Posted by debrazza on Fri Aug 1, 2008 at 4:57 AM Pacific

Who am I?

Guest post by debrazza

Hello everyone, I am debrazza and I will be guest blogging over the next few days to help Jed while he takes a short respite.  I am extremely grateful to Jed for asking me to do this considering the high quality of his work and the effort that he has put into building this site.  So, since he has taken such faith in me with the keys to his pride and joy, I thought it would only be appropriate to introduce myself a bit to let all of you great fellow readers and commenters know a bit about about who I am.

I like that question of course because I am always a little tempted to respond by saying either D.R.I. or Rock N Roll.  While I am sure most folks are quite aware of Mos Def, he is of course #69 in Stuff White People Like, I would be highly surprised if anyone was intimately familiar with obscure early 80's hardcore.

So why do I mention D.R.I.?  Well, D.R.I., along with a host of other early 80's punk bands that perhaps more folks are familiar with, like Dead Kennedy's and Minor Threat, were really what got me politically conscious at an extremely young age (I'm in my early 30's).  And of course, since that is how I was brought into politics, I still retain a lot those sensibilities despite the fact that I am now a suit myself.  And that sensibility can only be expressed as a deep and undying antipathy to conservatives and the conservative movement told most poignantly in my favorite D.R.I. song, Reaganomics.  It is only a 40 second song, so the lyrics are direct and to the point.

Reaganomics killing me
Reaganomics killing me
Reaganomics killing me
Reaganomics killing you

Although I like to believe that I still own all of that angst and certainly I have extremely strong opinions about what I think of social, corporate, neo- and paleo- conservatives and their ilk, I am certainly not an orthodox liberal/progressive.  That is primarily derived from the fact that I support "fair trade", particularly the ending of agricultural subsidies in the U.S. and Europe and I believe that too many public sector unions have their priorities on backwards and do considerable damage the cause of justice, education and good government by providing grist to the right wing propaganda mill and engaging in activities that undercut public confidence in public servants.  So what else is there to know about me?  Well here is a short list (or long, depending on your proclivities)

What I Like to Read
Of course, The Jed Report is my #1 daily destination for news.  Everyone who comes here knows that Jed's video editing skills are masterful and that he is an intelligent observer of the campaign.  But for those who have not yet realized it, Jed has created a masterful RSS tool at the top of the page for checking campaign news on a regular basis throughout the day.  Use it people because it is good, particularly if you are lazy like me and don't want to bother setting up your own RSS newsreader.

I also of course check a couple sites that Jed does not link to regularly throughout the day, one is memeorandum.  I go there a couple times a day to check and see what story a good number of bloggers are huffing and puffing about throughout the day.  And speaking of which, there is of course Huffington Post Politics.  And last but not least, a good RSS news feed aggregator site is the UK's NewsNow.  By checking their Barack Obama category, you get the bonus of seeing some published news coming out of U.S. papers and some blogs, but also the added bonus of getting quick and easy access to articles published in all U.K. papers as well.  I'd never thought I would ever say this, but journalistic standards in the U.K. have now by far exceeded those in the U.S., particularly in coverage of this campaign.  And of course, the Guardian/Observer is now publishing the brilliant Michael Tomasky.

What I Like to Watch
I know it has gotten silly at times, but I am still a big fan of BSG.  I was initially skeptical of NBC's The Office in their first season, because Ricky Gervais's original is so brilliant, but I been a huge fan since season 2.  And of course wish Firefly could have made it to season 2 (another reason to hate Fox).   I have been a big fan of Sasuke/Ninja Warrior, however the premise is starting to get a bit worn, so now I prefer Kinniku Banzuke/Unbeatable Banzuke.  In terms of comedy, Arrested Development is the gold standard, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is so funny and so deranged that I have no clue how it got on the air and   Weeds deserves a much wider audience.  And if people have not noticed yet, I think last.fm and hulu.com are extremely underutilized resources.

Who I Like to Cheer For
First of all and most important, you have to distinguish between football and football.  For the former, there of course the one and only "Home of Football" The Arsenal FC and my local club DC United.  For the latter, there are my two hometown teams, UW Huskies and Seattle Seahawks, I am more partial to the Huskies though because I grew up with season tickets.  As for the Hawks, Jim Zorn is now the coach of the Redskins and I despise the Redskins for many reasons, the name being the most obvious, but I still feel a bit torn.  It was like when I found out that Steve Largent was a right wing nut job.  Boy that was a bad day.  And last but not least, the position they are most comfortable in, the Seattle Mariners.

Where I am from
If it was not obvious from my sport team preferences, yes, I am indeed from Seattle.  Other places I have lived include the SF Bay Area, Connecticut and the District of Columbia.

Alright, well enough about me, I promise.  Now let's discuss how out of touch John McCain really is.

Update: And for those who are wondering, my username debrazza comes from Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, the Italian turned French explorer that founded Brazzaville, the one-time capital of Free France and of course location of Bogart's exile.  And, for personal and professional reasons, I have decided that in this Google world, using a pseudonym is probably a good idea.

Update2: I do definitely read the comments, I comment a lot myself, so if anyone has some tips for me to post, let me know and I will definitely see what I can do.  I am here to serve.

Update3: Maybe I will break my own rule about talking about myself only one more time and that will be at some point over the course of the weekend I promise to write about my experience campaigning for Obama in rural South Carolina.



Who am I?
Guest post by debrazza

Hello everyone, I am debrazza and I will be guest blogging over the next few days to help Jed while he takes a short respite.  I am extremely grateful to Jed for asking me to do this considering the high quality of his work and the effort that he has put into building this site.  So, since he has taken such faith in me with the keys to his pride and joy, I thought it would only be appropriate to introduce myself a bit to let all of you great fellow readers and commenters know a bit about about who I am.

I like that question of course because I am always a little tempted to respond by saying either D.R.I. or Rock N Roll.  While I am sure most folks are quite aware of Mos Def, he is of course #69 in Stuff White People Like, I would be highly surprised if anyone was intimately familiar with obscure early 80's hardcore.

So why do I mention D.R.I.?  Well, D.R.I., along with a host of other early 80's punk bands that perhaps more folks are familiar with, like Dead Kennedy's and Minor Threat, were really what got me politically conscious at an extremely young age (I'm in my early 30's).  And of course, since that is how I was brought into politics, I still retain a lot those sensibilities despite the fact that I am now a suit myself.  And that sensibility can only be expressed as a deep and undying antipathy to conservatives and the conservative movement told most poignantly in my favorite D.R.I. song, Reaganomics.  It is only a 40 second song, so the lyrics are direct and to the point.

Reaganomics killing me
Reaganomics killing me
Reaganomics killing me
Reaganomics killing you

Although I like to believe that I still own all of that angst and certainly I have extremely strong opinions about what I think of social, corporate, neo- and paleo- conservatives and their ilk, I am certainly not an orthodox liberal/progressive.  That is primarily derived from the fact that I support "fair trade", particularly the ending of agricultural subsidies in the U.S. and Europe and I believe that too many public sector unions have their priorities on backwards and do considerable damage the cause of justice, education and good government by providing grist to the right wing propaganda mill and engaging in activities that undercut public confidence in public servants.  So what else is there to know about me?  Well here is a short list (or long, depending on your proclivities)

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