Friday, October 24, 2008

{10.24.2008} Friday Melange. Fair Warning: Politics enclosed.

With 11 days left in this most important, life changing, life altering, harrowing Presidential Election season, I have decided to talk about it in my blog. I realize that this subject is taboo for many and I feel that way for the most part. However, this year we have seen unprecedented levels of attention placed upon this election. Potentially, the country will be electing its first minority President, which is an incredible feat, one that cannot be diminished. There is no doubting the ability and the commitment that Obama has displayed during this campaign. He defeated a candidate, Hillary Clinton, whom many believed was to be the first woman president. Instead, Barack Obama came out of one speech in 2004 and has grasped control of something many would never have believed to happen in this country as recently as 30 years ago.

Anyway, I sent the following email to some of my friends the other day and have decided to turn it into a post:
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This is from a Democrat journalist regarding the current state of affairs in journalism and his take on the credit, housing, economic crises - and the media's response to it. A good read…regardless of your choice for President, or your personal feelings. http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081017light.html

This past week has been a great example of the media's bias: Joe Biden said some truly amazing things about the future of our country if Obama is elected and it was not the top story of that day, aside from the DrudgeReport…what was? The fact that Sarah Palin and the RNC spent approximately $150,000 on her clothing as part of the campaign. Ignoring the fact that the Obama campaign has purchased a cable channel, donated over $800,000 to ACORN, spent millions on airing a 30 minute infomercial, and now at least $2 million to stage a huge election night victory party at Grant Park, which, by the way, taxpayers of Chicago will be paying a portion of, due to the necessity of having Homeland Security and police forces there.

CNN's lead "label" everytime I flip to that channel is "Is Sarah Palin hurting McCain?" - where is the question about Biden? Obviously he is hurting their campaign, which is why he has been muzzled and only allowed to speak at rallies, with no questions taken from the press. When Palin was kept away from the media, she was labeled as "hiding" and having "Vlaidmir Putin" style secrecy. Where is that same analysis of Biden? CNN clearly distorted an article on nationalreview.com as "evidence" that even conservatives think she is incompetent, during an interview with Palin. While the article, in full context, was saying that as a strike against the media…CNN won't apologize or retract it:
Griffin said to Gov. Palin: “Governor, you've been mocked in the press, the
press has been pretty hard on you, the Democrats have been pretty hard on you,
but also some conservatives have been pretty hard on you as well. The National
Review had a story saying that, you know, ‘I can't tell if Sarah Palin is
incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt or all of the above.’”

This is a complete distortion, a falsehood. The full quote from the National Review’s
Byron York shows he was in fact dressing down the media, NOT Gov. Palin.
“Watching press coverage of the Republican candidate for vice president, it's
sometimes hard to decide whether Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid,
unqualified, corrupt, backward, or — or, well, all of the above.”

Again, I know this probably will not change your vote, but this might give you a glimpse as to why I have been so adamantly against Obama with this election. The media's treatment of one candidate or another shouldn't change your politics. However, it is causing many millions of people to create an image in their minds about the current state of affairs and causes them to gravitate to this message of "hope and change" -when it may truly end up being "more of the same". People seem to forget that for the past few years, the Congress in charge is Democratic and they have lower approval ratings than Bush, but is that reported as heavily as Bush's numbers? It seems like it simply is a coronation, aided and abetted by a media organization who chooses to ignore the negative news that would affect Barack and the democrats.

There are so many aspects of this election that I feel has been hidden by the media and not brought to the attention of America. Unlike people who are interested in finding information about the candidates, millions of Americans rely on the media to inform them of these candidates…this year it has been shamefully apparent that the "fix is in".

Friday, October 10, 2008

{10.10.2008} Friday Melange

So this is the end of the 2nd week of of our re>rooted lives in Chicago. What a difference! To highlight the developments of our transition, here are a few key details:
  1. We are not alone. We moved into my parents' house in Wheaton and after 7 years of marriage and living in our own place, there are quite a few differences here. For one thing, we have a dog here (Mandy), who I swear is being treated better than Jayne or I have ever been treated! =) The dog is loved, but it's still a dog. There are times when she gets too excited to see one of us and takes a leak on the floor...we thought we were done with potty training! She also is a beggar...she sits and waits for the scraps to fall off Isabelle's plate. Anyway, watch for more updates on the adventures in the Abraham household.
  2. Its a long drive. I average 75 miles a day now driving back and forth from Wheaton to Chicago. On average it takes about 50 minutes to get from point A to point B. Some of you have heard me talk about the 15 minute commute we had in Bloomington...oh, how much I took that for granted! When it rains here, oh my gosh. I forgot how plain stupid people become. It took me one and a half hours to go 24 miles this past Wednesday evening. Some people apparently think the rain is a cause for stupidity and it causes us sane people to sit in our cars for hours on end.
  3. Working in Chicago is definitely eye opening for me. As a suburb kid, while I lived in the Chicago area, my jobs were always in the suburbs. The office I now work out of is in one of Chicago's neighborhoods (Lincoln Square). For lunch, I walk to one of the local joints instead of driving somewhere. I'm getting used to the thousands of cars, cabs and the busses, and actually paying attention to the "Do Not Walk" signs. I've seen a wide assortment of human beings, not so human beings and pigeons. Its been a fun 2 weeks so far, and I'm looking forward to more.
That's it for this Friday. Sorry for missing last week...I was thinking of doing a post about the economy, but decided that the news was too dreary. The news continues to get worse, but I figured that after 2 weeks, I could post about something lighthearted and mundane.

Last couple of items>
  • Looking forward to a fun weekend coming up, we get a chance to spend time with some friends that we have missed...
  • Susan heads back to Bloomington for a couple of days to get some work done there and she's taking Isabelle with. So that leaves me with my parents for a couple of evenings...good political conversations with my ultra liberal dad. Should be good times. Pray for both of us.
  • 10/18 is the last wedding we have the privilege of attending this year...
  • Oh...and my head is still shaved. Yeah boy.