It is officially election day. I had hoped to do a few more entries then I ever got around to doing, but I guess its to late now. I hope everyone who has ever glanced at this votes, assuming you are old enough of course.
I have a silly little polling story before the election comes and goes. I was called for some silly survey this weekend, I think it was on Friday afternoon. Now a lot of the questions were more about California specific measures, but they did ask about the presidential campaigns at the beginning and asked me a question I really had to think about.
First they asked those ones like, “do you plan on voting,” and I said I was absolutely sure I would be. Then they asked me for whom I was going to vote for, I told them Barack Obama. The somewhat hard question was “Is that more a vote for the Obama-Biden ticket or a vote against the McCain-Palin ticket?”
This question gave me pause, but I decided to say, “a vote for Obama.” I said this because I had been planning to vote for Obama since the primaries. Or rather, I had been hoping I would get to vote for him. However the closer we came to election day the more I have been disgusted by the McCain campaign, Sarah Palin of course being the biggest problem I had.
That poll probably doesn’t mean all that much considering I live in California, and I’m sure the questions about prop 4 and 8 and 12 were much more interesting to them, but I can’t help but continue to question that one answer I gave them. Perhaps I really was voting for Obama before, but now I think I really am voting against McCain.
That is it for tonight. GO VOTE!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
12 - Racism Rant
So yesterday the NY Times had an article about 2 men with hopes of killing Obama being arrested. You can read the full article here.
This is some scary shit right here. Yeah the article says they didn’t really have a plan and their ability to actually do it is questionable, but the fact is they wanted to do it. This is much more disturbing then the yelling at the republican rallies because it shows that some of those people seriously want him dead. Of course, that is not to mention they hoped to kill children at a predominantly African-American school.
I do believe this moment in America is a major step in the right direction towards ending racism, but its still just a step. Racism will probably never die, I mean truly die. So long as something is different between people there will be some kind of negative attitude about those differences. It can be skin color, culture, religion, anything really.
What needs to happen is people need to understand that all people being created equal does necessitate that everyone is the same. To say that in understanding this racism will die is not realistic. However if people understand this then any racism that exists will be minor, like crossing the street so as to not walk as close to a small group of Asians or African-Americans or whatever. That kind of racism will never completely die but it doesn’t hurt anyone either, it doesn’t try to make anyone subhuman, and in fact it could arguably be instinctual to a degree.
The desires to kill, or enslave is where the problem is. I really hope that should Obama be elected he can institute all the plans he has said he has for the white house. When the American people discover how much his policies help them, perhaps that will be the real turning point towards ending the extremes of racism in our country. Because just electing Obama won’t change racism in America, it will just show how much of the country has already changed.
This is some scary shit right here. Yeah the article says they didn’t really have a plan and their ability to actually do it is questionable, but the fact is they wanted to do it. This is much more disturbing then the yelling at the republican rallies because it shows that some of those people seriously want him dead. Of course, that is not to mention they hoped to kill children at a predominantly African-American school.
I do believe this moment in America is a major step in the right direction towards ending racism, but its still just a step. Racism will probably never die, I mean truly die. So long as something is different between people there will be some kind of negative attitude about those differences. It can be skin color, culture, religion, anything really.
What needs to happen is people need to understand that all people being created equal does necessitate that everyone is the same. To say that in understanding this racism will die is not realistic. However if people understand this then any racism that exists will be minor, like crossing the street so as to not walk as close to a small group of Asians or African-Americans or whatever. That kind of racism will never completely die but it doesn’t hurt anyone either, it doesn’t try to make anyone subhuman, and in fact it could arguably be instinctual to a degree.
The desires to kill, or enslave is where the problem is. I really hope that should Obama be elected he can institute all the plans he has said he has for the white house. When the American people discover how much his policies help them, perhaps that will be the real turning point towards ending the extremes of racism in our country. Because just electing Obama won’t change racism in America, it will just show how much of the country has already changed.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
11 - Freudian Slip?
So I’m always hearing those things about how some big mess up ruined whatever person’s chances to win the election. All those speculations are pretty far-fetched in my opinion, but this dailyshow segment had a very funny ending.
