Signed, sealed, and delivered

I know it happened over a week ago now, but when I found this picture on the White House’s official Flickr page yesterday, I literally could not stop smiling. Kudos to the bad-ass Dems in Washington and most of all, President Obama, for sticking to their guns and signing this landmark Health Care Reform bill into law. I know it’s not perfect, but it is a monumental step in the right direction and I couldn’t be happier about it, so…suck it haters!

I know it sounds corny, but if you ask me, this is what hope really looks like…

Joe Lieberman socks!

With that old turncoat, Senator Joe Lieberman doing everything he can to derail genuine health care reform in the Senate this week, I’m starting to think that maybe Al Gore “losing” in 200o wasn’t such a bad thing. I mean, seriously, can you imagine having someone like Lieberman in the White House? Yikes…

Not only does Lieberman regularly line his campaign coffers with big insurance cash, but his own wife, Hadassah, until recently worked at Hill & Knowlton, a major DC lobby shop. True, Mrs. Lieberman never officially registered as a lobbyist, but she did serve as Senior Counselor in their health care and pharmaceuticals practice. Yep, you heard me…health care and pharmaceuticals. Hmmm…kinda makes you wonder.

But even if all that other stuff wasn’t true, Lieberman has been showboating and holding health care reform hostage in the senate for so long that it was only a matter of time before he was parodied with sock puppets by our crafty friends at MoveOn.org. And, come on, who doesn’t love a good sock puppet parody?

So, check out the video, call Congress and the White House to make yourself heard, and spread the word far and wide…Joe Lieberman socks!!

Heather Graham’s best work in years…

If I posted every cool video I got from Moveon.org, our blog would be nothing but videos. But this one, a commercial that Heather Graham taped recently in favor of keeping the controversial public health insurance option on the table, was just too awesome not to share with you guys.

And hello, I don’t care what side of the public option fence you stand on, if it looks as good as the shockingly-limber Miss Graham does in this clip, then pass that freaking bill already! Jeez…

A night for the record books…

Holy crap, what a freaking night! Not only did we elect our first African-American President ever, but we did it with record numbers! I mean, shit, last I heard, L.A. County had an 83% voter turnout this year. Amazing!

And even cooler than the turnout and the positively epic results was the totally electric vibe in the air last night. Seriously, everywhere Christine, Ryan, Laura and I went in our pursuit of election night freebies — and as you can see from the pics of Tiny O, we made the rounds! — the winds of change were in the air, baby.

People were excited, happy, smiling, it was like everyone in the country got out there and voted for change and then went out there and scored some free food to celebrate. And what a celebration it was!

We were actually mid-way through our happy hour priced meal at the Daily Grill in Burbank when the news came over the airwaves. Our man had won…and even the McCain-Palin-loving chatterboxes at the next table could not dampen the spirits in that joint.

I swear to God, tiny bar food hamburgers never tasted so sweet as they did at that moment…wow. And though we were stuffed to the gills by the time the bill came, we still had enough room to swing by Krispy Kreme on the way home — we hit Ben & Jerry’s before we ate — to score some free donuts.

And as we ate our piping-hot donuts and listened to Obama’s kick-ass speech on the radio on the drive home, we knew that no matter how bad our heartburn was in the morning, we were gonna wake up smiling…

Rock on, President-Elect Obama, rock on!

A thank you note from Barack

OK, I know he probably sent these messages out to everyone, but when I got this e-mail from President Elect Obama — Ha! That is so awesome to be able to type!! —  just a few minutes before he took the stage in Chicago, I gotta tell ya, I got more than a little verklempt.

So, sit back and enjoy what I think just might be the best thank you note ever. Rock on, Mr. President-Elect!

Tomas-

I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history. And I don’t want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing, all of this happened because of you.

Thank you,
Barack

Free food on election day!

I’m sure all of you are gonna be out there voting today, but just in case any of you need a little nudge towards the old ballot box…I have two words for you, and they aren’t “Hope” or “Change” or even “Sarah Palin”. The keywords for today are: free food! Or, as I like to call it…one vote, one donut.

I’m sure there are gonna be tons of local free food events on this historic election day, but the main one’s I’m concerned with are those being offered by Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and Ben & Jerry’s.

Let’s start with Starbucks. They will offer a free tall coffee today to anyone who flashes their “I Voted” sticker. And, because this is apparently illegal in California — due to some archaic voting law — the coffee fiends from Seattle have opened up free coffee day to everyone. So, you actually don’t even have to vote to get free stuff…cool! But you should still totally vote!

