Sunday-esque Roundup

It’s late, but it’s Labor Day Weekend.  It’s like one giant Sunday anyway.

Some things form this past week:

The People Who Are Complaining About Their Kids Having to Listen to the President of the United States Are Just Silly - They just are.  And the media is silly for making this a big deal.  The man’s remarks aren’t deceptive, they’re dang inspirational.  But you know, maybe these Virginia parents are right.  I mean, who would want a “socialist” president to come speak to students at a public school run by the government.  Next thing you know, Barack Obama will be filling your kids’ heads with “socialist” ideas like “giving everyone a fair shake” and “supplying every child with an education at nominal cost to the individual and paid for by tax dollars.”

Yeah.  That’d be really crazy.

Labor Day Has to Do With, You Know, Labor - Oddly, most people don’t realize that Labor day has to do with the Labor Movement.  For my fellow southerners, that means it’s about those things called “Unions” – which we don’t really have.  Back in the day, they used to march in honor of the day.  I personally think we should that back, because we don’t march enough today (I’m talking to you, Mississippi).

Google Books is Way More Awesome than I Ever Gave it Credit For, and Microsoft is Trying to Steal it From Us All – I remember when Google Books launched several years ago.  I was a young, idealistic freshman at Presbyterian College, and I thought everything Google made was mana from heaven.  Gmail, GCalendar, GMaps – it was like Google was dedicated to making my life easier, one snazzy click at a time.  But then Google Books launched…Honestly, I thought, am I ever going to use this?  There are only, like, 200 books on there, and are they really going to scan every book in the world?

Apparently, Google’s answer to my question was “Yes.  Yes we will scan them all, and then provide them to you virtually free of charge.  We are Google – hear us scan.”  Libraries the world over have decided to completely cooperate with Google, including the 4th largest – New York Public Library (20.4 MILLION volumes) – and the fifth largest – Harvard University Library (15.4 MILLION volumes) libraries in the world.  Thus, despite the fact that I was unable to get the book that I needed for class tomorrow, I can now read the whole thing on Google books – free of charge.

And yet Microsoft wants Google Books to die.

Translation: Microsoft wants me to fail, and thus doesn’t care about education.  Spin?  Maybe.  How I feel about it?  Definitely.

Joe Kennedy Isn’t Going to Run for Senate – This is a last-minute addition (this was just announced an hour ago), but believe it or not, this is kind of a big deal for folks in MA.  Lots of people expected another Kennedy to run and, through force of sheer name recognition, emerge as the new Senator from Massachusetts, and thus the next generation of Kennedy politicians.  But now he’s not, and the field is wide open.

This could be a fun election.  Stay tuned…

And now, to read until I can’t keep my eyes open…

A Small Moment to Brag

On friday, I drove in Vice President Joe Biden’s motorcade.  No, really.

No, seriously.

Think I’m joking?  Then I have a question for you: do you like apples?

BAM:

How you like them apples?!

Ted Kennedy – 1932-2009

I wouldn’t normally wax poetic on the passing of a public figure, but this one has special relevance to me.

When Ted Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama, it was during one of the rare spans of time that I was home from working on the Barack Obama campaign. I was trying to catch up on sleep that day, so when my mother rushed into my room and shouted for me to come downstairs, I was a little miffed. Her voice was more insistent than usual, however, so I sighed, rubbed my eyes, and pulled myself groggily from my slumber.

When I got downstairs a few minutes later my mother was huddled in front of the television, her eyes fixed to the screen. She didn’t even turn to watch me come in – she was spellbound by the moment. I was a little confused: I knew this was an important endorsement, but wasn’t that because Barack was getting the endorsement and not Hillary? Why was she so excited about this?

“This is big, Jack.” My mother kept repeating over and over, her eyes wide. “This is…Big.”

I raised an eyebrow, but plopped down on the floor next to her anyway. Just then, Ted Kennedy took the stage and defiantly proclaimed “I feel change is in the air!”

The crowd erupted. I felt a tug. My mother began to cry.

I didn’t really get it then, but in the months since that endorsement I’ve come to comprehend parts of what my mother felt. For her, the Kennedy’s – particularly Ted, Bobby and John – were the revolutionary leaders of her generation. True, the Kennedy’s are often remembered for their glamourous lifestyle and history of family tragedies, but that’s not what made them great. What made them great were things like John’s call to go to the moon, or Bobby’s hauntingly beautiful tribute to Martin Luther King on the night of his assassination.

And for Ted, it was his passionate dedication to health care, and the radical declaration of a belief that it is not a privilege, but a right.

These were strong words followed by strong action. America reached the moon. The citizens who heard Bobby’s speech that night did not riot like in so many other places, and the Civil Rights movement went on. And Ted became one of the most effective lawmakers in Senate history, passed bills that gave thousands of people – especially children – healthcare, and continued the fight right up until he died.

These men were great lawmakers and truly profound men of government. It is my hope that our generation has learned something from them.

Ted might be gone, but his dream shall never die.