Obama – Page 2 – St. Eutychus

Son of a gun

Barack Obama is under fire from the Christian Right gun lobby for making air travel in the US more dangerous by repealing an act that allowed pilots to carry sidearms.

Guns are fun. Everyone knows that. Which is why I’ve collected this post full of novely gun items that you should all consider adding to your personal armoury.

Like this BBQ lighter…

“A fun way to start the grill, the Shoot and Cook Rifle BBQ lighter will help you light your grilling flames safely. This 14.5’’ lever action rifle replica features impressive miniature details that are sure to make it one of your favorite backyard grilling tools. Refillable, this butane lighter is child resistant for safety and features flame adjustment.”

Sounds fun. Buy it from the Bass Pro Shops…

Now, we all know I’m a bit OCD about flies. Nothing spoils Christmas lunch at the Campbells like a hoard of buzzing blowflies… well, now I can dispose of them safely and hygenically. Thanks to this:

Once the trigger has been activated, the capture tube will shoot out about 1 cm. At the same time there will be a strong vacuum created in the suction cylinder and capture tube. The fly doesn’t stand a chance against the suction, which is reinforced by the rapid projection of the capture tube. The fly is sucked into the capture tube up to the protective grating. The protective grating prevents the fly from getting into the internal mechanism.

Fly Goodbye.

If you’ve caught your flies and don’t have turtles to feed them to – perhaps you’ll need this butane lighter machine gun with a laser scope. It’s not a long bow to draw. It’s a machine gun lighter to burn…

“This great refillable butane lighter looks just like a Machine Gun. Pull back the hammer and watch the blue jet torch come out the front. This gun lighter is also a laser pointer with 5 different picture lenses including traditional point pinky hand indian skull hand and more!. Everyone will notice your amazing lighter/lazer pointer gun.”

Yeah, and chicks totally dig guys with machine gun flamethrowers. Buy yours here today. Or don’t, they’ll no doubt be here tomorrow.

And finally the coup de grace – if you can’t handle all these guns of awesomeness and rather conveniently want to shoot yourself – I give you… the backwards pistol. I’m sure it’s ergonomically sound.
*

*Possibly not a real product.

March 19, 2009

Election Scorecard: Labor’s attack ads

The Labor Party is telling us we can’t trust Springborg because a couple of months ago he said the current economic climate was not like the Great Depression. That it was different.

The ad runs a bunch of clips from world leaders (Obama, Rudd, and Brown) telling us what a crisis this is, and comparing the situation with the Great Depression.

So, was Springborg wrong for saying it’s not? No.

Here’s the thing. A lot of the problems we’re currently facing are caused by a crisis of confidence. Obama’s address to congress last week was optimistic. Politicians should be talking up the economy. We all know what happened when Wayne Swan said the inflation genie was out of the bottle.

It’s perfectly reasonable for a politician to be optimistic, or positive. Particularly when they’re in opposition. That’s their job.

The other thing is – the representatives featured in the ad are all from the left – the same side as Labor. The fact that Springborg disagrees with these people should be expected – and possibly applauded.

Labor at a state level hasn’t really learned the power of a positive campaign – and the cost of a negative campaign – even after Obama’s victory, and Rudd’s, the electorate is sick of smear campaigns. We want to know what you offer – not what the other guys do.

The ads look nice though. Black is the new black for election advertising.

Grade: D+

March 4, 2009

Obamaprime

We’ve had Optima Prime, and the Obamicon, but now fusion. Bringing two cool things together. Obama and Optimus Prime. I give you “Obamaprime – Change Into A Robot” a poster by Tim Doyle. It has sold out. But it’s awesome.

February 26, 2009

Speech Wars

This little site lets you pick two words and compare the number of times they’ve been used by US Presidents (and candidates) in State of the Union, inauguration and election campaign speeches from the 2008 election.

I ran some interesting tests – firstly with the candidates on their own names. It turns out Obama talked about McCain by name a whole lot more than McCain talked about Obama – although he did forget his name a few times…

Then looking at State of the Union addresses I ran tests on faith v hope, war v peace, and must v cannot… the results weren’t surprising – hope is more popular than faith – I think because it’s more positive. Speeches should be positive. War is more popular than peace – and that’s pretty logical when you look at US foreign policy. Must is more popular than cannot – because taking positive action is better than not doing something negative – and there are a lot of synonyms for cannot but not many with the same power as “must” for the affirmative side.

Here are the pics:

February 26, 2009

Open mike

If there’s one thing I learned in television training at QUT – it was “never, ever say anything in front of a microphone that you don’t want recorded and broadcast”.

This was subsequently backed up in the media training session we had consultants in to run here at work. They went a step further. Never ever say or do anything anywhere near a camera that you don’t want recorded. The cameraman running our training said he’s seen people sacked for not turning up to everything with their camera rolling to capture stuff from beginning to end.

Time’s top ten “Open Mike” moments have some real gems that crystallise this point beautifully. Like this one, number one, from the Reverend Jesse Jackson:

“See Barack Obama been, um, talking down to black people on his faith based…I want to cut his nuts off.”

February 17, 2009

Good news for bad brands

A study profiling relationships between 21 countries – coincidentally the 21 countries in the map above – has revealed that while all the usual suspects are still generally disliked worldwide, yesterday’s rogue state is today’s favourite son. Germany, who surely would not have scored this well in the 1940s, is the world’s most popular country according to the BBC survey measuring populace sentiment in each of the 21 countries.

If Germany can hit the top spot there’s hope yet for Iran, Israel and Pakistan. This year’s losers.

Japan’s top for finish is further proof that World War 2 is truly behind us.

