I know, another post on Politics. I’m writing this on the 26th but scheduled it to be made public later so they don’t all hit at the same time.

At the beginning of this month, Dutch posted a link to an article that mentioned that Senator John McCain did not participate in the extremely common act of political “Pork-Barrel Spending” or “Earmarks” … For the confused, in a nutshell, this is where politicians request federal funding for projects. I promise, I wasn’t ignoring you Dutch, I just sorta forgot about the comment and lost track of it in everything else that was going on.

Anyway, the point of this entry is to point out that Obama does participate in this practice. It’s also to point out that he made his earmarks for 2008 public to improve government transparency. I was poking around earlier trying to find this particular list and noted that it was a little tough to find unless you were actually looking for it. Since I already did the leg work, I thought I would share the information with everyone.

Obama’s 2008 Federal Funding Requests

Read through a bunch of entries on that list. I believe the sum total of funding requests that he made came up to around $300 million, but specifically note the type of requests that were made. I read through most of the list before my eyes got tired, so I did note a few questionable ones, but I did note a lot of places where some federal money could go to some extremely good use.

I don’t necessarily agree with pork spending, especially in excess. Although, if it’s gonna be done, I like the way he does it. Not only is he honest (his list is public), but a lot of the projects he would see the funding invested in are (what I would consider) noble efforts.

To hit the point of economic policy, because Dutch also brought up policies that McCain supported, I’m just going to post a link to Obama’s Economic Plan. I think it sums things up far better than I could.

Obama’s Economic Plan

Was sitting in the living room of the apartment a couple days ago and somehow the subject of politics came up in conversation. The air in the room immediately got tense enough to cut it with a knife. As most of you know, I’m not a big fan of the uninformed, and it became quickly apparent that one person in the room didn’t have a clue what he was talking about (he supports Hillary Clinton, blech).

In any case, since he obviously didn’t know what Barack Obama’s position on Iraq was before we went in, I’m posting a link here to the full-text of his speech in 2002. As a bonus, you also get the link to the full-text of Ron Paul’s speech on Iraq from the same year. His is particularly important because it hits the points of Iraq’s military capabilities, their “acts of aggression” against the United States (everyone please remember the Persian Gulf War — also keep in mind that the U.S. has still been bombing Iraq since well before September 11th), Iraq’s sponsorship of terrorism, the attempted assassination of George Bush, Sr. (note that gives Jr. a personal reason for attacking Iraq and we all know what happens to judgement in those types of circumstances), the Weapons of Mass Destruction, and more.

First of all, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Saddam Hussein is gone just as much as the next guy. Even more so, now that I’ve had a chance to read some of Ruzena’s father’s book. What peeves me to no end is that we have no established “goal” for this war and it’s becoming another Vietnam. If our goal would’ve been to get in, take out Saddam, and get out, not only would this have been over a long time ago, but I think the American people would’ve supported it more, even today. Instead, September 11th was used as a cover for political motives, throwing us into an undeclared war that has no end in sight.

Anyway, for those of you who are still confused about Obama’s position on the Iraq War before it started, read on. As for Ron Paul’s speech, you can read and decide for yourself. Think I’m wrong? I want to hear about it. Post a comment and let me know why.

Barack Obama’s Iraq Speech
Ron Paul’s Iraq Speech

For those of you who are unaware, Ruzena’s father is in the Navy. He was deployed to Iraq a couple years ago. Thankfully, he made it home safe and sound. He wrote a book about his experiences, which I highly recommend to anyone who really wants to know what’s going on there, directly from someone who was there. I’ve got my copy and have been reading through it, as I have time. It’s very well-written and does an excellent job of conveying how things were for him.

Get to it on Amazon, by clicking the book cover below. It’s not that expensive, and you’ll learn a lot from it.

Edit: Amazon’s currently sold out, at the moment. Get it at eCampus, or (if the site will work for you) search for ISBN (9781604418613) on Publish America.

Digg It

American? Voting Democrat? Can’t decide between Hillary and Obama? Surely, you’re not voting for that war-mongering, piece of trash, wanna-be-straight-talking, I-don’t-know-anything-about-economics, another-100-years-in-Iraq-is-fine-with-me, face-it-people-this-man-is-Bush-with-a-different-name McCain, right?

Read this. Now.

No.

I’m glad Barack Obama took the time to explain his religious conviction and how it relates to the way it drives his views, as well as how he understands that we live in a country that is not only Christian.

(more…)

I’m looking for a way to get in touch with Congressman Ron Paul regarding a … rather important issue that I can’t detail publicly here. If anyone who may read this happens to have information on any possible way to contact him, via postal mail, e-mail, going to any upcoming appearances, anything … Please let me know. I’m willing to travel to get the information that I need, so don’t worry about location if I have to go to some appearance.

The more information on this subject, the better. Thanks.