Palin's got the issues well in hand

Teleprompter this, notes on hand that... the problem is so much larger than who is the better speaker and who is the lesser of the many evils we must choose to elect. Now, we have Mrs. Palin collecting 100 grand to bad-mouth the sitting president for using the same technology that every president has used since its inception (and that she has used herself), while she scribbles talking points on her hand in order to answer simple questions that she has been given in advance. If it weren't so tragic, it would be funny.

The real problem is much more complex (which is probably why so many seem to be missing it, choosing instead to focus on never-ending inane distractions). We now live in a country where:

* Fox News is apparently considered the most trustworthy news source (I don't even know where to begin with this one - this is more worrisome than N1H1 ever was).
* Palin is still riding the wave of support that had her nearly a heartbeat away from the driver's seat of this once-great nation, and the woman needs crib notes on her hand to remind her to slip in catch-phrases about such hard-to-remember core values as energy and tax cuts. She continues to astound us with her incompetence and holier-than-Obama attitude, and folks still pay attention to her. Why? What if she wasn't so folksy and easy to look at? Would anyone pay attention to her?
* Selfish miscreants committing heinous acts of evil suffer less harsh punishment than many individuals who commit minor crimes (much depends on who is committing the crime, of course) Punishment no longer fits the crime, and this is a major source of our problems. It seems that the only way to keep people civil and law-abiding is to make the punishment greater than the reward.
* The millions spent on beer and snacks to celebrate a football game last week could have provided food, water, and other necessities to an entire third-world country. Never mind the money spent on promoting the game, the prize money for winners and losers, the merchandise sales, etc. Our priorities - in terms of caring for our fellow man and addressing what is really important - seem skewed.
* People expect a single man (or woman) to fix overnight all that has gone wrong with our country, and that simply cannot be done. Where so many are guilty of creating this situation, it will take an equal number to right the ship before it sinks.

My final thought is this: Be careful what you wish for. If we eventually place Palin - or someone of her ilk - in the White House, we will reap what we sow.

Post Veep Debate Observations

Sarah Palin, "God love 'er," has demonstrated that she is a bobblehead (albeit a pretty one, you betcha) who is clearly ill-equipped to be second in command of our country. Her winking, folksy, "I'll answer your questions any way I want," uninformed performance left little doubt that she does not have the goods to be anything more than governmental eye-candy. Despite the die-hard Republican supporters' chants that she aced the debate and is two-legged mannah from heaven above, the facts speak for themselves. The only reason that she wasn't left floating in a pool of humiliation at the end of that debate was because Joe Biden bit his tongue for a few hours in order to avoid coming off as a big, bad bully. Had his opponent been anyone else - male or female - he would have been given the green light to expose the ignorance revealed in their responses (or lack thereof) to the questions asked by the moderator.

Let's just cut to the chase: Sarah Palin was not selected for her extensive experience or expertise. She was chosen for two reasons only. First, she exudes the "regular folk" charm and appeal that middle America seems to find soothing (by golly, we don't like it when our leaders remind us that they're smarter than us), and she does it in a package that is easy to look at. Second, she offered the Republican party a relative lock on the Evangelical vote, which is nothing short of huge. What remains to be seen at this point is whether loyalty to religious affiliation and/or party trumps common sense. If history is any indicator (and, sadly, it is), I won't be remotely surprised to see a gun-totin', Bible-thumpin', abortion-bannin' Barbie elected to the second highest office in our once-great nation.

She'll be changin' what she doesn't want people lookin' back on, drill-baby-drillin' the daylights out of our sensitive and already-damaged ecosystem for oil that the country won't benefit from for ten years, takin' target practice from Air Force 2 on whichever animals haven't been rendered extinct yet ("sorry, Ms. Vice President - there just aren't any polar bears left to plink off with your high-powered rifle"), honoring women's rights by forbidding them from aborting the baby forming inside of them as a result of incestuous rape, and stomping some more on the Constitution by having the VP given more authority and power. Be careful what you wish for, America. Be very, very careful.

Palin-drone, violence in media, and more

Just a few random thoughts that whacked me in the noggin today. First, the whiny and now seemingly invisible Sarah Palin. People, and even the press, seem to finally be tiring of the McCain camp's unmitigated ballsy refusal to let her talk to the media or provide anything more substantive than fluffy video and photo ops of her visits with foreign dignitaries. I'm personally flummoxed by her cocky claims of foreign policy experience, citing the fact that she can "see Russia from an island in Alaska." I suppose I'm qualified to be an astronaut, because I can see the moon from my back yard. I also have foreign trade experience - I've bought several imported cars, and all of my electronics are from overseas, too. I've even watched European soccer. Ridiculous, you say? Yeah, that's pretty much my point. If you choose to compete for the 2nd highest job in the United States of America, you had damned well better be ready, willing, and - dare I say it - able to answer questions about your views, experience, and the red-flocked wallpaper you just had to have in your office as part of an alleged $50,000 makeover. Face it, none of us are without flaws, eccentricities, or skeletons in our little closets. It's not that we have those things - it's how we deal with them and explain them to the good people who will be voting for us. (Yes, even those simple sheep-like saps who just had to run out and buy glasses, shoes, and outfits just like Sarah's.) Well, anyone who has witnessed her pathetic attempts at making sense during her recent interviews can understand why the McCain campaign is trying to keep her under lock and key. I don't know at this point whether she's intelligent or just a lucky, determined pit bull, but I do know that she's potentially a heartbeat away from being in control of our nation. This fact leaves me feeling rather uncomfortable - how about you? On an unrelated note, I haven't yet heard anyone talking about how the candidates seem to be abandoning the letter "g" at the end of words, but I know the point will be addressed soon enough. They're bein' extra folksy when they're discussin' those talkin' points, you get my meanin'? You betcha! Okay, enough about politics.

