Cautious On McCain

It's almost certain the election will be McCain v. Obama in the fall, but I have yet to decide between those two. McCain's stance on the war is suicidal, yet Obama has his liberal moments.

If you lean toward the conservative/libertarian side like myself, one would think voting for McCain is a shoe-in, however he appears to be taking some heat, especially from libertarians. It just goes to show how far removed the GOP is from true conservative principals and values these days.

Matt Welch from Reason Magazine and an author on a book about McCain took out an op-ed in the NYT to discuss the dangers of a McCain presidency.

Like many country-first, party-second military officers who began second careers in Washington, Mr. McCain is often mischaracterized as a politician without any identifiable ideology. But all of his actions can be seen as an attempt to use the federal government to restore your faith in ... the federal government. Once we all put our shoulder on the same wheel, there’s nothing this country can’t do.
It can be a bracing approach when his issues line up with yours — I, for one, would welcome President McCain’s unilateral wars on pork-barrel spending and waterboarding — but it’s treacherous territory for those of us who consider “the pursuit of happiness” as something best defined by individuals, not crusading presidents-to-be.

The Race is Over

Why is the media still treating the democratic nomination as a horse-race between Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton? Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei point out how unlikely it is that Sen. Clinton can come away with the nomination. Why doesn't the MSM see this as well?

One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning.Her own campaign acknowledges there is no way that she will finish ahead in pledged delegates. That means the only way she wins is if Democratic superdelegates are ready to risk a backlash of historic proportions from the party’s most reliable constituency.Unless Clinton is able to at least win the primary popular vote — which also would take nothing less than an electoral miracle — and use that achievement to pressure superdelegates, she has only one scenario for victory. An African-American opponent and his backers would be told that, even though he won the contest with voters, the prize is going to someone else.People who think that scenario is even remotely likely are living on another planet.

Picking Apart the Myth

It is common to hear that marijuana should be illegal because it is a "gateway drug." Essentially, this means that if one smokes marijuana, the marijuana itself somehow leads that individual to trying more serious and harmful drugs such as cocaine. However, there is a major fault in this argument. Jacob Sullum points out, "people who enjoy the effects of marijuana are logically, more likely to try other mood-altering drugs than those who are unwilling to try marijuana. In other words, many of the factors associated with a willingness to try marijuana are, presumably, the same as those associated with a willingness to try other drugs."

In Sullum's article, No Bad Drugs he lists the various arguments against drugs, but then rationally picks them apart. As expected, most arguments for making drugs illegal are fueled by emotion. Unsurprisingly, these types of arguments do not stand up to rational thought or scientific findings.

War on Drugs Takes Another Victim

This would have been avoided if drugs were legalized.

Doesn't anyone think the force and tactics of the police was a bit excessive? They were going to encounter a non-violent, 100lb man with no prior criminal charges over suspected marijuana growing. I don't think it is necessary to break down the door and enter the house forcefully during the middle of the night. Keep in mind it is marijuana, not a serial killer.

And it appears prior to the fatal break-in, police officers illegally broke into his house to gather information for a warrant. Fourth Amendment violation anyone?

Yet, in the course of defending himself and his home, he has been locked in jail for over six weeks and is possibly facing capital murder charges.

When will lawmakers realize how big of a failure the war on drugs is? How many more innocent lives need to be destroyed?

Don't Fly American Airlines

I guess the lesson here is - don't fall asleep.

Along with the suit against the airlines, I'm guessing a tort action of battery and IIED is forthcoming.

Gas on the Move

In California, some spots are already up to over $5 a gallon.

And can someone tell me why my future wife is upset with me for buying a motorcycle that gets 70mpg?

Prostitution

Andrew Sullivan links to a debate on a serious question.

"Why is it illegal to sell, what is perfectly legal to give away?"

Moving Towards Equality

This fall, a ban on affirmative action will head to the ballot in 5 states. And thank God the states are stepping up and not waiting for an expensive, most-likely failed attempt by the federal government.

Ward Connerly who heads the American Civil Rights Coalition is black and Native American. He beleives affirmative action creates resentment. He gave the example of college admissions where a Caucasian student might be denied admission in favor of a black student with a lower grade-point average. "It's foolish not to think that the kid who is turned away is not going to ... resent that."

Exactly the point. If someone knows affirmative action is in effect, anytime one sees a minority working in an elevated position or accepted to an elite school, one is skeptical they reached that point solely on merit. It discredits the true acheivements of minorities.

