Finger pointing

I have seen quite a few articles about how if McCain looses there is going to be a lot of scapegoating and finger pointing within his campaign. What I have been wondering is when are the Republicans going to start to point fingers at Bush - there just have to be a lot of Republicans who are furious with Bush and what he has done.

This is the first article I have seen where that anger is starting to come to the surface in detailed accusations: Top GOP-ers: It’s Bush and Rove’s fault

I'll bet its not the last.

Here it is

An extremely well written and "wholehearted" endorsement for Obama.
The Economist

Just to show I can

Here is a video critical of Obama, and it's hard to deny it is true.


(If video doesn't load, you can see it here)

It's interesting how when the opponent does something "wrong" we are up in arms, and when our own candidate does it we cringe and think to ourselves, well, the ends justifies the means. Politics is probably a lot like having kids. It has become so emotional, that we don't really see anything objectively. We can acknowledge that it is wrong, but it doesn't have nearly the same impact on us as it would if the opponent did it. (ie Obama's support of ACORN is scary and bad while McCain's support of ACORN is okay. (I had a much longer list of comparisons but decided to keep it at one :-)))

I certainly don't think the video above is reason to not vote for Obama, but I post it because I think it is important to acknowledge that neither candidate is perfect.

Borat had me laughing out loud

I liked this

It's political, but touching.

I wonder how the hell we got here

On Socialism

I find these recent accusations of socialism quite amusing. Living in Denmark, where the Conservative party would land somewhere to the left of the US Democrats on the political scale, the notion that the US is about to slide into socialism is comical. From my perspective, saying Obama is a socialist is kind of like accusing a Muslim woman of being a whore because she shows too much wrist.

But even if we pretend that the US is flirting with socialism, I get the feeling that most people don't even now what this big bad boogie-man is. Denmark is MUCH closer to socialism then I ever imagine the US could be (free health care, free education, extensive welfare, high taxes), and yet I don't recognize anything the Republicans are warning us about. People here still work hard, they can get rich, they can be poor, they start businesses, make a million, they go bankrupt, they choose their own doctor, use private hospitals, get breast implants, travel wherever they want, save money, spend too much, read and watch anything they want, get good educations, get little education, go to church, get married, have kids, enjoy life.

And the funny thing about it is, despite the fact that this socialist monster has apparently laid claim to Denmark, Danes are actually quite happy, and if you ask most of them if they think they pay too much in taxes, they say, "no" (I think the average person pays somewhere around 40% (but the graduated income tax goes MUCH higher)).

So, I don't think socialism is quite the boogie-man its made out to be. The ironic thing is, that most Danes would worry if you told them that Denmark is going to become like the US. This is actually something that can frustrate me living in another culture - that is that people seem to inherently think that their way is the best way (or the only way). Danes are often guilty of this, but I think in the States it has actually become a problem. We can learn from others, and we can learn from experience. If we are convinced that we are, without question and in all areas, the best, then we have only experience left. And as the saying goes, "Experience is a hard teacher..."

This isn't to say that the US should adopt anything from Denmark (or Europe) at all. I'm just saying, lets stop with the boogie-men, and try for a minute to look at what we are actually talking about.

All these words above, were really only meant to be a short introduction to this article, "Like, Socialism" , in the New Yorker.

Another endorsement

The Financial Times for Obama

There have been a lot of other papers endorsing Obama lately, but I am particularly interested in the ones that absolutely cannot be called "the liberal press" and who traditionally have a conservative view.

I thought this paragraph was interesting, because while Obama's critics disregard his speaking ability as little more than pretty words, it is much, much more than that.

Nor should one disdain Mr Obama’s way with a crowd. Good presidents engage the country’s attention; great ones inspire. Mr McCain, on form, is an adequate speaker but no more. Mr Obama, on form, is as fine a political orator as the country has heard in decades. Put to the right purposes, this is no mere decoration but a priceless asset.

I think there is a growing consensus that what America is going to need a lot of, soon, is inspiration.

And this commentary of McCain's behavior of late:

He has offered risk-taking almost as his chief qualification, but gambles do not always pay off. His choice of Sarah Palin as running mate, widely acknowledged to have been a mistake, is an obtrusive case in point. Rashness is not a virtue in a president. The cautious and deliberate Mr Obama is altogether a less alarming prospect.

