$150,000 can't buy class

Last year, people gave John Edwards shit for being pro-middle class, and spending $400 on a haircut. Now, this year, Sarah Palin, the non-elitist, small town values girl spends $150K (twice as much as her gubernatorial salary) on a new wardrobe, and the GOP is calling foul.

Another GOP double-standard. Will it ever end?!?!?

I think there may be another civil war, between the "real" America and the "fake" one. Yet, who the fuck decides what states/cities are real America and what states/cities are fake? Aren't politicians supposed to be uniters during these divisive times? Here's what Joe Biden had to say:



I couldn't have said it any better.

I'm not writing anything about politics, pre-election. Watch Keith Olbermann or the Daily Show (or Sean Hannity if you're an idiot) for pre-election coverage. The final 2 weeks before an election are too much of a headache, and I need to distract myself from the presidential migraine.

Then The Letting Go...

I did something this past weekend that I needed to do for a long time; I let go. For the past 5 or 6 years, I had spent a lot of time harboring feelings about people that ultimately mean nothing, and stunted my progression as a human being in all respects to try to impress people and to be something I'm not. My soul has been marred by envy, hatred, and low self-esteem, and for a long time I thought that there was a good reason for all of this. I thought that there was some poetic recourse for this, and my mindframe during my fits of rage was that "I'll show them!" and then vow to write pages and pages and pages of verses I can mold into the next "Rid of Me" but only to find myself not writing much of anything, and just pacing around my house being pissed off for no good reason, and just flat out bitch about it, and have people kind of boost my ego for some lame reassurance for something deep down I already knew, but my neurosis needed to hear it again and again to keep my self-image at bay for the time being.

My tale of self-deprecation began in middle school. I had spent the better part of elementary school as an outcast because I knew I was different. I preferred reading over sports, and Nirvana to Naughty By Nature. I was bullied a great deal, and beaten up on several occasions. Come middle school, I finally met a few people who had the same interests as me, and I had hoped that it would solve all my problems, I can create some sort of identity for myself, maybe form a band, and be "cool" (whatever the fuck that is). My best friend was a guy, who I shall call Kenneth (his middle name). From early 7th grade to about the first half of 8th grade, we were inseparable. We were the yin to each other's yang, we related to each other, we wrote songs together (bad ones, but still, better than nothing), and I honestly felt that I had found a guy who truly identified with me, and me with him. It was great. But, for reasons I still don't know to this day, he just... changed. I don't know if it was drugs, or influence from his other friends to latch away from me, or he was afraid to tell me if he didn't like me or whatever, I'll never know. Around this time, he started to pursue a career in acting, which was fine, but he would make plans with me then blow me off all the time with no phone call/email/IM beforehand, leaving me in the cold for that day or weekend or whatever. If I had a nickel for every time this happened, I'd have enough money for 2 years at NYU. I guess it started when we formed this bad metal/hardcore band called Endorphin, which splintered apart, and by all accounts, Kenneth quit. But he never told me, and I didn't find out until someone sent me a link to this new "band" he had formed, and I had gotten questions from some friends about what happened to our band, Endorphin. I felt betrayed like I never felt before. But I forgave him, and lived in denial that there was discourse in our relationship, probably because I was afraid of going back to the isolation I felt in elementary school, and I figured that this was better than nothing. Sure, we'd still hang out on occasion, but he would make plans with our friends without me several times, and canceled me out of many conversations.

This sadomasochistic friendship carried on into high school. One of the defining moments of this time period for me was when he formed another band with this kid named Alex, who had been a bassist in Endorphin briefly in 8th grade. And he resurrected the name Endorphin, and gave me a cassette demo of a song they had did. The song sucked, but I thought it was really good at the time, and I wrote this lengthy diatribe to him, saying that I was hurt that he had used the name we had came up with without my consent, and that I wasn't considered at all to be in the band. And he just wrote it off. He did let me in the band for like 3 days, but I was just a guy who would program their shitty drum machine for demos they redid over and over again, and I did some spoken word thing for a song at some lame show they did. Nothing came from this band, they never went anywhere, and I'm glad of that, but I guess I was, and still am, a man of principle, and the principle of the situation was beyond shitty, and what he did was something I would NEVER do to someone I considered a close friend, which says a lot about Kenneth. We would write stuff together on-and-off for a few years, we went to shows together until 2004, but by then it was truly a friendship of convenience at this point. It was me hanging on to a friendship that was diagnosed with a fatal tumor in early 2000, and me putting every resource I had into keeping it alive when really it should have gone out gracefully and without unnecessary suffering.

