apple juice

now, I am an obama supporter, and i believe that given our choices, obama is the better direction for the country. but i have some criticisms.

in his new energy plan, released yesterday, there is only brief mention of actually getting at the root cause of our energy consumption:

Build More Livable and Sustainable Communities
Over the long term, we know the amount of fuel we we will use is directly related to our land use decisions and development patterns. For the last 100 years, our communities have been organized around the principle of cheap gasoline. Barack Obama believes that we must devote substantial resources to repairing our roads and bridges. He also believes that we must devote significantly more attention to investments that will make it easier for us to committed to reforming driving and public transit.

so that’s it? no plan to fund transit solutions? no plan for high-speed commuter and intercity rail? not one mention of trains or rail in the whole thing.

i say throw some support behind solutions that are going to get cars off the road. like flying cars. (thanks doug!)

here’s a little background on McCain’s campaign manager. This link, circa 2006, comes to us from the always excellent talking points memo.

John McCain has signed up GOP operative Terry Nelson as his campaign manager — yep, that would be the same Terry Nelson who produced the infamous, racially-charged “bimbo” ad attacking Dem Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford, Jr.

that ad makes me vomit a bit in the back of my throat every time I see it.

read more: McCain Hires Strategist Behind Harold Ford “Bimbo” Ad As Campaign Manager

this heads up from TPM comes as they recount the last week of gutterball from McCain

good article examining why mccain has taken the low road. too bad obama is a bit hamstrung on fighting dirty since he has championed a “new kind of politics”.

McCain Makes Historic First Visit to Internet

In a daring bid to wrench attention from his Democratic rival in the 2008 presidential race, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) today embarked on an historic first-ever visit to the Internet.

Given that the Arizona Republican had never logged onto the Internet before, advisors acknowledged that his first visit to the World Wide Web was fraught with risk.

Priceless. (There’s a bit too much truth in this though, it’s almost scary.)

after a long and heated discussion about politics and the economy with my uncle and grandpa last night, which ended with my grandpa saying “we’re still buddies, right?” (“yes, of course we are!”, I replied), I’ve found something I agree with republicans on.

john culberson, republican representative of texas is waging a battle over the use of “new media” tools to communicate with his constituents. basically he uses twitter to update people on what he is working on.

Michael Campuano democrat of Pennsylvania proposed rules that would require approval before posting video to Youtube. I don’t really understand his reasons.

Actually, as it turns out, its not really a Democrat vs. Republican thing, it’s more of a generational fight.

How awesome would it be if all of our representatives and congresspeople were required to update their constituents on a blog. Discuss their reasoning on key votes. Post their reactions to news and current events.

Is that too much to ask?

if you’ve read my site, you probably have a fairly good read on my politics. i consider myself to be a fairly open-minded person though, and if a good idea comes along, regardless of party or platform, i’m willing to support it.

and so, after watching this inspiring video, i would hearby like to announce:

i’m voting republican

sorry, I couldn’t resist: