While the Country was Distracted

As the Stomach Turns

Since I've been so preoccupied lately with my financial health and well being I've realized I've missed quite a bit of celebrity gossip. Like Madonna and her kept man, er ah, director husband are divorcing. Nancy Reagan was hospitalized after breaking her pelvis, which forgive me but she's so frail looking (and has looked that way for decades) I'm surprised she didn't break in half. Dick Chaney was in and out of the hospital also yesterday for his atrial fib.

The big shocker though to me was this little article about Ryan O'Neal and his son Redmond, who is also the son of Farrah Fawcett, were arrested for possession of meth. I always knew Ryan, Tatum, and the whole O'Neal clan are just train wrecks but I never imagined Meth, hell I was surprised to read he was still alive.

It's All Over

At least the debates are, the final debate between McCain and Obama was last night, and I don't think there was any "winners" however that said, I think both candidates did a better job than the last debate. Both sides said some things that I found rather humorous, like when McCain said that Obama has spent more on his political ads than any other candidate in history. Why did I find this funny? Because to me, it's a big duh...no kidding. Airtime isn't free, they pay to have the commercials made, they pay money to air them. I'm sure they cost more now than they did 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, or 28 years ago. It's kind of a no brainer and if McCain hasn't raised enough money to pay for more ads, tough luck. Half the time he sounded a bit whiney about this issue, as though he expected Obama to apologize for having more funds.

McCain did score some points by pointing out he's not Dubya, but his plan is very much like a Dubya plan, though it has been tweeked. He did finally broach the topic of William Ayers, but I think it was too little too late for that. Obama said what I expected regarding Ayers. McCain brought up ACORN, but I don't see how Obama is responsible for the actions of that group. This is a group that paid people based on how many they registered to vote and it's not the first election this has happened during, it happened in 2000 and 2004. Yes the numbers are incredibly high this year, but isn't that more of an economical issue? If people weren't feeling so desperate for money, the incentive might not have been so great to lie. Again this already been covered to the hilt by the media and has nothing to do what people care about, their money, their jobs, their very way of life.

McCain said something else that I think he might have bit his tongue afterward, when talking about the bloated federal goverment, he said that in the past 8 years the goverment has expanded, and the democrats have been in control 2 of those years. That made me shake my head, and yell....what??????? Does that mean the republican party is solely responisble for the 6 years that preceeded that? Interesting. I don't understand what point he was trying to make because I don't think he really meant to say it like that. I was surprised Obama didn't jump on that later on, but again, maybe Obama is for bigger goverment so he didn't care.

I would have liked to see Obama defend the three million (the number keeps changing), to purchase an "overhead projector" for a Planetarium (a dreaded earmark). This brings up an image of that antiquated piece of equipment used in schools but that's not what it was. It was in fact a "smart board" which is cutting edge technology. If you want children to become more interested in science then why put in something where they can touch a "planet" and learn all about it. A computer generates images on the wall that children can touch and learn more about what they see. It's an amazing learning tool that eventually will make its way into every classroom in the country. Then again, maybe it's better Obama didn't say anything because it's likely McCain wouldn't have understood that new fangled stuff, since the man can't use a computer or even understand how to send an email. Of course it's entirely possible that Obama doesn't understand it much either.

On Abortion, neither did really well, but on health care Obama really poked holes in McCains so called plan to give everyone a 5000 dollar tax credit so they can buy their own health care. And McCain really looked like he was just taking up space. I don't think McCain understands what a crisis the health care industry is in, probably because his health care is great. Especially with the pre-existing condition clause so many families face daily. McCain was so focused on picking apart Obama's health care plan, he lost focus on his plan and nor did he refute the fact that he'll tax the money employers spend on their employees health care. I don't know if it's true or not, but he didn't say it wasn't. That could force employers to stop offering health care to their employees and force more people to go without.

On the general economy both candidates failed miserably and I don't think either of them understand or comprehend how bad it is or what to do to fix things.

On education, McCain said they should spend money to find out what causes Autism. Now as a mom of an autistic child, you'd think I'd be jumping up and down but honestly, I would like to see No Child Left Behind fixed so that schools are left holding the bill for things they can't afford to provide and more money spent on special education. Finding out what causes Autism is like finding out what causes cancer or multiple sclerosis, or MD and I think it should be left to the private sector, spend the government funds on ways to educate these children so the government can really say that no child is left behind. Obama brought up NCLB, but I don't think he was strong enough.

Enviromental issues Obama did well but I would have liked to have seen him spell it out even simpler. We consume 20 million barrels of oil a day, more than half of which are imported from other countries, primarily Saudi Arabia. There is enough oil in the US, including areas of North Dakota, off shore, and Alaska (if we had access to it today) to sustain us for roughly 10 years at our currant rate of consumption. Then what? That said I do have to take McCain at his word that he would invest in other forms in energy.

A final point about Joe Plumber

Here is the complete context of the Plumber verses Obama, so you can decide for yourself. I had to weed through literally 50 different youtube posts to find one that didn't show the "Fox News commentary." Or Joe's opinion of Obama's Socialist view and if he believed that he had the opportunity to say it to his face instead of claiming it in his 15 minutes of fame to Neil Cavuto on Fox News. Unfortunately thanks to McCain, his 15 minute will probably last longer.



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