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| News and World Events Discussion on News and World Events |
| View Poll Results: US Presidential Election: Who are you voting for? | |||
| John Mcain |     | 0 | 0% |
| Barack Obama |    | 7 | 63.64% |
| Bob Barr |    | 2 | 18.18% |
| Chuck Baldwin |    | 0 | 0% |
| Ralph Nader |    | 0 | 0% |
| Not Voting |    | 2 | 18.18% |
| Undecided | | 0 | 0% |
| Voters: 11. You may not vote on this poll | |||
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10-05-2008, 06:32 PM
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 Presidential Election: who are you voting for? American Presidential candidates for 2008: Republican Party: -John McCain Democratic Party: -Barack Obama Libertarian Party: -Bob Barr Constitution party: -Chuck Baldwin Green party: -Ralph Nader Policies Overview: John McCain Energy; John McCain wants to expand domestic drilling exploration, lowering the trade deficit a possible 41%. He believes in promoting, and capitalizing on our domestic supplies of natural gas. He will apply a "clean Car Challenge", giving a 5,000$ for each costumer who buys a zero carbon emmision car, hopefully inspiring car companies to capitalize on the opportunity. Economy; He wants to create more job flexibily, letting working citizens take time off their job to care for a child or sick family member, and return to a position with substantially equal in pay, benefits, and responsibility. John McCain believes that telling oil producing countries that foreign oil dependance in the United States will come to an end, will lower prices the pump. John McCain believes we should institute a summer gas tax holiday. Hard-working American families are suffering from higher gasoline prices. John McCain called on Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. John McCain believes no taxpayer money should bail out real estate speculators or financial market participants who failed to perform due diligence in assessing credit risks. Any assistance for borrowers should be focused solely on homeowners and any government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk. He believes that these three principles will balance the budget by the end the first term:
McCain's ideas on Health Care: Cheaper Drugs: John McCain will look to bring greater affordability and competition to our drug markets through safe re-importation of drugs and faster introduction of generic drugs. Chronic Disease: Chronic conditions account for three-quarters of the nation's annual health care bill. By emphasizing prevention, early intervention, healthy habits, new treatment models, new public health infrastructure and the use of information technology, we can significantly reduce these costs. We should dedicate more federal research to treating and curing chronic disease. Coordinated Care: Coordinated care - with providers collaborating to produce the best health care for the patient - offers better outcomes at lower cost. We should pay a single bill for high-quality care which will make every single provider accountable and responsive to the patients' needs. Greater Access And Convenience: Families place a high value on quickly getting simple care. Government should promote greater access through walk-in clinics in retail outlets. Information Technology: John McCain will promote the rapid deployment of 21st century information systems and technology to improve patient safety, enhance quality and lower costs. Medicaid And Medicare: John McCain will reform the payment systems in Medicaid and Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention and care coordination. Medicaid and Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement. We also need to implement a zero tolerance policy towards Medicare and Medicaid fraud that is increasingly stripping away resources from the sick and the elderly. Smoking: John McCain will promote the availability of smoking cessation programs. Most smokers would love to quit but find it hard to do so. Working with businesses and insurance companies to promote availability, we can improve lives and reduce associated chronic diseases through smoking cessation programs. Tort Reform: John McCain will lead the fight for medical liability reform that eliminates lawsuits directed at doctors who follow clinical guidelines and adhere to proven safety protocols. Every patient should have access to legal remedies in cases of bad medical practice but that should not be an open invitation to endless, frivolous lawsuits that drive up health care costs for everyone and make the practice of medicine unaffordable for good doctors everywhere. Transparency: John McCain believes we must make information on treatment options and doctor records more public, and require greater transparency regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs and prices. We must also facilitate the development of national standards for measuring and evaluating treatments and outcomes. War in Iraq; John McCain believes it is strategically and morally essential for the United States to support the Government of Iraq to become capable of governing itself and safeguarding its people. He strongly disagrees with those who advocate withdrawing American troops before that has occurred. John McCain believes that economic progress is essential to sustaining security gains in Iraq. Markets that were once silent and deserted have come back to life in many areas, but high unemployment rates continue to fuel criminal and insurgent violence. To move young men away from the attractions of well-funded extremists, we need a vibrant, growing Iraqi economy. The Iraqi government can jump-start this process by using a portion of its budget surplus to employ Iraqis in infrastructure projects and in restoring basic services. (Basically he wants to stay). Education; No Child Left Behind has focused our attention on the realities of how students perform against a common standard. John McCain believes that we can no longer accept low standards for some students and high standards for others. In this age of honest reporting, we finally see what is happening to students who were previously invisible. While that is progress all its own, it compels us to seek and find solutions to the dismal facts before us. John McCain believes our schools can and should compete to be the most innovative, flexible and student-centered - not safe havens for the uninspired and unaccountable. He believes we should let them compete for the most effective, character-building teachers, hire them, and reward them. John McCain will place parents and children at the center of the education process, empowering parents by greatly expanding the ability of parents to choose among schools for their children. He believes all federal financial support must be predicated on providing parents the ability to move their children, and the dollars associated with them, from failing school. National Security;John McCain strongly supports the development and deployment of theater and national missile defenses. Effective missile defenses are critical to protect America from rogue regimes like North Korea that possess the capability to target America with intercontinental ballistic missiles, from outlaw states like Iran that threaten American forces and American allies with ballistic missiles, and to hedge against potential threats from possible strategic competitors like Russia and China. Effective missile defenses are also necessary to allow American military forces to operate overseas without being deterred by the threat of missile attack from a regional adversary. John McCain has worked aggressively to reform the defense budgeting process to ensure that America enjoys the best military at the best cost. This includes reforming defense procurement to ensure the faithful and efficient expenditure of taxpayer dollars that are made available for defense acquisition. Barack Obama- Energy: The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will:
Create Millions of New Green Jobs
• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. • Make the U.S. a Leader on Climate Change. Economy: Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan Jumpstart the Economy
Obama and Biden will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.
