How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Recession

As the markets collapse and we all fear for our life savings, jobs, and homes I’ve been putting some thought into the concepts and potential results of the bailout.

It seems to me that injecting $7.00×10^11 into the economy of the Democratic Peoples Republic of America(DPRA) is not going to amount to anything for the average hard working, tax paying, citizen. In the end, other then give a big bag of money to the assholes that screwed us over, what is the real result. The answer is nothing.

The investment banks are cash poor as, apparently, MBAs are not taught about the importance of cash flow. On top of that, it would seem that many companies finance their payroll and overhead through loans, possibly the worst thing a small business can do. We’re all being told that, unless we taxpayers bail out these sons of bitches, the economy will spiral into complete decay.

I say, let it happen.

We’ve been sucking at the teat of easy credit and fallacious economic policy for too long and, I’ll admit, I’ve taken my share. Enough is enough. We cannot continue basing our economy on pushing fictitious dollars around.

As such, I feel that we need to experience a depression in this generation. A complete collapse of the economy to remind us of what’s important.

After taking stock of my life, I realized yesterday it doesn’t matter what happens. What really matters, is that there is somewhere to go back to.

The most important thing, is to play out the scenario of what will happen when it’s all gone. Do you have a place to go home to that is owned by your family? This means family farms, homesteads, plot’s of land you can call your own. A place you can grow some vegetables, raise some livestock, or hunt for meat. A place that you can subsist regardless of money, power, or public utilities.

In my circumstances, should the worst occur, that place is the 90 acres of my childhood home in extreme Northern Minnesota. In the end I know that the land and water shall provide, and I can keep my family comfortable, warm, and fed as we wait out the systemic collapse of our economy.

I hate debates

I hate debates. Unless you are a complete buffoon (my apologies to the buffoons out there), we’ve already made up our minds. Ultimately, we’re all partisan hacks.

So what are we stuck with? Talking points and rambling.

I’m going to type a stream of consciousness of my thoughts below as I watch the debates. Shout out to Twitter for inspiration as I type. Unfortunately, I didn’t start watching until around 8:30pm:

Christ, John McCain blinks a lot. He has not made eye contact with Obama once.

Obama is much better in this debate then I expected.

Jim Lehrer is a good moderator and ensures that they stay on task.

I used to like John McCain. As a matter of fact, I would have voted for him if he had won the nomination in 2000. He needs to shut up about winning in Iraq. We’re not winning. It’s not our place to win. It’s the place of the Iraqi people to win. You cannot impose democracy. It must come from within.

I’m tired of the lies from the Neocons. Let me say this once and for all: I have no problem with Republican policies, it’s the Neocons that I can’t stand. How ’bout a little goddamn fiscal conservatism? Whatever happened to that. I’m so tired of the lies. I’d like to be rooting for McCain, but he’s become a lieing scumbag.

Of course the surge worked. No one said it wouldn’t work while the excess troops were there. However, have they left yet? No. When they leave, it will all go to shit again. The solution is change from within and making the Iraqis to take care of their own issues. I’d much rather throw money at them to help them resolve their own problems rather then lose even one more soldier.

Luksusowa=good vodka

I’m pleased with McCain admitting fault in allowing Afghanistan to be ignored. I’m also glad he acknowledged Obama’s rash comments about strikes in Pakistan. However, I’m not sure where he’s going with his statements as he’s not really saying anything about his strategy being better then Obama’s.

Decent response from Obama on McCain’s criticism about Pakistan policy.

Pleased with McCain’s criticism of Reagan. No problem with Gulf War I.

Now he’s playing on heartstrings about wearing the bracelet of a fallen soldier. Soldiers die. That’s their lot. And sometimes they die in wrong wars. That doesn’t make their service any less honorable. It just is.

Obama is making a point to pronounce words correctly. I like that. “Pahkistahn”!

Did I mention that Jim Lehrer is cool?

Could McCain stop blinking and, perhaps, look at Obama from time to time?

I feel that Iran is on the cusp of an internal revolution towards representative democracy. The worst thing we could do is attack them. That would only galvanize them. Patriotism can be dangerous. We all stood by Bush after 9/11, myself included. That’s what patriotism does. “Not in my house, not in my hood.”

“Preconditions” is bullshit. What the hell are preconditions? I feel that it is the duty of nations to have respect of any other nation. It doesn’t matter if they are assholes. You have to, at least, talk to them. What the hell does it solve to act like a spoiled child and not talk to people?

