An Important Moment In History

Happy Voting!

Get out there!

These guys support McCain.

Nope, my calendar reads 2008.

Here's a video of some Ohio voters discussing why they won't be voting for Obama. They make some intelligent and well-reasoned arguments.




Did I just bum a ride from a guy in a DeLorean and end up in the 1950's?

Ask for your own bribes.

Now Accepting Bribes...

Our absentee ballots arrived today! I honestly thought that we would never see them. Tuscaloosa continues to surprise me.



I plan on voting soon and, in the spirit of the U.S. legislative process and the First Amendment, I will be accepting donations. The size of your donation will be directly proportional to the amount of consideration I will give your voting request. I will not place restrictions on the size of donations that I am willing to accept.

Better Know a District: Florida's 7th

My Mom lives in this district!

Zombie Season.

Here's a great, out of print shirt from shirt.woot.com. I hope they bring it back.



Now that I have your attention...

In her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Vice Presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a `community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

Nominally, her words were an assault on Barack Obama's early career as a community organizer on Chicago's south side. But the impact reaches farther than that and is a direct affront to the thousands who have dedicated their lives to making America great.

I just signed a petition to tell Governor Palin to apologize for her disparaging remarks about community organizers -- I hope you will too.

Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/community_organizers/?r_by=-1781216-9JNBQvx&rc=paste

Thanks!

September 3, 2008...

...The Daily Show was on FIRE!

Yeah, I know Becky already posted a piece of this, but you need to watch the whole thing.

Where do you stand?

Err, it's a little big. Sorry. You can take the quiz here.

The Plight of the Common Man.

This is why I love W. He really knows how to relate to Joe 6-Pack.

Which Republican candidate would you rather have as president?

Here's the tally:

0% said Huckabee
25% said Paul
75% said McCain

Out of all the Republicans that were running, I think McCain is probably the best choice.

The 60's Live.

How awesome is this picture?

He Needs To Go.

As I said before, will someone please fire this guy?!

Yup, that's irony.

From NPR:

The Golden State Fence Company was hired in the 1990s to build a stretch of fence along the California border. The purpose: to keep undocumented immigrants out. Now the president of the company faces jail time for knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

More Statistics.

I'm a numbers kinda guy and I like statistics. That is why you can find a lot of references in my blog to news articles containing rankings, statistics, polls, etc. Here's another one. This article said that 7% of people didn't rate faithfulness as very important in a relationship. This was a survey of 2020 people, which means that 141 people said it wasn't very important. Who are these people?

Also, only 12% of people surveyed said that sharing political beliefs was very important, while 49% said that sharing religious beliefs was very important. I guess people feel that tenuous, otherworldly phenomena are more important than real-world, life-altering policies.

It Doesn't Matter.

This BBC article said that the "US Senate has voted 87-1 to double the reward for the death or capture of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden to $50m." According to this website, the per capita income of a person in Pakistan is $690. I think it's safe to assume that it's much less in Afghanistan. I don't think people making so little money were waiting for the US to increase its bounty before turning in Bin Laden. To them, there is no difference between $25m and $50m. It might as well be $1b. I don't think any amount of money is really going to matter when it comes to Bin Laden. Either people don't know there is a US bounty on his head, or they don't care. Either way, the Senate just wasted their time.

41%.

It's official, 41% of Americans are clueless. This article says so.

A Newsweek poll released last week found 41 percent of Americans still believe Saddam Hussein was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the September 11 attacks, though no such connection has been found.

Sounds About Right.

You Are 60% Cynical

Yes, you are cynical, but more than anything, you're a realist. You see what's screwed up in the world, but you also take time to remember what's right.

How Cynical Are You?

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal Defense and Crime: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Sicko.

I just got back from watching Michael Moore's Sicko and one of the points he makes really stuck with me. Why is just about everything socialized in the U.S. except for health care? Here is a quick list of some of the basic services that are socialized in the U.S.:

• Police Department


• Fire Department


• Transportation Security Administration - the interesting thing is that after the Sept. 11th attacks, airport security was taken away from private companies and placed into government hands


• K-12 Education - why it's limited to this education range, I'm not sure


• Post Office - it's not completely paid for by tax money, but it's heavily subsidized and still cheaper than its private counterparts: FedEx, UPS, or DHL


• Library - you can borrow books, movies, and music (even new stuff) instead of having to buy these things from stores


• Military - I'm not sure this really counts as a socialized organization, but we don't hire our military from private companies (i.e. mercenaries) every time we want to fight a war. We do hire private companies, like Blackwater, to provide armed "security" though. Why they aren't considered mercenaries is beyond me.

Why is it okay to socialize these organizations and not health care? Would we be better off hiring private companies to protect us or fight our fires for profit like we let insurance and pharmacutical companies take care of our health for profit? Wouldn't we get better service from a private company's police force or fire department, or are we worried that the company might put profits ahead of what's important? Why is health care different?