Gettin political on ya!
Now, I admit, I have never been one to be into politics. At least not until this past year or so. But in my line of work (where my program is funded by the FEDERAL board of Education), I'm surrounded by people who are very knowledgeable about politics and what is going on in the world.
So I've heard things, and have seen things and have since formed my own opinion on a lot of topics. And one of the biggest topics out there now, is the Presidential Race between Bush and Kerry.
Now I'm sure everyone has heard the controversies surrounding this race and has their own opinions, but I'm gonna use this space to share mine.
Why you ask?
Well b/c I feel this is the most important presidential race EVER, and that whoever wins will affect this nation in many ways over the next few decades. Thus we must make it our jobs to make sure that Bush does NOT win this election.
I don't know the political stances of a lot of people reading this, but I ask, whether you are Republican or Democrat that you read this b/c I wanna share some things and I also wanna hear some of your opinions.
First off, if ANY of you are voting for Pres. Bush, I would like to know why? Will I change your mind? Maybe not, but I would at least like to understand your reasons, b/c I've yet to encounter ANY good reasons for his re-election (and for the very few somewhat decent reasons, I can come up with at least 10 reasons why he shouldn't be).
Reason #1
As I stated, I work for a program funded by the Federal Board of Ed. So my bosses attend tons of meetings in Washington D.C. and all around the country giving updates on what the gov't is gonna do about education in our country.
And let me tell u this. Under Republicans, education is going to Hell. Now it is historically proven, that when Republicans run the country they ALWAYS try to cut funding to education across the board and Bush is no different.
What about "No Child Left Behind" you say? It's utter bull. Yes he signed it and fine, some money went to it. But NOWHERE near the amount of money promised. And in the meantime, they have cut money from tons of other programs or are making huge strides to make sure great programs (including TRIO which I work for) have a hard time getting refunded.
I'll tell you right now that lots of training programs (which help out people in the Educational Talent Search, Student Support Services and Upward Bound) were just shut down in Sept. Hundreds of people lost jobs without warning and it effects other programs b/c now they don't have a training program to go to, to improve their staff.
Oh and let's not forget things like Pell Grants which they keep trying to cut. How many of you had Pell grants when you were in college? I'm guessing almost all of you. And even if not, I guarentee you know someone who did. So they keep trying to eliminate it which would be a MAJOR blow to lots of low income students. It was "saved" this year (after major protesting on it's behalf) but only given "level-funding" which means they got the same amount of money as last year, which is basically just like giving the program a cut b/c EVERYTHING ELSE like college tuitions and expenses is increasing.
I've then heard the argument from people all like "but will the Democrats do any better?" And bring up that the proposed bill from Democrats to increase educational funding will never pass b/c it is reaching too high. My response? Well DUH it has to reach high! Yeah, they're right, it won't pass b/c they are asking for a LOT of money (even though students SHOULD get more) but if they ask for a huge amount they can compromise for a lower amount (which will still be a good increase).
Reason #2
Not so much of a reason as it is a complaint. People wind up praising Bush for "all he did during 9/11." And how great a President he is for it. Oh PLEASE. There is NOTHING special about what he did. He did what ANYONE in his position would have HAD to do. There was no choice, he had to come to NY, he had to go to war against the terrorists, he had to do things to rebuild. Don't give HIM any credit for it. It could have been Bush, Kerry, Clinton, hell even freakin John Knoxville (or any other joe schmo) in his position and they would have had to do the same thing. So I don't think that should have anything to do with how you vote.
Reason #3
Did everyone out there see Farenheit 9/11? If you haven't and are planning on voting on Nov. 2nd, then you should, whether your for Bush or against him.
The Bush family was meeting with like fifteen members of the Bin Laden family the day before Sept 11th, and they were even here the day of. Now I know that not all families are close and he is one of the "outcast" members. But are you trying to tell me, there is no way that family could pull a few strings and find Osama? I'm sure they could.. but were they asked? Who knows? But still the ties between the Bush family and the Bin Laden's should not be ignored.
Reason #4
Another thing to not be ignored is Osama himself. Does everyone remember him? Probably not, since we are concentrating so much on Saddam Hussein and Iraq right now. Can anyone explain to me how we went from searching for Osama to invading Iraq?
