Already, there are about 750,000 ‘green’ jobs in America, but that number is expected to grow to 4.2 million within 30 years. That number is derived from several factors. First, it’s based off a ten percent annual estimated growth. Second, due to the fact that the U.S. Department of Education is forcing public schools to feed our children more tofu in an effort to make them more ‘tractable’. Third, is that Democrats in high offices are slowly regulating all other industries to relocate outside the U.S.

Presidential hopeful, Barak Obama, had this to say. “We need to change the outlook of the American people to make them susceptible to change. Once this change is achieved, we will change the way they can or can not work to change their outlook of the whole idea of change.”

John McCain had a different view. “I cannot help but consider this an invasion of American values by the socialist forest regime. Trees, because they live in the communal forests, are using some form of mind control to force Americans to do the same. Bomb Them!”

One can’t help but wonder; when all the jobs and people are ‘green’ will they still be human? ‘Green’ scientists couldn’t be reached for comment (something about digital signals interfering with the tranquility of the forests).

There are of course other reasons for my apprehension. Concerns of voter fraud are more apparent in the most important swing states. All of the fraud, if true, would favor the Democrat. Obama has a lot of money to continue his campaign as he seems to be everywhere on the media and he appears to be the media's favorite.

So, let us say that Obama is elected as would a very strong Democratic Congress. What is the big deal? My distress is summarized as follows:

• Contrary to the media's droning, most of the mortgage problems were caused by the Democratic Party's work to relax the standards to qualify for a mortgage. They felt that everyone should be a home owner. Some should never be a home owner because they are unwilling to take responsibility. The resulting mortgage defaults are evidence of this disastrous idea.
• A Democratic president and Congress could become a tax and spend machine of huge proportions. After all, this party believes that government is the best source of management of everything we have.
• A Democrat in the White House will most likely appoint at least one if not three Supreme Court justices. Since the Congress is Democrat, they will nominate the youngest and most liberal they can find. The result will be more liberalism in the courts which will in the end take away the rights of many for the benefit of the government.
• Obama has been judged the most liberal Senator. With a Democratic Congress, he will move to the left of his current appearance as centrist. The country is as a whole mostly in the middle. The policies he backs will appear liberal to almost all of the population.
• The typical Democrat believes that the population is not taxed enough. They say they only want to tax the very rich and give to the poor. In fact they will tax every level of income. One of the most extraordinary campaign quotes is to give tax breaks to 95% of the population when most do not even pay taxes now.
• Obama is really scary when it comes to foreign policy. He is not open to learning anything about Iraq. He only wants to pull the troops out. The governments of most European and African countries are all in favor of his election. These same governments refuse to admit there is concern for any military action against terrorism. In some cases, they back the terrorists' efforts.
• As a Christian, I do not like the messages his pastor spewed out on the congregation that Obama was a part for many years. Obama says he did not hear any of the horrible stuff. That in itself is a concern: Obama is either lying or he is not very loyal to his church. Neither is very comforting.
• Christ spoke of a faith of love, peace and forgiveness. Obama's church taught none of that.
• If Obama was applying to the government for some positions, he would probably be declined because of his alliances with terrorists and other shady characters. However, there is no problem with his being elected to the highest office in the country.
• He believes that is perfectly legal to kill babies. The abortion rights issue is a horribly divisive issue in this country. Why are many liberals so pro animal rights and so pro abortion? We cannot harm any animal ever but can kill a baby anytime while it is in the womb.
• Abortion has cheapened life in this country. A Democratic government will only take us further down this slippery slope.

There are other reasons but these are enough for now. No doubt an Obama supporter can make a list just as long with reasons to vote for Obama. Prior to every election, we are all sure of our candidate. How long into an Obama presidency will it be before it becomes very difficult to find anyone who admits they voted for him?

Years ago I voted for Jimmy Carter when he first ran for President. He was considered a decent man and he was not part of the Washington establishment. At that point we had just come through Watergate and we needed a change. Well, the change we got was terrible. I am afraid most of the country is making the same mistake.

Obama will not lead the country out of this economic mess. If anything, we will be deeper in trouble. The next president should walk a very fine line between needed regulations and staying out of the way. Obama will lead more to socialism which will constrain the American dream. This is a very important election: vote but vote wisely.

