catscradle

Forget about food and gas price hikes, the budget crunch is hitting out below the belt. From Newsweek:

Feeling the Pinch
Nevada's brothels hit hard times

We're talking a 45% hit to the Las Vegas brothel scene, my friends. So start growing those gardens and buying those hybrids now and use the money you save to help support those working men and women on the Vegas Strip. And also the pharmaceutical industry, which much surely be taking a hit in the designer VD drug department. This is what Reagan must have meant by trickle down economics.

Speaking of whoring...

In Obama news, today he announced that he would opt out of public financing. What this means is that he doesn't have to worry about the spending limits and restrictions that come with spending the money of the people. When McCain did this a few months ago, the Democratic party was all over McCain and trying to determine if he violated election laws. Apparently when nothing materialize, they decided that taking the public out of the election was a good thing.

Let the corporate bidding war begin!

I was reading a blogger the other day that suggested we put the candidates on eBay so at least we could see who the highest bidder is. I think it's a damn good idea.

It's another slap in the face from reality, but one I think we all need. For all the change Obama promises, never forget the man is a politician. Political change doesn't happen by electing someone into office that buys into the same ideals as their broken party. George Bush and his administration are not the only guilty ones in what has happened to this nation over the past 8 years. It takes a hell of a lot more people that are silent and unwilling to challenge the regime that allowed the Bush crew to get away with what they did and are still doing. A Democrat Congress really hasn't changed much.

I am not suggesting a vote for McCain, which would be akin to talking a sawed off shot gun and blowing one's head off at close range. No, I am not suggesting this route. I am also not suggesting a vote for Nader, who is becoming more and more the Lyndon LaRouche of our age minus the prison term. I'm sure I will march up to my certified non-tampered voting machine, stare at it a couple of minutes, mark off all the boxes I had preselected before going back to the one for President. I will stare at it a little longer and check to make sure the receipt ribbon is full. I'll probably wonder why I didn't look into the Green candidate a little more, and then I will select Obama. This is close to what happened in 2004 when I voted for Kerry. I will walk out of there and be glued to the TV set as the election results come in. I will be praying to God that McCain doesn't win and Obama beats the snot out of him.

For me an Obama win isn't a great victory for a great man. An Obama win is proof that there is a shift in the direction of the people. The people want change. The people are tired of not only Bush, but of the status quo. Whether Obama is a real representative of this or not remains to be seen, but the people obviously want it and that's an important statement to make.

Some of you have heard that Dennis Kucinich called for a vote recount in New Hampshire. If your local news is like my local news, he sounded as though he had sour grapes over the results. This isn't the case. Check out his actual statement here:

Kucinich Asks for New Hampshire Recount in the Interest of Election Integrity

The issue seems to be that there is a disparity between the paper ballots and the machine ballots. According to the paper ballots, not only did Obama beat Clinton by a significant margin, but each of the other candidates did better than when compared by the machine ballots. Clinton was the only candidate that did better in the machine voting. Statistically, this is unlikely. While this doesn't mean that voting fraud actually occurred, it's a significant anomally that needs attention. You can take a look at the raw numbers and percentages here

CheckTheVotes.com - A Closer Look At The Count
2008 New Hampshire State Primary Results

There's also a problem with the exit polls not matching up with the election results, which was a huge problem in Ohio in 2004. It's also an interesting note that the exit poll deviations did not start occurring until the 2000 election. Food for thought.