What Is Up With Politics Today?

Tomorrow is the day we’ve all been waiting for (for what feels like a very long time).  While I usually say I don’t care who anyone votes for as long as they do vote I want to amend that today.  I want you to not vote for McCain.  If you are in a battleground state, please vote for Obama.  If you are in a state that Obama can’t lose or can’t win vote for Barr and make a statement to our Republican leaders that we want them to change (because everyone will see a Barr vote as a vote McCain lost).  If you read my blog on a regular basis you already know I voted for Obama but that my heart (and policy beliefs) are with Barr.  If you can’t bring yourself to vote for Obama please consider voting for Barr instead of McCain.  I really believe that Barr represents many of the things that most McCain voters believe in.  Please, please, please, vote…for Obama …or Barr

PS

I’ll be back live tomorrow as well, for any who have missed me

Electoral College

First some background.  An absurd number of people have no idea what the electoral college is or how it works so I’ll start there. 

Now if that was to boring or technical for you here is a more amusing explanation :) 

So why do we still use the electoral college instead of the popular vote?

Third Party Watch is a website I just found (if this is something you’ve known about and haven’t shared with me tsk tsk) The website is a blog but it is updated multiple times a day with news stories that focus only on third parties.  Pretty nifty, right?  The best part is that it has been up and running for three years now and it doesn’t look as though it will be going anywhere in the near future.  Pretty nifty resource even if it does talk about all the alternative parties and not just about the Libertarians.

Some of my favorite posts are Stop the Smearing because I would like for everyone to stop attacking each other politically and a post about Third Party Candidates for Congress where I was surprised by how many third party candidates are on various state ballots. 

I was listening to NPR today and they were interviewing people about who everyone was going to vote for and if the economic bailout had anything to do with their decision.  Surprisingly most of the people they talked to said they didn’t want the bailout and they were disappointed in the government for passing it.  A few folks said something to the effect that everyone who voted for it should be voted out (hell yeah) and the nice reporter pointed out that “both candidates” (b/c  Obama and McCain are the only people in the race apparently) voted for it and did that mean he wouldn’t be voting for either of them.  And he said yeah he thought he was going to sit this one out.

WTF is that about? You can’t be apathetic about our government.  How is that even an option for some people.  Even if you think the main choices suck there are other options out there.  Get behind one of the other candidates and work it.  OR decide which of the two big boys is the lesser of two evils and go that route.  I really don’t care who anyone else votes for but I do care if they don’t vote at all. 

Do people even realize how much hard work it took to make it where everyone in this country can vote?  The fact that more than white male land owners are allowed to vote didn’t just happen.  By turning your back and ‘sitting this one out’ you are saying you don’t care about this country, that you don’t care about the people that fought to make sure you had the right to vote, that you don’t care about your future or the future of your children. 

The way I look at it is even if you make the wrong decision (as in not the decision I make) at least you cared enough to make a decision.  Sitting back and not voting makes you a loser in my book and also means that you NEVER get to bitch about the outcome EVER around me.

On a separate note…I wouldn’t mind restricting voting to people who can pass a basic wee little history and constitution test ():o)

I really thought I’d posted this but couldn’t find it anywhere so…here you go

I can’t help but wonder how he, or any other president, would answer any of these questions.  Being president must be a truly horrible job at times.  Making decisions that would haunt a decent human being but knowing that some of those decisions are needed.  I sit back and pass judgment on what I think should happen from a morally safe and superior position of not having to make any of those decisions.  Idealism is a beautiful and comfortable place to be in.  It sucks that the world isn’t my idyllic peaceful, understanding, and open minded fantasy. 

I know the video is more of an indictment on the Bush presidency but that isn’t what I hear when I listen to it.  I hear the tragedy, the horror, the courage, the mistakes, and the achievements of all of our presidents.  We need someone who wants to believe the best of people but who understands that wanting isn’t getting.  We need someone who can make these horrible decisions but who will hate himself for having made them.  That truly is a lot to ask of anyone.

Purpose – to unscrew the financial system by giving more power to the Sec. of the Treasury. 

The act is supposed to: 

 ~          protect the value of homes, college funds, life savings, and retirement accounts (this is the Feds job how, again?)

~          “preserve homeownership and promote job and economic growth” (when did owning a home and having a job become a Constitutional right?_)

~          not totally screw taxpayers (yeah that’s not how they said it but that’s what they meant)

~          “provide public accountability for….(this) authority” (right b/c our government is so good at transparency)Damn, I hate it already and that’s the first page. 

Trap…uhm I mean TARP

Which is the acronym for Troubled Assets Relief Program

Let’s the Sec of Trea buy and fund bad debt on his own terms within the bounds of the Act.  – he also has to give us (the pubic) an explanation of how he’s purchasing, how he’s coming up with the pricing, how he’s selecting managers, and how he’s deciding what qualifies as ‘troubled assets’ 

OH and he can’t let companies make a killing at the expense of the taxpayers..but there are loop holes aplenty. (page 9 lines 11-22)

Pages 10, 11, and 12 detail how he must do his thing

Pages 13&14…talks some more about saving Americans from themselves and making sure all the lenders get a chance at the taxpayer money. 

Pages 14-17…talks about the oversight board (trying not to laugh, really)

Pages 18-21 …reports for and from the oversight board about the $ trail

Pages 21-22 …sales procedures pretty much says the Secretary can do whatever the hell he wants with what he buys.

