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Posted on 03.28.08 by Austin Cassidy @ 2:35 am
Republican Presidential candidate Alan Keyes and Democratic Presidential candidate Mike Gravel never got much traction in their major party campaigns. But it turns out that neither is willing to give up that easily. Despite failing to top even 1% of the vote in any primary or caucus to date, former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel has announced he is leaving the Democratic Party and registering with the Libertarians. This strikes some as quite odd, since Gravel’s views on socialized health care and other “big government” projects stand in direct contradiction to much of the Libertarian Party’s platform and ideals. Gravel has said that he will be seeing the party’s nomination for President at the upcoming national convention in Denver. Gravel’s celebrity is a plus, but his path to the nomination is far from clear. Two long-time party activists, Steve Kubby and George Phillies, have been in the running for many months already. Businessman, and self-described millionaire, Wayne Allyn Root launched his campaign last year. Author Mary Ruwart has recently joined the fight, and former Congressman Bob Barr is widely expected to jump in as well. That is a mixture that should make for some entertaining viewing on C-SPAN. On the conservative side, Alan Keyes has decided to keep his campaign going as well. He has said that he will be leaving the Republican Party to join the Constitution Party and seek their nomination. Keyes made his best showing in the Republican primaries this year with 1.5% of the vote in the Kansas caucus. Keyes faces many of the same challenges as Gravel. The Constitution Party is strongly anti-war, while Keyes has been a major advocate of U.S. involvement in Iraq and elsewhere. Keyes was also an ambassador to the UN during the Reagan administration, while the Constitution Party wants to pull America out of the organization. It will be interesting to see how these guys fare. Should they be successful in winning their nomination fights, the Fall ballot seems likely to offer the following choices: John McCain, Republican I think that’s a pretty nice line-up of candidates if you’re John McCain. But we’ll have to wait and see how the Libertarian and Constitution conventions turn out first. Filed under: Alan Keyes and Campaign 2008 and Third Parties Comments: 15 Comments |
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Posted on 03.26.08 by Stephen Covington @ 6:13 pm
At a recent campaign stop for her mother, Chelsea Clinton was asked whether the Lewinsky affair had damaged her mother’s credibility. Clinton swatted the question away by remarking that it was not anyone’s business. The resulting storm of media attention to the topic has reminded everyone about the overbaked scandal from the late 1990s, an unfortunate and tired memory which it seems we may never leave behind us. A better question is: Why does Lewinsky even matter? Who actually has the time to care about such a trivial issue? The whole situation seemed like a waste of time from the beginning - but now we’re bringing it up again? Why curse the next generation with this well-worn topic? Most people have moved on - Lewinsky herself now has a degree in social psychology, Kenneth Starr is back to private practice (he’s representing Blackwater), and Bill Clinton hasn’t been the president for nearly a decade. Surely there must be more important topics to discuss than this personality-driven morass we now find oursevles in. If there aren’t, then that’s a statement of the shabby level of discourse in American politics. We have a troubled economy, energy policy is quite a pressing issue, China is growing incredibly quickly and we have a rapidly aging Boomer population. Even reporting darkened streetlights to the local utility would be more of a contribution than discussing the Lewinsky scandal. Find something worthwhile to talk about! Filed under: Campaign 2008 and Democrats and Hillary Clinton Comments: 1 Comment |
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Posted on 03.17.08 by Stephen Covington @ 7:16 am
The Chinese government has apparently decided that all climbing on Mount Everest must stop from May 1 to the 10th - so that they can send some climbers up for an Olympics-themed promotion. Enlisting the cooperation of neighboring Nepal, China intends to televise the entire event, and doesn’t want any nosy Tibetans getting in the way. Things have gotten rough in Tibet recently, with Tibetans declaring that their historically separate nation is, in fact, a separate nation. Much as with the situation in Taiwan, the Chinese government doesn’t take this very well, and has responded with a significant amount of police and military action to put down the Tibetan independence movement. The head of the IOC has expressed concern over the recent crackdowns, and the added closure of the mountain will mostly serve to bring more attention to the issue than there would have otherwise been.
