Guardian Building Flag by paulhitz
Election Day (November 4, 2008) is just a week away. That means that today is probably a good day to focus on the election and how to get informed about the issues and the candidates. We also invite you to post your comments and thoughts about the candidates and issues below. One caveat: please do not post attacks or bile - we all know that Barack Obama is BFFs with terrorists and John McCain only has about 8 seconds to live. What we'd like to hear is why you are voting FOR a candidate or measure or what issues you're most concerned with.
The Freep notes that Michigan is one of just 19 states that doesn't allow early voting. Exceptions are only made for those over 60 or who will be absent. They say (and we agree) that "The opportunity to vote early is a blessing for people who don't always know how their schedule will end up on any given day. Among the 31 states that now allow early voting, some even make it particularly easy by setting up poll locations in storefronts and other convenient spots."
Since you can't vote early (and you shouldn't vote often a la Chicago) we hope you can vote informed. Far and away the best site for Michigan voting is publius.org. Just go there, enter your name as it appears on your voter registration and you can see your actual ballot! Ballots have links to the candidate's web site and information about the ballot measures. You can even see the location of your polling place and even what machine you'll be voting on and how it works (mine is a Diebold Accu Vote ... darnitall). If you don't show up, they give you links to contact your local clerk - a good thing to check sooner rather than later! They also have a place where you can send eLection eCards to your friends and family to encourage them to vote.
A news item that we somehow missed was Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land's announcement last week that 7.47 million Michigan residents have registered to vote - a record voter registration of nearly 98 percent of the voting age population! They remind you that voter ID is required - all the details at michigan.gov/vote where you can get all kinds of information including a list of all 688 candidates running for state office.
In addition to candidates, Michigan voters have two statewide proposals to consider. Ballotpedia's 2008 Michigan Ballot Measures page explains that Proposal 1: The Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care Initiative would allow the medical use of marijuana for seriously ill patients. Proposal 2: The Stem Cell Initiative (or CureMichigan) would allow the donation of embryos produced in fertility clinics that would otherwise be discarded and would allow researchers to create embryonic stem cell cultures to study disease. It would also allow government funding of stem-cell research and human cloning would continue to be illegal. Both pages list arguments and organizations pro and con and it's really a great resource.
Michigan Radio's Jack Lessenberry has interviewed people for and against the measures and it'd be worth your time to listen to the views of Senator Tom George (against Prop 1), Diane Byrum of the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care (for Prop 1), David Doyle of Michigan Citizens Against Unrestricted Science and Experimentation and Dr. Sean Morrison of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology (for Prop 2). You can also read what Jack thinks about Proposal 1 and Proposal 2.
Voting is Patriotic (Michigan) by farlane
OK, so 98% of you are registered to vote - how many will make it to the polls? The Detroit News notes that while every four years we face 'the most important election ever', that may actually be the case this year.
"We've got two wars, and the economy is dying," said William Rustem, president of Lansing's Public Sector Consultants and a former aide to Republican Gov. William Milliken. "The enormity of the issues is something we haven't faced."
Even when Ronald Reagan was staring down the Russians at the end of the Cold War, Rustem says, no one was watching the daily numbers on Wall Street and talking about the Great Depression, or debating the need to retool the entire energy sector to avoid climatic disaster.
Finally, I thought this article on How to Pick a President was one of the best things I've read about the voting process this year. Please share things you've read or heard in the comments.
And oh yeah: Vote.
7 Comments
Great post - thanks.
Leave the buttons at home kids!
http://blog.mlive.com/a2politi.....anned.html
Apparently, a returned postcard isn't enough to strip you of your right to vote.
Michigan Student Mock Election results (pretty closely mirrorerd:
Here's a report from one of the regional mock elections held in Leland.
Is there a men v. women referendum in the 2008 election cycle?
Simple answer to a simplistic question: yes. Of course American women are not a monolithic block, voting in lock step anymore. Sometimes it has been written “good men and women of faith” with others ignored. Americans in 2008 should by now have heard of feminists, feminism, femini-nazis, radical feminists’ and the maternal revenue service; still American Women are not a monolithic group nor are American men.
Pro abortion, incessant demand for child support, VAWA and equal pay for equal work tend to be associated with feminists. End of misandry or Father bashing, Boyz Crisis, Child Custody and parenting time tend to be associated with men. As there are various types of women, so to, there are different types of men: masculinists, anti-misandrists, Fathers Rights advocates, shared parenting advocates.
