2008 Democratic National Convention

Illinois Senator Barack Obama with his family react to applause on the stage at Invesco field to accepts his parties nomination for President of the United States of America. The final night of the Democratic National Convention, Thursday, August 28, 2008 at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Co. John Leyba, The Denver Post (THE DENVER POST | John Leyba)

I recently came out of shock.

The speeches, the emotions, everything was overload. Never would I have imagined that this year would be the year to change history.

We are all making history right now, the 18 million people who voted for Senator Obama, the 18 million people who voted for Senator Clinton. All of us, joined together to make Barack Obama the first African American candidate for President from a major political party. From Ted Kennedy’s emotional speech recalling John F. Kennedy, to Dennis Kucinich’s spine chilling speech telling American to “wake up”, to Hillary’s speech telling us “no McCain” to Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama’s speech.

All 80,000+ Americans in Denver witnessed it 38,300,000 Americans watched it from their homes, even more watched it online, or read about it in their papers.

Every word was one to remember. Every moment was historical. Below I have chosen two parts of Senator Obama’s speech which stuck with me for one reason or another.

F**K YOU!!

I apologize for the vulgar title, but there is justification for it. There’s no story behind this one. I was reading a campaign magazine, and in the back of the issue is a series of “They said What?” quotes. One of them was too good to let go:

“Fuck you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room.”

It seems Dick Cheney isn’t the only politican with a dirty mouth. This quote was said by Senator John McCain. He said it in defense of missing many negotations of an immigration bill. He said it directly to Senator John Cornyn. Is this really someone who trust as commander in chief: someone who acts like a 12 year old in the Senate the second they get questioned on something

Thought I was done? Of course not. Another John McCain pearl of wisdom:

“I think the fence is least effective, but I’ll build the goddamned fence if they want it.”

Oh John McCain, such a man of the people. Maybe if i want some f’ing healthcare I can have some? No? Oh well maybe if I get a kickass war with Iran? Yes that seems possible. But at least we can take solice in the fact that we can finally after all these years have our goddamn border fence.

Mexico is Burning; Que Viva La Vida!

Heavily armed men walk the streets, police and soldiers are constantly under fire. Government leaders have been assassinated and average people are afraid to leave their homes. Mass graves are found, and kidnapped victims are found headless with evidence of torture. It’s not Kabul, Fallujah, or even Baghdad.

It’s Juárez, Mexico which is right across the river from El Paso, Texas. That is too close to home for many Americans who fear Mexico’s crackdown on the drug cartels, which have run these border towns for years, will lead to escalating violence here on our side of the border.

This year more than 600 people have been killed by the drug cartels in the violence. The soldiers and police who protect the innocent fear for their lives to the point where they wear ski masks and bandannas on their faces in order to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal on their families.

Everyone knows that the drug problem in America is only fueling the violence and our “war on drugs” is not exactly going well. Maybe one day we’ll win a war.

It seems as if the Mexican police which have worked together with the F.B.I. and other American law enforcement agencies might be better off learning from the Italians. The Italians experienced something like this when they cracked down on the Sicilian mafia. They should work together to learn from their mistakes and implement what worked well for them.

Mexico is going to have to start cracking down on corrupt police officers who cost the lives of law abiding Mexicans and Americans in order to turn a quick profit. It is sad to see that a Democracy has to endure something like this, but only a democracy would confront them. Any other form of government would either look the other way or attempt to make a profit themselves.

The U.S. government should stop funding a failing war in Iraq and start helping out our neighbors to the south. We have to remember that this violence could spill over our borders and that is not something anyone wants to see.

You have to realize that when your neighbors house is burning, you’re not going to worry about how much he’s going to pay you to use your hose. Put out the fire first, wake up America, this is something we need to pay attention to. You complain about illegal immigrants, how about making Mexico livable so that they wouldn’t want to leave their homes and families behind in order to make a living?