Isn’t it a little bit scary that stories of her not performing well have been surfacing on a regular basis from the town (where she was mayor) and state of Alaska, saying how bad she was at those jobs, yet people elsewhere really do seem prepared to potentially make this woman the president of the United States, should something happen to McCain.

Honestly, it’s scary. I recently saw an amateur movie (made with Palin’s approval – before she was announced as VP) which showed Palin has an Israeli flag in her house, when asked she said she “likes Israel”. Ya – good one… I’m sure that will really help with the security of the United States. Israel is not full of angels and unfortunately the U.S. media are so pathetic that most of the population have no idea just how badly the United States is thought of, even in parts of the world they consider friends.

I really think that if the U.S. population are stupid enough to vote a particular way (the same way) this time, they are going to find a world population giving them very little respect. For me, it’s a mark of poor media, bad education and general ignorance. I hope things don’t turn out badly or the rest of the world will be thinking of the U.S. in an even worse light than that!

During the John McCain VP announcement they showed a person in the crowd that said: “VETS for a Veteran”. So, let me get this straight, you think he would make a good President, because he spent time in a cage? By that logic, we should all employ Ex-Cons to look after our children rather than that nice girl down the street.

I should point out, perhaps, that if you vote for McCain, you are voting for the Republican Party. If you vote for Obama, you’re voting for the Democrats. You’re not voting for McCain or Obama – they are puppets who will do whatever the party line tells them to (or, to put it in a more explanatory manner – whatever makes them the most friends in the Senate who will then side with them on future votes).

Please, please, please. Vote based on policy and politics, not the people. McCain’s VP candidate might be pretty, she might have had a down syndrome kid, but that does NOT mean she would make a good VP, does it? Considering just how much time McCain has spent lashing out at Obama about Foreign Policy and his lack of experience, I would have thought her a pretty poor choice compared to Obama’s choice of VP…

Anyway… NOTHING you have heard about Barack Obama or John McCain tells you they would be a good President – you will find this out over the next four years and then make a change, I hope. Vote based on the values you have and which party fits those best… PLEASE!

Here’s what I ordered:

Here’s what I got today:

Can you spot the difference? Rather than sending me a piece of electronic equipment that plugs into a computer and allows me to control racing games or simulations in a more realistic manner, they sent me a Denim bag that’s labeled “only for girls” and is supposed to serve as a case for a Nintendo DS.

It annoys me a lot because we have NO money right now and I am buying a steering wheel at the expense of other things – because it relates to my job. I’m really hoping to be full-time soon, but in the meantime, even after being accepted by Immigration I still feel like the USCIS are screwing me, every day.

There’s a definite piece of me that doesn’t even feel worthy of a title like a second-rate citizen (because I’m not even qualified to call myself a citizen yet!)… ARGH! I just hate this stuff… I’m buying a $21 (twenty-one dollar) steering wheel that is a similar design to one I had almost ten years ago and I feel just totally held back. Like I’m back where I was ten years ago in my life… I feel very poor right now and them sending the wrong thing, although laughable, is kind of crushing. $21, and after waiting for it to arrive… Feeling happy that I’d be able to control the cars in the simulation properly at last – some ‘bag’ arrives instead.

I guess I’m too sensitive about spending any money right now and I feel like the $30.41 that company has of our money is something I know could be used for something better.

I have to tell myself and my wife “no” and say “we can’t” so much, you wouldn’t believe it. I hate doing it, but we can’t afford to do anything… After the highs of going to the (free) airshow on Friday and Saturday, it’s back to the grind now, where life is a constant struggle and my only real release is walking to the (free) Zoo in Lincoln Park. Just lately I haven’t even felt able to do that though because it’s so damn hot that if I go outside, I can’t afford to pay ‘tourist rate’ for a drink and I’ll probably keel over and die in the heat.

They’re right when they say that money doesn’t bring happiness, they are. But having none of it? That is soul destroying… Sheila has given up so much to be with me.

Here’s a quick list of the things that have been caused by having no money:
I live on soup and packet-rice. We occasionally make a stew but it has to last us a few days. We got married on April 11th, 2007 – in a courthouse (not every girls dream, exactly) – the ‘ceremony’ lasted just over 60 seconds. We planned to have a wedding ceremony on April 11th, 2008 – we couldn’t afford it. We will probably never have a wedding ceremony… Every time Sheila thinks about this, she gets upset. We buy clothes per-item when the old one falls apart (Sheila has one pair of comfortable gym shoes right now – find me another woman with one pair!) We wear (proudly) $40 plain gold bands as wedding rings, my ring – apparently – is a woman’s style but: It’s all we could afford. I sold my laptop when I came over here, it was fairly new and cost me $2000… I sold it for $650 and bought computer parts off eBay to build a desktop PC for $500. Why? We needed that $150 I didn’t use. We don’t buy anything we don’t feel we need. We don’t do anything we want to that costs money. The list goes on, and on, frankly I’m tired of writing them.

