Labor Weekend

This weekend is ‘Labor Day weekend’, and I wish the best for all workers around the globe. From children working in sweatshops for WalMart quality clothes, to Doctors filling out endless insurance forms, here is to you! I also want to give a shout out to those workers whose efforts I don’t always support, but they always risk the possibility of being shot in the face at anytime. Yes, I mean Policemen and Dick Cheney’s close friends.

I wanted to share with you readers, some interesting news items I have been recently reading, for my latest post:

Some local political candidate, Christopher Knight, created his own video to help his candidacy. He was surprised when he found that Viacom used his video, without requesting permission, on their VH1 channel. So Chris copied the clip off of VH1, and posted it to YouTube to show what was stolen. Then Viacom cried ‘copyright infringement!. You stole from us what we stole from you, or something.’

Viacom steals then cries thief.

If you have not been following the recent major struggles involving the RIAA, all the information you could possibly need is in the link at the bottom of this paragraph. In brief, the top recording companies belong to a ‘trade group’ called the RIAA who work to create and protect profits for the industry. One manner they use for profit is the intimidation of people who may possibly have been engaged in copying music files into giving them exorbitant amounts of money. The information used to coerce these people into paying or go to court, are highly questionable, and they have sued most likely innocent people – including very old ladies who don’t use the computer and kids as young as 12. Because of this long struggle, I boycott all music from these companies.

RIAA music cartel

How much caffeine does your soft drink, soda, pop have? Look at this chart to find out.

Caffeine content of soft drinks

Diet Coke has more than Diet Pepsi?(error corrected) You are better off going to thinkgeek and buying caffeinated water.

Read the rude pundit, if you dare. Today’s article begins…” George W. Bush is a terrible human being, and the world would have been better off if he had died in a drunk driving accident back in the 1970s…” Then the cursing starts.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

This government has engaged in illegal wiretapping of its own citizens, against the will of the people and the freedom that is the backbone of America. All 3 branches of the government are in collusion with this: Republican, Democrat, and Corporate. The people, through EFF, has sued AT&T and Verizon for their part in wiretapping their users (for a surcharge, I am guessing), and the DOJ is fighting to protect the companies. No surprise there, but it is infuriating to see, and underscores the importance of all of our efforts.

Verizon is part of the Bush administration, or is it the other way around

I am still trying to memorize everything in this website.

Wikipedia!

Homosexuals can now marry in Iowa.

This just in, it takes 11 years to figure out to fix a lottery. (joking) “They should tax people who are bad at math. Oh wait, they do – the lottery.” Emo Phillips

Lottery winners again.

Larry Craig, the latest Republican politician gay sex scandal participant, has been the star of audio interrogation all over the news today. As much as I dislike this guy’s policies and hate his hypocrisy, I am not sure he is guilty. I do believe now that the policeman’s many arrests for similar type actions in bathrooms reek of a pattern of entrapment. Also, if you believe the cop’s version completely (and I think policemen always lie, other than those reading my website or anyone they know) then the entire ‘proof’ of guilt is: 1) Craig’s foot touched the officers in the next stall; 2) Craig tried to look through the spaces into the cops’ stall; and 3) Craig used his left hand to rub the bottom of the stall dividers. Ew, wash your hands dirty senator. Exactly which part is illegal? Or is it the combination? At most, it can be construed that he was looking for sex. How can it be illegal to ask for sex from a potentially consenting adults, even if it is in a creepy way?

A policeman and a Senator walk into a bathroom…

Interactive Card Catalog

Hey all. If you are like most people, you are connected to the internet for news, work or entertainment. Well, I spend good time deciding which links to put on my site, based on these criteria such as quality and entertainment value of the information provided. Hopefully you will take the time to browse through the links to determine which can enhance your understanding and enjoyment of this life. Oh, and behind one of the links is a yummy piece of chocolate or a new iPhone.