What really infuriated me for years was that Kenneth was a major part of my identity in the eyes of other people. He dropped out of school in the 10th grade to work on his acting career full-time (and his credits include a deleted scene in a cult movie, an indie movie that garnered about as much attention as a pig taking a shit, and a few walk-on roles on a few TV shows; some career, ay?), and I guess to be weird, and artsy and unique, or whatever. So I would get questions from almost EVERYONE in my class who knew me and him, and ask me questions about what he was doing, why he dropped out of school, and all that shit, like I was his spokesperson or something. They would rarely ask me how I was, or what was up with me. It was all about Kenneth. And for years that stripped me of any identity I had. I still had a group of friends I went out with, and played pool and all that shit, but I still had this phantom to try to cope with as well. And a new identity I'm still trying to carve out (aren't we all?).

I'm not exactly sure what was the straw that broke the camel's back when it came to our friendship. I know it was in 2004. I had gotten him a ticket to go see Rush, and he never showed up, something he had never done before. He had been late plenty of times, but never blew off a concert. He paid me back, but still... That year, he also formed yet another band, but by that time, the cloth over my eyes on his supposed "talent" and "brilliance" was starting to unravel, partially thanks to me dating someone who wasn't impressed with him at all. His band made a CD. To review it briefly, it was just ordinary but it was trying to be weird. He tried creating a few Can-esque sound collages, and wrote songs about infanticide and "acts of pure, pure color" (yeah, that's right), and there was nothing compelling about the composition of the songs. As far as his vocals... he would do fine if his vocals were laconic, and I always told him that, but his vocals were beyond histrionic. He would try to channel Neil Young, or Kurt Cobain into lyrics that had as much substance as a kernel of popcorn. I went to a couple of shows he had, and I just was tired of his shit by that point. I was tired of being his fanclub and not being appreciated. I hated his asshole artist friends, and all the insufferable pretentious girls he dated. I realized that most of his writing flat out sucked, and little by little cut ties with him. I talked to him briefly once last year, and never spoke to him again after that, for no reason except the fact that I had no desire to.

However, not speaking to a person doesn't mean they vanish forever. I still felt like I had to compete with him somehow. I still felt like I had to impress people by stuff like traveling or going to shows or by materialism, which Kenneth did nonchalantly. He came from a pretty well off family, so going skiing, or having good musical equipment and the original pressing of Blonde on Blonde on vinyl came almost naturally to him. That, and the people I know talked of him as if he was this great person who is immensely talented and all that, and they were more interested in him than me. I also befriended a couple of other people briefly who were "unique" but it seemed forced, and they were just pretentious shitheads. What I mean is people that write bad poetry, worship Wes Anderson, and list things such as vegan peanut-butter milkshakes, and exploration as interests on their myspace pages. Now, I'm not saying that all people who watch Wes Anderson movies are pretentious assholes, but it's an almost-constant pattern in life. As for listing obscure and esoteric interests on your myspace page (i.e. airports, vegan peanut-butter milkshakes, spontaneity, etc) is just plain old pretentious, and self-righteous. It just screams "I'm so goddamn unique, worship me!" and in the process, makes you seem like you're better than everyone else, except the few you've allowed into your self-important world, and have those that don't look to you like you're an emperor, and they're your tailor. I was a tailor for many an "emperor" (they only were emperors in their own mind) for many years, and I sewed my last stitch last year with some other girl I tried in initiating a friendship. She was one of those people, like Kenneth, who had to fill her life up with being busy for the sake of being busy, and would only hang out with you if she felt like doing you a favor, like if you were free to hang out once in a while, you're a loser with no life. The last show my band played in 2007, she said that she'd come, but never came, yet went to college in New York, formed a "band" and then texted me at 2:45 one morning while I was sleeping and said "Come to NYC on this day and see my band play!" And I was like "fuck you!" She couldn't be bothered to come to my show, so why should I spend money on a train ticket to New York, when I can't really afford it, and see a folk duo who isn't all that good anyway? I never said this to her, and probably never will, but... this is turning into a tirade against people I used to be friends with.

