From today's Detroit Free Press:

What will Rasheed Wallace and President George W. Bush talk about when the Pistons visit the White House at 3 p.m. today? Foreign policy? Defense strategy? Try nothing. When asked what he would say to the president, Wallace said: "I don't have (expletive) to say to him. I didn't vote for him. It's just something we have to do."

It prompted quite a reaction from my buddy Adam:

That settles it, my first kid, boy or girl, will be named Sheed.

Well said, Adam. Well said.

So, I think this Harry Reid guy gets it. Consider:

"Social Security, however, does face long term challenges. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it will be able to pay only 80 percent of promised benefits starting in about 50 years. That's far from a crisis, but it is a problem that should be addressed. Like most Democrats, I want to work with the President to strengthen and improve Social Security. However, I want to make sure we do it right.

I pulled this from democrats.gov, the new web home of Senate Democrats. I'm a little cranky about the existence of the site, as I put in an application to work on it and was summarily rejected, but I can't deny that it's very well done and the content is really starting to hit the right notes.

In particular, the American Promise - a unified and aggressive Democratic agenda for the coming Congress not so different from the Contract with America - is particularly satisfying. It is largely based on the communications tactics advanced by George Lakoff who argues that how about politics is a lot more important than what we say. Specifically, he suggests Republicans have controlled political discourse by selling a "strict father" frame of reference where power is the ultimate political currency.

Alternatively, Lakoff suggests that Democrats naturally embrace a "nurturing family" frame where sharing is the dominant value. But we've done a piss-poor job of learning how to talk about those values. The American Promise, however, nails it:

It is the promise of security, that the American way of life and our freedom will be protected by using all the tools to take the fight to the terrorists and standing with those who have served.  It is the promise of opportunity so that every American can get the education they need to compete in the 21st century; live in an economy with well paying jobs and high quality health care; and participate in our democracy. Keeping the promise of America also means meeting our responsibilities both to future and past generations by providing our seniors what they have spent a lifetime working for; acting responsibly with taxpayer’s dollars and with our children’s future by restoring fiscal discipline; and enabling women to take responsibility for their health.  It is these values that will continue to guide the Democratic agenda as this Congress moves forward.

One thing that the American Promise does lack, however, is the forward-thinking alternative plan for Social Security that Reid suggests in his quote. This will continue to make my friend Heather very angry.

Does what God say ever change his mind
When the President talks to God?

-- Bright Eyes, When the President Talks to God

Conor Oberst's new b-side includes this absolutely stunning lyric about the role of religion in politics. Think about it. You can download the iTunes exclusive here:

Bright Eyes - When the President Talks to God

I think I've been doing my fair share of posting here at Be The Power, but I wanted to remind folks that I've also been moderating the "Equality, Rights, and Freedom;" "Democracy;" and "Social Responsibility" forums over at the Principles Project. I think I've been mighty provocative if I do say so myself. Check it out.

An email from my friend Joe:

I've noticed that many democrats -- including you -- have moved away from the terms "liberal" and "democrat". The word "progressive" abounds now, but has a funny ring to it, especially when you try to phrase it as a noun: "progressivism" sounds like a hair loss disease, not a political ideology.

Yes, the word "liberal" has been villified by our friends on the right. But that doesn't mean we should abandon it. If you want to redefine the democratic message, maybe the first step is to embrace the word "liberal" and reclaim it as your own. Besides, it's not as if the public is fooled by the switcheroo; a progressive is just a liberal who's afraid to admit that he's liberal, and Americans know that.

Better yet, why not just call it "democratic", to restate your subject line as "Pro-Labor Democrats"? The republicans have no problem calling themselves republicans; why are democrats so afraid of saying that they are democrats? I, for one, am both a democrat and a liberal. If you find that offensive, you can go fuck yourself. Now *that* is an attitude worth having. Just a thought.

I couldn't agree more.

There will be a couple of arguments against this. First, folks will say "Liberal" is an old and outdated notion of tax and spend. "Progressive" is the new and improved practical version of that. Eh...there's a grain of truth in that, but mostly, I think Joe nails it when he calls it a "switcheroo" that the American people won't buy.

