Morning Joe – the blind leading the dumb

I watch “Morning Joe” on MSNBC mostly because I can’t stand watching the local news in the morning.  Local TV News is annoying, repetitive, uninteresting, and in Maine, they talk about the weather for so long that at the end of the weather segment you can’t remember what they said.

In any case, I’ve written about the cast of characters of Morning Joe before, but in the last week or so they have really shown how few real journalistic activities go on there.  Mika Brzezinski stares googly eyed at Joe Scarborough and all of the other men that surround here, pretending to be annoyed when the act like 12 year olds, but secretly she is pining away for each and every one of them. 

This morning I was annoyed by her inability to say the word “lambaste”.  It is pronounced “lamb” as in the animal, and “baste” as in what you do to a turkey while it is cooking.  Put is all together and it’s LAMB-BAY-ST.  She pronounces it “lamb+bass+t”.  As in “lamb” like the animal, plus “bass” like the fish (wide-mouth-”bass”) plus a “T” sound.   This is just one example and I know that Mika is not the only one that pronounces things incorrectly.  How many times have you heard the word “pun-dints” in the last several months?  It is pronounced (and spelled) “pun-dits”.  NO “N” IN THE WORD.

It’s one thing if it happens occasionally, but when supposed journalists misspell or misuse words, and when elected officials can’t seem to connect their brain stems with a common dictionary, something is wrong. 

These are not simple mistakes; this is clear, out and out laziness.  I know it is because I do it all the time with my writing.  For me it takes the form of typographical errors, but still, laziness is laziness.  The difference is I am not a professional journalist, or even semi-pro, and I don’t get paid.

Now let me move onto Joe Scarborough, the patriotic economist.  He swears that General Motors is making great cars that are safer than the imports.  He pontificated about his GM SUV and how great the car was, how safe it was, etc.

Really!?

So the Chevy Cobalt or Chevy Aveo is safer than the Honda Accord or Civic?  The Pontiac G-something (I don’t know – all their average mid-size family cars start with a G and then a number) is safer than the Toyota Camry or Toyota Corolla?  And I won’t even mention Saab and Volvo and Mercedes, two of the highest rated cars for safety, are owned by GM and Ford and Chrysler respectively but are considered foreign cars.  So even the big three’s own 0f line of high-safety, high quality, expensive cars are not really American products.

Joe Scarborough needs to find a better argument for keeping the big three in business than “just because” it is the patriotic thing to do.   Don’t give me this crap that America makes better cars, in fact, it is just the opposite and I can prove it.  Joe can prove it too because it wasn’t but one week later that is top of the line SUV from GM was in the shop with some unknown issue.  You know the kind of issue where they say it’s fixed and then it’s not fixed so you have to bring it back…..several times.

I have almost exclusively bought Honda’s throughout my life.  I have owned eight of them.  I am the type that buys a new car every few years.  While I was always happy with my Hondas, there were times when one of them would rattle a bit or the fit and finish wasn’t quite right.  It took me a few years to figure this out but based on the VIN number of the vehicle (which tells you everything from where the car was made to how many cylinders, engine size, etc) the cars with which I was a bit unsatisfied were Hondas that were manufactured in the United States.  From that point, whenever I bought a new Honda, or in recent years even a Nissan or Toyota, I made sure that from the VIN on that car, I could guarantee myself that the car was actually manufactured in Japan, not the United States.  You know why?  Because American workers don’t give a damn about anything but their paychecks.  In Japan, and in recent years Korea, the work ethic is unmistakable.  American’s have a “good enough” attitude and the fault tolerances accepted by American workers and their management lack the commitment to quality that the Asian car markets have.  Sorry. The truth hurts.

I understand that the failure of even one of the big three auto makers would be catastrophic.  And maybe giving them a loan, with severe oversight and specific bench marks, is the right thing to do, I don’t know.  But let’s not use the argument that American cars are safer or higher quality than the imports because that’s just not true.  And you know it.

