Wednesday morning wrap-up

OK, I could really do without waking up at 4 am and coughing so hard that I can't get back to sleep until 6.

I could also do without DC United getting onto the front "page" of the Post this way.

A new low (IMO) for "reality" television (which, IMO is all about producers creating unreality and then filming it. "Reality TV" is a well-made documentary, not people competeing to see how many cockroaches they can swallow--I remember when Americans used to *make fun* of the Japanese for watching nonsense like that.)

For the second day in a row, I'm sorry I didn't watch the Democratic convention coverage.

On the up side, my friend K told someone off who really needed telling-off and felt good about standing up for herself (yay!); I had a very nice conversation on the phone last night with A, and I'm having lunch (soon, I hope) with J.

And the new copy I got of a memoir by one of my favourite authors has an afterword that wasn't in the last copy of the book (whch my father strangely seems to have forgotten to return, hence the new copy.) I really have to write to GMF while he's still around and tell him how much pleasure I've gotten from his work over the years and what a gift I think he is to the world of historical fiction.

OK, let's get the last two chapters of this MS done...

(no subject)

I'm particularly annoyed at myself that, after hearing a profile of Barack Obama on NPR yesterday (a fascinatingly mixed profile for that admittedly liberal network), I did not hear him speak last night.

However, I have a feeling that I will not be short of chances to hear and see him in the future.

Although I haven't finished reading his speech, it is this portion, quotedd in the Post's account of the evening, that ruly speaks to me. I know that many of my friends and acquaintances do not share this sort of vision of what America means, but it sums up much of what I believe is essential to a healthy and ethically balanced nation and what is most important about liberalism to me.

from the transcript provided by the Post

For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we are all connected as one people.

If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child.

If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent.

If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work.

watching the DNC convention: Sharpton

I tell you, I have had my doubts about this guy in the past, and I've had problems with some of the things he's said and done, but my G*d can that man speak! I only caught the last five minutes or so of his address, but it has to be easily one of the most moving pieces of public speaking I have ever heard. Pride, conviction, rhetorical excellence, charisma, he's got it all. He had the entire audience in the palm of his hand; he had me in tears. What an amazing speaker!

Poor Bob Graham, to follow someone like that. He's saying all the right things, but any high school forensics student could do a better job of delivering a speech.

Ed Rendell just made a joke about the two of them having to follow Sharpton. :-) True.

convention speaker schedule

http://www.dems2004.org/site/pp.asp?c=luI2LaPYG&b=130846

currently a performance by Mellencamp--this I can miss...

Shalikashvili

Good speaker, but I'd have loved to see him in his element as a commander. He's not, at a podium giving a prepared speech, much like the flag officers who I've met, and his background and speech are far from the leather-faced, PlainsState-drawling officers who I've worked with. But I think I can see some of the bearing and the quiet intelligence that must characterize him when he's working.

Edwards

A good speaker. Handsome, articulate. He has a good speech: emphasize his roots, Kerry's volunteer service and volr.

And here comes what I've heard of, the Two Americas speech.

What strikes me about both Edwards's speech and Sharpton's earlier is that both of them don't just talk about opportunity--they've lived it.

The cameras keep finding moments. One from to the side, showing him, small, with the sea of pole signs across the convention. One from his left and below, silhoutetting him with his hand raised, speaking up to the tiers of seats around him, declaiming about how America is the land of opportunity.

"Leaving people living in povery is wrong; we have a moral obligation to lft those people up." Raise the minimum wage, provide affordable healthcare, make it possible for people to have affordable healthcare. 

Personal responsibility for civil rights. "Civil rights is not an African American issue or a Latino issue or an Asian issue; this is an American issue."

This is my party.

Edwards, continued

The importance of looking after our veterans. Some very affecting words about

The value of alliances. A little slipped in reference to the safety of Israel. Nonproliferation efforts.

A  rhetorical flourish; respect for America founded on living up to our ideals.

A brief glimspe of Jesse Jackson (wish I'd heard him speaking.)

A good speech, a good deal of imagery and emotional appeal--which is the point, really-- but solid words about policy as well.

Uh oh, another musical act.... :-) They're getting more people excited than most of the secondary speakers, thoughm and all the stupid piped music....  LOL, I love seeing grizzled Navy vets in button-=downs grooving to rap music...

I think I'll skip the roll call, though I'll try to catch the Greek Orthodox primate giving the benediction.