Ward continued, "If it was wrong when I was born in '39 ... it's wrong now," he said. "If it was wrong to do it against a brown-skinned man, it's wrong to do it against a white man."

Ready to Lead on Day What?

Today, the Washinton Post's article titled "Even in Victory, Clinton Team Battles Itself" presents the most in-depth analysis and coverage of a political campaign so far this season. It is definately worth the read.

If you look at it, you will see all the mistakes, the complete and utter chaos, and arrogance of the Clinton Campaign. How is it that Clinton still claims to be the candidate "ready to lead on day one" when she still isn't ready to lead her campaign on day 300? The mind reels.

Neither candidate has serious executive experience inside or outside of government. This is why running the campaign is so important in this race. It demonstrates how they will lead and what kind of leader they will become if elected. If you want to see an experiment in failed executive leadership, look no further than how the Clinton campaign has been run over this past year.

52 is the Number to Watch

According to Jonathan Chait, this is the number of delegates Hillary needs to net tonight (gain over Obama) in order to advance from the position she is currently in (Pre-March 4th Primaries).

Anything less will work against Clinton in the rapidly closing stages of the primary season. Not only is she battling against his pledged delegate count, but now she is starting to battle time itself. The window of opportunity to go ahead in the delegate count is closing fast on the Clinton campaign.

KKK endorsement?

Michael Crowley points out that the KKK wants to make it clear, they are not endorsing Barack Obama. No, this isn't an Onion headline.

Obama's Final Week Gains

A big story this campaign season has been Obama's ability to overcome huge polling deficits in a small amount of time to pull out victory. Currently, he is down about 8 pts in Ohio and in a statistical dead heat in Texas. Look below to see how well Obama has been able to close the gap or consolidate his lead in the final week leading up to the primary. (Caucuses were omitted and all polling numbers came from Pollster.com).

Final Vote....................1 Wk Out (gains)
MD 60%..................................55% (+5)
IL 65%....................................53% (+12)
GA 67%..................................48% (+19)
AL 56%..................................40% (+16)
WI 58%..................................48% (+10)
DC 75%...................................63% (+12)
VA 64%..................................54% (+10)
LA 57%..................................No data
UT 57%..................................52% (+5)
MO 49%................................42% (+7)
CT 51%..................................42% (+9)
DE 53%..................................42% (+11)
SC 55%...................................40% (+15)

These numbers show on average that Obama gains 11% in the week leading up to the primary.

Yes, I know this isn't scientific and I'm failing to take other variables into consideration such as debates, media coverage, media gaffes, Edward's involvement, money spent, campaign time in the state, inaccuracies in the polling data, etc...but one gets the point. Obama making up serious ground in the final week has been a consistent trend. The more people learn about him and hear him, the stronger his support gets.

Look for a Texas victory next Tuesday and a very, very close race in Ohio.

Obama Rally in Akron

Yesterday I was able to attend an Obama rally at the Knight Center in Akron. We were told the doors would open at 4pm and the speech would begin at 5:30. The group of us arrived at 3:30 hoping to be at the front-end of the line. Wrong.

The Knight Center occupies an entire block in downtown Akron. At 3:30 mind you, the line streched from the entrance around the entire outside of the building back to the entrance. Almost a complete circle - and many, many more people arrived after us.

It took us around 3 hours before we were able to get into the building, but atleast we got in.

I looked online and the capacity for the building is supposedly 3,500. I talked with an Obama volunteer and he said there was going to be atleast 6,000 admitted. Let me tell you, it was packed full. We had to stand for the whole speech, but it was worth it.

Since I've been following the campaigns closely, I didn't really hear anything new, but the event gave me the chills. You could just feel the energy and willingness of the crowd for this movement. It really seems like he has a rock star following.

I'm glad I went, but I'm getting too old to stand in the Ohio cold for these types of things.

Woes continued...

I guess Hillary's unpaid bills aren't limited to just the early campaign states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

A New York fine-foods caterer has filed suit against Hillary Clinton's campaign for failing to pay their $2,500 catering bill. The store owner is worried that she may be dropping out of the race soon and he won't be compensated.

Apparently, the campaign told the owner he would be paid via check or credit card within two weeks of the Dec. 15th event. Whoops.

