Now, as clearly stated a few posts ago, I am now a Barack Obama supporter. I am voting for him and telling anyone I know why I am, and why they should too. He is a fantastic candidate and the democrats are lucky to have him. I have a belief that he will be a great leader for our country, and can accomplish a lot of healing in the U.S. and the world if he is elected. What is amazing to me though, is that a lot of Obama-bloggers who were caught up in the Hillary fight are still fighting her, still making fun of her and her supporters.
NEWSFLASH for Original Obama Supporters: Hillary lost, gave her support to Barack and so did Bill. THEY ARE CAMPAIGNING FOR HIM. So why are you still bashing Hillary? (I’m not going to give links or repeat what some are saying about her still). Obama needs her supporters and is fighting for them hard. Are you really disagreeing with your candidate? Are you saying you don’t need Hillary supporters and can go it alone? Obama isn’t saying that,.. so why are some of you still fighting her?
Get over it, let your egos go and fight the real opponent John McCain. Everyone including Obama admits he is a stronger candidate because of the primary and that this is his greatest political ahievement yet, beating the Clintons. So what do you have against her? I urge you to let your baggage go and move on, and do everything you can to help Obama get all the supporters he can. This former Hillary supporter is now a full-fledged Obama supporter, can all of you really say that you are also helping to bring democrats together?
This is a detail of a woodcut print experiment. I was experimenting with doing simple woodcuts last year, by carving into small wooden blocks and using them like stamps with acrylic paint. This is a result of that experimenting. One thing I like about it is the texture of the wood coming through very clearly. For a different detail of this same print, click here.
Is it just me or does McCain seem kind of weird and full of BS…? There was a time not too long ago when I was on the border about voting for Obama or McCain. You can read my old posts to know that this is true. (Although my posts that were critical of Obama when I was a Hillary supporter, have been password protected now. Republicans need to do their own writing if they want to attack Obama, I’m now voting for him.)
So I can honestly say that there was a time when I would of voted for McCain. But not now. When McCain was a long-shot for the republican nomination, and his campaign was falling apart (advisors quitting) he gained support by reverting to a straight-talking persona. Being frank about supporting some environmental issues, being critical of the president, and not catering to the Christian right or other interests. Suddenly in the last few months he has transformed into a flip-flopping, oxymoronic, half-ass candidate; and here are the reasons why.
He is a staunch supporter of the war, and this ties him too much in with the Bush W. team. Who will be hated for decades and decades even if Iraq turns into a frickin’ democratic Eden. Also, the contrast between Barack and McCain is severe when you match them up. Barack almost never reads from cue cards when giving his speeches for example. McCain seems to be reading at a 6th grade level, with such incoherence that it’s hard to follow the idea of one phrase into another. And it’s obvious that these are not McCain’s words or ideas, and it’s not even clear if he understands what he’s reading.
McCain has also turned to fear-mongering. After 7 years of post 9-11 fear-mongering and lies from the Bush W. team, do we really want four more years of it? Someone telling us to vote for and support them or be scared? (Especially since McCain doesn’t even grasp that the real front on the war on terror is in Pakistan and Afghanistan; something Barack has said for a long time.) Are we really that dumb America?… To buy into another set of lies from a fear-mongering republican?
To be quite frank, it’s really very simple; we can’t have a formal speaker representing the United States has president that comes off so weak. I can’t stress this point enough, McCain is just not a cohesive thinker or presenter. That flash of maverick that we saw in the primaries is long gone, replaced by this strategy of pretending to be tough on terror by supporting a war that is costing us trillions. If we elect McCain we will have a president that supports big oil, big business, and only the very wealthy. If we elect McCain we will have a president that appears weak in formal speeches, and who runs up his wife’s credit cards into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If we elect McCain we will have a president that will let this economy crash and burn into a tragic state.
This is a drawing from a fairly old sketchbook of mine, done around maybe 1998. I have a bunch of old sketchbooks with odd journal entries, thoughts, ideas, doodles, drawings, and other stuff in them. A lot of this material I am just now coming back to. So in the near future you’ll be seeing a lot of older artwork of mine that I have never published before. I hope to do fairly large paintings from some of the more interesting images (like this one) from this old artwork of mine.
Reflecting on one’s youth is not a too uncommon a thing, and lucky for me I have all this work I have saved that is like a snapshot of my mind and emotional state at various times. One thing that surprises me as I dig through this old material of mine is that I forgot completely about some of these images, but yet some of the basic styles and motifs are repeated in my artwork years later. Anyways, this one I call Neptune Angel. The astrological symbol of Neptune is seen in the middle there and a couple other places in the drawing. I am not a believer in astrology but in it, the planet Neptune is associated with artists, adventurers, mythology, etc.
Wow. Rest In Peace Tim Russert. Condolences and heartfelt sympathy for his family, his co-workers, and everyone who respected and appreciated the work of this fine man. In my mind he was and still is the shining beacon of truth in a world of lies and deception. No one knew the game of politics better and did their homework more than Tim Russert. He was truly a master of politics and journalism, and more importantly he paired that with a love of family and friends. His love for his family, his father, his son, his wife, the Buffalo Bills, baseball,… is well known in the industry and the world. I heard on NBC news today that flags in Buffalo, New York are at half-mast. A fitting tribute for a man who cared deeply for his hometown and who never forgot his roots. He came from a blue-collar background and became one of the most powerful voices in journalism and politics. It is a sad day for voices of truth in journalism and seekers of truth everywhere. Let us make his legacy one that includes the pursuit of honesty, integrity, and positivity.
