Read Write React

McCain Ad Foolish III

Recently, Barrack Obama stated that he did not look like those other presidents on the dollar bills. Senator John McCain took this to be Obama's playing of the race card. While I can see where John McCain is coming from with this, I really don't see it as Obama playing the race card.  Anyway, I think  John McCain may get something out of it.  Most certainly, he does look more similar to “all those other presidents on the dollar bills." Think about it for a moment.  You know, give the guy some hair, get that 'My Friends' smile going and I say put him on a twenty.  In all seriousness, I'm starting to get fed up with the campaign he's running.  This latest ad of his, comparing Senator Obama to Britney Spears and/or Paris Hilton seems really silly. 

 

Senator Obama at Berlin

Just what is it with Germany?  Senator Obama’s support in Berlin was amazing.  Do Germans fear John McCain, perhaps because of ties to George Bush?  Maybe they simply like Obama’s message of change a great deal.  To me, it is a sign, a very important sign, that there is a potential for the United States to rebuild allies in the world.  This needs to be taken full advantage of. 

Another point, the more than 200,000 people who showed up for Obama’s speech must have had a good reason for being there.  Unless I’m mistaken, the speech took place during work hours.  I’d be hard pressed to take off of work to go see a presidential candidate from another country speak publicly.  Maybe they felt like they had a chance to be part of history.  I think they were there to show support for the United States changing its modus operandi and that they believe Barrack Obama is the one to do it.  The question now changes to how or why they believe that.

McCain Ad Foolish II

So far, I’ve tried not to blast the presidential candidates out of the water.  John McCain’s latest ad, actually blaming Senator Obama for high gas prices will mark at least a pause in my efforts.  For anybody here who doesn’t know it already, the United States uses 25% of the world’s oil.  We have 4% of the world’s population.  Combine with that the fact that our nation’s internal oil supply peaked 35 years ago and has been dwindling since and you may come up with another reason for the high gas prices here at home.  If you are looking further, you might also consider our invasion into the world’s largest petroleum supply region.  Yes, yes but we were looking to create freedom for Iraqi citizens; and 9/11; and, and Sadamm was Evil...  yeah, gotcha 

Oh, and just for the record, John McCain is also against drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.  This ad was a little to far out there.

The Electoral College, Put Simply

Recently, I decided to do some reading on the Electoral College system and its reason for being.  Most of what I’ve heard in the past, mainly from critics, was that the system was grossly outdated and in drastic need of repair, if not given to scrap entirely.  From the information that I’ve gathered online, I have to disagree.

Why the Electoral College System

The Electoral College system forces presidential candidates to spend more of their valuable time in a larger number of states.

The college came to be as a result of serious suspicions moving to and fro between the original thirteen states.  Smaller states were afraid of being overwhelmed by the popular vote of much larger states.  With the lack of communication between citizens of different regions, such suspicions were difficult to overcome.  A system needed to be designed that could deal with this very real question and calm skeptics.  Another problem dealt with foreign interests and possible attempts to influence elections.  A common view held that densely populated areas were likely to be targeted for corruption and bribery, possibly from outside sources.

One of a number of solutions devised to overcome these problems was the Electoral College system and here lay the leap away from a straight use of the popular vote.

Oil, Wind and T. Boone Pickens

The number of plans that I've seen dealing with the huge problem of producing energy in the United States is very small.  Changing that number to include only the plans which might be feasible drops the number to zero.  I encourage all citizens of this country to watch the following video and I say this in a direct attempt to get people visiting the site, www.pickensplan.com.  If you are thinking about moving on without watching the video, please read on below for just a moment so that I may attempt to convince you otherwise.

Oil Import Statistics

The facts Mr. Pickens relays here are known.  In 1960, the U.S. imported about 10% of its oil.  As we reached our peak oil production in 1973 (almost 40 years ago), the number had increased to 24%.  In 1991, the number was 42%, approaching half.  We were still producing almost 60% on our own.  Today, in 2008, we are importing a whopping 70% of our oil at a cost of 700 billion dollars annually. 

A couple of months after a purchase has been made, the oil is gone.  The cash is also gone and will remain outside the borders of this country, much of it in the hands of those who can't stand even to look at Americans.  This is a very ugly situation.  Politicians attempting to lessen the problem in the eyes of the citizens by removing the so called gas tax should be...  Oh, nevermind that.  (to be fair, ethanol is not the save-all either)

Guns, Rights, Violence and Lobbies

Last month, the Supreme Court ruled the District of Columbia law prohibiting handgun ownership unconstitutional.  More importantly, the ruling takes the position that the Second Amendment applies to rights of individuals to own guns as opposed to only the rights of militia members.  The majority opinion was written by the very conservative Antonin Scalia.  If you think that this ruling may change things for a good long time, you are probably correct.  Before jumping to a quick conclusion however, realize that this ruling took into account the need for regulation and licensing restrictions on the weapons. The opinion also stated that "… the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose."  This stance leaves a great deal of room for debate though I applaud Justice Scalia for including the language.

The NRA Response and Public Housing

Not two days after the landmark judgment, the NRA filed suit in several other jurisdictions including San Francisco and Chicago challenging their laws banning handguns.  In San Francisco, at issue is a ban on handguns in public housing.  Here, the NRA challenges the constitutionality of the Housing Authority’s lease agreements which ban guns in public housing units.  These agreements are said to be based on a 2007 law prohibiting guns on city property.  The very mention of public housing will surely fuel the controversy.   A quick search on ‘public housing and guns’ reveals that those who receive money for housing are more than twice as likely to be victims of gun violence.

One major question that is on everybody’s mind is what effect these laws actually have on gun related crime.  It has been seen by all that banning guns does not solve the problems of gun violence.  What are the other factors and how much influence to they have?