2008 has an American Presidential election, various elections for United States Senators and Representatives, representatives and senators for various state assemblies, judges and other local positions. In the several hundred elections being conducted, principally, November 4, 2008, no candidate has explicitly stated I am pro feminist or pro masculinist.
2008 US Presidential Race:
Obama articulates his position, first by saying “I was shaped more by my Father’s absence, than by his presence”. Obama authored the Responsible Fatherhood Act (mentions child support sixty-five times), explicitly endorses “women’s choice”, supports VAWA, and, speaks of families most often as “a single mother and her children”. Obama’s Vice Presidential mate, Joe Biden is the author of VAWA.
McCain asserts that abortion and Father’s Rights are best left to the States. The Republican Party appears to be pro-life, against VAWA and in the summer of 2008 congressional republicans passed the Child Support Collection assessment fee to custodial parents. We could simply view http://mensnewsdaily.com/. Republicans speak often about Social Security Reform, far too often men fail to realize that Social Security Act Title IV-D et al take substantial monies from the Social Security Fund (no longer a Trust since LBJ in 1964) to pay for TANF, Child Support Collection Systems and incentives, as well as other non-retirement expenditures. The republicans did have Boy Scouts at the RNC National Convention and at the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate. The Department of Justice no longer accepts Duluth as a therapy for domestic violence, and Minnesota Program Development, copy right owner of the various published power and control wheels, dropped its published call “for and end to patriarchy and establishment of an equalitarian society”.
2008 elections in Michigan
In Michigan, long time Father’s Right supporter, Michigan Representative Jack Hoogendyk is challenging U.S. Senator Carl Levin a long time defender of VAWA for one of Michigan’s US Senate seats. The entire Michigan House of Representatives is up for election, incumbents Kevin Green, Dave Agema, Fulton Sheen, Rick Jones, Tome Pearce, Arlan Meekhof and others have all sponsored or co-sponsored Father Friendly legislation. Justin Amash running for his first term in the Michigan House of Representatives explicitly states his endorsement of Father’s Rights as do two Circuit Court Judge Candidates seeking office for the first time, Kevin Cronin and Brian Downs.
2008 elections across America
Men seem to be notorious for not working or voting together on Public Policy, in Michigan, you may need to ask one hundred guys before one could tell you of a pro male or pro Father candidate.
Is your candidate opposed to abortion, VAWA, spending social security dollars on non-retirement expenditures? Is your candidate in support of FairTax, shared parenting, Father Custody, advocating for and end to judicial creation of laws? You may have a pro male or pro Father candidate entered in elections you will be a part of.
Why a referendum at al?
At this moment buses in Dallas Texas are driving around with Father bashing domestic violence posters for all to see( DART): misandry in America, indeed across the globe, hurts all males individually and as a group. Prosecuting attorneys in California are arresting family members of Dads who have a child support arrearage, for assisting criminals.
As American men, we may disagree on pennant races, or the economy, even which soda pop we prefer; the examples are countless, mi hermanos, brothers, bruders: only by standing in solidarity will we end misandry in public policy and social perception.
resources
Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D.
Obama/Biden: Escalating the War on Fathers and Families
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/.....-families/
John Maguire
Biden’s nomination allows us to put his VAWA law, and all its family-killing provisions, in a national spotlight. (High-five!)
Carey Roberts
Sen. Biden’s VAWA Cover-Up
Pro-male philanthropy
Instead of United Way, Give to MND
Glenn Sacks (on the DART debacle)
CAMPAIGN ROUND 2–Contact Dallas City Officials!
Bernard Chapin
Rejecting Obama — For the Right Reasons
antimisandry dot com
http://antimisandry.com/forums.....b52a17ae6a
Mensightmagazine
http://mensightmagazine.com/
In the race to the moment of truth people are still deciding who to
vote for as the next most influential person in the world.
In order to make the decision easier, a dutch company called
Kieskompas has developed the Electoral Compass. This voting advice
application is one of a kind. All the important issues are embedded in
the application that makes it easy to see where you fit in the
political compass. To what extent are you progressive (social liberal)
or traditional (social conservative) or left or right in economical
terms. And which candidate do you relate to the most.
If you haven't decided who to vote for than take the test.
http://www.electoralcompass.com
Voters report polling problems from the Freep:
...at least it's not crayon I guess.
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