Waiting For The Re-Up

When the best HuffPo has to offer are whispers (really, a rehash of the week so far) and Palin placing herself above McCain on the ticket, well, it's a scant day for the political junkie. You find yourself playing with clever widgets in order to pass the time. (Clever widget via those nice boys at BATP.)

Still a few notable entries out there:

- The roving spotlight landed on a couple of items regarding Palin's Evangelical religion. The first, an article in Salon by Sarah Posner, explores the implications of La Palin's turning Wasilla into a City of Character(tm), should be of interest to those who are worried about the erosion of the separation of Church and State. The second is a bit more...from the fringes; the item is an email sent by Jim Bramlett, former head of the Christian Broadcasting Network. To give you an idea of the tone of the email, Mr. Bramlett explains Obama's appeal and rise to prominence as follows:

"...an invisible factor [in his rise] may be a strong spiritual force behind him, causing some people to actually swoon in his presence."

- Salon's Glenn Greenwald has some fun poking at those who had no problem allowing the White House/NSA to invade US citizens' privacy, yet are yowling about the hacking into Palin's Yahoo email account for the action's illegality and invasion of privacy.

- Hey, Nader's on the ballot in 45 states and DC. Perhaps we should have the inevitable discussion of multiple political parties at some point. I'm all for it, the system's rigged against it, but I still feel that aspiring parties need to further establish themselves in state governance and in the national legislature for their presidential candidates to be taken seriously. Just my 2¢.

- Being beige, this next item is interesting to me; James Hannaham's OpEd piece, in Salon (again), regarding the MSM's and the general populace's desire to see Obama get angry at the Republicans.

He may have a point, it may be buried within the melanin-challenged psyche a desire to see the Opressed Black Man Rise Up And Humble The Opressors With Righteous Indignation, instead of the cool headed man of reason Obama is. Personally, my desire to feel (not necessarily see or hear) some heat has more to do with my own desire for catharsis.

I've been presented with bowl of shit after bowl of shit for me to eat during these last eight years, starting with Florida '00, all the way through to whatever clownish nonsense they've managed to get away with today. I've got bile backed up here, and the motherfuckers responsible are lying again, making promises they intend to break, and they're doing it using the same deplorable tactics that appeal to the same willfully thickheaded rubes who insist on thinking "well, shit, maybe this time they really will take care of me and mine" instead of looking at the reality around them.

I think Angry Black Man should be avoided, because the middle will run to Grumpy Incontinent and Crazy White Grandpa for security; also I love rational Obama, he's exactly what's needed in the larger scheme of things and will hopefully appeal to the independent voters who appreciate thought. I just think that in order to get people going "YEAH! DAMN RIGHT!" behind Obama, there should be some sense that there is finally some sticking it to the Man going on.

And that would be true no matter the color of the presidential candidate. Just ask Kerry, Gore, Dukakis and Mondale.