Round 1

Just a few comments about yesterday's Presidential debate.

Why did McCain resort to calling Obama naive and dangerous? Just state your cause McCain. Let us make those determinations for ourselves.

McCain will never win the battle of stage presence. Obama projects his voice like an old-time orator with his eyes outward and his voice strong and steady. McCain always comes across as a bit shifty-eyed and uncomfortable.

Democrats like to argue that Obama comes across as "more Presidential" and I can't argue with that.

However, when it come to content...

It appeared that Obama resorted to simply agree with John McCain several times. Nothing really wrong with that but it also seemed that this tactic just confirmed McCain's superior experience.

Obama, like most Democrats, relies on the ignorance of his audience. He is always stating what he thinks people want to hear.

Listen to his message.

• He stated that Al Queda operates in 60 countries now and we need to devote our attention away from Iraq and focus on these other areas.
• He is going to drastically increase funding for the development of alternative energy.
• He is going to promote American good-will around the globe (with the possible exception of a certain 60 countries).
• He'll get us all free health-care.

The punchline is - he is going to accomplish the above and still lower the taxes of 95% of us. I have a bridge for sale to anyone who is buying this load.

Still, by a small margin. Obama edges McCain in debate number 1.

New Blog

In my continued devotion to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, I have created a blog for it that includes all my articles from http://www.2001aspaceodyssey.org/. It's posted in my links section.

2001: The Blog

I've been focusing more attention there than here. 2001 averages 50 hits a day. Pure Drivel averages 1.

Pure Drivel - Year 4

Tomorrow begins my 4th year with this blog. Honestly, I don't think I would have thought 3 years ago that I would still be doing this. Nevertheless, I trudge on and have no intentions of stopping now. I always have lots of ideas in my head but I've always had trouble putting my ideas into coherent sentences. My post list is littered with entries that I started, never finished, and just left unposted. They will remain unposted.

My blog statistics indicate a shift in 2008. My blog received a lot of attention earlier this year because of my experience in the Ride and Drive event. I guess a lot of people were curious about what people thought of comparisons between Ford, Honda, and Toyota sedans. That entry was in early 2007 but it was early 2008 when a lot of people Googled and found it. My What is an American Car? article got a lot of attention from web searchers even though that was written in 2006.

I'll probably spend most of the next two months expressing my opinions concerning the election. I may have a thing or two to say about baseball, energy, the economy, or the auto industry. What comes after that may be related to who gets elected.

New Rules on Feminism

Palin: Wrong Woman Wrong Message

Gloria Steinem, the founder of the modern feminist movement has a few things to say about Vice-President nominee Sarah Palin.

" even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president"

"Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters"

In Ms Steinem's editorial, from an after-convention discussion of reporters on CNN, and from Al Sharpton, I learned a few new rules on feminism I wasn't aware of:

A woman who runs for President or Vice President must be viewed as heroic, ground-breaking, and tough to break into the males only club. As long as she is a Democrat.

If a Republican woman runs for Vice President, she must be endlessly scrutinized. Surely she must be involved in some scandal. Other women should question her poor choice of being a Republican. A Republican woman's place is in the home so she can take care of the kids.

Men and women, who have no foreign policy experience can run for President and be considered bold, fresh, and ready to "change" the status quo and our perceptions on foreign relations. As long as they are Democrats.

A Republican woman with no foreign policy experience can't seriously run for Vice President because she obviously is strictly being used to attract the female voters. She, in fact, should be condemned.

A female politician making a speech and talking tough about standing up to fight for what she believes in is lauded for having strength of character as long as she is a Democrat.

A female Republican politician making a speech and talking tough about standing up to fight for what she believes in is accused of secretly being a man.

It is completely understood that all politicians have their speeches written for them by a professional speech writer. Exception: Republican women must write their own speeches. Otherwise, they are just a mouthpiece for a man.

I guess I'm anti-feminist after all.