So once upon a time, there was this dude known as President Obama… and he had this thing called an interview… during this interview, he swatted and to his suprise, killed a fly.

And most people are thinking at this point… yeah, so?

But not PETA, clearly:

PETA is sending Obama a bug catching device, which allows people to capture insects and set them free.

“It’s not a huge deal. One might even call it a non-story. But if the media wants to talk about fly-swatting, we’ll talk about compassion, even for flies.”

The White House is declining to comment.
(source)

If it’s not a huge deal, then why make the gesture?  Even the suggestion is kinda openly condescending guys.  A fly is a fly. There are millions more. If they choose to bug me, I will sure as hell bug them back.  And that may involve swatting. It may even get brutal with some squishing.  Dare I say, there may even be… splatting. Holy crap.

*rolls eyes*

There’s already an influx of giant bears and deer everywhere.  If we’re forced to be more “humane” to insects and let them all go, then we’d better gear up like Starship Troopers for some mega pest control.

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(CNN) — Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and the nation’s first African-American president Tuesday. This is a transcript of his prepared speech.

Obama’s inaugural speech

(thanks cnn.com)

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor — who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world … that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive… that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

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Defense Secretary Will Skip Inauguration

The secretary of defense is sixth in line to succeed the president, under the Presidential Succession Act. That law was passed to create a framework for the elected government to continue if the president and other national leaders were killed by a nuclear bomb or other such attack.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, the lone member of the Bush Cabinet who will keep his job under President-elect Barack Obama, will go today to a military base outside Washington, as the “designated successor” to run the federal government in case of a catastrophe during the inauguration, officials said yesterday.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/01/20/defense_secretary_will_skip_in.html?wprss=44

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Oh, Adobe… you’re like a hungry, hungry hippo, gobbling up new program ideas and features and doing everything you can to jam them into your current line-up until a system overload forces you to create new software bundles out of the overflowing mess of leftovers… just to be able to charge a nice, big chunk of change.  And you know the people will pay.

But the thing is… they don’t even change many of the features with each upgrade. In fact, it takes quite a few upgrades to see any kind of significant change… they seem to just make them bulkier and reorganize features… maybe add in a new program that the combination of all the others can handle already O_o

Plus the prices.

Those prices just have to be geared toward design companies, don’t you think? Anyone who can afford an individual license or upgrade must be REALLY dedicated and miss eating food for a few months or they work for a design firm that auto-updates their stuff.

Adobe, the little people have spoken!

Rather than just complain about how outlandish and overbearing your programs have become, we have a solution for you:  Littleshop.

No, not Little Shop of Horrors, just Littleshop.

A compact, lightweight Adobe-made Photoshop. Sure, there’s tons of small image editing programs with the same functionality but PS users know there’s a certain je ne sais quoi here that can’t be easily duplicated – plus, the entertainment industry (magazines, music covers, victoria’s secret, etc) has helped us coin the household phrase “Photoshopped” for every airbrushed face, pinched waist, and blurred naughty bits.  We still wanna be able to use that phrase T_T

Littleshop would contain all of the necessary editing features that we use blindly (filters, liquidation, layering, and defining tools) but lose all the splicing, slicing, web-editing, note-making, stamping, video-embedding, special fruitcake highlights… And for the reduced number (not quality) of features, would come a reduced price.

An on-the-go PS tool geared towards the designer who just wants a really nice image editor without all the crap so it loads faster and performs better resulting in stronger, smoother usability.  Like going “oldsk00l” but with a new “fierceness” to those old favs (thanks tyra).

Sure – not everyone will agree on what to add or take away but every great, minimizing solution has to have some compromises.

So, how ’bout it? Is this anything all you home/freelancing PSers would use?  Cheaper buy, cheaper upgrades, same old Adobe -> all the things you love about PS, in a travel-size package.

edit: We’ve received a few suggestions since this morning so here’s a quick overview:

Photoshop Express
In theory, a great idea, however it seems to be a little too lightweight for our previously described Littleshop and geared more for social networking, offering up a means to upload, slightly modify, and share images in gallery format.

