political ramblings...

warning...this really is rambling and long...
it's a collection of things i've been thinking in the last few months..concerning the upcoming election...

let me get this straight...
you're a woman...who is more than qualified for the job..
your opponet is a man..who's qualifications don't come anywhere near yours...
so...
when it comes time to pick the person for the job...
the man gets picked...
it appears this could happen anywhere in the country...
and be at least sort of a problem..
but...
in the democratic party...
you do this..
and then try to convince the rest of the america..
it was the right choice?
as far as i can see the whole hilary clinton thing was a huge embarassment for women in this country both democratic and republican...hilary clinton's views are not that different from john mccains on many things.....(with the exception of something like pro life...pro choice which for many people is of course a deal breaker)...my point is...you have daughters...you tell your daughters they can be anything they want to be in life...and then you have an opportunity to show this in a real way...to the entire world...and you fail miserably....
sometimes i think women are their own worst ememy...
and..
come to think of it..
i'm hispanic and we are an incredibly large voting block..
but do we have a viable candidate...no we don't...
the best we can come up with is bill richardson?...who let's face it sort of looks like a mexican version of santa claus...and is also as politically ineffective as santa claus...


for those of you who say...
john mccain's age isn't an issue..
let's talk about things younger than john mccain:
the golden gate bridge
preparation h
snow white and the seven dwarfs
jack nicholson
the zip code
duct tape
kraft macaroni and cheese
penicillin
minimum wage
scrabble
baskin robbins
the t.v. dinner
the shopping cart
nylons
spam
alaska...

the thing about john mccains age is ...well...
at his age he could no longer be a commercial airline pilot, a school principal, a postman, a fireman, a policeman...he could however still be a butcher, baker or candlestick maker....not to mention a united states senator or a supreme court judge...
i have no doubt john mccain, even at his agee could do the job of the president...i'm merely pointing out ..this guy in normal life....would have seriously limited employment opportunities..

why is it political parties want us to consider their candidate(s) are just normal people...or the that they can relate to or understand normal people...when in fact anyone with half a brain would have realized by now...nearly everyone running for national office is...well ....rich!....so quit trying to convince meas rich person you understand my everyday struggles...because there's no way you can....it's like watching a war movie and saying ....oh man...i understand war...so much so....that i've got post traumatic stress syndrome from watching the first 15 minutes of saving private ryan...

like it or not...agree with me or not...
the closest thing we have to "everyman" in this presidential election is sarah palin...we can chronicle her rise from small town mayor to governor...to vice presidential candidate...we can see the mistakes she's made...and more so we can see her successes...sure she's made mistakes...who hasn't...
sure she's got a pregnant 17 year old daughter...first off name one person who's raised teenagers who can't equate it to wrangling cats..and if having children who have issues is a political liability...well...try to remember ronald reagans daughter....or the bush twins...
who am i to say she is a good mother or a bad mother...it's not a political issue for me...all i know is she's there for her kids...they look healthy and happy....and if you're a democrat or a repulican.....or a stay at home mom....who has a problem with this woman being in politics when she should be home raising her kids...let me remind you....
michelle obama said it was ok for a woman to work outside the home as long as she's home every night to tuck the kids in...
and ...when during this election did someone say...
you know....that guy should be home raising his kids...instead of running for office...what makes it ok to say that about a woman and not a man?...
i can tell you one thing for sure...no matter where you stand on the issue...so far no one has came up with anything from child protective services in alsaka questioning suggesting sarah palins kids are neglected.....
i'm not suggesting this is an ideal situation for kids....but look around...there are very few "ideal" situations for kids anyway...still...these kids have a mother who recognizes we could be straying off track in this country...she has a chance to serve her country...to help make things better...and still be a mother...that's quite an example to set for your children...

oh by the way...message to both parties...
quit treating me like i'm stupid...quit putting out ads that say...
call cadidate "smith" and tell him no more taxes...lower gas prices...etc...
at the very least your message is confusing...
what if i see the message as..candidate "smith" is doing a good job but really needs to vote this way or that...instead of what you really want me to believe ...that this guy has no business in office...
and...you want me to call this guy...tie up his phone line...during a time of year when congress is not in session and there's nothing for him to change his vote on...

as far as i can see...there has only been one time in this election where one person has told the "awful" truth....by telling us something that was true but not terribly popular to say...john mccain said..."as long as americans are not being injured or wounded or killed, it's fine with me and i hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al qaeda is training, recruiting, equipping and motivating people every single day"...
he didn't say we'd be fighting for 100 years...he said we'd have a presence...it wasn't popular but it was honest....and we need to understand...in a country who is dependent on other countries for our energy supplies...we better be around to make sure those countries we depend on...continue to be a viable source of that energy...and that means...be there to support and monitor..like it or not...

