BREAKING...OBAMA WINS FIRST CONTEST OF ELECTION DAY!

Obama has won Dixville Notch 15-6, the first Democrat to do so since 1968!

May it be a better predictor of the state of New Hampshire than it was in the primary (or 1968, for that matter).

The bigger news is that Election Day 2008 has begun. Only 6.5 hours until polls open here in the Land of Lincoln.

Game On!

An Open Letter to ALL Voters

Dear fellow Voters of the United States of America,

If you have already voted, whether at early voting locations or by mailing in your absentee ballot, no need to read further. You have done your duty as an American citizen, and now is the time to get those who have yet to vote for your candidate to the polls.

It is very likely turn out tomorrow could be very high, especially in the various swing states that will decide this election. Lines could be long, and it might be easy for you to get discouraged, especially those of you who are hourly workers. This is understandable, as waiting in line is not one of the most enjoyable activities.

To those who might decide to skip voting tomorrow because of this, I just have one thing to say...

STAY IN THE FREAKING LINE!

Whether you support Obama, McCain, Barr, Nader, Paul, or any of the many other candidates on the ballot, just remember one thing...

STAY IN THE FREAKING LINE!

Democracy isn't easy, and sometimes it takes personal sacrifice to make it work. If that sacrifice is waiting in line, through good or bad weather, to take part in deciding our national interest, then so be it.

The decisions made in that voting booth will shape the path that our nation takes over the next two years, and in some cases even longer. Everything from the education of our children to the makeup of the Supreme Court depends upon you doing your duty at at polling place.

I know it can be hard to wait in line. Some places will be cold, others will be far too hot. Many line locations will be baking in the sun, while many others will be drenched with rain or covered in snow. You might get hungry or have to go to the bathroom. If so, have someone hold your place, or at the very least accept that you have to go to the back of the line. Nonetheless, please remember to...

STAY IN THE FREAKING LINE!

Decisions are made by those who show up. This is the simple truth of the matter, and is the foundation upon which our system of government is built. Don't like what the other candidate believes? Make sure you get to the polls and...

STAY IN THE FREAKING LINE!

Let me finish up by saying that this has been a grueling campaign trail, stretching back almost two years ago. We've been through many debates, lived and died by far too many polls, and spent far too much time caring what Nate Silver, Rachel Maddow, Pat Buchanan, and Al Giordano have to say. Tomorrow is the end of the line, at least for a little while. We all have but one duty left to do, and it is the one that makes all of the other crap worth it. So with that, I leave you with one last thought...

STAY IN THE FREAKING LINE!

Obama's Tax Plan

For those of you who are curious about Obama's Tax Plan, here it is in all of its details.

Simply put, this plan is far from the big bad old Marx. It gives 95% of American workers (none of those pesky "welfare queens" here) a tax cut of $500 per worker.

In addition, seniors making less than $50,000 will pay no taxes.

The big bad tax burden that supposedly is Obama's sinister plan to destroy the landed gentry? He will let the Bush tax cuts expire, moving the wealthy back up to a 39% instead of 36% tax bracket. In addition, the wealthy (to an extent) will have to pay a bit more into Social Security.

What about small business owners, like the hypothetical situation tied to Joe the fake Plumber? Remember that $250,000 figure is on net income, not gross revenue. If you take home $150,000 from your business, even though it has $2,000,000 in revenue, you still fall in to the tax bracket that will benefit. In addition, your startup or small business will not have to worry about capital gains taxes, and can benefit from tax credits for keeping employment here in the United States.

Obama's plan is sound, its equitable, and it will work. The rich will still be rich, and the rest of us might be able to find it just a little bit easier to succeed. The Obama administration would be best positioned to keep the American dream alive for all Americans, and not just those with money or connections.

On Sarah Palin

With election day just one doggone week away, you betcha I've got something to say about Joe...er...Sarah Palin. Now while I admit that I'm a fan of her accent, there are several things that, for a lack of more appropriate word, disturb me. First of all is her complete opposition against abortion. I understand that this is not anything new, but to not even consider the effect on a woman's rights to her body is a slap in the face to everyone who saw Roe v. Wade as a victory. Now, I don't mind people being pro-choice. I understand their reasoning. However, the idea that outlawing an abortion, even for extreme situations, is going to STOP abortion is just outright insane. When you oppose the legality of abortion, effectively you are opposing the opportunity for a woman to be in a safe, hygenic environment instead of a dark back alley with a coat hanger. On a different note; don't even get me started on the irony of advocating abstinence only education in schools. I was hoping her teenage daughter's pregnancy would be enough to show that knowledge is more important than dogma, and yet somehow she spinned it into trying to back up her logic. No doubt she's tought young Bristol well.
Should I go into "Dude" Palin? No? The moose hunting from a helicopter? Well, let me just say...I think the Beverly Hillbillies is a classic show but I wouldn't want the Clampetts in the White House. Swimmin' pools and politicans indeed. Now that I think of it, Palin's similarities to Jethro Bodine is just astounding.
Let's talk about the VP debate. While I grant that she did well, she didn't do well on her own. She was rehearsed, trained, and sounded more like she was reciting than truly speaking. I may sound like an elite liberal when I say this, but I also preferred Biden's "kitchen table" analogy over "Joe Six-pack" to represent the average American lifestyle.
As an environmental biology major, her "drill, baby, drill!" logic just makes me cringe completely. The only saving grace is that she wants to do it offshore...but ultimately whats next is going for the payload situated right under National Parks. Lobbyists have been trying to get resources out of parks before and this is nothing new, but I can see it escalating with having such a drilling gung-ho in office. Let me take a time out here to say something else: The thing that gets me is that this election I've noticed how oh-so cleverly "independence from foreign oil" has been played around by all sides. What REALLY should be focused on is independence from oil PERIOD. However, thats simply an ideal of my own and I can't realistically expect any politician to take that stance and still win an election.
Palin's readiness to joke about Obama's lack of experience is just frustrating, simply because she usually then throws in "as mayor of Wasilla.." which to me speaks no more than saying "oh I was President of the Student Body in college!" She also touts Alaska as the biggest state in the Union without mentioning that it has one of the smallest populations. I read somewhere the hypocrisy of a white woman attending 5 schools and not being called on it while if a black man did the same it would do nothing more than perpetuate a stereotype.
On a final note before I get rambling too much (more)...the insane logic behind those bitter die-hard Hillary supporters who turned to McCain-Palin...excuse me....Palin-McCain because of the idea that a uterus would be in the White House. Never mind what Palin stands for is a stark contrast from Clinton or that their hero Clinton has now enthusiastically endorsed Obama. I have no doubt in my mind that the minds behind the McCain campaign picked Palin largely because of her gender. The joke may be on them though; she's such a MAVERICK she's starting to piss them off too.

