Email I got from Obama Before Victory Speech

Joshua --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

President Barack Obama

Barack Obama has been elected President of the United States of America!! Congratulations to Obama and Joe Biden and to all who have worked so hard during this campaign to make this happen.

I Voted Today!!!

This was the view I had from my vantage point to the door of my polling place at 6:00 this morning. I waited for an hour in the cold. By the time the station opened at 7:00, the line consisted of close to 500 Trussvillites, and the line was growing longer and longer. After I signed in and bubbled in my selections, it was 7:20. At that time, there were probably 200-300 people inside the building waiting to pick up a ballot or filling one out, and another 400-500 outside the building. It was truly inspiring to see so many people exercising their right to vote so early in the morning. People are really ready for change this year. I don't know how things could be any better. Alabama is #1 in the nation and the nation is on the verge of electing Barack Obama as President!!

Olbermann: If Obama had campaigned like McCain...

Please, America, think about who you're voting for.

Obama Wins Candy Vote 111-27

A 9-year-old trick-or-treater wears a costume that lets people vote... with candy.

American Stories, American Solutions

This is Obama's TV ad from last night. Truly inspiring!!

Barack Obama: Closing Argument (Full Speech)

This is a powerful speech given Oct. 27, 2008. This comes from his soul. Barack Obama loves America and its people and is a true patriot. We need Barack Obama as President of the United States of America!

Charles Barkley with Campbell Brown

I really enjoyed what Sir Charles had to say about a number of issues surrounding this election year, particularly about the gap between the rich and poor in this country.

Who's the Elitist and Who's the Socialist??

Just a quick post to discuss my thoughts about two of the most absurd claims made by McCain about Obama. First, Obama is an "elitist." Now, work with me here. Barack Obama came from a single parent home and was raised largely by his grandparents. He did not come from a wealthy background. He moved to Chicago and worked hard for very low pay as a community organizer, helping the unemployed to find work. Wanting to have power to do more for those people, he worked his way through Harvard, became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, and obtained his law degree. Obama married, has two children, one home and one vehicle between him and his wife. He has only recently paid back his student loans. John McCain, on the other hand, was born into a life of privilege as the son and grandson of four-star navy admirals. That fact alone was the reason he got into the naval academy. He barely graduated (fifth from the bottom in his class), and until he was captured by the Vietnamese, enjoyed a pretty luxurious life in the navy. Anyone who wrecks one plane is stripped of his right to fly again in the navy, unless you're the son of a four-star general, then you can wreck five planes without punishment. Then all of a sudden he is a war hero, comes home and dumps his crippled wife for a much richer woman, and has more houses than he can count on one hand (seven to be precise). Between him and his wife, they have thirteen vehicles. Now you tell me who is the elitist. I haven't seen John's income tax filing, but Cindy's was recently released. In 2007, she cleared $4.2 million.

Which leads me to my next issue: Who's calling who a socialist? According to Cindy McCain's tax return, she paid $1.1 million in taxes in 2007. I think I've got this all figured out. If McCain becomes president, he is planning on giving his wife and himself an additional $300,000 in tax cuts. Before Reagan and the Bushes, those who made the amount of money the McCains make paid a much higher percentage in taxes than the middle class. But since, the Republicans have created more tax cuts and loopholes for the wealthy to jump through, while the middle class have found stagnant wages and higher taxes. Seems to me that since the 1980s we have had a wealth redistribution - from the poor and middle class to the ultra rich. The richer you are, the more of your money you get to keep. Oh, and according to his plan, I, as a nurse, would only get about a $300 tax cut. This is according to the Tax Policy Center's estimation based on the plans provided by the candidates. Perhaps I'm just naive, but it seems to me that there are only so many really wealthy people, but there are a whole lot more in the middle class. Wealthy people can buy whatever they want when they want, and once they've bought so much, they're not going to buy anymore. On the other hand, there are a lot of middle class who don't have things they might want to buy.

Let me explain it this way, a wealthy person walks into a Best Buy, picks out the largest, most expensive HD TV he can find and buys it. Chances are, he has what he needs and will buy no more. If his taxes go up, so what? He can still afford his TV, and he'll buy it anyway. On the other hand, twenty middle class people walk into Best Buy and want to buy an HD TV. A couple of them have saved for a while, and now have enough to buy a modest HD TV. A few more have room on their credit cards to splurge, and the rest are "just browsing" because there is absolutely no way they can afford that TV. Now the rich guy is going to buy his TV if he wants to regardless of his tax rate. He's ok. But wouldn't be better for our economy if all twenty of the middle class people had a tax cut and could have bought a TV as well? Best Buy gets more business and income, the TV manufacturers make more money from selling twenty one TVs rather than four or five, and can now afford to hire more employees or give higher wages or give better benefits.

I know I'm oversimplifying with this example, but the principle - I think - is accurate. The economy is stronger when the middle class has more money to spend. The Republican theory of giving more tax breaks to the top 5% and wealth trickling down to the rest of us has proven disastrous. It has only proven that those at the top are greedy and engage in practices that have caused our economy to spiral out of control downward. And now Johnny boy wants to give those wealthiest of Americans $86 billion in tax cuts while giving the middle class peanuts. Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant idea.

In summary, who's the elitist? I say it's the guy with so many houses he can't remember how many he has (seven) and thirteen cars and a beer heiress wife who makes $4.2 million a year in addition to his own income. I absolutely love what Chris Rock said to Larry King in the third minute of this interview regarding how many houses McCain has versus Obama:



Is this not true? Obama has one house to lose and then he's homeless, while McCain can lose several homes and still sleep well. Who really cares about the economy more? Barack Obama. Who's the elitist? By far, John McCain.

