One of the many reasons I love the VP. It is a big fucking deal for the White House and luke warm deal for the American public.

Biden drops the f-bomb

I watched the last Lou Dobbs sideshow and I a pretty sure he was drinking and or smoking something the whole day.  Who will replace Lou @5 on CNN?

Update: Lou Dobbs to Quit CNN – Media Decoder Blog – NYTimes.com.

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

From a Jewish friend to my Jewish friends. Schlep your asses to FL and make sure your grandparents vote Obama. I love you Sarah Silverman! Rice Milk came out my nose during this video…

This women scarys the holy loving shit out of me.

Matt D says what most of us are thinking. Scary to think that a one term Governor from AK could be President. Then again scary to think that a two term Governor from Texas was President.

Here is a cool little web site that has you answer a number of questions and then tells you which candidate you are most aligned with and farthest from.  Surprisingly it made me an Obama man.  Guess I better take that Hill Dog sticker off my car.

Who represents you?

Shall we begin with the Democrats? There are two candidates for President left on the Dem’s side, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Both have tons of money and a strong base of supporters throughout the 50 states. They have both laid out exits to the war, modernizing the health care system, strong economic plans and both have really good looking spouses. Which in my book makes it really had to pick between the two of them, that is if you are of the liberal persuasion. Below I have provided a breakdown on each candidate on five topics; the economy, health care, the war, terrorism and education. Lets get started.

Hillary Clinton:

The plus of the Hill Dog as President in my mind is that she is seasoned. Eight years with her husband as President, eight years as a US Senator where she has served on various committees and solidified her political connections. She has been through hell and back so many times, I have lost count. She is organized, energized and well connected. Everything you want in a new President. Did I mention that her husband was also President. Two for one baby! Not a bad deal.

Economy: Her website provides some nice bullet points that outline how she thinks the economy can get back on track. This give you an overall picture of what she plans on doing in her first four years. Nothing groundbreaking. I always read this stuff and I am hopeful. But lets face it, a lot can change from now until January. Look at Bush’s first year in office.

• Lowering taxes for middle class families.
• Providing quality, affordable health care to every American.
• Making college accessible and affordable.
• Confronting the growing problems in the housing market.
• Bolstering retirement security by promoting savings and investment.
• Returning to fiscal responsibility and moving towards balanced budgets.
• Harnessing innovation to create the high-wage jobs of the 21st century.
• Creating a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund to jumpstart research and development of alternative energies.
• Strengthening unions and ensuring our trade laws work for all Americans.

War: Hillary has said she will put together a viable plan to bring the troops home in the first 60 days of her Administration. If you read the whole outline I think it is a little more complicated than just pulling out the troops. Read on.

Terrorism: There is a great bit on her website titled: “Restoring America’s Standing in the World”. She talks about getting back to what America does best, not fighting, but building strong alliance and working diplomatically to end conflict and strife. Both candidates say pretty much the same thing in regard to less fighting and more talking. Read on.

Education: Her education policy is about what you would expect from a liberal democrat. Here are some of the key points. Read on.

• End the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind.
• Invest $100 million in a new public/private summer internship program.
• Recruit and retain thousands more outstanding teachers and principals, especially in urban and rural areas.
• Double the after school program to ensure that 2 million young people have a safe and stimulating place to go between 3 and 6 p.m.
• Create a new $3,500 college tax credit.
• Increase to $10,000 the college scholarship for those who participate in AmeriCorps full-time for one year.
• Strengthen community colleges through a $500 million investment.

Healthcare: You might remember Hillary tried in 1992 to pass a comprehensive health care plan and was thwarted by both the Republicans and the health care industry. She has said that fight in 92 taught her important lessons on how to deal with the health care crises in this country. Here is a link to the summary of what she envisions. Plan

• Affordable: Unlike the current health system where insurance premiums send people into bankruptcy, the plan provides tax credits for working families to help them cover their costs. The tax credits will ensure that working families never have to pay more than a limited percentage of their income for health care.
• Available: No discrimination. The insurance companies can’t deny you coverage if you have a pre-existing condition.
• Reliable: It’s portable. If you change or lose your job, you keep your health care.

