And now for the backlash

Some time has passed since people in California, Florida and Arizona voted on banning gay marriage by passing amendments that designate marriage as between one man and one woman. Personally, as I’ve stated before, I don’t care one way or the other about this as long as any wording that would allow gay marriage is clear. While I am a Christian, and I do consider homosexuality to be a sin, I personally do not feel that it is my place or the church’s place to dictate morality for the country. Just as I do not consider it my place to dictate morality, I also do not believe that the inverse should be true either. In Massachusetts, for instance, changes were made to the state’s educational system which instructed teachers to educate children, as young as six, about the “diversity” of same sex marriages. Not long after allowing gay marriage, grade school children suddenly began coming home with books about homosexual families. In Canada a pastor was jailed for speaking out against homosexuality.

While I do understand the homosexual’s desire to be allowed to marry, and the reasons that they give for that desire, I also feel that in giving one group of people rights, we do not remove the rights of another group of people. For instance, I would like to see wording that would guarantee my rights as a parent would not be trampled, should I decide to pull my children out of any “sensitivity” training classes. As a father of two young girls I do not see the need to discuss homosexuality with my daughters at this time in their lives, and I would hope that I would be allowed to have any discussions at a time of my choosing.

As a former Sunday school teacher to teens, the subject of homosexuality often came up and questions on how to react and or interact with homosexuals were asked. I always explained that we should treat everyone, gay or straight with love, and that as Christians it was our duty to love the sinner and hate the sin, but never to confuse the two. As a Bible believing Christian, I do believe homosexuality to be a sin against God, similar to lying, stealing, infidelity or any of the other sins humans are capable of committing. With this in mind my pastor, or those teachers of like faith, would not be doing too good a job as pastors if they were to contradict Biblical teachings in favor of being seen in a more popular light. As a result I would expect that any wording allowing gay marriage would take into account a pastor’s right to free speech and a pastor’s right to freedom of religion. Just as certain people can claim conscientious objector status to avoid going to war, so too should pastors be exempt from any possibility of being charged with a hate crime simply for stating the Bible’s position on homosexuality.

Recently reports of demonstrations and violence have surfaced surrounding proposition 8 in California. Both Christians championing Prop 8 and gay protestors, protesting Prop 8 have come in conflict several times in recent days. Reports have begun to circulate throughout the web of homosexual activists upsetting church services, and some calling for escalated violence on gay blog sites.

All of this leads me to wonder why. Doesn’t it seem a bit hypocritical to think that the way to fight having someone else’s morals imposed on you is to attempt to impose your morals on them? Isn’t it extremely hypocritical for those who complain about gay bashing or targeting by the straight community on gays, to be calling for the targeting of Christians?

In the last few years homosexuals have begun comparing themselves to African Americans, in that they too are stereotyped and discriminated against for who they are. I’ve always found these comparisons to be a stretch, because unlike African Americans, gay people are not “ALWAYS” easily identifiable. The average person does not make up their mind about a gay person within a split second of simply seeing them. In contrast, it is far easier for the average bigot to make a discriminating choice against a person just because their skin is not the right color.

Not having lived through the civil rights movement, I don’t have a viable way to compare the two, but I have noticed that the homosexual struggle has taken on an angrier path than that of the African American struggle. I have watched the struggle take on a mentality of us versus them, straight versus gay, and more importantly Christian versus homosexual. I feel that it is my responsibility to comment on recent events, and recent changes in gay rights. As a Christian, I feel it my responsibility to comment on the fact that we as the church cannot afford to ostracize the homosexual community any more than we can afford to ostracize the atheist community. As Christians it is our duty to speak to everyone in love, and to realize that the only way to change the heart of a person is through prayer and understanding.

It has upset me to no end to see so called “Christians” picket the graves of soldiers to prove a hateful point. It has grieved me to watch these same “Christians” reduce themselves to slinging slurs meant to hurt and tear down rather than words which comfort and inform people about God. I feel it my duty to remind Christians today that our God, though not a sinner, embraced and loved the world enough to die for it, gay and straight alike.

Christians are supposed to reflect God’s love and compassion for mankind rather than turn mankind away. Christians are supposed to be filled with the love of Christ and are called to take the high road, the narrow path, the path which leads all to the Cross. We cannot ever hope to make a difference in the world if we offer it the same hate and anger which consumes it. I’m not saying that we let our own morals take a back seat, or that we allow ourselves to become part of the world, but we are called to live in the world, and yet be separated from it.

Christians in America need to realize that while America was founded on Judeo Christian principals, it is no longer the same country it was 200 years ago. We are now a country made of Jews, Muslims, Hindus, gays, and straights. We cannot hope to impose our morality on them any more than they should ever attempt to impose their morality on us. Like with abortion and other moral issues, it is our job to remind our country that there is a God who loves them, but that they must come to Him on their own accord, and not through force. We need to remember that the war being waged is not a physical war, which can ever be won through intimidation and force, but a spiritual war, which can only be won on a spiritual plane.

So what is the answer? Do we just give up and allow gay marriage, or do we continue in the same hateful, destructive path we’re on now? Who’s to say that either of these is the only options before us? What ever happened to compromise? Can we not allow for civil unions, and give the homosexual community the same rights afforded to straight people, while retaining our rights as parents and Christians to worship as we please? Is it so difficult to find a happy medium where everyone will get at least some of what they want? All I know for sure is that the civil rights movement almost tore this country apart, and we as a country cannot bear yet another polarized struggle, meant to divide instead of unite.

It’s time for Unity

A few years ago the pastor of my church felt called to start a new ministry. A committee was selected to find a new pastor among various applicants. Within a few months of searching and interviewing, as well as having each guest speak at our church, the decision was narrowed down to three people. Our pastor seemed to prefer one man over the others because of his character.

This new potential pastor was strong willed, and extremely outspoken. He had a clear vision, and a drive to accomplish changes very quickly. The current pastor, while himself a strong willed person, was a very quiet person, who had more of a grandfatherly way of leading. The potential pastor was brought before the congregation, and we were asked to vote on him. After all was said and done, he received the two-thirds vote required to ask him to be our pastor, but he did not want to go into a church without the majority of the people behind him. Our pastor requested that anyone who would be willing to stand behind him as our new pastor should stand and say so. This time over 90% of the church stood up, as a show of support, and the new pastor was elected.

There were several people who were not happy with this outcome. Some were upset enough to leave during the show of support. Some felt that this new pastor was too outspoken, too set in his own way to see anyone else’s opinions as having any merit. After more than 30 years under the same pastor, the church I attended had changed overnight. Within a few months grumblings started to emerge about all sorts of things, some silly, some not so much. Some of the older congregation complained that the music was too loud, or too modern. Some said that the new pastor was too eager to rapidly change things, and showed concern for the direction of the church. Some clashed with the new pastor’s straight forward demeanor and his perceived lack of people skills.

Little by little the church that had become my second home seemed foreign to me. People who I had grown to love, as dearly as my own family, were suddenly absent. Events that had become a staple at our church were cancelled and some were not replaced. Overall the music portion of the service had gotten better. With his hip new contemporary style, the new music director led the church in praise and worship that always left me wanting more. The preaching was a bit different, based more on a series of teachings than on the topical teachings of the old pastor. All in all the church had been revamped, retooled to fit a different era and a totally different congregation.

My old church ended up undergoing what I term a church split. Although not in the strictest definition of the term, my church had split between those who supported the changes and those who didn’t. Some left because the changes were too drastic to change with, and some left because of personal reasons, but in effect the church shrank to about ½ of it’s original size.

I say this because today we stand on the threshold of yet another potential split, and changes, which could decide our future as a country one way or another. Change is part of life and part of the natural order of things. Seasons change, climates change, political parties change, and yes governments change. Change can be good or bad depending on the factors of said change, but change is inevitable. I do business in a rapidly, and sometimes chaotically changing industry. My job as a software developer requires that I constantly update my knowledge, and change both my approach to a problem, as well as the tools I used to address a problem. Those who do not change are subject to either be left behind grumbling or worse yet left unemployed without an updated skill.

I write this in the hopes that we as a people can put aside our differences and support the man who has been elected by the people to lead us. Both John McCain, who I didn’t vote for, and Barack Obama addressed this in last night’s speeches. One man conceding that his brand of change was not what America had been seeking, and the other celebrating that his ideas for our country had become so widely embraced as to see through the difference of race that once separated this country. Right now this country is going to have to unite and rebuild if we’re really going to change anything other than the occupant of the White House. Right now this country is going to have to pull together like never before to make sure that we make changes to the things that need changing, and embrace those that do not.

I too have changed quite a bit during this election, from someone who ardently opposed Barack Obama’s plan for the future, to someone who sees the merit in his dream for our country. I only hope that we as a people can look beyond the lines that divide us and strive to find the common ground we all share. I pray that God give President Elect Obama the wisdom to lead and the ability to change that which plagues us. I pray that together we can make a difference, and mold this country into something that will make us all that much prouder to occupy it. A country in which Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Atheists can raise our children with the knowledge that our rights and beliefs are neither belittled nor trampled upon.

