Archive for the ‘News/Politics’ Category

Lies are awesome.

News/Politics | Posted by Josh
Sep 10 2008

So far this election year hasn’t been too bad on the stretch-the-truth meter. I’ve been following it closely since the beginning of the primaries and, while there have been some out of context statements, pretty much every inaccurate claim has only been a small stretch of the truth. Now that we’re less than two months away from voting day it appears that blatant lies are the way to go. The Washington Post wrote a good article on this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903727.html

The article lists lies from both sides but, and maybe this is just a bias of mine, the McCain camp seems to have the big ones. Obama’s mistakes consisted of claiming that McCain wants to stay in Iraq for 100 years and saying that McCain thinks the fundamentals of the economy are sound. McCain really did say both of these things. The 100 years in Iraq statement is a bit out of context since he’s talking about keeping forces there in the same vein as we have in places like Germany. The problem with that is that Germany isn’t fighting off insurgents like Iraq. The situations are completely different. But still, it was a stretch of the truth on Obama’s part. And the sound economy statement, well, I don’t even know what McCain really thinks. He’s talked about how the economy is in trouble quite often but the statement he made about how it was doing well was made on Meet the Press some six months ago or so. On that episode he was being asked about his connections with Bush. He was basically pandering to the Bush crowd by saying how often he has agreed with Bush and how the economy is doing just fine because of him. So what’s his deal? Is he a Bush-y or is he a maverick? I really don’t know anymore.

On the lies from the McCain camp, here’s a list.

Palin turned down the bridge to nowhere. FALSE
- She actually campaigned in support of the bridge until she won her election for governor, then she decided she didn’t want the bridge. She also didn’t give back the money that congress gave her for said bridge.

Obama will raise taxes on everyone. FALSE
- Yeah, he’ll actually lower taxes more than McCain for everyone except those who make more than $250,000. It works out to be an increase for 10% of Americans and a cut for 81%. This one is so blatantly false and repeated so ridiculously often that I think it may be the biggest misconception of the year. I frequent a forum with a lot of people who are interested in politics and even they think Obama is going to raise everyone’s taxes. Did you see the percentage of seniors who think Obama will raise their taxes? 41%?! That’s insane given that seniors who make under $50,000 a year will literally pay $0, ZERO DOLLARS, in taxes. I’m sorry, but this one bothers me a lot.

This is going to take longer than I expected so I’ll leave the list at only two lies. There are plenty of others though. The point is, pay attention, check out the facts at places like FactCheck.org. This is why it’s important to vote. Do you want to end up with completely unfounded bullshit for the next four years? It makes a difference. There was a lot more opportunity in this country eight years ago, remember that.

And don’t forget to check out the debate on the 26th. I’m sure a lot of this will come out there.

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Debates and God’s plan.

News/Politics | Posted by Josh
Sep 07 2008

So has McCain given up on the secular vote?

That was McCain’s vice presidential candidate. It appears that if he is elected we will once again have God running our country. Seeing as I don’t believe in God, I find that frightening. If you do believe in God then maybe you feel different. Seriously though, you should vote if you haven’t already been convinced that doing so is important this year. Remember, there is a drastic difference between the world today and the world prior to 2001.

Oh yeah, the first presidential debate is September 26th. The first and only vice presidential debate is October 2nd. They’re usually a good place to start if you don’t know much about the candidates.

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Vice presidential picks.

News/Politics | Posted by Josh
Aug 30 2008

If you haven’t been following, the republican and democratic vice presidential nominees have both been chose. Obama picked Joe Biden while McCain chose Sarah Palin.

Biden is a long time senator. He actually ran for the presidential nomination but dropped out after performing badly in Iowa. I’m not particularly thrilled about him but he’s not terrible either. He just has a big mouth and knows how to use it. Anyway, here’s the pertinent info on him:

http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/joe_biden.htm

Palin is the governor of Alaska. She’s held the position since 2006 and had some other minor executive branch experience prior to that. She seems pretty hardcore social conservative to me. She’s a member of the NRA, pro-life, anti-gay marriage, etc.. I actually don’t think she’s such a bad choice for McCain except that, to me, it highlights his desire to say and do what he thinks will get him elected instead of sticking to his guns. Basically, I believe he’s purposely chose a woman so that he could increase his chances of wooing disenfranchised Clinton supporters. Hell, Palin’s first speech contained praise for Hillary. Pander much? Anyway, I’m bias, but she does seem like a decent choice for getting McCain some conservative votes. Here’s the pertinent info on her:

http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm

I’m just trying to keep everyone up to date. Maybe some people who know me and aren’t interested in voting and whatnot will have a change of heart? Eh? Eh? Oh, and the democrats had their convention. Here’s Obama’s speech. It’s rather good.

