McCain's "Gamble" With Our Future

Today, the day after John McCain announced that Sarah Palin, the unknown governor of Alaska, would be his Vice Presidential running mate, the headlines used word such as "gamble," "rolls the dice," and "chance." John McCain is taking a big chance on the future of the US, and I know I for one am not willing to play the odds!

McCain has chosen a running mate that has even less experience than Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and that has been one of the major criticisms of the McCain campaign in this election thus far. So what does John McCain do? Picks someone that is only a heartbeat away from being Commander-In-Chief with NO national experience at all! Let's face it, John McCain is 72 years old and has fought cancer. I know he could live another 20 years, but the odds of him doing so are not that great.

Wake up America! Don't "roll the dice" on our future. Look at which candidate has the most to offer for the change, and stability, we need.

Hummingbird Haven

A few more shots of the hummingbirds in my neighborhood.

Summer's End Is Near

I can't believe it's already the middle of August. Today at the supermarket I was some mums for sale. Not only mums, but "hardy" mums. They looked very nice, but you know what that means? Autumn is not far from us. I've had a great summer, and look forward to enjoying the rest of it. But soon, it will be back to school, football, jackets, nippy nights, and early evenings.

My Neighbor's Humming Bird

A couple shots of my neighbor's hummingbird feeder with a cutie.

Jesse Made Us Stronger

The picture to the left appeared in the latest edition of The Advocate (August 26, 2008), along with an article, "Ding-Dong, Jesse Helms is Dead."

For those who don't know it, Helms was the former North Carolina senator who passed away July 4, 2008 at the ripe old age of 87. Helms was a bigotted southern gentleman. He was known to whistle racist songs to black elected officials, and, as evidenced by transcripts from any number of Senate hearings, he had an amazing obsession with butt sex. And he hated gays. What do you say when someone like Helms dies? The Advocate said it best: "First Jerry Falwell, now Jesse Helms. One by one, the famous bigots of America are contributing their best (and last) service to this nation’s progress -- they’re dying."

But what people like Helms do sometimes has an opposite effect. Helms and others like him actually cause those they target to ban together and take action against the hatred and injustice.
"...he made us stronger, prodding us to organize among ourselves and with the other evildoers—including the abortion-havers and the immigrants who want to take your jobs."

But unfortunately, the Helms of the world will continue to exist. But fortunately, their influence seems to have lessened. Men like Fred Phelps of “God Hates Fags” fame look like madmen, not prophets. One can only hope that as we evolve as a society, these attitudes slowly disappear for all.

Weighing In On John Edwards

By now I'm sure everyone has heard about John Edward's admission of an affair with another woman. My reaction may have been much less shocked than some. I really wasn't surprised. Not even surprised that it was John Edwards, who seems such the dedicated husband and family man.

The more I live, the less I am shocked or surprised by such news. I don't feel a sense of wrong with this news any longer. I'm not suggesting what Edwards did was right in anyway. It's not just news about cheating husbands, but news in general, that doesn't have the shock value anymore. There is so much going on in the world, why would anything come as a surprise?

Wanna know what else I think? The baby in question is Edwards too, and that will soon be proven.

I'm Glad We'll Keep That Dangerous Terrorist In Prison

Thank God Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's former driver is off the streets! Thank God he was the first person to be tried as a terrorist before a military panel at Guantanamo. Tried and convicted, facing life in prison. Hamdan was convicted of supporting terrorism but acquitted on more serious charges of conspiring with al Qaeda to wage murderous attacks.

Here we have a Yemeni man, probably poor and just trying to help out his family. He's offered a job by bin Laden to drive him around. Al Qaeda suspects have stated that Hamdan knew nothing of any plots. He was just a driver! They must be lying! This man supported terrorism! But did he? I guess we'll never know for sure, but my guess is he is no more a terrorist than the drivers for President Bush sign bills into law!

Was the conviction of Hamdan a victory for the Bush administration? He was not convicted of conspiracy to committ terrorism and that is what the Bush administration needed to field a big win. Only time will tell.

I am so glad we're safer now.

Quit Complaining! Learn! Move On!

