Analysis of Candidates: Randall Terry

Next up...

Randall Terry

Terry is a social conservative Democrat from New York City who plans on running an expensive ad for his campaign during the upcoming Super Bowl. He has repeatedly run as a Republican and never received much support, so he's switched teams in order to oust incumbent president Barack Obama. As "The voice of resistance", Terry insists on focusing on a pro-life and anti-GLBT agenda. He also has written extensively about Muslims as being violent terrorists who are against human rights and freedoms. 


After attempting several times to locate information (on his own campaign website) concerning his views on other issues, such as job creation, immigration, or foreign policy, I gave up looking. There is no information on his two websites other than the issues of abortion, Muslims in general, and homosexuality. Apparently for Randall Terry, these are the biggest issues America is grappling with today. Others, such as myself, do not agree. He is certainly a man on a mission, and that mission appears to be purely religious in nature.


On Terry's campaign website, www.terryforpresident.com, his slogan reads "A Democratic primary for President - to bring America face to face with aborted babies". The site also features many photos and videos of supposedly aborted babies. This is truly gruesome stuff. There is a link to his personal writings concerning religion, abortion, and homosexuality. To sum it up: Christians are infallible, while Muslims, abortions, and the GLBT community are all evil.  


Now let's delve into Terry's private life. He founded Operation Rescue, a pro-life organization which is famous for blockading entrances to abortion clinics. Terry is adamant that he believes abortion is murder and should be a capitol offence. Terry also founded the Society for Truth and Justice and conducted a program called Operation Witness. Terry has preached that Islam is a religion composed of "murderers" and "terrorists. 


Though he is against divorce, and even published a book about the evils of men who leave their wives for younger women, Terry did just that to his wife of 19 years. Terry divorced her in order to be with his 25 year old church assistant, also a radical anti-abortion activist.  Together they had one daughter, and later adopted three more children from a woman in prison. One of these children, a boy named Jamiel, announced that he is gay in a piece for Out Magazine in 2004. This enraged his father, who wrote his own piece in response, saying that Jamiel has shamed and embarrassed the family and prostituted the family name (since Jamiel reportedly was paid by the magazine for the interview). Subsequently Terry has all but disowned his son. 

Some words from the man himself, during an interview with beliefnet.com:


"There are three options when you find out a family member is homosexual. One is accept them and their lifestyle as if it's normal. Two is to reject them and sever your relationship. Three is to love them unconditionally, but to tell them you do not accept their behavior as normal, and to tell them the truth. If I love my son, I can't say to him, 'Hey, you're committing suicide on the installment plan. This is a great lifestyle.' I have to be honest with him. Take out the word homosexuality and put in alcoholism or put in drug addiction. Would you tell a drug addict, 'I accept you. This is your choice, this is your life and I will stand by you'? The average death age of a male homosexual is 42 years old because of disease, because of suicide, because of alcoholism, because of drugs, because of violence. It's just not a good world. It's a self-abusive, self-destructive sexual addiction."

I am personally offended by everything I've read about and by this man. His son, Jamiel, describes him as charming, but I just don't see it. No matter how charismatic you are, your words speak loudest and Terry's words are just plain disgusting. How can someone be so filled with hate? The president is supposed to be a sort of figurehead for the nation, and I do not like the idea of Randall Terry representing us to the world. 

Sources:

http://www.terryforpresident.com/
http://www.randallterry.com/
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/2004/04/Hes-Bringing-Great-Sadness-To-Our-Home.aspx

Analysis of Candidates: Fred Karger

Today we take a look at...

Fred Karger

As the first openly gay candidate, and as a Republican, Fred Karger has found himself in a bit of a dilemma. Disliked by his own party, Karger has been forced to strike out on the campaign trail as an Independent candidate. Do not be fooled though, for he is a staunch fiscal Republican who worked with Ronald Reagan on his campaigns. Being a gay activist however, he refers to himself as a progressive Republican, and displays socially liberal beliefs. 


Having worked for 30 years as a campaign adviser for California Republicans, and also as a political strategist for such companies as Philip Morris, Karger has a lot of experience under his belt. As a gay activist, Karger founded "Californians Against Hate" to promote equal marriage. He worked hard to try and save gay marriage in California, though in the end it was banned. 