If these countries can recover market perception in this way there’s still hope for brands that have lost face with the general public. Perhaps Nestle* or other evil brands will find themselves clawing up the charts if they do what Germany and Japan did – stop being evil.

The Obama brand also had a minor effect on the US ratings. It will be interesting to see how much movement there is on that front next year.

*I don’t know if Nestle is still evil, I just couldn’t think of anybody worse.

February 10, 2009

Obama: LOL Catz

I hope this sequence of events is true. I really do. Could be the best thing Obama has ever done.

February 7, 2009

More stimulating discussion

“By contrast, new converts to Keynesianism, such as Rudd and Barack Obama, believe in a positive multiplier. They believe extra government spending, like handouts to those most likely to spend it, creates new income on top of the governmental spend, as the unemployed are put to work.

This process is brilliantly satirised by Norman Lindsay’s magic pudding, which freely recreates itself the more that is eaten. The magic pudding perfectly captures the unmet promises of Australian politicians.”

UNSW Professor of Finance Peter Swan in the SMH.

I probably tend to think this policy is a bad idea. But I want to have my cake and eat it too. How’s that for a mixed metaphor.

I would like the government to give me $950. It’s only fair after they taxed me to give all that money to other people.

But I think it’s a bad idea for them to give other people money. I suspect a large amount will be whacked into paying off debt or savings accounts. Which is a positive cultural turn.

Treasury secretary Ken Henry says the stimulus will work – and interest rates will still need to be lowered. At least I think that’s what I heard on the Today Show this morning. If we weren’t planning to become students again at some point in the future now would be a great time to buy. Although I think there’s more hurt for home prices to come.

February 6, 2009

Obamicon

It seems like just last week I was telling my dad that someone should create an Obama hope poster effect creator. And you know what. They have. Here.

January 31, 2009

Six easy steps to speaking like Obama

Interesting little article from the SMH on Obama’s oratory and the elements of a good speech. Which, according to a Sydney businessman who plans to make money offering a course on how to imitate Obama, actually come out of his writing style first and foremost.

This guy’s theory is based on an analysis of Obama’s books – and the common elements he finds between books and speeches are as follows:

a) Clarity – simple english, easy to understand vocab and short sentences.
b) Tone – not vocal pitch but the “voice” in which you establish yourself – for Obama that meant a blend of self deprecation and confidence.
c) Nuance – explaining complexity with a simple turn of phrase and picking up on subtleties, tying them together and presenting a strong case in the listeners mind.
d) Poetry – the use of metaphor, a poetic voice and literary tools to create a sense of more than just straightforward prose or buzzword filled jargon.
e) Rhythm – developing a common refrain like “yes we can” that links ideas into a broader narrative and develops catch cry status.

The sixth point was a bonus/afterthought. It’s the idea that infusing your messaging with religious imagery and undertones will add that extra touch of inspiration. I guess that’s one that’s particularly transferable to the pulpit.

Clarity is the low hanging fruit – and the most important element for any piece of communication. It’s also where so many politicians and speakers fall over. If people can’t figure out what it is you want them to know it doesn’t matter how beautifully phrased it is or what sort of rhythm you develop. It just won’t stick.

January 25, 2009

Late night ramble

We just enjoyed watching Safin v Federer in the third round of the Australian Open. I am a Safin fan, and I like Federer and Robyn is a Federer fan and likes Safin so it was a fun game to watch. It should have gone for longer but I’m glad it didn’t because now it’s late and time for bed.

But before bed I’d like to plug Chris’s new blog. He’s called it “toph-online” probably because he still wants us to call him “Toph”. Anyway, it’s two days old and he’s mostly blogged about Obama – but who hasn’t mostly blogged about Obama this week. Welcome to the blogosphere Chris. Here’s a cheap plug.

January 23, 2009

Audacity of hope

The market is down 1% so far today. And closed 4% down in the US. So much for the much hyped Obama effect. Just yesterday ABC Radio’s morning show was telling us the market would bounce the moment he was sworn in.

Update – it seems this image from the SMH changes in real time.

January 21, 2009

White House Transition – Brick by Brick

Ah, lego meets politics. From here.

January 20, 2009

Conspiracy

Hillary Clinton only has to kill four people – then pardon herself – to be the next President of the United States. The Huffington Post has the order of succession as follows:

PRESIDENTIAL LINE OF SUCCESSION (Obama Administration)

Joe Biden (Vice President and President of Senate)
Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House)
Robert Byrd (Senate President Pro Tempore)
Hillary Clinton (State)
Timothy Geithner (Treasury)
Robert Gates (Defense)
Eric Holder (Justice)
TBD (Interior)
TBD (Agriculture)
Bill Richardson (Commerce)

She better watch out though, that Timothy Geithner is a mean looking son of a gun.

December 3, 2008

Change we can believe in

The problem with campaigning on a definitive narrative – or theme – is that you’ll be stuck with it when you get into office. Like the Rudd government and the economic albatross around its neck – Obama is now stuck with this rhetoric of change. And is copping criticism for appointing people with Washington experience. His whole campaign message was predicated on getting rid of the influence of lobbyists. Not getting rid of everyone in Washington…

Here’s Obama’s take on the situation from the Huffington Post.

“So it would be surprising if I selected a Treasury Secretary who had had no connection with the last Democratic administration, because that would mean that the person had no experience in Washington whatsoever. And I suspect that you would be troubled and the American people would be troubled if I selected a Treasury Secretary or a chairman of the National Economic Council, at one of the most critical economic times in our history, who had no experience in government whatsoever. What we are going to do is combine experience with fresh thinking.”

November 27, 2008