Obama Biden Rally in Fredericksburg, VA

Yesterday I attended an Obama/Biden rally in Fredericksburg, VA on the campus of the University of Mary Washington. I figured it wasn't that far and it would be my first time seeing the two candidates together; I also wanted to see how the crowds were reacting to vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.

On the main road that takes you into downtown Fredericksburg there's a huge sign that reads "McCain/Palin country"?!?!?!?!

Found a good space in a local business area and walked down to the rally area in Ball Circle. There were tons of people in line to get into the rally and right outside the campus on College Avenue was a house with a huge, wooden McCain/Palin sign. So back to the line, there were tons of people winding around the campus into the Ball Circle area. I thought the line would never end. It was quite chaotic finding the press check-in but once I got in I saw that there was hardly any press there. I'm wondering why they weren't trying to get more folks in.

So of course, they have the oh-so glorious tented section for the traveling press and everyone else is relegated to the elements. Any who, the section set-up for attendees was very small. There was an area around the primary viewing section for people who got in but there was a large amount of people who didn't get in but still had a great view of the stage.

The rally was supposed to begin around 6:30pm but around 6:00pm the rains came down. Serious rain. Lightening and everything. Nobody left, people looked for shelter if that was possible but nobody left. Rain was in the forecast and some people came prepared but most just didn't care. At this time they're telling us we have to leave from under the tented traveling press area repeating the lie that "they're on their way". After about 30 or 40 minutes the rain let up and everyone soaked up the few minutes of sun to get ready for the main event.
Around 7:00pm Joe Biden and Barack Obama appeared on stage, no opening acts, straight to the main event. Joe Biden stepped up to the podium and his first line of attack was John McCain's comments at the preceding night's debate. He attacked his foreign policy angles on Iraq, Afghanistan and Russia. He primarily questioned his judgment and attempted to prove that this characteristic is what defines Senator Obama's ability to be President not John McCain. The audience appeared very lukewarm to Senator Biden's comments, I'm not sure if it was the foreign policy topic or just the general response to Biden.

Obama then took the stage and immediately discussed the need to turn Virginia blue. He started with the economy and addressed some of McCain's comments from the debate at Ole Miss on September 26th. About 20 minutes into Obama's comments the rain starts up again and people started leaving.  I guess they figured they couldn't take any more rain and since they'd gotten a taste of Obama in person it was OK to leave.

The Senator continued to attack McCain as it relates to the financial bailout and commented that "American people should not pay for the bailout" and that these big money CEO's "shouldn't even think about cashing in" and that there will be "no welfare for Wall Street".

The biggest zinger of the night immediately followed when he alluded to the misperception that McCain is for regulation.  Obama said "if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you in Alaska" referring to Alaska's infamous government project "The Bridge to Nowhere". 

The rain kept coming down but all Obama did was take-off his jacket and roll-up his sleeves half-way (the signature look he wears now when trying to look casually dressed). Since this setting was a college campus he touched on financial aid problems and his proposed idea for absolving financial costs, he also took a hit at No Child Left Behind (NCLB) saying he will support teachers so they won't have to only teach to the test.

The crowd was completely riled up and Obama closed it down. The two men waved to the audience, shook hands while their usual campaign song played "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder.

Overall, it was another good campaign event; not great but good. The weather and predictions for rain definitely hurt the event. The space designated for people to get in was just way too small. There was no build up of local politicians and supporters to help get the audience ready. In late night television and comedy shows they always use people to warm-up the audience and this event could have definitely benefited from that. Biden and Obama did a great job of addressing McCain's points on the economy and foreign policy but these topics are hard for crowds to get a handle on and for politicians to get a strong crowd response. I've been to better campaign events indoors and outdoors and this was pretty much a six on the scale of one to ten.

I did however get some cool pics of the different Obama T-shirts. Check it out http://www.slide.com/r/QOmWBKK2oD8VseRQJesTaaCsBQt13xPY?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

R.I.P. Council Member Ken Harris

Amidst the craziness of last week, covering the Congressional Black Caucus and McCain deciding he was temporarily suspending his presidential campaign, came the funeral of a former co-worker and all-around great guy-- Baltimore City Council Member Kenneth Harris. Ken Harris served Baltimore City as Counci lMember for nearly 10 years and also hosted a show on WEAA-FM called "City Talk" which is how I came to know him. In the wee hours of Sunday morning on September 20th Ken was shot in a robbery attempt (in his own district where he lived and served) and was pronounced dead at 2am at John Hopkins Hospital.

