ACORN

ACORN is a community based organization that has been around since 1970. They have recently been under scrutiny for their involvement in what some have labeled as voter fraud. ACORN is being investigated because they have registered fake names, dead people, and some people more than once. While this is illegal, can it really be called voter fraud? ACORN is a non-partisan organization (although they are on the more liberal side of the spectrum as a whole). Their problems with fraudulent registrations was not a attempt to steal an election.

The motive behind the fraudulent registrations was simply their employees trying to earn more money. ACORN is at fault for this because they pay their workers by how many voters they register. Obviously this is a bad idea. I would not call this voter fraud, I'd call it stupidity. It's important to note the difference. Labeling it voter fraud is misleading.

Proposition 8

In this country, church and state are separate entities. Marriage is not solely a religious ceremony, this is obvious because we are in fact voting on the definition of marriage in November. If marriage were solely a religious ceremony, people would not need to get marriage licenses before getting married. Religious people who think homosexuality is a sin should take into account that not everyone in this country holds this view. These people should think about how they would feel if they were forced to abide by the rules of someone else’s religion. That would be absurd. Morality should not be legislated because it is not our government’s role to protect us from god.

Same sex marriage should be allowed in this country because it is not harmful to anyone. If something is not harmful, why should it be illegal? Many proposition eight proponents have argued that religions can be sued if they do not allow homosexual couples to be married in their buildings. This is a fabricated argument to justify their position. If there has been a successful lawsuit religions would in fact have their freedom of religion infringed upon. However, I have yet to see any such case because such a lawsuit would be unconstitutional.

Proposition 8 proponents have also claimed that schools will teach our children that same-sex marriage is okay. Their “beef” is not that same-sex marriage is legal, it is with the curriculum for enforcing teachers to teach about morality. Morality should be taught in the home, not the school. This rationale is not a reason to ban same-sex marriage, it is gimmick to get same-sex marriage banned.

Passing proposition 8 will infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens. Homosexuals have the right to be happy just like anyone else. They should not be treated any differently under the law. If you do not see this as a civil-rights issue, you are only kidding yourself. Civil unions are not the same as marriage. Separate but equal is not equality at all.

Bill Ayers and Why He Does't Matter in this Election

Bill Ayers is was a member of the Weather Underground, a group responsible for many bombings forty years ago , including one at the pentagon. Before the Weather Undergroung, he was the leader of a non-militant group called the Students for a Democratic Society.

The WU were a confused bunch of left-wing activist that evolved from the SDS. The WU had noble ideas that they tried to accomplish using foolish tactics. Protesting the Vietnam war by bombing government buildings is no way to accomplish anything. Bill Ayers was part of this group and is not exempt from these attacks.

After these attacks, Bill Ayers became an elementary education activist. His recent work is for a noble cause, a cause that he recruited Obama to help him with.

The sound bite, "We didn't do enough" is a statement grossly taken out of context. This statement was a response to a question about his involvement in protesting the Vietnam war. The soundbite we all have heard many times is a complete distortion of Bill Ayers' position. In fact, he wrote a letter to a city lawyer (Richard Elrod) injured in an attack made by the weatherman to express his condolences. The lawyer is quoted as saying that Bill Ayers was "Remorseful".

We know Obama and Ayers knew each other more than Obama expressed to at first. If Obama is going to be attacked, attack him here for not being completely honest. Don't attack him for knowing this man, in fact, Obama said his actions in the WU were dispicable. They were on a board together to improve the community, not to blow things up.

Rowdy Crowds

The media is beginning to show more clips of rowdy crowds at both presidential rallies. After hearing one of these remarks, McCain stopped for a second to address the issue. He said that he knew Obama was ultimately a good guy. Very big of McCain to calm down a rowdy crowd at a rally. I commend McCain for that.

My issue is not with the candidates, or even those spewing the hatred at these rallies. My problem is when people shake it off and say, "well the other side does it too." Big deal, it still happens and should not be ignored. My biggest objection is with people like Michelle Malkin and her drones who comment on her blog. People who point fingers and say things like, "that's what liberals do" or, "what would you expect from a Republican" are too blind to see any issue for what it truly is. Generalizations hold no truth.

2nd Presidential Debate

In your opinion who won? What were Obama and McCain's strong points?

The V.P. Debate

In a few minutes, the V.P. debate is going to start. Biden is expected to blow Palin out of the water. That being said, the Republicans played this perfectly because now, she has low expectations. I saw a clip of her debate before she became the Alaskan Governor and she did very well. If Biden does now win by a large margin, Palin wins the debate due to handicap.

The moderater has also been quite controversial. She supposedly is an Obama supporter. I think she should have stepped down from her spot not because she will be unfair, but because it will take away a lot of confusion. This way the right could not use this as an excuse if their candidate does not perform too well.

Overall, I think this debate is going to be very exciting because it is the only V.P. debate, so both candidates will be leaving everything on the table. I hope both candidates remain civil, with both sides using nothing but fact to make their arguments.

Last night's debate

Last night's debate was a spirited exchange and ultimately I think it resulted in a tie. Both candidates performed equally well, and there wasn't a great sound byte that the modern media can't live without. I believe Obama got the better of McCain while debating the economy and McCain was the clear winner in debating foreign policy.

On the foreign policy side, I would have liked to see Obama hammer McCain a bit more on the initial vote to go into Iraq. He made the point, but it was overshadowed by McCain's focus on the success of the surge. In my opinion, Obama has a foreign policy issue about which history has proven him right with opposing the war from the start. He should have hammered it home.

On the economy, McCain allowed Obama to play the left's classic game of class warfare while discussing the McCain tax cuts and the sub-prime crisis. Moreover, he didn't challenge Obama at all when Obama stated that this credit crunch is the cause of deregulation. This is a hotly contested topic between economic interventionists and advocates of the free market, and allowing him to say that unchallenged allowed Obama to state it like it was fact. If McCain doesn't squash this populist overtone early in the debate on economic policy, he is in for a long night and doesn't stand much of chance of winning that debate. A Republican candidate cannot win a debate on economics if he concedes the merits of free market capitalism simply because of tough economic times. Ask George H.W. Bush how that works....from 90%+ approval rating to losing an election to a virtually unknown governor from Arkansas.

The MOST interesting thing about this debate in my opinion, is the amount of misinformation both candidates spread about their opponents. I took a look at fact check to see what they are saying about the debate. I have linked it here. for those who are interested. It is truly astounding what they get wrong....even about themselves!!