Bob’s Discount Furniture – the truth about leather

Bob’s Discount Furniture has been a New England institution for what, 25 years or so.  And for each and every one of those years his commercials have been nothing short of extremely annoying.  He started in Connecticut where I am from and when I moved to Maine he unfortunately followed me here.  Same cheap furniture, same dumb commercials.

His newest commercial advertising a leather sofa and love seat made from bonded leather for around $699 or something like that.  That’s a good price for leather.  OR IS IT?  Did you even notice the words “bonded leather”?  Most people didn’t notice and that’s exactly what they expected.

I looked it up.  Bonded Leather is reconstituted leather – an artificial material composed of 80% to 100% leather fibers (often waste scraps) mixed with collagen fibers from other hide pieces bonded together with latex binders.  It has a “grain-like” texture.  So basically it’s leather scraps and cow guts mixed with latex rubber and thrown into an industrial blender, then rolled out and dried into sheets, punched with a pattern to look like leather grain, and then finally wrapped around your beautiful new furniture.

DONT’ BE FOOLED.  Question everything.  I knew something was up because I am used to seeing advertisements like this and really listening to what they are saying.  I had never heard of “bonded” leather and I’m glad I did my own research.

So unless you don’t want real leather, don’t buy bonded leather and especially from Bob’s Discount Furniture.

Time to rid yourself of Christmas guilt

Maybe the condition of our economic times has brought about the perfect time to re-assess what Christmas is and what we should be celebrating.

Christmas means different things to different people.  At its core, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ.   It is a Christian holiday.  So I mostly believe that unless you are devout in your celebration of the birth of Christ then you have no business celebrating Christmas.

I also have not forgotten the magic that Christmas can bring.  We are often more prone to giving to charity or those less fortunate during Christmas.  Many of us get emotional at this time of year, mostly due to the memories of our childhood, whether good or bad.

But a few years ago, I had my own economic downturn.  Giving gifts that year wasn’t even within the realm of possibility.  Yes, I could have given home made things like fresh bread or trays of Macaroni & Cheese since cooking is the one thing I’m good at that could translate into a gift.  But, I was still feeling the pressure to “give” and the guilt that comes along with not giving.

So I decided to take another approach.  One that was unconventional at best.  No Christmas presents.  I approached the people with whom I normally exchange gifts and just told the truth.  I can’t afford to go out and buy presents and I would appreciate it if you didn’t worry about buying me a present either. 

The most important gift in the world, in my opinion, is your time.  I wanted to spend time with the people I love.  Laughing, eating great food, relaxing, telling stories, playing cards; all the things we seem to never have time to do.  Since most of my friends and family aren’t consistent church-goers, we weren’t celebrating the birth of the Messiah, we were celebrating nothing and giving each other mounds of presents because of it.

As little as 24 hours after gift-opening time, maybe even less in some cases, kids couldn’t remember who gave them what, they were already bored with the toys, and the adults usually felt like “thank god that’s over”.  In recent years many of the people I know were ready to take down the tree and decorations the very next day.  And as we reflected on the standard Christmas, we realized introspectively that we spent too much, probably went into credit card debt, and even if you got great stuff, something was missing.

After the time when I stopped giving out Christmas presents I didn’t feel that way anymore.  Christmas had taken on a different meaning.  As I said before, the gift of time, and laughter, I think, are such valuable commodities.  What an incredible relief it would be, don’t you think, if you never had to worry about the traditional gift giving aspect of Christmas?

It isn’t as if no gifts would be exchanged anymore, just not gifts that come with a receipt.  I have always believed that birthdays are special.  That is one person’s special day and that should be the day they get all the attention and a gift or two.  But I also believe in buying people things that you happen upon and give for no specific reason.  I bought a family member a certain cosmetics purchase just because I knew they liked it, not because it was their birthday or Christmas or any other holiday.  Those, to me, are real gifts.  The unexpected act of kindness. 

