Month: October 2008

Obama-Rama

I was gonna go be all fair and just by giving the skinny on all the candidates even the smaller lesser funded cats like this good lookin fella, (Bob Barr Libertarian), Nader, and the other not- caring-to-mention-ables…  But I figure with 9 days left in the election and the Nader leading the “third parties” with… I can’t even find a poll site that includes Nader or the lessers in the percentage breakdown, but as it stands :

Barack Obama ( Democrat ) 

Let me preface THIS post by saying that even though I have somewhat of a personal relationship with Senator Obama and we’ve chilled on at least a single occasion I will not let that fact bias my post.  kthx.

Can’t do anything at home with $12 billion a month on Iraq. (Feb 2008)

$10 billion a month spent in Iraq should be spent in the US. (Jul 2008)

While politicians may have an affinity for truth stretching as well as outright lying, numbers are completely objective : The U.S. national debt is north of $10 TRILLION dollars, while Iraq is seeing a surplus of $79 billion dollars.  Givin these figures I don’t think my personal opinion is even warranted.  Although I will say that so long as there are U.S. troops stationed in Iraq I think they should have access to sufficient gear / supplies that will maximize their survival.

Opposes CA Prop. 8, one-man-one-woman marriage. (Jul 2008)

While I personally see this to be more of a non-issue then a matter of ultimate concern I feel its important to note Obama’s stance on this in contrast to McCain.  Do the YES dance.

Do not lower drinking age from 21 to 18. (Sep 2007)

Agreed.

 

Understand why youngsters want to use drugs. (Aug 1996)

Ease of acquisition, peer encouragement, perpetuation in films, TV, and music, mans affinity to do what he ought not to, and  “nothin else to do mannnn.”  

 

 

FactCheck: Yes, Obama endorsed Illinois handgun ban. (Apr 2008)

Ban semi-automatics, and more possession restrictions. (Jul 1998)

 

As I stated in my previous post, I am not a gun owner / shooter.  It’s easy for an opponent of guns to say that there is no “need” for semi-automatic weapons in the sport of hunting and they could be considered major overkill for personal security.  The argument of course is the tired “but where do you draw the line” argument.  Gun grabbing N.R.A nuts would reason that if the government can take my semi automatic assault rifle, whats stoppin them from takin my handgun.  The hypothetical repercussion is then a surge of unregistered guns being acquired via illegitimate means, and whatever intent you could have possibly had for curbing gun violence is blown away.

 

GovWatch: “Worked his way thru college” meant 2 summer jobs. (Jul 2008)

omgnowayzme2!!!

A Twenty-Nothing’s Impression of the ’08 Presidential Elections : McCain

I suppose I should preface this post by saying that I’m not the kind of person you’d see trying to sway political opinions via bumper stickers and lawn stakes but I feel like it would be useful to state some facts and lace some opinion in there too.  Now my philosophy has always been the less you know about something, the less you speak, and the more you listen, but I think if I upheld this method of thought I’d be far quieter person.  The facts I will be analyzing come from OnTheIssues.org.  The opinions will be coming from me, a twenty year old over thinking, underachieving individual, who accredits life experience + interweb as being the primary pillars of my socialization.   Growing up as a “free agent” in regards to religion I do my best to form ideas and beliefs based on rationalization and logic rather than guidance from the divine.  I think the most effective way to present this information as the writer and for you the reader, is to break it up and do one post per candidate.  Startin it off with some McChicken.

 

John McCain (Republican)

 

Overturn Roe v. Wade, but keep incest & rape exceptions. (Jan 2000)

Wants Roe vs. Wade made irrelevant, but would not repeal it. (Aug 1999)

Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)

I fundamentally oppose McCain’s stance on abortion.  I think that teaching the virtues of safe sex and basic, even advanced sexual education is the best deterrent for reducing abortion rates.  Thanks to the glorious invention of the intarweb, kidlets everywhere are easily exposed to a seemingly infinite number of pornographic sites.  I’d say its the duty and responsibility of adults, whether that means parents, teachers, or … either of those to brief the kids on this stuff before they board the bangbus and steal coat hangers.

 

 

Voted NO on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)

Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)

I agree with McCain, aside from that guy from that model show I think gays should absolutely have the right to get hitched. I understand the religious objection to this stems from the biblical chapter entitled “Leviticus ” which prohibits “lying with mankind with womankind.”  My aim is not to argue the interpretation of sacred scripture so I’ll leave this alone and let you ponder this and its validity as an objection to practice that affects American gays of every religion.  

I disagree with not adding sexual orientation to the definition of hate crimes.  I challenge McCain to explain his reasoning for that vote to the parents of Matthew Shepherd.  

Sit down with any leader, but only with pre-conditions. (Sep 2008)

Throughout the debates McCain / Palin aggressively criticized Obama’s diplomatic policy and aside from accusing him of “palling around with terrorists” and pointing out the absurdity of meeting with leaders of sketch ass nations; i.e. Iran, Cuba, North Korea and some other one I forgot.  MY interpretation of these aforementioned “pre-conditions” is that McCain / Palin would send out  guys to do the talking for him, and these scout ants would be met by scout ants of the other country.  To me, this is the equivalent of playing telephone, far too much room for astronomical fuckups.  “Good afternoon it’s a pleasure meeting with you” could easily fuzz into “death to Israel!”  Can’t be havin dat shit.

 

Guns are a problem, but so are violent web sites & videos. (Aug 1999)

Voted NO on background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)

Voted YES on loosening license & background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)

Voted YES on maintaining current law: guns sold without trigger locks. (Jul 1998)

I have no doubts that the amount of grotesqueness of violence has exponentially increased since lil boy Johnny Mac was flippin channels on his tube but I refuse to believe that on their own, violent video games and websites are ingredients to a violent person.  Not being a gun owner, shooter, shopper I can’t say I know procedure / obstacles in purchasing a gun.  But as a concerned citizen and human bean blessed with sanity I’m gonna have to play the wtf card on this.  Guns don’t kill people, sketchy dudes who buy them at gun shows kill people. 

 

Close Guantanamo Bay prison; announce no-torture policy. (Apr 2007)

For it.

Bring our troops home with victory and with honor. (Oct 2008)

In the mean time :