Minozake's Journal: My Vote?

([X] marks an eliminated vote.)

[] Obama + Pro-Net Neutrality, pro-choice, seeks to find a common ground
between pro-choice and pro-life, voted against the banning of dilation and
extraction (D&E) procedures, trust women to make their own choice about their
own bodies (esp. on a D&E procedure), pro-STEM cell research, voted against
prohibiting minors from accessing abortions across state lines, anti-death
penalty, pro-alternative sentence and rehabilitation for crimes, honest about
his using drugs (marijuana in high school), seeks acceptance for
self-euthanization, -- confusing LBTQ stance, pro-gun control, +/- Seeks to
teach teens still about abstinence and contraception (Abstinence Plus?), takes
the fence on many issues (could be a fallback just in case his definite stance
does not take hold, or could be a PR stunt),

[X] McCain -- Anti-abortionist

[X] Keyes -- Dominionist

[] Jay + Legalized gambling, pro-Second Amendment, pro-personal choice,

[X] Baldwin -- Seeks to establish a more nationalized and autonomous economy
and thus weaken the global economy, anti-abortionist, wants to disband federal
actions in education i.e. disbanding the Board of Education without explaining
a sensible and realistic replacement, ??? Highly motivated by Christian
beliefs, + pro-Second Amendment

[] McKinney + Pro-Net Neutrality, Anti-war, pro-choice, support of gay
adoption, seeks to repeal the Patriot Act (end end Islamophobia), anti-death
penalty, end racial disparities in trials, pro-rehabilitation for criminals,
pro-habeus corpus, seeks alternative sentences instead of more prisons,
pro-detox and rehabilitation instead of incarceration for illegal drug
addiction, seeks to repeal the No Child Left Behind Act, -- wants no nuclear
power, seems to be slightly pro-gun control, seeks criminal penalties for
e-mail spamming, === thinks something is wrong with a $38B budget on education
and a $700B for defense

[X] Barr -- Anti-abortionist

[X] Riva + Pro-choice, pro-same sex marriage, -- Not very many stances on the
issues

[X] Moore + Pro-choice, seeks to restore habeus corpus, seeks to end all
restrictions on marriages and sodomy laws, seeks to abolish the death penalty,
seeks to base the justice system on mediation and rehabilitation, -- thinks
there's too much high-tech in classrooms, pro-gun control

[] Nader + Anti-Microsoft, pro-choice, pro-same sex marriage, agrees police are
not above the law, seeks to abandon standardized testing and replace them with
teaching civic skills, wishes to break our reliance on fossil fuels, , --
pro-gun control, ??? Supports usage of "civil union" for "same-sex marriage"?,

/*******************************/

Why I might vote Obama: He has supported Net Neutrality, and has defined
himself as pro-choice. Also, instead of seeking an extreme in the
pro-life/pro-choice debate, he supported a mediated compromise between the two,
which I can respect. He also voted against the banning of a dilation and
extraction procedure (AKA D&E, partial-birth abortion). He supported women the
right to make their own choices to their own bodies, especially on a D&E
procedure. Obama is also pro-STEM cell research, which I believe can help the
field of medicine a ton more if it was government-funded. He also seems to
place the stance that a minor may get an abortion as their choice, crossing
state lines if they need to get this procedure done.

Obama took an anti-death penalty stance, which is important to me. I believe
the death penalty does not deter crime at the least, and I favor rehabilitation
of criminals. One cannot prove 100% guilty, which means the innocent can be
executed, and that is unacceptable. Also, capital trials are highly biased
against the people who are poor or of black/Hispanic/et al. heritage. Many
poor individuals cannot afford good lawyers which means they get an appointed
one, which is usually overworked and not a good attorney. My anti-capital
punishment stance is strong influence here. Obama also seeks to find
alternative sentences, which could lessen the population in prisons.

Why I might not vote Obama: He has a bit of a confusing homosexual
rights stance. In one instance he supported that gays should not face
discrimination, but also should not marry. But in another, but more recent
action, he opposed California's Proposition 8 one-man-one-woman marriage, but
this is assuming that the stance taken is still monogamy. He is also pro-gun
control.

My mixed feelings with Obama's stances: Obama seeks to teach teens about
abstinence and contraception, which feels like an Abstinence Plus education.
Minnesota has this, however, I would really like to have both talked about
equally and even encouraging the use of contraceptives over abstinence,
because, let's face it, teens are going to have sex whether you drill them into
the ground that sex is bad and you WILL get an STD and all that jazz or not.
He also takes the fence on many issues, which could either be a fallback from a
less extreme position or it could be a PR technique to gather votes on confused
and uninformed voters.

Why I will not vote for McCain: He is anti-abortion. Too important of
an issue for me to ignore. Ever.

