A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Watched the second presidential debate last night and as far as I’m concerned Obama won — again. This one was in town hall format which was said to be McCain’s forte. However, I felt both candidates seemed comfortable in the set-up. After the debate, we stayed on CNN for the analysis just to see what they thought of things.

This morning when I checked the news, I learned that most of the pundits think Obama won also. Not surprising really since McCain didn’t give much you could work with except he’s a maverick — not. I also visited the independent fact checking sites this morning. I’ve noticed that when the republican candidates state something as fact and you check it out, it turns out to be either a down-right lie or misleading. On the other hand, checking the facts put forth by the democratic candidates, you find that either it’s the truth or misleading. Misleading I expect — each party is trying to put the best spin on their candidate but lies I can’t tolerate. What’s is especially annoying is that even when it’s pointed out to the republican candidates/party that their information is erroneous/false, they still keep harping on it — they don’t care if they lie as long as they get elected. Sheesh, I hope no one falls for their falsehoods, but based on what people say I guess if you tell the same lie often enough some people will believe it since they don’t bother to check things out themselves — on the principle that they couldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.

One of the things that I found interesting was that the focus group of 25 people in Ohio were given dials which they could turn to the positive side if they agreed with the candidate or felt a connection with the candidate. Throughout the debate Obama pretty much stayed above the median line and most of the time nearly hit the top of the positive area; when he did go negative it wasn’t very low either. McCain on the other hand often just hugged the center line with occasional forays into negative and positive (but never as high as Obama). Now the interesting things was that after the debate the group was asked who they think did the best job and it was overwhelmingly McCain. So, even thought throughout the debate they liked and connected most with Obama based on their dialing indicators, they said they like McCain best. I think this indicates a disconnect between what we think when we’re concentrating and reacting at the time and what our base response is. It seems no matter what you see or hear, you’ll fall back on your set preferences even when they don’t match your preferences as you indicate them during the debate. Hmmmmm….lots of potential for research here.

The image for this political post is for the movie An American President. I love the movies not so much for the love story, though that is interesting and well done, but because of the speech near the end. Michael Douglas playing Andrew Shepard saying … well why try to write it when you can listen to it.

What he expresses in this speech is what I think are the true tenets of democracy. It is hard. You do have to work at it. You must question your leaders and don’t fall for the feel good line. Listen. Think. Vote in November.

Wonder what they’ll do for the next debate.

Someone pointed me to this youtube video. I loved what Taylor Mali was talking about and it got me thinking. First watch the video then read my thoughts.

Back in the dark ages, I was very active in women’s rights issues. I also taught courses in Assertiveness Training. One of the key issues that always had to be dealt with was how women talked. When you listen careful, there are still a lot of women that end every sentence with a slight uprising inflection that turns a statement into a question. It’s as if they’re asking permission to have that opinion. Women who expected to have a chance at breaking through the glass ceiling had to train themselves to actually make declarative sentences without the rising inflection that seemed so natural to them.

Things have changed a lot since then; there’s still often a glass ceiling, but it’s usually also invisible. PC or political correctness has made as all afraid to speak our minds. There is, however, a very big difference between talking down to someone, insulting someone, and expressing an opinion. Lately, expressing an opinion different from the person you are speaking with has somehow become wrong. I truly don’t understand that view of things and it often gets me into trouble but then I, unlike some others I could name, am a maverick.

It is our duty to express our opinions. It’s our right to let people know when we disagree with them, provided — and this is a big exception — we do it with respect and courtesy. That’s not difficult to do, but you do need to be sensitive to the other person and remember they don’t have to believe or think the same way you do. Guess what? People can disagree with each other and still be friends, colleagues, or co-workers. Most of the problems today stem from the fact that we’re so busy trying to be just like everyone else, trying hard to not stand out, and that means that none of us are happy.

Personally, I think a lot of this has to do with how we talk to each other. Speak clearly, concisely, with respect, courtesy, and with authority.

So what do you think about how you talk? Do you question authority? Do you speak with conviction?

Well, I just watched the Vice-Presidential debate. As far as I’m concerned this debate goes to Biden. (And I don’t he like him as a candidate — and you know that if you’ve read my earlier political rants.)

