Looking forward

On nights like this, I sometimes feel like I lose sight of what I really wanted to do with writing in this space. As soon as this election is over, I will begin to shift my focus onto other topics that I really want to discuss. For instance, you can expect a rather lengthy discussion on the search for meaning. I will most likely post something that I have written in the past on the subject and open it up for comment and criticism. But for the time being, I will ask this question: is the search for meaning a worthwhile pursuit or is it hopeless endeavor?

For my entire thinking life, I have investigated what things mean, sometimes to a fault. Why do like the books that we read or why do we listen to the music that we listen to? Is there really any way to find an explanation for all of these things and do they even deserve a further exploration? My studies of religion over the years teach that there is in fact a universal meaning in things, but for whatever reason, those explanations seem a little too easy. Christian thought seemed too simplistic to me in that it really comes down to accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, so I went searching for a different opinion. I thought I found it in Buddhism, but even their belief in the Four Noble Truths ended up a bit simplistic for my tastes. But then again, maybe I am way too buried in my own head to accept that either one is really the correct view.

Either way, expect these sorts of topics moving forward in a couple of weeks. Once I am freed of my political mind, you will all be bombarded by my philosophical mind. And that may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you feel about some dude rambling on about his life. Ha.

The word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out...

Passionate. One word that well describes your boy right here. And that is exactly what you will read here tonight. Forgive my once again unstructed nature, but this is how it comes out sometimes. As always, I welcome any criticism and invite discussion amongst my friends concerning these topics...

Just over a week before this country decides on another President. There are a lot of different thoughts going around right now about the race and how it is tilting in one direction. The polls indicate that Barack Obama is leading in key states at the moment. But the last thing that anyone can do is assume victory.

Anyone who supports Obama must realize that this is the time that really counts. Every time these elections come around and the Democrats seem to be in the lead, people take things for granted. We take for granted that the polls are in our favor. We take for granted that momentum seems to be on our side. But now is the most critical moment of the entire campaign. Supports must continue their efforts. This is not a time to sit back and revel in the fact that the win appears to be within reach. The fight must continue until the very end. If sports have taught me anything over the years, it is that you sprint through the finish line. You do not allow yourself to prematurely celebrate and you always apply pressure until the final seconds have ticked off the clock.

First of all, if you have followed my ramblings, you know that I am not one of those Democrats that believes that the solution to all of our problems lies within the abilities of a politician. Quite the opposite, actually. The cynic in me will not allow me to put blind faith in the hands of one individual. The realization that politics is an impossible game came to me a long time ago. My skepticism concerning our political process was further developed in a time of great struggle. Our country was facing an incredible enemy in global terrorism. And yet we somehow decided to focus our attention on a foe that was uninvolved in our crisis. I will be the first to admit that I was one of those blind supporters. Our intelligence could not possibly be leading us in the incorrect direction, right? There was a reason to go into Iraq. There had to be. Hell, the Democrats voted to give the President the authority to use force in the Middle East despite the fact that we had not captured Osama Bin Laden. As time marched on, I came to find that even the people that supposedly represented me got it all wrong. We are still deeply involved in the Iraq war. What do we have to show for it now?

So if you think that I am being unreasonable in my political discussions here, please let me know. It is simply my opinion that we cannot afford to get this one wrong. Barack Obama is not going to be the medicine to cure all that ails this country. He will not be the vaccine that protects America against future illness. But he does represent a shift in ideology compared to John McCain. Mr. McCain has attempted to show us in the last few weeks that he is not President Bush. I do not believe that he is President Bush. However, if you are of the opinion that Obama's record as the "most liberal Senator" means something, then McCain's support of nine out of ten Bush policies also has to be meaningful. After his re-election in 2004, no one can tell me that President Bush has made the right decision in just about any area of policy. Since that is the case, I am not sure of any way that you can explain away the fact that one candidate in this election has moved with him lock-step in the overwhelming majority of situations. If you disagree with the direction of the country for the last eight years, you owe it to yourself to give someone else a shot. We can talk all day about flip-flopping and pandering. But the fact remains that there is one person running for President that has agreed with George W. Bush and voted as such.

I do not mean to imply that things will be drastically different on November 5 2008. I also do not mean to imply that there will be some sort of intellectual revolution on January 21 2009 if Barack Obama should be so lucky as to be our President at that time. But if the last month or so has shown me anything, it is that I would rather take a chance on hope and, in some cases blind optimism, than someone who seems to be all at once distancing himself from our current administration and proving that he is "Conservative" or Republican enough to get that base to vote for him.

