Today, I look back

Today, I'm thinking of elections.  There is a recall election in Wisconsin happening today.  There is a presidential election that will take place this year in November.

As I think of this election, I am also thinking back to things I wrote during the last election cycle.

Today, I am really grateful for all of my followers, for all of my commenters.  I love seeing that people actually read what I write.

Most of my posts, lately, are pretty light-hearted.  It wasn't always so.

Today, I remember a post that received some serious negative feedback from commenters.  I am remembering all of the research I put into some of my posts.

I would like to take a trip down memory lane with you today.  I know some people don't like clicking links or reading old posts, but I promise, these are some good ones from my old, more serious, often political days of blogging.

First up, Response To Some Readers.  This post was a response to some negative feedback I got after I wrote about how lack of insurance and lack of adequate healthcare could have led to an event my friend and I encountered.  Even after this response, I still got some negative comments from readers.  It got to the point where I couldn't even respond, but fortunately, KBO responded well for me. (In this post, I was still using the moniker, Stuck In My Head).  WARNING: It is very liberal in my thoughts, don't hate me if we don't share the same ideas about government... we can still get along and hopefully, you will still read my posts in the future that are not political!

I also have posts that I just enjoyed doing research for.  Perhaps my future could include some "serious" journalism.

In Considering Politics & Religion I wrote about different people's desire to make race an issue in the election of 2008.

After the current administration came into office, I still wrote about politics as it ties to education.  Obama - We Need More Than Education To Help Minorities was a post where I addressed the discrepancies in punishments and treatment of students in schools.  I talked about the need for better classroom management and for more organizations like College Summit to get involved in schools.

Not all the posts I reflect on today were tied to politics... well not really.

I did a lot of research for a post on Haiti after the earthquake of 2010 that led to some questionable donating organizations (Haiti Needs Help - Be Careful How You Give It).  I wrote about about the history of the nation and its long-standing debt and the fact that many donor organizations don't actually give money to places they say they give to.  (Seriously!! Look into the organizations you donate to!!)  If there are so many NGOs and groups giving money to Haiti, why does it still look almost the same as the day the quake happened?  Why are there still SO MANY people living in tents to this day?!?!

I've connected with other bloggers doing Bloggers Unite.  For World AIDS Day in 2008 where I supplied a lot of information about the disease and those it impacts.  For Refugees in 2008 since there was a serious discrepancy in the number of refugees allowed into certain nations.

And, finally, there is the post This Always Tickles Me.  Because Vitas Bumac always does just that!!  I love him and the way he sounds.  And I can't help but smile at the way he can hit his notes.

Obama - McCain dance off

Hilarity!!!

You can vote however you like

Ron Clark Academy kids made this rap.

Awesome example of how you can get kids to learn with out it being boring.

Poverty, insurance, and fixing education and a washer

Not too much been going on with me. Hanging out with my man while he is in town has been taking up most of my time - definitely a good thing. As has school and reading about what is going on in our nation.

I also spent my time Saturday celebrating that I was not taking part in my old school's Renaissance Fair. Apparently the turn out was not as good as they thought it would be. They say that it was due to the Obama rally in downtown Saint Louis. I guess if that rally hadn't gone on, there would have been 100,000 people at the fair instead of supporting that candidate.

I have really not been as shocked as other people seem to be that there are so many people in society that do not know much about the politics of their nation, or about who is in office representing them. People don't care about that stuff. People only care about Madonna's divorce and when the sequel to Sex and the City will be out.

It all really goes to explain why so many people are willing to vote for people without actual facts.

Sarahlynn, wrote a good blog post about the insurance proposals of the candidates. Interesting read. Good information about who will be helped and hurt with the plan of my friend McCain. (Why does he insist on calling me that? I do not like him. He is not my friend. Him saying that does not lead me to like him more.)

John Dolan wrote an excellent article about the economic struggles he went through and gives some advice to the rest of us who are ever closer to such status as he faced. I don't think people realize just how close they are to poverty. Most people are two pay checks away. I am about there, so I can't imagine the people that are on two salaries being that close. Well... I guess I can since they are all looking to live like the Jones and the Bumquishas that are around them. Have to buy more than the neighbors. Have to drive a new car. Have to buy a ton of new clothes for the new season. Have to buy a ton of stocks that are now suffering.

Been avoiding NPR a bit lately. They messed up and started their seasonal fund drive the day after the debates last week. Sucked because I was really trying to hear what they had to say about it. Really does not make my commutes run well when they are coming on every five minutes to tell me to give money. I gave. Hopefully they stop and get back to the regularly scheduled programming.

Today I had to take a personal day to address the washer that has still not been fixed after 5 trips from the Sears people. Got to listen to Diane Rehm's show. Today just happened to be on education and the candidates plans to address that little issue. Some of the things that McCain is planning really just don't make sense. Let's continue to underfund the early childhood education programs. Let's get more unqualified teachers into the classrooms with his troops to teachers plan (among others). Let's allow vouchers instead of improving the schools that people may want to leave. Let's not address the discrepancies in property taxes that exist in the areas that have poor schools. Instead let's make it easier for people to move out of those areas and build houses far from those problems instead of fixing the schools, funding them, providing more programs and motivation for the students to perform better.

I really didn't want to watch the last debate. I actually watched the Project Runway season finale instead. But once that show was over, I flipped to the debate in time to hear the bull shit about education from the candidates. I'm not saying that Obama's plans are perfect. But they make more sense about how to fix the system so that we are not lower than so many other nations when it comes to education.

I'm off to research this washer and find out if more people are having the same troubles that I am. Then I can get to planning more for upcoming classes, and catching up on Lost. I was rushing to watch all the past seasons until I found out that the new season does not start until early 2009. What?! At least I have time to catch up since I just started watching it in the middle of last season.

I leave you with this from Kansas City. A man was given back a receipt with the racial slur "Dumb Nigger" on it to identify who the customer was. What?! Yes. Read up.

McCain gets owned

Here is another example of how McCain says whatever is convenient at the time. (RIP Tim Russert) This is old, but it still shows the varying flip flopping.

Please watch the whole video to get the whole idea and to watch McCain get OWNED by Mr. Russert.




If you can't attack a person on what they say, what can you attack them on. Please pay attention to McCain's comments on the economic situation that he helped create as a person totally in favor of deregulation. Now we are just about in as bad shape as the nation was in during what has been called the Great Depression.

Flip flops, mix-ups, or just plain lies?

More politics. I can't help it.

White privilege and the 2008 campaigns

This is scary, frightening, almost funny.

Funny until you realize it has to do with the future of the entire nation and the ignorance and lack of a sense of reality for many people who are not really paying attention to what is going on with the selection of the VP candidate and what is going on with the slamming of the Democratic candidate and the people around him.

Funny until you realize that brown people deal with way more than this on the daily.

Funny until you remember that it is not a game -- that the future of this nation and the relations of this nation and the rest of the world are at stake and will be partially decided in a few weeks. That this future is in the hands of some people who don't want to listen, pay attention, or even blink.

Tim Wise wrote an interesting little article "White Privilege, White Entitlement and the 2008 Election."

Here are some excerpts:

• White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is… [when] no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
• White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
• White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
• White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
• White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin’ redneck," like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
• White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
• White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
• And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

More campaign distortions, missteps, and round about answers

I keep trying to stay away from the politics but like Michael Corleone, "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

First up, McCain campaign ad distortions (otherwise known as lies). Unfortunately the people who really need to see these lies are probably not going to see them or even click to see this video.

Do watch.



Next we have him saying that governors and mayors do not have national security experience. You can also read the transcript here. He said it during a debate last year. But, suddenly your VP pick is ready when last year you said someone with th same experience as her would not be ready to be in office?



Here, Palin finally addresses (you be the judge of how successfully) the bridge issue. Again, she is good at bringing the question to an answer she has practiced giving rather than actually answering the question being asked of her.



You can also read this article here about Palin's words that were not so nice to various people in the community or to the Democratic presidential nominee. It also talks about how many people in her home state and where she was mayor are afraid of speaking out against her for fear of the "Republican Party machine".

If she's not going to blink, the rest of us need to. Blink. Open our eyes. And really see and listen to what is going on here.

Palin and Gibson

No matter how hard I try to stay away from politics, it keeps coming at me.

Check out this video of Palin with Charlie Gibson on ABC. Long, but listen to it all. Come back later if you need more time.


She is the one that people are completely switching their political views for? She is the one that is revving up the Republican party? She is the one they want to be a heartbeat (literally) from being president?

She doesn't even fully understand what the Bush Doctrine is.

I do have to give her credit for being good at not directly answering questions, though. The McCain campaign has trained her well to bull shit some answers and go around the question to answer it in a way that gets the points she is trained to answer out there.

I am ready for the debates.

Crickets, Race, Lil Wayne, and John McCain

Lately I have not been sleeping very well. An unfinished basement that echoes the sound of crickets chirping incessantly is really not good for REM sleep. I have tried so many techniques to get rid of those bastards that it is ridiculous. I tried more environmentally friendly methods; I tried not so hazardous methods; but it finally came down to fogging those bastards out yeterday.

I think that worked.

At least I didn't hear them as loud last night.

Though last night I still didn't sleep well since I kept waking up to listen to hear if I could hear any of Jiminy's friends.

When I did finally get some zzzz I had a horrible dream.

Horrible.

I was best friends with Lil Wayne and John McCain. We were on a road trip together with some huge insects and were driving on a road that was like a roller coaster with its incline so incredibly steep. And I couldn't see where the road would wind up when we finally reached its peak. The two guys were laughing and joking and all I could think about was how I hoped that the large incline would lead to nowhere so that I would drop off and not have to be around the two of them any more.

(Un)Fortunately, the alarm ended the dream before I could see the finale.

We'll see if Jiminy's cousins are back to scratching their legs together to keep me up tonight.

On a completely different note -- NPR started a story on race issues on Morning Edition and continued on All Things Considered asking some voters in York, PA "Does race matter in '08?" and about some general race questions. I didn't get to hear the afternoon portion yet, but this morning they said that in the afternoon some of the participants admitted that they still believe Obama is a Muslim.

Talk about lies and exaggerations being held in people's heads. If someone says something many people will believe it without looking into the actual facts. Like people saying that being a community organizer is a negative thing.

Tune in or check the site to see/hear the morning story and the rest of the story.

He knows how the world works?

Possibly the best lines in the speech by McCain yesterday. (And by best, I mean the ones that caused me to gasp in astonishment and wonder if he really thinks these things of himself.)

"I know how the world works."

Oh. Really. I know you are older and perhaps that makes you a bit more knowledgeable about this. Though, most of the older people I know don't claim to understand the complicated workings of the world in which we live. Or maybe you are God.

"I know how to secure the peace."

Oh. Why have you been hiding this from the rest of the world for all these years? What's the secret? Please, do tell.

Video from John Stewart. Saw it the other night, then was reminded of it on KBO's site. Great at showing the contradictions that are huge in the right's media sources.

WOW! This explains her international experience?

This is how Cindy McCain explains Palin's governmental experience and international experience.



Yes. She believes she will be good because Russia is close to Alaska.

Wow!!!!!!

Response to some readers

This is in response to comments to the post “Impacting and saving lives”. All three of the comments were anonymous, but if you would like to get together in person, since we are close to each other, or leave an email so we can discuss more, please feel free.

And I continue to welcome and love comments from all assorted views.

Comment: In a hypothetical situation, maybe a McCain supporter thinks McCain would be a superior leader regarding issues they consider more important, such as U.S. security, the economy or foreign policy.

Can someone who says that the recent aggression of Russia in Georgia is the “first… serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War” really be trusted to be a great leader in foreign policy or national security?

You question my understanding of history – perhaps you should question his. There have been many international problems in the past 20+ years. But maybe he just overlooks those. You talk of his defending the nation, but how can he truly do that without acknowledging that national defense issues constitute an international crisis. I understand he is trying to protect this country’s borders, but it is international groups that have threatened the people here, it is international groups and troops that are working to end the crisis and that are causing the crisis. He also forgot what happened in Afghanistan when in July he said that Iraq was the first major conflict since 9/11.

I feel that it is best to be able to talk with leaders of different nations to, in some cases, prevent escalated violence before it happens. Obama has already shown that he has the ability to do so and that foreign dignitaries are willing to speak with him – some Middle East newspapers I have read (sorry I cannot recall the names of the papers) say they would much prefer him and his entourage to McCain and his in terms of their needs and their desire to work with the US.

But, Obama is by no means going to completely change the current US policies in that region – that is obvious by some of his sentiments (some of which were contradictory) while over there this summer.