Ken was 45 years old, married for years to his wife Annette, had two children and his daughter was recently married. He was a strong advocate for tougher crime laws and the irony of his death is all too surreal.

The funeral was held at the Murphy Fine Arts Center at Morgan State University where Ken was an alumni and soon-to-be employee as he was recently pegged to be a lobbyist for the historically black college. Murphy was filled with family and friends of Ken and his family and there was abounding love for him in the auditorium. In the service everyone could feel the magnitude of his absence from the Northeast Baltimore community and the city at-large.

It's a shame to lose such a great person in a city who truly needs "community organizers" (Sarah Palin) and I hope with the example of his life people will follow in his footsteps and spend time caring for and serving their communities.

Pazo in Baltimore

Last night I joined a friend for a birthday dinner for her cousin. The time: 10pm. The place: Pazo in Baltimore's Fells Point neighborhood. The restaurant is refreshingn and different for the Baltimore scene and I heard it was impossible to get in when it opened four years ago. The place has valet which is $25 without validation (note to self: be sure to see the waiter before leaving). The restaurant is very big compared to other places in Fells Point. The aesthetic inside is a combination of a warehouse, loft style building with a Middle Eastern, North African flair with ornate designs, candle light and tented dining booths. In the middle of the restaurant is a lounge/bar area with low-sofas, pillows and tons of seating for group parties. A DJ was spinning live music which was a combination of light hip hop, soul and dance music. The vibe was very young, fresh, eclectic (which is perfect for me) and enlightening. A breath of fresh air from the tired scene in Washington, DC with crowded "it" clubs and so-called lounges that are standing room only with loud ass music. I'm so over that!!! Hated it!!. The menu is tapas and has a wide variety of selections especially for people like me who don't eat a lot of regular menu items. The tapas had selections such as lamb, calamari, eggplant caviar, grilled shrimp, fried mashed potato puffs, soup and salad. There's also a varied wine list for the enthusiasts. Overall, an enjoyable experience and if you're ever in Baltimore be sure to stop by.

New Dolls-Forget Barbie & Ken

Forget Barbie and Ken, we need Will & Jada dolls. They are perfection. Black perfection might I also say.

Big Red

I attended the McCain-Palin rally in Fairfax, Virginia on Wednesday. Had to get up much earlier than normal since it was on the total opposite side of the beltway. When I got there I saw plenty of people lining the sidewalks, walking up to Van Dike Park. The parking was kinda crazy but lo and behold I found a free parking deck. How great is that! I thought it was very interesting that the park was next to a gated community with gigantic homes--the perfect setting for a Republican event. Anywho, walking down Old Lee Highway I'm the only green jacket in an enormous sea of red. The Virginia Republican Party asked attendees to wear red as a reminder to "keep Virginia red" this November. Red was everywhere; red hats, red sun visors, children wearing red, even babies wearing red onesies. There were a few Obama supporters outside the park, police kept them at bay on the opposite side of the street. I heard one exchange between the McCain and Obama supporters. One McCain supporter yelled to the Obama supporters "You're losers!" to which an Obama supporter replied "If we lose, you lose"! (Well, I thought that was funny).

The security process was simple enough, no big deal there for a change. Once inside I headed straight for the media risers and plugged in, no big deal there for a change. And so we wait.... While I wait I'm observing the signs in the audience. One says "Our prayers have been answered, vote for McCain and Palin". Another sign reads "Drill baby drill". Another says "Lipstick on a pitbull". One woman is in the audience holding up a purse with big, red lips on the outside. Very interesting....

The local politicians open the event, a Congressman or something. The first two not elected speakers were former Democratic candidate supporters. A woman who owned a business with her husband was first to speak and she explained how three months ago she was an Obama supporter but is now supporting McCain because of his plans for business owners (ie, tax cuts for business owners). The next speaker was a Clinton supporter who is now supporting McCain because she feels her party, the Democratic Party, didn't recognize the need to put a woman on the ticket. She also addressed Obama's comment about "lipstick on a pig" and inferred that he was addressing Sarah Palin. Then she said "that was a comment a fifth grader would make and I don't want a fifth grader as President of the United States". Very interesting... She also said that she is going to call a different person everyday to get them to vote for John McCain, her new slogan is " a call a day keeps Obama away". Very interesting....

