VIVA OBAMA!

After all these days of ranting and wailing, Palin made me do it. She finally made me get off my ass and go campaign for Barack Obama. Why do I care you ask, here is why.

1. I am a woman. I have enough confidence and certainly am not so insecure that I need a bimbo running for VP to make me feel intelligent. I am not going to just sit here and watch this stupid woman (Palin) go on and on about God's will in Iraq.
2. I live in America. I care. Whether or not I like it, the same laws and regulations apply to me. While I cannot vote to change them, I can campaign to influence them.
3. I love the people here. I recently traveled to Europe and everything was beautiful no doubt. I visited France, Germany, Netherlands and Italy. There were friendly people there but there were also quite a few racists. And these racists were in big cities like Frankfurt and Milan. One thing we learnt from our trip is that the Americans are the friendliest people we have met. I should exclude Amsterdam from this or Paris for that matter. People in Amsterdam and Paris
were very helpful.

The bottom line being, I now campaign for Barack Obama. I am so inspired that I and a couple of friends decided to go watch him speak in Espanola, NM. We got there at 7:30am. The gates were supposed to open only at 10:30. So we stood there under the sun, eating burritos and sharing our worries with other people. When it was finally 10:30, they let us in. I thought Obama was scheduled to speak at 11:30 but to our horror, we found ourselves standing there in the scorching heat for 3.5 hrs more to see him. People were fainting all around me, others were hungry and thirsty. I thought, "what a way to campaign in NM. People are going to be so angry by the time he shows up that he is not going to get any votes." I couldn't have been more wrong. As soon as Obama stepped onto the stage, there was so much enthusiasm in the air. People cheering, chanting "Viva Obama", "Si se puede" and there were even some war chants from native Americans. Obama was terrific. I was in the third row and I could almost see the pores in his skin. He was beautiful, intelligent, articulate and best of all, seemed like one of us. We actually felt like he was conversing with us as opposed to delivering a speech using a prompter. To put in a nutshell, I think he is going to win NM. NM will be playing a big role in this election. If Obama wins all the Kerry states + Iowa, NM and Colorado, he will clinch the presidency. He will not need Ohio and Florida anymore. I truly hope that this happens and will do everything I can to help him.

VIVA OBAMA!!!

BTW someone from dailykos the left-wing website interviewed and put up pictures of some of us. Here it is!!!

The Grand Old Party

Last week, after I got back home tired and exhausted, I decided to watch MSNBC. I must confess, MSNBC tends to suffer from a strong liberal bias at times and I would rather listen to news that is bipartisan. But considering that my only other options are CNN and FOX, I think I'd rather stick to MSNBC. Anyway, I was home watching the Democratic National Convention when I heard a knock on my door. I opened to find my rather nice but extremely conservative landlord standing there. As soon as he saw what I was watching, he commented "Oh did you know that Obama said he would take away the 'nukelar' weapons from countries like India and China if he became President". I had never heard of such a statement, and I watch a lot of TV. I retorted, "What? Do you actually believe he could do that? India did not even sign the NPT, and you think Obama can take away their weapons. Maybe you do not know about India's history, they rarely succumb to USA's threats." Then he said, "I actually have video footage in which Obama declares he is going to shut down weapons research in the US." I merely laughed. "I am a pacifist who believes in Gandhi. That being said, no President of the US will ever have the courage to do something that risky". Now he had to attack Obama's health care plan. "With Obama's plan, we have to pay 500$ more a month on health care and we already have trouble making ends meet. But McCain's plan will help us save money. He will give the people a tax break". Having just returned from Europe, I was telling him about the effective and functional health care people in Germany have and all he had to say was "But that's because America is paying for their defense. They can afford to pay for health care". But who the **** asked America to still pay for Germany's defense? Aren't they a developed country now? Doesn't America have ulterior motives in doing this? It is high time they get out and pay for their citizens. This was the last straw really. These people do not realize what they are talking about. If he thinks he is having trouble making ends meet, what about all those people who live in trailers and cannot afford health care? What about my friend who just returned from Iraq, traumatized and has virtually lost precious years of his life and is learning high-school math at the age of 30? My landlord truly symbolises the John McBush voters who think people who make less than 5 million dollars a year are middle class [sic]. And now McCain has chosen Palin as his VP candidate. You must be kidding me! This is an insult to Hillary voters and all women in general. Does he think women are so stupid not to see the ploy? These two women are diametrically opposite. While Palin is a beauty contest winner, Hillary actually strived to get bills passed and worked for women, not against them. While I respect Palin for choosing to keep her last baby even though she knew he would suffer from Down syndrome, I do not respect her views to force others to do the same. Her choice is hers, but she has no business telling others what they should or should not do with their bodies. What was McBush thinking? If something happened to him during his term, considering the fact that he is old, is this the kind of woman who will take over the most powerful country in the world? Give me a break. She doesn't even believe global warming is because of mankind [sic]. What does she think? That a bunch of beavers chewed acres of forests down? And McCain lost my respect when he said this about Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton. And this is a party of 'FAMILY VALUES'. I am getting more and more nervous as each day passes by.

