Patriotic nails - Isadora, OPI for Merle Norman, Le Métier de Beauté - Updated for July 4

Isadora, which is from Sweden, posted this picture of patriotic nails on Facebook:

Patriotic Nail art from Sweden's Isadora

Isadora Wonder Nail polish shades:

• no 603 Tip White
• no 702 Blue Jeans
• no 653 Chelsea Red

And don't ask me about the red hands! :-)

Merle Norman likes to trumpet its "Made in the USA" credentials. OPI created its Americana nail set to celebrate Merle Norman’s heritage. It features red, white and blue mini OPI Nail Lacquers. The Americana nail set features:

• Hussy - a ravishing red polish. No, it's not named for a brazen woman who's got her mitts on your man (and believe me, I've had to deal with one), it's named for a classic car. 
• Alpine Snow
• Yoga-ta Get this Blue! 
• RapiDry Top Coat

OPI for Merle Norman Americana nail set

And once again, my apologies for the lousy picture quality, but it's the best I could find. :-(

See set from Le Métier de Beauté:

Post-inauguration thoughts

As with most Americans, I watched the Presidential inauguration. I tuned into C-SPAN, because I knew that there would be less intrusion by the chattering classes.

When so much hype and expectation surrounds an event (the election, the inauguration), I become skeptical and even cynical. It seems that many regard Barack Obama as the Second Coming. He is a politician.

Now since the inauguration is past, President Obama gets down to the hard task of governing. I hope that that will mean euphoric Americans will come down to Earth.

By and large, those of us who voted for the other guy have been at least willing to give President Obama a chance. On the other hand, we've been tainted as being taken in by fear. Deepak Chopra, in one of his more loopier moments, said that McCain-Palin represented our shadow selves(!): one woman started a Facebook group on that premise to hold Barack Obama "in the light." Over one hundred people joined her group.

Now, who wants to be on the side of fear and shadows? Is this not a subtle way to undermine your opponents? I hope that President Obama and his supporters will reach out to those who didn't vote for him - and that includes the 43% who voted for McCain-Palin.

Another thing: George W. Bush is no longer President. Enough with Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS).

Cult of Personality

Yesterday, I had planned to do a post-mortem on Tuesday's Presidential election. I was incredulous that so many American voters were sucked into a cult or personality.

Which made me recall this song:


Still from video Cult of Personality
by Living Color

Cult of personality
Look into my eyes, what do you see?
Cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
Ive been everything you want to be
Im the cult of personality
Like mussolini and kennedy
Im the cult of personality
Cult of personality
Cult of personality

Neon lights, a nobel prize
The mirror speaks, the reflection lies
You dont have to follow me
Only you can set me free
I sell the things you need to be
Im the smiling face on your t.v.
Im the cult of personality
I exploit you still you love me ...

More lyrics

When I went to the YouTube video for Cult of Personality, I saw that there were plenty others for whom the recently concluded Presidential election made them recall this song.

Thoughts for Election Eve

My passions during this election seasons have run high. I've had nights that I've been so riled that I've taken a tablet to fall asleep.

There are some positions taken by Barack Obama that I like, and there are positions taken by John McCain that I don't like. I know who McCain who is. I don't believe that Obama is who he says he is, when, in his commercials, he talks about faith, patriotism, and his mother's teaching him what it meant to be an American. Not many believing Christians would recognize the theology espoused by Rev. Wright, Obama's spiritual mentor for 20 years. Obama's mother didn't appear to have much attachment to the USA: instead, she married two non-citizens and gallivanted around the world, leaving him in the care of her mother. Also, I'm creeped out by the cult of personality surrounding Obama.

I'll be voting for McCain tomorrow. I do have misgivings, beyond his his stance on some issues. I'm worried that his health might not hold out over the next four years. He's run a lackluster campaign: I'm reminded of Bob Dole's 1996 Presidential campaign, when it appeared that he became the GOP's nominee solely for being a party elder. Neither has McCain represented himself well.

For example, McCain could have hit Obama harder concerning Obama's opting out of public campaign financing. The pernicious role of money in campaigning has long been a big issue of the Democratic Party. McCain partnered with Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to sponsor the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 to do something about campaign financing: in this way, he bucked his party and could solidly portray himself as a "maverick."

Here's what Victor Davis Hansen wrote in the conservative National Review about public campaign financing:

"For years an axiom of the liberal establishment was the need for public campaign financing — and the corrosive role of private money in poisoning the election process. The most prominent Republican who crossed party lines to ensure the passage of national public campaign financing was John McCain — a maverick stance that cost him dearly among conservatives who resented bitterly federal interference in political expression. ...

For all practical purposes, public financing of the presidential general election is now dead. No Republican will ever agree to it again. No Democrat can ever again dare to defend a system destroyed by Obama. All future worries about the dangers of big money and big politics will fall on deaf ears.

Surely, there will come a time when the Democratic Party, whether for ethical or practical reasons, will sorely regret dismantling the very safeguards that for over three decades it had insisted were critical for the survival of the republic."

NOTE I'm conflicted when I identify a source as "liberal" or "conservative." On one hand, I use these terms for truth-in-labeling; on the other hand, the "L" word or "C" word is an instant turnoff for people of the opposite persuasion, who won't bother to read a source and consider the points.

The final Presidential debate

So how did it play out? After the debate, I visited twitter and followed the “tweets” that people had made during the debate. The most sensible thing I read was that we need to judge the candidates on basis of character and strategy.