That is right I am not going to vote. I know that at this point most people are quite angry at me right now. You assume apathy or ignorance. Maybe you just think that I just want to rebel or that I am just plain stupid. But before you jump to conclusions let me state my case. 

The reasons I am not voting:

1. I will not compromise my belief system in order to choose one candidate over the other. For example I am pro-life, now don't assume that I am an ignorant bible thumping fool. I by this I mean I am an anti-war, anti-death penalty, pacifist who also feels that abortion is wrong. I am also an anti- capitalist, and an anti-individualist, of which both candidates are. I am for the reduction of poverty and the elimination of the enormous gap between the rich and the poor. I against the removal of our civil rights and believe that gay marriage is not an issue that the government should be involved in. Overall I am very democratic so you might wonder why I don't just ignore abortion and vote Obama. Let me tell you.
   
2. As I predicted last spring,(you can ask my girlfriend) Obama will, as is happening now, morph into a politically correct version of his former self. The Obama we knew last spring is no longer as evidenced by his support of this "Bush- brainchild" bailout. The Obama we once heralded as one who will bring about change is being swallowed by Washington and its aversion for real change. You will see as I saw last spring that Obama will not be any different than any other President. Sure he will do this or that and will look different or sound different than other Presidents but the change that is really needed, the change he spoke of early in his campaign will not be able to be accomplished. While some of this is Obama's fault some of it is also Congress' fault. Which brings me to point number three.
   
3. Congress. I don't think people in this country realize how much Congress does, or doesn't do I should say. I believe that too much evidence is put on electing the President and not enough on Congress. Congress is filled with partisanship, greed, and the only concern being reelection. Congress has been bought out by lobbyists and focus groups, by what is best for them and the state they represent. Gone are the days when Congress cared about the nation, we are in a time of individualism and it is destroying our nation. 

While these are three legitimate reasons for why I am not voting, it really comes down to the fact that I am just sick of it all. All the politics, the greed, the self-aggrandizement, the smear campaigns, the lies, everything. I no longer want to be a part of this sick and depraved machine that we once called Presidential elections. I have had enough. Have you? 

Obama just kept laughing and laughing and laughing because he thought that John McCain was just raising him up to the election. Now everyone wants to see what they are going to do in the third and final election. Obama is almost to the magic number and he needs more states to get to the magic number. In the vice presidential debates Joe Biden did excelent. He didn't talk without thinking and was precise with what he was saying. Sarah Palin did better than what everyone expected so basically Joe Biden won. Now we will have to see what will happen in the next  and Final presidential Debate!

I must admit I have never been that interested in politics. Back home in South Africa, our politics can be a little funky and messy. Look at our current situation: our president at the moment is someone who pretty much came out of nowhere and only had to take over because our ex-president resigned/ had a knife at his back. The reason he resigned is because the guy who is president of the ANC (our ruling party) had been charged on corruption allegations (amongst other things but I won't go into his slimy antics). The judge threw the case out of court claiming the then president had tried to frame the president of the ANC. So now we have an "interim-president" and if Zuma (the slime ball of the ANC) becomes president next year we're in a bit of trouble.

Anyway, you can see why I never took too much interest in politics as it's worse than a soap opera and there are so many underhanded deals going on I can't take it all in. Yet, now that I'm working in the USA I wanted to learn a little more about the politics over here.

Obama all over the world...but what about America?

If you go anywhere else in the world and ask people who they think should be the next president of America and the majority of the answers would be "Obama". Truthfully, I came over here thinking the American people had to vote him in as president. He's charasmatic, charming and isn't too hard on the eye either. Yet, after having been here eight months I realise that a lot of his attraction is hyped by the media. Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's a bad guy - I just think he may have a little more growing to do. But that's all a bit off the point. I missed the first presidential debate and only watched a little of the vice presidential debate (I work long hours, I collapse at the end of the day).

But I was determined to watch the second presidential debate - even if I didn't understand half of what they were saying I wanted to see what they were like with very little scripted for them and I wanted to see how they interacted with the audience; especially because it was a town hall debate. I was disappointed to say the least. Firstly because neither candidate showed much oomph or vooma (as we say back home). America is in a bad state at the moment with everyone angry at the way government has mishandled the economy and now the tax payers have to bear the brunt. Yet neither candidate showed the fighting spirit that you would expect from someone running for the presidency of the leading first world country. I know that both were probably told by their "soothsayers" to show a calm and happy facade and just pump their platforms. Well, I think they did a great diservice to the American population as Americans need to have faith in the person they are putting in the president's seat.