Comment: By the way, what is Obama’s stance on gay marriage? Because I’ve seen video of Obama specifically stating that “marriage is between a man and a woman.” Have you? How exactly do you think, if elected, Obama’s actions on that issue will differ from McCain’s?
I think it’s absolutely shameful that you are a freaking TEACHER and you know so little about the constitution and legal process that you think a constitutional amendment must be made to make gay marriage legal! Have you ever cracked a textbook or read a newspaper? Do you read anything much except “Stuff White People Like.com?”

The difference between Obama and McCain’s stance on gay marriage is big. Obama does not want them to marry (according to him it is only between a man and a woman), but he doesn't want them to be discriminated against. (Yes this is contradictory in many ways.) He wants to leave the issue up to the states (just as Cheney does). According to Obama, he "supports extending federal benefits, rights, privleges and responsibilities to same-sex couples and their children." Though, Palin has put down legislation that tried to deny health insurance to gay couples despite her staunch stance against marriage.

I know that legalizing gay marriage does not require a national constitutional amendment.

I also know that some conservatives are trying to push to make a constitutional definition of what marriage is, and that these are the people who want to put marriage into the highest legal document of this nation. An amendment in either direction is not likely to pass, but still in their minds. Most people for gay marriage are not trying to address it as much on the national level. They are willing to work on the local level to gain their rights.

I don’t read stuffwhitepeoplelike. Haven’t looked at the site since I first saw it about a year ago.

Comment: Why would you assume that their church leaders would dictate such a personal issue and alienate part of the congregation?

On the church issue, I do not know why they would “dictate such a personal issue and alienate part of the congregation”. It is not an assumption. I witnessed it. I felt really alienated in all the churches I attended that shared these stances. When comments were made, I looked around and saw a few others squirming in their pews as well. And it wasn’t just on one occasion. That is a main reason I do not continue to attend the ones here in town and wouldn’t go back to the ones that I visited out of town.

Comment: What’s hilarious is that such an “informed” Obama supporter would even go near the subject of “church leaders” and how they dictate to their congregations, considering Obama’s history with church leaders.

If you are referring to Obama’s Chicago (former) church leader, perhaps you are not listening to all that he says and all that he does with his church. If you are referring to the “God damn America” sound bite that was emphasized by the media, perhaps you need to listen to more than those 10 seconds to get a real idea of what he was saying and better understand how he was trying to help his congregation cope and really get politically active to question what is going on in their neighborhoods.

I by no means have purported that I am a full out Obama supporter. I believe I mentioned that just a few posts ago and in other posts over the past few months, as well.

Obama is not the perfect candidate. Neither is McCain.

There really cannot be a perfect candidate since there are so many people in this large nation that wish to be pleased by the stances of a president, his vp choice, and the people s/he will select to be members of the cabinet.

Comment: So you assume that simply because this man didn’t want to go to the hospital that he didn’t have insurance?... Also, has it ever occurred to you that this man had a seizure because he made a choice to stop taking his medication?

You refer to the man we found on the sidewalk. I was not assuming that he denied the ambulance due to lack of insurance. I am also not saying that by not taking medicine he may have brought it on himself.

I am using him as a stepping point to touch on a much larger issue.

I personally know many people who have stopped taking medicine because they have no insurance. I know people who have decided not to seek medical attention because they have no insurance and have to pay the daily bills they incur rather than try to scrounge together enough money to see a doctor. I have friends who have had to buy medicine in other countries because they could not get it here because they have no insurance. I know many people with and without insurance who would chose not to take an ambulance or go to the hospital because of the exorbitant price of the hospital and the ambulance ride. I have had friends and students who had ambulances called on them and were angered to find out how much the ambulance cost them. My post Unsure insurance assurance shows some statistics. This study was not really large, but it reflects many of the people in this country since there are about 47 million in the nation without insurance.

