Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
I thought the Democratic National Convention couldn’t be topped, and in some ways, it can’t. The speech Obama gave that night was just awesome.
I stayed up as long as I could last night. When 11PM hit and they announced that Obama had taken the presidency, I, like many other people watching was just thrilled. I guess my gut knew it would happen, but being a Democrat for all these years, I was a little skeptical. A few hours later and after realizing North Carolina wasn’t going to be called, I went to sleep.
Did you see all those people in the streets watching the election results? What a party. I wish I was in Chicago last night.
This morning, I spoke with two of my friends who voted for McCain. They were both just as happy as I was about who won the election. They aren’t die-hard Republicans, so they knew what was going on. I like talking to those kinds of people because they make sense and can navigate through all the bull.
So, congratulations all you folks out there who voted and won. Actually, I think we all won last night.
Oh, and just in case you want to see a really cool post about a little U.S. history, click here.
Courtesy of BarackObama.com
Yes We Can
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Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Well, the day has finally arrived.
I would say that I rolled into bed last night around 11PM. I found myself still staring at the ceiling at 3AM. I was having the most random thoughts about today. I finally fell asleep thinking that I am just plain weird. Upon awakening this morning, I read an email from my sister telling me that she had very odd election day dreams last night. After that, I checked out my uncle’s blog and he said the same thing. I guess, either I am not that weird, or all three of us are.
I voted today sticker
The school where the voting was taking place was much busier than I thought. I was on the phone with my idiot friend when I rounded the corner to see police lights. In Connecticut, the police are pretty much required to be there if you are doing anything…voting, construction, etc…they are fairly laid back though. I heard reports on the radio this morning about how crowded the polling locations already were. I figured that this small town wouldn’t have any issues. I am usually in and out.
I drove right by and had to turn around. Me, being me, thought I could find a better spot down the road. When that didn’t happen, I drove into the main parking lot right behind everyone else. While we were waiting in line to find a parking spot, some old man cut around everyone else and parked in an open spot. I wanted to put the car in park, walk over to him and smack him across his chest. I didn’t though because all the cops were around. Watch your back old man.
There were a few differences between New York and Connecticut voting. First, the lines that you go into to check in were alphabetized by street name rather than last name. I helped the woman in back of me find her correct line. She may have been a Republican, so I’m not sure that was such a good idea.
The second difference was that we used paper ballots here instead of the big gray machines from the 1940s. That worked well and was very fast.
After I did what I had to do, I got my sticker and walked outside to enjoy the sun.
Go me.
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Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
I am a registered Democrat. Love me if you are a Democrat, hate me if you are a Republican. I don’t care.
I am actually more of a socially liberal / fiscally conservative Independent. I guess that would make me one of those coveted swing voters. I’m probably not, because I have never voted Republican in my life, but just the same, I would like to be one of those coveted people.
I was just reading about our two presidential candidates for 2008, again. I am pretty psyched about this race. I think the Democrats have a good thing going and, if what I am reading is true, the Republicans need some help.
Let me just say this off the bat…I don’t dislike John McCain. Actually, I didn’t before the election. He is starting to get under my skin though. I think I never really disliked him because I never really saw much of him. I just saw what was on the news. I always thought his heart was in the right place. The more I see this guy, the more he is starting to annoy me. I think it’s because (in my opinion), he has zero charisma. If I hear “friends…” one more time. Also, for the life of me, I have no idea why in the world he is bringing up William Ayers. Hardly anyone knows who this person is and, right now, hardly anyone cares. Perhaps if this William fella was in the news for the past 3 years for doing something terrible and had some more name recognition, there would be some impact. But seriously, wasting valuable air time on a no-name dude like this is…well, wasting valuable air time. There are bigger issues at hand.
I have long thought that presidential politics was just a popularity contest. I mean, who in the world knows what these people are proposing? It seems to be all about style. If someone is a good speaker, they can pretty much say, “I will rob you blind” and still get voted in. I mean 95% of these people and a $5000 tax credit for these people…who knows what is going on? Seriously, about 5% of the public really cares.
Can you really vote for someone based on what they say they are going to do while in office? Remember what the current president said during all his debates with Al Gore? Small government, follow the rule of law, war as a last resort, fiscally conservative…oh man. I mean, the last 8 years was kind of like winning the lottery and getting your car repossessed in one fell swoop.
As much as I hate wedge issues, they seem to play a large part in who gets voted in to office. Abortion, religion, gay rights, immigration…all of them play a very weighted role in who gets to live in the White House for the next 4 years. It is a real shame, but the facts are the facts.
I can say to a McCain supporter who pays too much in taxes, “Yeah, but Obama says he is going to lower taxes on those who make less than $250,000 a year.” They might say back to me, “McCain is pro-life.” I guess they are voting for McCain. No one can really say whether or not these issues should be important to people, they just are. I keep thinking that when voting for the next president, you are voting for someone to fill a spot in the Executive Branch of government. I am not sure what gay rights has to do with the Executive Branch, but if you oppose gay rights, you oppose gay rights. Ain’t nobody going to change your mind. Well, the president does get to nominate justices for the Supreme Court…hmmm.
I would like to hear what is going through the minds of people out there. I am going to go out on a limb here and tell you what concerns me in this election and I hope you will do the same. I don’t care who you are voting for, I just want you to tell me your concerns. What issues make you vote for who you plan on voting for?
My concerns are (in order of importance): environment, economy, the war(s), taxes, health care, our standing in the world and having some honesty back in government.
There you have it. Anyone else?
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Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Oh, how exciting. I always forget how thrilling it is to vote.
Tonight, Laura and I rolled down to the fire house to exercise our civic duty. We walked in saw a few people in line and the usual women working the polling station. They are very nice people. Usually, I wake them all up with my humor. Yeah, I’m the tall redhead.
I went first…signed my name in the book and pulled the big red handle. Then, I made my vote and pulled the handle in the other direction. Laura was right behind me. She did her thing and walked out of the booth. We made a bit of small talk with the ladies and left. What a fun thing to do.
Unfortunately, for Laura or me, we canceled out each others vote.
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Saturday, January 19th, 2008
I have to keep looking this up online, so I decided to make a quick post with some links as a reminder. Here is the 2008 Democratic and Republican Primary and Caucus schedule.
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Thursday, November 29th, 2007
So I watched the Republican debate last night, live on CNN.com. I am not sure why I watched it…I guess I was interested in what they had to offer.
I have to say, some of it was interesting. They touched on some good issues, such as the war and fiscal policy. I was slightly pleased at that. They also touched on some really annoying things. The problem was that the candidates seemed to be trying to “out conservative” each other.
In the beginning, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney got in a little (way overblown) tussle about illegal immigration. While the topic is legitimate, I am not sure how having a few unknown illegals doing some landscaping for you affects your judgement as president. Well, I suppose it all matters in Republican debates. There were a few ridiculously idiotic questions, such as, “Do you believe in every single word of the Bible?” and “What does the Confederate Flag mean to you?” I have to admit that I am disappointed that I will never get those few minutes of my life back. I guess I have to blame CNN for letting those questions through.
So people, there you have it. While the earth’s temperature steadily climbs, glaciers melt and wars rage, American television is asking potential presidential candidates whether or not they believe in every word of the Bible, verbatim.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot a really good one…”How many guns do you own and what kind are they?” Now that one was fabulous, just fabulous. What intellectual and stimulating conversation. I think even the candidates were rolling their eyes at that one.
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