Please keep in mind this is a comic, please do not become offended. I am not the artist. Feel free to comment however you would like though.
*Taken from Antagonistic Ink
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
What the Future Holds...
As we move into the next presidency, I feel it might be a good idea to speak on behalf of President Elect Obama and his views on such issues as education, health care, etc.
According to Associated Content an online journal covering everything from politics to global warming, Obama has a very exact plan on the direction in which he will take this country.
Already Obama has made some headway in the education of this country. Passing the Innovation Districts for School Improvement Act will reward those teachers and individuals who implement new and innovative ways to teach and help their students achieve and succeed. He also supported the "Step Up" act. "Step Up" stands for: Summer Term Education Programs for Upward Progress. In this act, funds will be given to "disadvantaged" students to take educational courses during the summer session.
Obama also has a very distinct footing in his health-care plan. "Health care has been an ever-worsening crisis in the United States through several presidential terms. Obama is a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and has made affordable, quality health care a top priority." (Associated Content)
Furthermore, Obama has a very tough stance on the National Security issues. As we all know, this is a very unstable time in our world. Threats exist not only across the ocean, but here as well. In regards to the Iraq war though, he seems rather weak (this is a personal opinion as I simply do NOT agree with his views.) From the very first day of the Iraq war Obama called for:
1) a reduction in the number of U.S. troops; (2) a time frame for a phasedThough I do not agree with his ideals, I feel that this is not the place nor time to debate the issues; I'm just here to give you straight forward facts. You can build your own educated opinions.
withdrawal; (3) the Iraqi government to make progress on forming a political
solution; (4) improved reconstruction efforts to restore basic services in Iraq;
and (5) engaging the international community, particularly key neighboring
states and Arab nations, to become more involved in Iraq.
And finally what I consider to be the most important issue (and quite possibly a major reason he won the elective race) is his stance on family issues and values. We all saw it on TV and in interviews. Obama is undoubtedly a family man, there's no denying it (even if you don't like his views). Obama's website notes that "Children without fathers in their lives are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and 20 times more likely to end up in prison." (Associated Content) He also initiated the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act. An act that would make sure that fathers pay the expected child support, help fight against domestic violence, and to expand earned income tax credit.
So all-in-all, this is a basic crash course in what we can EXPECT from Senator Obama. But, we all know how politics work...wink wink. I hope this clears up some things for some people.
BM
Where Do Independent Hopefuls Go From Here
With the election now over and the historic victory of Barack Obama now behind us. We now ask the question where does the Independent voters go from here?
Roughly 18 million Americans who claimed to have independent views in terms of politics voted for the president-elect. That equates to roughly 29% of the electorate. Showing us that the independent movement has moved away from a more conservative ideology that it represented in the early 90's and become more liberal here in the 21st century. When we look at the numbers from the past elections this statement is reinforced.
In the last three elections, the leading independent parties has been the Green and Libertarian, both of which have shown to have very liberal viewpoints. In 2000, Ralph Nader, who then ran under the Green Party received 2,882,955 votes, that would be the highest total for a independent party since Ross Perot in 1992. The following two elections it would be the Libertarian parities with 384,431 in 2000 and 397,265 in 2004. In this last election that party would see a dramatic increase in their vote totals with over 500,000.
Despite the surge by the Libertarian party from 2004 to 2008, they were overshadowed in both elections by Ralph Nader, who each time received roughly 100,000 more votes than the Libertarians. However all that appears to be changing.
In our last post we discussed the inevitable fall of Ralph Nader after free falling voting numbers and recent racist remarks about Obama. With Nader apparently out of the way, the Libertarian should in essence see a dramatic increase once again in the 2012 election in total popular votes. Nader and the Libertarian party both had very similar ideals which should mean most Nader voters will easily make the transition in voting for the Libertarian candidate in 2012. With no real competition from any one party in the previous two elections, the Libertarian party should continue to grow.
Overall, any independent party still has a long ways to go before they even make an influence like the one Ross Perot made in 1992, let alone win a Presidency. However in another decade or two that idea may change dramatically. You never know when a popular public figure with enough money to compete with the Republican and Democrats may spring out of no where much like Perot did.
