McCain vs Obama?

As you know I have written John McCain off some time ago. My support in prior elections eroded when he tuned from an independent maverick to a religious right ass kisser. He quickly faded, ran out of money and was written off – this was at the very beginning of the campaign.

The fact that he “resurrected” himself and his campaign is just short of a miracle but I think his resurrection was his own personal doing not some young political hot shot like Carl Rove was for Bush. This is a testament to McCain’s ability to think for himself and admit he made a mistake and turn the ship around in mid sail.

He stuck to his support of the war in Iraq and Bush’s “new” surge plan for Iraq even when everyone told him it was suicide to do that – he is now in the lead - a phoenix of a sort.

Some say he is too old (70+) and they may be right; the presidency ages a person very much and if you start out old where can you go but to “very” old. And what about the energy required for the job – hey, that is a factor and we cannot deny it.

You notice that I do not mention Romney at all and I must admit that I just cannot seem to get to like Romney. I think he is a good business person and has a good mind for management. He comes across as un-genuine, willing to say and do anything to get elected (flip-flopper on abortion, etc.)

Hey it will be McCain vs. Obama and Obama will win so get ready for the first black (non-white) president – history in the making.

Bill & Hillary drop the ball big time!

Has Hillary blown it? Many, including my wife think she has. She sent Bill out to attack Osama and Bill does not attack well – he is a lover not a fighter.

The Clintons played the “race” card – very bad mistake. We expect Jesse Jackson to play the race card but not Hillary Clinton; Barack took the high road and won.

I am surprised at Hillary’s misstep since both her and Bill are so very smart politically; maybe they are getting just too old?

Can Hillary recover – I don’t think so. I think Obama is on a big time ROLL and he will be impossible to stop mainly because he is a UNITER (black / white -Republican/Democrat) and that is a powerful message that the country is very open to right now and is ready for after all the dissension Bush has sown in this country and around the world.

His inexperience does not seem to matter like I originally thought it would. Caroline Kennedy and her uncle Ted came out for Obama saying he (Obama) is just like John F Kennedy was; young, inexperienced but charismatic and ready to lead a new America, That is a powerful endorsement and Ted Kennedy said the endorsement was made possible because Hillary and Bill started playing so rough.

Bill and Hillary are just not an attractive presidential couple. Hillary is definitely brusque and hard to like. She is not a great speaker and she does tend a little too much to the left. Obama is staying in the middle for right now where he should be staying.

As Hillary and Bill get desperate, their message will become shrill and desperate sounding like it already had before she started sounding even more desperate.

We have a long time to go and it will be interesting to see how the game is played but Hillary has to change something dramatically to stay in the race.

At this point it appears the country is ready for a black president more than it is ready for a female president. That says something about us but I think it says more about the woman Hillary is or is not.

My brother-in-law who gets his news from FOX exclusively has told me he is voting for Obama. To me it means that Republicans do not have a prayer and that gender bias is still a deciding factor – so there – all based on my brother-in-law somehow representing the male, right wing horde in this country.

Bye John, you should never have run!

John Edwards quit the presidential race today – about time. Quite frankly I did not know why he tried so hard last time and this time. Just because you are good looking and have some money you think you should be president? Well in most cases that is enough; but not for poor ole’ John.

He was a southerner from S. Carolina that could not carry his own state but then again he did not count on a black man running. Most democrats in his state are black and they all went for Obama and actually Hillary more than for him EVEN though he was a populist willing to give everything to the poor and downtrodden.

I think he sounded too much like a rich politician promising way too much and that just did not seem genuine. He also was too perfect, rich lawyer, loving wife with cancer, lost a son to a car accident and subsequently had more children (young). I think many thought he should have stayed home and taken care of his family instead of running for president AGAIN!

Did not like him from the start but maily because he was such a bloody socialist!

Bye Bye RUDY!

What happened to my man Rudy Giuliani? He was leading the pack at the beginning. Republicans were seeing him as the only truly electable Republican candidate. Even democrats liked him for standing up and saying he was always pro-choice and will remain so (no like flip-flopper Romney). I really thought he was a contender.

But obviously he was not smart enough to put a winning team together; he miscalculated badly. He knew he did not have a chance in Iowa with the religious folk so he just skipped it. But he also skipped New Hampshire and South Carolina and put all his marbles in the Florida basket.

If your not in the running, in the news, in front of people – your funds dry up because people think you left the campaign – everybody knows that – why didn’t you?

People tell me that he thought the 9/11 situation would carry him through and it did at the outset but terrorism took a back seat as an issue, Iraq did not matter as much anymore and his claim to fame in 9/11 did not work for him anymore.

