At last, a diversion.

No, not some new incredible fact about either candidate.  This is a game, but a neat one (and no, not PalinAsPresident either).

This game is called Budget Hero, and I’d run across it before, but forgot to post the link.  From the site’s FAQ, I learned that:

Budget Hero seeks to provide a values- and fiscal-based lens for citizens to examine policy debates during this election year. Partisan messages tend to cloud the real issues at play during campaigns, and most candidates are loath to attach detailed financial impacts to solutions which make up their platform. Budget Hero provides an interactive experience involving policy options that have been extensively researched and vetted with non-partisan government and think tank experts to enable players to objectively evaluate candidates. 

What exactly prompted Marketplace (you might recognize the radio program’s name from NPR/American Public Media newscasts) to feel a need to create this little game as a vehicle for information?  Hopefully we’re not so simple nowadays that a game is the only way we’ll understand it all!  As someone who has used and seen such devices being used in the classroom, I can tell you that playing around with Budget Hero is well worth the time for students and the rest of us adults. I learned that I am a fiscal conservative–tell that to my checking account–but still, I learned something!  As a plus, it outlines the rules and gives information for any choices you might make on spending and taxing fairly well.

Excellent game!!

Play it here.

What Mud Slinging REALLY produces

I originally posted this on my tumblr site…but it’s important enough (I think) to repost again, and again, and again ad nauseum.

If John McCain would really like to bring up skeletons in the closet of Barack Obama (for acts which the unsavory guy, Ayers was involved in when Obama was 8), maybe we should focus on some more of his own.

http://www.whackarnolds.com/2008/10/07/john-mccain-former-member-of-the-us-council-for-world-freedom/ 

Check it out.

The Nashville Debate, October 7, 2008

Here’s a link to the transcript of the debate (CNN.com) and here is a page with a 3-part video of the debate. 

IMHO, this was a draw.  While McCain did nothing but unveil a plan about stabilizing home values and throw out the quickly infamous “that one” comment, Obama did not become ruffled or mis-step, and actually offered up realistic priorities.  Here are some quick points from FactCheck.org:

McCain and Obama debated for the second time, in Nashville. We noted some misleading statements and mangled facts:

• McCain proposed to write down the amount owed by over-mortgaged homeowners and claimed the idea as his own: “It’s my proposal, it’s not Sen. Obama’s proposal, it’s not President Bush’s proposal.” But the idea isn’t new. Obama had endorsed something similar two weeks earlier, and authority for the treasury secretary to grant such relief was included in the recently passed $700 billion financial rescue package.

• Both candidates oversimplified the causes of the financial crisis. McCain blamed it on Democrats who resisted tighter regulation of federal mortgage agencies. Obama blamed it on financial deregulation backed by Republicans. We find both are right, with plenty of blame left over for others, from home buyers to the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

• Obama said his health care plan would lower insurance premiums by up to $2,500 a year. Experts we’ve consulted see little evidence such savings would materialize.

• McCain misstated his own health care plan, saying he’d give a $5,000 tax credit to “every American” His plan actually would provide only $2,500 per individual, or $5,000 for couples and families. He also misstated Obama’s health care plan, claiming it would levy fines on “small businesses” that fail to provide health insurance. Actually, Obama’s plan exempts “small businesses.”

• McCain lamented that the U.S. was forced to “withdraw in humiliation” from Somalia in 1994, but he failed to note that he once proposed to cut off funding for troops to force a faster withdrawal.

• Obama said, “I favor nuclear power.” That’s a stronger statement than we’ve heard him make before. As recently as last December, he said, “I am not a nuclear energy proponent.”

McCain claimed “1.3 million people in America make their living off eBay.” Actually, only 724,000 persons in the U.S. have income from eBay, and only some of them rely on it as their primary source.

LiveBlog the Nashville Presidential Debate!!

9pm Eastern
I wanted to go ahead and set this up…if nobody comes to join me, I’ll be sad, but it’s here, nonetheless!

The candidates will debate in a town hall format, with many questions coming from the internet. Tom Brokaw is the moderator, so this should be interesting. The campaign has heated up in the last few days…as Obama pulls ahead. Don’t throw down the gauntlet too forcefully, gentlemen.

A really useful site

This is non-partisan, and a great fact-checking source!!!

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/

The Company They Keep

The old saying goes, “You can tell a lot about a man, based on the company that he keeps.”  Recognizing that politicians cannot be experts in everything (just like the rest of us) is important.  That fact makes me more aware that, for those areas where they have weaknesses, they must choose a knowledgable person to advise them.  While this choice might be motivated by little more than selfish ambition, the best past and present examples of national leaders have obviously chosen their closest “disciples” with care.  The advisor’s traits matter to these politicians, visionaries and social reformers who have sought advice from people that they felt represented their values and that were knowledgable where the national leaders were not as strong.

Take, for instance, a candidate that is well-versed in foreign policy and domestic education issues, but lacking in Economics and Supreme Court Legislation.  The best candidate (read: human being) would seek the advice of a person that shares the same basic principles–but also could fill in the gaps with economical statistics and strategies, or share their knowledge of constitutional law.  If the campaign staff is filled with virtuous, talented people, then it stands to reason that the campaign will be run with virtue.  If the campaign staff filled with cut-throat or less-than-honest characters…well, you get the idea. 

I think that our presidential nominees’ choices–from their vice president, all the way through their list of campaign advisors–should be a good indicator of their judgement abilities.  The selection of Biden and Palin speak for themselves…Palin is a moron…but I searched the internet for a list of Obama and McCain’s staff. The only place I found them listed all together was on the BBC NEWS site, which was useful because the BBC listed the advisors side by side, in their respective roles.

View the post here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7642256.stm
…but there are two choices in particular, that caught my eye.

The McCain campain chose chief operating officer, Steve Schmidt, who worked with Karl Rove in George Bush’s election campaign team. The BBC states that he brings an “attacking style” to the campaign. This concerns me, because I’ve felt that the attacks on Obama have been shallow. Obama’s campaign chose his long-standing campaign manager, David Axelrod, who managed his Senate bid in 2004, and worked for John Edwards in the 2004 presidential election. The same Edwards that cheated on his cancer-stricken wife (although this might not be indicative of David’s qualities, read the first sentence of this post again).

In light of our foreign difficulties, Obama’s choice for chief foreign policy advisers are Susan Rice and Tony Lake, respectively assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and National Security Adviser under Clinton. Both opposed the Iraq war, although some critics will say that the Clinton Administration got us into this mess in the first place. I can’t really agree with that, though. Senator McCain’s advisors are cause for more concern–neo-Conservatives who back pre-emptive action, including chief foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann, and former CIA boss James Woolsey.

Make your own choice, keeping in mind that the candidates have chosen this group of people to help them get elected.  It is reasonable to assume Obama and McCain are actively using their advisors’ views and strategies, so be sure you agree with more of the campaign than the candidates themselves.