It just isn't funny anymore

GW has announced it plans to veto the congressional bill making water boarding illegal. He is fond of saying we are a nation of laws but he does not appear to like any of them or feel that he is bound to follow them. That he cheated himself into the highest office of the United States twice should have been our first clue.

I am so embarrassed. The positive feelings about the United States around the world have fallen to below 25%. And in a recent survey it seems that only Obama has any chance of restoring our favorable standing in the world. McCain and Hillary are seen by everyone including those in the United States as just more of the same.

So I had very split feelings when an Obama staffer called Hillary a monster. Yes, she should not have said it. It is not the politic thing to do even though I believe she s right and that Hillary has said worse about Obama. Only Obama and McCain seem to want to raise the bottom feeder level of politicians and politics in general. McCain will be four more years of Bush policies and yes, that means more torture, more suspension of our privacy and civil liberties. And we can count on Hillary to continue in the Senate being a monster. You can't fire me from any staff. And right at th moment I am considering resigning from the citizens of the United States. We used to be something to look up to. Now we are war mongering, torturing monsters.

I will again vote this election year. And if it is Hillary against McCain it will likely be Nader or some other third party candidate I vote for. Sorry Dean, but I do not like both Democratic candidates equally. I don't like one at all any more after she as lowered herself to play in the muck with the boys. If not voting for her puts McCain in office I will not feel guilty but I will start looking seriously for another country to move to.

A Return to Hope

I was channel hopping last night. I was really watching CBS with NCIS but I was also interesting in American Idol in small doses and wanted to catch the results of the Beltway Primaries. In one of my hops I caught part of Barack Obama's speech on hope.

It quite frankly brought tears to my eyes for a whole wealth of complicated reasons. First, it has been entirely too long since I had any hope that the United States could be saved from the path it has been led down. Hope was first fostered in my during the Kennedy years and was totally decimated by his cruel death. Let's face it there was nothing inspiring about Nixon unless you were in league with the dark side.

The Clinton years re-kindled some of that Kennedy era hope but Bush totally trashed it. Bush was not just the death of hope but the death of the middle class dream and our country as a shining example of hope. And it was the death of public speaking; replaced by the five second sound bite generally trashing someone else that does not agree with him.

So when I chanced upon Obama's address last night I lingered. I remembered when I first saw him deliver the nominating speech at the Democratic convention. And I was spell bound by his message of hope for not merely the young people of this country but all of us who have lost hope. I was so enticed with what he was saying that after they cut away to McCain I went to CNN's website and watched Obama there.

Up to this point I really did not have a dog in this hunt. I wanted a Democrat over all else and I really did not care which democrat it was quite frankly. And when it got down to Hilary and Barack I found myself split. Part of me really wanted to vote for a woman for president but she kept failing to totally enfold me into her camp. Just when I thought I could rally around her she would act shrill or peevish or send Bill out to do the dirty work. And while she is capable of public speaking she always seems a bit over rehearsed.

Maybe last night I just wanted to believe in something or someone so bad that I was going to fall for the first image thrust before me but I think not. It was a good speech and quite well delivered. I am thrilled this morning that he leads in delegates. But I am very scared the political machines of Clinton and McCain will again crush this fragile flower of hope. That would be so sad.

It's not over until it's over

In the state of New Mexico due to the heavy turn out for our Democratic Caucus all the votes are not even totally counted yet. Hillary and Barack are currently running at 48% each. They are almost as close nationally. Hillary went into Super Tuesday 60 delegates ahead and Obama narrowed that margin.

While on the Republican front McCain may be announcing he has the Republican nomination wrapped up but he is also in a position where he may be forced to talk Huckabee into being his running mate.

Hillary and Barack essentially battled to a draw with several more state primaries ahead; several of which Barack is leading in the polls. It is basically too early for any candidate for President of the United States to crow. But I was struck last night about the differences in the two parties process for the primaries.

One: The Democratic caucuses and primaries relied on paper ballots so that there would be a physical proof of how the people voted and allow for a paper count. The Republicans on the other hand chose to continue to rely on the paperless computerized voting machines that the previous elections have proven can be manipulated with a cell phone in the hands of a hacker within 30 feet of the machine. And there is no paper trail. So do we really know that McCain won? He is the candidate most espousing the "Bush Views."

Two: The Democrats allow for a splitting of the delegates roughly along the popular vote for each state while the Republicans are winner take all. Win that state by one vote and you get all their delegates. Even if this works perfectly (and there is no cheating at the polling places) this means the Republicans are wanting to please only those states with the most delegates. Like Bush the Republican nominee will be the president of only a small group of the citizens of the United States.

I am however encouraged after yesterday by two things: We the people voted in record numbers. This was especially true of the Democrats. And among the Republicans of the Evangelicals that turned out to vote for Huckabee. The other thing I found encouraging, oddly enough, was the exit poll.

I had never been involved in one of these before. They have a selection process for which precincts are so polled. And they ask more than just, "who did you vote for?" I found taking the "short survey" helped me to see my own reasons for how I voted. And watching ABC and CNN last night where the results of this poll were used in various ways I was able to see that it is through this poll many voting in minority (or even the majority) will have a voice for the direction of the campaigns as they move forward.

It is not over by a long shot. Next big voting day is February 9th with more primaries. Some primaries are as late as April. McCain may have it sewn up before the nominating convention for the Republicans but it does not look like the Democrats will have a clue. And that is good. It means more of our voices will have to hard, more of our opinions considered if they want our votes in the general election November 2008. If they don't there is always going Independent.

A kinder and gentler political season ahead?

I watched the most recent Democratic debate between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama and was pleased that it was not the bitter slug-fest of the Republican event the day before. Does this mean a more civil political season ahead? Or will the Republicans again resort to the soap commercial tactics of the Bush campaigns with their spin lines like flip flopper?

I would certainly hope not. It paints a bad picture of the United States political process around the world and turns off all potential voters. Not that they are not already turned off by the illegal operations of the Republicans in the last two elections.

If our politicians can strike a higher note with a civil debate the least we can do is demand a fair and uncontested election process even if that means allowing United Nations poll watchers. We would all feel better if there was a paper trail, no hanging chads, no Supreme Court intervention, and no disputed results. How about we all behave like adults?

Let's ban cellphones and all electronic devices within 100 feet of our polling places. No computer polling machines without a paper trail for verification of the results. And my personal favorite: No television commercials within the last week of the campaign. Let's all have a week of commercial silence in which we can consider all the information we have already garnered about the candidates.

A Kinder, Gentler America

As a woman who fought hard for the defeated Equal Rights Amendment I have wanted to be there when the first woman was chosen as President of the United States.

I imagined her a lot like Indira Gandhi and not like Margaret Thatcher, or after the performance in the last Democratic CNN Debate like Hilary Clinton. I don't want a woman trying to be a man to be president of the United States. That is not enough different from a spoiled little boy trying to pretend to be a man like we have in the White House now.

My father explained to me upon my being beat up by bullies on the Air Force base in Roswell, New Mexico that bullies were trying to prove they were big enough and strong enough and good enough. Those people that knew they were enough didn't have to prove it by beating up on others. I want a kinder and gentler America, and world. I thought a woman in the office of President of the United States would be a major step in that direction. I still might be right on that issue but I am clearly not going to get to find out the answer to that question this election. I was happy Hilary was defeated in South Carolina yesterday.

I am not convinced Barack is the right choice either. He was only the other side of that vicious and petty exchange in the debate. I am so sick of negative and divisive politics I could just vomit. I watch a negative exchange like that one or see a negative ad on television and it just makes me want to vote NO. Just maybe a kinder and gentler world is possible only without leaders. Just look at where the current leader of this country has gotten us. The international boys club has only led to war after war, global warming, pollution, divisions, corrupt trade deals, genocide, dictators . . . the sad list goes on and on.

Yes, the people of South Carolina, over 50% voting women, chose to vote against Hilary. But the nice guy in this race still finished last. Politics as usual is not going to stop until we demand it stop. But what can be said for a country that watches people get hurt in extreme sports, and race cars crash and burn and calls it entertainment.