Register to vote.

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Obama helps and his opponenets criticize.

News/Politics | Posted by Josh
Jun 16 2008

I am amazed. By now I’m sure everyone is at least somewhat aware of all the flooding in Iowa. This is a pretty big deal. I’ve read that the flood levels are high enough that they’re hitting people who aren’t in high risk areas at all and aren’t likely to have flood insurance. Apparently this isn’t likely to be over yet either and more flooding is expected in other areas.

Normally I wouldn’t bring something like this up but there has been some heavy criticism of Barack Obama because he went to fill sand bags in Illinois in preparation for more flooding. Check it out:

His actions have spurred hatred and cynicism among those who already don’t like him. There are claims that he’s pandering. Apparently leading by example and helping those in need is now considered pandering. Then there are claims that he was only there for a photo op. According to an ABC News blog he filled at least 15 sandbags. This may not be enough for those that think the only way he can help is to spend 60 hours a week for a month filling bags but helping out in this way for even an hour can make a big difference. It can especially make a difference when your presence brings more attention to the issue and adds morale support to those in the area. While getting his photo taken in this situation probably does benefit his campaign, there’s a good reason for that. There are even more outrageous claims made to the detriment of Obama’s character but they’re not worth going through one by one.

It appears that we live in such a cynical world that even when a person is being directly helpful we can still find ways to try and tear them down. What’s the alternative to Obama’s actions? Do nothing? Sit back and tell the press when they ask you that those people are proud and can help themselves so there’s no reason for you to try and obtain more help for them as McCain has done? McCain was sitting in at a fund raiser in California while all this was going on and didn’t even have the decency to mention the issue on his website where Obama put a link right on the opening page that went to the donations section of the American Red Cross site. Or, instead of doing what Obama is doing, politicians could follow Bush’s example and just fly over the area like Bush did during Katrina. That helps immensely, right? Katrina was handled effectively, right?

Seriously, lets all take a step back and question our own cynicism. I’ve been guilty of it myself on numerous occasions but I no longer think it’s worth it. Sure, you might get burned from time to time but the alternative is to live in a world where you have to constantly be paranoid that everyone is out to dupe you.

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How Bush convinced me that voting matters.

News/Politics | Posted by Josh
Jun 05 2008

I can remember a time, not even all that long ago, when I didn’t care all that much about voting. I would usually only vote in the presidential elections and never, ever, ever for a democrat or republican. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t agree with their views, I didn’t even really know what their views were, it was more this subconscious feeling that there was something wrong with only having two realistic options in every election. Even more prominent was this feeling that no matter who was put in the White House my life really didn’t change at all. I didn’t feel effected in the slightest by the people running the country. This seemed to also manifest this feeling that these people were making empty promises since they always would talk about how things will be better when they’re put in office yet it never seemed to make anything better.. or worse.

What finally convinced me that it really does matter, that I’m effected, by who is put in charge of things was George W Bush’s presidency. Good ol’ GW managed to be so absurdly bad at running a country that there are now constant reminders to show how much a president can really do. It wasn’t some angelic savior of the people that made it obvious that the president determines the quality of life for Americans, it was a stubborn alcoholic who can’t even repeat a proverb correctly (anyone remember the “fool me once..” screw-up?). From our deteriorating dollar and all its economic implications, to the Iraq War, to soaring gas prices, to the attempts to strip Americans of constitutional rights, Bush has done a thorough job of showing how much power a president really has.

