I was one of those people who, despite the overwhelming projections for Obama to win this election, remained nervous and unconvinced. I am glad to see my cynicism misplaced for a change.
I worked at the polls for the Milwaukee Election Commission at UWM today from 6 am to 2:15. There were a lot of voters. There were some shirts and buttons but I did not hear anyone really talking politics. There were observers from the Obama and McCain camps but also people from various groups using names that told you nothing about who they supported. While I was there there were long lines in the morning and then it was sporadic with extra voters coming in between classes and a small burst of activity at lunch time.
My brother called me when the network coverage started. He said the drinking game word of the night is "historic." He was right on with that one. There was not enough booze in the house. Of course, it was still low from that Maverick/My friends game.
I am watching McCain's concession speech. This is the guy that I admired in 2000. I talked to a friend about this election last night. My feeling is that had McCain kept to the high road and perhaps been more prudent in his selection of VP we would have seen a much closer race. His audience keeps booing his kind or congratulatory words to Obama. He shuts them down though.
I hope that this is a new morning in America and we can get back to the promise of being America. The America another Republican called "the last best hope of earth."
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
McCain tells voters, "Come back to me baby, I have changed, it will be different this time."
Get out and vote for Obama. I took a look at some major polls today and www.cnn.com, www.pollster.com, www.fivethirtyeight.com, and www.slate.com all still show Obama winning which I think is a good thing.
I have been surprised that this race is as close as it is when McCain's basic argument is, "come back to me baby, I have changed, it will be different this time." While on the campaign trail he aims for ugly and his policies are not very different from what Bush's policies. I read someone call him Bush lite and I think it is the other way around. He wants to make permanent the upper income targeted tax cuts that were not successful for the country under Bush. It looks to me like he adds some middle class tax relief, but he offers far less than Obama's plan does and does not pay for it, or to be more accurate, he proposes to pay for it by cutting programs that won't nearly pay for the cuts he proposes. He is more of a Bush to the maximum and unfortunately if he wins, we will see the Bush related problems escalate.
I understand that higher income people pay more into the system but that is the price of civilization. I own a home and pay property taxes which finance our city's school system. I pay more than someone with a less valuable house. I subsidize kids in that house. So what? Don't they deserve a good education as well? Isn't it better to provide opportunity to everyone's children so that it is your effort that gets you ahead rather than how much money your parents make? If there comes a time when I am outraged by the taxes I pay I can either make a big stink about it and try to wreck the system for my advantage and the direct disadvantage of other people's children or I can move to a less valuable property. Or, I can remember that I too struggled when I was putting my children through school and give my neighbors a break.
The Republicans seem to think (and of course I generalize) that having wealth is a moral virtue and not having wealth shows a lack of moral virtue. For a party that is so quick to call itself religious and patriotic, they sure seem to dislike the poor and paying to keep the country on top.
I have heard several Republican friends making the I worked for what I have and those people take advantage of the system. They want to blame poor people for moral failings but don't want to give them any breaks to help them out of that cycle. It reminds me of the scene in Repo Man where Harry Dean Stanton thinks that the country's financial problems can be solved if you could just make all those homeless people pay their debts.
I am one of those people who admired McCain 2000 and became appalled at McCain 2006-2008. I cannot give him a pass like some do and say that this is just the election and it his advisors that are making it so ugly. That would indicate to me that a McCain presidency is not run by McCain but by poorly chosen advisors. One of his worst picks in my mind has been Palin. She can turn a rally into a mob scene and is bringing out the worst in people at her rallies. A Palin presidency is short on policy, short on understanding of history, and long on scapegoating someone for the country's problems. That is a strong reason not to vote for a 72 year old man who has been fighting cancer and heart problems for a few years.
I have been surprised that this race is as close as it is when McCain's basic argument is, "come back to me baby, I have changed, it will be different this time." While on the campaign trail he aims for ugly and his policies are not very different from what Bush's policies. I read someone call him Bush lite and I think it is the other way around. He wants to make permanent the upper income targeted tax cuts that were not successful for the country under Bush. It looks to me like he adds some middle class tax relief, but he offers far less than Obama's plan does and does not pay for it, or to be more accurate, he proposes to pay for it by cutting programs that won't nearly pay for the cuts he proposes. He is more of a Bush to the maximum and unfortunately if he wins, we will see the Bush related problems escalate.
I understand that higher income people pay more into the system but that is the price of civilization. I own a home and pay property taxes which finance our city's school system. I pay more than someone with a less valuable house. I subsidize kids in that house. So what? Don't they deserve a good education as well? Isn't it better to provide opportunity to everyone's children so that it is your effort that gets you ahead rather than how much money your parents make? If there comes a time when I am outraged by the taxes I pay I can either make a big stink about it and try to wreck the system for my advantage and the direct disadvantage of other people's children or I can move to a less valuable property. Or, I can remember that I too struggled when I was putting my children through school and give my neighbors a break.
The Republicans seem to think (and of course I generalize) that having wealth is a moral virtue and not having wealth shows a lack of moral virtue. For a party that is so quick to call itself religious and patriotic, they sure seem to dislike the poor and paying to keep the country on top.
I have heard several Republican friends making the I worked for what I have and those people take advantage of the system. They want to blame poor people for moral failings but don't want to give them any breaks to help them out of that cycle. It reminds me of the scene in Repo Man where Harry Dean Stanton thinks that the country's financial problems can be solved if you could just make all those homeless people pay their debts.
I am one of those people who admired McCain 2000 and became appalled at McCain 2006-2008. I cannot give him a pass like some do and say that this is just the election and it his advisors that are making it so ugly. That would indicate to me that a McCain presidency is not run by McCain but by poorly chosen advisors. One of his worst picks in my mind has been Palin. She can turn a rally into a mob scene and is bringing out the worst in people at her rallies. A Palin presidency is short on policy, short on understanding of history, and long on scapegoating someone for the country's problems. That is a strong reason not to vote for a 72 year old man who has been fighting cancer and heart problems for a few years.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Nanowrimo Day 2
I did well the first day of rambling on paper. I put 2042 words towards my 50,000 word goal and, perhaps started clarifying some of my idea. I notice that now that I am out of school it is not quite the chore to write that it was last year. Or maybe I just want it more this year. I mean, I added a blog to my output solely to clear my head while pumping out a novel.
Today is day 2 of the journey and I managed another 1721 words. I did find a cool (in theory) widget that displays a running total of your Nanowrimo output along with a bar showing your progress towards goal. Unfortunately it did not work when I tried to put it on this web page. I notice that the Nanowrimo web site has been terribly unresponsive this time. It was supposed to be improved over last year but so far it is a lot worse. I understand they had some power failures on the first day that they had to recover from. I hope it is not a trick to get people to donate to them. Yeesh, I'll have to slip them a tenner for the privlege of stressing my self and my family out for a month. I am sure it will be money well spent.
Today is day 2 of the journey and I managed another 1721 words. I did find a cool (in theory) widget that displays a running total of your Nanowrimo output along with a bar showing your progress towards goal. Unfortunately it did not work when I tried to put it on this web page. I notice that the Nanowrimo web site has been terribly unresponsive this time. It was supposed to be improved over last year but so far it is a lot worse. I understand they had some power failures on the first day that they had to recover from. I hope it is not a trick to get people to donate to them. Yeesh, I'll have to slip them a tenner for the privlege of stressing my self and my family out for a month. I am sure it will be money well spent.
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