Bush singing the gospel song "Power in the Blood" in SOTU

Our fourth goal is to apply the compassion of America to the deepest problems of America. For so many in our country – the homeless, and the fatherless, the addicted – the need is great. Yet there is power – wonder working power – in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people, When I heard this in President Bush’s State of the Union address I didn’t realize “wonder-working power” is a shout out to his peeps in the Christian faith. I just thought it was an unusual turn of phrase. If you’re not convinced, the mighty google speaks.

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Calgon Take me Away

Let us bring to all Americans who struggle with drug addiction this message of hope: The miracle of recovery is possible, and it could be you, I can’t find the full text of the 2003 State of the Union but I do recall him saying that faith is the best way to treat drug addiction. Not quite right, Schick Shadel uses aversion therapy and has the #1 success rate. They even won the right to say this in court after they were sued for using it in advertising.

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Democrats good for economy?

According to an article on Slate the S&P 500 has grown more under Democratic presidents than Republican ones. Democratic presidents produced a 12.3% return on S&P 500, versus an 8% return for Republicans. Bah you say, the stock market doesn’t indicate economic growth. Well, GDP grew 5.4% under Democrats and 1.6% for Republicans. Listening: 19-2000 Gorillaz

Pray till ya sweat and you'll save yourself eternal hellfire

I’ve been disappointed with the local blogging community for going on a year. When I’d first gotten involved I felt surrounded by cultural creatives. I had found a tribe of people who wanted to create new things. This was a group of people who had adopted new modes of expression and community building. At some point they zigged and I zagged and I lost the fulfillment I’d once found in the community.

corporate evolution

EchoStar Communications, which operates the Dish satellite system, has had talks about selling itself to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp or John Malone’s Liberty Media Corporation, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Tuesday), citing industry officials familiar with the contacts. I love the way this is phrased. EchoStar thought about selling itself. I realize that in legal terms the company is a separate entity but I’d never seen it phrased so bluntly.

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go go gadget gybe!

There is a god and he likes me. godspeed you black emperor! is playing Houston, Austin and Fort Worth the 12th, 13th and 14th. I guess the Spring music season is gearing up. But the announced breakup of The Dismemberment Plan casts a pall over everything.

the great divider?

“It is fitting that we honor this great American in a church because out of the church comes the notion of equality and justice. And even though progress has been made, there is more to do,” Bush told the largely African-American congregation.

I’m asking sincerely. Does a sense of equality come out of the church? I’ve never felt that way. I’ve always viewed it as striving to divide the population into the chosen/elect/saved and heathens/sinners/witches. The big three, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all seem to thrive on these distinctions. The one area where I could see it uniting is people with different income levels.

the real world

I was reading someone’s livejournal and saw that they met with Ben and Mena of Moveable Type fame, in Japan. All of a sudden I felt like I was reading about some sort of interdimensional rift. I had no idea that in my head I separated the LJ superhero universe from the Blogger superhero universe. It was like Neo meeting Batman.

I need to get back into the real world.

Excerpt from a Jan. 6 White House Briefing

Helen Thomas is an institution in the White House press corps not some minor reporter from a small liberal publication. That’s what makes her questions to Ari Fleischer all the more stunning. Here’s an excerpt:

Thomas: My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?

**Fleischer:**Helen, the question is how to protect Americans, and our allies and friends –

**Thomas:**They’re not attacking you.

This story got play in Saudi Arabia’s English language daily Arab News and Pakistan’s Daily Times. Other than the Minnesota Star-Tribune I don’t know of any mainstream American press that’s picked this up.

Bush booed at AMA

I can’t find this anywhere on MSNBC’s site. This blurb is from Studio Briefing.

Meanwhile, MSNBC.com is reporting that ABC may have removed the sounds of booing from the audience when former President George H. Bush appeared as part of a taped tribute to the band Alabama. The website quoted a source as saying that Randy Owen of the band was “pretty shaken” by the booing. Asked whether the boos had been deleted by censors, an ABC spokesman told MSNBC.com: “To be honest, I can’t tell you.”

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