Vice Presidential Debate

I am so glad that the vice presidential debate was a more typical debate. I think Sarah Palin showed herself to be an intelligent, resilient person and Joe Biden did nothing to hurt himself. That being said, I still don't think Sarah Palin is ready to be vice president. I am incredibly angry with John McCain and the Republican Party. I feel that she was overwhelmed with learning about "the issues" and in particular, where John McCain stands on them. I believe this is why she has been so terrible in interviews. Of course the debate was ok for her, she was a beauty pageant winner. The whole point of that is to look good to a few judges. My problem is that here is this great opportunity for a woman, and I feel that they are blowing it! I feel that had she been given some time she could have been a formidable opponent. However, she really only had a few days to realize that she was in the the national spotlight. I feel that McCain may be hurting her political future for his current one. Don't get me wrong, I am not a Palin supporter. I do not agree with her policies. But, if I have to come to terms with the fact that she could be the first female vice president, I want her to be someone qualified and ready to take control. I just don't think that is the case for her right now. I know people keep bringing up her experience versus Obama's. I seem so big differences. First of all, Obama is well aware of the national problems. He may not know everything about domestic and foreign policy, but he has general ideas on them and has already tried to bring someone in (Biden) who knows more about the things he does not. People also seem to want to push aside his years working in the state legislature of Illinois. I don't think we can forget this time. He has been working on the issues that people are concerned about for over twenty years in all different ways. He was a civil rights lawyer, he was a community activist and organizer, he was in the state legislature and he is a US Senator. Governor Palin has been doing political work for about 15 years. She started off as a city council member of a city with only 6,000 people. She then became mayor of that city. And now she served two years as governor of a small (population-wise) state. She even openly admitted she doesn't know what the vice-president does. I just don't see how we can elect someone who has every possibility of becoming the leader of this country who has zero national experience.

We'll miss you Congresswoman Tubbs Jones

Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones passed away today after suffering an aneurysm. She was the first African American woman Congresswoman from Ohio. Having grown up in a suburb of Shaker Heights, she was my Congresswoman when I first started getting interested in the political process. She was truly an inspiration to me, fellow women, African Americans, and the 11th district. In 2004, I wrote to her about a new federal law concerning student loans, and she wrote back thanking me for my response and promised to fight for the issue. In 2002, I graduated from the same high school as her son. Although I was not close with him, I have many friends who were and I wish him strength to get through this difficult time.

We have truly lost a great woman and I hope all those that were close to her my sincerest condolences.

UPDATE: Congresswoman Tubbs Jones has not passed away. She is in the hospital and the doctors say she has limited brain activity. My prayers are with her and her family.

Does this stuff actually work?

The other day, I'm walking down the street to get some lunch. I hear a car honk. I look to the street and see a silver Toyota pickup slowing down. The passenger window rolls down, and the driver looks out his window at me and gives me a line. I cannot remember exactly what was said, but the guy was hitting on me. Now, what was he expecting me to do? Did he think I would hop in his car with him? Did he think I would shout out my number at him?

I have had guys hit on me before on the street. It's usually one guy amongst a group of guys. I have had people explain this one by saying that some guys feel they have to act this way toward women when around their friends.

This doesn't explain the guy ALONE in his car. He held up traffic trying to throw me a line. Are there women out there who encourage this? I really want to know if this stuff ever works. I could maybe see a woman being intrigued by a guy on the street, but a guy in his car? Does he really think that I would get in a car with him?

I keep thinking that one time I will stop and ask one of the guys how often this stuff works. I am really curious.

Apologies

I find it interesting that the US government can make an apology to the Armenian people about something that happened in 1915, but have not apologized for slavery or the genocide of American Indians. I am not trying to say that what happened to the Armenian people wasn't genocide. I honestly don't have enough information to give an opinion.

What I do know is that this country has acted atrociously to people that were legally citizens of this country or had inhabited this country for hundreds of years. There is still no apology for almost wiping out an entire group of people. There is still no apology for hundreds of years of slavery and ripping people from their homes to bring them for free manual labor. There is no apology for the Jim Crow laws. As John Stewart informed his correspondent last night, casinos and 10 points on your college application is NOT an apology.

When is this country going to face its problems? When are we, the people, going to hold ourselves and our government responsible for our actions?

Saying hello

Hello to the blogging world! I plan to use this to discuss and rant about anything that comes to mind.