Friday, October 24, 2008
10 - Colin Powell and Socialism
So the big news over the weekend was obviously Colin Powell endorsing Barack Obama. This really could be the end for McCain. Not that he will stop trying or anything, but realistically this could be it.
Colin Powell was the Secretary of State for the Bush white house. This is a man who has played a big part in republican politics. With him endorsing Obama, I think, a real shift in votes will swing Obama’s way. All those arguments being used to say Obama isn’t ready are pretty much null from this, because if Colin Powell thinks he is ready then why should anyone really doubt it?
This week has had lots of other little things happen though. My favorite being that the republicans, the ones who are so good about “reaching across party lines” and “country first” and all that shit, have begun to start calling all those heavy democratic areas of the country “un-American.” Those areas aren’t the “Real America,” they are just the America that was attacked on September 11th.
This week seems to be more about Barack Obama and the “socialism” he wants to bring to America while in office. This is actually very interesting to me because I have sometimes considered myself a sudo-socialist. I generally agree with many of the socialistic ideas, I just wouldn’t take them quite to the extreme that I think socialism might actually be associated with.
However what really interests me about this is not so much the attacks themself but the McCain economic plan. McCain says we should take an axe to spending plans, or have a spending freeze because “raising taxes and government spending” won’t get us out of the problem. Now, I am crazy or something? I could have sworn it was some socialistic policies to spread the wealth around and some massive government spending that got America out of the Great Depression.
And just for laughs, it seems the old McCain actually would have agreed with Obama’s plans.
Colin Powell was the Secretary of State for the Bush white house. This is a man who has played a big part in republican politics. With him endorsing Obama, I think, a real shift in votes will swing Obama’s way. All those arguments being used to say Obama isn’t ready are pretty much null from this, because if Colin Powell thinks he is ready then why should anyone really doubt it?
This week has had lots of other little things happen though. My favorite being that the republicans, the ones who are so good about “reaching across party lines” and “country first” and all that shit, have begun to start calling all those heavy democratic areas of the country “un-American.” Those areas aren’t the “Real America,” they are just the America that was attacked on September 11th.
This week seems to be more about Barack Obama and the “socialism” he wants to bring to America while in office. This is actually very interesting to me because I have sometimes considered myself a sudo-socialist. I generally agree with many of the socialistic ideas, I just wouldn’t take them quite to the extreme that I think socialism might actually be associated with.
However what really interests me about this is not so much the attacks themself but the McCain economic plan. McCain says we should take an axe to spending plans, or have a spending freeze because “raising taxes and government spending” won’t get us out of the problem. Now, I am crazy or something? I could have sworn it was some socialistic policies to spread the wealth around and some massive government spending that got America out of the Great Depression.
And just for laughs, it seems the old McCain actually would have agreed with Obama’s plans.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
9 - Debate Number 3
Well the third debate was last week. I watched it last week but here we are with me procrastinating with my response once again. Although, part of me feels it isn’t needed. It was a debate full of more of the same.
What I found most amusing however, was some of the things McCain said. Yeah big surprise huh? What I mean for example is when he said “my campaign is about getting this economy back on track,” even though Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, or his predecessor Alan Greenspan were not mentioned once. Or when he said he didn’t care about a washed up old terrorist (Ayers) only to start spouting about how America needs to know absolutely everything about Obama’s relationship to him. Not to mention that he continued this attack right after Obama explained everything about the relationship right there.
I am willing to admit that McCain did a better job, at least for the first half or so of the debate, then he did in the other 2. But this was definitely not going to save his campaign. And with exactly 2 weeks before election day, I am feeling hopeful that the lesser of the evils will be elected.
What I found most amusing however, was some of the things McCain said. Yeah big surprise huh? What I mean for example is when he said “my campaign is about getting this economy back on track,” even though Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, or his predecessor Alan Greenspan were not mentioned once. Or when he said he didn’t care about a washed up old terrorist (Ayers) only to start spouting about how America needs to know absolutely everything about Obama’s relationship to him. Not to mention that he continued this attack right after Obama explained everything about the relationship right there.