Who's the socialist? Republican policies have robbed from the poor and middle class and rained cash down on the wealthiest 5% of Americans. This is what I like to call reverse socialism. Obama's plan will require those in the top 5% to pay taxes at the rate they did under Clinton (and they remained quite wealthy during those years) and give relief to the middle class, who desperately needs it. Is this socialism? No more than it is to give the wealthiest Americans tax breaks while largely ignoring the middle class. So who's the socialist? In my book, it is John McCain and his Republican policies.

McLame is Stealing Obama's Lines Again...

Is John McCain a Socialist??

YouTube Posted By Obama Campaign Last Year

Busy Day on the Trail

Well, there's been a couple of developments on the old campaign trail today. A McCain supporter at a McCain rally said she was scared of Obama because she's read that he's an Arab. Which goes to prove my point that uneducated people reading uneducated, hateful, and/or ignorant radical right wing blogs that promulgate lies and spread fear is rampant and far-reaching. See an interview with the same woman after the rally here.  Another man at the rally said he was scared of an Obama presidency. My guess is he has been reading the same extreme right wing blogs. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! Look at the erratic and unpredictable behavior of your candidate. See my previous post for a few examples. It has been said that the way a candidate runs his campaign is indicative of the way he will run his presidency. If you think the economy is bad now, wait till you have a McCain presidency, whose flailing and floundering ideas and policies will cause our economic problems to be magnified to no end. His latest bright idea is for taxpayers to buy up all the bad mortgages out there, which will reward the banks who have caused all these problems in the housing market, cause all the taxpayers to lose, and will not solve the problem. Even the best fiscal conservatives are scratching their heads and denouncing this plan. Well, nevertheless, John McCain actually did right today, after all his nasty, negative ads, his allegations in his stump speeches this week, Palin's attacks on Obama, and the despicable behavior and outbursts of his supporters at those speeches. McCain actually did defend Obama today. I guess the polls have shown that all his negativity has proven detrimental and now his conscience is catching up with him. Oh, but of course, that was only after he released an ad earlier in the day saying Obama lied about his relationship with Bill Ayers. Still negative with the ads and trying to be positive in front of the people.

The other thing today, was of course, the bipartisan legislative council released a report in Alaska that Sarah Palin did indeed abuse the power of her office and broke ethics laws by trying to have her ex-brother-in-law fired. But she did not break any state laws because it was within her right to fire Walt Monegan for any or no reason. The McCain campaign responded by saying, in effect, "See, we told you she didn't break any laws and this whole thing was Obama supporters stirring up trouble." Wo, hold on here. As I recall, the council consisted of 10 Republicans and only 4 Democrats. This investigation was in the works well before Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate, and the council voted UNANIMOUSLY to release the results of their investigation. It seems like the only ones pushing their weight around were Sarah and Todd Palin and not Barack Obama's supporters. It's funny that Palin and McCain continue to say Obama is a liar. Looks like Palin and McCain haven't been exactly forthcoming, have they??

McCain is a Joke

I wonder how anyone with a working brain could vote for this guy. Let's make a fun little list of his irrational behavior in the last month...shall we??

1. He picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate, having met her only once. (Yeah I know that was more than a month ago, but very relevant.) See my previous post (video) for a demonstration on how great of a choice she has been.

2. After a huge drop in the stock market, McCain says, "...the fundamentals of the economy are strong."

3. Later rephrases this to say the fundamentals of the American worker are strong. (I for one think he said what he meant.)

4. Admits the economy is in trouble and pseudo-suspends his campaign to go to Washington to fix the problem.

5. Cancels David Letterman because he has to go to Washington to fix the economy, but immediately goes to do an interview with Katie Couric. David Letterman was not happy. He didn't go to Washington until the next day.

6. McCain says he will not attend the first presidential debate until he had helped finalize a bailout.

7. He went in and disrupted the bailout negotiations and caused a delay.

8. When it was apparent he could not fix the economy, and under a great deal of pressure, he went to the debate. (So nice of you to join us, Senator.)

9. He was for the bailout, then he was against it, then he was for it, then...

10. A top McCain spokesman predicts that if the campaign keeps talking about the economy, they will lose, and so they are trying to "turn the page" on the economy.

11. McCain announces his new strategy against Obama - link him to terrorist Bill Ayers, which has been disproven as far as any meaningful friendship/relationship is concerned. (Does the McCain campaign need to be reminded that Hillary Clinton tried that and failed already?)

12. A nice video came out of John McCain, in an earlier run at the white house, speaking on the trouble with running a very negative campaign.

13. Since announcing Sarah Palin as his running mate, McCain has kept a tight leash on her, only allowing her a few interviews, oh and even going so far as to attempt to postpone the Vice Presidential debate during his psuedo-campaign suspension.

14. Has come up with a plan to use hundreds of billions in tax payer money to bail out banks and mortgage companies who have caused our current economic crisis. Here's Obama's reaction.

Well, that's just a few examples of the more recent erratic behavior. Well, some people I know think I'm just wrong for voting for Obama. But I'm voting against John McCain. Can we afford such irresponsible and erratic behavior?? Honestly, I fear for our freedoms as Amercians under a McCain-Palin administration. Admittedly, I do like Obama's policies on the economy, taxes, and Iraq. I appreciate that Obama is steady and thoughtful. It is encouraging that we might have a President who is much more educated than our last one (not to mention McCain who was fifth from the bottom in his naval academy class of 900). So I guess I really am voting for Barack Obama.

Palin's Wonderful Week of Interviews

My son at the zoo last week. He had a great time and talked about all the animals he saw for a couple of days. He had a blast!!

