Election 2008

Here is a new thread that we can probably continue up to and through the November Presidential Election.

I was wondering what everyone's take was on the candidates, who you have decided to support or if you haven't yet decided as I haven't.

The way I see it there are 4 (soon ot be 5 from what I hear) candidates that could potentially garner support. John McCain, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee and if he re-enters the race, Ralph Nader. Sure there are other parties, Libertrian and so forth, but I don't see any that could begin to mount even 1% of the voting.

We all have our criteria for decision making when it comes to what candidate to support and ultimately cast our ballot for. For me there are three critical issues that need resolution, ther are of course more significant issues, but for the purposes of this election I have three.
1) The economy - it is in terrible shape and going down hill, some experts have predicted no potential upswing economically until mid 2009 at the earliest. The current "economic stimulus package" is a joke. Giving people money I have no problem with, take it, spend it, but how is giving people a little extra money going to get the economy going? You can't buy a house or a car or anyting that can significantly impact the entire economy with a thousand bucks, sorry, but that is completely unrealistic.
2) Healthcare - I think we can all agree on one thing, the current system is broken and in dire need of repair. We may not agree on the who, what and why, but we all know it is broken and beyond repair in it's current form. We are the wealthiest country in the world and we take worse care of our people than most industrialized nations in the world. Can anyone explain whay my medicine costs $300 if I don't have insurance and only $7 is i do? Where does that extra $293 go then? I am 100% certain the the insurance company is NOT making up that difference.
3) The war in Iraq. You all know I have not spported this war from the jump, we shouldn't be in Iraq and should not have been. Don't misunderstand, I am totally in favor of pursuing terrorists where ever the evidence takes us, but after 7 years we still haven't gotten to the primary onjective Osama Bin Laden. With all of our resources and all of our intelligence we can't catch one guy? Only one reason for that, we aren't focusing our attention in that area. Unless we are that incompetent and i do not believe that is the case.

There are other major issues such as Immigration, but thee three I listed are the most significant for me to make my decision. I caution anyone who gets thrown off the scent by non-issues or hot button issues like Gay Marriage, Performance enhancing drugs on sports and so forth. Those are the issues that seem to get people riled up, but do they seriously impact the overall welfare of our people? I would suggest they do not, yet they are used by political machinery to deflect from the real core issues that do have a direct impact on peoples lives.

Please read this and post your responses and issues, there is a definite cross-section of beliefs at work here and I respect everyone and their opinions.

One more question for people who voted for George Bush-Dick Cheney last election, knowing now what you didn't then, would you have voted differently and why?

Rick

If you have the right to vote and don't excercise that right, in my judgement you lose the right to complain about the government for the four subsequent years.

Oscar Stuff

Since we are a movie watching group I thought a little Oscar talk might be fun. Judy and I had actually seen each of the movies nominated for Best Picture, All of the performances nominated for Best Actor and 4 of the 5 nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Not bad at all this year. Unfortunately we were not as lucky with the femal acting nominees having seen only one of the Best Actress and 3 of the Best Supporting Actress nominees.

I felt like there were several locks coming in, Daniel Day Lewis, Javier Bardem, No Country for Best Picture, Diabolo Cody for writing Juno and The Coen's for adapting No Country. The rest were wide open and proved to be just that with both female acting winners in the upset category.

If there is one category they can do away with it is best song. How exactly Eddie Vedder get totally bypassedm, his soundtract to Into the Wild was AMAZING!!!! 3 crappy Disney songs get nominated for the same movie? Give this category over to te Grammy's or something. It is just a terrible category. Just remember.............."it's hard out here for a pimp" Need I say more?

Blasts from the Past

Since it is just the three of us to far I thought it might be fun to reminisce a little bit. What I am going to do is put a name out there and you guys give some memories you might have about that person, then you do the same. Hope you like it.

First Name

Dan Van Evenhoven

Family Blog Introduction

Hello all,

I have created this blog in an effort to keep the lines of communication open between all of us. We are a family that enjoys each other and just because were are in the Northeast, South, Missouri, Southeastern Wisconsin and Northeastern Wisconsin does not mean that we cannot keep the lines of open.

I'd like to use this blog as a method of communicating thoughts, ideas, pictures, and any other pertinent information. I hope you all feel the same way.

I welcome your input and posts.

Love,

Scott Underwood