Fury & Sadness & Speaking Out, Finally

I had lost any respect I had for Colin Powell when he gave that speech before the United Nations when he knew better. He was a big reason the United Nations essentially gave the thumbs up to the U.S. to go to war with Iraq. He has great responsibility for the men and women and children who have died in Iraq. Yesterday, however, he spoke quite eloquently on why he is voting for Obama. He talks about how divisive the Republican Party and John McCain have been. He talked about John McCain giving the wrong answer when someone "accused" Obama of being Arab. Being a decent human being and being a Muslim are not mutually exclusive! He talked about a young soldier who died in Iraq: a U.S. soldier who was Muslim.

Anyway, listen and see what you think.

I have been stunned and saddened by the racist, bigoted, and McCarthy-era tactics the Republican party has been using in its desperation to win this coming election. I listened to a Congresswoman from Minnesota channel McCarthy as she "challenged" the media to investigate "un-American" Senators and Congress people (including Senator Obama). Chris Matthews kept asking her questions and let her hang herself with her own words. I think he should have been much tougher on her, myself. (I just found this Huffington Post article on it and they use the same words I did—channeling McCarthy.) It was terrifying watching and listening to her. She equated being liberal and leftist to being anti-American. Now the Republicans have thrown up (vomitted, really) the evil "socialist" word because Obama said he wanted to spread the wealth. Are people really that stupid?

Maybe.

I'm not saying people who disagree with me are stupid. I think it's stupid and ignorant to vote for McCain or anyone else because you've heard that Obama is socialist, leftist, Muslim, or anti-American. He is none of those things. He is a little right of center, actually. I wish he were more socialist and leftist and I wouldn't care if he was Muslim. And I don't even know what being anti-American means. Being critical of something doesn't mean you're "anti" it. When you're critical of your children are you anti-child? Or anti-your child?

I got a chill this morning when I learned that there are already problems with early voting. In West Virginia, when people vote for Obama at some voting stations, it automatically changes the vote to McCain.

If this is happening all over the United States, or even in a few key states, this could mean the right is stealing the election again. (I do believe the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen.) And if that happens again, we must rise up as Americans and demand action. As Thomas Jefferson said, there are times when revolution is needed. It's one thing if a candidate wins fair and square. But rigging election machines puts us right down there with third world dictators.

No matter what, please go out and vote. Tell everyone. Help people get to the polls. If you can vote early, vote early. If you haven't registered yet, it's probably too late and I can only say: What were you thinking?

Carry on!