you make it sound bad about the Dept. of Education and I can see where you're coming from because I've read about it just like you but I think the reason I don't take the segregation thing as anyhting of great concern and why I don't mind is for the simple fact that i am only now noticing how badly the public school system is and it wasn't until I was out of high school and continued teaching myself about things I found relevant.

I don't mind admitting I'm not an expert on luxury tax and other topics but going back to my habit of reading to learn and grow I am constantly having an inner battle with not becoming ethically inept or where my principles/stances don't intersect and in a way cancel out what I really want, because you are one of the firsts to ever tell me that there is that much bureacracy involved and i think it's apparent that that is the exact opposite of what i want and without a doubt ineffective.

Some dudes at a party were giving me shit because I'm not going to vote for Obama. They kept saying "what don't you like about him?" I named a few things, the biggest being he comes from the Democratic party/one of the two major parties. Obviously they didn't understand that.

I just asked, "well, why SHOULD I vote for him?". To me, the onus is not on me to determine why I should vote for Obama, but rather on Obama, or one of his supporters to convince me to vote for him. For the record, they didn't give me one reason to vote for him, other than the fact that he's going to change things, he's not a neo-con, and he's better than Bush.

Finally I just said, "you want to know why I'm not voting for him?" "Because of who IS voting for him".

I was at a bar the other night and there was a bunch of blond girls and a meathead. One of my friends was talking to them, and asked if they were voting for Obama. They all said they were voting for McCain but couldn't say why.

Honestly, maybe it's just because I live too close to the South Side of Chicago, but the underlying reason I'm getting from a fair amount of the McCain supporters is "Obama's black."

That's a good cutting line and all that, but this is the thing I just can't wrap my head around - are McCain's supporters better somehow? Is "drill, baby, drill" a better slogan than "change we can believe in"? Shrill liberalism is moronic, sure, but it doesn't have that vicious undercurrent of gleeful fascism that is running through the Republican party.

yeah my buddies were all "McCain's too old, he's so old". I reply with "Obama's black, he's so black".

like it's any different to discriminate someone because of their age, as opposed to because of their skin color. So they reply: well, he's getting a little crazy in his old age. I reply: have you ever seen a rap video?

*Please note, i don't give a crap about the color of Obama's skin. I was just making a point.

i love when the situation arises and someone is asked about the candidate they like (and are presumably voting for) that instead of playing to their choice's strengths and how it speaks to/for them they are just as inclined to tell you what they don't like about the other guy, rather than one gawd damn thing about their chosen candidate.

this is why I don't necessarily believe this is THE MOST PASSIONATE election ever as I hear about on the news 24/7. if it was the most passionate than it wouldn't be a repeat offense of 2004 when people that were interviewed stuck to new program partisan-biased talking points/smears and people would say things resembling:
"I'm voting for Bush because Kerry didn't earn those purple hearts" or
"I'm voting for Kerry because Bush dodged Vietnam"

but to apply it to this year: i'm voting for old man river because barack is a muslim terrorist and i'm voting for sheik abdul controversial pastor because casper the friendly senator from arizona owns too many houses.

or better yet use the goldylocks & three bears analogy to throw away your vote: papa bear obama is too black, mama bear mccain is too old, but that old kook ralph nader is jusssst right.

VOTE KODOS/KANG in '08 earthlings!

Noted. But still . . .

I don't really think that McCain's age is too notable, but the fact that he's had cancer two or three times might be. But beyond that, age discrimination, while not more legitimate, certainly is less socially considerable than racism. Racism is an American institution. And while McCain actually is getting old, and has personally done things that some people find indicative of senility, Obama doesn't have spinning rims, nor does he spray champagne on Michelle.

I'm just saying, it's a shitty point, but your rebuttal is pretty bogus as well.

I'm really glad amendment 5 got taken off the ballot, which was cloaked in less taxes for property owners and had no solution for making up that $9billion dollars, except holding schools harmless. Its not surprising that real estate professionals were pretty much the only proponent of that amendment.

Rumor from Tally was difference was to be recovered most likely by taxing the service industry.

Been there, tried that, way to drive business out of Florida.

*yawn*

i

i se your point, but a spade's a spade.

I'd still say that the tradition of racism in this country creates a different environment than ageism does. America has a history of being run by old white men, it's not like there's been a long-standing, socially-ingrained prejudice against them for a hundred years.

uhhh...oof?

i agree with you. i don't like it, but i agree with you.

Honestly, if these election was a blind test, and you sat me down and asked me, "Who would you vote for?" and then showed me a picture of McCain and a picture of Obama and I had no idea who either one was, I'd pick Obama.

Maybe it's because I've got a grasp on how much theater really is involved in the election, but really, the entire argument I've been trying to make this whole time is that it doesn't really matter who is President, in a sense. Because of the military-industrial complex that controls foreign policy, because of increasing corporate control in all aspects of life, because we've grown beholden to a ruling class that's no less exploitative than they were a hundred years ago, and because when you live in America, you've got the blood of brown people on your hands. The President can't change these things, not really.

So why would I choose Obama, then, if there's essentially no difference in real policy? I just said it didn't matter who was President, now I'm saying it does. Maybe I should clarify: it doesn't matter who's President for the reasons people perceive it should. It matters because the President alters the perception of the nation both at home and on the world stage.

Because perception can drive the national temperament. That's essentially been my problem with anyone who shrugs off Obama's "change and hope" message when the Republican party's clamoring for national security is equally false. But what would do more harm?

The shining happy face of liberalism can perpetrate an innumerable amount of harm, just as the hawkish veneer of conservatism, as evidenced by East Timor and Jimmy Carter. But when the American people are given the idea that something has changed, even if it's as blunt as, "There's a black President now" there's an undercurrent that's different from one marked by "There's a hawkish old white man in power again."

More than anything, I want Obama elected because I want everyone to wake up November 5th and go, "Holy shit, what the hell just happened?" And then we go from there.

i kinda like this danny dickhead guy


edit: not like gay stuff though.

How many people posting here actually live in a district where their vote has a reasonable chance of being part of an electoral college tie-breaker?

As far as I'm concerned, we should all be much more concerned with local politics, and the general goings-on of our own communities.

Either that, or the fanciful creation of badass action movie scenarios.

For instance, I was just thinking that Maybe Sarah Palin will end up president, after she poisons Cheney's metamucil on inauguration day, and then quickly spark a global nuclear conflict, involving dirty bombs in every major North American and European city, and the obliteration of the capital of every country in an expanded "axis of evil." The end result of this will be insane mutations in the wolf population, and super-badass, hyper-intelligent WEREwolves will eventually converge on Palin's underground bunker to eat her alive.