Karger has experienced his fair share of criticism and even abuse due to his presidential candidacy. While campaigning in Iowa recently, Karger was threatened by the Republican National Committee. They vowed to "work overtime" to destroy Karger's chances and keep him out of the race as a presidential hopeful. In addition, Fox News refused to allow Karger to participate in the Republican debates due to a supposed lack of support. However, its clear that this decision was due to prejudice rather than numbers, since Rick Santorum has participated in several debates though his numbers remain lower than Karger's.


Karger's message is strong and clear. He wants to revamp the republican party to make it more inclusive and open to other groups, such as the gay community. His campaign slogan is "Fred Who?", a clever pithy phrase that is as catchy as "I Like Ike" during the Eisenhower campaign. 


Here are some words from the man himself:

• "I will work tirelessly to bring back the spirit in every man, woman and child to help remake America the land of opportunity and equality for all" - Opening Statement delivered at press conference at Southern Republican Leadership Conference New Orleans, LA April 10, 2010
• “I think that kids are confined in a classroom and bored.  I think we need to get them out; the buses take kids to school, park and take them home so let’s utilize those buses and drivers and get out in the community and see what’s out in the world and make school more interesting and fun so kids want to learn.”
• “We have to discourage companies from sending jobs overseas… I want to work with these corporations to incentivize them to keep these jobs in America.”
• “I want a path to citizenship for immigrants already living in the country, as well as greatly improve border security to discourage future law-breaking.”
• Anti-war: prefers diplomacy to nation-building
• “We need to immediately start energy conservation in this country.  We can lessen our dependence on foreign sources by this voluntary common sense approach [right now].”
• Believes in lowering the voting age to 16 or 17
• “I believe in the Republican philosophy of less government, keep government out of our lives.  That is a very personal, private choice between a woman, her doctor, her family and her faith.”  (abortion)
• “I believe that marijuana should be legalized, taxed and controlled.  I think that the current laws are onerous and tying up our prison system.”  
• “I want to bring back the civility, optimism and humor that Reagan had.”

http://fredkarger.com/ 

Who Wants to Be the Next President of the United States?

Election Day: November 16th, 2012

As we all know, our current president is up for reelection in 2012. He is currently battling a handful of credible, and formidable opponents for the job of president of the United States. The race is on as candidates fan out across the country to vie for support. As voters, we certainly have plenty of options to choose from, many of them hardly ever mentioned in the media. Its bad enough that Ron Paul is largely ignored, but have you ever heard of Fred Karger? Chances are that you have not. What do you know about Thad McCotter? Have you heard of his band, New Flying Squirrels? Probably not.

In order to both educate myself as well as others, I will be embarking on a hunt for information on these candidates. In the coming weeks I will highlight one candidate per day and provide an in-depth analysis of their stances on important issues. This is an endeavour to show what each candidate has to offer, as well as to provide my own opinion on what they have to say. I'm not the sort of person who blindly follows the media, nor do I assume that whoever has the most Twitter followers is the most qualified for the job, therefore researching each candidate is a critical undertaking for making an informed choice at the election booth.

Here's who I plan on looking into:

Democratic Party

• Barack Obama
• Randall Terry 

Republican Party

• Michele Bachmann
• Rick Perry
• Mitt Romney
• Herman Cain
• Newt Gingrich's 
• Jon Huntsman 
• Gary Johnson
• Andy Martin
• Thad McCotter 
• Tom Miller
• Jimmy McMillan 
• Ron Paul 
• Buddy Roemer 
• Rick Santorum  
• Vern Wuensche 
• Jonathan Sharkey
• Roy Moore

Socialist Party

• Stewert Alexander 

Libertarian Party

• Roger Gary 
• R. Lee Wrights 

Independent 

• Fred Karger  
• Joe Schrine

Prohibition Party

• James Hedges
• Jack Fellure

Green Party

• Kent Mesplay

Keep checking in to learn all about this extensive list of presidential hopefuls!



Sources include: http://2012.presidential-candidates.org/ 

Back to School

So, it's fall...let's talk about schools.