Second, some might say the Democratic party isn't liberal, which frankly demonstrates precisely why we need to change how we talk about ourselves. We're not going to win by moving further and further right. We're going to win when America starts believing we actually have some convictions.

Additionally, an old boss used to say that third party folks need to realize that the only way they're really going to build a national progressive party is to take over the Democrats. I've always thought she was dead on.

So, to sum: When you want to say "Progressive," say "Liberal" instead. When you want to say "Liberal," say "Democrat" instead.

Wal-Mart. It's the world's largest corporation, notorious in its anti-worker labor policies, and a gigantic contributor to right-wing political causes.

It's also squarely in our sights.

You may know that last week, Wal-Mart launched a million-dollar advertising campaign in an attempt to silence its critics. The company bought hundreds of television ads, newspaper ads, and more to tell you what to think.

But we're ready to fight back. We're not going to be able to fight back with slick ads and huge budgets. The only weapon we have is the facts. That's why PurpleOcean.org has launched an online campaign to spread the facts about just what Wal-Mart does.

Click over to this website and join our campaign. Pass it on to your friends. You'll be able to track just how effective we are by following along on the live map of participants. Plus, if you are one of the first 25 people to build your chain of forwards to 500 people, you can win $1000 towards your health insurance. As someone who's health insurance is about to run out, that sounds pretty darn good.

So, join the campaign to expose the facts about Wal-Mart. Together, we can turn the tide on anti-worker, anti-American campaign to further pad their already bulging bottom line.

Be sure to register with this link. I really need to win that health care money! :)

Chris at MyDD has an interesting piece today asking why it's OK for a Democrat to be anti-labor, but not anti-choice. An excerpt:

The fact of the matter is this: one of the main reasons Democrats are losing elections is because it is okay to be pro-environment and anti-labor, it is okay to be pro-Roe and anti-labor, it is okay to be anti-war and anti-labor, it is okay to be anti-patriot act and anti-labor, but it is never okay to be pro-labor and anti-any of these other things. It has literally come to the point where you can be pro-liberal, but anti-labor, and no one seems to care. We can have millennialist rhetoric about the abolishment of our rights in so many areas, but never in labor, even though the erosion of labor rights is far more clear than the erosion of nay of our other rights. For cryin' out loud, in the 1950's, 40% of the workforce was unionized. Now, it is 1/3 that total. That is not a potential crisis--that is a full blown disaster that is already taking place.

I don't really have anything to add here. I'm just highlighting a must-read.

Here's what the Principles Project has so far:

Social Responsibility

That our self-interests direct, and our moral values demand, that we take responsibility for the well-being of the communities in which we live: our families, our neighborhoods, our country, and our world.

That our most solemn duty, and our greatest aspiration, is to build a better America for future generations.

Does that precisely capture the fundamental progressive belief that we're all in this together? Let us know.

Comments are closed for this post. Use the Principles Project discussion forum instead.

Classic grammar snooping from Engadget:

It took us a few days of harrassing Apple’s PR department, but we were finally able to answer one of the most burning questions of the past seven days: Is it “iPod shuffles” or “iPods shuffle”? Here’s a transcript of our conversation:

US: Thanks for calling us back. We have a really important question for you. How do you pluralize “iPod shuffle”?

APPLE: Like in a sentence?

US: Yeah, like would you say “iPod shuffles” or “iPods shuffle”?

APPLE: Huh. “iPod shuffles”. It’s “iPod shuffles”.

US: Are you sure? Would you mind double-checking, because people do say “attorneys general” and not “attorney generals”. We don’t want to offend William Safire and write the wrong thing.

APPLE: Let me ask someone here. [puts us on hold for a minute] Yeah, it’s “iPod shuffles”.

US: Thanks!

I, on the other hand, am choosing to stick with iPods Shuffle because it sounds cooler.

For what it's worth, my take on the Shuffle in general is that it's pretty brilliant. Especially because they made it so cheap.

Last week, the CEO of Creative, Apple's biggest competitor in the MP3 player market took some cheap shots at diminutive new member the iPod family. Labeling it "a big letdown" and "worse than the cheapest Chinese player," Sim Wong Hoo criticized it's lack of display and other features.

