Yes We Can

A Message from Joe Casepack

Beer seems to be big in politics ever since Sarah Palin introduced us to Joe Sixpack.

A Youtube State of the Union Address (Whassup 2008)

Helps to first watch the original Budweiser Whassup spot.

The World Votes Now

Seems like the whole world wants to have a vote in the US elections. Over here in Europe coverage and reactions are stronger than to anything local. CNN's been advertising an international discussion site with a slightly paternalistic tag line feeling sorry for everybody not being able to vote. And there's this new website that lets the rest of the world at least mock vote. Last I checked Germany voted 96% for Obama. No surprise there.

Must-Read

This is one of those rare books whose author can rightfully claim Chuck D's legendary put-down: "I've been places you'll never be". My fellow travel fiend and best man Richard Fleming has published his first book. The title says it all: "Walking to Guantanamo" he tells the story of his extraordinary trip crossing Cuba by foot, bike and other local means of transportation. The reviewer in the Library Journal says it best: "He is brutally honest, even when it shows him in an unflattering light. This is perhaps the most accurate and readable work on Cuba this reviewer has seen."

Tina Fey does Palin

Even better of course...

Bodysurfing in Hawaii

Obama sure knows how to use his vacation. While McCain is slowly losing buzz, Obama used his Hawaii vacation for a fabulous photo-op full of allegorical ammunition.

Beijing '08

Yimou Zhang's opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics might have very well been the greatest show ever staged. Made you think. Things like - democracy's definitely overrated....it was nice to have you around, Western civilization....who needs civil liberties, if you look like that....

Obamamania P.S.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Never shy to mock herself, Paris Hilton produced a video retort to McCain's shameless explotation of her dubious glamour. Which is currently leading many a bloggers' poll.

Surf City Munich

Here's that Munich groove for you.

Obamamania in Germany

I guess the backlash had to come. In the meantime lots of German intellectuals in Berlin were no-shows for Obama's rally exactly for that reason. Which says more about the highly distorted self-image of German intellectuals, than about Obama. Do they really think anybody including Obama noticed, that they stayed in their steak frites watering holes so not to offend the American heartland voters?

It was actually nice to see a gazillion of teary eyed Germans rally for a candidate from a foreign country, because the last time Germans rallied teary eyed for a candidate things got pretty ugly for a while. But hey, you know, we have a dream. When Obama becomes president on November 4th, on November 5th the Iraq War will be over and Guantanamo Bay closed and the banking crisis solved, also fossil fuels, trans fats and Christianity will be outlawed and America's gonna treat Germany nice again without asking her to fulfill her Nato, UN and other duties.

Cool.

So far the best commentary about European Obamamania came from New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer:



"Hey, Europe, You Want to Get Barack Obama Elected? Then Shut Up.

Yo, Western Europe! Holla! How are you? Isn't it great how frequently we get to see one another these days, because the dollar is so weak and you keep coming to visit? It's so helpful that you're here to buy up all of those luxury things we can't afford. Someone has to wear those Armani bathing suits, right? And we're certainly not fitting into them these days. Ha-ha! Can we borrow some oil? Just kidding. Did we just make things awkward?

What we really wanted to talk about was Barack Obama. We're still trying to decide between him and John McCain over here. We know, we know, you hate George Bush and you are afraid McCain will be the same — but we have a lot of thinking to do. Like, a few months' worth.

We've begun reading stories over the past few days, since Obama secured the Democratic nomination, about how much you'd like the Illinois senator to be our next president. The Times of London said you were all for him, and that it was "unfortunate" that you got no vote. In Spain, El Pais has been running an adorable photo series of the handsome candidate. In Belgium, Le Soir's American-politics Website boasted that 74 percent of the country supports Obama (over a measly 12 percent for McCain).

That's a lot of support! But you know what would really help your candidate get elected? If you shut the hell up. The Americans who would listen to the advice of Western Europe are the ones who listen to the BBC feed on NPR in the morning for their international news and opinion — in other words, the people who are already going to vote for Obama. The people who he is trying to win over at this very moment, as he campaigns in the red states, are the ones who will view a European endorsement as a total minus. Remember when there was a movement to rename French Fries "Freedom Fries" over here? Yeah, it's those people who will be alienated by your support. Frankly, they think you're a bunch of Socialist sissies.

We're not saying they're right. But you guys, who are always slightly smug about your understanding of our politics, have clearly missed out on the nuance here. A true endorsement of Barack Obama from you would be no endorsement at all.

We know we totally butted in that time in Finland, so we're total hypocrites. But what can we say, we're Americans.

Anyway, toodles! See you at Century 21!"



In the meantime the current commander in chief is getting an early iconization treatment by Oliver Stone...

Summer Hit (1968)

This 4th of July weekend I'll be going up to Woodstock to see Levon Helm play at his barn up there. That's as Amerikana as it gets. Rather befitting for a 4th of July weekend.

Summer Hit (1972)

Summer Hit (2008)

"The Cool Kids" - very nostalgic, all hoops and loops and BMX bikes on a summer day playing hooky, beats sounding like Rick Rubin put it together in his NYU dorm circa 1985. Which is about the time the target group's parents first met in high school.

Waterboarding

Via amnesty international

Bavaria

The Ramp is a short mockumentary about a Bavarian village whose inhabitants built a 1400 ft. high ramp, to help BMW launch their new car not just in but to America. It's produced by BMW films as a viral. For anybody who's ever been to Bavaria it's right up there with "Best In Show" and "Borat". Great casting, brillant sense of detail (the teeth!), some nice undertones of "Deliverance".