I mean I agree that Hussein is not a good man, but thing is, he didn't do ANYTHING to America and it was PROVEN they never had any WMD's. We invaded that country for NO GOOD REASON, which is bad enough. And there is no reason for us to still be there. In the end, Bush LIED, his people lied, the government LIED. And the lies run deep. They all KNEW about this and these are serious things to be lying about. Bush should be getting freakin impeached right now, not running for re-election.
I'm being hard on Bush you think? Not really... now I'm bad with explaining all the facts on this subject, but the information is out there for the public to find. I'm sure once you read it all you'd agree with me.
Reason #5
Which leads me to my next reason (which ties to the previous one). People are all like "well we shouldn't change our Commander in Chief in the middle of War." And that my friends is the downright most stupid thing I've ever heard. As I stated before, WHY the hell are we even IN Iraq? Why do you want to be there? We should pull out and we should do it NOW.
Also do you really want Bush out there continuing to piss off the U.N. and other nations around the world? He's using his Texan thinking and making the world think all American's are bastards who think they can just do whatever they want. We can NOT just barge into other countries for no good reason. If we keep doing things like this (and other things I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention) then if/when the time comes that we ever need help from other countries, they are not gonna come to aid us, b/c our leaders have been acting like pricks.
Reason #6
Pres. Bush is the first president EVER to never veto a bill. Meaning that he's letting a lot of laws get passed, both good and bad. Is he even really looking at these things? Who knows. All I know is Bush really just cares about money and not the public.
Oh and speaking of money, do you really wanna re-elect a guy who took a HUGE economic surplus and turned it into few trillion dollar deficit? And I'm sorry, you can NOT defend that. Even if the economy was going into a decline and he couldn't help it, he still did not help matters with decisions he made. Other presidents have had to deal with Economic downturns. None lost as much money as Bush has. And it doesn't help that he's sending ludicrous amounts of money to Iraq and the war, when we should be concentrating on fixing things in our OWN country first.
Reason #7
Another HUGE reason that I don't think many people realize (b/c it is not being mentioned much, and when it is, it is not fully explained) that is very important is that the next president gets to pick the next THREE justices on the Supreme Court. And yes I am NOT mistaken it's three, NOT just one as they are trying to make you believe. Bush has already stated he would want to bring in some conservative judges and that can spell lots of trouble for America.
Don't get me wrong, I'm fairly conservative, but just think about this. Bush and Republican's are already trying to ammend the constitution and other rights. Trying to make abortion and make gay marriage illegal. Now I don't know how you all feel about that, and I'm not going to even get into my opinions on those issues here now either. I'm just using those as examples of what they are already trying to do. And if Bush puts in not just one but THREE conservative judges in, it'll make things a lot easier to be manipulated by the conservatives/republicans. Oh and another thing. They are looking at some fairly young people to put in (in their late 40's early 50's), and knowing how long most Supreme Court Justices stay in their position (anywhere from 25-40 years) that means this decision will affect the country for DECADES. Now I don't know about you, but I know I don't trust Bush to make such monumental and far reaching decisions.
****
Now I have just shared a bunch of info with you all and while maybe not in the most detailed manner (sorry about that, it would have been an even LONGER blog if I had), but regardless you can find more about everything I mentioned throughout the internet if you are interested.
But the sad fact is, that even though all this information is out there for people to get a hold of, that many people are still very uninformed. They are voting based on many things, besides the big facts.
One of the worst places people get their "information" or are heavily influenced on who to vote for is in church. Lots of priests and pastors are going around talking about how we must have a "Christian" President in the White House. Someone who will fight for Christian beliefs and end things like abortion and gay marriage. I know this, b/c I've seen it firsthand. They don't flat out say "vote for Bush" but that is what is heavily implied. And sadly, people who are so into their religion will just blindly follow their spiritual leaders and vote without getting any other facts. Now I'm a Christian, but I am very much against this practice. Mostly b/c Bush isn't a Christian. Sure, he SAYS he is and he can babble about praying to God everyday and all, but with all the stuff that man has done and for all the things he is in support of, he is NOT a Christian. As an example, tell me how he can be so against abortion, yet be a supporter of the death penalty? Hmm...
