September 27, 2008

• Debate

  I watched the debate, and even though freetime is scarce for me, I wanted to post a few reflections before I go to bed.  First off, I have been fairly disappointed with the increasing liberalism of the Republican party.  The Democrats have also gone more to the left but voting for them is inconceivable, period.  At any rate, I am not excited about McCain, he has an annoying tendency to compromise with the Democrats, he is supposedly unwilling to raise taxes, which is good, but the man I wanted, Ron Paul, was going to abolish the IRS completely, which is better.  He also believes in the global warming myth, which is in a way playing into the hands of the UN.  Finally, I dislike the fact that he is divorced and remarried.  I tend to view divorce as perverse and wrong.  The only time divorce is legitimate is when adultury occurs, and even then it is still optional not required.  That having been said, I still find McCain preferential to Obama although I may vote 3rd party this time, a write in for Ron Paul perhaps.  And now my thoughts on the debate briefly:

  Of course I am greatly disturbed by Obama, although I find him less disturbing than John Kerry.  The Democrats keep fielding extreme left of left candidates and then they wonder why they aren’t elected?  Now, if they simply fielded another candidate like Bill “oral sex is not sex” Clinton or Jimmy Carter then I would vote 3rd party for sure because such a candidate would not be much more liberal than McCain, who is a liberal Republicam a.k.a. Neo-con.  But Obama disturbs me on many levels, and I think it is essential to keep him out, especially considering the fact that Congress is mostly Democrat.  But I digress…

  First of all, I had problems with the economic conversation.  Obama kept talking about cutting taxes to the “middle class” without specifying what the “middle class” was.  He needs to present an income range/define parameters.  The most money I ever made was about $27,000 a year, when I was living on my own being a fully productive member of society.  That was after the sharks at Washington DC took away a decent chunk of my paycheck, and then in addition I had to give them more money when tax time came around.  I was not by any reasonable means middle class, I was poor.  My roommate and I used to joke that we were upper lower class simply because we lived on the second floor of the apartment complex.  But what if the Democrats idea of “middle class” is actually an even lower income bracket than that?  The point is, I do not know, and even if it includes that range, then it would still be better to cut taxes across the board, and not just to the poor.  I not only had problems with the ideas but also the rhetoric, Obama kept saying that McCain wants to give money to the rich by lowering taxes to them.  Give money?  That has absolutely nothing to do with giving money, it is simply a matter of NOT TAKING (emphasis added).  Because it is their money in the first place, it is the government that takes the money, so it is not by any means a gift, but simply a matter of taking less.  If keeping the money you work for is a “gift” from the government then the only possible implication is that the government owns everything in the first place.  That sort of thinking is called communism, and it is an ideology practiced in the most oppressive countries in the world.  He also said that McCain wanted to cut taxes to the wealthy and the corporations who “never asked for it.”  This can only be an outright lie or a level of ignorance which I cannot fathom.  The “rich” may not have sent letters to Obama asking him to lower taxes, but that is an issue with the Republican constituency is concerned with.  That is why many of the wealthy vote Republican, they wish to keep their money, which is completely understandable.  It is also the reason why goods and services in Communist countries are typically so poor, because when governments confiscate the majority of people’s earnings it demotivates them and removes incentives for high performance. 

  Now, as to the international politics.  Obama really wants to invade Pakistan.  I have to say that I agree with McCain on Pakistan, and I was fairly amused he said in regard to Obama’s comments “you don’t say that.”  I realize that Aljazeera really would like for Pakistan to get bombed, but since when do we make policy based on what Aljazeera wants?  Granted Obama never said the views of the Islamic world determined his foreign policy (as far as I know), but he sure is lined up well with the will of Aljazeera.  I do not know whether it is because of his Islamic upbringing, or because of all the support and money he received from Islamic countries, but I find it disturbing.  Especially considering how few allies the US has in the Islamic world (which generally hates the US and western culture, but then, I too hate western culture), and how easily those nations can be stirred to  extremism and terror.  Obama’s response to the “you don’t say that,” comment was that McCain and the Bush Administration gave N Korea the shaft and would not open dialogue with them.  The difference is, N Korea is an enemy state, not an ally. 

  He also lied when he said that the Republicans expected to be viewed as liberators in Iraq and to find WMD’s while there, and that they turned out to be wrong.  First of all, the US soldiers were viewed as liberators, people did celebrate in the streets, statues of Saddam Hussein were pulled down, etc.  Unfortunately, there was also a great deal of looting and problems with people like Sadr (which seems to be settled now).  As to finding WMD’s, the building materials were certainly there: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334/

  Moving on, in general I find a lot of the international politics disturbing, either way.  It gives me a sense of despair that the US is getting involved with so many countries.  It seems that Russia is being a problem again, and this time for the purpose of getting control over more oil.  Which is horrible considering how expensive gas prices already are.  I drive a Toyata, which gets good mileage, but it costs me more money to fill up my tank once than it does to buy a box set of any season of any Star Trek series.  Actually depending on where I shop, I could get 2 box sets for the price of one complete fill up for my gas tank.  Normally I would be pleased at the return to a bi-polar international system, because anything that mitigates the development of a world government is good, but I am concerned about the overextension of US troops, and the increasing gas prices.  This situation is a loss regardless of which one of them wins.

  Also, while I suspect that the liberal media will blast McCain for mispronouncing Ahmadinejad, the fact is that they both mispronounced his name.  His name is not Amekdinajad, which was how they both ended up pronouncing it through the debate.  Although I think that most people struggle with his name, I used to struggle with it myself.  One thing everyone should learn in phoenetics is how to sound out new words.  Sometimes you have to break it up: Ah–ma–din–e–jad.  Take it at one syllable at a time if need be. 

  As to Israel, I think McCain has the better policy.  I am a Christian conservative and I have Jewish blood in me so I must support Israel.  The Bible clearly dictates that that land belongs to the Jews, and that those who curse Israel will be cursed.  I wrote a detailed entry on this topic a few years ago and I can rehash it if possible.  Aside from that, the fact of the matter is that Jews have been a persecuted minority almost anywhere they have gone, and on a consistent basis.  The only place where they were welcomed was China during the middle ages.  After the rise of Islam Jews were forbidden from owning land, and persecuted a great deal more.  Many fled the middle east to Europe and Ethiopia, but also China.  The Chinese emperor looked on the Jews with favor, probably because they actually had quite a bit in common in terms of work ethic and the notion of meritocracy, so he gave them a province to live on.  Unfortunately when the Mongols invaded they killed off most of the Jews in China.  My point is, that the Jews need to have their own country, and it needs to be strong.  It needs to be a place where they can flee too and where they can be a majority so that they are not persecuted.  And I can think of no place more proper than their original homeland.  Am yisrael chai…

  Well that seems to be all I have for now, I will endeavor to catch up with many of you all as time allows. 

  • 2:38 am
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