Congress sent a war spending bill to Obama yesterday. The bill is aimed at ensuring that troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will not run out of funds in the coming months. This bill is a scope of $106 billion and is referred to as an “emergency war bill”. In true “pork barrel” style, the bill also covers everything from pandemic flu preparedness to a “cash for clunkers” program, hoping to encourage drivers to switch to fuel-efficient vehicles. (Really? War on clunkers? Are we serious?)

The House of Representatives passed the bill on Wednesday by a close 226-202 vote. Despite complaints from several senators about earmarks that pushed the bill more than $20 billion over Obama’s funding requests, the Senate also passed it yesterday with a vote of 91-5. This mean senators like Jon Kyl (R-AZ), John McCain (R-AZ) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) just “held their nose” and voted for it. Opponents in the Senate were Tom Colburn of Oklahoma, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, and registered independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont. (Conversely, Sanders has tended to support the Democrats so far in this session, like in the TARP bill and the health care reform proposals.)

The White House and Democratic leaders were insistent that there will not be another emergency war bill to hit either lawmaking floor that is outside the normal budget, so now was the time to pass it, earmarks or not. Congress has passed emergency war bills every year since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Combined with previous legislation, we are now nearing $1 trillion in emergency war spending, 70% of which goes to the war in Iraq. Obama has noted that future war operation expenses will be paid for by the Defense Department budget.

$80 billion of this bill is set to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the focuses of the military over the course of the last decade or so, through September 30, the end of their fiscal year. Predictions by the Pentagon say that the military would have run out of funds as early as next month without the bill that just passed. It provides $4.5 billion, which is over what Obama requested, for lightweight mine-resistant military vehicles and $2.7 billion for fifteen cargo planes that the Pentagon never asked for.

The bill also includes $10.4 billion for aid and development in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other numerous countries. $7.7 billion has also been dedicated from this bill to pandemic flu preparedness and $721 million will be paid to the U.N. for peacekeeping operations. (Wow, even peace is expensive.) $5 billion was also included to set up a line of credit for an International Monetary Fund loan program for poor countries hit by the global recession we are in. This caused high opposition against the bill in the House leading to a pass by a narrow margin.

Many people believed this bill was also going to include $80 billion the White House requested to begin closing the foreign detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was not included in the bill. The bill prohibits releasing detainees into the United States and allows their transfer for prosecution, only after Congress receives a detailed releasement plan.

August 31, 2010.

Although he plans on leaving 30,000-50,000 residual troops in the area until 2011, he has gained a lot of support in Congress (even though some democratic leaders are hesitant). Even John McCain backs the new plan to pull troops out by 8-31-10.

So, does this really mean the end of the war in Iraq? Well, I (personally) hope so!

One of the people involved with suing is Alan Keyes, who Obama beat in 2004 for the Illinois Senate seat.

If you are one of the people who believe this nonsense, John McCain wasn’t even born in the United States…if you want to get technical.

I am personally so excited for America and for the next 4 years.

After the polls closed in California and the West Coast, the election was called a victory for Obama.

Around 10:19 PM Central time John McCain conceded. His speech was gracious, his supporters were not (they were booing at Obama’s name)

Good luck President-elect Obama

Somewhere I read online yesterday that 1 in 7 voters can still be persuaded. I don’t think the 2 percent of the population that CAN be persuaded are watching SNL, I think those potential voters are the ones who do not watch a lot of news or don’t really care about politics at all.

Last time John McCain was on SNL, he made me laugh a bit, only because he made fun of how old he is. Maybe tonight he can even make me chuckle a bit.

For over a week now John McCain (who I’m sure at this point you all know I won’t be voting for) has been on his “Joe everybody” promotional tour. On the tour, he calls Obama a socialist and talks about how raising taxes for the wealthy is “bad.”

Well there was no Joe Sixpack, Plumber, or Everybody on the boards of Fannie, Freddie, Lehman Bros., or any other institution that has brought our economy to a screeching halt. All those board members were making well above “comfortable” by my standards and SHOULD be paying more taxes.

Hmm, a guarantee? That sounds a little big headed to me. I don’t think anything is written in stone yet and for one of the candidates, particularly the one behind in all the polls, to guarantee something so uncertain is stupid. But maybe he’s just telling himself that to make himself feel better? You know, positive thinking…

Soon the election will be over and half the nation will feel let down.

I recently read an article about how after the third presidential debate, when polled, those making under $50,000 a year bumped up John McCain’s numbers. Hmm. Given that no other variables exist, this really doesn’t make since. Under Obama’s tax plan, those families would be seeing more cuts from Obama than McCain. Was it the whole story about “Joe the plumber”? I sure hope not, because he was posing a hypothetical situation. The real Joe isn’t even a licensed plumber, and makes around $40k a year. He is in no position to purchase this company (which only makes $100k a year anyway, so it too would benefit from Obama’s tax plan more).

I do understand that there are more variables when it comes to political views than just money. I, however, do not believe that they should be decided by government. I strongly support gay marriage/unions. I hate some of my best friends being shunned by the federal government because of who they are. They deserve the same rights everyone else has. I don’t think this is an issue that should be decided by the government because of the “separation of church and state” issue in the Constitution. If the government decided what should be practiced and what shouldn’t, religion-wise, would it “banish” all of the Muslims, Jews, and other religions and non-religions out of the country? Could it ban atheists from getting married? When does the tampering in our personal beliefs stop? This is one of those “variables” I was talking about.

What about defense? You really have to try hard to convince me why we still need to be in Iraq and why some are looking to invade Iran??? Yes, our policies and those of Iran’s and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, kind of clash, but we need to be diplomatic. We see what happens when diplomacy fails and we go to war instead. Right now, Americans aren’t viewed so well in the eyes of the world. Our military should be used to keep us safe, not put us in harm’s way by being used to start wars.