Obama and Biden believe that trade with foreign nations should strengthen the American economy and create more American jobs. He will stand firm against agreements that undermine our economic security.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that it is critically important for the United States to rebuild its national transportation infrastructure – its highways, bridges, roads, ports, air, and train systems – to strengthen user safety, bolster our long-term competitiveness and ensure our economy continues to grow.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will increase federal support for research, technology and innovation for companies and universities so that American families can lead the world in creating new advanced jobs and products.
Obama and Biden will strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions. He will fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Obama and Biden will ensure that his labor appointees support workers' rights and will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers. Obama and Biden will also increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation to ensure it rises every year.
Obama and Biden will crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders. They will also make sure homebuyers have honest and complete information about their mortgage options, and they will give a tax credit to all middle-class homeowners.
Obama and Biden will establish a five-star rating system so that every consumer knows the risk involved in every credit card. They also will establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to stop credit card companies from exploiting consumers with unfair practices.
Obama and Biden will reform our bankruptcy laws to protect working people, ban executive bonuses for bankrupt companies, and require disclosure of all pension investments.
Obama and Biden will double funding for after-school programs, expand the Family Medical Leave Act, provide low-income families with a refundable tax credit to help with their child-care expenses, and encourage flexible work schedules.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan Judgment You Can Trust In 2002, as the conventional thinking in Washington lined up with President Bush for war, Obama had the judgment and courage to speak out against going to war, and to warn of “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.” He and Joe Biden are fully committed to ending the war in Iraq as president. A Responsible, Phased Withdrawal Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. Immediately upon taking office, Obama will give his Secretary of Defense and military commanders a new mission in Iraq: ending the war. The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than 7 years after the war began. Under the Obama-Biden plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel. They will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism. Encouraging Political Accommodation Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that the U.S. must apply pressure on the Iraqi government to work toward real political accommodation. There is no military solution to Iraq’s political differences, but the Bush Administration’s blank check approach has failed to press Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future or to substantially spend their oil revenues on their own reconstruction. Obama and Biden's plan offers the best prospect for lasting stability in Iraq. A phased withdrawal will encourage Iraqis to take the lead in securing their own country and making political compromises, while the responsible pace of redeployment called for by the Obama-Biden plan offers more than enough time for Iraqi leaders to get their own house in order. As our forces redeploy, Obama and Biden will make sure we engage representatives from all levels of Iraqi society—in and out of government—to forge compromises on oil revenue sharing, the equitable provision of services, federalism, the status of disputed territories, new elections, aid to displaced Iraqis, and the reform of Iraqi security forces. Surging Diplomacy Barack Obama and Joe Biden will launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive compact on the stability of Iraq and the region. This effort will include all of Iraq’s neighbors—including Iran and Syria, as suggested by the bi-partisan The Iraq Study Group Report. This compact will aim to secure Iraq’s borders; keep neighboring countries from meddling inside Iraq; isolate al Qaeda; support reconciliation among Iraq’s sectarian groups; and provide financial support for Iraq’s reconstruction and development. Preventing Humanitarian Crisis Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that America has both a moral obligation and a responsibility for security that demands we confront Iraq’s humanitarian crisis—more than five million Iraqis are refugees or are displaced inside their own country. Obama and Biden will form an international working group to address this crisis. He will provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find sanctuary. Obama and Biden will also work with Iraqi authorities and the international community to hold the perpetrators of potential war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide accountable. They will reserve the right to intervene militarily, with our international partners, to suppress potential genocidal violence within Iraq. The Status-of-Forces-Agreement Obama and Biden believe any Status of Forces Agreement, or any strategic framework agreement, should be negotiated in the context of a broader commitment by the U.S. to begin withdrawing its troops and forswearing permanent bases. Obama and Biden also believe that any security accord must be subject to Congressional approval. It is unacceptable that the Iraqi government will present the agreement to the Iraqi parliament for approval—yet the Bush administration will not do the same with the U.S. Congress. The Bush administration must submit the agreement to Congress or allow the next administration to negotiate an agreement that has bipartisan support here at home and makes absolutely clear that the U.S. will not maintain permanent bases in Iraq. Barack Obama’s Record
Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement Obama and Bidenwill reverse the politicization that has occurred in the Bush Administration's Department of Justice. They will put an end to the ideological litmus tests used to fill positions within the Civil Rights Division. Combat Employment Discrimination Obama and Biden will work to overturn the Supreme Court's recent ruling that curtails racial minorities' and women's ability to challenge pay discrimination. They will also pass the Fair Pay Act to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Expand Hate Crimes Statutes Obama and Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section. End Deceptive Voting Practices Obama will sign into law his legislation that establishes harsh penalties for those who have engaged in voter fraud and provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote. End Racial Profiling Obama and Biden will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice. Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support Obama and Biden will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama and Biden will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates. Eliminate Sentencing Disparities Obama and Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated. Expand Use of Drug Courts Obama and Biden will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior. Barack Obama's Record Record of Advocacy: Obama has worked to promote civil rights and fairness in the criminal justice system throughout his career. As a community organizer, Obama helped 150,000 African Americans register to vote. As a civil rights lawyer, Obama litigated employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and voting rights cases. As a State Senator, Obama passed one of the country's first racial profiling laws and helped reform a broken death penalty system. And in the U.S. Senate, Obama has been a leading advocate for protecting the right to vote, helping to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and leading the opposition against discriminatory barriers to voting. Education: Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan Early Childhood Education
Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan Protecting Our Chemical Plants Chemical plants are attractive terrorist targets because they are often located near cities, are relatively easy to attack, and contain multi-ton quantities of hazardous chemicals. While a number of plants have taken voluntary steps to improve security, there are still major gaps; and the federal government has never established meaningful, permanent security regulations. Obama worked with Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) to introduce comprehensive chemical plant security legislation that would establish a clear set of federal regulations that all plants must follow. The bill requires chemical facilities to enhance security, including improving barriers, containment, mitigation, and safety training, and, where possible, using safer technology, such as less toxic chemicals. Keeping Track of Spent Nuclear Fuel The nation has 103 operating nuclear power plants which annually produce over 2,000 metric tons of spent fuel that remains highly radioactive for many years. A report by the Government Accountability Office found inadequate tracking and security for spent nuclear fuel rods. Nuclear plants in Connecticut, Vermont and California have reported missing spent fuel in the last five years. Obama introduced legislation to establish guidelines for tracking, controlling, and accounting for spent fuel at nuclear power plants. Evacuating Special Needs Population in Emergencies One of the most devastating aspects of Hurricane Katrina is that most of the stranded victims were society's most vulnerable members - low-income families, the elderly, the homeless, and disabled Americans. Too many states and cities do not have adequate plans in place to care for special-needs populations. Obama introduced and passed legislation to require mandatory planning for evacuating people with special needs. Reuniting Families After Emergencies After Hurricane Katrina, thousands of people struggled to contact family and friends following evacuation. Evacuees were forced to comb through dozens of databases in an effort to reconnect with loved ones. Obama introduced and passed legislation to create a centralized, federal database to allow individuals displaced by an emergency to call one phone number or go to one website and post their location and condition. Family members and law enforcement officials would be able to use this same secure, centralized system to check the status of missing loved ones. Keeping Our Drinking Water Safe There are almost 170,000 public water systems in the United States. An attack on a drinking water system could contaminate or disrupt water service, thereby disrupting society, impacting human health and compromising critical activities such as fire protection. Obama introduced legislation to provide $37.5 million over 5 years for drinking water systems to upgrade their monitoring and security efforts. Protecting the Public from Radioactive Releases Following reports that nuclear power plants in Illinois did not promptly notify local communities that tritium – a byproduct of nuclear generation – had leaked into the groundwater, Obama introduced legislation to require nuclear plants to inform state and local officials if there is an unintentional leak of a radioactive substance. Chronic exposure to high levels of tritium can increase the risk of cancer, birth defects and genetic damage. Barack Obama's Record There have been tritium leaks at other nuclear plants, though none so extensive as at Braidwood. The uproar over Braidwood prompted the Nuclear Energy Institute to outline a voluntary policy for monitoring tritium leaks and reporting such incidents. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has vowed to continue to push for federal legislation that requires reporting. "The nuclear industry already had a voluntary policy, and it hasn't worked," he said. Exelon's past actions have helped to prove his point.Bob Barr Energy: Bob Barr believes Government intervention, whether through more regulations or more subsidies (or both), hurts consumers in the end. The free market, driven by consumer choice and reflecting the real cost of resources, should be the foundation of America’s energy policy. The federal government should eliminate restrictions that inhibit energy production, as well as all special privileges for the production of politically-favored fuels, such as ethanol. In particular, Congress should allow the exploration and production of America’s abundant domestic resources, including oil in the Outer Continental Shelf and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and alternative sources such as shale oil. We should develop our nation’s natural assets, which would lower costs to the consumer and assure more adequate and consistent supplies. Over the past decade, total government spending (state, local and federal) has increased from $2.9 trillion to an astonishing $5.1 trillion in 2008. The $3.1 trillion federal budget submitted by President Bush for 2009 is greater than the combined 1998 spending of the federal government, all 50 states and over 87,000 local governments. Bob Barr believes the government cannot continue spending at this rate if America is to remain competitive in the global marketplace. The new administration’s number one job will be to drastically reduce spending by limiting federal outlays to only the government’s legitimate functions, as provided in the United States Constitution. Every area of federal spending can and should be cut. Entitlements must be reformed and welfare should be cut, including subsidies for business sometimes called corporate welfare. Military outlays should be reduced and pork barrel spending eliminated. Needless, duplicative, and wasteful programs, most of which have no constitutional basis, should be terminated. Controlling government spending is a necessary step to enact true tax reform, which will reduce the burden on all Americans and allow them to keep more of their hard-earned money. We should seek to establish a wall of separation between government and the economy. The legitimate economic functions of government are to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. The government should stop attempting to “manage” the free market. Capitalism is the only economic system that rewards risk, protects individual liberty, and furthers economic freedom. America will be most prosperous and free when the government stops interfering with private economic decision-making. Education: Bob Barr believes parents have a duty to raise and educate their children, but without choice for alternatives to government schooling, the ability of parents to fulfill that role is severely limited. Education involves not just practical learning, but the transmission of moral values, making it even more important to return authority to parents for deciding their children’s schooling without interference from government. The free market naturally provides both choice and competition, providing goods and services of higher quality for less expense. These principles should be applied to education. Unfortunately, the government’s near monopoly on education in the United States has seized control of our children’s education from parents, and has trapped children in failing schools across the country. The more we increase government control over education, the bigger the problem becomes. Turning education over to the federal government, as through such legislation as the No Child Left Behind Act has not worked. Trying to fix failing schools with more money and regulations also has failed to do anything other than waste taxpayer money without results. School reform starts by shifting control over education from government to parents. We must abolish the Department of Education, eliminate federal grants and regulations, and begin moving power back to the states and local communities. States should consider tax credits or deductions for