And for those of you looking for something sweet to go with your free coffee, Krispy Kreme is offering the super cool donut pictured above and Ben & Jerry’s is offering a free scoop to anyone who votes. Not bad!

So, please, please vote today…I don’t even care if you vote for freaking Nader — well, actually, I kinda do — but this is a once in a lifetime election, amigos, do you really wanna be the one to tell your grandkids you skipped voting because you didn’t wanna wait in line? Hell to the no!

So, get out there and vote your asses off…and, as always…go, Obama! Oh yeah, and for the love of God, please, please remember to vote “No on 8”. Future generations will applaud you…seriously.

Halloween pumpkins for Obama!

Halloween night wouldn’t be complete at our place without watching a classic scary movie that we haven’t seen before — this year it was the Claude Rains version of “The Invisible Man”, last year it was the original “Cat People” — carving our pumpkins, and roasting up some salty-ass pumpkin seeds.

And when it was time to get carving, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind what I was gonna carve on my pumpkin’s shiny, orange face this year…the Obama logo!

As you can see from the pic on the bottom, I left out the rising sun on my first pass at the logo, but once I realized what was missing, I quickly grabbed my carving tool and made it right!

Keeping with the political theme, we contemplated carving an elaborate “No on 8” logo on Christine’s pumpkin. But, in the end, she opted for a more traditional, scary-faced pumpkin instead. I think he kinda humanizes the Obama pumpkin next to him. So, it was a good choice.

Oh yeah, and, for the record, “Cat People” is a much better movie than “The Invisible Man”. I mean, the invisibility effects and stuff were really cool — especially considering the movie was made in 1933! — but, overall, it was a bit of a snooze. I’m just saying…

Happy Halloween, amigos! And, as always, go, Obama!

Obama-Biden magnetic bumper stickers!

By this time next week the race for President of the United States will be almost over and Christine and I will be either dancing in the streets at midnight or moving to Canada. But whatever happens, we’ll always have the rocking Obama-Biden magnetic bumper sticker that arrived in our mailbox today!

Our neighbor turned us onto these cool magnetic bumper stickers months ago — back when they just said Obama — and we finally ordered one for ourselves last week. The coolest thing about these guys is that they don’t stick at all, which means no gross sticker goo on your car. Yay!

And as you can see, even our tiny Obama — still winded from his last-minute campaign jaunt up the coast — is excited about our new bumper sticker. Seriously, he was up all night trying to get Christine and I to drive him to Nevada to help secure votes. Man…that dude is persistent.

So though we don’t have the time to road trip it to Nevada like some of our friends, you can rest assured that we will be driving the hell out of our car this week to show this bad boy off. And if we change the hearts and minds of a few die-hard McCain supporters along the way…all the better!

Go, Obama!

Obama resoles his shoes…

That old lying, hate-mongering, Republican VP candidate, Sarah Palin, might call herself an “intellectual”, vow to name her next son Zamboni — I’m not kidding, she actually said that! — and spend almost $5,000.00 a day on fancy designer duds, but when it comes to keeping it real, no one, and I mean no one, can beat our man, Barack Obama.

As you can see in the super cool pic by Time’s Callie Shell above, Obama saves his campaign money by having his shoes resoled rather than buying new ones. Yep, while the McCain campaign runs to Neiman Marcus three times a day to keep Sarah Palin looking “fresh”, Barack Obama runs to his cobbler. Awesome!

Seriously, can you think of another modern-era politician who would do something that freaking practical? Man, just when Christine and I think we could not love this dude any more…we do! Wow…

Thanks to our friend Danielle for the link to Shell’s rocking Obama campaign pics. To see more of these beautiful shots for yourself click here.

And, as always…go Obama!

Presidential Poll Cookies @ Porto’s

We’re not sure who’s gonna come out ahead in tonight’s juicy VP debate — guess it all depends on which  Palin shows up, the sleek, impassioned politico from the RNC or the dunderheaded hillbilly from that now-classic Katie Couric interview — but we do know for sure what we’ll be eating while we watch it…

And that would be these crazy-cool Presidential Poll cookies from Porto’s Bakery in Burbank’s revitalized Magnolia Park District.

Yep, even Cuban bakeries are in the poll business these days, amigos. And seeing as Porto’s has a steady line of customer’s out the door, day and night, I’d say the results of their informal presidential poll are pretty representative of what people are thinking right now.

I know that sounds goofy, but so far, Porto’s cookie poll has been mirroring results of other legitimate polls nationwide. When they first went on sale, the Obama donkey and the McCain elephant cookies were neck in neck…then, Obama took a slight lead, but after all the craziness McCain pulled this week, Obama cookies took off and have stayed there ever since. Yay!