So I am giving everyone permission, and in fact asking them to participate, in a new kind of gift giving for the holidays.  Stay out of the stores and off the online shopping sites.  Make a promise to yourself and to those you love that you will spend time with them at Christmas time.  Why do we keep perpetuating the myth that presents equals love.  And if you decide to spend more time with he ones you love, playing cards, relaxing, enjoying some snacks or a meal,  and most of all laughing, then maybe you will begin to see what is really important.  And you will be able to see it because you mind is not occupied with guilt over whether or not you spent enough money on so-and-so, and “oh I hope he likes it, I don’t think he’ll like it, maybe I should go get him something else”.  Rid yourself of the Christmas guilt and start celebrating what Christmas is really about.  God doesn’t keep track of the gifts you wrapped up and gave to someone, only the ones you are not able to wrap.

Who’s the real Lame Duck?

Have you been watching the political shows?  They are pontificating, assuming, blaming, yelling, planning, scheming, concluding, choosing, arguing, whining, over-analyzing, and all kinds of other “ings” and none of them good.

The election was a scant two weeks ago and everyone from Pat Buchanan to Jon King are talking about the Obama “leaks” and how Obama has “lost control of his people”.  They are talking about how “change” isn’t change because there aren’t a lot of new faces in THEIR proposed cabinet.

Obama isn’t leaking anything, he just has less control over those outside his circle that are.  As for change?  There was only one successful Democratic administration in the last half century and that was Bill Clinton’s.  Everyone who was a democrat worked for his administration so anyone with any experience, which is what Obama is looking for, worked for Clinton’s administration.  How do the pundits think that Obama is going to fill the untold number of cabinet positions and support positions, from Monster.com?

So in an effort to fill the unfillable, that being 24 hours a day of news, the cable news shows trot every politician, political analyst, political consultant, and in some cases their own version of Joe the Plumber to rattle on and on about what’s going wrong so far.   So far??  It’s been 17 days and he’s not even the President yet.  They are blaming him for the bail out of wall street and the lack of one for the car companies.  He’s not the President yet.

Now would be a perfect time for all of the cable news programs to go on vacation. It’s been a long election season, you earned it.  Now go.  An don’t come back until there is some real news.

The Auto Bailout Debate continues

Joe Scarborough on “Morning Joe” (MSNBC) was a raving, ranting, unintelligible maniac this morning.  What the hell is “patriotic economics”.  He wants to save the American auto industry at all costs because they are American.  He’s not a socialist or anything.  He’s a true blue republican, in his mind.  Yeah, right.  What do you call blindly subsidizing a company with no oversight.  Congress doesn’t know how to run a car company so how can oversee it.

First of all, we know the banking bailout didn’t work so why are we continuing to bailout other industries.  Congress lost control of the credit crisis the second they agreed to sign that bill.  Paulson doesn’t know what he’s doing and he can’t or won’t tell us where the money has been spent so far.  All legal, I might add.

If we’re going to bail anybody out, bail out the people.  It would cost less to put these folks on unemployment and retrain them for other jobs than to just keep writing checks to auto industry fat cats.  And don’t give me this crap about American cars being better, and safer, than Japanese or German imports.  If Joe Scarborough feels safe with his newborn in the back of his GMC Yukon, good for him.  I’ll take a Toyota Sequoia or Honda Ridgeline any day of the week, you know why?  Because the trucks I want to drive are tough and rugged and will last longer than any American truck.  AND, the resale value will be…well, it will actually have a resale value.  How much is a 5 year old Yukon with 120,000 miles worth, Joe?

So Joe, and Pat Buchanan, can blow it out their you know what with this “Patriotic Economics” bullshit.  Toyota, Honda, Vokswagen, Mercedes and Nissan all manufactur cars right here in the good old USA with American workers.  The difference is, these car companies don’t have bloated executive salaries, bloated pension and health benefits, and guaranteed paychecks whether you actually work or not as compared to all of the American car companies with their labor unions.  American workers at foreign car companies have jobs like the rest of us; the kind without decades of legacy bargaining chips that have been leveraged to the hilt.  Companies like the big 3 don’t work in this economy anymore and haven’t for decades.  They no longer fit into the American workforce and they don’t build cars that Americans want.

