McCain and Iraq

I previously posted some information on McCain's economic plan. Now let's look at his track record regarding Iraq...



You may hear in response that he advocated the "surge" of American troops that was extremely successful in quelling the violence. Not so fast. By the time the surge strategy was executed, much of the violence had already ceased or was in decline. The reason? The Sunni Awakening. This was a truce proposal initiated by the Sunni leadership in 2004 and turned down by Bush. Two years later, with violence at an all-time high, the US came back to the bargaining table and accepted the deal against the wishes of the Shia-led Iraqi government. Basically the Sunnis agreed to fight Al-Qaeda instead of the Americans but refused to extend the truce to the Shia.

In addition, research of satellite images from this time period show that many Sunnis had relocated away from ethnically-mixed neighborhoods of Baghdad. Naturally violence declined.

So McCain's troop surge, that he's so proud of nowadays, was not a significant factor in the drop off of violence. Try again John...

Wooing the No Values Vote

McCain's Economic Plan

I actually think this would work...

Magnum PI

And here's why Magnum PI went off the air...

Fiscal Conservatives?

Yeah, right.

My world has turned upside-down

Clay Aiken acknowledges he's gay

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former "American Idol" contestant Clay Aiken has acknowledged he is gay, confirming in an interview with People magazine what most of his fans have suspected for years.

Aiken, 29, a born-again Christian who forged a successful career after being named runner-up in the 2003 "American Idol" television talent show, said he decided to come out after becoming a father in August.

"It was the first decision I made as a father," Aiken told People magazine in an interview for its Friday edition.

"I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."

Aiken has dodged questions about his sexuality for years, usually replying that it was his own business.

He told People he came out to his mother four years ago, and said he hoped his fans, dubbed the Claymates, would not desert him. "I've never intended to lie to anybody at all. ... But if they leave, I don't want them to leave hating me."

Aiken has been one of the more successful "American Idol" contestants, releasing solo albums and currently appearing on Broadway in the spoof musical "Monty Python's Spamalot."

In August, Aiken fathered a baby through in-vitro fertilization with his friend, music producer Jaymes Foster. Foster gave birth to a boy Parker on August 8.

The gay community congratulated Aiken on going public. Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said, "As we're seeing, more and more gay people, including celebrities, are living openly and honestly, and this has tremendous impact in terms of creating awareness, understanding and acceptance."

The news came as little surprise to those in the music business. "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell said, "If he said it, it's the right thing for him. Good for him. I don't think anyone cares. Let's face it. It's 2008."

Foresight

With all of the recent financial meltdowns occupying the headlines, I thought I'd see where the two presidential candidates are on the subject:

A decade ago McCain tried to pass a moratorium on all federal regulations. He was unsuccessful.

McCain's current financial adviser and drafter of his current economic policy, Phil Graham, authored the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000 kept derivatives and high-end investments off limits to regulators. That helped to induce this current crisis.

McCain hasn't cited a single specific way to fix the current crisis and, according to him, we haven't yet figured out what went wrong.

Barack Obama unveiled a 6-point plan during the Democratic primaries that would regulate investment banks similar to commercial banks.

In February of 2006, Obama introduced legislation to stop mortgage transactions that promoted fraud, risk, or abuse. A year later he warned the US Treasury and US Federal Reserve Chairman about the risks of mounting foreclosures. He urged them to bring together all of the stakeholders to find solutions to the subprime mortgage meltdown. McCain did nothing.

Last September, at NASDAQ, Obama warned there was a growing loss of trust in the capital markets. Months later, McCain told the newspapers that he would love to give a solution to the mortgage crisis but instead said, "I don't know of one."

In January Obama outlined a plan to help revive the faltering economy which formed the basis for a bi-partisan stimulus package that passed the Congress. McCain used the crisis as an excuse to push his stimulus plan that offered another huge and permanent corporate tax cut including $4 billion for the big oil companies but no immediate help for workers.

This March, in the wake of the Bear Sterns bailout, Obama called for new, 21st century regulatory framework to restore accountability, transparency, and trust in our financial markets. A few weeks earlier, McCain said "I'm always for less regulation." And then referred to himself as "fundamentally a deregulator".

Fast-forward to today and you see what happens when you confuse the free market with a free license for special interests to take whatever they can get however they can get it. As someone who is about to get married, buy a house, and would like to have a reasonable amount of trust in the financial infrastructure, I just can't stomach the thought of the ideas McCain advocates becoming policy. Obtaining a mortgage is getting progressively more difficult and retirement savings are taking it in the shorts.

For the sake of everyone making less than 7-figures, please vote Obama.

Diamonds

We're going to 2 Neil Diamond concerts within the next week. I wonder if our experience will be anything like Sean's.

My car smells like popcorn

And I don't mind but it did surprise me when I went to work this morning. On Saturday night, B and I decided to go to the last drive-in movie showing for the season. It was a triple feature: Wall-E, Ironman, and Hancock. The only movie either of us really wanted to see was Hancock but we went for all three. It was a 5 or 6 hour movie marathon. It was well after 1am when we left for home with sore backs from sitting/lying in the back of my SUV. Unfortunately, none of the movies were very good IMO. I think next year I'm going to stick to just 1 double feature.

The Fox is Wrong

Does this sound crazy to you?

With the huge debate over oil drilling the past few months, I've heard several references to "dead dinosaurs" as the origins of the world's oil. Do people really believe this? Were some taught that in school? How disgraceful....

Good times!

So what do you think? Are these good wedding reception activities?

...what he said!

In the bag...

I'm going out on a limb and call the 2008 Presidential Election a full 2 months ahead of election day. Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States of America.

Take a look at this graph of electoral votes (click for larger view):
When you look at all states, Obama leads 298 to 227 (270 needed to win) with 13 votes unassigned from currently tied states.

But the most telling data is shown in this graph:
This shows the electoral vote totals of the states that are solidly one way or the other (greater than or equal to a 5% lead). Obama/Biden solidly have 260 electoral votes. McCain/Caribou Barbie have 175. There's no way they eat into that many electoral votes to close the gap. Another tidbit: Obama has a slight lead in North Dakota. ND hasn't voted for a Demotratic presidential nominee since 1964. He may not win but the fact that he is competitive tells the story. Game. Set. Match.

Washington kicks ass

The exact opposite of Phoenix. Here's proof:

Mt. Rainier & wild flowers

Snoqualmie River

Port Townshend Lighthouse

San Juan Islands

Seattle

Politics

With all of the "below-the-belt" attacks, this election cycle is getting disgusting. I thought with Karl Rove (aka supreme douchebag of the universe) out of the picture, things might get better but no. What is more surprising is that most of the attacks aren't coming from either campaign, instead they're coming from the pundits and media.

Situations like the Biden sons and the Palin daughter; the Obama church over-reaction or the McCain housing snafu. This truly reinforces my belief that many, many people simply vote for party, not for politician. We vote for the platform we want to see, and put on rose colored glasses to look at those we elect to implement them. Both sides exploit petty, unimportant issues because they simply want to win. No one is above it.

I think people would be a lot happier if they just admitted "Sure, the Republican is a cannibal who eats the heads of babies, but he's gonna lower taxes and drill offshore!" Or, "I know the Democrat fathered an entire starting baseball team with nine different Thai prostitutes, but he's gonna protect jobs here at home!" Just admit you're voting strictly on the issues; that the other sides guys aren't supervillians and your guys aren't superheroes.

Limbaugh and Moore would be out of jobs.

...just my 2¢