American Gothic, painted by Grant Wood in 1930, is one of the most iconic and recognized works of 19th century Americana. Here is a great photo of the models for American Gothic, Nan Wood Graham and Byron McKeeby. The photo was shot in 1930. Wonderful!
A month ago, I splurged and bought an Asus Transformer Infinity TF700 Tablet. It has all the bells and whistles and am very happy with it. Today, I tried out some sketching with Autodesk Sketchbook application, a very powerful app.
It’s a nude, so I’ll display it after the fold…
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U.S. Officials Say Iran Has Agreed to Nuclear Talks
Iran and the US have agreed for the first time to one-on-one negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, setting the stage for what could be a last-ditch diplomatic effort to avert a military strike on Iran. The Obama administration has been participating in highly intense, secret exchanges with Iranian officials since the beginning of President Obama’s term. The news of the agreement comes at a critical moment in the US, just two weeks before the presidential election.
The news has the potential to help Mr. Obama to make the case that his foreign policy has succeeded in paving the way to a diplomatic breakthrough in a decade long effort by the world’s major powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Iranian officials have insisted that the talks take place after the presidential election, to ensure they know with whom they are negotiating. With all the bluster being tossed about by Romney regarding entering a war with Iran, were I Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, I would be doing everything I could to insure Obama’s reelection.
It isn’t clear whether Mitt Romney would agree to the negotiations if elected president. Mr. Romney has repeatedly criticized the president as showing weakness on Iran and failing to stand firmly with Israel against the Iranian nuclear threat. He has been pushing for a stronger approach to the Iran problem and has been very vocal about supporting the idea of military action.
Iran just may have handed the election to President Obama. It is certainly something to consider.
Of course, whether the negotiations would ever take place is in question. Iran has a history of agreeing to talks only to buy time and renege on their promises.
Interestingly, the third and final presidential debate will focus on foreign policy…
President Obama from the campus of George Mason University:
We have got to name this condition he is going through. I think it is called Romnesia. I think that’s what it is called. Now I’m not a medical doctor. But I do want to go over some of the symptoms with you because I want to make sure nobody else catches it.
If you say you’re for equal pay for equal work but you keep refusing to say whether or not you will sign a bill that protects equal pay for equal work, you might have Romnesia.
If you say women should have access to contraceptive care, but you support legislation that would let employers deny contraceptive care, you might have a case of Romnesia.
If you say you will protect a women’s right to choose but you stand up in a primary debate and say you’d be delighted to sign a law outlawing that right to choose in all cases, then you have definitely got Romnesia.
It seems that every time the camera focused on Paul Ryan during the Vice Presidential debate he had a water glass in his hand. Now, I’m all about keeping hydrated, but it seemed pretty unusual that he needed so much water during the hour and a half of the debate. I think I’ve found the answer…
He simply wanted to make sure his pants didn’t catch fire!
Funny, during the Vice Presidential debate, I had this vision of a big guy, his hand on the forehead of a little pipsqueak, and the pipsqueak swinging for all he was worth and missing.
