Today is the day.

This morning, President Barack Obama officially announced his plans to run for re-election. We are 582 days away from Election Day 2012. Time to get moving!

Sure, the Republican Party has yet to officially announce any of its candidates. We don't even know who's going to show up for the primary, let alone who the President will be running against. The way I see it, we've got a head start on campaigning.

Sure, the Tea Partiers are going to run the dirtiest of campaigns we've seen in a while. It's what they do. The way I see it, we've got a leg up on taking the high road.

Sure, some Democrats are disappointed in what President Obama has been able to accomplish in his first term so far. But do you really think that John McCain would have had any of our interests in mind? The way I see it, we're light years ahead of where we'd be if McCain and Palin were in the White House.

This campaign is going to be heavy. It's going to take a lot of work by a lot of people. But we worked hard to elect him in 2008, and we're going to work hard to elect him again in 2012.

It is my hope that you will do your part. It is my hope that you will not let your busy life, your apathy, your frustration, or your anger somehow manage to let the Republicans win. I know it seems early. But if you wait, it could be too late.

And if you don't want to hear my incessant election banter, you may need to take a hiatus from reading this blog and/or following me on Twitter, and you may even go so far as to hide me on Facebook. I'm not going to lie to you and say that nobody did that in 2008 and 2010, haha. But if you want to know what's up, and you want to BE what's up, stay tuned.

And please, get involved.

How did it come to this?

I know I'm really late to this game, but I just watched the video of anti-Muslim hatred in Orange County. I was in tears within 30 seconds.

How long until everyone looks back on this period of history with disgust? How long until this senseless persecution is publicly aligned with that of the Red Scare or of Japanese internment camps? This is absolutely ludicrous. People are screaming at the top of their lungs that which they believe to be truth about people they don't know anything about. People they've never even stopped to consider as fellow human beings.

How much hate has to be spread across this country before the Tea Party is stopped? There were elected officials at this event, there to support these protestors. There to support this disfigurement of what it is to be a patriot.

"I don't even care if you think I'm crazy anymore," Councilwoman Deborah Pauly says. And the fact that her son is a Marine, and that he and his Marine friends would be happy to kill some innocent people, is proof that we should take her seriously. And the audience laughs. Did you notice? They laugh out loud at her death threats.

And have you noticed that Tea Partiers are the only ones claiming that Sharia is taking over the constitution? Tea Partiers are the ones spreading the messages of hate. Where does the constitution that they hold so dear, where does the scripture that they cling to so irrationally, where do those things tell them to go out and hate those whom they fear?

I want to criticize this video point by point, sentence by sentence, but I just can't even express how wrong it all is. I feel like I need to spend every day of my life saying, "Muslims are people. They are not terrorists. Their God is your God. They are Americans, just like you." until everyone understands.

I am so disgusted. I am so angry. I am so afraid. We are hurtling toward the 2012 elections at a frightening speed. How did it come to this?