So yeah it really bothers me that religion is used as a political tool, especially within churches. I'm gonna share something with you all. I did not vote in the last election. I was not even registered. I didn't care about politics and didn't think anything would really effect me. But I remember four years ago my pastor making a bunch of points about needing a Christian president, and the scary thing is, if I had been a registered voter, I probably would have voted for Bush, based solely on what I heard in my church.
So if that happened to me four years ago, I can only imagine how many people that might be happening to now. I've seen the terrible things that have happened in the government in the past four years and am making sure I made my voice heard this year.
In closing, I know people may ask- Will Kerry do much better? Who knows? Bush and the rest of the people currently in office have made quite a mess, so no matter WHO wins the election is gonna have a very hard time rectifying things. But at least (I'd hope) we know what Bush is capable of, and that what he wants is NOT what is best for this country. I think it's time for a change, and not to sound like a terrible pessimist but seriously, we can't do much worse.
So I'm asking you all to speak to your family and friends, especially those living (and registered) in "swing states" such as Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Inform them of what is going on and ask them to please vote and make a difference.
Thus ends my public service announcement.
(Kerry/Edwards '04!)
So I've heard things, and have seen things and have since formed my own opinion on a lot of topics. And one of the biggest topics out there now, is the Presidential Race between Bush and Kerry.
Now I'm sure everyone has heard the controversies surrounding this race and has their own opinions, but I'm gonna use this space to share mine.
Why you ask?
Well b/c I feel this is the most important presidential race EVER, and that whoever wins will affect this nation in many ways over the next few decades. Thus we must make it our jobs to make sure that Bush does NOT win this election.
I don't know the political stances of a lot of people reading this, but I ask, whether you are Republican or Democrat that you read this b/c I wanna share some things and I also wanna hear some of your opinions.
First off, if ANY of you are voting for Pres. Bush, I would like to know why? Will I change your mind? Maybe not, but I would at least like to understand your reasons, b/c I've yet to encounter ANY good reasons for his re-election (and for the very few somewhat decent reasons, I can come up with at least 10 reasons why he shouldn't be).
Reason #1
As I stated, I work for a program funded by the Federal Board of Ed. So my bosses attend tons of meetings in Washington D.C. and all around the country giving updates on what the gov't is gonna do about education in our country.
And let me tell u this. Under Republicans, education is going to Hell. Now it is historically proven, that when Republicans run the country they ALWAYS try to cut funding to education across the board and Bush is no different.
What about "No Child Left Behind" you say? It's utter bull. Yes he signed it and fine, some money went to it. But NOWHERE near the amount of money promised. And in the meantime, they have cut money from tons of other programs or are making huge strides to make sure great programs (including TRIO which I work for) have a hard time getting refunded.
I'll tell you right now that lots of training programs (which help out people in the Educational Talent Search, Student Support Services and Upward Bound) were just shut down in Sept. Hundreds of people lost jobs without warning and it effects other programs b/c now they don't have a training program to go to, to improve their staff.
Oh and let's not forget things like Pell Grants which they keep trying to cut. How many of you had Pell grants when you were in college? I'm guessing almost all of you. And even if not, I guarentee you know someone who did. So they keep trying to eliminate it which would be a MAJOR blow to lots of low income students. It was "saved" this year (after major protesting on it's behalf) but only given "level-funding" which means they got the same amount of money as last year, which is basically just like giving the program a cut b/c EVERYTHING ELSE like college tuitions and expenses is increasing.
I've then heard the argument from people all like "but will the Democrats do any better?" And bring up that the proposed bill from Democrats to increase educational funding will never pass b/c it is reaching too high. My response? Well DUH it has to reach high! Yeah, they're right, it won't pass b/c they are asking for a LOT of money (even though students SHOULD get more) but if they ask for a huge amount they can compromise for a lower amount (which will still be a good increase).
Reason #2
Not so much of a reason as it is a complaint. People wind up praising Bush for "all he did during 9/11." And how great a President he is for it. Oh PLEASE. There is NOTHING special about what he did. He did what ANYONE in his position would have HAD to do. There was no choice, he had to come to NY, he had to go to war against the terrorists, he had to do things to rebuild. Don't give HIM any credit for it. It could have been Bush, Kerry, Clinton, hell even freakin John Knoxville (or any other joe schmo) in his position and they would have had to do the same thing. So I don't think that should have anything to do with how you vote.