I ended up leaving the church about two years into its change, not because I was disenfranchised with its teachings, but because both it and I had changed in opposite directions. As an American citizen I do not see leaving as an option, nor should any true patriot. This country was founded on the principal of rule by the people for the people, which means that its up to us to make the changes needed to unite us, and if for some reason we find that the government we’ve elected does not fit our needs it is up to us to mold it in ways that will meet our needs. The one thing I’ve learned from all of this is that we ALL have a say, and we can all make a difference, its simply a matter of trying.

I will continue to post, now that the elections are over, and I will continue to let my voice be heard. I may not always agree with our future President, and I will voice my opinion when I feel the need, but I will support the man that I, through my vote, helped to elect. May God bless America, and the freedoms we’ve fought so hard to achieve.

Is America above corruption?

I remember it like it was yesterday, stepping off the plane in Puerto Rico, for the first time in my recallable life. I was eighteen years old, facing one of the most troubling times of my youth knowing that this trip could not have come at a better time in my life. I was excited by the mere thought of meeting my grandfather for the first time, and getting to know the man I had heard so much about. I can still remember the mixed thoughts as I grabbed my luggage and stepped out beyond baggage claim, to a sea of screaming Puerto Ricans all looking for that relative, friend or loved one to step through the doors. Will he really be there? Is this going to go down yet another funny story about how abuelo (grandpa) forgot something important? But it didn’t and within minutes I had been spotted by my cousin, and waved over. There he was the man, the legend (well in my eyes anyway) it’s funny how much he reminded me of dad. Same face, same build, same mannerisms, everything down to a tee as if the genetic markers that made up my father had simply been copied identically, with no variations.

Five minutes in the car and I had managed to size up the man I would be spending two weeks with. As I’ve said, he shared many of the same characteristics as my own father, and even played some of the silly math games my dad would often play with me. “X number of miles from here to the house we’ll be staying at tonight. At x km per hour, how long until we get there?” I really didn’t have a chance to answer, since he answered for me, and moved the conversation over to questions about my father, mother, brother and sister.

As we drove through Puerto Rico’s mountainous roads, my grandfather would point out to me various buildings or roads that he had a hand in creating, or better yet, getting the funding for. Achievements that he, as a Representative in the house of Puerto Rico, was both proud and responsible for. Over the next two weeks I would hear story after story about how my grandfather had gotten approval for someone’s land to get a paved road to it, so that they could move their goods easier. I heard about how my grandfather had played a part in getting someone work, or helped to bring business to his town, which provided work to hundreds. These things intrigued me and made the allure of my grandfather all the more greater. Here was a man who was making a difference, who was beloved by most of the people around him, and who had managed to work his way from nothing, to become a politician known by many on the island.

I share this story, because part of me wishes that I hadn’t learned the rest of the story. Part of me wishes that I had clung to my naiveté and not dug deeper into what made my grandfather a great politician. After two weeks in Puerto Rico I had witnessed first hand how things got done in politics. “I will do this for you, if you can find it in your heart to do this for me”, “Please fix this issue for me, and I can guarantee that I will agree with you” This was the world my grandfather lived in, and after two weeks I had begun to think of him with even more childlike awe. Like most of the politicians everywhere my grandfather did business in quid pro quo. I never did ask if any of those favors were unsatisfactory to him, I guess I was too busy admiring the knowledge that he got things done. I’ve compared him many times to Don Corleone, without the threats and murder. I’ve imagined him trading one service for another, marking his mental ledger of debts and assets, and like all politicians everywhere compromising his beliefs at some point for what he believed to be the better good. We lost him to prostate cancer, some years back, so I cannot ask him if he had any regrets, I’m left only with the stories shared at family reunions, weddings and funerals.

What I do have is my own memories of the few conversations we had after he retired to Florida, and of course that trip to Puerto Rico. I look back on my trip often with happiness for many reasons. My first introduction to the man that sired my father, my first real taste of freedom as a young man, the experience of meeting family members I had only heard of in stories whenever family would come from Puerto Rico. But now as I look back and remember the few political lessons I learned while over there, none sticks closer to my memory more than the something for something mentality of political life. None makes me shudder more than the thought that in all of this compromise, somewhere along the line someone always gets hurt.

This thought first struck me years ago while speaking to my wife’s relatives in Santo Domingo. They were explaining to me the way things were on the island, and sharing some of the things they’d wish would change. At the top of their list was the corruption. Police who looked the other way for money, even when crimes had been committed, or worse police who made up charges in order to get a little extra money on the side. Roadblocks set up solely for the purpose of collecting money for trumped up traffic charges. Officials who could be paid to speed up some process or another, or move your cause to the front of the list. This made me think of the corruption my grandfather told me about in Puerto Rico, which made me wonder if this was simply a Latin American tradition, or if it was felt throughout the world.

You see as a young 25 year old American, clueless about the world, and still in school, I could never bring myself to believe that my country, the US was involved in anything so devious. Sure I had heard about the crooked cops growing up in NY, and I had heard about how politicians were corrupt and how money purchased power, but I had also seen the many movies which focused on the best in our country. The lone hero, who goes against the odds to overcome corruption and put the bad guys in jail; that was still my outlook on American life as a whole.

The older I got, the more I started to pay attention to politics and deciding where I stood and what I stood for, the more disenfranchised I became with politicians as a whole. I guess it’s part of growing up, shedding the blinders you carry through college, starting a family, and learning what it really takes to be a man. It’s just part of the normal order of things, but is it right? This business as usual mentality in Washington which leads to a favor for a favor, a vote for a small blurb that will benefit a constituent of in some far off county, but deny the government needed tax dollars down the line. Politicians always speak of this with the utmost disgust they come up with all sorts of creative names to describe this practice, as if they too weren’t sucking at the quid pro quo teat. Pork, earmarks, special interests… all names to describe the same practice, all names to hide the true words which should be used, but that might remind them of a compromised moral along the way. Corruption, greed, payoffs, bribery, these are the words covered up by the niceties of Washington.

The concept is simple detract attention from the problems at hand, and make everyone think you don’t partake of these practices. Stand up on the soap box and rally against spending and the spenders, cry foul on the lobbyists, and special interests, but never, ever do a thing to fix the issue. How simple would it be to just correct the issue? How much better would this country be if the next president pushed a law which forced congress to independently submit each bill, and no longer allowed the practice of over inflating a bill with pork? How much more beneficial would it be to the country, if lobbyists and special interest groups were removed from Washington, and the surrounding area, under threat of arrest?

While this may sound extreme, it is sorely needed. Lobbyists have done to Washington what sports agents have done to Baseball and several other popular sports. They’ve injected greed, and corrupted what probably started out with desire and passion. Now, just as it’s rare to see a player who plays for the love of the game, so too is it rare to see a politician still in politics to make a difference. After a few years of wheeling and dealing in Washington, even the most noble, most pure at heart begin to think that they too can cut corners, and those who went in looking to make a change, wind up changed themselves.

As I showed last week, with just one bill, Washington has become a breeding ground for corruption. Everyone knows it, everyone would love to change it, you hear the grumblings from Americans in both the red and the blue states, but it has become so ingrained in the Washington culture, that it would take drastic measures to correct the problem. The problem is two fold, on the one hand we have the politicians who have become part of the problem, and on the other we have the apathetic voters who prolong the problem.

You see we could fix this quickly if Americans everywhere would simply pay attention to their surroundings. We could end the corruption if Americans would stop handing over their freedoms and hopes to government, and simply read up on the issues. In this modern internet age, we could demand that they post a website which describes each bill’s highlights, with a list of each added earmark and who submitted it. I guarantee that if most of American knew of the garbage stuffed into the recent bailout, they would have called, written, emailed, and flooded their representative with demands that he/she not vote for the bill. Somehow it seems that with all of our technology, all of our knowledge, we Americans have become less informed and less interested in current affairs.

Have Americans become so lazy, so uninterested in their own futures, that they turn a blind eye to corruption in their leaders? Where in all this is the media? Where is the unofficial fourth branch with its straight no nonsense fact telling? Why does it seem that our media focuses more on which celebrity is doing a stint in rehab, or which politician had sex with a call girl or got a DUI? Why not focus into the very problem that has eaten away at this country for too long? Why not expose the back room deals which seem to be moving this once great country on a steady path to third world status, where the will and well being of the people takes a back seat to the pockets of our elected officials and those who control them? The reason is simple, we have allowed it. We care more about which teen idol is pregnant than we do about which tax bill will benefit us. We crave it like a drug, and in doing so give up our right to the real knowledge that can help us in the end.

Has America become as corrupt as those countries you hear about and take pity on? Yes we have. We could solve it all by staying more informed, and actually taking an interest in our country’s day to day politics. I have presented just a few suggestions that I feel could help, but will they actually be heard? This is entirely up to us. This web of lies and greed can only be broken by information, and knowledge. This chain can only be broken by its weakest link and that is the American people. So until next time, go out an vote, do the research, learn about the issues, and speak your minds America, because the alternative is grim at best.

Why I’m Voting for Obama – A Conservative Republican’s Tale of Change

Ok I know I covered most of this already, but I keep finding myself defending my position to family and friends. Most of my friends are die hard Republicans. An even greater number are extremely conservative, and lately I find myself more on the defensive than in agreement. As anyone who’s read this blog knows I’ve changed my decision on who I will vote for a few times, but I believe that I’ve reached my final decision. Come November 4th I will cast my vote for Barack Obama, and break with my party for the first time in 12 years.