Spain!!! I forgot about that. Holy shit is McCain an idiot.

The focus on meeting without preconditions is idiotic. Just because you meet with someone doesn’t legitimize it. Has anyone asked Ahmadinejad not to be an asshole?

Obama knows countries!

Went get some food, what did I miss?

Russia huh? Why are they our problem and who cares if they attack Georgia. That’s their problem. Not ours. We’ve got enough wars.

McCain is an angry man. Is Belgium OK or should we invade them? Are we allowed to talk to them without “preconditions”?

Pleased with McCain not fear-mongering over another 9/11.

Missile defense is total fucking bullshit and doesn’t work. If anyone knows of a peer reviewed study that says it does, let me know.

Obama = Uniter, McCain = Divider is my take. McCain consistently criticizes Obama out of hand where Obama agrees with McCain from time to time. I haven’t seen McCain do anything but criticize. He’s negative about everything but the military.

Now McCain has dropped back to talking points and not answering the questions. Surge? Obama wasn’t even talking about it.

Obama is Kenyan. Apparently. He’s never mentioned that before. /sarcasm

Why the Christ doesn’t John McCain make eye contact with Obama?

Obama made the first move to shake John McCain’s hand after the debate.

Holy crap Michelle Obama is tall.

Here endeth the lesson.

P.S. OMG!!! Flag pin!!! LOLPONIES!!!!

Be afraid, be very afraid.

OK, so here’s what’s going on right now:

McCain has suspended his campaign to “meet [in the senate] until this crisis is resolved.”. However, John McCain is not on the senate banking committee and has never been involved in setting economic policy.

So he pressures Bush to hold a Whitehouse meeting and then, out of nowhere, submits his own version of the bill that is completely different from the original in all regards. It is still unclear exactly what that bill is.

My suspicion, is that this was done to allow McCain to appear to be anti-Bush, and the savior of Democratic Peoples Republic of America.

However…

Here’s what else is going on right now:

The 3rd Infantry 1st Combat Brigade is being redeployed to the United States to act as a peacekeeping force. If you’re wondering what’s wrong with this, please Google “Posse Comitatus”. This means that now, instead of the National Guard helping state and local police in the event of a national disaster, the US Military is expected to do so. Apparently the National Guard is too busy guarding Iraq to take care of their mission here.

Here’s my super-paranoid view of what’s happening:

If John McCain is willing to suspend his campaign for a “time of crisis”, though Lincoln debated during the civil war and Roosevelt did also during WWII, is he also amenable to suspending elections? My fear is that McCain is working with Bush to develop a plan to declare martial law and suspend the election. This can be done, and though unconstitutional, is perfectly legal per Presidential Directive 51.

Could McCain’s interference be a method to keep the unrest going all the way to election day? Maybe it’s not just incompetant political posturing but the end of the free world? Perhaps were not going to become the DPRA but the Kingdom of America.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Ben Bernanke needs to calm down

Bernanke urges fast action from Congress

Is it just me, or are we rapidly becoming a Communist country. Seems like we’re picking up these banks and institutions faster then they can fail. Now, I’m all for a little Socialized Democracy, but when the Feds pick up a $1,000,000,000,000.00 tab, it’s starting to feel a bit more like government run/owned institutions.

It concerns me greatly that Bush, Bernanke, and Paulson are all urging that the bailout be passed through congress immediately without “[weighing} down a proposed $700-billion financial system bailout with unrelated provisions that would delay addressing key issues”. Some examples of the “Weight” suggested by house Democrats and Republicans are:

Limit executives’ compensation at the financial firms getting bailed out.
Bankruptcy protection for homeowners.
Corporate governance rules.
Foreclosure protection.

Now I’m no big city financial analyst, but it seems to me that these are all valid stipulations that should go along with the bailout. With Billions in Mortgages to be owned by the public, we should at least protect our own interests. Now that John Q. Taxpayers mortgage is owned partially by himself (as a taxpayer), why would he want to foreclose on his own home?

I see no reason that Congress shouldn’t delay this bill while sorting out it’s finer points. The last thing we need is more blank checks to be given to organizations that, quite obviously, had no idea what to do with their money.

