Obama/Biden 2008!

So it's Biden. Although I'm a bit disappointed that the campaign did not manage to keep a lid on things so that those of us who signed up for the alerts would actually find out first, at least it's not like they didn't try. The official announcement will still come that way, I believe, and you can't always control Secret Service leaks.

All things considered, I'm reasonably happy with this choice. It's been a long time since I gave up on my ideal candidates (Gore, Feingold), and I think this is the best of the options we'd been seeing. Biden is a bit of a loose cannon, but in a lot of ways that's a really good thing in a vice presidential candidate. He'll sound off about all the things wrong with McCain, and he'll do so in his engaging and charming way. He completely counterbalances the experience and foreign policy issues, and in fact probably beats McCain on foreign policy (well technically it's not like McCain really has a lot of foreign policy experience, but perceptions still matter). The worst the other side will be able to throw at him is probably the overblown, not entirely true, plagiarism story from 20 years ago (Keating Five, anyone?), the bankruptcy bill (which, ok, was horrible, but I imagine McCain voted for it as well), and some comments about Obama. Of course, once McCain picks Romney, I imagine we'll be able to find similar quotes. Plus, Biden's liberal. And he's great on women's issues (e.g. Violence Against Women Act). Good call, Obama.

The Supreme Court

Something that I think is being lost in the discussions about these elections is the drastic impact it will have on the future makeup of the Supreme Court. Currently, there are four right-leaning justices, four left-leaning justices, and then the swing vote, Kennedy. In the next four years, at least one of those left-leaning justices is likely to retire, and it could be as many as three. None of the right-leaning justices seem likely to retire soon, nor Kennedy. So, if McCain wins and is able to nominate new justices - even just one - the balance of the Court will swing decidedly to the right. This could cause all sorts of problems, most notably overturning Roe v. Wade. Who knows what other horrible damage a conservative court might inflict? Perhaps the right has simply succeeded in convincing the electorate that it's only left-leaning justices that "legislate from the bench," but everyone with experience in the legal system knows that it goes both ways. It seems to me that anyone out there who considers herself a moderate should be incredibly concerned at the possibility of putting McCain in office. I can only hope that the Obama campaign and the press will put more of a spotlight on this issue between now and November.

Lies and Liars

Why is it that the right always seems to lie more than the left in big elections? Or really just in general. I know I'm biased, but I'm pretty sure that we don't publish crap like the new Corsi book and then do massive buys so that it gets put at the top of the bestseller list. Perhaps we might stretch the truth a little, but McCain's Olympics ad has an outright falsehood about Obama's tax plans. Not to mention his hypocrisy in creating ads that make McCain appear to be a champion of renewable energy when he's missed every vote on the subject this year, and is promoting more drilling above all else as the solution to our energy problems.

What ticks me off the most about all of this is that I believe it is the media's job to expose this kind of dishonesty for what it is, and in this election cycle, the media has not performed that job at all. It is unthinkable that the media gives anything like a chance for Corsi and his ilk to peddle his lies as something that even deserves debate. It is even worse that when McCain started passing out tire gauges labeled "Obama's Energy Plan" the press laughed about it. Every article about that should have said that not only was that a complete mischaracterization of what Obama said, but that McCain was in every way wrong to suggest that Obama's solution would not in fact save more gas than McCain's drilling plan would provide. Not to mention that the media has done a horrible job of explaining the fact that this off-shore drilling idea would solve absolutely none of our problems for at least 7 years, and then would still probably only take a couple of cents off the price of gas, at perhaps horrendous environmental costs. I can accept that other people have different views about things like how much we should pay in taxes and what services the government ought to provide, but what I can't take is when people have different views about what the facts are. It is dishonorable for politicians or crazy propagandists like Corsi to spew these lies, but it is worse that journalists do not expose these lies and do their duty to the American public. Presenting both sides is not unbiased reporting when one side is flat out lying.

Olympics

I LOVE the Olympics. When they are going on, all I want to do is watch them and read about them. I've been like that about the Olympics since I was a little girl. I used to choose competitors' names for spelling words in elementary school. I screamed when Michelle Kwan fell in the 2002 Winter Olympics, and to some extent I'm still not over the fact that she never won an Olympic Gold. Other favorite past Olympians of mine include Victor Petrenko, Brian Boitano, Katarina Witt, Alexei Namoff, Dominique Dawes, Bonnie Blair, Michael Johnson, and the Dream Team. I even follow curling during the Winter Olympics.

This year is no different in terms of my love for the Games - I screamed when Alicia Sacramone fell on the floor routine in the women's gymnastics team competition, I've been cheering on our swimmers like crazy (almost broke my heart when the women's relay team didn't win the gold for the first time ever in the 4x200 free relay), and of course I've been thrilled with Michael Phelps's performance so far.

However, I have noticed something different. You'll notice that I've listed several foreign athletes among my favorites above. This year, I have realized that I haven't cheered on a single foreigner. I just want the Americans to win, and I even cheer against the other athletes, particularly the Chinese (who are ahead of us in the medal count!). I was almost happy when the Chinese gymnast fell off the beam, although I did feel bad when I saw her face. I've thought about this, and I think the reason for it is that I've seen almost no human interest stories or commentary about any of the foreign athletes. Perhaps this is just due to what I've happened to watch, but I seem to remember in times past that while the majority of stories were about Americans, there were plenty about foreign athletes, particularly from poorer countries. For whatever reason, I think it is a shame. The point of the Olympics is to bring us together as a world community and compete peacefully and in a friendly way. I feel like I am betraying the Olympic spirit when I cheer against the other countries' athletes, probably because I am. I'm not sure if this is just a personal problem or whether it's indicative of a change in Olympics coverage. Hopefully, this feeling will change, and perhaps there will be more stories soon about non-American athletes.

In the meantime, go Phelps, and go Nastia and Shawn!

Introduction

I'm writing this blog as an outlet. I could just comment on other people's blogs and news stories, but this way I don't have to wait till someone else writes a story about something before I can anonymously express my views all over the internet. Patience has never been one of my virtues.

I am a Democrat and I love politics. I am not religious, but I think I place a high emphasis on morality. I love America, but I think that our society has a lot of problems. In this blog, I plan to express my views on these problems - what they are, why they are, how they can be fixed. Obviously I don't have all the answers, but it almost never hurts to talk about things.