Pages 25 Helping people whose homes are in foreclosure not lose their homes b/c heaven forbid that anyone live within their means. (going so far, mind you as reducing the PRINCIPAL of the loan page 28 line 17 if you don’t believe me)

Pages 30-32 talk about corporations and heads of those corporations (top 5 execs of a public company) not being able to make a killing off of the fed.

Pages 33-38 talks about minimizing the negative impact on the taxpayers who are having to bail out rich ass gamblers and people who bought more than they could afford.

Pages 39-57 blah blah

Page 57-  funding. Proceeds from sales of acquisitions…hmm but how about buying the acquisitions in the first place.  ::sigh::57-67 blah blah

Page 68  Here is the answer to that funding question  “Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt which is now a few billion over ELEVEN TRILLION dollars. 

The rest of it is mostly CYA bullshit that I can’t even care about.  FUBAR 

Yeah so in case you missed it I pretty much think the entire thing sucks and that feeling of dread I’ve had since they bailed out the insurance company is just getting worse.

There ya have my little summary if you want to read the entire thing it is here.  What are your thoughts?

Apparently living in a small town makes me a stupid hick…according to SOME people (you know who you are and I’m not just talking the big media boys either).  You would think that after living in a very small town for more than thirty years I would be use to the prejudice people have for people like me.  When I’ve gone to a big ol’ city like New York or Boston people invariably ask me if I own guns (yes, how else are you going to kill a 8ft rattlesnake or a pissed off boar? Hmmmm?)   if I think slavery is ok (wtf? Of course I don’t think slavery is ok and I should be allowed to smack the person asking) and then eventually I’ll get comments like “but you seem so normal”

 Well…yeah.  I am normal in that I didn’t marry my cousin, I have all of my teeth, I have an advanced degree in education, I enjoy a variety of musical styles, and I like to study philosophy, religion, history, and of course politics. (and you can be normal if any of the above applies to you but you get my meaning)  It occurs to me that while I’m not the closed minded idiot big city folk think I am…they might need a bit of a perception/attitude adjustment.

Which brings me to the political part of this post… Why is it that the media and supporters of Obama continue to make out like Palin’s small town experience isn’t valid?  That because she was a mayor of a small (population) state, her experience doesn’t matter?  That just pisses me off.  That is the same as saying that anything I think or believe is invalid simply because of where I am located geographically.  We might as well say Palin isn’t the right choice because she is a chick and Obama can’t do the job because he’s black.  Does that bother anyone? You’re damn skippy it bothers people….fur would be flying if people said stupid things like that but just let a snide comment about stupid hicks be made and people cheer.  It is still prejudice and bigotry and it is just as wrong.

Y’all be sure to come on back now, ya here?

I was just listening to the key note speaker for tonight at the DNC and that phrase kept running through my head.  I try to keep this blog kind of clean so as not to unduly offend anyone but geesh there is only so much bs I can listen to before my profanity filter shuts down.  By STFU I mean stop talking in sound bites.  If I hear one more person say one more inane thing instead of giving me direct answers I’m changing my party affiliation to FU.  Seriously, Michelle Obama was bad but the guy (some governor I’m not sure which) tonight sent me over the edge. 

A few examples:

We want a president who believes in science.  Uhm….is there a candidate out there that doesn’t?

We will end our dependency on foreign oil and have cars that get 100mpg and end global warming.

Really?  And how does the great Obama plan on doing all of these marvelous things??  Anyone?  Tell me EXACTLY how he plans on ending our dependency on foreign oil?  Drilling in the gulf? Raising the tax on oil and gas? Rationing?  WHAT?!  What is this fabulous freaking plan that is going to immediately solve all of our problems?

With Obama we will be first in the world again and rally the nations against terrorism….uh, you don’t say.  And how,  exactly, does he plan to do this?  What are his EXACT foreign policy plans?

I stopped listening because my blood pressure was going up and I didn’t want to feel the need to become violent…  I really wish the politicians would stop pandering to the people who just want to hear ‘don’t worry we’ll fix everything’ and start saying something to people like me who want facts/proof/a vague notion of a plan.

Anyone else want the politicians to STFU and start saying something that matters?

“Critical thinking” – again as a teacher, something to love…but more importantly, as a human being, something I strive for and something I wish to the little men on mars everyone else was striving for as well.

“and informed citizenship” – wouldn’t it be nice if all citizens were informed and not simply going on sound bites?

“ by presenting controversial issues” – my personal favorite, and often the most fun to discuss

 “in a simple,” – Simple is always a good thing.

 “nonpartisan,“ – All you have to do is read my tag to know that I love this part.

“primarily pro-con format” Breaking it down into manageable bite size pieces

Just as an example of one of the many things I truly love about this site…under the topic of who would make the best US President they have listed not only Obama and McCain but also the third party people….Baldwin, Barr, McKinney, and Nader. (although they are waiting for responses to complete the sixty odd issues they have under each candidate for Barr and Baldwin) And when they say a pro and con list they mean a darned comprehensive one.  Seriously everything you ever thought you wanted to know and then some. 

Lots of pretty cool information overall, give it a look and tell me what you think.  Did you like it?  Too simple for you?  Not simple enough?

I talk about the different candidates but lately I find myself seeing reasons NOT to vote for each of them rather than reason to vote for them.  I know a lot of you have already made up your mind and I would love to have you give me the three primary reasons you are voting for whoever it is you are voting for.  But please, for the love of little puppies don’t say because we need change or he’s a good American or anything like that.  I mean what policies have really impressed you?  I don’t want to know why you hate the other guy but why you LOVE your guy.  Please?  Anyone?