Why I will not vote for Alan Keyes: He is a Dominionist, which means
that he wishes to de-secularize the U.S. and impose Christian ethics in the
U.S. laws. Government and religion don't mix, I'm sorry, but it's just the way
it is. I have nothing against religion, but this would be hella-bad.

My thoughts on Charles Jay: He seeks to have more legalized gambling.
He is also pro-second amendment and pro-personal choice. I really found
nothing bad about him except lack of a stance on all the issues I seek.
However, he does have a unique stance that I don't see in other candidates
(pro-legalized gambling). However, I don't think at this point I would vote
for him, even if I do have a strong stance on all personal choice.

Why I will not vote for Chuck Baldwin: He seeks to have a 'pro-American'
economy and possibly destroy global economic relations. The economy is not by
country; it's worldwide. He is also anti-abortion, and he wishes to disband
the Board of Education without a reasonable and sensible replacement. However,
I did like how he was vehemently pro-gun ownership and voted against any
restrictions. One thing I found that would influence me is he is motivated by
Christian beliefs, which can mean he is somewhat unpredictable if left
unchecked. It could be my paranoia talking.

Why I might vote for Cynthia McKinney: McKinney is definitely pro-Net
Neutrality all the way. She is also anti-war, which I do like. She's
pro-choice, and in support of gay adoption. She also seeks to repeal the
Patriot Act in an effort to end Islamophobia. I also believe the Patriot Act
is a violation of our privacy. McKinney also wishes to abolish the death
penalty and end racial disparities in trials, which is important. Another
important thing is she is in support of rehabilitation for criminals, and
pro-habeus corpus. The rest you can pretty much read up on the quick-notes.
This is bland.

Why I might no vote McKinney: She doesn't want nuclear power, and she
seems to be slightly pro-gun control. She also seeks criminal penalties for
e-mail spamming. Seriously, that Viagra spam or Rolex replica crap is
annoying, but is it really needed to seek criminal charges where civil suits
are enough?

Something I found interesting from McKinney: She thinks there's
something wrong with a $38 billion budget for education, yet a $700 billion
budget for defense. We must not have smart people defending our country...

Why I will not vote for Bob Barr: Anti-abortionist

Why I will not vote for Gloria La Riva: While I do like the stances she
has on the issues, there's just too little information on the stances she's
taken on the issues.

Why I might vote for Brian Moore: He's a copy of most of the stances I'm
strong on.

Why I might not vote for Moore: He thinks there's too much high-tech in
classrooms, which I think is bull. Honestly, high-tech is superior to things
like books in many ways, and ignoring those and focusing on the bad things is
ignorant. Face it: things like books are almost obsolete because of the
freeflow of information on the Net. The only thing that's keeping them around
is the teaching of having books and that books are always right. Oh, and he's
also pro-gun control.

Why I might vote Ralph Nader: He's anti-Microsoft! Okay, more
seriously, he's pro-choice, pro-same sex marriage, and he agrees that police
should not be above the law, which it seems they are sometimes (good luck
turning in a corrupt cop without an outrageous number of eye witnesses or a
forensic scientist). He also seeks to abandon standardized testing and replace
them with teaching civic skills, which is a hell of a good refresher from many
of the other candidates. He also wishes to break out reliance on fossil fuels.

Why I might not vote Nader: He's pro-gun control. Normally I wouldn't
overlook this, but the other issues he's quite good with.

What confused me about Nader: He supports the term "civil union" in
place of "same sex marriage"? This could encourage discrimination by not using
the term "marriage" for both homosexual and heterosexual marriages.







Overall: I've narrowed my choices down to four candidates in just the
realm of 4 hours through the night. Left standing are: Obama, Jay, McKinney,
and Nader. I am not leaning on any candidate because of their chance to get
elected, so screw voting for the lesser of the two evils (even though Obama is
pretty damn good, IMO). I have no idea which way I am leaning, but now that
I've narrowed it, I can examine them better. But I want your help.

Other Things: Politics suck. They can make the best of friends, the
closest of lovers, and the bond of parent and child thin all in one sweep. I'm
just hoping that won't happen with anyone I know. If you have any debate, just
start it. I request a civil tone, but any other tone is acceptable, I guess.
I'm a heavy proponent of free speech. If you want to recommend people to me
that either apparently didn't pass my political compass, didn't even see my
compass, or want to swing me one way or the other, shoot. Or if you want to
convince me to throw my vote, that's fine too.

I said I probably wouldn't vote, but I guess I was wrong. Beliefs change.

One last thing: I don't hate religion. I love it. It brings joy and love and
hope. However, sometimes it doesn't mix. Religion is to government as
drinking is to driving. And I just can't help being biased against some
religions (Christianity is a big one).






Thank you, and g'Night.