parents who home school or send their children to private schools. Public schools should be managed locally, increasing accountability and parental involvement. Parents should have control of and responsibility for the funds expended for their children’s education. Ultimately, education will best serve the children of America if it occurs within a competitive private system rather than a government system. War in Iraq: Bob Barr believes the invasion and occupation of Iraq were two separate mistakes, which collectively have cost thousands of American lives and hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Every day that the occupation in Iraq continues without a withdrawal plan is a day that more American blood and treasure (some $400 million a day) is needlessly wasted. Unlike Republicans, who are calling for essentially permanent bases in Iraq, and Democrats, who have done nothing to counter Republican calls for an indefinite occupation, I would put in place plans for withdrawal without undue delay. While I support an exit from Iraq as quickly as possible, I would not publicly announce a timetable to our adversaries. However, as President, I would begin to immediately and significantly begin to reduce both the military and the economic security blanket we are providing the government. The Iraqi government has come to rely too heavily on American forces to maintain control of its country, and our U.S. taxpayer dollars to artificially support its economy. A continued U.S. presence in Iraq emboldens both insurgents and terrorists, and discourages the Iraqi government from taking control of promoting peace and prosperity in Iraq. Marriage: Bob Barr believes the federal government should neither regulate personal relationships nor discriminate against individuals for their personal preferences. Laws regulating marriage should be left to the states, precisely where the Constitution places the issue. Regardless of whether one supports or opposes same sex marriage, the decision to recognize such unions ought to be made by each state rather than imposed as a one-size-fits-all mandate by the federal government. Any federal laws that prevent states from determining their own standards for marriage should be repealed; the federal government should not define marriage, whether by statute or constitutional amendment. In this way, every state would remain free to determine for its citizens the basis on which marriage would be recognized within its borders, and would not be forced to adopt a contrary determination legislated by another state. Chuck Baldwin: Sorry. Just about all could find... :/ Dr. Baldwin has spoken of Lincoln (along with Woodrow Wilson) as one of the two "worst presidents" in history.Baldwin is also a supporter of private schools and an opponent of the Department of Education. He has appeared on The Political Cesspool,, a radio talk show whose host was described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as white nationalist.He also wrote that he believes "the South was right in the War Between the States", and that he does not believe the leaders of the old Confederacy were racists.In addition, he wrote an article attacking Martin Luther King Jr., claiming that King was an "apostate" minister who renounced his Christian faith. He also stated that King spent the night of his murder with two paramours and physically fought with a third. Baldwin has written that "the Mexican government is deliberately and systematically working to destabilize and undermine the very fabric and framework of American society."He has attacked the "Happy Holidays" greeting, stated that "America was deliberately and distinctively founded as a haven for Christians", and attacked "avant-garde egalitarians" who disagree with this. He also attacked France as an "atheistic, secularist country". Ralph Nader: Civil Liberties: Restoration and Expansion of Civil Liberties & Constitutional Rights Civil liberties and due process of law are eroding due to the "war on terrorism" and new technology that allows for easy invasion of privacy. Americans of Arab descent and Muslim-Americans are feeling the brunt of these dragnet, arbitrary practices. Mr. Nader supports the restoration of civil liberties and the repeal of the Patriot Act. He also supports an end to secret detentions, arrests without charges, restricting access to attorneys, the use of secret "evidence," military tribunals for civilians, misuse of non-combatant status, and the shredding of "probable cause" determinations. These policies represent a perilous diminishment of judicial authority in favor of concentrated power in the executive branch. Sloppy law enforcement and dragnet practices are wasteful and reduce the likelihood of apprehending violent criminals. Mr. Nader seeks to expand civil liberties to protect basic human rights in employment regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. Civil Rights of Muslims and Arab Americans The Nader Campaign urges the Department of Justice to take action regarding civil rights violations against Muslim and Arab Americans. According to a report released on March 3 by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, The Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States 2004, Muslims in the United States experienced more than 1,000 incidents of asserted harassment, violence and discriminatory treatment in 2003, a jump of 70 percent over the previous year. The largest number of incidents had to do with employment and the refusal to accommodate religious practices. But there were, however, 93 reported hate crimes (i.e., incidents of anti-Muslim violence), more than double the total in 2002. And there were numerous cases in which Muslims alleged that laws were applied to them more harshly because of their ethnic or religious identity. The report also noted that the implementation of the USA PATRIOT Act has been associated with law enforcement abuses. The report points to a number of questionable national security policies including:
The Nader campaign strives for equal opportunity and justice for all. During times of war, civil liberties and due process of law are threatened. During World War II the United States moved to intern Japanese-American families. This was shameful. It must never be repeated again. Today, in the war on terror, civil liberties are eroding as Muslims, primarily of Arab and Asian decent, are targeted. Even from a law enforcement perspective, racial profiling is sloppy law enforcement that leads to ineffective and unjust dragnet sweeps, which is wasteful and reduces the likelihood of apprehending violent criminals. The Nader campaign seeks to expand civil liberties to include basic human rights in employment and equal rights regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. This specifically includes passage of the End Racial Profiling Act, championed by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. in the House and Senator Russell Feingold in the Senate, that would dissuade law enforcement from engaging in profiling by requiring collection of race data, and providing legal options to victims of racial profiling. Regarding discrimination in employment, after more than 300 years of affirmative action to benefit white males, we definitely need affirmative action for people of color and women to offset enduring historic wrongs as well as present-day inequalities. Affirmative-action programs should not be based on quotas, and race and gender should not be the predominant factor in choosing qualified applicants. A good affirmative- action program uses a variety of methods to achieve the goal of increasing diversity, including using race and gender as one of many factors in evaluating the suitability of an applicant. Regarding Asian Americans, the Nader-Camejo campaign supports the enforcement of Executive Order 11246 which forbids any organization from receiving federal money if they practice discrimination. This should be applied to Asians as it is to other groups. Cases of racial discrimination should be vigorously prosecuted. The United States government should set an example regarding discrimination against Asian Americans by appointing qualified Asian Americans