Barack Attack!

July 27, 2008 · Filed Under Politics · 5 Comments 

I’m guessing that if you hadn’t heard Obama was in Berlin last week, you probably live under a rock and are therefore not reading this blog.

I really wanted to go to the speech, but had to watch it on television instead. In retrospect, it was a really good speech, but when I was watching it, I was just a wee bit disappointed. I guess I’ve bought in to the whole messianic thing a teensy bit and I was waiting for one of those “Ich bin ein Berliner”-moments that would bring me to tears and have me giving a standing ovation in the middle of my living room despite severe dehydration from food poisoning.

As far as the family goes, Rainer was impressed by Obama’s vow to rid the world of nuclear weapons. “Poh, big words,” he whispered, his eyes opened wide in approval. Oliver also clapped at this point, so I’m assuming he supports this as well. The other point at which Oliver clapped was when Obama said that Iran must be dissuaded from pursuing nuclear weapons. The little guy already has an opinion on US foreign policy, I guess that’s one of those benefits of raising children abroad.

There are a couple of controversies that have cropped up about the visit:

  1. That Obama shouldn’t speak at Brandenburg Gate/he just wanted to copy JFK - First, JFK didn’t speak at the Brandenburg Gate, he spoke at Rathaus Schöneberg. Second, why shouldn’t Obama speak at Brandenburg Gate? As my opinionated German hubby put it, “If Green Day can play there, Obama can speak there.”
  2. The Victory Column was a Nazi monument - It was a Prussian monument. If it were a Nazi monument, the Germans would have taken it down a long time ago.
  3. Obama shouldn’t have cancelled his visit to injured US soldiers in Germany - I gotta agree on this one. Even if it would have been criticized as a campaign thing, think of the poor disappointed soldiers.

For more on Obama’s visit to Berlin, here are some posts from people who actually attended the speech (and blogged about it):

  • BenPerry.net: The Grand Spectacle in Berlin Yesterday About Which I Will Avoid Making a Clever Pun with Obama’s Name - It was worth swilling expensive beer and slow-mo bumping-and-grinding through security lines to get within 30 meters (that’s 30 yards) of the Großer Stern—the base of the Victory Column rather than an object “beside” the column as some of the wires had it last week.
  • Berlin Bites: Bamalama - Yes, the obligatory Obama post. Of course I went. I’d seen Clinton in…’94?…and couldn’t remember a word he’d said and wanted to see if Obama could do better.
  • Radio Free Mike: Am grossen Stern - Obama did away with the babble about the Victory Column with a single deft line, which I can’t find in his official text — something like “We stand here at a monument to war, in the middle of a Europe at peace.” That took care of his critics, even if you fully swallowed the stuff about Hitler.
  • Tessa Approves: Super Post - My final bit of news is that on Thursday we decided to take the train to Berlin and see Obama speak at the Siegessäule (Victory Column). Maybe you had not heard, but there was some controversy over where he would speak.
  • 50% of my DNA: Go Obama Go!!! - Unless you are living under a rock, Obama spoke in Berlin last Thursday night at the Siegesssaeule and we were there. The gates opened at 4pm. We wanted to get there early so we got there shortly after that.

What did you think of the speech? Did you go? Leave a comment and I’ll add you to the list!

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Yes We Can

February 7, 2008 · Filed Under Politics · 10 Comments 

My father used to tell me that there was only one man he ever wanted as president. Only one man that he was excited to vote for.  That was Robert Kennedy and unfortunately, he only got to vote for him in the California Primary. 

I guess I never really understood what he meant, and I never believed that there would be a candidate I wanted to vote for.

This morning, I did something I’ve never even considered doing before.  I made my first campaign donation.

And to put a little Deutschland into the post, I’ve been getting asked quite frequently by Germans whether America is ready to have a Schwarzer (black man) as president.  I’m not sure what to make of this question, but I always answer, “Wir sind bereit” (we are ready).

I know I’ve got a lot of comments and emails to respond to, and I’ll get around to that soon.  I had the stomach flu (Magen-Darm-Grippe, sounds so much more impressive in German) and now I’ve got a hungry baby, and I’ve got to call my family in Virginia and convince them to join the movement and get out to vote on Tuesday.

I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington …
I’m asking you to believe in yours. - Barack Obama

Support Barack Obama.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

How do my views match up with the candidates?

January 27, 2008 · Filed Under Politics · 6 Comments 

86% John Edwards
83% Dennis Kucinich
82% Mike Gravel
82% Barack Obama
81% Hillary Clinton
80% Chris Dodd
75% Joe Biden
72% Bill Richardson
41% Rudy Giuliani
35% John McCain
24% Mike Huckabee
24% Tom Tancredo
23% Mitt Romney
13% Ron Paul
13% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Interesting… and in case you’re wondering, I support Obama.  I’m ecstatic that he creamed Billary in the South Carolina primary yesterday.  I want a Democrat to win in November and I think Billary will just mobilize the right and turn off many independents. Never really liked John Edwards though, and I lived in NC.  He kinda has the rep there of being an ambulance chaser.  The quiz did get my Republican choice though.  If I had to vote Republican, I woulda wanted Guiliani.  Actually, who the heck is Mike Gravel?