They had plenty of warning; like 30 years of warning, if not more.  Good night sweetheart, well, it’s time to go.  Hey I was out of work for 18 months and it killed me.  I just went back to work in October of 2008 (yes, last month).  If I can make it, so can they.  Somebody needs to tell GMC, Ford, and Chrysler to find a good bankruptcy attorney and let their suppliers know that the gravy train is pulling into the station.

California Proposition 8 – the “anti-love” law

Whenever somebody sits down to write a law, or propose an amendment, or legislate anything at all,  the first thing he or she should do is put away the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, “Dianetics” by L. Ron Hubbard, or any other book that skews basic human rights based on somebody elses interpretation.  The reason is that in this country, America, we have what is called a separation of church and state as outlined in the U.S. Constitution.  And religious arguments against same-sex marriages just don’t hold any ground if you consider conflicting scriptural passages like “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.  But nobody can explain it with the passion and fervor that Keith Olbermann did on last night’s “Countdown” through a Special Comment.

Known for his “Special Comments”, Olbermann put into words the things many of us think about but can’t seem to verbalize or put into cohesive buckets.  Olbermann, last night, was at his best explaining why nobody should be denied the legal right to love another person and cement that love through marriage.  I watched the video below live, as it happened, and could not hold back the tears.  This from a man who is not gay, comes from the sports broadcasting world, and said he struggled to find someone in his own extended family who was gay for whom he could speak.  He could not find one but that did not temper his firey and poignant diatribe that, in my opinion, everyone should hear before they pass judgement on gay marriage or any other kind of discrimination.

Why are we bailing out General Motors?

The worlds #1 auto maker is bleeding cash (in their own words) and want the infamous $770 Billion bailout to be partially funneled in their direction.

Why?  Why are we going to bail out a company who sells products that the American market neither wants not has the credit to buy?

It makes no sense to me.  I consider myself to be an average American when it comes to consumer purchases.  However, while I am recently employed, I was unemployed for 18 months, causing unbelievable damage to my credit and changed my way of thinking when it comes to quantifying what is a “necessary” purchase.

When my car was repossesed, I relied on friends and family to get me through.  I borrowed cars from family and friends, most of which were old beaters not even remotely road worthy, and would never pass inspection, but I had to take a chance.  I needed a car to get to interviews, if I ever got one, or god willing, a job, if I ever got one of those either.

In the end, it was a very good friend who loaned me money, to be paid back “whenever” to buy a decent used vehicle.  I bought a used, 12 year old Toyota.

I have driven at one time or another, just about every car out there.  Wehter it be through test drives, rentals on business trips, or just driving cars owned by people I know.  There is no way in hell I would ever buy an American car.  They are still, to this day and after everything the American auto industry has been through, unreliable, lack creativity and ingenuity, are made of plastic, and still have the same look inside as they did in the 1970’s.  You just can NOT compare any American car to its foreign competition; not in quality, not in price, not in reliability.

General Motors, and Ford, and Chrysler for that matter, are all failing.  And rightly so.  It’s part of the cycle of consumerism.  It’s basic supply and demand and we as Americans don’t demand American cars.  We bailed out car makers before, in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  These companies had some sort of a rebound only to be overtaken each and every year by Toyota and Honda.  Other than the Ford Taurus, which I still can’t explain, the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry have been the top selling cars in the United States for decades.

So why, with the incredible financial crisis goiing on in this country, would the government bail out American car companies.  Nobody wants to buy a GM, Chrysler, or Ford.  It is no longer a matter of patriotism.  Most foreign based car companies who sell cars in the U.S. build them here, or buld part of them here.  In many cases there are more foreign parts in an “American” car than there are in an “import”.

So General Motors wants the U.S. government to bail them out to keep them solvent.  Why would we do that.  Even if these U.S. automakers were financially viable right now, there is no credit available to customers to help them buy these cars.  This is not a “one-issue” problem.  And if I could get a car loan, I wouldn’t buy an American car.  For those who can afford to buy a car in cash, they are not going to buy a Chevy Impala, they are going to buy a Lexus.  Just as in the housing crisis where the government should be bailing out the consumer rather than Wall Street, the government should be giving grants or loans to buy vehicles rather than just writing blank checks to U.S. auto makers.

