Can I Have My Vote Back?

In case you’re living under a rock and haven’t heard, Obama sold out again! Obama is agreeing to the Bush-tax-cuts for the wealthy. In essence, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell just bent Obama like he was Marcellus Wallace and they were the two hicks in the basement of that music store. In related news, right now, Obama’s doing a re-enactment of that scene in Animal House when Kevin Bacon is being paddled and asking, “Thank you sir, may I have another?”

I know some Democrats are going to say, “Well this was the only way to extend middle class tax cuts, and unemployment benefits.” If that is your position, need I remind of Obama’s 2008 platform? Obama used the sound bite, “The bush’s tax cuts only benefit the top 1% of Americans” one million times. I agreed with Obama that the tax cuts were ridiculous but even I got sick of hearing it over and over. Not only was Obama opposed to tax cuts for the wealthy, but it was his entire platform to get into office. Now, he extended those cuts, for two more years!

I really can’t get over this. I guess since Obama has been in office he is trying to win over some Republicans. Well Mr. President, if that is your position let me let you on a secret; the Republicans are never going to accept you. No matter your position on an issue, they will take the opposite side. We know Obama doesn’t support their position on this issue, as he admitted that he “regretfully agrees” to this. He caves on his beliefs like always to a side that will never accept him. If this was Bush and Cheney, and they had Obama’s beliefs, you can bet your ass they would never have agreed to this tax plan.

Obama has to be the worst negotiator in history. He starts with a position; let’s say for example, a single payer option for health care. He meets with the other side and they say things that are completely ridiculous like, “You’re going to create death panels.” You know, shit they pull right out of their ass. Obama then asks them what they want. Obama then gives into the most reasonable position on their side. Then, when there is backlash, they blame Obama for the plan and he accepts the criticism. You know that in 2012, the Republicans are going to blame Obama for having a bad tax plan, despite that plan being theirs and he will take the “L” on it.

Like Chris Rock said about Michael Jackson “I’m handing in my glove!” I hope the Dems put up somebody decent in 2012 to vote for, because this is it. This is the straw that broke my back. Oh Howard Dean, where art thou?

Recent Images

Some images that have grabbed my attnetion recently...



Sorry, Mets fans. Yes, I'm across the Phila. bandwagon these days. Even the Sixers.




Lisa and I saw Joan Osborne perform at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. You remember Joan Osborne, don't you? Well, her voice is sexy and incredible live. She's one of those rare performers who are actually better live than on album. I would highly recommend seeing her if she's ever performing near you. She mainly sings rock / blues type of music. She also sang the song my wife and I danced to at our wedding.



Recognize this country? It is ours! This is something called a cartogram, and it's very interesting. The sizes of things are not actual land sizes but instead are drawn proportionately to statistics about the things. You can read more here.





And finally, here's us not more than a couple hundred feet away from our President-Elect when he was campaigning in Philadelphia. Obama!

November 4, 2008 - a series of moments

Glued to the TV from the couch with my wife, my best friend, by my side, both of us filled with nervous energy, ready to be uncorked like lightning before a storm.

The reflection of what this night truly was, for us: the months of waiting for the culmination for us of our hope, our donations, our trip to Philadelphia to call homes to get out and vote, both of us believing in Barack Obama's message, his vision which for once to me seemed more than a politician's rhetoric, the hope that this truly was, as I believed, the leader I've been waiting my whole life for.

Lisa and I watching the faces and listening to the voices that have been our guides for this election on MSNBC background for the past few months: Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, etc... (who have seemed admittedly biased in these past few months - but only because I think they're all intelligent and couldn't hold back their honest feelings anymore).

Our optimism tempered by MSNBC's early declarations that "so far, this is unfolding like 2000... Obama hasn't turned any red states yet...", not recognizing it for the building-the-suspense, stay-tuned ruse that it was.

The early eruptions, like twin claps of thunder, of Pennsylvania... followed later by Ohio... and a sense of the inevitable unfolding... the commentators admitting that the path for McCain winning was dwindling quickly.

The realization of what would happen at 11:00 Eastern, when the West Coast states' polls closed.

The return from commercial. The historic announcement at 11:00. The talking heads being quiet for several minutes and letting the images flood into our TV, the gravity of what has transpired just starting to pour onto on all of us, saturate us, fill us, watching ecstasy and jubilation in various places across our country, places chosen by MSNBC to illustrate the variety of places shown.

The overwhelming scene from Chicago. The unbelievably moving sight of Jesse Jackson unable to control his emotions throughout the evening. The culmination of the legacy of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and everybody in between who fought on the side of fairness, equality, and justice.

And finally, after an hour of this surreal feeling, Barack speaking and giving the most miraculous speech I've heard in my lifetime. Barack summarizing what has happened, and delivering the promise I've been waiting to hear, recognition of the task at hand with optimism that we truly will do it together. Barack saying things that I cannot hope to adequately capture with description, with adjectives, with any sense of eloquence.

Finally, for me, a sense of true *promise* and not just a promise... the sense of history being created in every sense of the word, the chance that everything about our country and our world may be different in a few short years.

I'll remember these snapshots, these moments of my life, forever. I feel baptized, renewed.

Obama Race Email

I first saw this on Facebook, posted by one of the Teaneck boys here. It speaks for itself.

This was emailed to me so i don't know who to properly attribute it to. I don't necessarily agree with all of it but think it is enlightening if we are to truly examine the pervasiveness of race in our thinking and our reactions. It is said that Branch Rickey felt he needed to find the perfect person to break the color barrier in baseball because he knew the consequences of failure. I don't know if Senator Obama is that "perfect person" but he has the bona fides to qualify and he seems to exude grace under pressure.

