Imaginary Foundataion

Another brand that debuted at Magic back in 05 was the Imaginary Foundation. They are Swiss and have some pretty crazy designs. Well they inked a deal to create some decks for Element. They are pretty sweet.

Imaginary Foundation Bowler Imaginary Foundation Carpet Imaginary Foundation Man Imaginary Foundation Smoker

http://www.elementskateboards.com/skateboards/

Palin's blues, and Obama's shoes.

Jeanine Cummings of Policto.com, reported today that the Republican National Committee has spent $150,000.00 on clothing for Governor Sarah Palin since she was announced as the Republican Vice Presidential Nominee. I know that right now is not the time to waste on a topic, when there are more pressing issues, but I will make my point quick. I think that this is important, given the fact that these purchases might be a direct violation of rules set forth by the Federal Election Commission. The FEC makes it clear that it is illegal to spend campaign money on personal items. With John McCain crowing about how he is a "Maverick" with regards to Campaign Finance Reform, this rampant spending on pant suits must be explained.

This might be an unfair comparison, but while looking through some campaign photos of Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, I stumbled across this. A photo of Barack Obama planning for a speech in Rhode Island, wearing shoes that have worn thin at the soles. A man of the people who is as modest as they come.





Callie Shell. "Obama.". 2008.

Cummings, Jeannie. "RNC shells out $150K for Palin fashion". Politico. 10/22/08 .

Fashion Statement

I happen to believe that people should support any political candidate in any manner they please, as long as it is not offensive or someone could get hurt, obviously. If a person wants to wear a button showing support, so be it. If they would like to put up a yard sign or a bumper sticker, by all means do it!

I myself have been an avid supporter of Senator Barack Obama's Presidential run since he announced his candidacy back in February. I support him, with buttons, a bumper sticker, blogs, and engaging in healthy debate. I do not however look down on someone who is supporting the opposition in a healthy way. I may question their motives, but I have plenty of friends who support McCain, and I will make my points to them and call it a day. Let's be honest with each other here, it's pretty hard to change someone's political beliefs. There are times where I may criticize the candidates because of their stances on issues or statements they may make in the media. but not the people who choose to support the candidate in a healthy way. If a person, whether here at work or at the casino was wearing a McCain/Palin button I would not make a point to bring that up. I have been very cordial with people who are supporting Senator John McCain's bid for the White House. In fact my father and I had multiple conversations with a couple from Wisconsin who happened to be visiting Washington DC the same time we were.

Alright so here is my point. Today at work I wore my Shepard Fairey Barack Obama t-shirt, because Sarah Palin spoke at a rally not a mile away from my office. Now let's keep in mind my opinion on the matter that I discussed earlier. People who support Senator Barack Obama came up to me and told me how awesome the shirt was and asked where I had gotten it. However there was one person who did not share the same praise that everyone else did. Instead, they laughed and asked me why I was wearing the shirt. I want to explain that I have previously attempted to discuss politics with this person, mainly supply capitalism, and they were a little lost and started with the name calling that most uninformed people revert to when confused.

I think that we as Democrats are the more respectful of the two parties and I could be wrong. What I witness on a daily basis shows me that we are respectful to the opposition, tolerating ignorance but not racism or hatred. We ensure that we respect the rights of others to support who they want. Now had I gone into work wearing something totally obnoxious and ran around spreading lies about Senator John McCain, then what this person told me would be totally warranted. I JUST WORE A FUCKING T-SHIRT!



photo credit Karmloop.com

Truth

Colin Powell came out and endorsed Senator Barack Obama's campaign Sunday morning, on Meet the Press. I'm not sure if this will have an impact or not. We will have to look at polling in Red States to see if the Powell's announcement is enough to change who Republicans in those states are going to vote for. This morning two Las Vegas Conservative talk show hosts, Heidi Harris of KDWN and Allan Stock of KXNT, stated that it would not have an impact on the outcome of the election. Harris even went as far to say that anyone under 30 has no idea who Colin Powell is. I think that the ship is sinking for the McCain campaign and this is huge for Obama. Couple this with Google's Chief Executive Eric Schmidt endorsing Obama, and it could be a large margin of victory for the Illinois Senator. Lets just hope that all of the young people put down the bongs and PBR on November 4th and get out and vote.

Powell and Obama

Colin Powell is set to appear on this Sunday's edition of Meet the Press to discuss various issues facing the USA. It has been long rumored that the former Chairman of the Joints Cheifs of Staff under President George HW Bush, would back Senator Barack Obama's run at the US presidency. Colin Powell, once thought of as a legitimate Presidential candidate himself, has been quiet about who he would support and there is a chance that he could make his endorsement Sunday. I feel that this could be the straw that breaks the Straight Talk Express' Back. If someone as influential in the Republican Party as Powell, steps up and voices his support for Barack Obama's run at the White House, it would be devastating. Powell, known as a "Moderate" Republican, has long been critical of the Bush Administration's handling of the Iraq War, their response to Hurricane Katrina, and their use of torture as an interrogation method. Powell also lines up with many social issues that are core Democratic Party beliefs. All we can do is wait until Sunday morning and see if Colin Powell endorses Senator Barack Obama.



Allen, Mike. "Colin Powell may endores Obama". Atlanta Journal Constitution October 17, 2008:

Hip Hop for Obama

Hip Hop icons, Pharrell Willaims, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, and Russell Simmons, all who back Senator Obama's bid for the White House, have designed Obama inspired t-shirts. These t shirts are included in what has been called, "Runway to Change." Each item's proceeds are being donated to the Obama Victory Fund. Along with the three hip hop icons, designs by Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, and Juicy Couture have all been added to the "Runway for Change" campaign right before New York fashion week. McCain has similarly enlisted the help of Northern Mariana Island's local sweatshop workers to create the first in many styles of "Straight Talk Express" T shirts.



