So, it looks like I won't be updating this as much as I hoped. Oh, well. Maybe I'll update it once in awhile.

Of course the big news that happened since my last post was the election of Barack Obama. I voted for Obama, and I'm happy that he won. As I've stated in other places, I think that both Obama and McCain are good, decent men and will do what they think is necessary to bring this country out of its many quagmires. But I would not vote for McCain for one reason: Sarah Palin. She represents the worst of the Republican Party; ignorance, arrogance, divisiveness, misinformation, evangelicalism, and greed. I hope the Republicans stuff her in a box. She has no qualifications or attributes that would lend her to a national office.

I have no problem with people who didn't vote for Obama because they disagreed with his policies. There's nothing wrong with believing that Obama's policies will force him to raise taxes more than he says. If you disagreed with some program Obama wanted to install, then your vote for McCain was justified. If you just liked McCain more, I can respect that. What I can't respect is all of the bullshit excuses and attacks tossed at Obama. It was like the Republican Party decided to throw as much garbage at Obama as they possibly could. He's a terrorist; he's a socialist; he's an Arab; he's a Muslim; he's an extremist; he engaged in voter fraud; he wasn't even born in America. None of it is true. Where did this come from?

1. Arab - His mother was born in Kansas. His father was born in Kenya. His father's father and mother were both born in Kenya. How does this make him Arab?

2. Muslim - His father was a Muslim, but then became an atheist. He converted to Christianity as a child. He attended the same church for 20 years.

3. Terrorist - Yes, William Ayers is a friend and political ally, but that shouldn't reflect on Obama. One of my college roommates was a flaming racist and took a shotgun to his ex-girlfriend's wedding. Should I be painted as a racist as well? Should I be considered an obsessive, potentially-murderous loon?

4. Voter fraud - Yes, Obama had a cursory association with ACORN . . . Years before 2008. What evidence do you have that Obama had in what happened this year?

5. Socialist - Well . . . I don't know when 'liberal' became associated with 'socialist,' but those people that think Obama's a socialist clearly have no fucking clue what a socialist is. A socialist wouldn't support the bailout bill and he wouldn't merely roll back the Bush tax-cuts of 2000. When Obama is taking your FULL paycheck and redistributing it, then you can claim socialism. When Obama nationalizes the banking industry under ONE federal bank, then you can claim socialism. Why is Obama a socialist now and why wasn't Clinton a socialist in 1992? The definition of 'socialist' and 'socialism' didn't change in the past 16 years. Also, this contradicts the claim that Obama is a Muslim. How can one be both a Muslim and a socialist? Hmm?

6. Extremist - Obama ran as a centrist - a politician everyone can believe in. Also his programs and proposals have been in place before or have been introduced before. He's not proposing NEW tax increases; he's calling for a rollback of previous tax cuts. His health-care plan is a compromise between what we have now and nationalized health-care Bill Clinton proposed in 1993. Also, he has already asked Republicans to be members of his Cabinet and staff. Compromise . . . Interesting.

7. Not American - This is my favorite. I have no idea who said this, but it's absolutely ridiculous. First off, whoever allows people to run for president must do some sort of background check on the candidates, and I assume that includes checking that candidate's place of birth. I'm guessing they just don't look at your driver's license and say, "Yup! Yer an American!" They probably require an actual birth certificate, and . . . I don't know, probably something more than that. Also, someone placed a birth notice in an Hawaiian newspaper for one Barack H. Obama on August 4th, 1961. That's awfully coincidental if he was born in Kenya. Some have claimed that this isn't 'proof.' While it may not be legal proof, it should be proof enough. It seems that some would claim that Obama's parents knew that their BI-RACIAL SON would run for president sometime after he turned 35 in 1961 -- a mere five years after the Montgomery bus boycott and years before the Civil Rights movement fully gained acceptance.

I have a couple of more points before I sign off -

Politics has become too much like sports. We root for our 'team' (our political party) more than we root for the betterment of America. We should vote for the best person for the job, not the political party they represent. McCain, I think, would have been very good at the job, but his selection of Palin as his running-mate proved that he wasn't the best person for the job.

We have become obsessed with affixing labels to people. And that is a problem. In a way, we have to affix these labels in order to understand . . . everything. But at the same time, it becomes imprisoning. When these labels are ascribed to someone or something, they immediately take on attributes of that name and we scrutinize them under those labels. So, when someone says that there is a 'liberal bias' or 'liberal media,' everything that a reporter or news station does becomes shaded by that label. It's like calling someone a pedophile. Pedophilia is probably the worst crime we have in our society. Sometimes, a person is called a pedophile without sufficient evidence. But that person has to live with that label affixed to them for the rest of their life. They will always be considered a pedophile whether they deserve it or not.

I have gotten into several arguments with someone who wallows in his ignorance. He proudly calls himself narrow-minded and close-minded. He says he sticks to his opinions and won't change them no matter what evidence contradicts his views. How can you be proud to be stupid? How can you be proud to be ignorant? Somehow, someway, intelligence, consideration, and contemplation became dirty words in America. Somehow, I'm not American or patriotic because I think and can speak and write well. Somehow, I'm an elitist because I read and try to improve myself. You're right, I'm not Joe Six-pack and I never will be, but that doesn't make my opinion - my INFORMED opinion - invalid. It doesn't make me un-American or unpatriotic. It doesn't give you the right to bully me into an opinion that conforms with yours. And just because you have an opinion, and someone else happens to agree with it, doesn't make your opinion fact.