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I do" to?
What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama were a member of the Keating-5?
What if McCain were a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

You are The Boss... which team would you hire? With America facing historic debt, 2 wars, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc.

Educational Background:

Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
Magna Cum Laude

Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters -
B.A. in Journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire ?


The other thing that this email doesn't mention is "what if Obama's unmarried teenage daughter was pregnant out of wedlock?" Seriously, imagine if Barack had a 16 or 17 year old daughter who was pregnant. How would general public perception be different?

Is Colin Powell also a nappy headed ho?

I watched Colin Powell's assessment of the presidential race on Meet the Press the other day with my wife and her uncle in D.C. As soon as he was done, her uncle made similar comments to Side Bar. So that was good.

In the days after, conservatives like Joe Scarborough and I'm sure many others who I don't listen to like O'Reilly and Limbaugh have been saying things like, "Well, of course Colin Powell endorsed Obama. They're both black."

Umm... I'm guessing they either (a) didn't actually listen to Colin Powell speak (unlikely), or (b) listened and felt like Colin Powell was being disingenuous. Either way... where is the outrage directed towards "respected" talking heads not only suggesting this, but saying it outright?

Compare this with the Don Imus outrage. Don Imus, a comedian, was attempting to use a colloquialism to be goofy and came off as racially insensitive, which he was and should arguably be castigated for, which he more than was. He referred to the "nappy heads" of the Rutgers women and called them "hoes", which is obviously silly as he has no idea if infact they are hoes or not. The general tone of what he was saying was demeaning, as these women were not trying to be public figured, nor are they asking to be commented on for their appearance and sexuality, and Imus thrusted them into the spotlight unfairly.

Now, here we have people saying that Colin Powell cannot make an unbiased statement about Barack Obama because somehow, despite his remarkable government experience and intellect, despite everything he articulately just stated after being given an uninterrupted half-hour on network TV to do so because his opinion is respected that highly, he is somehow swayed by the fact that both he and Obama have dark skin and this renders him incapable of being objective. Or, worse, that black people aren't ever really honest and will blindly stick up for another black person despite any other possible factors? Either way, it states quite clearly that, by implication, if Colin Powell, a Republican and Bush-Cheney supporter, cannot be trusted to put his blackness aside and be objective about this, why can we trust any black people with any decisions where there might be other black people involved? They are all lemmings who have no intellect, apparently, and can't wait to collaborate with other black people to stick it to the white man or something.

I don't understand why people aren't outraged by this. Personally, I think I'd be more upset about being told I'm a moron because I'm black, and that I shouldn't be trusted with a vote, than if some goofy dumbass comedian called some basketball players "nappy headed hoes". Am I overreacting?

WHAT?

From a cnn.com article this morning about the debates...

Fifty-one percent of those polled thought Obama did the better job in Friday night's debate, while 38 percent said John McCain did better.

Men were nearly evenly split between the two candidates, with 46 percent giving the win to McCain and 43 percent to Obama. But women voters tended to give Obama higher marks, with 59 percent calling him the night's winner, while just 31 percent said McCain won.

Good. Even so... 38% said "John McCain did better" in the debates. Almost 2 out of 5 people watched the debate and left thinking "McCain outperformed Obama".

Umm... WHAT?!? What were their criteria??

Random Video Links 9.23.08

1) Ok, you know the big deal that's made out of censorship in our country from time to time (like, the Janet Jackson fiasco? The Imus fiasco?) I wonder if stuff like this Lil Kim video, edited (presumably) for airing on things like VH1 or MTV, actually ever made it there. To me, even though this is edited for content, this is less "airable" for kids than just somebody saying "fuck" or showing a nipple on the air. It's not like kids can't read between the muted words.



The song "Drug Ballad" by Eminem (which I personally enjoy) is another example of a song without much profanity - or, let me rephrase, even with the actual curse words censored, it's a song which I would think most parents would not want their kids to listen to, even if the curse words were bleeped. On the other hand, Eminem says "faggot", it's taken out of context, and he is slammed for it.

Anyway, on to the next video...

2) For you Hadron Collider people (I'm looking at you, ChuckJerry)... Check out the name of this link, click there, then view this:



Who the hell took the time to record this? I got bored trying to watch it through.


3) The teachers' union supports... guess who... Barack for president. Here he is talking about it... (again, I didn't make it to the end...)

Why I Voted For McCain

These are actual quotes that people I know have said in the past couple weeks as in regard to (a) why they plan on voting for the McCain/Palin ticket in two months or (b) reasons why they don't want Barack Obama in office (essentially the same, no?) These are either exact or paraphrased as close as I can remember to the actual quote. Some make me scratch my head.

- "I just like him [McCain]... I just like his whole thing."
(Me) - "What do you mean, 'his whole thing'?"
- "You know... just what he's about. I always have."

- "I really don't like much at all about McCain... but the whole abortion thing just drives me nuts. So I'll probably vote for him."

- "You know, when he [Obama] gets into office, he's just going to help his own."

- (passing some African-American gentlemen pimped out in oversized Obama t-shirts in a casino, and pointing them out to me) "There's your boy, Walt. That's who you're supporting." (said derisively)

- "The fact that his [Obama's] middle name is Hussein makes a difference."


...and this really happened...

- "I'm afraid that when the Muslim parts of the world see a guy with the name 'Barack Obama' get elected, they're going to think that they have somebody in a high position in America, and they'll be more likely to try shit than if John McCain is in there."
(Me) - "Why would they?"
- "Come on... 'Barack Obama'? They'll think, 'We've got one!' That stuff matters."