Our economy is suffering, our school systems are questionable, natural and man-made disasters are all around us, crime is at an all-time high and our morals seem to be as low as ever.  We clearly need some things to take a positive spin.  But we knew this was coming and here we go.

What kind of adults would have and/or allow to chant about killing someone?  I think that speaks directly to where our morals are and what is allowed to go on in school systems that clearly need to be more $elective - teachers need to make more for this to happen so the “$” is not an accident.  Paying teachers more will draw better teachers and will result in a smarter nation (my opinion).

From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders.

What and who this refers to is poor sportsmanship, poor losers and (again) questionable morals.  Specifically, this is the type behavior on the rise since Barack Obama was elected President of the United States.

There is a large subset of white people in this country who feel that they are losing everything they know, that the country their forefathers built has somehow been stolen from them.

Like cancer in remission, racism is never totally wiped out it is just not out in the open.  The election has changed that for many.  For example, Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, said, “I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change.  If you had real change it would involve all the members of (Obama’s) church being deported.”

“The day after the vote hailed as a sign of a nation changed, black high school student Barbara Tyler of Marietta, Ga., said she heard hateful Obama comments from white students, and that teachers cut off discussion about Obama’s victory.

Tyler spoke at a press conference by the Georgia chapter of the NAACP calling for a town hall meeting to address complaints from across the state about hostility and resentment. Another student, from a Covington middle school, said he was suspended for wearing an Obama shirt to school Nov. 5 after the principal told students not to wear political paraphernalia.

The student’s mother, Eshe Riviears, said the principal told her: “Whether you like it or not, we’re in the South, and there are a lot of people who are not happy with this decision.”

I’m not going to give some of these racists the satisfaction of even listing all the terrible things that have went on since the election.

I can respect someone who has a problem with the policies and plans Obama has for our country, but racism is just wrong regardless of who the target is.  I hope we can get through this without anyone, including the president-elect, getting killed.

When Bush was elected and astonishingly re-elected, people who didn’t vote for him basically lived through 8 years where they had to shut up and color.  Well, there will be plenty of crayons to go around. 

More and more this presidential race shouldn’t be about race.  If people, regardless of color, are voting either way based on the color of McCain or Obama’s skin, it is a sad reflection on what this country is all about.  The “United” in United States of America need not be overlooked right now.

We are at war right now.  I guess you could say we are at war times two right now actually.  One we know our reasoning, but the second one is still without real reason.  OK, we should know by now that oil is the reason for our presence in Iraq and some people - I’m not saying any names - make more money when we are at the pumps.  But I digress.  Isn’t the fact that young men and women, American men and women, have died at war more important than the color of one man’s skin?

Our retirement funds, nest eggs or whatever you call the money you may have saved has shrunk.  In addition to that, we are paying more for less for almost everything we buy.  If you ask me, when it comes to the well-being of my family the only color that matters is green - the green that I work so hard for and assume is still where I put it.

For years, we have had a medical system that doesn’t always take care of those who are less fortunate.  Meanwhile, those who can pay and those who practice medicine are fine - relatively speaking since we are talking about health.  One candidate will make way for cheaper health care, do you care if his skin doesn’t look like yours?

The importance of this election goes deeper than race.  This election comes at a pivotal time for America and we really can’t afford to cast our ballots based on whether we think the next president should be white or black.  Don’t you think it is ironic that the possibility exists for a black man to be president, a woman to become vice-president and we have so many question marks concerning our country?  If this election was taking place and everything was roses for us it would be to easy right?

This from CNN:

“A national poll of people who watched the vice presidential debate Thursday night suggests that Democratic Sen. Joe Biden won, but also says Republican Gov. Sarah Palin exceeded expectations.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. said 51 percent of those polled thought Biden did the best job, while 36 percent thought Palin did the best job.

But respondents said the folksy Palin was more likable, scoring 54 percent to Biden’s 36 percent. Seventy percent said Biden was more of a typical politician.

Both candidates exceeded expectations — 84 percent of the people polled said Palin did a better job than they expected, while 64 percent said Biden also exceeded expectations.

How Palin would perform had been a major issue for the Alaska governor, who had some well-publicized fumbles during interviews with CBS’ Katie Couric leading up to the debate.”

I don’t think those results would shock anyone; those results were pretty evident after watching 10 minutes of the debate.  I must tell the truth, I only watched about 10 minutes because it was kind of boring to me.  I think it was mainly boring because we didn’t get what many people expected: Palin didn’t self-destruct before our eyes.

The McCain camp was trying to get two victories, knowing one out of two wouldn’t be half bad.  The first victory was to keep Palin from embarrassing herself and the Republican party.  It wasn’t a slam-dunk, but mission accomplished.  The second victory at stake, of course, was the debate itself.  She may not have won it, but she wasn’t blown out and that is good enough.  The baton has been passed back to McCain and he will take it from here.

Let your imagination run wild or look at the obvious issues surrounding both presidential hopefuls and you should be able to see that the vice-presidential candidates are more important that ever before.  Ask yourself, who do you honestly think is more prepared to run the country if something were to happen to the president.

Is is Palin or is it Biden?