Scary Story from Rolling Stone

This story from Rolling Stone is very troublesome. I hope that the crap doesn't hit the fan, and cause the wrong candidate to win.

A request for Ms. Pfotenhauer and Gov. Palin

Dear Ms. Pfotenhauer and Gov. Palin,

I have to ask that you repeat your recent comments. You see, I missed them as I drove through the dimensional barrier between Mahomet, IL (Real America) and Champaign, FIL (Fake America) on my way to work today.


What's that? I can't hear you, it must be my fake American ears.

Jon Stewart said it best, and much more succinctly than a 2000 word rambling mess from me could.

On the Economy

After a discussion with a friend of mine yesterday, I got to thinking about economic politics. He was hesitant about Obama's economic plan, and I was trying to convince him of its soundness. After a while we agreed that the matter was complicated, and that something needed to be done. But before we came to that, he offered up some of the GOP's tried and true talking points.

Look, I'm a fan of the free market. For the most part it does its job well, rewarding good business activity, and punishing poor business activity. Although it has some glaring weaknesses (health care, education, environment, workers rights), it is much better than state run disasters such as the U.S.S.R.

The people of the United States like thinking this is a nation built on meritocracy, that it matters more what you do than what your father did. We have been raised to believe that with some hard  work, common sense, and a little luck and ingenuity we could succeed. 

But it is becoming harder and harder to achieve the American Dream. The discrepancy between the rich and poor has been growing steadily since the Reagan/Bush era, with only a temporary respite during the 90s. In fact, of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations, only Mexico and Turkey have a worse rich/poor discrepancy during this decade. The poor get poorer and the rich get richer, while the ever shrinking middle class struggles to hang on to what they have.

We have many issues facing our country, many problems to solve. But we will never solve them unless we move past the outmoded arguments of the past. 

Barack Obama's tax plan is a fair one. In exchange for a little higher taxes for the wealthy, 95% of the country will see their tax burden become lower. This total includes all but about 1% of small business owners, who will also see some other significant tax breaks. Joe the Plumber (who has been revealed as nothing more than a GOP shill) and his $40,000 salary would benefit significantly under Obama's plan. As the $250,000 would be net income from a small business, not revenue, it is very likely that he could still benefit once he bought his business.

In response to this, the GOP has brought out their old line of attack that has been around since at least 1980. Namely, that the poor are lazy welfare queens driving gold Cadillacs over the backs of the hard-working and earnest rich folk. This seems to play well with the low information working class voters, who have much more in common with the poor than the rich. 

The idea that there is an epidemic of women gaming the system to live high on the hog off of welfare is nothing but a urban myth. Using the obvious shortcomings of the welfare program, Reagan was able to turn people against the poor, and make them weary of any program meant to help those who live at the bottom of the economic ladder.

While there are certainly some poor people who do try to game the system (as if there aren't wealthy people who do the same thing), the vast majority of poor people are hard workers. They have to be, as the national welfare system was essentially scrapped by President Clinton and the GOP Congress in 1996. Many work two or three jobs, trying to keep up with their bills and give their children the best job possible. Despite the fact that they don't pay taxes, the extra money they will earn as a tax credit from Obama's plan could go far in feeding or clothing their children. 

So what is the solution? Clearly, the "trickle-down" philosophy of the Reagan/Bush/McCain Republicans is not working out for those on the bottom, even if it has helped those on top. Just as undesirable is a return to the bureaucratic mess that was the welfare state in the 1970s. Somehow there has to be a way we can combine the best of the free market with the best of pro-active government action. 

Whatever the solution, it is certain that Republicans and Democrats, young and old, rich and poor, should be involved. No matter our political leanings or wealth, this is our country, and it is about damn time we started taking responsibility for it.  Barack Obama has shown more promise in regards to bringing us together to solve these issues. This is one of many reasons why I am supporting him in his bid for the President of the United States.