Ignoreland

Today I really feel like talking about politics. Maybe its the DNC going on right now, maybe its the other changes in my life. This year, for the first time, I made a donation to a campaign. I'm still reeling over the fact that I spent my own money on this, especially when money is so tight, but it was important to me.

On my old blog, back in 2004 I made a post about how I felt the day after the last election. I was angry and hurt, but I decided I needed to do something about it. I posted the following (in part):

I pledge the following:

In the next four years I will get five friends to help me in my endeavors to recapture my civil rights. I, with these five friends, will actively campaign to get candidates of our choosing voted in or re-elected to Congress. I will donate my time to the Democratic party, and come 2008 to the primary candiate of my choice to run for President. After the primaries, I will dedidate that time to the Democratic party candidate chosen by the voters, whether or not they are the candidate I have chosen to back in the primaries. I will not allow this country to be shanghaied again by the corporate intrests of Haliburton, Bush Co, and the civil-liberties hating Republican Party due to my lack of activism and my laziness.

Well, I'm not sure I've gotten five friends behind my endeavors, and since the birth of my daughter, I don't actually have the free time I'd like to dedicate to the campaign. That being said, I have spoken out about Obama and why I think he's important. I donated to the campaign and now I'm reaching out to those who read this blog. Tell me what you think. Open a discussion with me about politics. I had about 5 people at the time tell me they were on board. Let's see what we can do to make sure the election goes our way this time.

Next a rant about John McCain.

First; I hear of a lot of former Hillary supporters talking about supporting McCain. As far as I can see there is no logical reason someone who supports the policies of Hillary Clinton could dream of supporting the Republican candidate. Only anger over her loss to Obama could bring someone to support him by sheer nature of opposing the one who defeated her in the primary. A few weeks bag McCain attended the Sturgis Rally in North Carolina. The motorcycle rally includes a beauty contest called the "Miss Buffalo Chip" contest, and generally features its participants nude or at least topless. McCain, while at the rally (directly following the "Ringing Wet & Wild" women's mud wrestling event) told the crowd that he suggested his wife ender the "Miss Buffalo Chip" contest. Now those who know me know I'm not adverse to mud wrestling or nudity, but is this the type of progress in the women's movement that the former Clinton supporters see in McCain.

Add to that his campaign's insult to gamers, wielding the D&D players are slackers who live in their mom's basement tired old hat. Somehow he, or at least his staff, equates liberal politics with roleplaying. That I don't get. Now I'm a bleeding heart liberal and a roleplayer, but I certainly don't live in my mom's basement. And the greatest thing is it comes in a post where they claim that a recent story John McCain has started telling about finding out that one of his captors in Vietnam was a Christian. Now personally, I'd like to applaud Senator McCain for living through what he lived through there. I'm sure it is worse than anything I have ever suffered. But that doesn't make this story true. It was told by a Russian in 1973, and only recently stated by McCain, and then only when he started to suffer in polling with Evengelicals.

I won't even get into the fact that the man owns so many houses that he can't remember how many he owns. And he calls Obama an elitist?

This weekend I got into a debate with friends who believed that nothing has changed on the civil rights front since the 1960's. I can't even say how flabberghasted I was that they'd make that point. Do I believe that civil rights are perfect? Of course not, but no different than 1959? Ridiculous. Do I need to point out all of the differences? I think the problem with their viewpoint, which I did not articulate that night, was their educational bias. They believe that primary education is still segregated and insufficient for those it is supposed to help. I agree with both of those points, but not that this makes it no different than before the Civil Rights era. I started some research on the statistics, and as soon as I have them I'll publish here.

OK, I don't think I can rant anymore. I've been avoiding work for too long.