Great Vision, But Obama Could Speak Out And Ask For More..

Of course, I just had to listen to President Obama's State of The Union address. I found it to be a great speech. Yes, it had its share of rhetoric. That is to be expected: this is, after all, politics. We are each entitled to our own individual vision and his speech and vision are always subject to individual interpretation.

His speech included indisputable facts, such as the budget surplus from 2000 which took a nosedive at warp speed in the years that followed. Of course I'm paraphrasing. By the way.. did Senator McCain say "blaming Bush?" after President Obama stated that fact?

Anyway, I enjoyed listening to President Obama's vision of unity and I found his wrap-up quite inspiring. Here's hoping that both democrats and republicans in the House, Senate, and Supreme Court listen closely to what Obama had to say.

But that's not what I'm writing about tonight. As with any political speech, there were also rather unremarkable moments.

Take this one:

"[...] we are all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it; that if you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else."

An interesting post and commentary is over at zackfordblogs.com regarding the very brief mention of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

The comments in that post refer to the above statement from the State of The Union, which reminds readers about a certain Proposition 8 thing going on California which Obama seems to be a little quiet about.


Then there was the following:

"As we have for over sixty years, America takes these actions because our destiny is connected to those beyond our shores. But we also do it because it is right. That is why, as we meet here tonight, over 10,000 Americans are working with many nations to help the people of Haiti recover and rebuild. That is why we stand with the girl who yearns to go to school in Afghanistan; we support the human rights of the women marching through the streets of Iran; and we advocate for the young man denied a job by corruption in Guinea. For America must always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity."

Hmm. I took note that there was no mention of the plight of gays in Uganda. He discussed working with communities around the world. It is really too bad that President Obama appears to have chosen to be quiet about a certain death penalty for gays that is under consideration in Uganda.


Don't get me wrong: great speech, great vision. I do believe he is doing the best he can. I'd rather have this vision to look up to than the one we had to live through before Obama assumed office. This great vision would be even better if he'd take a visible stand on more for gays.

OK, Sports Fans - Its Obama Approaching The McCain End Zone..!

Hey, all you sports fans out there! Check out this analogy of the current state of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Obama vs. McCain Roast At Albert E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner

Check it out. A lighter moment between the two presidential candidates. This is the final face-to-face meeting that Obama and McCain will have before the election. In this video, the two get to roast each other and they get some nice jabs in. It seems all in good fun, and quite human dare I say..

Outbursts At Obama & McCain Rallies

During the debate, McCain appeared to equate Obama's criticism of specific points about his plan with the negative tone spewed from his own campaign. He blames the tone of the campaign on Obama turning down invitations to hold town hall meetings together. Then, McCain hinted at things he did not like happening at the Obama rallies and either had no time to talk specifics, or chose not to speak further.

Try running a couple Google searches to see what is being said about the rallies. Searching on "outbursts at McCain rallies" yields a different set than searching on "outbursts at Obama rallies."

See for yourself here:

Outbursts at McCain rallies
Outbursts at Obama rallies

Obama & McCain, Show Us The Money!

I found out about a great little table, which paints a great picture of how much we'll pay in taxes under the candidates' plans. Obama vows the middle class will benefit from his tax cuts. McCain promises the same - mainly for the rich.

See for yourself here.

McCain: So Much For Respect!

Wouldn't you know.. McCain isn't doing what he set out to do. My, what a surprise. Today he was caught saying, "I don't need lessons on telling the truth to the American people, and were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn't seek it from a Chicago politician."

So much for carrying out a respectful campaign.

For some reason this reminded me of Palin comparing herself to a pitbull. Wait a minute: isn't that particular breed of dog one that municipalities across the land are trying to ban? Don't some people relate the breed to urban dysfunction?

I suppose if she can get away with comparing herself to such an animal, anything goes at this point.

So Its Come Down To.. McCain Defending Obama After Stoking Hate & Fear?

It is just getting more and more amazing. McCain is starting to defend Obama. He's doing this after his campaign has "taken off the gloves" and begun making brutal personal attacks. Meanwhile, Palin has been found to be unethical during the Troopergate investigation.

A McCain's spokesperson had the gall to blame Obama himself for the personal attacks.

Financial Crisis Suspended For Politics As Usual

I think these videos speak for themselves, given that the candidates' attacks are getting more and more personal. Who cares if we're in the midst of a financial crisis now turned global? Someday we'll all look back at the day our government handed us and our children a shitload of debt to pay, and lament the budget surplus and world respect we lost.. No matter: the candidates and their followers are giving us lessons in how to be (dis)respectful!

Two Weeks In The Life Of A Capitalist Country

I'd actually like to try to recap a rather interesting couple weeks in politics:

• The economy nosedives.