My mother and sister are both elementary school teachers, and are truly inspiring women. They love children and really want to see each and every one of them advance to his/her fullest potential, and to have fun learning along the way. As we all know, learning doesn't stop when you graduate from high school or college. These remarkable women find a way to make learning exciting so that kids want to stay engaged in the classroom. 


Unfortunately, school is not always as fun and interesting as we would like. I'm sure everyone has at least one story to tell of an indifferent teacher or maybe one who was just plain mean - I know I do! Why is it that these teachers are allowed to stay in the classroom year after year, draining kids oft their enthusiasm for learning? According to the film Waiting for Superman, directed by Davis Guggenheim, the answer lies with unions and all of the political nonsense that teachers and administrators are forced to wade through in order to do their jobs. 


Teachers are often coerced into joining the union, and in return are promised protection in the event of a lawsuit which could ultimately result in the loss of their job. However, according to the film-makers, these unions also create an environment where it is next to impossible to fire a teacher for not doing their job. This is bad news for the students forced to endure long, boring hours of school with poor teaching practices. 

Unions were originally designed to protect female teachers who were paid much less than their male counterparts and were often taken advantage of by the system due to rampant sexism. Unions protected these vulnerable public employees and guaranteed them at least a fight for decent wages. Life has changed quite a bit since the teaching unions came to be (and school systems in general).  


Rather than keeping up with the times, more schools were created to deal with increasing population numbers, and this has ultimately lead to the stagnation of the entire system. Students are not held to the achievement level they should be striving for, often due to labelling which says that one student is less capable than another. Teachers are not held accountable for the success of the students in their classrooms, and are encouraged in Massachusetts to "teach to the test" so that students pass the MCAS and make the school and state look better according to arbitrary numbers. 


So what can we do to change the system? Here are a few ideas to help us get back on the right path:

1. Encourage better quality teaching: more accountability; perhaps more pay for better teaching
2. Create better student to teacher ratios: less students per classroom
3. Lengthen school days and create a longer school year: get more done at a less frantic pace
4. Emphasize on creativity and independent/critical thinking in the classroom
5. Encourage good communication with parents: know what was learned that day and how to continue learning at home
6. Demand more unstructured time during school hours (like recess) for students to unwind and absorb what they've just learned
7. Demand healthier, affordable school lunches: check out http://www.slowfoodusa.org/ 


These are just a few ideas to get things moving. After all, change cannot happen overnight, and a total overhaul of the public school system - though greatly needed - would be impossible to accomplish in one jump. What we need to keep in mind is that public schools are facing a huge dilemma: how to properly educate a growing number of children using the limited resources provided by the state and federal government. This is a monumental undertaking! I don't blame government for choosing the easy way out by ignoring the problem, but the time has definitely come for change. We need to demand it, or else there will be future generations of kids that stand to be affected. 


"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." —Albert Einstein


Einstein had it right...it would be insane to continue turning a blind eye to this growing problem and think that students will be able to compete in an increasingly globalised world. 

End of Summer

The summer is winding down for us here on the East Coast of the USA. The temperature is hovering in the 70s, and the air has that crispness to it that we all recognize as the very beginning of autumn. This is there perfect time to begin new projects, or finish up older ones we kept putting off during those hot, lazy summer days. For my part, I am starting this long-awaited blog. The idea has been brewing in the back of my mind for months now, and this seems to be the ideal time to bring it to fruition.

When I googled "end of summer" most of the sites that popped up were concerning the start of school. This is high on everyone's mind, even if they are no longer in school and have no children. There's just something about fall that instantly brings us all back to those first few days of school where so many possibilities surrounded us, along with the smell of new pencils and erasers. Though school was not always (and some years rarely) fun and exciting, we all have a romantic memory in our hearts of those days gone by.

With the summer heat gone and the energy of autumn returning, let's act on those ideas that we once entertained perhaps only for a moment.

My plan with this blog is to bring to light all that I have swirling around in my head. With so many interests and pursuits I'm sure that my writing will touch on and connect with some of your ideas and interests as well. I want to write about politics, family, nature, do-it-yourself projects, and much more. Perhaps somewhere in there we can share a common interest and these ideas will grow and spread. My happiest moment will be when I have brought some inspiration to the life of someone new.