Facts about Obama

Leave it to the Brits to publish facts about the US president-elect! While CNN and Fox were scare-mongering, the Telegraph was collecting these fifty fun facts. Enjoy:

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics

• He was known as “O’Bomber” at high school for his skill at basketball

• His name means “one who is blessed” in Swahili

• His favourite meal is wife Michelle’s shrimp linguini

• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father

• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed

• He has read every Harry Potter book

• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can’t stand ice cream

• His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars

• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia

• He can speak Spanish

• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead

• His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea

• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn’t

• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia

• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs

• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name

• His favourite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister’s fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived

• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy

• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books

• His favourite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck

• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.

• His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees

• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date

• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker

• He doesn’t drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol

• He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician

• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine

• His daughters’ ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)

• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside

• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal

• His house in Chicago has four fire places

• Daughter Malia’s godmother is Jesse Jackson’s daughter Santita

• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry

• He uses an Apple Mac laptop

• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300

• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits

• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes

• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13)

• His favourite fictional television programmes are Mash and The Wire

• He was given the code name “Renegade” by his Secret Service handlers

• He was nicknamed “Bar” by his late grandmother

• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds

• His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso

• His speciality as a cook is chilli

• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were “street urchins”

• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life

• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/article3401168.ece

I’ll admit, I don’t think I knew any of those things. I’m not sure any of them are relevant to anything, but they’re interesting bits of trivia. I like that he won a Grammy, did drugs, and wants to put a basketball court on the White House grounds.

We’ve done it, and it only took 44 tries!

A young black man is the next president of the United States of America. Congratulations to Obama on the win! McCain’s concession speech showed that McCain is a decent person after all.

Talking to a few people on Election Day ’08, they said they prefered McCain when he wasn’t running for office. I feel the same way; McCain is an American hero, but he screwed the pooch on this campaign. God help us to not get Palin in 2012!

A little more fodder before Tuesday

The Bush administration appointed Colorado’s US Attorney, Troy Eid, in 2006. Eid is notable because he decided not to prosecute three white supremecists who were plotting to assassinate Obama. It’s a dangerous world out there…

Terry Tate: Everything old is new again

I loved the Terry Tate Office Linebacker commercials back in the day. The hilarity continues with a new set of ads for… well, who care? It’s funny! (BTW he’s telling people to go vote.)

“Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America…”

“Our next door neighbors are foreign countries!”

If you never saw the old ones… Check it out, and remember, “You kill the joe, you make some mo’!”

The Anti-McCain Smear Viral Campaign

Here are a few left-leaning clips about McCain that are in response to the Obama smears going around the Internet. They’re well made and they send a clear message: McCain sucks. Whether that’s true or not, I’m not sure any politician is any better; after all, “If they weren’t corrupt when they went in, they will be when they come out!” Decide for yourself below.

McCain versus himself:

On the economic disaster:

McCain’s problem just became a nightmare:

Fox bad-mouths Obama… Fox is right-leaning (who knew?)

McCain should end the politics of hate:

Three days left to vote. Get out and make your voice heard!

A few interesting and timely links

• Today’s top story on CNN is about how Palin is going against her own campaign in an effort to save herself a shot for president in 2012.

• Another about Palin’s incompetency: She may not even be smarter than a 3rd grader.

• And onto the financial crisis which is showing few signs of letting up. This could be because banks have better things to do with their free money than lend it to Joe Sixpack. Banks are not free markets–they’re highly regulated–so we may as well give them some criteria to meet so they’ll help the overall good instead of themselves.

Does she represent all McCain supporters?

A McCain volunteer claimed a large black man assaulted her; however, it seems that was not the case. I am particularly amused that she claimed the assailant had and carved a “B” in her face. The only problem: the B was backwards as if done in a mirror. The McCain campaign capitalized on the story and tried to rile people up by making race an issue.

Apparently it is on people’s minds as NPR had interviews playing last night where some folks revealed that they were afraid of the racial tensions that would explode if 1) a black man was elected or 2) if a black man had gotten this far and then was not elected.

