7 posts tagged “politics”
I don't post videos around here much but...this is just awesome. It's a group of people that apply auto-tune to news casters and politicians normal voices and make a pop type song out of it. Really, really well done
Did you watch the baseball game or the debate last night?
Considering I'd rather get my eyes dug out with with rusty spoons than watch an entire baseball game (It takes so long for them to do anything!!!) I watched the debate.
I went in not expecting it to change my mind. I was going to vote for Obama before he even announced he was running for president, so not much is going to change my viewpoints on this. So, needless to say, I thought the debate was a big win for Obama. McCain looked like he was a grumpy old man getting increasingly frustrated with Obama's corrections of McCain's misinformation. A couple times it even looked like his eyes were going to fall out of his head because Obama had owned him so hard.
Joe the Plumber is a name I hope I never have to hear again after hearing about him so much last night. But it was worth it for when McCain brought up the misinformation about Joe's business saying that under Obama's health plan he would be fined for not offering health benefits.
McCain: Now, my old buddy, Joe, Joe the plumber, is out there. Now, Joe, Sen. Obama's plan, if you're a small business and you are able -- and your -- the guy that sells to you will not have his capital gains tax increase, which Sen. Obama wants, if you're out there, my friend, and you've got employees, and you've got kids, if you don't get -- adopt the health care plan that Sen. Obama mandates, he's going to fine you.
Now, Sen. Obama, I'd like -- still like to know what that fine is going to be, and I don't think that Joe right now wants to pay a fine when he is seeing such difficult times in America's economy.
((Some stuff edited out here))
Obama: I just described what my plan is. And I'm happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you're out there. Here's your fine -- zero. You won't pay a fine, because...
McCain: Zero? ((McCain's eyes were bugging out of his head at this point and it looked like he was staring at the headlights of an oncoming train))
Obama: Zero, because as I said in our last debate and I'll repeat, John, I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to their employees, but are not doing it.
That was worth it. They also brought up Ayres and I think that Obama directly addressing the topic and explaining his relationship with Ayres should pretty much lay the issue to rest with most rational Americans.
All in all, I thought this debate was the best. The moderator was awesome and he let the topics go on if there was a good discussion going down between the candidates, but he wasn't afraid to step in and try to direct the discussion if necessary.
Now the three week wasteland wait begins...
As per usual on weekends, my friends and I gathered to hang out a bit. No major "lets go out" type activities this time. This was purely hanging out and watching some TV/anime/mst3k and having a good time.
Wassy also showed me how to make her Chicken Cacciatore which is excellent (part of the reason why I wanted to learn how to make it). She took me shopping for the ingredients so I could see what she got and then explained what she was doing as she was cooking which is the best way for me to pick something like this up. Since I'm a cooking noob, I don't know a lot of the techniques and don't have a feel for when stuff will be done, so seeing somebody do it (while I take notes) is a very helpful thing. Now I need to go out and buy a big skillet.
Conversation inevitably turned to politics because of the presidential debate Friday night. Personally I think Obama did well and responded to McCain just making crap up multiple times. I'm a little biased though since I'm a very strong Obama supporter. I found it interesting how different people are seeing the debate. It sometimes sounds like they weren't even watching the same thing I was. A lot of people have commented about Obama's suposed disrespectful looks at McCain, but I saw it the other way around. You could tell that McCain just can't stand having to stand up next to Obama. He barely kept control of his temper. And he also tried a bunch of rehersed jokes that just fell totally flat.
I just think Obama handled himself better. He agreed with McCain a couple times which I think showed class and a willingness to listen to the other side's ideas. He followed up by explaining where he differed with McCains positions which, unfortunetly, a lot of people seem not to have heard..they stopped listening at "I agree with my opponet". Dah. I also liked how at the very end Obama passed up a chance to keep fending off a McCain attack and told the moderator (who was trying to gain control of the conversation to move on) that he should just move on. A very classy move.
I'm looking forward to the expected bloodbath that will be the Biden vs Palin Vice-Presidental debates coming up this week. I'm going to pop some popcorn for this one. It should be good.
Fish (my betta) is swimming around quite nicely now, exploring everything. He just discovered that there's a middle bit to his tank with plants and stuff in it and has been examining them up close and personal. He's getting blown around a bit by the filter though so I'm going to be changing it out to a much calmer sponge filter as soon as I get some parts I need via mail order.