In a campaign where “Change” is the key component, the core principal behind each candidate’s words and actions; what has caused so many voters to “Change” their party, or “Change” their vote? For me the answer is a multifaceted, complex answer based on hours of self examination, research, and prayer. I have quite a few disagreements with Obama’s stance on the issues but I still feel he’d make a better President than John McCain. This blog is more an answer for my friends and family, a place to organize my thoughts, and simply point them to the site to explain my decision. So I’ll start with the first issue that most of my friends start off with.

Question : How can a Christian conservative vote for a man who supports abortion?

Answer: As anyone who knows me, or has read my thoughts on the subject knows, I despise abortion. I find it equivalent to first degree murder, and feel that it should be outlawed. But my answer for this is actually a simple one. This is a topic that NEITHER party will EVER do anything about. Consider the fact that in the 35 years since Roe v. Wade a Republican has sat in the White House 20 of those years. Most will argue that the inability to repeal this is due to liberal judges on the Supreme Court, but I don’t feel this to be the case. I honestly think that both sides secretly like this issue where it is. It’s a dividing issue, it’s a clear cut for or against issue that brings in millions of votes for both parties. Yes ladies and gentlemen abortion is the last ditch hope of both parties. Republicans call on it to scare voters to vote Republican “John Doe voted to kill babies, do you want John Doe in office? He’s a baby killer.” Democrats use it to scare voters by saying “Vote for us or those Republicans will take away your God given right to choose. They’ll remove control over your own body and force their morality on you.” In truth the only thing that can outlaw abortions in this country is a change of heart by Americans everywhere. Americans will first have to understand that life, even simple life, is precious and should be preserved and kept safe. Until then Americans will continue to see abortion as a choice.

Questions: How can a fiscal conservative vote for a Democrat? His policies are just going to hurt the country. Obama just wants to spread the wealth I’ve worked so hard to build. Obama is going to spend more tax money than McCain, and take us into a deeper hole.

Answer: This is one where I agree with both sides. On the one hand you have Obama that states that people are suffering, and greed is rampant in big business. On the other hand you have McCain who believes that lower taxes are good for the economy and that as businesses do well their wealth will trickle down to the little guy.

This is actually a pretty old idea called Reaganomics, for those of you old enough to remember it. The concept worked once, and personally I believe the boom during the Clinton era was the result of Reagan’s trickle down theory. So if it worked once why not now? The 1980’s were a different time. Yes greed was prevalent back then too, but greed took a back seat to national pride during the cold war, not to mention that our economy was nowhere near as global as it is now. American companies have gotten used to the idea of exporting their work to other countries. Doing so helps raise profit margins, which attract investors, which allows companies to grow.

While I do believe that those who work hard should keep the fruit of their labor, I strongly feel that the trickle has been clogged by greed, and is no longer trickling but dripping down. American companies have all but closed the faucet when it comes to bringing work back to the country. No work means higher unemployment, which eventually leads to a slowing economy, and as seen recently recession. This in a nutshell is my reason for voting for Obama. McCain’s approach is to lower taxes across the board for corporations and allow companies to come back on their own. The problem, as I see it, is that they won’t come back because even with lower taxes, the American workforce is just too expensive for any smart business man to even consider.

For me Obama’s answer of giving tax breaks specifically to companies who bring work back to the US coupled with removing tax breaks for those who export work will give the right incentive to create more domestic jobs. Obama’s idea of investing in renewable energy and creating jobs in this area are a win-win for our country. Renewable energy jobs in the area of wind and solar means less reliance on foreign oil and lower unemployment.

Let’s face it McCain himself has said that he knows little to nothing about the economy. When compared to Obama’s plan, McCain’s plan for the economy will raise the national debt by $5 trillion dollars as opposed to Obama’s $3.5 trillion dollars. This is the same national debt that has gotten so high, that the billboard in New York designed to track it, required an additional number place. In effect McCain’s plan of sticking to previous methods is simply not enough to bring this country back to good. In fact I personally see it hurting us in the long run. Here’s a great article on the subject.

Questions: Why should I have to pay for someone else’s health benefits? Isn’t nationalized healthcare going to ruin the industry? Healthcare is a privilege not a right.

Answer: I’ve actually changed my view on this several times. Both sides make sense, and I’m floating somewhere in the middle right now. First I believe quality healthcare to be a right not a privilege. Everyone is entitled to the right to live, and in my eyes Americans would be exhibiting the utmost cruelty in allowing their fellow citizens to simply die because they don’t have the money to afford lifesaving care. As anyone who’s ever read this blog knows, I’m in favor of serious welfare reform, and I’d hate to see healthcare become as bad as the Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and welfare systems.

That being said, McCain’s plan does nothing to improve the situation. McCain’s plan to tax on one hand while crediting with the other is nothing short of asinine. This does nothing for the millions of Americans without healthcare, and based on several independent estimates, could actually ruin our current lousy system. While I don’t personally favor giving things away for free, I do have to concede that one way or another we the people will end up paying the price. If we do nothing, people will continue to walk out on their hospital bills, which will eventually raise prices, which are passed on to us. If we do nothing, people will continue to put off seeking treatment for minor problems, which can and usually do become major problems. Eventually these people have a way of ending up in our Medicaid system, and costing taxpayers millions because they were never given preventive care.

Another common argument I hear is that social healthcare leads to bad doctors and bad care. Personally I haven’t studied this as much as I’d like, but I also don’t feel that this would be the case under Obama’s plan. If Obama is indeed looking to bring the uninsured under an insurance company plan then the plan will be administered by an insurance company, and not the government. That should negate the issues we’ve seen with Medicaid / Medicare, where doctors put off patients in lieu of patients with better coverage.

In addition I’ve noticed that hospitals have become more profit centric, and have lost their focus, which is to treat patients as best as possible. My cousin shared with me a story about his daughter’s last birth, which I think fits very nicely. Apparently the hospital closest to where he lives is in a nice well to do neighborhood. In order to keep its swanky image it has gone as far as provide food based on near gourmet recipes. While this sounds great for the relatives of the patient, it’s not really needed. Hospitals need to remember that they exist to treat patients. They have sworn the oath of “Do no harm” by proxy, and must share in that responsibility with the doctors. So will our healthcare suffer as a result of socialized medicine? It might but then again this isn’t truly socialized medicine Obama is suggesting, it’s a strange new hybrid. Either way it’s leaps and bounds above McCains plan.

While I can concede that giving away the farm ala Welfare and Medicaid does nothing to improve or instill the sense of self worth needed to drive people to the kind of action that will improve their situation, I must also admit that doing nothing will just foster a larger division between the haves and have nots. This division, over time, turns into resentment, bringing only a sense of never being able to succeed and blaming their problems on “the man”. With a subject as important as someone’s basic right to life and quality healthcare, we cannot sit idly by and do nothing.

Questions: Don’t you think Obama is too inexperienced to be President? Do you really trust him to make the tough decisions? Isn’t McCain better suited to deal with foreign policy?

Answers: In truth I do feel that Obama is untested, but capable of leadership. I once joked that giving Obama the Precidency was like giving a manager of the local McDonalds the position of CEO of Walmart. While his lack of testing under pressure does bother me, the fact that there are always advisors to help guide him reassures me. From what I’ve seen Obama has the intelligence and self control to handle himself in just about any situation. While John McCain is intelligent enough to handle a situation, I do not feel him to be in control of his temper or general feelings enough to handle certain situations. During this election I have watch as both men endorsed some pretty unfavorable ads against each other, but McCains seemed to stem more from desperation and anger. During the debates I have watched Obama handle himself with resolve and dignity, while McCain resorted to name calling and quick one liners.

Anyone who has ever been married for more than a few years knows that quick comebacks are usually the ones that hurt the most. Quick comebacks are instinctual, and usually involve statements better left unsaid. McCain has shown his proficiency for quick comebacks time and time again, and it has hurt him in my eyes. At this time in our nation’s history, we are embroiled in two wars, one of which is almost as unpopular as Vietnam, and we are quickly seeing our once strong international allies turn against us. As a result of the international dislike towards America we need, more than ever, a President who is willing to set aside differences and open discussions. We need a President who is capable of showing both our friends and enemies a calm, but firm resolve; Obama for me is that man.

Many have criticized Obama for his willingness to speak to the Castros and Chavezes of the world, but in truth embargos have failed, stiff necked diplomacy has failed, and the only thing that’s going to work is the calm, rational dialog that has been absent for the past eight years. You see Reagan was forceful, Reagan was strong willed, but Reagan was also willing to discuss, bargain, and sit down with his enemies. Had he not been the Berlin wall would probably still stand today.

Questions: Why shouldn’t we stay in Iraq? Obama wants to pull out and cost us the war, don’t the Iraqi people deserve to be free?

Answer: In my opinion there are more reasons to get out of Iraq than there are to stay. First and foremost is the FACT, not speculation but FACT, that Iraq is un-winnable. The problems in the Middle east are not some recent development, nor are they something that can be fixed by Democracy. The problems between the Muslims and Jews, and even between Muslim factions have their basis in religion, and an argument that has prevailed for over 3000 years. Jews believe that they are God’s chosen people, the beloved of God through Abraham’s son Isaac Gen. 16:12. Muslims believe that they are God’s chosen people the beloved of God through Abraham’s son Ishmael.