Reason #3
Did everyone out there see Farenheit 9/11? If you haven't and are planning on voting on Nov. 2nd, then you should, whether your for Bush or against him.
The Bush family was meeting with like fifteen members of the Bin Laden family the day before Sept 11th, and they were even here the day of. Now I know that not all families are close and he is one of the "outcast" members. But are you trying to tell me, there is no way that family could pull a few strings and find Osama? I'm sure they could.. but were they asked? Who knows? But still the ties between the Bush family and the Bin Laden's should not be ignored.
Reason #4
Another thing to not be ignored is Osama himself. Does everyone remember him? Probably not, since we are concentrating so much on Saddam Hussein and Iraq right now. Can anyone explain to me how we went from searching for Osama to invading Iraq?
I mean I agree that Hussein is not a good man, but thing is, he didn't do ANYTHING to America and it was PROVEN they never had any WMD's. We invaded that country for NO GOOD REASON, which is bad enough. And there is no reason for us to still be there. In the end, Bush LIED, his people lied, the government LIED. And the lies run deep. They all KNEW about this and these are serious things to be lying about. Bush should be getting freakin impeached right now, not running for re-election.
I'm being hard on Bush you think? Not really... now I'm bad with explaining all the facts on this subject, but the information is out there for the public to find. I'm sure once you read it all you'd agree with me.
Reason #5
Which leads me to my next reason (which ties to the previous one). People are all like "well we shouldn't change our Commander in Chief in the middle of War." And that my friends is the downright most stupid thing I've ever heard. As I stated before, WHY the hell are we even IN Iraq? Why do you want to be there? We should pull out and we should do it NOW.
Also do you really want Bush out there continuing to piss off the U.N. and other nations around the world? He's using his Texan thinking and making the world think all American's are bastards who think they can just do whatever they want. We can NOT just barge into other countries for no good reason. If we keep doing things like this (and other things I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention) then if/when the time comes that we ever need help from other countries, they are not gonna come to aid us, b/c our leaders have been acting like pricks.
Reason #6
Pres. Bush is the first president EVER to never veto a bill. Meaning that he's letting a lot of laws get passed, both good and bad. Is he even really looking at these things? Who knows. All I know is Bush really just cares about money and not the public.
Oh and speaking of money, do you really wanna re-elect a guy who took a HUGE economic surplus and turned it into few trillion dollar deficit? And I'm sorry, you can NOT defend that. Even if the economy was going into a decline and he couldn't help it, he still did not help matters with decisions he made. Other presidents have had to deal with Economic downturns. None lost as much money as Bush has. And it doesn't help that he's sending ludicrous amounts of money to Iraq and the war, when we should be concentrating on fixing things in our OWN country first.
Reason #7
Another HUGE reason that I don't think many people realize (b/c it is not being mentioned much, and when it is, it is not fully explained) that is very important is that the next president gets to pick the next THREE justices on the Supreme Court. And yes I am NOT mistaken it's three, NOT just one as they are trying to make you believe. Bush has already stated he would want to bring in some conservative judges and that can spell lots of trouble for America.
Don't get me wrong, I'm fairly conservative, but just think about this. Bush and Republican's are already trying to ammend the constitution and other rights. Trying to make abortion and make gay marriage illegal. Now I don't know how you all feel about that, and I'm not going to even get into my opinions on those issues here now either. I'm just using those as examples of what they are already trying to do. And if Bush puts in not just one but THREE conservative judges in, it'll make things a lot easier to be manipulated by the conservatives/republicans. Oh and another thing. They are looking at some fairly young people to put in (in their late 40's early 50's), and knowing how long most Supreme Court Justices stay in their position (anywhere from 25-40 years) that means this decision will affect the country for DECADES. Now I don't know about you, but I know I don't trust Bush to make such monumental and far reaching decisions.
****
Now I have just shared a bunch of info with you all and while maybe not in the most detailed manner (sorry about that, it would have been an even LONGER blog if I had), but regardless you can find more about everything I mentioned throughout the internet if you are interested.
But the sad fact is, that even though all this information is out there for people to get a hold of, that many people are still very uninformed. They are voting based on many things, besides the big facts.