While Palin did much better than I expected after the disastrous interview with Katie Couric — at least she was coherent. Palin consistently didn’t answer the question that was asked. She gave pretty standard blah-blah-great to be an American-blah-blah answers that were obviously prepared and rehearsed. How do I know that? Because when she got thrown by a question she pretty much just threw out the usual catch phrases or turned and did more on energy.

Biden on the other hand, consistently countered with “facts” — you know those things that can be check. He listed what the Obama/Biden ticket planned to do on each of the major issues. He continually corrected misinformation delivered by Palin that has been corrected over and over and over and yet still the Republicans keep throwing it out there. (Check the Facts on CNN on statements made.)

Biden also made it clear that a vote for McCain/Palin is a vote to continue the Bush policies that have gotten this country in so many problems for another four years. Biden also continually set the record straight on the “fact” that McCain, as much as he wants to play himself as a maverick, has consistently supported and voted for Bush’s policies. That is not a maverick — that’s a team player. Voting for McCain is a vote to continue doing what we’ve been doing for the last 8 years. I don’t think there’s an American alive that thinks they’re better off now than they were eight years ago — unless they’re rich and/or own a big corporation.

Biden also, and to my mind finally, stood up and explained how McCain’s $5,000 health tax credit and taxing of the health benefit paid by your employer — is going to be a huge tax increase for the lower and middle class that have health benefits. This has been needed to be said for quite a while and I think he did it clearly and concisely. I’m hoping people got it this time.

Overall, Biden dealt with facts, plans, and specifics. Palin simply said those things that make us feel good. She’s the Republican cheerleader. This country doesn’t need to feel good. It needs to get the work done to bring up back up to the the strong nation that we once were.

In case no one is paying attention, let me point out something I’ve noticed over my lifetime. Every time we have a Republican President our economy takes a nose dive (usually not as drastic as the current one) and the deficit rises alarmingly. Then we change to a Democratic President and the economy stabilizes and usually starts getting stronger. Then people go back to the Republican’s who promise that if we take off oversight and reduce regulation then everything will be even better and those darn Democrats only want to give things away and tax people. So, the parties change again and down we go on the economic slide.

This nation can’t afford four more years of these policies that are destroying this nation. We need a change. I think that Obama/Biden are our best chance to regain some of the ground we’ve lost. They are the party of change. Don’t listen to the feel good speeches of the Republicans, look around you, look at what they want to do, check with the CNN fact check area, check other independent and non-biased fact checking sites on the web (you’ll be surprised at what you find).

This is going to be the most important election we’ve ever had because if we don’t act to fix our problems and have a president who will actually make the hard decision so that this country can move forward, we’re going to go down into economic chaos and ignominy. I want my country back. I want to live in the America that was a beacon — and continuing the current administrations polices is NOT going to get us there.

Why is the image of the DVD cover for Canadian Bacon? If you haven’t seen the film, it’s a hilarious (and very scary film). The basic plot is the cold war is over. Jobs in the military sector are being lost and the economy is having problems. So, to fix the problem — the President and his cabinet decide they need to have an enemy to get people’s fear levels up and fuel the military sector and the economy. The Russians refuse to be the bad guys so they decide on Canada. Check it out. It used to be just funny — now, with the current administration’s perchance to raising the population’s fear levels — it’s kind of scary (and a bit predictive). Watch it, it’s a good film with lots of great actors (most of them Canadian).

We watched the debate tonight. It was on lots of channels but we watched CNN. We didn’t watch the hour of pre-debate babble but we did stay tuned for the post-debate rehash. During the rehash of the debate I had to wonder if they watched the same debate that I saw.

My own opinion is that Obama won hands-down. Of course, I have my biases — I’m a “flaming” liberal and proud of it. I’m also pretty pragmatic and I know deep in my heart that our country is in a downward spiral and if something isn’t done to pull us out … and soon … we might as well just forget we were ever a world power. What I heard is that McCain plans to follow the same old plan that got us into this mess and continue the policies that have clearly not worked. Obama, being a pragmatist, also sees that we can’t afford this and intends to try to give us back our pride, our dignity, our place in the world by trying to extricate us from the bad decisions made in our past and to treat other countries as equals rather than acting like children in a playground demanding that others play by our rules or not at all.

