Sarah Palin, not down for skateboarding
…I found an article about Sarah Palin giving Wasilla skaters the run around when they tried to get a public park built ten years ago.
She told them Wasilla couldn’t afford it and then they found out she was planning a multi-million dollar hockey complex. So they formed a committee and attended city council meetings until she agreed to match funds with them if they raised a certain amount of cash. When they raised the money she backed out of the deal.
Skaters don’t know how to give up, so they kept going to city council meetings and bothering Sarah Palin until she finally caved in. Ten years later, the skatepark is still going strong. And there’s a video about it on youtube:
…good small town values.
State of the Mental Economy
Willful ignorance is bigger problem than our economic woes, because without an informed citizenry we can’t make good decisions about our leaders, about the kinds of things that should be taught in school, or about how to manage our money.
When I watched that video I wanted to believe it was a mocumentary… On the other hand, I’ve been to rural Ohio so I guess it’s not that hard to believe.
Wake up people. Do you really want to be on television saying Obama is a Muslim, when clearly one of the biggest “scandals” of the season was about his Christian church leader? America is operating on brain level zero.
The bottom line is that our country is mentally segregated. Lefties on the coasts and in the cities. Right Wingers in the countryside and the suburbs. This sort of segregation is making for awkward elections, a crumbling economy, embarrassing foreign policy, and corporate rape of the globe. If we all congregate to communities that reinforce our beliefs, we all become blind fanatics.
And I’m guilty of it. I grew up in Southern Louisiana, which has its left wingers, but is overwhelmingly lunatic fringe, creationist, right wing. Then I fled to San Francisco, which supposedly has a right wing hiding somewhere, but is overwhelmingly lunatic fringe, left wing. …Which I love, I do, but after living here a few years I have to say that I miss the arguments.
It sounds crazy I know, but when you discuss an opposing point of view with someone your brain starts working. You have to defend your position so you have to think about it. You have to use reason. You might even learn something and change your mind.
Now I’m arguing with the television and it’s not a great conversationalist. Now I’m arguing with this culture of ignorance through my obscure blog that’s getting through to nobody, and that is ridiculous.
The people in this video are making decisions about how we should run our country based on information that is hilariously false, and easily proved wrong. They’re also basing their decisions on racism, which is deeply rooted in this culture of mental isolationism. I want to make fun of these people, but we have to be better than this. We have to mingle.
What passes for political logic can’t be that Sarah Palin is full of the Holy Spirit, even if they did exorcise the witches.
Monty Python's John Cleese on Sarah Palin video
Monty Python and Faulty Towers John Cleese on Sarah Palin. Let humor be the cure. I hope this video brings those crazy republican lynch mobs to their senses. Oh wait, they don’t watch Monty Python. More preaching to the choir then. Hooray.
What does this have to do with TeamJaded? Well, I cut this video for Seesmic. So even though my name is no where on it, I’d like to point out… if I may… that I crafted this in edit… from raw footage… with no script. And even though that’s no great accomplishment like curing cancer or something, I wish my name was on it.
Top ten on digg with 126,000 Youtube hits as of this post and climbing, the name association could have been good for TeamJaded. (Youtube description anyone?)
With that said, this piece is also my farewell to Seesmic. Unfortunately, it’s a farewell that most Seesmic users won’t notice. Dean, the user who set up this shoot called me the invisible power behind Seesmic production. Flattering, but invisible doesn’t help Jaded out too much. So that is my one regret, otherwise I’m totally psyched about moving on.
Seesmic cut “shows” to focus on their web product. I think they made a smart decision. I enjoyed my time there. I learned a lot about the business side of internet, and a lot about video compression, but I was ready to go.
Now I’m gainfully unemployed, or as I like to think about it, free.
Free to pursue Jaded Multimedia after the wedding. …which is what I’ve been aching to do since Abby and I got back to San Francisco in January.
Stay tuned things are finally getting interesting.
Credits for the John Cleese video:
Producer: Dean Whitbread
Talent: Vinvin
Shooter: Whit Scott
Preditor: Jeremey Lavoi