• The president and one of his appointments request unregulated control over $700,000,000,000 to bail out the economy via a three page draft bill.


• The finger pointing begins, while the people and the government debate that horrible bill.


• McCain decides to suspend his campaign, stands up David Letterman and chats with Katie Couric, suggests canceling the Presidential Debate, talks surge instead of economy, races in a tizzy to Washington, and solicits bailout support from his Republican peers by phone.


• In the meantime, the House works over the weekend to introduce the 109-page Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 into HR 3997. It improves the bill from horrible to just plain bad.


• Republicans publicly and pre-emptively proclaim the bill will pass.


• The Speaker of the House makes what some consider to be a partisan speech, reminding the Representatives that Bush inherited a budget surplus and led the nation to a huge-ass deficit.


• The House votes against the bill.


• Lo and behold, human nature dictates that the finger pointing must resume. Meanwhile, Bill O'Reilly engages in verbal warfare with Barney Frank.


• The Senate debates, mutates, and corrupts HR 3997 into 451-page HR 1424 -- their version of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. It adds tax breaks for rum, auto racing tracks, etc. Click here and then scroll down for the full list that makes the just plain bad bill even worse.


• Obama and McCain vote Yes on the bill.


• McCain suggests Bush should veto the bill.


• Bush signs HR 1424 into law, which is basically a collection of bills -- some which were originally proposed in Congress back in March, 2007.


• Meanwhile..
  
  Obama seems to be monitoring from the sidelines and only chiming in when necessary,
  
  Palin exceeds expectations in the one and only Vice Presidential debate and the McCain-Palin campaign releases their control over the media's access to Palin,
  
  Bush and Congress approval ratings go way, way low,
  
  Obama gains points in the polls, and
  
  Coincidentally gas prices begin to drop while Western oil companies quietly increase their presence in Iraq, contributing to their economy.
  

Everybody get all that?


O'Reilly vs. Frank

Just Where Do Obama and McCain Stand? You Decide!

Questions that seem to come often include:

• Is there any way to learn where Obama and McCain really stand, other than by relying on biased, muckraking political ads and web sites?
  
• How have these two senators voted in Congress?

I asked a close friend about this. She pointed me to web sites for the Washington Post and the Library Of Congress. So, I decided to dig around and I found several easy to use pages with boatloads of information on Obama and McCain.

Below are two links at the Washington Post with pages containing the following information:

• Brief biographies


• Their roles in Congress


• Their key votes (as determined by the Washington Post


• Information about their state


• Official financial disclosure statements detailing who has given them money


• How many votes they missed in the current Congress


• How often they voted with their parties


• Their most recent votes

At the bottom of the page is a link to their full, unedited voting record. From here, drilling into individual vote results will take you to a summary for the respective bill at the Library of Congress web site. Don't be discouraged at the amount of information to sift through.

Looks like the Washington Post has done a great job at summarizing the information. Its a worthwhile visit if you believe their stance on the issues is represented by their voting records. Just remember to dig into the bills themselves because they are sometimes mutated by riders and amendments before the final vote.

Washington Post's Summary of Senator John McCain

Washington Post's Summary of Senator Barack Obama


There is also a similar summary over at GovTrack.US which includes easy to use information about the bills they have introduced into Congress. Check this place out if you believe their position is best represented by the bills they have sponsored and cosponsored. Information presented here is mainly from the current congressional session.

GovTrack.us Summary Of Senator John McCain

GovTrack.us Summary Of Senator Barack Obama



Finally - I've whipped up a page which will show you bills they have sponsored/cosponsored in the current and previous congressional sessions.

Enjoy!

Move Over Clay Aiken, Mark Buse Is Gay!

Breaking news! A high ranking McCain staffer is gay! Now, people will stop talking about Clay Aiken!

Yeah.. right..

Let's get real, folks. In my opinion, no surprises here as to why the mainstream media didn't run with this one.

1: Clay Aiken is a househould name.
2: Umm.. who is Mark Buse?
3: How is McCain's popularity changing these days?

Something tells me the mainstream is usually more likely to sensationalize a newly outed gay celebrity over a gay public servant no matter who he/she works for.

Oil + Domestic Situation = Delay Troop Withdrawal From Iraq?

Once upon a time, Greenspan reflected on why we went to war in Iraq. Then came the 2008 presidential election. Finally, Americans all across the country watched the first presidential debate.

Is it me, or does McCain sound obsessive regarding Iraq? Meanwhile there are reports that the power-hungry Bush administration wants to delay pulling our troops "due to political circumstances related to the domestic situation" in our nation. All this surrounded by reports of Western oil companies making inroads in a country where we basically conducted a regime change.

Fascinating..