McCain continually said “Obama doesn’t understand”. I think, or as far as I could tell from his answers, that Obama understood perfectly well the problems and the intricacies of the political arena — he just didn’t see things the same way that the Republican Party does or McCain does.

I understand that McCain’s party now has a video with all the times that Obama agreed with McCain. What it most likely doesn’t show is how often Obama tried to show that they both loved their country and were trying to do what’s right for it, but that they had fundamental differences in how to solve the problems. I’m sure that that video doesn’t show the exchange where Obama pointed out how often McCain was wrong.

McCain comes off as someone who just can’t see his way clear to think outside the box, not only that, he can’t let go of the bad old days — he’s a hawk. I believe that Obama could take us to war but it would be as a last resort. McCain would see it as a first or second option. Where Obama would turn to diplomacy, McCain would threaten.

The image I used for this article is the cover for the movie, Bullworth. In the movie, Bullworth is a politician who has hit bottom and has ordered a hit on himself so he has nothing to loose. He starts to tell the truth at all his talks. Suddenly, he finds himself as the top contender and listened to.
I loved the film — if only “real” politician could realize that if they spoke the truth instead of always telling us what they think we want to hear that our country would be in a much better place than it is now. If only the voters of this country would LISTEN and evaluate their politicians, we’d also be a lot better off.

I’m so glad that Obama pointed out just how much of a tax increase McCains tax reduction would be on the average citizen. McCain’s plan to give every American $5,000 dollars toward medical coverage sounds good until you look deeper into the fine print and find that the plan also would require employers to tax the money that is paid by the employer toward medical benefits as taxable income. Congrats, every working American just got a huge tax increase. Watch closely for the promises coming from McCain about how he plans to save us money — they usually come with a huge price tag that’s paid by those least able to afford it. Obama at least plans to tax those with incomes over $250,000 a year — since my family and everyone I know lives on a lot less than that, I think that’s fair. McCain complains about the poor companies that pay 37% in taxes — so what, I pay about 43-45% in taxes when you add Federal, State, County, and City taxes. I’m not crying boo-hoo about a company (like the poor oil companies) who could pay 37% but with the tax relief they get off paying less than most American’s making $20,000 a year. Yeah, McCain just convinced me that I had the right idea about these two candidates.

According to a Scientific American article from September 12, 2008:

In fact, oil companies have yet to take advantage of the nearly 86 billion barrels of offshore oil in areas already available for leasing and development. So why are they chomping at the drill bit to open up the moratorium waters and survey them anew?

“Oil company stocks are valued in large part based on how much proved reserves they have,” says Robert Kaufman, an expert on world oil markets and director of Boston University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. Translation: just having more promising leases in hand would be worth billions of dollars.

As for reducing the price of oil:

Even by 2030, offshore drilling would not have a significant impact on oil prices, according to Martin, because oil prices are determined on the global market. “The amount of total production anticipated—around 200,000 barrels a day—would be less than 1 percent of the total projected international consumption.”

I found this even more interesting quote from Kaufman in the Scientific American article:

“At its peak in production, which occurred in 1970s, the U.S. produced about 10 million [barrels of oil] a day,” Kaufman says. “Now, after 30 years of fairly steady decline, we produce about five million barrels a day,” whereas we consume 20 million barrels daily. “Whoever talks about oil independence has to tell a story about how we close a 15-million-barrel gap.”

Not even all Republican’s are for off-shore drilling. I found this interesting quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger (Gov. of California) in a U.S. News article from Sept. 13, 2008:

Schwarzenegger was quick to acknowledge that the high cost of gasoline, which is selling for an average of $4.58 a gallon in the state, is taking a toll on California even more than other states. Recent national polls show as many as 67 percent of voters believe offshore drilling is a good solution. But Schwarzenegger today threw his support behind conservation and alternative fuels, instead. “We are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum-based oil,” Schwarzenegger said. “The direction our nation needs to go in, and where California is already headed, is toward greater innovation in new technologies and new fuel choices for consumers. That is the way we will ultimately reduce fuel costs and also protect our environment.”

