I had originally planned to Tivo the debate and then watch it later, but my curiosity got the better of me.  I tuned into PBS (of course) and listened as the two presidential candidates answered questions from Jim Lehrer.  I won’t do a blow by blow take on the debate, but instead just give my impressions of the event.

First, I liked the format of the debate in that the candidates actually got to talk at each other and discuss the issues as opposed to the normal moderator asks a question…candidate answers…other candidate gets a rebuttal.  The format provided some good back and forth and gave time to either clarify misstatements or positions.  In my view, Obama benefited from this the most as it seemed he had to correct more than one misstatement from McCain.  Even the political commentators were taken aback by the format saying how substantive the debate was and how it didn’t lend itself to any “zinger” moments.  Well, how refreshing…a debate with substance instead of soundbites.

Second, why wouldn’t McCain look at Obama?  It was really creepy.  As much as Jim Lehrer tried to get the candidates to talk to each other, McCain insisted on looking only at Lehrer.  Obama seemed just fine addressing McCain, but without reciprocity.  If Biden treats Palin this way, I’m sure the right wing press will be all over it.

Third, McCain was definitely on the offensive most of the debate with Obama having to defend himself most of the time.  I’m not sure how this plays with the American public, but McCain definitely showed some strength here.

Fourth, McCain seemed to have very harsh answers to the questions while Obama seemed to have more thoughtful answers, if you can call them that.  By that I mean he seemed to articulate that things are more complex and not so black and white.

So who do I think “won” the debate?  Well, my initial reaction was that McCain won, but upon reflection, I think Obama did pretty well for himself.  McCain came across as a bit condescending and as a know-it-all and some of his answers were too simplistic.  After letting is sink in for a while I would call it a tie.  Neither man was able to dominate the other and neither seemed ill-equipped to handle foreign policy.

So now it’s on to the Vice Presidential debate this Thursday and yes, I plan to watch it.  Not that I expect it to have much bearing on the election, but to see if Palin can overcome her recent issues with talking to the press. It should be interesting.

Persepolis tells the story of a young Iranian girl, Marjane, growing up during the time of the Shah, living through the Islamic revolution, the war with Iraq and ultimately learning who she is through her experiences and the guidance of her family.  The story is told using simple but effective black and white animation.  At times you forget you’re watching an animated film as you get lost in the story.  The film gives an insight into a country consumed by religion and using that religion to suppress a society and its detractors.

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I recently finished listening to Julia Sweeney’s stage show called Letting Go of God and I found it to be funny, insightful, intelligent, witty and all-around entertaining.  Julia Sweeney is best known for her ambiguous Pat character on Saturday Night Live, but in this 2 hour monologue she walks us through her search for God and the meaning for her life which ultimately led her to determine that she’s an atheist.

It all starts with her 7th birthday and progresses through her life to the present day.  Along the way we learn alot about her and come to understand her questioning nature.  I found that I could relate to much of what she covered during the talk.  Maybe it’s because I also grew up in a Catholic household and spent many years trying to figure out religion and faith.  I came away with an appreciation of the depth she went to in researching various topics and her ability to question things that most people would just let slip by.  I also found the sections that dealt with her expressing herself to her family to be poignant and incredibly sincere.

At just about 2 hours long, it’s worth the time to listen and to gain a perspective from someone who has apparently spent many years thinking about religion and faith.  If it were a movie I would give it 5 stars, highly recommended.

<RANT>

“Too Important to Fail” is a term we’ve been hearing all too often lately from our Federal Government as they continue to bail out financial institutions who have gotten burned by the mortgage meltdown…Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and now AIG.  It’s a phrase I don’t think should be spoken in a capitalist society by its government in regard to corporations.  The free market incents companies to take risks and if those risks prove fruitful, they succeed, if not, they fail.  That’s the basis of a free market economy.  However we’ve seen unbridled capitalism lead to excess, corruption and greed.  Responsible regulation is a necessity.  Without it, corporations become like undisciplined children, running rampant on society until a crisis brings them to the authorities.  Lack of oversight is the main issue that has got us to this point.

No corporation in ANY industry should ever get to the point where they are “too important to fail”.  If they do, then it seems they are close enough to a monopoly to need to be diversified.  “Too Important To Fail” is a phrase we could use to describe our education system or our fire or police departments, but not our corporations.  Where are the funds to support these public institutions?  Think how many qualified people might choose to teach if these billions of dollars were used to improve teacher salaries to give those jobs the status and value they deserve.

