Is anyone else ( besides me ) wondering who they will choose for president? I mean, I watch the news and I try to keep up, but I have no idea which candidate's views are more like mine. My mom sent me this link and its very very informative.
Check it out...
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Click on the link. Read and answer about 20 key questions, and view the results to see which candidate your view match. One quick note... when you get to the page where you can choose which candidate you want to measure your results by, make sure that all 5 candidates are checked so you can see how your answers measure up to ALL candidates. You just never know - you might have thought you were a republican all these years and find out after you do this quiz that you really "think" like a democrat. hehehe
Yes, I thought that was Dutch. I like to see political observation on the US from other countries. It's usually more objective. I thought it was pretty good, though there are some other questions I would have liked to see on there.
I'd like to see what the chances are that the "War on Drugs" could also be dis-engaged. The US has 10 times as many people per capita in jail as England!!!! That's 1,000%. I think we are getting too much collateral damage.
And I'd like to see what the chances are that we could have a REAL health care reform. I think insurance should be optional and that the only things insurance should pay for are "vanity" items, like keeping people on life support, and fertility treatments, or getting faster treatment, or paying for a fashionable doctor. That things that keep people healthy like setting bones, antibiotics, obstetrics, and TESTING, and such should be covered by government and big business, because big business is who will profit (financially) most from a healthy population. Part of those normal health procedures should be dental and optical care too, so people can see and can smile, and can work. (And remember, people do still die of dental infection here in the US).
And then there's a place where drugs, jail, and health, and sound economy intersect. Drug treatment costs much less than jail and works much better. The medical model works, or at least works better. And then take this one step further, and include mental health treatment. By including mental health issues, it will normalize mental health treatment, minimize the stigma, and get people into treatment willingly. Then there will be fewer TV shows asking why there are crazy shooters or 13 year old murderers.
And you know how we're going to pay for this? Easy. When we no longer have a budget that has to pay all that money out for warehousing prisoners, there will probably be more than enough to pay for the whole medical program. Currently, the fastest growing industry in the US is privatized prisons!
I'm voting for Hillary Clinton because I feel that she is the most qualified. I've been working on her campaign. Go to
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her positions are there, her plans to deal with this incredible mess Pres. Bush has managed to get the U.S. into with Iraq, the economy, the eroding of our reputation around the world, don't get me started. Anyway, if you wish to read what she has really said, unfiltered by the media, go to her website and the other candidates websites and see where your positions match theirs.
I admire Sen. Obama for the way he has reached out to younger voters and gotten them excited about voting, but he doesn't have enough experience to pull the country out of Bush's mistakes. He would, though, make an excellent choice for VP when Hillary wins the nomination.
The real trouble with drug abuse in this country is what it does to children of drug addicts. These children are more likely to be sexually and physically abused, molested, neglected, starved, and otherwise mistreated. By tolerating drug abuse, we are tearing apart our most important natural resource. Add to that the increase in diseases associated with addicts (HIV, Tuberculosis, hepatitis, MRSA, and STD's), we have a national health crisis caused by the supposed "harmless" activity of drug addicts. The strain on our national budget is in the neighborhood of $200 Billion per year at this point. We're the ones losing.
My brother is in jail because of cocaine. Being in jail has probably kept him alive. His skin was yellow-ish grey and he was skinny. And I am a recovering alcoholic. Alcohol was my drug of choice and not significantly better than many other drugs.
On the other hand, I don't think the woman arrested at the airport with 34 Vicodan who we returned a true bill for (indicted for a felony) deserved a year in jail. And I don't think exposing potheads (or alcoholics for that matter) to jail inmates and bringing them into the system helps.
Jail and exposure to the people in them is really harmful for people and families too. I'm not at all convinced it's less harmful than their own behaviour. I'm also very much against drug abuse, but jail just isn't a very good way to stop it -- and it adds other harmful effects.
The choice is not between "tolerating drug abuse" and "war on drugs" or jail. There are lots of other options. The last one that worked well was during Reagan's FIRST administration when rehab was easily available -- "the medical model". Drug use and drug related crime was down then. Until he initiated his "war on drugs"; then it went back up.
Did some people put themselves in rehab without being serious? Sure, of course. But that's still much cheaper than warehousing them in jails and teaching them additional bad behaviours. Medium security jails cost something like 4 or 5 times as much as rehab, and work about one forth as well.
One more thing is my sweeping plan that would made our police force and well-ness system more effective is greater promotion of something called "Community Oriented Policing", in which policing goals are determined in conjunction with community members. One of my favorite teachers, who used to teach Justice at Yale, was very active in this program. Another thing that works. It changes the whole mood of law enforcement from one of a paramilitary organization (per the Albuquerque Chief of Police) to one of co-operation with the community.
I love and appreciate Patti's devotion to her candidate, as I am equally devoted to Barack Obama. My boyfriend and I are both working on his campaign. Hilary is our front-runner, but has yet to unite the party and in the meantime, Barack Obama is being seen as being the candidate the furthest away from Bush, at least to a lot of people. It is sad that the whole thing is running AGAINST Bush but having watched every campaign in my entire life run against the existing or the last President, I am sick as hell of it.
When I saw the last democractic primary, I was SO PROUD to be a Democrat. And remain today. We have a white woman and black man who wiped out all the male candidates. I've been waiting my whole life to put the issues of race and sex behind us. It is happening now, in my lifetime.
I also watched the Repub debates, and it was too much of the same-ole, same-ole. I have great respect for John McCain in a lot of ways. I don't want him to be my President. I am tired of being represented by Presidents that I don't like.
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