I don't understand why the Republicans are the party of "both" the small federal government fiscal conservatives and the religious social conservatives? They'e not really connected, and at least here in Nevada I know a lot of Republicans who are socially liberal but fiscally conservative.
I don't want the government to take care of me, I want the government to make sure that no one unfairly influences my life in a negative way, thats it. I don't want a bunch of democrat thugs to rob me at gunpoint and give my money to a bunch of people having hardships even as I spend 70% of my waking life working as hard as I can. Thats why I'm most affiliated with the Republican party, because I want the right to succeed based on the merits of how hard i worked and how intelligently I worked.
And then the religious conservatives show up. I feel like they're the embarrassing uncle the fiscal conservatives don't want to acknowledge exist. How ridiculous is it for the government to interfere in stem cell research? Or any other progressive issue that isn't the responsibility of the government? Its like they say "The government should be small except on obviously moral issues that we as a society shouldn't tolerate, then we interfere and regulate to keep everyone good". What!?!? No swearing, no violence in games, what? All the other religious bs, what? Government should be small, government should be small, government should be small, not government should be small except on issues important to me.
The issue that pushed me over the edge http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/0
I've been trying really hard to ignore the religious contexts of McCain/Palin because I like a lot of McCain's views on government, and I secretly (well not secretely because I'm blogging it) believe that McCain is probably an Agnostic like myself, but I can't willfully ignore creationist in schools bs in someone who might be president if something were to happen to McCain.
And of course, I'm not saying people can't have their own beliefs, believe in Creationism, thats fine, just don't expect my vote and don't try to push it into government social policy. I'm not saying Palin "would" push it into social policy, but I have a feeling she would, because shes already shown a willingness to push her personal views into government policy by being anti abortion. I'm prochoice, not prodeath, let everyone decide for themselves how they'll live their life, and if I don't like how you're living yours, I won't ask and I won't read your blog. ;)
So I'm voting for Obama, I'd vote for someone outside of the parties but most of the alternatives seem to have limited world views and are more of isolationists, but I'm pro global so I can't really accept that either....
I have pictures from going to Universal Studios. Let me just say this until I post my full trip, if you go, do the VIP experience, its awesome! Going through the prop room, playing with the weapons from the Mummy and other movies, touching and playing with one of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park, it was awesome!
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Young Earth creationists, such as myself, believe that the world-wide flood (which we also take as literal) caused such a cataclysmic upheaval of the earth, plants and animals that it created what otherwise would take a long period of time to create. This is also how I believe fossils were created.
Of course I believe creationism, evolution and any thing else to explain the origin of the world is a theory. I wasn't there and I can't recreate it (the scientific definition of a theory).
Every theory has it's problems. Evolutionism runs into the problem of irreducible complexity. Or the idea that some systems within an organism can't function at a more simplistic evolutionary step. Which has lead a lot of very smart scientists (who are agnostic or atheists) to not believe in evolution itself - and attempt to seek some other origin of the universe idea.
I'm not sure where you get the idea that Genesis came from other books, but again - there's a lot of literary research on Genesis and the Bible as a whole to verify it's authenticity - but non-Christians and Christians alike.
Now, all that said. I'm voting for Obama because of his stance on major issues.
If Young Earth is real, it has nothing to do with science, its effectively magic. I can't argue with god magic doing stuff, but god magic doesn't help me to define how I expect the world to react today and tomorrow, so I don't care about it. Like I said, if some religion's messiah steps up and tells me I'm wrong, I'll accept I'm wrong and go with it, I'm pretty adaptable. Doesn't mean I'll convert, I'm stubborn that way. Some infinitely powerful guy walks up to me "worship me and you'll be happy" I'll say no. Some infinitely powerful guy walks up to me and offers me a job, I'll consider it, ask about the benefits program, and as long as its not something along the lines of "you get to worship me for eternity!" I'll probably take it.
But I don't really want to get into the debate between whether science is right or god magic is right, because ultimately its been "scientifically" shown that the more facts you give someone who is committed to believing something the more they instinctually will believe it regardless of facts. I could even be doing the same thing. ;) Everyone should go out, read the books researching the issues, and come to their own conclusions.
As for Obama, I'd be happier with his stance on issues if he made it more clear that I'm not going to be stuck with the bill for all of these programs he wants to do. I've spent several hours reading through his site and McCain's site. I like both, Obama's is definitely a lot more specific, except on where the money will come from... My life is great, the Las Vegas economy seems to be doing well, the only issue I have here is that Education needs to be fixed. And I don't think throwing infinitely more money at it will solve it either, but we need to be tough, and Obama's statement in a speech recently ending with something along the lines of "and in some cases, we'll have to let go some teachers" really impressed me, though I wonder if hes being unrealistic as to whether he'll be able to convince the teacher's union to roll over and accept that kind of deal, it is nice though.
Unfortunately I'm ultimately probably not Obama's target demographic, so won't benefit from most of what Obama is pushing, but I'd like the entire country to run smoother, and as long as I don't get stuck paying for programs that don't benefit me and probably belong more with the state governments and not the federal I'm pretty good for supporting a lot of his plans.
Speaking of bills, did you get my email about possible projects you could help with? I still have some budget left for promoting my sites if you're interested. Or a possible exchange of promoting BBtL on topwebcomics.com(TWC)?
As to Obama and McCain I've always wished they'd both stop going after each other and just say "Here's what I'm going to do and how I'm thinking I can do it."
What really turns me off to McCain is his stance on illegal immigration, which is a hot topic with me - since I grew up in a very Mexican culture (even though I'm heritage wise white/European).
As far as illegal immigration, I lived in New Mexico for years, my babysitters, even growing up in Vegas, were normally hispanic, I'm often mistaken for latino, as an example a month ago I was at a cuban dinner and got forced to have all the "weird" stuff because they thought I was latino, while my gf got to have a hamburger. :( This is mostly bcause I have a dash of native american blood, but I'm still super anti illegal immigration. And I'm not for upping the numbers of legal immigration either, since as a web programmer I don't think its good for my industry. ;) Most of my close friends growing up are anti-illegal immigration since their family had to come here legally and go through all the paperwork.
Having said that,I don't believe in punishing the people who risk a lot to come here, other than sending them home, I believe in crucifying the businesses who hire them, who pay money to have people brought across the border to illegally bypass regulations or payroll requirements, who use effectively slave labor to complete projects then abandon them here when the job is done. Those companies need to be punished aggressively and the managers/owners need to face criminal prosecution for making a bad situation worse. People need to stop hiding behind trusts, corporations, LLCs and face the consequences for messing with our economy and even worse, messing with the lives of people who are so desparate for a better life they don't realize the consequences of their actions.