Bailout America or your campaign, a contest Palin belongs in?

Today the bailout was defeated by the House of Representatives, and the stock market dropped the most points in history. One representative said, "Everyone is saying that this is something that you should vote for, but no one wants to be the one to vote for it." The problem is that many in Congress are worried that there will be a backlash from voters. Most voters seem to be against the bailout, feeling that somehow they should get the money for their houses instead of financial institutions. The problem is these financial institutions need to be able to lend in order for the market to pick up again. With such a deficit lenders will not be wiling to do so. The economy will drop, and the problem will be felt by everyone. However instead of doing what's best for the country 1/3 of all democrats and 2/3 of all republicans voted against it. I understand why politically. Democrats want to be able to say that they are for the average person and not Wall Street CEOs. For Republicans it's a huge chance to distance themselves from one of the most unpopular presidents in history. The problem is that they are thinking about what's best for them not the country. Everyone knows that this needs to happen. Are Congressmen willing to sacrifice the American markets and economy for the next five weeks just to get elected? Probably, and that's why people can't stand politicians.


Finally if you read my blog at all, you know my dislike for Sarah Palin. I have been waiting for the debate this Thursday, so I can watch her get destroyed. I mean her debating Bidden is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. However in my study of her I have found that she "shines" in debates? Apparently she is brilliant at staying off topic and saying general fluff. One writer said of her Alaskan gubernatorial debate, "you could tell she wasn't the most well informed, but her 45 second soundbites were what people wanted to hear. I guess it's possible that she could come off as the darling candidate. However I think it's much more likely that she gets destroyed. Most likely the people who thinks she won won't be those who understand most of what is being said. It will be those that say "I agree that we do need to clean up Washington". Even though it probably had nothing to do with the question. So in closing I found a contest I think that she's qualified for:

This election is different.

This election is different as it pertains to the Black community. Now I must start by saying that I'm not lumping all blacks together. I am more than aware that there are some African Americans voting for McCain. In my canvasing for Senator Obama's campaign of the Gary area, I have been able to see the response of many in our community here. Part of the campaigning has been to offer forms to get absentee ballots for voters, since the lines can be so long at polling places. I told one man that he might have to wait in line for a descent amount of time. His response was, "I've been waiting 50 years for this, I can wait a few more hours." Most people we encountered wanted the privilege to show up and vote rather than sending their vote in. Out of the 127 doors I knocked on today (yes I'm tired), only 1 man said he wasn't going to vote for Obama. After talking to him, I think he was just lonely and knew that it would get me to talk to him for awhile. Barack Obama offers a hope to this community that they have not felt in such a long time. I think it was put very well on SNL tonight when they said. "critics of the bailout plan say it will save Wall St. while it will do nothing to help out Main St, and as always you're on your own Martin Luther King Blvd." For so long people in the black communities have felt neglected by their leaders, and it has led to a drop off in voting. Senator Obama's campaign has led a resurgence in African American voting. It means so much to so many. I talked to man today who was originally from Mississippi. He talked about marching during the 60's, and how they chased him with dogs. He said that he feels that this is what he was fighting for. Barack's historic campaign has even given young people hope. For the first time since I've been in this city I have heard young children saying that they need to do their homework so they can be president like Barack Obama. Before him it was thought of as an impossibility. This election is different because it could serve to heal many of the wounds that racism has put on our country. I think it's also important to point out that while the fact that Senator Obama winning would be important because he's black. The main issues is that he was not discriminated from being president because he's black. For finally we may have reached that day when a man "is judged not by the color of his skin, but the content of his character." The fact that Barack Obama could be seen as the best man for the highest job in this country no matter his skin color is a huge step.

The Debates...and more.

1. The first thing I think that John McCain's suspended campaign has been proven to be simply a stunt. He still ran ads. He still did interviews, and he still showed up at the debate.

2. Now on to the debate. I don't think that it was a knockout by either candidate. I was surprised that McCain held his own, which after watching his speeches I wondered if he could. Obama did what he needed to do and proved that he is less versed in foreign policy. So who won. If you're a Republican you think McCain won. If you're a democrat you think Obama won. I think both of them got their points across. It comes down to who you agree with. I think Obama's policies are the better way for are country to go, so he won in my eyes. I do think that McCain's constantly focusing on earmarks is ridiculous. It is such a small portion of the overall budget. It isn't even 5% of the budget. Getting rid of 18 billion dollars isn't going to bring enough money into our economy to make an impact. In closing I felt McCain was a little disrespectful at times saying that Obama didn't understand or was naive. From a supporter of Obama's campaign I think it will help Obama that he was able to stand toe-to-toe with McCain on foreign policy. Since that was supposed to be McCain's strong point, I felt that it can only help Obama. At the very least I don't think it's going to decrease his lead. The economy is supposed to be Obama's strongest point, so we'll see if McCain can do the same thing that Obama did.

