We need far more straight talk and less spin then we're getting.

I have many unanswered questions for the candidates.
I'm hoping they will get around to them very soon.

I'm going to attempt here to explain how incredibly discouraging I find the current election.
Actually I've been unhappy with the last 20 years or so with our political system.

I've been reading and listening to both sides of the spectrum and those in between for quite a while now.
If you want to get a clearer idea of the political machine as it is in the USA you have to understand the issues.
Listening to Republican, independent and Democratic concepts and policy beliefs is essential.
Everyone can stay one sided and stick with one parties rhetoric and block out the others.
No party or person is ever completely right.

I listen regularly to BBC, FOX, CNN and PBS news as well as read newspapers and magazines.
My regulars run the gamut from Bill O'Reilly to Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Chris Matthews and Brokaw to Limbaugh, Hannity and I've even listened to Coulter ("If I must" of course.)

Honestly I'm a Democrat because I want to vote in the primaries.
I was a strong Hillary Clinton supporter and moved to Obama because of the extreme conservatism of the
McCain/Palin ticket. As a country I believe we must not cross the lines of separation of church and state.
I do not see Sarah Palin as a qualified presidential candidate.
I was a stay at home mother of four and this was very difficult at times for us, I also managed recently to go back to school at NYU and get my master's degree in Social Work... (would you like to make fun of or belittle my life experiences here?) The kids went almost everywhere I did before they went to school. I do not get a gold star because I had four children.

I don't find abortion a pleasant thing but I do not believe I have the right to force someone to have a baby they
can't support or want. I resent the part of the religious right that feels they have the right to control others beliefs on this subject. Forcing a woman or young girl to have a baby that is the result of incest, rape or is severely disabled without compassion for the unique situation of each mother... does not belong in our laws. There are certain situations that even I would consider an abortion... would it be in my family's interest (remember family values) to risk my life if having a baby would threaten my life and take away their mother?

Sex education and availability of birth control would be preventative for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Seems to me that many conservatives point to birth control as causing promiscuity when in reality unplanned pregnancies are common without birth control being available. Also the divorce rate isn't any better across the board.

If abortion is outlawed and considered a crime then what's next?
Will you arrest a woman that drinks while pregnant, jail one that is a drug addict?
Charge a woman with murder if she miscarries because of one of these issues?
The wealthy will always have options (even illegal ones) that the more "common folk" won't.

If you believe in creationism, I don't have a problem with you at all. I do not believe the same things.
And that's okay. But creationism doesn't belong in the public school system.

I'm a supporter of our troops wherever they are. They're engaging in an amazing service for their country.
This does not mean I'm unpatriotic if I do not and have not from the start been in favor of invading Iraq.
This country was founded on freedom of speech and freedom to disagree.
I'm proud that John McCain had such a service record in Vietnam and am sorry that he had to endure such pain as a POW. There are unfortunately many that were permanently disabled, severely injured or captured during that same war. Many others gave the ultimate sacrifice to their country when they were killed in the line of duty.
Again I respect and admire Senator McCain for this service and all he went through on his journey back to home,
but I do not respect the policies he offers to fix our national debt or improve our general condition (when we can get details of exactly what it is he stands for besides just saying Obama would be bad for the country.)

I'm truly hoping some of the debates have some hardball questions for the candidates.
I beg the reporters to take off their gloves and ask the questions that matter to our existance as a world power in the future. Screeching distractions about sexism, ageism, racism is just a detraction from the important issues.
We should ask them hard questions and demand adequate answers not just the same old rehashed beans.
And they should continue debating until all the questions listed are answered completely.
No interrupting each other and no long drawn out nonsense... if they're off track bring them back to the question at hand. No more circular reasoning, back to the beginning and nothing is really said.
The answer to these most serious problems in this country is NOT that the other guy will be a bad choice.

I don't care if Palin is a woman or not, hey, try treating her the way Hillary was treated often enough.
Take off the gloves and demand that these candidates tell us how they are TRULY different from each other and this current debacle of an administration. Demand sensible answers and solutions. Details, it's in the details NOT the hype. The negativity is just bullshit all around.