Story of Stuff

I don't like heavy-handed messaging, no matter where it comes from. But The Story of Stuff's ability to bring the complexity of the cycle of extraction, production and consumption down to the level of a kiddie book somehow works in it's own kinda Al Goreish way (see teaser above).

Fox and Obama

Robert Greenwald again. Right on target.

Stuff White People Like

With the huge success of this blog the question had to be asked - Reverse racism or really funny? Turned out it's a white copywriter from California writing this blog, so it's just plain but brillant irony. Definitely impressive numbers of comments for each post.

Election Day

Curious to see, if the Clinton Dynasty survives the generational conflict that lead to tomorrow's Destiny Tuesday. If not, I'm officially old.

Election Day

It was election day in Munich today and after just observing elections in various countries at various stages of democratization, I went into the booth for the first time in 20 years. Current Social Democratic mayor Christian Ude was the only candidate with a platform promising to raise the ratio of child care from slots for 3 % of all kids in Munich to something approaching two digits (yup, my priorities did change, there were some guys promising world peace, but we just need a slot in the nursery for now). Although he does love his ceremonial duties (like the customary opening of the first barrell at Oktoberfest every year) a bit too much. Anyway. He got 66.7 % of the votes. That's 0.2 % more than today's results for Putin crony Medvedev.

Turned out our neighborhood is more boho than we thought. The whole rise and shine stuff definitely doesn't fly on a Sunday morning around here. Fred went early and there was almost nobody at the polling station. I went after my Sunday shift and it was packed with young bohemians, gay cruisers and old hippies. Our district is also the only one where the Rosa Liste (the local party for gays and lesbians, and that means party as in political) has a real chance to get an assemblyman (OR woman) in. How West Village is that.

Freezing Grand Central

Taking that flash mob thing a few steps further.

Civilized

On Wednesday William F. Buckley was found dead by his cook in his house in Stamford, Connecticut (amazing how many clichees about conservatives can one pack into the first line of his obituary). Interesting again how likable somebody like Buckley becomes in the light of seven years of Cheney and Bush. And how civilized and intelligent those TV debates must've been in 1968, if ABC pitted Buckley against Gore Vidal.

William F. Buckley debating Gore Vidal Part 1 and Part 2

William F. Buckley debating Noam Chomsky Part 1 and Part 2

Britney

I never thought I'd aggree with former New York now LA police chief William Bratton who had the following to say about possible new laws to protect the known and the beautiful from the ruthless paparazzi:

“What we need is for Britney Spears to stay home instead of traipsing all over town. That would solve the problem. We don’t need additional laws…I’ve got laws coming out my ears to deal with this issue. What you have is several young women in this town and several young men basically making fools of themselves and tying up not only my resources but the resources of the media that would do better covering legitimate stories instead of a bunch of airheads running around out there…Quite clearly some of these characters so favored by the paparazzi are clearly in need of services. Not police services, but psychiatric services.”

Aaaah, the salt of the earth common sense of seasoned law enforcement.

The Real McCain

Now that it's very likely that the name of the next president of the United States is John McCain, agit-documentarian Robert Greenwald's new website The Real McCain is definitely worth a visit. Like most die-hard lefties he's got a rather awkward sense of irony and stiff timing, but contentwise he's right on the mark.

Howl

Turns out Allen Ginsberg didn't read his seminal poem "Howl" in California for the first time, but for students at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, while hitchhiking from Berkeley to the Pacific Northwest. So history has to be rewritten! They do have a recording over at the Reed College website.

More Advertising For Myself

Legendary philosopher Jürgen Habermas thinks it's a great loss to my paper that I don't report from the US anymore. He complained to a colleague of mine over dinner that he misses my writing about America. Well, if that's not something to brag about! I wish he'd told that to my editor in chief.

Advertising For Myself

I'm gonna interview Jeremy Scahill live on stage tonight. He wrote the incredibly enraging book about the private military contractor Blackwater. Promising to be an equally enraging evening.

8 PM at the Werkraum of the Kammerspiele, Hildegardstr. 1 in Munich.

Brooklyn Nostalgia

Bipolar New York's always been caught between nostalgia and euphoria. Nothing illustrates this better than the changing of Coney Island. On the one side the movers and shakers (i.e. Bloomberg and his cronies) get all excited about the new development opportunities. On the other side New York's hippest get all maudlin about another remnant of faded Amerikana glory getting a corporate facelift. Kinetic Carnival ist a great blog following the development. And the Brooklyn Museum has a show called 'Goodbye Coney Island'.

New Hampshire and beyond

Everybody in Europe's super hyped up about Barack Oabama and Hillary Clinton. Which proves the short sighted reflexes of Europeans when it comes to America. First they're always rooting for Democrats no matter what, because the Democrats' domestic policy fit European mentality of solidarity and sharing. Mostly missing the point that it's foreign policy that matters to us. Neither Carter's maneuvering with the Sovjets nor Clinton's Balkan bullying have been particularily good for Europe.

Secondly they still see America through the eyes of Europe of the 50s and 60s, when the US was the global torchbearer of societal change. Somehow Europeans missed the massive backlash that's been going on since 1968. So Clinton and Obama are definitely European dream candidates, symbolizing progress and change. No matter that John Edwards might be the only electable Democrat, because he's Southern and the only Democrats coming to power since 68 have been Southerners. Partly because Southern liberalism is steeped in faith, not in leftist thinking.

Well and then there's the fact, mostly missed in Europe, that these are primaries. Nobody's winning anything yet. And the most likely Republican candidate - he's good. Really good (see video). He's reviving the silent majority. Right on!