Obama vs. Iran

Brad Shepherd — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:05:12 +0000

I am currently out of town and writing this on my phone, so will keep it brief. I have been following the Iran situation via Twitter, paying more attention to my phone than to relatives I hardly know anyway.

Although Obama has slowly increased his rhetorical support for the democratic protesters, it is still clearly aimed at keeping the possibility of negotiation with the regime open. If he continues to push for negotiations that will legitimize the oppression, how will the media react?

I would posit that as much as they love Obama, the love is actually for the story of an idealistic, young African-American who became president. However compelling it is, that story is slowly becoming stale. How long, then, can the love of that story protect Obama when he is on the wrong side of an even more compelling story: the story of underdog, pro-freedom protesters fighting the evil theocracy?

For now the media is spinning on Obama’s behalf, but I think this is just the first time (of perhaps many yet to come) where he runs the risk of the media leaving him for a better story. His utter tone-deafness will cost him with his most valuable constituency, if not now, then eventually.

Bikes, Blues & BBQ (Update 10/1 — Attendance Numbers)

Brad Shepherd — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:03:26 +0000

The wife, the boy and I walked down Dickson this afternoon to check out the cool bikes, then ate some awesome BBQ while listening to a blues band.

BBB is the third-largest bike rally in the country, after Sturgis and Daytona Beach, and is the largest that benefits charity. The attendance estimates for last year were around 350,000. This year should surpass that.

Didn’t take a ton of pictures, but here are some of the more interesting ones: (after the break)

[svgallery name="bbb"]

UPDATE (October 1, 2008 at 10:00):

The rally organizers “estimated attendance at 350,000 — up from 300,000 last year and 1,500 the first year. An official count is not available because there is no registration, and organizers use sales and hotel estimates to come up with a figure.” That’s from this morning’s Northwest Arkansas Times. They do not have an online version of the article up yet; I’ll add a link when it becomes available. [Upate: Here's the link.]

Apparently I was wrong about last year’s estimate, but even if there was no significant increase, 350,000 is a respectable number. It will be interested to see the amount they are able to donate to charity this year, which should come out in a couple weeks (I think it was about $100,000 last year).

Zero Sheep » Events

Obama vs. Iran

Bikes, Blues & BBQ (Update 10/1 — Attendance Numbers)