Well here we are, 10 years into the 2008 presidential election, and the end seems farther away as ever. The differences in the candidates are extreme, the race is close according to polls, the media is falling more and more in love with Obama, and John McCain just keeps getting older. It's great, isn't it? There have been a lot of wishy-washy attacks, quotes, smokes, and mirrors thrown around in the last couple months so I figured I would winnow all that aside for you and focus on the three things that I think are the central issues of this campaign,[taxes, the war, and gas prices] in a short little commentary. I am way too lazy and sporadically uninformed to talk about every talking point in this election, so here it goes.

Taxes. To put it simply, Obama's raising them. If your making over 250,000 dollars, your Social Security tax is going up. Capital gains tax, as high as 28%(currently 15%).(Over 100 million Americans invested in the Stock Market last year).  To add to the list, Obama favors the Cap and Trade system, which basically means that you are going to have to pay for pollution. The sad thing is that Johnny "Maverick" favors it too so there's no room to budge. Now to the income tax. This is where Obama demonstrates his principles of inequality. Here's a quote from his website: "Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans." Sounds great doesn't it? Except that it is completely unethical and socialistic. Barack, how many more tax breaks do there have to be for you to realize that tax rebates do not get people out of poverty. The top 10% income earners in this country pay 70% of this nation's tax burden. How much more of the burden do we have to put on their shoulders to get you to realize that your "Robin Hood" polices will not work. I guess the real question boils down to who deserves tax cuts? The people who actually pay taxes, or those who don't? And that is simply a question of fairness. Think, don't feel when it comes to taxes.

The War. Obama voted against it, McCain for it. Obama right, McCain wrong. Obama was against the surge, McCain was for it.  Surge worked. Obama was wrong. Obviously the Awakening and the Sadr-Cease Fire were important in decreasing the violence. But to blatantly neglect to acknowledge the efficacy of the Surge and the domino effect that it spurred is irresponsible and flat out partisan. In an interview with Katie Couric(surprising I know), Barack was directly asked several times if the surge had worked, and he kept saying that the "troops" did a sufficient job. Politics as usual. I mean come on Barack, we know you have a shallow character and pitiful judgment, but at least acknowledge the political decision that allowed the troops to succeed. Stop playing games.  Now, shifting gears to the Afghanistan issue. Everyone  has been going crazy about this, so let's get it straight. Afghanistan is a serious issue, I have thought that all a long. But the only reason that we can directly confront that now, is because we are winning in Iraq, where Barack wanted to cut-and-run from a year ago. Oh, but he didn't flip-flop, he simply revised his position, or in clear thinking terms, realized he was wrong and therefore had to change his policy to avoid political embarrassment. The major point here is that Barack really does not take Iraq seriously. His goal is to get out of Iraq, McCain's is to stay for 100 years. Both are kind of iffy.

Gas Prices. To confront this issue head on, Americans have to realize that there is no quick solution. To fix this lousy picture, we have to add a varied group of colors that can proliferate their specific benefits into our economy. Politically, the future looks bleak, for both Barack and McCain are nature freaks. Neither of them are really offering any solutions. They are against drilling in Anwar, and as for off shore drilling, the only reason McCain supports it now is because it is politically expedient. What  both of these candidates have to understand is that we have oil, a lot of it. Let's use what we have. Drill everywhere, convert coal to oil(one barrel costs $40), take advantage of the oil shale in the Rocky mountains(location is untouchable, prohibited by Fed) where we have roughly 2 trillion barrels worth of recoverable oil, the same amount of oil as the Saudi Arabian Crude Reserve. Let's allow the oil companies get out there on the free market and explore and drill and produce. We know where the oil is, so let's stop playing political games in Washington, and let's get it done. At the same time, we have to invest in nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, etc. The worst type of action is no action, and that is exactly what this government is harboring, and that is precisely what Obama and McCain support. So I really don't have an answer for you there.

Well here's a goodnight. Hope you enjoyed my late night unspellchecked rant.