Full text of Barack Obama’s Daytona Beach Speech, 9/20/2008

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Daytona Beach, Florida
Saturday, September 20, 2008

Here in Florida, less than two months before election day, I know you’ve all been hearing a lot about politics. And we all know how important women will be in determining the outcome of this election. But as I stand here with all of you, I know this isn’t just about politics for me. This is personal. Because I come here today not just as a candidate for President – but as a son, a grandson, a husband and a father who’s seen firsthand, throughout my life, the challenges so many women face every day in this country.

Growing up, I saw my mother struggle to put herself through school and raise me and my sister on her own. She once had to turn to food stamps, but thanks to student loans, scholarships and a lot of hard work, her kids could attend some of the best schools in the country. I think women like her who work hard and pour everything they’ve got into their kids should be able to pay the bills and get ahead for a change – that’s why I’m running for President.

I saw my grandmother, who helped raise me, work her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank. But I also saw her hit a glass ceiling, as men no more qualified than she was moved up the corporate ladder ahead of her. I think women like her should be paid fairly and have the same chance to succeed as everyone else – that’s why I’m running for President.

I’ve seen my wife, Michelle, the rock of the Obama family, juggling work and parenting with more skill and grace than anyone I know. But I’ve seen how it’s torn at her. How sometimes, when she’s with the girls, she’s worrying about work – and when she’s at work, she’s worrying about the girls. It’s a feeling I share every day – especially these days, when I’m away so much, out on the campaign trail. And I think it should be a little easier for parents in this country to raise their kids and do their jobs – that’s why I’m running for President.

I know how hard the women of this country are working. I know the anxiety so many of you are feeling right now, as we stand in the midst of the most serious financial crisis of our time. We’ve seen three of America’s five largest investment banks fail or be sold off in distress. Our housing market is in shambles, and Monday brought the worst losses on Wall Street since the day after September 11th.

Everywhere you look, the economic news is troubling. But for so many of you, it isn’t really news at all. You’ve seen your home values falling, gas prices rising, and bills piling up month after month. So you’re working longer hours, or working more than one job just to get by. And then there are the jobs you do once the workday ends. Jobs like paying the bills, buying the groceries, making the dinner, doing the laundry, enforcing the bedtimes – the jobs you don’t get paid for, but that hold our families together. Jobs that still, even in the year 2008, too often fall to women.

So I know these are difficult days. But here’s what I also know. I know we can steer ourselves out of this economic crisis. That’s who we are. That’s what we’ve always done as Americans. Our nation has faced difficult times before. And at each of those moments, we’ve risen to meet the challenge because we’ve never forgotten that fundamental truth – that here in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us.

But another thing I know is that we can’t steer ourselves out of this crisis by heading in the same, disastrous direction. We can’t change direction with a new driver who wants to follow the same old map. And that’s what this election is all about.

Yesterday, my opponent, Senator McCain, gave a speech in which his big solution to this worldwide economic crisis was to blame me for it. This is a guy who’s spent a quarter century in Washington. And after spending the entire campaign saying I haven’t been in Washington long enough, he apparently now is willing to assign me responsibility for all of Washington’s failures. I think it’s pretty clear that Senator McCain is a little panicked, and that at this point, he is willing to say anything, do anything, change any position, violate any principle to try and win this election. And that is sad to see. That’s not the politics we need.

So let’s be clear.

There’s only one candidate who – just this week – said a line he’s repeated 16 times on this campaign – quote – “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

There’s only one candidate who’s called himself “fundamentally a deregulator” when deregulation is part of the problem. My opponent actually wrote in the current issue of a health care magazine – the current issue – quote – “Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.”

So let me get this straight – he wants to run health care like they’ve been running Wall Street. Well, Senator, I know some folks on Main Street who aren’t going to think that’s a good idea.

There’s only one candidate whose choice for Treasury Secretary is a man who thinks we’re in a “mental recession” and has called the United States of America a – quote – “nation of whiners.”

There’s only one candidate whose campaign is being run by seven of Washington’s most powerful lobbyists.

And folks, it isn’t me.

I don’t take a dime from Washington lobbyists and special interests. They do not run my campaign. They will not run my White House. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I’m President of the United States.

So when John McCain says that lobbyists “won’t even get past the front gate” at his White House, my question is – who’s going to stop them?

Those seven lobbyists?

His campaign manager?

The economic advisor, who got a $40 million golden parachute when she was fired as a CEO?

Or maybe the 26 advisors and fundraisers who lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

I mean, give me a break.