We have given American car companies 30 years, an entire generation and then some, to catch up with what Americans want in a car.  They couldn’t do it.  They won’t do it.  Even with government subsidies, they lack the vision.  And any company that is no longer relavent in the world tends to go out of business.  So be it.  With the advent of digital cable and on-demand television, we don’t need Blockbuster anymore.  Would we bail them out.  No. We’d let them go by the wayside because they are no longer relevant.

So what do we do about the 3 million employees of American car companies?  I don’t know.  Maybe we should convert American car factories to Toyota, Honda, and Nissan factories, and throw in Hyundai for good measure, and let these car factory workers go back to work.  We can export the ones we don’t buy here to places all around the globe instead.  Export, baby, Export.

Any time you see a documentary or news report from some unknown corner of the world about violence, political unrest, war, etc., what do you see in the background?  Not a Chevy pickup; you see a Toyota.  Even in the poorest more dangerous places on earth, where the poorest of the poor are fighting for their basic human rights, they drive Toyotas.

Hello!?

Cool to be American?

I know that I shouldn’t be concerned with what others think or say about me, and I’m not.

I know that I should never listen to a piece of “journalism” from “The Today Show”, but I did.

Lester Holt introduced a piece called “It’s cool to be American” on Saturday morning.  It should have said “Again”.  While I don’t care what people think or say about me, I do care what the world thinks and says about America.

When world leaders are beating down our doors saying “Now that you’ve smartened up and elected a real President, we’re willing to work with you”, it has an impact on us and them.

When the Iraqi Parliament says “Now that you have elected a real President, we trust you and want to sign a continuance agreement with you”, that is saying a lot.

In the end it doesn’t matter what the world thinks about us as a country, but it helps.  And it doesn’t matter what they think about the American people, but it helps. 

We were always taught, from grade school on, that America is a beacon of hope and the gold standard for a good life.  It is the standard that countries all over this planet aspire to achieve.

It took eight long, eight very, very long years, for some Americans to finally admit that George W. Bush, his criminal activities, his desire for war, his lies, his ignorance of the Constitution of the United States, has turned this country upside down.  We don’t even recognize America anymore.  Or at least we didn’t, until we decided, we ALL decided that enough is enough.  We’re more afraid of what the world will do to us if we keep the Republicans in power than we are of terrorism itself.  I don’t know what it was that made America wake up.  Bush as elected (sort of) twice, and John McCain WAS a third Bush term, I don’t care what you say.

But I digress (as usual).

The world thinks America is cool and Americans are cool (unless of course you are still a Republican).  My hope is that the country finally understands the both Democrats and Republicans have good ideas, they just need to be melded together correctly.  That’s what Obama can do and what Bush could never do, and what McCain had no interest in doing.

So go travel the world again, when you have enough money again, and don’t be afraid to say you are American. 

Hint:  If you find yourself in a dicey neighborhood in the world somewhere, I’d still go with Canadian.

Obama Wins and it’s a new game in town

I know I should be a gracious winner.  As gracious and incsive as Barack Obama was in his victory speech and as gracious as John McCain tried to be in is concession speech.  I say “tried” because he still refused to stop the booing when he mentioned Obama’s win.   McCain couldn’t muster up the decency to tell the crowd that booing is not acceptable.

But there is a part of me that needs to vent.  I just need to say:

So long Hannity and O’Reilly and the rest of the knuckleheads at Fox.  You make me sick and your team LOST.  You are irrelevant.

So long to Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sarah Palin.  Your talking points memos have no place in this world except maybe to line bird cages.  You are both irrelevant.

And to the blow hard, politically abusive Rush Limbaugh, your tactics didn’t work, your lies didn’t work, you are irrelevant.

To people like Mary Matalin, Mitt Romney, Rudy “9/11″ Giuliani, and Tucker Bounds, it’s time for you to just SHUT UP and I would prefer also that you GO AWAY.  You are irrelevant.

And especially to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney whom I believe should rot in hell for the crimes they have committed against the American people and against the U.S. Constitution; you and your cronies are irrelevant.