For a long time, I wanted to be like one of those people. I bought into that "High Fidelity bullshit," as Henry Rollins put it, and envied people who were snobby like that (at the time, I thought it was "profound"). I wanted to fit in somewhere, with some clique (I guess "hipsters," for lack of a better term). But, I hate labels, and the personifications of labels are complete snobby assholes who take you for granted. My conflict for a long time is that I was too weird for the "normal" preppy kids, and too "normal" for the arty people. My point is; I don't need to try to impress people anymore. I like the music I like because it appeals to me, and not to be cool. I don't measure my success because I go to all the latest shows to see the latest hip bands, have 30987 pictures (and almost that many friends) on my myspace, or whether or not I traveled to LA at age 17 and lived there in squalor for 3 months. I have a few close friends who accept me for who I am, and honestly, the most fun I had was with my girlfriend and two other friends, and all we did was watch movies and drink beer. We didn't feel the need to discuss the latest Stereolab record, or poems by T.S. Eliot (shit, most of my friends don't listen to Stereolab or read T.S. Eliot, but that's more to prove my point about the people I desperately tried to fit in with). It was just fun. I have friends I talk about music with, but I don't get too close to them a lot of the time. I don't force it neither. If I hang out with them, I hang out with them. I learned my lesson of forcing friendships that weren't meant to be more than what they are sometimes. I'm in a band with two people who don't share the exact tastes as me, but we write good shit and we have a creative energy that eclipses any connection I had with Kenneth.

I also realized that as a writer, and as a person, I was perfectly fine the way I was, with the usual developmental flaws everyone has growing up. There were moments where I didn't think of what others thought of me back in high school, and I was content with not hearing from Kenneth for weeks at a time, and being really happy. Granted those moments didn't come often, but happiness like that comes in short doses. I'm a likable guy, when all is said and done, but a guy who also lets his emotions, fears and anxieties get the best of him since the age of 8. I was also depressed the past month or so because I lost my job at Starbucks. But, so the fuck what? A lot of the people I worked with revolved their lives around Starbucks, even outside of work, and I didn't fit into that mold. Why should I feel like a loser because I left work-related stuff at work, and I wasn't a walking and talking Starbucks manual? I'm getting too old to worry about other's perceptions of me, and I should only concern myself with those who do care about me and have earned my trust, and friendship, instead of being a groupie to those who dispose friends faster than toilet paper, and take people and connections for granted.

To sum this all up; if anyone feels that I'm not cool enough to be their friend because I'm not a clone of you, then FUCK YOU! I don't need you! There, I said it.

You all probably feel like I'm silly and stupid, and childish, but I'm sure that everyone has their own humiliating story of trying to fit in and force yourself to try to fit in at a great cost to yourself. It's human nature, and for everyone dealing with it now, the best advice I can give you is not to care. It'll only end up hurting you in the long run. Live for yourself, and carefully evaluate the people you know in life, and sort out which ones mean the most to you, and which ones are expendable and you can picture your life without. It took me 23 years to do that. So the younger you start doing shit like that, the better off you'll be. Thank you, and goodnight.

Postscript:

I almost forgot something. Kenneth always said that I was a better writer than him and a better guitar player. Whatever I wrote came naturally, and my playing had soul, according to him. He also told me in a few moments of weakness that he had a lot of respect for me because of dealing with a shitty family life, yet managing to keep my shit together, and he wished that he had the same composure. I don't entirely agree with him still, to this day, but he must have had to be somewhat jealous of me in that respect, and I'm not even trying to be arrogant. I was always told I was a commendable writer, and I could do whatever I put my mind to. Hell, one of my lasting friendships was with a guy no one liked because he was weird, overweight and unconventional. But he didn't give a shit. I always think of this at times, and then forget it, because I let myself be duped by people who long to be the center of attention, and who feed off of attention stupid people give to them. OK, enough already! You made your point!

