i felt motivated to put together my own parody of the mccain/palin campaign logo(see below). probably the biggest reason is because not only has mccain NOT shown leadership or a clear policy on the economy over this last week, his obviously changing message shows even he doesn’t know what the plan is, who the parties involved are and what their roles are, and he has little if no clue how to fix things. furthermore, the fact that their campaign is keeping palin mostly inaccessible to the press and that when she is interviewed, she can’t deviate from her talking points for more than 5 seconds without committing some kind of verbal gaffe, shows that she’s merely being used to bring in those few extra women/conservative voters and she has almost NO capability to even know what the issues are or make strong decisions on her own.

for a great commentary video from ABC news on why mccain’s age should be an issue, check out this link: “populism is always pandering, and pandering is always the reverse of leadership.” oh, and feel free to pass this graphic around whenever/wherever you’d like(just not for commercial use). -h

[click picture for larger version.]

edit: here’s a news item from the NYTimes on how the mccain campaign needs palin handled with kid gloves. QUOTE: “McCain advisers said they were only somewhat concerned about Ms. Palin’s debating skills compared with those of Mr. Biden, who has served six terms in the Senate, or about his chances of tripping her up. Instead, they say, they wanted Ms. Palin to have opportunities to present Mr. McCain’s positions, rather than spending time talking about her experience or playing defense.” … so, in other words, she needs to be able to stick to her script, rather than replying to follow-up questions like in a normal conversation/debate. wow.

Filed under: Discourse, Links, Thoughts by stephen h @ 9:13 pm on September 21, 2008
TAGS: [barack obama | Images | john mccain | Links | politics | stephen h | Writings]

i was out smoking a cigarette on my front porch this afternoon as i often do, when i noticed up the street from me a little girl started yelling “LEMONADE… LEMONADE!!!”, so i finished smoking and went to put sandals on so i could go check it out.

as i was walking up to the stand, she was still yelling “LEMONADE” so i called up ahead and asked “how much for a glass of lemonade?” she waited till i was closer and replied “it says on the signs,” and pointed to her cardboard signs saying it was 50 cents. i told her i only had dollar bills, so i’d just pay her a dollar if that was ok, and she looked puzzled for a second like she was considering it and then said that it would be ok, and i was only her fourth customer. she only had a couple of martini glasses to serve it in, and she asked if that was ok, and i said sure.

while she was pouring me a glass i asked her what her name was. “trinity,” she said in an adorable english accent, and i said “hi trinity, my name is stephen” but when i said her name, apparently i didn’t enunciate to her satisfaction, so she said “no, it’s trini-TEE” so i smiled and said her name back to her making absolutely certain to pronounce the T on the end strongly so she’d know i got it.

as i drank the lemonade from the martini glass, she asked me to tell my friends to come buy some lemonade from her, so i told her i’d let my roommates know if they are home. i pointed up the street to show her where i lived, and she pointed at the house she was in front of and said “i live there,” then pointing over her shoulder at the house next to hers she said “those are my neighbors. i don’t like them cause they’re mean to us” like she was warning me and i couldn’t help but smile.

she asked me if my roommates like lemonade, so i remarked “i think everyone likes lemonade” but then she made a sour face and said “not me! it’s too sour for me.”

it didn’t take long for me to finish my martini glass of lemonade, so i wished her luck and headed home. if you happen to be in my neighborhood today, go buy some lemonade in a martini glass from trinity. i’m pretty sure she’ll make you smile.

-h

Filed under: Thoughts, Writings by stephen h @ 2:28 pm on August 23, 2008
TAGS: [lemonade | stephen h | Thoughts | Writings]

at the meeting
i slurp my coffee
and click my pen.

i turn her hair colors
and spin wildflowers
from the carpet.

take hardwood and
turn it to clay that
i sculpt into a sweater.

it’s cold and it’s heavy,
my gift to the boss.

so when i fold this paper
into an elevator
he stays here stuck to the ground…

and we go up up and away.

-h

Filed under: Poetry by stephen h @ 10:21 pm on July 23, 2008
TAGS: [at the meeting | Poetry | stephen h | Writings]

i encourage everyone who is capable of voting this year to check out barack obama… even if you think you know him, if only from the soundbites on television[which are often very misleading], please take one more good honest look at him. check out his website at barackobama.com and find out more about his campaign.

your vote is your vote - it shouldn’t have anything to do with hype from one side or the other - but please, take another look.

-stephen h

Filed under: Links, Thoughts by stephen h @ 11:00 pm on April 11, 2008
TAGS: [barack obama | politics | video | Writings | youtube]

my snapple tea bottle cap is telling me that during the middle ages, chicken noodle soup was widely considered to be an aphrodisiac.

this didn’t make any sense to me, unless you consider their public health probably wasn’t as good back then. so, hypothetically, if i had a lot of sick women about, i could probably make them a lot fonder of me by providing them with some chicken noodle soup to lessen their suffering.

then i started thinking… what if this was still a myth in the modern world? how would this affect popular culture?

i’m sure love songs would be a lot soupier. rap songs in particular would be more interesting, hearing gangstas rap about attracting “bitches” with their exclusive soup recipe.

movies would be rated on how steamy their soup scenes are. elaine on seinfeld would rate guys on how “soup-worthy” they are. in the low-brow sophomoric humor flicks, guys would joke about sick women as being “aching for it”. women’s romance novels would describe soup-making sessions in hot details, like “as his strong hands stirred the soup, she couldn’t help but notice - his soup had more noodles than she had ever seen in a soup before…”

and so on.

-h

Filed under: Writings by stephen h @ 12:22 am on April 10, 2008
TAGS: [fun facts | humor | snapple | stephen h | Writings]