351 - Sigh

1. Democrats None of the current Democratic nominees for president, with the exception of Mike Gravel, are honest. They all spend a lot of time spouting rhetoric and never saying anything with any substance. Mike Gravel, from what I can tell, has some legitimate ideas that I agree with (like the legalization of marijuana.) But unfortunately, during these debates, he just loudly chastises the other nominees for their past actions. He comes of as, at best, a curmudgeon (for which which he has the perfect name) or at worst (and possibly most accurately) a nutjob.

2. Republicans On the Republican side, it is pretty much the same story. They have one guy, Ron Paul, who is willing to state his beliefs without worrying about politics. The difference between Ron Paul and Mike Gravel is the lack of insanity. There are some points that I feel Ron Paul goes too far on, but during these debates, I've agreed with virtually everything he's said, especially the infamous "blowback" exchange he had with Rudy Giuliani who proved himself to be either a moron or a deceitful manipulator, or possible both.

3. Goldwater Loses Before watching these debates, I had always associated the Republican Party with the Religious Right, assuming the term "conservative" referred primarily to social and moral issues. I had no idea that it originally referred to financial and governmental concerns. The Republican Party was supposed to be about small government, fiscal responsibility, and individual liberty. So what happened? The Libertarians of today, seem more like traditional Republicans than the Republicans themselves do.

4. Cable News A real problem is our reliance on the news media for information about politics. I'm not a big believer in anti-media conspiracies. I think it is easier to believe in the incompetence of the networks than a plot to keep the public ignorant. But why can't they spend more time informing the public about some of the second tier candidates without coloring the reporting negatively. Ron Paul actually has been getting a bit of mainstream attention due mostly to his online supporters, but virtually every story marginalizes his campaign by claiming his success in the polls is due to "those crazy kids and their computers." Both ABC and CNN, and possibly others, have sunk so low as to remove pro-Paul comments from their online articles, and delete those polls which show him as most popular.

5. Palette Cleanser When Paul inevitably loses the Republican nomination, I suspect he will parlay his new found popularity into another presidential bid, this time running under the Libertarian party's flag. That's enough politics for a while. I'll leave you now with something a little lighter. How would you feel about a baby porcupine being bottle fed? How do you feel about unintended advertising for Quicktime Pro? P.S. I was hoping to have a big celebration when I reached 10.000 page views, but my sitemeter didn't register any for almost 48 hours and that took the wind out of my sails. I'm guessing it was malfunctioning since I've never had a day go by without any visitors before. Anyway, it's right over there in the sidebar, 10,000 plus visitors. Woo-hoo, only took a year to get there. P.P.S. This post probably took me longer to put together than any other I've ever done. It definitely received the most re-edits after publication. You better freaking LOVE it.