SC Debate lastnight

I get excited by the hype of a Presidential debate. And believe it or not, its because I enjoyed seeing the wheels of democracy moving. All the candidates take their place and have a change to present themselves.

Obama
While I went into the debate inspired and excited by Obama, his performance was bland and deflating. With Kucinich and Dravel challenging the others with anti-war, anti-nuclear mandates, Obama seemed mainstream. He seemed like a jet that needed 100 yards to take off and only had 50. He seemed stiff and bland. He didn't hit his points hard or speak with impact. He wasn't inspiring or fresh––two characteristics that have spurred his popularity. I'd even go so far as to say he didn't strike me as presidential. I have to be honest, Clinton and Edwards were much more articulate and precise with their time.

Debates tell us somethings, but not everything. Maybe not even the most important things. I trust the Obama who wrote his two books. He is honest, compassionate, culturally wise, and courageous enough to do what is right. His campaign is about revolutionizing politics and the election process as much as it is about his candidacy. Even great athletes have sub par games.

Obama needs to get specific to hang. I have heard this criticism of him, but last night made me see it on my own. This was a good learning experience for him, and I think he will be much better in the future. He also would be much better with more time to respond and answer follow up questions. He couldn't really get into a flow.

The biggest frustration for me with Obama is his support of Ethanol. He comes from Illinois and I am sure he needs to support the corn farmers. But Ethanol is a loser when it comes to alternative energy. It's energy ratio is low, and it does not change the system. He did not tell Americans that they need to change their habits. He went on about planting the trees, which is great, but didn't recover well when asked about personal changes he has made. He needs to get on track with that. If you want to change the system, tell people to take the bus or open their windows when at home.

The debate did not solidify my support for Obama. Instead it introduced me to the candidates and left me open minded about who to support.

Clinton
Hillary had the best showing of anyone. She was by far the most presidential and the clearest speaker. She was skillful, intelligent, and strong. She didn't ask for any special treatment and didn't use her femininity at all. She stood up there with the boys and rocked it.

I can understand her position of giving the president the authority to go to war but not supporting his decision to go to war. However, as Chris Matthews points out, if that is what she really was doing, then why did it take so long for her to denounce Bush's war? That doesn't add up to me, and her communications director did not answer that question. He didn't know when she first spoke out against the war.

I think Hillary would be a capable president, of course. But she may be to savvy for her own good. I believe she will get health care reform through this time. I believe she will get us out of Iraq. I believe she will continue to improve the economy. But part of me feels like she will just continue the same old politics as usual. She knows how to play the system so well that I don't see her as inclined to change it.

Edwards
Edwards impressed me by speaking clearly and decisively. He is obviously comfortable behind the podium and he answered the critiques about his big house and expensive hair cut. Yes, he has money, but he doesn't come from money. And he remembers from where he came. Bashing him for making money makes no sense. Isn't that everyone's dream? He should be praised, not criticized, for taking advantage of what makes America great: the opportunity to move up in life.

Edwards could have pressed his poverty work stronger. He doesn't have the gravitas that Richardson or even Cheney have. I worry that he comes across as "light" because of that. He is honest and connected to what it means to be human. That I don't get from Hillary.

Richardson
He was Secretary of Energy and is the Governor of New Mexico. He's been nominated for four Nobel Peace Prizes for crying out loud!

Others quote experts, but he is one. The guys is a straight shooter. I trust his judgement on immigration and how to serve as executive. He gave specific ways to address our energy crisis, and he's the only executive up there. He has a serious change of being Vice President.

Aftermath
CNN's headline was "Democrats Hammer Bush." I am glad the big news is not that Obama flopped or Clinton stole the show. I think either one of those would be accurate.

We'll se what happens next.

Please comment below. I am very interested in your take on the debate or the candidates. You can respond as "anonymous" if you would like.

Bush plays jembe on Malaria Awareness Day

I can't resist posting this. I have to give it to Bush or whoever organized this event. He goes with the flow (much better than Laura) and took right to the drum. I wish I knew who the drummers are.




Here's CNN's commentary on it. Cafferty is pretty funny.

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Painting Tip

I have spent the past week painting and would like to pass on a few tips:

1. Ventillate the room. I bought Sherwin Williams paint and opened the windows in the bedroom I was painting. On the fourth morning, I got extremely nausious and a terrible headache. My body was poisoned by the toxic fumes. Before, when I used Home Depot paint, I painted more than 4 days with less ventillation and did not get sick.