Walmart Revisited

As stated in my previous post, I had contacted Walmart about the reported story that its managers were told NOT to support the democrats in the 2008 election. Walmart's response is that while it is against the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as "the card check bill," Walmart in no way encouraged its staff to vote one way or another. Here is the response I received from Jundie of Walmart.com:

Dear Karl,
My name is Jundie. I am with the Walmart.com Customer Service Team. Thank you for contacting us about the news story that ran in the Wall Street Journal on August 1, 2008. The article focused on the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as "the card check bill," and the training we provided to managers and hourly supervisors. It quoted several Wal-Mart associates who felt the training encouraged them to vote against democratic candidates, especially Senator Obama because of his strong support for labor unions. The training has concluded, but we want to assure you that as a company we are not taking sides in this election. If anyone representing Wal-Mart gave the impression we were telling associates how to vote, they were wrong and acting without approval. We will work to make sure misunderstandings like this do not happen again, regardless of the subject. We believe that the card check bill is bad for business and have been onrecord as opposing it for some time. We feel that educating our associates about the bill is the right thing to do. However, we are a bi-partisan company and our associates, just as the customers and communities we serve, reflect the wide range of attitudes and political diversity of this country. We work with both Republican and Democratic leaders and our political contributions reflect that as well -- this year we gave roughly half of our PAC dollars to each party. We are at the beginning of what will be a historic election and campaignperiod. Our company will remain bipartisan. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.Thank you for visiting Walmart.com. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and look forward to your next visit.If we may be of further assistance, please email us at help@walmart.com.We're here to serve you 7 days a week!!

Sincerely,
JundieCustomer Service at Walmart.com

I am still a bit skeptical, and the jury is still out for me on this one.

From Death To Walmart

The questions just keep on coming. My last post discussed my mind's battle with the death penalty. Today, I battle a less important, but maybe not, issue of to shop or not shop Walmart.

A few months ago, while having some friends over, we had a big debate on whether to shop Walmart or Target. Most of my friends were appalled when I told them I shopped Walmart regularly. It's more convenient for me and the prices are lower. When I've gone to Target, I have not had an easy time locating items, primarily because I do not know the layout of the store as well as Walmart, and I have paid a bit more at Target than at Walmart for the same items. My argument when my friends told me how unfair Walmart is to their employees and to the "causes" Walmart supports (mostly conservative, Republican causes), was that both stores are just as bad, or just as good. My opinion was both stores get their merchandise from child-slave labor, and both are just as good or bad to their employees. I even did an extensive google search of Walmart vs. Target, and for every bad thing I learned about Walmart, I learned something just as bad about Target.

However, just the other day it was reported that Walmart made their managers attend a meeting in which the managers were basically told not to vote for the democrats in November, and then given the reasons why a democratic president would be bad for business. The primary reason is Walmart is afraid its employees will stand a better chance of becoming Unionized under a democratic run legislature and president. Walmart has denied this, stating that managers were informed of the negative consequences should a democrat win the White House in November, but never were the managers coerced into voting Republican.

I wrote to Walmart asking them to stay out of politics and informing them I may not be shopping in their store any longer if this is true. Last night I needed an item and I made my way to the local Target to make my purchase. Maybe this will become a new shopping tradition for me?

To Kill, Or Not To Kill?

I go back and forth when it comes to the death penalty. Sometimes I feel there is a real need for a death sentence, and I realize that may be the "human" emotional part of me that vents when a heinous crime has been committed. Other times I think how sad it is that the State can legally "murder" someone while at the same time saying murder is wrong. The death sentence is also not always carried out fairly, those who have money and can find a good attorney or attorneys often get off while the poor, unfortunate ones, get the needle. In NJ, the debate is a mute point since the death penalty is no longer an option.

Recently in Alabama, the Alabama Supreme Court postponed executing a man after an inmate claimed in an sworn statement to defense attorneys that he committed the murder that sent the condemned man to death row. This is another reason for my position the death penalty should not exist; the fact that sometimes innocent people are executed. To me, one innocent life taken by the State is wrong. Throughout history, there have been many individuals executed when they did not commit the crime.

I guess when it comes down to it, I can see the death penalty in some cases in which there is clear evidence someone committed a murder. I am talking about cases where there are several witnesses or a video camera catching the event. Cases where there is irrefutable evidence the defendant committed the murder. But in instances when there is no clear cut evidence, circumstantial only, no witnesses, or other questions about the murder, I can see there being no death sentence.

So I guess the debate will continue in my mind.