Politics 4 - Where are the Third Parties?

Are you voting for Kerry? Or Bush? Democrat? Or Republican? Did you know that there are even other parties that exist out there? Lots of people are dissatisfied with Bush and the alleged "quagmire" in Iraq and all that media-twisted stuff, and lots of people don't like Kerry because he can't make up his mind. So, if there was any election in recent years for some of the lesser-known parties to have some tiny chance at acquring anything in the electoral collage---this is it. So why aren't they campaigning? I honestly can't tell you anything about any of the other parties, except that Ralph Nader is in one of them.

So, if I get bored before Nov. 2, I'll be doing some research on some of these third parties that no one knows about. The Libertarians? The Green Party? The United Fascist Party? Mike's Party? (yes, that one really exists) Who knows? We'll just have to see. (go here: http://www.vote-smart.org/election_president_party.php?party_name=All for a list of all the candidates)
Don't forget to watch the debates tonight at 9 PM Eastern.

Edmond the Hun

It's An Oddball World 1 - Japan and the Pillow Man

Wow...talk about weird and strange! In Japan, there's a new answer for lonely women: The Boyfriend's Arm Pillow, sold for $80 by the Kaemo Corp. It's a torso-shaped pillow with an arm, and it's supposed to comfort women who don't have to sleep by themselves. Over 1000 pillows have been sold. This is serious stuff. Click on the first link below for a picture of a woman sleeping with the pillow. 34-year-old DJ Junko Suzuki is a big promoter of it. She says, "I like to sleep holding some one's hand." Even if that someone is a pillow. What will they think of next?

(Sources: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6141895/; http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,7369,1316049,00.html)

Edmond the Hun

Hello Tuesday

Yay! I got my first comment! I'm not posting in vain! People are actually reading the things I write! OK, enough of that.

An anyonymous commenter (I'll call him Fred) said he's not really into politics but I should talk more about football and music and stuff. (He even suggested writing about AP History, which coincidentally I'm taking too. We'll see, Fred) Anyway, I've decided that maybe all-political posting IS kinda boring, so I'm gonna start throwing in some music and football and stuff like that. I'll still label everything so you can skip one or the other if you don't care about it.

How's that Fred? Or did you ever come back?

Edmond the Hun

Music 1 - Relient K? MMHMM!

Relient K is an extremely creative Christian punk/rock band. They have a new CD coming out November 2, and true to their creative album-naming spirit, this one's called "MMHMM." If you go to their website at www.relientk.com you will find some links to listen to some of the songs on the CD before it comes out. The only one I've had time and patience to listen to (with our dial-up connection) is "The One I'm Waiting For," which is something about a girl. This will be their fourth full album (not counting the Christmas one).

If you've never heard of Relient K, they like to sing about God, girls, college, and cars, all with catchy upbeat rhythms and creativity all-around, whether it's with clever word puns and rhymes or intricate tempo changes and cut-offs. I'll review MMHMM when it comes out.

Politics 3 - Debate on Thursday

The first of three political debates is on Thursday in Miami. Interestingly enough, both campaigns had to agree to a 32-page document of rules covering everything from candidate conduct to podium sizes. The only significant one is that the Bush and Kerry can't speak directly to each other---they can only answer questions from the moderator.

The debate will be at 9 PM Eastern Time, and I haven't figured out what channels it's gonna be on but it will probably be on more than one of them. This is a must-see. I will talk about the debate after it occurs.

Edmond the Hun

Decay of Society 1.5

I fear I did not make my position clear yesterday, so let me clarify. I am not complaining against this specific movie, First Daughter. I'm not saying it's an evil movie and you shouldn't watch it or anything like that. If you're a mature teenager and you like that silly stuff, go ahead. All I'm saying is---watch as the lines get pushed further and further.