3. Finally here is something not political. For years I have heard how great of a coach Pete Carroll is. People talk about his great teams, and that USC is always in the national title hunt. USC always has a lot of talent, which means Pete Carroll is a good recruiter. But when every year when you have the most talented team and lose to a team you're supposed to crush, it's coaching that's the problem. He simply is not getting his players ready to play against the lesser competition. Great coaches can get great teams to perform night in night out, like Phil Jackson did as a basketball coach.

Politics as Usual

Well John McCain is suspending his campaign to fix things in Washington. He is not going to run ads (we'll see). He thinks the debate should be postponed. Is he doing this to put the country's well being over his campaign? Of course not. It is simply politics as usual. McCain needs to do something, anything to try and get back some momentum in his campaign. The spike from the Palin stunt (lets be honest that's all it was) has worn off. It's time for a new stunt. Obama has said that he plans to go back to Washington, but he will not suspend his campaign. Senator McCain is obviously not worried about missing votes, since he leads the Senate in missed votes this year with 412. Senator Obama was third with 295. I don't blame Senator McCain, he has do to something to make people forget that he sponsored the deregulation of wall street in the Senate. I guess maybe from his perspective, that since he helped create this mess, he should clean it up. The problem is that he is not on the committee for this legislation. It must clear the House before the Senate can even vote on it. Let's be honest about the debates. John McCain doesn't want to debate Obama right now. He is currently down by about 5 points and losing most battle ground states. After the bump Obama could get from the debates could make the race seem not close. Remember what happened in 1996 when a few weeks before the election, and Bob Dole was losing by a significant amount. The republican base didn't show up to the polls, and he was destroyed. McCain is simply trying to pull some politics to try to keep it close.

As a side note if you saw Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin today, she looked like she didn't know what was going on again. She constantly says things like according to my understanding. She has to have dozens of people trying to brief her on things. If she can't get the talking points down, how could she run the country? With Bush you thought well maybe he just can't speak well. But I'm pretty sure I'm smarter than Sara Palin, and that's kind of scary.

Ridiculousness: Laugh or Cry your decision?

1. In the Gary Post today there was an article about a Grandmother who pulled a gun on her granddaughter. The problem was that her granddaughter went to the grocery store, and the grandmother didn't like what she brought back. So after "smacking her in the head with a bag of soda cans" (direct quote from the police report), She pulled out her .380 and still had it in her pocket. You have to laugh sometimes to keep from crying.

2. Well Clay Aiken is gay. If you're surprised smack yourself with your mouse. I just wonder if this will affect him making really crappy music.

3. Bush's bailout plan is being spearheaded by Secretary of The Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson. Paulson thinks that the bail should go forth "without any executive or legislative oversight". Really, you want 800 billion dollars, but don't want to tell anyone where it's going? Both McCain and Obama think this is a bad idea. If these two are agreeing on something than you know it's ridiculous.

4. President Bush, do I need to say more? President Bush is working very hard to earn the title as "worst president ever". Let's see get into a huge unnecessary war that is draining our economy check. Fail to bring the perpetrators of 9/11 check. Worst unemployment since The Great depression check. Take the Justice out of the Justice Department check. Forget to give people food and water in New Orleans check. Huge collapse of the financial network check. It just makes me wonder what he's going to do next in his campaign to be the worst. Will he nuke Iran? Invade Canada for looking at him funny? Decide to stop funding public education? Start a Civil War with Oklahoma, because they messed with Texas. He's got three months to secure his title. It will be interesting.

5. John McCain still saying that Barack is going to raise every ones taxes. Look Senator just admit that he's going to raise rich people's taxes. Independent examiners have said he's wrong. ABC new, NBC news, and CNN have said he's wrong. Now FOX news is saying it. OK senator if the network that thinks Republicans crap gold, says you're lying it might be time to stop.

Is Jesus a Republican?

This past weekend I was feeling pretty good. I had just finished working for the Obama campaign in Gary, registering people to vote. I was very proud to have volunteered to put my time in for something I believe in. I needed to go down to my Grandfather's house to try (unsuccessfully I might add) to move his pool table out of the basement. On the way there I saw a sign outside on a church marquee reading: God is always right, never left. While I completely agree that God is always right meaning correct, the sign made me extremely angry. It took everything within me not to stop and chew out the pastor of the church. I have been thinking a lot about this attitude, and it is a problem amongst Christians.