I’m left wondering if the girl did this as part of an official plan by the McCain camp. Is she representative of modern conservatives? In any case, she’s a sick, sad person and the McCain campaign further smacks of desperation.

Thanks to Lane for the links.

Republican Registrar Arrested for Registration Fraud

Here’s a fun story about a prominent republican who registers people to vote and is himself guilty of registration fraud–whoops.

The left-leaning L.A. Times mentions that the culprit, Mark Jacoby, leads a firm called Young Political Majors (YPM) which is known to bait and switch people into registering as GOP members. The lawyers are saying the arrest was “political” which I assume is a clever pun…

This year’s election seems to be bringing the whackos out of the woodwork!

Final Debate: Obama Wins

The final presidential debate just concluded, and I believe Obama won.

Overall, Obama was more eloquent and presidential. He smiled politely and disagreed civilly. McCain brought up Professor Ayers but Obama did not reply with the Keating Five or Troopergate. While that was telling, my biggest beef with McCain tonight was based on an old adage: ‘If you don’t have your own ideas you attack others for theirs.’ McCain constantly picked on Obama’s plans instead of explaining his old beliefs.

Both politicians realize that people are tired of the same-old same-old, but then they give us more of the same. If we really want to reform politics, I believe we need to get new ideas. The best way to do that is to embrace the multi party system. Real mavericks are independents, so it’s no wonder that we have the same old Washington when there are only two choices.

In talking to people and watching political coverage, it seems that people hate the opposing candidate more than they like their own. How should that affect politics? How about voting For (+1) or Against (-1) on each candidate; the winner is the candidate with the highest score. Another idea is to simply offer each person a For (+1) or Against (-1) vote to use as they see fit. Those who hate Obama more than they like any other candidate could cancel their enemy out. There are a lot of ideas that could help promote democracy and break down partisanship.

Got any ideas? Did I miss something? Let me know!

McCain-Palin 2008

As McCain chooses his running mate, a hurricane churns in the gulf all but overshadowing his choice of first-term Alaskan governess Palin. Now, with Gustav clear of the coast, the media turns their attention to the RNC and Palin.

Honestly, I was not going to say anything about the choice until I read TheSuperficial.com‘s coverage (here). Whenever a celebrity gossip blog covers the story, you have to take notice! I can’t help but feel I’m reading about Jamie Lynn Spears, not the vice president’s daughter! From the article:

• “The McCain campaign revealed the news to rebut rampant rumors that Governor Palin’s infant son is actually her grandson and she faked her pregnancy to protect her daughter Bristol. You seriously just read all that, and I’m now 90% positive John McCain’s research involved picking this woman’s name out of of a hat.”

Truly a seemingly random pick. On the positive side, she is relatively young which offsets McCain’s age. She is a minority. Everything Obama or Hillary could say, the McCain camp can too (although I don’t think that VP is nearly as important as President). With the playing field more level, we’re left with the last positive aspect: beauty. I fear Americans are going to vote based on external traits rather than issues. As a beautiful person myself, I can tell you how Americans are smitten by good-looking people. Why vote based on issues? Let’s make this a beauty pageant!

As I said previously, I think McCain is nearing the end of his life and needs a strong vice president who could take over. Unfortunately, she’s “just your average hockey mom in Alaska”. I do not care for politicians, but they’re good at what they do. As you ascend the political ladder, you should be more politically savvy and capable of making things happen. Palin has skipped too many steps in the political ladder and simply does not have the network nor the know-how to get things done at the presidential level. McCain’s age and inability to lead make the choice even worse–he cannot cover for her–and if McCain expired, we would be left with an Alaskan hockey mom.

Also, I find it disturbing that Palin has children named Track, Trig, Piper, Willow, and Bristol (who is 17, unwed, and pregnant). I have an uncommon name, but those are over the top. I have to question the judgement of any parent that names their kid Trig. Does an odd name give a child strength? Does she like getting her children beaten up? Does Trig have some meaning, perhaps where/how he was conceived?

If you want to read it from someone with more credibility than me, check what Democratic strategist Begala said here. Intelligent, direct, funny.

Sarah Palin: no thanks.

And since I’m an idealist youngster, I’ll promote the multi-party system. Check out independent candidate Bob Barr!