Wed - November 3, 2004

I'm moving to Canada



I'm crushed. After waiting on pins and needles last night and much of the morning, John Kerry conceded defeat in the 2004 Presidential Election . I guess he determined that the margin of victory for Bush in the key battleground state of Ohio was too much to overcome or contest, even with move than 130,000 provisional ballots yet to be included in the election totals of that state. I really thought that with the unjustified and increasingly deteriorating war in Iraq, the stagnate economy, tainted foreign relations, and pending threats in Iran and North Korea, the people of the United States of America would demand change. Instead the people--well really only 51% of the people--wanted to see four more years of the same poor choices and stubbornness of the Bush administration.

The victory is being referred to as a "mandate" by the Bush administration . A mandate? Are you kidding me? Yes, Mr. Bush, you won the electoral college and popular vote by some 3 million votes, but 48% of the country wanted the other guy. The bitter mud slinging throughout the election and emotional acts of discouraged citizens leading up to the election, if not the breakdown of the popular vote, are proof that this nation has not given you a mandate to attack more countries that MIGHT possess WMDs. No, I think this country has given into your fear tactics. Fears that we would be attacked again if John Kerry were elected. Fears that the family structure would deteriorate if the country started to adopt progressive ideas like gay rights and a women's right to choose. Fears that John Kerry would raise taxes to solve domestic issues you have ignored over the last four years. It's sad really.

An now, with the victory in the bag, you wish to join the nation together because "when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America." Well, Mr. Bush, you had four years to do that and failed miserably. You even said yourself before the election that politics in Washington are nothing like they were back in good old Texas; they're so patrician. I can see how they can become patrician when you win an election based off a court decision in a state where your brother is governor, take our country to war based on circumstantial evidence that would never pass in a court of law, and attempt to modify our country's constitution to please religious conservatives in an election year.

Good luck at bringing the nation together Mr. Bush. While you're working on that, I'm going to start working on my immigration papers in Canada . I only ask that you not attack Iran (or North Korea) and reinstate the draft before I leave the country.

Posted at 08:50 PM    

Tue - October 19, 2004

Media and Politics in America



When did the media in America become such a joke. The media used to be a source you could trust; a source which reported the facts, not the false truths the country's two major political parties want you to hear. I long for the day when the media will become a trustworthy and ethical filter that will point out the contradictions of a candidate, identify the lies and deceptions, and focus their reporting on the issues that matter.

Reporting of the 2004 Presidential Campaign has been disappointing. Outside of the three presidential debates and the single vice-presidential debate, the candidates haven't truly been confronted to talk about their vision for America. Nope, the media hasn't done its job. Instead of hearing about where the two major party candidates want to take the United States of America, I hear strong accusations about what the other candidate has done, is doing, or will do if elected. How about talking about what you will do! How about focussing your time and energy on what will become of this great country if you are elected. So why do I blame the media for these types of remarks? Simple. The media isn't doing its job; it isn't challenging what these candidates are saying. It isn't demanding that they support their statements with actual facts or figures. Instead it has acted as a free form of partisan advertising; words and actions statistically predicted to resinate with the base of a particular party.

I can't watch political talk shows any-longer; it's all a bunch of he said she said. One party will make a baseless claim and another party will come right back and make another. Call them scare tactics, smoke screens, or just plain lies, it's all the same.

What we need in America is a media presence that will dig through the "spin" and present the events of the day as they are without the partisan bias overwhelming the content. Thank god for The Daily Show with John Stewart . I started watching The Daily Show a few months ago and don't know how I got through the day without it. Mr. Stewart and his team of four correspondents do a wonderful job of digging through the "spin" and pointing out clear lies, mistakes, and baseless claims. While not a real new program, The Daily Show still provides a good deal of perspective on the world today and goes to great lengths to show how the "real media" fails the American people.

So what brought all of this on? Mr. Stewart recently was a guest on CNN's Crossfire, a political talk show. The show typically invites a conservative and a liberal on the show to duke it out over the hot political issues. Well, instead of that format, they invited Mr. Stewart as their sole guest. Instead of playing along with the hosts Paul Begala (liberal) and Tucker Carlson (conservative), Mr. Stewart let them have a piece of his mind. He called them out about how they have squandered a perfect opportunity to encourage debate amongst the two political parties; insisting that their show has instead become a platform for both parties to "spin" their views without factual support. At one point he said "No, no, no, you're not too rough on them. You're part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks." It was a sight to see. If the link doesn't work,
search on google.


Posted at 09:51 PM    

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