I have two words for McCain: “Who Cares!!”? A number of third countries, the majority being allies of the U.S., including Canada, France, and England, have what most would consider “socialist” programs. And guess what, they work, they work well, and they have worked well for decades.

The obvious example is Health Care. While our health care system is coming apart at the seams, the countries sited have a reasonably smooth running, decent quality, and relatively inexpensive health care program. If you don’t believe it, ask their citizens. Better yet, ask an American that has been living in one of those countries for a number of years. In interviews I’ve seen, they of course miss America, but they LOVE the ability to get good local quality health care without having to hoc the house. Our system isn’t working. Theirs is. It’s a no brainer.

Higher education is another area that lends itself well to federal subsidization. Most of us struggle to send our kids to college. In many European countries, where the government assists those wanting to go to college, this is not a problem. Sure, in most cases taxes are higher in these countries, but analysis suggests with these two major costs covered, the average European ends up much better of financially than the average American. And they don’t go through the financial up, downs, and sideways gyrations that we, as Americans, seem to have to endure. Aaaahhh. Wouldn’t that be nice!

The Times’ Maeve Reston was at the event, and she passed along the key passage from Conrad’s words:

I would also pray Lord that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their God — whether it’s Hindu, Buddha, Allah — that his [McCain’s] opponent wins for a variety of reasons.

And Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.

Oh Lord, we just commit this time to you, move among us, make your presence very well felt as we are gathered here today in Jesus’s name I pray.

Your “reputation”? We wouldn’t want God to get a bad rep would we? Geez, their must be a lot of Gods running around up there. I wonder if each state has a God? Does the “Fed” God control the state Gods? In that case, won’t the Fed God be upset if the Ohio God doesn’t deliver? Stay tuned!

But so far, no major energy bills have been passed. Is it possible all this money has been spent to maintain the status quo?

Meanwhile, the renewable energy folks haven’t seen a big increase in funding.  Looking at the dollars spent lobbying Congress, that may not be surprising. The renewable industry and their allies in the environmental movement have spent a combined $19 million lobbying Congress this year – half what the oil industry has spent.

If cash equals friendship, then John McCain and the oil industry are best friends.  The Arizona Republican has taken $1.4 million from oil industry employees in the 2007-2008 election cycle, more than any other politician, according to CRP.  That’s over three times as much as Barack Obama, who ranks just below Hillary Clinton as the highest Democrat recipient.

The sad part of this discussion is that people know about, and even EXPECT their to be a corrolation between how much a special interest spends on lobbying and/or making campaign contributions.  You can ID this expectation in the rhetoric behind the report from CNN.  If the trend of “whoever has the most money wins”, then our democracy is doomed.  Progress in the interest of the majority will be slowed to a crawl, if it moves at all.  If our elected officials don’t have the moral strength to resist the implied extortion and “bribes” from these large companies (some do and some don’t, but I believe the majority do not), then we need to remove the temptation by making lobbying illegal, and campaign funds should be funded by, drawn from and distributed equally from our tax dollars.  That way, maybe the real voice of the people can be heard over the thundering din and deep pockets of special interests.

So here we are, with techno-savvy terrorists at our door step, and the promise of America’s future deeply embedded in the realm of technology, yet the GOP presents to us presidential candidate John McCain. McCain is severely technology challenged (just one of his areas of “challenge”, but that’s another story). Allegedly he can’t even log onto a computer, let alone surf the net. The internet, to me, is not only a good way to research and find various consumer products (“Google it” – know what that means Johnny?), but it also is a great way to gather disparate opinions on domestic and global topics: economics, ecology, politics, foreign news and opinions (gasp!), etc. McCain, is, and will continue to be out-of-touch. As president, he would be relying on others to gather and “filter” his news, and these folks are likely to introduce a GOP bias since most of them will be hand-picked by McCain and/or other higher ups in the party.

Age is no excuse (see discussion above re: my father), and having a terminal available (it seems to me the feds can afford to have at least one in the Oval Office), to do quick queries is much easier and faster than “delegating”. Sorry John, regardless of your age and status, their is no excuse in this day and age to be technically illiterate. In fact, it would endanger us all.

So what’s the answer?  Simple, really; take the temptation away.  In this case, take away the ability for politicians to accept campaign donations from large companies, or, perhaps even from anyone or anything.  I think we would all be a lot better off if we used some of our tax money to build an escrow fund to be divided equally between the two parties for campaigning.  With this approach, no politician, once elected, would have the pressure to “pay someone back”.  

RIght now, as far as I can tell, the “payback” is driving decisions in Washington.  Special interests are running, and in my opinion, ruining, our country.  BIg Oil puts in millions a year to various campaign funds.   Do they want sustainable energy to become funded, and even (gasp!) mandated?  I don’t think so.  

“Good morning Senator, remember us?  We donated $150,000 to your campaign.  Now about drilling offshore………..”

As I’m sure you’re all aware, his trip was a huge success, perhaps even historically so. In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki called Obama’s plan for troop withdrawal “suitable”. He received virtual endorsements from the leaders of Iraq and Israel for some of his most controversial foreign policy positions. In Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and others praised Obama’s understanding of their countries concerns. The PM of Britain also agreed with most of Obama’s Iraq plans. Audiences in Europe swarmed to see him, and even President Sarkozy (the French are pretty particular you know), said: “If he is chosen, then France will be delighted”. (Ahh, maybe if Obama wins, they’ll start sending us the GOOD wine again.)

So understandably surprised, and maybe even a little embarrassed, how did McCain respond? He said that a number of Obama’s activites were “presumptuous”.

Geez John, you were the one that put the visit abroad into Obama’s head in the first place. Uh, Mr. McCain, fries with that? Mr. McCain? Hello? Hello?