The problem with the guilt by association story regarding Wright and Ayers is that is assumes that we can read the mind of Obama and know his "true" motivations. It assumes that more than simply being a rather left wing politician, that he is particularly deceptive and sinister in his ultimate goals.

I had an interesting FB comment exchange with some "true believers" last night. I found this rather enlightening and disturbing.

Walt - Gotta agree with Mary Katherine Ham: the Obama campaign is predictably whiny about Ayers: http://is.gd/3xgw.via Twitter - 11:05pm

Will Hinton at 11:09pm October 4
The Ayers story is a non-story.

George Lincoln at 11:12pm October 4
obama's strong ties to terrorist William Ayres is a non-story only to those who want black moslem leader barack hussein osama obama bin ladden to sieze control over America, turning it into the 58th islamofascist state.

Will Hinton at 11:14pm October 4
And now the nut-jobs come out of the closet.... :) read more »

Close Shmose [Jonah Goldberg]

I trust Stan entirely that Obama and Ayers were in fact close. But look: even if they weren't that close it would hardly mean Ayers is insignificant. Anyone who understands politics understands that who a president listens to is relevant. Who will the commander-in-chief let in the room? From what direction will he take advice? Who is on his "team" and who isn't? What's a reasonable argument and what isn't?

Even if Obama personally disliked Ayers and disagreed with his politics in meaningful ways, Obama still found Ayers to be someone worth listening to and working with. Ditto Jeremiah Wright. They were in his tent, not outside it. Ayers and Wright may be more extreme than Obama. Indeed, they surely are. But there is very little evidence in the record that Obama's ideological compass doesn't point in their direction. I don't think Americans should be single issue voters on the Ayers stuff. But I think it is absurd to argue — as the NY Times implicitly does — that this is all meaningless because Obama and Ayers were allegedly less than soulmates.

Again imagine a similar relationship between McCain and an abortion clinic bomber and the Times running a story a month before the election reassuring that it's no big deal because McCain and Mr. Planned Parenthood Bomber weren't "close."

Jonah, like many conservative commentators, seems to have lost his critical thinking abilities during this election because of his intense emotionally charged desire to beat Obama at all costs. He can't separate what he wishes to be from what is. I think what is most disturbing about this trend is that pundits and journalists on both sides have inserted themselves into influencing this election in a more explicit way than ever before. We know that media has always had tremendous influence in this regards but never have they been so obvious about it.

Listen in as I interview David Batstone of Right Reality and the Not For Sale Campaign.

David and I discuss the problem of modern day slavery, what people can do to fight this problem, and the issue of ethical business practices. read more »

Listen in as I interview Richard Doster, author of the new book, Safe At Home.

Safe At Home is the story of how a small town in the South in the 1950s grapples with having its minor league baseball team integrated. Not only did this book rekindle my love of baseball but it illuminated race relations in the pre-Civil Rights era in an authentic and compelling voice.

Richard and I discuss his inspiration for the book, how he dealt with writing about sensitive issues of race, and how sometimes ordinary people can change things. read more »

Listen in as I interview Todd Bouldin of Pepperdine University. Todd is the Director of the Lilly Endowment Program on Vocation, Assistant to the Provost for Art and Media Initiatives, and is co-founder of the new MFA (masters of fine arts) program in Screen and Television Writing at Pepperdine.

Todd and I discuss the new MFA program at Pepperdine, the role of Christians in culture, the role of Christians in politics, and the upcoming election.

Listen in as I interview David Houle futurist and author of the book The Shift Age.

David and I discuss future trends including the democratization of information and media, why the traditional definition of "recession" is irrelevant, peak oil, alternative energy, the end of the age of "unlimited", and David's hope for the future.

"We will survive collectively or die individually"

"We should try to be the parents of our future rather than the offspring of our past" read more »

Listen in as I interview Ken Mueller of WXPN in Pennsylvania about the future of radio, changes in the music industry, and how technology and social networking is enabling democratization of cultural change.

Ken has over worked for over three decades in radio including almost ten years as the radio curator at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City.

Listen in to this week's interview with S.E. Cupp, co-author of Why You're Wrong About The Right: Behind The Myths: The Surprising Truths About Conservatives. In it, we discuss common myths about conservatives (they are mean-spirited, uptight, humorless, homophobic, etc), the role of pundits such as Ann Coulter and Neil Boortz in perpetuating certain myths, the presidential campaign, Bush's legacy, and what the future holds for conservatism.

I'm generally not inclined to read books like this, but after this interview I likely will read it.

Listen in to my interview with Bill Strickland, CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Manchester Bidwell is an arts and job training organization in inner city Pittsburgh that Bill started in 1968.

Bill has a new book out, Make The Impossible Possible that I highly recommend. In light of my conversation with Andy Crouch earlier this week, I would say that Bill is a leading expert on "culture making". Every city needs a "Bill Strickland" who eschews conventional wisdom and just goes about the business of helping people and treating those who are often ignored with tremendous respect. read more »

Listen in to an interview with my friend Andy Crouch, editorial director of for The Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today. Andy has written a new book released this week called Culture Making: Rediscovering our Creative Calling. In this interview, Andy and I discuss an alternative to Christians seeking to change culture through politics, why non-Christians shouldn't fear Christians seeking to create culture, and examples of culture making.

I highly recommend checking out Andy's new website, Culture Making, and getting his new book.

Culture Making referenced in this interview:
Chick-Fil-A
In-N-Out Burger
Kiva
Prison Entrepreneuership Program

In last week's New York Times, I found a fascinating article about Congressman Charles Rangel and newly released information about his home in New York. I was particularly interested because Rangel's home actually consists of four rent stabilized apartments in Harlem.

As many of you may not know what rent control and rent stabilization is, here is a quick primer. From Wikipedia: "Rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the renting of residential housing. It functions as a price ceiling." Actually the original premise of rent control is founded upon good intentions; the idea being that in a city we should be able to provide a stock of affordable housing for lower income families. If only good intentions won the day!

So let's consider a number of things. How likely is it that Congressman Charles Rangel heads a low income family? Well, according to the NYTimes article, his net worth is somewhere between $566k and $1.2 million. Not Bill Gates worthy but certainly not low income. How did Rangel come to acquire not just one rent-stabilized apartment, but FOUR? Certainly there is some sort of income requirements in order to qualify for rent stabilized apartments? Nope. Actually there isn't. So how does one acquire one of these coveted apartments? According to my friends that live in New York City, there are three ways that one acquires a rent stabilized apartment: inheritance, by knowing someone, or by paying what is referred to as "key money" (which, while illegal, is not uncommon). And so how likely is it that low income families acquire rent stabilized apartments through these means? Almost never. read more »

Good Will Hinton interviews U.S. Congressman Hank Johnson in a broad ranging conversation covering the current energy crisis, real estate foreclosures, the War on Terror, and Barack Obama.

Part 1 - Energy Crisis
Part 2 - Real Estate & Foreclosures
Part 3 - War on Terrorism
Part 4 - Byrne/JAG & Arbitration Fairness Act
Part 5 - Barack Obama & Election season

Part 1 covers the energy crisis. read more »

I was checking my comments tonight on the site and found the following comment spam:

Inside I recognized a lot of friends. It is good to know them, when I was bullied by other people; they always came to help me the first time. They said they have no Goonzu money, or they would give me. In this way, I would become a little terrible. I did not know from the beginning of the day, one day, I as usual medicines, upgrade practice that she suddenly appeared in my side. I did not know why I would shout out:” wife!” shouted after my heart was strange, of course she did not know I felt at this moment, and then she laughed at me. Then she ran.

Fairly typical spam with a link that I have removed.

Then things get really interesting. I checked my Sitemeter logs and discovered the culprit.

Domain Name 163data.com.cn ? (China)
IP Address 218.93.19.# (changzhou communist consolidated aliance office)
ISP Data Communication Division
Location
Continent : Asia
Country : China (Facts)
State/Region : Jiangsu
City : Changzhou

So why is the Chinese Communist Party putting comment spam on my blog???