If this election has shown us anything and given any hope to third party backers, it's that the political landscape of this nation can change in the course of three to four decades. After all back in the 1960's and 1970's who would of thought we would now have an African American President.
(independentvoting.org)
-Ip
Roughly 18 million Americans who claimed to have independent views in terms of politics voted for the president-elect. That equates to roughly 29% of the electorate. Showing us that the independent movement has moved away from a more conservative ideology that it represented in the early 90's and become more liberal here in the 21st century. When we look at the numbers from the past elections this statement is reinforced.
In the last three elections, the leading independent parties has been the Green and Libertarian, both of which have shown to have very liberal viewpoints. In 2000, Ralph Nader, who then ran under the Green Party received 2,882,955 votes, that would be the highest total for a independent party since Ross Perot in 1992. The following two elections it would be the Libertarian parities with 384,431 in 2000 and 397,265 in 2004. In this last election that party would see a dramatic increase in their vote totals with over 500,000.
Despite the surge by the Libertarian party from 2004 to 2008, they were overshadowed in both elections by Ralph Nader, who each time received roughly 100,000 more votes than the Libertarians. However all that appears to be changing.
In our last post we discussed the inevitable fall of Ralph Nader after free falling voting numbers and recent racist remarks about Obama. With Nader apparently out of the way, the Libertarian should in essence see a dramatic increase once again in the 2012 election in total popular votes. Nader and the Libertarian party both had very similar ideals which should mean most Nader voters will easily make the transition in voting for the Libertarian candidate in 2012. With no real competition from any one party in the previous two elections, the Libertarian party should continue to grow.
Overall, any independent party still has a long ways to go before they even make an influence like the one Ross Perot made in 1992, let alone win a Presidency. However in another decade or two that idea may change dramatically. You never know when a popular public figure with enough money to compete with the Republican and Democrats may spring out of no where much like Perot did.
If this election has shown us anything and given any hope to third party backers, it's that the political landscape of this nation can change in the course of three to four decades. After all back in the 1960's and 1970's who would of thought we would now have an African American President.
(independentvoting.org)
-Ip
The End of the Ralph Nader Era?
For the last three elections now, independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader has been the leading Independent vote-getter. He's been the champion for the call to change in the Untied States Political System.
In his first two election attempts he was a thorn in the side of both the Republican and Democratic parities. Not since Ross Perot in the early 90's was their a independent candidate that had so much influence on a United States Presidential race.
However now it seems that those who rallied behind Nader and his movement for the rise of a third party must now look elsewhere. Not only has Nader's vote totals dwindled since his first run back in 2000, leading to the rise of the Libertarian Party as the most influential Independent party, but earlier this month Nader "stuck the fork in himself." In a recent interview on Fox News Channel, Nader said that he hoped that in the coming months "Barack Obama would not become the Uncle Tom to the big businesses of America."
Thus the end of Ralph Nader appears all but upon us.
What Obama did for this nation has no doubt created history... in a good way. No matter what political stance you take, everyone should come to celebrate what has happened with the election of Obama. To think that 30 years the idea of a black president seemed impossible shows that America is a nation that is still evolving. We are now a nation that has moved beyond race.
What Nader did was not only racist, but showed that their are still some in this nation that are not up to date with their surrounding culture. That is the anti-independent mindset. That is the mindset we must all run away from if we hope to "get politics right" in the United States.
Why an intelligent man like Nader would say such a thing is beyond this writer. Perhaps it was bitterness, perhaps a misunderstanding about his ideas of the big businesses in the United States. Whatever the case it won't matter come 2012. I suspect Nader's political career is over, and if he does decide to come back then I no doubt believe it will be an embarrassment.
What once seemed like a promising start to a independent future now seems to have put all activists for a third party feeling as though they are back as square one. At least though they are not so far back as to be racists though.
-Ip
In his first two election attempts he was a thorn in the side of both the Republican and Democratic parities. Not since Ross Perot in the early 90's was their a independent candidate that had so much influence on a United States Presidential race.