What can I say but that I also believe that this is the direction that this country should be going in. Energy experts believe that we’ve pretty much achieved peak oil, meaning that the oil that we can get is no longer going to outpace demand no matter what we do. There will always be needs for oil and if we don’t reduce our dependence on oil and find alternatives for many of the oil-based products and uses that we have now we are going to run out. The only question is how much longer do we have. It’s also a given that as oil fields are emptied the places where we can get oil are going to require methods that are dirtier and harder on the environment than the present methods — and global warming is not going to get any less global or warm if we increase our pollution of the atmosphere.

Folks we need to find alternatives — no matter what the politicians say, there are no easy answers and off-shore drilling is not an answer at all. At best, it’s a way of making it sound like they’re doing something for us to reduce cost but it will only line the pockets of the oil companies and in the long run it is going to cost all of us citizens and people of the planet Earth big-time. We need to begin to look at alternatives and ways to reduce our reliance on oil.

I know everyone laughed when Obama suggested that every American keep his or her tires inflated to the proper level. Yeah, funny wasn’t it. However, it does increase your miles per gallon. Not a lot, true but if every car in American was running on tires that were properly inflated that little tiny bit for every car on the road can reduce the amount of gas used overall by a significant amount. It may not help you personally all that much; maybe a few dollars a week at the pump, but it helps the country. There are many other little things that can be done to help your mileage and if everyone did them it would help the country.

Why do we laugh? Because it’s not a single magic bullet? Probably. Most people want the problem taken care of without them having to do anything different. They want life to go on and all the problems to be fixed with no input or change in their own behavior. Sorry, life isn’t like that. It never was. You have to all work together.

So, I know you’re wondering what have I done. Well, we make sure that the car is empty (we don’t carry extra weight if we don’t have to). Our tires pressure is checked regularly, and we make sure we have tread on them too. We plan trips to work in a circle to reduce back and forth driving. During the week, my husband goes to work and stops at the post office and/or store on his way home as both are on his travel route. I work at home. Our weekend shopping includes in a loop: dropping off the recycling, stopping at the post office (if needed), getting groceries (two stores), and returning home. Occasionally, we add a stop or two on the loop if necessary. If a doctor visit is needed mid-week, we plan to take care of any other stops along that route so we don’t need to drive it again. We’ve been doing this for years and there really isn’t any way to reduce the number of miles traveled in a month. Twice a month we go to a social event and while we try to match that with other tasks, we often can’t but we don’t want to give up this group either (I mean we really need some fun in our lives too.) We also have a Honda and based on our calculations of number of gallons purchased versus number of miles driven — we get 28 miles per gallon and we don’t yet have a hybrid but we’re saving for one.

These are simple things that can be done. They’re simple things anyone can do. It takes advanced planning and may seem difficult at times but you get used to it and the planning gets easier and finally becomes second nature.

Just to recap the top of the post on oil drilling.  If drilling is allowed off the coast or in the refuge in Alaska:

1. The oil companies already own leases on millions of acres that they’ve never bothered to even look at.
2. Not one drop of oil could be produced for at least 10 years. The oil companies have admitted that they don’t have the equipment or crews to even start exploiting any new sites.
3. Once oil did start flowing, it would be years more until any appreciable flow could be retrieved.
4. The amount of oil extracted, even at peak, will be such a small percentage of the total world oil market that it will have no effect whatsoever on prices.
5. ANWR is estimated to contain 7 billion barrels of oil … total.  Since America consumes about 20 million barrels a day, that means Alaska has enough to supply the U.S. with oil for ONE year.
6. How much is offshore?  That’s unknown, but the guess is about 18 billion barrels.  Enough to supply the U.S. for two more years.
7. So will drilling make us self-sufficient.  Sure … for three years … maximum.
8. Will the oil be used to fuel America?  Maybe.  The oil pumped belongs to the oil companies.  They can sell it to whomever is willing to pay the highest price.  Maybe that’s the U.S., maybe it’s China.  That’ the beauty and terror of a free market.
9. So, who really benefits from new drilling?  The oil companies, and only the oil companies.
10. Oh, and who pays for clean up if the new drilling causes an ecological disaster?  The tax payers.

