Waaasuuuup! Then and Now...

Who says pop culture isn't a barometer for checking the climate of change over the last 10 years. Check out the Waaaasuuup guys commercial, then and now. Makes ya wanna holla, laugh and cry.

1998


2008

What You've Always thought: Undecided Voters Are, hmm...

For anyone still trying to figure out what an undecided voter is, the New York Times sketches a pretty detailed picture of them with this report . Interviewing several undecideds, you can actually see what the dog Brian from Family Guy was saying when he opined that this segment of the voting population (roughly 4%) are "the biggest idiots on the planet." Just check out the internal struggles of these swingers:

Mr. Finke lives in a red state, Kentucky, with his wife, Shelley, who is also a gray state citizen. She works out of their home, where she helps manage her husband’s second career as a jazz trombonist.

“I tend to be a procrastinator,” said Ms. Finke, 44, who said she operated best with deadlines.

She voted for Mr. Bush twice and describes herself as “a conservative person at heart.” At the beginning of the campaign, she was suspicious of Mr. Obama “because of the whole Hollywood thing,” but she has since warmed to him.

“My opinion of Obama has definitely risen during this campaign,” Ms. Finke said. “And my opinion of McCain has fallen.”

So it sure sounds as if Ms. Finke is moving toward Mr. Obama, the Illinois Democrat, right?

Not so fast.

“I’d say I’m leaning towards McCain,” she said. “For as awful as things are with this Republican administration, there’s something about the whole conservative thing that appeals to me.” Put her down as “leaning McCain” then.

“But maybe I’ll vote for Obama,” she said. “How many days are left?”

Two, as of Sunday. While many people in this campaign-saturated country are relieved that the election will soon be over, some of the undecideds figure, What’s the rush?

“I might flip a coin,” said Vasilios Gerovasiliou, 64, of Concordville, Pa.

So, there you have it: the definition of a swing voter is a white, conservative voter yanking your change. I say let's move on....

Is the Right to Vote Fading?

Remember the email rumor of the late 90's that said the Voting Rights Act will end in 2007, thus ending black folks' right to vote. A far fetched notion, back then, until we hit the 21st Century and the election—and eight glorious years—of George W. Bush. Although this decade of a Republican White House hasn't proven as tumultuous for African Americans as the last 12 under Reagan and Bush I, voting in hotly-contested presidential elections has. First, there were reports in 2000 of voter suppression and "irregularities" in predominantly-black counties like Gadsden where 12.4 percent of ballots were invalidated because of faulty counting machines). Coincidentally, the recount battle over Florida is how the GOP, uh, stole the contest. Next came the 2004 presidential election—another Bush win—and numerous reports of voter suppression in Ohio. And a month before this year's election the New York Times reports that in at least six states voters are being kicked off the voting rolls or being blocked from registering "in ways that appear to violate federal law."

Now I'm not one to give in to conspiracy theories, but I am one to ring an alarm if a dangerous pattern seems to be developing. And a viable threat to the African-American vote and their voting rights, especially in swing states, is what I see coming, at least every four years. Yes, there's no Jim Crow South or poll tax or Grandfather clauses to overtly keep a certain segment of African-Americans from the polls, but there are new, covert techniques to institute an old result (black voter disenfranchisement). This is what our so-called civil rights leadership need to currently keep their eye on because, while there's a federal law which gives black folks' the right to vote, their are 21st Century means, used by unseen hands, of slowly and covertly taking that right away.

RAIL GRAFFITI

Anarchist Graffiti Gets a Simulcast Deal

Long time, no posts. If you were miffed by the lack of entries, sorry. But, hey, life happens. And mucho has certainly changed since we last wrote. Barack was barely keeping up with McCain in the polls just two months ago. The country's economy drops like a 747 in massive turbulence. Foreclosures on the rise. Unemployment on the rise. McCain rallies damn near become Klan meetings (surprised no one yelled "Nigger" in between all those shouts of "Off with his head"). Barack wins two debates. The country sees Palin for who she REALLY is. Then, whoa, things change in Barack's favor. Ah well, the 4th still looms. But other things have changed as far as this blog goes, which is part of the reason I haven't posted in a while. Last month I cut a syndication deal with the upcoming site Blackpower.com to share content. So, until the site finally launches, I thought to put Anarchist Graffiti on a brief hiatus (though in blog time, months seem like years...LOL). In the meantime, I also used the time off to work on projects and try (operative word being "try") putting together another book project. Though that, as I learned from working on Scream can take a minute. As a result, I should be back on my blog game a lot tighter than I have recently.

KCS BCR

Graffiti art on trains - Namur Station