The 'Hate Talk Express' Rolls On

The above is a disturbing and sickening video of John McCain and Sarah Palin supporters waiting to get into a Sarah Palin rally in Pennsylvania. I warn you that some of the language is a little bad, and some of the people/images are hard to watch at times. (the audio starts a few seconds into the video) These are actual McCain/Palin supporters, in public, in broad daylight. It is depressing to say the least.

I'm honestly not going to say much about this. It is flat out disgusting to me. You should just watch the video and decide for yourselves what this all means. I will say that, although McCain and Palin certainly don't support this type of behavior, they encourage it by continually linking Obama to terrorists, having guest speakers at rallies who emphasize Barack's middle name Hussein, saying Obama isn't a patriot, making phone calls to people and telling them he was friends with terrorist leaders, etc. At several Palin rallies the governor will ask 'Who is the real Barack Obama?', to which people in the crowd have been shouting 'terrorist', 'communist', 'arab', 'lynch him', and several racial slurs I refuse to type here, while Sarah Palin and John McCain stand by and laugh. That is out of line and they should publicly condemn those people and have them removed.

It's people like this that make me wish we could recycle white trash.

Kimbo KO'd

I am going to take a cue from John McCain today and not talk about political issues. (You know I still have to get my digs in) Over the weekend, internet backyard brawling sensation Kimbo Slice was handed his first sanctioned Mixed Martial Arts loss against Seth Petruzelli -- in 14 seconds. Slice is (or perhaps was) the only thing keeping the fledgling MMA organization ProElite XC afloat. He had previously garnered big ratings for CBS with his first three fights where he decisively won each with ease. However, with this recent loss, Kimbo's and ProElite's futures are both uncertain.

Why does it matter?

Seth Petruzelli is a UFC dropout, who lost both of his fights in the UFC. (For those that don't know, the UFC is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, ProEliteXC's main competition) Petruzelli jumped ship to ProElite XC fighting when they were basically the only ones who would take him. The fact that Kimbo's first loss comes from a UFC reject is particularly stinging for ProElite. For months, UFC president Dana White and UFC stars Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz had been saying that Kimbo Slice was nothing more than an internet bully, and if he ever fought a real fighter he wouldn't stand a chance. Not only did Kimbo fight a UFC fighter, and lose, but it was a fighter that couldn't win a single fight in the UFC.

In Kimbo's defense, he was originally slated to fight MMA legend Ken Shamrock, but Shamrock suffered a cut on the day of the fight while sparring and doctors would not let him fight. ProElite scrambled to find someone to fill in for Shamrock, and Petruzelli jumped at the chance despite the size difference. To Kimbo's credit he accepted a fight against someone he had never seen fight, at the last minute, in a scenario where he knew he had everything to lose. Unfortunately though, he did lose everything.

For most fight fans, the outcome of this fight wasn't a surprise. Kimbo Slice looks tough in his bare-knuckle, backyard-brawls on YouTube, but it's easy for someone with moderate fight skills and experience to beat someone with relatively little. That's all Kimbo is, a man who can take some punches and out power most people on the street. ProElite XC was riding the Kimbo Slice wave of popularity, and now that he's been exposed as - gasp - a mediocre fighter, it will more than likely mean the end of ProElite's ratings and their company as it exists now. It proves once again that being big and powerful won't get you far against someone with superior fight skills and experience.

'Pale-in' comparison to Joe Biden

Let me start by saying that I do not hate Sarah Palin. She seems like a nice enough lady, and despite her overwhelming lack of knowledge, she is relatively harmless - as a governor. I don't think she wants to do evil things, and frankly I doubt she really wanted to be the VP pick. I think she is dealing with a situation she has been forced into, where she is clearly out of her league, and damnit, she is doing the best she can. Unfortunately, when it comes to people's jobs and homes, and people's pension's, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and people's health care, and equal rights for everyone, and our nation's standing in this world, her best just isn't good enough. We deserve better, and John McCain should have given us better. Why wouldn't John McCain pick Condoleezza Rice as his running mate? I'm not her biggest fan, but she is qualified and competent enough. She would be ready to step up to the plate with very little extra preparation. I could have halfway understood a McCain/Rice ticket, and that half would have been strictly on Condoleezza's side.

