John McCain and Sarah Palin Think We're Stupid

I am not a democrat and never have been. I'm an independent who, in the past few elections, has considered voting for the democrat but has been more strongly pulled toward third party candidates like Ralph Nadar.

This year is different.

From the beginning of this election, I was an Obama supporter. I saw him speak in St Paul. I tuned in to all his debates and primary victory speeches along the way. I watched the DNC. I like the guy. I think he's smart. I think he has great ideas for service (tuition breaks for college graduates who take less than glamorous, but necessary positions in under-served communities and creating "Energy Corps"), education (keep teachers accountable, but give them the resources they need), and foreign affairs (diplomacy first, military only as a last resort). Perhaps just as importantly, he's made me excited about the future of America. He's made me think that a united America is possible.

Initially, I was fairly neutral towards McCain. His "straight talk express" made him seem trustworthy and set apart from the average politicians. His service to the country indicated a love for his country that I think is important in a leader and yet, at least initially, he was somewhat humble about the experience. I didn't agree with a lot of his policies and ideas (he's pro-life, he voted against equal pay, and he supports school vouchers) but I didn't find him offensive... until three weeks ago.

When McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate, he made a decision that was purely political and had nothing to do with what was best for this country and its people. He was clearly pandering to the Republican conservative base and hoping to win over one-time Hilary Clinton supporters. What other reason could he possibly have for selecting such an underqualified candidate with a shoddy track record?

McCain obviously thinks that women voters vote with their uteruses and, seeing a woman with five kids, would automaticaly reward his woman-friendly choice with their votes. But one woman cannot simply be traded in for another.

On the campaign trail, Palin has been repeating her line "I said 'thanks but no thanks' to that Bridge to Nowhere" ad nauseam as late as Wednesday, her last day campaigning this week before she returned to Alaska.

In the meantime, every major news outlet -- from USA Today to NPR from her home state Anchorage Daily News to ABC -- was reporting that her statement was less than accurate. In fact, when running for governor in 2006, Palin supported the Bridge to Nowhere. Even once it was shot down (which, admittedly, Palin helped do in the end), Alaska, under Governor Palin's leadership, still accepted the $200 million for unspecified projects.

She said 'thanks but no thanks' the the Bridge to Nowhere and 'yes, please' to the Bridge to Wherever.

According to the AP, Palin is looking for another $200 million for similar projects for next year.

In spite of the fact that so many news outlets were pointing out the truth of what happened, Palin continued to tout her so-called refusal to accept Federal funding for the bridge on the campaign trail. As if we're not paying attention to the truth. As if we don't care. As if we are easily duped. As if we're stupid.

Prove them wrong.

Sarah Palin makes me sad. Very, very sad.

Barack Obama's speech last week made me want to go out and be involved. He made me want to vote and knock on doors and encourage others to vote. He made me want to volunteer. He made me want to give my fellow citizen the benefit of the doubt even when I'm in a really crappy mood. His personal story made me think that maybe this country is the land of opportunity. He made me think it was possible that we'd start to rely more on alternative energy, that everyone might have access to health care, and that one day, the United States might regain its reputation on the world stage. He made me actually kind of proud to call myself an American.

After watching Sarah Palin's speech last night, I want to crawl into a very small, dark hole and never come out. It made me hate people. It made me think the world is a very smug, snarky, sarcastic, bitter place where it's every woman for herself. She made me feel like this is a last push to exploit natural resources, live it up, and do whatever we want because the world's going to end any second any way. She made me ashamed to be an American and she made me sad that she's the only woman on either ticket this year.

And then she air kissed her own children. She air kissed her children. Who does that?

I might be an anarchist...

Over this past weekend during the lead up to the RNC, several homes around Minneapolis were raided by the Ramsey County Sheriff. The occupants of the homes, which included one in my sister's neighborhood, were suspected of preparing to violently confront the police during the anti-war protests in downtown St Paul during the RNC.

My sister's neighbors have a house that is, well, seemingly overflowing with stuff and ... dare I say... crap. According to twincities.com, the police found and confiscated a number of items during their search. The implication being that these items somehow showed that they intended to attack the police and destroy public property. I made a quick search of my own house to see which of these items I might have on hand. Here's the evidence that I might be an anarchist and that I might, at some point, riot in downtown St Paul.

