Darrel Brannock [Artist + Broker]

3-Way Switch at Goofy's 2/21

3-Way Switch at The Funhouse 2/15

3-Way Switch @ Blue Moon 1-15-2009

Barack the Vote!

BARACK �N ROLL at JULES MAES SALOON

WHAT: Get Out The Vote Event for the Obama/Biden campaign
WHEN: Saturday November 1, 2008
WHERE: Jules Maes Saloon
TIME: 9pm
COST: $5 21+ with ID

BUTTONS 4 OBAMA WILL BE THERE!

http://buttons4obama.com
-From 9-10pm, make your very own campaign button!
-Encourage people to vote by wearing your button during the countdown to Election Day!
-Check out the cool designs by Jody Rodgers and Joann Edmonds-Rodgers.
-Get there early 'cause supplies are limited!

STICKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While supplies last, everyone gets an Obama/Biden 2" round sticker!

INFO and MERCH TABLE

-Tips for Getting Out the Vote!
-Election Protection Guide!
-Free Obama Stickers!
-Free ACLU Voter Empowerment Cards!
-Pocket Constitutions!
AND
3-Way Switch Manifesto Packs!

Old News

I have been in hiding for the past two weeks. On October 15th I was not-so-amazed to find out I was being laid-off by Redfin, along with 20% of the company. With the present economic climate being what it is, they really had no choice. I didn't take it badly and focused on studying for the broker's exam- which I passed on Saturday thank you very much. We also played at the Central the day after my birthday, where we were greeted by twitching rats in sticky traps for our load-in.

I'm Voting for "That One"

In case you missed it in last night's debate, McCain subtly stood on one leg and placed his foot in his mouth while talking about Bush's energy plan and who voted for it. He referred to Barack as "that one." Okay, I'm not going to sit here and bellyache about all of the racist things I have witnessed or experienced in my life- because there have been MANY. Referring to Obama as "that one" is not the worst thing I have ever witnessed. It is however a goddamn blazing red flag urging us to look into McCain's psyche. White people, I mean no offense if you already know, but I have to say it: black people are no different than you. We want to feel respected, represented and included. We have families and aspirations and obligations just like you. Belittling us through condescending remarks, even if lacking racist terminology, is not taken as simply an insult to us- it is what racism inherently represents from our perspective. Racist remarks only serve the purpose of attempting to dehumanize someone, therefore any remark attempting to dehumanize us is inherently racist. He didn't say "that guy" or even "that man"...he said "that one." Think about Barack doing that to McCain and how weird it would sound coming from his mouth. Think about how naturally it flowed out of McCain's.

My Obsession with Sarah Palin Continues

This is so awesome...I can't think of anything clever to say.

Play PALIN BINGO During Tonight's Debate

Get your bingo cards!
Get your bingo cards!
Get your bingo cards!
Get your bingo cards!

Get your bingo cards!

Auto-Generated Bush Haikus

�Bushku use a 3-5-3 syllable form, 'cause 5-7-5 is too darn complexicated, Laura.� Courtesy of http://www.everypoet.com

----

fly kills... head
speaks... rat flops... cool throne
points cleanly

rat peeks - uh... ... old
dip bombin� (Help me, Laura!) dudes spell
huge kind sad

Roves bow... damn
wars leak safely... sheep
fryin� flags

darn gold fast
mice change... wars cluck... pups
garblin� fast

rats leak... floors
chew... bugs cringe... long clear
damn votes climb

rare damn fresh
eels fart... thrones fart... tart
snake shovin�

blue brew shouts
skirt peels... fork smilin�
- Gerson, how many sybalulls in Axis of Evil?! �
tamely... moons - uh...

Bailout Bill Dies- Thank GOD

Maybe it�s too late to put in my two cents on this whole bailout for Wall Street mess, but I�m a bit relieved it didn�t pass this morning. Before you start booing me, wait a minute to hear or rather read me out. The whole notion that we need to help these greedy lunatics by buying their crappy mortgage backed securities with $700,000,000,000 of our own money is misleading. I don�t think a single bank would have failed if they weren�t trying to rip people off to begin with.

