Category: Politics

Barack Obama reaches delegate threshhold for Democratic nomination

This is our moment; this is our time. –Barack Obama, 6/3/08 I’m excited. His victory speech was very moving and very gracious. Can’t say so much for Hillary Clinton’s speech, which all but sealed my suspicions of her narcissistic personality disorder. But back to Obama…I’m pretty sure that this is the first time that any speech, let alone a politician’s speech, has nearly moved me to tears. Or maybe I was just so happy to be able to open my bottle of champagne, which was waiting for him to acknowledge his victory. So yeah…on to Denver, and then…the White House!...

A quick thought about presidents…

So I’m sitting here watching the returns from the Puerto Rico Democratic primary, just like I was watching the DNC rules committee yesterday decide what to do about Michigan and Florida. Now, I realize that if you go by the rules and the numbers, that it is more or less impossible for Hillary Clinton to get the nomination. However, her supporters it seems will stop at nothing, including a floor fight at the convention, to get it for her, and she all but outright encourages their despicable and divisive behavior. Just watch the DNC rules committee proceedings from yesterday; it’s...

Obama may not know “what it is to walk into battle” but he does understand sacrifice

I’m a confessed political junkie. As such, I have a perhaps unhealthy addiction to the CNN Political Ticker blog. This entry discusses a part of a Memorial Day speech that Barack Obama gave earlier today in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The full speech, about 9 minutes long, which is linked on the left, is worth a look if you’ve got time to spare. It’s probably not his best speech, but it is quite moving and I find it to be refreshingly genuine. However, this entry isn’t really about this speech, but about the perceptions regarding presidential candidates and military service,...

A musing on gas prices…

First of all, let me start out by stating the following: I don’t own a car. I don’t drive. I don’t even have a driver’s license. I meet all of the legal (and most of the financial) qualifiers to do all of these things, but I don’t. The reasons for this are varied and numerous, and I shall not get into them. The price of gas, however, still matters to me. It should matter to everyone, really, as it affects more than just the wallets of those poor, ignorant souls who regularly drive their land-yachts with no other passengers for...

Lawmakers lack knowlege of technology issues

In the past couple of weeks, ZDNet has picked up two related stories (Google CEO: Techies must educate governments, 10/17/06; Chris Patten: Politicians have no grasp of technology, 10/27/06) regarding government leaders’ lack of education regarding modern science and technology. Upon reading both of them, I joked that someone needs to call Ric Romero and let him know about this “breaking news.” I was shocked — shocked, I say — to discover that the people making important decisions regarding our technological future often have no idea as to what they’re even voting on. As a courtesy to those who haven’t...