In the end his presidency was not to be and he will go into history as someone future politicians can learn what NOT to do in a presidential campaign.

Michigan Primary Day

Today was Michigan Primary Day but really the only options were on the Republican side since the Democrats (except Hillary) took their names off the ballot when ordered by the Democratic Party leaders.

You see Michigan had the nerve to schedule their primary earlier than the Democratic Party rules allowed. I am still thinking how we as a state can teach the Democratic Party leaders a lesson for being so anal; I will come up with something wait and see.

Anyway, I asked around the office who was voting and I did not get a big positive response. I followed up with why not and got the basic – I don’t like anybody on the ballot.

Further questioning brought out an overall disillusionment with all politicians and political parties.

Ever since the Iraq War became a sort of non-issue the fire went out and now the economy has taken the war’s place as top issue and that does not generate the same emotions as the war did.

In Michigan, it is between Romney and McCain. If Romney does poorly here, he may as well hang it up since he was born and raised here. Many say he is just full of bullshit saying what people want to hear but not really meaning it. McCain on the other hand is projecting himself as a straight, honest shooter not afraid to tell you the truth.

The prime example was the jobs Michigan has lost in the auto industry. Romney is telling us he will get those jobs back and McCain is telling us those jobs are gone forever and we need to re-train for other jobs – who do you think is closer to reality?

I voted for Giuliani but he didn’t even campaign here or anywhere else for that matter. He is hoping Florida will give him momentum but we are told he is out of money and has asked his people to work for free for now. He has no momentum and that is why he is not taking in any donations; people feel he has already lost.

He was leading nationally as a Republican – what the hell happened? McCain fired his advisors and is now a front-runner – who is running Rudy’s campaign?

Oh well – lets wait till after 8PM to see who won.

Back from sunny Marco Island, Florida

Just got back from a week in Marco Island, Florida, where the weather was a welcome change from the freeze in Michigan; temperatures were mid 80s and sunny.

Had a great week with the grandson, the in-laws from Scotland and friends from Manchester, England. They wanted to know how our political process worked and I had trouble trying to explain the mess we call our political process. Tonight I am awaiting the results from the Michigan primary.

CHANGE is what the people want!

Well as predicted the yahoos in Iowa caused a number of candidates that probably should never have run for president, to quit the race.

Another big story out of Iowa is that apparently “race” no longer matters. That may seem like the case but in my mind and I would venture to say, in many people’s minds, Barack is not a “black American”, he is an “African American”.

I realize this may be confusing but Jessie Jackson and Barack Obama are not alike at all except maybe for the pigment of their skin. Barack’s father was from Kenya and his white mother from Kansas (?). Tiger Woods is also different with Asian and American Indian blood in him. Black Americans called Barack “not black enough” because of his different parentage and upbringing.

I hope “race” is no longer a factor in politics or anything else for that matter but I don’t think it is totally dead just as sexism (Hillary) is not totally dead either and WILL play a role in the election albeit hopefully a small one.

The other buzz word or theme coming out of Iowa is “CHANGE”. You can take this to mean “no more of the same shit we have now”. Huckabee, the ole’ Gomer Pyle type, was preaching un-Republican ideas and Barack was preaching change in the sense of “can’t we all get together for a united America?”

Hillary got the message and so did everyone else – its all about change and not partisan politics as usual. Every candidate is now adjusting their message because today, the polls show that change is what the people want.

Both Detroit newspapers are saying McCain is the man to lead the GOP and I may have to get over my previous disdain for the man because of his flip-flops and take another look at him. McCain, to me, was an independent and I liked that about him but then I felt he changed. Maybe his now fired handlers were handling him wrong along the Rove / Christian method. Now maybe the old John is back.

New Hampshire is populated by a bunch of independents who have voted for McCain in the past; they may again. What happens to Hillary if Obama wins N.H.?

I hope you all see why I am for reforming the primary method in this country; you cannot allow a narrow slice of our population dictating who stays and who goes – you need the candidates to test their message on a larger slice of our population to see what the people really want and who the people really want.

IOWA caucus - big deal!

Well let’s get into the political campaign right away in the New Year.

The whole Iowa thing just pissed me off and I know I have spouted off about it for some time but the arrogance or greed of those yahoos in Iowa; hell it is not even a primary but some but some stupid-ass gatherings in barns all over the state.

I really don’t care who they pick it; is all about how the media portrays their picks as some form of revelation. Candidates have actually bowed out of the race because they did not do well in Iowa – why?