I feel compelled to post this story I read about McCain...

My stepmother forwarded this story to me, and I was appalled and disgusted by it, if in fact this story regarding Senator McCain is true.

Note from Kate:

Ana has a PhD in psychology and has a private practice in San

Francisco. Her husband, who has started and sold a number of successful

companies. Ana's husband is currently a Managing Director of a private

equity firm in the Bay Area. Ana and her husband are not political

activists and don't have any personal ax to grind. In fact, in writing

this account of her experience with John McCain, Ana is acting outside

of her own economic self-interest as she and her husband are among the

top 3-5% of our population who would benefit from the McCain

tax/economic policies. Please pass this on to anyone you know who

might vote for John McCain.



Dear Friends,

I have written about my encounter with McCain and his family in 1999 -- please feel free to share my story with whomever you think might be considering voting for him.

Ana

MY HOLIDAY WITH JOHN Mc CAIN

It was just before John McCain's last run at the presidential nomination in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).

It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close quarters with John McCain for almost a week since Turtle Island has a small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other intimately.

He arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out of them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was 'if he likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?'

I soon realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation to be a volunteer audience for his 'readings' which then became a regular part of each meal. Out of politeness, none of the vacationers initially protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday, but people's buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued day after day.

Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just couldn't meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all of us should stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too high and made a few comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the a that she should eat less as she needed to lose weight.

McCain's appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that David the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other side of the table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting with and touching her.

Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego, and his rude behavior towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from Bangladesh. I asked him about this one day and his response was shocking ­'Oh, that was Cindy's idea ­ I didn't have anything to do with it. She just went and adopted this thing without even asking me.

You can't imagine how people stare when I wheel this ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona. No, it wasn't my idea at all.'

I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he engaged me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic of the active US bombing of Iraq at that time. I was shocked when he said 'if I was in charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson'.

Given McCain's personal experience with the horrors of war I had expected a more balanced point of view. I commented on the tragic consequences of the nuclear attacks on Japan during WWII ­ but no, he was not to be dissuaded. He went on to say that if it was up to him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs on Japan. I rapidly extricated myself from this conversation as I could tell that his experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out his perspective but rather had made him more aggressive, and vengeful towards the world.

My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving Turtle Island. Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because she needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive comment.

I felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to McCain and told him to leave her alone. He became very angry and abusive towards me, and said 'don't you know who I am' and I looked him in the face and said 'yes, you are the biggest asshole I have ever met' and headed back to my cabin. I am happy to say that later that day when I arrived at lunch I was given a standing ovation by all the guests for having stood up to McCain's bullying.

Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this is the first time I am making this public. I almost did so in 2000, when McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination but it soon became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in candidate and so I did not act then. However, now that there is a very real possibility that McCain could be elected as our next president, I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to share this story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America than that this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have observed him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media portrays him to be. If his attitudes toward women, and his treatment of his own family are even a small indicator of his real personality, then I shudder to think what will happen to America were he to be elected as our President.

Ana

What an asshole! This demeanor is only showing on the campaign trail, mirroring his desperate attempts to diminish Obama's lead. I seriously think that McCain will do anything in his power to try to become president and will stop at nothing. Luckily, every plan he has executed so far (the "suspension" of his campaign to ineffectively come up with a bailout solution, the linking Obama to Ayers and Wright as if no one else had done that before, and his fiery temper) has backfired terribly, and the number of battleground states are quickly evaporating from McCain's sight.

Three out of the four debates have happened, including the vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden & Sarah Palin. According to the majority of polls, the Obama campaign has been declared the victor in all three of the debates so far. Looks like McCain is in deep shit. YES!!!!!!

Yet, anything could happen at any time, but I'm cautiously confident that Obama could win swimmingly.

Bye Bye, OJ!