Secondly, from that debate I realise that you can smile and simultaneously stab someone in the back. I know that each candidate has to try and discredit the other and put themselves forward. But goodness, it was like watching teenage girls having a go at each other in school. These are two grown, respected men and whilst smiling and assuring the public that they will change the country they are shredding their opponent.

Soap operas have nothing on politics.

Stupidity Tax

I will vote for a candidate who proposes a tax on stupidity. This will reverse the national debt and allow blowhards of all ilks to put their money where their loud obnoxious mouths are. The grocery store that employs baggers that put the 10 pound bag of potatoes on top of the eggs would have to pay a stupidity tax.

Insurance Reform

I live in Florida. Insurance companies are very happy to drain my wallet and insure my home providing no one in the state of Florida ever files a claim. If anyone in the state of Florida does file a claim because of hurricane, they get very annoyed, terminate my policy and withdraw from the state. By the way, home insurance only covers damage due to wind. You need flood insurance to cover any damage done by water. This presumably is because not all hurricanes are wet. Insurance companies would be subject to the stupidity tax.

Pharmaceutical Company Advertising Reform

Pharmaceutical companies spend more on advertising than on research. I will vote for the candidate that promises to restrict drug advertising to press releases when the drug is put on the market. Further mention should be restricted to recalls or adverse reactions. Take all the money saved on advertising and reduce the prices of prescription meds. The only advertising that would be allowed would be public service announcements to raise awareness of a disease or condition. For example, osteoporosis is a serious condition. If you are a post-menopausal woman, talk to your doctor about a bone density test and treatment options. The company name and logo will be allowed to be displayed, but not the name of the drug. Who are you to be telling your doctor about a drug anyway? Who do you think knows more about it? If your doctor isn't aware of drug treatment options without your interference, you belong to a really bad HMO.

Campaign Reform

Television campaign ads cost megabucks and most of them make the Jerry Springer Show seem like a sermon. Candidates have to raise incredible amounts of money to mount a campaign for national office. How about only televising debates and town hall meetings? That's news. I'll vote for the candidate who proposes to use the money in the campaign war chest to reduce the national debt, fix the infrastructure and education of our kids.

Lobbyist Reform

Promise to feed all lobbyists to sharks or use them as subjects for medical experiments and you'll have my vote. Lobbying is just bribery and graft. It is institutionalized and sophisticated, but it is still bribery and graft. Perhaps the lobbyists who don't want to become shark chow can go to Iraq or some other garden spot and become hostages. Lobbyists who become hostages in foreign countries will not be allowed to return. Lobbyists should not be allowed to breed.

Food Additive/Food Labeling Reform

I'll vote for the candidate who proposes plain English on food labels. You shouldn't have to be a chemist to understand food labels. If the product has eggs in it, the label should say "Contains eggs". If the product contains sugar, it should say "Contains sugar". Currently, a product labeled as sugarless can contain high fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, maltodextrin, and sucrose. FYI, your body thinks they are all sugar and will happily make fat out of them. There is zinc oxide in my breakfast cereal. That's what's in sun block. Is sunburn a big problem for breakfast cereal? Most of the stuff on food labels are unpronounceable and incomprehensible. What is disodium guanylate and why is it in my chicken soup? Will it give me cancer? Will it make me obese? Will it make me itch? Is that what gives it home-cooked flavor? Grandma made chicken soup and I don't remember her reaching for the sodium guanylate.

Credit Card Interest Rates

You'll earn my vote if you can explain why the usury laws don't apply to credit card companies. How come a credit card company can state in microscopic print that it can, at any time, for any reason, change your rate from outrageous to astronomical. The Mafia has better terms.

Petroleum Company Profits/Pricing

To get my vote, propose that oil companies take their obscene profits and either put the money into renewable energy or reduce prices. Alternatively, they could put money into researching renewable energy AND reduce prices.

CEO Salaries

I don't understand why the CEO of a company should earn three hundred times what the people who actually do the work earn. Currently, a CEO can run a company into bankruptcy and walk away with golden parachutes worth more than the GDP of some countries. If any of the rank and file did their job as poorly, they'd be fired. I'll vote for the candidate who proposes to fire the CEOs who are driving companies into the ground and give them a parachute of dog poo. Better yet, pay them on a commission-only basis.