The same day my opponent attacked me for being associated with a Fannie Mae guy I’ve talked to for maybe 5 minutes in my entire life – the same day he did that – the head of the lobbying shop at Fannie Mae turned around and said wait a minute – “when I see photographs of Senator McCain’s staff, it looks to me like the team of lobbyists who used to report to me.”

Folks, you can’t make this stuff up.

So when you hear John McCain talk about taking on the ol’ boy network in Washington – know this, on the McCain campaign, that’s called a staff meeting.

At this defining moment, when the stakes could not be higher, we need real change – change that’s more than just a slogan, change that actually makes a difference in people’s lives. And that’s the kind of change I’ll bring to Washington when I’m President of the United States of America.

The other day, I laid out a few principals for a plan that would establish a real and permanent solution to our economic crisis. First, we have to make sure that whatever plan our government comes up with works not just for Wall Street, but for Main Street. We have to make sure it helps folks cope with rising prices, and sparks job creation, and helps homeowners stay in their homes. That’s the kind of help folks need right now.

We also have to make sure that any plan we come up with is temporary and restores tough oversight and accountability on Wall Street. Third, I want to make sure that we’re not rewarding some of the very CEOs who helped cause this mess. We’re not going to stand for that.

But if we’re serious about putting our economy on a firmer footing and lifting up our hardworking families, there are some additional changes we’re going to have to make, as well.

Because it’s an outrage that women are still making 77 cents for every dollar that men make in this country. Now, my opponent actually opposed legislation to help women get equal pay. Because, in his view, the reason women aren’t being paid fairly isn’t discrimination on the job – it’s because they need more education and training.

That isn’t change.

Change is finally closing that pay gap. It’s unacceptable that women in this country are losing thousands of dollars each year – money you could use for gas or groceries or college tuition. This isn’t just an economic issue for millions of American families – it’s about our most fundamental values as a nation: that we treat people fairly, that we reward hard work, and there are no second class citizens in our workplaces. That’s why I helped pass a law in Illinois to give 330,000 more women protection from paycheck discrimination. That’s why I co-sponsored legislation in the U.S. Senate to make it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination. And that’s why I won’t give up until women in this country are paid what they’ve earned, and not a penny less. That’s what change is.

Change isn’t a President who thinks Roe vs. Wade is a flawed decision and whose party platform outlaws abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. Change is a President who will stand up for choice – who understands that five men on the Supreme Court don’t know better than women and their doctors what’s best for a woman’s health. That’s why I fought so hard in Illinois and in Washington to stop laws that would’ve restricted choice. That’s why I’m committed to appointing judges who understand how law operates in our daily lives, judges who will uphold the values at the core of our Constitution. And that’s why I will never back down in defending a woman’s right to choose.

Change means refusing to accept an America where staying home with a new baby is treated as an unpaid vacation, and taking time off to take a sick parent to the hospital is a fireable offense. Change means making sure people have paid sick days and tax credits to help with childcare, and expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to help millions of people care for their kids and their parents and participate in school activities like parent-teacher conferences and assemblies. Because no matter what you do for a living, we can all agree that raising our kids and taking care of our families is the most important job we have.

Change means keeping the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. Under my plan, if you have health insurance, nothing changes for you, except that my plan will lower your health care costs. If you don’t, you’ll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.

And I’ll stop insurance companies from discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most. This is personal to me. My mother died of ovarian cancer at the age of 53. And I will never forget her lying in a hospital bed, in her final months, fighting with the insurance company over whether they’d cover her treatments because they claimed cancer was a pre-existing condition. That’s wrong, it’s not who we are, and we’re going to put an end to it.

Change means having a Vice President who’s spent his career working to improve women’s lives. Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act so we’d finally treat domestic violence like the heinous crime that it is. And in case you were wondering, John McCain voted against that legislation. As someone who raised small kids on his own, and took the train home every night from Washington to Delaware to tuck those kids into bed, Joe Biden also knows firsthand what it means to juggle work and family. And you won’t find a stronger champion for a woman’s right to choose than Joe Biden. So I’m proud to have him by my side in this campaign.

Finally, change means building an economy that rewards work, creates jobs you can raise a family on, and gives each of us the chance to get ahead. And let me tell you, when it comes to the economic policies we’ll pursue, Senator McCain and I couldn’t be more different.

John McCain voted nineteen times against raising the minimum wage – I’ll raise it.

