For The Voting Challenged

[1IDVET]

JD Pendry

I?m tuning out the politics for now. Whenever a political ad pops up on television, I switch the channel, although I usually flip straight to another ad. I swear (and I know I shouldn?t do that), I think all of the television stations are in cahoots to run ads at the same time. That?s why I?ve been watching all of the obscure cable channels. Haven?t seen any political ads on the Food Network, but I?m gaining weight. I generally crawl onto my treadmill at five AM each morning. I flip on the little TV I have there to the local news channel. About every five minutes, for the past three months I see the same ad. Some middle-aged guy is driving down the road reminiscing about the great career he had for 30 years at the same company. ?Then they shipped my job overseas?, he sobs. ?I was unemployed for two years.? As he?s putting the paper hat on his head, getting out of the car and walking into a hamburger joint, he?s says, ?I?ve finally found a job, there is no health care and it doesn?t pay much?? I guess these ads might sway the voting challenged. I also have trouble with the talking heads from both sides. It may be my personal bias, but the Kerryites are the worst bunch. TV talking head asks, ?Why did Kerry bring up Dick Cheney?s daughter in the Debate?? Kerryite replies, ?The Republicans are trying to avoid the real issues (like Kerry?s abysmal record) so, let me tell you how bad Bush sucks.? They never answer the question. Someone is probably sitting in the control room at the DNC headquarters sending an electric shock to them whenever they stray from the talking points. The Bush side really doesn?t do much better, except they?re much less whiny than Chad, Tad and hysterical Terry. Sixteen more days.

I wrote a list for myself today. Its purpose was to let me think about some issues that might determine the outcome of the election. Don?t accept what I think, but at least you should think about these issues for yourself and discuss them with the voting challenged.

Health care: Why is it so expensive? I haven?t heard a Kerry explanation for why health care costs continue to rise except to imply that Bush is conspiring with big insurance, big drugs?. The Bush explanation is that litigation raises the costs of doing business for doctors (A good many doctors have left my state of Wild Wonderful a.k.a. tort hell, because they can?t afford or get malpractice insurance. The only thing as prevalent as political ads on television here in Wild Wonderful is ads from personal injury lawyers.). Not only does frivolous litigation raise the cost of doing business, it causes the doctors to practice defensive medicine. In other words, they may order a bunch of precautionary tests and procedures they wouldn?t otherwise order or they might deliver a baby with surgery rather than natural to keep John Edwards from suing them. More tests and unnecessary procedures equal higher costs, end result higher insurance costs. Socialized medicine of the Kerry plan will not solve this problem. Being a participant in a government ran insurance program for military retirees, I can tell you that on a scale required for Kerry?s plan you?ll be waiting and waiting? and you?ll be paying to subsidize the program with your middle-class taxes. There is a benefit to the Kerry health plan however. If you elect him, people like Christopher Reeve will get up out of their wheel chairs and walk and to keep them out of those chairs, they?ll get to eat raisons soaked in Gin. Tort reform is the first step toward reducing costs. Something opposed in the past by Kerry and Edwards. I find it hard to believe they?d support meaningful tort reform considering the political backing they have from trial lawyers.

Oil prices: Do you think that President Bush is responsible for increased oil prices? If you do, consider yourself among the economically challenged. Kerry would have you believe that prices are artificially high to benefit Bush?s ?big oil? friends. If you can recall basic economics, ask yourself why it is that prices rise. The answer is supply and demand. When demand exceeds supply, prices rise. We?ve had some reduction in supply from our gulf production facilities because of the hurricanes, but what has caused a steady increase in oil prices is the increased demand from other countries. India and China, for example, are becoming more industrialized. Cars are replacing bicycles and rickshaws. These countries are buying more oil and increasing the worldwide demand ? it?s not my SUV that?s doing it.

