Are you rich? Maybe it depends on how we define the word. Both presidential candidates were asked to define rich. Barack Obama said, "If you are making more than $250,000, then you're in the top three or 4% of this country. You are doing well." John McCain refused to give a direct answer to the question, but jokingly suggested the number $5 million. By either of these definitions, I'm not rich, and I'm guessing you aren't either. If you are, congratulations. You've worked hard and achieved the American dream (or you inherited money from your rich family.) I can understand that a rich person would want to vote according to their financial interests. If you are rich and you want to be richer, then John McCain may be the candidate for you. But for the rest of us, I believe the Barack Obama is the best candidate.

When I watched the speeches of both political conventions, it was clear to me that the Republicans were trying to appeal to the richest Americans, the top 2-3%, and the Democrats were trying to appeal to the other 97%. You can see the difference in the stories they tell about American people:

A story from Obama speech

We're a better country than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment that he's worked on for 20 years and watch as it's shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.

A story from McCain's speech

I fight for Bill and Sue Nebe from Farmington Hills, Michigan, who lost their real estate investments in the bad housing market.

For some Americans bad times mean losing real estate investments. For other Americans bad times mean getting laid off and being unable to feed your family. Which of those stories do you relate to?

You can also see the difference in the candidates' tax policies:

If you're rich, John McCain will work to make you richer. If you are not rich, Obama is the candidate that will improve your financial situation.

You can see the same pattern in the health care proposals of the candidates. Obama's plan attempts to secure health care coverage for the 47 million Americans who currently have none. McCain's plan makes no attempt to cover everyone. Rich people can afford good health care. For the rest of us, it can be a struggle.

McCain's campaign is run by a cadre of rich Washington lobbyists. Obama's campaign has been funded by a record-breaking number of small donors. McCain cheated on and then left his first wife and married a young, rich beer empire heiress. He now owns more homes than he can keep track of. In spite of his father's high rank in the Navy, McCain graduated from a military academy near the bottom of his class. Obama came from a middle-class family and worked hard to earn scholarships to good schools. He could've taken a high-paying job as a Wall Street lawyer, but he went to Chicago to help those less fortunate and to teach constitutional law. If you are rich, you can probably relate to McCain's story. If you're not, then Obama's may seem more inspiring to you.

McCain wants to continue the war in Iraq, which has benefited the rich owners of private contractors like Halliburton and Blackwater. Obama wants to bring our (mostly non-rich) combat forces home.

In the struggle between organized labor and company owners, McCain serves the interests of the rich yet again. Obama has received several endorsements from unions. If you are an executive or company owner, then McCain is looking out for you. If you or someone in your family has health care and good wages because of a union, then Obama is your candidate.

When it comes to energy, McCain wants to give more of our land over to oil companies even though it will have little to no effect on the price you pay at the pump. McCain didn't always support offshore drilling, but once he began supporting the oil companies with this position, they began supporting him with increased donations to his campaign. Obama is willing to upset the rich oil companies by reducing their tax loopholes and putting that money to work creating new jobs and moving toward the long-term goal of homegrown and sustainable energy sources.

So, if McCain's policies do the most good for the top 3% of the population, then why does the race seems so close? I think there are a few reasons. First, the rich can give more money to the campaign and to third-party attack groups. Second, many voters who are not rich are convinced that they will be rich soon. Call it optimism or naivete, but they are willing to vote against their own interests now in order to benefit themselves in some imagined future.

There's another important reason that McCain and other Republicans can get 50% of the vote while serving the needs of 3% of the population. It's called the Culture War. There are many questions for which there is no clear answer that we can all agree on. Various religious organizations come to different conclusions and for most of these questions, our holy books and our Constitution provide no specific answer. Here is a sample of some of these questions.