to policy-making positions in the Judicial and Executive branches of the federal government. Asian issues have been a long-term concern of Ralph Nader's, as an undergraduate at Princeton University his major was East Asian studies including language study in Chinese. Equal Rights for Gays and Lesbians Ralph supports equal rights for gays and lesbians, including equal rights for same-sex couples. He opposes President Bush’s proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. All adults should be treated equally under the law. The Nader campaign believes that by attempting to mandate inequality, President Bush is leading the country in the wrong direction. The Nader campaign agrees with Marie C. Wilson, the president of the Ms. Foundation, who recently said: "The most important thing is really having equal rights. It's not about the marriage. It's having the same rights that you would get if you were married." The Nader campaign also believes that love and commitment is not exactly in surplus in this country and should be encouraged. The main tragedy of marriage, what undermines marriage, is divorce, as Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago recently said. The Nader campaign supports full equal rights for gays and lesbians. While civil unions are a step in the right direction under current federal and state law, they do not afford full and equal rights. There are 1,049 federal rights that are only conferred with marriage. Additionally, at the state level, a civil union is only recognized in the state where it occurs, while a legal marriage, and all the rights that go with it, is recognized in all the states. Thus, the only way to ensure full equal rights is to recognize same-sex marriage. In more than 200 years of American history, the U.S. Constitution has been amended only 17 times since the Bill of Rights and in each instance (except for Alcohol Prohibition, which was repealed), it was to extend rights and liberties to the American people, not restrict them. For example, our Constitution was amended to end our nation's tragic history of slavery. It was also amended to guarantee people of color, young people and women the right to vote. The amendment urged by President Bush (called the Federal Marriage Amendment) would be the only one that would single out one class of Americans for discrimination by ensuring that same-sex couples would not be granted the equal protections that marriage brings to American families. Equal Rights for Women Ralph Nader endorses the full eleven-point agenda for economic, social and political rights of women advanced by the National Organization for Women (NOW). The NOW agenda endorsed by Nader includes:
The Nader campaign calls for the decriminalization of marijuana, the legalization of industrial hemp, and an end to the war on drugs. Medical marijuana: The criminal prosecution of patients for medical marijuana must end immediately, and marijuana must be treated as a medicine for the seriously ill. The current cruel, unjust policy perpetuated and enforced by the Bush Administration prevents Americans who suffer from debilitating illnesses from experiencing the relief of medicinal cannabis. While substantial scientific and anecdotal evidence exists to validate marijuana's usefulness in treating disease, a deluge of rhetoric from Washington claims that marijuana has no medicinal value. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 defines marijuana as a Schedule One narcotic, making it very difficult for American researchers to perform rigorous double-blind scientific studies on marijuana. Even without these difficulties, research has shown marijuana to be a safe and effective medicine for controlling nausea associated with cancer therapy, reducing the eye pressure for patients with glaucoma, and reducing muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, para- and quadriplegia. Internationally, scientists are undertaking massive studies to determine the healing powers of cannabis. In August 2003 the esteemed British medical journal The Lancet reported that the world's largest study into the medical effects of cannabis have confirmed that the drug can reduce pain and improve the lives of people with multiple sclerosis. The three-year study was the first proper clinical appraisal of whether cannabis-derived drugs can help treat MS. Harvard medical doctor Lester Grinspoon has said he would have loved to do a similar study, but has been held back by the law. On his website, Welcome to Marijuana: The Forbidden Medicine, and in his book The Forbidden Medicine, Grinspoon documents how marijuana relieves the pain of people enduring more than 110 different medical conditions like AIDS, Crohn's Disease, glaucoma, cancer, and many more. Marijuana helps increase appetite, reduce blood pressure and intraocular pressure. Whenever given the chance, the American public has voted to allow seriously ill people to relieve their pain with marijuana. Despite well-funded opposition from the federal government, citizens in nine states have cast ballots to legalize the use of medicinal marijuana. No state has ever rejected such a voter initiative. Medical marijuana community health centers have opened up in the states, like California, only to be aggressively attacked and closed by federal law enforcement agents. Physicians must have the right to prescribe this drug to their patients without the fear of the federal government revoking their licenses, and doctor-patient privacy must be protected. The Drug Enforcement Administration should not be practicing medicine. Industrial hemp: The Nader campaign supports industrial hemp as a renewable resource with many important fuel, fiber, food, paper, energy and other uses. Industrial hemp is a commercial crop grown for its seed and fiber and the products made from them such as oil, seed cake, and hurds (stalk cores). Industrial hemp is one of the longest and strongest fibers in the plant kingdom, and it has had thousands of uses over the centuries. In need of alternative crops and aware of the growing market for industrial hemp—particularly for bio-composite products such as automobile parts, farmers in the United States are forced to watch from the sidelines while Canadian, French and Chinese farmers grow the crop and American manufacturers import it from them. Federal legislators, meanwhile, continue to ignore the issue of removing it from the DEA list. It is time to allow hemp agriculture, production and manufacturing in the United States. Clemency for Non-Violent Drug Offenders: In 2004, Ralph Nader wrote President Bush urging that he grant clemency to 30,000 non-violent drug offenders. Nader’s letter highlighted the three decade long failed, and unjust, drug war. His call for clemency highlighted a similar request made by 400 clergy members to President Bill Clinton in 2000. Nader’s letter recalled President Bush’s substance abuse problems and noted that if he had been incarcerated for cocaine use he “probably would not have gone on to have the career you have had.” The letter also highlighted the rapid expansion of the prison system in the United States which now houses more than 2.1 million people – one-quarter of the world’s prison population. Clemency for non-violent drug offenders would save more than $1 billion annually. “It is urgent that the U.S. reverse the incarceration binge. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that if incarceration rates remain unchanged an estimated 1 of every 20 Americans and greater than 1 in 4 African Americans can be expected to serve time in prison during their lifetime,” said Nader. “It is time to make the failed war on drugs a central issue in the American political dialogue. For too long we have let this injustice continue to grow unhindered. Taking action on clemency at the federal level will set an example for the states and begin the process of reversing this failed policy.” Nader Reiterates Need to Heed Lessons of Native Peoples: In 2004, Ralph Nader personally welcomed representatives of the thousands of American Indians and Alaska Natives who visited Washington to celebrate the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian. A contingent from Albuquerque, New Mexico briefed Nader on the continuing neglect of two million-plus off-reservation Indians by the federal and state governments, as well as some tribes, in matters of health care and educational support. So-called welfare-to-work programs have had the impact of other historic Indian removal programs and sent single mothers and their families into cities far away from health care, tribally influenced education, or even extended family support. Nader's concern with Native Americans first blossomed when he published a lengthy article in 1956 on tribal sovereignty during the termination era in the Harvard Law Record. He has steadfastly supported tribal authority and America's commitment to treaty obligations pertaining to human services, land rights, governmental authority and hunting and fishing rights. Nader sees the Museum as an opportunity for non-Indians to understand the continuing Constitutional obligation of a government-to-government relationship between the United States and the five hundred-plus tribes. He views the fidelity of our commitment to treaty and statutory commitments, which flow from this trust relationship between our government and the tribes, as a test of the application of our Constitution. The museum's focus on modern Indian communities offers a second opportunity for non-Indians, according to Nader. Indian peoples have developed critical survival skills over many generations as each confronted systematic efforts to destroy their cultures and their communities. These tribes offer object lessons of stamina for American citizens who must now confront powerful efforts by concentrated corporate power to erode our culture and our democracy. Equal Rights for Americans With Disabilities The Full Integration of People with Disabilities Into All Aspects of Life is Fundamental To Creating A Just Society The struggle for disability rights is not a question of “us” and “them.” It is not a question of a charitable government taking pity on lesser human beings. It is not a question of throwing money at an issue and hoping for a quick fix. It is a question of recognizing that ALL of us deserve a just society, which of course includes persons with disabilities. It is a question of recognizing that the same corporate domination that harms the earth, robs citizens of their constitutional right to equal participation in government, and endangers the health and well being of our children, also limits the potential of people with disabilities and in turn limits us all. It is a question of recognizing that guaranteeing the rights of people with disabilities also guarantees that all citizens, all disadvantaged groups, all responsible businesses the many opportunities of growth, fulfillment and worthwhile public endeavor that the United States can offer. The Americans With Disabilities Act is now 10 years old – but it has only begun to correct the fears that have kept people with disabilities in isolation since the beginning of history. Disabled people are still too often refused access to health care, transportation, school, housing and jobs. Disabled women and people of color are hit especially hard. By eliminating each and every form of discrimination, we can create the just society to which we aspire -- a society whose fairness inspires the confidence that will enable Americans from every sector to reach their full potential. EMPLOYERS NEED THE SUPPORT OF A JUST AND CIVIL SOCIETY To illustrate the universality of disability rights, we must take disability rights issues out of the disability ghetto where we usually find them. It is instructive to look at how a fully integrated society would benefit employers, both public and private. Mistakenly, employers often see their interests as juxtaposed against those of persons with disabilities. Nothing could be further from the truth. Especially in this day of work force shortages, we as a society can not afford to exclude an entire group of people simply because of the manner in which they do or do not move their legs, use their eyes, or process information. Employers need all available expertise and creativity. Thanks to the integration of students with disabilities into our public schools over the past 26 years, there is now a rising swell of highly trained graduates with significant disabilities. Employers who have taken full advantage of this pool of talent -- among them IBM and NASA -- have set very high expectations for their disabled employees, while exposing them to the rigors of fast-paced mentoring programs. The employees have in most cases exceeded the expectations of their employers, and thus put the moderate costs of work site and job task modification in perspective -- these costs are seen as a normal and reasonable cost of doing business. Hiring disabled applicants is a good start, but an employer needs the support of a just and civil society -- backed up by the ADA -- to be sure that their new employee has a good chance of succeeding on the job. Every neighborhood near each site of the employer must have wheelchair accessible housing and public transportation in place. The telecommunication system, including the Internet, must be usable by employees with every type of disability. Airlines, trains, and buses must accommodate business travelers with disabilities promptly, at any location. Many employers provide local transport with a variety of trucks and vans, none of which is easily or safely usable by a wheelchair rider. Low-floor minivans are available, with gently sloped entry ramps and nearly a foot of extra headroom giving easy entry for heavy deliveries. Unfortunately, the lowering of the floor is currently done after the minivan is manufactured, adding more than 50% to the cost of the van. A large enough order from the postal service -- easily justified to save the backs of postal workers -- could result in the original manufacture of low-floor minivans for nearly the same price as a standard minivan. Once these vans became available at a lower cost, they could provide transportation to many wheelchair riders, taxi and delivery services. People with disabilities need a wide variety of other equipment to get around and to function effectively, but wheelchairs and other forms of adaptive equipment are priced so high that they are often unavailable to the people who need them most. The wheelchair industry, controlled by a virtual monopoly of a single maker of poor-quality chairs for thirty years, was finally opened up to dozens of new competitors by a Justice Department antitrust settlement in 1979. With new competition, prices dropped to one-half of what they had been, while the chair quality became much better. But recent swallowing of many of these small companies by one large company again threatens to return the market to its former monopoly status. As employees with disabilities adapt to the changing schedules, locations, and other needs of their employers, they in turn will need the support of a well-developed civil society. The goal of most workers, disabled or not, is to create a seamless web of support for their families. If they worry about health or safety, the worker's productivity suffers. Available child care, nearby and in synch with the schedules of the employer, must be physically accessible either to a disabled parent or to a disabled child. In-home extended care for elderly family members can be vastly safer and less expensive than nursing homes; the lessened worry can boost the employee's productivity. The Olmstead decision of 1999 of the U.S. Supreme Court stated that a person receiving long term care should receive it in the "least restrictive setting appropriate." The proposed bill MiCASSA [Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act – HR 4416 -- Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL)] will take funds away from nursing homes and make them available for in-home care. I strongly support MiCASSA. Health care is paramount to the care of an extended family, but many employers offer no health insurance. High prices and the exclusion of pre-existing conditions make adequate insurance unavailable to many people with disabilities. Central to building a civilized society in the U.S. is