Materials to create "sleeping dragons" (PVC pipe, chicken wire, duct tape), which is when protesters lock themselves together

A machete, hatchet and several throwing knives

a gas mask and filter

Empty glass bottles

Rags

Flammable liquids

Homemade caltrops (devises used to disable buses in roads)

Sledge hammers

Kryptonite locks

Empty plastic buckets cut and made into shields

So I'm not a perfect anarchist. My caltrops can't be turned over in any direction and still work. I don't technically have gas masks -- they're just dust masks. I haven't, technically, cut those buckets into shields. And, of course, I'm missing a few of the items that the police confiscated:

Rappelling equipment

Metal pipes

Axes

Bolt cutter

Material for protective padding

An Army helmet.

Wrist rockets (high-powered slingshots)

I'm missing the key item:

Large amounts of urine, including three to five gallon buckets of urine.

But the "anarchists" whose house got raided weren't perfect anarchists either. Turns out that the buckets contained rain water that the occupants had been collecting to flush their toilets and, indeed, some urine from a man who lives in a nearby garage that doesn't have a toilet. It's sort of sad that it was assumed that the urine was there for something nefarious when it was there because someone is poor.

There's still a chance that I'm not an anarchist. From the state of things on my second floor, there's still a chance that I'm just a homeowner doing some demolition (or supervising while her in-laws and husband do all the actual heavy lifting).

In fact, that switchblade pictured above was underneath some built-in cabinets -- likely tucked there decades ago by a kid whose parents didn't want him owning a switchblade or auditioning for Westside Story or perhaps an anarchist.
I took the picture of the knife next to the dusty remains of a bat that we found in one of the walls that we knocked down. Or I maybe I'm a witch...

Either way my house should definitely be raided.

Obama Baracks St Paul

On the drive along 94 to St Paul last night to go to the Obama speech at the Xcel Center, we passed under a pedestrian bridge where someone had hung a giant sign that read, "Nobody for President." We both agreed that it was a sentence. Sort of. At least it would probably be an improvement over our current situation.

We had the brilliant idea of going to the rally because we decided that we'd be happy we went later on because it was "history in the making." Turns out, more than 20,000 other people think in similar platitudes. The line wound through one and a half miles of downtown St Paul city blocks and the wait to get inside and then for the man himself was long.

It was sort of interesting, and yet not too surprising, to watch the crew get set-up for the evening. There was one guy in a blue buttoned down shirt whose job seemed to make sure that most of the people in the crowd who would be on camera had some sort of sign or an American flag to wave around. Those handmade signs that say things like "Women 4 Obama" and "MN [hearts] Obama" and "Barack the Vote?" They're made by volunteers and other behind-the-scenesters and then handed out to the crowd. No signs and banners of your own allowed.

While we were waiting, they played some of McCain's speech on the jumbotron and then the camera panned back and forth across the crowd. Attendees cheered when they saw themselves and stood up and waved their hands and signs. People like to be on a TV screen, even if it's just closed circuit. Eric compared it to looking in a giant mirror.

They didn't play any of Clinton's speech, although we could see when she was on in the little TVs in the luxury boxes. I would have liked to have known what she said and to see how that matched up with Obama's speech. Eric conjectured that they couldn't play Clinton on the jumbotron because they didn't want people to boo her. That would divide the party.

The speech, as everyone has read or heard by now, was amazing. No number of cliches can capture what a great speaker Obama is so I won't even try. I was grateful that his speech was on the jumbotron with closed captioning. Otherwise the cheers in the crowd were drowning him out.

It's true, though, what a lot of the talking heads are saying. I think Obama is great and I think that his ability to inspire people is just what this country needs right now, but at some point he's going to have to talk actual policy otherwise it's just a lot of people cheering every time he says, "universal health care." (And, believe me, I was one of those people cheering.) Fingers crossed that it doesn't turn into that Family Guy episode where Lois runs for mayor and everyone loves her because she says the words "9/11" over and over in one of the debates. I'm all for inspiration, but I'm going to need to know what I'm being inspired to do, even if it is just to pay more taxes to support more government programs. For this moment, though, it was exciting and invigorating to have been there, even if, sitting behind and to the left of the podium, this is mostly what we saw: