Dont go to College?

I find it interesting how inaccurately the electoral college portrays the popular vote. I find it misleading. Imagine being a person from another country and looking at a map of how the electoral college voted this year. By counting up the electoral votes somebody could easily think that Obama won by a landslide in the popular vote as well. But in reality he won the popular vote by a much smaller margin. Incidentally, by looking at these maps you could probably make an accurate guess as to where the population centers of the nation are, even if you were unfamiliar with our country.

the electoral vote was so secured in Obama's favor because he was able to pursue extensive campaigns in all states with the massive amounts of funding he was getting through small internet donations. Rather then focusing on battleground states alone, Obama's campaign was everywhere. He was even able to win some very unlikley states. But when you look at his win margin in those states you realize that he only shifted a reletivley small percentage of the vote. Due to a large amount of dissatisfaction with the republican campaign, Obama was able to pick up some extra voters in these states. And those extra voters was enough to turn the state blue (at least according to the electoral college). This 50 State strategy seems to be a new thing for the democratic party. But if they can continue with this in the comming years, it may very well marka change in how campaigns are orginized in the future.

Stone table and a lamb.

Obama speaks of people making sacrifices. And with a looming depression, it seems likely that it will indeed be the case. It is easy to spin making sacrifices as something noble. But if history is any indication, Nobility rarely is willing to sacrifice anything other then the peasantry. Lacking true nobility in our country, we have people who are simply wealthy in their place. And although no longer called the peasntry, we still have a horridly underpaid and over worked lower and middle class that basiclly acts as the peasntry. My question is what is going to happen when sacrifices have to start happening? Some of the wealthy may actually be willing to go along, but i feel that the large majority won't want to let go of any of their money and will fight tooth and nail to keep it. If the middle and lower class is making sacrifices, there is not too much they can do about it other then protest, petition, and acts of civil disobedience. However to me this seems unlikley. I feel like the working class knew this was comming because the were watching their friends, family and collegues get laid off in droves while in washington people were saying nothing was wrong. Unfortunatly the words of the politicions were not reflecting the conditions of peoples lives. Some people still rember what things were like in the great depression, and many of those people passed some of those lessons on to theif children. So I have a feeling that deep down many people are prepared to do what needs to be done to pull the country back on to its feet. However the social and economic reform is going to be hard to implement if our country is still spending billions of dollars on wars over seas. Which brings up another question. There is a job shortage going on already. We cant really afford to keep occupying forigen countries. But what will the troops do once they get back home? These men and women are going to come home and not be able to find work. How are these people going to reintegrate into society if they cant find jobs?

clean up on asile 12

No matter who won the election there is still a really big mess to clean up that is getting left behind by the bush administration. the manner in which the country recovers is going to be an interesting one to watch. But what I think is going to be more interesting is how the american people are going to react to how far we recover. Of course depending on how far we fall will be a factor. If we fall very far, very fast, but then recover a significant amount by the next election cycle, there may be enough faith in what the president is doing that the people will re-elect him. But if the progress is too slow will the countries political memory become short term? will we go back to the familiarity of a republican president even though we may not necessarily like the guy. Is there that much comfort in the known that we are willing to put up with things we dont like as a people?

Another possibility is that we will make an amazing recovery and actually come out ahead of where we are now. If this happens the next election could go either way. The logical (at least to me) outcome would be to re-elect the same guy who was responsible for our economic growth. However it is also possible that with things going good again people will be more comfortable with their situation and start to prefer somebody with more political experence. (Personally I think a term as presedent would count for alot, but i'm not everybody) If that's the case, A new presedent could be elected simply because the Change and Hope that Obama rallied for is no longer needed.

Change of Plan

In a time that the presedent has an approval ratting below 25% I have to wonder if its actually Obama that got elected, or if the American people just really wanted something different. In a time where everything is going down the drain I can see where much of the American public would no longer feel safe with the current control of the government. I wonder though what will happen if Obama fails to deliver. Much of his campaign rhetoric was structured around an economic situation that no longer exists. His Goals may be the same, put his tactics for reaching those goals are going to have to change. Will the american people recognize the need for a change in plans? or will they expect Obama to stick to what he originaly said? Even though there is no way it could work any more.

realizations

Over the course of the last few days of cramming I have made a realization. All this time I have been under the assumption that i really don't like politics. But in talking to people about my assignments I have realized that its not politics that I dislike, its how I am exposed to it. I dislike the news. There is just something about how it is presented that turns me away. I did not experience these feelings when talking to people about this stuff for the purposes of this class. I actually found myself smiling when listening to people talk about this stuff. Perhaps I just need to git my information from people, rather then TV or the internet.

