel Richie is the best performance of the show thus far.

Kristy Lee Cook: She’s a hottie, but as Kady Malloy can tell you, looks will only get you so far with America.

Chikezie Eze: Will be kicked off next week.

David Hernandez: After a horrid first week, Hernandez has come on strong in the competition. If ‘Idol’ was solely based on vocals Hernandez would be a player. But with reports surfacing that Hernandez was once a gay stripper in Phoenix, odds aren’t good that he can weather the controversy and become America’s darling.

Michael Johns: The Australian rocker delivers solid performances week in and week out, but unlike Archuletta and Cook he doesn’t seem to have a strong support base, at least not on this continent.

Ramiele Malubay: The Hawiian will probably hula-dance her way into the top 8. As far as winning the competition though, it seems like a long shot.

Syesha Mercado: Will be kicked off next week.

Amanda Overmyer: The biker-nurse with the Joan Jett voice won’t make it deep into the competition because lack of range.

Carly Smithson: Smithson is the only female performer who has a shot at winning this competition in my opinion because of her tremendous vocal chops. But, would America dare vote for an Irish girl who has had already had a record deal as “American Idol”? I doubt it.

Brooke White: Like Cook, she is a dark-horse to win this competition. White is an innocent Midwestern girl who sings like Carly Simon. She has proved to the music industry that she is an undiscovered talent with last weeks acoustic cover of Pat Benetar’s “Love is a Battlefield.”

Who will win: Archuletta

Who should win: Archuletta

Who I want to win: Cook or White

Who will be the most successful musician: White or Castro