I am willing to admit that McCain did a better job, at least for the first half or so of the debate, then he did in the other 2. But this was definitely not going to save his campaign. And with exactly 2 weeks before election day, I am feeling hopeful that the lesser of the evils will be elected.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
8 - "Kill Him" Again...
Well, McCain’s campaign doesn’t seem to be getting better about the people yelling scary things at their rallies. Sarah Palin went to Scranton today for a rally where a man yelled “kill him” once again. Although she wasn’t the one on stage at the time.
Its looking like I am going to be wrong about that turning point thing...
Chris Hackett addressed the increasingly feisty crowd as they await the arrival of Gov. Palin.
Each time the Republican candidate for the seat in the 10th Congressional District mentioned Barack Obama the crowd booed loudly.
One man screamed "kill him!"
Supporters have been noted shouting “kill him,” “terrorist,” “off with his head” and other equally incendiary terms about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Others have directly suggested Mr. Obama is a Muslim, which he is not, or a traitor. Some comments even drew rebuke from Republican presidential nominee John McCain.
Other than the lone man, there were no other such outbursts.
From The Times Tribune.
Its looking like I am going to be wrong about that turning point thing...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
7 - McCain Draws the Line (and debate #2)
Well I was pleasantly surprised that the general consensus about the VP debate was not how I predicted. Perhaps I should trust the media a little more then I have in the past. Of course the McCain campaign started getting extremely ugly after that leading up to the second presidential debate.
I must admit that I expected some serious attacks from McCain. The whole debate seemed much less passionate then it seemed like it should have. I also don’t know why it was said that McCain was so great at the town hall style debates. Obama seemed just as good as McCain, in fact, McCain seemed more uncomfortable to me.
Just a few days ago however, McCain did something that really spoke out to me. I am not swayed in my voting preference but I feel like McCain really isn’t the bad guy he has been coming off as. After almost a full week of rallies with supporters yelling things like, “kill him” and “he’s a terrorist,” McCain drew the line.
Seeing him do that, even with his crowd beginning to boo him for saying it, makes me respect him. I don’t agree with him on the political issues, but I do respect him as a human being. Seeing this explains a lot in the debates to me also. It seems to me that McCain wouldn’t look Obama in the eye, or say any of mudslinging comments because he was, on a personal level, unhappy with the way his campaign was being conducted.
And frankly, with the economic problems we had over the week, he should be ashamed of the way his campaign was being run. This election cannot be about who seems like a more likable person. The problems we are facing are to great, this election must be about the issues, the issues that affect everyone on a day to day basis.
I think this week may have been a turning point in the overall campaign for both parties. And I think it will be a good one. This coming week, and the debate especially, we will see if I am right.
I must admit that I expected some serious attacks from McCain. The whole debate seemed much less passionate then it seemed like it should have. I also don’t know why it was said that McCain was so great at the town hall style debates. Obama seemed just as good as McCain, in fact, McCain seemed more uncomfortable to me.
Just a few days ago however, McCain did something that really spoke out to me. I am not swayed in my voting preference but I feel like McCain really isn’t the bad guy he has been coming off as. After almost a full week of rallies with supporters yelling things like, “kill him” and “he’s a terrorist,” McCain drew the line.
Seeing him do that, even with his crowd beginning to boo him for saying it, makes me respect him. I don’t agree with him on the political issues, but I do respect him as a human being. Seeing this explains a lot in the debates to me also. It seems to me that McCain wouldn’t look Obama in the eye, or say any of mudslinging comments because he was, on a personal level, unhappy with the way his campaign was being conducted.
And frankly, with the economic problems we had over the week, he should be ashamed of the way his campaign was being run. This election cannot be about who seems like a more likable person. The problems we are facing are to great, this election must be about the issues, the issues that affect everyone on a day to day basis.
I think this week may have been a turning point in the overall campaign for both parties. And I think it will be a good one. This coming week, and the debate especially, we will see if I am right.
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