Why I Voted for Obama part II

Jobs

We have lost 760,000 jobs in this country this year. In Gary Indiana finding a job is next to impossible. People are losing their jobs. I know a few people have recently lost their jobs, because businesses John McCain has present really nothing different than the current administration as to creating new jobs. He simply thinks that if they continue to cut taxes on wealthy Americans, they will start new businesses and create jobs. The problem is that it hasn't worked for eight years. Why would it work now?

Obama, on the other hand, has some real ideas about creating jobs. The first is creating a multitude of jobs to increase and fix our infrastructure. If this sounds familiar, it should. FDR did the same thing to create jobs. I personally love this idea, since I live in a city with high unemployment and crumbling infrastructure. Maybe some of that money could go towards fixing the Gary sewers. That are about 80% clogged and also corroding. There was a collapse in the line behind my house, and now there is a sink hole. Thus I have to by bottled water.

The second part is to create jobs through basic job programs. The third part is to create jobs in an attempt to be more energy independent. This is another brilliant plan that takes care of two bird with one stone, joblessness and energy/environmental concerns. If we can make wind energy viable, then those gigantic windmills will have to be constructed. They are made out of steel, and in a steel town that looks pretty good. Also creating jobs in maintaining energy guarantees that they can't be outsourced.


War

A high ranking Al Qaeda member said that we they couldn't beat the United States in a head to head war. What they could do is drag the US into a war that put such an economic strain on our country that it could bring us down. That is exactly what the Iraq war was. The Iraq war is simple. It was about bad intel and oil. Many of the high ranking people in the Bush administration have come out and said that there was an effort to draw an line between Bin Ladin and Iraq. There of course was no connection. There was some intel that said that Iraq had WMDs. However there was little intel, because we don't have a large number of operatives working in the Middle East. Most of our CIA and NSA are still trained and acting as if Russia is our biggest threat. The oil connection is obvious. Bush has said that we brought freedom to a nation that had an evil dictator. Somewhat true, however there are multiple African nations that we don't step into. We have done nothing in Burma. China has terrible human rights violations. Why didn't we go there?

Now what about McCain's claim that we want to bring our troops home in victory. The problem is that we are not fighting an army. Think we are? What does an Iraqi uniform look like? We are fighting insurgences. They are never going to give up. So it is time to let Iraqis protect their own country from itself. We need to focus on Afghanistan. We need to find the Al qaeada leadership, who are planning to attack us. That is a war we can win. As someone who has a friend who reports to the Marines in December, I want to see a time where there is peace, and our fighting men and women can come home.



Unifying the country

I went to an Obama rally here in Gary during the primaries. There were some whites there, but the crowd was predominantly black. Tonight I went to another rally. There were whites, blacks, latinos, indians, arabs, and people of every race and hue were there. Obama has successfully brought people from every race, gender, sexual orientation, economic status, and religion together. John McCain has done his best to divide us as a nation. Trying to associate him with Arabs, like being an Arab is inherently evil. His campagin that there is a "real America" and I guess a fake America. That somehow democrats don't love this country and can't be pro-America. Maybe Senator McCain should note that the majority of the men and women who sign up for the United States military are from urban areas. Senator Obama is bringing us together more than any politician I have ever seen.

He reminds many of us of Dr. King. He is the realization of Dr. Kings dream, not because he is black. It is because he is the best person for the presidency. We judge him not on the color of his skin, but on the content of his character. Hopefully on November 4, we will truly be able to say, "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

Why I voted for Barack Obama

I voted early today. I must say I felt very good about it. Anyone who has ever read my blogs knows I am a supporter of Senator Obama. I like to give some very personal reasons why. I will be posting more as we lead up to the election, but here's the first three.

THE ECONOMY

I think we can all say that the economy is in bad shape. As someone who raises support, I think my salary is a microcosm of how the economy is going. Over the pat 2 years my support has dropped by 25%. In my opinion people are strapped for cash and don't have as much to give. The deregulation of Wall Street and lenders has caused many of these problems. Senator McCain is directly responsible for deregulation. Now we have this problem and it needs solving. To simplify the candidates positions. McCain wants to fix it from the top down, and Obama is the opposite. In order to get our nation back on track we need to make a drastic change. People have been saying that Obama is proposing the most spending since The Great Society. I hate to break it to you, but the Great Society worked. It brought our country back from the brink.

HEALTH CARE

McCain has proposed giving people $5,000, but he wants to tax my health benefits. As a diabetic and a person who had cancer the amount of money my provider spends on maintaining my disease is huge. So Senator McCain is warning the middle class about Obama tax hikes. My taxes would shoot through the roof. I would run through that $5000 in three months by my calculations.