This post is designed to provide you with more information on some of the links I already have in that column to the right, although a few words more of detail are provided if you move your cursor over the link. Go ahead try it, and for those of you new to computing – yes I am a magical wizard who can create floating messages, please post a comment if you would like to donate money or souls, but please do not send anymore self-made Dick Cheney voodoo dolls, as I have enough already. Apparently Star Wars Darth Vader character was based on Dick. Anyway…

 

Word press: This link is automatically placed here when I started this wordpress blog. The service could be better, but it has me online posting articles for free (tax payer dollars used, not included). Not a bad deal. Heck, I didn’t even give them my real name, they think I am Alfred E. Newman at 1 Main Street Boca Raton. Shhh, it will be out secret. Click this link if you want to write too. Don’t be afraid, – one of us!

 

ThinkGeek: Cool gifts for cool nerdy people. Please send me some caffeinated soap for the next holiday. My brother suggests you send me any soap whatsoever, but you know how big brothers get. I think 1984 was about an evil Big Brother.

 

Consumerist: Great site whose purpose is to help you not get fucked when you buy something. Excellent tips and news regarding on how to be a knowledgeable consumer can save you lots of money and grief. How to find bargains, save money, and protect yourself from scams are just a few areas in which this copious site helps.

 

Strange new products: Just like it sounds. Also a good idea for a good gift. I mean that sending the link to someone is a good gift, not actually buying anything. I recommend creating gifts, like poems, rather than buying them. (caffeinated soap excepted).

 

Get your war on!: New York style angry sarcasm can be so beautiful and poetic. Yo, Operation End this War is in the Motherfucking House!

 

Noam Chomsky: A true political expert, the Bill James of politics. And if you do not know who Bill James is, he is the Noam Chomsky of Baseball.

“Noam Chomsky . . . is a major scholarly resource. Not to have read [him] is to court genuine ignorance.”
–The Nation

“Arguably the most important intellectual alive.”
–The New York Times

“With relentless logic, Chomsky bids us to listen closely to what our leaders tell us–and to discern what they are leaving out…The questions Chomsky raises will eventually have to be answered. Agree with him or not, we lose out by not listening.”
–Business Week

 

Pandora: Cool internet radio that plays the types of music you want to hear, without interruption. What radio should have been, from the beginning.

 

PlookyPlok: My brother is exceptionally witty and intellectual, with a knack for finding obscure and interesting sites. This site got me to find this video clip, and also might have the yummy chocolate:

 

Too Much Coffee Man: Superhero comic strip, TMCM vows to save the world in the morning, but crashes by noon. Philosophy and humor are a great motivator in life, unless there is no point anyway.

 

ACLU: Fights strongly for American freedoms. They are nonprofit and rely on donations.

 

Anonymous Liberal: This past week has posted: the briefs for upcoming December supreme court case on habeas corpus; comparison of US detainee policies (claimed to be oppressive due to terrorism) to that of Israel (facing actual ongoing terrorist threats); and other important news like attorney generals n’ stuff. If you spend your night with one anonymous stranger, make it this one.

 

Common dreams: excellent start to reading current news. Through this portal, you will have access to many newspapers, US and international; weeklies; government publications; and more. If you want to see how Chinese papers are reporting the Iraq war, or federal budgetary items, or your daughter’s local paper in Seattle – this is the place.

 

EFF: ACLU for electronic rights. Extremely important organization in the vastly important struggle to keep our online rights. A donation to this cause makes a great Christmas gift! And may just save your internet.

 

Fark: My homepage to begin my daily news reading, along with the NYTimes. Run by a Republican who gathers news items from all over the world and posts them with hilarious links. The last link, to pick one at random:

“Man unable to escape after breaking into Harry Houdini Museum”. Oh the irony.

 

Glenn Greenwald: Does excellent political commentary work. His analysis and news gathering is supreme.

 

Michael Moore: You don’t know who he is? Well he is one of us, who sacrificed everything to become a journalist. Maxed out his credit cards and slept on floors to make ‘Roger and Me’ 20 years ago. The rest is history.

One Good Move: Has good clips from Daily Show and Keith Olbermann show. I like the funny satirical news haha haha. More ice cream!

 

This Modern World: I have been a regular reader of this political comic for over 15 years. All the comics are archived on this site, and are still relevant today. If you like political cartoons, you will love this site. If you do not like political cartoons , you will love this site.

