Since I haven't talked about politics in months, I'll start off with that. First and foremost, I never did approve of Obama, and surprise surprise, that has not changed one bit. He's still pretentious, arrogant, ignorant, and, most importantly, wrong on just about everything. The only things that I do agree with him on (being some social liberties) are things that he has simply put on the back-burners. I would be able to respect him if I thought he actually gives a damn about people rather than his own, reckless agendas. He's not really all that different from Bush, as he attacked McCain on. It's the pot calling the kettle African-American. To further my point that he's no different than Bush, what has he done in Iraq and Afghanistan? Last I heard, Obama was planning on sending MORE troops to Afghanistan. And here I thought that he campaigned on the ideas that he was going to try to LESSEN our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Right about now I feel it's the right moment to say, "I told you so" to all of the people that thought he was actually going to follow through with those sorts of promises. He's managed to push his reckless economic stimulus packages through (Bush did the same, though), and he has started the dismantling of Capitalism in healthcare which is bound to help improve things. Hahahaha. Sorry, I thought I could keep a straight face on the last one. So nearly one year later, and I'm still just as cynical towards this fraud.

In other news, I have been given a new position at Anesthesia Business Consultants. After about 7 months of working as a Customer Service representative, I was given a position that I had applied for. I moved out of Customer Service to become the assistant head of a different department. It's now full-time with benefits, a nice increase in pay, and I'm able to prove myself capable of thriving in not just Customer Service but potentially any department, as well as showing that I can lead. If I don't screw this up, then the company will really see me as an asset, and I can't imagine they'd want to lose me. Not to stroke my own ego, but I am far more than just someone's who's easily replaceable. I have substance, loyalty, and ambition. It doesn't hurt that I'm male in a largely female-dominated workplace.

Even though I'm working full-time, I've been getting the itch to start designing a little more. I haven't touched things in almost 3 months, and it's probably time that I hop back in. I could always use some extra cash, and if I could score some freelance work, it'd be nice to have. I just need to get my name out there and convince people that they need my services. This would include actually finishing my website to the point that it's respectable to show, and I really could use my new business cards. As of right now, they're just sitting in an .ai file and not doing anything productive for me. I should probably go out and mingle with people more, too. It's kind of a tall order, but it's completely doable.

Oh! I got a new phone, too. It is the HTC Hero through Sprint. Once I discovered this phone, I immediately fell in love. I got it the day that it was released, and there really isn't much to complain about. At times, it can be a bit sluggish, but I am not in such a hurry that I need everything to load immediately. Though, it's not even that significant to begin with. The battery life is probably my biggest gripe, but I'm never too far away from somewhere that I can charge it, and it usually lasts me 12-24 hours depending on how heavy the usage is. I, definitely, feel that I made the right choice in phones. Even my brother likes my phone. He's due to get a new one and switch to Sprint, as well. As I've become kind of an Android fanboy, I've been pushing him towards the Hero or the Samsung Moment. He says he doesn't want to get the Hero because I already have it, otherwise he would. While I think it's a ridiculous reason to not get a phone that you like, it's probably smart that he doesn't. The Hero is probably too complicated for what he would really use it for. Realistically, then, it's the Moment that I'm going to push him toward. He has been planning on getting the Pre, but I think it really depends on what keyboard he's going to, ultimately, want more. Will he want a full-touchscreen (Hero) or which physical keyboard he'd prefer, the Moment's (with the bigger keys) or the Pre's (tiny ass keys that annoy the piss out of you). We shall see. You know I'll be rooting for Android!

Also, you may have noticed a change in the layout of the blog. No, I didn't create this new theme. I just have gotten so sick and tired of the thin content column that I needed to change it. I do have a new design that needs to be sliced and coded, but with WordPress themes, they can be more of a hassle than they're worth. For right now, I'm content on using a solid design that others have created for me to use, royalty free.

On a final note, I will see about doing more music recommendations. Of course, I cannot stop finding new music to listen to, so I have plenty to share with everyone. I'll have to think of the format of how I want to do this. I don't know. I could just end up being far too lazy to do it, period. We'll have to see what happens.