With this in mind Jews and Muslims are not fighting a war based solely on territory, they are fighting a war based on opposing religious ideologies. In addition to the many conflicts between Israel and the Muslim world, we have division within the Muslim community itself. The history here is too great to get into, but the basic premise is that they hate each other. With all of this in mind, we Americans, who don’t really understand the problem, have no hope of finding a solution. America is now smack in the middle of a civil war between two opposing factions that don’t see eye to eye on anything. This isn’t simply like the difference between Democrats or Republicans, these people have been, and are willing to kill for their religious beliefs to succeed.

Furthermore the notion that Iraq was ever about bringing democracy to the Iraqi people is ludicrous. The Iraq war was started partly from fear and reaction to 9-11, and partly from our desire to secure our need for oil. In the months following 9-11 our country underwent a change of mind, from the once proud can do attitude we all shared to the fearful terrorist in every corner feelings we now share. Our country has not been held hostage by fear this great since the McCarthy era. The only war we need to face right now is the war with our own fears. The terrorists have already done their part; they’ve shown us how vulnerable we are, they’ve goaded us into two wars, and they’ve all but succeeded in crippling our economy as a result. They’ve turned international opinion against us, and caused division among us. They’ve done what they set out to do.

As a result of 9-11 we’ve seen the largest increase in government in my lifetime. We have seen several of the civil liberties that made us a great nation erode. We have seen a drastic division between those who are for the war and those who are against it. We have become a nation divided, where the fear of being labeled unpatriotic hangs over Americans everywhere. The only way to truly WIN this war is to pick a side, preside over the largest genocidal acts since the holocaust, and loose our humanity in the process. We cannot win in Iraq because Iraq cannot be settled diplomatically. There are simply too many variables that our Western minds cannot embrace; therefore the only solution is withdrawal.

Conclusion

This year I vote not because I agree with Obama on everything, but because I believe he will be better suited to run this country. I feel that our current situation as a nation warrants a drastic change from the norm. I believe that we need a fresh face with a different approach to bring about change. God help me if I’m wrong, but I just don’t see McCain bringing the kind of change we need.

Crippling Government one Bill at a time

As I write this two of our country’s senators are competing for the Presidency of the United States of America. One of them is running a campaign dedicated to “cutting pork”, “removing earmarks” the other has also said several times that we need to make government more transparent, and blamed this current financial problem on lobbyists and special interests groups. Both of these men voted for the bailout, as did several others in the House and Senate. All knew of the tax breaks written into the bill; Tax breaks that could costs the American people billions over the next few years. If both men are so dead set against pork and wasteful spending, if both have pledged to take on the special interests groups, then why not point out to the American people the number and specifics of everything tacked on to this bill?

As far back as I can remember, every politician has preached against special interests groups, complained about the lobbyists, and then when in was their turn at bat, they struck out and did nothing. For those Americans who don’t know what the big deal is, I’ll do a quick recap. Sen. A wants to pass a bill that will do something good for the country like limit the amount of money a plaintiff can receive as part of a lawsuit. I site this because I personally feel that this country is lawsuit happy, and will sue over anything if just to make a buck. This eventually hurts the rest of the population since something somewhere usually increases. But I digress. Sen. A submits his bill, and goes around trying to drum up votes to get his bill passed. Sen. B says I’ll vote for this if you add this piece to it. Sen. B comes from a state dependent on cattle, and he would like to pass a bill that would loosen FDA regulations so that his constituents could cut costs raising cattle, and possibly make a better profit. Sen. A agrees, and moves along to Sen. F, who asks for something else to be tacked on to the bill. Eventually when Sen. A has found enough support for his bill he submits it to be voted on. The process is actually more complex than this, but these are the basics. For the actual workflow chart see the following: How a Bill becomes a Law

What exactly does this have to do with the bailout? Well the bailout bill took on quite a bit of “Pork” on it’s way through the House and Senate. The following website
gives a comprehensive list, but I’ve listed some of the more ridiculous ones here.

Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children

Current law places an excise tax of 39 cents on the first sale by the manufacturer, producer, or importer of any shaft of a type used to produce certain types of arrows. This proposal would exempt from the excise tax any shaft consisting of all natural wood with no laminations or artificial means to enhance the spine of the shaft used in the manufacture of an arrow that measures 5/16 of an inch or less and is unsuited for use with a bow with a peak draw weight of 30 pounds or more. The proposal is effective for shafts first sold after the date of enactment. The estimated cost of the proposal is $2 million over ten years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The Oregon senators were the initial sponsors of the provisions. According to Bloomberg News, the provision would be worth $200,000 to Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon.

What exactly do our financial institutions have to do with children’s arrows? Luckily this is only costing us $200K in taxes, but it does nothing to help our current situation.

Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility

Track owners want to be able write-off the cost of their facilities on their taxes over seven years - a depreciation timetable many of them have used for decades. But the IRS has wanted to stretch it to at least 15 years and has raised questions whether the increasingly popular tracks really belong in the same tax category as amusement parks.

Auto track owners are simply trying to get out of paying more taxes - which they'd have to do if they deducted less every year. These owners have gotten plenty of tax breaks over the years from states and localities eager to get speedways. The provision would be extended 2 years till the end of 2009 and would cost $100 million. The provision encompasses all facilities including grandstands, parking lots and concession stands.

Ok forgive me if I’m wrong but isn’t NASCAR one of the biggest sports in the US today? Don’t track owners make enough money on attendance and concession stands to warrant their current taxes? I’m all for lower taxes but businesses like NASCAR, baseball and football franchises have made enough money providing entertainment to the masses, and they should be held responsible for paying their fair share of the tax burden. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not against sports, in fact I love baseball, and have recently picked up an interest in football, but I don’t feel that anyone is worth 25 million a year, and I definitely don’t feel we should be giving tax breaks to the entertainment business when they make plenty of money on their own. Why cry over paying taxes when admission to a ball park is $50 per person in some cases?

Sec. 211. Transportation fringe benefit to bicycle commuters

Allows employers to provide a benefit to employees for costs associated with bicycle commuting, including purchase and repair of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, and bicycle storage. This provision was proposed in 2007 in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and in the House by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR). This provision is estimated to cost $10 million.

I know this is one of those “green” initiatives that are so popular these days, but really a tax write off for buying a bike? I mean really bikes are like $50 at Walmart, that’s about one week’s gas in my case. Does the government really need to step up and subsidize our bike purchases? I would personally rather see this money go to tax breaks for people who want to buy into solar power.

Sec 502. Provisions related to film and television productions
In an effort to keep film and television productions in the U.S, they would be eligible for a tax incentive program. Under this program, the cost of production of qualifying films would be permitted to be immediately expensed -- that is, fully deducted from income for tax purposes -- in the year the expenditures occur. This provision also makes permanent other favorable tax treatments for production. Historically Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA) has been a supporter (dating from its creation in the 2004 corporate tax bill). The cost is estimated at $478 million over 10 years.

How in the heck did Hollywood get a piece of this bill? Again I love movies, and I love good TV, but Hollywood makes enough money doing what they do, which in reality is worthless to the grand scheme of things. Is this part of the bill really going to entice the next Survivor to be in the Everglades? Hollywood puts out 90% garbage, 6% decent programming, and about 4% quality programming, all meant to allow us to escape the reality that our economy is in shambles and our standard of living is decreasing. Most of what’s on TV today has already been done, and we’re essentially just paying for the special effects of the current version, and yet they have the nerve to ask for tax breaks.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, bureaucracy at it’s finest. Once again we stand idly by as our government rewards the greed that created this mess with more greed. This is how our government crumbles, crippled by it’s own self indulgence and each State’s self interest. My question to both candidates is who will act in the interest of the “people”? Sure each one of these additions was made in the interest of some company, but the people who are truly affected are never thought of, and our government takes yet another bad idea designed to attempt to fix things and makes it worse by adding layer upon layer of greed.

Now they’ve got me flip flopping

Wow what a month it has been. Two posts ago I was voting Libertarian. My last post, actually a combination of two potential posts which never made the blog but were both written some time ago, stated that I might have changed my mind and here’s why. I personally consider myself a conservative. I’m conservative about so many things, but liberal or moderate on others.

My Views in a nutshell:

We desperately need to regulate Wall Street, Insurance Companies and Banks. This
one also troubles me since I’m totally against big government, but in all
honesty greed has gotten the better of them all, and they’ve played a big part
of the mess we’re currently in. Wall Street speculators have driven up the cost
of fuel to make a profit. Insurance companies have pulled out of certain states,
like Florida, to maximize profits and reduce risk, leaving many to pay higher
premiums for less coverage. Banks loaned billions to people who couldn’t afford
it leaving our housing market in a downward spiral.

I believe this country is taxing it’s businesses out of the country, and forcing them to look elsewhere to make money. The sooner we realize that companies are not in business to make it’s workers happy, but are instead in business to make money, the sooner we can start bringing businesses back to this country.

I feel that it’s our utmost priority to secure energy independence. Why are we throwing away billions of dollars every year to countries that can’t stand us and dance in the streets whenever something bad happens to Americans? We’ve done so many wondrous things as a relatively young nation, but we can’t figure out how to run a car or power our homes?

We NEED to get out of Iraq. That is a must do for us, we simply can’t afford it. Now do we do it correctly and orderly, or do we do it in the same fashion that left Vietnam in shambles? I for one say we need to start billing the country of Iraq for our time there. I think we need to start training and teaching them to care for themselves.