(about the Bills video below, I thought it somehow fitting that it be included here,…… This one’s for you Tim – we know you’ll always be a true die-hard Buffalo Bill, and a thanks to the makers of both videos.)
Last night in Major League Baseball news,…. Royals announcer Ryan Lefebvre made some comments about Rangers’ players Josh Hamilton and Milton Bradley. First saying that Hamilton is a player who turned his life around, is having a great year, and baseball embraced him; forgiving his controversial past. (basically, he spent his $4 million dollar signing bonus on crack). Then saying that Milton Bradley could learn from Hamilton because Bradley clearly still has no control of his temper. I guess Bradley was upset by the comments (which is ridiculous, an announcer? You’re upset at an ANNOUNCER?) and tried to confront Lefebvre, storming up towards the press box in a furious tirade before being stopped by the general manager and manager of the Rangers.
Okay, Bradley you proved you have control of your temper, NOT. You proved that you have no control, that the slightest thing can set you off, to the point where you were intent on intimidating and doing God knows what to an ANNOUNCER, a frickin’ ANNOUNCER for gosh sake. What would have happened had you made it to Lefebvre in your furious state of anger? Seriously, what would have happened? I’ll tell you what would have happened; you would of walked right into a two-week suspension. You really blew it big time Milton Bradley. Later he cried about it saying “it really wears on you.” (the negative comments). Well boo-hoo Bradley I guess that means if you were upset by it you should seek the man out and beat the snot out of him. That shows restraint, patience, and calmness,… NOT. Even if Lefebvre was completely wrong you MADE him right. Good Job genius. I don’t feel sorry at all for you; you get paid millions to play a kids game, and then cry about how you can’t handle the pressure. You’re weak and worthless.
Why don’t you come confront me now? You wanna fight? Can you handle the pressure? Are you gonna cry? Go to hell Milton Bradley, you frickin’ uncontrollable maniac. You know how embarrassing it is that your general manager and manager had to restrain you from trying to get into a fight with an ANNOUNCER? You should be suspended. You DO have an out of control temper OBVIOUSLY. You need to apologize to Lefebvre, not the other way around. That would show that perhaps you do indeed have some measure of dignity.
What I’ve been listening to lately….. -a 2005 album from Lou Barlow entitled; Emoh. I came across this album and it kinda caught my attention. My response was lukewarm at first, but It kept getting played in the shuffle mode of my music player and it grew on me the more I listened to it. I Googled Lou Barlow and realized how actually kind of lame I am, I didn’t even realize that Lou Barlow was in Sebadoh.
I had some friends who were into Sebadoh back in the day, and I definitely liked them too. I’ve been getting more into their music recently; collecting a few of their albums over the past year. I just thought Lou Barlow was some folksy alternative singer/songwriter and felt stupid when I realized he was a founding member of Sebadoh and Dinasour Jr.. That struck me as interesting so I do some more research on Mr. Barlow; wow, he was also part of Folk Implosion.
Geez dude, I feel like asking him does everyone know who you are? They should if they don’t, Sebadoh, Folk Implosion, Dinasour Jr….all bands that I have listened to and liked. Not to mention Emoh of course and I’m about to buy his 2007 album Mirror the Eye (for $5 bucks at Lou Barlow’s Website). So anyways that’s what I’ve been listening to lately, the music of Lou Barlow. A pioneer of lo-fi rock and indie music who I now consider one of the most talented and under-sung (no pun intended) alternative, folk, singer/songwriters out there. If you want to get into Lou Barlow’s music, you have a LOT to listen to from the past 20 years or so. Check out his website with the link above. (A simple yet brilliantly designed website that one can get lost in for quite a while).
Just another late night in my easy-chair relaxing (barefoot) watching TV, when I see something out of the corner of my eye; a tiny shadow on the floor. At first I don’t think anything of it, (its semi-dark in the room, the carpet is tan/brown). But I look closer and it’s moving fast and straight towards my bare feet and it’s a really large brown spider. I was totally not expecting that, maybe I imagine sometimes shadows are more than they are but they are always shadows, right? Not this time though, a fast-moving large-legged spider was coming straight for my toes. After my split-second state of surreal-shock wore off I stood up, grabbed a shoe from the floor, stared it straight in its beady eyes for a second, (half expecting it to jump right at my face) and squished it good. Making absolutely sure it was dead as I pulverized it into the carpet. WHEW! I try not to hurt animals or bugs even, but very large spiders from nowhere bolting towards me is definitely not cool.
Tonight’s incident reminds me of another true spider experience of mine. I was a teenager working at the local movie theater and was walking to work. It was a Sunday and the Kansas City Chiefs were playing so of course, I was listening to the game on my walkman (remember walkman’s?) I hadn’t used it in forever (it was for emergency uses such has listening to a game I couldn’t watch on TV), and it had been stuck in a drawer for a long time. Anyways I was walking to work, rooting for the Chiefs when I went to adjust the tuner and saw a large spider emerge from the ridge on the side of the walkman. My heart stopped and I dropped the tiny radio, watching it shatter on the sidewalk. And like 3 more big spiders crawled away from what was left of it. Totally horribly disgusted; those are the only words I can think to describe what I was feeling at that moment…… Anyways hoped you enjoyed my (true) spider stories.
All artwork and writing is copyright by Ed Tajchman. All rights reserved, any use at all must be taken up with Mr. Tajchman, including posting, copying, derivative works, everything. Violators will be prosecuted.
