The VP's- Part 2 of the Election Series

Here is part dos of the election special focusing on VP’s.

The Selection

The first topic to really look at is how the candidates chose their running mates. Barack Obama had many great choices for VP, two of which were Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden. He ultimately went with Joe Biden, who is the head of the foreign relations committee in the Senate and could probably be President in his own right.

John McCain on the other hand went with an untested governor of Alaska. She was chosen to inject life into the McCain camp to actually get the party behind their candidate and to get the public to attack the Republicans, which is instant galvanization for the elephants. She has limited experience but is very conservative which helps shore up the Republican base. The fact that the selection has everyone scratching their head is kind of frightening to me. One of the first big decisions McCain has to make and it has half of America afraid of what could happen with this woman as President. Not the type of feeling I want from my President.

Joe Biden

I will not go into too much depth about Joe Biden, especially in the negative sense. Here is a quick guide to Joe:

Biden, 65, was elected to the U.S. Senate representing Delaware at the young age of 29. He was not old enough to hold the office on Election Day, but he turned 30 before it was time to take the oath of office. This means Biden has been a U.S. senator for close to 36 years.

Prior to his service in the Senate, Biden was a member of the New Castle County Council for two years, and he was an attorney in private practice for four years. (linkage)

Joe is not perfect in his political views for the Reaper, especially when it comes to his views on the internet and policing there of but I do feel safer with him being the VP under an Obama administration.

Sara Palin

I will not attack the amount of experience Sarah Palin has because it brings about a moot point between her and Obama. I have heard the argument that the Republicans have the ticket in the right order but when it comes down to it, McCain’s health brings about the issue and the experience this woman has becomes a much greater issue than the Republicans would have you believe.

The main label the Republicans have tied to Palin is one of reformer (obviously trying to cut into Obama’s message). However, she is being hailed as the earmark queen of Alaska.

For someone who hates earmarks, she seems to have gotten a lot of them for her small town of Wasilla. So much so that John McCain before he had even met Palin criticized her on the amount of earmarks, she actively went after with her Washington lobbyist (LA Times). This same “reformer” also billed the state of Alaska for travel expenses when she was clearly at home (312 nights to be exact) (Washington Post).

The biggest concern is her foreign policy knowledge, which was obviously put to the test in this interview:

I do not trust this woman to run my country if she cannot grasp what has been happening these last ten years. I do not buy her excuse that it is okay for her not to know because she has been busy running Alaska. When you are running for the second highest office of my country you better be damn good.

I do not want a President or Vice President I would want to have a beer with. I want the highest officials in my government to be better than me and strike fear in me when it comes to how much more they know about the world and my own country. I seem to know more about Sarah Palin when it comes to United States History and foreign events, which scares the hell out of me. Maybe it is just that she has not shown her true knowledge yet but I do not have time for her to show me something she should have command of right now.

Matt Damon sums up the Palin rise perfectly:

:: GR Out::

to have doubted one's own first principles, is the mark of a civilized man. ~oliver wendell holmes~

Si, Se Puede!

Not able to give you the Part 2 just yet on VP choices but it will be up in the next 24 hours. In the mean time enjoy this video:




::GR Out::
shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars --unknown

Do not vote for John McCain- Part 1 of Election Series

In Part 1 of this election discussion I will go over why you should not vote for John McCain. If you know John McCain’s complete platform and agree with over 75% of it then this article will not sway you. If however you are like most people I run into who intend to vote McCain you have no idea where you candidate stands and just repeat the talking points without any real evidence to stand on. This article is for the people who are unsure and need some data to help them out.

Economy

One of the first and biggest parts of American politics is the voter’s pocket book. John McCain likes to say that he will offer tax cuts across the board and in fact, he will. Here are the side-by-side proposals

The top 1% of the country receives healthy tax breaks while 60% of the country gets meager tax benefits. Moving further, The Tax Policy Center reviewed both candidates’ proposals and concluded “…Senator McCain’s proposals lose $600 billion.” For a country that is already bears a very large deficit this is not good news for our economy.