And what sets the price of oil?  Speculation (using the English definition, not the economic one).  Russia MIGHT cut off oil: Price goes up.  A hurricane MIGHT interfere with oil platforms in the gulf: Price goes up.  Iran MIGHT cause problems in the Gulf of Hormuz: Price goes up.  Things don’t really go wrong for a while: Price goes down … slowly.

Why isn’t the price of oil based on the cost of pumping it out of the ground, refining it, and transporting it?  Actually, I haven’t got a clue.  It’s all part of the consensual hallucination we call economics.  Why isn’t the price of a house based on the lumber, bricks, nails, etc that went into building it?   It’s all a mystery to me.  I think if anybody actually tried to make sense of the market, the whole thing would come crashing down on us.  We’re the emperor with a new set of clothes.  Heck, if I balanced my home accounts the way the Fortune 500 balances their books … I’d be in sent to jail.

Okay, finally the new external disk drive arrived.  Thankfully, it got here before everything blew up.  When it arrived I had only 1 GB of space left — everything was sooooo slow I was growing moss on my mouse.  But, once I got it plugged in and moved all the photos and electronic books to the external, I had 21 GB free and things were moving much faster (except for the expected slow down because I have some virus checking done every time I open files.  So, I’m happier and now I should be back on track with the blog and photos.

This months coffee cup is a Starbucks Blue Mug.  It was in all the Starbucks this summer but seems to be pretty thin on the ground when I was in Starbucks shops during the last few weeks.  I checked their website and they have a brown mug but not this blue one.  Luckily, I picked this one up this summer and saved it for September.  It’s perfect for hot chocolate, tea, coffee, or any warm drink.  I love the heft and feel of it.  The slight curve to the lip is really nice.  It’s very reminiscent of the old white mugs you used to get in diner — not that there’s that many old diners around anymore.  It has modern lines but with the comfortable feel and psychological comfort of the old diner mugs.  Also, it’s big enough so I don’t have to make repeated trips to the coffee machine when I’m working and holds heat fairly well — as well as any uninsulated cup anyway.  I like it.

Next, I said I was going to post a picture of my organized pantry area.  Last time I posted a picture, the shelves were nearly empty and everything was piled on my living room floor.  Well, now it’s all back in the pantry area including a lot of stuff that didn’t fit before.  Having the baskets helped because you can pile/load more into them than you can when lining things up on the shelves.  I also put things in the baskets by type so all the mixes, sweeteners, baking stuff, etc. are in one basket, all the soup and soup related stuff is in another, one is all spices, and another (on the floor) is all drinks, whether powder or bottle.  So now the hallway is navigable when going back to do the wash or to the bathroom, which is around the corner and out of sight (and is currently another new project but stalled as I try to figure out just how far I want to go with it — at first I thought just paint but now…I’m thinking, and that’s always dangerous.)

I’m thinking a curtain over the pantry might help disguise it and make the hallway (visible to anyone from the living room, the kitchen, and the dining room) look nicer.  But then you have to move it out of the way every time you want something there, and the number of times that would get done could make for a very dirty curtain very quickly unless it was a dark color and that would make the area too dark.  What do you think?

I’d decided to learn to knit socks on circulars so I could knit both socks at the same time.  I got a couple of books out of the library and looked online for some tutorials and finally cast on some yarn and started a pair of winter socks for wearing around the house when it gets cold instead of shoes.  Well, truthfully, I hardly ever wear shoes in the house anyway, but in winter my feet get cold, so nice warm socks are a must.

Anyway, it said in most sources to use a 40 inch needle, so that’s what I used, but I’m thinking of switching for a 60 inch if I don’t get the hang of moving the socks about when I change sides pretty soon.  Maybe just putting a marker between the edges so it’s easier to find when the circular gets sucked into the sock and I don’t have an end loop left when I finish the second sock before I turn to come back on the other side.  Otherwise, it’s not so hard once you get used to it.  The fact that I’m making both socks at the same time is wonderful, especially since I don’t have a pattern and these are sort of ad hoc — so now I can do the same thing to both socks without having to remember way back to when I did it on the first one (so far the whole note taking thing isn’t working out too well).