Is Jesus a Republican? The easy answer is no, and as much as it hurts me to admit he's not a Democrat either. No person should consider their political party choice to be divined by God. I am well aware that there are moral issues in politics. However the "moral issues" in politics are not limited to gay marriage and abortion. I am pro life, however I don't make all political decisions on that alone. I weigh both candidates. I also don't always pick the Democrat. I have voted for Senator Richard Lugar (R) many times mostly because of his stance on foreign policy and willingness to break from his party. The other moral issues in my mind, are issues dealing with poverty, treating of all Americans equally, and peace. These are part of the reasons I am going to vote for Senator Barack Obama.

I have dealt with this issue for a long time. Christians thinking that in order to be a good Christian you must be a Republican. I can remember during the 2000 presidential campaign, guys at Moody feeling they needed to pray for my salvation, because I was a democrat. This attitude has bigger ramifications than some may think. While most committed white evangelical Christians are Republicans, most committed black evangelical Christians are Democrats. Dr. King said that Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week. If we ever want to try to come together as Christians we need to start to understand that there are differences among us. We also need realize that one group is not right and the other is wrong. There is no way you can say that the bible states which political platform is more Godly than the other. No Christian should therefore admonish another for their political views. And as pastors we have an even higher level of accountability. The preaching of political views from the pulpit is wrong no matter which side of the line you are on.

McDespicable...the real John McCain.

John McCain used to be someone who I disagreed with, but still respected. Within the last few weeks, my respect has gone out the window with his integrity. Now as the ad says he has diminished to dirty tactics and outright lies. As the ad states some of the media has had enough of the formerly honorable Senator's tactics. One such attack was that Obama wanted to teach comprehensive sex education to kindergartners. Something that is simply untrue. The main purpose of the bill in question for children of that age was to let them no what was appropriate and inappropriate contact from another person. Only Senator McCain could take a bill whose purpose was to help children who being abused and use it as an attack.

There of course is a bigger problem here. McCain's campaign feels absolutely no need to tell the truth. For example, McCain continually says that Obama's tax plan will raise taxes on most Americans despite the fact that he knows that to be untrue. If the media contradicts them with the truth, it is simply the liberal media distorting McCain. If someone in the media asks him about it, he tells them that he is a war hero. On the tonight show Jay Leno asked him how he did not know how many houses he had. Senator McCain launched into a speech about his time as a P.O.W. How bad are things getting when you are dodging questions from Jay Leno? The problem is that the American people are obviously buying it. The recent poll says that race is extremely close. Two weeks ago Obama had a very clear advantage. The Sarah Palin announcement has played a huge part in that. The McCain campaign continues to make the assertion that she turned down the bridge to nowhere, despite clears evidence to the contrary. McCain has now realized that Americans want change. So even though he his policies on education, taxes, economics, foreign affairs, and the war are identical George Bush, he is now telling you he is going to change America. We have all heard that politicians say what they have to in order to be elected. What message will it send to politicians if McCain is elected? It seems that America is saying we like being lied to keep it up. How bad has gotten? Karl Rove, the mastermind behind attack John Kerry's war record and author of McCain has a baby by a Bangladeshi prostitute, thinks that "McCain has gone too far, and attributing to Obama things that are beyond the 100% truth test." Come on

Sources:

http://time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/apology_not_accepted.html
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/staff/margaret_talev/story/52169.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/09/does_the_truth_matter_anymore.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/10/politics/animal/main4434276.shtml?source=search_story

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/08/politics/animal/main4426001.shtml?source=search_story

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/08/politics/animal/main4425331.shtml?source=search_story

smart is a bad thing

I hear it over and over Barack Obama is an elitist. Basically attacking him for being smart and thinking he's smarter than other people. I don't know about most people, but I would surely hope the president is smarter than me. I would hope he knows more than me. When's the last time you went into surgery thinking, "I hope my doctor is more like me and less of an intellectual." So why would you want your country to be run by such a person? Do you want the guy to operate on you to be magna cum laude from Harvard or the bottom of his class at the naval academy? Or even better how about someone who went to school to Hawaii Pacific, North Idaho, Idaho, and Matanuska -Susitna just to get a degree in communications with a journalism focus. I thought communications was a degree for football players. I mean I trust Peggy Kusinski (google it) when it comes to the bears, but I don't think she should be the vice-president. Seriously when did it become an okay thing for our leaders to be not the best of the best. I understand the argument that you want a leader to understand where you're coming from, but that's not the argument against Obama. He grew up poor and understands the plight of the working people and underprivaledged. Something that cannont be said for McCain. I just don't get the appeal of electing someone who is not a lot smarter than myself. But what do I know I voted against Bush twice and look how well that turned out. Wait a minute?!?