Being poor… Sucks. $30.41 – It’s nothing really, is it? It feels like so much money right now…

Have you ever heard on the news that someone made a policy proposal, but that someone didn’t accept it, or ‘protested’ it, sat out the debate or didn’t sign for some other reason? That right there, is a politician, supposed to be earning their money (that WE pay them), who decides to ‘sit out’ a debate because they don’t agree with the policy.

In my opinion, this kind of thing is nothing short of a travesty that burns away our taxes…

Here in Chicago it took the local Transit Authority (the CTA) repeatedly threatening to go on strike, cutting services and raise prices over months and months for the local government to come up with funding that would help support them. When they eventually did come up with funding, the CTA said that the funding would only pay off the debts that waiting for a decision had caused them! Soon enough, they’ll be back asking for more money and it’ll happen all over again…

Why don’t these people do their jobs and make some decisions? You win some, you lose some, so being the only person who is stopping legislation when many people agree on it isn’t doing anything except holding things up! Plenty of people vote against the winner at the very highest level of politics, but it’s the majority that usually counts. If you’re out of that majority give it up and save some time, and money.

“I deeply regret the comments, they were inappropriate,” Charlie Black said in a statement after McCain said that if Black had made such a comment, “I strenuously disagree” with it.

“I recognize that John McCain has devoted his entire adult life to protecting his country and placing its security before every other consideration,” said Black, one of McCain’s most trusted political advisers.

Fortune magazine said Black, in discussing how national security was McCain’s strong suit, had said when asked about another terrorist attack on U.S. soil that “certainly it would be a big advantage to him.”

My motivation for this post comes from a number of recent articles I have seen on the Sky News Web site.

Firstly, there was an article that mentioned how Gordon Brown had been on ‘Idol Gives Back’ to say to the American people how the British Government were going to give Mosquito nets to Africa. Judging from both the article and the comments made by the British public, you’d think this was a bad thing! People were outraged at how Brown has been on a gameshow to say this, they were saying how he should be sorting out the UK before he goes and tells the world how he’s helping Africa. I’ll just say that ‘Idol Gives Back’ isn’t a gameshow, it’s a charity TV show, similar to ‘Children in Need’ in the UK. It is designed to help American and African children, with most of the funds raised going to Save the Children. Second, how DARE you be so shallow as to deny people the right to a mosquito net!? I am so ashamed to be British because of you.

Secondly, there was an article that mentioned how the Pope’s visit to the USA was overshadowing Gordon Brown’s and how nobody in the United States even knew he was here. Well, the funny thing here is, Sky (or ‘News Corporation’) owns FOX, FOX32 here in Chicago said in their news that Gordon Brown was here – so actually, any American who watches the news – news from the same people who bring us Sky News, no less – would actually know. Idiots. This is just Sky News trying to get the UK a new Prime Minister, don’t be brain-washed by it, for your own sake.

Thirdly, the British population has completely lost it’s sense of right and wrong. All you have to do to be thoroughly ashamed to be British is read the comments to this article about the extraordinarily-evil Robert Mugabe and his pseudo-dictatorship in Zimbabwe, and how Gordon Brown is threatening “decisive action” – apparently yet again Gordon Brown should be sorting out the UK first!

Again, I’ll say it: Britain – Do some parenting. Work yourselves out of the social slump you have fallen into where youths think it is OK to beat a man to death, where under-age drinking is rampant and where society resembles some of the more brutal scenes from Clockwork Orange. The Politicians did not put society where it is, they gave you all a free ride, they gave you all free healthcare and they gave you all one of the most supportive social security benefit systems in the world – and what did you do with it? You sat at home, didn’t work, had too many kids and brought them all up badly, turning them into the monsters they are today.

I’ll just point out that pretty much anything that any religious figure says is controversial to me… For this Pastor to say (in my interpretation of the WHOLE sermon) that 9/11 was America’s punishment for doing what it does, is nothing more than a lot of people have said. Perhaps because he is black, or perhaps it’s because he is Obama’s pastor (and people like to think Obama is a Muslim), it’s more offensive?

Honestly people, crack yourselves over the head with something blunt and come to your senses, the sermon was nothing but political commentary. In my opinion the far bigger insult would have been all those who said they’d ‘pray for the victims’ – like praying for anything makes any bloody difference.