So the opening act for this extravaganza was Senator Fred Thompson and the audience ate him up from the second he appeared on the grassy knoll. The crowd was very revved up and Fred Thompson was in great form when he hit the stage. I've never seen him speak live before a crowd, he was very charming and very down home. He remarked to the audience that he "lives right down the road, I can talk to ya'll, ya'll are my kinda people". After Fred Thompson finished his audition for CSI: Capitol Hill the main act was ready to show up.

The McCains walked on-stage looking wealthy like Mr. and Mrs. Howell from Gilligan's Island. Sarah and Todd Palin walked on-stage looking like The Clampetts 2008, new found fame and fortune.

And the crowd went wild and all I could think about was "how much was Cindy McCain's money green outfit"?

Mrs. McCain spoke very briefly and introduced Sarah Palin. Sarah introduced her husband and then went into to her stump speech. At one point a French journalist remarked that Palin was giving the same stump speech she had given the prior day in Lebanon, Ohio. The audience ate it up; "I opposed the bridge to nowhere", "we'll reform Washington", "change is coming", "we're the maverick team", "I stood up to the old boys network", etc, etc, etc.

Then old man McCain came on stage. He shared all his policy information, war experience, Senate experience, energy independence crap and that's usually when people in the audience start to catch their afternoon nap. Just to keep everyone awake he kept referring to Sarah Palin saying "my running mate did this".

That was about it, NOTHING NEW, pretty much the exact same script and language from the Republican National Convention. The other problem with this event is that the Republicans kept trying to inflate the numbers. At the beginning they kept saying "we have about 12-15,000 people out here" and one of the cameramen remarked "somebody can't count". The crowd assembled looked more like 5,000. At the close of the event a women from the Republican Party came over and said the official event count was 23,000 and the reporter from the local NBC Affiliate immediately replied "who's official count". THERE WAS NOTHING CLOSE TO 23,000 PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE AT THIS EVENT. The Democratic National Convention at the Pepsi Center had around 30,000 in attendance and this crowd was no where near that size. The crowd there probably had 5,000-8,000. The nerve of them to say it was 23,000, as I just heard on Robot Chicken, that is lame.

I just wanted to see, in person, how the Republicans are responding to Sarah Palin. Is it legitimate or is the media just building hype around an interesting story? People are genuinely excited about Sarah Palin, she's clearly the draw on the ticket. Republicans were going to vote for McCain anyway but the addition of Sarah Palin has truly energized the party. Now for Sarah Palin, she's not very solid with facts or experience, but she's selling this bad girl, shooting guns, hunting moose and taking on the big guys persona. She puts a lot of sass in her speeches and with any public speaking event. ]Her style may work in a state of less than 700,000 people who may be intimidated by her personality or think its charming but that act will wear very thin very soon on this world stage. Alaska was the Bush Leagues Governor, you're in the Majors now.

I must say overall, I felt a little uncomfortable out there in McPalin land. Bob Herbert wrote a column in the New York Times this week emphasizing how the Democrats have been the party of change and progress over the years. Democrats pushed through civil rights for African Americans, voting rights for African Americans and women, gay rights, social security, medicare, etc. Republicans and conservatives have always been the party of keeping things the same. They were wholeheartedly opposed to equal rights for women and African-Americans, gay rights and any social program that helps people. To see all these people in red, with their children in red, wearing McPalin stickers rooting for a party who, as an African-American and woman, never wanted me to have anything was very unsettling to me. Not everyone felt that way or still feels that way but the fact remains that they're rooting for the party that doesn't want America to change. Lame!!

Oohhh Weeeee

I just made my first batch of cutesy fadutesy cupcakes. They were absolutely adorable! I loved making them and I think my friends enjoyed them. I'm ready to get in full swing now!!

I made them for an all-girl kickball game (and I am talking about ADULTS). Not to overload on the nostalgia angle with cupcakes (cue Playground by Another Bad Creation) but the kickball game was held at my Maryland elementary school Rose Valley--oh the days of recess and scoring chocolate milk in the cafeteria---good times, good times. But, I digress, back to the present. I decided not to play since I'm just getting over a cold. I brought snacks for everyone and they nicknamed me TEAM MOM.

That's just fine since, come to find out, we were on teams and my team won.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy!!!!

BTW, the score was 14-8, did the other team even play?!?!?!?

Random Thoughts

Everytime I write "Random Thoughts" I think of the old Saturday Night Live skit "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy". The thoughts were so corny and so unusable but I remember them very vividly.

Anywho..