The draft: Please share this with all draft aged young people you know. There will not be a military draft. The professional military does not want to deal with conscripts. The President cannot wake up one morning and say let?s have a draft. Congress must approve a draft. The only bill presented before Congress relating to a draft was written by Democrats. The House of Representatives voted down their bill. It got two yes votes, both from Democrats. If you?re getting your information about a draft from Michael Moore, John Kerry, Hollywood, MTV, etc., you?re not smart enough to be in our highly technical and professional military anyway so I wouldn?t worry about it. Even if there were a draft, you?d flunk the mental exam. For the rest of you, wouldn?t you be willing to fight for the survival of your country if it came down to it? That?s the only criteria that might cause a draft. However, if Kerry is elected there might be a draft. He?s promised to increase the military size by two divisions ? a process that could take several years by the way. On top of that, active military desire President Bush over Kerry as Commander in Chief by 3 to 1. Many might leave if Kerry is elected, especially the retirement eligible senior people of which there is always a large number.

The economy: Unemployment is at 5.4% (twice as good as Germany and France), which is lower than the average of the 70s, 80s and 90s and lower than when Bill Clinton was reelected, but not good enough for Democrats. We?ve recovered from a million jobs lost because of 9/11 and the recession caused when the false dot com economy bubble burst. Home ownership is higher than at anytime in our nation?s history. Interest rates are low. More Americans are working than at anytime in our history. Production is up and nearly two million new jobs were created in 13 months. Kerry plans to fix this by raising taxes on those who make more than $200,000 per year. This hits a large number of small business owners, who by the way, create more than 70 percent of our jobs.

[Flu vaccine: Do you seriously think it?s the President?s fault that there is a shortage? The true problem is that American companies stopped making the vaccine. Why? See the discussion on tort reform. It is a convenient tool to use to frighten senior citizens, however.

Abortion: A person must stand on principle. One cannot state that he believes life begins at conception and that his ?deeply held? religious beliefs values life while insisting that it is a ?freedom of choice? to take a life. In my logic training, we called that a fallacy ? a seemingly plausible argument that uses an invalid inference. You can?t value life that?s incapable of defending itself and choose to destroy it at the same time. If you choose to destroy it, then it?s a fallacy to say you value it. What you value in this argument is the choice todestroy life. Not only does Mr. Kerry support abortion, he supports partial-birth abortion. Partial-birth abortion is just what it says. A baby is partially born and while ?part? of it is still in the birth canal, it?s killed. Mr. Kerry also applies the abortion litmus test to judges.

Freedom of speech: Did you hear any screeching Democrats as Viacom/CBS/60 minutes rolled out one anti-Bush book after another? Did you hear any screeching when Dan Rather put forged documents on national television and used them to try and change the outcome of a national election. Did you hear any screeching when Michael Moore?s tripe hit theaters? Did you hear any screeching when Kittie Kelly spent three days on the Today Show with her already debunked book? Did any of these media sources offer President Bush equal time? Have you heard any screeching about the outright lies published in ads by Moveon.org, the Media Fund and others? Have you heard all of the screeching about the http://www.stolenhonor.com/home.aspdocumentary? Chad Clanton, a Kerry talking head, stated in a Fox News interview that if Sinclair broadcasting runs the program as planned, they ?better hope we don?t win.? Do you reckon Chad has some suppression of free speech in mind?

War on Terror: This issue trumps all others. I fear for our country and for our military if, the wrong choice is made on November 2. We can never rely on France, Germany, China or Russia as trustworthy allies in this war since all took money to oppose us. We have trustworthy allies. Those bonds, we need to continue to build. You may not agree with the approach to the war on terror, but there are some things with which to agree. We are engaged and have been since we freed Afghanistan. We haven?t been attacked since 9/11 because we are engaged and on the offensive. We may yet be attacked again, but the evidence is that we?ve greatly eroded the terrorist?s ability to do that. We must have a resolute leader. Not one with a history of being on the wrong side of defense issues (opposed Regan?s Cold War efforts, voted against the first Gulf War and practically every major weapon system our soldiers use today and the money to support them in Iraq and Afghanistan) and has proven that he will betray others to project himself politically.

Well, I have it out of my system for now. I?ll try to avoid this stuff until the litigation begins on November 3. Of course, if we all do our jobs and vote maybe it won?t be close enough to litigate.

JD's Website:

http://www.vbnhq.com/jdsbunker/