What comes to mind when I think of Barrack Obama? A candidate of nothing. An interesting man, a talented orator, a devoted father/husband, and a political novice. A shell of a president. A man with a brilliant future, several years from now, when he has the experience to command anything more than an audience. His own supporters have been stumbling in interviews when simply asked to state one legislative accomplishment. Why then is he winning? Two words: incandescent speech. When the man talks, he glows. He beams of confidence, optimism, and truth. In reality those beams consist of arrogance, naivety, and rhetoric. I appreciate a good public speaker and do value words. I would never lobby his lofty speech against him like some people have. Now his lack of experience is another issue that I have no problem holding against him.
So what is my point? You already know I support Clinton, but respect Obama (that does not mean I have to respect people who vote for him). Words are really all he has and now the news is reporting some of his words are not his own. Yes, I speak of plagiarism, a borderline curse word in the academic setting. Apparently plagiarism is completely acceptable in the campaign for the White House. Because he continued his surge of victories after the story broke. A man running solely on his words shouldn’t be simply quoting others. Many of you will jump to his defense, that is was his speech writers who plagiarized, but therein lies the problem. If words are all he has and we don’t hold him responsible for his words then there is nothing left of his candidacy.
In defense of being “just words”
Obama responded nearly word for word and without attribution, a quote from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. “Don’t tell me words don’t matter. ‘I have a dream’ — just words. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ — just words. ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’ — just words.”
On another occasion
Deval Patrick: “I am not asking anyone to take a chance on me; I am asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations”.
Obama: “I am not asking anybody to take a chance on me; I am asking you to take a chance on your own aspirations”
On Pharmaceutical Ads
Edwards’s 2004 stump speech: “I love the ads. Buy their medicine, take it, and the next day you and your spouse will be skipping through the fields.”
Obama: “You know those ads where people are running around the fields, you know, they’re smiling, you don’t know what the drug is for?”
During Announcement Speeches
Edwards (2003) : “I haven’t spent most of my life in politics, but I’ve spent enough time in Washington to know how much we need to change Washington.”
Obama (2007): “I know I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.”
Unionized Labor
Edwards: “We need a president not afraid to use the word ‘union,’
Obama: “We need a president . . . who is not afraid to mention unions,”
Working Class
Edwards: “Hard work should be valued in this country, so we’re going to reward work, not just wealth.”
Obama: “We shouldn’t just be respecting wealth in this country, we should be respecting work.”
Here is a story straight from the streets of my school. A guy walks down the street (the street is Broad Street), feels a punch to the back, figures ‘damn that hurt, whatever’ and keeps walking. The man continues down the street until someone informs him he has a knife in his back. He goes to the hospital, he will be fine. I think this story is a perfect summary of the area I go to school in. First off, a stranger might just stab you for no reason, you could get punched in the back and know it is not worth reporting, another stranger wouldn’t hesitate to get up in your business about the knife, and Temple hospital still wouldn’t be shocked when you came in. It also says something about the students in the area, an article about the event has been the biggest e-mailed story through campus all week. Read Article Here. Here is a quote from the article.
Here’s something you’d hear only on the hardscrabble streets of Philadelphia:
“Dude, you got a knife in your back.”
That’s what a passer-by yelled to a Philadelphia man after a bizarre incident as he was walking along Broad Street in North Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
After receiving what he thought was a punch to the back from a stranger, the victim told police that the passer-by pointed to his back and yelled about the knife.
Breaking News: According to a new law school ranking system, Temple University Beasley School of Law just surpassed University of Pennsylvania and Harvard.
(source: a survey of Nicole and Christina and careful examination of the selectivity of the admissions process)
So my friend, lets call him “Alex”, got into law school. Super early and with a scholarship, so basically they really really want him. They get a ton of applications (Admission for the Fall 2007 entering class was highly competitive, with 4,856 applicants for an entering class of 314.)
It is a double edged sword though. I am happy for him achieving his goal, and of course getting into such a fantastic school (I also go to Temple). But at the same time it is the end of his soul and now the endless slew of lawyer jokes begin. Unfortunately I don’t know any good lawyer jokes so here are a few cheesy ones from the internet.
