The exciting and the saddening

leigh miller image

The Exciting!

This makes me want to travel to Jamaica. Leigh Miller

Engagement Slideshow of the Month. Ellen and Andrew

Our New First family elect. is Adjusting. NYtimes

Lebron is excited about Obama. NBA.com

Lakers ARE the best at least in LA Highlights

I want a Seagull 120 TLR

The Saddening.

Kim Jong-Il is a fake BBC news

Unemployment Rate sky rockets LAtimes

A Letter from Larry

I got a letter from Larry Cox from Amnesty International. I liked what he had to say.

Dear Samuel,

Waking up this morning was like waking up to a new era. That’s because many of us remember a time when activities were segregated by race, whether going to the movies or riding a bus.

And then yesterday, the biggest racial barrier in American politics was annihilated. By record margins, America elected Barack Obama the first African-American president of the United States.

Hope overcame fear. Ordinary citizens mobilized to change the future. This is the heart of Amnesty International. Since 1961, we’ve held out hope for those enduring injustice, when all hope was lost. And through the power of your collective actions, hundreds of thousands now enjoy greater freedom and a safer, more just world.

A record 131 million people cast their vote and exercised one of the most fundamental of human rights. But as Barack Obama said last night,

"This victory alone is not the change we seek--it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you."

We have a great opportunity. The world faces overwhelming human rights crises. But with your help, we can turn this country’s policies on human rights back in the direction of alleviating, and not contributing, to these crises.

An historic election.
A chance for change.

President-elect Obama has promised to restore the rule of law, to repair America’s damaged perception in the world, to close Guantánamo, and to renounce torture.

These promises bring hope. In the coming days, we will need you to help make those promises a reality.

Sincerely,
Larry Cox
Executive Director

Amnesty International USA

What do you think? Do you agree with Larry?

At the buzzer

My voting booth. Did you know that a woman was running for president? I didn't either!

The end is near: I experienced it for myself. The feeling was if I tossed my last shot at the basket in the NBA finals, as if I drove my last lap in a race or even threw the last pitch in the world series but it was all for this 2008 election.
I sighed a large sigh of relief after I dropped my ballot into the electronic vote "gobbler" which of course is my code word for a small machine that calculates your entire voice in the nations future. As I walked out of the polling place I had a huge weight off of my shoulders, I have done all I can do to help bring about change, I've pushed people to vote for Change, I've made myself clear and donated hundreds of dollars to help this country... I had done it all and now I was finished! Was I finished though? It then dawned on me... This change we speak about has just begun, my work has just started, I have plenty more things I can do for my environment, for my community, for my family and my country. My Job has just begun. Your job has just begun.
Politics are dangerous. Politics can sway people away from really partaking in reality, as if we rely on the politicians to do all the work for us, we just need to place our vote.
I've been reminded once again, it isn't Obama and Biden, or McCain and Palin that will switch this country around, its you and its I.

I'm relieved to have november 4th finally here. I'm sick of political signs littering the streets and arguments and debates taking over my life. I can now (now meaning when we get the voting results) shake hands in truce with my best friends and blessed family who I've disagreed with for the past 10 months.

Of course I voted for Barack and Biden, they'll be exactly what our country needs right now...of course I'll be behind whoever becomes our next president, besides, before being a republican or a democrat or an independent party member, we're all Americans, American's that want change.

Let the Issues be the Issue

Obama and McCain switched skin tones???

This is trippy.
I'm sure you read my recent post about how race is effecting this race,so to speak.
Well, I found this on thecoolhunter.net and it just made me laugh.
The elections are tomorrow, which means your vote is due tomorrow at 8pm.
The biggest election I've ever seen, read about, been apart of or contributed to... the journey for who will be our next president is just about over... But the journey of bringing our country back to the top has just begun.
See you at the Polls.

iPhone Gold

The Bus (I grew up in a less trashed version...this shot was converted on my iPhone...shot with a canon)
Eye doctor
Bowling for money
stache and car of many dreams
one heck of a bust
some shoes.
I watched the 3rd presidentual debate... I caught them both sleeping

Alright crew, I'm off to Palm springs to photograph an amazing wedding!
I'll post while I'm there I'm sure.

What if...Obama and McCain switched backgrounds?

What if?
Obama / Biden vs McCain/ Palin , what if things were switched around? . . . . . think about it.
Would the country's collective point of view be different if McCain & Obama had each other's history and qualifications?
Could racism be the
culprit? Ponder the following:

•What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the
stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed,
pregnant teenage daughter?

•What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard
Law Review?

•What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his
graduating class?

•What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a
divorcee?

•What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife
after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer
measured up to his standards?

•What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a
long affair while he was still married?

•What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became
addicted to painkillers but also acquired them illegally
through her charitable organization?

•What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

•What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The
Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of
corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as
part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s
and early 1990s).

•What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

•What if Obama couldn' t read from a tele-prompter?

•What if Obama was the one who had military experience that
included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven
planes?

•What if Obama was the one who was known to display
publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management
problem?

•What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money
from beer distribution?

•What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions
reflected reality, do you really believe the election
numbers would be as close as they are? This is what racism
does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive
qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities
in another when there is a color difference .

Educational Background :

Barack Obama :

Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a
Specialization in International Relations.

Harvard - Juris Doctor ( J. D. ) Magna Cum Laude

Josep H. Biden :

University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in
Political Science.

Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor ( J. D. )

vs.

John McCain:

United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin :

Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester

North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study

University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism

Matanuska- Susitna College - 1 semester

University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

(Thanks ira for passing this over.)

Around the Blogs

PHOTO: theselby.com

Some golden things have been floating around lately, thought I'd share with you.

ETRINE- Investment Advice, is beer the best investment right now?

LA RAG- Sarah Palin is a good cannidate... for school secretary. "I'll get back to you on that"-S.P

LBpost- Vote for the top 10 most powerful people in Long Beach... if you don't know anyone, just right something nice and then put Samuel Lippke. haha

theselby -Photo blog of the month.

ETRINE- Jesus is my friend... but can you handle this song for longer then 20 seconds??

Barack- Its coming down to the wire... do we deserve to have him as a president?

PROPS: thanks for the idea on this post David Gilmore.