As a result of Texas putting McBama on their ballot, Bob Barr has filed a lawsuit to keep them from being on the Texas ballot. While I don't expect Bob Barr to win because of bureaucracy, I do believe that Barr is right. Barr's campaign requested and received the filings of both the Democrat and Republican parties. The filings clearly show that neither party filed correctly before the August 26th deadline.

Here is the Texas statute stating the guidelines of filing for the ballot:

192.031. PARTY CANDIDATE’S ENTITLEMENT TO PLACE ON BALLOT. A political party is entitled to have the names of its nominees for president and vice-president of the United States placed on the ballot in a presidential general election if:

(1) the nominees possess the qualifications for those offices prescribed by federal law;

(2) before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before presidential election day, the party’s state chair signs and delivers to the secretary of state a written certification of:
(A) the names of the party’s nominees for president and vice-president; and
(B) the names and residence addresses of presidential elector candidates nominated by the party,
in a number equal to the number of presidential electors that federal law allocates to this
state; and

(3) the party is:
(A) required or authorized by Subchapter A of Chapter 172 to make its nominations by primary election; or
(B) entitled to have the names of its nominees placed on the general election ballot under Chapter 181.

The GOP didn't have Palin on their submission, and the DNC didn't file until August 27th. This is just further proof that third parties are intentionally held to high regulations while the two major parties can just lean on state legislatures to ignore established law. This practice really does spit in the face of the electoral process of America. It's no secret that bureaucracy in America is trying to make it so that nobody's voice counts unless it's used to support one of the two political puppets.

What really gets me is what the Democrat Party chairman, Boyd Richie said. In his obliviousness, he stated, "Quite frankly, I find it very ironic that those in the Libertarian Party, who have in the past been champions of ballot access, are now making attempts to limit that access here in Texas."

The jackass completely misses the point. It's not a matter of ballot access. It's about playing fairly in the political arena. No party should be given any special treatment over another party, especially when it comes to things like ballot access. The law is law, and every party should be held to these laws. The Libertarian Party accepts the consequence of not being on the West Virginia ballot because of a late filing, even though the Democrat and Republican parties didn't have to file for another month. No party is above the law, and that's the point.

Then we have the government spending money that it doesn't have to bail out corporations. There's not a whole lot to say on this issue. The fact is that it shouldn't ever happen. The government cannot be bailing out corporations or people, especially with money IT DOES NOT HAVE. We're going even further into debt because of corporations? I'm sorry, but that's not how it should work. What are we going to be spending on these bail-outs? Not $500 million, but $500 billion. Why our government seems to think that bankrupting itself (or the people) is a good idea is way fucking beyond me.

All of this is frustrating me, and as much as McCain and Obama are toting around "real change" for this upcomming election, it just is further proof that they have no fucking clue what real change means. They don't have any formulas for a better America. They're just working towards higher agendas fueled by corruption and money. America needs a real change. America needs a rEVOLution.

The cover of The New Yorker is a lampoon of the picture that the right-wing is trying to paint of Obama and his wife, Michelle. The cover shows Barack and Michelle fist-pounding in the Oval Office with the American flag burning in a furnace, and a picture of bin Laden hanging on the wall. Barack is in Islamic garb while his wife is dressed as a millitant with an AK-47 strapped over her shoulder. The Obama campaign did not take too kindly to this, and the McCain campaign quickly followed suit, both claiming the cover to be inappropriate.

I have no problem with either candidate having an issue with the cover of the magazine. It is easily seen as offensive, though I do not agree with that. The problem I have is both campaigns taking a stance against the magazine. Publically giving the magazine a lashing only contributes to the idea that the media should have no controversy, which ultimately means the truth has to be sugarcoated or ignored, altogether.

Perhaps, I would not view this as such a big deal if there was no significant censorship, but we know that is not true. There is an ever increasing idea that people should not have to be exposed to things that they are uncomfortable with. It is absurd that people think there is a need to control what is said or published. People have the choice of ignoring what it is they do not like, but yet they continue to think that what they do not like is what everybody else should not like. It is unfortunate, but this is our reality, and it sucks.

In other words, people need to grow some thicker skin, and presidential candidates need to get over themselves. If people are turned off to their campaigns by stupid, immature slander, then they never had the vote in the first place. I would feel a lot better if candidates would concentrate on the issues rather than what a satirical magazine publishes.