Hola, and welcome.

Post numero uno. I've actually succumbed to the Facebook phenomenon and was placing a handful of comments/links there in hope that some of the research I had done might be of help to others who are trying to consider which candidate they may support; so, the first handful of posts here are the ones I already posted there (and I post-dated those so this intro comment would appear at the beginning). The posts will generally just be a short bit on my perspective with references out to useful articles/resources I’ve found. It may only last through the primaries, I'll see how it goes.

In terms of the overall scope of this blog though--at the risk of repeating a common idea--I would urge any out there to consider ways they might get involved in the primary season (and general election for that matter). I especially think this is incumbent upon us as citizens, period. Further though, it is the simple reality of life today that people are dying, whether one finds it justified or not, because of decisions the current President made (in conjunction with others); the Middle East in general is massively affected by various decisions related to the war and the Administration's approaches to diplomacy, etc. So it cannot be said that it does not matter who sits in the White House, because it does; again, regardless of one's view of the Administration and its approach to governance, I think we have an obligation to consider the full swath of candidates, else we undermine the characteristic that divides democratic nations such as us, from those where the people have zero to little say, such as North Korea or Saudia Arabia (for example, something like this from today's Washington Post is allowed to happen in Saudia Arabia, to reference one of the somewhat lesser, but no less disturbing qualities of life in non-democratic countries--although sadly, we have seen many signs that we are heading downhill as well, with allowances of torture, etc.).

This blog is part of my attempt to to consider ways I might get involved, so I am working through these considerations as I write. Here's a few ideas I'm looking at though, that I'd suggest that anyone considering some form of involvement might think about as well:

-doing research to come to some conclusion about one or two candidates you want to try to support;

-contributing financially (as unfortunate as the sway of money is in the current system, it has a direct effect on how many voters see and hear from a given candidate--e.g., ad money, travel money to various speaking events and debates, and so forth);

-finding an organizing group for that candidate in your state (most if not all candidates have a feature for this on their websites);

-contributing to candidate exposure (bumper stickers, signs, dialoguing with others, etc.).

Please feel free to add any comments and start a dialogue with any of my posts, if something comes to mind.

Update: Over the two months since I first wrote this introduction, I eventually decided to support Obama. This blog chronicles much of my thought process leading up to that decision, although I may keep it going up to the general election.

Update 2: Here's a great link I found with 12 suggested ways to get politically involved.

Update 3: As of November 11th when I wrote this, I probably won't go much beyond Obama's inauguration with these posts--just becomes too much to keep up; but man am I happy to be able to say that Obama's inauguration is coming, man do we need him in there!!