The thing is, the Shuffle is CHEAPER than Creative's players at similar storage capacity. Right now, the 512 MB Shuffle is $99.99 at Amazon. Creative's MuVo Micro sells for $118.74. The MuVo DOES have a crappy screen, a crappy FM radio, and a crappy voice recorder. If you really want those, by all means, spend more money. Besides, if you want the full-blown iPod experience feel free to spend $250 on an iPod Mini.

But as far as the Shuffle goes, Apple has decided there's no reason to implement crappy features just to say it has crappy features. It does precisely what it says is will do and it does it in an excellent fashion and at a very cheap price. If you don't WANT your MP3 player to do what the Shuffle does, don't get a Shuffle. It's not like they don't tell you it doesn't have a screen.

Finally, I think many folks are overlooking the importance of iTunes in all of this. It really is a fantastic piece of software. If you don't have it, download it immediately. For the iPod Shuffle, Apple has smartly added an "Autofill" feature to iTunes that will fill your player with a random assortment of tunes every time you plug it in. It's a smart way to get lots of different music on the player without the user having to do any work. Further, if the user WANTS to do the work of making sure some specific set of songs gets on their Shuffle, iTunes makes that very easy. In many ways, the iPod Shuffle's "screen" is really your iTunes window. You use iTunes to set the playlist on the Shuffle and then turn it on and forget about fiddling with it. Genius.

In a shocking turn of developments, I actually like the new Postal Service song featured by Scenestars.

The song itself is nothing too jarring. "Be Still My Heart" is the B-side to the newly released "We Will Become Silouhuettes" single. Basically it's the 11th track you never new was missing from Give Up.

Also, just to prove that I do occasionally do some original music snooping, here's the Styrofoam track Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard contributed vocals to:

Styrofoam - Couches in the Alley (ft. Ben Gibbard)

When the media talks about how Democrats have a “moral values problem,” what they really mean is that we have failed at communicating the core principles we rely on to determine the right way of solving the problems facing our country. Too often, we are over-confident that our fundamental values of fairness, tolerance, and common responsibility are default principles that don’t need fighting for — we are wrong.

That’s why I am asking you today to take part in The Principles Project. Spearheaded by 2020 Democrats in partnership with a host of activists, intellectuals, elected officials, and other progressive groups, The Principles Project is a nationwide online effort to unite the progressive movement with common language to describe our core set of basic principles. Determining the language we use to talk about abstract ideas like equality, privacy, and social responsibility is vital to the success of the progressive movement. Too often, we ask Americans to respond to arcane policy proposals that they know nothing about instead of the values that underpin those policies — values that any heart can understand and embrace. That has to change, and The Principles Project is how we propose to change it.

We cannot succeed without you. The same core values that drive this project require that it be a collaborative effort with careful consideration given to the input of every participant. The growing power of the internet makes it possible for thousands of us to come together and build this document to reflect both our great diversity and our shared values. A large group of volunteers have written a first draft, but over the next four weeks, our community will work together online through three further drafting stages to revise, rewrite, and perfect a statement of progressive principles. Only after this document has been renovated and rebuilt by thousands of participants will it be something we can all embrace and believe in. The power is truly in your hands.

Without the language to connect everyday Americans with our progressive values, we cannot expect to achieve our goals. Without the help of thousands of people like you, we cannot expect to develop effective language that truly reflects what we believe. This effort has the potential to give the progressive movement powerful words and ideas that will win our country back. We need your help.

Please tell your friends about The Principles Project. We need to grow our campaign rapidly to be successful.

Yes, I owe Adam my 2004 Top Ten, but 2005 is barreling right along whether I like it or not.

More Cowbell is hosting two hot new tracks from my most eagerly anticipated release of the next few months - if not the year - Idlewild's Warnings/Promises. Torr adds two more.

I've only been able to give them a listen or two, but so far so good. A couple of the tracks are a bit sparser than those on The Remote Part, but they all maintain Roddy Womble's (yep, that's his name) lyrical brilliance. Or is it lyrical obtuseness? Anyway. Enjoy.

Today is Martin Luther King Day celebrating the guy I consider to be the greatest American who ever lived. (Think about it. Who's better?)

