State of the Union

I'm looking forward to the debate tonight. I'm happy to hear obama is pulling ahead in the polls and only recently have i allowed myself to truly think (and hope?) that he may become our next president. Palin really is the nail in mccain's coffin. I'm not exactly sure what her pull is--and i'm afraid it might be a reflection of people who don't know much about politics and the dire state of our country right now. Why would they want "someone just like them?" Wouldn't you want someone smarter than you? As a matter of fact, i'm unsure of why there isn't a 'minimum requirement' of education and experience to apply for the job (and the job of president as well).

And don't even get me started on the fact that she is so anti choice and anti-sex education--yet has a knocked up unmarried daughter. You want to preach 'values,' and spout that you don't need sex ed in schools because that is a conversation for the home--and look what happens?? And now you're forcing these teenagers to get married (is it better to marry shot-gun style than be divorced?). And, by the way, this conversation doesn't need to talk about abortion--let's just talk about education and how to avoid abortion. I think we can all agree to that (but apparently not).

I'm really trying to understand the economic debacle. What i don't understand is why the senate tacked on these random earmarks to get the house to pass it. One of the analysts on news hour called it a "pinata of ridiculousness." It's a shame that this is the way wellstone's mental health parity act gets signed into law. It doesn't really celebrate the passing of this bill. It all feels sort of like a sad poker game.