So yesterday, OJ Simpson was found guilty of 12 felony counts, including armed robbery, 13 years to the day after he was acquitted of that minor double-murder charge that was following him. After losing millions in the civil trial, The Juice decided that it might be a good idea to rob two memorabilia collectors at gunpoint w/ a few of his buddies. Not his smartest move. He faces an absolute MINIMUM of 20 years in prison, given the judge in Clark County, Nevada is the most lenient and sympathetic person on the face of the Earth. Otherwise, he faces a life sentence. Even then, if he does get the bare minimum sentence, here are the simple facts; OJ Simpson is 61 years old. If he serves 20 years in the pen, he'll be released at the age of 81, and even then, that's pretty much the rest of his life, if he even lives that long. Needless to say, we'll probably never hear from OJ again.

That notion is actually kinda sad. After his sensational trial, you never heard from OJ all that much. He would only pop up once in a while engaging in some new shenanigans. And it was entertaining. So last year, when I heard that OJ was being charged with armed robbery, I was like, "Uh oh, our lovable, ex-football star wife-killer OJ's causing mischief again!" It was great, because the news had gotten pretty boring during that point in time. I don't seem to remember any hype about the trial. It seemed to kind of come and go, maybe because it occurred just in time for election season, and as you know, that diverts most of my attention between the months of July-November every four years (any years beginning with 2000, that end in 0, 4, 8, 2, 6 in that order). You picked the wrong time to have a trial, Orenthal!

So was he framed this time? I don't know, and frankly, I don't care. A part of me believes that he murdered his ex-wife and the guy she was fucking. That's not out of racism, or anything like that, let's not even go there. He got off because he had a very good legal team, which at the time, he could afford (and it didn't hurt that Johnny Cochrane was still alive and healthy too in 1994-95).

So that's it for our friend OJ. Sentencing is set for the 5th of December. Unless his lawyer can appeal the case, it looks like The Juice is going away for a pretty long time. Thanks for the media sensationalism you stirred up for much of my later childhood, and the memories, OJ (and your performances in the world of football, and the Naked Gun movies)!

MY BLOODY VALENTINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, this is a rant about music... not politics. Not even a rant. A recollection of the most amazing show I've ever been to.

The place was Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan. The act was My Bloody Valentine, playing their second U.S. gig in over 16 years. The long-dormant band had been long mythologized by the indie & mainstream rock press, and I honestly thought that the chances of a reunion were small for a while. Mastermind Kevin Shields did involve himself in music projects, namely working on the soundtracks to Sofia Coppola films Lost In Translation and Marie Antoinette, and a disc with Patti Smith, which brought some publicity to the reclusive Shields, and made us My Bloody Valentine fans rejoice to know that he was still alive, and messing with his tremolo pedals. Finally, this spring, it was announced that My Bloody Valentine would be going on tour. I maxed out my credit card to get tickets, so I can guarantee me and my girlfriend, fans of the band for the last 5 years, and who had been wishing they would reunite, could secure a place there in case the show sold out (which it did).

It was worth it.

The opening bands weren't that great, although the second band, Wounded Knees, did bring out J. Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. for a song, which was pretty good, considering due to financial problems, I had to miss out on a Dinosaur Jr. show at Toad's Place last week. Pretty much the opening bands were like third-rate, British Drop Nineteens, who, in turn, were Bostonian third-rate My Bloody Valentines (but they were good).

Then My Bloody Valentine took the stage around 10, and... wow. They opened with "I Only Said," and they were in top form, almost better sounding live, than on record. And LOUD!!!! Bilinda Butcher still looks gorgeous after all this time. Colm Ó Cíosóig's drumming was ferocious, and perfectly contrasted with the onslaught of guitar effects. Bassist Debbie Googe was very energetic. Kevin Shields stood like a statue, like some sort of sorcerer, and just intoxicated the sold-out crowd by his enigmatic presence, and his deafening, yet ethereal playing. The band just tore through their most notable songs ("Only Shallow," "When You Sleep," "Soon," "When You Wake (You're Still In A Dream)," etc.) It was like heaven. A complete aural orgasm. They hardly said a word to the audience, but they didn't have to. They just let the music speak to them, and the audience felt it. During the 15-minute feedback holocaust during "You Made Me Realise," many people (including myself), just held their hands in the air, as if it was some sort of seance or divine intervention. In many ways it was just that; many people's souls were enriched by My Bloody Valentine's music for the past 20+ years, with new converts who were born after 1991's Loveless, and somehow the band knew that those people needed them to come back and save them. I felt rejuvenated that night, and enthralled. All I want to do now is follow them for the rest of their tour, and after the show I was in such a state of bliss that I know for the fact that the comedown back to reality will be very dysphoric.