Hillary's Financial Woes

Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings has an excellent post on the current financial situations of the various campaigns, but Hillary’s is definitely worth checking out.

"I was somewhat puzzled by Clinton's statement, though. On one hand, her campaign clearly took in considerably less than it paid out. About nine million dollars less. And that can hardly be good news. Moreover, she has a mass of debt: $7,576,700.48 worth, to be precise (not including the loan she made to herself.) Moreover, while some of it is large sums (over $2 Million owed to Mark Penn, for instance), there are a lot of pretty small unpaid bills to places throughout Iowa and New Hampshire. (Honestly, why not pay the $500.12 they owe to Premier Pizza in Algonquin, Iowa? Or the $615.25 they owe Depot Deli of Shenandoah, Iowa? Your average pizzeria or deli is not made of money, after all."

Isn’t it strange that Hillary presents herself as the candidate for the middle class worker (Heck, her new slogan is that she is with the workers on the night shift) but she still owes small businesses from expenditures well over a month ago?! Nothing like saying you are for the middle class worker when you rack up a hefty bill and fail to pay it in a timely manner. I don’t think those deli and pizza shop owners are wealthy enough to give themselves a $5 Million dollar loan to cover their costs in the meantime.

She campaigns that the Bush economy is a trap door waiting to make businesses and middle class workers fall into bankruptcy. Well, apparently the Clinton campaign has the same effect because I doubt these businesses can write off those large bills at a whim.

This makes their earlier faux pas of failing to pay a waitress a tip look like nothing. Over $1,000 owed from 2007? Wow, and some people want this woman to return to the White House.

However, I shouldn’t be too upset at this revelation because it only means her campaign is having serious money problems. She spent more than she raised in January when she had relative success with New Hampshire, but her stock since then has declined rapidly. I doubt she is having an easy time raising money in February with Obama’s momentum. Look for her to call it quits soon after Ohio if she doesn’t win in a convincing fashion.

11 Straight

Barack Obama has won 11 straight victories including the most recent Democrats Abroad Global Primary. The results were tallied and 65% were in favor of Obama and 32% for Clinton. 22 delegates will be sent to the convention and out of the 22, 14 of the delegates are pledged and the remaining 8 are superdelegates.

Momentum is definitely on Obama’s side.

30 Day Sex Challenge

The news is a couple of days old, but a pastor from a Church in Florida has challenged the members of his church to have sex for 30 consecutive days.

In an effort to combat increasing divorce rates, Pastor Paul Wirth has told married church members to have sex 30 days straight to form the habit and increase their marriage bond.

If this is an effort by the church to embrace the topic and discussion of sex within its congregation I think it is comendable, but paint me skeptical. It just seems like another flash in the pan type PR event to show the church is "hip" and "in touch."

Perhaps before pastors create these types of challenges they should think about the biological obstacles their challenge faces. For one, the menstrual cycle for a woman is every 28 days. Is the pastor condoning sex during menstration? I hope not since 1) it registers on the gross factor and 2) The Bible strictly prohibits sex during the period.

Secondly, isn't marriage about much more than sex? Sure, sex is great and can help form a bond, but in the big picture, sex isn't what makes people get married and it isn't what keeps people married together. Marriage is a far deeper bond than that created by sex. I think the church is doing a disservice to the institution of marriage by passing it off as only the cheap physical bond between two people.

Unfortunately, the Church is the loudest voice saying that homosexuals pose the biggest threat to marriage and homosexual marriage will cheapen the institution. Yet, this news is circulating around the country. It is no wonder the Church in America is moving closer and closer to irrelavancy. What a shame.

Weight Loss Diet

For those of you who know me, I'm fortunate enough not to have a problem with my weight, but for those of you who do have that problem, I'm proposing a new diet. It's called the "Brush your teeth early diet."

Everyone brushes their teeth before they go to bed - atleast I hope so. If you are prone to eating a late snack (the most harmful in terms of weight gain) you should simply brush your teeth earlier than normal. This is because the prospect of eating with either the toothpaste taste in your mouth or having to brush your teeth again should be enough to deter one from giving in to the temptation of the snack. In summary, the burden posed by having to brush again does not outweigh the benefit of eating another snack. If you say, "the burden isn't too high for me." Well, that's fine, but atleast it will make you think about what you are about to snack on if in fact you are watching you weight.

Hey, it has to atleast be effective as Kirstie Alley's weight loss program.