My own paper, the Free Press in Detroit basically said Obama will be president because he won in Iowa!

What is this crap about “momentum”; can you compare the yahoos in Iowa with the twits in New Hampshire? What about us in Michigan and the people in Florida that wanted their voices heard but were silenced by both parties – what is going on here?

The way we select candidates for president in the primaries needs to be changed immediately or we will have jack-asses like Huckabee thinking he is somehow presidential material with momentum.

Michigan is poised to challenge the current primary system and so is Florida – encourage your politicians to go for the change!

On another political trend for change; what about those states that are passing laws that mandate they give their electoral votes to the guy or gal that has won the national popular vote and not to the candidate that has won the popular vote in their specific state. Hard to understand - I will have more on this fantastic movement soon. Remember Gore won the popular vote but Bush won (?) the electoral vote.

Change the primary system!

Saturday, January 05, 2008

To: The Detroit Free Press
Re: “Obama”, Jan. 5.


I was disappointed but not surprised to see the Free Press splatter the name Obama over its front page just because a handful and I do mean handful of farmers from Iowa favored Obama over the rest of the Democratic candidates. These few undiversified Iowans get to pick our presidential line-up because papers like the Free Press give them and their opinions an undeserved importance. Our primary system must be changed to give more Americans a voice in choosing who runs for president.

Bring on 2008 !!!

Had a great time bringing in the New Year 2008 but we have a good time every New Year. Right after midnight we had a major snow storm which made driving home a little dicey but 4-wheel-drive Explorer saved the day again while rear-wheelers just spun out.

Lets see what 2008 has in store for us!

Last of the year 2007!

Well here we are on the last day of 2007; tomorrow starts 2008.

Do I reflect on the year that was or just look forward to the New Year 2008 – how about both!

2007 was a good year for me and my family as good years go. No major bad spots; I look at my sister’s recovery from breast cancer as a good spot. My job was extra stressful in 2007 but I hope to minimize that stress in 2008.

2007 went by as fast as all the years go by. I have to read all the year-end round-ups in the various magazines I read to remember what really did happen in 2007. What always amazes me is the list of people that have died during the year; these are people that most of us recognize as representing various generations in various fields of endeavor.

As a country, we had our bright and dark spots and continue to struggle on the international front and economically here at home. Many or our problems like Iraq just go year to year with little visible change and some like the sub-prime mortgage crisis, in my opinion, will only reveal its true damage potential only in 2008 and maybe beyond.

The New Year will mean Bush will be out and hopefully will not damage this country in his last remaining year too much. Presidential politics will dominate all of 2008; you will not be able to hide from it. It already started earlier than at any time in our political history.

I wonder if a clear winner will emerge in either party or will it go down to the wire at the national conventions.

I don’t expect dramatic change in 2008 but I am not in control so who can tell. I am starting off the year a little differently by spending a week in Marco Island, Florida with my in-laws from Scotland and our grandson. I do not usually travel this early in the New Year but spend the month of January planning for the rest of 2008 – oh well change is good, I think.

I do need to shed some pounds big time – maybe in 2008.

See you on the flip side!

Christmas Day 2007

Ah, Christmas Day. Spent with family, good food, good drink and good conversation and of course, playing with the grandson.

I don't hate Catholics!

I don’t hate Catholics. My mother is a super Catholic and so are my sister and her family. I have Catholic friends who are good people I like very much. I sometimes feel sorry for people that are basically Catholic sheep but I know of many Catholics that have their own idea about what Catholicism should be regardless of what priests, bishops and popes say.

No, my scorn and derision is aimed squarely at the Catholic Church and specifically the boys that run that Church; shall we say the Vatican?

As far as the reason I pick on the Church or Church leadership so much – well it is mainly because of their unmitigated arrogance!

I have long maintained that humans are predisposed to religion as if it was in our genes. We need knowledge voids filled even if by made up stories; it’s our human nature. And religions of all kinds have been filling the void with stories almost from the beginning.

Religions produce traditions and traditions lead to a way of life for millions of people - if these religions make people happy and content then good for them. But if these religions or religious leaders start accumulating power and demanding control not only over their own adherents but over others, they need to be slapped down and reminded that they have no special position in our human society or in the spiritual universe; they are just keepers of the stories people choose to believe in and nothing more.

The Vatican wants us to believe that it knows what is good or bad for us as if they had a direct line to God – a touch of arrogance you think?

They allowed priests to sexually molest young boys yet demand we listen to those same priests instruct us in the proper handling of sexual issues, marriage issues, behavior issues, etc. – is that the height of arrogance?

