Vote NO to Proposition 8

Voters in California are voting on a proposed constitutional amendment that would consider valid only a marriage between a man and a woman in California (the so-called Proposition 8).

Such an amendment would institutionalize, in effect, discrimination based on sexual orientation. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's statement (one of the few statements by the Senator that this blog would wholeheartedly subscribe to) casts the problem in its correct scope. By voting in favor of Proposition 8 a majority of voters (presumably straight voters) officially and unreservedly decides that a minority (gays) should be relegated to second-tier citizen status. That entails a very dangerous exercise of the majority's (any majority's) rights.

This blog is against discrimination in all forms. It is not in favor of gay rights per se, since it considers that there are no "gay" or "straight" rights. It is against labeling people based on their sexual preferences. Defeating Proposition 8 is not a matter of preferring gay people's rights to straight people's rights; in actuality, no straight person's right is breached by the official recognition of the bond between two partners of the same sex. Defeating Proposition 8 is a matter of defeating discrimination in its most heinous, institutionalized form.

The Chicago Tribune's Powerful Endorsement of Sen. Obama for President

Read it; it is very thoughtful, although a lot of it is based on the editorial board's familiarization with Sen. Obama from his time as a Illinois State Senator.

Joe Wurzelbacher, the Person of the Third Debate

So, there was Joe the plumber, Sen. John McCain's friend, who would become famous for complaining that he shouldn't face an extra tax burden for making a yearly net profit in excess of $ 250,000. Is he the typical voter? Do his anxieties reflect the "middle class", America's backbone, as per Sen. Obama's campaign? He was put to good use by Sen. McCain, who, however, failed to give a concise picture; when he wants the federal government to guarantee home-owners' mortgages, where is he going to find all the money to do so?

John McCain - a Hero for Not Inducing Too Much Hatred

That's the essence of this New York Times piece. On the other hand, his vice-presidential nominee, Gov. Sarah Palin, has been found to have abused executive power over a family matter in Alaska. I'm trying to find a page-1 (or maybe page-2) article on Sen. Biden - where is he?

A Devastating Review of John McCain's Life in Rolling Stone Magazine

This piece presents Sen. John McCain in the darkest of colors, the complete opposite of the persona he tries to present as a candidate. Although his time as a POW is treated rather harshly, there seem to be quite damaging elements in his conduct as a U.S. Senator. Let's see the impact or the revisions of this article.

Sarah Palin and the New York Times

Gov. Sarah Palin quoted the New York Times ("[her] copy of [yesterday's] NYT") yesterday to establish a relationship between Sen. Barack Obama and Bill Ayers; quite an improvement, since last time she spoke up, she couldn't mention the papers she reads every day. It's a real shame that this campaign season is centered around her and any silliness she purs out, doggone it! And no discussion of the serious issues is taking place any more. I hope the next presidential debates focus more on substance than on all this.

The Dumbing Down of American Politics - Salon Magazine

Read this very interesting piece. This blog has very many disagreements with the Obama-Biden ticket's professed policies - in fact, it is closer to some of the things Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin are saying in the form of slogans. But the latter do not even come close to enunciating a proper conservative or libertarian position; they only give ridicule to ideas of smaller state intervention. Their support of the bail-out plan, as proposed by the Bush administration, is very indicative of their propensity to favor state intervention, when it seems politically expedient to do so. The lip service that the Republican ticket occasionally pays to libertarian ideas helps only to mock them further in the eyes of many people. Overall, the Republican ticket is a disaster for people espousing deregulation and free markets - and bringing the level of the discourse down to "folksiness" only makes matter worse.

All About Sarah

The Vice-Presidential debate was all about Sarah Palin's performance; how would she do, whether she could speak, etc. (although, it seems, much of the presidential campaign is about Sarah Palin). Most people think she did better than expected, but then those expectations were set very low, after her complete mumbling answers to Katie Couric (whose rather timid questioning she called "gotchas"). So she proceeded with her prepared sound-bites, in the knowledge that the moderator was unable to expose her discrepancies through a follow-up question, peppering her answers with "doggone it"'s and supposed folksy charm. A nice show-off but, when you really think about it, a dreadful precursor of things to come, if she were to win the vice-presidency. Being a "Joe six-pack" would probably disqualify a person from the presidency, yet Gov. Palin seems to endorse the opposite idea: it doesn't matter if she cannot handle details, focus on the substance of questions, etc., as long as she speaks like a 19th century Wild West folk hero. Maybe the GOP should nominate Bart or Homer Simpson for the job next time (granted, they are not Wild West heroes, but, boy, they sure wish they were, plus they don't blink). In the process we found about this guy, Sen. Joe Biden, who seemed at times to really know his stuff on foreign policy. Not that I approve of the Obama-Biden duo's socialist-policy tendencies (in which they will probably not be checked by Congress, as it seems that economic populism is all the rage currently), but at least his thoughts seemed very coherent on some serious questions. Judging only by the debate, I'd vote hands down for him.

Blogging the U.S. Presidential Election

This blog is going to follow the last stretches of the U.S. Presidential Election. It is going to make an endorsement within a couple of weeks, although, at the outset, neither of the major contenders seem to espouse the blog's libertarian ideals. We will also be following, when possible, the Libertarian Party candidate, Rep. Bob Barr. Right now the election seems Sen. Obama's to lose. However, one week is a long time in politics, let alone 4 weeks. Let's keep an eye on those presidential guys.