All of the people mentioned above will pay the price.  Looking back, these people could not think of one nice thing to say about Barack Obama, who is, by any measure, an intelligent, thoughtful, inclusive man deserving of at minimum an inferred compliment.  But no, they just couldn’t bring yourselves to do it.  And so they will pay the price by being considered “out of the loop”, and “on the wrong track” and nobody will want to hear your opinion anymore.  Not even the new Republican Party that will emerge from the muck as something new and different; or perhaps old and familiar, back to their roots, so to speak.

The Presidential Election of 2008 was not just an election and was not just about politics.  The Obama campaign was a movement.  As defined by Random House a “movement” in this context means: “a diffusely organized or heterogeneous group of people or organizations tending toward or favoring a generalized common goal”.  That is exactly what President Elect Obama tied to do through his entire campaign.  And he stayed on topic for almost 2 years.  None of the people mentioned above in this post, and many, many people not mentioned in this post, ever recognized the difference between an election campaign and a movement.  They missed the boat and missed the historical significance of what happened on November 4th2008.  Americans stoop up to be counted and stood up to say “We’re not going to take it anymore”.  The Republican tactics of fear don’t work and were not appreciated by the electorate based on exit polls.  Every negative ad, every mangling of the truth, or outright lie convinced a few more Independents and Republicans to vote Democrat

I’m sure you saw the people around this country who gathered in predetermined locations to await and then celebrate the victory of Barack Obama.  But did you see the hoards of Americans who gathered spontaneously in town squares to do the same thing.  You probably caught this phenomenon on television but did you also notice people from countries all over the WORLD who gather to celebrate America’s huge step forward.  The American Dream is an experiment that has so far lasted 232 years.  And when times are tough, like they are now, Americans can unite for the greater good.  And Americans can think for themselves independently, they can analyze the conditions set before them, and they have the ability to think and look forward instead of backwards to what used to be.  I don’t care how it sounds but for the first time in my life I am truly proud to be American.  That doesn’t mean I wasn’t proud before; it means I am MORE proud.

So when have Americans ever poured into the streets to celebrate and support the newly elected President of the United States.  For that matter when have Americans ever done this to celebrate anything, political or otherwise.  One on-air personality from a cable TV show said that it was possible that the first moon landing/walk may be the only other event in history that created this level of pride and exuberance.  I don’t know because I was too young to remember, but that sounds accurate to me.  And we’re talking about GOOD NEWS celebrations not bad news vigils.

The political torch is being passed to a new generation and a new philosophy.  I am at the cusp (the older side, unfortunately) of a generation who doesn’t see color, religion, sexual orientation, and more as divisive issues.  We doesn’t see differences, but rather similarities.

The right-wing cancer on the American phsyche is finally in remission.  Those of us with clearer, more mature heads have been waiting for this day since it all went wrong when Ronald Reagan took office in January of 1981.  Since that time we have been on a course, either stemming from the President himself or the Republican-controlled Congress, that grew progressively more extreme in its Evangelical values.  For whatever reason, a large group still believes in this philosophy; they believe in subscribing to culture wars.  They believe in “us versus them”.  They believe in exclusion over inclusion.  If you ever watched the critically acclaimed televisionshow called “Jericho” which was about the aftermath of a large scale terrorist attach on the United States, you would have seen the not-so-subtle overtones of what it is like under the Bush Administration or under Republican rule in general.  Americans pitted against Americans instead of Americans helping other Americans.  We are nothing if not generous with our time, money, and support of those in trouble or less fortunate than ourselves.  But the fundamental idea of America’s generosity was swept out when Reagan was swept into power in 1981.  I am overjoyed that America’s self-esteem and its zest for inclusion has returned with gusto.

As for Barack Obama I hear people, including myself, refer to him (before today) as “Senator Obama”, “Barack Obama”, or “Mr. Obama”, or just plain “Obama”.  He has earned the right to be called “President Elect” and/or “President”.  But for some reason, my admiration for him and the fact that he makes me feel included, makes we want to call him “Barack”.  Just plain Barack.  He is the only political figure in my life that I have ever wanted to meet and the only one with whom I ever wanted to sit down and have a chat.