The history of the Vatican and the Papacy is replete with stories of degeneracy, immorality, corruption, wickedness, plain evil, decadence, and dissoluteness, wantonness, vice, depravity, debauchery, indulgence, dissipation and whatever other similar words can be found in the dictionary.

One professor teaching about the Papacy said that as despicable as the Papal record is many bishops point to the fact that the papacy still exists means that God must be protecting it for some reason – did you understand that? – as bad as the Vatican has been and may be to this day, the fact that it has not crashed and burned must mean that its fate must be in the hands of God – what a rationale!

Excuse me if I sound a little bitter about the faith of my childhood and the faith of my ancestors but superstition and darkness must stop somewhere and not be passed on anymore.

I am all for tradition and I practice certain Polish / Catholic traditions but I can no longer stomach the blatant arrogance of the Catholic Church and feel strongly that Catholics worldwide need to take the reins of their religion away from the arrogant nitwits in the Vatican.

Local political nonsense!

Monday, December 17, 2007

To: The Canton Observer
Re: “Residents trying to repeal raises for elected officials”, Dec. 16.


The recent attacks on the Canton Township Board of Trustees for their decision to give themselves a 3% raise were expected, as they always are; but trying to repeal the raises has gone past plain silly and into the realm of the absurd.

It appears that all parties agree the board deserves the raise but somehow the board picked the “wrong time” to give themselves the raise. In this time of economic turmoil in Michigan the board’s action was somehow “insensitive” when so many Canton residents are not in the best of financial positions.

I can see anger at CEOs awarding themselves millions when their companies are heading for bankruptcy but I cannot see getting angry over a deserved and planned 3% raise amounting to around $11,000 total.

May I posit the idea that there is no right time for public officials to give themselves raises and there never will be a right time; people complaining about the raises are people that complain about any and all raises that elected officials grant themselves no matter how miniscule the raise or how good or bad the economy.

These same people feel that elected public servants are just that, servants that should work for servant wages. They tend not to see these individuals as real people with real lives, real bills to pay and real kids to raise.

Elected office is not for everyone. Living from election to election is not for everyone. All you can do is the best job possible, hoping the electorate sees the results and votes to allow you to continue your good work.

Getting mad at Canton’s elected officials for one’s financial misfortune when they had nothing to do with the cause(s) of that misfortune is unfair and quite frankly, smacks of envy and serves no positive purpose whatsoever.

I missed the point in Romney's speech!

I have written about Mitt Romney’s “religion” speech on a number of occasions already but just recently I have been made aware, by commentators, that I may have missed the whole point of his speech – duh?

I thought that Romney basically ignored his Mormonism and focused on the freedom of religion in this country and the fact that religion should not determine if a candidate is fit to run for the presidency.

On closer reading of his speech, he is trying to unite all Christians (includes Mormons) to stem the attack of the secularists or as he put it, the unbelievers. He mentioned godless Europe as an example. Hmmmmm, that is a good political move on his part; uniting the Christians instead of defending Mormonism against Christians who call it a satanic cult and not Christian at all.

Smart fellow that Romney! But what do I think of this us against them; Christian against secularist that he is touting? On the one hand he says religion should not be a test for leadership (unconstitutional) but on the other its either vote for me (us) or a secularist may get in (read Democrat) and the U.S. may turn into a godless Europe.

It is interesting to point out that some countries in Europe have state religions (U.K. etc.) a clear repudiation of our separation of Church and State doctrine and yet in those same countries the people could give a shit about religion.

Hmmmmm, so the Christians in the U.S. want Christianity to become the official American religion so we can then all ignore it?

Anyway, I am having some trepidation about this whole religion in U.S. politics thing and I think the secularists here are going to have to start making some noise.

The Golden Compass & the Catholic Church

Hey there is a great kid’s movie coming out at Christmas time and it’s called THE GOLDEN COMPASS.

I have seen trailers and am thoroughly captivated by the special digital effects and the story line – out of this world!

But wait, there may be a controversy brewing about this children’s flick. The Catholic Church or at least some department of the church calls the movie as trying to imbue innocent children during Christmastime with a notion that religion is evil and especially the Catholic Church.

Well, this sparked my interest as these types of controversies always do and I had to search deeper.

The movie is the first of a trilogy (Lord of the Ring?) written by a man named Phillip Pullman; his books titled “HIS DARK MATERIALS”. Yes, the man is an avowed skeptic, secularist or atheist; take your choice, suffice it to say he is not a fan of religion and especially the Catholic Church which he names specifically in his books but in the movie he calls it THE MAGISTARIUM.