Neither of the main candidates plans are perfect. According to The New England Journal of Medicine,

McCain’s plan embraces market forces and promotes individually purchased insurance. Its centerpiece is a change in the tax treatment of health insurance. Currently, workers do not pay taxes on health insurance premiums paid by their employers. The McCain plan would eliminate this tax exclusion and use the revenue generated — projected to be $3.6 trillion over 10 years — to pay for refundable tax credits for Americans obtaining private insurance ($2,500 for individuals, $5,000 for families). Uninsured Americans could use their credits to help buy insurance coverage on the individual market, and workers with employer-sponsored insurance could use theirs to offset the cost of paying taxes on their employers’ premium contributions or to purchase coverage on their own.
In addition, most uninsured Americans would probably remain uninsured under the McCain plan. Given the high price of health insurance, even with the new tax credits, many lower-income people would still not be able to afford coverage. And if the credits are not indexed to the rate of growth in health care spending, that affordability gap would grow over time (as would the number of Americans who would pay higher taxes for employer-sponsored health insurance). Indeed, with the proposed credits, many Americans could afford only high-deductible insurance policies. The McCain plan could consequently trigger a move from comprehensive insurance toward thinner coverage policies that shift costs onto sicker patients. Moreover, some employers, particularly smaller businesses, might stop offering insurance if the tax benefits of employer-sponsored insurance were eliminated. As a result, some currently insured workers could lose coverage.
Perhaps the most serious problem with McCain’s plan is its reliance on the individual insurance market. Individual insurance policies are administratively expensive, typically involve medical underwriting so that sick persons and those with preexisting conditions are charged higher premiums (premiums also increase with age) or are denied coverage altogether, and generally offer less comprehensive benefits than employer-sponsored insurance.

Obama's plan is a little different in that it relies on an employer mandate, new private and public programs and regulation.

The core of the Obama plan is a requirement that employers either offer their workers insurance or pay a tax to help finance coverage for the uninsured (some small businesses would be exempt, and others would be subsidized). The Obama plan would also create two new options for obtaining health insurance: a new government health plan (similar to Medicare) and a national health insurance exchange (a purchasing pool analogous to the Massachusetts Connector) that would offer a choice of private insurance options. Both would be open to persons without access to group health insurance or other public insurance, as well as to small businesses that wanted to purchase coverage for their workers. Income-related subsidies would be provided to help lower-income persons afford coverage. And private insurers could not deny coverage because of preexisting conditions or charge substantially higher premiums to sick enrollees: the Obama plan would end medical underwriting according to health status.
Since the plan lacks an individual mandate for adults (coverage is mandated for children), it would not cover all the uninsured and therefore would provide universal access to insurance rather than universal coverage. However, most Americans without insurance would gain coverage through the new public and private insurance options, and Obama has not ruled out adopting an individual mandate in the future if the plan does not produce universal coverage…
Although the Obama plan would substantially expand access to insurance, it lacks reliable cost-control mechanisms and a viable financing source. Reinsurance would shift private-sector costs for catastrophic cases to the government but would not reduce total health care expenditures. The plan also assumes that substantial savings will be achieved by increasing the use of electronic medical records, improving the management of chronic conditions, and strengthening prevention, but none of these worthwhile measures is likely to control costs in the short run. The new national health plan could control costs, but its effectiveness in slowing spending would depend on its enrollment and the political willingness to restrain provider payments.

Neither plan addresses all the people in the best manner. And it is difficult to really figure out the impact and total cost of both for the citizens of this nation. Obama's relies on the government, while McCain's relies on competition.

Comment: You say: “They want to keep taxes low. But they don't care that the tax system is disproportionate to people's incomes.” Again, you’re displaying a lack of knowledge about the tax system. Do you know the statistic s about what percentage of U.S. taxes are paid by what percentage of the wealthy? If so, please state them. I’d like to see you make that same argument again after citing them

With regard to the proportionality of the taxes, it may seem to be a smaller percentage taken out for the lower, middle, and working class families, but how easy is it to live when you are living below the poverty threshold (which for a family of four last year was making a mere $20,650), paying out 20-something percent of that in taxes makes for hard living. When you are making in the 100s of thousands, giving up 2o-something percent is really not going to make it hard for you to decide if you want to eat, pay bills, take care of your children, or pay your taxes.

Under both main candidates’ tax plans, everyone would pay fewer taxes.

Obama’s plan would raise taxes for people making over $250,000 from 35-39%. He will not tax income between $102,000 and $250,000 for Social Security, but would for all over $250,000. He would give tax breaks to about 95% of the population that earns less than $250,000. This may be seen in a $500-per-worker tax credit for those who earn under $150,000 and a $4000 credit for each child you have in college. If you are a senior citizen earning less than $50,000 there would be no income tax. But the Tax Policy Center says that seniors may end up paying more if corporations pass their corporate taxes onto the consumers.

