Baby Steps

So the Royals might not finish in last place! From a team that has been bad - REALLY bad - for many years, this is great news. I've been a Royals fan since I was a kid, so I've cringed seeing them with 100+ loss seasons in recent years. Not only have they been in the basement of the AL Central, but of the majors. This year, they won't even have 90 losses, and there are several teams in the majors with worse records. It's exciting! If you're not a Royals fan, you may laugh at my exuberance over such a seemingly ridiculous feat. Granted, it's not on par with KU's national championship, but at least the Royals are finally heading in the right direction. The same cannot be said for the Chiefs, who are desperately trying to take over the coveted "Kansas City's Worst Professional Sports Team". It looks like they're finally going to take that title from the Royals.

The Trash-Talk Express

John McCain's "Straight-Talk Express" has derailed. It's hitched on to the Republic attack machine, and can now be dubbed "The Trash Talk Express." I used to respect John McCain, even if I didn't always agree with his politics. At least he had morals and stood by them. At least he stood for something. As such, I thought that this election season would be an interesting comparison of Obama and McCain, and an intelligent debate about their different approaches to the presidency. But McCain's campaign quickly went negative, and hasn't looked back.
Not that Obama hasn't run negative ads, but his started much later than McCain's and are at least based in truth and the issues. McCain's focus is routinely on the periphery of politics, taking Obama quotes out of context and making untrue accusations. Lipstick on a pig? Lindsay Lohan? Are those the issues that are important to McCain? Even Karl Rove criticized McCain's negative ads. And when Karl Rove says you're ads have gone too far, then you know you've gone too far.
Obama has consistenly tried to bring the conversation back to issues and specific plans to address the problems our country faces, only to be sidetracked defending against the latest outlandish falsehood perpetuated by McCain. So much for an intelligent dialogue about the issues. References to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears put an end to that pretty quickly.
McCain is weak on economics, and has admitted as much. So apparently his plan to deal with our weakening economy... is attacking Obama. "You're taxes will go up!" Sure, if you make more than $250,000 a year. If you make less than $150,000, you're taxes will actually go down under Obama's plan. What about the cost of the war that McCain wants to continue and Obama wants to end? We shouldn't pay for health care, but we should keep footing the bill for a war that should have never begun? No wonder a recent poll of prominent economists showed that they support Obama over 2 to 1.
McCain seems also to have abandoned what he previously stood for so that he could cater to the right. His biggest successes have been (1) his proposal to drill off-shore - an idea which experts agree would not have any effect for several years and does almost nothing to solve our energy problems - and (2) his selection of Sarah Palin. The choice of Palin was obviously made for political reasons, and with her as his second fiddle, his tune changed. Suddenly, experience - his biggest legitimate criticism of Obama - was no longer important. He also began trying to steal the "change" mantra from Obama. So the best recipe for change is more of the same ingredients? Furthermore, he's tried to pass Palin's meager experience off as extensive, especially her foreign policy experience - because you can see Russia from Alaska. Is that some kind of joke? Are people actually buying that?!?
But now, McCain has someone to spread the lies for him. She's lied about her own record (including the bridge to nowhere and earmarks), and has seemingly has no qualms about spreading more lies about Obama. She gives a good speech, but we've already seen from her first interview that she has trouble when not scripted, and her knowledge about the national and international scenes is limited at best - at least for someone who could potentially be our president. McCain's selection of her says a lot about his own campaign for president, and how it's come to whatever he thinks he needs to do to get elected.
This post has probably gone on too long, but so has McCain's dirty campaign. I hope I live to see a presidential campaign where both candidates run with dignity and respect, talking about issues that matter and letting Americans decide based on that. Seeing this election season, I'm not holding my breath.

The Obama Bandwagon

I'm confounded by the Obama bandwagon. No, not the "I love Obama" bandwagon. The other one: the "I hate Obama" bandwagon. Why are people so hungry to hate a man who speaks of hope? I'm not talking about those who don't agree with his politics (even though I believe many of those people are misinformed about what he actually stands for and believes in). I'm referring to people who truly want to despise the most inspiration political figure in years. Hateful emails are being passed around, malicious youtube videos are being circulated, and detestable political ads are being aired, all based on loathsome lies. Two of the top five hardcover "non-fiction" books on the New York Times best seller list are anti-Obama (Obama Nation and The Case Against Obama). Not that they're based on fact or research, mind you. They just want other Americans to buy into the fear and hate as much as they do (and if they're that on the list, it's apparently working). How many times has he been referred to as Osama, or his middle name been brought up in a derogatory way? How many times he been called a Muslim? How many times has Michelle been called an angry black woman? How many times has Barack been labeled an 'elitist'? Are any of these people familiar in the least with his biography? And why are these attacks so prevalent? Are that many Americans secretly racist? Do people give in that easily to fear? Are we that adverse to change?
Now don't get me wrong: I don't think a presidential candidate should be above criticism. I just think it should be true and pertain to the person's ability to lead the nation. Question his policies, criticize his credentials, but don't make up malevolent lies about him. Why can't we have an intelligent dialogue about issues? Why do politics devolve to vicious attacks? Must we cater to the lowest common denominator?
So shame on you if you've bought into the hate. Shame on you if you've spread the lies. Shame on you if you've given in to fear. Do some real research, read some real books, and dare to hope.

"We hate some persons because we do not know them; and will not know them because we hate them."
-Charles Caleb Colton

“Hope – Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead."
-Barack Obama

Let the couch indenting commence

I watch a lot more TV than I should, especially since Traci and I got DVR. That being said, I'm excited about the fall season. Summer TV stinks. Of course, the Olympics were on this year, but were short-lived and only come around every 4 years. Besides, they provide an excuse for me to watch things I would never ever pay attention to ordinarily - like water polo. But aside from that, the summer provides a dearth of quality programming. Bad reality TV (which is the vast majority of reality TV) and reruns provide a horrible TV-watching experience, and makes me feel guilty wasting time watching it. And who wants to feel guilty when they're wasting time.
Then along comes fall, bringing back-to-school woes, but balancing those woes with the excitement of football and a new season of real TV. Heroes is back and looks to improve vastly on last season's disappointments. I love Chuck, 30 Rock, the Office, and How I Met Your Mother, and welcome them all back like friends who have been on a long vacation. A couple of the new shows look like they could be interesting (I can't wait until Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" is introduced), but some of them look like they're not much better than the summer fare. For instance, "The Mentalist" is a new show about a guy who people think is psychic because of his ability to pick up on subtle details, which he apparently uses to solve crimes. It sounds promising if it weren't a complete rip-off of "Psych" on USA (one of my favorite shows now - thanks Jeremy and Cali!)
Regardless, the new season does provide promise, especially since this year will hopefully be strike-free and give us a full season of couch potato escapism.