Lab Lull Rant

I have at most half an hour before my next subject comes into the lab so I thought I would rant. I read an article this morning that said 1 in 7 voters are still undecided about this presidential election. Seriously? What have these people been doing for the past year? Haven't they taken even a little bit of time to see what the candidates' positions on issues are? I am an Obama supporter, and I've already voted, but I respect the points of a McCain supporter as long as he/she has thought them through. The voters I hate are people who don't really pay any attention to the debates or the issues and just decide who they want to vote for in the booth. These are the jackasses who voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004 because he seemed like the moderate candidate.

I think that if you haven't made an intelligent decision about who you are going to vote for then you shouldn't vote at all. Our political system was not put in place so everyone would be forced to vote, whether they've made up their minds or not.

Another thing that pisses me off: the Proposition 8 in California. Why is it anybody's business if two gay people get married? I don't understand how anyone could oppose that except for prejudicial or religious grounds. Will gay marriage mean that honest, god fearing husbands will fag out and marry other men? Probably not. Will it lead to the destruction of our country because the birth rate will go down? With only 10% or so of the population likely to be gay, that's not going to happen.

Saying gay people should not be married because it would make someone feel uncomfortable is like saying two Black people shouldn't be married because Black people are weird.

And religious beliefs? Since when did this country become a theocracy? This is not going to deplete the numbers of blank-eyed religious swooners who pack the churches every Sunday. Damn christians think their religion is being attacked by this, but this is just another lame reactionary response from a group that is not under any threat.

So, don't be stupid. That's the lesson for today (because for some reason I've begun extolling people on virtue). And, happy Halloween.

Palin is Pallid

I've just had time to write about Palin being picked as VP for Mccain. 

First I had to look up who she was. 

As someone who has as much political experience as she does (I was president of my seminary class for a year) I am a little concerned. I mean, governor of Alaska? Hasn't everyone been governor of Alaska at one point or another? And she was mayor of some town nobody's ever heard of until a few days ago, not even the people who live there. Her list of experience seems scant. 

Of course, she's a good shill for the tripe the Republicans are barfing out for everyone. Pro-life. Pro-gun. Anti-homo. Pro-fucked-up-Bush-economic-policy. She seems like the perfect VP for everyone's favorite dinosaur. Limbaugh must be creaming over her. 

I don't quite understand why ole Mccain chose her, except maybe because he's feeling desperate. Does he honestly think the women who supported Clinton will get confused and vote for him? "Look, a woman! That's probably who I want!" We'll see. 

Palin will get the uber conservative crazy independent vote. And that's a key demographic I'm told. I think though that Biden will probably mop the floor with her during the elections. I can't wait to see those. 

In other news, David Duchovny is in rehab for sex addiction? That's...um...unfortunate. The article says he is going to be in some show about sex addicts. I guess he went too far in getting ready for his character. I wonder why he even bothered to tell anyone. It's like releasing a statement that you have hemorrhoids or something. Gross. At least it isn't someone really old. Could you imagine hearing about Christopher Walken going to sex rehab. Gross, and creepy too. 

 

Barack Obama's Nomination Speech

The speech was pretty good. I think he's a great orator and can capitalize on emotions. I couldn't believe how full the stadium was too. 

On an episode of Democracy Now I heard someone from Harper's magazine talk about how Obama would be a shill for corporate America. I didn't listen to his arguments, but I started thinking about the nature of politics. I don't think there are any politicians who don't have some connections with big business. It seems like you can't get anywhere in the political system without some help from people who already have a high position. And they always want something in return. 

Is that compromise, or being a complete pushover? Large corporations are what make most of the nation's money, but they shouldn't be allowed to do whatever they want. On the other hand, a good politician should be someone who is able to compromise. I hope if Obama gets elected he will put a clamp down on big corporations to force them to act ethically. Maybe Kucinich could help him out with that. 

Today I listened to Fresh Air. I regret that I didn't catch the name of the man she talked to, but he was an advisor to both Obama and Mccain when they were drafting a bill to limit the effects of lobbyists on campaigns. He talked about the number of lobbyists who quit their firms to temporarily work for the campaigns. Apparently Mccain has twice as many former lobbyists as Obama. And, most of those former lobbyists in Mccain's campaign are in high level positions. Obama doesn't have any in high level positions.  He's filled those positions with scholars. 

The speech tonight made me excited for the upcoming election. I don't think Obama is perfect, but nobody is. I really hope he can do everything he's saying he can. I guess we'll see. 

Oh, and how did Obama memorize that entire speech? I wonder if he had that clear screen thing the mormons use during conference, so they look like they're getting revelation.