He voted against Head Start, against hiring new teachers, against Pell Grants. I’ll invest in early childhood education, and recruit an army of new teachers to our schools, and provide a $4,000 tuition tax credit to help make college affordable for any middle class student who’s willing to serve their community or their country. You invest in America, America invests in you, and together, we’ll move this country forward.

He wants to give tax breaks to oil companies and companies that ship jobs overseas – I want to give a tax break to 95% of all working families and create jobs here at home by investing in renewable energy. And don’t be fooled by the tired old attacks my opponent is launching. He doesn’t want you to know this, but under my plan, tax rates will actually be lower than they were under Ronald Reagan. If you make less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increase one single dime. Not one dime. In fact, I offer three times the tax relief for middle-class families as Senator McCain does – because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

And I’ll protect Social Security, while John McCain wants to privatize it. Without Social Security half of elderly women would be living in poverty – half. But if my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would’ve had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week. Millions would’ve watched as the market tumbled and their nest egg disappeared before their eyes. Millions of families would’ve been scrambling to figure out how to give their mothers and fathers, their grandmothers and grandfathers, the secure retirement that every American deserves. So I know Senator McCain is talking about a “casino culture” on Wall Street – but the fact is, he’s the one who wants to gamble with your life savings.

So let’s be clear, when I’m President, we’re not going to gamble with Social Security. We’re not going to gamble with your ability to retire with dignity after a lifetime of hard work. We’re going to strengthen and protect Social Security so it’s a safety net our families can count on — today, tomorrow and always.

Florida, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The choice couldn’t be clearer. But still, we know that bringing the change we need won’t be easy. We know we’re up against a powerful, entrenched status quo in Washington that will say anything and do anything and fight with everything they’ve got to keep things just the way they are.

But I think we’re up for the challenge. We always have been. That’s why I’m standing here today. Because of what my mother and grandmother did for me – because of their hard work and sacrifice and unflagging love. That’s why all of us are here today – because of the women who came before us. Women who reached for the ballot and raised families and traveled those lonely roads to be the first ones in those boardrooms and courtrooms and battlefields and factory floors. Women like my friend Hillary Clinton who put those 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling so that my daughters – and all our sons and daughters – could dream a little bigger and reach a little higher.

Now it’s our turn. It’s our turn to make those sacrifices so the next generation doesn’t have to. Our turn to open the doors of opportunity that our daughters and granddaughters will one day walk through. Our turn to fulfill the promise of this great nation that each of us – no matter what our background or where we come from – each of us has the chance to make it if we try.

That’s what I think about whenever I get the chance to tuck my girls in at night. How I want them – and all our daughters – to have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievement, no goals beyond their reach. How I want them to have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could’ve imagined.

And I hope you’ll join me. I hope you’ll walk with me so that we can turn the page on the failed policies of the past. And if you’ll make that commitment – if you’ll knock on doors and make those calls and talk to your neighbors and give me your vote on November 4th, then together, we won’t just win an election, we will transform this nation.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Gun control, liberals, and conservatives

Firearms have become one of the main polarizing issues between the parties. Almost on the level of the pro-life/pro-choice debate. On a national scale is seems clear cut: Republicans love guns and want your children to carry them to school every day. Democrats are evil dictators that want to take away your freedom. In reality, it’s not so simple.

It’s fairly easy to determine the thought processes of both candidates as it relates to the 2nd amendment:

Barack Obama on gun rights

John McCain on gun rights

My take, is that John McCain is not particularly anti gun control and Barack Obama is not particularly pro gun control. Yet, the NRA will spend millions this year telling people that Barack Obama will take away your guns. Does anyone really think that this is going to happen?

It seems to me, that both sides live in fear. The conservatives live in fear of government taking away their “freedom” while liberals live in a fear of the unknown.

Gun control is a tough subject for me, as I am a gun owner and see no problem with safe gun ownership. However, there are people out there who should not own firearms due to past or current mental and criminal issues. How can that be regulated? In a country with as many guns as we have, it would be very difficult to keep guns out of the criminals hands.

Americans own a lot of guns and that’s not going to change. We need to not let gun control cloud our judgement in the upcoming election. Single issue voting is never the answer.

Buy American!

That is all

Facts about Sarah Palin

Rather then fill the inter-tubes with partisan rhetoric (too late), I thought it would be a good idea to list out some of the facts about Sarah Palin. The focus will be on facts that either we don’t hear about very often, or ones that I find extremely telling about her. I will try to be as non-partisan as possible though it will be difficult for me.

