Don't encourage me. This is what happens.

Presenting the convertible segway—a segway that converts into Barack Obama! No one will be able to withstand its cool charms and policy initiatives—you'll always have friends! And it will never lose its balance or balanced reasoning thanks to its thought-powered internal gyroscope. It's the perfect companion and mode of transport.

Fix the economy while commuting to work! End the war on terror while parking! Meet with heads of state and yield for pedestrians at the same time!

You can't go wrong with the fictional Barack Husegway Obama.

photojournalism

more at boston.com

i love ffffound

SiP

unrelated Obama image

I've been re-reading Strangers in Paradise, which is without a doubt one of my all-time top five favorite comics. I'm finally caught up to the place I'd left off a couple of years ago and I am very excited to finally finish the series—a series I started reading sometime around 1995. It's been a long, circuitous, and melodramatic route, but it's been consistently entertaining, and you'll have a hard time finding a comic book by an artist who can convey such nuanced expressions in his characters. Yes, there are some really awful love poems scattered throughout, a few clichéd plot twists, some awkward and unbelievable moments. But more often there are moments of emotional honesty and poignancy, a healthy dose of misandry, and a sincere and successful attempt at the romantic that is hard to find these days.

If you haven't read it, I cannot recommend it highly enough. How often do you find a romance–thriller–soap opera with political intrigue? It's stocked in a fair number of libraries, so you can read it for free. Or if you're the purchasing type, it's stocked at every decent book store and comics shop.

the cleaner

Aaron McGruder, creator of the Boondocks, had this to say regarding our leadership change:

I did say I was cautiously pessimistic about Obama's Presidency - but this is simply acknowledging the reality of an American Empire that is out of control and on the verge of collapse. Let us not forget that on the eve of the election, we witnessed a near trillion dollar robbery of the US treasury. That robbery is still taking place. I do not blame President Obama, but I do not believe the financial and corporate interests that own and control this country will fold so easily. I do not question the integrity of the man as much as the power of his office - which I believe has greatly diminished over the years. I believe the Federal Reserve Bank, the Military Industrial Complex, and the massive corporate interests that run this country have more power than our new President. I hope I am wrong.

After 9/11, I witnessed most of this country become obsessed with squashing dissent and silencing critics. I hope this election does not turn Black America towards this same, fascist mind state; but already I am starting to see it, and it saddens me greatly. I absolutely wish our new President and his family success and safety. But after all I have witnessed in my lifetime, and especially in the last eight years, I am not ready to lay down my skepticism or my outrage for this government. To do so would be unwise and, ironically enough, anti-American.

This probably more accurately sums up my feelings than anything else I've read. I have to say, I never really thought of the recent bailout/money grab as robbery, but when you consider that hundreds of millions of dollars were handed over to corporations without conditions and a complete lack of oversight, you have to wonder whether either (a) our government is that stupid or (b) certain people in our government are really that crafty. Who would benefit from handing over a few hundred million dollars of other people's money to some very powerful people and not suffer any consequences? A lame duck president and his buddies. Mutual backscratching on this level isn't unthinkable (cough::cough::halliburton). Frankly though, given how the previous administration handled most of their reign, I'm leaning toward option (a). If the democrats in congress have shown us anything in the past few years, it's they're like a bunch of headless chickens running around aimlessly, and completely mindless.

Obama at least is making somewhat of an effort. He's reversing the ban on federal funding for international organizations that perform or provide information on abortions. He reiterated his support of Roe v. Wade saying it "not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters."

pizza

my largest pizza ever, which really isn't so large. probably about 14". also, you'll notice the bottom is looking a little blond. i'd like to blame this largely on it being the last pizza of the night, which means the stone had a lot of the heat sucked out of it by the previous five or six pizzas. i also blame the oven and myself for not managing it better. better luck next time, i guess.

good speech.