However now it seems that those who rallied behind Nader and his movement for the rise of a third party must now look elsewhere. Not only has Nader's vote totals dwindled since his first run back in 2000, leading to the rise of the Libertarian Party as the most influential Independent party, but earlier this month Nader "stuck the fork in himself." In a recent interview on Fox News Channel, Nader said that he hoped that in the coming months "Barack Obama would not become the Uncle Tom to the big businesses of America."
Thus the end of Ralph Nader appears all but upon us.
What Obama did for this nation has no doubt created history... in a good way. No matter what political stance you take, everyone should come to celebrate what has happened with the election of Obama. To think that 30 years the idea of a black president seemed impossible shows that America is a nation that is still evolving. We are now a nation that has moved beyond race.
What Nader did was not only racist, but showed that their are still some in this nation that are not up to date with their surrounding culture. That is the anti-independent mindset. That is the mindset we must all run away from if we hope to "get politics right" in the United States.
Why an intelligent man like Nader would say such a thing is beyond this writer. Perhaps it was bitterness, perhaps a misunderstanding about his ideas of the big businesses in the United States. Whatever the case it won't matter come 2012. I suspect Nader's political career is over, and if he does decide to come back then I no doubt believe it will be an embarrassment.
What once seemed like a promising start to a independent future now seems to have put all activists for a third party feeling as though they are back as square one. At least though they are not so far back as to be racists though.
-Ip
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Third-Party Election Results
With the 2008 election now over, you may be interested in how some of the Third Party candidates fared in votes. The 2008 election, seemingly inspired by "change", failed to draw any attention to the leading third-party candidates. None of the leading candidates received 1% of the entire national votes. Ralph Nader, 5th time candidate for the Independent Party received the most third party votes scoring .55% of the national votes. His most significant race was in 2000 when received approximately 2,900,000 votes (2.74%) for the Green Party, and was accused of tilting the democratic votes away from Al Gore in the state of Florida (Village Voice).
The rest of the results are as follows:
Ralph Nader (Independent Party): 672,000 votes. (0.55% national vote).
Bob Barr (Libertarian Party): 500,000 votes.
Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party): 180,000 votes.
Cynthia McKinney (Green Party): 145,000 votes.
Gloria La Riva (Socialism & Liberation Party): 7,333 votes. New York ballot only.
Roger Calero (Socialist Workers Party): 7,182 votes. New York ballot only.
(The Indypendent)
-A.G
The rest of the results are as follows:
Ralph Nader (Independent Party): 672,000 votes. (0.55% national vote).
Bob Barr (Libertarian Party): 500,000 votes.
Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party): 180,000 votes.
Cynthia McKinney (Green Party): 145,000 votes.
Gloria La Riva (Socialism & Liberation Party): 7,333 votes. New York ballot only.
Roger Calero (Socialist Workers Party): 7,182 votes. New York ballot only.
(The Indypendent)
-A.G
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Proposition for our Group Project
A couple of weeks ago, the four of us were put into this group and assigned the task of creating a form of alternative media. After discussing our options, we decided to create a political blog.
There are many forms of political blogs on the internet, so what were we going to do ours about? We wanted to be original with our approach, but with the presidential race starting to get into full swing, we knew that we should probably do something to incorporate that; however, the group as a whole was dissatisfied with the choices for our next Commander-in-Chief. This led us to our discovery of our idea: a blog which, while we might incorporate the major going-ons of John McCain and Barack Obama, would focus on presidential hopefuls from lesser-known parties.
Who would read such a blog? Well, considering that all four of us brought up that we were not big into either major candidate, and there are over 300 million people in this country, we figured that we couldn’t be the only ones who are like this. It will be open for anyone who is discontent with McCain and Obama; hopefully, it could even be used for bloggers to reveal candidates that even we do not find in our research. Race, class, gender, and other characteristics will not be an issue; as long as you are concerned with the future of the next president, this will be a blog for you.