And now I'm going to go from fish to the Eliot Spitzer thing, which has to be one of the strangest transitions I've ever done on here. I try to avoid commenting on political news events because I'm sure nobody really wants to read it, but this is kinda big and I've got some stuff to say. First of all, I've seen a lot of people asking why this is such a big deal and how it's any different from what Bill Clinton did (for example). Normally I'd agree. I think somebody's personal life is their own business and if Spitzer simply had an affair I would probably not vote for him again, but I wouldn't call for him to resign either. That situation would be between him and his wife.
This however, is different. Spitzer ran on a platform of stamping out corruption in government, using his record as Attorney General as proof of what he's done over the years. And he's done some really good stuff as AG which is why I voted for him in the first place. And then, as it turns out, he's involved in this prostitution ring which violates several state and federal laws. Once he starts breaking laws, that's the point where a personal matter becomes an issue for the public.
I just read he's going to resign, effective Monday which is good for everyone involved. Hopefully people can put this behind them and keep working on the important business of running the state. And I hope that with the passing of Spitzer, Upstate New York isn't forgotten becaus he really started to focus on upstate which is typically ignored by the state government.
What was your reaction to the results of the Iowa caucuses?
I was pretty happy with the results, to be honest. I'm not really convinced that Iowa is really all that important in the grand scheme of things. More that the media has trumped it up to be extremely important and the candidates have bought it, so it's way overhyped. But I'm happy that Obama came out on top and Hillary didn't. I'd honestly be happy with anybody who wasn't Hillary. I've never liked her...she seems too "fake" to me. And she's not doing anything to change that perception. I'm all for having a female president...I just don't want it to be THAT female. I do like and agree with a lot of Obama's positions though, so I'm happy to see him do well.
The only thing I would have liked to have seen was Ron Paul do a little better on the republican side because out of all the republicans, he's the guy I probably like the most. But honestly, I would have been happy with anybody except Rudy "Did you know I was the mayor of NYC on 9/11" Giuliani.
I try not to get political on here. It's not that I'm not interested in political type things...it's just that I prefer to keep my views to myself (and a small circle of close friends and even then...not so much). I'm registered as an independent as I don't believe that political party should influence my vote. I'll never really understand why some people vote straight ticket without even thinking about it...but that's another topic. Recently, I find myself identifying more with the viewpoints of the Democrats than the Republicans though.
So when Barack Obama announced that he was going to be running for president in 2008, I figured I should pick up his latest book The Audacity of Hope(which I was thinking about grabbing earlier anyway) and see if I can learn a little more about him and what his stand on the issues is. I had also heard really good reviews of it, and I was looking for something a little more...non-fictiony.
I read through the whole thing in about a week. It would have been a lot quicker, except that I was in Washington DC for most of that week and was largely too tired to really read. Obama is an incredibly articulate writer. The book was interesting, well organized and well written. I particularly enjoyed the way he brought in real life people and situations to help back up his points instead of attempting to discuss the issues in abstract and in a vacuum.
I'm not sure if I'm stuck in some sort of Obama reality distortion field or something, but after reading the book, I came away with a feeling that the author was a genuine. He admitted his biases up front, as well as bringing up several examples of when he was wrong in how he thought, or lucky. I came away thinking that he was just a regular guy, trying to do the best he can and help out where he could. I'm usually fairly good these days on picking out something that's insincere. Like I said, not sure if it was some sort of distortion field clouding my judgment there or anything.
It also helped that I agreed with a lot of what he had to say. His thoughts on the state of the political debate are refreshing, about how it's become less about the issues at hand and more about how electable somebody is, or what small thing they may have done in the past.
If you're at all interested in finding out more about Barack Obama or just want a good read on the political situation of the country (from the Democrat perspective obviously), you can't go wrong with this. You might not agree with everything he has to say, but I'd be fairly surprised if you didn't take something away from reading this book.
I just got back from voting. We're still using the push lever mechanical machines where I'm at so the process was easy and painless.
Eagerly awaiting the results. There was some highly contended races in my area with a lot of national attention, so we'll see how it goes...