Obama or Clinton?

This question seems obsolete now since Obama did win the primaries. But are they really that different? I am not so sure. The only real difference I see between them is that Obama voted against the Iraq war. Now, this also seems to be a point of contention as Bill Clinton said "You said in 2004 there was no difference between you and George Bush on the war, and you took that speech you're now running on off your Web site in 2004. There's no difference in your voting record and Hillary's ever since. Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen,". Obama is slowly losing my admiration as he turns into the person he once criticized. I admired him for bringing in most of his campaign money from small donors and not from Washington lobbyists or hedge funds. But now, apparently Clinton is "introducing" him to her top donors. He fell a notch right there. Being African American, I though he would be able to bring people of different races together. But after reading this NY Times article, I not only feel angry but sad. Sad for those muslims who had reached out to him and seen hope, only to be rebuffed. Some people say they like him because he is different from Clinton on issues that matter most. What issues? If it is war mongering, then sorry to say, I am not so sure Obama will not take us to war again. He did say that he would leave all options on the table when it comes to Iran. Finally, his speech at AIPAC drove me mad. I understand that he needs Jewish votes, but this strong partisan support for Israel made my blood boil. Any time I see a government offering unstinted support to a country, something is awfully wrong. Support should be offered based on the issue at hand, not because you have been allies forever or because you will lose some religious votes. The last thing America needs is to go to war with a country like Palestine in order to support Israel. Are we really going to see change? The democrats control the congress, if indeed they were interested in changing something, it should have happened a year ago. But has anything changed since they took over congress last year? No. Is anything going to change if they win the election this year? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is for sure, my hope is dwindling and dwindling fast. I miss Kucinich.

This is awesome!!!

Prison gets exam centre status

V.S. Palaniappan

Coimbatore: The Coimbatore Central Prison becomes the first prison in the State to get the status of a Government examination centre for enabling prisoners to take 10th and 12th standard examinations.

Talking to The Hindu, the DIG of Prisons, Coimbatore range holding additional charge of Coimbatore Central Prison, P. Munivelu, said that prisons should become centres for transformation of the victims of circumstances. The process initiated four years ago was pursued meticulously by Sister Selvi of Prisoner’s Ministry under instructions from the Additional Director-General of Police, Prisons, A. Subramanian.
Attitude

While serving a sentence at the prison, the prisoner should undergo reformation and corrective procedures to change their attitude and mindset. Basic education would enable transformation and eliminate the feeling of revenge.

Thus, prisons instead of being punishment centres could play a reformative and corrective role effectively, Mr. Munivelu said. In addition, formal education would help in making them equipped for employment so as to ensure their rehabilitation on discharge. Towards this objective, already the prison was offering opportunities under the distance education programme of a university for undergraduate courses.

