Powen Shiah - the space between

[us-politics] Please Sarah & David Sedaris & Celebs Endorsing McCain

Please Sarah / Bay Area girls speak out against Sarah Palin

David Sedaris on Undecided Voters [New Yorker]
To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?"

McCain's Celebrity Posse [NBC Bay Area]
Really? Dean Cain, I am so disappointed in you. The rest of them I don't know or don't really care about.

McCain Campaign to Focus on PA (DelCo & MontCo)?

I just got the following message at work... Pennsylvania could become very very interesting if this is really what the Republicans intend on doing...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <elided>
Date: Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 2:14 PM
Subject: steeper hill to climb than we thought
To: <elided>

just got it on GOOD authority (both inside and outside the campaign) that McCain's strategy is now shifting and putting US as the bullleye!  Apparently they are giving up on several states...New Mexico, Colorado, Wisconsin and pulling all the resources and reassigning them to Montgomery and Delaware County.

Their whole strategy comes down to blitzing the Philly suburbs (mainly with massive scary robo-calling)...and the polls are beginning to show that it is working.

So we are the spot on wall that they have decided to breach.

If ANY of you have a couple hours after work to make phone calls, we know that when we stick to the plan of having a live human being  talking to independent voters about their choices it makes a difference.

I will be down here at 362 W. Baltimore Pike pretty much all the time....wanna come help me hold the hordes off?

Web 2.0 Critique: Is Fan Labor Exploitation or Empowerment?

http://www.onlinefandom.com/archives/fan-labor-exploitation-or-empowerment/

I found this interesting paper that was presented in the last few days at the conference of The Association for Internet Researchers (isn't it cool that there is such a thing?). I haven't yet read through the whole thing, but it examines one of the fundamental "aspects" of what drives web 2.0 - user participation and communities. It's an interesting moral or ethical question, whether it's empowerment or exploitation, because after all, what do people get out of it?

Okay, I'm sort of feeling around the edges of some coherent thoughts here. For me the first analogy that pops to mind (gosh, I really have to find time to read this paper) is with clothing. In the case of clothing, we're actually taking our time, turning it into money, then using that money to pay for stuff to wear. Sure, so clothing is on the base of Maslow's hierarchy of needs so that's the very basic return, but the real question is what benefit do we derive from paying a premium (in time or in money) for something other than a burlap sack? Would you say that clothing companies are exploiting us for paying $100 for a pair of jeans? We derive meaning from fashion, from looking a certain way, from presenting the self. Do I sometimes feel exploited? There is the option to buy less expensive clothing, and that's actually a statement as well.

So, the actual paper is about Swedish indie music fans, and here's brief synopsis of the findings by one of the authors:

There is a critique of Web 2.0 that argues it is based on free labor done by users from which others profit. We argue that this critique has some merit, but undervalues the rewards fans get from doing this kind of work. We identify the costs fan laborers pay and the rewards they receive. In the end, the tension between empowerment and exploitation is one that each fan laborer has to manage on his or her own. We identify three strategies through which they do this: distancing themselves from the scene as outsiders, viewing themselves as peers of those they 'work' for, and viewing their work as an investment in a future career.

via Online Fandom

Gay Marriage is not about Marriage

Thanks to Jeff for sending this, it pretty much captures my thoughts.

http://bamboonation.blogspot.com/2008/10/open-letter-to-you-or-gay-marriage-is.html

Let's establish something right at the outset. About the fundamental idea of marriage itself, straight or gay, I don't give a shit. And as I said in a previous post, I've always been weary of same-sex marriage being the cause célèbre of the gay community. But the issue of marriage equality is something I have to support because gay marriage is not about marriage.

Arguments against same-sex marriage, at their core, have never been about the institution itself. They're fundamentally about homosexuality. So if you look underneath the shiny surface, "preserving the sanctity of marriage" is not the real issue—the aim is to attack sexual orientation, to disapprove of sexual identity, and to legalize discrimination, which is far more insidious and which will set this country back decades.

Really touching Obama story...but is it really true?

The Norwegian newspaper VG has reported a truly amazing story about a newly-wed trying to get to Norway to be with her husband, and the stranger who helped pay an unexpected luggage surcharge.  The blog 'Leisha's Random Thoughts' has translated the story.
It was 1988, and Mary Andersen was at the Miami airport checking in for a long flight to Norway to be with her husband when the airline representative informed her that she wouldn't be able to check her luggage without paying a 100 surcharge: When it was finally Mary's turn, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness. 
-You'll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway , the man behind the counter said. 
Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway , and she had no one else to call. 
-I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions, says Mary.
As tears streamed down her face, she heard a 'gentle and friendly voice' behind her saying, 'That's okay, I'll pay for her.'  
Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.
-He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was, Who is this man? 
Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man. 
-He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary. 
She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.
Who was the man?  
Barack Obama.  
Twenty years later, she is thrilled that the friendly stranger at the airport may be the next President and has voted for him already and donated 100 dollars to his campaign:
-He was my knight in shining armor, says Mary, smiling. 
She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway . At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker* in Chicago , and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.
Mary even convinced her parents to vote for him:
In the spring of 2006 Mary's parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.
And Obama replied:
In a letter to Mary's parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped 'United States Senate, Washington DC', Barack Obama writes**: 
'I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I'm happy I could help back then, and I'm delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway . Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama , United States senator'. 
The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

Mary says that when her friends and associates talk about the election, especially when race relations is the heated subject, she relates the story of the kind man who helped out a stranger-in-need over twenty years ago, years before he had even thought about running for high office.