"First Asian Boy"

By way of Angry Asian Man ...

I laughed out so loud that I think my colleagues next door were startled. The tune is catchy, good rhymes, and it's just plain fun.

Settling It Old School

It was bound to happen (by way of Poplicks.com) ...

Meet Joe the Plumber

So last night's final presidential debate was exciting as it was irritating. Exciting in the sense that it's over and according to several polls Obama won it easily. Even McCain's jab at Obama for not running against Bush in 2004 was pretty good. But it was irritating not because of McCain's huff 'n gruff demeanor, but at Joe the Plumber.

Who the hell is Joe the Plumber anyway???

Well apparently the NY Times found out and frankly, I'm not surprised. See the article here.

Joe in the Spotlight
by Larry Rohter and Liz Robbins

One week ago, Joe Wurzelbacher was just another working man living in a modest ranch house near Toledo thinking about how to expand his plumbing business. But when he stopped Senator Barack Obama during a visit to his block this weekend to ask about his taxes, he set himself on a path to being the newest media celebrity — and, like other celebrities, found himself under scrutiny.

Turns out that “Joe the Plumber,” as he became nationally known when Senator John McCain made him a theme at Wednesday night’s third and final presidential debate, may run a plumbing business but he is not a licensed plumber. His full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. And he owes a bit in back taxes.

W...T...F???

What the hell is wrong with these people?!?!?

COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!

Pioneers 21, Knox 14

Finally! Pioneers win their first home game since the season started. With an overall 3-3 record, the team looks pretty good this year considering they only won one game all season last year. Though I love a winning record, I'm more happy to be at an actual football game with fans, friends, and families cheering the team. It also helps that I have several of my students on the team so there's an added incentive to watch them play. I've made it to every home game and while the loss to Monmouth was devastating (0-69), this win more than makes up the past two losses.

On a side note, I've never tried my hand at sport photography. I purchased a Sigma 70-300mm lens a few weeks ago and it's got a pretty good range, but it lacks automatic focus so I lose a few shots. It's definitely not shooting flowers or landscape.

Did I Just Hear That?

"That one"???

The VP Debates

I watched the VP debates last night with eager anticipation and a measured sense of foreboding. On the one hand, I knew Senator Joseph Biden had a streak of remarks that would get him into some hot water. His comments several months ago that Obama was an "articulate" man was a thinly veiled discourse about race and intelligence. I was worried that he could've become a liability. On the other hand, I was not looking forward to Governor Sarah Palin especially after viewing her interview with Katie Couric. Goodness what a train wreck that was! But I certainly did not want to see it on national stage not because it would've revealed that she was as a political lightweight, or that it would be a huge embarassment on the national stage. It's the fact that if she did perform in the way she bumbled like she did with Katie Couric, then it would've sounded like someone's fingernails scratching on a chalkboard. The excrutiating piercing pain would've been unbearable for me to endure for 90 minutes. In all honesty, I really didn't want to see the debates at all precisley for that reason. But I did, and I'm glad I did for this stellar, and moving, moment of the night ...

One of my dissertation chapters was on the Violence Against Women Act (1994) which was lead and sponsored by Senator Joe Biden. After the failure of including gender in the Hate Crime Statistics Act (1990), Senator Biden took it upon himself to address this glaring omission to a national epidemic of violence against women which was, in his words, "a national tragedy." His office lead and developed a series of reports on the nature and scope of violence against women, and within four years, his Violence Against Women Act was passed, a comprehensive anti-violence legislation that he mentioned in the clip. My chapter on the legislation and his role was a different argument that don't want to reiterate. Let's just say that after last night, and particularly with this moment, I'm rereading Senator Biden and the Violence Against Women Act in a totally different light. Simply put, this moment was Biden's "personal is the political" -- a cornerstone of feminist politics -- and that was a phenomenal step forward and ultimately the highlight of the debate. Now, of course, someone will rightly point out that politics is a spectacle and that every response is a strategic calculation.

But can anyone deny the genuine power and sincerity of Biden's words? Especially if you know his biography and his legislative history?

I do not. And that is what makes Senator Biden such an interesting figure for my research, and as a political figure.

WTF???

This was forwarded by one of my students in my American Studies class. I nearly had a heart attack.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/proudamerican/

http://www.proudamericanfilm.com/pages/PAtrailer.html