Last Night's Presidential Debate

So, I watched the debate in its entirety last night, as well as commentary from the different cable news networks. Just a few things I want to point out. I watched the debate on CNN, and at the bottom of the screen, there were three lines measuring response from three groups: Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. The Republican and Democrat lines were predictable. When their candidate was speaking, the respective response line went up, and when the other guy was talking, their response line went down. The interesting thing was the Independent reaction. Almost throughout the debate, anytime McCain was speaking, the Independent line was below the Republican line. They responded positively to McCain at times, but the Independent response was almost never more positive than the Republican response. But when Obama was talking, the Independent response line was frequently positive, and was sometimes even more positive than the Democrat response. The bottom line is that the Independents were much more favorable to Obama than they were to McCain. If this can translate to Independents going to the polls on November 4 and voting for Obama, he should win some of those swing states easily.

For being the expert on foreign policy, John McCain was not as convincing as I would have imagined. He threw in some names of people he's met and places he's been over the years. But he seemed to me to be stuck in the past. Stuck to the policies of ol' W and not very forward looking. Obama was sure to point that out on many occasions, and it was effective. I was really impressed that Obama more than held his own and stuck it to McCain that he was wrong on a number of issues, most importantly that we are in our present situation in Iraq because of the policies McCain championed along side Pres. Bush. McCain was stuck on the fact that the surge has worked. Sure, it's worked. But if we had never gone into Iraq in the first place, and focused on Osama bin Laden, we wouldn't have needed a surge to correct the mismanagement of that war anyway. Iraq was a diversion and distraction from the actual terrorists and Obama was right on that, McCain was dead wrong. Seven years after 9/11, bin Laden is still hiding out and organizing more terrorist activities.

I thought the demeanor of both candidates was also notable. In fact, there was quite a contrast. McCain, as has been pointed out by many of the pundits, rarely looked at Obama, while Obama made eye contact with McCain frequently. McCain seemed to get his feathers ruffled often and easily, while Obama remained cool, poised, and well, presidential. McCain was - as I have come to realize is typical of him - very rash, emotional, and defensive. He was quick to point out where he felt Obama was wrong on issues. In fact, a fact check on several of his claims will prove he exagerated the truth or just did not have his facts straight. All the pundits discussed Obama agreeing with McCain. Obama said on several occasions something like, "Sen. McCain is right about _____...." The Republicans all ran with that saying that Obama was agreeing with McCain on those things, and that this shows Obama's lack of experience. When in fact, if they were listening to the rest of Obama's sentences, he would follow up with something like, "...but I differ in this way:_____." Obama was certainly not endorsing McCain, but finding common ground and then drawing sharp contrasts in their positions. McCain seemed more petty and like he was trying to lecture Obama on why he was wrong. I just felt like Obama was more respectful to McCain than visa versa.

Anyway, I don't really want to get into the actual contents of the debate. By now, everyone can pretty much tell whose side of the debate I agree with the most. I just wanted to point out a few things. Neither candidate really knocked the other out. This is more beneficial to Obama than McCain. He really needed to upend Obama on foreign policy - his supposed field of expertise, but he absolutely did not. Obama seemed more level headed and thoughtful about the questions asked by Jim Lehrer, and kept McCain kind of scrambling the whole time. The immediate polls show that Obama won the debate among most viewers. Those polls were slightly skewed as there were more Democrats that responded to the polls than Republicans. That being the case, the debate probably resulted in a tie, which is a win for Obama. McCain really needed to make a strong case for himself, but I was not very impressed that he did so. His experience and judgment arguments did not go as well as he would have hoped, as Obama pointed out that his judgment has directly led to the debacle in Iraq, for which McCain had no counter-argument. In a debate that should have been a home run for McCain, he came out of it looking like someone who is emotional, quick to make a rash decision, and stuck to the old failed policies of the Bush administration, while Obama came out looking more like a thoughtful and respectful leader.

Plan for Change

"Fiscal Conservatives"

This is the greatest thing I believe I have ever seen!! Please everyone, think about it!!!!

Special Comment by Keith Olbermann

I don't always agree with Olbermann, but I think in this case he is right on. Republicans have been using scare tactics all year to try and win this election. I for one am sick of it and am ashamed that the Republicans would use fear to win an election again this year, just as they did in 2004. I trust Barack Obama's judgment not to rush reflexively into war with countries who had nothing to do with an attack on our land.

McCain camp caught in ugly lie...

9/11 in Uganda

I don't want today to get by without a few remarks about the tragic events that took place seven years ago today. My day was coming to a close when I learned of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, yet I learned of it only a couple of hours after it happened. I was in Kampala, Uganda, doing missionary work in the district of Kololo. After a long day of work, my companion and I walked into our flat where other missionaries were sitting, listening to the radio. This was odd - due to mission rules, we did not generally listen to the radio. They told us to put our stuff down and come listen. I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of the speaker. Two airplanes had been hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center towers and another in the Pentagon, and we learned of another that had crashed in Pennsylvania. It was like a nightmare. This could not be real. Surely this had to be some kind of joke. Then our mission leaders called and told us we were not to go out the next day, but we were to stay home. It wasn't a joke, it was real.

But how could this happen? How could anyone possibly organize this sort of attack in the United States of America? I was scared. Here I was, an American, half way around the world and helpless. There are a lot of Muslims in Uganda, were we going to become targets? Before I go on, let me say that those who practice Islam in Uganda are good people. They were no extremists, and we were generally treated respectfully by the Ugandan people. I wanted to go home and go to New York to help with the clean up efforts, and help to find survivors in the wreckage. I wanted to find those responsible and take them out myself (I imagine a lot of people felt the same). I didn't want to go anywhere for fear for my life. Anger, fear, confusion, helplessness, and sorrow were only a few of the emotions within me. We stayed up later than usual that night, praying for the victims and their families.