ok so i could probably go on for a while and there will probably be other posts about the election...but here's the deal...i am an independent...
i get democrats...i get republicans..
they aren't for any one candidate...they are for an agenda...no matter how poor the candidate is...it's about the agenda...
for me...
it's about the candidate...
it's about can he do the job...
has he shown he can do the job?...
in this elction so far...
i can see what john mccains done...and for the life of me i can't seem to find anything resembling accomplishment barrack obama has done...
oh sure i've heard the community organizer speech...but let's face it if you're telling me you're going to washington to bring about change ...first you have to show me that you understand washington...that you have a plan to deal with senators and government officals who have been in their jobs for decades who know the system...and can run circles around you in that system...and speaking of change..you talk to me about change and i look at your inner circle and see people who have been there forever..who's new?...what's new?...
so please someone anyone ...if barrack wants my vote...tell me what he's changed...show me just on a small scale during his career he's changed...then i might consider a vote for him...
don't get me wrong...i have my problems with john mccain...
the whole school voucher thing is a joke...
when my girls were growing up...i was involved in their school...i was part of the pta...the pto...accountability committees...and even school accredidation...and the simple fact is...less than 10% of parents participate in schools and of that 10% only maybe 5% of them have a clue about what goes into running a school...so john mccain wants to give parents a choice...i recognize this is a democratic form of government...but sometimes people aren't prepared to do the right thing...it's like giving them a loaded gun and knowing they will end up shooting themselves...sure they should be free to go buy a gun but why hasten the inevitable by helping them along...
and...i have to say...
john mccains a republican...and well...to put it mildly i'm totally pissed at republicans at the moment...i dare any republican to try to convince me their entire party shouldn't be embarassed over what has happened to this country in the last 8 years...republicans don't derserve to be in charge...seriously even though there is a strong possiblility i'll vote for john mccain...there is also a strong possiblity he'll be the only republican i vote for this year...
that's not to say...democrats shouldn't be embarassed about having control of congress for the last two years and not doing a damn thing...or at least trying to do a damn thing...
jerry garcia once said...chosing the lesser or two evils is still chosing evil...while i don't believe either of these candidates is evil...i have to say...neither is an ideal choice...but then again...i also realize as an independent...i'm never going to find a candidate i totally agree with...

and yes...those ads that say john mccain voted with president bush...90% of the time...well they're correct...but the thing about them is...the people saying this are hoping you're stupid enough to not realize...john mccain is a republican and so is george bush...so...what do republican senators do most the time...they vote with their party...hence the whole 90% thing.....bush didn't get this country into trouble because congress voted with on everything he wanted...let's not forget the democrats have had control of congress for two years...

so if you're a republican...and you are a believer and you're convinced you are a conservative...because you belive your faith leads you to be...let me ask you a question...was jesus a democrat or republican?...what i'm trying to say here..is..both parties have qualities that encompass what it means to be a true believer...keep that in mind...when you vote..or when you talk to your elected officials...

and finally a few things i realize i'll write more about later...but just some short ramblings on them...

i'd like to take this moment to express my dissatisfaction with myself over the whole pro life/pro choice issue....i realized i do not have a strong conviction either way and it's something i need to work on...what i mean by this is...i think abortion is wrong...but i also struggle with the whole telling women what to do with their bodies thing...it's hypocrital i realize..and i've got to figure it out...i know i tend to lean toward the whole pro life side of things but for me it's not a deal breaker..

gay marriage..here's another thing that for the life of me i can't quite understand the opposition to...i'm a believer...so it's not like i don't realize what the bible says about this..it's just....well...i'm also a citizen of this country and a supporter of our form of government...so for a church or so called religious people in this country to show opposition to gay marriage and say marriage wasn't designed for two men or two women to marry....the first thing that strikes me...is...
well go to your bible and see what it says about divorce..and then please show me a group of religious people who continue to band together to make divorce not so easy to obtain...i mean if you're saying you're worried about the sancity of marriage..where were you when marriage went from a religious ceremony to something you could get at the courthouse...and why aren't you working to change that....in a system of government like ours...the truth is ....like it or not...everyone should have the same basic rights...and when you separate marriage from just being a religous thing to being a civil thing...all citizens should have access to it...

not to long ago i was asked why i watch the conventions...i explained to learn about who's running where they stand..who they are...
then i was told it makes no difference ...nothing changes...we have no control...
and i don't think i did a good job of explaining my reasoning...
so i thought about it and this is what i came up with..
i believe in God...but i also realize...as humans we all have black hearts...as a whole we're not going to do the right thing...and not everyone is going to accept christ as their personal savior...we know before we every share our faith with anyone...but still we are called to try...voting...making yourself knowledgable about the election process is the same way.....as believers we are called to help our fellow man..so i say...if you aren't out doing work in the community...if you aren't out sharing the gospel...the very least you can do to help your fellow man is to become knowledgable about what to vote for and vote...
it does make a difference...if you don't believe it does...then you haven't been paying attention to what's happened in this country in the last 50 years...with civil rights...terrorism....and our economy...

tonights music..
bruce springsteen & the e street band....land of hope and dreams...

"big wheels roll through fields
where sunlight streams
meet me in a land of hope and dreams

this train
carries saints and sinners
this train
carries losers and winners
this train
carries whores and gamblers
this train
carries lost souls
this train
dreams will not be thwarted
this train
faith will be rewarded
this train
hear the steel wheels singin'
this train
bells of freedom ringin'
this train
carries broken-hearted
this train
thieves and sweet souls departed
this train
carries fools and kings
this train
all aboard..."