I was really trying my hardest to understand her answer. Honest! Can you figure out what she is trying to say? It even looks like she was reading this off a freaking paper! Someone could give her better notes or something maybe? What are you saying lady!?

Obama FTW!

If the Democrats truly want to end the war after George Bush’s veto of their time-lined withdrawal/funding bill, just hold off the next funding bill and blame the president loudly for holding our troops in Iraq unfunded. There’s no reason for the Democrats to hold back. They were put in office to end the war. Bush will be left with no choice but to remove our military from Iraq or hold all the blame for leaving them there without the funds they need.

Democrats are big wimps. The new phrase from the white house is irresponsible. Bush and his team are calling Congress irresponsible for letting our troops in Iraq continue unfunded. I have news for Bush and the Democrats. It’s irresponsible to leave our troops in Iraq unfunded. If there’s no money left for them, bring them home! Why aren’t the Democrats jumping on this?

Bush probably knows he’s gonna have to bring them out of Iraq against this congress. He’s gonna end up making the Democrats look bad throughout the process. The Democrats just need to stand up and fight back the rhetoric of the White House. What better backing do the democrats need to act than a majority in the house and Senate given to them by the people of the United States?

I was hard at work in the home office this evening and shortly after dinner I was interrupted by someone at the door. I opened the door and there’s your usual guy out there peddling something I probably don’t need. He politely asked to speak with my wife and in my usual smart ass tone I use with sales people I inquired to find out why he needed to speak with her. It turns out it was Sam Liccardo a prosecutor running for city council in San Jose. I delightedly call my wife over knowing she would have something to say to him.

I was surprised with the encounter thinking normally people send out grunts to do this kind of work and what is this guy doing here? Second of all, it seemed like he really wanted to know was what he could do to help San Jose. Naturally my wife and I tried to let him know a few things that would help. We mentioned problems with crime and a lack of a cool downtown. He responded with his goals of getting more business downtown and the building of condos in the area as well. Seemed like he was there to listen and naturally he threw in a little pitch about why we should vote for him and even allowed a little bit of questioning. I would like to publish his response to a specific inquiry I made about his past as a prosecutor as it was very good but I don’t want to run the risk of not quoting him properly. I will say his answer was very logical and encouraging. My wife seemed pretty satisfied with his approach as well.

Needless to say this kind of grass roots campaigning impressed me and after researching Sam Liccardo a little more he has earned my vote. I even offered him my help with his campaign. I am curios to see what kind of response I get from him, if at all, and what sort of things his campaign team would have a volunteer like myself do.

I bet campaigning door to door takes a lot of time for Sam but on the other hand, he can count on me mentioning him to anyone I know voting in San Jose. I would hope that candidates for positions in small localities would attempt the same tactics. Meeting your constituents face to face to earn their votes makes a lot of sense in a real representative democracy. Now I feel a lot more certain I will actually be represented if Sam wins his seat in the San Jose City Council.

Thank you Sam for coming by and listening to what we had to say…

I’ll post updates on this as to what actually happens with my offer to help Sam out. You can read about Sam at his campaign website samlicardo.com.

TiEcon 2006 was a show not to be missed. TiE stands for The Indus Entrepreneur. Being Indian however is not a requirement for attendees and if you are shy you shouldn’t be. The atmosphere was very welcoming and open. It was even a good opportunity for some cultural exposure.

Excellent speakers included John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Guy Kawasaki, Sashi Tharoor, and Larry Brilliant. Topics not only covered entrepreneurship but world affairs such as poverty, health, and environment. My personal favorite was Guy Kawasaki. The most entertaining speaker of the show with some of the best advice.

Networking was an important theme for the show as well. Plenty of people were buzzing around with smiles ready to engage in conversation. This show is mandatory for anyone who would like to meet fellow entrepreneurs and people who can help each other.

I will be attending next year after this great experience and I recommend this event to anyone who would like industry exposure or has interest in entrepreneurship. If you have any questions, please email me and I would be more then happy to provide additional info.

For show details visit the website at http://www.tiecon.org/