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This morning I attended a Veterans Day memorial service. A crowd of people gathered in a somber mood for a ceremony of patriotic hymns and praise of all the soldiers who have served the United States. Yet as singers and speakers praised those who “Fight for our freedom,” in an emotional tidal wave that sent tears around the crowd, I couldn’t help but think to myself that these troops do not fight for my freedom.

Major Brian Borek with the US Army spoke to the audience. A distinguished officer who has served in various capacities gave homage to friends; fellow soldiers he had lost in Iraq. His words chocked and he held back tears as he spoke their names. His speech felt real in a sea of clichés. And even as he spoke about the friends he had lost I couldn’t help but think, keeping the utmost of respect, they did not need to die.

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On November 4th, I found myself at a Chattup Election Party in downtown Chattanooga. We were a room full of mostly liberals and a few conservatives; an island with an endless sea of red outside the windows. A projector and a monitor displayed two news coverage feeds. There was beer, pizza, camaraderie, mobile social networking devices, constant twittering and a large roar as several networks declared Barack Obama the winner of the 2008 US presidential elections.

As everyone cheered, I simply smiled. I saw a crowd both on TV and in that room that was completely enamored with Obama, his campaign and legacy. I am a liberal and deep down, I did want Obama to win. Still in recent weeks I’ve come to understand why people look up to and support McCain, even if I did not think he would make a good president in these times. Still, waving a marking slogan of Change and Hope seemed cliche and trite and made me question if even Obama would be able to turn this country around.

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Are you ready to throw your vote away? There are two major parties and heaven forbid you vote for anyone else. After all, a vote for a third party takes a vote away from either Obama or McCain and could cause a candidate closest to your values to lose, especially in swing states. So we are told we must vote strategically; that we must vote for the “Lesser of the two Evils,” and thereby trapping us in an undemocratic two party system with only a perception of real choice.

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The US Government doesn’t have the money to continue funding the war, social programs and the new massive bailout package. So the question remains: who owns our debt? The following chart contains the percentages of foreign debt held by other countries as of August 2008. Keep in mind this is only foreign debt and doesn’t show the massive amount of domestically held debt, which would take up half of the pie in itself.

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With so many huge numbers being thrown around, the question must be asked, what is the real cost of the bailout? The answer: $3,222.78 per US Citizen. The number was the result of research done by Noah Holcomb, a mechanical engineer whose professional work includes quality control and cost analysis in the manufacturing industry. The following is his analysis of the bailout, complete with sources to the original data:

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“The entire deaths of Vietnam died in vain. And they’re dying in vain right this very second. And you know what’s worse than a soldier dying in vain? It’s more soldiers dying in vain. That’s what’s worse.” -Mike Gravel, former Senator of Alaska

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Senator John McCain believed the Vietnam war was winnable, and it is important to understand why he not only believed that Vietnam was winnable, but that Iraq is winnable as well. It goes back to core principals of honor which are shared by a long line of military commanders in McCain’s family. But Honor is an ideological tenant that can not be a shield from the realities of power and politics.

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Back in high school I remember hearing numerous people in different churches who talked about their belief that Jesus would come back to Earth in their lifetimes. They saw the signs and fulfillment from prophecy everywhere, but how much of this prophecy is self fulfilled from vague interpretations of scripture? Why are some Bible texts interpreted literally and others metaphorically? Why are some Christians so desperate to see the end of the world and to what ends does that affect the actions of fundamentalists in political office?

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No one knows what the revered civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say today about the war in Iraq. However we do know what he said about the war in Vietnam.

“..and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without have first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government…” -Martin Luther King

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