The Right Voice

I hate that I keep having to write posts that are so political because I know some of my readers have sharp differences in opinion, and I hate for politics to get in the way of friendships, but this is time I must say something.

I expected a lot of fluff and garbage, but nothing of substance. Even though the lies started early, I was fine until he unleashed the biggest lie of the campaign. He directly faulted George W. Bush for the financial meltdown. Here is the truth. It seems like the Obama campaign has struggled with the truth as the election draws to a close. A lot can be said about the McCain campaign and how they have altered the truth. This is much different. If anything, McCain has only stretched the truth to fit whatever point he was trying to make. Obama is flat out lying in his accusation of Bush. He says these words knowing that there is not a shred of truth in them, and the American public, as well as the media, just buys it stock, lock, and barrel. No need to look for the truth, Obama said it was so. Right? People are voting for Obama he represents “change”. Change that has yet to be defined. Let’s look at Obama’s other patterns of lies.

In Obama’s latest ad, “Try This” promoting his tax cut “facts” site, he misrepresented an analyst from The Heritage Foundation saying that he agreed with his tax plan. Even though, the analyst that was “quoted”, Rea Hederman, disputed those claims here, here, here, and here, the Obama campaign continues to run the ad. Next, the Obama campaign has the AUDACITY to criticize the McCain campaign for “selectively” editting audio tapes from Joe Biden. Obama needs to take a step down off his high horse and people need to stop putting him up on his high horse.

Todd

In case you live under a rock, Colin Powell, a Republican, endorsed Barack Obama, a Democrat, for President. I am disappointed by this. Not because he endorsed Obama, anyone can choose to support whoever they want. I am disappointed by this because of the reasons he gave for supporting Obama. The reason that stuck out to me the most was that Powell was fearful that McCain would appoint Justices like Scalia and Alito.

I thought that Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was a man of character. Apparently I was wrong. General Powell thinks that Justices should interpret the law in whatever way they see fit. That is not character. That is folding over to appease a small fraction of people. Standing up for what you believe in, in this case, the Constitution, is character. The Constitution was not written to change with whatever people might think at a certain time. It is a list of principles that this country was founded on would guide the country forever.
For YEARS, the Court has just legislated whatever they wanted without recourse from any other branch of Government. They pick and choose which parts of the Constitution they like and which parts they don’t. I wrote about it here. Interpreting the Constitution in that fashion is intellectually dishonest. In fact, there is nothing intellectual about it. All the justices do is insert whatever they think is right and make a weak, at best, Constiutional case for it. The Constitutional argument that was made for Roe v. Wade was that throughout the history of time there has been abortions. What? They also used to sacrifice virgins and burn women at the stake. Guess I can do that and it will be protected by the the Liberty clause in the 14th Amendment. Justice Blackman said it was OK for me to do that. You see how this is a slippery-slope.

This is why the Constitution was drafted. The principles found in the Constitution are unchanging. They don’t change with the times like a leaf in the wind. That is not principles, that is lacking character and principles. It’s OK to believe in something. It’s OK to have something that is unwavering. I never elected Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Why is she making legislative decisions? She is acting in a way that is contrary to what ALL the Founding Father’s agreed with. It wasn’t just the Federalists who thought this way, it was all of them. General Powell lacks character.

Todd

Yesterday, I had to do something I had never had to do before. I had to shop for a winter coat. Growing up in Southern California, I hardly ever needed anything more than a hooded sweatshirt. In Washington, however, it  gets much colder and my windbreaker would hardly cut the mustard. Work was also a reason why I had to get a winter coat. I can’t, very well, walk into the building wearing a hooded sweatshirt from Aeropostale or Hurley. Those days are over. I can only imagine the looks I would get from co-workers.

Malls near me like to charge for parking. There are two malls that do not. One of them is the Landmark Mall. That mall is less than 5 miles away. Would have taken 10-15 minutes to get there. Unfortunately, the Landmark Mall is the worst mall I have ever been to, and this is coming from someone who spent all of his formative years going to the Media City Center in Burbank. Those of you who know about the Media City Center can only imagine how bad the Landmark Mall is. It is a constant battle I have with my boss because he loves the Landmark Mall and visits it often. Anyway, I have gone way off track. The other mall near me that does not charge for parking is the MUCH nicer Tyson’s Corner. I headed down King St. and proceeded toward the mall. It is about 11 miles away and all of it is surface streets. I went down the same road (Hwy 7) but the name changed from King St. to Leesburg Pike and then finally to Broadway St. all while driving to Tyson’s Corner.

What I was not counting on on a Saturday afternoon - traffic, and lots of it. It took me a little more than an hour to drive the 11 miles. During the trip, two ambulances and a fire truck weaved through traffic. One rude ambulance driver honked at me when there was no where else for me to go. I was up as far as possible and as close to the center divider as possible. I understand that there was an emergency, but there was nothing more I could do. After about 5 seconds traffic moved enough for him to get passed me. No accidents or anything on Hwy 7, just traffic. Oh well, at least I had good music. Listened to an entire Screaming Trees album and half of a track on a Townes Van Zandt album.

I walked around the mall for about 2 hours. went to Macy’s on the advice of a friend who told me about Columbus Day sales. No such sale, just the normal 30% and 40% that they usually have. I have never seen anything full price at Macy’s. After a long time of wandering around I finally decided on a Sean John tie. After all, who knows more about fashion than P. Diddy? According to P. Diddy, no one. What was I there for again? Oh yes, a coat. I finally found a Guess wool coat that will do the job nicely. So, it was a fine day of shopping at Tyson’s Corner.

Todd

Once again I am forced to rail against Bud Selig. By allowing TBS to have a monopoly on the Division series, he once again, shut out the East Coast to baseball. How do you expect to gain new fans when playoff games start at 10 PM? I could only stay up until the 4th inning. How can I keep up? Would have been cool to see the Cubs/Dodgers game 1 and see Maddux come in as a closer. Too bad that happened at 3AM Eastern Time. Bud Selig is the absolute worst thing to ever happen to baseball, and he should be fired. I will take a decade to undo the damage he has brought to the sport.

Now that that is out of the way, lets focus in the playoffs. I am shocked that the Cubs are down 0-2 and are on the brink of elimination. They were the strongest team in the NL this year. I had them at least to the NLCS, if not the whole thing. I am also surprised by the Angels poor performance. Scosia has a solid club with offense, defense, and great pitching. I had them going to the World Series.

How about them Rays? They are an incredible story that is an example of everything right in baseball. I also hate the White Sox. I could care less about the Phillies and Brewers.

From the Files of You Can’ Make this Stuff Up:

Here is a picture I took on the Metro coming home one day

If you can’t see it, it is a can of sardines.

Todd