Endorsements

I, the writer of this blog, hereby officially endorse John Kerry for President. I also officially endorse Morris Meyer for U.S. Congress, Darrel Cox for state representative, Andrew Hill for state senate, and a "no" vote on the Arlington Cowboys stadium referendum. Not that it's going to make one whit of difference. Chances are decent that, at least in this county, I'm going to lose every single one of those. But at least I'm endorsing those that I believe in.

Not so my hometown paper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. In one of the strangest and worst endorsement editorials I have ever read, the Star-Telegram endorsed George W. Bush for re-election. They ran off a list of President Bush's failings, which are many. It was actually a very good and concise indictment of his administration and its policies. But then, after all of that, the paper went ahead and endorsed him anyways. They said that they saw potential for the president from his days as governor.

As governor?!? Four years ago?!? I have to ask: What is the better measure of how President Bush will govern these next four years? The six years he spent as governor in a state where the governor has very little real power? Or the last four years, when he was, you know, president?

Robert

The Texas GOP's insanity

So. The Texas Republican Party thought that it would be a good idea to send my household a list of their goals, taken from the state party platform. I can't tell you why exactly they would do that. All three members of my household (my father, my step-mother, and me) voted in last March's Democratic primary, and my father and step-mother have both been Democrats for at least a decade (I can't speak as certainly for my step-mother as my father, who I know has been a Democrat for a decade and a half). Despite all this, yesterday in the mail there was an enveloped addressed from the Texas GOP. We opened it, and this is what we found:

Below are a few of the goals of the Texas Republican party.

1. We call for the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education and the prohibition of the transfer of any of its functions to any other federal agency.


2. We further support the abolition of, but not limited to the abolition of the Environmental Protection agency, Surgeon General, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Commerce, and Labor.


3. The Party believes we should immediately rescind our membership in the United Nations.


4. The Party supports phasing out the Social Security tax.


5. We urge that the I.R.S. be abolished and the 16^th amendment to the U.S. constitution be repealed.


6. The Party believes that the minimum wage law should be repealed.


7. We urge the Texas Legislature to remind administrators and school boards that corporal punishment is effective and legal in Texas.


8. The Party supports re-registering all voters every four years.


9. We oppose the endangered species act.


10. The party supports the termination of bilingual education.


11. The party calls for the de-funding and abolition of The Public Broadcasting System.

On the back of the letter is a newspaper advertisement for some sort of sporting goods store. Very prominent in the advertisement is a picture of a pair of assault rifles, with the words "HOT DEALS: The Assault Weapons Ban expires as of September 14, 2004."

I'm just going to let this speak for itself.

Last night's debate

So. I watched the debate last night, albeit belatedly. I had band practice, so I missed the first 45 minutes. Fortunately, my dad and step-mom taped it for me, so I saw the first 45 minutes after watching the last 45 minutes. In my opinion, Senator Kerry did a much better job than President Bush. The president was petulant, and appeared annoyed often when he was not speaking.

I wanted to focus on one statement by the president that has not gotten any play in the media or the blogs. In describing what hard work it is to send other people to die for your cause, he said this.

It is hard work. It is hard work to go from a tyranny to a democracy. It's hard work to go from a place where people get their hands cut off, or executed, to a place where people are free.

It appears to me that this is a tacit admission that we are, in fact, a tyranny. People are executed regularly in this nation. With this now out in the open, when will the nations of western Europe begin their invasion to save the United States from itself?