Category Archives: Politics

The End of an Error

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We’re now at just under 6 months left in George Bush’s term in office (you may have noticed the countdown widget to the right).  I was only 13 years old when W was elected, and at the time, I didn’t really care.  I remember following the whole ordeal with the Florida recounts, just because that’s what was being talked about at the time.  It wasn’t until the next couple of years that I began to gain an interest in politics.

Now, I fully realize why Bush managed to win in 2000.  People were still caught up in the Clinton debacle because *gasp* he got a blowjob while in office!  I’ll admit, I even got caught up in it for a while, though I’ve since done a complete 180 on that matter.  What I have a harder time understanding, though, is how he managed to win a second term.  Kerry wasn’t my ideal choice for president, but at the time, I just wanted W out of office.

Now, another term later, the country is even worse off that it was in 2004.  Every morning I wake up and turn on CNN only to hear that the DOW has dropped so many hundred points that day, and it’s only 8AM (Pacific time, granted, but that’s still only 11 on the east coast).  Gas is over $4/gal and is nearing $5 here in San Francisco, and all that’s not even getting in to what’s going on overseas.

It’s not going to be an easy job for whoever wins in November, which brings the topic around to… Obama.  I was a huge supporter of Obama during the primary season, because he didn’t sound like just another politician.  He relied on donations from individual supporters rather than taking money from lobbyists, and did well doing so.  However, once he obtained enough delegates to secure the nomination, I haven’t been too crazy about him.  I’d still vote for him over McCain, but I haven’t been too happy with some of his recent actions, most noticeably with regard to FISA.

I hope Obama doesn’t forget that it was his nonconformity to the rest of the big political candidates that got him where he is now.  A lot of people were clearly fed up with the political system in this country, and there’s no need to toss them aside.

Cervantes Lives! And other fun tales

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Cervantes is back online, at least for the time being.  I’m going to take this opportunity to write a few things.  So much has happened since my last post.

Obviously, the main thing is my internship.  I’m now almost three weeks in, and I’m loving every minute of it.  The campus is downright amazing, and the weather in Palo Alto is beautiful.  I’m getting to work exclusively in Linux, and using GTK+.   I’m really starting to like coding in C/C++ now that I’m doing something useful with it.  My first paycheck has come and gone, but on the upside, I’ll have a place to live for the rest of the month.

My Thinkpad T61p has been holding up great, and has handled everything I’ve thrown at it easily.  That said, there’ll soon be available upgrades that I could consider, including 8GB of RAM and a Quad Core 2.5GHz CPU.  But at around $1000 each, I don’t think I’ll be getting either any time soon.  But, I can dream.

In the world of tech, some other goodies have been announced.  One of these is the ASUS Eee PC 901 and 1000, the newest in ASUS’s line of subnotebooks, at 9 and 10 inches, respectively.  The new generation of Eees uses Intel’s new Atom platform, including a CPU clocked at 1.6GHz, a notable improvement over the previous Celeron processor.  The new notebooks are also rated for up to nearly 8 hours of battery life.  A few days after the Eee announcement came the Canonical’s unveiling of Ubuntu Netbook Remix, a custom version of Ubuntu designed for small, Atom based netbooks like the Eee.  I’m really wanting to try it out on an Eee PC 1000.

Also, a few short days ago, Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination after the final two primaries, meaning he’ll be going up John McCain in the fall.  I’m very excited about this, as Obama is the first candidate in my short lifetime that I’ve actually been able to get excited about, and I’m hoping that this campaign will ultimately change the way the political system works in this country.

Obama Live

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I got to see Barack Obama live today at the Convention Center in downtown Louisville.  Although I’d already cast my vote for him early via absentee ballot for the Kentucky primary, I thought it would neat to see him speak in person.

I have to admit I was impressed.  At one point in the speech, someone in the crowd passed out, and Obama stopped midsentence to make sure they were ok and even giving them one of the bottles of water that were sitting under the podium on stage.

State of the Elections

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So, Hillary managed to pull out a few wins on Tuesday.  I’m not particularly worried, she only netted 4 delegates, and that’s not taking into account the Texas caucuses, which Obama is currently winning.

However, I felt like putting this in writing somewhere, so I’ll go through with it:

If Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, I’m leaving the party.

Should the Democrats choose to elect Hillary, then their interests and values will have shifted far enough away from mine that I’ll re-register as an Independent.  Barack Obama is everything I could ask for in a president, and I truly hope that I have a chance to vote for him this November.

Cautious Optimism

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Tomorrow, voters in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont will go to the polls to vote for the Democratic nominee for president.  Just now, am I starting to let myself believe that Obama may be able to win these states, with poll numbers coming close between them.  Weeks earlier, Hillary was highly favored in these races, but now they’re practically tied, which really goes to show the momentum that Obama has been building.  With some luck, the race may be decided tomorrow, all that’s left is to wait and see.

"Open Sourcing" Government

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I just finished watching the Democratic debate between Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

First off, as I’ve never posted anything political before, I’d like to start by saying that I’ve been a supporter of Obama since he declared his candidacy last year. While some people criticize Obama for his lack of experience, I don’t consider it a negative thing. I think we need someone now that is relatively new to the political system if we’re going to change the way our government works. Obama has refused to take money from lobbyists and corporations, which I find very admirable. I’m sure it can be tempting to take whatever money you can during a presidential bid (or any campaign for that matter), but the inevitable conclusion is that should you win, you wind up owing someone something.

In the debate, Obama made one point that I think was very important, and that is the idea that government should have a more open way of conducting itself. The ideas that he presented have some important similarities to the open source development model that I’m a supporter of. In software, having the source code available to you allows you to inspect the software for any wrongdoing or invasion of your rights or privacy. By having a more open approach in Washington, the American people would be given this same security. The only way to ensure that our politicians are acting in the people’s best interest is to keep the people involved in government, and I believe that is what Senator Obama will do if he is elected.