These instances point to a much larger issue - with China emerging as a major world power, how can it be expected to act? The Chinese government seems to have an unerringly paternalistic attitude when it comes to quashing ideas that it doesn’t like. While often unsuccessful (such as with the heavily flawed “Great Firewall of China”), the basic attitude is a monopolar “Daddy knows best” way of looking at situations involving adult members of the public. What will happen as China expands its influence? Will their attitude towards foreign affairs continue to revolve around a complete disinterest in talking about any remotely uncomfortable topics? Fortunately, Western values have entropy on their side - it’s no doubt easier to break down a carefully crafted view of pseudo-authority, than it is to build it up. Only time will tell how this will turn out. China’s government will need to lose some of its obsession with issuing commands if it intends to work with the West on any level besides that of a trading partner. Filed under: Foreign affairs and Opinion Comments: None |
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Posted on 03.10.08 by Stephen Covington @ 11:45 am
A Saudi Arabian woman named Wajeha Al-Huwaider has posted a video of herself on the internet driving - an innocuous activity in most areas of the world, but one that has sparked considerable controversy in an oil-rich nation governed by a strict brand of Sharia law. Throughout the video, Al-Huwaider explains that female drivers are fairly common in rural areas, but her aim is to encourage women across the nation to take a more active role in driving, particularly in urban areas. This particular effort was made to coincide with International Women’s Day. Al-Huwaider is a leading women’s driving activist in Saudi Arabia, and supports having the ban overturned by the government. Previous mass protests have resulted in punishment for all involved. It is unclear what the Saudi government response to this might be, but with both cars and gasoline prevalent in the country, along with rapidly changing social norms, the issue will probably not go away soon. Filed under: Foreign affairs and Social issues Comments: 7 Comments |
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Posted on 03.09.08 by Stephen Covington @ 9:21 am
History has shown us that government is addicted to power, and will often abuse it when given the chance. This isn’t anything specific to government, per se - it’s a predictable aspect of human nature. Take any group of people, make them feel special, give them power over others, and with enough time, they’ll find a way to misuse it. This is almost something that can be taken for granted - so much so, that the Founders wrote the Constitution specifically to curb such abuses of power. Oh, THAT’S what those Amendments were for? It’s too bad someone didn’t tell us that, before we legislated them away. This footage is a few years old, but I had not seen the ABC News clip until recently. Here we see oppression being put into practice on a local scale - surreal video of military troops patrolling American neighborhoods, and with the assistance of local law enforcement, running willy-nilly through houses, disarming people and trampling on multiple Constitutional rights. Now follows another video from the NRA about some law-abiding people who got stepped on by their own government. Filed under: Opinion and Social issues Comments: 9 Comments |
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Posted on 03.08.08 by Stephen Covington @ 9:09 am
Aware that she might not do extremely well against Obama in a state with a rapidly growing population of young and middle-aged urban transplants, Hillary Clinton has reevaluated her expectations for Wyoming’s primary, scheduled for later today.
Clinton has recently gained traction against Obama in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, where she significantly made up for her previously stunning losses in delegates. The race between Clinton and Obama is still tightly contested, and in the end may be decided almost solely by “super-delegates”, high-profile members who are not expressly pledged the way that normal delegates are. A win by Clinton is considered favorable for Republicans, who may be better able to summon their ranks against her, versus opposing Obama, who seems to be able to pull from the center more effectively. Filed under: Barack Obama and Campaign 2008 and Democrats and Hillary Clinton Comments: 7 Comments |
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Posted on 03.02.08 by Stephen Covington @ 8:57 pm
Colombia reports that they have killed Raul Reyes, a leader within the FARC terrorist group. Part of Reyes’ role has been to direct FARC’s cocaine-related activities, which is a major source of fundraising. The United States has given billions of dollars to the Colombian government to fight FARC, largely because of the group’s effectiveness in generating and distributing cocaine, much of which ends up in the US. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez sharply criticized the killing, calling it “a cowardly murder,” although Reyes was killed at a military encampment. The operation consisted of Colombian aircraft striking the targets in Ecuador while still within Colombian airspace. Military personnel then crossed the border to confirm that Reyes, along with at least 16 others, was among the dead. Chavez has ordered a number of battalions to the Colombian border in response to the attack, further raising tensions in an already difficult situation. Chavez’s aggressive gesture towards Colombia may motivate the US to further back the South American nation. However, any actual military conflict would likely complicate matters as it would further raise the price of oil in an area that has so far seen a relatively low level of conflict (compared to the Mideast). Filed under: Breaking News and Foreign affairs Comments: 40 Comments |
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Posted on 03.02.08 by Stephen Covington @ 1:13 am
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be making a trip to Iraq on Sunday, at the invitation of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Although formerly rivals, the governments of Iran and Iraq have put aside some of their differences in recent years. The US occupation has diminished the formerly powerful Sunni majority, leaving Shiites to gain a larger proportion of power. Ahmadinejad’s trip is likely to be a dangerous one, as elements of the Sunni resistance are still very active in the country, and his convoy’s movement is likely to require at least some cooperation from US forces. Iran’s backing of Shiite militias in Iraq may spur a backlash resulting in attempts against the Iranian leader.
Filed under: Breaking News and Iran and Iraq Comments: None |