Terrance posts a few of his favorite MLK quotes including this gem:

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

I've thought a lot about my budding pacifism and I think this is about where I come down. We must evolve new ways of addressing human conflict, but we have not yet done so. In the meantime, violence is an awful, if legitimate, method to solve problems. But we certainly need a whole mess of people trying to figure out how to make that sentiment an antiquated anachronism.

Anyway, do yourself a favor and go read Letter from Birmingham Jail.

It's official. Howard Dean will be the next Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

I think the official Be The Power position on Dean's candidacy is clear. Now I just need to figure out how to get on this guy's payroll. (Seriously - if you have any leads at all, please let me know.)

In the meantime, Democracy for America is asking folks ONLY to contact DNC members they know personally. Otherwise, it's best to attend local Party and DFA events in order to keep the ball rolling.

I don't know who that lady is, but that's The Other Smug Asshole shown during Bill Gates' speech.

Bill Gates gave his keynote speech at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas tonight and finally proved, once and for all, that Microsoft really is part of the Evil Empire.

You see, MS is heavily involved in the software that drives the new portable video players that have been trickling out in the last six months or so. One widely recognized limitation of current players is the lack of legally available content. That's bound to change soon enough, but for now about the only place you can get legal content is from Major League Baseball's MLB.tv website.

That picture up there was taken by Engadget and is no doubt an example of this budding partnership. But - look closely - who does Microsoft pick to represent the baseball highlight packages they offer for download? Usually the reigning World Champions are picked for a task like that. And we all know that's our very own Boston Red Sox. Not for Bill. He picked the Yankees. And not just any old Yankees' clip, no sir. But a clip of Derek Jeter batting in a game where the Red Sox trail 9-1 in the 9th inning. Stunning.

Bill Gates and Microsoft have chosen sides. And they have chosen evil. And you people wonder why I use a Mac.

Titled, of course...

Elroy - Republicans Suck

Classic.

Cross-posted to the MacRumors Forums.

I was a computer support technician all through high school and college. Many a pizza was afforded with the reasonably high wage it brought in. I was never at the very highest levels, but I could help folks with their networking and moderate hardware issues.

I used to be an expert at Windows (this was mostly 98 and 98SE) and eventually rose to be the top Mac expert on our team, although that was more due to lack of mac-people than anything else.

I got an iBook last year mostly because I loved the way OS X worked and I thought they looked cool. I was surprised to learn that I've basically forgotten everything I knew about "fixing" computers.

Why? Because my mac never breaks.

To me, that's their biggest selling point. You won't wake up one day to find your mac displaying an indecipherable error message or your favorite programs suddenly needed to be reinstalled. I'm not saying that never happens, but it hasn't happened to me.

All of the sudden, using my computer became more about USING MY COMPUTER instead of trying to constantly fiddle with it. I got an ipod and tripped out an a dizzying array of music. I started a blog that is now a great project for me. I got into RSS and now read things I never would have before. I always have like 9 tabs open on safari. Just tonight, I made my first ever song on GarageBand.

Now, my "computer" hobby is about trying new software and being confident that it won't junk up my system or carry unwanted programs. Deleting it is as simple as...well...deleting it. If the new software does something I like, I keep it. And don't worry about conflicts. I just worry about doing something fun, interesting, productive or cool. It's a brave new world.

Last year, I totally dropped the ball on my year-end best-of. I had the tracks picked and the artwork done ages ago, but just never got around to publishing the damn thing. This resulted in a whole lot of harassment from my sister for failing to deliver on what I promised would be a bonus Xmas present.

At any rate, we can now bring you iTodd: Todd's Best of 2003. If you would like a copy - same as before - drop a comment or shoot me an email and I'll get it to you.

I've also included an MP3 of easily my very favorite song from 2003:

Clearlake - I'd Like to Hurt You

It's a really fabulous - if fatalistic - take on just how scary love can really be.

Finally, you can also buy about half these tracks on on iTunes.