Thank God for Youtube! Here's some videos, so in case you missed it, you can kind of capture the magic for yourself.



"Soon"



By far, the most AMAZING thing ever


Sorry if this review sucks. But it's hard to find words for shows such as these.

Why Sarah Palin is a Misogynist

This will probably be my last political spiel until at least the debates. The lava that shot through my veins during convention season is simmering down to just… well, hot red water. Besides, there are other things in life. Politics only affects them.

So, I’ve come to the conclusion that Sarah Palin is a misogynist. And worse, she’s disguised as a GOP MILF. Underneath lies a black dragon with Pat Robertson’s face taped on!

So how did I reach this conclusion? Well, it’s very simple; her inflexible stance on abortion. She has stated that even if a woman was raped, or a victim of incest, she would not support abortion for those reasons. If I’m not mistaken, that’s even more conservative than Rush Limbaugh’s stance. I know that people have their reasons for being pro-life, not that I agree with them. But even then, most people would bend their stance for cases of rape and incest.

Not for our potentially next VP (oh God, I hope I’m not calling her that, come January 20th!)!!! Pretty much what she’s saying is that if you get raped, and you get pregnant, tough shit sister! Your assailant’s sperm is more important than your own well-being, and if it were up to me, you would have a reminder of your horrible encounter for the rest of your life, because your trauma has taken form of a baby! And that’s much better than a bunch of congregated cells being senselessly murdered in the name of science!

As for incest, THE GREATEST PERVERSION IN HUMAN HISTORY PERHAPS SECOND ONLY TO CHILD PORN, how could Palin justify someone not having an abortion if it is an act of incest? A sexually abusive father rapes his 14 year old daughter, and she gets knocked up. She has to live with more than the trauma she already has to deal with day to day? I’ll tell you this; if Palin and McCain hire enough Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, and more “Janie’s Got a Gun” families continue to exist in America (which hopefully aren’t that many), we’re gonna see a lot of messed up family trees. So, fuck you, you Godless feminists, cried the Whackjob from Wasilla!

I think the misogyny speaks for itself here...

BTW, her church wants you butt-pirates and carpet-munchers to PRAY THE GAY AWAY!!!!! Maybe her church could have Obama pray his blackness away, too! Or maybe her church could help me pray away my dick and make a vagina appear, so I can get shanked after a night at the bar, and carry a terminally fucked up kid (wait until 2010, though, when her and McCain are ravaging D.C.), which will provide for a very bad “Mommy, where did I come from?” story.

God Help America,

Kyle.

Should I Be Optimistic? A Tale of a Young Voter Who Worries Too Much About Politics

So both conventions have come to pass. I spent the better part of the week watching the speechs from the DNC that I missed, and being totally inspired and enthusiastic about the Obama/Biden ticket. Kudos to the Clintons for putting their electoral differences and animosities aside and urging everyone who voted for Hillary to vote for Obama. Al Gore’s speech was awesome; Clinton delivered a speech that made me wish he was still eligible for another term in office (though, I’ve felt that way for the past 8 years); I even give props to John Kerry for delivering a darn good speech, as much as he is a critical disappointment to the Democratic Party. Lewis Black said it best when he said that “For the Democrats not being able to find somebody who could’ve defeated George Bush… It would be like finding a normal person who would lose in the Special Olympics!” But, all of that rubbish aside… The Dems had ideals, plans, and substance. Job well done guys! Job well done!

