03
03
I’m headed to a hoe-down sort of Super Bowl party which may be so devastating because I’m either expecting a rout or a miracle.
I’m going with rout, but you know, the beer is cold.
Anyway, here’s some stuff I saw on the tubes and I’m doing one of those lists that Short and Fat hates but I’m feeling all listy today so here we go:
And there you go. Headed to my hoe down. Hope you have a lovely Super Bowl experience.
And GO GIANTS! Sorry Leblanc.
It just doesn’t get old for me.
03
I’ve spoken to several of you around the state about an experimental project that I’m working on with some fantastic bloggers around the state. In trying to explain it, I found that when you are a part of something cutting edge, it’s hard to break it down simply. If you notice on the right hand sidebar of this blog, there is a RSS feed that is constantly linking the stories we find. You can see, you guys have a lot to say.
This morning, Jack Lail did break it down for folks which was greatly appreciated. I asked him if I could post this in it’s entirety but I’m only going to post the explanation under the jump as it very long yet very comprehensive because I want you to go see the site.
Read Lail’s take of what we are doing in Tennessee. And then head to the site to see who’s been spotlighted. It’s been a combination of traditional news outlets as well as bloggers who are discussing their perceptions of Super Tuesday.
Here’s the best Tennessee election coverage that can be found on the Internet.
A bold statement, but arguably true.
03
Two days and then we go to the polls although I believe a lot of you already have done that but I waited.
I waited because I wasn’t sure about who I wanted to vote for and I also waited because I needed to sit down and comprehensively read the issues. Honestly, I liked John Edwards platform the best overall but I wasn’t sold on a couple of things and I wavered between him and Obama. A year ago I wrote that I needed the candidates to talk to folks like me with intelligence and without the spin. If I’m honest, that still hasn’t happened so I went looking for them, gunning to see what would work for me and what would not. My optimism of my twenties and thirties when it came to the presidential race where I knew what I wanted in a president has sadly faded.
This year, I made a list of things that were important to me and weighed the pros and cons of each candidate. I studied their websites’ issues pages. I watched the candidates whittled out during the debates over the past couple of months. I listened to spin and blogs and weeded out folks that were shilling for their candidates and analyzed for my personal knowledge the truth between the real and the shill.
I thought about the one thing where my cynicism has been prevalent because I do believe whoever wins the presidency is going to have a lot of cleaning up to do. The executive privileges that were signed in to give the White House more control has been on my mind. The nightmare of Hurricane Katrina. The sad fact that this country had the support and good will of much of the world after 9/11 and how that was squandered.
And then I thought about how our government sold us a big whopping package of fear when I thought and was raised to believe that my country was about the hope of many. The poor, the downtrodden, anyone could indeed live the American dream with a bit of hard work and that things were possible. That we were the great American Melting Pot.
Because those were the things I was taught about my country, but I don’t feel that now with our current administration.
Many of the democrats have been a huge disappointment walking blindly behind any decision that the Rove/Bush/Cheney crew made that include a loss of some civil liberties and blatant disregard for common rights of each and every American. Borrowing money from other countries that will be passed on to my nieces and generations to come. Making the words “immigrant” and “gay” into dirty words said with a sneer and misconceptions by using Mainstream Media outlets to push a divisive agenda.
The democrats have dirt on their hands too for not being brave and following the issues that made me believe when I was in my younger years. They were never perfect. What is? But they aligned with my personal belief system.
As the democrats who are left in the race basically have very few difference in the issues they both say they will fight for, I made my mind up on who will get my vote Tuesday. Their platforms are basically the same when you break it down to its simplest form. We can nitpick it to death, but there aren’t that many fundamental differences in their platforms.
And that person will be Barack Obama.
It wasn’t the news or blogs that helped me make this decision.
It was simply I believe he will represent us globally the best. And I think he can unify this nation because we need it.
Do I think he will be perfect? No, I don’t. Do I think he will cure cancer, have a chicken in every pot and fight the dragons roaming the horizon? No.
But I do believe he is the candidate that is best for these turbulent times and I will give my one vote to him.
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