Forward

Accomplishments, yes:

Per Seneca Doane at DailyKos, here's the list reeled off at the 5:00 mark:

The Obama campaign ticks off a list of accomplishments that they presumably think is aimed straight for the heart, mind, and gut of the electorate. Each one rotates up on a panel, one of them every 2.5 seconds. 32 of them over 80 seconds. Here's the entire list:

o 4.2 million jobs saved
o cut taxes for 160 million Americans
o Wall Street reform passed
o 18 tax cuts for small businesses
o Unfair credit card fees eliminated
o 466,000 new manufacturing jobs
o $1 Trillion in spending cuts
o Protected reproductive rights
o Stem cell research funded
o Fuel efficiency standards doubling
o U.S. oil production at 8-year high
o Natural gas production at all-time high
o Renewable energy production at 27%
o First Latina Supreme Court Justice appointed
o $100 billion invested in science and research
o Iraq War ended
o Libya liberated
o Osama bin Laden dead
o Incentives to hire unemployed Veterans
o "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ended
o Unemployment benefits extended
o Equal Pay for women protected
o Health care reform passed
o Seniors' drug costs lowered
o College Pell Grants doubled
o Guaranteed coverage for contraception
o Medicare and Social Security protected
o Auto industry saved

How could America not re-elect this President?

Severe Memories

I'm sure the Obama campaign was saving this video for just this moment when the last viable challenger to dropped out and Millionaire Mitt would be just itchin' to Etch-a-Sketch his way to being perceived as a "centrist." But just in case anyone forgets, here comes the hostile branding:



So do you think Willard's dismal numbers against Barack will improve...or erode even further by the time we reach Election Day in November?

Caine's Arcade

Get ready to be amazed and grab the Kleenex:

Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

This kid shows so much ingenuity, smarts and just plain good character...is it any wonder that the filmmakers have set up a Facebook page to raise money for his college scholarship?

UberBond

My kind of art project: about James Bond:

That's right, the first minute of 22 Bond movies.

It's like an animated flag.

Catchy

I'm liking the way Joseph Gordon-Leavitt is making his choices:

Go, Vermin!

Filmography 2011

An annual ritual now:

Congrats to Genrock for the edit and here's the list of what's in it.

Flashpoint: UC Davis

Fascinating chain of events starting on Friday when a police officer blanketed a row of sitting protesters on the University of California Davis campus with military-grade pepper spray. This video has now been viewed over a million times -- the spraying is near the start:

It's not quite Kent State -- no students were shot to death -- but appalling in its own right. These were peaceful protesters, not throwing rocks or threatening anybody, and the now famous Officer John Pike chose to douse them like roaches. No doubt the students who endured this silently are heroes to their classmates now.

Even move compelling is this video from later the next night, when the Chancellor who is responsible for putting the police on this, Linda Katehi, does what is essentially a perp walk past silent students. She had been in the administrative building for a meeting, this after various faculty called for her resignation, and evidently claimed the students outside were preventing her from leaving. In response, the organizers promised her safe passage and, as you can see in this video, called upon the protesting students for peace:

The walk of shame. Katehi has put out a statement today that's rather different from the day before, acknowledging what she's learned of the atrocious police action and promising some sort of change.

I wonder if she'll be able to keep her job, but it will only be by showing total growth and bending to the will of the people. If so, I believe she may become a model for others.

If not, she stands condemned with the 1% and their enablers.

Obama's Team

The most coveted TV viewing party in history.




Some very, very smart and bold public servants. 40 agonizingly suspenseful minutes.

When do you think the rest of us'll get to see it? Fifty years? Ever?

More pix from the room.