Thanks for the quiz, Rita

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Girly-Man Dollar

November 19, 2004 · Filed Under Politics · Comment 

American Dollars to 1 EUR

The US Dollar has reached a record low against the Euro. As you can see in the above graph from x-rates.com, the Euro is rising steadily against the US Dollar (same trend can be seen when the US Dollar is compared against the British pound, Japanese Yen, Canadian and Australian Dollars).

German exporters like Porsche, Volkswagen and Siemens are worried, as their profits are dropping drastically. Siemens has reported that the prices of it’s products have risen 30% in the US in a very short time span.

Some financial experts are predicting that this rapid fall will continue to the end of the year, with the Euro/dollar ratio eventually reaching 1.35 and pound/dollar ratio reaching 2. Man, and I thought London was expensive when the ratio was 1.5.

What does this mean? Unless you have unlimited funds, don’t travel outside the US and don’t buy foreign-made products if you’re an American. What does it mean for me? Woohoo, 30-35% discount on all my Christmas shopping this year.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

On ‘Moral Values,’ It’s Blue in a Landslide

November 12, 2004 · Filed Under Politics · Comment 

Perhaps there’s hope…
In a piece by Frank Rich in the New York Times, Rich states that, “it’s blue America, not red, that is inexorably winning the culture war.”

Quotes and summaries of key points:

Those whose “moral values” are invested in cultural heroes like the accused loofah fetishist Bill O’Reilly and the self-gratifying drug consumer Rush Limbaugh are surely joking when they turn apoplectic over MTV

Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch, is the leading source of news for the “Moral Majority.” Other Murdoch holdings include:

  • Recent books like Jenna Jameson’s “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star” and the Vivid Girls’ “How to Have a XXX Sex Life,” both promoted on Fox News by willing hosts like Rita Cosby and Bill O’Reilly. There are “real fun parts and exciting parts,” said Ms. Cosby to Ms. Jameson on Fox News’s “Big Story Weekend,” broadcast on Saturday at 9 p.m., assuring its maximum exposure to unsupervised kids.
  • “Married by America,” which was fined $1.2 million (more than twice the punishment inflicted on Viacom for Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction”) because one episode in this heterosexual marriage-promoting reality show included scenes in which “partygoers lick whipped cream from strippers’ bodies,” and two female strippers “playfully spank” a man on all fours in his underwear.
  • Paris Hilton’s “The Simple Life”
  • The wife-swapping show “Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy”

Illinois Senator-elect Barack Obama, was assured victory once his pious Republican opponent, Jack Ryan, dropped out of the race rather than defend his taste for “avant-garde” sex clubs

As a congressman, Tom Coburn, the newly elected Republican senator from Oklahoma, attacked NBC for encouraging “irresponsible sexual behavior” and taking “network TV to an all-time low with full frontal nudity, violence and profanity being shown in our homes” in response to NBC’s showing of “Schindler’s List”

If the Republican party’s next round of leaders are all cool with blue culture, why should Democrats run after the red?

  • Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger are supporters of gay rights and opponents of the same-sex marriage constitutional amendment
  • McCain calls himself pro-life, and he’s never made abortion a cause
  • None of the three support the Bush administration position on stem-cell research.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mencken

November 11, 2004 · Filed Under Politics · 2 Comments 

Here’s a great quote that was in a comment made by Oren at Pop Life.

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
- H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Tags:

Who elected W?

November 4, 2004 · Filed Under Politics · Comment 

According to exit polls:

Vote by race and gender……….Bush………Kerry
…..White Men (36%)……………..62%………..37%
…..White Women (41%)………….55%………..44%
…..Non-White Men (10%)………..30%………..67%
…..Non-White Women (12%)…….24%………..75%Vote by Age………………………Bush………Kerry
…..18-29 (17%)……………………45%………..54%
…..30-44 (29%)……………………53%………..46%
…..45-59 (30%)……………………51%………..48%
…..60+ (24%)……………………..54%………..46%

Vote by Religion…………………Bush………Kerry
…..Protestant (54%)……………..59%…………40%
…..Catholic (27%)………………..52%…………47%
…..Jewish (3%)…………………..25%…………74%
…..Other (7%)…………………….23%………..74%
…..None (10%)……………………31%………..67%

Most Important Issue……………Bush………Kerry
…..Taxes (5%)…………………….57%…………43%
…..Education (4%)………………..26%…………73%
…..Iraq (15%)………………………26%…………73%
…..Terrorism (19%)……………….86%………..14%
…..Economy/Jobs (20%)…………18%…………80%
…..Moral Values (22%)…………….80%………..18%
…..Health Care (8%)………………23%………..77%So, who voted for Bush:

  • white people
  • people over 30
  • Christians
  • and people who consider taxes, terrorism, or moral values to be the most important issue.

And who voted for Kerry:

  • non-white people
  • people under 30
  • non-Christians
  • and people who consider education, Iraq, the economy/jobs, or health care to be the most important issue.

And in other news, Rainer tells me the head of NCI (National Cancer Institute) recently announced at a press conference that cancer would be cured in the next 15 years. When asked by reporters what evidence he as basing his claim on, he responded, “God told me so.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Next Page »