It’ll be really interesting to see which cookie takes the lead after tonight’s debate. I mean, if Palin really kicks Biden’s ass, will Porto’s start selling hunting-rifle-shaped cookies or eskimo pies or something?

All I know is that whichever way the cookie crumbles tonight — sorry, I couldn’t resist — Chistine and I will be watching Palin and Biden slug it out on a giddy, sugar cookie high.

Muchas gracías, Porto’s!

John McCain “Nope” t-shirts

Since some of my new Flickr frenemies seem to feel I’ve devoted far too much time to the Obama camp lately, I thought it only appropriate to give a little equal time to this year’s Republican nominee as well. And when my brother forwarded me a link to the rocking Dirty Bureau internet storefront, I knew I had the perfect thing to blog about.

Finally, some John McCain swag I can get behind! I’m Yeti9000 and I endorse the hell outta these t-shirts and stickers…go, McCain!

Meow for Change: Kittens 4 Obama!

OK, this whole Obama “lipstick on a pig” thing has gotten way out of hand. I mean, the McCain camp can cry “sexist” all they want, but the truth is, John McCain used the exact same phrase at least twice this year to describe Hillary Clinton’s ill-fated universal health care plan during the Clinton years.

Don’t believe me? Watch the video here. And if that’s not enough flagrant “Maverick” hypocrisy for you, check out this clip here.

What really kills me is that, apparently, it’s OK for McCain to use the phrase in the same sentence with the words “Hillary” and “Clinton”, but when Barack Obama uses the exact same phrase — as it was meant to be used, by the way! — with no mention of nutty old Sarah Palin anywhere in sight, he is branded a sexist? Jesus…what a bleeping joke!

Luckily for Christine and I, there was happier animal news to report this week in the form of these crazy cute pro-Obama political buttons we found on CafePress.com. Yay!

I mean, really, who even knew animals were interested in this whole presidential election thing? All I can say is that it truly warms my bleeding liberal heart to know that if they could, cats and dogs (and even llamas!) would totally vote for Obama. Rock on, animals!

Now, if we could just figure out how to pin these buttons on our cats without drawing blood, we’d be all set…

A text message from Obama…

I don’t know why everyone’s all complaining that they didn’t their text messages from Barack Obama the other night when he chose Senator Joe Biden as a running mate. I mean, yeah, the story hit the internet fast and everything, but Christine and I got our text message from Obama just fine. See…

Ah, well, I guess he just loves us more. In any case, can’t wait to get our cool Obama-Biden bumper stickers! And though I still think an Obama-Clinton ticket would kick ass, we both actually dug much of what Biden had to say in the democratic debates earlier this year and his selection makes a lot of sense.

Plus, Biden has the all-important tragic backstory that wins us over every time. Biden’s first wife and infant daughter died in a car accident on their way to celebrate his first Senate win many years ago, and Biden was actually sworn in at the hospital bedsides of his two surviving sons. Wow…if we’d known that sad-ass story, we probably would have voted for him in the primary!

Seriously, that’s political backstory gold, baby. Man, I sure hope McCain likes the view from his seven houses, because something tells me he’s gonna be spending a lot of time in them come 2009.

Anyway, here’s hoping our guys have a rocking time at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week. Christine and I loved that town almost as much as Nashville. Oh, and Barack, if you and Joe need any recommendations on where to eat or drink in Denver, text us, dude. We’ll totally hook you guys up. L8ter!

We heart Obama!

Musty old McCain and his cronies have been having a field day mocking the world media’s love affair with Barack Obama this week — even going so far as to create the strangest so-called “smear clip” ever — but all I gotta say to those blue-haired squares is…jealous much?

I mean, seriously, our country could use a little goodwill right now, and if it takes sending Jedi Master Obama on a Eva Peron-ish “Rainbow Tour” to get it…then rock on, black Evita! If you ask me, the Obama world tour kicks ass. I seriously cannot wait to read the paper every morning to see where he’s landing next…

So, while McCain struggles to generate some much-needed heat stateside, I think the rest of us should buy groovy logo t-shirts like the one pictured below and call it a day. Go, Obama!

Gore endorses Obama!

Sure we saw this one coming when Hillary finally dropped out a couple weeks back, but hey, that doesn’t make it any less cool. Endorsements from former presidential candidates are nice and everything, but in my book, an endorsement from Mr. Greenjeans himself is pretty stellar. Wow…

And while I can’t speak for Senator Obama’s carbon footprint, I’m pretty sure his political footprint just got a whole lot bigger. Go, Obama!