On to another topic near and dear to me: The effects of violence in our mass media on the general population's proclivity toward violent acts. Here's the thing that occurred to me a few moments ago: Ask the studios why they keep producing uber-violent, disgusting scenes of grotesque murder in movies, tv, and video games. They'll unabashedly admit that they do it because people like to buy and watch the stuff. Bully for people, and bully for the studios. So, following that logic, how about prostitution, then? It's been around for oh, about -- forever. Why? Because, quite simply, men like sex, and women like shiny things. On one hand, it's fine selling entertainment that has been proven (though heavily debated) to have a causal relationship with increasing a person's tendency to act violently. On the other hand, we have a business exchange where a woman voluntarily engages in sexual acts in return for money. Yet, only one of these business practices is deemed wrong, dangerous, and illegal. Am I being too black and white, or am I just guilty of making a bit of sense? There's a not-so-famous quote that says, "Why is there no crime in Germany? Because it's illegal." Why is there a problem with all of the gratuitous violence in our television shows, movies, and video games? Because it encourages violent behavior, desensitizes people to violent acts, and glorifies plain old bad behavior. What's the worst that could happen if the studios agreed to try backing off the slaughter-fest for, say, 12 months? Other than a significant drop in profit until the writers figured out a way to replace easy, lazy scriptwriting with intelligent and thought-provoking works, I can't see a downside, can you? And if it failed to effect a reduction in violent crime, then they could just start firing up the cannons once again.

One final thought: I'm constantly noticing people - intelligent ones - using the phrase, "I could care less" to describe their disinterest in something: Think about it!!! If you COULD care less, that means you care at least a little bit, doesn't it? You really want to say, "I could NOT care less," which more accurately indicates one's lack of concern. Did I really need to clarify this? Sadly, yes. And let's not forget the popular "unchartered territory" reference. I actually heard John McCain use that one in the first presidential debate. Wrong-o. It's actually "uncharted" territory, as in territory that no one has documented yet (like, on a chart), therefore it's kind of an unknown. Unchartered territory, on the other hand, might refer to the Siberian front, or some other such place where you'd have difficulty finding a chartered group tour at your local travel agent. And please, can someone explain to me why the leader of the free world for the past eight years, with all of his expert advisors and coaches, cannot seem to pronounce the word "nuclear" to save his life? C'mon, W - say "New," then say "Clear," and then say 'em together real fast-like. Heh-heh-heh. How that man has the key to the big red button machine is just uncular (read: unclear) to me.

The lesser of two weevils

The title of this diatribe is the punchline of a bad joke about bugs. 'Nuff said. I'll be brief with this entry, because I'm sleepy. I just wanted to voice my consternation over the ever-increasing negative campaign ads being foisted upon us by the inspiring individuals running for public office this month. Please, someone, for the love of all that is good and decent - make them stop!

In case you're either incredibly dim or in some sort of semi-vegetative state, I'll explain just why more and more of our politicians are resorting to this disgraceful behavior in an effort to get elected to positions of power and prestige. Here's the secret that they don't want you to know: It's easier to sling mud at each other than to tell you why they'd be your best choice. Why commit to telling the voters how they plan to actually do something worthwhile, when they can just spend millions telling you that the other guy is a creep? Face it, they're pretty much all creeps. We know this. To paraphrase a famous quote, anyone who actively seeks election to public office should probably be prohibited from doing so. I'm in favor of passing a law that bans the use of negative attacks on opponents. If we're forced to watch commercial after commercial from these power-hungry jackasses, let's make them tell us what they've done so far, and what they promise to do once elected. I don't care if the other guy gave his wife a cushy government job. It doesn't matter if he gave no-bid contracts to his cronies - who wouldn't? And I don't care who he or she sleeps with - literally or figuratively speaking. If I went on a job interview and proceeded to tell the prospective employer why the other applicants were a bad choice.... well, you get the picture.

So, let's start a movement to put an end to this charade. Get the issues on the table, keep the trash talk on the basketball court, and let's elect the person with the best record and best promises. And if he or she doesn't keep those promises, let's fire them! Don't forget to vote - it doesn't really make any difference (ask Al Gore), but while we're deluding ourselves about global warming, WMD's, and our chances of ever being respected by the rest of the free world again, it's nice to think our vote matters.