Meanwhile, I would like to recommend the following TED talk. No matter which side of the fence you may have stood during this recent campaign this brief talk may explain how the entire spectrum of thinking – liberal to conservative – is critical for our long term success as a civilized nation and world.

(Note: if you do not see an image below, select either “player 7 or player 8″ below to activate the video player. Or, if you have a high speed connection, you may wish to view the short talk in High Definition here.)

Giving attention to what people say before Thursday is generally a waste of cognitive resources. Pre-Thursday hype is little more than an orgy of over-acting by a cast of politicians. Nonetheless, I do love the show. But what a stupid time to poll the public.

Remember a convention is not a pre-arranged wedding. Hillary people are there to support Hillary. Why is this so difficult to understand? Obama people support Obama. Everybody goes to Denver to rant and rave for a few days about their candidate and their pet issues. Two days later the party wizards perform magic and the Dems are mesmerized into inviting Obama home for some luvin’. The luvin’ will happen. But, not before Bill yells “last call” Wednesday night. Everyone knows the Clintons are masters who will ignite the enthusiasm of most Hillary supporters who will start to feel the Obama luv by Wednesday close of business. The Hillary people not on board by Thursday are Democrat frauds and should go start their own party or go over and kick the GOP while it is down.

Thursday is when true Democrats will come together in a giant mutual Obamagasm. Four years ago it was Kerryasm. Four before it was Goreasm. This year, the “asm” just goes better with the name Obama.

The weekend will show Obama’s expected brief bump in the polls. It won’t last, however.

Be sure to tune in for all the pundit hand-wringing next week when McCain’s poll numbers get goofy sometime around Wednesday. Those numbers will stabilize and be very close to Obama’s by the following weekend until the election. Why?

Because the media has mostly forgotten there is a huge difference between fair and balanced (thanks Rupert Murdock and FOX). If media see dirt about a candidate media scamper to find equal dirt on the other candidate. If media only report hard news they are labeled a bully by the newsworthy candidate. The media fall for it every time.

Brilliant. Not brilliant because media fall for it, but brilliant because the corporations that own the media know a tight dirty race makes good television and it sells newspapers and pays the talking heads and gives dividends to retired shareholders.

With so many microphones and cameras these days there is no shortage of material. Plenty of lies, distortions, and pot-stirring to go around. The result? Equal poll numbers until the election.

CNN’s “Keepin’ ‘em honest” slogan is not actually what they and their colleagues do best. In fact all big media should be honest and adopt the slogan about their reporting on political candidates “Big Media – keeping ‘em even.”

Media trash, doubt-monger, or swift-boat any candidate moving too far ahead in the polls.

See the problem here? We ignore issues because media irrationally embrace an erroneous definition of “fairness” as meaning “balanced.”

Much of this reductionism to labels, slogans, and truth is a norm of Western culture where we are compelled to find ONE CAUSE for each phenomenon we encounter. We regard with suspicion ambiguous or complex information as less-than-truthy because it doesn’t feel or sound truthy to our stimulus-craving hyper-aroused and attention-disabled FOX News “fair AND balance” conditioned brains.

To reach a Western “truth”:

Step 1: Instantly form a belief about something or someone. (Really, we do it all the time)
Step 2: Scavenge for evidence in support of the belief. (Pay no attention to non-supporting evidence.)
Step 3: Enjoy the resulting “know-it-all” nirvana.
Step 4: Roll eyes when someone doesn’t “get” the truth.
Step 5: Hang out with other people who “get” your truth.

Media talking heads don’t get famous and rich saying “I don’t know.” That boring uncertainty we assign to scientists paid on a scale commensurate to their charm. We smug gluttons of truthy-sounding nonsense giddily wallow our vast land of all-knowing plenty while secretly hoping the sky waits a little longer to fall.

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p.s. I drink Obama Kool-aid. What do you drink?

I grew up next to Lake Superior and it shaped part of who I am. Every time I approach its beaches I feel a sense of respect and appreciation – and perspective. No problem in the world seems as big when I think about it on a Lake Superior beach in August – especially when I get to go with Joe and Gus.

Gay Closet from Tim Moore on Vimeo.

…The left won’t accept this awful truth about the American soul, a beast that they believe they can fix “if only the people knew the Truth.”

But what if the Truth is that Americans don’t want to know the Truth? What if Americans consciously choose lies over truth when given the chance—and not even very interesting lies, but rather the blandest, dumbest and meanest lies?…

…

Put your ear to the ground in this country, and you’ll hear the toxic spite churning. It’s partly the result of commercial propaganda and sexual desperation—a desperation far more common than is admitted…

Please read the full stunning article. How does the situation influence American attitudes during election cycles like the one we are in today? Written four years ago for the New York Press by Mark Ames it is as hot a read today.