Round 1, FIGHT!

So remember when McCain supporters were asking him to 'fight back' at the next political debate, and McCain promised he would? well i stumbled across this picture and figured it was relevant..... well, sort of.

Electoral Kombat

Definitions

So I was curious to see what exactly is meant by being an Arab, like the woman at the McCain rally thought Obama was. I went to Dictonary.com to look up the definition, and was able to confirm my suspicion that Obama is not, in fact, an Arab.

Ar⋅ab

–noun

1.	a member of a Semitic people inhabiting Arabia and other countries of the Middle East.

2.	a member of any Arabic-speaking people.

Since Obama does not inhabit Arabia or any other countries of the middle east, nor does he speak Arabic, he can not, by definition, be considered an Arab.

As far as the accusation of being Muslim, I honestly don't see a problem with it even if it was true. The Muslim community in the US is a peaceful one as far as I can tell. I don't know of any negative associations other then 'The Nation of Islam' back in the days of Malcom X. Well, that and people being annoyed by not being able to understand the guy working behind the counter at the mini mart. But that is more a problem of accent then religion. And from what I have heard, Obama does not have that kind of accent.

Video evedence

Video of McCain responding to negative comments about Obama.

Stuff like this makes me think that McCain actually has a good head on his shoulders and is just going along and doing what the republican party is asking him to do. I wonder how much control a candidate actually has over his add campaign. From what I under stand there are hundreds of different groups making up ads for the various candidates. I wonder how often those groups make an ad without first consulting someone. I wonder how many time McCain and Obama have been sitting at home watching TV during the election, and seen one of their ads and just gone, "Oh Crap......"

Starting points

Since this is the first election I've been eligible to vote in, i haven't paid much attention to previous elections. Ok, i haven't paid any attention to them. (And I've paid less attention then is probably necessary for this one) But i was wondering, Do candidates for vice president always come out of the blue like Sarah Palin seems to have? Granted I had never heard of Joe Biden before the election, but I was hearing his name long before Palin's. What drives a party to nominate a candidate with seemingly so little political experience. A mayor from the state with the least dense population in the country getting skyrocketed to vice president seems a little extreme. From what I understand Joe Biden, is a senator, which i feel is a more appropriate launching pad for this kind of thing. I should also note that a relativity new senator to president is also a pretty big leap. but that is more of a Earth to moon jump, rather then Earth to Jupiter like Palin's seems to be.

( I feel it is worthy to note that Jupiter is a gas giant and has no actual surface on which you could feasibly land. Accenting my point that the idea seems ridiculous)

Keeping it confidental

Why is it that people are so eager to know who I voted for? To me it feels like they are trying to figure if I'm an enemy or an ally. Even before the election, when people asked me if I was going to vote, and I answered yes, they would immediately jump to the question of who I was voting for. I have taken great care to keep that answer a secret. I don't want anybody making judgments based on who I vote for, regardless of whether or not I voted for who they wanted me to vote for. All they need to know is that I cast my ballot. To me it's more important that I participate in the voting process.

Bail out

I'm really not sure what to think about all this economic bail out stuff that has been happening. To me it reminds me of watching my friends mom Kat having a break down when we went to Japan. In Japan, it is socially unacceptable to give money as a gift of thanks. As a result, it is very hard to get people to accept tips. Kat is pretty well off and seems to be used to giving tips, or just straight cash, when she appreciates something somebody has done for her. She had a break down because nobody would accept the money she was giving them. Her solution of presenting money to make things good, was not working in Japan.

So whats going to happen when throwing money at our problem isn't going to work? Are we just gonna break down? Or are we going to do the Japanese thing and give gifts like food or nick-nacks (or in the economic stand point, public works projects)

I guess this is something i should look into more.