Once I finish increasing to the even knitting for the foot, I plan to do a tighter knit on the sole of the foot — I’m thinking knit on one row and knit 1, slip 1 on the other row — sort of what you do for the heel flap but for the entire bottom of the foot.  Hey, it’s worth a try to see how it comes out.  What I love about knitting is the wonderful way you always can have do overs when something goes wrong.

Speaking of things that need a do-over, the following is a political rant (I’m still upset) so move along if you’re avoiding such rants …. Really, I’m Democrat with extreme Liberal tendencies, so bail now if you offend easily.

I’m still in a snit over the political candidates for both parties.   This country can’t afford another term with a Republican in charge.  Especially, a Republican whose economic and foreign policies are nearly indistinguishable from the guy who got us into the mess we’re in in the first place.  And especially not with a Republican with a totally unqualified Veep who, based on her answers to the simplest of questions, just confirms my suspicions of her inability to do the job.  Heck, I’m more qualified than her and no one asked me to be Vice President.  I saw a YouTube video for an ad for Michael Palin for President — unfortunately he can’t run because he’s British, but they make a good case in a tongue and cheek way that he’d still be better.

I just want to vote FOR a president at some point in my life instead of voting against the lesser evil.  I’ve heard some people plan to vote Republican just because they figure if the country hits bottom people might finally wake up but just think of all the people who have to suffer first.  Why not try to do your best to help your country.   Look what fear has done to us over the last 8 years.  This just has to stop.  We need our Constitution and our Bill of Rights restored.  We need the checks and balances that our founding fathers put in place in the beginning of this nation restored so that we can move forward into the future and not backward into darkness.

[Hyperion here:] And it would be nice to have a V.P. that was capable of understanding elementary school level science.

I’d thought about writing something on this topic, but hadn’t really figured out what I wanted to say, when I found this article on Numbers on Teen Pregnancy as a Freakonomics NY Times Opinion piece (here’s the Freakonomincs NY Times blog).  I found the statistics on teen pregnancies interesting:

High teen pregnancy rates remain a serious problem in the U.S. Although they have declined since they peaked in 1990, rates are still twice as high as in Canada or England, and eight times as high as in the Netherlands or in Japan.

These international differences are due to low contraceptive use in the U.S.; most of the recent decline in teen pregnancy in the U.S. is due to more consistent use of birth control, although teens are also waiting longer to have sex than in the past. In 1995, almost 20 percent of girls had sex by age 17, compared to 15 percent in 2002.

Notice that the drop in pregnancies among teens has two components — more consistent use of birth control and teen waiting longer to have sex.  As to the first, it’s mighty difficult for teens to consistently use birth control when the sex education in our American school systems is mainly about abstinence. We currently have a shinning example of how well that works to lower teen pregnancy with the recent announcement of the pregnancy of the teenage daughter of the Republican Party’s Vice-Presidential nominee.  Palin espouses the party line of abstinence-only sex education and pairs it with absolutely no choice even for rape or incest.   Obviously, abstinence education didn’t work in this case, as it hasn’t worked for many other teens.  For Palin’s daughter, I’d hope that the future will not look as bleak as for most teenage mothers.  Again from the article:

…on average, teen pregnancies are more likely to result in premature births and low-birth-weight babies. This is not a good start in life. Babies with a low birth weight are more likely to have A.D.H.D. and are less likely to graduate from high school.

Teen moms are less likely than other women to attend or complete college, and their marriages are more likely to end in divorce; about 50 percent of women who married younger than age 18 are divorced after 10 years, compared to 20 percent of women who married at age 25 or older. In turn, single mothers have the highest poverty rates of any demographic group, and 60 percent of the U.S.-born children in mother-only families are poor.