Thank you Scott for pointing me to the article.

Update: I replaced the embedded video with the one below, since the first one cut out early.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

The only time I sag my jeans is when I try to fix the plumbing around my house. My sagging isn’t intentional – it just happens. Sagging – you know, the intentional art of wearing ones pants lower than ones boxers and prone to exposure of one’s crena analis when bending forward at the waist by more than 10 degrees. Plumber’s crack isn’t a pretty view as I am sure our Sunday evening dinner guest can attest if they saw mine when I worked on a clogged a kitchen drain before dinner.

I might have been arrested had I lived in another Michigan town whose new police chief is on a mission to end sagging in his town. Or maybe he just responds to kid crack since the town’s kids are the object of his crackdown. Frankly I am a bit surprised today’s youth haven’t moved on to something else to express their rage at their situation. Wasn’t sagging started by people who now have grandchildren? Even so some kids in this particular Michigan town sag and the chief thinks it is a crime.

Chief David Dicks is putting an end to the fashion. The city counsel likes Dicks and supports the hard line Dicks is thrusting at juvenile crack. You see at the bottom of this particular city’s problem is image. The city counsel is aroused and taking action.

The city is Flint Michigan. Flint, in case you were really busy or not here yet in 1989, scored some national attention when Michael Moore released his first big documentary “Roger and Me.” In his film Flint native Michael Moore obnoxiously pesters a guy named Roger, the head of General Motors, for leaving Flint barefoot and pregnant by skipping town and closing the car factory. General Motors essentially screwed Flint and left her without so much as a kiss. Now the kids are getting big, strong, and unruly. And you know what else? They sag. That’s right. The kids lower their drawers in protest of their rich life.

Key to understanding this situation is blame. Flint knows about blame. Blame Roger. Blame the big business. Blame General Motors. Blame the politicians. Blame the state. Blame the neighbors. Blame the economy. Blame the bank. Blame the music. Blame the media. So, naturally a town that knows blame attributes at least some of its unpopularity to the way the kids dress. If only the little thugs would cover their asses everybody can get back to eating happy meals and visiting the Big Mart without the godless trouser-slippage keeping Roger from bringing back the factory.

It reminds me of a single mom who works two jobs so she can keep food on the table for her teen kids whose father abandoned them to start a family in a better town with some hot babe barely old enough to buy booze. When the kids talk to him once a year around Christmas he promises to buy them stuff or maybe take them on his new boat. But, he never does. One day the kids forget to do their chores. Mom gets pissed and takes away their Nike’s for a week. Having nothing to wear to school they skip classes. Again. See the lesson here?

Flint hasn’t learned to live without big Roger. Recently the State of Michigan, acting like a foster parent, for a while took over city management. Its African American mayor was a few years ago recalled in an atmosphere of relentless racial bickering. From a safe distance way up here in the Upper Peninsula I view the leaders of Flint, perhaps unfairly, as keeping a town from discovering its potential. Visitors and potential businesses are skittish about going on a date with Flint, much less moving in with her. She seems so stressed and her kids don’t behave, but she is a cheap date so they keep in touch.

What the Flint City Counsel does is use a lot of makeup. The counsel also does what we all do too frequently. Attribute too much to attitude of a person or group and ignore the situation – the context – where that person or group exists. The Flint Counsel thinks their image problem is their kids’ attitudes but fail to understand that these kids are growing up in a home town without pride for two decades. Who wouldn’t grow up with an attitude in that situation? So we want to dumb down the youth commentary about it?

Instead of building on its people’s strengths, this town’s leadership turns on its young people for expressing themselves. Sagging teens now get to look forward to a year in jail if they don’t keep their pants hiked up like the righteous grown-ups. That’s right. Up to a year in jail or a $500 fine for being caught wearing pants like the town’s favorite son Michael Moore might if he were to fix his own plumbing. (Sorry for the visual there, bare with me.)

Flint throws bliss by proxy – happy meals and discount deals – to their colorful kids and what does it get for their generosity? They get an eyeful of thug sulcus. Sagging economies aside, Flint thinks making progress is about covering up. As soon as the least of Flint’s population – you know, the ones with the attitude problem – are tossed to jail one at a time to join the child molesters, the murderers, the thieves, and the rapists Flint will be safe for you to move in with your family and open a business.

If you do decide to move to Flint be sure to bring the white paint because this town has fences. But remember one thing Flint leadership cannot stand is the sight of independence so forget about moving in if you like to fix your own plumbing. They don’t want to see that kind of attitude.