Why are they demanding that we fix this problem from the top down instead of the bottom up? It doesn�t take a genius to see that if people weren�t foreclosing, there�d be fewer bad mortgages. The banks got greedy and offered exploitative loans to people fully aware of the risk. The banks didn�t care in an up market- they assumed they could reclaim the assets and sell them again on the open market at a profit. It wasn�t until the market became flooded with distressed properties that it became a problem for them.

SIMPLE SOLUTION: have courts intervene and renegotiate mortgage terms. Can�t pay your newly adjusted mortgage amount? A judge helps moderate new terms for the mortgage based on today�s interest rate with a 30 year fixed and the homeowner agrees to pay that lower amount instead of foreclosing on the property. Remove all penalties for the conversion on behalf of the borrower. The banks would still have mortgagors paying money to them, the homeowners would retain their homes and equity and the real estate market would be unencumbered by all of these distressed properties driving down home values for the rest of us. Best part is it doesn�t take $700 BILLION to do this.

Banks lose a lot of time and money trying to market foreclosed properties- it is not in their best interest to foreclose. It might have been five years ago, but obviously it�s bad for everyone today.

Don�t get me started on the fact Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac only RECENTLY stopped allowing brokers to hire in-house appraisers who were all too willing to justify loan amounts. We don�t need new legislation or regulation- we need to simply ENFORCE what we already have.

BOYCOTT HORMEL

The following video is undercover footage captured by PETA from a hog farm in Iowa. I warn you

THIS VIDEO IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC

and will change how you feel about the industry and your fellow man. This video will haunt you- it kept me up the night I watched it. The farm is a Hormel supplier and Hormel has refused to comment or do anything about it. The only thing they will understand is a complete boycott of their products.
I am not a vegetarian, but I respect the lives of animals raised for food and feel they deserve a certain amount of respect and dignity if they are to have such a fate. These poor hogs will possibly make you cry. Do not let them get away with this atrocity- they will only continue if we don�t stop them.

Corrections and Clarifications

The site title was changed before the fact to read �Artist + Broker�, however I have not taken the broker�s licensing exam yet. Scheduled for 10/25, I�m waiting for my birthday (10/22) so I don�t have to renew my license in one year and one month. September would count as �year one� of two years if I took the exam right now. Wish me luck�don�t know when I�m going to study. I started at Redfin on Monday and I�m still learning how they do things

John McCain's ads are LIES. Here's the video proof.

I hope you are registered to vote!

This is no time for procrastination. This is a time for serious concern. You have a responsibility that can't be ignored.
REGISTER NOW if you haven't already. Did you move? Re-register!
I call upon all of my progressive friends and curious onlookers to ask each and every person they know to register to vote as well as ask each and every one of their friends to make the same effort to spread this like a virus. Do not sit on your hands and assume someone else will represent your voice; this is far too close and important of a race.

"When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as
to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
Thomas Jefferson

Caught on Tape: Top GOP Pundits Call Palin "Political Bullshit"

Full transcript:

Chuck Todd: Mike Murphy, lots of free advice, we'll see if Steve Schmidt and the boys were watching. We'll find out on your blackberry. Tonight voters will get their chance to hear from Sarah Palin and she will get the chance to show voters she's the right woman for the job Up next, one man who's already convinced and he'll us why Gov. Jon Huntsman.

(cut away)

Peggy Noonan: Yeah.

Mike Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys -- this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it's not gonna work. And --

PN: It's over.

MM: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

CT: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.

PN: Saw Kay this morning.

CT: Yeah, she's never looked comfortable about this --

MM: They're all bummed out.

CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this -- excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives --

CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.

MM: I totally agree.

PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it.

MM: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.

CT: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.

MM: Yeah.

