Exciting Week in politics and a little scary.

The Speech

I would like to start off by talking about Senator Obama's speech at the Democratic convention. I think I finally understand how my parents felt when they heard John F. Kennedy or Dr King speak. That moment will be something that I will be able to talk to my nieces and nephews about some day (no kids for Ben). I'll be the old guy that can tell the kids about when I heard President Obama (fingers crossed) speak at the DNC. The day that 45 years after his speech Dr. King's dream was starting to be realized. Not because he's black, but because the fact that he's black is unimportant. He is simply the best man for the job. He is being judged on the content of this charicter not the color of his skin. As far as the speech itself I thought it was amazing. He had the usual poetry that we expect from him, but there was something more. He was able to lay out the differences between John McCain and himself, and he also talked about the specifics of his policies. I have heard people say that they thought maybe it was a little too negative. For months now many of us Obama supporters have been wondering when is he going to strike back. McCain has been leveling attack after attack, and unlike Senator Kerry, Obama finally struck back. However in doing so he took the moral high ground by saying that he doesn't question what kind of a man Senator McCain is, only his stance on the issues. It is a moral high ground that I hope Senator McCain agrees to join him on, even if he has been running his campaign to the contrary so far. I doubt Senator McCain will do so, because on the issues he's not very strong. Poll show that majority of Americans want the war in Iraq to end, don't like the Bush economic package, and think that the country needs to go into a new direction.

The Scary

I went to sleep Thursday night on cloud nine, and then was awoken this moring with a possible storm. Senator McCain picked his VP canidate. I understand he didn't want Senator Obama's amazing speech to be the lead on the news cycle. The weeks leading up to the choice I was filled with hope. He was going to choose Romney or Pawlenty. Either of which I think the Obama camp could have handled easily. I also heard Lieberman. What a perfect dream that would have been, might have as well started planning the inaugeration. Then I found out this morning it was Governor Patlin. Who? The governor of Minnesota, and she's a young woman. Now I think this is a huge gamble for McCain, but it is a scary one for me. Obviously I like the fact that McCain really can't bring up the experience factor anymore, since this woman really doesn't have much. She is a relative unknown, which has pros and cons. While she doesn't have a popular name, people will want to know about her. With only two months left until the election I hope her story doesn't mask Senator McCain's stances on the issues. Also there is the ticked off Hilary voters, who seem to think that Barack somehow stole the election. ( they obviously can't do math) I hope that they see through the show of a woman VP to see that she comes out on the opposite side on every issue with Hilary Clinton. I hope America is smart enough to vote for the canidate that emodies their beliefs about our government, not just for the woman or for that matter the black guy. However this is a country that has given us about 26 seasons of The Bachelor. I want to have faith in our country that they will make an informed decision, but it scares me. One final thought I've had. There are going to be some ignorant people that will refuse to vote for Obama, because he's black. Aren't these some of the same kind of ignorant people who wouldn't vote for a woman. Now who are dumb rednecks going to vote for?

Saddleback Sellout and Ridiculous Republicans

SADDLEBACK SELLOUT

I must say that I have not read any of Pastor Warren's books. I did see him on the CNN special in which he himself stated that issues of poverty, justice, and the AIDS crisis are some of the most important issues that Christians should be concerned with. So I was very hopeful when I watch the interviews with Senator Obama and Senator McCain. Since these issues are near to my heart as a Christian I was anxious to see what the Senators would say. However none of these issues were brought up at all. Instead Pastor Warren went down the Conservative Right's checklist of issues: Abortion, judges, gay marriage, and taxes, specifically at what point is someone considered rich. I was unaware that taxes were an issue of faith, other than "render unto Cesar what is Cesars". I was appalled that a man of God who claims that certain issues are supposed to be at forefront of our faith would drop those issues to make his canidate, Senator McCain look better. Maybe time ran out, or no one sent in any questions about these issues, or maybe he just sold out. Could it have hurt him in the eyes of the Christian Right had he taken Senator McCain to task on some of these issues? Yes. Was it the right thing to do? Definitely. I just find it hard to believe that a man I saw speak so passionately on these issues, no longer found them to have any merit.

RIDICULOUS REPUBLICANS

The lastest attack from the Republican party against Senator Obama is that he is pro infanticide. I'm not talking his abortion stance (which I whole heartedly disagree with him on), that he wants to kill babies. There was a bill while he was in the Senate that was going to ban the killing of babies of botched abortions, that he voted against. The Republicans now say he is in favor of killing those babies. It doesn't matter that there was a bill that has been a law in Illinois for 20 years already protecting these babies, or that the Illinois board of health was against this bill as well. It also doesn't matter that the reason he rejected this bill was that the language was such that would overturn Roe vs. Wade, and the resubmitted bill with the changed language passed after Obama became a United States Senator. They are know going to say Obama wants to kill babies. Come on Republicans you can do better.

