Now Hear This

So nobody should be surprised to hear that America's radio waves are dominated by conservatives spewing ickiness... I'm sure not, but here's a study that drives home the point:

I saw it in this article on Crooks & Liars

Now THAT's what I'm talking about

I've been telling people that I think a really strong case any candidate for President should make given the climate in DC these days is to say clearly and loudly, "My administration will be about competence, objectivity, professionalism, etc." or something along those lines. As though designed to appeal directly to me and folks who think in similar ways, here is a very inspiring article from the Boston Globe regarding recent comments by Obama.

Here you go, the article is here.

And here's a quote from it (from Obama):

"It's easy to be cynical -- to believe that change isn't possible; that the odds are too great; that this year is bound to be no different from the last. But I also know what I've seen and what I've done," he said. "I know that for me, reform isn't just the rhetoric of a campaign; it's been a cause of my career."

I saw the article on Democratic Underground... and I recommend checking it out highly. This is the kind of thing candidates should be talking about, namely REAL reform that will have an impact on making government work well. People can squabble all they want over how much government should be involved in this or that, but my thing is this: whatever the government does, it should aim to do extremely well.

Some people act like business is somehow specially endowed with the capability of achieving lofty goals like efficiency, innovation, etc. by nature of competition, but I think this notion is crap. Accepting this argument completely undermines the idea of a government in the first place by in effect saying that anything government does is damned to be mediocre from the start. I believe competition has a value and a place, but also that society can build institutions designed to demand excellence in both execution and results. Anyway, let's get outside crap arguments and stay in the realm of talking about achievable reforms that we should all rally behind.

Cheers, and happy Friday.

Gazing through the Flowers

Matt Mieko Wedding 15
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

So... at Matt & Mikeo's wedding Lyndsey came up with a brilliant plan. There were these fun floral centerpieces on the tables... and we convinced many people to have their picture taken peeking through them... as though they were in the midst of an overgrown... well, flower patch.

Here's the first of a few I intend to blog up a storm with, so STAY TUNED for that excitement!!!

Newsish Enough for you?

How long will it be before either of these get mainstream media coverage:

Cheney Exempts His Office from Protecting Classified Info

Giuliani blows off the Iraq Study Group to make some quick cash at Speaking Engagements


Just wondering!

Wedding Photography

Matt Mieko Wedding 12
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

A couple weeks back (Memorial Day weekend, to be exact) I wandered up North with Lyndsey to attend the wedding of my good friend and college roommate Matt and his bride Mieko. It was a great weekend in which I snapped ridiculous numbers of photos... many of which were sadly compromised by my camera's inability to deal all that well with low-light conditions.

Still, many good pictures did emerge, and I'm slowly but steadily working on Photoshopping them to color correct, crop, etc. Above is a fun picture that shows Matt & Mieko's gift table. On it they had photos they got taken in Japan where they were both wearing traditional kimonos. I've got about 15 pictures up on Flickr now... and you can check them out by clicking on the link below this picture.

Busy Couple Weeks

Landen Up Close BW
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Wow it's been a busy couple weeks. Memorial Day weekend Lyndsey and I went up to NH for Matt and Mieko's wedding. It was a good trip, lots of fun, great to meet her family, and fun to meet one of Matt's close friends from teaching in Japan (who happens to also live in Asheville). Being out in the woods of NH for a weekend was also nice. His parents have a beautiful home, and as a bonus we got to meet Matt's new niece!

It was really a trip. The next weekend I followed up on that by hopping in the car with Matt and driving out to Geneva for our 5th college reunion. We stayed with Heidi and Landen (who you see above) and had good fun catching up with a number of folks we haven't seen or heard from in years.

A couple days after returning from Geneva, I headed up to Boston for work, and while I was there for three days and two nights I ran into a friend from HWS who I had not really gotten much of a chance to catch up with at reunion. Literally I drove past him on the street one morning, and then ran into him that evening, learning that he lived about 3 blocks from my boss! All in all, it's been a travel intensive period, but it's also been good fun. I've taken lots of pictures, many of which I intend to Photoshop and post... and I'm starting along that line by posting the above macro picture of Landen. I took a bunch of pictures while we were hanging out with him and Heidi, but I think this one is far and away my favorite. I snapped it in an instant really quickly and somewhat randomly, but I'm so pleased with how crisp it is.

More soon, and hopefully a slight increase in the amount of sanity!

Africa, Good News

Hi Friends... I've been away for awhile... a week? More??? Meanwhile, life has been going on. I was cleaning up a bit today, and watching Last King of Scotland on DVD while doing so. It's pretty great so far. I'm only half way through.

Funny thing happened later in the evening, though, I came by my computer and stumbled across a very cool post on Daily Kos about inspiring news out of Africa. The post is really worth your time, and basically highlights two very interesting and cool things happening in some of the most war-ravaged and difficult places on the planet today. Give it a glance, if you have a few minutes, it's really not a very lengthy read.

Also, big this week for me, is the new Paul McCartney single. I think it's pretty great, and if you haven't seen the video, directed by Michel Gondry (who has also done brilliant videos for Bjork, Daft Punk, and the amazing Lego video for the White Stripes). I've just actually looked up the video on You Tube... so that will be posted just after this! Yay for You Tube!!!

Insight!

So, I really like Obama a lot, and I've been thinking a lot about why that is. Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely in one boat or another. I've really liked Edwards recently, even though I can't seem to get over my persistent disappointment from his performance in the 2004 election. Anyway, Daily Kos has a pretty great post up right now that provides some interesting discussion of the Obama phenomena. It delves into some of the reasons why he's exciting, but it also provides two really solid points about questions he (or we all) needs to figure out about what he wants to accomplish and how to realistically go about achieving the lofty and inspiring goals he sets forth. I found it to be a very good read, and I hope you do to:

Obama, Selma, and Conflict (Daily Kos)

Enjoy!

Living Free, Not Dying

Lyndsey is a good speller. I am not.

We are in New Hampshire for the weekend to attend Matt's wedding, and all is well up here. The setting could not be more serene, and we were greeted last night upon our arrival by a UFO cruising across the night sky. We made it here in spite of being pulled over by smokie just inside the NH border. The copper who stopped us was very nice and actually just ran my license through the system, asked if we knew where we were going, generally he was a pretty nice guy.

Today there will be all sorts of weddingness, food, merriment, and general excellence, all in the name of Living free! Huzzah

A Tribute to Lincoln

A Tribute to Lincoln
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Rest In Peace Buddy.

You will be missed.

Happy Cat

Indy
Originally uploaded by Chambo25.

I have to say, it's been quite some time since I've posted photos regularly, but I think that might be likely to change soon as I recently took this, one of my favorite images ever. The original was in color, but I think that black and white is perfect for this picture, and I am really happy with the focus of it, the slight gleam in Indy's eyes, and capturing her in one of her signature completely dozed-out postures.

Needless to say, she was not feeling particularly high strung when I took this picture! This weekend Lyndsey and I are headed north to NH for Matt's wedding and I hope to take some fun pictures in the course of that fun occasion.

Prez Announces New "Personal Child Threat" tour

So, today George Bush announced that he will tour the nation telling every American personally that the terrorists are a threat to their children.

I wonder what he'll say to me given that I don't have any children. Still, I have a feeling he'll figure out something. Does anybody else just find this behavior odd? I mean, seriously, there are times where I’m so dumbfounded by the rhetoric that I can’t figure out how to be outraged because I just don’t know where to begin. Anyway, I couldn’t resist tossing this up. A tip of the hat to Talking Points Memo (www.talkingpointsmemo.com) where I first saw this video.