Being a teenage mother, whether married to the father of the child or not, is a bad spot to be in. It’s not all roses and happy times. It’s mainly lots of work: studying for school, working to pay childcare, rent, food, and all the other assorted expenses of being on your own, and find the time and energy to actually spend time with the child, do the laundry, cook meals, study, and, oh yes, sleep.

How do I know? Been there. Done that. Came out okay with a child that I’m very proud of, a college degree, and I’m sure lots of bad decisions and good ones — but all ones I thought I had to make at the time.  How did I end up pregnant? Well, I know it seems strange, but my total sex education was a small six page booklet on menstruation along with the wisdom that only married women get pregnant.  Of course, this was in the dark ages — forty years ago now.  So this has been a perennial problem and it has never worked to stop teens from having sex by telling them to abstain or leaving them ignorant of what sex is and how one actually gets pregnant — (hint, a marriage license has absolutely no effect on the sperm and the egg getting together).

What does work in helping to reduce teen pregnancy?  Truth.  Unvarnished truth about how one gets pregnant, what those teenage hormones feel like, that love and hormones are indeed hard to tell apart but mostly it’s hormones at that age, and that if you are going to have sex, protect yourself and good solid information on how to do that.  Anything else is just leaving young people vulnerable to their hormones and if you don’t remember what that was like when you were a teen, you shouldn’t have any say over what to tell teens about sex.   Abstinence may work, but only if the teens have all the information about what is happening in their body and can make informed decisions.  Since many teens are not going to abstain, there must also be information and access to birth control.

If the Republicans want to stick their heads in the sand about these problems, then the least they can do is also set aside money for free child care, free health care, education assistance, and financial assistant to unwed teenage (and older) single parents.  But, wait…this is the party that is also cutting back on all these programs.  It seems the family values party doesn’t have any concern for families unless they meet strict definitions of what they consider a family and those families are all rich and don’t need any help.  And the Pro-Life policy would be better labeled Pro-Birth, because once the child is born, they no longer care about it until its old enough to vote.

Teenage pregnancy is a real problem for the people involved and for the country as a whole and ignoring it and placing the blame on the teens does nothing to rectify the problem or help to solve it.  I wish Ms. Palin good luck with the child she’s about to have and the marriage she’s about to undertake.  She has a better chance at success than many girls who find themselves in her position, but then she’s not typical.   Hopefully, her being in the limelight; after all it’s her mother who is the candidate, will not cause other teens to follow in her footsteps because she’s an outlier on the curve, not the norm (but I forgot Republicans don’t care that much for science either).

Note: On Where Did I Come From?  I found this book to be a great beginning in opening up discussion with children about sex and where babies come from.  It’s informative, funny, and straightforward.  If you’re looking for a way to broach the subject to young children who are asking — give this book a try.

Warning: This is going to be a political rant. If you’re Republican, come back tomorrow when I’ve gotten over my snit a bit.

I’ve been a Democrat since I could vote. There was a while when I changed my party to Republican; but that was to vote for the least bad one in the primary, and then still vote Democrat in the elections. At that time I figured that if you could at least get the least evil in a field of evil candidates on the opposition side then if my Democratic candidate lost — things wouldn’t be so bad for four years.

I favored Clinton over Obama, but when he won the race to become the only candidate left — well, okay he wasn’t a bad choice, even though his science and technology votes were definitely not well informed. I’d hoped that when he chose a running mate that he’d pick Clinton and it would be my dream ticket. Yesterday, he announced that he’d picked Biden as a running mate. I spent most of yesterday so upset and angry I couldn’t deal with his pick. I was close to tears most of the day because of the loss I felt — I’d lost hope. I’d lost the dream of my country restored to dignity and justice for all (not just those with money and power).

I’d have been okay if he’d at least picked a Veep who loved America and Americans. I’m not talking about saying the right thing, I’m talking about doing the right things. In the doing department, Biden has proven over and over that he cares more about business and greed, than in America or its people. Check out this article on CNet News about his technology voting over his career.