I had a dream in August of 2000, that something happened and I was forced to come home early from my two year mission in September of 2001. When I got in to my flat with my companions, I thought this was the meaning of the dream and that we would have to go home early for safety's sake. Luckily, however, we were all able to stay in the mission field and finish our two years. But something did happen in September 2001 that was life altering.

The next morning, we went down and bought a newspaper, and for the first time saw images of what we had only heard about the previous night. Later, we went over to a neighbor's who had a TV and watched the video over some English speaking channel from Germany. The images were far worse than I could have imagined. We watched the towers fall, one after the other. It was terrifying that something like this could actually happen at home. We thought that tens of thousands had lost their lives. Although the final number was closer to 3000, that was no comfort. 3000 lives had been lost due to terrorists who hate our values and our freedoms. My sorrow deepened for those that died and for their families and friends.

Over the following months as I continued my missionary service, we kept our ears and eyes open, and were careful to be in on time and to be safe. Other than the occasional pranksters yelling, "Mzungu, Osama bin Laden is over here!", the remainder of my time in Uganda was uneventful, as far as threats or further violence. Once a few weeks later when it was raining, two Middle Eastern looking guys stopped and offered us a ride to get out of the rain. It wasn't raining that hard and we were a little hesitant to get into a vehicle with guys that looked Middle Eastern. But at the same time, we didn't want to make them mad and chance a drive-by. So we got in. It turned out good, obviously by the fact that I'm sitting here writing this seven years later. They explained that they were from Pakistan and that they wanted to show us that they were friends to America. They took us all the way to our destination, and we were left feeling that there was much good in humanity, and that those extremist terrorists were the exception.

Seven years later, it still seems like just yesterday. Those images and feelings are still fresh in our minds. Some wounds have not healed, some have - but even those have left a terrible scar and will always be a clear reminder that we must never take life for granted. We must never take our loved ones for granted. We must live life and love everyday.

Barack Obama Sept. 6, 2008 in Terre Haute, Indiana

Joe Biden Sept. 7, 2008 in Montana

My sudden change...

Ok, I know people are wondering how in the world I could be supporting Barack Obama. After all, I've considered myself a lifelong Republican and was a very devoted Mitt Romney supporter during the Republican primaries. I even posted a month ago about about how Pelosi and the Democratic congress should quit playing politics and do something for America. Admittedly, I've never been happy with John McCain, and if Mitt Romney had won the Republican primaries, I'm sure I'd be just as big a supporter as I was during his candidacy. I think Obama appealed to me because, like Romney, he is not a Washington insider, and as Romney was fond of saying, you can't put the same people in different seats and expect different results. McCain has been there for 26 years. I began taking a serious, objective look at both candidates. I went to both candidates' websites and compared and contrasted their plans for the economy, Iraq, and taxes among a host of other issues. I also read anything I could from economists to party strategists and even pundits. Let me be clear, in the past I, like many others in the South (especially evangelical Christians), have voted mainly on socially conservative issues. Fiscal conservatism has also influenced me, but as we have seen by the years of a Republican controlled congress, they cannot be trusted to be fiscally conservative. In the history of the United States, I don't believe there has ever been a congress that has been as reckless and irresponsible as the Republican controlled congress has been. The pork barrel spending has been shameful and wasteful of Americans' tax dollars. Having said that, I am still socially conservative, but let me say this as emphatically as I can, abortion and homosexual marriage are non-issues in this election!!! There is too much at stake in this election to cast my vote based solely on social issues.

The number one issue in this election is the economy. The economy alone has been enough to change my way of thinking, but to be sure, is not my only reason. McCain's plan for the economy is, to put it bluntly, bone-headed and complete nonsense. Exxon-Mobil makes $12 billion in profits every quarter, and now John McCain wants to give them an additional $4 billion in tax cuts. What sense does this make? I'm paying upwards of $4 per gallon for gas while the oil companies are profiting $48 billion a year, and now their going to bank $52 billion?? How is that helping the middle class. He wants to give other big business billions of dollars in tax breaks - companies that are sending our jobs 0verseas. What tax breaks will the average Joe get? None. Zip. Zilch. Republicans think if you give the wealthy tax breaks, the money will trickle down, but it never does. The CEOs get a pay raise, but the average worker gets nothing. Since WWII, anytime we've had a Republican president, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the economy goes south. But when there has been a Democrat in office, the rich stay rich, many of the poor move into the middle class, the average American's income increases dramatically, and the economy grows dramatically. But this year is different, because America is no longer the economic power of the world. Competition from China and India is growing faster than we can keep up with. More on China later. We must make a stand and do something to remain the economic superpower of the world. McCain's plan for the economy is NO DIFFERENT from the current president's. Jobs will continue to go overseas and our economic woes will only continue and worsen. Thanks to Bush's brilliant handling of the economy 605,000 jobs have been lost this year. 85,000 just last month. We cannot afford a continuation of these same failed policies. Obama's plan, however, will repeal the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Big oil and big business will pay their fair share of taxes, and 95% of American workers will receive tax cuts. Think about what that would mean. The more money in the middle class families' pockets, the more likely they will be out spending that money purchasing products from businesses. This creates jobs in manufacturing and retail. His plans will also focus on new energy, creating hundreds of thousands of "green collar jobs." And the bottom line is this, we are borrowing billions of dollars every year from China to buy oil from countries who hate us and to finance a war that has been reckless and caused us to lose the respect of nations across the globe. As a result, in eight years, Bush has successfully managed to double the national deficit. China's being all quiet about it, but a day of reckoning will come and China will practically own the United States. How in the world can we pay down the national deficit when John McCain is cutting or eliminating taxes on those who should be paying the most?? It's absolutely senseless. There's a reason young voters are drawn to Obama. We don't want to be responsible for the debt incurred by the recklessness and greediness of today's president and his dismal policies and those of his preferred predecessor. If you're filthy rich, hey, you've got nothing to worry about. You do as well under Democrats as you do under Republicans. If you're poor or middle class, you have great reason to be worried if John McCain is elected President of the United States.

