Running the speeches through the word cloud

This is just really neat.

Obama Agrees that the Surge Has Done A Lot of Good

This is really a good thing. As I've said before, I really want Obama to make good decisions. At least he has opened his eyes to the reality on the ground. Of course, as Instapundit points out:

“I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated,” Obama
said while refusing to retract his initial opposition to the surge. “I’ve
already said it’s succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”

Actually, I think it succeeded in ways that John McCain anticipated. And General Petraeus, who was mocked by Obama-supporting MoveOn as "General Betrayus."

Ironically, when thing began, I was in full support of whoever won the GOP ticket (well, except Ron Paul) almost entirely because of how important I felt that completing the war was to this country, and how dangerous and dumb it would be to pull out. Now, it is looking more and more like it won't matter one bit on that front who wins this thing.

Forget what's between your legs, it just doesn't matter anymore

According to N.O.W., all women must think alike:

A spokeswoman for the National Organization for Women, noting Palin’s opposition
to abortion rights and support of other parts of the social conservative agenda,
told Politico, “She's more a conservative man than she is a woman on women's
issues. Very disappointing."

First, I am so sick of this "women's issues" crap. Just say abortion and get it done with. Don't act like your vagina gives you some special monopoly on certain issues.

Second of all, does this person really think that being a woman means that you must agree with everything that she says? Wasn't the point of feminism originally to allow women to have choices and opportunity? Now, it's just "do what I say, think how I think, or you're not really one of us."

Fortunately, I think that most women who would dare to go against the NOW ideology are tough enough that this sort of insult is just silly and pitiful. Things like this really say a lot more about the speaker than they do about Sarah Palin. But it's still sad.

You know, back when I was a kid, I used to always think that I was going to grow up to be a feminist and join NOW. I just thought that that was the coolest thing ever- fight sexism! Yeah! Girls rule! Then I grew the hell up. Then I realized that feminists are generally nothing more than sad, pathetic people who are threatened by independent thought. The National Organization for Women has nothing whatsoever to do with women, it is only about liberalism.

Agonizing Decision?

Phyllis Chestler is extraordinarily melodramatic about her voting decision. A vote for a McCain and women lose their freedom, or a vote for Obama and the terrorists win:

Thus, here are some wrenching bottom lines: Do we vote to keep abortion legal and to stop the anti-Choice conservatives from taking over the Supreme Court–or do we vote to make sure that the American military is allowed to stop the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists in their tracks? Can we really achieve both goals by voting for one candidate? If not, then what is the more pressing priority? For ourselves, for our country, for the world at this moment in history?

If American women retain the right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term–in my view, a prerequisite to female human freedom, what does this mean if the jihadists bomb the country back to the seventh century? If the jihadists triumph, American women will be forced to convert to Islam, to wear veils or burqas (body bags), and risk being stoned to death, hung, or honor murdered if they want to choose their own husbands, attend college, dress like modern American girls do, or convert to another non-Islamic religion.

Look, I care a lot about this presidential election, but I realize that it's less important than I'm making it- Roe v. Wade is unlikely to be overturned even with a McCain presidency, and even if it is, most states still have abortion rights of their own- it is not an all or nothing by any means. Moreover, even if abortion were to be outlawed across the land, this is not, as Ms. Chestler puts it, damaging to a "prerequisite to female human freedom." This is, in fact, the worst, most insulting type of defense of abortion- it requires 2 conclusions, both of which are demeaning to women and life itself- first, that women have no choice at all in the matters leading up to getting pregnant, and second, that carrying a child is a violation of your human freedom (a horrible thing), rather than a small miracle of human life (although it does bring to mind Obama's "punished with a baby" comment).

On the same side, if Obama wins, the Islamic terrorists don't automatically win, too. Yes, I think that there would be more danger, but the American people are tough, and I find it hard to beleive that, if by some horrible serious of events, terrorists were able to assert some form of control, we would not put up with it. We have refused to put up with far less. Furthermore, as we sometimes forget, Obama is an American, too, and he will do what he can to stand up to this. Yes, I think that he'd make some mistakes, and I think that those mistakes would increase the risk of an attack or similar, but I still think that he will avoid doing anything that would put us in the sort of position that Ms. Chestler describes.

When push comes to shove, not much is going to change, regardless of who gets elected, and change will come gradually, and we will have plenty of checks in place to prevent either man from making such a dramatic impact.

Yet another reason to vote McCain

From the republican party's platform:

The new document says the U.S. “will pay a fair, but not disproportionate,
share of dues” to the U.N., and “will never support a U.N.-imposed tax.”

So, where's that in the democratic platform?

Liberals live in the stone age on gender roles

I am really, really feeling disheartened on the ridiculous attacks against Sarah Palin. I don’t think that John McCain or anyone else could have anticipated the amount of attention these non-scandals would get, especially in the face of the real scandels involved in Barack Obama’s history. But even more disappointing are the number of critics of her for daring to be ambitious in the face of motherhood. Even from supposedly liberal female members of my own law school, I am hearing that she simply does not have the time to leave her responsibilities as a mother. Her husband’s role is completely overlooked.

One of the main objectives of my lawyer-like pursuits is that it would allow my husband and I to have a comfortable lifestyle on one income, so that he can stay home and raise children while I earn our living. We have decided that this would be the best way to raise a family based on our relative talents, personalities, and education. With a legal education, and hard work and ambition, I have always believed, I can rise to a high career level while our children still get full time parenting. There is no reason at all to believe that Mr. Palin is not just as capable a parent as Ms. Palin, yet she is the one that is faulted for being ambitious.

I hate the statements that say “you wouldn’t say that if it were a man,” but here, I think that it is true. I’ve never heard this sort of comments about a man. To hear such narrow minded, stone-aged views from supposed progressives is very disheartening.

See this:

And these are the snippets of the burgeoning Palin legend that dominated the
conversations we had over the weekend, at baby showers and backyard barbecues,
as they may have yours. Privately, the women we encountered sat in judgment of
Palin. Some were outraged that the mother of a special-needs baby accepted the
vice presidential nomination. Others were affronted at that outrage. Like it or
not, in whispers and sometimes shouts, this is what women do when they talk to
each other: We worry over our own choices and their effect on our families;
compare ourselves to other women; and then approve, or shrug, or condemn.

Men don’t worry about these things?

It's not about choice

Pro-"choice" is never really about choice It’s about do as I say. Guess what, the baby is there, it’s not about Bristol’s happiness anymore, it’s about taking care of the kid. Personally, I would prefer that the first choice in these cases would be adoption to a nice family, but I understand that this is a rare choice, so it’s hard to fault anyone for not taking it. If not, young Bristol and her fellow have a responsibility to grow up a little early and do what they can for him or her. That’s just the way it is.