The Debate

Back from my adventure in the front yard.....the stray cows now polka dotted with neon pink paintballs....I strongly felt it was my duty of course to share my thoughts on tonight's debate. Some of you would swear I'm a bleeding heart liberal democrat. I'm really really not :) I just think healthcare IS a right and that we do give too many breaks to big business and not small business. But, I also believe in the death penalty. I have NO problem flipping that switch. In fact, I can think of a few people I wouldn't mind putting in the express line for that group. But back to the debate...McCain did exactly what all the people predicted - tried to distance himself from Bush, brought up ACORN and Ayers . That was so yesterday's news. Obama was...well Obama. He did maintain his cool head but, I was happy to see that one of the candidates kept bringing us back to the big issues, the economy. I know this debate was about domestic affairs but, I was very disappointed that neither one of them talked about the impact of the "war" in Iraq that is bleeding our economy. We are gushing blood (dollars) chasing after something that we will never see in most of our lifetimes - peace in the middle east. With the money we have spent on Bubba's war, we could have funded healthcare for the country, improved our infrastructure and highway systems in all the states, and made it possible for all of our children to go to college without having to go broke to do it or being in debt for the first 10 years of their adult lives. We talk about social security being broken, our 401K systems going down the toilet and the stock market seriously impacting our retirement systems....do we see the congress rushing out to fix it so we all have secure retirement futures after so many years of hard work? No....and why would they?!? After one term in office these guys have healthcare and a pension for life. It is nothing like Mom & Pop mainstreet have. If we made the legislators survive on medicaid and social security for a few months they would find a fix for the system damn quick!

So....back to the debate. Seriously, does what either of them say really matter? They sit in the oval office but if we can't change congress do we really see anything changing. Maybe it is just my jade colored glasses again. Does that mean I won't be there filling out my paper...yes paper since I live in the sticks ballot...NO WAY. I will also have my kids right along beside me there since it is important that we be shaping their future and encouraging them to vote. We are deciding their future.

Just a few thoughts that came out after the debate during the family time discussion -

• How about a trade for that offshore drilling? Those companies that are given rights to drill offshore should be required to spend twice as much on alternative energy sources that are up and running within 2 years.
• How about we do something similar to the Civilian Conservation Corp for those that are out of work? It would stimulate our economy with jobs but also rebuild some of the infrastructure that is so dilapidated.
• Immigration is an issue? No one wants to do those jobs like picking the beans? How about instead of giving the prison population 3 square meals and cable TV we put their asses out there picking the beans. Prisoners in our country rank up there with legislators - they get all these perks and benefits for doing nothing...oh wait...guess crooks and legislators ARE synonymous.
• The best question I heard tonight in the family discussion was from Little A...."Do we have another choice to choose from or are these guys it?"

Okay before I end this post - just one last thing about this election for now. Where did Sarah Palin come from?!? I can't even begin to cover my thoughts on her in this post. Seriously, was McCain on some heavy meds when he chose her? Are we talking some dementia? I will save Sarah for her own post when it isn't so late and Layla isn't sitting on my chest trying to convince me it's time to curl up and sleep.