Aviary
People interested in a similar solution, where everything is managed and edited online might take a look at Aviary’s Phoenix.  Aviary is also used as a community-based tool but it offers a wider range of PS-like qualities. Heavier, and online-managed, this is a good investigative starting point for designers who travel often and find themselves away from their personal computers & software. However, since this is all run 100% online and not necessarily lightweight by online-app terms, keep in mind about load times as they could be slower depending on your connection. (slower defeats the purpose)

Photoshop Elements
Well, okay… Elements is not lightweight for one, for two -> it’s geared more for photo editing though it could be Photoshop’s little sister.  It has some interesting features that differ from Photoshop as well as some “reduced PS functionality”, so it can be justifiably sold as it’s own unique program but ultimately it’s just another extension for Adobe products. It’s also more affordable and currently has a trial version.

GIMP
Another old friend mentioned GIMP, which is trying to keep up and compete with Adobe… that means it’ll continue to “bloat” just as much and definitely doesn’t offer a compact solution.  One big pro?  You can’t beat the price.

So… the more people who join the discussion here increase my curiousity: Is there already a Littleshop out there? I haven’t stumbled on a solution that works for me yet, but if you find something similar, let us know…

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According to the Dayton Daily News, Ohio gun dealers are busy selling guns to the crazy people who think the Democrats will violate their second amendment rights and outlaw the sale of guns. I guess this means Biden won’t shoot anyone on a hunting trip

Not surprisingly, Bill Goodman’s Gun and Knife Show has seen a drastic increase in attendance over the last few months.

From newsnet5.com:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said many of the weapons were sold through gun shows. Some lawmakers said those shows are a huge source for illegal guns.

Under federal law, if someone buys a gun at a licensed dealer, a check is made on his or her background. But if someone buys the same gun at a gun show — or out of the back of someone’s car — there’s no background check required.

Critics of the so-called gun show loophole said 17 states have now acted to make such sales by unlicensed dealers illegal.

“You have to have some check done before you make that sale, which means this guy’s sales to criminals would have been stopped, but Ohio doesn’t have any restrictions like that, and that’s one of the reasons it was so easy for him to operate like this in Ohio,” said Elizabeth Haile with the Brady Center.

Gun control advocates said Mark Andrew Nelson’s case is unique because of the mind-boggling number of guns he put on the streets. They said it’s just one example of how traffickers get guns from legal dealers into the hands of criminals.

Even our own Republican Senator (who was not reelected during our tenure as a red state) Mike Dewine tried to support legislation to require SOME type of background check and end these illegal sales. Of course whacko republicans like Orrin Hatch say that these measures are just efforts by the liberals to take away your guns.

One of the pawn shop owners, who deals mostly in hunting guns and high end collectible guns has not seen his sales on the rise. Wonder what that means. Will there be more crazy dog shooting rednecks roaming the streets of Ohio?

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“No one needs to tell you that this country is proud to be a melting pot and that there is something deeply wrong and elitist about wanting only a purebred dog,” Newkirk wrote.

Wait a second… So the same crazy whack jobs that tried to encourage Ben and Jerry’s to use human breast milk in their ice cream is calling anyone who owns a purebred dog elitist?

I have had four purebred dogs and one mutt. This is no way makes me be elitist, there is nothing deeply wrong with my thinking.

Here’s a picture of the very judgmental lady, from her web site, holding what looks to me to be a purebred dog with, what’s that, cropped ears? Sounds like a bit of a hypocrite to me.

Oh, and here’s more. On the homepage of PETA’s askcarla.com, they use a picture of a show-bred English Springer Spaniel. Seems like do as I say, not as I do over at PETA. What self righteous morons.