McCain would leave a lot of the tax cuts the current president has enacted, including the eliminating the marriage penalty and increasing child credits which help out the middle class. He would keep the cuts to the wealthy by eliminating the highest tax brackets. He would double the dependent exemption, which would benefit families that are large in all the different incomes.

Obama calls for a greater estate tax than McCain.

Since McCain’s tax breaks are still going to exist for the wealthy, his plan would cost the US Treasury more money than his opponents plan, according to the Tax Policy Center. If the tax breaks are renewed, Obama’s plan would bring in an additional $700 billion over the next 10 years, but McCain’s would cost $600 billion. If the tax breaks expire, both plans would cost the nation money -- $2.7 trillion for Obama and $3.7 trillion for McCain.

Comment: I think what frustrated me about your blog post the most was the assumption that the conservative viewpoint represents hatred towards groups. The fact is that in both liberal and conservative circles, the crazy nutjob haters exist. In the marketplace of ideas in this country, we will disagree vehemently about important issues.

I was not trying to imply that only conservatives show hatred. That can be seen across the spectrum of political thought. Hopefully the hatred will stop. So many people throw out the claim that this is the best nation to live in (especially ones that have not been to other nations), yet there is so much angst among the people here. This is supposed to be the land of opportunity, and yet so many people do not have the same opportunities as others. Many people hardly have any opportunities. I know we can't all be one large happy family, but hopefully we can be a dysfunctional family that works to really benefit the masses on all socioeconomic, racial, sexual, political, gender, and any other levels.

This was longer than I anticipated.

Thank you for sharing all of your comments. I welcome them all opinions.

Impacting and saving lives - one vote/call at a time

That man and that woman will be in O'Fallon, MO Sunday along with some of the other people in the party. It really makes me hurt inside that people support them and their beliefs. Check that. They support the fact that they are anti-abortion. They support the fact that they are anti-gay marriage. They don't think about the implications of many of their other stances on the citizens of this nation. They don't think about what will change/remain horrible for them and others in this nation. They stick with them because their church leaders tell them to vote against abortion (rather than just not having one themselves) and tells them to vote against a constitutional amendment to legalize gay marriage. They want to keep taxes low. But they don't care that the tax system is disproportionate to people's incomes.

They don't recognize their impact and hatred for people of this nation.

On another note, I do. In fact KBO and I saved a man's life yesterday.

We were going to meet some other cool blogger people for dinner. When I got out of her car I noticed a man laying on the sidewalk. I was speechless and just pointing. When she came around the car to start walking down the sidewalk he started to seize uncontrollably. I have seen people have seizures, but never some as long and as convulsive as this one he was having. I immediately called 911 and gave them the location. They asked me a series of questions that I could not answer (does he have a history of seizures, is he diabetic). I interrupted the man a few times to let him know that I did not know the guy and so could not answer his questions and he told me that I still had to tell him "I don't know" when he asked them. KBO talked with and tried to calm the man down and make sure he didn't get up while I was on the phone with the operator. The ambulance came and the paramedics started to try and assist him.

He did not want their help. He said that he did have history of seizures, that he had been taking medicine for them before, but had stopped.

This made me super pissed. Likely, he does not have insurance, and can't pay the exorbitant price for the ambulance let alone the hospital care. He said he wanted them to just take him to his daughter's house. They said they would at least give him some oxygen. Then they sent us away. A few minutes, after we had met up with our company at dinner, we heard an ambulance with sirens pass by -- likely him.

It took me awhile for all the adrenaline to pass through my body and for me to stop shaking, slow my heart beat, and for me to just generally calm down from my anger at the whole situation.

Insurance is another issue people should seriously look at when trying to pick a candidate. Not that some people are really looking to "pick" a candidate -- they will just go with whoever their friends/church/Fox News etc tell them to vote for.

Things that make you go hmmmmm

Palin does not know what a vice president does and seems to have preferred remaining governor.



However as Sojourner's Place discusses, there has been some effort into getting her to be the VP nominee at least as far back as 2007. Check out all the links to the different sites she has on her blog.

Also questionable is how many of the links to her election sites to become governor now link directly to the McCain-Palin sites. A big question is how and why did she get on the radar so early with so little experience? Another question is why does the party seem to want to make it seem like she was just all of a sudden picked and that McCain only just now thought of her and only spoke with her once when she seems to have been being thought of for such a long time?