 

ZNet: You think the TV and NYTimes is too liberal, then you haven’t read news on this site. Power to the people!

Sports

 

APBR Metrics: Where the Basketball intellectuals hang out and chat.

Baseball reference: I go to this site like I am addicted, because I am. If you like baseball stats, take a quick look and never come out again.

 

Baseball Think Factory: Lots of baseball news and arguments. If you thought soccer fans are the biggest assholes, think again.

Retrosheet: Attempting to recreate every baseball game ever played. A great reference tool for those writing seriously about baseball.

Soul of baseball: The blog of journalist Podnanski, created to advertise his book, but became more than that. He is on a sabbatical as he writes his new book, rumored to be about the Big Red Machine, Reds of the mid 70’s. Oh yeah, his favorite player is Duane Kuiper.

Sports Law Blog: Good site to spur thought about Sports Law. Like you need something to spur you to think about sports law.

Urban Shocker: A guy who is passionate about baseball and writes well about it. His work has been featured in SABR journals, and he writes here just for fun. An expert on Dominican baseball players.

That’s it, for now. I will continue to add links as I see worthy sites. Please feel free to share your own link recommendations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Vick’s Vapo-rub

Apparently, Michael Vick of the NFL Atlanta Falcons, or Ron Mexico, is allegedly guilty of involvement in an alleged dog fighting ring where alleged dogs were allegedly killed for fun and allegedly gambling, allegedly.   I hope that’s enough ‘alleged’s but I am sure people are forced to plead guilty to crimes they never committed to accept the plea bargain rather than risk a harsher sentence after a financially and emotionally draining trial    Besides, I have no better idea of his guilt than you or any ‘journalist’ does.   Luckily, ignorance never stopped people from commenting,  declaring Vick the worst villain mastermind since Saddam Hussein was caught.  

For the purposes of this article only, I am assuming that Vick is guilty, because I want to examine some underlying issues.

Vick’s treatment in the PR-Media (formerly Mainstream Media) is easy to classify, as this story has been the topic of many news items.  Vick has been utterly trashed more than Lindsay Lohan recently.  (Not that I even know who Lindsay Lohan is, other than a character on TV who takes lots of drugs, allegedly).  In the press, even Jon Stewart of the Daily Show is criticizing Vick’s behavior.  The criticism is much louder than you hear for wife beating (Bobby Cox?), for example.

Some reports say that Vick’s dog fighting rings contained torture, which is just horrible.  Somehow, the outrage for a rumor of dog torturing is more than the proof of actual torture of human beings.   Perhaps that is because the PR reports (TV news) are put out by the same companies that profit from war activities. 

So clearly, Vick’s actions have been classified as worse than beating women or torturing humans.  The NFL also feels the same way, as they have suspended Vick and publicly admonished him, while ignoring the cases where players are accused of hitting women.       

My personal feelings are that killing dogs for fun and sport is disgusting and vile.  I also think killing deer and pheasant for fun and sport is just as disgusting and vile.  In fact, hunting and dog fighting are very similar.  Consider that they both: involve killing of cute animals, like deer and dogs (ok, so the dogs aren’t cute, they are mean pit bulls, like Karl Rove with less frothing at the mouth).  Both activities are dangerous to people, although hunting is probably more dangerous considering gun accidents and Cheney style hunting accidents.  In fact, I can only think of a few distinct differences:

1)       some hunters eat what they kill, although few appear to kill solely for food

2)     dog fighting is mainly done by the lower classes of society, in America these lower classes are referred to as ‘Black’, even if they include poor Whites.  This may account for the difference in applicable laws.

3)     Hats.  One group wears bright orange goofy hats, while the other wears baseball caps over to the side.  Advantage, dog-fighting.

All in all, I think it is objectively clear that hunting and dog fighting are in the same group.  Morally, I feel the same way about Vick as I do Todd Helton and the other people who kill for fun and sport.  They all have committed horrible acts that do not deserve losing freedom and career for a number of years, like Vick.      

At least Vick’s sentence will be more compassionate than the one the authorities are handing out to the dogs involved.  Yes that’s right, the same system that condemns Vick for killing dogs is about to kill those dogs themselves.  