One of the worst places people get their "information" or are heavily influenced on who to vote for is in church. Lots of priests and pastors are going around talking about how we must have a "Christian" President in the White House. Someone who will fight for Christian beliefs and end things like abortion and gay marriage. I know this, b/c I've seen it firsthand. They don't flat out say "vote for Bush" but that is what is heavily implied. And sadly, people who are so into their religion will just blindly follow their spiritual leaders and vote without getting any other facts. Now I'm a Christian, but I am very much against this practice. Mostly b/c Bush isn't a Christian. Sure, he SAYS he is and he can babble about praying to God everyday and all, but with all the stuff that man has done and for all the things he is in support of, he is NOT a Christian. As an example, tell me how he can be so against abortion, yet be a supporter of the death penalty? Hmm...
So yeah it really bothers me that religion is used as a political tool, especially within churches. I'm gonna share something with you all. I did not vote in the last election. I was not even registered. I didn't care about politics and didn't think anything would really effect me. But I remember four years ago my pastor making a bunch of points about needing a Christian president, and the scary thing is, if I had been a registered voter, I probably would have voted for Bush, based solely on what I heard in my church.
So if that happened to me four years ago, I can only imagine how many people that might be happening to now. I've seen the terrible things that have happened in the government in the past four years and am making sure I made my voice heard this year.
In closing, I know people may ask- Will Kerry do much better? Who knows? Bush and the rest of the people currently in office have made quite a mess, so no matter WHO wins the election is gonna have a very hard time rectifying things. But at least (I'd hope) we know what Bush is capable of, and that what he wants is NOT what is best for this country. I think it's time for a change, and not to sound like a terrible pessimist but seriously, we can't do much worse.
So I'm asking you all to speak to your family and friends, especially those living (and registered) in "swing states" such as Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Inform them of what is going on and ask them to please vote and make a difference.
Thus ends my public service announcement.
(Kerry/Edwards '04!)
2 Comments:
LOL, well where shall I hop on this political bandwagon? First I would like to say both candidates SUCK! I am voting Libertarian. We need less government telling us what we need to do. We are all adults, we can make our own choices. Ban cell phones in cars? Safer maybe, then we should also ban smoking, eating and listening to the radio while driving (especially changing stations). Imagine all those distractions ....
Anyway back on topic.
I agree with JE on his opinion of Texas thinking, but they did get one thing right, the prison system. In Texas the prison system is self sufficient. The prisoners grow their own food, sew their own close and make trinkets to sell at the prison store to make extra cash for themselves. No state support, no federal support.
Next, why does the federal government need to subsidize education. Loans are great, the government gets their money back, but dispersing money to schools? Sounds like a state/county issue. Who know the needs of a particular school best? Not the feds, the city, county, and state in that order.
Personally, I believe Bush did better after 9/11 than Gore would have done. I believe he would have followed Clinton’s lead: launch some cruise missiles and blow up a pharmacy (as Clinton did after the USS Cole bombing).
On to Fahrenheit 9/11. This is NOT a documentary, and it pisses me off that anyone calls it that. The move pursues our wonderful freedom of speech, however is about as factual as Spiderman. Why did the Bin Laden family leave on one of the first flight out of the US? Oh, because that was when the FAA had lifted flight restrictions and their chartered jet could take off. They are free people in a free country. Unless there is a reason, their detention is unwarranted as per the Bill of Rights. Okay, they are not citizens, but does that give us the right to detain every foreign national in the country? Defiantly not.
Should Bush have invaded Iraq? I think not, the “WMD” information was sketchy at best.
As for our huge economic surplus I don’t know how that could exist if we are trillions of dollars in debt.
Bush should get out of the gay rights issue. His proposed amendment is another intrusion into the public’s private life. Bush and the government, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!
Lastly, I take issue with takes. I don’t know about you, but 1/3 of my paycheck goes the government. ONE THIRD! That means for 4 months out of a year, I am wasting my life to pay for laws and lawmakers that are a waste of time. I live in New Rochelle, the police act more as an addtional way of taxing the citizen that protecting us. Alternate side of the street parking? I have never seen a street sweeper in New Rochelle. Rarely do I see street sweepers in NYC, certainly not twice a week like the signs require.
Joe Jorgens
(Sorry this got lopped off)
Finally my rant is over. Vote libertarian, and vote bloated government out!
Joe
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