I have read a lot recently on how people seem to think that the policies on one side or the other are simply pie in the sky ideas. Magic is a word that is being thrown out quite frequently. As in, it will take an act of magic for either man to follow through with what they are speaking about now. There has been much written on how both men are promising things that they will be unable to deliver, either short term or long term. As far as I am concerned, it does nothing for ridiculous to call out ridiculous. There is nothing productive in saying that someone's opinions or beliefs are unattainable in a sarcastic or condecending manner. But on the whole, thie discouse does not bother me in the least as long as it is reasonable. I know politics well enough to understand the situation. But does this mean that we should then discredit the enthusiasm that some show for a relative newcomer? Does this mean that we should somehow discredit the first time voters who appear to be voting for a candidate simply because he is more like them than anyone else who has run in the past? Does this mean that we should somehow mock those who are nervous about giving great power to someone who is seemingly untested? As Shakespeare once said, what is past is prologue. History finds a way to repeat itself. The difference is that in these times, we have an opportunity to make history that may someday repeat itself. Regardless of who wins this election, that person will find themselves in an utterly unenviable posiiton. The economy is in shambles. Our standing in the world has been decimated by the choices of the last few administrations. This President will be subjected to unimaginable amounts of scrutiny. And anyone who believes that if one person or the other gets elected that it will be easy sailing, they are fooling themselves.

The fact of the matter remains: at one point in time, I would have no problem with either John McCain or Barack Obama as President. But the difference as it stands this evening is that the John McCain that I could see being President is not the John McCain that we are looking at this very minute. That person is either long gone or hidden under an immense layer of political posturing. Barack Obama is also not the same person that I once wished would be the President. In 2004 when I first saw him speak at the Democratic National Convention and read his book, I saw him as a truly revolutionary figure in politics. Today, he is the Democratic nominee for President. That alone has changed him to a great degree. But I still trust that he is the man who will make the proper decisions for the direction of this country. The President of the United States of America can only do so much in order to directly effect our lives in this world. One of those things is having the judgment and intelligence to surround his or herself with individuals who will positively influence the direction of this nation. Both men involved have had a chance to show me this necessary judgment. Only one has done so. And this is why on November 4 2008, I will walk into that voting booth and proudly cast my vote for Barack Obama as President of the United Sates of America.

Wow. That was probably a bit unnecessary, but whatever. You all can thank Olde English 800 for subjecting you to this diatribe. But it's a little over a week until decision time. Choose how you will. But choose because you legitimately believe in one person or the other. Not because you see the choice as a lesser of two evils and not because you see fault in the ideas or hopes of the supporters of one of these two men. It might not make a difference in our lives. But there will be repercussions and it might be our own kin who have to deal with them. I hope that those of you who are undecided will research both John McCain and Barack Obama and will make nothing but an informed decision. Those of you who are decided already, please vote on November 4 2008 and know that your choice will make a difference somehow. That's enough for me tonight. I hope you are all well. Thanks for listening.

Ryan Adams

On to a totally different subject today...music. Funny how I pretty much only discuss my very liberal politics and music on here. After the election I'll definitely make an attempt to branch out a bit more. Onto Mr. Adams...

Admittedly, my opinion of Ryan Adams over the years has ranged from "Greatest songwriter of our time!" to "What the hell is this guy thinking?". The last few years has pushed me further and further towards the latter. His latest effort, although it isn't a solo album, continues to push him down the path of complete irrelevance as far as I'm concerned. Cardinology completely lacks memorable moments. Well, completely lacks anything memorable for the right reasons, I should say. As with his last album, the only thing that really sticks out is essentially a joke song called "Magick". Following in the footsteps of the epic "Halloweenhead", the song is so ridiculous that you cannot help but sing along. That being said, it is a tune that would not be out of place if it were being performed by a group of teenagers on some MTV show. Or maybe it just reminds me way too much of some cheesy 80's rock song. Either way, you end up liking it because of how outlandish it is. For an artist who used to be the king of the sad bastard country song, this is an interesting path for him to choose.

So the question begs to be asked...how did Ryan Adams come to this? Like I said before, this is not a solo Ryan Adams album. Since Easy Tiger, the Cardinals (his one-time backing band) have become more involved with the writing process. So are they really the ones to blame for this? Honestly, probably not. Because while the music is sometimes actually pretty decent on this album, Ryan's lyrics just lack effort. There is none of the deep meaning that he used to infuse in every track. Looking over his past solo efforts and his work with Whiskeytown, there are legitimately spectacular songs interspersed with some absolute garbage. So the fact that he is now writing terrible songs does not come as a complete surprise. However, the fact remains that he has not written a truly great song in about three years now, if not longer. And that just so happens to coincide with the time when he apparently stopped using heavy drugs. I would hate to say that the guy cannot write anything decent while sober, but it really does seem to be the case here. Or maybe now that he's clean, he just does not have it in him to write anything meaningful. He definitely still has the same wild mood swings that he did while he was plowing through speedballs, so his demeanor has not changed a whole lot. He does seem to be tending towards legitimately crazy, so maybe the lack of drugs has exposed that further.

