Cain Manor

Earlier when I came up with original “Why I’m voting or Obama” post, I saw this picture. Over the last few days, I’ve thought more about this picture, and what I think it says about him as a person. This is the same week that Sarah Palin’s $150,000 shopping spree came to light (and a week after umm.. anonymous sources said Michelle Obama ordered Caviar and Champagne at a high end NY hotel, which was false), but it’s not really about that. This is about someone with the ability to wear brand new shoes, but doesn’t see the need to spend the money. Right now this is what our country needs.

Ultimately, it came down to the fact I want to remember this picture. If you’ll read the blog, you’ll see one salient theme - it’s about stuff I care to remember.

This photo came from the same photo essay as earlier. You need to hit “show more images” a few times to get all the photos. It’s great work. The original caption was:

Senator Obama was doing press interviews by telephone in a holding room between events. Sometime later as he was getting ready to begin his event, he asked me if I was photographing his shoes. When I said yes, he told me that he had already had them resoled once since he entered the race a year earlier. Providence, R.I., 3/1/2008.

We needed Peanut Butter for the West African Peanut Soup I’m going to make tomorrow. Justine and I don’t eat a lot of Peanut Butter, so I thought…Let’s make Peanut Butter. It’s crazy simple, and we have Peanuts.

The Recipe -
2 cups of Peanuts, salted and roasted (in other words, peanuts you buy most anywhere.)
1.5 teaspoons of some type of oil. I’ve seen vegetable, peanut and olive recommended - we used Olive Oil.

Add half of the peanuts and half the oil to a food processor. Use a metal blade, and let it run for approximately 2 minutes. Then add the remainder, and mix for another 2 minutes. If you want thinner peanut butter, let it run for longer, or you can add a little more oil. Be very careful, as a little additional oil really thins it out. It will thicken when you put it in the refrigerator.

According to what I’ve read, it will keep for approximately three weeks.

I find it funny they (Republicans, Rove, etc.) call Barack Obama an elitist. It’s scary that people believe it. I can’t remember where I got this, but it’s pretty good stuff.

A quick recipe full of things I love and BACON (which transcends love)!!

Continue reading ‘Spaghetti with Lemon, Chickpeas and Bacon’ »

I’ve always felt cleanliness is next to godliness.  There are many, many other reasons, but really, cleaning up after yourself? That’ll get my vote every time.

Do you think the current president has ever cleans up after himself?  I’m pretty sure Barack (and the rest of use) will be cleaning those messes up for a long time to come.

The original caption, from HERE

I loved that he cleaned up after himself before leaving an ice cream shop in Wapello, Iowa. He didn’t have to. The event was over and the press had left. He is used to taking care of things himself and I think this is one of the qualities that makes Obama different from so many other political candidates I’ve encountered. Nov. 7, 2007.

It’s been a bad day for those of us that aren’t happy with our government. The latest news…

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In other words, they can take your laptop for as long as they want, for any reason, and share it with anyone they want.

In other news (from MSNBC and The Washington Post)..

A Bush administration proposal aimed at protecting health-care workers who object to abortion, and to birth-control methods they consider tantamount to abortion, has escalated a bitter debate over the balance between religious freedom and patients’ rights.

The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.

This means that if a nutjob that thinks the Birth Control pill is the same as having an abortion, they can deny you the pill. Should a hospital try to put rules in place forcing Pharmacist to dispense the pill regardless of their personal beliefs, the government will pull their funding.

I really want my country back.

I live by Woodland Park Zoo. Every year they have a concert series that makes parking impossible, but in return, I get free tickets to two concerts. I went looking for a calendar I could subscribe, so I would know which concerts to attend, and when I need to get home early so I can get a parking spot. I couldn’t find such a calendar, so I created one -> Zoo Tunes Calendar <- (presented in ics format for use in most major calendar applications.)

The schedule, from http://www.zoo.org/zootunes/index.html

Continue reading ‘2008 Zoo Tunes Calendar’ »