Update: Ha! And now they are trying to add the comment spam to this post!

I may be getting older but I still love a great rock concert. Recently I went to a show and was so blown away that I realized that it was one of the best concerts I have ever seen.

So what makes a great rock concert? There are many criteria that someone might use to rate a show but it all comes down to one thing for me - energy. Am I moved? Do I get goosebumps? Do I scream my lungs out to the point of losing my voice? Am I utterly exhausted at the end? Is that moment cemented in my mind forever?

I started thinking about all my favorites and then decided to do a little research. To my amazement, I found a handful of videos online from great shows I had been to. So I give you the Top 10 Concerts I have been to. These aren't necessarily my favorites bands but ones that left an incredible impression on me.

1) New Order @ The Reading Festival, Reading, England - August 1993

The setting was everything here. In 1993, my brother and I went to the Reading Festival aways outside of London. The last show of the night was close to midnight. I'm standing in an English pasture. Full moon overhead. Someone asked me today if it had anything to do with anyone I was with. I don't think I even noticed a person around me I was so entranced.

This video was taken at the exact show I was at. read more »

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Daniel Radosh, author of the new book Rapture Ready. Daniel wrote the book to investigate Christian pop culture and came away surprised at what he found. I highly recommend checking out his book.

Daniel and I had a great time discussing the "Culture War" and civility in the public arena. While I am sure that Daniel and I have many differences, I couldn't have found a better guy to enjoy a morning chat with.

So I am now in NYC for the next ten days. I love coming to NYC because of the tremendous energy in the city. I always feel that great things are happening here.

Hopefully I will have some good things to report on this week including a few interesting interviews that I hope to conduct this week.

If any of my readers in NYC would like to get together, shoot me an email at will@goodwillhinton.com.

If you read nothing else this week, read David Brook's column today in the New York Times: The Great Seduction.

The loosening of financial inhibition has meant more options for the well-educated but more temptation and chaos for the most vulnerable. Social norms, the invisible threads that guide behavior, have deteriorated. Over the past years, Americans have been more socially conscious about protecting the environment and inhaling tobacco. They have become less socially conscious about money and debt. read more »

Yesterday I wrote about the loss of community in America and mostly talked about what we have lost. What do we have now?

I lived in San Diego for almost 3 years from 1999-2001. The neighborhood we moved into was intended I believe to encourage community. There were public green spaces instead of individual private yards, lots of sidewalks, and the homes were oriented so as to encourage interaction. Yet somehow there was absolutely zero community. And not for lack of trying. There is only so many times that you can try to strike up a conversation with neighbors as they are trying to escape back into the confines of their home. I'll never forget the day we moved. We had a moving van out front and my next door neighbor walked by. "We'll miss you John." Yeah, that's how close we were. read more »

My friend Jeff Shinabarger wrote a very thought provoking post earlier this week about community in the wake of tornadoes that came through his neighborhood in East Atlanta. His post ended up being a great topic of discussion with my posse this week and prompted these thoughts from me:

I've been thinking about this idea of community for years and I can't quite put my finger on what has caused a general decline in the sense of community. Many people talk about the rise of suburbs or wealth as primary reasons but I think that those are but small contributing factors. Many of my friends grew up in suburban neighborhoods in Atlanta or elsewhere and had a tremendous sense of community. I know that I did in my prototypical suburban neighborhood. In my cul-de-sac infested suburban sprawl neighborhood, I have at one point been inside every single house in that neighborhood and dozens in surrounding neighborhoods. And not just those where my friends lived. There was a sense as a kid that I could get in almost as much trouble with another adult in the neighborhood as with my parents; parents weren't afraid to actually discipline other people's kids even if they hardly knew them. I have talked about these experiences with friends who grew up in other parts of the country, with friends who grew up in poverty stricken neighborhoods, and those who grew up around the country club and while the details may differ, the general experience of community was the same. read more »