Video Friday

I woke up this morning to a bunch of video's in my mailbox. They all made me smile, so I thought I would share them.


From Aunt Susie

Unbelievable McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off - Watch more free videos

From Lauren (takes a while to load)


From Luke

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Powell's endorsement

When I wrote the post below this one, I had only read excerpts of Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama, I hadn't actually seen it. Here it is below. I think he makes an excellent case to like minded Republicans who are worried about the direction of the party. I also thought his comments on Obama being a Muslim were excellent.

A Choice

I haven't posted anything in a while, and that is primarily for two reasons. The first is, I have been very busy. The second is, because I kind of feel like anything I post at this point, would be beating a dead horse.

In my opinion, Obama is clearly the better candidate, and McCain has done nearly nothing to show us that the next four years under his leadership will be different from the last 8, and I think the last 8 have been pretty scary. After 8 years, Bush's popularity is somewhere around 20%. For the 20% who think Bush is doing a good job, I'm sure nothing I can say would convince them otherwise (although, I might encourage them to dig a little deeper). For those who fall in the 80%, and are still considering voting for McCain, I can't help but think it is because of fear. I can't really relate to this fear. This fear, I am guessing, ranges from the crazy (Obama is a terrorist, or Obama is a closet Muslim who is going to turn the US into a Muslim nation) to the somewhat grounded (Obama is a tax and spend Democrat).

For those on the crazy end, first, I am sorry for offending you by calling you crazy. Second - SERIOUSLY! take a deep breath and ask yourself, "Do I really believe this, or do I want it to be true?". I mean, I'm sure if you are on the "crazy" end you are not going to vote for Obama anyway. Fine. But at least accept that he isn't going to take over the country and enslave all white people. He may have a different opinion than you, but he isn't some closet, manic Muslim, domestic terrorist, anti-white, un-American, socialist, communist, community organizer. Does that kind of shit happen anywhere but in really awful movies?

When Palin was announced as the VP candidate, I spent a morning reading all sorts of rumors about Palin's baby not really being hers. The truth is, there IS a lot of weird stuff there to feed the rumor mill, but after several hours of gleefully reading every little piece of evidence I could find, I stopped myself and said, "What the fuck am I doing!? SERIOUSLY! Do I believe this, or do I just WANT it to be true?" I found out that, of course, I just wanted it to be true. I wanted it to be true because it would be easy. If everybody could just be made to believe that Palin had faked her pregnancy to cover for her daughter's premarital sex, then Obama would win the election no problem.

It's the same thing with all of the crazy rumors about the Bush administration planning 9/11 so they could start a war. Nut cases on the far left want it to be true because they want to have a clean and easy way to get rid of Bush (and, more importantly, because they want to justify their dislike of Bush). Again, the truth is, if you start looking, you can find a lot of evidence to feed the rumors. But if you ask yourself, as an intelligent, thinking person, if you really believe it, I think you will say no.

Those who don't say no, those who let themselves be hoodwinked into believing absurdities, are those, quiet frankly, who end up in line shouting shit like this. I don't think any of us want to be in that company. So, if you are thinking stupid stuff, please stop, even if you disagree with Obama and aren't going to vote for him, stop!

And so, on to the those who fear Obama for more rational reasons. I would like to say, "Do you really think your worst fear could be worse than what we have now?" but that would be too easy. That would assume that you felt the same way I did about where Bush has brought us. I am well aware that my views are tainted by where I get my news (I get my news from the Internet, I'm sure most of the news I get has a liberal slant). All of our views are tainted such. We need to be aware of this, and we need to try to distinguish between what is, and what we have been presented, and then figure out what we think. But still, I am convinced that if any intelligent person spent time researching it, they would see that we were intentionally mislead into a war, that the Bush administration has abused their power, and that we have offended what it means be an American in the name of freedom (here I am looking at torture and the Patriot Act).

You may read this and think I am being reactionary. In response, I would say that I think if you spent three or four hours online, really looking into it, you will agree that we have been take to a very scary place in the history of our country. I won't even give you a starting point, just all on your own, start looking - I think you will be shocked at what you find.