Focusing on those who had the required age and serving life sentence, the prison administration through Collector Neeraj Mittal approached the Directorate of Government Examinations. Out of 2,400-odd prisoners, 96 will appear for Std. VIII, 76 for Std. X and 30 for Plus Two examinations in October this year. Once the process starts, more prisoners were likely to evince interest, he said.

Besides the Collector, two teachers deputed from Valar Kalvi scheme were also making efforts to rope in the services of voluntary organisations in bringing in teachers to provide coaching to the willing prisoners five days a week so as to enable them to take examinations with confidence.

In addition, 15 teachers from NGOs along with seven graduate prisoners would help in teaching the inmates, Mr. Munivelu added.

GRAVEL AT DARTMOUTH DEBATE: "WE'RE STARTING A WAR RIGHT NOW"

Senator Mike Gravel, appearing in the Democratic presidential debate on Sept. 27 in Hanover, N.H., wasted no time laying out his plan to force an end to the Iraq War.

When asked by moderator Tim Russert how Senator Gravel would overcome the deadlock on passing legislation to end the war, he responded: "You stop the debate [over ending the war] by voting every single day on cloture. Twenty days, and you'll overcome cloture. The president vetoes the law. It comes back to the Congress. And in the House at noon every single day you vote to override the president's veto. You tell me that the votes aren't there-you go get them by the scruff of the neck, that's what you do. You make them vote."

Questioned by Russert if he was suggesting that the candidates suspend their campaigns to end the war, Senator Gravel responded: "If it stops the killing-my God, yes-do it."

The Senator then turned his attention to a vote that New York Senator Hillary Clinton had cast earlier in the day on a nonbinding resolution, known as the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which sanctions a U.S. attack on Iran.

"We're just starting a war right today," said Senator Gravel. "There was a vote in the Senate today. Joe Lieberman, who authored the Iraq resolution, has offered another resolution, and it is essentially a fig leaf to let George Bush go to war with Iran. I want to congratulate Biden for voting against it, Dodd for voting against it. And I am ashamed of you, Hillary, for voting for it."

The topic turned to immigration and whether the candidates would allow safe havens or "sanctuary cities" for undocumented aliens.

"We're scapegoating the Latinos of our society because we as a society are failing in education, we're failing in healthcare, we're failing in our crumbling infrastructure, and we're failing by invading countries and spending our treasure," said Senator Gravel. "That's what's wrong. And so I'm ashamed as an American to be building a fence on our southern border. That's not the America that I fought for."

Gravel was the only candidate to respond affirmatively to Russert's question concerning lowering the drinking age to 18.

"I think we should lower it so anybody that could go fight and die for this country should be able to drink," answered Senator Gravel.

Later, Senator Gravel pushed his plan for a carbon tax to wean America off its addiction to oil.

"We can get off the gasoline in five years, and we can get off of carbon in 10 years. All we have to do is want to do it," said Senator Gravel. "[If] we put a tax on gasoline, [this] permits politicians and bureaucrats to play favorites. You do it right at the lump of coal, and you do it at the gas, and you do it at the oil, and then that filters through the system properly."

When asked if he supported nuclear power, Senator Gravel responded emphatically: "Not at all. The solution, obviously, is wind power. If we manufactured 5 million of these 2.5 meg windmills across the country, we could electrify the entire nation-the entire nation."

Russert closed the debate by questioning the candidates on their favorite Bible verse. The Senator responded: "The most important thing in life is love. That's what empowers courage, and courage implements the rest of our virtues."

Source: www.gravel2008.us

Brr.... its winter.

Summer is fun where I live. Tons of outdoor activities; hiking, trekking, mountain climbing, rafting and such. This place turned me into an outdoor person. I was having fun with my hiking and trekking and here comes winter, bringing all my activities to a screeching halt. My friends have promised to take me cross-country skiing (regular skiing passes are outrageously expensive, about 700$ dollars for the season) this winter, let's see how far I go with it!!!

KUCINICH FOR PRESIDENT!!!!

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