Technical Difficulties Magically Resolved

I believe it was the picture of the adorable pig that made my McCain and Obama, and most importantly, Wall-e videos, go back to working! I am taking this as proof that pigs truly are lucky as well as awesome.

Technical Difficulties!!

For some reason, all the youtube videos (including my Wall-e post!!!!!) are broken. I don't know why, but it makes me very sad! Will try to fix asap.

Lipstick on a Pig

I would like to thank the McCain/Palin campaign for drawing my attention to what has become my new favorite phrase: "Putting lipstick on a pig."

The Republicans are "outraged" that Obama described McCain's policies on the economy, health care, taxes, education, and foreign relations, as likened to "putting lipstick on a pig" -- meaning, they are pretty much identical to George Bush's policies on similar issues, even though McCain is now (and how originally!) running on "change." Why are they "outraged"? Because they believe that Obama's "lipstick on a pig" phrase is a jab at Sarah Palin, who described herself as a "pitbull with lipstick."

The funny thing is, that if you watch the video (clip below), you will hear clearly that Obama is actually talking about McCain, and in fact, not just McCain, but his policies. He is saying, "McCain is trying to sound like he is all for change, but many of his policies are similar to those of George W. Bush. If you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig! Calling it "change" but doing nothing different is still the same old, same old." (My paraphrase. You're welcome!)

Watch the clip here: (I'm having trouble keeping my youtube clips on, so if the video doesn't work, go here)



Now, what I find hi-larious is that McCain himself has used this exact same phrase before, and not very long ago! So, in pointing fingers, the Republican camp is completely ignoring the fact that "lipstick on a pig" is a popular phrase (why oh why have I not heard it before?!).

Not convinced? Watch McCain use it here



and again here (around the 29 second mark. keep watching right afterward to watch the LOVELINESS (read, "evilness) that is Fox News): link here



So... the moral of this story is this: There is NO MORAL! This is politics, people. I personally find it a) Ridiculously funny that the Republican campaign thinks that acting all sensitive and inventing personal attacks is an actual campaign tactic; and b) Sad that this kind of tactic actually works with a large part of their voter base.

Here is Obama's response to this "phony" sensitivity used to distract people from the issues.

Obama shirt fr Moveon.org

Hey,

Want an Obama T-shirt? MoveOn's giving them out if you make a small donation (only 8 bucks, people!) to their young-voter registration program, aimed at registering half a million young voters in swing states. I just got mine, and wanted to share the opportunity with you.

Click this link to get your Obama T-shirt:

http://pol.moveon.org/obamatshirts/index4.html?id=-10512612-UTfQsyx

The polls are showing McCain in the lead for the first time. Registering voters is crucial so that come Novemeber, people can actually vote! I sent my registration form in last week. Have you sent yours in?

Anita, Gilberto, and Leah & Luke are up

My last semester at CGU, I interviewed several really interesting people for student and alumni profiles for The Flame. Amongst them was a lady named Anita Boling, a PhD student named Gilberto Ocampo, and a married couple, both PhD's, Leah and Luke Schulte. Well, last night, I accidentally came across the profiles on the Flame website! I did not know that they were up, so it was a pleasant surprise, and I thought I would share them :)

Anita is really an amazing woman, who overcame a great personal loss to go on and do some amazing things with African "virgin" villages (meaning, African villages that have never received outside aid) by creating a non-profit named ViNA (Village Network Africa). During our meeting, she was lovely, and even brought a big bag full of African toys, instruments, and other items from the first village she and her team had been to. Read my profile on her, but know that it is by no means doing justice to the amazing work she has done, or the people she has met!!

Gilberto is also a really interesting figure - a CGU botany PhD student originally from Mexico, he traveled to Australia to do field research on a tiny plant called Portulaca, which may be used in cholesterol medicine. He is very charming, and a great sport, and gave me and my friend Joey a great tour of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.

Leah and Luke were really lovely, a couple who met at CGU and have since gotten married. Both are PhD students at the School of Religion, and together, they have put on conferences at CGU where students from different faiths could come together and discuss their points of view.

The profiles are on CGU's The Flame website:
Click here and then go to Alumni Profile for Anita Boling, and to Student Profile for Gilberto Ocampo and the Schultes.