Momen Thinks

Props to Kelly Nestruck for posting this on his blog:  

I’ve written much about Obama, and have spoken to my friends a great deal about this transformative leader.  I simply want to repeat something I’ve stressed before – Obama’s appeal to me is his pragmatism, his intellectual curiosity, his steadiness, and his empathy.  For those on the left; do not think that America will no longer engage in war, or that they will have single payer healthcare.  For those on the right; do not fear Obama.  I promise you that he will be a friend, not a foe.

But just to pat myself on the back, here’s a quote from my blog that I wrote on March 16, 2008:

“I predicted almost a year ago that Obama would win the primary on the premise that America after 8 years of the worst presidency in its history was ready for true change and that Obama was quite frankly one of the most gifted politicians since JFK.  I was right.  Today I will predict that Obama will win the White House in the manner that Reagan did…huge.”  - YUP!

Obama’s told this story before, but never as well as this.  I think he senses victory.

Here’s a touching story from a reader at Talking Points Memo

I didn’t vote.  Not for President, anyway.

Oh, I went to the voting booth.  I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine.  I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly.  But I didn’t vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for – and then decided to let him vote for me.  I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama’s name on the screen and touch it.

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine.  But I didn’t cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red “vote” button was the person I was really voting for all along.

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

So, no, I didn’t vote for Barack Obama.  I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants…even President.

When Kanye West performed “Love Lockdown” at the VMA’s I thought that we were being shown the only song from his upcoming album where Kanye would be singing…well I was wrong.  Songs from his upcoming album 808’s and Heartbreak have been popping up it seems like daily.  I’m a huge Kanye fan, and yes to hear Kanye using Autotune kinda eeks me as a singer, but really the music industry, especially hip-hop is becoming more about the producer than the artist.  And here Kanye is once again pushing new boudaries in hip-hop.  I’m happy Kanye is taking this new approach.  Late Registration and Graduation, specifically the former, are some of the best sounding albums in any genre in the past couple years.  I mean the guy uses real harps, and string quartets…in hip-hop!

Anyways, here’s a sample.  This song just came out today.  It’s his first up-tempo release from the album.

Some of you don’t have cable, so here’s a live video link to MSNBC’s political coverage.  Enjoy the liberal media bias.

Here are some reviews that have come in for MASKED.  Check out www.neptunetheatre.com for details on the production.  The process while challenging, has been wonderful.  Anthony Black is a director that y’all need to look out for as he’s quite exceptional.

Metro News – Masked is an intense look into a tragic scenario

Chronicle Herald – Realistic Thriller Captivating