I believe in vouchers, not because I want to send my kids to private school, but because it’s worked in other countries and can work here. I believe if a school isn’t performing it should be allowed to go out of business. I feel that every American parent should be given the choice of where to send their child and spend the money the government spends to educate their child. Education in this country needs to be rethought from the ground up. We need to focus on individual needs and styles of learning, we need to focus on training those who have no interest in college, so that they can contribute to society.

I believe we need welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security reform. We need to look closely at any loopholes that allow Americans to sit on their rears and collect a check when they’re perfectly capable of working. We need to make sure that those who can pay for medical insurance do pay for it. We need to either leave Social Security alone or set a kill date for it and come to terms with the fact that it’s failing.

I feel that homosexuals should be given the same rights as heterosexuals, not more, but the same. I feel that if two people want to commit to each other, then we should let them, but, I also feel that we need to curb some of the indecency in the homosexual community. For instance, why are homosexuals allowed to have a parade and carry out acts that would merit a public indecency summons, at best, for a heterosexual couple? True equality covers the good and the bad equally.

I believe that good healthcare is a right, not a privilege, as McCain seems to think. We are a rich nation, and denying ANYONE quality healthcare is morally wrong. People should not be allowed to suffer or die because they can’t afford healthcare. This one is a tough one for me because I don’t believe bigger government is the answer, but I know that doing nothing is also not the answer.

I strongly feel that we need immigration reform, and tighter borders, something neither party seems to care much about lately. We need to know who is crossing our borders, be it drug runners, terrorists, or simply workers looking for a better life. We need to decide what to do with the 12 million illegal immigrants already here.

As anyone who’s ever read my blog knows abortion to me is comparable to 1st degree murder. In truth I don’t feel that either party will ever do a thing about abortion, so it’s up to our religious leaders to change the hearts of Americans.

So anyway, those are my views on some of the more popular topics. As you can see I tend to lean more conservative than liberal on quite a few matters. So why the flip flop? Simple I just don’t like or trust McCain.

During all three of the debates McCain came off as the angry troll ready to pounce. He consistently had this silly smirk as if he had caught Obama with his pants down. He repeatedly avoided questions and resorted to pointing the finger, rather than explaining his position. And finally when he did get around to explaining his position he failed miserably at it. For instance when asked about his healthcare plan he changed topic. When pressed he elaborated that yes his plan did call for a tax credit, but it also called for taxes against employer provided healthcare. How does he think this will work exactly? He’s now going to tax my health benefits, but then give me a mere $5,000 to “help out”?

Ok let’s be honest here. Every year my company gives me a 3% increase. From what I hear that’s the average increase in this country. Every year my medical insurance goes up and wipes out my increase. This combined with the rising cost of gas, food, home insurance, clothes, and just about everything else has left me making less now than I did 3 years ago. Now I’m not complaining, well yes I am, but I can’t afford to lose my health insurance because McCain wants to tax it as part of my income. That to me proves that he doesn’t have a handle on the financial issues facing many Americans today.

After looking at it Obama’s plan, which by the way is not the same plan he had when he was facing Hillary Clinton, will be better for most Americans. I can keep my great coverage and save about $2,500 yearly. Does it increase government? Yes it does, but in truth we pay for it one way or another anyway. Medicare, Medicaid we pay for, someone skips out on a doctor’s bill, we pay for. So essentially we’ll end up paying either way. Small business that can’t afford to insure their employees will now have the option to insure them under the Federal plan.

During the debates Obama kept his composure and handled himself nicely, while McCain resorted to “That guy over there” jokes and transparent attempts to gain acceptance by crying foul. Let’s be honest this election has shown how evil and petty people can get. Obama has been called a terrorist, an arab, and a ni#$er by McCain supporters. Sarah Palin has been called a c*nt and has had her picture plastered on t-shirts with that word under it. So neither party is exactly innocent here. But EVERY mass movement has a few nutters in it, and thinking that you’re somehow owed an apology for something someone else said is a bit much.

That being said neither one really wowed me with their ideas for the economy. Obama’s idea to take a scalpel to the budget was a bit more impressive than McCain’s hatchet, but both plans still call for us to go deeper into debt as a country and that shocks me. It’s almost like the bone heads at AIG; those wacky bunch of executives who decided to go ahead with plans for a party even though they had no money to do so before they were bailed out.

Obama has showed signs of coming more into the center than he has in previous months, which leaves me wondering if he’s just telling us what we want to hear, or what he really felt before getting the nomination. For instance he’s suddenly ok with off shore drilling, nuclear power, and clean coal, something I believe he was against when he was debating Clinton. Either way I think Wednesday’s debate was a better format since it forced them both to actually speak to each other. That was one of my pet peeves from the first two debates. I think Biden and Palin did a much better job of being civil and actually communicating than McCain or Obama did in any of their debates.

The one area where I actually had the biggest change of mind was in the area of regulation. NBC did a nice wrap up after the debate and showed the candidates in their general campaigns. One of them was Biden giving a speech about regulations. Now as a conservative I’ve always been against regulation. In fact I rather like the capitalist system of checks and balances as I see it. “Make smart moves and prosper, make dumb moves and fail” The only problem with that is that it doesn’t take into account the greed factor. Now greed is a nasty thing. Palin spoke about it at the VP debate. Newspapers seem to be speaking about it almost daily, and the general consensus in the country is that the banks got what was coming to them for being greedy.

I remember the first time I saw the movie Wall Street. I remember watching Michael Douglas shouting out “Greed is good!”. Well greed just put the American people on the path to another depression. Our unregulated lending was fueled by greed, and it is anything but good, because now WE have to pay for it. Fuel speculation was driven by greed, and has made some Americans choose between gas in their tanks or food on their tables; again not so good.

During his speech Biden sarcastically mentions how we’ve done such a great job of self regulation in the business world, and that got me thinking. We haven’t. In fact we actually suck at it. Our companies chase the dollar without one thought to the damage they’re doing to those around them. Greed is not good, and since it is part of humanity we do owe it to ourselves to make sure it gets kept in check. So while over regulation is bad and poorly conceived regulations are bad, we do need to regulate the business world. We need to pass laws against greed as we have against guns, murder, drugs, or any of the myriad of things we pass laws against. We owe it to our children to make sure that they do not pay for the sins of their parents.

All in all I’m still undecided, but now with Obama leanings, which isn’t scoring me points with any of my friends. I do see McCain as just Bush part 3, and I do see him carrying on the same failed policies that have brought this country to the brink of collapse. So either I’m voting Libertarian or I’m voting Democrat, but I won’t be voting Republican this year, which is a shame considering we started off with much better candidates than the Democrats did.

Rudy whoever ran your campaign should be flogged for convincing you to run solely in Florida. Paul, Romney you both ran a great race, and God knows I would have preferred either of you to McCain. Huckabee you gave it a good shot, and you were my favorite, I expect you back in 2012.

Fear and Ridicule in Politics

As expected my last blog about my voting Libertarian has started a conversation about my choice. Luckily it’s only with my cousin and he has to love me. The good news, for me anyway, is that after looking at the Barr bashing website he recommended, I’ve decided to blog about the ugly trend of Fear and Ridicule in politics. Now this website is obviously far to the left even though they claim not to represent any one party or recommend any one candidate.

“And remember, the Religious Freedom and First Amendment Coalitions do not represent any political party nor do we recommend any political candidate, nor are we involving ourselves in the political process.”

Now who are they trying to kid with this? At the very top of the page is a video titles “I’m voting Republican”. While I did get a kick out of it, it’s an obvious attempt to paint conservatives and Republicans for that matter as dimwitted war mongers, who hate the poor, the sick, gays, education, and just about everything else in this world. The video plays on and on with ½ truths and childish scare tactics aimed at misleading the masses into thinking that all of the evil talked about in the video will somehow be unleashed if a Republican takes office in 08.

Here are some of the lines that caught my attention.

An African American couple say they want to know that even if we’re separate we’ll still be called equal.

Really, are these people serious? Did they just skip the history lesson on the founders of the Republican Party? Do they not know that the party was started by anti-slavery activists?

A lesbian couple says they want to be told who they can love and how they can best show a lifetime commitment...

Talk about stereotypical propaganda. It’s not just Republicans who are against the whole gay marriage thing. Yes as we learned during recent debates, Obama and Biden are also against it; and me Mr. Conservative Republican? Well honestly I could care less. I’d be fine with allowing gay marriage as long as text was put in making sure that churches could not be forced to officiate a gay wedding, be forced to curb sermons against homosexuality or so long as schools would be forced to ask a parent before teaching on the subject to children. Essentially I’m ok with it as long as it doesn’t infringe on my beliefs as a Christian.

While I’m not voting Republican this year, I still believe in some of the core conservative beliefs that the party “supposedly” holds dear, and I don’t appreciate some website trying to make all Republicans out to be wacky, gun toting, homophobes.

Now today’s entry is about fear ads plain and simple. The left isn’t the only side out planting the seeds of terror into the American people. Both sides have run some pretty nasty campaigns that essentially make the other candidate sound like the worst thing since AIDS. Politicians need to learn the simple statement taught to most kindergarteners everywhere; “When you point the finger at someone else there are usually three more pointing back at you” the thumb doesn’t count because it usually points somewhere totally different.