I don't care that McCain is a war vet or that Biden has been a career politician or that Obama is more liberal or black.
I care about who will bring our country into the inevitable global future. Who will deal with our economic issues, the energy crisis, the slipping of jobs overseas, loss of jobs here at home and inadequate healthcare coverage of our people. The rising cost of educating our children, going to college. Getting us out of the middle east and keeping us safer at home. We must fix our educational system all around, before our intelligence and technical ability is eclipsed by other countries who are becoming more educated and innovative every year. What the hell are we waiting for?

We cannot afford financially the war in Iraq or the loss of more military personnel (even if we had a draft) to fight every perceived threat in this world. We are not an isolated country nor are we guaranteed a place in global economy simply because we are from the United States. The internet doesn't allow for us treading water forever.

I got very upset when the choice of Sarah Palin was made primarily because she was a woman and only because the Democrats didn't choose Hillary. How cynical. Yes, she's a woman, so am I, so what?
And for a political party that howled that about Barack Obama's celebrity, the ones that launched the negative ad juxtaposing his image with Paris Hilton and Britany Spears (could they really believe he's anything like those vapid examples of women?) It doesn't seem to bother them now that McCain is taking a back seat to Palin signing posters and getting the attention. They affectionately call it Palinmania. Are they running McCain or Palin?

The hypocrisy in this presidential election runs deep. It's discouraging to see this country deliberately torn apart gleefully for political gain.
And speaking of hypocrisy... Joe Lieberman should be run out of Washington and please take Rudy Gulliani with you Joe...
I'm from NY and I once liked Rudy, but seriously. Could he possibly be more obnoxious by ridiculing "cosmopolitan" and "community organizers" in the same breath? How dare you, I found that both hypocritical and elitist at the same time if were going to name call. Thanks Rudy, I'm so proud of that speech. If that didn't offend every social worker out there in the trenches trying to make a difference across this country, then I'm not sure what would. Give me a break.

I completely resent the implication of being called elitist? Why would I be seen as elitist? Because I'm educated and a social worker, or because I live in a very small town of around 1000 people or simply because I live in New York State where 9-11 hit so very hard?

I can't imagine any leader from the mayor (or governer) of NYC up to the president of the country not stepping up to his job in light of the attacks of 9-ll. Everyone stepped up to the plate and was supportive and helped out including our leaders. Would we expect anything less? Now we're throwing all goodwill to the side in this election?

Listen to all the candidates carefully. To what they say they believe and what they plan to do, then make a considered and informed decision on which candidate for president will make the best choices on the future of our country. Consider the issues that are vital to the country not just the standard camouflaging of them with hot button/red flag issues. There are no red or blue states, just majority leanings. It's a close race in most of the states and every state is made up of people neither red or blue just Americans. It's a deliberate polarization of the people yet again.

The issues have nothing to do with whether there is a woman, war veteran, black man or white man running for office.

It disturbed me that McCain pandered to the NASCAR crowds in New Hampshire today saying " “Thank you NASCAR for your support of the men and women who are serving our nation in uniform around the world.” Okay.
The other thing he recently said: "You know that there's been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall St. And it is -- people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think still -- the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult times." Fundamentals?
I find this an understatement given the mortgage crisis, failure of banks and todays failure of Lehman Brothers.
Seriously John, that's it? Barack you want to add some more to this?

I'm remembering our $800 a month almost unaffordable oil bills last winter and here we go again...
Is the answer drilling for more oil and building more nuclear power plants that won't help us realistically for many, many years? Or are we going to seriously work on renewable and green energy to free us?
I picture JFK rolling in his grave with all this bull... with his leadership we went to the moon and suddenly now
we can't do anything more remarkable than "drill baby drill." How sad for us.

This country is great because of it's democracy not necessarily because of unbridled greed of extreme capitalism.

I invite discourse here. I'll try to post every day until our election of a new president in November.
Do not waste anyone's time by name calling or belittling anyones beliefs.
No one will reunite our country by denying we're all different and all our opinions valuable.

I'm sorry that this post was so very long. But I have a lot to say.
There's so much going on in this election it's amazing. I wish more of it was in a good spirit.

G'night everyone

Laura