 

Poll, testing

So after one week of posting articles, we have determined my readers’ preferences, in order: humor; tits; then politics. I have a feeling they all are in Las Vegas, waiting in line to see the Amazing Johnathan. We will see if the Vegas theory is correct, when I start writing about poker.

I have been searching for ways to improve my blog through gimmicks, like polls. What I have found from this search is that: my love life is like Pretty Woman, and I should paint my toenails White.

Your Toes Should Be White

A little funky and a little fresh, you’re constantly evolving your flirting style.Your ideal guy: A witty brainiac with hottie potentialStay away from: Overly dorky guys who become obsessed with you

What Color Should Your Toenails Be?

So here I will try to add a poll, to find out what your interests are, as a reader. The only poll that works on this blog, according to their FAQ, does not provide options for ranking results or voting for more than 1 at a time, so please use the comments section to add your own items, or comment on your vote.

Topic I like most 1) politics 2) humor 3) tits/sex 4) sports 5) quiz/trivia 6) useful advice 7) cool links 8) guest post from my 7-year old nephewView Results Make your own poll

We’re war, we are

When I started this blog, my purpose was to communicate my feelings on whatever topics held my interest, which is usually sports and comedy. This is very different from 20 years ago, when I was 19, when my interests were sports, comedy, and tits. Of course, tits were most important to me during my first year of life, whenever I got hungry. After 1, I reached the age where the unelected FCC kindly protected me against such damaging images as tits, without them having to be asked. I was fortunately too old (over 18) to have been ruined by Janet Jackson’s tit briefly shown at the Superbowl, although I guess under age 2 would have been ok, as they see breasts everyday. I hope none of the kids between 2 and 18 saw that, so they could enjoy their wholesome images of broken bones sticking through football padding in 3 separate slo-motion angles. Now I have much less interest in tits, even naked ones. Oh yes lady, those are very nice – you still aren’t getting ahead of me in line.

But lately, I cannot see how I, or any American, can avoid being deeply involved in politics. As a bachelor, I can readily equate this situation to taking out the trash. Sure Mothers always tell you to take out the trash, but it only really needs to be attended to when the garbage builds so high that the stench and weight of it makes it difficult to comfortably live. That is where we are in America now. Everybody needs to get involved in cleaning up this mess.

Many of the major issues in this country have slowly and subtly worsened since Reagan took over in 1980 and then exploded with Bush 2.

One of these worsening issues is the establishment of an unconstitutional state religion, a fundamentalist sect of Christianity. To be fair, it was Carter that allowed fundamentalism into the White House, but the Christian Coalition began with Reagan. As a side note, the other thing that bothers me from Carter’s presidency is the absolute political failure of the attempt to sacrifice now for the betterment of the long term. This Tactic will be needed, if we are to deal with large issues such as Global Warming, but has been considered political suicide since Carter.

Another issue is corporate control over every aspect of American life, including: how we get our information, how we are educated as kids; how laws are made, how laws are implemented, and almost everything else. Another issue is today’s topic, and the 2^nd on my list of issues to be addressed by any presidential candidate, the military.

War culture. Leaving aside the contributions made to other countries’ war efforts, the United States spends approximately half of the world’s war budget, and much more than half if you include other budgetary items that are used for war purposes and ‘emergency’ funds. Oh, and let’s make this clear, when I say the United States, I mean you and I pay, and large companies receive, the money - like GE (owns NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, etc). Who we are fighting is irrelevant to these companies, only that we keep the gigantic payments up. What makes it more disgraceful is the way this money is used.

1) This money is not for the soldiers, or ‘troops’ as is the new term. The Bush administration has slashed funding for health care and all other benefits for the soldiers. Corporate Democrats have been complicit in this, as usual. The term ‘support our troops’ means give money to war profiteers, like Haliburton, Titan, or Kelloggs. When news employees hide behind, ‘you hate our troops’, they mean ‘Don’t infringe on my employer’s profits, I want to keep my job’. Sometimes these news employees get out of line with their employers and get fired (Dan Rather is one)

2) The ‘enemy’ doesn’t matter, but the fear does. When I was a kid the cold war was the provided reason for the high military budget. Reagan scared us with descriptions of nuclear rockets just off the coast of Florida, aimed at us. The prior generation had to hide under desks as kids, to practice survival of a nuclear attack. When the Soviet Union was too weak to use as an enemy, naturally the military budget should be decreased. Nope, not according to this pdf U.S. budget over time. Clinton increased the budget, so did both Bushes. After the Soviet Union, the enemy became small countries in South America, mainly. Today, the enemy is ‘Terrorists”, which could belong to any country, I guess, and can never be eliminated, – constant threat and war.