What we have done is foster the notion that in order to survive politically we need to point the finger and blame someone else for the country’s woes. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with saying that someone’s approach needs work, there’s also nothing wrong with pointing out what hasn’t worked in the past and offering solutions to improve it, but the demonizing and negative campaigns do NOTHING to fix the problem. To quote yet another school yard proverb, “If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem”. You have to love those nuns for telling you this stuff every time you do wrong.

So what exactly is wrong with modern politics? Simple most of these guys will go out of their way to blast and put down the opposing party, and they will spare no expense to make sure that the American people see that person as a vile good for nothing. The political arena of today looks less and less like a competition between two intelligent people, and more like school yard banter. In truth both of our current parties are out there right now hoping to scare the election in their favor. Neither one is really saying what they intend to do to fix the problem, and answering any criticism their ideas might draw; instead they’re focused on tearing down their opponent. They’re focused on placing blame on their opponent, and making sure that the American people are too scared to vote for anyone else but them.

Let’s look at some of the comments coming from each side:

Democrats claim McCain is simply Bush in another body. They claim that he’s simply going to continue to ruin the country as Bush has done. The goal is to scare Americans to vote for someone who will change government, and not make things worse. In truth McCain has always been a bit out there, and on his own with respect to the Republican Party. He’s been courted by the Democrats, and is considered rather liberal by most conservatives. Personally I don’t like McCain enough to vote for him, but not for any of the reasons above. My problem with him is with his view on the war. I feel we should begin an orderly retreat, but also take into account that we cannot leave the people of Iraq in the mess we’ve put them. McCain is willing to stay in Iraq as long as it takes to win, and I for one don’t feel we can ever truly win in Iraq.

Republicans are trying to show Obama as too inexperienced for the position, and scaring Americans into believing that he’s going to raise taxes and make things worse for the country. Obama has been attacked because of his religious beliefs, his citizenship, and his acquaintances. In truth while I don’t believe in the principles of the Democratic Party as a whole, I do admire their desire to at least try something to fix the country. Will I vote for Obama? I don’t know now. YES that’s right I may just have been swayed. (<-- moment of insanity.), but that’s a blog for another day.

Today’s blog is simply a request to politicians everywhere. Please don’t bash the other party, tell me the problem, tell me your solution, let me decide if you’re worthy to lead, but don’t bash your opponent; it’s ugly, it’s petty and it’s beneath me. In truth it simply makes you look like a smaller person with something to hide.

Shopping for a party

Well it’s official, most of my friends and relatives think I’m either crazy or just wrong. About what you might ask. Well it seems my decision to not vote Republican or Democrat this year has gotten everyone to thinking that I’m wasting my vote. My Republican friends want to know how I can turn my back on my party and not vote for McCain. They seem to feel that by not backing McCain I’ve decided to back Obama. My Democrat friends, I don’t really have too many of those, but I have tons of Democrat family members, seem to think the same thing. Some of my Democrat family members don’t understand why I’m a Republican, or so conservative for that matter. So I’ve spent the last few days, since making my decision to vote either Libertarian or Constitution, defending my decision from all would be suitors.

Why have I chosen to vote third party? Well that’s actually a tough question to answer. Until recently I had never even heard of the Libertarian party. In fact I was pretty clueless about the plethora of political parties out there. I was floored when I looked at the various parties in my county alone, and started doing the research on them. For instance Florida has a British Reformed Sectarian Party. Now this guy is a total nut and his party is beyond racist. One of the actual requirements for joining is that you can’t be black. This is right from their website. “As stated in our Constitution and By-laws filed with the Florida Secretary of State, we do not allow Black people to join our party and you also have to be a Christian.” Now what kind of Christian doesn’t like black people? This guy will probably want to move if Obama wins. We also have the American Poor People Party (they don’t have a website), the Boston Tea Party of Florida (they also don’t have a site), and the Possibility Party (their website needs an overhaul). Needless to say I had quite a choice to make.

So on the advice of a friend I took the “Are you a Libertarian” test (I scored a 35, which makes me a moderate Libertarian). Now don’t worry I didn’t base my choice to vote Libertarian on a silly test, I based it solely on the candidate this election. It seems the Libertarian party has gotten themselves an ex-Republican to run on the ticket. After learning this I went to the Bob Barr 2008 website and started reading. Once I was done looking over Mr. Barr’s list of issues I went to several other sites that documented how he’d voted in the past. Now anyone who has read this blog before knows I’m against abortion, and while that may not be my top reason for voting for a person, it is high up there. Mr. Barr has a record of voting conservatively and in favor of life. In addition Mr. Barr voted against this recent bailout mess. In all honesty, his views seem to align nicely with my own in most cases.

Now more informed, I decided to look into another party that caught my attention, the Constitution party. I don’t know much about Dr. Chuck Baldwin, except for what’s on his website. From what I can read he is a pastor, and has a talk radio show in Florida. While I do like his stance on many of the issues on his site, his lack of experience is what bothers me. It is true that Washington does need a change, and it is possible that bringing in an outsider would be good for the country, but I honestly don’t feel that the time is right for that just yet. This country is embroiled in several major arenas at once. On the one hand we have a war and economic issues, which require experience and leadership. On the other hand we have partisan issues, which require someone with more political savvy than usual to solve. While I personally like Chuck Baldwin, and what he stands for, I am worried that someone without any Washington experience will simply get derailed, and that is not what this country needs right now.

It’s at this point that most of my friends and relatives chime in with “Why not just vote Republican or Democrat?” Well to be totally honest I don’t like either politician. I don’t really feel that either one will bring the kind of change this country needs to get back on track. In fact I feel that the recent bailout bill showed that Washington proper is out of touch with the people. In my opinion Washington regulars are living in their own little world secure and separated from the ills that plague this country. This latest vote proved it. Just as Congress was all set to vote yes, the people spoke and flooded their representatives with enough complaints to keep some of them from going along with the corporate welfare program, which would have only stalled the problem.

Do I believe Barr is any different? Yes I do. I’d like to think he left the Republican Party in disgust over the out of control spending, and meddling in other nations, which has begun the breakdown of our way of life. One of the things I most agree with the Libertarian party on is spending. Americans are always being told to keep their debt in check, don’t spend more than you have… Why should the government be any different? Are government standards different because government prints the money? Doesn’t making more money just cheapen the value of the dollar?

In effect I have chosen to expand my horizons. I have chosen to look outside the normal box. Does my vote not count? In my opinion my vote is only wasted if I don’t make use of it. As more and more Americans wake up to the realization that their elected officials either don’t care, or are too busy caring about making money, they too will begin to look elsewhere. My vote will not go to further the pockets of greedy banks, and wall street tycoons. My vote will not go to expand the role of government in our lives, or expand our role oversees. My vote will go to a party I can at least see eye to eye with, in the hopes that maybe they will remember that this is supposed to be government by the people for the people and not government for government.

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -- John Quincy Adams

And the Loser Is?

Wow Really $700 Billion with a B dollars to bail out the banks? Are we serious? Have we learned nothing from past mistakes? Are we really that dumb that we’re willing to drop into the same pattern that created this whole mess? The answer to that question is yes we are. And the answer to the title question is the American people.

Yes this country has a money problem, and yes this country is in a huge mess right now. And granted we cannot get out of this without the banks being healthy enough to get out of it, but what ever happened to CAPITALISM? What ever happened to the FREE MARKET we so love to sing praises about? How can we fix this mess without spending $700 Billion of taxpayer dollars? Simple FLEXABILITY! The one thing that banks have lost as a result of their fear is the flexibility to do business.

My proposal is simple:

First – Extend government backed loans to include current homeowners who want to refinance.

Second – Extend the life of the loans either in default or on their way to default status from 30 years to 50 years.

Third – Drop the interest rate for homes to 5% fixed for the life of the loan.

What does this little stunt do? It actually accomplishes quite a bit. Number one it allows people who are currently in a home to keep their home because their payments are now back down to reasonable levels. It also frees up money for these same people to spend and reinvest in our economy. Another way it stimulates the economy is by allowing the money being paid back to banks to be circulated through the economy. Finally this plan also allows people who may not own a home, or previously lost their home to reenter the market by getting a federally backed loan that they can actually pay back.

Within months the market will rebound and will allow banks to go back to doing business. Does this fix the problem right now? No it will take more than 48 hours, but it fixes the problem, it doesn’t provide a band aid that will only push the problem out another few years.

We’re borrowing from Peter to pay Paul the way Bush wants to do it. We’re increasing our debt, and burdening the taxpayers, some of which don’t even own a home. The American taxpayer is now paying for the mistakes of greedy corporations who are standing in line just waiting for their corporate welfare check to help them out.

Have we learned nothing from previous mistakes? Haven’t we learned that money given, and not earned simply takes away from the American dream? Bush got two things right last night. The American people do want to pay for their homes, especially when the alternative is a tent in some field. The second point he got right was that the government does have to do something, but NOT THIS!

The question I ask myself is why now? Why not last year, when everyone in America who had two brain cells could see we were headed for a recession? Why didn’t our leaders see this coming and act instead of sitting around blowing smoke up our rears and saying that things were great? The answer is simple; it hadn’t affected the very rich yet. You see back then it was just us poor folk getting the shaft. Now the rich are seeing their investments crumble, they’re watching and crying as their almighty dollar is worth less than it was. They trembling at the thought of watching their investment portfolios take a dump. That’s why Bush waited so long.