2. Paint with a partner. One can take only so much talk radio and the slow progress becomes less and less tolerable.

3. Paint the ceiling first, then the walls. When you paint the ceiling, go onto the walls a little bit. Don't just paint right up to the wall. The line of paint, more than the wall, makes the distinction between wall and ceiling. Meaning, it's ok if the line made by the ceiling paint and wall paint is not right at the connection of the wall and ceiling. This line should be on the ceiling plane, not on the wall plane. It's much easier to get a straight line on the ceiling when you paint the wall second.

4. Get a plastic drop cloth. You don't need to cover the entire floor or tape it down. Just leave it free so you can shift it as you paint around the room.

5. If you have a paint container, when you are done for the day, leave a little paint in it––enought to barely cover the bottom. This way you can just peel the paint off of it when you return the next day. If you leave to little, it won't peel off cleanly. If you leave some paint on the bottom, you may bet chips in your paint.

6. To get the best action on the brush, the 1/3 of the bristles close the base should be dry (from paint or water). If you brush gets sopped up, clean it and use a second brush.

7. You can wrap your roller in plastic wrap if you have to stop painting and you will return the next day or so. That way you don't have to clean the roller. Also, the roller hold more paint than you think, and using the plastic saves paint.

8. New switches for lights are only 59 cents. Face plates for switches and outlets are only 22 or 44 cents. If you see these that are $2-$4, then walk down the the end of the isle to find the cheap ones. They are sufficient.

Gonzo

Can you believe Gonzales is still AG? The guy lied on camera about his involvement in the firings and got absolutely hammered in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Bush is just giving the Senate the finger and saying, "You'll have to indict Gonzales, or I won't fire him."

Miracle

Tom Luckey, my uncle, sleepily walked to the bathroom in the middle of the night two years ago and silently fell over a second floor railing. His wife found him paralysed the next morning. Tom was an inspiration to all for his commitment to living every moment with brio.

After many, many months of therapy, community support and tremendous courage, he has begun to regain movement in two and then four fingers. Last week, his sister posted this video. Tom still lives with unbridled enthusiasm, and he awakens the deep courage we all posesses.

see more videos of Tom here.

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American Colonists killed similarly to African rebels

I have begun reading A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter Irons to gain a broad legal understanding and to fill in some holes in my knowledge of U.S. history.

Irons begins by discussing the painful ironies of the founders and our Constitution.

Ironically, the colonists who had deprived most of the population––religious dissenters, women, slaves, and Indians––of legal rights and voices in governance based their Declaration of Independence on pious claims that "all men are created equal" and that governments must derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed."

The vastness of this injustice alone defies comprehension.

While America cannot erase its bloody history of intolerance, we, the citizens, must keep in the forefront of our minds the fact that it took two centuries for our laws to match the "unalienable rights" professed in the constitution. While we must demand human rights world-wide, leaders and advocates must respect the role time plays when changing laws and cultural practices. i.e. Iraq cannot transform from authoritarianism to participatory democracy in a few years. Africans are no more brutal than Westerners; we burned "witches," hung religious dissidents, and condoned slavery just a few generations ago.

Reading the following account drew up images of rebels in Sierra Leone or Rwandan warlords massacring villages of woman and children:

Conflicts with the Pequot Indians of southern New England simmered until 1636, when the murder of a white trader accused of kidnapping the Indians led Governor Winthrop to give his troops a "commission to put to death" the Indian men of Block Island and to seize "some of their children as hostages" for the surrender of the murderers.

The Puritan soldiers not only killed the Pequot men of Block Island but went up and down the coast of Long Island Sound, burning villages and crops. Winthrop's military commander, Captain John Mason, decided to avoid facing Pequot warriors in open combat and instead to burn all the villages and massacre those who could not escape.

William Bradford, former governor of the colony, celebrated the results in these words: "Those that scaped the fire were slaine with the sword; some hewed to peeces, others rune throw with their rapiers, so as they were quickly dispatchte, and very few escaped. It was conceived they thus destroyed about 400 at this time. It was a fearful sigh to see them thus frying in the fyer, and the streams of blood quenching the same, and horrible was the stincke and sente there of, but the victory seemed a sweete sacrifice, and they gave the prayers thereof to God, who had wrought so wonderfuly for them, thus to inclose their enemise in their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud and insulting and enemie."

Speedy victory over unarmed villagers? Among all the talk of spreading democracy and expecting peaceful democractic revolutions, remember how our democracy was founded. Genocide. Slavery. And the powerful elite forcing the masses to conform.