Also getting health care that is not mandated by the government is impossible. After Jacque and I got married I was without health insurance for quite some time. No one would insure me, not even the government. What does a person do without insurance. You avoid the doctors office, and if you're a diabetic you reuse needles to save money. Your health declines, and there is nothing you can do about it.

GUNS CONTROL

Obama is for stricter gun control. McCain voted against the Assault Weapons Ban. As someone who recently lost a friend to gun violence. I find this inexcusable. No one needs an assault weapon. You want a gun to protect your family fine. You want to hunt fine. Senator Obama will let you get a gun after a thorough background check. But if you care more about being able to tear a target to shreds with an AK-47 than a young man's life, than I don't know what to say to you.

For those of you who say most guns used in crimes were purchased illegally, you're right. Except for the fact that most were originally purchased legally, not smuggled, and then resold illegally. So if they weren't allowed to be purchased in the first place, they wouldn't find their way onto the street.

Kinda Cool!

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3646789

Kenny Florian answered one of my questions on mma live. I thought it was kind of cool, even though he got confused and called me Gary. It's at 27:30, if you want to watch it.

Obama is 3/3

Well Obama wins again. I know that the Republicans will say that McCain won, even though the Republican pundits on ABC and CNN disagreed. In the CBS, MSN, CNN, ABC, NBC, and even FOX news polls Obama won decisively. I have to admit that McCain started out well. He was very much attacking Obama's policies. Even though I knew some of the things he was saying was untrue, it might have resonated with those who are less familiar with Obama's plans. I thought he hit the "I'm George Bush" comment. When he lost it, was when he started with the Ayers and ACORN smears. I think most American's are tire of hearing these phony Hail Mary bombs. McCain tried to attack these points hard, but he almost looked conflicted about it. He seemed to not want to take the low road, but he "had" to do it. He seemed unable to get it back together. He once when Obama said that small businesses would be exempt from fines for not providing health care, simply ignore the comment and delivered a stump speech about how it will kill small businesses. One of the Republican pundits compared Obama's performance to Ali's vs Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle. For those not familiar, Ali laid against the Ropes and let Foreman punch himself out. He was saying that Obama expertly countered all of McCain's attacks. By the way Roberto Duran's counter punching win over the attacks of Sugar Ray Leonard is a way better analogy. I think I predicted a few weeks ago that we are seeing Clinton/Dole all over again. Now that the national poll lead has reached double digits does anyone doubt me? McCain needed to do something drastic, but he didn't. He stayed in the game, but he's losing the game. In closing Joe "the plumber" ought to by that business, because he got a heck of a lot of free advertising tonight.

Remebering Arien Barber

I'm sure most people who look at my blog on a regular basis are expecting comments about Palin's trooper scandal, the government's buying stocks, or Obama's lead in the polls. But today all that seems pretty unimportant. Pretty much everything in life today seems pointless. We see often the young black thug stereotype in movies, TV, and music. Many time they are elevated to a place of respect and even honor. That somehow they are some sort of modern day robin hood. That their thug status is "the realest" a young man can be. Today the thought of these people being though of as heroic and role models sickens me. Because last night one of them took away a young man from this earth. Arien Barber wasn't a statistic or some line in a song. He was a good man, and he was a friend of mine. He was not perfect as none of us are, but he wasn't a gangster or a drug dealer. He was someone's father, someone's son, and someone's brother. I never saw him happier or prouder than we he introduced me to his daughter. Even as kid he would be concerned with the feelings of others. I can remember my mother crying one day, and Arien was the one who consoled her. Now he's gone, because some fool decided to solve his problems with a gun. I am writing about this maybe for my own therapeutic reasons, because I don't know how many more tears I can shed. I just don't know why we can't see that it's us that this thug mentality is hurting. At the end of this nothing is solved. There is no glory to be claimed. There is just a mother without a son, children without a father, sisters without a brother, and friends left to mourn. No one ever gains anything when someone decides to be a "thug" and use a gun. The only thing that happens is that the world is deprived of knowing a man with a heart of gold like Arien Barber. And all we can do is ask God why?



We'll all miss you Arien, but we'll see you again one day.

Palin goes too dagone far.

http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2008/10/mccain-and-palin-do-nothing-wh-001213.php