Do homosexuals deserve the same rights and privileges as heterosexuals?
Can we enforce some restrictions on gun ownership or does the Second Amendment guarantee unrestricted gun rights?
Is the death penalty an ethical punishment?
How do we balance the short-term needs of humans with the long-term safety of our environment?
Does a fertilized embryo deserve the full complement of human rights?
Should women have access to birth control?
Should underage women have access to birth control?
Should we teach sex education for the safety of our children or does it only encourage teens to become sexually active?
What is the line between free speech and pornography?
How do we balance our needs for privacy and security?
Where is the line between institutionalized Christianity and institutionalized atheism?
When is a war a just war?
Which drugs should be legal in which should be illegal? What criteria do we use to decide?
How do we balance the promise of "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" with the downsides of immigration?

These are difficult questions with no simple answers. The best approach to these questions is for us all to understand the complexity of the issues, to respect the convictions and opinions of other people and to work toward compromises that we can all be happy with. The cynical, opportunist approach to these questions is to use them to turn Americans against each other. Both parties may share the guilt for this, but I believe that the Republican Party has been the worst offender. For many of these difficult issues, they choose a side, claim that God agrees with them and they accuse those who disagree of hating freedom, scorning God and loving evil.

But you don't have to be taken in by this trick. You are smarter than that. Even if you have strong opinions about the questions above, you can balance that with an understanding of differing opinions. You can also realize that the culture war issues are not the only issues that should be considered when you vote. Your financial interests are another part. You should also consider how well a candidate's ideas have worked in the past. (To evaluate McCain's ideas, just look at the last eight years.) You should consider the education, experience, wisdom and temperament of the candidates. When I look at this whole picture, it's clear to me that Barack Obama will get my vote. I don't agree with him on everything, but I'm not a one-issue voter.

How are you liking the Geek Group? » Geeks Conversations » Propeller

I've added brendoman as an additional admin to help with spam-fighting. He's as big a geek as I am, and I'm grateful that he's helping out.

Wil Wheaton just said I'm a big a geek as he is. That's freaking awesome.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a French musical. I don't think I have ever seen a foreign musical and had heard nothing about this one, so I had no idea what to expect when I Rokued it (new verb). The story is about a guy and a girl who fall in love. They are young, but are sure that they will marry each other. The guy gets drafted and has to leave for two years, and the two have to separate, unsure of whether they will each still be there for the other after the two years are over.

From the very opening scene, every single word in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is delivered in song. That was a big surprise, since all other musicals I have seen usually only contain moments of song in the middle of a lot of dialog or action. At first, it was a little bit jarring, but as the movie found its groove, it was somewhat like watching a more modern version of an opera.

I don't have a lot of time today, so I'll make it quick. I love the visual images of this movie, and the music is sweeping and beautiful, especially the main theme. The movie certainly takes what one expects or wants to see in a movie musical and brushes aside those things to create a completely different type of musical. It's refreshing, although not always fulfilling, but the subject matter and how it was treated in a realistic way is admirable and an interesting new take to me. I can definitely see why it's a classic, but couldn't recommend it to a general audience who might be disappointed by their own expectations.

Sorry I've been a bit lax blogging. With school back in session and a couple other projects taking up a lot of my time I have neglected you guys. If you want to be entertained and informed, I highly recommend the Geek Group at Propeller. I submit several stories there pretty much every day. They also have a pretty darn good message board. Tell 'em Brendo sent you and you'll be all right. If you're really bored, there's always Achewood.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

I'm glad someone has laid this out in a way that's easy to understand.

If you haven't already, you will soon hear a lot about how Barack Obama plans to raise taxes on working Americans, or has proposed the largest tax increase in history, or some such nonsense.

Like most of what you'll be hearing from ol' Straight Talk McCain, it's just not true.

It doesn't get any simpler than this:

If you make less than $227,000 a year, Barack Obama intends to give you a tax CUT.

If you make less than $112,000 a year, Barack Obama has promised to cut your taxes more than John McCain has.

So if you're only planning to vote in your own financial interest and you make more than $112,000 dollars a year you may be better off voting for McCain. Otherwise Obama is probably the best choice for you.

(Thanks to The Washington Post for the graphic)

Warranted Christian Belief by Alvin Plantinga

Shaun of the Dead

The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard Dawkins

Webcam feed for Large Hadron Collider - Pretty boring so far, but you never know what you might see.