The word magistarium actually does pertain to the Catholic Church and is the “teachings” of the Church; magister is teacher in Latin and the magistarium is the infallible and fallible sacred teachings of the Church as a whole.

Pullman has said that the Catholic Churches makes up teachings and then demands that all Catholics believe these teachings as true when in fact they are total nonsense. Catholics are hammered by the Church since an early age to blindly believe and follow whatever the “magistarium” dictates. I think this is made obvious in the movie also.

The director of the movie realizes what the author intends but claims he has made the movie as neutral as he could. The movie is about good and evil, reason and free will against superstition and subjugation.

I have not seen the movie yet but am really looking forward to seeing it AND of course following the controversy as it continues.

I must add that the Catholic Bishop’s Movie Review Board or the Catholic Movie Reviewers – found the movie to be OK and commendable to promote light against darkness which the Church also supports – are you kidding me?

More later…

Religious Test to run for President!

Mitt Romney delivered his “religion” speech and by all accounts it was a well polished speech that was not a defense of his Mormon religion but a defense of the freedom of religion in this country and the fact that religion should not be a factor in choosing a president.

Romney cited our own Constitution, Article VI, Section 3 that states “…no religion test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States”. So to ask him to defend his Mormonism would be unconstitutional.

I am saying that in this country, at this time in our history, in this election, a de facto religious test IS REQUIRED to run for the office of president.

All candidates, Republican and Democrat, have had to affirm their “deep” religious roots and beliefs and that their lives are guided by these beliefs and if so, so will what they do as president will be guided by those beliefs. Of course, they all (not Republicans) could be just bull shitting in order to get elected but the fact that they feel they absolutely need to appear religious to win is very troubling to me!

Another way to look at this issue is to ask yourself what chance of getting elected would an atheist have, or even just a secularist? What if you just said you were an agnostic and just didn’t know which if any religion was “true” or even if a god existed; you’re not against religion, you just don’t know if it all isn’t just made up nonsense.

I don’t think a non-religious person would have any chance at being elected to the presidency in our present time.

I don’t think it was always this way. What religion was Eisenhower? Did anyone give a shit? So it must be the evangelical movement and their money that is changing our political landscape and it needs to be stopped.

The silent majority is going to have to speak with its vote. We need to let people know with our vote that religion should be a personal matter and we don’t want to hear about it. What we care about is how a candidate stacks up as a man or woman of this world and of this country.

What that person stands for, not what their religion stands for. Are you going to uphold our constitution or undermine it like little Bush has done? Are you going to use common sense based on solid evidence to make your decisions or are you going to hang on to superstitions your faith espouses like not accepting evolution as a scientific fact, or that stem cell research causes potential mini abortions and should not be allowed.

If our candidates do believe that they need to promote their religion to get elected but really would not do so under normal circumstances; we need to find these. We need to separate the real religious kooks from the candidates that are just playing the religious game to get elected.

I am pretty sure Hillary is one such person and I am sure Giuliani is also. In fact Obama is for a fact since he took up religion only when advised to politically. Edwards I am not sure of.

Huckabee is a religious kook but I don’t think Romney is. McCain is probably not and I would say the same of Thompson.

More later…

Huckabee quarantine AIDS patients!

Huckabee has been accused of suggesting quarantine for AIDS patients in 1992. OK, I did the same back then.

I am medically trained; trained to diagnose and contain the spread of a threatening epidemic – that is “standard operating procedure” period.

The fact that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact but through (in those days) homosexual (anal/blood) sex placed it in a different category than lets say Typhus or Ebola so quarantine per se was not absolutely indicated. But we did not know much in the first days of AIDS and quarantine would not be a totally farfetched action at that time.

Huckabee was also critical of Hollywood and especially Elizabeth Taylor for trying to get the government to spend billions to find a cure “immediately”. I was also very ticked off at Liz because she never mentioned that AIDS could be prevented by the practice of safe sex; she did not want her boys to have to wear a condom, it would diminish the pleasure somewhat.

Huckabee was angered by the government directing billions away from cancer, etc. to find a cure without first having an effective prevention program in place – I agree and was also mad at this irrational approach to handling an epidemic. He suggested that Hollywood fund the research and I suggested Liz Taylor pay for it if she wanted a cure so bad.

We now know a lot more about AIDS and it no longer is a homosexual disease but afflicts many non-homosexuals. We did let it go out of control and now are having a hard time getting it under control but that is another subject.

I agreed with Huckabee on his AIDS stance in 1992 but we part ways as far as homosexuality is concerned but then he IS a Baptist Minister and that is that!

For me he may be an OK person but not presidential material at all!