Energy

McCain’s energy past is abysmal. He has missed many of the past crucial votes on energy legislation in the Senate. He could have had the crucial vote in many bills these past 2 years and has been absent, one time staying in his Senate office as one of the votes was being cast. In an era where energy is becoming a greater issue in the minds of Americans, McCain has been horrifyingly absent.

Foreign Policy

Another large question in this year’s election is what to do in Iraq. McCain buys into the idea that Iraq is the place to fight and is happy to poor more of our countries dwindling resources into a nation that has $6.4 billion oil surplus. All of this while there are larger fights to be had with terrorist organizations in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Healthcare

Healthcare

There are many different sides to this issue. Democrats believe in a universal healthcare, a plan that has taken hold in many other countries across the globe. While the effectiveness of these plans is hit or miss depending on which country, John McCain’s plan of privatizing health care is a step in the wrong direction:

More than 30 states already have programs almost exactly like the one McCain just sketched out. They are called "high risk pools," and the idea is pretty straightforward: Private insurers agree to sell policies directly to individuals, even those with pre-existing medical conditions, as long as the state helps to subsidize the cost.

But the whole reason conservatives like McCain prefer this approach to liberal schemes for universal coverage is that it involves minimal government regulation. As a result, private insurers have enormous leeway in dictating the terms of coverage. And one place they use that leeway is by setting high prices. A few years ago, a Commonwealth Fund study found that, on average, state high-risk pools offered coverage that was two-thirds more expensive than regularly priced coverage. In some states, the high-risk coverage was actually twice as high as regular coverage. (linkage)

At those prices, you might think the coverage was spectacular. Not so. While private insurers in high-risk pools are willing to accept people with pre-existing conditions, they're not generally willing to cover expenses related to those pre-existing conditions--at least not right away. Nearly all the plans surveyed had waiting periods of between six months and a year, during which the insurers would not cover care for prior medical problems. (linkage)

Closing words

I used to love John McCain. During the 2000 election, I had hoped he would win the nomination, as I liked him even over Al Gore. He was a man who had no problem standing up to his party and was truly the Maverick he tries to pretend he is today. That John McCain is not the John McCain of this election. I could talk a bit about this topic but the Daily Show puts it perfectly and I will end with a video segment aired on the show a couples of days ago: linkage

::GR Out::

john mccain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with george bush 95% of the time. that’s not a maverick. that’s a sidekick.-- senator bob casey

Ciroc Obama on Palin

There's not even no crack heads in Alaska

::GR Not Buggin Out::
don't worry if i write rhymes, i write checks- p. diddy.

Parenting Tips by James Bond

In light of my absence, I figured it was a good idea to start with a lighter blog.

I read an article the other day about Sean Connery that made me somewhat mad:

Diane Cilento alleged the former star of the James Bond movie series said several years ago he would no longer give his son Jason any money as part of his goal of teaching the young man how to earn a living on his own, The Sunday Times of London reported. (linkage)

How horrible of him? What kind of parent would do such a horrible thing?

My comment on the situation: Why did he not cut him off sooner? The article was written in July of this year and so he would have cut his son off about 2003 to 2005. To make Sean look like a horrible man we will say it happened in 2003. That would make his son 40 when he was cut off…

I cannot believe he is actually getting heat for this story. His son is an “actor” who has not done a whole lot in his career. The article goes on to state that James Bond also told his son that he only gets jobs by trading off his father’s name.

So not only is Sean Connery a horrible man for cutting off his son but he is also honest with his opinions about his son’s life. The horror.

I would hope that if I were struggling with an acting career and had a child, my parents would want me to have a real job and provide for my own family.

::GR Out::

all sunshine makes a desert. -unknown

I will try to post articles every Sunday and maybe post random musings throughout the week as they strike my fancy. Next week will start a 3-week look at the election. The topics will be “Why to Vote for Obama,” “VP’s,” and “Why to not vote for McCain.” Not sure of the order as of yet but if you have a preference I am open to suggestions. The articles will be very much fact based and not ramblings with comments appreciated.