Barack Obama:

Obama is young, 47, and has spent the last four years in the US Senate. Before Washington he was in the house and state senate in Illinois. He is a Harvard educated lawyer and by the looks of his resume he has everything you would need to be President. He is a strong public speaker with great convictions this combined with his good looks helps convey his trustworthy every man persona. He gained national attention after his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. I remember saying to myself, “this guy will run for president”. Still think he should have waited to 2012, but what do I know?

Economy: Tax Credits, Tax reduction, small business support, tax break for the elderly, easier tax forms and did I already mention support for small business? Barack’s economic plan is pretty standard fair. All the candidates are pretty much touting the same plan only with different colored bows. Read.

• Tax Fairness for the Middle Class
• Strengthen America’s Workforce
• Strengthen & Enforce International Trade Agreements
• Support Small Businesses
• Invest in American Innovation
• Address the Subprime Mortgage Issue
• Level the Playing Field for American Businesses
• Create a Climate that Promotes Business Innovation
• Help Low-Income Workers
• Provide Universal Health Care Access
• Energy Independence and Creating New Jobs

War: Obama has pledged to immediately begin to remove the troops from Iraq if he becomes President. He has never supported the war in Iraq and believes that the only way Iraq will stand for its self is if we leave. He has laid out a plan to make this happen along with how we will continue to support Iraq and the region in the future. Read

• Judgment You Can Trust
• Bring Our Troops Home
• Press Iraq’s leaders to reconcile
• Regional Diplomacy
• Humanitarian Initiative

Terrorism: Under foreign policy on Obama’s website we learn about his ideas on the war in Iraq, renewing diplomacy, locking up the nuclear weapons, dealing with Iran (which I personal think he is misguided on) the site outlines his policies on keeping America safe and in doing so stymieing terrorism here at home and abroad. Read

• Ending the War in Iraq
• Iran
• Renewing American Diplomacy
• Nuclear Weapons
• Building a 21st Century Military
• Bipartisanship and Openness
• On Israel

Education: Instead of axing “no child left behind“, he wants to reform the program, this a difference between the two candidates. He also wants to work with drop outs, increase funding for after school programs, tax credits for college students and more. Hillary and Obama are pretty close on how they would deal with education. It comes down to the numbers, yep money. Read

• Expand Early Head Start and Head Start: Obama will quadruple Early Head Start, increase Head Start funding and improve quality for both.
• Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Obama will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve one million more children.
• Reward Teachers: Obama will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase.

Healthcare: I love how both of plans have the word “portable”. What does that mean, portable? Maybe I can take the plan with me when I leave here. Obama’s plan feels more like the start of national healthcare and takes a lot of plays from Hillary’s health care bill of rights. Read

• Quality, Affordable and Portable Coverage for All
• Lower Costs by Modernizing The U.S. Health Care System
• Fight for New Initiatives

There you have it! A break down on five key issues that define, I think, the campaigns for both candidates. There is tons of information and I am pretty sure you could spend the rest of your life researching both candidates. I have used the candidates websites as my frame of reference. I am not looking to debate the who, why and where at this point. I just wanted you to see a couple of key issues and be able to link to the information quickly. I have provided a couple more links here at the bottom of this post if you want more to read.

Tomorrow we will take a look at the Republicans. What FUN!

Links: Hillary, Obama, Debates, the money, campaigning, a break down

You have seen every movie in the theater. You have cleaned out your TiVo and there is nothing left but reruns of the Dukes of Hazard. You would watch a podcast or two on your iTunes, but your computer is so riddled with trojans and worms you cant get Windows to start. Football is done and lets face it, real men don’t watch basketball. So now what? There is always Politics. Did you know it is an election year?

Thats right this coming Tuesday is SUPER TUESDAY. The name alone should get you so excited you will want to run out of your house to the nearest polling place to cast your vote. This Tuesday 20 states will hold primaries to chose a candidate for both parties for President of this fair land. What do you have to do to vote you ask? Is it as easy as voting for American Idol? I wish. I think a lot more Americans would vote if they could vote from their phones and if someone cool like Orlando Bloom was running. To tell you the truth it is kind of a pain in the ass. Having to register, find the poling place, leave your house, deal with the old ladies and use a touch screen voting system that in most cases will have you voting for the wrong guy or gal. In the end you are left with someone you most likely will never meet and might even get you into some kind horrible war, leaving your children to pay for in the end. Please do not let my cynicism stop you from casting your vote for the next leader of the free world. I have provided links at the bottom of this post to help you find the who/where/when on election day.  I really do care. Please vote!

So you know where to vote and how to vote, maybe? Now who to vote for? Good news for those of you who are not fans of change. Since 1988 there has been either a Bush or a Clinton on the ballot for President and this year is no different. Keeping in the tradition of the way you have voted or not voted over the last couple of decades the choice for you few should be fairly easy. For the rest of us however, I think the decision might just be a bit more complicated. Lets take a look at the parties and the candidates this year.

In America we have two parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Sure there have been others throughout the course of our short history, but this is what we are stuck with this year. Truthfully these days the difference between the parties is so few, I think you could say we have a one party system in this country. Lets save that argument for another day. A Presidential election is the big game for the political parties in this country. Having your party control this powerful position in government allows you to guide the agenda for four long years. Each party fields a number of candidates for President, some hand picked and others who have crawled out of dark and scary holes to provide entertainment to the serious candidates. (Hi Ron Paul)  The process of the Primary is to weed out the good and the bad candidates.  Each state is awarded a number of delegates, those delegates are then awarded to the candidate that wins the state.  After the last Primary it is off to the party convention to added up the delegates and declare a winner.  The winner of most delegates, in most cases, is then that party’s candidate for President.  It is now February and we are now more than halfway through the process. Some early primaries have taken place and the field is beginning to narrow. Super Tuesday which last year only represented seven states has ballooned to 20! Some calling this year’s Super Tuesday the first national Primary. In the past Super Tuesday allowed momentum for candidates but didn’t always lockup the nomination of the party. Some are saying with so many states voting it will be easy to declare a winner after Tuesday. I tend to agree with this theory.  Although much like everything else in life you could wake on Wednesday morning, next a half naked women and still have an open field of contenders.  This race could go down to the wire, all the way to the convention.  It might be kind of fun!  So, are you lost? Remember there are links at the bottom of this post that will provide further clarification.  So if the Primary’s are in place to weed out and setup a candidate for President.  Lets talk about who is left.

The field of candidates is still pretty thick at this point at least on the Republican side.  The Democrats have got it down to just two, John Edwards dropped out last week, leaving Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to battle it out. The Republicans however have four remaining candidates, with the leader John McCain followed by Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. Still quite a few to chose from?. Now I cannot tell you who to vote for, I could but I am not going to, I am going to give suggestions and maybe even some facts?  In my post tomorrow, I will provide a short run down on each candidates likes/dislikes, platform, what they eat for breakfast and so on.  I might throw in a prediction of two.

LINK TO PART II (coming tomorrow)

Links: Primary Elections, Super Delegates, Primary Dates, Super Tuesday, Delegate Counts, Where to Vote?

I have read Ann Coulter and seen her on TV and every time I do, I think to myself what the fuck is she talking about. I understand the shock value and the money it is making for her and for the networks. But who in the world is taking what this women says as anything more than a crazed right wing persona? She continues to do and say things that help her sell herself, her books and her column. But is she offering anything more than the far right party line? How much longer will she be relevant one and two what will be her self destruct. What does she have to say or do to tie the noose around her own head?

Something I have not read about for some time is the Real ID program the Department of Homeland Security is trying to implement.  You remember this program.  Thought up after 9/11 as a way to track people, I mean make the streets safer from terrorists.  DHS has been kicking around the plan for the last 6 years trying to get the money and the support.  Thankfully neither has happened in any significant way.

Last week the plan found itself attached as pork to the defense bill that passed through the House.  It looks basically the same as it did a number of years ago with just a couple of exceptions.  One of these is a bow to states rights advocates.  It allows states to chose whether to opt into the ID game.  Each state will be responsible for running their own program.  Which sounds great, but if your state decieds not to partisipate, and better yet does not comply with Real ID standards on their state issued ID’s.  You will be subject to higher scurtiny and search as you travel from state to state.  I know some of you are thinking this is bad, but think about it.  More hands on your junk.

I have said it before and I will write it here again.  A national ID system with one database says one thing to me.  Germany in the 1930’s.  Having to carry a National ID on you at all times is a little too much government control in your face.  In the end it will lead to random stops and searches.  Which will bring this haunting phrase to these United States, “papers please”.

Get REAL ID