In closing I want to say that I have only recently involved myself in politics.  Barack’s speech at the DNC in 2004 started it all for me and then I began my own personal grass roots movement through communicating with friends and family, acquaintances, and visitors to my Blog.  Prior to this election I voted in every election for President, Governor, and/or Senator.  However, this is the first time I truly “fell” for a candidate.  If it is possible to love somebody that you have never met, then that’s what happened to me.  Love comes in many forms.  In my case my love for Barack comes in the form of respect and admiration.  He makes me want to be a better person; a better American.

I look forward to the future of America and the World.  Maybe someday I’ll forgive myself for not being as gracious as I could have been.

How to decide – Obama or McCain

I am trying, very, very hard NOT to write any more until after the election.  I really want to just let everything sit and simmer; to not think about, talk about it, or write about it anymore.  But I can’t.

How do you decide for whom to vote for President?

First, if you are a political junkie and you are voracious in your appetite for all things politics, of all persuasions, including the web, newspapers, magazines, and television, then you are probably well versed and informed and have already made your decision.  Other than that, I believe there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.

What do you know about each candidate and from where did I learn it?  Was it a friend or family member.  Was it one particular medium that you gravitate towards?  For example, if you only watch Fox News or if you only watch MSNBC, then your viewpoint is going to be skewed, assuming you believe everything you have heard.  Maybe there is a particular blog like the Huffington Post or The Drudge Report; same thing there, these are one-sided opinion mediums the often skew the facts in a certain direction.

Have you ever taken one particular news item that is pro or con for a candidate and conducted your own investigation to see if it was true or not.  If not, then you haven’t done your homework.

I believe that each of us has a responsibility to be our own private investigators.  We need to stop listening solely to Sean Hannity or CNN.  Go to reliable, nonpartisan sources.  They are out there; go find them.

Next, check your gut.  See what makes sense.  For example, does it really make sense that someone running for President is a terrorist, or is secretly hiding his religious beliefs.  Chances are if you heard an outrageous claim about a candidate, that claim has either stretched the facts beyond all recognition or is a complete fabrication.  Watch the candidates themselves.  Take note of how they conduct themselves, how the speak, their body language.  You can tell a lot about a person by simply picking up on clues.

Also, keep an eye on political tactics and weigh what their impact is.  Barack Obama said he would talk to John McCain about using public financing for his campaign and come to an agreement.  He never did.  On the other hand, bogus fliers were distributed (by McCain supports) to college campuses in Pennsylvania and Virginia saying that the State recognized there would be such a high turnout for Election day that they split it into two days; Republicans should vote on November 4th, and Democrats on November 5th.  This was all on State letterhead, and it was all a fake.  Voter suppression tactics from the Republicans are not new.

So which one is worse in your mind.

What does each candidate really stand for.  What is his platform?  If, god forbid, he died on day one, who would fill his shoes?  It is maudlin to say the least to think about the President’s death but at some point you need to be realistic.

As much as I don’t want to give my own opinion to anyone reading this on how to decide who to pick for President, I will say this.  John McCain, like most republicans, will spend a lot of time telling you what’s wrong with the other candidate and will tell you what they are against.  However, how often do you hear them talk what’s right about themselves and what they are for.

It is a simple equation, really.  Do I want someone who is AGAINST things, or do I want someone who is FOR things?  Do I want a President who I can have a beer with, or a President that is WAY smarter than I am?  Do I want a President who really cares about our standing in the world and intends to correct it?  Or do I want President with a bully attitude and doesn’t care what the rest of the world thinks about us?

What exactly is your candidate FOR?  And into which candidates face can you look and see the quiet, calm passion that pushes him to lead this country to better places?  Which candidate did not squander the time he has to convince America to elect him trying to convince YOU what was wrong with the other guy, rather than what was RIGHT about himself.

Do your homework, do your research, make smart, well-informed decisions.  And thanks again, for stopping by.  Hopefully, I can keep my mouth (and my keyboard quiet) until we get the results on November 4th.