Recently I have been noticing that there has been a lot more coverage of the primaries and caucases that are coming up soon. We have seemingly entered the presidential campaign season. In 1992, I was very active in the election. I did lots of volunteering, and was involved in a lot of activist activities. It was really fun! Good parties, interesting conversations, friends, etc... What more could one want as an undergraduate? (It was also a good opportunity to get beer before I was 21.) ...

It isn't often that I discuss politics in my weblog. I think that it is too divisive, so I try to leave my personal views on things out of here as often as possible. (Of course the most disparaging comment towards me in a weblog came in when I wrote about the Spice Girls. Go figure...) I suppose what I have to say is less "opinion" than "fact," so I doubt that there isn't much room for debate, rather my point does lend itself quite well to plain "commentary." Listening to the morning news...

Honest Abe, what would we be doing had you not come along. When I think of Abe Lincoln, the following images come to mind: tall guy, big hat, a beard, the Gettysburg Address, a five dollar bill, and a penny (before Lincoln the fiver and the penny were blank. Look it up!), the Civil War, Illinois, and a log cabin. If I could think of one word to describe President Lincoln, I would choose: "good." Honest Abe, what would we have done without you? If it weren't for the combined power of y...

I don't think that I am being contraversial if I were to say that gay marriage/ civil unions/ whatever is a divisive topic. I would also feel safe to say that social liberals would be more likely to support of this type of thing than social conservatives. Let me also clarify that social liberals are more likely to vote Democrat, while social conservatives vote Republican. Being such a divisive issue, I can't understand why any socially liberal groups would push this hot-button issue dur...

I was just listening to a broadcast of a Canadian Broadcasting Company feature on a voter-registration group called "America Votes." America Votes is a group (supported by Democratic-party aligned folks) who supports -non corrupt- voter registration drives. Now here is where it gets interesting... In certain "swing" states, an entity referring to itself as "America Votes" (albeit falsely) has been holding registration drives, yet has been discarding registrations of registrants who clai...

I have just finished watching the third presidential debate.  The recent messages posted on JoeUser are awarding the third debate to Bush.  (The declaration of victory may be a bit tepid, but it is there.) I don't know... if you are a conservative idealogue, Bush probably hit all of your bullet points.  He also didn't embarass himself.  I suppose that's good news. He didn't pull off a stunningly good debate ala Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton.  He did okay. Kerry ...

This morning I heard some political spinners referring to John Edwards (numerous times in one statement) as a "trial lawyer."  Is referring to someone numerous times as a "trail lawyer" really effective at putting them in a negative-light?  I suppose that this pejorative had been run through a number of focus groups, and the spinners determined that it would be a proper disparagement for this guy.  I suppose that if that's the worst that someone could call Edwards, he's do...

I watched tonight's first presidential debate. Actually that's not completely true... I watched some of it, then I put it on the radio while I played golf on my Play Station.  Regardless, I did either listen to or watch the debate. The first thing that I noticed was that Bush was able to find the camera, while Kerry focused on the moderator. "Connecting with America" is a good way to make up for Bush's deficiencies in substance.  Good job for him.  I actual...

So let's say Bush gets re-elected. What do you think that the chance is of the draft being re-instated by 2008? (A "draft" is compulsory service.  Young men have to join the army to fight for something that their president/government wants to do.  Men between the ages of 18-24 have no choice.)

I enjoy using JoeUser.  I like writing articles and having other people comment on them. Every once-in-a-while, I read other people's politically-related blogs.  Those are really disturbing. Personally, I hate to discuss politics with anyone who doesn't agree with me.  -It isn't likely that anyone's position will change by a pointless argument between diametrically opposed positions.- But some of the articles/comments that represent the opposite of my personal beliefs are of...

Background information for our friends who don't live in the USA:   Earlier this week, former President Bill Clinton released a book about his life and his presidency.  It is nearly 1000 pages that (supposedly -I haven't read it yet) gives many intimate details about his life and times. Since President Clinton has a new book, he has been spending a lot of time on various interview shows promoting (talking about something so people will buy) his new book. President Clinton's ...

Over the past few days I have seen campaign ads for both Kerry and Bush. Up to this point I have been underwhelmed. All of the ads for both parties rate pretty high on an imagery scale, but really low on substance. Maybe this phase of the campaign is more about -alleged- principles than about solutions to issues. I suppose that the buzz-words in the image-laden campaign ads play well with focus groups. Advertising professionals are probably more savvy about that kind of stuff than I am....

Here is a minimalist approach to my blog today: Bush won president.  Go figure... Now I will have to go back to ignoring the news for the next few years in order to preserve my sanity.  (It worked up until about three months ago, and then I got wrapped up in the election.) Back to reality TV, 1970s sit-coms, and video games for me!  In a way I am relieved.  Worrying about things that I don't have any control over is just stressful anyway.  (I'll just make sure t...

This is my second political article in-a-row.  That is something, as I am loathe to write blogs on politics.  Yet here I go... During the Reagan presidency I heard lots of talk of  "Reagan Democrats."  Reagan Democrats were people who would vote for Reagan even though they considered themselves to be Democrats.  Reagan's "crossover appeal" led to a lot of votes and an essentially popular presidency. I feel that Clinton and H. Bush had a little bit of crossov...