politics

Today, Sarah Palin, "The Disasta from Alaska", announced her resignation as Governor of Alaska, effective July 22, 2009.

I swear, this woman will do anything to get her name in the headlines.  I'd say there is a 99.9% chance she will change her mind before the deadline arrives.  She'll probably use some excuse such as, "The people of Alaska begged me to complete my term as governor."

If that happens, remember that you heard it here first.

It's time that the President uses some of the political capital he earned in the election in November.  Instead of giving speaches about what the November election meant, he needs to tell every Democrat and moderate Republican Senator that they need to restore all the original items he put in his economic stimulus bill and vote to pass it now.  No more delays.

If they don't, he should flat out tell them that he will use his popularity with the general public and personally campaign against any Democrat or moderate Republican that votes against his stimulus package.  He will work to defeat them in their reelection campaigns and work in favor of electing candidates who will support him and his administration in restoring this country and speed us toward its economic recovery.

Write or call your senators and insist that they restore the stimulus bill back to it's original form and vote to pass it.

It's the day before election day, and I've already voted. I did early voting on my day off back on October 23rd.

Who did I vote for? I think it should be pretty obvious; I voted for Obama for President. As for the other races, I pretty much voted a Democratic ticket, except in those races where a Democrat wasn't running. In all but one of those races, I voted for the Libertarian candidate. The final race had only one candidate running and it was a Republican so I didn't vote in that race.

Unfortunately, Texas still runs primarily Republican, but even here we are beginning to see some movement to the left.

Although behind in the polls, I'm hoping that Rick Noriega still has a chance to defeat John Cornyn. I've written Cornyn several times about legislation I oppose and each time I've gotten a canned reply that totally ignores the subject of my letter.

Fortunately, my representative in the House is a Democrat. He's much more willing to listen to the wishes of his constituents. Although there is some legislation he has voted for that I've been opposed to, at least he's willing to explain why he voted a certain way. I appreciate that in a politician.

So, come tomorrow night, we'll have a new President-Elect. I can only hope that it will be Obama.

Having been born and raised in Houston, Texas, most people would consider me a southerner. For many years, I can say I was proud of many traditions of the South, such as easy and open hospitality and being fairly laid back. Unfortunately, that moniker also brings to mind some of the other traditions of the South which, of course, include racism.

I’d love to be able to say that we’ve gotten beyond that, but when people who are questioned about Barack Obama’s candidacy for President, say such things as:

“He’s going to tear up the rose bushes and plant a watermelon patch,” said James Halsey, chuckling, while standing in the Wal-Mart parking lot with fellow workers in the environmental cleanup business. “I just don’t think we’ll ever have a black president.”

It is pretty obvious that racism still exists in large quantities in this country.

Yes, I’m a white boy and I was raised in a predominately white neighborhood as a child, but I was also raised to believe that discrimination of any sort was wrong and had to be fought at every turn.

Seriously, what does a person’s skin color, gender, or sexual orientation have to do with their qualifications to hold public office? What does it have to do with their qualifications to be president?

I’d love to be able to say that statements, such as the one quoted above, are based in ignorance, but they aren’t. They are based in nothing but pure racism and should be condemned for what they are.

From an excellent post over at DailyKos:

...In this world, McCain is the Don Quixote candidate, staggering through the campaign, searching in vain for a moment which will make America see the McCain of old, the one who was revered and cheered as a hero. Seizing upon crisis after crisis--real or manufactured, big or small--he is a single-man cavalry riding a unicorn of bipartisanship, galloping towards the outrage of the day, rescuing his country in the hour of its need and causing the world to gasp and dip its head in awe of his saving leadership.
 
But America doesn't need saving. It needs stewardship...