Sarah Palin: Lies & Videotape

Okay, Sarah Palin is a liar and a bad one at that. "Thanks but no thanks for that bridge to nowhere." She is stuck on stupid and continues to repeat the same falsehoods over and over again. Reality WILL catch up with her- it's only a matter of time.

McCain will say anything to be elected...

...he still hasn't figured out we have the ability to catch his inconsistencies. It's like John McCain thinks we're stupid. ARE YOU STUPID? I thought not. So then why is this election looking like a dead heat? Please don't be stupid. Please?

iWonder why folks love their iPhones so much?

I have been a user of �smartphones� for several years now and have grown accustomed to the features and shortcomings of many of them. After toting around a Cingular 8125 (or rather HTC Wizard) for three years, I thought it was high time to upgrade to the new iPhone 3g. Overall I am pretty happy with the phone, but there are MANY shortcomings with the device that should be noted before you consider taking the plunge. Let this serve as a buying guide (read�WARNING). If you are used to features you would find on any Palm or Windows Mobile device, prepare to be pissed off or at the very least, disappointed.

� The iPhone has no copy and paste ability (?!?). If you want to copy a URL, the body of an email message, an email address, a text message�ANYTHING at all- you won�t be able to do that. Seems like the most basic thing in the world, but it was somehow forgotten or deemed unimportant. I�ve had the phone for a few weeks and have needed the ability at least a dozen times.
� You can�t send MMS messages. It has a great camera, but you can only send photos via email. Most workarounds using cell-number@cell-carrier.com or whatever won�t work.
� The camera is only a still camera with no video camera functionality.
� You can�t save attachments from emails nor can you attach files to emails.
� You can�t snooze calendar reminders
� You are extremely limited in how you structure repeating appointments using the calendar. Have a calendar item that repeats every weekday? You can�t create that appointment on the iPhone. Every day- yes, every weekday, no. You have to create complex repeating events in Outlook and then sync them to your calendar.
� Incoming text messages and reminders come to the front no matter what you are doing. Example- I�m on a call and I get a text message. When I�m done with the phone call I can�t hang up unless I first dismiss the text message notifications.
� Intuitive text is not so. Start typing with your thumbs on the tiny keyboard and you will see what I mean. I think the phone knows what I�m about to type 50% of the time and if you don�t dismiss the word it thinks you are typing, it will automatically replace that word with �what you meant to type.� Extra keyboard strokes abound.
� Reminders that appear while your phone is sleeping disappear as soon as you unlock the phone. A better method would be to allow the user to dismiss the reminder instead.
� No �to-do� list. However there are free applications for this in the App Store.
� No infrared support. This doesn�t matter to most people, but as a real estate agent I can�t use the phone to unlock keyboxes on homes- something I could do with my last phone.
� It doesn�t save passwords for websites.
� If you receive a call while your phone is sleeping, you can�t decline the call.
� HORRIBLE battery life! Get a car charger�you will need it.
� You can't view Flash content in web pages.

I suppose if you have never used another smartphone you would see the iPhone as revolutionary. If on the other hand you HAVE used other phones with similar abilities, you are going to immediately see what you are missing. I know I probably have the fanboys in a huff over my criticism, but I won�t lose any sleep over it. Don�t get me wrong, there is plenty to like about it- I just can�t believe people think these things are best of breed.

3 Way Switch @ The Mars Bar Friday 8/22/2008

We (3 Way Switch) are playing this Friday at the Mars Bar� not coming to the show is a sign of weakness. Ooooohhh.

Summer is Busy

It�s been an interesting couple of months- a jam packed couple of months where things like �time for blogs� didn�t exist. I have been taking several classes in order to obtain my broker�s license and have only one class remaining which I take next week. I had the honor of marrying a couple of friends of mine last month (congrats Dave and Christina) and I�ve been doing a lot of camping. Parenthood has its demands as well if you can imagine. I completed a contract gig with Caiman Consulting in July and now I�m looking for new companies and opportunities as a real estate broker.