3) Destroys human life in horrible ways. Although corporate McNews never reports it, the most conservative estimate is that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in this recent war, mostly women, children, and elderly. This is a third world country that has never attacked or threatened the United States, whose people died because Bush’s (Oil) and Cheney’s (Haliburton) employers needed to increase profit. That is sick.

4) The United States military is ineffective in every way but making money for certain big companies. Iraq is a third world country, who had been devastated by 10 years of UN sanctions, resulting in many deaths – and the United States multi trillion dollar military couldn’t defeat it? What will happen if we need to fight a real war against a real enemy? We are fucked! But who provided biological and other weapons to Saddam? That’s right, U.S. military. And who trained Osama bin Laden to kill and gave him lots of money to start his own army? Yep, U.S. military. Whomever is running the military, they need to be tried for treason, while we get someone who cares about the American people in charge.

For a presidential candidate to get my vote or to be seen by me as a serious candidate, he/she must have a plan to dramatically reduce the military budget, while increasing the quality of their services. The plan would need to deal with war profiteers like Haliburton, both in the future with oversight and fair bidding, and backward with criminal proceedings. Many polls show that this what the people want, and simply ignore it, as the candidates have done, is anti-democracy.

 

 

 

 

 

Comedy

In addition to the fine comments left here on the site, some people have been kind enough to use the telephone to provide feedback. Somehow it just doesn’t seem right to use an antiquated instrument like a telephone to respond to a newfangled webpage, almost like using a live chicken to pay for your Nintendo Wii. One comment I have heard is that I am not making them laugh enough, like in ‘real life’. “We only hang out with you because your pants may fall down at any moment, or you may suggestively ask the deli guy for some tongue” I imagine them saying. So for those telephone commentators, here is a post devoted to a small number of those comedians I adore.

Everybody has different tastes in comedy, other wise how do you explain Mencia and Tim Allen? Let’s run through some of the comedians that I have been listening to recently. Warning, do not see, read, or hear these comedians if you get offended by anything at all ever.

Doug Stanhope: This quintessential libertarian comic has been described as the most enthusiastic nihilist. He is also offensive to most and as funny as Dick Cheney shooting his friends in the face. He is direct and honest in a way that makes it seem like all this bland TV and Movies were just a set-up to his act. I accidentally stumbled across this guy on Showtime, and I am now addicted.

Some quotes:

“If you really believe that death leads to eternal bliss then why are you wearing a seatbelt?”

“You never hear in the news, “200 killed today when Atheist rebels took heavy shelling from the Agnostic stronghold in the North.”

“If size doesn’t matter, how come my girlfriend’s vibrator isn’t three inches and crooked?”

Emo Phillips: A personal favorite of mine, Emo is the expert of comedic timing of a short joke.

Quotes:

“I was walking down fifth avenue today and I found a wallet, and I was gonna keep it, rather than return it, but I thought: well, if I lost a hundred and fifty dollars, how would I feel? And I realized I would want to be taught a lesson.”

“I got a letter from the IRS. Apparently I owe them $800. So I sent them a letter back. I said, “If you’ll remember, I fastened my return with a paper clip, which according to your very own latest government pentagon spending figures will more than make up for the difference.”

“When I wake up in the morning, I just can’t get started until I’ve had that first, piping hot pot of coffee. Oh, I’ve tried other enemas…”

“I saw a woman wearing a sweatshirt with ‘Guess’ on it. I said, ‘Thyroid problem?’

Bobcat Goldthwait: Underrated because of his work in the Police Academy movies.

Quotes:

“America is one of the finest countries anyone ever stole.”