The second major issue in this election, for me at least, is Iraq. Those who know me know I've been a big supporter of President Bush and going to Iraq and taking out Saddam Hussein and so forth and so on. That was, of course, until I realized we were spending $10 billion per month every month we are there. There's a couple of problems with this. First, Iraq is sitting on top of $80 billion in the bank that they are not using for their own reconstruction. Why should they? We're paying $10 billion on it every month. The second problem is the Iraqi government is asking us to leave. They feel they are sufficiently stable and no longer need us there to keep the peace. They want us out, they have subscribed to Obama's plan of a timetable for troop withdrawals. And even now, President Bush has seen the light and is working to come up with such a timetable. John McCain stands alone, wanting to keep us in Iraq indefinitely, indefinitely spending $10 billion every month. Just think what the U.S. could do with that $10 billion...perhaps invest it in energy sources that would free us from dependence on Middle Eastern oil, put it into social programs that will help Americans rise above poverty and illiteracy, fix our education system or Social Security or Medicare??? Hey, it could even go toward our ever increasing national deficit. There are any number of worthy causes that would benefit the American people. McCain cites national security as a reason for staying. Ok, but as far as I can tell, the longer we stay there, the angrier certain groups of people will become with us and may seek to launch an attack deadlier than 9/11/2001. Obama has it right. We need to leave Iraq, which was a distraction from the real problem, which is again growing in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan - the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. This is where our our time and military resources should be and should have been from the beginning.

I watched both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. There was a stark difference between them. The Democrats, Hillary, and Barack all gave speeches that were substantive and relevant. They laid out their plans for change and improving American life and liberties. They defined for us what we can expect from a Obama/Biden presidency. On the other hand, the Republicans talked about John McCain's experience as a POW. Every one of them. That was the only talking point any of the Republicans had. They didn't even mention the words "middle class", spoke fleetingly about the economy, although refusing to discuss how they'd improve it, and other than yelling "Drill, drill, drill," ignored our growing energy crisis. John McCain wants us to Fight! with him. Fight for what? He hasn't told me anything he's going to fight for, except to lower taxes for businesses and oil companies who are already paying little to nothing. Oh yeah, he did mention his healthcare plan, although in his old age, he must have forgotten about mentioning the fact that his $5000 refundable tax credit will be considered income, potentially thrusting Americans into a higher tax bracket and thereby increasing our taxes. It's pretty pointless too, since insurance for a family would cost on average $12,000 annually. So let's recap, his healthcare plan will cause you to pay more taxes, and will be insufficient to afford a family health insurance. Obama, first of all, is going to lower 95% of American workers' taxes, and make available the same healthcare plans members of Congress receive at the same rates. If your happy with the plan you currently have through your employer, you can keep your plan and your premiums will be lowered. Hmmm...I wonder which plan will be better for more Americans?

John McCain likes to paint Obama as an elitist. This is the most laughable charge coming from the mouth of John McCain. As I recall, Barack Obama took out student loans to get through law school. Granted, he went to Harvard, that's pretty elite. But he also just finished paying back his student loans within the last few years. He got a nice home in Chicago, can't blame him for wanting to have a nice home in a nice neighborhood to raise his daughters. John McCain has SEVEN houses and he doesn't even know that fact. Who, I ask, is the elitist? If you can't even keep up with how many houses you have, you're pretty elite. I have an extremely hard time believing that John and Cindy McCain have an inkling of an idea what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck. McCain, who jokes about the middle class being those making less than $5 million a year, is so out of touch with the middle class and our struggles. He thinks the economy is "fundamentally sound." His economy may be fundamentally sound, but I'm working two jobs as a registered nurse and having a hard time making ends meet. The economy I live in hasn't been as kind to me as McCain's economy has been to his.

And finally, McCain's serious lack of judgment has me scared out of my mind if he becomes president. I wrote at length in a post last week how I felt about his pick of Sarah Palin, and in the time that has ensued, I have only more questions than answers. He did not vet her at all. She was picked at the last moment to change the momentum of the campaign. This political pandering is dangerous to our national security and shows McCain is willing to do anything to win this election. After all, he's changed his position on almost every matter of policy except the war in Iraq. That will be the topic of my next post.

So, to my family and friends, I have not given myself over to the dark side. I still consider myself a social conservative, although I absolutely do not consider myself a Republican, and still have the values that I was taught and raised with. However, I also have an analytical mind and so have concluded that in order to have a stronger dollar and economy, jobs, national security, healthcare that works, and actual change, the obvious choice for president this year is Barack Obama.

Barack Obama's DNC Speech

Hillary Clinton's DNC Speech

Any Hillary supporter who does not vote for Barack Obama is voting against everything she stands for!!!

Roll Tide Roll!!!!

#9 Clemson who?? Did anyone objectively pick the Crimson Tide to open the season like this against the best the ACC had to offer?? I'm not aware of anyone. Of course I, as well as thousands of Alabama fans, knew that Alabama was more than capable of taking on a top 10 team. And we handled them. Our offensive and defensive lines controlled the entire game. The only touchdown they scored was on special teams. I know that SEC teams will be tougher, but if we keep this up and finish games like we did tonight, there's gonna be a couple of upsets, particularly LSU. I said last year that Les Miles would never beat Nick Saban again (and honestly they didn't last year), and I stand by that statement. This is going to be a great season for the Crimson Tide and I can't wait for every Saturday this fall!!!

