This is actually serious. It is the creation of an Obama disciple who says he hopes to have the world come together in peace and understanding under the Sign of Progress as Obama glides to the podium to deliver his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Or something like that.

Meanwhile, it seems strangely like an episode of Star Trek.

Or that hand gesture where you make an ‘L’ with your fingers and put it on your forehead.

Or this one here where the blogger couldn’t get the poster to upload right.

I hope you aren’t confused. If you are, then you aren’t the only one. But I’m here to help. Here’s a video that should bring it all into focus for you. Watch it and understand the Obamessiah.

Tags: obama salute

I’ve learned along the way that people will believe what you tell them if you say what you’re saying with conviction and confidence. It doesn’t matter what you say. It matters how you say it.

That’s the only explanation I can come up with for what I hear a lot of people repeating about various events and personalities in our society right now. I’ll tell you what I mean.

My Beloved Curmudgeon and I went to a party a while back. It was at this swank house belonging to a che-che family whose home was more a showplace of their wealth and status than a place to live. Their status in the world is evidenced by the woman of the house’s need to periodically tell me that her family loved each other. ‘We are a real family,’ she would say earnestly. I would reply that of course they were. I’d say that anyone that knew them could tell that. I would say it with conviction and sincerity and she would smile, apparently believing me. Then we would move on to another subject until the next time she felt the need to convince me …. or convince herself …. that her’s was a real family that really loved each other. That’s the world she lives in. Its a world I’m only familiar with as an outsider who is periodically invited to look in from the periphery of their world. Thankfully.

At this one particular party, the woman of the house had opened up her home for everyone to walk through and view. This was a big deal. I had been to her home many times before, but I had never been invited to tour it. This home had been featured in a number of fashionable magazines. Its literally a showplace. So for commoners like ourselves to be invited to tour through the home was definitely a big deal. My husband and I, along with a hundred or so other common people, chatted and snacked and tried to inconspicuously soak in every detail of the exquisitely appointed domicile.

We were walking through a bedroom when we joined a crowd who were looking at and discussing a bronze sculpture. The sculpture was very large. It was a complicated piece with intricate, detailed carvings. There were two distinct sides that appeared to be fighting over or struggling with an angelic figure in the center. The sides were a mixture of demonic and angelic looking figures. The group was discussing what this museum piece was ’saying’.

As we joined the group, I heard someone say, ‘What’s it called?’

My Beloved Curmudgeon replied, ‘Its the Struggle Between Good and Evil’.

There was a collective, knowing, ‘Ahhh’ from this sophisticated group. You see, my husband had told them the name of the sculpture with confidence and conviction. They proceeded to discuss the meaning of the sculpture. What parts of it represented ‘good’ and what parts represented ‘evil’. They dissected it quite well, actually.

We listened for a minute and then walked on to the next exhibit in the home. I know my Beloved Curmudgeon so when we were out of ear shot I asked him if that really was the name of that sculpture. I asked him, but I already knew the answer. He laughed and said he had no idea what it was called and that they’d probably had it specially made or at least it was a unique piece. It wouldn’t be like them to have something in their home that other people might have.

Later in the evening we happened to pass through that bedroom again. This time a completely different group of people were gathered around that statue discussing it. I heard one man tell the group that it was called, ‘The Struggle Between Good and Evil’. The sophisticated crowd collectively responded with a knowing, ‘Ahhh’.

Tags: the struggle

2. Obama must have broken some kind of record by flip-flopping in the same sentence. He wants to make American what it once was and what it could be...errr...it could be what it once was in the future. I wonder if Barack Obama could give us a date when things in America were better and explain why: 1940? 1995? It got me thinking about this cinematic gem from a time when America at least had a greater president::

Back to the Future - The Complete Trilogy (Widescreen Edition)

3. Maybe he was groggy from the rock.

4. He did reveal something about his world view, however:

a. He's a psychometrician.
b. He's a lookist.
c. He makes decisions the same way Newtonian did: Inspiration by projectile.

5. McCain came out with some new ads. The first one is called "Democrats Praising McCain" and, as a non-hateful Republican, I'd have to say that it's one of the most original, effective political ads I've seen. It comes off of McCain's previous winners and accomplishes two things: First, it makes harsh attacks against him seem less principled, "They loved him a couple of years ago," and second, it reinforces his centrism.

6. "Broken" will come as a disappointment to smart people. I like it when people stand up for the unjustly unpopular, not opportunistically, gleefully attack them.

It's too obvious; the ad looks like it was a reaction to a TV pundit round table, "Well, McCain has to distance himself from Bush."

I liked it better when McCain would say things like, "We've had our disagreements, but he's done some good things too." Frankly, I think a little more Graham optimism would be more Maverick-like.

7. And what about the his list of enemies: Companies? McCain will make our next four years better by fighting our employers and corporate taxpayers? We need to let them have more space, not confine them.

8. Is McCain's next ad going to be about his opposition to deadbeat dads?

9. I'm worried about Colorado. It also seems that McCain's mini-surge is fading.

10. Do you think Hillary's starting to look good to a bunch of Democrats now that Obama's halo is fading faster than Speed Racer's second week box office? That doesn't mean that he won't win or that people hate him; it just means that he's not considered a godly sure thing.