Who's to blame?

Today (well technically yesterday) was the 7 year anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001. I think most of us remember that day vividly. I can remember that I didn't have class that day and slept in. I came down stairs and turned on the TV not to long after the second plane hit the towers. I sat on the couch not being able to believe what I was watching. It was a terrible day that is burned into the minds of the people in our country.

Today as we always do at God's Children's House, we talked about what is in the news. Many of the kids mentioned that today was the anniversary of 9/11. Several of them didn't really know that much about it. So I explained what happened, and how the terrorist used the planes as weapons. Then one of the student's spoke up and said, "them terrorist were some beasts" (that's hood for someone who can't be stopped for example Lebron James is a beast on the court). I tried to explain to this young man that something terrible had happened. Then he and other's responded with they was on their job, that was gangsta. I was dumbfounded. After laying into them pretty bad about there being nothing good about anyone who kills innocent people, I began to think who's to blame for this attitude?

There are several easy answers. It's because of violent video games. However most credible studies now say that there is no link between violent video games and violent behavior or attitudes. Also most of the kids who were talking don't even own video game systems. The other obcious answer is rap music. I do agree that portrayl of the gangsta lifestyle as being a true black man by rappers is a problem. Seriously ten years ago most there was a definite choice in main stream hip hop. There was a big movement of positive hip hop. Today the Lupe Fiasco's are two few to be heard. Even BET said that Little Brother's music video was too intelligent for their audience. These are problems when the role models in a society act in this manner. However most kids are able to understand the difference between the fake lifestyles portrayed by most rappers and reality.

The root of the probelm is in our and other inner city communities there is no parental guidance to stiffle this gangsta attitude. It is not just absent parents that are the problem. Most of the kids have parents, they just have bad ones. Many of our parents would drive their child around the neighborhood looking for another child who had punked their child, so their child could beat the other kid up. They get into physical fights with other parents, threaten teachers, and allow their children to shoot off their guns (we're not talking about hunting here, we're talking about letting off automatic gunfire into the air in a populated area). What can we do about parents that not only don't know how to be parents, but can't be desecent human beings? Recently in Vibe magazine they asked "Why does Barack Obama think he needs to call black parents to task everytime he speaks." First of all he's not talking to just black parents, he's talking to all parents. The reason is he gets it. No amount of govermental programs are going to make your kids descent people if you don't raise them. So what's the answer? In the words of Larry Norman, "Don't ask me for the answer's I only have one that a man leaves the darkness, when he follows the son." Without a change in their very spirit there will be no change. I guess that is why I do what I do I guess. I hope that maybe some of the kids will get it, and through their faith in Christ they take a different path.

Republicans want to pull the kid gloves back out.

After leveling vicious attacks against Obama since before he was even the nominee, the Republicans want to put the kid gloves back on. The McCain campaign says that Senator Obama needs to apologize for comments he made about Governor Palin. What Senator Obama said was that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You can wrap a fish in paper called change, but it still stinks. His comments were directed squarley at Senator McCain. However the McCain campaign now wants an apology for Governor Palin. Is this going to be the new stratedgy? Every time Obama points out a glaring diparage between McCains actions and words, they can just jump up and down screaming be nice to the girl. Talk about sexism. Just more proof that even the McCain camp doesn't take Palin seriously. (want another example how about passing out buttons at RNC that said "The hottest governor from the coolest state") The McCain camp gets question both Barack and Michelle's patriotism, use images of terrorist supporting foreign leaders with Obama in ads, bring up Jeremiah Wright, and try to link him to a "terrorist" from the sixities. But now something not even directed at Palin is too much. Seriously how long will people accept the McCain campaign feeding us BS and telling us it's steak. Oh does it matter that John McCain said, "it's like putting lipstick on a pig" in reference to Hilary Clinton's health care plan? Wake up people.

NBC is wrong and right.

NBC has recently removed Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann as the co-anchors from the political coverage and make them commentators. I first must say I thought that the banter between the two was childish at times and something needed to change. I was disappointed that Chris Matthews was leaving, as I feel that he is a good journalist. He is kind of a pit bull, but he goes after both the right and the left. Olbermann on the other hand is the farthest thing from a journalist. He is a pundit for the left plain and simple. Just as Bill O'reilly and Shawn Hannity are the furthest thing from fair and balanced, Olbermann is not balanced on the both sides. These pundits like O'reilly, Hannity, and Olbermann should not be allowed to anchor news coverage. They spit rhetoric like it is fact. Fox at least has kept O'reilly in the pundit role. These pundits passing as journalists muddy the waters for uniformed Americans who turn to these people for their "news"

More from the RNC

1. Good Job McCain

First I would like to say I thought that there was something good that McCain did tonight. He didn't attack Senator Obama, the person. Hopefully this is not to just counter Obama doing it first, but a serious strategy change from personal attacks on Obama.