What was he thinking??

Or was he thinking at all?? Clearly, John McCain's judgment must be incredibly cloudy and must be questioned. Is he serious?? I am appalled. John McCain's VP pick in Sarah Palin is utterly irresponsible and dangerous. Seriously, McCain is old, the oldest first term President if he wins, and he's had skin cancer at least twice. Sure, his docs say he's in good health and should last the next four years, but they have to say that crap. His docs are not going to come out and tell the American people he's not healthy enough to be President. They're on his side. There's a good chance, God forbid, he could become incapacitated or die, and do you honestly think the "hockey mom" has what it takes to stand up to the likes of Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, Kim Jong-il, and Osama bin Laden??? Is that who you want to be Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces?? I'm sorry, but contrary to what McCain thinks, mayor of a town of 8000 people and a year and a half as governor of one of the least populous states are not qualifications to be Vice President of the United States. She's only been outside the U.S. once in her life and that was last year. In addition, McCain is touting her record of ethics reform, while she is under investigation for ethics violations. Hmmm...can we say lack of judgment? I read one of McCain's spokesmen said that Palin would learn about foreign policy at the feet of the master. That's the scariest thing I've ever heard, given that McCain wants to keep us in Iraq at a time when they're asking us to leave and will continue the foreign policies of George Bush that has the world hating us. Presidents have died within the first couple of months after they've taken office. Who is she going to learn from then? We cannot afford to elect this ticket. We cannot take a chance on John McCain remaining healthy. We cannot take a chance on John McCain, period.

Furthermore, 18 million people right now should be offended. Women everywhere should feel that their intelligence has been insulted. Those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling were for Hillary and the issues and values she stood for. And as she said in her magnificent speech on Wednesday, if you voted for her in the primaries, you must vote for Obama to ensure that the policies she stands for will go forward. Don't get me wrong, I don't support abortion and other social issues that Hillary stands for. But voting for Palin just for the sake of voting for a woman is completely insane. Palin completely disagrees with almost everything Clinton stands for. People who vote for a woman for the sake of voting for a woman are uneducated and irresponsible. I've said the same about voting for Obama because he's black or voting for Romney because he's Mormon. None of these things are qualifications for being President or from "being a heartbeat away" from being President. To be sure, I did not support Hillary in the primaries, but I feel that my intelligence has been insulted. McCain has been preaching about putting the country first, but in this move, he has put his career and politics above the safety and security of the American people. He has put his country last, dead last. This is a total political gimmick and is shameful. And Palin came out and the first thing she did as VP candidate was to take credit for all of Hillary's hard work and tell the women of this country that women still haven't lost and that they can now vote for her. Hillary congratulated Palin on being chosen, but then warned that she and McCain would take the country in the wrong direction.

But other than national security, how is Palin going to handle other issues? What knowledge could she possibly have of how to fix the economy? The main export in Alaska is oil. That's about all she had to work with. And besides that, her husband worked for the oil companies. McCain is in bed with the oil companies like his predecessor. They want to give $4 billion in tax cuts to oil companies when they are making $12 billion in profits each quarter and we're paying nearly $4 a gallon for gas. I'm suffering at the pump and now oil companies are going to profit another $4 billion per year, thanks John and Sarah, but no thanks. They want to keep us in Iraq paying over $10 billion per month while Iraq is sitting on $80 billion and not spending anything on their reconstruction, no thanks John and Sarah. They want to give big oil and big business tax breaks while our jobs are going overseas and we're not getting any relief, no thanks. We're sitting on the biggest national deficit in American history, thanks to Bush. And the McCain policies of tax breaks for the rich will only further sink us in debt. Obama wants to free us of our dependency on foreign oil in 10 years, which would save us from borrowing money from China to buy oil in Middle Eastern nations and Venezuela, who openly hate us and would like to see us destroyed. McCain wants to give incentives to the same oil companies and countries who despise us and keep us dependent on them. I just wonder, what's in it for Bush and McCain?? What incentives are they getting from the oil companies to keep America dependent on them for energy? If McCain is so concerned about our national security and putting country first, he would encourage and promote initiatives that would free us from oil, rather than keeping us dependent on it.

But no, McCain - or as he has become known, McSame - doesn't practice what he preaches. He has put his political career ahead of what is good for the country by choosing Ms. Congeniality hockey mom as our potential commander in chief. He is trying to pick off a few of Hillary's upset women in an effort to make a comeback in this election he is obviously losing. He has demonstrated clear lack of judgment by making an irresponsible, dangerous choice of this woman who he only barely knows. It is my hope that women across America will see this ploy for what it is, and tell McCain that they are not going to vote for him out of this desperate and unwise VP pick. This is definitely NOT the change we need!!!

Found a Hilarious short film!!

Big Buck Bunny from Blender Foundation on Vimeo.

Finally...

