Third Party & Independents:

Disturbing Political News 2

1) The other health care issue. 2) America's college bound are destined for unprecedented debt. 3) Poll finds Americans support Roe V. Wade. 4) Lowering the minimum wage is one outcome of government policies. 5) Bush gets some more money to under educate school kids.

During This Flu Season...

Ronald Reagan: "The most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you.'"

During the Presidential campaign, there was a big outcry that George W. Bush "failed to get enough flu vaccines." Instead of explaining that the shortage was not a failure of the free market but lack of vaccines that the FDA has deemed "good enough", Bush echoed the government-will-fix everything mantra and said that he was doing everything he could to get Americans these vaccines. In the meanwhile, Americans had to sacrifice for the "common good" and pass up non-essential vaccines.

Duty to Share

Happy Turkey Day!

No, those are not well wishes for President Bush. But, we all have much to be thankful for if we will take just a few moments to recount our blessings. We are not living in a post nuclear holocaust world, yet. President Bush does want to be remembered favorably in history books. That has to be good for a thanks or two. And though our democracy is full of faults and malfunctions (mostly folks in Congress), we are still a long way from Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. And mad cow has not spread to turkeys yet, so, please enjoy family, friends, good food, and American abundance while we still have it.

United: A chance! - Divided: No Chance!

Third party candidates suffered a devastating blow in this last election. Altogether, they garnered just over 1 million votes nation wide. Compare this to Ross Perot, who in 1992, pulled over 19 million votes, and all third party candidates pulled almost 21 million votes. Of course Ross Perot spent over 60 million dollars of his own money on his campaign.

Political coverage after the election

Democrats became a target of criticism

Bush, and the Republicans, received large positive coverage after the election: Of all reports covering Republicans, 30.2% were positive while 8.3% were negative. Kerry and the Democrats received substantial negative coverage in the week after the election: Of all reports on the Democrats, 42.5% were negative and only 1.7% were positive. In the coverage of Kerry, almost 30% of the reports were negative and 16.3% were positive. (The remaining share corresponds to reports with either neutral, or without clear ratings.)

Bribing Good Behavior

Child psychologists warn against it. Psychiatrists warn against it. President Bush criticized Clinton for it with N. Korea. So, why has bribing good behavior become the Bush administration's central foreign policy theme?

Election Funk

People like Sean Hannity are calling it Bush Country. It's the 2004 election results map county by county. The nation is red from east to west with blue patches popping up here and there like a disease. And that is really how many conservatives see us isn't it? We're just some kind of disease to them. The last fires of a dying idealogical viewpoint. Everything we believe in smacks them in the face. We can't help it though.

Congress and Fallujah.

Two questions. If you don't stop Congress now, when will you? And second, now that we and the new Iraqi interim government have killed thousands of Sunnis, can we convince them that voting us out at the ballot box will succeed?

Disturbing Political News 1

Winslow Wheeler, author of The Wastrels of Defense was interviewed on Booknotes (C-span) by Mr. Brian Lamb a few days ago. It was a very telling interview. The basic premise was that your Congressional representatives, charged with the responsibility for the checks and balances of our government, far too often elect to ignore, or even undermine, those checks and balances.

The Partisan Divide

Angela Winters

Part of the reason I'm an Independent is because I can't bring myself to form allegiance with either the Democrat or Republican parties because of the dirty mud slinging they both engage in. This year was worse than any I can remember and has only reinforced my opinion that neither party deserves an endorsement.

It didn't help when I read this article at Reuters suggesting that Bush's second term agenda may widen the partisan divide even further.

Kerry-Bush Win by Landslides

Nader 397,468 - Badnarik (Libertarian) 379.000 - Cobb (Green Party) 105,590 -- Kerry (Dem) 55,750,105 -- Bush (Rep) 59,284,062. By the Republican standard, Nader won among third party candidates with a progressive mandate! This is rather laughable, considering how close the numbers were between Kerry and Bush.

