This is created using every word from Obama's Speech at West Point. The words that are bigger are used the most.

This is from the full speech President Barack Obama delivered at West Point on Dec. 2, 2009 detailing his plans to add 30,000 more troop to Afghanistan.

Oh well, at least there is a plan now. Too bad we probably won’t be able to afford it. Damn running out of money country. I personally don’t know what is right anymore in this mess.

Current San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom dropped out of the 2010 California governor’s race. Who the hell will end up taking over this mess of a state? Right now, it doesn’t look hopeful.

This is what Newsom had to say:

With a young family and responsibilities at city hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to — and should be — done.

When I embarked on this campaign in April, my goal was to engage thousands and thousands of Californians dedicated to reforming our broken system and bringing change to Sacramento.

I will continue to fight for change and the causes and issues for which I care deeply — universal health care, a cleaner environment, and a green economy for our families, better education for our children, and, of course, equal rights under the law for all citizens.

Could Newsom create “real” change? Who really knows. In the end, he is a politician. But maybe he had a chance. Who else has one?

The lead democrat is a man who was once the governor before, Attorney General Jerry Brown. This guy owned a 7-to-1 fundraising edge on Newsom.

Brown can become governor again since he was not in office when term limits were set. There is no way a guy that old (he is 71) can bring California out of its ass. We need fresh minds with innovative solutions.

Let see, who else? There is Dianne Feinstein. Yeah, that is a joke. Evidently she is popular, but I don’t see what good she has done for the state so far.

Batting for the Republican Party: Tom Campbell, a fiscal conservative, and Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay from 1998 to 2008. Maybe the eBay knowledge can foster some solutions for the economic quagmire of the state, maybe not.

The election is far away from now (Well, maybe not that far. It is only a year away.) yet there are still no clear-cut saviors in the lot. Like America needed nothing short of a political superhero to move forward, California needs one as well. But who will be wearing the cape come November 2010?

Wayne Knight lectures student about the art of graphic design | Courtesy of the HSU Marketing & Communications Department

“He wanted to see the next peace sign come out of his class.”

On a gray day during the afternoon of Oct. 21, students left their graphic design class with tears in their eyes. Dean Ken Ayoob and Dean Randi Darnall Burke just informed them that Professor M. Wayne Knight passed away that morning.

Next door, Knight’s office was dark; a white candle sat outside beneath a card signed by students wishing their teacher the best. Knight had been in the hospital for a few weeks prior to his passing.

Knight died from pneumonia at Mad River Hospital due to pre-existing conditions complicated by the H1N1 virus.

Art Department Chair JoAnne Berke said Knight had a profound impact on students and faculty alike.

“We’re all still in shock and deeply saddened,” said Berke.

A memorial will be held on Nov. 14 in the Reese Bullen Gallery on campus at 2:00 p.m., everyone is invited. There will be an informal meeting for Knight’s students on Oct. 29 in Art 23 in Art Building A at 5 p.m.

Knight is survived by his family in Ukiah.

Berke has been in close contact with the family since Knight’s death and confirmed he had a very mild, pre-existing condition of asthma. She said the professor was an “extremely” healthy man before catching the H1N1 virus. “The asthma was so mild his doctor was unaware he had it.”

Efferson said he knew he was sick and in the hospital, but didn’t know how serious it was. “I was shocked,” he said. “I had no idea he was life or death sick.”

Wayne Knight instructs a student on techniques used in graphic design. | Courtesy of the HSU Marketing & Communications Department

In an e-mail sent out by HSU President Rollin Richmond, he wrote that the university has lost a friend and a dedicated professor who will be sorely missed.

Efferson said when you lose an individual as creative as Knight you can’t replace him. “It’s like losing an art beacon,” he said.

Knight’s artwork adorned the walls of galleries from Rome to the Redwoods. Locally, his work has been featured in HSU’s First Street Gallery and Reese Bullen Gallery, the Morris Graves Museum in Eureka and the Grace Hudson Museum and Mendocino College in Ukiah, where his family resides.

Berke said Knight was very passionate about art and teaching.

Knight lived a balanced life. While he taught graphic design and spent most of his time on a computer, he lived in a house that he built in Ukiah immersed in nature. He grew his own food and generated his own power, and traveled to HSU during the week to spend time with his students and his art.

As a professor, Knight was one of a kind. Berke said she has been getting e-mail from former students all over the nation expressing their sympathies.

“A lot of students who have jobs, have jobs because of him,” she said. “He was a passionate guy. He was very committed to helping students realize their potential.”

Berke said Knight brought the Art Department into the 21st Century when he came to HSU in 2001. Before Knight, the department didn’t really have computers and still taught a two-dimensional layout.

Riley Quarles and Aja Wells have the daunting task of filling in for Knight for the rest of the semester. Berke said the department is looking for another instructor to fill the position full time.

Quarles said he’s teaching intermediate graphic design this semester. “I am hoping to at least offer a series of meaningful learning experience between now and the end of the semester based upon Wayne’s original guidelines.”

But in the end, HSU can only hope to replace someone that meant so much to so many people.

“It is an understatement to say that this is a difficult time for Wayne’s family, for his students, and for everyone involved,” said Quarles. “HSU lost a great man. It is only through our continued commitment to excellence that we will be able to move forward without Wayne Knight, a great man.”

Knight in one of his graphic desing classes. | Courtesy of the HSU Marketing & Communications Department

El Castilo

Originally uploaded by MLHawk42

I put up pictures of my visit to a cenote and Chichen Itza in Mexico during my honeymoon. This place is muy bueno. The Mayans are an amazing culture with amazing architecture.

Golden Gate behind a fence

Originally uploaded by MLHawk42

I like the parallel of man in this. One thing helps you cross a barrier the other is a barrier.

The light behind my eyes

Sometimes when I go to bed and close my eyes it is bright. The light burns white hot. It aches to push my eyes open.

There is a calming anxiety in it.

I wonder what it might mean. Is it an energy in me, untapped waiting to be accessed, no, unleashed at the moment I drift away?

Maybe I’m still connected to the technological world that has become an energy blended with my soul. It is intertwined, fashioning a new strand of DNA built of wires, computer chips, and pixels.

Maybe I’m dead. Every night I die, in fact. I die to reborn again everyday, but I am tortured by inability to create an existence adaptable enough to all of the change.

Every morning I choose the same fate to meet the same existence every night.