Wow, that was the longest primary season I've ever experienced...of course it's only the 7th of my life. So, congratulations to Barack Obama for clinching the Democratic nomination for President. He ran a great campaign and handily defeated the expected nominee, although the expected nominee decided to drag it out to this point. The Clintons aren't very accustomed to losing, so I guess she didn't know how to do so gracefully. I just pray that Obama doesn't give in to pressure and take her on the ticket. That would make him look weak, and how could you give Bubba a key to the White House?? All I gotta say is if Barack picks Hillary, and wins in November, he better really watch his back and hire someone to taste everything before he does. Am I insinuating that the Clintons would have Obama taken out?? Well, I go back to my statement that the Clintons aren't very graceful losers. And they'll say or do whatever they can to obtain power. This has been plainly manifest throughout the primary process, most obviously by Hillary's refusal to abide by the rules she agreed to and signed at the very beginning. Hillary's behavior has quite literally made me sick. When Florida and Michigan didn't matter and she thought she was sure to win the nomination, she agreed they would not be seated at the convention. But as soon as she desparately needed them, she sang a completely different tune. Of course I vehemently disagree with Father Pfleger's assertions that Hillary felt entitled to the nomination because she's white, but I do strongly agree that she feels entitled, and when her nomination was threatened, she showed her true colors. And I am thrilled that she will not be our next President. Well, she won't be as long as she's not picked for the Veep slot.

Whew!!!

Boy am I glad that's over!! I'm obviously NOT referring to the Democratic primaries. No, I just finished with my spring semester, finally. I wasn't sure it would ever end. Now I only have two classes in June and two in July, then I graduate in August!!!!!!! What sucks about it is after all this hard work, there's no pay increase. Oh well, guess I can't complain. There aren't too many professions where you're guaranteed a job no matter where you are. The shortage in nursing is real. Two of my classes this summer will be on the Master's level, however I've decided that I will not be returning in the fall for my Master's. I'm going to wait until Henry starts school in a few years. Then I'll get my degree and have the experience to get the type of management position I'm looking for. I will go back and get it, I just have to finish the degree within 6 years. I'll be working a lot in the month of May while I'm out of school. St. V's is paying a nice bonus for extra shifts worked. And I'm going to read a book, relax, enjoy this month, because it's back to work hard core in June.

Now with regards to the Democratic primaries...Who knows?? I'm so tired of it now. Obama's pastor said this, Hillary said that, she's got experience, he's got none, but he's bringing change. Who cares?? They both say they're going to raise taxes on the rich and keep them low for the middle class. Bull crap, the rich will never pay their fair share of taxes and the burden will always be on the middle class. They have all these grand plans and ideas, and they all require a huge tax increase. Increased taxes = less money in our pockets = declining economy. When will the Dems learn??? Our economy is in enough trouble as it is. I know they need to raise taxes to fund all their extravagant plans, but they don't indicate closing shop on all the government programs we don't need, and they certainly don't talk about controlling pork barrell spending. Dems love their little pet projects and wasting our tax dollars on bull crap. I'm not saying Republicans have been any better lately. They had six years to get something done and put the country on a more fiscally sound path, but squandered that time and increased spending. Obama keeps talking about change. Ok, so when is he going to lay out any specific plans?? I went to his website the other day. I went specifically to find out his plans and proposals. All I found was he endorsed someone else's plan or offered some vague idea, but few concrete plans. The only concrete plan he has is to systematically withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months. He obviously thinks it is ok to allow al-Qaeda to set up shop there and then try diplomacy. We're just going to end up going back over there to clean up Obama's mess from pulling out too early. Hey, but I'm just a dumb kid from Alabama, what the heck do I know??

What a joke...

Well, school and work have kept me busy, but it's the beginning of spring break so I thought I'd chime in and state the obvious. Obama is a liar and I'm ashamed that such man is running for President of the United States. Now, admittedly, I was somewhat taken by his flare and charisma initially, but there's just too much going on. You can't tell me that you have been a member of a church and not know what the preacher's preaching. You can't tell me that before you began running for office, you've never heard this man say the divisive and offensive things Jeremiah Wright has said. You can't tell me in twenty years, you did not know what your preacher stands for. Even if you missed a few Sundays, someone would have told you what the preacher said from the pulpit. I'm not buying that Obama has never heard Wright make any such statements in twenty years. This has nothing to do with it being a black church. Wright said "God damn America" several times and for several reasons. Sorry, I don't follow his line of reasoning. It's hard to follow the line of reasoning of someone who is a big Farrakhan supporter. Wright is just as racist as Farrakhan. Whatever happened to preaching the Word? I thought that's why we are supposed to go to church. Anyway, the thing is, Obama is lying to America. Wright didn't just start making such statements after Obama made is presidential bid. He held those opinions and made those statements long before Obama ever dreamed of being President. If I'm wrong, I'll apologize. Sure, we can't really prove Obama never heard those statements before the campaigning began, but you don't have a "close relationship" as he claims to have with his pastor, and not be familiar with the divisive views he holds. Now, I'm glad that he has rejected and condemned those statements and kicked him off the spiritual leader team, but I would have felt much better about it if he had never been on that team and if Obama had renounced Wright's views from the beginning of his campaign. But since Obama wants to pretend that he has never heard Wright's comments before the primaries, I will say he is a liar and undeserving of our time and attention and most importantly, President of the United States.

Now what?

My regret about this election year is that I didn't do enough to help Mitt Romney get the Republican nomination. Since I'm working full-time and going to school full-time, I didn't get to express in my blogs half of my thoughts and feelings when he was running. Sure, I'm just one obscure person, and I'm sure not many actually read my blogs, but I could have done more. But, alas, I find myself in the deep South where anti-Mormon sentiment runs as deep as the South. I talked about Mitt any chance I got with anyone who would listen, and I even got a few to jump on the Mitt-wagon. But, many held that they just could not vote for a Mormon. Maybe in the future, after all, who would have thought Barack Obama would get over 56% of the votes to Hillary's 42% in Alabama. Maybe we're finally getting over racism.