Sarah Palin first applied for, and received a passport in 2006. This was her first visit outside of North America. She has traveled to Canada and Mexico in the past.

Sarah Palin does not support adding Polar Bears to the endangered species list. “[polar bears] are worthy of our utmost efforts to protect them and their Arctic habitat. But adding polar bears to the nation’s list of endangered species, as some are now proposing, should not be part of those efforts.”

Sarah Palin is in favor of banning books that have “inappropriate language” When she was elected Mayor of Wasilla she asked the city librarian Mary Ellen Baker how to go about banning certain books from the library. There does not appear to be a list of what those books were.

Sarah Palin wants Creationism taught in school. She suggests: “Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of education. Healthy debate is so important, and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.”

Sarah Palin does not support explicit sex education in school.

From an interview with Eagle Forum Alaska:

Q: Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?

SP: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.

Sarah Palin supported a $150 bounty for the right front leg of a freshly killed wolf. This was part of the controversial predator control program.

Sarah Palin supported $400,000 in state money to be used in a PR campaign in support of aerial hunting of wolves. Even though Alaskan citizens voted to ban aerial hunting twice.

9/11/2001

I had only been at work for a few hours when a coworker told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. My first thought was that it was an accident, however, within minutes we knew that was not the case. All the websites of the major news sources were overloaded with traffic so we couldn’t get fresh information. We ended up connecting an antenna to one of our demo computers that had a TV tuner to watch what was going on.

As soon as the second plane hit, my first thought was Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Others in our call-center speculated wildly, but it was obvious that no one else would have been so bold. As the other impacts occurred at the Pentagon and the the crash of Flight 93, we knew that this was a watershed moment. When the first tower came down, it was almost more shocking then the initial impact. I never would have expected such a well designed building to fall so easily, though it makes perfect sense now. By the time the second tower fell I was too numb to be shocked.

I found it strange that people kept calling our call center for technical support as if nothing was going on. The calls were reduced, but there will still plenty of them. Eventually, I went home and watched the TV for a while, wondering if it was over and what was next. Several gas stations in the Twin Cities arbitrarily raised their prices to as high as $6/gallon. I slept fitfully and wondered if I’d be drafted into whatever war would come from this.

By the next morning, at work, it was almost as if nothing had happened. However, the TV stayed on and there was an uncomfortable tension everywhere I went. Call volumes were higher then normal as customers who had avoided calling in the previous day called for tech support. We all talked about how the world had changed.

The question we need to ask ourselves; is how did it change each of us individually?

“Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago.”

Every day I’m more afraid of organized religion

I apologize for the commercial prior to the video (by the way, I love the flag pin. He must be the most patriotic guy ever!!! But why isn’t it bigger? I think John Robert’s pin is bigger. Couldn’t he be more patriotic? He’s only got one pin. Wouldn’t 2 pins be more patriotic? I think an American flag tie might help, but only a little.)

McCain must embrace Palin’s beliefs, evangelical leader says

I seem to recall a separation of church and State vaguely implied in the Constitution…

Oh Yeah! I remember!

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

Now, I understand that though this does not explicitly guarantee “separation of church and state” it’s very clear what it implies. We have a secular government that does not meddle in the affairs of religion. What this means to me, as it relates to the Presidential elections, is that if a voter thinks that the religious beliefs of the President are important, that’s great! They are welcome to imagine what they are. However, as the President oversees a secular nation *regardless of who’s religion is the most popular today*, the Presidential candidate should shut the hell up about their religious beliefs.

I honestly don’t care if John McCain is a Muslim or if Barack Obama is a devout Atheist and it shouldn’t matter to the American people.

How are you Catholics feeling? Oppressed? How about Methodists? Are you under-represented? How about Snake Handlers? Feel the President isn’t fondling enough of them? Could the Middle East crisis be handled by groping a few more snakes? Oops, the Catholics want to handle the Russia issue through the President drinking the transubstantiated blood of a 2000 year old dead guy. Can we do both? Is there time? There’s a Vikings game on at noon and I don’t know if I can cope with missing kick-off. Maybe we should just go with a quick prayer to God to smite the poor un-saved Muslims and maybe put in a good word for the Vikes. They could use a win and, after all, I’ve got a ten spot riding on it.

Here’s an idea…

Worry about policy and historical votes/behaviour. Not what some asshole tells you they believe.