Is this going to actually fix the problem? Not in my eyes. This will simply free up money to allow the banks to get into more trouble, and require yet another massive bailout down the road. This is a band aid people, nothing more nothing less. This is yet another backroom, good ole boys club deal that will end up biting us in the rear. Will my solution fix the problem? Yes it will, I’m not an economist, but I know it will because it actually allows the people to pay back their loans. Sure the banks will have to tighten their belts for a few months until things stabilize, but sometimes hard lessons make the best teachers.

Am I my brother’s keeper?

My dad actually gave me this title as I was fishing around for topics to blog about. The argument I’m going to make is actually the result of an argument I had with my cousin. I kind of wanted to keep this blog about politics, and in the spirit of truth, I could care less about this years batch of politicians, so I’m going to stick to ranting about the issues. Today’s topic is Social Change. Are we really our brother’s keepers? My short answer is yes and no, so is that definitely maybe, or sometimes yes sometimes no? I’ll elaborate what I mean, but in my opinion we all need to care for our fellow human beings, just not in the way we’re currently doing it.

Homelessness

This is one social issue that really bothers me. Here we are one of the richest countries in the world, and always ready to drop ship food to some underdeveloped nation, but we can’t even keep our own citizens off the streets and fed. Growing up in NY I’d see them every day on the subway or in the street. We called them bums, most of them smelled like urine or worse, some begged, but some just slept and ignored you. The real nuts would wait until there were enough people and then they’d put on the show. They’d start with the story of how they got this way. They’d end by standing in front of you asking you for whatever change you could spare. Most of the time, I’d give them something just to have them go away. Of course the big argument is going to be that “Well some of those people don’t want help” And that is a valid statement, SOME DON’T, but that some is such a slim some that just happens to stand out, but they’re not the majority.

I was able to get to know a few homeless at my old church, and I learned something. Some of them just made wrong choices or had bad luck, and just ended up there. Once there they lost hope and couldn’t find their way back. The church I attended helps out at a local mission, and every Sunday they’d bus in several homeless men and women. Some would stay and with enough help reintegrate back into society. Some would just move on, never to be heard from again. All of them made an impact on someone’s life, some more than others, but to be honest, most of them didn’t want that lifestyle. It kind of just happened.

In today’s economy we seem to be spawning homeless at an alarming rate. In my area alone the local parks, which allow camping, seem to have a much bigger population. News reports in the area state that the problem has hit, not the nutty homeless guy, but whole families. Now everyone shares some blame in the housing loan debacle of the last few years, but there are real families, losing real homes, and living on the streets as a result. To me that’s unacceptable.

The question I wrestle with is; Should the government step in and solve the problem? If so how? Personally I’m for any approach that still requires repayment, and does not cost the government much out of pocket. For instance allowing people who are not first time buyers to refinance into a government secured loan and stretching out the loan period for 40 – 50 years. I would also suggest allowing the homeowner to skip the first 2-3 payments after they refinance, and spread those payments out throughout the first year. This will allow them to catch up on any bills that they may be late on, and truly give them a fighting chance. This would not solve homelessness, but would at the very least keep more people from ending up on the streets, and possibly give some of those families who did end up on the streets a second chance.

In truth we as Americans should do all we can do make sure all Americans have a safe place to live. We as Americans should do all we can to eradicate homelessness until all of those who do want to have a home or apartment have one. This can be done without becoming a tax burden. People can be assisted in finding work; people can be given low interest, long term loans. People can be put back on the path to achieving the American dream.

Healthcare

This was the debate that actually spawned this blog entry. My cousin is a democrat, yeah I know we can’t all be perfect. Anyway he and I were discussing the whole healthcare issue, and debating the finer points of Obama’s idea to provide free healthcare to all. Now whenever a politician starts throwing the word FREE around I get nervous. You see even in my short 37yrs on this planet I happen to know that NOTHING IS FREE. Everything comes at a price. Freedom is usually paid for in blood, families are paid through hard work and time, and homes are paid for in sweat. Either way someone somewhere is paying the price. All my life in church the pastor would say, “Christ’s gift of salvation is free” Yes it was free to me, but again Christ had to pay a price for it, so again nothing is free, and someone did have to pay.

Now I would love to have totally free healthcare, but I live in the real world where things are purchased with real money, by people who really work. In the long run FREE healthcare for all would accomplish one thing in this country, it would bankrupt us. As it stands this country is in serious debt. We don’t make much, but we owe quite a bit. Our Medicare and Medicaid systems should have shown us that whenever the government starts to throw money around, an unscrupulous company will arise to take advantage of it.

Some time ago my grandmother went into the hospital with a broken hip. She was treated for the amount of time that her Medicare would allow, and she was released into a nursing home to be rehabilitated. In the nursing home, she spent most of her day in bed and essentially got worse. She ended up with an infection, and the treatment, which was supposed to make her better, made her worse. The nursing home tried everything they could to stretch out her stay there. Any guess as to why? FREE MONEY!!! Good old Uncle Sam was paying for grandma’s expenses, and they were all too willing to cash the checks.

To me that’s a total crock. Whatever happened to doing no harm? Whatever happened to helping the sick get better? Healthcare has turned into a business, and like all business its bottom line is the almighty dollar. That is the problem with healthcare in this country. That is what’s raising the price for all of us. Our greed is making it difficult to make sure that the truly sick get the care they require to get better. My wife was recently admitted for some surgery, and the cost of pills in the hospital was actually humorous. Why do insurance companies allow a $5 Tylenol, when I could buy an entire bottle at the local Walgreen for that much?

My answer to this insanity, well not mine really, you can thank Rudy Giuliani for this one. Remove the strangle hold insurance companies have on corporations, and allow the insured to pick where they want to spend their money. Here’s how it works. My company shops for insurance. They go into the search knowing how much they want to spend on me each year, and pick the one that will have the least amount of impact on the company and the employee. Instead of doing that, they’d simply have to tell me how much they’re willing to spend, and I start to shop around for a provider. This approach does something sorely needed in today’s market; it drives competition. Thanks to the power of the internet I can now shop several hundred insurance companies at once, and find the one that’s right for me.

Now, this does nothing for the actual price of healthcare, but let’s actually look at those prices. As it stands most insurance companies pay a price over the patients deductible. This price is usually over inflated by the hospital because they too have their expenses. One huge expense is transcription services. Nuance, the company I work for (shameless plug), provides software services to convert speech to text. This saves hospitals millions each year in transcription costs. Several companies provide paperless systems, something touted by Hillary Clinton, but also another great idea to cut costs, and help the ecosystem. Another great money saving tip, stop ordering unnecessary exams. Some exams are required to get a good diagnosis, but some are just a waste of time and money. Finally what’s with the 500% markup on everything. Why should I pay $5 for one pill when I can get that same pill for $.50 at the pharmacy? Why do hospitals charge $3 – 5 for a silly comb that is purchased in bulk and costs the hospital $.30? They do this because they can get away with it.

The current system allows for hospitals to overcharge their patients, and the insurance companies. This raises the price of insurance, which raises premiums, which then gives hospitals the excuse to raise their prices. It’s a never ending cycle and under the Obama plan it’s just going to continue. Again the answer is not to give free, but to solve the actual problem. A big issue I have with the Democrats is that their answer to all of society’s woes is to raise taxes, and open the purse strings. Well that only leads to huge taxes and a society that is dependant on the government rather than independent. When you create a dependency like that you simply expand the problem rather than solve it. Sure the short term issue of people without medical care is solved, but the long term issue won’t be seen for years to come.

Education and Self Esteem

What this country needs more than anything else is improved education. We need to restructure how we teach our children. We need to focus on actually teaching them and not simply giving them exams, and teaching them to pass the exams. We need to pinpoint a child’s interests and learning pattern early on in the child’s life, and determine how to best teach that child. Once we’ve taken care of the future we need to look to the present, and solve the problem that our current adult population has. You see it’s one thing to throw money at a problem, and another to waste it. Giving a person their lively hood does nothing for the person except enslave them. Pretty soon you start a cycle of people who live off of people because that’s just how they were taught.

Yes Sen. Obama, people do need hope, but not the kind of hope that someone will swoop in and save the day with handouts and freebees. They need self esteem, they need to know that they are part of something bigger, and that they can achieve their dreams if they work for them. To do this they need education. They need to know how to read, write, use computers, and do basic math. They need the kind of hope that only comes from knowing that I John Q. Public am in charge of my own destiny, not my government. I can decide and learn to do for myself, and not rely on someone else. That is the freedom which provides true hope.

Growing up in NY taught me a lot about the welfare system. Everywhere I looked people went through life depending on someone else. Mothers had daughters, who had daughters all on welfare, because it was there, it was safe, it was what they knew. Quite a few of the people I knew dropped out of school early, had babies and restarted their cycle, never knowing that there was something bigger and better outside of the tri-state area. Most of these people voted Democrat because the Democrats are for the little people. They help out the average Joe. Well that may be how this all started, but what we’ve ended up with is a society born and raised into dependence. Education to them is a joke because government will provide. Hard work is for suckers because government will provide.