Well, the question for 2008 is, now what? In the general election, do I vote for McCain, with whom I have many differences, particularly on immigration. Do I vote for a Democrat? That would certainly mean nominating judges who will further the liberal agenda of abortion and homosexual marraige. I've told several people around me now that Mitt's out, I will vote for Obama. But if Hillary's the Democratic nominee, well, I don't think I'll venture too far from home on election day. I don't think I can bring myself to vote for an independent. First of all, they don't have a chance to win and secondly, there's usually only one or two things on their agendas. Well, we've got nine months till the general election. Maybe in that time we can sort out who the best candidate will be. To be honest, I think the country is fed up with Republicans for now and I really don't see how McCain could beat either Democrat. It will be interesting to see how 2009 will begin. Well, let's get through 2008 first.

Personally, I've decided that I'm going to work on myself for 2008. I'm not where I once was spiritually and I'd like to get back there. I'm almost done with my Bachelor's in Nursing, and I'll immediately go into the Master's program in the summer. I'd like to strengthen my relationships with my family members. Leah and I are planning to go on a cruise this summer, we are so excited and can't wait to have our first real vacation after four years of marriage. I'm working on living a healthier lifestyle (gotta look good for the cruise!). So, there's a lot to do to keep myself occupied. Much more to life than politics and government (Leah will be glad I'm less preoccupied with it now, I know I drive her crazy). I think what I need to do the most is to live for now. I'm always thinking about the future. When the future gets here, it's not enough and I focus on something else in the future. It's a terrible cycle I keep myself in. Sure, I'll plan for the future and have goals, but I'm not going to allow myself to miss out on what's going on now because I'm too concerned about what's down the road.

Michigan coming up...

Ok, so I've taken a couple of weeks off. Of course, I've been so disgusted with Iowa and New Hampshire that I've really just been speechless. Yes, I am a staunch Mitt Romney supporter and I'll make no apology for that. If we have a Democrat for President for the next four years, I think I'll blame Iowa. Honestly, I thought Iowans were supposed to be the most informed and involved when it came to politics, but evidently, they're only thinking with their pastors' permission. Not all of them, of course. Maybe I'm a little biased, and maybe I'm just completely wrong. But I don't care, I will not apologize. I don't want to accuse anyone of religious bigotry, but it's really hard to rule it out. It's not about not being bought off, it's about voting "for one of our own." How could anyone who professes to be a Republican vote for a Mike Huckabee, who is only conservative in one area of conservatism? If we are to have a Republican President, it will have to be by someone who can unite the conservative base - social, fiscal, and foreign policy conservatives. Huck only serves the social aspect. Otherwise, he is a tax and spend liberal who's answer to his lack of foreign policy experience is, "Well, I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night." And of course the liberal media is singing his praises because he's the easiest in the bunch to beat regardless of who the Democrat nominee is. John McCain is no better. He can't unite all three brances of conservatives. He voted against the Bush tax cuts and supports, for lack of a better word, amnesty for illegals. Can we move out all 20 million illegal immigrants? Of course not, but they shouldn't have an easier route to citizenship than others who have been standing in line for years because they are already here - illegally.

Mitt Romney is the only Republican candidate who is truly a conservative through and through. You know, I would bet my whole year's salary that if Mitt Romney was not Mormon, and was a member of any other Christian denomination, he would be rolling right now, winning every state bar none. Why do I say that? No evangelical Christians would be voting for Huck just because he's one of their own. Romney is by far the superior choice because of his experience and overall intelligence and social postitions. Have you listened to the words that come out of Huck's mouth? And you still voted for him?? I'm having a hard time understanding it. How can he come across as genuine to anyone? He lies and gets caught in his lies, and won't confess he was wrong, but starts pointing at someone else. Are you kidding me? He hasn't been sincere about anything. McCain would still be doing about as good as he was last summer. There's no way he would have surged as he has. Of course, Guiliani has hit the backburners and is likely to stay there unless he can pull something big on Super Tuesday. No social conservative is going to vote for Guiliani. Romney is a Republican's dream candidate because of his positions on every issue, not to mention his leadership experience in the private sector and as governor. There's just that Mormon issue that is causing people to squirm. Guess what I have to say to that? Grow up America!!! Get over it. We're not voting for a pastor, we're voting for a President. Are we going to hand the Democrats the Presidency because of the Church a particular candidate belongs to? The next Pres is going to nominate two or three Supreme Court justices. If Roe vs. Wade is ever going to be overturned it will only happen if we have a social conservative in office. Huck is unelectable. He can't win. If Romney is not the Republican nominee, we will have a Democrat for President, mark my words.

Honestly people, our economy is going to crap. Is it possible that we need someone who understands how to revitalize and grow the economy and bring jobs to Americans. Do you really want to trust that to McCain, who is trying to keep illegal aliens here? I've always thought it interesting that McCain, whose state borders Mexico, and is one of the most guilty states for using illegal immigrants for labor, is one of the only Republicans pushing to keep them here. Of course Huck would give them all great rates on tuition while I'm paying top dollar to go to school now. I have to tell you, as good as my grades are, and as hard as I work, I think I deserve a break a little more than someone who is here illegally.

So, on to Michigan. Governor Romney currently has more votes and more delegates than the rest. They say McCain is leading in the polls. The more I think about it, the more I can't help but wonder whether Republicans just really want a Democrat for President this time. I stand by what I have said for months, Mitt Romney is the only Republican candidate that can beat the likes of Hillary or Obama. The others can't get the support needed to pull an upset. I just can't see where unexperienced Obama or Hillary can compete in a debate with Romney on how to stregthen the economy, what to do about illegal immigration, or how to best provide healthcare to Americans. On the other hand, smooth talking Obama and fast talking Hillary would eat McCain or Huck for lunch. I hope and pray Michigan figures out what Iowa and New Hampshire could not.