Anderson@Large

Missing New Orleans

     Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
     When that's where you left your heart
     And there's one thing more, I miss the one I care for
     More than I miss New Orleans
     -- “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans"
       
I’m ending the month the same way I began it – recommending a documentary for your viewing pleasure.  The film, “All on a Mardi Gras Day” (and here), tells the story behind the story of Mardi Gras.  It’s a story of liberation, struggle, resiliency, and black folks’ affirmation of their humanity.  The filmmaker, Royce Osborn, a New Orleans native and Katrina survivor, is working on a new film, "Walking to New Orleans," which will be released later this year.

Stay tuned (and here).

Get It While You Can

Though I just got back from San Francisco a few hours ago, I’m going to head out this evening to an event at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. With only two days left in this the shortest month, I have to get my Black History on while I can.

The discussion, “The Politics of Reconstruction: Race, Class, and Memory, From Emancipation to Katrina,” includes author Michael Eric Dyson, whose new book is shaking things up.  Speaking of which, I hear that historian Douglas Brinkley will blow the lid off the blatant conflicts of interest (here and here) of some of the civic leaders planning the reconstruction of New Orleans in his book, “The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”  The book will be released in April.

Mission Accomplished

I used to live in San Francisco so the City by the Bay doesn’t quite thrill me the way it once did. That said, I like coming here to see whether I can still "climb halfway to the stars."  I can.

And, frankly, I needed to walk up those hills after gorging on burritos in the Mission District, and stuffing myself with a Bahn Mi sandwich on my way to the “Harlem of the West” exhibition at the San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum.

But my real mission was to check out the scene at Biscuit and Blues and the tribute to Nina Simone at Jazz at Pearl's in North Beach.  Just between you and me, mission accomplished.

Keystone Republicans

California Republicans will gather in San Jose this weekend to endorse Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for reelection.  Republicans will be blowing air kisses at a governor who has lost his way with voters.  A poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that Schwarzenegger's overall rating is just 35 percent, down from 40 percent approval in January.

Schwarzenegger's transition from “Kindergarten Cop” to Keystone Kop is a cautionary tale for voters in the Keystone State, where another political novice -- Lynn Swann -- is suiting up to run for governor.  But don’t bet on Swann outplaying Gov. Ed Rendell.  As political scientist Larry Sabato told the Philadelphia Daily News:

They [voters] love the fact that someone famous cares enough to run for high office in their state. At the same time, we all know that a lot of celebrity candidates are tissue-paper thick, and there’s a real suspicion about whether they have the ability to govern.

And Pennsylvania voters are indeed suspicious.  According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll:

Only 26 percent of voters say Swann has the right kind of experience to be Governor, with 40 percent who say he doesn't have the experience and 34 percent undecided.

Republican leaders [and here] may have anointed Lynn Swann their candidate for governor, but Pennsylvania voters are slow to jump on the Swann bandwagon. Despite all the Swann hoopla in the past month, he has failed to seriously narrow Gov. Rendell's double-digit lead…

Rank and file Republicans appear more reluctant than their leaders to back Swann; 22 percent are voting for Rendell at this point. And only about a quarter of all Pennsylvania voters say Swann has the right kind of experience to be governor.

Rendell, on the other hand, continues to run up huge margins over his GOP rival in Philadelphia and it suburbs – the stronghold that swept him into office last time.

California Scheming

Go west, young woman.  I’ll be in San Francisco the next few days attending a conference of electronic voting critics (and here).  In the past week, two Republicans -- the Governor of Maryland and the Florida Secretary of State -- and the Washington Post have joined the chorus of critics:

Lawmakers in both parties have warned repeatedly that the touch-screen machines that have been in use are seriously flawed.  Voters cannot know for sure whether their choices are correctly recorded and tallied because the machines do not produce any paper trails showing each vote cast; that makes an audit impossible.  Computer experts note, too, that results can be rigged without risk of detection.

In the coming months, we will sound the alarm that e-voting still isn't ready for prime time.  We plan to make life even more miserable for e-voting manufacturers (and here), including Diebold Election Systems (here and here).

Harlem on My Mind

I observed Presidents’ Day by venturing up to Harlem, where our “first black president,” Bill Clinton, has an office.  But unlike when I was an undergrad at City College and lived in Bed-Stuy, I did not take the A train (it's not the quickest way for me to get there).  I also checked out a performance of Diamond Redd’s “Legends of Harlem,” a celebration of the Harlem Renaissance (and here) through the life and songs of Cab Calloway.

As for the current occupant of the Oval Office, Harlemites are not alone in their disapproval of President Bush.  According to pollster John Zogby:

On Bush, his overall approval/disapproval rating is 40%-60%, but he has his lowest support yet from those groups who make up his political base.  Among both conservatives and those who consider themselves very conservative, 61% approve of the job he is doing.  He gets only 32% of independents, and only 73% among Republicans -- his lowest rating yet.  Even rural voters give him just 50% approval, and 59% among those who say they are born again spiritually -- marking the lowest ratings from both of these demographic groups.  And Bush remains low among men, married voters and investors.

Hidee-hidee-hidee-ho.

GOP: Thanks for Sharing

To commemorate Presidents’ Day, the Republican National Committee wants you to “share your thoughts on Lincoln’s legacy and what being a Republican means to you.”

Some thoughts immediately come to mind: Dead-Eye Dick (here, here and here), quagmire, chickenhawk, arrogance (and here), tax cuts for the rich, handkerchief head, cronyism, culture of corruption (here and here), and “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” (here and here).

The GOP wants you to help “define what it means to be a member of the Party of Lincoln” so feel free to let them know what you really think.