Only 22 Days 'Til The Election!!

Yes it's only 22 days until the election. I know it seems like the campaigns have gone on forever but it's only been finalized for a little over a month. For most people the choice is between Obama and McCain (despite there being five candidates for president if one factors in Bob Barr (L), Ralph Nader (I), and Cynthia McKinney (Green)). The debate is Wednesday and if the performance of the last two is any indication, McCain's in for a rough ride. As for Obama, aside from the fact he should be thanking the memory of Shirley Chisholm's 1972 campaign on a daily basis, seems to be in the lead. However, given the GOP theft of the last two Presidential elections, I have to say anything is possible - and that's truly a scary thought.

What is needed on a national level is adopting the Instant Runoff Voting (advocated by the Green party and used in several other countries) which would allow for people to vote the first choice as well as several others for each post. Yes the vote counts would take longer, but I think more people might go to the polls if they knew they could vote their conscience. As for those in the two sides of the one party system current in charge, you'd still benefit since your candidates would be many of the third party candidates' second or third choice. Sadly, November 4th won't have this so people will still be fretting over who they vote for.

So what's ahead? In the past I'd have an idea from looking at the polls. However, things have been so topsy turvy the last couple of election cycles that it can't be known until November 5th - if then. Here's hoping the change is for the better.

Review

NOTE; I normally don't use the blog to do CD reviews. However, given the timeliness of this release, I felt it would be good to make an exception.



TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS - Rapid Response download EP

Many people in this country were shocked an appalled by the police response to protestors during the Republican convention in St. Paul back in August, especially the arrest and attacks by police on journalists. Upon learning of what was going down, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists decided to respond - producing this EP in the process. The first two songs are original tracks written for this release kicking off with the rousing rocker "Paranoia's Never Enough" detailing the police repression in St. Paul. "Mourning in America," the other original song, addresses the ugly specter of racism as an election issue. Rounding this off is a cover of Cocksparrer's "I Got your Number" and a version of Amebix' "Nobody's Driving" performed solo with Ted's own take on the HC/proto grind anthem.

Recorded and released quickly, the sound quality is a little rough. However, it is fitting given the circumstances around us that this download isn't the most slickly produced (it's more punk if it isn't). Only available from T&G, thew proceeds benefit tow organizations worthy of support: Food Not Bombs and Democracy Now.

Get it at touchandgo

Debate Update

Okay, it's been about a week since the first debate. McCain did show up, but seemed more interested in pushing his agenda than offering any solutions. Obama was able to counter but did on occasion appear to not be as tough as he should've been. While each side claimed they won, the polls (in some effect driven by the economy) seemed to favor Obama. Since they were the only candidates one can only guess whether the results would've been the same if Nader, McKinney, and/or Barr were allowed into the debate (which I would've loved to have seen by the way).

The VP Debate with Biden and Palin is tomorrow night. While on the surface things seem like an easy outcome to predict, this election cycle has shown that nothing should be assumed. THus hot things will turn out is anybody's guess.

The Debates Are Here....Or Are They

As most American readers of this know tomorrow (as I type this I still have a half hour) marks the first Presidential debate of the 2008 election. As usual they unforunately won't be open to all the candidates (it doesn't help that the Debate Commission is a business of sorts) but only in theory to Sen. John McCain (R) and Sen. Barack Obama (D).

Normally I wouldn't say in theory on this. However, things have gone topsy turvy as Sen. McCain allegedly suspended his campaign (yet allowed campaign ads to air during this time) to supposedly get the financial bailout package through, even cancelling on David Letterman at the last minute to supposedly fly to Washington (in reality he accepted an interview with CBS News taped at the same time Letterman does and stayed in NYC to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative the next day). He also called for the first debate to be postponed, to the dismay of many people.

So the question is will the debates happen? The Commission says they will but as I type this it's anyone's guess, especially since the bailout talks almost went somewhere until conservatives started speaking against it. Also, what happens if Obama shows up at Oxford, MS but McCain doesn't? Do they cancel? Does Obama get the whole time period to himself? These are things to ponder.

Personally I think if McCain doesn't show up, have the debates and maybe invite the other candidates to indulge in what McCain passes on (yes, this includes Ralph Nader - who wouldn't be a thorn in the Democrats' side if the Dems would quit trying to stop Independent and Green Party candidate and fought more against the GOP). I know it won't happen but it would be an interesting debate.

At this point, we're in a country where the economy seems to be going the way of the buffalo or the condor. Jobs are vanishing and most Americans are struggling just to maintain an existence which is precariously close to being above their means. We'll have to wait until Friday night (i.e.: Friday September 26, 2008) to see what goes down with the debates, but things are scary and to quote the British band AOS3 "Scary Times are Never Dull."

Random Notes, Housesitting, Etc.

Hey! Hope all is going well. Not much going on here for the most part. Spent the last couple weeks basically housesitting and looking for a paying job. Apparently the unemployment rate here in old MO is at the highest in 16 years. And they say the economy is going well.

Anybody else see footage of the RNC and the protests and think things have gone way out of whack. With the police arresting journalists covering the protests ranging from an AP photographer to several people from Democracy Now and four people from a college newspaper in Kentucky one wonders if anyone in power seems to be aware of freedom of the press anymore. Then there's the choice of Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate who has enough baggage to scare any sane person between now and November 4th (If anyone's interested let me know and I'll put up a post regarding what I think is ironic about the song they chose to use after her speech).

I hope people in this country are aware of how things have gone so far down the tubes over the past 20 years (and at double warp speed in the past eight), but I also know the dangers of underestimating how Americans can be misled so damn easily. Maybe my worries are unwarranted. I hope they are but we could be in for a scary ass ride.

A lot of you have probably already seen these posts and clips but for those unaware of what went down in the past week check out this post on pre-emptive raids. As more information comes out regarding these things it will be interesting to see public reaction to this in retrospect.

So where does that leave us now? I really don't know. The polarization in this country is arguably almost as bad as it was during the apex of the Vietnam War (and I have a sinking feeling it will get worse before it gets better). I wish I had an answer to this but hindsight is always 20-20 and things tend to be murkiest when you're going through it.

Sorry for the downer theme of this post. I needed to vent and get things off my chest. I think everyone wants things to be better but it's not hard to get cynical when the gap between those in power and the rest of up seems to be growing towards the size of a damn ocean.

What's next? Who knows? Maybe I'll have a lighter post sometime soon but everything's up in the air at the moment.

If you disagree with me that's fine now go argue amongst yourselves. I have to take care of things.

LInks to Read on RNC Police Harrassment

In case you haven't come across these already. The following are a couple of place to find out how police reaction to activists during the RNC. One Two

And People Wonder Why Activists And Aware People Don't Trust Cops

The Republican National Convention is going down in St. Paul, MN this week. IN this midst of John McCain trying to have his cake and shit on women's reproductive freedom and reproductive justice with choosing Sarah Palin as a running mate comes news of the police conducting preemptive raids against activists.

It's time like this that make me wonder if those in the government and the police realize that they don't help themselves when they pull this shit.