Instead we use the money to boost the “confidence” in our financial system.  Is confidence the only thing propping up the U.S. economy?  not sound financials?  If so, no amount of bail-out is going to stem the downturn.  It’s as if the residents of a high-rise condominium must believe in its strength and stability, for if they lose confidence, it will come crumbling down to the ground. (Yes, that’s from a Monty Python skit in episode 35 called “Mystico and Janet – flats built by hypnosis”)

What I would like to see the government do at this point is put together a list of other companies that they feel are “too important to fail” and proactively work to resolve the issue.  Instead, we’ll just wait for the next shoe to fall off of this centipede until we finally find ourselves with trillions more in debt and the American taxpayer on the hook for this country’s greed and governmental indifference.  The government doesn’t care about its citizens, it cares about where its next campaign contribution is going to come from and as long as the citizens aren’t rioting, they couldn’t give a damn about us.  We all know, or are now figuring it out, that we’re not a country for the people, we’re a country for the corporations.

I don’t envy either of the presidential candidates.  Whoever ends up winning this election is going to inherit a huge mess and it will be their job to keep pushing this steaming pile uphill for another four years.

</RANT>

I’ve been watching the news coverage of the candidates the last few days and slowly been getting pissed at the drivel they choose to highlight.  So to get away from it for a while, I sat down in front of the TV and turned on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and his monologue couldn’t have been more timely.

There’s a theme this week and it’s on Evolution and the raging debate over how it should be taught or, if you’re in Texas like me, how it is being mistaught.  Some of the stories are old, some are new, but all are well worth reading.

• A Teacher on the Front Lines – Highlights some of the real world issues with teaching Evolution to students today
• Optimism in Evolution – Reasons why Evolution should be taught
• Intelligent Falling – TheOnion.com doing it’s best to keep up laughing
• Devolution in Education – A summary of the current Texas SBOE efforts to re-write the science standards to discredit Evolutionary Theory
• I Am Evolution – A commentary on Evolution from a paleoanthropologist
• Not Just a Theory – how scientists view the term Theory

The Counterfeiters won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this year, which is kind of like being the best looking nun.  You see, winning an Oscar usually translates into dollars through more box office, but in this case, I’m sure it won’t get much uplift since people don’t want to read subtitles while watching a movie.  I hope I’m wrong and they do because it was a good film, although the main story arc is nearly identical to every Holocaust film you’ve already seen.

So with that, it’s on to the review.

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I’m really curious how many people Jon has working on his staff to sift through all the old clips of these talking heads to find just the right ones to bring back to the surface, but it’s amazing that the mainstream media can’t seem to do the same thing.  But then again, if the mainstream media calls these politicians and pundits to the carpet, they get punished.

I tuned into the Republican Convention Tuesday night and on the screen was George W. Bush himself, via satellite as he watched over the gulf states in the wake of hurricane Gustav.  He was praising McCain and talking about how great he would be for the country as President.  Then he went on and talked about how the McCain’s were great people because they had adopted a child, and I thought to myself, isn’t this the same child Bush and Rove spread the rumor about during the 2000 primaries in South Carolina saying that it was the illegitimate love child of McCain’s?  Oh how times change.  I’m sure big G knows people have short memories, just like him.

I can’t imagine how John McCain took this, knowing full well that smear campaign helped him lose the nomination to this bozo back then.  But then again, this is politics and this is McCain’s last chance to become president.  That seems obvious from his handling of this campaign.  The types of ads he is running seem very Rovian to me, attack a perceived strength of your opponent and turn it into a weakness.  McCain’s done that with the popularity of Obama, presenting it as if he’s more of a celebrity than a serious political candidate.  The other tactic is fear, claiming we’ll be taxed to death and less safe.  And finally, the selection of Palin as VP seems directed squarely at the religious conservatives of the party, a base he learned he can’t win without.

But back to the convention.  I’m not sure which speaker said it, but they were talking about how great the last 8 years have been under GW and they said something like, “and he’s kept us safe” and the crowds cheered…again I thought to myself, didn’t we get attacked DURING his administration?  If I recall correctly, 9/11/2001 was during the Bush presidency.  I guess they meant after that, sorry, small technicality.

After seeing all this, I promptly turned off the TV and decided to leave it off until next week.  I suggest you do the same.