We’ve Got To Get Our Kids Edumacated

Im sorry that this is a little different from my normal political commentary but I cannot hold my tongue anymore.  Here goes: WHAT THE HELL EVER HAPPENED TO JOURNALISM IN THIS COUNTRY???!!!  When I took journalism in high school (which, admittedly, I flunked) they told us to always remember the five W’s.  Who What When Where Why.  National news is still pretty good but I read pieces from local new both in Salt Lake City and in my quaint little home town Salina frequently and they almost NEVER give the 5 W’s.  Then to top it all off, captions have all but disapeared.  You read an article and they usually put the headline down again as the caption.  I seem to remember that a caption is supposed to describe what is happening in the picture.  I really hope that President Obama or McCain can do something about the shitty education in this country.   There, I mentioned politics, I kept my blog pure…

P.S. Cynthia, you’re a journalist, can you write a letter to somebody or something?

Im Eriq Kiltz and I approved this message.

To Quote Yet Another Line From A Movie That Pretty Much Sucked, ‘If You Dont Vote, You Dont Matter’

Today I had the honor of being among the first to cast my vote in the General election.  Thanks to the outstanding efforts of Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swenson in starting early voting all over the county, I was able to make the line a little shorter on election day.  That being said, I was deeply moved by the number of people in line this morning.  The polls opened at 8 so I showed up about 10 minutes prior and ended up waiting nearly a half hour to vote.  I proudly displayed my ‘I Voted Early’ sticker all day today and admonished my peers to do the same.  What a moving experience voting is, I truely felt as if I had the power to shape the world in my hands, because I did.  I encourage everyone to go and vote.  Excercise your right and indeed your responsiblity and vote.  Vote for whomever you wish, just vote.

By the way, I cant remember the name of the movie I quoted above but it did really suck.

Im Eriq Kiltz and I approved this message.

To Quote A Line From My Favorite Presidential Candidate, ‘There Are No Red States, There Are No Blue States, There Are The United States’.

I was bolstered by the news today that Colin Powell endorsed Senator Obama for President.  Obama has remained bi-partisan throughout his political career and I am happy to say that others are willing to do the same.

Regarding some who say that Colin Powell feels differently about the Iraq war than Barack Obama.  First of all, when Colin Powell first came out in support of the war, it was under the impression that Iraq had weapons that posed a direct threat to us.  Now, whether or not you think that Iraq had weapons, more recent intelligence has revealed that Iraq was not a threat to the US.  Second, Colin Powell was working for a President who wanted ‘yes’ people on his staff.  Everyone was expected to toe the line and recite the party rhetoric.  Remember that Colin Powell quit the State Department in protest.

Im Eriq Kiltz and I approved this message.

To Quote Another Line From Another One Of My Favorite Movies, ‘Hey Upham, Careful You Don’t Step In The Bullshit’.

The Associated Press ran a story today with the following sentence in it copied exactly as it appeared,

“McCain wants to retain all of the tax cuts that Bush won from Congress in 2001 and later years, reductions that applied at every level of income.”

This is a bunch of bullshit, President Bush’s tax cuts did not apply to me.  I got a letter in the mail from the IRS stating that I did not make enough money to qualify for the tax cuts.

Speaking of bullshit, John McCain today accused Barack Obama of campaign finance abuse for raising over 150 million dollars in September.  Perhaps John McCain doesnt understand that when he filed for public financing he commited to raise no more than 50 million dollars a month.  Its interesting that it is John McCain himself who violated campaign finance laws by raising 54 million dollars in June.

Barack Obama realizes that not every taxpayer in America agrees with him and so opted to not take public financing.  This also allows him to raise as much money as he likes from private doners such as myself.   John McCain also apparently does not understand the spirit of the campaign finance reform laws which were designed to prevent huge sums of money being donated by huge companies or PAC’s.  ALL of Barack Obama’s monies have come from private doners.  When a company does write a check, the campaign sends it back.

By the way, the movie mentioned in this title is Saving Private Ryan.

Im Eriq Kiltz and I approved this message.