Okay, I know that the Presidential/VP debates give viewers an opportunity to see how the candidates handle themselves, what their positions are, and give a general impression as to who they are. But for the desired purpose of helping voters make up their mind, I think the current debating format is failing miserably. Even basic High School debating requires that you answer the questions asked, and time limits are strictly enforced. I think last night’s debate was a total waste of time. It drove me nuts when questions were ignored and the non-answers were well rehearsed and practiced. Good thing I at least had some good popcorn to help pass the time.

I think these debates are simply becoming a media circus and waste of time. Here is what I would suggest. Gather a pool of non-partisan journalists together to draft 100 direct and to the point questions. Post these questions on the internet and let voters select the top 25-50 questions they would like the candidates to answer. Then give those top questions to each candidate and allow them to answer those questions in writing within a specified word count. Warn the candidates that their answers will be fact checked for accuracy. Then post their answers to the questions. I am far more interested in how the candidates intend to capture Bin Laden than I am in what they are wearing, who they look at while they are speaking, and how well they can wink into a camera.

Sure, my process would lack in entertainment value, and many voters probably wouldn’t take the time to participate, but it would at least give us a realistic idea of where the candidates stand on the issues that really matter. The issues facing our country are far too important to be relegated to a spot on Entertainment Tonight.

I have tried to keep quiet about the Presidential election because I know what a volatile issue this is. But the latest McCain action is just more than I can handle. 

He wants to put this Friday’s debate on hold so that he can go back to Washington to deal with the financial services crisis. As if he could go back and single handedly resolve the problems. President Bush got us into this, let him work to get us out.

I think it is far more important that the people finally get to hear what kind of plans McCain has for this country should he be elected President. I find it extremely dismaying that McCain and Palin seem to be running a campaign of dodge ball instead of one of heads-up, direct to the point issues.

I applaud Senator Obama’s decision to have the debates continue as scheduled. I will be glued to my TV on Friday night!

When I was in the U.S. Coast Guard, I needed a Top Secret Security Clearance. The FBI did a thorough background check, even going so far as to visit the little town I grew up in and talking with my neighbors and teachers. I got the clearance. Fast forward 25 years later, and I had the notion I would make a great police officer. I graduated in the top 10% of my class and had a tentative offer of employment. But then things started to go wrong. Agency after agency turned me down after doing their background checks. To this day I have no idea what was causing the red flag to go up. The only idea that I ever came up with was the thought that perhaps my ex-wife was saying something to sabotage my efforts. But wouldn’t you think that the police would be used to such a thing and would at least give me the opportunity to defend myself?

The point to all of this is to question the practice and efficiency of background checks. In Sarah Palin’s case, I don’t think they did a thorough enough job on vetting her. Here is a woman who may become the next VP, and perhaps even President if McCain doesn’t make it through his entire term, yet her vetting barely scratched the surface. Has anyone done a psychological profile on McCain? Sure, he is a war hero and survived horrendous torture. But wouldn’t that leave some kind of psychological scarring? I had to go through lie detectors and psychological reviews during my unsuccessful attempt at becoming a police officer.

As important as it is to make sure a police candidate is stable and has no skeletons in their closet, shouldn’t the background of people with the power to start a war be even more thorough? From that perspective, it seems easier to become Commander in Chief than it is to become a police officer.

According to the Associated Press, court-appointed receiver Clark Keslo is asking a judge to seize $8 billion from California’s treasury, at a time when California is already $15.2 billion in debt and facing additional cuts to services and potential higher taxes.

What does Mr. Keslo want the money for? So that he can “with a sense of firm conviction,” obtain funding mandated by the Federal government to improve the healthcare facilities of prisons! Yes, that bad place where they send bad people. We can’t even provide health care for the good people of California, yet this jerk wants to provide better health care for prisoners who already receive better healthcare than many of the state’s population. If a prisoner needs health care that cannot be provided at the prison’s facilities, the prisoner is transferred to a local hospital for treatment. While there, deputies are paid overtime to stand guard over the prisoner, even if they are too ill to go anywhere.

If the prison system is over-crowded and under-funded, fine. Take drastic measures like paroling (not just setting free) non-violent offenders. Make violators of the law pay higher fines and penalties. But don’t break the piggy bank just to hand it to the bad guys!

I’m disgusted.

The title of this post seems plastered all over the news today. I don’t really know what to think about all of it. On the one hand, the U.S. made Georgia into an ally, and allies are supposed to protect each other. On the other hand, I would hate to see us involved in yet another war, with a much stronger opponent.

Refugees and exhausted troops from Georgia have been reportedly shot while trying to escape the fighting. So far, the only thing that President Bush has done is issue a “firm warning.”  The best answer I can come up with is for U.N. peace keeping forces to form a “line in the sand” and force diplomatic discussions before leaving. But I’m not even sure the U.N. has the power to do that anymore.

It’s a frightening scenario and I have to wonder where this is going to lead.