We the people of the United States of America have taught ourselves is to depend on someone else instead of to improve our own situation. With this dependence comes inadequate education, sub standard living conditions and a ghetto mentality. Public assistance goes from giving the person a hand up to putting the person down. Those within the system come to be known as the poor, the leaches of society, and most cannot hold their head up high to say that they earn their own way.

The hope I’m speaking of will take money, but money well spent in the right place. Money spent on quality education which brings out the various talents that might otherwise remain dormant. Yes the poor have talents too. They can do for themselves, and can strive and achieve greatness if we only give them a real chance. There’s a proverb that says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” I think it’s about time we start to follow this wise saying and start educating those who have all the potential in the world without any direction. I think it’s time we stop making excuses for them and ourselves and get everyone together to work hard as one America together. That is true hope that lasts, true hope that will carry future generations to greatness instead of leaving them wallowing in the pit of mediocrity.

Only after our society is reeducated to fend for ourselves will we be able to really and truly solve poverty, homelessness, medical costs, and all of the things that plague us without creating a burden that society can not and should not carry. So yes I am for hope. I am for change, but only if it’s change for the better and not change for the worse. And yes we should be our brother's keepers. We should mind our extended family and help them to prosper, but we should do it through education and independence, not through handouts and dependence on us.

Truth, Consequence and Choice

Growing up I was taught that there were only two acceptable reasons to take a human life. The first was in defense of myself or someone else, and the second was in defense of my country. This has pretty much stuck with me all of my life which is why I don’t get the whole abortion thing. First let me say that I don’t think ANY politician in our lifetime will ever do anything about abortion. They can’t, it’s too hot an issue. Let’s face it since Roe v Wade we’ve had over 20 years of Republicans rallying against abortion, and yet here we are killing over 40 million babies per year.

Yes I said babies, and yes I said killing. The American people have been sold a falsehood by saying that this is an issue of rights. Liberals will say that abortion is about the right of a woman to do as she pleases with her body, the choice of a woman to be a mother, or not be a mother. It’s not; Abortion is an issue of consequences nothing more nothing less. As Americans began experimenting with “free love” they found out that this experimentation came with one minor setback. Free love isn’t so free when you have to raise a baby as a result. What to do, what to do, “oh we’ll end the pregnancy”, “but we can’t it’s against the law”, “then let’s change the law”. You see this is less about the right about a woman to do with her body as she pleases, and more with the removal of consequence for having sex.

Newton’s third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This means that everything that happens has a consequence. Now when applied to sex, this is not always true, but there is that possibility. There is, almost always, the possibility that the consequence of sex is pregnancy. We Americans love to have the government pass laws and absolve us from our consequences. “Yes I killed him your honor, but I was insane at the time”, “Yes Mr. President we loaned millions of dollars to people we knew could never pay it back, and now we’re broke, but we’re in a jam now and need government money.” The U.S. government is used to stepping in and helping its citizens, why should this be any different? The difference is that this is a HUMAN life being taken, and it should not be treated as casual when you commit premeditated murder.

But abortions go on and the excuses for allowing them have gotten better each year. Let’s look at them and do some quick math.

There are approximately 42,000,000 abortions performed each year worldwide.

First Argument: “What about the mother who will die if she doesn’t get an abortion?”
Total done per year 6% of all yearly abortions or 2,520,000

In my opinion this is probably the only valid reason to have an abortion. Personally I don’t feel loosing both mother and child is worth the risk, especially when the mother has other children who will be left behind if she dies.

Second Argument: “What about the cases of rape or incest?”
Total done per year 1% of all yearly abortions or 420,000

Personally I don’t feel that taking the life of an innocent child makes the rape go away, or somehow helps the victim anymore, but I’d even be willing to concede this if only to stop the other 93% of the abortions done per year.

So what does this mean? Even if we were to only allow abortions for those two reasons alone we would wipe out 39,060,000 abortions per year. These abortions are done for no other reason than the child is unwanted. Every year millions more babies are killed and women everywhere hold on to this right to kill, simply because they’d rather not deal with the consequences of their actions. Why are they allowed to do this? Simple, it’s their right to their bodies. But is that really a true statement? Am I allowed to take my own life? No, in fact if I try and fail I’ll end up in some psychiatric ward until I can convince the doctors that I won’t try again. A teenage girl cannot get a tattoo or get medical attention for a broken leg without some sort of parental consent, but she can get an abortion. Abortion is not and has never been about a woman’s right to her body. Abortion is, was, and ever shall be about ducking consequences.

If you ask the average American if slavery was bad, you’d get a flat out yes. If you ask them why they think it was bad you’d get the standard answer of “No one has the right to own another person?” I can’t help but wonder if in 200 years people will say the same about abortion. You see if we could go back to pre-civil war days and ask those slave owners why they feel they have the right to own slaves, they’d come up with a slew of answers. “Blacks aren’t really human”, “The Bible doesn’t say anything against slavery”, but underneath it all, deep down inside that slave owner would feel that it’s his right to own that slave. It’s his right because no one has ever shown him how wrong it truly is. Just because the government allows us to do something does not make it right, it just makes it allowed. Early on in human history slavery was allowed, and encourage; it was free labor, but worldwide it is now look down upon. How long until abortion falls into that same category? How long until abortion is seen for what it really is, plain old premeditated murder.

Every year we the hypocrites of these United States spend tons of money on the greatest irony of all. Every year billions are spent searching for life (NASA), while we on earth extinguish our own future lives. You see the next common argument for abortion is that abortion does not take a life, since the embryo is not actually “alive”. Let’s examine that asinine statement for a second. We spend billions of dollars every year searching for signs of even single celled organisms throughout our universe. Scientist get excited when they find traces of some simple organism on a rock light-years away. Those findings make headlines all around the world. “Traces of life found in space!” “The possibility that life existed on Mars”

How are we supposed to accept that these things, these simple organisms, which are not, and will never, ever have the potential to be anything more than they are or where, are more valuable to us than our own offspring? Those organisms will never become an FDR, JFK, MLK, Gandhi, Einstein, Mozart, or a Michelangelo, yet they make headlines. What about all of those millions who have died since 1973? Where are their headlines? Why are we so intent to find life on other planets when we can’t even keep alive the life we have here? God help those alien life forms when we do find them. If for some reason they don’t measure up to our “standard” of alive we’ll extinguish them just as we have our children.

We feel it our right to extinguish life simply because we cannot stomach the thought of paying the consequences for our actions. Slave owners felt it was their right to own people because they couldn’t stomach the thought of paying for labor, or better yet getting off their butts and working. How long before we stop looking to murder as a viable alternative to real birth control? Why should babies pay the price for our inability to wear a condom, consistently lake the pill, buy and IUD, or any of the other number of birth control methods available? They shouldn’t and we as Americans should stand up like we did prior to the civil war. Back then Americans took a stand for the rights of the slave. Americans said enough to the owning of another person and made a change for the better. We Americans have to stand up and tell the government, both Republicans and Democrats alike, that we’re tired of them using this as a polarizing issue. We need to let them know that it’s not anyone’s right to take a life, and that “We the People” want Roe v Wade overturned.

This will not happen as long as Americans feel it their right to take a human life. This will not happen as long as Americans continue to see the embryo as just a thing, instead of what it really is. For those Americans sold on the falsehood that life begins at birth, lets look at some facts.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embryo

Week 1-3 5-7 days after fertilization, the blastula attaches to the wall of the uterus endometrium. When it comes into contact with the endometrium it performs implantation. Implantation connections between the mother and the embryo will begin to form, including the umbilical cord. The embryo's growth centers around an axis, which will become the spine and spinal cord. The brain, spinal cord, heart, and gastrointestinal tract begin to form.

Week 4-5 Chemicals produced by the embryo stop the woman's menstrual cycle . Neurogenesis is underway, showing brain activity at about the 6th week. The heart will begin to beat around the same time. Limb buds appear where the arms and legs will grow later. Organogenesis begins. The head represents about one half of the embryo's axial length, and more than half of the embryo's mass. The brain develops into five areas. Tissue formation occurs that develops into the vertebra and some other bones. The heart starts to beat and blood starts to flow.

Week 6-8 Myogenesis and neurogenesis have progressed to where the embryo is capable of motion, and the eyes begin to form. Organogenesis and growth continue. Hair has started to form along with all essential organs. Facial features are beginning to develop. At the end of the 8th week, the embryonic stage is over, and the fetalstage begins.

Every year doctors all over the country find ways to keep premature babies alive. As time passes and technology improves, science finds a way to save lives earlier in a woman’s pregnancy, while politicians push harder to kill those same lives at later stages in a woman’s pregnancy. Am I the only one who finds this both hypocritical and ironic? Science fights for the women who want the consequence of sex, while politicians fight to relieve women of the consequences of sex.

People need to understand that abortion is NOT birth control, sex has consequences, and men and women everywhere need to step up and take responsibility for their actions. Just as it takes two to make a baby, it also takes two to prevent a baby from being conceived. Men and women must step up and stop being ignorant and lazy when it comes to protecting against unwanted pregnancy. Humanity has come a long way from the days of people owning people, but we still have quite a way to go in assigning a value to human life. It is not our right to kill a life to keep our comfort level, just as it is not our right to own a life to keep our comfort level. I wonder if in 200 years, when science has progressed further, will future generations look down on us with as much disdain and disgust as we have for slave owners of our past. Will they think us the ignorant fools that we are for allowing the murder of our most precious resource?