Unintentional comedy

There is a student teacher at my school who is really the epitome of a nerd. Picture some of the guys from those old 80s Revenge of the Nerds movies. He is nice, but he seems a bit like he just wants to show off his Webster U education - though it comes off more like he is confused and not sure of what he is doing in the process.

Every day for the past two weeks, I see him and I just want to bug up laughing. Not because of the way he looks, but because of the way he showed up for school the other day.

He had on a dress shirt and some slacks and a tie. The problem was the tie.

He had the shirt buttoned up all the way, but the tie was on his neck.

I don't think you understand what I am getting at.

The tie was on his neck and not underneath the collar of his shirt. It was really confusing at first. He walked toward his cooperating teacher's classroom and the teachers I was standing with and I just looked for a moment. It was one of those times when it is hilarious, but you just can't bring yourself to laugh just yet because you are not sure if this is really real.

Fortunately the department head called him out on it and the next time we saw the kid he had adjusted his collar.

He had on the same outfit today, and it really just brought it all back to me. I couldn't help but smile whenever he started to talk.

All this while trying not to puke at the department head's camouflage Crocs, this other woman's dress Crocs, and the other woman's regular black Crocs.

In other news that I'm still not sure is funny, scary, or just stupid, the republican candidate picked a running mate. Yea for picking a woman to try to woo the disgruntled Hilary voters. Boo for picking a person who has been mayor for two years, prior to that was mayor of a town of 9000, she has no Washington experience -- but leave it to her to already have been under investigation for corruption. Her husband is connected with oil companies. She believes in creationism and is a staunch pro-life advocate.

But I guess she shows that he is looking for change and that he is willing to have a woman by his side even if he doesn't respect his wife.

I am almost politically intrigued

I really have been disconnected from politics in this nation for quite some time. Over a decade, really. I am not fully in a go-get-'em mode yet, but I am starting to feel like there might be a large group of people who are coming to their senses about what is really going on and what needs to be done to make this nation change for the good.

The DNC has been good. Speeches have been good. I've heard people complain that there was not a lot of coverage on the regular channels, but I stuck with PBS where they did not talk over any of the speakers, including the regular people who came on to share their personal stories.

Today's speech by Senator Obama was good. He touched on some good issues and really went after the whole putting America and Americans first.

I have often been told that in order to know how to proceed you have to look at what your enemies/opponents are doing. After the speech, I was feeling quite touched. Then I felt like I wanted to see what the enemy would say to twist this positivity into some negative shit.

So I turned to Fox News Channel.

Bret Hume and Juan Williams piss me off all the time and they did not fail today. I was actually shocked that they had some people on their who actually seemed to approve the Senator's speech. But then they went back to the commentators who could spin anything into some way to put down Senator Obama and try to diminish the emotions of the people who were in attendance.

That's why I stick with PBS and NPR's mostly unbiased news reporting.

But they will not hold him down. I'm not by any means saying that he is a perfect candidate. There are some issues that I hope he considers and reconsiders for the sake of this nation. But he is the best viable option. And he is way better than the other main candidate.

And all on the anniversary of the day when 45 years ago the government told its secretaries to stay home so they would not get raped by the African Americans; when they shut down all the liquor stores for fear that they would incite more violence; when they canceled two professional baseball games for fear of attacks on the white attendants -- all so that there would not be any chance for violence. They were worried about severe violence at a non-violent assembly by people who had records of non-violence in their previous gatherings (well not completely non-violent since the cops and others who came to oppose them attacked them and sprayed them with water hoses and put out the dogs). Forty-five years ago today Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have A Dream" speech today. Some felt that he should have touched on this more in his speech today, but I feel that was not necessary. It was acknowledged in their picking of today for his acceptance speech. It has been acknowledged by all the news media.

Another historical note: yesterday would have been Lyndon B. Johnson's 100th birthday. He was the president who signed a lot of the civil rights legislation into action.

I am still a bit apprehensive about what will happen in November. There are a lot of people who support what Obama says, but will not vote for him based on his race for the most part because of his race.

Oh, yeah. My buddy KBO posted a great explanation about choosing to be liberal in this day and age on her blog. Check it out. It only makes sense. Being a person who cares about yourself and the people around you does not make you crazy. You do not have to be a super conservative republican to believe in Jesus. But it is also strange to support some of the contradictory beliefs of the party such as being against abortion but not caring about the children who ARE born -- the ones who have families that can't afford to take care of them. I have had numerous students who have been homeless or lived in crazy family situations and it hurts that they are not cared for by the government.

Be accountable for your choices. And care about more than just yourself.

Obama-McCain forum with Warren

Watching the forum with Senators Obama and McCain and Pastor Rick Warren. Obama really rocked out with his answers on abortion, teachers' salaries, stem cell research, and "working in concert with the international community" to solve problems and address genocide and the high orphan rates.

The more I see him the more there is something about him that just reminds me of my man. They have similar smiles and teeth and those thick, low brows. Both just really represent that educated, confident, grown-man sexy.

On the other hand, McCain really just irks me. With Bush, I really can't stand listening to him talk and change the channel of the radio or the tv when he is about to do a sound bite or a speech, but if McCain is elected, not only will I not be able to stand listening to him, but I will avoid even just having to look at him. Wow. The lack of lips, the super-duper short arms (No offense, I understand he was tortured in Vietnam while he was in service and they were taken out of the sockets repeatedly, but how does that make them shorter?), the voice, the way he seems to treat/refer to his wife, all the stories of his evil anger problems. I don't know -- I just can't/don't want to see him as a president. It took everything in me to not switch during the questioning back to the Olympics instead of waiting until the commercial break.

On a totally different note, CONGRATS to Christian Cantwell on his Olympic shot put silver medal!! Way to go Mizzou track teammate -- he taught me to not drink before or during a meal so that I could eat more of the wonderful food before me.

McCain made me cringe when he said we need to focus on off-shore oil drilling, but tried to redeem himself by then mentioning the other types of energy we should also use. Then he went on to talk about other issues and judges that I don't support and that don't support the rights and needs of the various majority of people of this nation. He did a lot of joking with the crowd, calling the audience "my friends", and shared a lot of old anecdotes which is a good way to get the basic American public on his side without making them actually listen to his words and ideas.

If you missed the forum, which was run pretty well by Warren, you should definitely read the transcript or find the video. There were questions asked that are not typically asked and it was nice to have a person asking the questions who was not a reporter, though at times, he did seem to prefer McCain's answers and presence, he still did all right as the moderator.

Sharing sites: war, contraception, fisa, the n-word

Today I bring you some sites I have looked at over the past few weeks that I just keep coming back to. Powerful, thought-provoking, typically unheard in the regular media.

First up a friend of mine is back blogging after about a year off. He came back with a post about Former Army Private First Class Joseph Dwyer who died this past June. Touching story, powerful words and charge given by Olly Olly Oxen Free over at Peace Between People.

Going into the political realm I give you Sin's Secret Corner who discusses the atrocity that is McCain's view on contraception. Sin doesn't talk about politics a lot, but felt compelled to share what McCain has said and not said about contraception -- birth control pills, Plan B pills, condoms, pregnancy, and STDs. Read Sin's Secret Corner's post.

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Wow. What can I really say about this document signed into existence a week or so ago. First, "in passing the FISA Amendments Act, Congress gave the executive branch the power to order Google, AT&T and Yahoo to forward to the government all e-mails, phone calls and text messages where one party to the conversation is thought to be overseas." What?! The ACLU is suing because they believe the orders violate the 4th amendment to the Constitution. Their complaint alleges

"The law challenged here supplies none of the safeguards that the Constitution demands. It permits the government to monitor the communications of U.S. Citizens and residents without identifying the people to be surveilled; without specifying the facilities, places, premises, or property to be monitored; without observing meaningful limitations on the retention, analysis, and dissemination of acquired information; without obtaining individualized warrants based on criminal or foreign intelligence probable cause; and, indeed, without even making prior administrative determinations that the targets of surveillance are foreign agents or connected in any way, however tenuously, to terrorism."

Last, but not least, the N-word. Why do people still use this word. Perhaps they don't really understand where it comes from or what it has meant to people in the past. The Renaissance Gallery got me hooked on this video by mjul on YouTube. Hopefully you watch the whole video. Hopefully, if you use the word, it helps you understand where it comes from and why it is seen as derogatory and not something you should call your friend.



Now off to see if there is any more news about this shooting and fire in Maplewood. I just hope it is not anyone I know involved or injured from this stuff right across from that 7-11 on Big Bend.

Funny politics

This is a funny site with a list of things younger than Mr. John McCain.

Hilarious. And true.