As has been reported through several media outlets there have been some incidents at Sarah Palin's rallies. Some supporters harassed and use racial epitaphs at a black member of the media. Way to go Republicans, prove what the black community already thinks about you, that you're a bunch of racist hateful white people. I know not all Republicans are like this, but others in the crowd or on the stage should have corrected these people. Also when Palin mentioned Obama's name the crowd shouted terrorist and kill him. Palin's response as a responsible politician, heck as a descent human being, should have been to tell the crowd they were out of line. Instead she said, "you guys get it". I have made no bones about the fact that I don't like Governor Palin and think she's not qualified. I have now gone a step further. I no longer hold any respect for her as a human being. The greatest fear that I have encounter in the black community is that Senator Obama could be assassinated. In my canvassing I have even encountered people who won't vote for him because of this fear. As one guy put it, "I Like Obama. Why would I set him up to get killed? I can't vote for him, that's like giving him a death sentence." Where does this fear come from? If you don't know then where were you in History class? Many major black leaders have been assassinated. Dr King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Fred Hampton (assassinated by the Chicago Police Department)to name a few. This is not a matter to joke about or think is funny. It is a crippling fear that many people will live with throughout Obama's presidency should he win. Heaven forbid, should Senator Obama be killed, 1968 would look like a walk in the park. The riots that would happen in cities across America would be widespread and violent. And this time there won't be a wall of National Guard surrounding the "black communities" to keep white folks safe. Why not, because 70% of the National Guard is either deployed or on leave. The war in Iraq has stretched them way too thin. Also the fact that 20% of the nations police force has been laid off doesn't bode to well for our country. I hope this scenario never plays out, but for Governor Palin to simply shrug off these comments proves she has no idea what's going on. Maybe that's funny in Alaska, but where the rest of us live it's despicable.

Debate #2 winners and losers

I have to say at this point in the debates, nothing new is being said. To my Republican friends who think that Senator McCain's house plan is new, the treasury secretary has already been given that authority in the bailout plan. Maybe he should read it. So at this point who wins and loses is basically who you agreed with. I do have to say there are times there were things McCain said I knew to be untrue. However if you're a Republican you might have caught some things you thought Obama said wasn't true. The point is that who won? No one, so therefore Obama won. I'm not just saying this because I'm an Obama supporter. Obama has a very large lead electroally in the polls over McCain. It's similar to when a champion boxer fights to a draw. He's still the champ. Barack's lead has been growing and I don't think that is going to change after tonight. McCain needs something big, and he hasn't gotten it. People just believe Obama and his policies are better. At this point I really don't know what Obama could say at debate to turn this around at a debate besides:



As far as the "that one" comment, it didn't help McCain. I don't think he meant it in a racist way. If you he would have called him boy or "you people" that would have been one thing. I can't say whether Senator McCain is a racist or not. I simply believe the comment was to marginalize Obama as a candidate not as a black man.

It's hard being right all the time.

So Palin lost. She did better than a lot of people thought, but then again most people thought she'd just smile and stare into the camera. So expectations weren't that high. Bidden came out was clear and answered the questions that were asked. Palin as I predicted answered some of the questions, but at other times just delivered a stump speech that had nothing to do with the question. For example, when asked about the taxation of health benefits, she talked about energy policy. Either she didn't know the answer, or it wasn't flattering to the ticket. Some will say she did well. However even the Republican pundits on ABC said that Bidden won. MSNBC had close to 79% of their poll saying that Bidden won, but they are elitist left wing media. I mean obviously The Republican News Network, I mean The Fox New network, had different results right? They did Fox News watchers only voted that Bidden won 61% of the time. The problem is that all Palin did was hang in there or even stay neck and neck with Bidden, they need to have a drastic change. McCain is now pulling all of his campaign out of Michigan. He is running out of places to get to 270. He can't lose Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, or Indiana. He only holds the lead Indiana. If Obama can continue to hold serve in the campaign, he should win. That is unless all the polls are wrong, or the Republicans keep blacks from voting again. I'm looking at you Florida. I think McCain's gambles are starting to catch up with him. Palin is a gamble that is starting to hurt his campaign. Imagine if he had Romney in for economics right now. Suspending the campaign is being seen for the cheap political stunt that it is. All Obama needs now is for a good voter turnout. So if you're pro Obama make sure to get out and vote. If you're pro McCain you probably shouldn't be operating a vehicle so you might want to stay home. (just kidding...kind of)

Fair and balance=Republicans only

Fox news is supposed to be fair and balanced correct? Then why can't I find a current electoral poll map on their website? Every other major news network has an easily accessible map that shows the poll numbers (each one is different) from all the states. CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and even yahoo all have one. The closest thing you can find on the FOX website is the electoral map from 2004. Maybe FOX is ignoring the polls this election season since they can be so easily wrong. What makes this so dubious? The polls on the map for 2008 were very easily accessible for FOX's website about two weeks ago. Now when you click on the map there is simply no data. Let's see what has changed since then? Is it the fact that Senator Obama has jumped out to a large lead since then? Maybe I'm just a conspiracy theorist. Maybe they just have the same guys doing their website that were in charge of the network crashing everyday at Moody. Maybe they just haven't gathered all the data. And maybe just maybe if I'm real good this year, a fat guy in a red coat will put a bunch of present under a plastic tree in my living room. Come on the FOX propaganda machine is worried that Republican base is going to give up and stay home, if news of an impending Obama victory gets out.