There are several more “variables” when it comes to who you cast your vote for in the next election. Whether it be taxes, the economy, change, religion, defense, health care, education, etc…

He has been saying that he enjoys being an underdog. I just think that’s a big fat lie. No one enjoys being down by 3 in the bottom of the 9th…right? Being the loser is never easy, or fun. I get mad when Chris beats me at Wii Bowling, I can only imagine watching someone beat me at something I may never have the chance at again.

I don’t believe that he should say he enjoys being the underdog, or that’s where he’ll stay. I don’t think Florida’s head coach was happy when Ole Miss beat them…He wasn’t happy about being the underdog and he didn’t revel in it.

Powell also stated that Senator Obama would be a better choice because of how he’s handling the current economic situation versus McCain. He stated that McCain has been unsure about what to do with the economic problems and everyday it seemed as if he was changing his mind about how to "fix" the problem.

Sunday Powell will meet with Tom Brokaw live on "Meet the Press."

Powell has advised the last three Republican presidents and if he does endorse Senator Obama, he will surely cause some kind of ruckus in the McCain campaign.

All of this news is speculation and I can certainly wait until Sunday to see who Powell endorses, but I do have to say I am really not interested at this point.

As far as politics and Buffet go, he is currently advising Obama on the economy and both John McCain and Barack Obama say he would make a good treasury secretary.

If Warren Buffet is good at anything, it’s making money. He is an excellent money maker…he’s even making money now.

Unfortunately for Joe, he also owes $1,200 in back taxes and only makes $40,000 a year (as of 2006). This is unfortunate for John McCain, to base the majority of the last debate on a fictional character. I believe John McCain wasted his last chance to appeal to undecided voters (if there are any left) by bringing up someone who, in reality, doesn’t exist…and the mainstream media is bound to bring it up in the near future (the REAL Joe had dozens of news trucks outside his house today).

While Bill Clinton was in office our family benefited from the democratic economic policies. We’ve had harder times with the Bush administration…hmm

The charge could lead to 5 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

I personally don’t think that she should have been conducting such business with a Yahoo email account, she’s asking to get hacked that way…especially after becoming a "real" public figure. I say "real" because no one knew who she was before she was picked to be John McCain’s running mate.

Yea, this guy shouldn’t have hacked her email account, or any email account for that matter…but if he were to break into say…Joe the plumber’s email account, what would David be charged with then? I believe this matter was ONLY pressed because he’s the son of a democratic Tennessee state representative.

Watching this debate, I would like to know where to find a plumber that makes $250,000 a year. My father surely didn’t.

I personally didn’t think they spent enough time on focusing on how to fix the economy. There are more Nancy home makers and Steve the cubical magician than Joe plumbers…Nancy and Steve are losing their retirement funds and their children’s college funds. What about them Senators?

At least this debate is over, now all I have to do is get past November 4th and hopefully the election will be over…

This is sad. I know that McCain has to do whatever he can at this point to get people’s minds off the economy when stepping into the voting booths in less than a month…the economy is just not his forte. When things are bad (like this week in particular) McCain polls much worse than when things are good, or even just ok.

The daily Gallup poll today shows Obama at 51% and McCain at 41% with registered voters. A 10 point lead in the polls with less than a month to go means McCain has a lot of ground to make up if he wants to win the election. I just don’t think mud slinging is the way to cover that ground. I believe all it does is rally those who were already going to vote for McCain and make undecided voters turn away…

The truth is, we (as Americans) have seen what a republican economic policy has done for us in the last 8 years. We’ve had 1 recession already with the Bush administration, now people are worried about the collapse of our financial system.

I believe that people are truly ready for a change and the polls are starting to reflect how uncomfortable we are as a nation with the current administration.

The debate got heated at times, but it remained fairly tame compared to some I’ve seen in the past. However, the topic of Hardball with Chris Matthews directly after the debate was that McCain never looked at Obama. It was as if he showed contempt for him. Obama also missed making the points where he really shines at. He didn’t talk about unemployment at all (even though the topic was foreign policy, they were talking about earmarks and taxes so unemployment isn’t off the table) and never mentioned those in poverty in America.

Next week we’ll get to see Joe Biden and Sarah Palin debate in St. Louis. I’m actually really looking forward to seeing if Palin can hold her own against Biden without looking like a "deer in headlights" like Tina Fey makes her look on SNL.

Meanwhile, the entire town of Oxford, Miss. is holding it’s breath.

Even without classes today I went to spend some time on campus (Univ. of Miss.) to see the media spectacle that is going on there. There were literally more media personnel on campus than students. I guess that is still good news for the University, because even if John McCain fails to show up for the STILL scheduled debate, the media will stay in town for whatever does happen. All the events surrounding the debate (like Rock the Vote) are still happening.

Tomorrow will be interesting, not only for Oxford, but for everyone. Very interesting events will unfold in the next 24 hours.

Now, it may all be for nothing. A presidential debate is a prestigious event. When Obama shows up and Mccain doesn’t, it’s more of a visit by a candidate and not a debate. John Mccain owes the American public a debate, a real chance to show people his views and how he differs from Obama.

The reason McCain gave was that he wants to go to Washington and deal with the bailout. He has missed at least the last 100 votes in the senate. Obama even said that if he needs to be in Washington, he’ll be there, but he’s going to be in Oxford on Friday. I believe he said that they (he and McCain) have planes and can travel quickly.

Hopefully everyone is upset over nothing and the debate will be held with both candidates as scheduled.

I think John McCain picked her because of her very conservative background, as well as her ties to Alaskan oil. He is also trying to win over those who wanted Hillary in office. I don’t think this will do it, Hillary is a liberal democrat…Palin is her polar opposite.