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American Prayer: music video features appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Alexander, Forest Whitaker, Macy Gray, Herbie Hancock, Margaret Cho, Barry Manilow, Joss Stone, Colbie Caillat, Cyndi Lauper, and Joan Baez.
http://www.myamericanprayer.com/video.html

)
Barack Obama is IRISH!  [YouTube video]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek

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Campaign Finance Reports and Data: Federal Election Commission site for finding information about campaign financing, and who’s contributing to which candidates.
http://www.fec.gov/disclosure.shtml

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Election Guide 08: New York Times site
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/index.html

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Five Thirty Eight: Electoral Projections Done Right (538 is the number of electors in the electoral college): Chicagoan Nate Silver, respected baseball statistician, seeks [quote] to accumulate and analyze polling and political data in way that is informed, accurate and attractive.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

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Google 2008 U.S. Election:
http://www.google.com/2008election/

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Kenyan musical video clip about Obama.
http://content.worldmusic.net/video/kenge.html

 )
Match-O-Matic II: ABC News has a test  to see who’s campaign statements, McCain’s or  Obama’s, you agree with most.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/MatchoMatic/fullpage?id=5542139

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Obama Scrapbook:
http://obamascrapbook.com/index.htm

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Obama Wins Harold Washington Award at Congressional Black Caucus
http://www.bronzevillemetropolis.com/Harold_Washington_Award.html

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Photo: MCCAIN SUPPORTER WEARS RACIST OBAMA T-SHIRT OUT IN PUBLIC
http://www.mediatakeout.com/2008/27208-disturbing_pics_mccain_supporter_wears_racist_obama_t-shirt_out_in_public.html

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Pollster.com: Owned by YouGov/Polimetrix, an international research company.
http://www.pollster.com/

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Ron Howard’s call to action: [quote] Ron Howard wants to talk about the election. So does Andy Griffith and Henry Winkler.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d

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Takin’ It Back With Barack, Jack!: jazz song
http://www.devradowrite.com/

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2008 Presidential Candidates IAT (Implicit Association Test), Harvard University: [quote]   Project Implicit blends basic research and educational outreach in a virtual laboratory at which visitors can examine their own hidden biases. Project Implicit is the product of research by three scientists whose work produced a new approach to understanding of attitudes, biases, and stereotypes.
 …  The Project Implicit site (implicit.harvard.edu) has been functioning as a hands-on science museum exhibit, allowing web visitors to experience the manner in which human minds display the effects of stereotypic and prejudicial associations acquired from their socio-cultural environment.  … It is well known that people don’t always ¡speak their minds¢, and it is suspected that people don¢t always ¡know their minds¢. Understanding such divergences is important to scientific psychology. This web site presents a method that demonstrates the conscious-unconscious divergences much more convincingly than has been possible with previous methods. This new method is called the Implicit Association Test, or IAT for short. …  We will ask you (optionally) to report your attitudes toward or beliefs about these topics, and provide some general information about yourself. These demonstrations should be more valuable if you have also tried to describe your self-understanding of the characteristic that the IAT is designed to measure. Also, a variety of factors may influence your IAT performance. The score is provided for entertainment purposes only.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

October 24, 2008

Hope that this finds you smiling. Now you must admit that I have been pretty good in not sending out tons of election messages. And believe me, I am receiving quite a bit of stuff. Here is a new piece from the New Yorker Festival. The New Yorker items have struck me because my Mom was such a big fan of the magazine.You know how much Helen would have enjoyed this presidential campaign. The statistician that she was would have been quite the poll watcher. Helen would have phoned radio talk shows in the middle of the night. And she would have worked her librarian daughter . . . now get me such and such an article from some far flung resource that she had heard about. We would have chatted during the debates, the conventions, the press conferences, the talk shows, etc. Hatless Helen would have been proud to wear the Obama for President cap and the Obama Mama button I would have sent her. I am getting teary eyed now just thinking of how moved and excited she would have been about the whole thing. You might enjoy the following item.

Donna Brazile is Not Going to the Back of the Bus
http://jezebel.com/5059945/donna-brazile-is-not-going-to-the-back-of-the-bus  

I am just back from the 93rd Annual Conference of the Assn. for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc. in Birmingham, AL. The gathering was fantastic with tremendous participation at all levels. I saw so many folks with NU, Chicago and library connections. Makes it a welcome and comfortable gathering, particularly for young scholars. Carter G. Woodson would marvel at his legacy. The ASALH banquet speaker Ronald Walters, one of the most articulate and internationally renowned experts on issues of African American leadership and politics, was one of my mother’s favorite scholars. I think that Helen would have enjoyed Cornel West’s appearance as a luncheon speaker. I was moved while on the Black History tour. Just sitting in the 16th Street Baptist Church was quite emotional for me. . . 4 little girls, just a bit older than myself, were murdered 45 years ago last month. Across the street from the church is the important Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, statues of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the park where attack dogs and water hoses battered U.S. citizens. Bombingham, the home of Richard Arrington, Nell Carter, Angela Davis, Dennis Edwards, A. G. Gaston, Lionel Hampton, Erskine Hawkins, Bo Jackson, Eddie Kendricks, Carl Lewis, Willie Mays, Odetta, Satchel Paige, Condoleezza Rice, Sonia Sanchez (who was there for the ASALH confab), Sun Ra, and Margaret Walker. I loved the park and statue dedicated to the Temptations, featuring Eddie Kendricks on the mic. I imagined him singing, “Girl, You Need A Change Of Mind” and “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, the Black Barons Negro League team, the Historic 4th Avenue District, the Carver Theatre and the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame remind us of the contributions and just how far we have come . . . and in our lifetime. Ah yes, our ancestors are indeed proud!

After the confab, I drove to Tuskegee, AL, to visit my aunt Carol Ford and her daughter Marian Garmon (Scootie) for a couple of days. [Family Tree: my maternal grandmother Margaret K. Goines Roy married William H. Walcott, Aunt Carol's father, when I was about three years old.] Immediately upon my arrival, Aunt Carol enlisted me in the mayoral campaign of Omar Neal. Donning a Neal t-shirt, I introduced myself as the political muscle from Chicago. I joined a caravan of Neal supporters as they drove around the city, giving me a tour of Tuskegee that I otherwise would have never seen. By the way, Omar Neal defeated Johnny Ford in Tuesday’s runoff election. It was an honor to escort my 95 years young aunt to the polling place. Everybody knows her. I mean, everybody knows her. Truly children of Tuskegee Institute, both having grown up on the campus, Aunt Carol and cousin Scootie gave me quite the campus tour. I really enjoyed the George Washington Carver Museum. Of course I checked out the Library. I should note that Aunt Carol headed the Veterinary Medical Library for many years. Yeah, my librarian aunts (including the dearly departed Althea Bethel, Harlene Perry, and Elizabeth Postell) marked me. I so loved the ambiance of their home. Books and bookcases everywhere topped with family photos and mementos. The lovely and peaceful garden views plus the warmth and love gave me the comfort I adore. I look forward to a return visit and more opportunities to spend time with them.

Enjoy your weekend! You know that I will . . . I am ready for some football: 5-0 NU plays Mich. St. tomorrow! Go Cats!

Take care