It is irresponsible to gamble the future and integrity of this country for a few votes. Perhaps Biden was a safe pick for Obama, but when it comes to my future, give me the safe vote over the 'maverick' vote. Joe Biden is smug, and is a jerk sometimes. Period. He is, and I don't like his attitude a lot of times. With that being said, he knows his stuff. Watching that debate, I couldn't help but think that John McCain was sitting at home thanking the gay-hating god he worships that Sarah Palin was the one going against Joe Biden and not McCain himself.

The Issues

Sarah Palin thinks abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape and incest. I refuse to tell a 15 year old girl who was (God forbid, God forbid) raped by some monster that she has to keep this baby because Sarah Palin from Wasilla, Alaska thinks she should keep it. Is Sarah Palin going to help raise that kid? Is she going to help a girl who has to drop out of high school to have the baby, then try to go back and finish high school with a kid at home? Remember, this is a girl who was raped. She didn't make a mistake. She wasn't doing being irresponsible. Let her do with her body what she wants. Even women who plan on having a baby, get pregnant, and change their mind should be allowed to do with their bodies what they want. Whether or not it is right or wrong is between them and God, not them and Sarah Palin. Disgust.

Sarah Palin is in favor of abstinence only sex education. A program in which some schools teach that condoms are ineffective 75% of the time, even when used correctly. (In reality, condoms are 90-98% effective when used correctly) Guess what, when those kids decide to have sex, which many of them will, they decide not to use condoms since they only work 1 out of 4 times. There is also plenty of research out there (that I will let you look up) that shows how comprehensive sex education delays sexual activity and promotes more healthy and safe sex practices, while abstinence only education makes virtually no difference in students' sexual initiation, and tends to lead to more STI transmissions and more unwanted pregnancies. I mean, I don't like to think about kids having sex either, but shouldn't they be informed and safe? If kids are going to be around guns unsupervised, they should be taught how to use them safely. Why should sex be any different?

Sarah Palin said her foreign policy experience was quite extensive, citing the fact that Putin flies over Alaska on his way to Washington. Extensive? Joe Biden is one of the foremost experts in foreign policy in the nation, and his experience involves a lot more than looking up to see someone flying over his head. Sarah Palin didn't even have a passport until 5 years ago. She's been to two foreign countries; Ireland and Kuwait. When she was in Ireland, it was because a plane she was on stopped there for gas, she never even got out.

Sarah Palin had never heard of the 'Bush Doctrine,' and didn't know what it meant. Sarah Palin said that since she didn't travel, she relied on books and magazines to help shape her world view. When asked to name one, she couldn't, and replied, 'Oh, all of them.' Sarah Palin kills moose for sport, not to eat, but for sport. Like Chris Rock said to Larry King, 'Sarah Palin is out killing moose, why is Michael Vick in jail?'

The list goes on. And on. And on. I will spare you more, but I think you get the point.

I give up

Look, I feel sorry for Sarah Palin because she is simply a pawn of John McCain. It was frustratingly clear during her interview with Katie Couric that she didn't know anything, but that she was doing her best in this situation McCain forced her into for the sake of picking up some extra votes. However, the truth remains, she is a political moron. John McCain said the presidency is not conducive to on-the-job training, yet he selects a running mate that has less experience than the man he was criticizing for not having enough experience?!?!

I don't know what else to say. I don't. I think the case againts McCain has grown far beyond intelligent debate. It has gotten to the point where higher ups in McCain's own campaign are calling for the resignation of Sarah Palin, and some of his most famously staunch supporters are calling McCain irresponsible for his choice of running mate. When your own campaign can no longer spin the decision in a positive way, something is wrong.

Barack Obama is not America's savior like some paint him as being. Barack Obama will not fix all of our problems, and he won't turn this nation around. However, I believe he has the best chance of setting the wheels in motion for fixing a lot of the problems we have. John McCain has no plans for any type of significant changes in terms of policy for a nation that George Bush has run into the ground. George Bush has a 28% approval rating, the lowest for any president in recent history, and John McCain's plans and ideas are the exact same as his. Something is wrong here. If you don't like one, you won't like the other.

And for the love of God, it's nuclear.