Happy Halloween!

I am bringing the orange joy to Europe. Trying to counterpart the commercial and capitalistic image people have here and replace it with the warm memories of my trick-or-treating days. My mom brought the decorations, some costume parts, make-up and what-not, and I’m making gory food. Plus: jack-o-lanterns, if I ever find my strength again. See, the problem is that I’m totally knocked-out by a cold I got Wednesday evening. I don’t do well when I’m sick. So, instead of overworking my already over-pressured head, here are some things I found this morning:

Spike’s pumpkin: “Yes we carve!” (can’t seem to post the picture directly)

Obama responds to the latest manufactured controversy from the McCain camp: “I don’t know what’s next. By the end of the week, he’ll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” (“Quote of the Day” on Feministing)

I’m not going to lie. My main reason for voting Obama/Biden is that I feel like they’ve got what it takes to put aside the name calling and childish part of politics and really move this country forward. My inner ideologist loves the fact that Obama speaks in a calm, educated way and dares to use words like “hope”. (via Blurbomat)

To the undecided voters

… you only have 12 days left to find yourself a functioning brain. I can’t even understand why such people exist – especially in this election – and find it frightening that they are supposedly the ones who tip the scale.

But before I start a diatribe on the subject, I’ll just quote from an article the comedian David Sedaris wrote for the New Yorker:

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

You can read the whole thing here.

God, guns and gays

The third and last presidential debate of ‘08 took place in Hempstead, New York, at the Hofstra University. There is a saying, that god, guns and gays are the issues that decide an election in the states. In this debate, I think every prickly topic was addressed. As well as some useless ones.

Take Joe the plumber for instance, the new American hero. Brought up for no reason but to serve as another example in the lines of “joe six-pack” and hockey mom. Damn Joe the plumber. Don’t the reps just love to pick out a single case and make it look as if it were the norm? Get a bigger perspective, people.

In general, McCain was seen cutting off Obama and laughing nervously or playing on semantics. You’re just jealous, Johnny boy. McCain repeating himself, especially concerning empty phrases or false facts, and doesn’t get to the point. Are the questions too hard to answer? Strange that Obama is able to give straight answers, then.

Terrorists everywhere! Was also a popular topic. Palin never excused herself for saying that Obama “pals around with terrorists”, just because he was a member of a board in which another member was known to have bombed the capitol – 40 years ago. When Obama was eight. McCains answer? Well when that one lady in the crowd said she was afraid of Barack because he’s a Muslim, he said: no m’am, he’s a decent person. Sure. But I could go on about this for hours…

“Why would the country be better off if your running mate became president?” Now I’m thinking: ooh, this should be good. SERIOUSLY. The first thing McCain says is that Palin is a role model for women and a reformer. Are you kidding me? Then, “I’m proud of her”, about a million times. This is your VP, not your daughter! Afterwards, poor Obama had to answer the question if he thought she would make a good president. I think he answered very diplomatically and smoothly, especially considering there’s more than enough to pick on. McCain, in return, couldn’t help but to derogate Biden. Way to go on character points.

My favorite topic in this debate: health care. Because a full coverage for everyone, the possibility of every single American to get help when he/she is ill, no matter what job he/she has – is SOCIALIST (add booing here). And then, the A-bomb: Roe v Wade. To explain to Europeans: the Roe versus Wade case went before Supreme Court and resulted in a landmark decision concerning abortion laws (read more about it here). As Obama said, he believes that women – in consultation with their family, their doctors, their religious advisers – are capable of making a choice in that matter. McCain thinks our fragile little heads can’t be trusted with such a phenomenal decision – the government should make it for us. Then again it’s no secret that McCain is an old-school misogynist. The ultimate line from McCain in this debate (and I’m writing this out word for word from what he said): “That’s the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, health”. Just after Obama said that no-one is pro abortion, he actually air-quoted the word health. Like the health of the carrying woman doesn’t weigh against the “unborn child” – an unviable fetus. Yes, this topic angers me. So I’ll stop here, but please read this blog entry about it.

You can watch the entire 1h30 of the debate here – it’s long, but so entertaining!