Now, onto the Republican National Convention. I couldn’t sit through any of the speeches, because all of them I watched seriously provoked me to throw my TV out the window! Fred Thompson…. GO BACK TO FUCKIN’ LAW & ORDER, ASSHOLE. NOT LIKE I WATCH IT ANYWAY. Joe Lieberman, clearly spitting venom in the face of anyone who voted for him to be our vice president in 2000, was no picnic either. And for the record, Al Gore’s stupidest move, besides marrying Tipper, was getting that smirking dimwit as his vice president. I really wish Joe Lieberman would just admit that he’s a closet Republican. After all, he was the asshole who called for a video game rating system after Mortal Kombat had Sub-Zero ripping someone’s head off (as well as their spine), and went after Marilyn Manson, which sounds awfully conservative to me. Yet again, Al Gore spearheaded the PMRC hearings. Still, though. Mike Fuckabee…. Er, Huckabee. Irrelevant. Not even a Chuck Norris endorsement could’ve saved his campaign. Mitt Romney, who wants to change Washington from liberal to conservative (as he said in this speech; so pretty much, Mitt, you want one party to rule? Fascist!). I never for three seconds took him seriously. He’s a Mormon, and has a demeanor of a used car salesman.

I saw Rudy Guiliani’s speech, and all he did was criticize Obama. He didn’t mention any plans that John McCain has for this country (if he even has any), and lead a bunch of jingoistic assholes to chant “Drill, baby, drill!” And, as always, the gopher-lookalike had to bring up 9/11 (I’m surprised they didn’t show video footage of him with his mouth covered, walking through the wreckage), as if he really knows what has gone on since. I think he should realize that President Bush lost sight of Osama Bin laden (you know, the guy who actually planned the 9/11 attack on us), and waged a dumb war in Iraq, and that this war is vastly unpopular with a lot of Americans, and WE ARE NOT MAKING PROGRESS! What Republicans don’t realize is that they are waging an abstract war; The War on Terror. There’s no nation called Terror. No one country is entirely a terrorist state (though, Iran is coming pretty darn close), but rather a network of many of them throughout the Middle East. Of course, this has only lead to innocent lives being lost, and as a result, less guilty ones being brought to justice (given they don’t blow themselves up first).

And so what if John McCain proposed a troop surge in Iraq when it wasn’t the popular thing to do? No offense, but popularity (and approval, I might add) is kind of influenced by these types of things. Just ask Dubya; he’ll tell ya. Do something to piss off the American people, and that a lot of them disagree with, and watch your approval numbers sink like a dog tied to a stone in a lake. The audience at the RNC ate it up though. I guess they haven’t been duped for the past eight years! Now they want four more, thinking that just because the president changes, the party will just transform into a delinquent, corrupt, unpopular mess to a progressive, fully operating unit. What tools!

Now onto the lady of the campaign, thus far, Alaska’s governor, Sarah Palin. Wow, what a cuckoo this lady is! Pro-life, pro-oil, anti-gay, moose-eatin’, big talkin’…I already don’t like her. Her speech at the GOP is garnering praise from the press (I dunno why), and she is strewn across headlines all over the nation. People praise her ability to stand up to her critics, and to throw punches at the opponent, but that’s about it. All she did was bash Obama, and undermine his experiences and accomplishments. I think she’s trying to create a diversion from all the other headlines concerning her family life, and she pulled the cheapest cop-out there was; making Republicans jeer the Democratic candidate by putting him down. She may have more executive experience than any major candidate on both tickets, but let’s face it; Alaska ranks 48th in population (that’s 683,478 people), and before she became governor, she was the mayor of the town of Wasilla (population estimated anywhere from 5400-9000). I’m not saying that being the mayor of a town with less than 10,000 people, or the governor of a state where caribou outnumber people isn’t a hard job, but Barack Obama and Joe Biden have been senators in Washington D.C., the nation’s capital, and have dealt with issues that affect about… 230 million people. Compare 683,000 to 230 million. Just the way I look at it. I do not claim to be an expert on politics.

