YES, I VOTED

.....but I didn't vote for Barack Obama.
I've been voting since 1980. In that election, I cast my vote for John Anderson. he was an independent, much like Ron Paul, who ran in the primaries as a Republican, generating a large following, then losing the nomination to Ronald Reagan. So, in my first election, I voted for the loser.
I then began to see no real clear difference between the two major parties. They existed as other duopolies exist in our country; to shut out the other guys. Coke or Pepsi? Why not Dr. Pepper? McDonald's or Burger King? Why not Subway? National League or American league, tastes great or less filling, America the land of abundant choice had now been reduced down to the lesser of two evils. Which, if you do the math, is still evil.
So I voted third party. In 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996, I opted out of the Democrap/Republicant part and instead chose to cast my ballot with the Libertarian Party. Of course, it helped that at the time, I was a major stoner and liked their stance on the decriminalization of marijuana. And I accepted that my candidate wouldn't win, because I knew that I only got one vote, and if I didn't use it, it would be gone. You can't accumulate them and cash them all in on one election. And I figured not voting was as bad as voting for the major parties, it would be like saying, I accept what either party has to offer.
But in 2000, something changed. As bad as other candidates had been in the past (and remember, I had the opportunity to vote Democrat against Ronald Reagan, easily one of the most vile presidents we had ever had, twice), that year, the Republicans offered a candidate that actually made Reagan seem appealing:George W Bush.
So, in the primaries, I voted Republican against George Bush ( for, you guessed it, John McCain) not only because I found him to be morally reprehensible then, but because Michigan's then Governor, Republican John Engler, had promised to deliver Michigan to Bush in the primaries. (He didn't. McCain actually won it) And in November of that year, I voted, for the first time, for a major party candidate.
Well, we all know what happened. The vote was stolen, which only served to infuriate me more because the first time I ever vote for the winning candidate, and the opposition steals the election. So, in 2004, I voted against Bush again.
I'm not playing that game any more. While I certainly prefer Barack Obama over John McCain, I'm fairly confident that Obama will win Michigan, with or with out my vote. McCain conceded Michigan long ago, when he pulled his advertising. If the popular vote counted, I might have been persuaded to vote for Obama, but since it all depends on who wins the electoral votes, I returned to voting my conscience.
I voted for Cynthia McKinney. I liked her when she demanded an investigation into 9/11, and I liked her even more when she slapped that cop. And I know she'll never win, if white America feels nervous about electing a black man president, a black female probably scares them more.

A-Wah, A-Wah, A-Wah

Pity poor Kathleen Parker. Having made the suggestion that maybe Sarah Palin should step down, now she's crying about the hurtful things "conservatives" are saying to her because of it.

I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself.

They're called trolls, Ms. Parker, and those of us who have been in the blogosphere long enough know that they are maladjusted cretins who lack the capacity for conscious thought outside the parameters of their own twisted and highly brainwashed worldview. While she boldly defends her right to free speech, in the past she has defended censorship
Speaking of public discourse having been deteriorated, how about some kind words from Ms. Parker about those of us in the blogosphere?

There's something frankly creepy about the explosion we now call the Blogosphere...
Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality...most babble, buzz and blurt like caffeinated adolescents competing for the Ritalin generation's inevitable senior superlative: Most Obsessive-Compulsive...
they hold the same megaphone as the adults and enjoy perceived credibility owing to membership in the larger world of blog grown-ups. These effete and often clever baby "bloggies" are rich in time and toys, but bereft of adult supervision. Spoiled and undisciplined, they have grabbed the mike and seized the stage, a privilege granted not by years in the trenches, but by virtue of a three-pronged plug and the miracle of WiFi....Plenty smart but lacking in wisdom, they possess the power of a forum, but neither the maturity nor humility that years of experience impose...what we're witnessing as the Blogosphere's offspring multiply — is that people tend to abuse power when it is unearned and will bring down others to enhance themselves. Likewise, many bloggers seek the destruction of others for their own self-aggrandizement.

Following the events on 9/11, Parker boldly stated Truth is back in vogue, then went on later to condemn those who opposed the illegal invasion of Iraq as "clueless". And yet when someone does speak the truth, as Cynthia McKinney did, "We know there were numerous warnings of the events to come on September 11th,What did this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of September 11th? Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? What do they have to hide?" This of course led professional propagandist Parker to ridicule McKinney with Likewise, every time I hear Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., speak, I think: There ought to be an award. We could call it The McKinney Award - for people too stupid to serve in public office. So much for truth being in vogue, or her lamentations on the deterioration of public discourse.
She also tried to defend George Allen's "macaca" statement as non-racist, and criticized Hillary Clinton for claiming that believing George Bush's claim of WMD in Iraq was her biggest mistake, and then goes on to say it was all Bill Clinton's fault that everyone believed Saddam had those nasty weapons.
Perhaps Parker put Palin on the spot because she hadn't learned the true conservative art of deflecting all questions into a criticism of Democratic policies. All I know is someone so thin skinned should not be throwing poison darts at others.