Health Care

My congressperson has comprehensive health care. Doesn't he/she work for me? Don't I pay his/her salary? How come I don't have the same benefits? What kind of employer offers their employees health care and doesn't have it themselves? Either come up with something viable effective immediately or I'll send my medical and dental bills to my elected representative.

That's what I'd like to hear on the campaign trail—a lot less about whether pit bulls or pigs wear lipstick more about what's important to me. I'm listening.

Good grief, the mud slinging is just horrendous in these campaigns!

I chuckle sometimes (and other times cringe) at my friends who are very enthusiastic about their political convictions and candidates.

One friend is so Republican that she would vote for ANYONE who runs on that ticket. I admire her convictions and beliefs that the Republican party is the only party for conservative Christians. She constantly sends me email chains that are “Pro-McCain” or “Anti-Obama”. You have probably seen a few of them - but honestly I don't know where all of these things come from.

Anyway, one of particular extreme radicalism talked about Obama saying he couldn't wait to campaign in “57 states” and then pointed out that there are 57 Muslim states. Therefore, because of that slip of the tongue, every American should vote for McCain. (I gently reminded my friend that we all call our children by the wrong name several times a day…)

My other friend is very much for Obama. But, I think that her support is mainly because the local campaign office has welcomed her and put her in charge of several projects. She is more of a “gentle” campaigner though. She will mention the campaign in passing while staring intently at me, searching for some sign of non-verbal support for what she's doing.

When it comes right down to it, I don't like either candidate. I didn't like any of the candidates who were involved in the primaries. I have seen first hand how corporate giants use the lobbying system to squash the safety and well-being of the average American. Money makes the political world go "round. Then - you factor in how poorly Congress works together and with the President - I"m not sure it really matters who the candidate is.

I received my sample ballot in the mail today - my eye immediately went to the “Write In” option.

The nation witnessed in this debate two completely different expressions of leadership. On the one hand it could be said that the calm, deliberate, measured performance of Sen. Obama inspired confidence in a visionary and well mapped out plan for the direction he would choose to lead America. On the other hand Sen. McCain relied solely on the rhetoric of fear, innuendo and patronization.

The over use of “My friends” has become no more than an insincere show business gimmick and always seems to precede some expression of inconsequential grandfatherly advise that aims toward telling voters how the supposedly wizened Sen. McCain grasps the intricacies of life and politics that we the people just don't understand. The constant drum beat of “My friends, I know how to catch Bin Laden, I know how to fix the economy, I know how fix the health care crisis” is never, ever followed by any explanation of what his self proclaimed knowledge base would have us do. Could we accept on face value that McCain does have some secret understanding or information that would help America capture the most wanted or repair the credit crisis or provide solutions for an increasing number of financially desperate Americans, would we simply then overlook his withholding such information from the nation until January 2009 or perhaps even until January 2012 should he fail in his bid for the Presidency. Such a withholding of information could only be considered treasonous while Americans are fighting and dying overseas.

Sen. McCain's campaign has made no secret of their belief in the candidate's strength as someone who can connect with voters on a personal level due to his past performance in the Town Hall type venue. Their distorted sense of reality becomes painfully present when we witness the Senator in a room that is not, for once, packed full of his ardent supporters, but with some degree of a cross section of voters. The bloom fades quickly from a rose not being coddled by handlers and portrayed through the lens of a severely restricted spectrum of Americans. The faded bloom further decomposes with repeated exposure to the half whispering voice of the candidate in a seeming attempt to “educate” what he must consider as an unsophisticated public regarding some bit of complexity not otherwise understood without the assistance of Sen. McCain. Or, perhaps the whispering is designed to portray some overlay of the sinister to this contest, emphasizing the recent McCain tactic of “do we really know who this Obama fella is?” Either way, reality plays no role in the choice of tactics used.

Reality can be a peculiar concept in political discourse and is often times set aside or distorted in favor of perceived gains to be made in public opinion. Moral and ethical difficulty arises when such choices are made to deceive. The practical difficulty arises when this setting aside or distortion is not based on the choice as strategy, but in an unwillingness to see, or unawareness of reality and truth. The McCain campaign is apparently guilty of both as regards Sen. McCain's talents in the Town Hall format. Sen. McCain's willing participation in such a faulty assertion is a stark portrayal of his distorted sense of reality, a characteristic rendering him unfit for duty as President.