Line drawing

I had been hearing things about how McCain supporters were shouting out some prety vicious things about Obama at McCain/Palin rallies. I was glad to find out that McCain didn't let it run completley out of control. But I really don't think that kind of thing is appropriate for a public setting. to me it just reminds me of a KKK meeting.

Related Article

Strange support

In a conversation I had yesterday, I was informed about a number of people who hold note worthy positions, and happen to be members of the republican party, who have decided to endorse Barack Obama, rather then their party nominated John McCain. I find it interesting that people who have some variety of importance are going out of their way to publicly support Barack Obama, rather then keep their opinions to themselves and vote how they feel, in secret, when the time comes on election day.

The first person who came up in this conversation was Christopher Buckley. Christopher Buckley was an editor for the National Review. From what I understand, it is a very conservative paper (Barack Obama is liberal, John McCain is Conservative)After endorsing Barack Obama, Christopher Buckley resigned. I find it worthy to note, that Christopher Buckley is the son of the founder of the National Review, William F Buckley. Here is an article about the event.


Here are some more Conservatives who have openly started supporting Barack Obama:
-The descendants of Barry Goldwater.
-Eisenhower's Daughters and Granddaughter
-Ex-Governor of Massachusetts, William Weld
-An Ex-Governor of Minnesota
-A former member of the bush administration, who's name is illegible in my notes
-Sarah Palin's home town newspaper, the largest newspaper in Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News.



Also, something of note. When typing the presidential candidates names into a word processor. John McCain's name comes out with no surprises. But every time I type out 'Barack Obama', the computer underlines it in the red squigly lines of spell check. I just find it interesting that whenever i look over my page, the words that stand out are barack obama, barack obama, barack obama. (and of course all of my actual spelling mistakes, but i don't need to detail all of those.)

The plunge

Ok, This blog is set up for the purpose of completing an assignment in my Political Science class. I have put off starting this campaign journal for quite some time for two major reasons. The reasons being, I dislike politics & I avoid the news. Political discussions have too often lead to arguments that can ruin a perfectly good afternoon of hanging out, and the news is just depressing. So I have done a good job avoiding both. However, the requirements for this assignment force me to break out of my bubble world and actually look at stuff.

My major problem actually stems from the news. Until a few weeks ago, I had never looked at a newspaper willingly other then to read the funnies. I actually had to learn how to read a newspaper, because they confuse me greatly. And having never accessed a news website, That prospect was equally as uncomfortable. Untill now, whenever I was required to look at a news article for a current event, I always took something off the front page or a page that happend to be lying open on a table in the classroom some where. Due to my lack of experence gathering news data on the web and in print, Much of the sources of information for this blog will come from friends and family, so the information may already be biased when it reaches me. However, I will do my best to filter out what I can.

To start with I would like to offer what thoughts I can on the current cantidates.
Barock Oboma: Has unfortunatly large ears and from what I saw is a good public speaker.
Jhon McCain: Has a head that is not in proportion to the rest of his body and is good at talking for 2 mintues at a time without actually saying anything.
Biden: Is a brand new name for me, I don't even know his first name.
Sarah Palin: Also brand new to me, All i know about her is she is fantastic at making a fool of herself on TV and has been the target of many SNL skits.

There you have it, as of right now, that is the extent of my opinions and knowledge of cantidates.

Of course I've heard various things about all the cantidates, but the problem is none of it sticks in my mind. The reason is, I just don't care. None of it is interesting to me, so I dont retain any of it. Unfortunatly for cantidates, the stuff that sticks in my mind comes from wierd internet sites. Here are some examples of what has shaped my 'opinion' so far. As you may notice, the pictures of often in poor taste and somewhat inappropriate.

On Sarah Palin:


on Obama (This will only make sense if you've watched Pokemon):


As you can see, My views are poorly founded and lack substance. As a result this project brings with it a lot of weight. Rather then just taking what opinions of the Issues I have and applying them to this blog, I have to learn about everything from the ground up, form an opinion, and then post it up. For me this is a daunting task.

I would like to leave you with a few more images that have little political relevance, but serve to show just how I don't take any of this stuff very seriously.

On Religion:




On Immigration:


On Dick Cheney:


I'm sure there is a joke about forigen policy in here somewhere:


And here is a comic that is related to candidates and how they approach Important issues:
The Issues

Hopefully I'll be able to get more serious about this...