Q. What do you call 5000 dead lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?
A. A good start!
Q. How can you tell when a lawyer is lying?
A. His lips are moving.
Q. Why won’t sharks attack lawyers?
A. Professional courtesy.
Q. Why is it that many lawyers have broken noses?
A. From chasing parked ambulances.
Q. What’s the difference between a lawyer and a vampire?
A. A vampire only sucks blood at night.
You might be wondering where the “Good Medicine, Bad Behavior” exhibit is showing. The answer: the DEA Museum. Although it may just be my ignorance, but did anyone know there was a DEA Museum? Well I am going to a wedding in October that is in Virginia and my mom cut an ad out for this museum in case we want to go. Hopefully we’ll check it out and then I will promptly fill you in on what exactly a DEA museum entails.
I feel like it was designed for pharmacy school field trips.
The ad reads:
“This interactive exhibit delves into prescription drug abuse and explores the history of drug abuse from period pharmacies to rogue internet pharmacies.”
DEA Museum
700 Army Navy Drive Pentagon City Arlingotn, VA 22202
Jello Shots. They bring to mind different things to different people. For me I think of drinking them until I felt sick at Pitt with Alex, I think about 21st birthdays, I think about taking them continuously while playing board games, I think of the shore, and I think of pure unadulterated trashiness. But with a little modification, the bacchic undergrad drink/snack of choice can be converted into a holiday party favorite. Check out what PopSugar had to say:
It has recipes for the classic Jello Shot (which done in red and green automatically becomes a holiday treat ), it also has a recipe for “Spiked Punch” jello shots, and my personal favorite the “Margarita Jello Shot”.
Margarita Jell-O Shots
6 oz package of Lime Jell-O
Two cups (16 oz) boiling water
6 oz tequila
2 oz triple sec
1 oz lime juice
1 oz cold water
Empty Jell-O packet into a large bowl or container
Add boiling water to bowl. Whisk together until fully dissolved. About 3 minutes.
Add tequila, triple sec, lime juice and cold water. Whisk together.
Spoon or pour into prepared cups.
Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
It also has pictures to show you what they should look like, ideas about the colors, and more advanced jello shots. It shows for all of the less technically skilled folks how you make jello shots that are orange slices. (Hint: You make a half an orange and cut the slices after the jello sets)
Everyone should check this game out! It is a vocabulary quiz and for each word you get right 10 grains of rice are donated to or by the UN (I think). They started easier and got harder. I love learning new words!
Here is some more info:
A new U.N. campaign donates 10 grains of rice for each question you answer correctly at http://www.freerice.com. It’s already generated enough rice to feed 50,000 people.
FreeRice offers players multiple-choice definitions of a word, and each correct answer generates 10 grains of rice for the United Nations Worldl Food Program. The game relies on advertising revenue to underwrite its rice campaign.
On October 7, the day it was launched, just 830 grains of rice were donated. But by November 8, more than 77 million grains were donated, the equivalent to more than 7 million correct answers!
The New York Times has an interesting article on the business side of facebook. While I am compulsively checking people’s statuses, noting who is and isn’t dating who, oogling hot drunk chicks photos, and deeply contemplating where I should add that new badass app, people are making money. Lots of it.
The originally small scale networking site for Harvard students is expected to reach 60 million member by the end of this year. But you ask how could a free site be worth any money? While there are small features that cost money the more serious cash flow is advertising and corporate sponsorship. While the founder wants to keep it independent and is as such unlikely to sell it completely Microsoft recently bought a share in it. Microsoft shelled out something like 240 million dollars for less than 2 % share. Yeah Facebook is worth approximately 15 billion dollars.
The article goes into the future possibilities for the company, the inevitable google comparisons, and how they think facebook can benefit and be hurt by the microsoft purchase.
This is related to the article I posted earlier this week about contraceptives in a Portland middle school.
Some parents are in a huff, that a Maine Middle School will now offer prescription contraceptives. While I think it is to a large degree unnecessary at a middle school, it is not necessarily a bad idea. If it stops one kid from getting pregnant it is worth this whole controversy. And when are parents going to get it, access to contraceptives does not make kids have sex.
The New York Times ran a good article on the situation.
Posted by scanned 
The New York Times has an interesting article on the business side of facebook. While I am compulsively checking people’s statuses, noting who is and isn’t dating who, oogling hot drunk chicks photos, and deeply contemplating where I should add that new badass app, people are making money. Lots of it.