Which alternative political parties will this blog discuss? As many as we can find, research, and discuss in our blog before the presidential election. While some parties that we talk about will be known and even liked (Green Party, anyone?), we will cover despised parties such as the Fascists and Nazis (yes, the Nazis aren’t gone and weren’t confined to Germany). When we discuss the parties, we plan on not being biased; we are sick of the media always favoring one candidate and then attacking the other. When the November 4th election does place McCain or Obama in the White House, we will obviously talk about that but we will also show which alternative candidates “won” the alternative party vote in each state (as available) and, for fun, reveal which alternative candidate would have “won” the presidency had s/he actually won the respective electoral votes.
Aside from this being a project worth 150 points for our semester grade, why are we doing this? Again, we are dissatisfied with the two major candidates; Obama does not present an experienced option, as he has just one term in the U.S. Senate under his belt, while McCain seems to be a second coming of President Bush, who looks to continue an unpopular war in the Middle East. If all goes well, then perhaps we will be able to introduce voters to candidates that, had it not been for this blog, they would have never heard of. While we know that it will be one of those two being sworn into office in 2009, we feel that if we did our best to present alternative options, then when the flaws in each candidate are exposed in office, our consciences will be clear.
When we first saw this assignment back on the syllabus back in August, we all felt some kind of worry of how this project would turn out. However, with a solid group having been put together and an “alternative” topic to go with an Alternative Media class, that worry is now confidence as we prepare to introduce voters to alternative presidential candidates.
There are many forms of political blogs on the internet, so what were we going to do ours about? We wanted to be original with our approach, but with the presidential race starting to get into full swing, we knew that we should probably do something to incorporate that; however, the group as a whole was dissatisfied with the choices for our next Commander-in-Chief. This led us to our discovery of our idea: a blog which, while we might incorporate the major going-ons of John McCain and Barack Obama, would focus on presidential hopefuls from lesser-known parties.
Who would read such a blog? Well, considering that all four of us brought up that we were not big into either major candidate, and there are over 300 million people in this country, we figured that we couldn’t be the only ones who are like this. It will be open for anyone who is discontent with McCain and Obama; hopefully, it could even be used for bloggers to reveal candidates that even we do not find in our research. Race, class, gender, and other characteristics will not be an issue; as long as you are concerned with the future of the next president, this will be a blog for you.
Which alternative political parties will this blog discuss? As many as we can find, research, and discuss in our blog before the presidential election. While some parties that we talk about will be known and even liked (Green Party, anyone?), we will cover despised parties such as the Fascists and Nazis (yes, the Nazis aren’t gone and weren’t confined to Germany). When we discuss the parties, we plan on not being biased; we are sick of the media always favoring one candidate and then attacking the other. When the November 4th election does place McCain or Obama in the White House, we will obviously talk about that but we will also show which alternative candidates “won” the alternative party vote in each state (as available) and, for fun, reveal which alternative candidate would have “won” the presidency had s/he actually won the respective electoral votes.
Aside from this being a project worth 150 points for our semester grade, why are we doing this? Again, we are dissatisfied with the two major candidates; Obama does not present an experienced option, as he has just one term in the U.S. Senate under his belt, while McCain seems to be a second coming of President Bush, who looks to continue an unpopular war in the Middle East. If all goes well, then perhaps we will be able to introduce voters to candidates that, had it not been for this blog, they would have never heard of. While we know that it will be one of those two being sworn into office in 2009, we feel that if we did our best to present alternative options, then when the flaws in each candidate are exposed in office, our consciences will be clear.
When we first saw this assignment back on the syllabus back in August, we all felt some kind of worry of how this project would turn out. However, with a solid group having been put together and an “alternative” topic to go with an Alternative Media class, that worry is now confidence as we prepare to introduce voters to alternative presidential candidates.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Obama's Cabinet
President-Elect Obama has named Illinois Congressman (and former Bill Clinton aide) his White House Chief of Staff.
Other known candidates for cabinet spots include David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, two campaign aides.
C.S.
Other known candidates for cabinet spots include David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, two campaign aides.
C.S.
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