While Hurricane Hannah was storming up the East Coast I was preparing for my Wilton's cupcake class at A.C. Moore. I thought a two-hour class for $15 on cupcake decorating basics shouldn't be too bad. I'm thinking about going into the cupcake craze as a side hustle. The only difference between selling cakes on the side and cupcakes is that cakes just have to taste good. But, as the cupcake game has seriously elevated, the main draw has become the taste but also the decor. When I discovered Bakerella blogs I learned that cupcakes have come a long way baby. And more specifically, when I saw her Care Bear cupcake made out of fondant, I realized that we weren't in Kansas anymore Toto. So I figured a cupcake class would be a good springboard.

Now granted, I was running to get my class materials together and it was, as I would say, raining pots and pans outside, I realized I still needed a few items. So I tried to

get on the road to pick-up wax paper and Wilton's decorators icing before class. Mission not accomplished. I got there about five minutes late without icing in hand (Drat!) I asked the instructor, Tina, if anymore icing was left on the shelf. The other two class participants, who were on time, said they had snagged the last two jars (Double Drat!) Tina said "Oh but there's chocolate back there" and I thought that was excellent since I love anything chocolate. And it was also appropriate since I was the only chocolate person in the class. (More on this interesting parallel later).

Learning how to thin the icing was the first step in class, which became a disaster because chocolate melts at a faster clip than vanilla. Tina went on to show us how to ice, how to do stars and extended stars, rosettes, leaves, dots, swirls and lettering.

The class was cool because it was a refresher course for some techniques I'd learned when I was younger. Also, seeing all the new tools and cupcakes ideas was a great inspiration for my future plans.

On the other hand, the class was geared towards the everyday homemaker or mom who bakes cupcakes for their children, their parties and for small religious or social functions. At one point the instructor Tina emphasized how "cupcakes are really big now, even at weddings". And I'm thinking to myself yeah, everybody knows that. Then she goes on "there are even cupcake cafes now like in Seattle and New York" and I said "yeah, they have one in Dupont Circle and two in Georgetown" to which she responded "yeah, well I don't go that way". At this point I'm thinking she can't be serious. Well, I say all that to say , I'm more interested in the contemporary, creative and chic cupcake style. I mean if I get a gig to make 30 cupcakes for a back-to-school kindergarten class then the multicolored caterpillar will work just fine. But, if I'm trying to sell my goods to adults and children for other things I want a more chic look which would include clear sprinkles, monograms from powdered sugar or sifted cocoa, cursive letter toppers, you get the idea.

At one point in the class, Tina was discussing how to get different colors for icing and more specifically black. She told us that the best way to get black is not by adding black dye to white icing but by making chocolate icing darker. She said if you use black dye in white icing it's hard to get a true black and you will most likely end up with a shade of gray. Then she said "just use chocolate because it's the closest thing to black, it's right next to black, it's the closest thing since I mean it's almost black, it's the closest thing to black , it's right there". I was the only black person in the class and the only one using chocolate icing. I felt slightly uncomfortable when they said brown is almost black, its the closest thing to black. I was thinking yeah brown is closer to black than most other colors when using icing but it's not right next to black, there are still a few variations until you get to black.

So I came home with knowledge about decorating techniques but practice surely makes perfect because my extended stars and leaves were pitiful. It's going to take a little longer than I thought to master the decorations. Using the basic flat style to cover the cupcake before putting on a decorative topping shouldn't be a problem. But, as far as anything that has dimension or height its going to be a problem.

The next thing I'll probably do is visit the cupcakes shops intown and sample their icing styles. Granted there are several ways to do it but the key will be the icing consistency and the style of decorating. Personally I like my entire cupcake top covered by icing, I feel as if something's missing when parts of the cupcake top are exposed. I feel like I'm getting robbed and instead of covering the face of the cupcake they just pile the icing to the sky. Icing is not all that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want more substance less fluff. Get the cupcake right, don't disguise it with a mountain of icing.

For me the joy of a cupcake is the perfect intersection of a moist cupcake and a complementary icing. Not just the cupcake itself and not just the icing. I like to take my first bit so I get the heavenly intersection of cake and icing. Additionally, I eat the entire cupcake so every bite provides me with this heavenly intersection. I get upset, or a little disappointed, when I have miscalculated my bites and I end up with an all-cake bite or an all-icing bite. Not cool, not having it.

Anyway, those are my random thoughts. Be sure to tip your waiter, thank you Denver. I'll be here all weekend.