Follow the Money

Here's a quick question before getting into this one: If gas prices were to hit $5 a gallon before November 4th, who would get a 'bump' in the presidential election? Personally, I think the more people have to pay at the pump, the better Obama looks. With that in mind, here's are some observations I've made recently.

Labor Day came and went, and our local gas prices stayed the same.

The Dow lost 500 points, the prices of a barrel of oil went up $10, and our local gas prices stayed the same.

Hurricane Ike slammed the Southeastern U.S., knocking out a refinery or two, and our local gas prices stayed the same. [Now, Ike did cause a run on gasoline and a subsequent shortage in the immediate area. But usually when a refinery goes down anywhere, the oil companies raise their prices everywhere in the country.]

Why is it that the "normal" fluctuations that gasoline prices usually have are not apparent lately? I think it's a rather commonly held belief that gas prices quickly shoot up on any negative news, then fall down slowly (if at all). Odd that they are not reacting to major catastrophes, financial woes, or even the cost of oil itself.

Of course, nothing is really odd if you believe that the oil company execs are holding the price still to help the candidate that they think will help them the most. That alone is enough to decide my vote. I want the guy that they don't.

Fight the Smears

The following is a copy of an e-mail that I drafted recently to a friend who was getting riled up about "facts" that she thought were the final straw of the Obama campaign. We now return to the program, already in progress...

Dear [friend],

Since I had never heard of the quotes that you were referring to during our last phone conversation, I looked them up after we hung up. Here is a page that describes (in context) which quotes are real and which aren't.

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/obama-books.htm

And here's another:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/ownwords.asp

The short answer regarding the one about "siding with the Muslims" says basically that Arab-Americans in this country deserve the same laws as the rest of us, and that people should not be attacked on the streets (or prejudiced against in stores, at the airport, at religious services, etc) solely because of their ethnicity/religion.

After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese (and Chinese and Korean and Philippino) people of America were all gathered together and locked up in internment camps. These were people that had lived here all their lives and had no connection with Pearl Harbor. Fear caused the gov't to round them up and sit on them. What Obama was saying was that we should not repeat that mistake.

If an "ugly turn" takes place and people started randomly attacking Muslims within this country for no other reason than that they were Muslim, Obama said that he would side with them, the victims, for being attacked. That makes sense to me. Attacking someone just because of their skin color is a hate crime; it should not be endorsed.

Anyway, that was the gist of it. You mentioned checking your own facts, but I know you're slammed for time. I'd be more than happy to look this stuff up for you and you know I'll be truthful. In the past, I've even had to point out negative stuff about my favorite candidate because I don't think anyone should get a pass on important stuff. Good luck with [your kid] this week; hope things get better with his [issue].

The important thing to remember is that if something sounds incredulous, it probably is. At least look it up before passing it on. Especially to me. :)

Remember the Fallen

It's been seven years. In that time, I met and married my wife and had my first child. I've lost some grandparents and some friends. I'm still driving the same truck and going to the same job, but many of my co-workers can't say the same because of lay-offs.

We set off to route out the Taliban from Afghanistan, then attacked Iraq for no publicly-discernible reason. While losing over four thousand men and women, billions of dollars, and thousands of limbs, we've all but forgot those that attacked us. Those that are still out there, planning.

We owe it to the people lost on that day to keep America the shining promise that it was when we were attacked. Guarding our own civil liberties, guaranteeing rights to those we charge with crimes, protecting those who are under attack for no other reason than being there. These are all traits that America can admire in herself, even if some of the occupants resent them.

We need to stand up for ourselves and for our nation. We need to echo Barack Obama's call that "Enough is enough!" We've been swindled of our hopes and dreams, money and security, friends and family. This administration has taken it all for their own needs, and they weren't altruistic ones.

Raise your voice to those that must hear it. Demand that news companies once again produce journalism. Push yourself to read and understand, if you don't yet. Take an interest in the world around you besides your own. Inform the President that you DO NOT APPROVE of his actions, and of his failures to act. Volunteer for your local Obama or other Democratic candidate's campaign office. These are only some of what you can do to help remember the fallen.

Musings from the Democratic Convention

Some interesting items, at least to me:

Sheryl Crow Warms Up the Crowd

Didn't I see Lance Armstrong at a McBush fundraiser? Weren't Sheryl and Lance an item until, say August, 2006? I wonder if their fundamentally different political views influenced that at all...

Obama Will Lower Taxes for 95% of American Families

Plain and simple. And for the mouth-breathers out there having difficulty understanding this statement, I'll say this. We have a HUGE national debt, thanks in large part to George W. Bush and his embezzlement of funds occupation of Iraq. We need to pay it. Taxes bring in money to pay for it. Taxes also pay for road maintenance, schools, some school lunches, bridges that don't collapse, welfare, Social Security, county hospitals, clean air protection, drinking water, food safety, disaster relief, refugees, government worker paychecks, gasoline subsidies, food subsidies, the Army, the Marines, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the National Reserve, Immigration and Naturalization Services, regulation enforcement of businesses, research grants, and with any luck, they'll soon pay for your chemotherapy or kidney transplant. But let's, for a moment, put that aside and say "Taxes are bad!" Obama is promising to lower your taxes, and raise taxes for companies that make more than millions in profit. That is not small business. That is not medium business. That is great, big, mother-fucking businesses that make gobs and gobs of cash, some while even receiving gas subsidy money from the government!

No Foreign Oil in 10 Years

Reminiscent of JFK's goal of a moon landing in a similar length of time, our generation must step up to the plate and do what our fathers and grandfathers did: Answer a call to service. This is a lofty goal, but it is achievable. If you're saying that Americans CAN'T do something, I would like to ask you which one of us sounds un-American? Great advances have already been made, but are being suppressed in large part by rich people who have a financial stake in America failing to do this. We're not all the way, but we'll get there a hell of a lot faster if we don't have to run their obstacle course in the process.

Greta Van Susteren's Best Quote EVER!

During the post-convention wrap up, she said to the viewers regarding going to commercial, "We'll be breaking news all night." No truer words were ever spoken. I think Fox News breaks news all the time.

• They cannot seem to get party affiliations correct on the crawl, mislabeling (alleged) pedophile Republican Mark Foley as (D-FL).

• They cannot accurately report something as simple as a man's religion (a Google search of "obama muslim site:foxnews.com" returns over 99 pages of results).

• They cannot accurately report Paul Begala's early affiliation with Hillary Clinton's Primary campaign, with Fox anchor Major Garrett repeating that Begala joined it, citing "unnamed sources", even with Begala himself privately e-mailing the Fox anchor and telling him that his sources are wrong. Major continued to defend his reporting, saying "[t]he sourcing is strong, very strong..." Ha!