Obama vs McCain

I was talking to my wife about the election today, and I have a few thoughts that I'd like to write down.

We live in a fantastic country.  Soldiers have died to protect our right to choose our leaders.  I think it's important to take advantage of the opportunity to vote, and I think it's even more important to choose wisely.  If you vote for Senator Obama, do it because you have a good reason to believe he's the better candidate.  The same goes for John McCain.  

In my opinion, the three most important issues to consider are:

1. Do you want the new supreme court justices that will be appointed by the next president to be left of center, or right of center?
2. Do you think rich people should pay more taxes?
3. Do you think Obama or McCain would be better at bringing peace and stability to Iraq?

There are a lot of other important issues, but I'm not really convinced that the President has much control over them.   Creating universal health care, fixing social security and medicaid, creating good jobs, and leading us to "energy independence" are all fantastic ideas, but more likely than not, they will be empty promises (you really think anyone could pull that off in 4 or 8 years?). 

Supreme Court:

The next president will appoint 3 or 4 new justices to the supreme court.  Obama will most likely appoint "liberal" judges, and McCain will appoint "conservative" judges.  I think the more appropriate titles would be "progressive" and "traditional". 

There are strong policy reasons to prefer either option.  Progressives usually work to interpret or adapt the constitution in a way that they feel is more appropriate for this day and age.  Traditionals usually work to interpret the constitution based on what the founders intended.  (There are many exceptions though)

How do you feel about taking guns away from innocent people to protect innocent people from criminals.?

Should suspected terrorists get the same due process rights as those suspected of non-terrorist crimes?

Should women have the right to choose to abort a pregnancy up to the point of viability? (Based on the theory that if the fetus hasn't developed to the point where it can live on its own then it's still part of the mom.  Roe v. Wade)

Should the government be able to wiretap phone lines without getting specific warrants?

Should the government be able to censor speech on network television?

Should the voters be able to define "marriage"?

Taxes:

The rich already pay more taxes then the poor, but they have the money right?   

Don't most rich people get rich off the hard work of the middle class?

Should the income over $250k gained from investments be taxed at 15% or 28%?

Who makes better use of the money?  The Government by investing in social programs and infastructure?  or the rich by investing in business and industry?

Will investors look elsewhere if the tax rate goes up to 28%?

Iraq:

Whether you agree with the war or not, we're stuck with it.  Iran is trying to get nuclear capabilities, and they want to destroy Israel.  We might get off oil at some point in the future, but in the meantime we need a stable oil supply.  Will a Senator with more support in the world, fantastic diplomacy potential, and communication skills handle the situation better than a Senator with more experience and a history as an Admiral in the Navy and a prisoner of war?

It's important to ask yourself these questions before you vote.  If you don't think these are important questions, then find out what you think is important.  This country will be fine as long as those who live here try their best to make wise decisions.

Nose

I really don't like having a stuffy nose, and I'm sure you can all relate... I try to sleep, but I really only reach a wierd half sleep state where I keep waking up because I think I need to do something. Like the other night, I was half-asleep, and I thought I really needed to take the pillowcases off all the pillows on the bed. I got my pillowcase off really fast, but I had trouble with the rest (imaginary). I must have worked for 5 minutes on on trying to take that big pillow case (the sheet) off before waking up.

I hate it even worse when one nostril clogs. What the H? Don't they connect or something? It's always my right nostril. After it clogs I feel like I'm going to spin around every time I breathe, or like the right side of my head is going to cave in.

Why did God even give us two nostrils? So little boys can shove toy cars up one and still breathe? So farmers can do snot rockets? Why don't people smoke through their nose? It seems like that would be really convenient. You could just hold one (or TWO) death sticks and puff away. Then you could still talk to people and eat and drink at the same time!. It would make even more sense if you had independent lungs so you could drink water and talk at the same time. Just close one lung down while you drink and sing with the other. (OK, maybe that's useless).

I guess it's just a mystery.

Where's the Pain?

Getting in shape is painful.
Going to law school is painful.
Fixing the largest economy in the world is EASY!!! Same goes for developing efficient alternative energy, protecting national security, and bringing the parties together: easy, easy, and EASY! Wait a second. . . that doesn't make any sense.
Where's the pain? Accomplishing anything important is usually hard, and healing almost always hurts. When I tore a big hole in my arm on a road that came out of nowhere, my arm was filled with infection. Every day, the nurses had to jam salted paper deep into the wound in order to fight off infection so my arm could heal. I didn't like that; it sucked. The doctors could have told me to relax and sip smoothies while my arm just healed itself. The wound might have closed and function might have returned to my arm, but the flesh would have slowly decayed and the damage would have been far worse.
Sometimes you have to fight through the pain before the true healing can begin. Many politicians and citizens in this country think that with a little clever accounting and increased "fairness" all of our mistakes will be erased.
No savings? No problem
Bought the '08 sports car when you should have taken home the '98 sedan? Good on ya!
It is insane to believe that there will be no painful consequences to ridiculous amounts of credit card debt, an irresponsible lack of personal savings, and out of control government spending. I was really sad to hear John McCain say it would be "easy" to fix social security and medicare problems. I am also irritated by Senator Obama's continual reliance on his tax cut for 95% of people to relieve the financial pinch. The only real solutions to our economic problems are Innovation, hard work, sacrifice, and faith. The government needs to roto rooter the credit clog, and they need to create policies that promote investment and small business growth, but that's not enough. I hope the government and churches will be there to help when honest people need them, but the "I can have whatever I want now and I don't have to wait" attitude needs to go away NOW, and people need to stop expecting the government to clean up their messes.

Baseball is amazing

I don't expect the majority of you to understand. The process of explaining why it's amazing to a non-believer is VERY difficult (actually impossible). It would be like trying to explain that jazz music is amazing to someone who only likes Rock and Roll--it's possible that they could acquire a taste for jazz music, but no combination of logical and emotional testimony alone would convince them.
I don't want to offend any of you impatient football-only fans, but I'm sorry that the seemingly endless slow grind of baseball is too much for you to handle. Don't get me wrong--football is AWESOME, but it's like bungee jumping, and sometimes I'm looking for more satisfaction that exhilaration. There is nothing quite so lovely as watching your team finally win it all after about 178 games. (I haven't had the time this year, so I'm a bandwagoner this october)

Serious flaws in other sports:
College football:
The championship is largely decided by a group of voters. Voters... seriously? Many of them are coaches and are too busy trying to win their own games. It's time for a playoff.

NFL:
No multiple game series. The superbowl is one game, I think it should be best of 3 at least, but that would take an extra month or so, which would require patience.

Basketball:
So much is determined by the refs. I know that balls and strikes can determine a baseball game, but at least there are clearly defined rules defining a ball and a strike. In basketball Jordan could sort of push off of Russel as long as he didn't push off too hard. What?

Hockey:
It's on ice. Where exactly was I supposed to play little league hockey in St. George, Utah?

Tennis:
Tennis is incredible. I love tennis. I will withold the explanation for another post.