At Comic-Con this weekend the husband and I sported pins supporting Lucy and Charlie Brown for President. Harvey Dent's campaign for district attorney was well-represented based on the pins and T-shirts on display.

Given my disdain for the two-party system, one T-shirt suggesting a vote for Cthulhu (why settle for the lesser evil?) was particularly thought-provoking.

But Comic-Con is all fun and games (and big tourism revenue), right? 

Preparing for an appearance on KPBS' "These Days" with Chris McConnell and Chuck Hartley, the topic selection for the program narrowed down to discussing the La Raza conference in San Diego, the gas crisis, and Proposition 2.  Among the producers, the radio program's excellent host Tom Fudge, and the three bloggers, we decided to discuss the Latino vote in general and Proposition 2. 

Although discussing animal cruelty can involve contentious debate, (just check out Chuck's blog and subsequent comments) I started to worry about how the conversation surrounding La Raza would take shape. Would I be asked to defend the organization, which gets a bum rap as being fundamentally divisive? How about my personal reasons for not attending? Would Tom Fudge ask me how a Mexican-American could not attend the conference in good conscience?

Senators McCain and Obama were both in town in recent days to discuss immigration and their visions of "comprehensive reform." Apparently they both think they can bend the next Congress to their wills and implement their proposals, whatever they are.

I doubt it.

I don't doubt their sincerity to address a tough issue, just the ability of either candidate to achieve a consensus as to what the problem is and how to address it.

John McCain talks about victory in Iraq. He has not given a coherent description of "victory in Iraq" - but claims victory is a moral necessity, as well as imperative to our security. Barack Obama's 16-month timetable is now being "refined." This is a politically calculated move to the center or a continuation of Obama's promise that the US  "must be as careful getting out of Iraq as it was reckless going in."

Either way, it's a vague policy at best.

Over the holiday weekend, I did some catching up on recent public statements made by Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain. I read a little about Barack Obama's response to the unhappy left regarding his Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) vote for telecom immunity, and "refining" his message about Iraq troop withdrawals. I also read, for the first time, that John McCain admitted he does not know how to operate a computer and relies heavily on help from his wife for anything computer related. Assuming none of the above campaign messages were unintentional gaffes, I realized again that, inevitably, disappointment over compromise comes up during a presidential campaign.  

But how much compromise is too much?

The FISA vote stuck in my throat. I've written before about why I believe it's important to treat the Bush-era super-sized version of FISA with extreme care. Although the current policy voted on last week is more narrowly tailored, the idea that Senator Obama voted in FISA's favor frankly surprised me. Immediately, the skeptic in me jumped to the conclusion that the senator was already flip-flopping. 

But then he did something beautiful: He responded. 

This Independence Day makes me nostalgic for bygone days when every large gathering did not erupt into angry polarized discussions of the state of the country. The news media keeps us in a constantly inflamed state of being, each day creating issues out of non-issues, in order to justify their own existence.

At the Coronado Community Center, where I work out most mornings, there are two large televisions in the front of the gym. One is always tuned to Fox, and the other usually CNN. Though Fox is more overtly inflammatory, CNN is not far behind.

It's not just cable television, with shrieking Ann Coulter or Bill O'Reilly, but the "network news" outlets as well. Recently CBS's Katie Couric covered a story which asserted that Obama's "background sparked rumors that he had studied at a radical madrassa, or Quranic school" without ever noting that the rumors were false.  

I wanted to look at Barack Obama's heritage, if I may. 

Obama is half-Kenyan and half-Caucasian. He may self-identify as "African-American," but his heritage really has very little in common with most African-American blacks.

His ancestors were not slaves, but were actually free Africans from the opposite side of the continent. It's similar to comparing someone whose family is from Norway and someone whose family came from Austria. Same continent, but two completely different cultures. 

But, the society that we live in seems to believe that if you have any 'black' heritage in your bloodline, then you ARE black - despite the fact that such thinking is outdated.

Chuck's blog started me thinking what it actually means to "vote one's conscience." My computer dictionary defines conscience "as an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior." Since that sounded reasonable and perhaps even a bit noble, I decided to investigate what this could mean to the election. Initially, I intended to point out the pitfalls inherent in such an action since I will never get over what Ralph Nader's narcissistic candidacy did to this country in 2004.

I was embarrassed to realize I knew nothing about Bob Barr so I dedicated several hours to investigating his political career, the positions he allegedly represents, who supports him. I began by watching all the videos on his campaign Web page. Over and over again, I heard him say he would appeal to Independents and large groups of young people.

Young people? Why young people... oh I get it... he hopes to inherit all of Ron Paul's devotees. Hmmm, I see he is also advertising for Web designers so I guess he is going to try to generate the grassroots online energy of Ron Paul's campaign. Ron Paul had a long history of relentlessly standing his Libertarian grounds, even when he was the only voice out there, but who is this Bob Barr who speaks of "abundant freedom for all"?

Thanks to Salon.com (who are spies like me and listen to right-wing talk shows to wrap the liberal mind around Republican dogma), a Fox News story, inspired the appropriate response of "how tacky" from Obama supporters and non-entrenched GOP voters alike. Along with other stories, the Obama camp has now responded in kind.

The Fox News story about Michelle Obama, accompanied by popular conservative blogger Michelle Malkin (using her best pundit-savvy voice), ran a caption stating "Stop Making fun of Obama's Baby Mama." 

Now, the irony of identifying the Democratic candidate's wife of 16 years, a Harvard trained attorney and professional in her own right, as the mere vessel of Obama's lineage a few days after the New York Times' headline story about her impeccable grace, style, and elegance is vintage smear-machine Fox News. The tongue-in-cheek, satirical tone of "Faux News," as it's commonly referred to in liberal parlance, often turns straightforward news stories into Saturday Night Live skits. 

Sure, for any sticklers saying "what's wrong with the caption?" Senator Obama's wife is in fact the mother of their two children. But, Fox News' use of the phrase "Baby Mama" clearly diminishes Michelle Obama's role in the senator's life as well as minimizing Senator Obama's role in his kids' lives. 

Don't think for a moment that we have a political respite until Election Day. In these next 143 days, history can be made and every hour counts until America goes into the booth to cast her vote.

Though voter turnout is predicted to be higher than in any election since 1972, only 27 percent of the population is estimated to have voted in the primaries. Now is the time to get the rest of the disenfranchised registered, educated, and motivated.

The outcome in November will dictate whether we as a culture will progress into the future, with a chance to regain the world's respect and good will, or remain mired in a pattern of decline, falling behind China and the European Union as a world power. We Americans have been lulled into thinking things will "sorta be ok" in America no matter what.

Well folks, things are not ok... thanks in great part to a corrupt self-serving administration that may still destroy America.

What we are up against now is an onslaught by "swiftboaters" and their clones, the likes of which we have never seen. It is up to us, the "regular people," to combat those assaults by looking beneath the surface, educating ourselves, and spreading the word.