the provision of Universal and Accessible Health Care. Contact with an Independent Living Center, run by disabled people with years of experience in solving the day-to-day puzzles of living well with a disability, could be invaluable. State-of-the-art adaptive equipment developed in the network of Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers, under the direction and consultation of people with disabilities, could be made available to the employee. Group health insurance must remain available and affordable to employers that hire disabled persons. Individual health coverage must also remain in effect for the disabled employee during all periods of unemployment; only Universal Health Care could protect against the catastrophes that occur during gaps in coverage. Adult education facilities for advanced training must be physically accessible and ready to accommodate students who are blind or deaf. A SPECIFIC PROGRAM: IN THE SHORT TERM Enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act and lead the U.S. by example in the full integration of persons with disabilities into all public programs Complete the full integration of students with disabilities into all schools, public and private. Decreased class size will help achieve this goal. Monitor and enforce the full integration of disabled employees into the workplace Rewrite the Uniform Building Code to require all new homes to be visitable and adaptable for disability access. This can be achieved at very little cost on new construction. Speed up the conversion of all over-the-road buses, light rail, and airplanes for disability access Monitor the wheelchair and medical device industries to prevent anti-competitive practices and to prevent the over-pricing and lack of technical progress that result from monopolization Fund Child Care for all lower income workers Fund In-Home Extended Care by passing MICASSA; help the states in every way possible to carry out the directive of the Olmstead decision to provide extended care in the least restrictive setting. This is cheaper than institutionalized nursing care. Increase support for Independent Living Centers that are run by disabled people in decision-making roles. Increase support for Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers that are run by disabled people in decision-making roles Contract with auto makers to manufacture Low-Floor Minivans for postal and fleet use, so that the vans become widely available for use by persons with disabilities at low cost. Every person, disabled or not, has the need to travel freely without the risk and encumbrance of an automobile. Sometimes it's just because the darn Chevy broke down again. If public transit is available but inaccessible, each one of us has the right not to scuttle the trip just because one of our friends or family has a disability. Our freedom to live, our liberty to pursue happiness is dependent on mobility. What about the scores of thousands of us who can never, ever drive a car? A civil society owes its citizens some alternative to that Chevy. The problem in the vast majority of cases is that no bus is available - buses don't come where you are or go where you need to go. The ideal solution for everybody is more and better modern public transit. New buses could be comfortable, low floor, easy to enter buses with ramps to the doors of the lowest models...buses to every neighborhood at every reasonable hour, coupled with urban development policy that fights the automobile-driven suburban sprawl and rebuilds the cities for better living. Energy: A New Energy Policy We urge a new clean energy policy that no longer subsidizes entrenched oil, nuclear, electric and coal mining interests -- an energy policy that is efficient, sustainable and environmentally friendly. We need to invest in a diversified energy policy including renewable energy like wind and other forms of solar power, more efficient automobiles, homes and businesses one that breaks our addiction to oil, coal and atomic power. A new clean energy paradigm means more jobs, more efficiency, greater security, environmental protection and increased health. Ralph Nader praises the Apollo Alliance's "Ten-Point Plan for Good Jobs and Energy Independence," an overdue agenda for the country's energy future, as a welcome contrast to the shortsighted policies of the Bush Administration. By increasing the diversity of the United States' energy portfolio, aggressively investing in the industries of tomorrow, facilitating the construction and retrofitting of high performance buildings, and working in cooperation with public servants at the state and local level to rehabilitate our urban infrastructures, the Apollo Project promises to revitalize the engine of the American economy. As the Alliance illustrates in its report, New Energy for America, the Apollo Project's design articulates a new paradigm for setting America's energy woes aright and serves up an authoritative refutation to the irresponsible policies of the entrenched fossil fuel and nuclear energy lobbies. In the spirit of its namesake, which galvanized the will of the American people into a national effort to put an American on the moon, the new Apollo Project advocates a full engagement of the federal government with the initiative of the American people in the service of revitalizing our country's approach to its energy plight. Over the course of a single decade, beginning in 2005, the Apollo Project proposes the establishment of a viable infrastructure for the achievement of American energy independence. Calling for a $313.72 billion dollar federal investment in that ten-year period, Apollo progressively shifts the burden of American energy consumption away from fossil fuels and onto domestic renewable energy markets such as the wind, biomass, and solar energy industries. The United States has fallen dreadfully behind in these areas and will be well served to reestablish itself as a leader in technological innovation. "While the Apollo Project places more emphasis on tax incentives instead of tax penalties, and more emphasis on subsidies than on technology-forcing regulation supported by in-house government research and development than I would have preferred," says Nader, "at least it shines over the darkness of the fossilized Bush position." Full implementation of the ten-year Apollo Model Policy Agenda will reduce transportation-related petroleum consumption by 1.25 to 2.55 million bpd (or between 54 and 110% of our current level of imports from the Persian Gulf); reduce national energy consumption by 16% ; and put the United States on pace to meet 20% of its total electricity demand from renewables by 2020-more than three times 2003 levels. The Apollo Project further promises to revitalize the American job market with an injection of 3.3 million jobs-largely within areas of industry demanding greater skills and providing higher wages, better job benefits, and improved social equity. Over the course of Apollo's ten-year implementation period the overall economy will benefit from an increase of $1.4 trillion dollars in new Gross Domestic Product. Within that same decade-long timeframe, the Apollo Project will pay for itself through savings in energy costs and tax revenues, with further and greater fiscal benefits to ensue thereafter. This is to say nothing of the benign environmental benefits to be reaped from the consequent decreases in air and water pollution and greenhouse gases. The Ten-Point Plan for Good Jobs and Energy Independence excerpted from the Apollo Alliance's "New Energy For America" Jobs Report, jointly produced by The Institute for America's Future & The Center on Wisconsin Strategy, with economic analysis provided by The Perryman Group, Waco Texas:
Education for Everyone Education is primarily the responsibility of state and local governments. The federal government has a critical supporting role to play in ensuring that all children -- irrespective of the income of their parents, or their race -- are provided with rich learning environments, equal educational opportunities, and upgraded and repaired school buildings. The government has an important role to play in keeping undermining influences out of the public schools -- among them, commercialism and private school voucher programs. The federal government must not impose an overemphasis on high-stakes standardized tests. Such testing has a negative impact on student learning, curriculum, and teaching, by resulting in excessive time devoted to narrow test participation, de-enrichment of the curriculum, false accountability, equity and cultural bias, and excessive use of financial resources for testing, among other problems. Federal law should be transformed to one that supports teachers and students -- from one that relies primarily on standardized tests and punishment. The government should encourage schools to infuse their curriculum with civic experiences that teaches students both how to connect classroom learning to the outside world and how to practice democracy. Empower students with the knowledge and tools needed to become a major reservoir of future democracy. Help people to grow up civic instead of corporate. Education: Over-emphasis on standardized testing The Nader campaign opposes the over-reliance on high stakes standardized tests included in the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as "No Child Left Behind." High stakes standardized tests have a negative impact on student learning, curriculum, and teaching. Using high frequency test scores to determine funding for a school, retention, and graduation of students, results in numerous unintended consequences. Citizens for Quality Assessment of the Education Department of Southwestern University in Texas highlights many of these negative consequences including:
These tenets apply equally to home-based as well as public education. Every effort should be made to ensure that home-educated students are afforded the same opportunities and quality of education as their school-based peers. Equal Access to Education A recent study by Harvard's Civil Rights Project reports that schools in the United States are becoming increasingly segregated 50 years after Brown vs. Board of Education. Inner city public schools are in need of major repair, and often, total replacement. These same schools are frequently short of the financial resources needed to attract and retain good teachers and to provide a quality learning environment for children. The Leave No Child Behind Act -- with its focus on high frequency, high-stakes, standardized testing -- is a counter-educational, a narrow gauge of assessment, and for tens of thousands of children, highly deleterious to their emotional and intellectual development. The government has an important role to play in keeping negative or depleting influences out of the public schools -- among them, commercialism and private school tax-funded voucher programs. The federal government must not impose useless, costly, and counterproductive mandates on schools. It should discourage, not demand, the use of misleading and narrow multiple choice standardized tests. The government should encourage schools to infuse their curricula with a citizenship emphasis that teaches students both how to connect civic skills classroom learning to the outside world and how to practice democracy. The United States stands now as the overall richest nation in the history of the world. There is no excuse for not smartly investing sufficient resources in education. Working with the states where appropriate, the federal government must:
Federal Budget: A Federal Budget that Puts Human Needs Before Corporate Greed and Militarism The United States needs a redirected federal budget that adequately funds crucial priorities like infrastructure, transit and other public works, schools, clinics, libraries, forests, parks, sustainable energy and pollution controls. The budget should move away from the deeply documented and criticized (by the US General Accounting Office, retired Admirals and Generals and others) wasteful, redundant "military industrial complex" as President Eisenhower called it, as well as corporate welfare and tax cuts for the wealthy that expand the divide between the luxuries of the rich and the necessities of the poor and middle class. The Wasteful and Redundant Defense Department Budget Needs to Be Cut Half of the operating costs of the U.S. federal budget is spent on the military. The federal budget should move away from the wasteful, redundant "military industrial complex." Wasteful spending on expensive military equipment and post World War II deployments that we do not need makes the U.S. less secure in many other neglected ways. The Task Force on A Unified Security Budget for the United States, drawing on the knowledge of analysts with expertise in different dimensions of the security challenge, made recommendations in March 2004 that would cut defense spending by $51 billion. The Task Force was organized by the Center for Defense Information, Foreign Policy in Focus, and Security Policy Working Group. In addition, they recommend a unified approach to fighting terrorism and increasing security that includes increases in non-military expenditures, noting that in a 2002 speech President Bush identified development assistance as a security tool, linking the desperate resort to terrorism with the hopelessness of persistent poverty. The Task Force report is excerpted for your information. Our views go beyond these positions. Our military is still dominated by an obsolete conventional and nuclear structure, designed to counter the least likely threat: a large-scale conventional challenge. As a result, the United States is burdened with a very expensive but misdirected military prepared for large-scale warfare rather than the challenges and operations that American forces now face with increasing strain. The dangers we face today come less from a potential superpower rival and more from failing states that have the potential to destabilize entire regions and to become magnets for transnational terrorist groups. Currently seven times as much is spent on military vs. non-military security spending. The Task Force brings this into greater balance reducing the ratio to 3:1. In order to achieve this better balance the Task Force notes that the nature of today's threats allows the U.S. to:
In addition, a more restrictive policy of exporting advanced aircraft and other weapons to potentially unstable regions would also help us to safely slow down the pace of developing future weapon systems.
So.. who will you be voting in this 2008 election?  Last edited by Justin; 10-05-2008 at 08:49 PM. Reason: Paragraph spacing, added poll  |
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10-06-2008, 08:09 AM
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| Re: Presidential Election: who are you voting for? I can deal with Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin, but I don't particularly care for "states-rights" libertarians. I agree with decentralization, but I feel that this is being used as a manner of giving people the ability to violate certain rights of others. Perhaps it is a step in the right direction, but I feel it is a violation of libertarian principles. |
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10-06-2008, 02:30 PM
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| Re: Presidential Election: who are you voting for? Giving more authority to the states, at the expense of federal authority, is seen by many libertarians essential to their program for increasingly localized government. Many have taken to using "states rights" as a way to appeal to social conservatives - when running for a position in the federal government they can call states rights in order to circumvent directly addressing issues like gay rights and abortion. Honestly, I'm extremely fond of localized government, but the conservative shift in the LP has driven me away from the organization. If they ran Ron Paul, they'd have my vote, but Bob Barr is too conservative for my tastes. |
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| 2008 election, barack obama, bob barr, government, joe biden, john mccain, legislation, president, presidential candidates, presidential election, ralph nader, vote, who are you voting for |
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