I truly believe that Obama will take us away from all of that, and back to where we should be. I think this is what Colin Powell is talking about when he says an Obama Presidency would "electrify" the country and the World. Bush and fear has turned America into something it should not be (the terrified, unthinking mob that we see in the video I linked to above) and people are desperate to learn that America has only lost her way, and not become something else (something doomed). McCain and Palin's willingness to turn this election into and "US vs. NOT LIKE US" "AMERICAN vs. UN-AMERICAN" debate is evidence enough for me that they are not the ones to take the country back where is should be.

But again, I sense this argument is far to easy, and won't work. So, I defer to the other sensible conservatives. I'd like to start a list, because I bet it is longer than what I have here, But for now, I will defer to the Chicago Tribiune, who have not, in 161 years, endorsed a Democrat for president. This year, they endorse Obama. Or, William F. Buckley's son, a former writer for the National Review, who has also endorsed Obama.

I'm sure there are more, and more will come (I bet the Economist endorses Obama) - people who have the same principles of government as you, and yet still can see the reason for voting Obama. They may have had their fears (or still have them) but either decided that Obama is pragmatic enough so that their fears are largely unfounded, or, they simply realized the danger of continuing what we have now is much worse than anywhere Obama could bring us. Maybe just consider your self the mirror image of a Reagan Democrat - somebody who wasn't completely comfortable with where we might go, but was far too dissatisfied with where were to not go someplace else.

So anyway, this is one of the reasons I haven't posted in a while. I have seen a lot of funny/interesting stuff, but I knew posting it would be preaching to the choir. I have felt like I wanted to say more about what I thought at this point. So I just did, and I let it all flow out in a kind of stream of consciousness. And it's late now, and I don't have time to even go back and proof-read (sorry about that). But anyway, at least I didn't just link to something else and preach to the choir - even if nobody is listening - or even if if the seven or eight who are listening, are already in the choir anyway :-)

A look into the future

Thought this was interesting. The speech is from July, the clips edited in are from the present.

A pretty good kid

Birthdays and Christmas can often be a rude awakening for parents. We love our kids. We want them to have a special day, and we want them to be happy. So, we plan, decorate, buy presents, and all to often, go overboard (feeling guilty about it as we do). And then, almost always, we don't get the reaction we expect. We expect them to be overjoyed, eternally grateful, and, at the very, very least, we expect their best behavior for the next 2 or 3 days. What we get instead... well, I'll spare you the details, but often, it ain't pretty.

Today is Anna's birthday. According to tradition here in Denmark, we woke her up with birthday songs, and the breakfast table was decorated with streamers and presents. What Anna really, really, really wanted for her birthday was a bicycle (she had outgrown the third generation hand-me-down bike she has now) . When she came down to the breakfast table, there was no bike there, but she didn't blink, she was just excited about her presents. The ones she was most excited about were the ones Emily made her. The rest were a lot of clothes that she was pretty psyched about, but the truth is she has really needed clothes and we have been putting it off until her birthday.

All the presents were unwrapped, and Anna sat there eating her breakfast. I kept waiting for a spoiled-rotten side of her to appear and say, "why didn't get a bike!" - but it never came.

Then, we found one last little present wrapped in wrinkled, green, wrapping paper, almost more scotch-tape than paper (it was a key to a new bike). We gave her this tiny little package, that looked like nothing. Before she opened it, we asked her if she'd had a good birthday, she said, "yeah". We asked he if there was anything she was upset she didn't get. Quiet pause. "No..." and then she added in the sweetest little voice, "but next year, I'm going to wish for a new bicycle".

I don't care about the best behavior for the next 2 days, that one comment made it all worth it.



Note to A&B and G&G: We haven't given her your gifts yet, but will this evening.

Once upon a time...

...he was a principled man.

I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it. (John McCain 2000)

Let's hope now is sooner.

An endorsement

The New Yorker wrote an excellent endorsement of Obama. Reading it gave me an even greater sense of the extreme importance of this election.

It's a pretty long article, and Mathilde has complained that I link to articles without giving an abridged version. So here it is:

At a moment of economic calamity, international perplexity, political failure, and battered morale, America needs both uplift and realism, both change and steadiness. It needs a leader temperamentally, intellectually, and emotionally attuned to the complexities of our troubled globe. That leader’s name is Barack Obama.