“If you ever see me getting beaten by the police, put down the video camera and come help me.”

“I lost my job. No, I didn’t really lose my job. I know where my job is. It’s just, when I go there, there’s this new guy doing it.”

Mitch Hedberg: Unfortunately died young, because he had great talent. Like the rest of these people, his delivery enhances the comedy.

Quotes, and there are many:

“I had a neighbor, and whenever he would knock on my wall I knew he wanted me to turn my music down, and that made me angry because I like loud music, so when he knocked on the wall I’d mess with his head. I’d say: “Go around! I cannot open the wall. I don’t know if you have a doorknob on the other side, but over here there’s nothing. It’s just flat.”

“I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend. I just know a girl who would get really mad if she heard me say that.”

“This shirt is “dry-clean only,” which means it’s dirty.”

“When you go to a restaurant on the weekends and it’s busy so they start a waiting list, they say, “Dufrenes, party of two, table ready for Dufrenes, party of two.” And if no one answers they’ll say the name again: “Dufrenes, party of two.” But then if no one answers, they’ll move on to the next name. “Bush, party of three.” Yeah, but what happened to the Dufrenes? No one seems to care. Who can eat at a time like this? People are missing. You people are selfish. The Dufrenes are in someone’s trunk right now, with duct tape over their mouths. And they’re hungry. That’s a double whammy. We need help. “Bush, search party of three. You can eat once you find the Dufrenes.”

There are many more, but that’s enough for now. On a more interactive nature, I saw a blog that started an ‘I like my men/women like I like my (noun) thread. How it works is the first post creates a joke based on that joke style and also adds a new noun, and it is up to the next poster to create a new joke using the new noun, and then create a noun for the next person, and so on. So for example, and to start:

I like my women like I like my coffee, - mail ordered from Ethiopia. Next word, vitamins.

So the next post: I like my men like I like my vitamins, - shaped like Dino. Next word, Oatmeal.

Got it? Alright. Go with Oatmeal, next poster.

Never selling out and Buy Player’s Navy Cut Cigarettes, full of Protein!

All of the comments I have received from my articles have been insightful, delightful, and even igniteful (ok so not a word, don’t be spiteful), even the comment about my passionate love of ice cream, but I think that was just my direct quote. So ‘two heads are better than one’, as Ray Milland would say, or better: democracy is not a spectator sport. As an example of the insightful comments, here is part of a comment from Vicky Bullettes, who writes, in part, about my list of questions for presidential candidates:

“I think number 6 is the most important thing on your list. I remain appalled by what I do know about the way corporations gained the rights of people through the courts. I’d like to learn more. Undo this application of the law, and I believe a number of the other items on your list would at least begin to take care of themself.

How can we get these issues addressed though? I still remember how the candidates shut down the discussion back in 2000 by banding together to deny Nader the right to debate.”

In general, #6 deals with corporate control over everyday society. I think Vicky very well sums up the frustrations with Americans who feel impotent, and, through polls and voter turnout, people do appear to feel this way. I think the answer to this, can be summed up in this quote:

“He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.” George Orwell

America has a rich tradition of individual and groups of people able to make great changes in society. This important and interesting history is never shown in schools or on the history channels. I never saw a stamp devoted to Emma Goldman. Even the recent past, such as the popular struggles of the 1960′s, where large groups of people banded together to successfully fight oppression, is now labeled as a failure only about drug use and craziness.

As a youngster, I was completely disgusted with History as a class subject, my least enjoyable, until I started to read the interesting and inspiring records of those individuals and groups who fought for their rights, and won. Suddenly I found myself reading about History in my own time. As Public Enemy says, “it’s History, not his story”. As recommended reading, People’s History of the U.S., by Howard Zinn.

When I started to read these historical accounts, I realized something. Nothing is new and nothing is permanent. What we think is a situation so bleak and controlled that nothing could overcome it, there have been many bleaker situations  that were overcome. Let us not forget, or waste, the efforts of those who fought for women’s right to vote, or blacks’ right to vote, or worker’s rights or Gay and Lesbian rights. The amount of energy and suffering that went into achieving the 8 hour work day, make it more upsetting that we, as a country, are trending towards longer work hours for less wage. None of these people had any tool available to them as powerful as the internet. The timing is also right for a change, as most people are dissatisfied with leadership’s ability to help its citizens (see care, health or Katrina for examples).