Like I said I don't agree with Senator Obama's stance on abortion, not that McCain has had a good voting record on it until he was running for president. I simply think there are other issues to consider besides abortion. I think a child is always important not just before they are born. I think that is very hypocritical to say that Roe v. Wade should be overturned (which despite the promises of President Regan, President Bush Sr, and current President Bush still stands) and then vote against the Childrens Medical Inssurance Bill.

US Foreign policy hurting Olympic Athletes

The announcers have constantly made it obvious, whatever the sport, that no country has an advantage with the amount of judges. It was just poor judging that the girl who beat Alicia Sacramone fell flat on her face. It was simply incompetence that kept judges from giving points to Demetrius Andrade for landing punch after punch on his opponent. It is true that no single country can influence these outcomes. However no country is as disliked for our foreign policy decisions right now as the United States is. America is not a well like nation in Europe, Asia, or Latin America. The fact that our foreign policy is that we know best, leaves a bad taste in other country's mouths. Whether it's subliminal or not I'm sure some of the judges in boxing and gymnastics wouldn't mind seeing the US's self-proclaimed superiority knocked down a few pegs. How often do you hear other country's leaders going on and on about how their country is the best in the world? Sometimes people want to put the cocky kid who thinks they are better than everyone else in their place.

Top 3 things I'm ranting about

3. The if you like option- Whether it's Netflix, Amazon.com, or Xbox Live they all tell you what you should like. Unfortunately it makes no sense. Netflix just told me because I like Rocky V, I should like Celion Dion live from Las Vegas. What? After watching the trailer to "Tropic Thunder" Xbox live thinks I would like Nanny Mcphee, Wing Commander, and Six Degrees of seperation. Amazon.com thinks since I enjoyed the TV show Angel I will also like Picket Fences. I just don't understand how they come to the realizations, unless they are simply pushing certain products. In the grand scope of things it's not that big of a deal

2. Michael Phelps- How can I hate on the greatest Olympic Champion of all time. How did he do it? He won in swimming. What's my problem with that? Swimming has so many different events, that it is ridicuolous. There's a breast stroke, a freestyle, backstroke, a medley(where you combine the riduculousness, and relays. Why can't it simply be however you did it you got from one end of the pool to the other faster. Don't you think Carl Lewis could have won the 100m skip, hop, backpeddle, and medely. Simply put Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer ever, but the greatest Olympian ever? No, he is simply in a sport that awards more medals than any other.

1. President Bush- In an interview with Bob Costas, President Bush said, "I don't think America has problems." In a country with a major recession, a sky rocketing unemployment, a war with no end in sight, a failing educational system, and the highest poverty rate since the Great Depression, our president says there aren't any problems. That is exactly the problem.

Olympic Boxing Scoring

Alright most of you might not care about this, but it really bugs me. The Olympic committee changed the way the scoring was done after 1988 games, in which Roy Jones Jr. was the beneficiary of the worst screw job in Olympic Boxing history. The changed it to "computer scoring" to take away the human bias. Unfortunately it's simply electronic human scoring. Three judges have a button for each fighter. Every time a fighter lands a scoring blow to the torso or head the judge presses the button. If all three judges press the button within a single second then the fighter is awarded a point. There are three major problems with the system.

First it has not fixed the problem. The judges aren't pressing the buttons. The scores so far in the Olympics have been extremely low. There are two explanations. In the words of Teddy Atlas (one of the world's best boxing commentators), "either it's incompetence or corruption." I watch a fight with a non-USA boxer that had won the world championships. He landed about seven clean shots in a row and was awarded no points.

The second problem is that is awards no extra points or weighted points for knockdowns or standing 8 counts. The reason, in my humble opinion, is to discriminate against fighters from the Americas. Notice I didn't say America. The style of Latin American fighters and fighters from the USA does not lend itself to just scoring points. This is a reason why many successful Olympic boxers have a hard time as pros. They are basically two different sports.

The third major problem with this system is that the equipment is expensive. So it is not used in most non-Olympic amateur bouts. It is not used in the Golden Gloves competition. It is obviously not used in club fights that amateurs take part in. This hurts fighters that don't come from countries without sports colleges. Russia, Cuba, and China are examples of countries who have these kinds of amateur programs. America obviously does not. This has to do with our lack of track education system, which I don't really want to get into. The problem is that successful American and Latin American boxers (excluding Cuba) have to retrain themselves how to fight this different style.