...I have any readers anymore, and I've pretty much lost interest in writing pointless crap about myself anyway. I think this experiment is over.

Adios.

So I thought I'd write something.

It's been a while since I put my own thoughts down in words.

I had my own personal little mini campaign going on over here for a while there. Now that the race is over, I'd like to put the whole thing into the past and look to the future. I'm optimistic for this president. I'm not really optimistic for our nation.

We're in dire straits here, folks. The economy is on its way to tanking at least as bad if not worse than the Great Depression. Socio-economic and political pressure will come at us from many sides for a long time. The United States of America in the next year will look much different from the one we see today. And who knows how that picture will change between now and then.

But, I can't do anything about that.

Not much else is on my mind at the moment. I'm blissfully unaware of the world around me, stuck in video games and the euphoria of Obama's victory. And you know what? I don't care that I'm in that place. Because it works for now. Reality will come. And I'm not going anywhere.

Come on people. There are much better reasons to choose a candidate than blind fear.

"I don't want to sound like an absolute moron, but hurr durr ormf ormf ormf gargle."

That makes about as much sense as some of these people. Racism, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. I guess it's the only leg they have to stand on anymore. Wait, no. That's being too charitable. There's no excuse for turning off your brain like this.

Hoo boy. Take a look at this one. Can't we get the debates back into the hands of a non-partisan group and do away with turning them into nothing but hour-and-a-half long campaign ads? Politics-as-usual and the fear of risk really hurts the American public in getting to know the candidates that are vying for the highest office of the land.

Sorry, I couldn't get the embedded player to work, so you're going to have to click the link above.

There are 2 groups in the video below. McCain supporters who espouse hatred and fear of Islam, and McCain supporters, both non-Islamic and Islamic, who decry this blatant bigotry.



A little better. Now if we can just get McCain himself to dispel this kind of stuff...

Dr. James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, has grown tired of the bigotry wielded by the McCain campaign in the (rather successful) attempt to get supporters riled up. Sadly, McCain, in what looked like a moment of regret, trying to calm the fires he stoked, missed a golden opportunity to not just calm the fears he's cultivated over his opponent in this campaign, but also calm the fears surrounding that particular ethnicity. Then again, perhaps it was wise of him not to try. Doing so would've probably turned the crowd against him and sunk his campaign right then and there.

After this bigoted garbage ended up distributed throughout Ohio, and many other swing states, someone has taken it upon him or her self to spray a chemical irritant into a mosque in Dayton, Ohio, in a room where the children were kept during prayer. The distribution of the DVD may be a coincidence, but the timing is rather dramatic.

I have personally known Muslims. The university I went to fostered many international students, and even international professors, among them Muslims. I had a Muslim roommate in college. He became a good friend. They are, by the vast majority, no different than any other people in the world. And now, Americans debase themselves by taking on the tactics of the terrorists they so ardently fear: attacking innocents simply because of association.

This is disgusting behavior. The person who did this is no countryman of mine.

You've probably noticed the political bent my blog has taken recently. This is because certain folks I know are using irrational arguments, bordering on bigotry, against Barack Obama, lowering the political discourse below the issues, encouraging the promotion of lies, slander, and non-issues as part of the campaign. Some of these folks are McCain supporters. Others just seem to be anti-Obama. Most of them are listening to right-wing pundits that spread these lies and rumors. They shut off their brains and close off their ears to reason and rational discussion, and ignore issues in favor of bringing down a candidate.

I am going political so much because I'm of the opinion that if you disagree with a candidate for office, find reasons that his policies or ideas disagree with how you want things to be run, and have rational backing for those reasons. Don't listen to Hannity, or Limbaugh, or Savage, or any of the extreme right pundits that spread lies. This is not reason. These are not issues. It is flat out bigotry and racism. It is playing off of the fears of Americans willing to be consumed by them. It is disgraceful behavior. And it is being encouraged by folks whom I considered smarter than that. I doubt my political posts have changed their opinion. But I'd rather be honest than complicit in silence.

How could a thinking, rational American citizen ignore this message in favor of fear-mongering and slanderous, spurious rumors that Barack Obama is some kind of secret Muslim extremist?