I won’t get into the details about all the ways he has screwed up, unless you somehow missed these things and would like me to, but I will draw some conclusions from this revelation. If one man can run a government into the ground so thoroughly, can one man or woman also turn our lives into cushy bastions of pleasure? Now that may be a stretch, but not all that much of a stretch. It’s not so much that every little thing will be taken care of and we’ll never have any worries, just that the opportunities to put ourselves into a position where we have no worries can be created. Do you know how much college costs now compared to 8 years ago? Do you know how much gas cost 8 years ago? Do you know how easy it was to find affordable housing 8 years ago? These are pretty concrete changes that effect everyone who doesn’t want to live with their mom for the rest of their lives. If we could fall off the wagon to this degree then I don’t see why we couldn’t hop back on that wagon with the right management and get it moving even faster.

I think there’s also this growing since of responsibility for one’s world that comes from getting older. As a child and a teenager you’re, usually, very sheltered from the realities of the world. Once that shelter disappears you start to realize, or at least I did, that the things that you seemed to be able to take for granted didn’t come without a cost. Some of this I realized when I lived in New York. I remember when it would get hard, and I’d be trying to stretch each penny, and my biggest concern was the idea of having to move back to south Jersey and take a hit to my pride when I needed to rely on a parental figure yet again. It made me think, what if I didn’t have those figures in my life? Parents aren’t there forever. There’s always that chance that you won’t have someone to pick you up in life when you’ve royally screwed yourself over. All those solutions that I could have followed up on when I lived in New York would have been necessary if I didn’t have some enormous safety net to fall back on.

The point I’m getting to is that, while it may seem like it on the surface, life is not something that should be taken for granted. Anything can happen and the world that seemed so safe and secure as a kid was really illusory. If you want to maintain that illusion you have to be proactive. When this stops seeming true, just remind yourself of what a guy like Bush can do to your life.

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The human body is frightening!

News/Politics | Posted by Josh
May 23 2008

That was the reaction, by some, to this:

Seriously, are we that backwards in society that we need to be terrified by skin? Kids can watch movies and play video games with some pretty extreme violence and no one will bat an eyelash but if you show them a partially clothed human body they might be scarred for life. Maybe, just maybe, it’s possible that they’ll grow up with an interest in the human body and a respect for it because they’ve been made familiar with it from a young age instead? I know an awful lot of adults who are not very comfortable with they’re bodies or with nudity in general. Maybe this wouldn’t be the case if we made it seem more acceptable to show your body from a young age.

I know, you can say that we have sex shoved into our faces every other second of the day but that doesn’t seem the same. For one, it’s usually in the form of innuendo. Also, it’s usually in the form of advertisements, not in people all around us. Even then, people made a big stink about the Starbucks logo recently because it was changed to something along the lines of what they had in the ’70s with a shirtless mermaid. Maybe that’s the key. We need to start exposing bodies that aren’t so perfect on a regular basis. I think that would go a long way to help solve our strange love-hate relationship with sexuality. I would love to hear, from someone who has studied them a bit, how kids raised by nudists turn out as far as sexuality goes.

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Please please please…

News/Politics | Posted by Josh
May 21 2008

… vote in November. Seriously. You can either have this:

Or you can have this:

Now, granted, this is comparing Obama’s best to some of McCain’s worst but Obama’s worst is manufactured issues taken out of context and blown so far out of proportion that you could see it from space. For instance, the religious (no pun intended) devotion to the Reverend Wright issue. Also, Obama’s comments about why people are bitter about Washington’s ability to help them financially. Apparently this somehow means that he’s en elitist who doesn’t understand religion or guns or immigration. To be fair, it’s the equivalent of thinking that when McCain said that we might be in Iraq for 100 years that he actually meant the war will be going on like it has been for 100 years (although McCain is a bit naive to think that Iraq is anything like Japan or any of the other countries where we have a presense and there aren’t any insurgents).

Even if you want to look at this just on issues. Do you believe in trickle down economics? Vote for McCain. Do you think that holding a grudge is a good way to solve your problems with someone? Vote for McCain. Do you think health insurance is just fine how it is? Vote for McCain. Do you think veterans shouldn’t have more than a minute amount of their college education paid for when they finish fighting a war? Vote for McCain.

I won’t get into details about all these things but do yourself a favor, check their sites and voting records and see which one makes sense to you. This is going to make a huge difference in our lives.

Obama
Site: www.barackobama.com
Voting Record: www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Barack_Obama.htm

McCain
Site: www.johnmccain.com
Voting Record: www.ontheissues.org/Senate/John_McCain.htm

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