Biden has consistently voted and supported RIAA’s assault on American’s right to Fair Use of music they lawfully buy and own. He also voted for the Patriot Act (which, in truth, based on what it does is more accurately called the unPatriot Act — I doubt you could find a less patriotic bill if you looked for years). He voted for the war in Iraq (which makes one wonder if Obama truly means to get our soldiers out of there). On the other hand, he did vote against the FISA Bill (which Obama voted for), this bill allows the FBI to spy on American for no other reason that that they want to — no warrants, no oversight, no probable cause. They’ve been caught time and time again abusing powers like this, which is why it was stripped from them in the first place. So why, oh why, would anyone think it was a good idea to authorize them to do it again? But one good does not negate the all the bad, anti-American votes especially when these changes came at a time when Biden planned to run for the Presidency (there’s a reason he dropped out so early — no one wanted him).

I don’t want this man as Vice President. Heck, I don’t want him in the Senate either but I’m not in his state and had no say in that one. To be perfectly frank, Obama’s voting record isn’t stellar either but he didn’t change his tune to run for the office either — at least he’s consistent.

So, now the problem is: do I vote with my heart for the best of my country and go for a third party candidate? There are a couple of really, really good people running — people who seem, based on their lives, actions, and words to be pro-American people. The down side is that with our current system, none of them can win. Or do I vote Democrat again knowing that I’m really voting for “Republican Lite” and a continuation of the dissolution of everything that I have loved and cherished in my country, just because the alternative is even worse? Over the last eight years, I’ve seen America lose its standing as a moral force for good in the world. I’ve seen security theater become more important than actual security. I’ve seen/read/heard about Americans and others disappeared off the streets of America to be imprisoned (if the person is lucky) and to be outsourced for torture if they’re not. I’ve listen to the current President and his head of Justice actually defend torture — a method that will get you information, in fact it will get you any information you want; just tell them what you want said and the victim will say anything to make it stop. This is so unbelievable as behavior in a leader of this country that it often leaves me speechless that we’ve come to such a low point. It still shocks me to my core that the democrats in congress haven’t got the barest sliver of a spine necessary to impeach this man for his crimes against this country.

I’ve watched my country, that stood for years as a haven and supporter of freedom for all, become a country afraid of its own shadow and willing to destroy its Constitution and its Bill of Rights for the illusion of security. I’ve seen the government change from helping and supporting its people, to spying on anyone they please (pretty much anybody that doesn’t believe like they do) just because they can. Worse yet, I’ve seen the people of this country willing to give up freedoms for this same illusion of security. As Benjamin Franklin once said:

“People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.”

He’s right you know, we currently have neither but most of us haven’t bothered to pay attention.

Our country could get back on track. It will take years, maybe decades, to recover from the damage done to her and her people over the last eight years, but it can be done. But to do it we need strong leadership and a leadership that is committed to making the hard decisions and choices that must be made to restore the basic rights guaranteed to the citizens of this country in our founding documents. We need somebody that understands that if you demolish your own foundations, you have nothing left to stand on. I believe that Obama has at least read the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Based on his voting record, I’m not so sure about Biden. And, based on its leadership, I know that the current administration either hasn’t or, if they have, they didn’t understand a word of it.

So, how do you turn a staunch Democrat away from the party? You pick a running mate that has proven time and time again that he has no consideration for the people of the country, and would rather give his support over to the businesses who give money to his campaign.

Welcome to America. We have the best government money can buy. Don’t worry about the people, we’ll bring them under control, and then you can do anything you want as long as it’s profitable and puts money into my campaign coffers. Maybe Obama should have checked the voting records of his potential running mates rather than going with someone who was simply reported to have some foreign policy experience. (Hint: Biden voted for the war in Iraq. He doesn’t have any credibility in the foreign policy arena.)

Obama, you not only made a bad choice, you’ve now proven to this voter that I can’t trust you to turn this country around since you’ve chosen as a running mate someone who helped get us in this position in the first place, and whose voting record proves that he has no interest in the citizens of this country.

What really fries my cookies, is that I still have to vote for you because the alternative is even worse. I want a country and a leadership I can be proud. I thought this time I just might get it. Now, I just hope that in four more years, I get my wish. I only hope America hasn’t been completely dismantled by then. When will the Democrats give me a candidate I can vote for? I’m sick of only being allowed to vote against the greater evil, and then having to live with the lesser.