Now onto her personal life. Her 17 year-old daughter, Bristol (nice name, ay?), got knocked up, and isn’t married (yet). Normally, it’s a sore spot for the Republican Party in their agenda of family values, morals, and all that other horseshit, but the Republicans and fundies are backing her up, and the press is having a field day. Now that the press is dragging Palin through the mud, even amidst her speech at the RNC, the Republicans are now crying foul. That brings me to a point; they say that private lives are nobody’s business. And, you know what? I’m for that. I think a public figure has a right to privacy. But, you have to remember the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky fiasco ten years ago. The Republicans crucified Clinton on a cross made of cigars, cum-stained blue dressed, and 50 million dollars the U.S. never got back for a bullshit investigation. I think Clinton was dumb to have lied about it, but I didn’t care. The economy was great under his administration, and we had the largest surplus in our history when he left office (only to have the biggest deficit ever a mere administration later), not to mention a better job market, no inflation, and him being aware of Bin Laden’s threats, in which a Republican controlled House & Senate cared less about. Nonetheless, the Right exploited Clinton’s flaws, and impeached him. In fact, there are many who still groan at the mere mention of Clinotn because of that. Now that Sarah Palin’s daughter is only 17, and unmarried (nice family values), it’s ok. It’s a double standard in the worst possible way. If, say ten years from now, one of Obama’s daughters got knocked up, the right would create a firestorm over the issue, and would be calling his daughter a whore faster than a bullet from Sarah Palin’s gun into a moose’s head, and put an emphasis on how liberals have no family values.. But don’t make fun of Sarah Palin and Bristol!

Speaking of which, Sarah Palin has some pretty dumb fucking names for her kids; Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig (who has Down’s syndrome). Did she just flip through pages at random of a Webster dictionary and pick a name at random? Seems like it. What’s her grandchild’s name gonna be? Pyx? And her husband’s name is Todd. My dad and I were watching the news, and there was a story on Alaska’s “First Dude,” Todd Palin.All we could think of was that George Carlin skit where he talks about guys named Todd. “Hi, what’s your name?” “TOOOOODD!!!!” I’m sure if George Carlin stuck it out for just a little while longer, he would revise that skit and add Bristol, Willow, Piper, Track and Trig to his list of goofy names.

The Republican National Convention was just a barrage of insults to an idealistic candidate, with very little substance and very little talk about the issues on most Americans’ minds these days; jobs, the economy, health care, the government fucking them over. Instead, most of the speakers rallied over the right-to-life (yet the right to hunt animals and execute retarded people), the elimination of the writ of habeus corpus (Sarah Palin actually jabbed that Obama’s main worry about terrorism would be whether or not their rights were read; a real bummer to those few who were innocent like Murat Kurnaz). As for John McCain’s acceptance speech, he did do something noble; he stated that he admired Obama…. And then went on to attack him. Nothing good can last. He also just told the crowd his life story on how he was a POW, and now he’s not his own man, but his country’s man, and yadda yadda yadda. He states that he will bring change to Washington, but he never said exactly what. I have no fucking idea what the GOP plans to do if they do get elected in November (and if they do, God help us all!).

So, now the conventions are over. Now it’s the time, like back in 2004, where I obsessively, and daily look at poll numbers to see where the candidates stand. Right now, Obama is still in the lead, but McCain is not far behind him, probably because the RNC just ended yesterday. I remember back in 2004, John Kerry and George W. Bush were deadlocked in the polls, so this could mean that we have a decent chance of Obama winning the election. Also, recent poll numbers have Obama leading slightly in noted “red” states, such as Indiana and North Dakota, two states Bush won by over 20% of the votes back in 2004, which makes things certainly more exciting (but I’m not sold on North Dakota voting for Obama; Indiana? Maybe, since it neighbors with Obama’s home state of Illinois). It’s still early to tell, but Obama’s lead has been for quite a while. Now with Palin possibly being a detriment to the GOP ticket, voters still unsure of what McCain is exactly going to change if/when he’s elected, and rather lackluster reviews for McCain’s acceptance speech, it might be safe to say that the Democrats will be victorious in November, if only slightly. But is it safe? We still have the debates. Should I be optimistic for an Obama victory at this point, or is it just wishful thinking?