Even in South Park’s movie, when the children felt oppressed and powerless to stop the anti-censorship war and unjust executions, they organized using the internet. There is no way that this government can compete with gigantic amounts of people rising up to challenge them. They never have and never could.

The leaders are very aware of the power of the internet, which is why they spend so much effort and money to attack it, saying it is a danger to our children or trying to pass laws to turn it into a shopping mall. They know that soon the people will figure out that they can start their own political party, if they want, and win elections. Right now the American people dislike Bush, and dislike the Democrats whom they elected to stand up to Bush, and dislike how the large corporations are governing. So let’s start an internet party, for the people by the people. I am sure we will have no problems finding the needed funding, once the idea reaches its tipping point. Many countries have a vested interest in dumping Bush’s administration, and we are able to contact them instantaneously. This can work, and this will work, if the people want it.

So today, I hereby start the first eParty, to run candidates for all elections. Next step, is to begin a platform.

Who got next?

With 15 months until the next U.S. Presidential election, there should be plenty of time to get acquainted with each candidate’s stand on all issues, especially those with some importance. However, history suggests that we will only hear limited topic sound bites, unless we the people push for more. I made a list of some of the major issues for me in determining for whom I will vote. If you would like to add to or comment on the list, please leave a comment or email me at SkeptiSys@gmail.com

In short, this is the list:
1. Prison. United States has the highest per capita prison population in the world, significantly.

2. military. The military budget and activities are shameful.

3. corporate welfare/taxes – money should go back into the society, not to multi billion dollar companies

4. electronic freedoms. Our government, including corporations, are trying to turn the internet into a shopping mall.

5. constitutional right to be free from religious state. Censorship laws, anti-homosexual laws, all unconstitutional.

6. Corporate responsibility. corporations are not people. Laws are conflicting on this, but the supreme court has ruled that corporations are people, which gives them constitutional rights only afforded to persons. But their control over our society needs to be returned to the people.

7. Government subverting our constitutional rights: Democrats were elected in 2006 to remove troops from Iraq, a bloody war-for-profit. Instead they pass laws that make it easier for the Bush administration to spy on Americans, and announce they will not do what is their constitutional authority to do, which is to impeach a president that breaks the law. It is congressional oversight, and these democrats – who are so anti-public programs as to make Nixon seem like a liberal bead flapping hippy, refuse to do their job because they are afraid to lose their corporate sponsors.

 

8. basic human needs: education, health care, food, etc. How do presidential candidates avoid giving clear plans for that which governments were set up to provide?

These general issues are now the most important to me for the next election, yet it is almost impossible to find a candidate with good plans to fix them. Actually, it is difficult to find a candidate who won’t contribute to the problems. Although Ralph Nader always addressed these issues.

My original intent was to provide more details on each of these subjects, as to why they are so important to me and my country. However, this was much more time consuming than I thought it would be, and I seem to have run out of time for now. So here is some more details on #1, prison population.

1) Prison population. What will you do about the enormous prison population? The most simplistic way to measure how free a country is to take the probability that a citizen will be abducted and locked in a prison cell. By this measure, the United States is the least free country in the world, of 216 (prison rate: 737 per 100,000). And it isn’t close either, the 2^nd highest per capita prison population is 17% less than the U.S (French Guiana 630/100,000). All prison population numbers published by http://www.prisonstudies.org/

Also related to this issue is: the increase of secret prisons; attempts to imprison American citizens without trial; and decrease of rights for prisoners. Many states have already passed laws forbidding ex-felons from their constitutional right to vote, at anytime in their life. It is my belief that many people in prison are innocent, supported in part by the frequency of convicted who are exonerated based on DNA testing.

Prisoners also frequently are forced to work for much lower than minimum wage. Has slavery returned to the U.S.? Per Bureau of Justice statistics “at year end 2005 there were 3,145 black male sentenced prison inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States” http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm

Any candidate that wants my vote will have to provide a plan for reducing the prison population for non-violent offenders.