Sunday Election Issues - 10 August 2008

This Sunday post is a collection of links to elderblog stories about the issues that are important to understand in making our choices on who to vote for in the November election. You can read the original post announcing this feature here.

The idea is for you, elderbloggers, to choose a topic, do some background research, let us know what the candidates propose, find out what’s being reported in the mainstream and alternative press, etc. and publish it on your blog. Then send me the link to the story on your blog by Friday noon and I’ll include it in next Sunday’s issue post.

The Middle East
From Mort Reichek of Octogenarian: Obama Has Embraced a Myth About Israel

Voting Irregularities
• From Gary White of Having Fun Until I Die: Hacking Democracy

• You know it's a hot topic when The New York Times gets around to covering it. Here's their lead editorial from yesterday, The Right to Vote.

• Also, take a look at these excerpts from a new documentary, Stealing America: Vote by Vote. It’s important. [7:58 minutes) There is a website for the film here.

Education
From Elaine Frankonis of Kalilily Time: The Education Issue: Money vs Mind

Healthcare
From Mike Nichols of Anxiety, Panic & Health: Obama’s and McCain’s Position on Mental Healthcare

How Stupid Do They Think We Are
From Rain of Rainy Day Thoughts: Black and White – Le Deux

Energy
• From Citizen K: The Parties Over (Turn Out the Lights)

• From Darlene at Darlene's Hodgepodge: Will Drilling Offshore Lower the Price of Gas? No.

Medicare - Obama and McCain
From Chancy of driftwoodinspiration: Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan

Age Stereotyping
In a note received from amba at ambivablog, a link to Ann Althouse’s response to Andrew Sullivan’s age stereotyping contest.

Comments

[Dr. Ron Evans]

My advice to young people is always to save hard for retirement. One reason is so they can pay their own medical expenses. Medicare implodes in 2017, and the drug benefit will likely go down with it.

Obama says what we want to hear. Cheap Canadian drugs, negotiated lower prices. But Big Pharma will never allow that, and they are among the major players in controlling our political process in America.

Seems to me the so-called Donut Hole is the best we can do. It provides real help to heavy med users, and some help to nearly everyone. If we plug it, and we certainly can, those that come after us will live a society where half and maybe more is entitlement spending and the national debt is of unimaginable size.

Ladies and gentlemen, America is going down the tubes...slowly, but it is going.

I'm voting Libertarian, as always.

[Gary]

why work and save, if we can get the government to give it to us for free----if your poor ask for more-------vote me me -----any of the above sound familiar?---MY motto is every couple years we gotta throw the bums outta office and get new bums.

[anonymous]

I'm with Dr. Ron Evans. Vote Libertarian. You are not throwing your vote away. You are voting your conscience.

As to voting: The only way to assure voting is to DO IT BY HAND, have the system designed by (real) engineers (not lawyers!!!! for Pete sake, they have liberal arts educations!!! They can't do arithmetic! I have yet to go out with my liberal arts type friends and have them properly divide up a lunch check. They hand it to me because I 'grok math'), and accept the fact that there may still be issues here and there, but they will be small ones.

ONLY mark-sense pencils may be used (thus no 'hanging chads') People must be informed that if they attempt to erase an entry, it could be disqualified. People may bring their own 'mark sense' pencil, and there will be a (simple) machine that 'proves' it is readable as mark-sense. People may elect to have their ballot shredded and restart in the event of a mistake/erasure. They will be 'machine counted', but the machine count MUST agree with the hand count. That is a three way agreement. Also, the number of ballots must agree with the number of votes counted, and agree with the count machine. The also any shredded ballots MUST be part of this count and only this count.

If people 'color outside the lines' they are too stupid to vote anyway. Disallow the ballot. (How politically incorrect of me? But idiots should NOT be allowed to vote. That is why 3 years olds don't vote. Sigh...)

Or something like that.

It never fails to stun when I hear things like "It takes 3 seconds for a computer to change 10,000 ballots". This is in reference to the little 'movie' vignette. It does not take '3 seconds' for a 'computer' to change 10,000 ballots. Unless you go back, oh maybe 40 years...

Milliseconds. Microseconds. Nanoseconds. And even picoseconds are the 'new speeds', that us gray-haired dinosaurs must learn.

Computers should be banned from voting places. Period. I don't CARE how many people live in New York City, or anywhere else. We need to get control of the voting process, and the only way to do that is to get civic involvement in it.

[Rain]

This is a neat idea. It takes an informed voter pool to make it work. Too many people don't do enough research for themselves.

If someone believes in the libertarian platform, then it's the right way to vote. I looked into it and it wasn't what I believed about our nation's needs today. I see more purposes for federal government than the original idea of a military and commerce. Back then there wasn't even a public education system. So much has changed, but for those who see it otherwise, just be sure you know what that would mean for you personally for things like SS and medicare etc. You might put highways and inspection of products for safety as part of commerce but we live in a more complex world than the founding fathers. Even our military today would go beyond their imagining.

[anonymous]

Rain,

Yes, I agree with you concerning the role of government, but probably to a far more limited extent ;->

The problem with the Libertarian platform is that there isn't an agreed upon one. I tend to side with Ron Paul's ideas, but still, there are things that need to be done by a centralized power source.

Such as control of business. Lots of Libertarians really feel that the free market economy should be allowed to 'run wild'. Lots of smart people feel this way (lots of the smartest people feel this way).

On a 'level playing field' free markets are a good thing. However, the playing field is not level. The government needs to step in and make it so. That might mean 'horrors!' tariffs. Our population cannot complete with China's population, or economy. Slave labor is always cheaper than paid for labor. This is also true of India, where children sit at grinding wheels day in and day out (until they die) making pretty stones for us to buy in bauble shops. Breathing in toxic dust (malachite is EXTREMELY toxic!), and living a perfectly wretched life. There is a point that if the child didn't do that, they would literally starve on the street... But we have got to do something ELSE here. I don't know what. It is KompilKated, and my poor meager brain does not fit around that problem.

But as to the Founding Fathers - they were amazingly forward thinking people, even if they couldn't imagine the internet. I wish I could go back in time and help them with the language of the 2nd amendment so that it was utterly clear. (I am a strong 2nd amendment advocate. Big surprise there, eh?)

I think the binding force of most Libertarians is that they are strong Constitutionalists.

But in any case, I must agree with you concerning some of the requirements of government. With SS and Medicare I disagree with Ron Paul and side with you. (By the way, he walks his talk... He does not draw Social Security.)

[donna]

I'm a registered Libertarian.

I'm voting for Obama.

There are personal beliefs, and their is stupid. Letting McCain anywhere near the White House is just stupid.

[donna]

Their/There, of course.

Og, and the reason is economic. Voting McCain equals a really long recession, at best. Just check out his economic advisors, and it's obvious.

[Miki Davis]

Regarding the comment "From Ronni Bennett: No link here, just a question: Will someone explain to me why John Edwards is being crucified for philandering while an actual presidential candidate has been given a pass for cheating on his crippled wife with an heiress 20 years his junior and then divorcing his wife to marry the heiress who bankrolled his political career?
Marital infidelity is so common that I don’t include it among my criteria for making choices among politicians. However, if it is a “crime” for one politician to have cheated on his wife, shouldn’t the punishment be applied equally to all?"
Including such other notable and unforgettable moments of abominable behavior such as Newt Gingrich's decision to tell his wife he was getting a divorce while said wife was in the hospital being treated for cancer !!!