Saturday, October 13, 2007

Other People's Words

I've been trying to avoid blog postings that are just Snappy Link To Exciting Article, but this is just something that I have to throw out there. I was reading my Google Reader* this morning, when I cam across a Salon article (by Bill Maher, no less) about the Barack-Obama-Pin-Thingy.

For those who haven't heard, Senator Obama doesn't wear an American Flag lapel pin on his suit coat, because he feels that in many cases, the pin is a substitute for real patriotism. The right (and to a lesser extent his Democratic rivals) responded with vitriol usually reserved for 12 year olds with brain injuries. So, Salon fought back.

Among the highlights:

"...people need to remember that lapels aren't for wearing pins to create the illusion that you're supporting the troops. They're for wearing ribbons to create the illusion that you're helping cure a disease."

" Last week we had the first genuine controversy of the presidential campaign: the shocking news that Barack Obama doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin, so apparently he and America are no longer going steady."

"...we do flag pins and bumper stickers. And not even bumper stickers. Bumper magnets. Because stickers are tough to get off, and we may change our mind about never forgetting."

I could just keep quoting, but you should really just go read the article.

BRAVO, BARACK OBAMA!: American Flag Pins Are For Idiots
-by Bill Maher, from Salon

*By the way, has anyone else found the experience of waking up in the morning and going through their RSS aggregator exciting in the way that other people find reading the morning paper enjoyable? It's like a newspaper, but I'm the editor-in-chief!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Glad to see you're loving Google Reader, Jake! It's the best way to get news and info! Also, did you know you can do Flickr photo updates through Reader? Almost every page these days has a feed.

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