Obama-Clinton: One ticket to rule them all…

Wow…what a day for politics in America! Christine and I actually sat in the parking lot at Trader Joe’s last night listening to Hillary Clinton’s “kinda concession” speech on the radio for what seemed like twenty minutes. Twenty minutes! In the parking lot…at Trader Joe’s…at rush hour…you know how many angry hippies honked at us? Yikes…

But despite the hippie uprising outside, we could not tear ourselves away from the history unfolding over the radio in our Saturn. I mean, it was so dramatic that you half expected Clinton to burst into “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” or something. A great, memorable speech by a class act. It was incredible…

And even though she has not technically conceded defeat, Obama — who gave another one of his speeches for the ages last night as well — now has enough delegates to secure the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States of America. That’s right, a black dude from Hawaii might just be our next President. Mahalo, America, mahalo!

And if things go the way I hope they will, a hip white lady from Chicago just might join him on the ticket. My feeling is that Clinton’s waiting for a proper invite to the big dance, so, please, Barack, ask her out already! Can you imagine what kind of good these two could do for the country?

Sure, they have different styles and agendas, but hey, didn’t Gore and Clinton too? Those two weren’t exactly palling around all the time either, but they made a pretty rocking team. In fact, I actually think the friction between Obama and Clinton would be good for the country. I mean, hell, we’ve had eight years of “yes men” in Washington and look where it’s gotten us?

Wouldn’t it be cool to see two bold, independent, crazy smart leaders hashing things out together in the White House? That shit would be epic! Seriously, wow…just the thought of an Obama-Clinton ticket gives me goosebumps!

Let’s hope the two of them feel the same way…and that someone in one of their camps has already secured the Obama-Clinton.com domain name!

Edwards endorses Obama!

Despite his crushing defeat in yesterday’s West Virginia’s primary, Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama — pictured below in a rocking Photoshop tribute by über blogger Kevin Chu — managed to score another major endorsement today, this time from ex-rival John Edwards.

And though I still wish Edwards himself was a part of this race — go, Tar Heels! — I gotta say that with Johnny Edwards joining the ever-expanding roster of powerful Dems endorsing Obama (hell, even Clinton’s political mentor George McGovern has announced his support for Obama!) Clinton seems destined for a VP position, at best, at this point.

And I’m not saying that would be bad…I mean, even Clinton supporters have gotta agree that an Obama-Clinton ticket would be damn near unbeatable come November. Of course, I’m sure she’d rather be on top of that ticket, but hey…she’d make a damn fine VP too. I mean, shit…after eight years of President Cheney making most of the decisions in Washington, it’d be kinda cool to have co-Presidents who actually know what they’re doing this time around!

But until Clinton accepts the inevitable and joins Obama to rule the galaxy as President and Vice President she can take comfort in some of the really cool things Edwards said about her today.

Sharing the stage with Obama at a rally in Grand Rapids, Edwards said: “She’s a leader in this country not because of her husband, but because of what she has done.” and gushed further that: “We are a stronger party because Hillary Clinton is a Democrat.” Whoa…talk about your Southern charm! Edwards might have stabbed Clinton in the back, but man, he did it with style!

Seriously, though…I couldn’t agree with Edwards more. Hilary Clinton (and Obama) have made this battle for the Democratic presidential nomination one of the most electrifying in recent memory. I mean, think about it, people who’ve never voted in their lives are actually getting up off their asses and voting…in primaries! Amazing!

So, keep on keeping on, Jedi Master Obama. The Force is clearly strong with you. And something tells me that it’s only a matter of time before you are joined on the ticket by Vice Jedi Master Clinton…or at least I hope so.

Richardson endorses Obama!

Wow…all this time I figured former Presidential Candidate, New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson, for a Hillary Clinton fan. Who knew? All I can say is that after spending six-plus weeks in Richardson’s fair state…the man runs a pretty tight ship.

.

New Mexico is clean, loaded with cops and, my missing cell phone aside, relatively crime-free. So, if this guy can keep a state as sprawling and diverse as New Mexico in order, just imagine what he could do as Vice President! Oh…wait, he hasn’t been asked yet. Give it time, baby…give it time.

I still think my boy, John Edwards, would make a kick-ass running mate, but how can you resist the idea of a Black dude and a Latino running for the highest office in the land? Man alive, what a country! So, muchas gracias for your endorsement, Gov. Bill…let’s hope it brings mucho Latino votes our way come November.

The pic above is a detail from one I took of Gov. Bill’s official state photo — which hangs in just about every building in Santa Fe — and was used today in an article by the news site Now Public. Thanks, rebel news guys!

To see my pic in all its glory, check out their story at: NowPublic.com