Source,
"Runway to Change". Barack Obama official website. .

Red Bull Hit and Run Denver

This is for a video competition that Red Bull is hosting. The top 5 crews with the most youtube hits by Oct 4th will be judged and the winning crew gets flown to France to go to BC One, one of the the largest international 1 on 1 bboy contests. Please help the homies get to France by watching the video...

Thanks for your support!


Derek

Dirty Tricks

"A vote for John Kerry is a vote for gay marriage," the recorded message on the other end of the autodialer spouted. Robocalls supposedly from the Kerry campaign were made to key battleground states during the 2004 presidential election, intended to paint Kerry as candidate who supports gay marriage. The Republican National Committee mailed out literature to socially conservative black Democrats in West Virgina and Arkansas, stating that if elected, John Kerry would ban the Bible! Both of those examples were not the policies of John Kerry, but none the less influenced people's voting habits. So why am I talking about things that happened during the 2004 Presidential election, because the same sly tactics seem to be happening again.

Is the Republican National Committee up to their old tricks? I believe so. Yesterday AP reporter Kelli Kennedy reported on Jewish voters in Florida and Michigan being called and asked if they would be less likely to vote for Senator Barack Obama if he was linked to the PLO and a member of his staff to Palestine. Mik Moore, co-executive director of the Jewish Council for Education & Research is not surprised by this and stated, "We see this as a disturbing but not unexpected ratcheting up of the kind of misinformation and outright lies about Obama's record that we've literally seen since he declared his candidacy." I'm sure that these types of smears will continue and attempt to sway voters with the election less than two months away.

Dirty tricks are the norm in politics, I get this-- but do people have to be so gullible? "Well Sean Hannity said Obama is a Muslim, so it must be true," or "this poller on the phone said Obama is in bed with Hamas, I better vote for McCain, we can't forget about 9/11 dag nabit!" We know that isn't true, but some people are, how can I put it, too stupid to know any better, and will believe it. Let's just hope these people do the research, or at best we try to inform them of what is true and what is false. If that doesn't happen, the Republican's next bag of gimmicks will open up and potentially cost us another election. With Karl Rove now acting as an adviser for the McCain campaign there is no telling what kind of mud slinging and tricks Obama and the Dems are in store for.




sources
Brune, Adrian. "Kerry backs Mass. amendment ". Washington Blade. 9/17/08
Daniel, Douglass. "RNC Says It Sent Mail Warning Bible Ban". Associated Press. 9/17/08.
Kennedy, Kelli. "Jewish voters report calls disparaging Obama". Associated Press. 9/17/08 .

Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story

Back in 06 RA the Rugged Man had a guest verse on Jedi Mind Trick's song, Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story. He recounted his father's experiences in Vietnam and how it affected his life after. Senator John J. Flanagan recently honored RA's father with the Conspicuous Service cross from the state of NY.

Lakai and BAL (Balance Wear Design) Collabo

Lakai Footwear teams up with BAL of Japan to create a new shoe with a nice collage graphic on both the inside and outsie panels with a black upper. This model is simaler to the MJ 3's that Lakai put out that is based on "Where The Wild Things Are." I doubt we will get these at Zappos.

Obama popularity around world proven in new poll

According to polls conducted around the world by the BBC, Senator Obama is seen as more popular than John McCain in the Global Spectrum. In the 22 countries polled by the BBC, Senator Obama is looked at as more favorable in each country polled. Out of the 22 countries polled, 17 countries felt that US Foreign relations would improve under Senator Obama. The countries of Egypt, Russia, Lebanon and Singapore felt that relations would remain the same with Obama as President . Turkey was the only country polled who felt relations would worsen, and that was by a margin of 4%.

These poll numbers are probably due to the fact that our economy has a strong tie to markets abroad. With the credit/housing crisis effecting economies all over the world, the results are not that surprising. I do not feel that this poll could be construed as inaccurate either, but with how the McCain camp is refuting polls, and misleading the public over facts, I am sure that they would say something about the fairness of this poll. I would love to hear what the McCain camp would say to try and discredit these stats, or how they could spin this to McCain's advantage. With Lipstick/Pig gate in full force, I can see the press release now, "The BBC poll regarding Senator Obama's popularity abroad is biased because not enough foreign pigs were polled! This poll is blatantly 'pigist' and goes against our policy, of not only working to strengthen ties with foreign countries, but our bond with our foreign pig friends as well."

Derek Flores

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7606100.stm

Other Blogging

I have long wanted to branch out and blog about my daily thoughts, the happenings in hip hop, fashion and politics. I have taken the first steps in documenting what I feel is important not only to me but to others who share my common interests.
I had been interested in blogging for 944 magazine, and met this past weekend for lunch with a friend who is an editorial contributor for the magazine. I let her know that I was interested in contributing some blogs about politics, and issues that are close to me. Seems easy enough, right? I have tried today for a good while to find a topic that I can write a quick blog about, but it has been pretty difficult. Not because the topics are irrelevant, or not something that interests me, but because I keep stopping short because of fact checking. It would be really easy to go off on a tangent and not care whether what I am writing about is true or not. I decided not to do that out of respect for my college professors who taught me all I know about citing and doing your best to research everything fully. I have spent a good amount of time checking my topics to make sure that my blogs are not easily refuted. I should have a couple of good ones here soon.