It's Moving Day at the White House

Woo hoo! the day has finally come! Call Uhaul, they've got a big job ahead of them.

In case anyone else missed the festivities due to work like I did, here is the speech Pres. Obama made earlier today



Now it's off to watch the Inaugural Balls and try to spot some of the clients I've outfitted these past few weeks.

Debate Central

Last Tuesday's debate was criticized for it's lack of cunning politics and well, for being down right boring.

The Vice Presidential debate a week earlier was a different story. Perhaps its because there is only one debate for these candidates, or that the public wants to get to know each nominee better. Whatever the reason, the ratings skyrocketed, with more than 70 million combined viewers from every station.

I happen to have an invested interest in the debate for more competitive reasons. Enter Palin Bingo. Nick and I each had two cards to follow along. I was so glued to the TV and hung on every word she said.

Now who says politics can't be fun AND educational ;)

Convention Time

I've been watching tidbits of both the Republican and Democratic Conventions here and there. I find it's mostly a lot of fluff within each party (plus I get TV ADD sometimes).

I'm not certain who I will be voting for this coming November. I would like to see some great "change" in Washington, but if you think about it, in general aren't we uncomfortable with the concept of change? (not that anything moves quickly in politics). And anyone other than our current Commander in Chief is bound to do a better job!

I do have to give great kuddos to McCain. He has some excellent strategist in his camp. Announcing his choice of VP during the Democratic convention was smart, choosing a female running mate was down right clever. Sure Palin is no Hillary Clinton, in fact, many Republicans in office had never heard of her. But perhaps an anonymous (and much younger) governor from the 49th state is just the ticket to get this aging Veteran into office.

Only time (an many debates) will tell.

Catch Up

I have once again neglected my duties as a devoted blogger sharing too much of my personal life with the world. Here is a quick recap to catch everyone up:

• Have not slept more than one night in a row in my own bed since early June :(
  
  
• Spent 4th of July in Austin where I was forced to spend the majority of the weekend watching Harry Potter movies, taking cold showers (don't ask) and unfortunately not wearing this prize of a sweater



• My camera seems to have broken. This is devastating on two levels. One, I refuse to leave home without it... you just NEVER know when a good Kodak moment might pop up. And two, I leave for New York a week from today, Yikes! I better figure something out
  
  
• Did I mention I'll be in NY in a WEEK!?!?! Yippee!!!
  


• My stimulus check came in the mail. Thanks Prez Bush and congress for putting our country even farther into debt. What a great example you continue to lead. I intend to put my check in savings where it will SIT and not be spent. Mostly likely, the money will be returned back to you come tax season.



• My boyfriend seems to have adopted the habit of blaming his flatulence on invisible barking spiders. I find this both repulsive and hilarious (and as I mentioned earlier, yes, I tend to over share on my blog, deal with it)
  
  
• Last, I received my diploma from FIDM, sealing the deal that I have actually graduated. I'd post a picture, but that seems to be out of the question at the moment.

Happy May Day!

Or perhaps as Sen. John McCain would call it, Happy Mission Accomplished Day.



Here's to yet another "qualified" politician working his way into the Oval Office. And thanks for the explanation of accomplished.
Obviously I, along with 71% of Americans misunderstood.

Tuesday is Super!

The polls are closed and the numbers are coming in for the Presidential candidates for both Democrats and Republicans. Although nothing has been formally announced, it looks like McCain and Clinton are the front runners of their respective parties.

Kudos to Mike Huckabee who made a great comeback today. Unfortunately, he took votes that would have otherwise gone to Mitt Romney which further promoted John McCain instead of leveling the field three ways. As projected, Obama and Clinton are neck and neck. Hil looks to be the winner, but it still could be anybody's game. Now that one candidate will be emerging from each side, I'm most curious to see who will be chosen as the Vice Presidential candidate to complete the ticket. The race is just beginning!

The real loser today is myself. Since I'm on the road in Arizona, I had no chance to make it to the polls and vote for my candidate of choice. You can bet that won't happen in November!

Some Political Food for Thought

Warning, this post ended up a bit longer than initially intended and might take some time to get through. Please take a moment to watch the clips! It might bring forth a new point of view, or at the very least, hopefully it will prompt those who read this to start examining the 2008 election for themselves...

I'm a little behind on my candidate research for the upcoming election year. It would just be too easy to choose a Democratic crowd favorite like Hillary or Obama. Unfortunately, regardless of how much I would love to see anyone other than another old, upper class white male take office, simply being a minority doesn't exactly qualify them to be president.

I caught Meet the Press with Tim Russert on Sunday. He interviewed Republican Ron Paul as part of a special series in which he meets with all presidential candidates. This interview was my first exposure to Ron Paul. He is a Representative from Texas... (and we ALL know how I feel about politicians who reign from that neck of the woods) I was almost yelling at the tv with comebacks on how unqualified and nonsensical this man was. Below is the excerpt which founded my first impression:





Needless to say, I had just about written this guy off as another crazy politician. Then, I happen to catch a couple blog posts from a good friend of mine who agreed with the platforms Rep. Paul is supporting. Because I completely respect this friend's judgement and am certain that he probably does more political research than anyone else I know, I was motivated to further my Ron Paul research.

Here is what I found with a little digging of my own:



My point here is not to start campaigning for Mr. Paul (although I do agree that there is really no reason for the U.S. the be the World Police or the #1 country in the World ...is no one aware that we don't actually get a gold medal for that?...) What I'd really like to focus on is there are candidates out there who may not be in "our" own party, but are very worthwhile candidates who deserve our attention. AND with all politics and political races, there are two ways to spin every quote and story.

It's so important for normal citizens to get involved. Each election outcome forecasts the years to come. Yet, the majority of Americans still don't vote. To those who are in the 18-35 demographic, this is OUR future! It's an opportunity to make the change we find so easy to talk about. Personally, I believe this is much more important than catching up on LOST season 3 or reading the latest on TMZ.

Finally, it's nice to find a candidate out there who is willing to stir the pot and be a bit controversial because of his ideas, not because of his race or sex.
(stepping off my soap box now ;)