Partisan Free Politics

part 2 - Democrats This one is going to be rough. Democrats flock to health care like or [Insert your own awful cliché here] white on rice. Unlike their Republican counterparts, every Democrat seems to be taking the problems of our uninsured very seriously. So seriously in fact that every single one of them has “The Solution” – thank goodness, cause I thought this was a complex problem… To be fair to the candidates, I am not going to get their plans 100% right – I did not read everything on all of their policies. Instead, I focused on watching and analyzing their message ...

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The post-Colbert Bump is working its magic yet again. The mainstream press (and even some of the blogosphere) has been having a virtual Huckabee love-fest, from the this article in the NYTimes, to this one in the Washington Post. The story goes that this Southern Baptist preacher is sincere, affable, plays the guitar, likes the Rolling Stones, and yes, is pretty funny. Plus he's for environmental regulation, believes in cleaning up the prison system, and takes other stereotypcially "liberal" positions (although he is pro-life). Basically, from all the media hype he appears to be the dark horse favorite; an evangelical who can win "the base" but not alienate moderate voters. I must admit, I too am loving Huckabee, ...

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I would like a discussion about whether or not Senator Craig should resign. I heard one guy on NPR talk about how because Craig admitted to the crime, lewd conduct, he should resign.  Basically I find it hard to believe that it is the actual crime and not the supposed underlying act, or technically speaking the supposed intended act, that is causing the uproar.  If an elected official is convicted of some other rather minor misdemeanors to law and order, should they resign?  Frankly I think this is primarily about gay sex. This opens up into a lot of issues, but I don't have time to write presently b/c I have a free lunch to order and a ...

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Could it really be? With all these billions of dollars being thrown around on ad-time and barnstorming? Have all the campaigns just coincidentally skipped over an issue of such great importance? An issue that almost undoubtedly will be thoroughly lobbied, legislated, and litigated throughout the next President's term? Well, unless I missed something on my recent search through candidate websites and an extensive collection of youtube videos (and please feel free to check in with your favorite personalities if you can find anything) that appears to be the case. [Outside of John Edwards' plan for a "New Deal"-like national broadband project, to connect all wireless devices, and ensure that internet providers do not discriminate ...

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Part of my wonky nature, is my interest in the systemic components of democracies (wow, I know that sounds exciting, doesn't it?). There is a battle raging between the local politics and the DNC and RNC. It seems that citizens in states like Florida, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Michigan and South Carolina and others are tired of the primary process (read the NY Times article here). It is unclear what the outcome will be, but the national parties have threatened various sanctions including denying the states ability to seat a delegation at the parties nomination conventions. A DNC spokeswomen has already brought up a 25 year old supreme court case, which allows the parties and not the states to decide their nomination ...

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Since 9/11 the federal government has been doing it's utmost to protect us from ourselves. Thankfully however, the plug has been pulled on two controversial data-mining programs citing massive privacy invasions. The first program was called ADVISE (Analy­sis, Dissemina­tion, Visu­ali­zation, Insight and Semantic Enhance­ment), brought to you by Michael Chertoff (a possible candidate for replacing Alberto Gonzales) and the Department of Homeland Security. The CS Monitor reports that ADVISE was "designed to ingest information from scores of databases, blogs, e-mail traffic, intelligence reports, and other sources". Apparently the DHS missed the memo about the constitution (that it indeed exists). The project was discontinued after a report released by the Office of ...

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Part 1 - Republicans (updated 9/2/07) Issues of health are definitely on my mind these days. It may have something to do with the fact that I am uninsured with a type 3 or type 5 AC separation in my shoulder - that may or may not need surgery (I'll find out on Wednesday). Taking a step back, I am only one person among 46.6 million uninsured Americans. (check out the U.S. Census for more information) To the point: I thought I would conduct a YouTube analysis to see what the presidential hopefuls were saying. Starting with the Republicans: I was shocked that ...

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As I'm sure most of you have already seen, our President actually had the audacity last week to compare Iraq to Vietnam.  Now I know what you are thinking: we've all been comparing Iraq to Vietnam for years, and it actually is a pretty good comparison, so how has Bush screwed this one up?  Well, Bush wasn't saying Iraq was another Vietnam and the only way out was America's withdrawal, and a painful internal process of reconciliation in the country.  No, Bush actually is making the argument that we left Vietnam TOO EARLY!!! and that our leaving led to the violence and tragedy that followed both in Vietnam and in neighboring countries, like Cambodia.  The idiocy and myopia that he ...

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President Bush's steadfast support of Alberto Gonzalez has been an example of the major problem that arises when loyalty trumps all other qualities, be they competence, political viability, bipartisanship, or anything else. Whether an individual supports or opposes Bush, there is little likelihood that you can be proud of or confident in the performance of Alberto Gonzalez. This is something that should have happened long ago . Now is an opportunity for Bush to be a uniter not a divider. Nominating someone who is not a Bush loyalist, not an insider, but a moderate bipartisan bridge who could, heaven for bid, even be retained under the next Administration, even if it is a Democratic ...

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