Accountability

Four more years of the Bush administration. I commented to someone at work that I will show the administration all the respect and consideration that the Republicans and religious right showed to Clinton.
The Republicans have long proclaimed the importance of responsibility and accountability, and I am in complete agreement with them on this. I believe strongly in people being held accountable for their actions.

What Have We Done?

This morning I am stunned. Stunned by the overwhelming majority of votes President Bush amassed in last nights still undecided, but decided election. And along with being stunned I am disillusioned. How could so many Americans think as Bush does? How could so many Americans excuse what his administration has done to the country, both here and aboard?

Too Close to Call

Ohio appears to be the new Florida of the 2000 race. As of 4:08 AM on Wednesday morning, despite other writer's claims of a win for the President, it is still too close to call according to MSNBC's Electoral College map. As Sen. John Edwards said, it will not be over until every vote counts and every vote is counted. Thus, Sen. Kerry has not conceded the race. The President is growing impatient as daylight approaches in a couple hours, for one of the too close to call states, to be completely counted and throw any one of those states into his column to put him up past the 269 Electoral College (EC) votes which has been unchanged since around midnight.

The More Things Change, and Whats Next

Its Over. George W. Bush has taken virtually the same coalition of states that won him the presidency in 2000 and has won re-election over John Kerry. Despite all of the overanalyzing of the economic shifts in each state, the supposed young voter turnout that never materialized, and the impact of the war in Iraq, practically the same people from the same states chose George W. Bush as President of the United States. Given that the Democrats presented them with a completely uninspiring leftist candidate as an alternative, the result is hardly surprising.

Projected Results

As of midnight EST, I am showing Kerry at 188 Electoral Votes and Bush at 237 Votes. If they both win their projected states (and none of the states have turned yet) This will bring the total to Kerry 266, Bush 271. One vote over the 270 required to win. It all depends on Ohio right now.

CBS critical of Kerry in final three days before Election

In the last three day prior to Election Day, CBS and FOX overall were clearly more critical on Kerry than on Bush while NBC rated Kerry more positive than Bush. ABC was largely balanced in covering the candidates. Overall, TV news coverage on Bush was particularly positive when presenting opinion poll results.

Voter On A Mission

I saw my wife off to work and my daughter off to school this morning from our home in the hill country North of San Antonio, Texas. I donned a sweater, got in my pickup and headed out for the Volunteer Fire Dep't. station where I could cast my vote. I was highly motivated for the 5 mile drive, having written about American politics and this Election Day for over a year now. I arrived and got in line. I was the 41st person in line at 7:15 AM. I wondered how long I would have to wait.

Judgment Day

It's not that complicated; invite a few friends over, preferably from different political affiliations, and have a discussion about what would be a near flawless and clear counting voting machine. Easy and/or accurate recount, on staff workers who can quickly fix technical problems, voter number id stamped and issued on a receipt as voted and given to the voter as well as recorded internally, electronically and on paper thus giving a triad of verification. We put all of this kind of thought into guarding our nuclear defense strategy and yet the process to elect the man in charge of it all has the complexity of a tin can telephone in some states.

Your vote - What it Will Mean

Vote! I can't get too excited about going to vote for Kerry or Bush, but, there are a number of other offices on the ballot and some state issues and candidates that are very important close to home. If the Presidential election has turned you off, don't let it stop you from going to vote on all these other ballot initiatives, local issues, and federal, state, and local officials. It really is a very important election even if Bush and Kerry both lost to Mickey Mouse.

Down to the wire

As we come down to the wire, I am genuinely surprised at the number of people who are undecided. If you think the person in the job now is doing well, then you should be out voting for them. If you think they are not, you should be voting for someone else.

The Case for Invading Iraq

When President Bush made his case for the invasion of Iraq, he unfortunately did so with little regard on making the full case. This is one problem I have with his administration, not that he couldn�t have, but that he didn�t. His advisors, his intelligence, the intelligence of our friends and years of knowledge about what was going on in Iraq led him to believe that the case was a �Slam Dunk� as has been often repeated.