You will probably read a lot of reviews of his recent work praising it as his most authentic and genuine to date. I do not believe that for a second. He used to write soul-crushing music. The kind of songs where a well placed harmonica could accurately describe the entire theme of an album. His first solo effort was called Heartbreaker, for Christ's sake. To this day, I am convinced that there has not been a better fitting album title in the last ten years. And yet today we are left with a Ryan Adams who is at best a shell of his former self. People used to criticize him for releasing so much material within such a short span of time, but perhaps that is just his way. In 2005, he released three albums and just about two and a half of them were good. Within those three albums, there were some bonafied great material. Since then, he has released two albums with at best a handful of decent songs. Perhaps there is something to be said for throwing a bunch of material out there and seeing what sticks. Or perhaps there is something to be said for lots and lots of drugs.

Lots of catching up to do

So we are less than a month out from the election and I have not commented for a week. I meant to say something earlier in the week but I just did not have the chance. I started writing but got sidetracked and I figured it was probably best that I focused a little more and made one large post. I will talk about the recent debates and the other important issues that I have seen come into focus in the last couple of weeks as well. Be aware that there will be some ranting because I am not very happy with some of the things that we have been seeing. And you all can guess which side I will be on during said rants.

First...the debates. Two weeks ago, we saw the VP debate. I cannot say that it was really anything unexpected. I believe that the word "Maverick" was absolutely beat to death by Sarah Palin and I think that her winking was a bit uncomfortable. I expected a few "Mavericks" to be thrown around here and there, but it sort of surprised me that it turned into an answer to some questions. OK, so surprised isn't really the right word. I knew that Palin probably would not be as prepared as she needed to be, but I guess I anticipated that she would manage to speak a little more extemporaneously. Instead, we got dodged questions (more so than your normal politicians), changed subjects, Mavericks and winking.Winking? Really? As the days tick away this fall, it becomes more and more apparent to me that I do not want a Joe six-pack hockey mom in the second most powerful political position in this country. It has nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman. I believe that Hillary Clinton would make a great President or Vice President. Sarah Palin appeals to a lot of people in this country because of her apparent down to earth nature. However, as Vice President of the United States of America, I do not think that we can afford to elect on how well you can relate to someone as far as I am concerned. Maybe Joe Biden is not the individual in politics today that I would most relate to, but it is apparent that he has a firm grasp on the issues of the day. He can be reckless with his mouth at times, but I have no fear of his decision making. You can knock Obama all you want concerning his experience. I understand the argument. I simply disagree with it. But if you want to criticize one because of his lack of experience, you have to criticize John McCain for picking a VP candidate with such little experience. It is a haphazard choice and scares me somewhat. All in all, the VP debate was really a microcosm for the Palin experience since she was announced as the candidate. She has very specific talking points that she sticks to and she gets exposed any time she has to stray from that. Say all you want about "gotcha media" and liberal journalism, but you have to hold politicians responsible for what comes out of their mouths, regardless of the forum in which they are presented. John McCain's "Is that a pizza place?" defense is an absolute mockery of political discourse.

Moving on to the last Presidential debate...once again, nothing really out of the ordinary. There was a clear advantage for Obama in terms of appearance considering he just tends to look more comfortable and relaxed than McCain these days. Also, McCain wandering around the stage was somewhat confusing. Regardless, there was nothing said by either one that would really change minds either way as far as I am concerned. One interesting bit was McCain's proposal to buy troubled loans. Because for a guy who wants to put a freeze on spending and the expansion of government, that is a rather expensive and expansionist proposition. And apparently it has angered some Republicans. But what can I say? The guy is a Maverick. He is such a Maverick that he will propose something that goes against his own beliefs. And the Republicans try to say that Obama likes to play it both ways? Let's be honest at this point: both candidates continue to posture themselves for electability. At this point, it is clear who is making the more irrational decisions and moves. And that brings me to my next point of discussion.

