I strictly ration my gum, and always have some with me (Don’t ask for it though) so I soon amassed a pretty hefty collection. It totaled about 30 pieces of normal aluminum plus Five’s red, blue and green wrappers. I realized the potential of these wrappers. I could create…art.
First I had to figure out what to make. It would have to be a simple image with not too many colors. The Obama O-bingo. Wrigleys wrappers for white, Flare red, Cobalt blue and Rain green letters.
How I converted the Obama logo into a 3-color pixelated was pretty sophisticated. I’m pretty sure I applied some saturation layers, created a grid, then created three duplicate layers of one individual square to replace squares with the right color. One square equaled one half of a wrapper.
I spent about 45 minutes figuring out how to draw the gird but eventually got it on the two pieces of posterboard, along with the gum wrappers. I had to chew more Big Red, and finished it up with “2008” made with Rain green.
Eventually my art was finished. This was my masterpiece. You know the Obama poster that says “Hope” underneath? Mine was cool like that. What to do with it though?
Great idea-frame it and put it in the nearest Obama HQ. One opens in my county tomorrow morning.
Click for bigger images…
More Obama art:
Lincoln-Obama fusion
July 19, 2008
Obama takes control of DNC fundraising
Barack Obama has been the presumptive Democratic nominee for two days but is already changing the party from within. He has instructed the committee to accept his proposal of denying funds from PACs and lobbyists, among growing insider concern about the DNC’s lackluster fundraising. The move not only unifies Obama’s policy with the party but stabs at McCain’s lobbyist ties.
The Republican National Committee has raised twice as the DNC’s 77.6 million this year, and has ten times more than the DNC’s 4.4 million on-hand cash. Leaders hope Obama’s fundraising knack will translate for more funds for the Convention in August.
News Observer
Obama prepared to help Clinton with debt
Barack Obama and second-place finisher Hillary Clinton appear to be reconciling after a bloody 16-month primary season. An Obama campaign advisor says Obama will help Clinton pay back the $20 million dollar campaign debt, including 11.4 million she owes herself.
According to the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law, Clinton must pay the loan back by the Democratic Convention or she’ll only be able to repay a fraction. Though Obama can’t directly donate from his fund experts predict they will both reach out to Obama’s maxed out donors.
Bloomberg news
Clinton to end her bid
At the same time, a Clinton campaign issued a statement last night announcing that Hillary will voice her support for Obama and end her bid on Saturday. Aides say she originally wanted to wait but by Thursday had been convinced to back down.
“Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, D.C., to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity,” said a chief strategist.
The tide turned as Obama declared himself the nominee Tuesday night and soon created a three person vice-president selection group, including longtime supporter Caroline Kennedy. Many Clinton supporters like former Vice President Walter Mondale expressed support for Obama after Tuesdays primaries, which may have prompted her exit.
NY Times
June 5, 2008
1. 36 million people voted in the Democratic presidential primary. Eventually the shock of loss will wear off and most Hillary supporters will support the Democratic nominee. Just the thought of McCain should keep most in line with Obama.
2. Money. Obama has raised over $235 million during the course of his campaign. Money talks, especially when that money comes from more than a million and a half donors.
3. A majority of the country says we’re heading in the wrong direction. McCain and Obama claim they’re about change, but when you vote with Bush 95% of the time and go fundraising with him…it doesn’t help.
4. Fair media coverage. The media hasn’t attacked McCain too much since he got the nomination. The media also loves talking about Obama, whether in a good or bad tone. After the nasty primary race they’re not much more the media can accuse Obama of.
5. Different policies. One reason the primary was so nasty was because Clinton and Obama have nearly identical platforms. Obama and McCain have almost polar opposite platforms. The general election will seem a cake-walk when Obama doesn’t have to rely on personal attacks.
6. Volunteers. Obama has a national network of volunteers, the reason for his overwhelming caucus victories. With the nation in full primary swing, momentum has swung to Obama, and it’ll stay that way.
June 4, 2008
The exhausting, drawn-out Democratic Presidential primary has come to an end. After 54 contests and 35,000,000 votes, we finally have an unofficial candidate.
I say unofficial because Clinton hasn’t dropped out yet. What do you expect? A candidate this stubborn and egotistical doesn’t admit defeat easily. Sure, she will. But it’ll take some time, just like it took her time to realize the primary election wasn’t going to be a cakewalk.
The funny thing is that Obama was mathematically guaranteed the nomination by early March. But it kept going. Reverend Wright was brought up. Hillary slammed him to talking about “guns and religion.” Of course, Hillary and her husband haven’t exactly been grassroots for the past sixteen years.
Well now it’s assured. Every time she lost a front, she changed it. First it depended on delegates, then superdelegates, then popular vote. Every time she lost, she changed the goal post. Now Obama has won every front, and there’s nothing she can do.
I don’t think he’ll pick her as vice-president. There are a lot of people that don’t like Hillary Clinton. The kind of people that don’t like Barack Obama wouldn’t vote for him just because he has Clinton on his ticket. During this season, when one candidate loses, his supporters say they won’t support the other candidate. They always do.
So Barack Obama, don’t pick Hillary. Pick Bill Richardson. He’s a governor of a Hispanic state and Hispanic himself, he’s older, and has been Governor, UN Ambassador, Energy Secretary and Representative.
No one can top a beard like that.
Another pick, I think, is Chuck Hagel. Obama could fulfill his promise of reaching across the aisle by picking this Vietnam vet, former VA secretary under Raegan and Nebraska Senator. Hagel has said this will be his last term as Senator.
I think I’ll also plot my candidate support.
Q2 2007: Obama (Thought he was cool)
Q3 2007: Kucinich (Starting Digging)
Q4 2007: Paul (Kucinich can’t win)
Q1 2008: Obama (Paul can’t win)
And here I am. As you can see, I don’t care if they’re Democrats or GOP. Iraq war opposition, good economic policy and stricter foreign policy is what I care about.
Now that all liberals have a common opponent it’s time to throw our weight around. For years pundits have been saying that only a Democrat can win this year. They’re right. He leads in every poll.
YES WE CAN.
June 4, 2008
Senator Clinton to concede tonight
Senator Hillary Clinton will concede tonight that her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Barack Obama, has enough delegates to secure the nomination according to some anonymous senior campaign officials. Obama is currently about 40 delegates short of the nomination but is expected to secure the 2,118 delegates needed through the South Dakota and Montana primaries today in addition to superdelegates, which have been flocking to the Illinois senator.
However, the campaign officials said she will stop short of formally ending her campaign, in order to leverage other options for Clinton like the vice-presidential nod. She also wants to pressure him to polish his platform, especially when it comes to her signature issue, healthcare.
Huffington Post
Phoenix Probe stumbles across ice
NASA scientists say the Phoenix Probe has discovered a small ice patch on Mars. The discovery is a big step for the mission, which is to find ice that can be tested for organic compounds, or “life on Mars.”
When the probe landed last week, its thrusters may have blown away some surface dirt. Scientists just discovered the picture of one of the legs resting on what appears to be ice.
The scientists are confident about bringing the ice back. “We were worried that it may be 30-, 40-, 50-centimeters deep, which would be a lot of work. Now we are fairly certain that we can easily get down to the ice table,” said project chief Peter Smith. A robotic arm will scoop ice samples and deposit it in ovens, where the samples will turn into gases to be tested upon return.
Daily Mail
June 3, 2008