I commend Obama for citing the risks of borrowing from China (which holds billions in U.S. Treasury notes) to pay Saudi Arabia for oil. For someone like myself who sees an ascending China, a resurgent Russia, and the Middle East as at least major challenges, if not evolving threats, to our national security, I found Obama’s awareness refreshing. However, he provided no specifics on getting the U.S. out of that dilemma.

On energy independence, McCain came out on top by referring to existing proven sources of energy such as nuclear and natural gas. Obama referred to a 10-year plan to make the U.S. energy independent through unproven “green” technologies. He has drawn parallels to JFK’s challenge to put a man on the moon in 10 years. It is a flawed analogy. In JFK’s time, we were engaged in a space race with an identified competitor: the Soviet Union. Having an identified competitor galvanized the U.S. to realize its goal of putting a man on the moon. Will Obama identify an external competitor that will challenge us to become energy-independent? Moreover, I don’t share his faith in ethanol, and chalk that up to the fact that he represents Illinois: corn farmers there have a vested interest in ethanol. Diverting acreage from crops such as wheat and soybeans to corn for ethanol has lead to higher prices for commodities and a world food crisis. I do commend Obama on canceling leases for companies that don’t drill offshore.

On the economy, Obama galvanized prospective voters about the profits made by Big Oil and challenged McCain on cutting corporate tax rates. McCain did not, but should have, answered the issue of Big Oil profits directly. He did make a good case about tying jobs to corporate tax rates, as companies will locate to countries that have lower corporate tax rates.

Evaluating Obama’s and McCain’s health care plan is beyond my “grade level,” except to say that Obama successfully debunked McCain’s assertion that people could go across state lines to buy health insurance in the last debate by saying that insurers would relocate to other states that have less oversight. His analogy was the fact that many companies incorporate in Delaware for the same reason. He didn’t say that last night: wonder why? :)

So there you have it. Debate, please!

A politically incorrect post

With less than three weeks before the election, I'm taking the risk to voice my political views. I’m very skeptical about Barack Obama, and here I must set myself apart from friends on my social networks who love Barack Obama.

My worldview changed completely after 9/11: in this way, I’m like Dennis Miller, actor Ron Silver, and this blogger who calls herself neo-neocon. I do believe that America has enemies who wish us harm. Only conservatives seem to recognize this truth, which is why this disillusioned liberal has gravitated to conservative web sites and blogs. National security remains the number one issue with me.

I appreciate that many people think that the economy is a more important issue than national security (when, in fact, the two are inextricably linked). President Bush is hugely unpopular, and it’s easy to pin all the blame on him and want to vote for “change.”

However, Democrats have had a significant role in the mortgage meltdown. Consider Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), chair, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, who benefited from sweetheart deals from Countrywide to finance his properties. Consider Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Chair, House Financial Services Committee, who said that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were viable as recently as this summer. It should be pointed out that Barack Obama received the single biggest chunk of political contributions from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Outside the government, there are Herb and Marion Sandler, who sold their Golden West Financial to Wachovia for $24 billion. Golden West specialized in selling adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) to home buyers who, as rates increased, could not pay for their mortgages. Wachovia’s purchase has crippled the company greatly, making it a takeover target for Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Living in the Mid-Atlantic States as I do, it’s almost impossible not to do business with Wachovia. Wachovia is the dominant bank, as it has gobbled up smaller regional banks (like the big fish swallowing the small fish, which in turn is swallowing an even smaller fish ...). The Sandlers have poured millions into leftist organizations that have promoted Barack Obama.

For these reasons, I don’t have faith in Barack Obama's ability to monitor the banking system (without alienating his base). I won’t be voting for him as President. But McCain doesn’t have much fight in him – his lackluster campaign reminds me of Bob Dole’s 1996 Presidential campaign, in which Dole become the Republican candidate simply because it was his time.

Wondering about Obama

I know that I'm breaking my own rule about discussing politics on my blog (given my dislike of fashion magazines that cover politics and social issues on one hand and fashion and fashion and beauty on the other), but given the enthusiasm that my fellow beauty bloggers have expressed via Twitter concerning Barack Obama's clinching the Democratic nomination for President, I find it hard to restrain expressing my own opinions.

Now since Obama will face national elections, he's going to have a hard time of persuading Americans to vote for him. The United States of America, as a whole, is centrist to conservative in its politics. In past elections, liberals who have secured the Democratic nomination have been decisively trounced in the general elections.

If his associations are evidence of his own views, Obama is not merely a liberal, but a leftist. Diehard conservatives might not share my opinion, but what distinguishes a liberal from a leftist is that a leftist has contempt for his/her country, while a liberal essentially wishes his/her country well. Rev. Wright ("God damn America") and Michelle Obama ("for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country ...") are leftists, while those Democratic nominees (McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis) who crashed and burned in prior elections were liberals.

Another concern I have about Obama is his willingness to negotiate with anyone, even a nutcase like Kim Jong-Il of North Korea or a religious fanatic who uses violent and genocidal rhetoric like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of Iran, without pre-conditions. After Obama was criticized for his stance, he has been furiously back-pedaling to say that "preparations" are necessary, an approach that a recent commentary in the International Herald Tribune call "nuanced"!

On the other hand, I'm not ready to commit to McCain, as he pledges to maintain the U.S. presence in Iraq.