According to Cindy McCain and the McCain camp, the Obama campaign is the dirtiest campaign in the history of Presidential campaigns. As you all well know, I have been paying close attention to these sorts of things over the last eight years or so. Personally, I believe that John McCain has a very short memory when it comes to dirty politics. Does he forget in 2000 when George W. Bush's campaign effectively ended the McCain candidacy in South Carolina? In that instance, rumors were spread by "unknown" sources that Cindy McCain was a drug addict and that one of their daughters was a black child fathered out of wedlock, amongst other things. Meanwhile, in 2008, the McCain campaign has been running TV ads that question Obama's connection to Bill Ayers. These commercials use Barack Obama and the word "terrorist" in the same sentence. But somehow the Obama campaign is the dirty one. I will not say that there have been some negative ads from the Obama campaign. But to say that they are more negative than the ads from the McCain campaign is a bit intellectually dishonest to me. The McCain commercials concerning Ayers are nothing more than attacks based on fears of many Americans. Is he a Muslim? Does he really hang out with terrorists? Many Americans have already learned about his association with Ayers because it was brought up during the Democratic primaries. So why is it an issue again? Because John McCain appears to be losing this election. Based on many polls that have been released in the last few weeks, he is losing major ground in most of the swing states. I am not one to put a lot of stock in polls, but the timing of these ads is impeccable. Never mind that John McCain said that he was going to bring it up during the last debate and did not say a word about it, but the Republicans have been operating in a very underhanded manner as of the last few weeks. You have Palin rallies where people call Obama a terrorist and some even go as far as saying "Kill him!". Up until a few days ago, the McCain campaign said nothing to address these outbursts. Now that they have, I am curious to see if the Palin strategy is revised. It is clear that she is being used as the attack dog and now McCain is the peacekeeper, so to speak. Can they continue to throw Palin out there to bring up the Ayers connection and hype crowds into a borderline frenzy and then apologize when people say offensive things? Or do they have to tone it down? My guess is that the polls will give us that answer. If the polls continue to move in the direction they are now, we will see one of two things out of the Republicans. The first is a pullback of the Ayers strategy, as I will call it. The second is a straight up nuclear campaign. My hope is that it tends more towards the first one. But who knows. For all I care, let John, Cindy and Sarah continue to talk about Obama's connection to someone who was a terrorist 40 years ago and is now a respected member of America's academic community. Meanwhile, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are out speaking about the stuff that is actually pertinent these days.

I know that was rather unstructured and extremely biased, but that is me. This is not the John McCain that I respected in 2000-early 2008. This is a desperate John McCain that realizes he may have to pull out all the stops to have a chance next month. Personally, I know there are a lot of Republicans who have been questioning his decision making. John would probably use that as another example of how he is a Maverick. However, there is a distinct line between being a Maverick and compromising the things that you once believed in. My hope is that John McCain takes serious stock of the overall climate of this country right now and decides to focus his attention on those things that actually matter. The American people deserve to have the next three weeks with their candidates speaking on how they are going to help the nation get out of this economic crisis and move forward with a responsible energy plan. We do not deserve to see the "guilty by association" game because it just does not matter.

I will try to keep more on top of writing here because this sort of thing really lacks focus and I think I am doing myself a bit of a disservice by trying to talk about everything all at once. Ah well. We have another debate this week so I plan on writing something that night. We will see if I can manage to stick to that. Ha.

So much on my mind...

Been meaning to write a lot more here in recent days, but I do not really know where to start. Nothing serious really going on, just a lot that I want to comment on these days. Work is...work. Ha. It has become somewhat frustrating lately as it has really turned into something kind of mind-numbing. Personally, what I am doing now has just run its course. Luckily, I have finally hit my year anniversary and I can apply to other positions within the company. As of right now, I'm surviving by waiting for my next day off or vacation time. For now, it is the camping trip later in October. I definitely need to get out into somewhere without a computer and a cell phone. Ironic? Maybe!

On to politics...we had the VP debate on Thursday night. I think I have to wait until after the next Presidential debate to write on both of those subjects. The financial crisis is still just sort of sitting out there despite the fact that we had the spectacular bailout plan passed last week. Nothing like tacking on an extra $100 billion to make sure that a plan passes in the House and Senate! Seems pretty damn counter intuitive to add more spending to a bill that is already going to cost the citizens of the country quite a bit. If the bill does not prevent further failures and the taxpayers do not see any profit from the plan in the end, we will see increased distrust and disdain for the government. And in this case, John McCain, Barack Obama and Joe Biden voted for it. So if you blame one, you blame the others. Regardless, I suppose we will see how the markets react in the coming weeks.

As for tonight, I think this is about it for writing. I will comment on the debates and the reactions/fallout from them after the next debate. I will talk to you all soon.