I happen to have two very lovely field-bred English Springer Spaniels, which in separate moments of elitism, I insisted that they not only be purebred, but also AKC registered, and not from the pound. I am SO ashamed of myself

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On first glance, I thought they forgot to put Obama on the ballot at all. Right there in the top left corner was McCain/Palin, next to some guy running for the Constitution Party, next to him, Ralph Nader. Where the hell was Obama? Then I found it. Tucked down in the bottom right corner of the screen above the write-in option. That’s where they put Obama/Biden. WTF?

Surely the Rs will say they did this for our own good, so we wouldn’t accidentally select the wrong candidate like we would if McCain and Obama were placed next to each other. This wasn’t ordered alphabetically or in any other way I could figure out.

Really, I tend to think I’m pretty smart. I’m a good reader, and a fast reader. I scanned that page twice and didn’t see it. I had to actually slow down and read through every candidates name before I found Obama.

State of Ohio – I say this is super B.S. Just because the Republican party here lost their challenges of the new voters. Ken Blackwell and his relationship with Diebold live on in Ohio. Maybe we will be the next Florida.

Update: Apparently they hid him at the bottom of the list on the paper ballots too.

Is anybody else having any issues with voting today?

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If he were a Muslim, why would it matter? I read a nice commentary from Campbell Brown over at CNN:

— Of course, Barack Obama is a Christian. Yet just a few days ago, there was a woman at a rally for John McCain incorrectly calling Obama an Arab:

Woman at rally: I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab.

Sen. John McCain: No ma’am, no ma’am. He’s a decent family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues. That’s what this campaign is all about. He’s not, thank you.

Now, I commend Sen. McCain for correcting that woman, for setting the record straight. But I do have one question — so what if he was? —

As there are radical Christians, there are radical Muslims. The vast majority of Muslims do not support the idea of the jihad against America. I think everybody just needs to move past all of this, and educate themselves before they start spouting out about how Muslims are bad people and want to see an end to America and all non-Muslims. Its false, ridiculous, and just plain wrong.

To learn more about what Islam is really about, check out these links:A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Islam: A Short History, A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman’s Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide

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I don’t understand how half truths and outright lies can become absolute facts for some people. If felt like the email below –copied from urbanlegends.about.com– was being read to me, and by someone who believed it.

The thing that worried me the most, is that the people believing it aren’t just mountain dew guzzling, skoal loving, nascar watching rednecks. Intelligent, educated people buy into all of this too.

Subject:Fwd: Be careful, be very careful.

Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (black muslim) of Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District, Kenya, and Ann Dunham of Wichita, Kansas. (white atheist ).

When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced and his father returned to Kenya. His mother married Lolo Soetoro — a Muslim — moving to Jakarta with Obama when he was six years old. Within six months he had learned to speak the Indonesian language. Obama spent “two years in a Muslim school, then two more in a Catholic school” in Jakarta. Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim while admitting that he was once a Muslim, mitigating that damning information by saying that, for two years, he also attended a Catholic school.

Obama’s father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a radical Muslim who migrated from Kenya to Jakarta, Indonesia. He met Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham-a white atheist from Wichita, Kansas-at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Obama, Sr. and Dunham divorced when Barack, Jr. was two.

Obama’s spinmeisters are now attempting to make it appear that Obama’s introduction to Islam came from his father and that influence was temporary at best.

In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya immediately following the divorce and never again had any direct influence over his son’s education.

Dunham married another Muslim, Lolo Soetoro who educated his stepson as a good Muslim by enrolling him in one of Jakarta’s Wahabbi schools. Wahabbism is the radical teaching that created the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad on the industrialized world.

Since it is politically expedient to be a Christian when you are seeking political office in the United States, Obama joined the United Church of Christ to help purge any notion that he is still a Muslim.

Handsome . . . Charming . . . Winsome . . . Dangerous . . . Deceptive . . . Determined

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