2. Who I am not what I stand for.

John McCain has made his position clear. He is not going to talk about the specifics of his economic plans, war strategy, or any real meat of the issues. He is going to try to convince us that he is a better person than Senator Obama. Why? He can't win on the issues. 80% of Americans think that the Bush economic policy needs to be changed. The problem for Senator McCain is that his economic policy is almost identical to President Bush's. Hopefully America won't get caught up who is who and vote on the issues.

3. Civil Rights?

Senator McCain said that education is the greatest civil rights issue of our time. I completely agree. However Senator McCain doesn't get to talk about civil rights, since he has fought his entire career against it. He has shot down every affirmative action that has come before. He has done everything possible to keep equal pay legislation from being passed. Senator McCain even led the fight against making Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday from becoming a national holiday. Senator McCain you sir have not earned the right to speak on Civil Rights.

4. Community Organizer

Apparently Republicans don't really know what this is. In poor communities we don't get support from most politicians, becasue we can't support their campaigns financially. Wait maybe I need to back up a little more. In America there are these communities where people don't have a lot of money. We struggle for jobs and have poor schools. I know Republican politicains have seen these communities on the news, even if you only visit them when they're under water. We need these organizers to get things done, since no one else cares about us. They serve our communites in a way that most politicians don't. This is why we as the underprivaledged Americans support Obama.

Palin second guessed

First I would like to say that I was interested to see what Governor Palin had to say. I was surprised at most of her speech, so here are my thoughts.

1. Republicans want their cake and to eat it to

Governor Palin wants to attack Senator Obama on his experience, where hers is very questionable. She was a Governor of a town half the size of the state Senate district that Senator Obama represented. A town she left with an enormous debt. She was Governor of a state 1/3 the size of Chicago. I don't understand how she can attack Senator Obama's experience. Also she is trying to call herself a Washington outsider while attacking his experience. How does that work?

2. New canidates same old retouric

Sarah Palin is very concerned about her family that are opening a new buisness and auto workers in Michigan's taxes being raised by Senator Obama. I would like to put her mind at ease. Unless that auto worker is working 90 hours a week making over $250,000 his taxes won't be raised. Unless her family members pull a personal income (not buisness profit) of over $250,000 they will also not have their taxes raised. Republicans have gone to the old jump up and down scream their going to raise taxes as their strategy. Look if you make that much money I think you can afford a little more.

3. I think the fact that Governor Palin's daughter being pregnant or Troopergate shouldn't matter. I do think the fact that she is planning to still accept the money from "the bridge to nowhere" and use it for other state money. There are several cases of her misappropriating federal funds. However the McCain had to know that these issues would hurt his campagin. Why did he do it? The bottom line is he didn't research his pick. Neither he nor anyone from his campaign talked to anyone from the Alaskian legislature. The didn't talk to any state officials. He only met with her once. They didn't do their homework. Remember the last time the Republicans didn't do their homework? How's that Iraq thing going anyway? Her personal issues don't call her judgment into question. They do draw Senator McCains make a shooting from the hip decision making.

Also throughout the course of the night she and other Republicans made assertions that simply were not true. Here's a Associated Press article that points some of them out. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_fact_check

Obama acts presidential

It has been announced that Gov. Patlin's daughter is pregnant. While it is a little humorous that someone who supports abstinence only sex education, has a pregnant teenage daughter. I am glad that Senator Obama has called this a non-issue and says family is off limits. It makes me even prouder to be a supporter of him. This is an extension of the statement in his speech that he wants this campaign to be about the issues. I do wonder if the Republicans would be as generous. Since the Republican attack machine is infamous. They tried to sex scandel Clinton, interneted Al Gore, swift boated John Kerry, and tried to celebrity and terrorist Barack Obama. I hope other left organizations like Moveon.org don't drag us down to that level.

Also I hope that Senator Obama and the deocratic party leave "Troopergate" alone. Yes they came up with a dumb name for it. Can I ask why every "scandel" since Watergate has to end with gate? This at least at the time appears to be something cooked up by someone she lost the election to. The guy that she allegedly pressured to fire her former brother-in-law says he received some pressure from her office, but no direct contact with her about it. Also the trooper that was fired tazed his son and had broken somewhere around 11 laws while acting as an officer. If she did do something improper or it even appears that way it could hurt McCain's campaign. However I have no problem with getting crooked cops off the street.