1. "I'd Like to Hurt You," Clearlake
2. "Recycled Air," The Postal Service
3. "Young Pilgrams," The Shins
4. "Blood Brothers," The Tyde
5. "What Ever Happened?," The Strokes
6. "Crazy Beat," Blur
7. "Hey Ya!," Outkast
8. "Such Great Heights," The Postal Service
9. "Porn Shoes," The French
10. "Jacknuggetted," Manitoba
11. "Hands," Four Tet
12. "Now It's On," Grandaddy
13. "Myxomatosis (Judge, Jury & Executioner)," Radiohead
14. "Bad Day (Amended Album Version)," R.E.M.
15. "From Blown Speakers," New Pornographers
16. "The New Year," Death Cab For Cutie
17. "Out Of Time," Blur
18. "My Angel Rocks Back And Forth," Four Tet
19. "Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl," Broken Social Scene

1. "2+2=5 (The Lukewarm)," Radiohead
2. "Seven Nation Army," The White Stripes
3. "Danger! High Voltage," Electric Six
4. "We've Got a File On You," Blur
5. "As Serious As Your Life," Four Tet
6. "Where Is the Love?," Black Eyed Peas & Justin Timberlake
7. "Re-Offender," Travis
8. "A Wolf At The Door (It Girl. Rag Doll)," Radiohead
9. "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," Warren Zevon
10. "All You Need Is Hate," The Delgados
11. "Stacy's Mom," Fountains Of Wayne
12. "Pink Bullets," The Shins
13. "Title And Registration," Death Cab For Cutie
14. "Hello Sunshine," Super Furry Animals
15. "Henry VII," The Tyde
16. "Cinnamon," The Long Winters
17. "What A Waster," Libertines
18. "It's True That We Love One Another," The White Stripes
19. "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," The Postal Service
20. "Quicksand," Travis
21. "Hurt," Johnny Cash

Every year, I make a 2 CD best-of compilation of all my favoritest songs. A tracklist for the 2004 edition, Blue State, is included below. If you would like a copy, drop a comment or shoot me an email and let me know.

I've included an MP3 for what I consider the most obscure song to make the cut:

The Ordinary Boys - Settle Down

You can also buy this mix on iTunes.

1. "Take Me Out," Franz Ferdinand
2. "Somebody Told Me," The Killers
3. "Could Well Be In," The Streets
4. "Enemies/Friends," Hope of the States
5. "Somewhere Only We Know," Keane
6. "Vertigo," U2
7. "Bam Thwok," Pixies
8. "How We Know," The Thermals
9. "Float On," Modest Mouse
10. "Stupid and Shallow," The Futureheads
11. "Can't Stand Me Now," The Libertines
12. "Settle Down," The Ordinary Boys
13. "Mr. Brightside," The Killers
14. "This Fire," Franz Ferdinand
15. "The List Goes On," The Ordinary Boys
16. "Next Exit," Interpol
17. "Falling Away with You," Muse
18. "Ocean Breathes Salty," Modest Mouse
19. "It's a Hit," Rilo Kiley

1. "It Was Supposed To Be So Easy," The Streets
2. "Final Straw," R.E.M.
3. "The Wrong Way," TV On The Radio
4. "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," The Arcade Fire
5. "Don't Go To Pieces," Hope of the States
6. "Butterflies and Hurricanes," Muse
7. "Accidntel Deth," Rilo Kiley
8. "Where Is the Line?," Björk
9. "Cherry Blossom Girl," Air
10. "Lounger," Dogs Die In Hot Cars
11. "Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)," The Arcade Fire
12. "Naked As We Came," Iron & Wine
13. "Suspended From Class," Camera Obscura
14. "Such Great Heights," Iron & Wine
15. "Portions for Foxes," Rilo Kiley
16. "Don't Love You," TV On The Radio
17. "Dry Your Eyes," The Streets

Before.

After.

Worthy Causes
Doctors Without Borders
World Food Programme
International Red Cross
Oxfam

...and I don't feel any different.

One of my new year's resolutions is to start up an honest to god MP3 blog here on Be The Power. To kick things off, here's an appropriate cut from one of my favorite bands, Death Cab for Cutie. "The New Year" was one of my favorite songs from 2003 (more on that later) and I think it's a hell of a way to get things started in 2005.

Death Cab For Cutie - The New Year

Here's to a new year where peace and goodwill rule the day. Here's to a new year with parties and friends as good as those I enjoyed tonight. Here's to a new year with gainful employment. Here's to a new year where the Tigers win the World Series.

Happy new year.