Hello Monday

It's Monday, and this marks my second consecutive blogging day. I was gonna do a post about some football highlights from yesterday but I decided that's relatively irrelevant. If you really care about football you probably already know everything or you can just go to www.nfl.com. (However, Manning's five first-half TDs were pretty sweet)

That being said, today I have another post about politics. These will appear with great frequency in the next month and a half as we get ready for the big election November 2. Don't forget to watch the first presidential debate on Thursday. It's in Miami (great decision on location, considering the weather) and I believe they're discussing foreign policy. It might just be a contest to see who's better at dodging questions, but it might provide some great insights. I'll provide more information on the debate before it happens and I'll analyze it after it happens.
I also have my first post about the decay of society. These will happen whenver something immoral and sinful happens that our society deems acceptable.

Edmond the Hun

Politics 2 - Absentee Action

Absentee ballots are going to be more popular this election. The original purpose of absentess was for people who couldn't vote on election day---disability, being out of state, etc. But for this election rules have changed in many states to turn it into more of a convenience thing. Maybe you'll be too busy November 2, and it's such a hassle to wait in those lines, and, man, wouldn't it just be so much easier to vote whenever you want during the next month? This "Vote Early" stuff will undoubtedly affect the candidates' campaign strategies.

They will have to work harder and quicker, because they never know when people are going to cast their vote. This gives much clout to emotional voters, who might vote right after a debate speech if a certain candidate looked really good in it. The problem is, once their vote is cast, I don't see any measures for a recanting. What if they change their mind before November 2? Then it's too late.

Last year 14% of the votes were from absentee ballots. This number is expected to be much higher this election---one estimate has 19%. If many voters vote early, who does this hurt more, Bush or Kerry? Well, it depends on what happens in the next month. If we catch bin Laden, Bush's ratings will undoubtedly go through the roof. Sure, some left radicals will accuse him of waiting to announce it until election time or some junk like that, but regardless, Bush would easily soar---he caught the mastermind of 9/11!. But what if significant amounts of votes had been already cast? It might not matter if more people voted for Bush, if enough early voters had already cast their vote for Kerry. On the other hand, if something really dirty and convicting was dug up about, say, Bush's record, giving Kerry a big advantage, it might be too late if enough votes had already been made for Bush.

Really though, I think my above scenarios are rather exaggerated. The capturing of bin Laden is certainly a possibility, but I doubt anything newsbreaking or poll-shattering will happen that will majorly unbalance things either way. And I wouldn't expect a huge increase in absentee ballots either. First off, not all states are making things as convenient as I've made it sound---26 still require valid absences. Second, many people will consider it just as much of an inconvenience to go out, get an absentee ballot, go back and return it, or whatever all they do...it wouldn't be much more convenient than standing around at a poll booth. It may affect the campaign strategies, but not the election.
(Sources: St. Louis Post-Dispatch - 9/27/04; http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=CAMPAIGN-ABSENTEE-09-27-04&cat=PP)

\Edmond the Hun

Decay of Society 1 - First Daughter, Moral Slaughter

We don't have enough sappy cheesy predictable chick flicks out there, so they made another one, The First Daughter. Some stupid storyline about the president's daughter falling in love and la-de-da-de-da. It only raked in about $4 million over the weekend (which is about 10% percent of what Spiderman 2 made on its opening DAY), so it's going to be another dud, like most chick flicks are.

But I'm griping about another silly chick flick. There's something else that gets me. This movie was rated, according to the little box under the rating in the newspaper ad, for "Language, Sexual Situation, and Alchohol-Related Material." And the rating is only PG! This is at least the second movie released this year as PG (The Prince and Me) with sexual-related content. OK, so they didn't really do anything. But still, try to tell me there was some other purpose for that scene than to imply that they wanted to have sex. Yet it's only PG! With this sort of precedent, how long will it be before more explicit stuff falls under a "PG" heading?

Really, though, this shoudn't surprise you, if you think about it. How many commercials on regular television these days have the same kind of implications? It's mostly beer commercials, but even Hardee's is running a commercial with a model riding a bucking bronco, and I'd love to hear someone try to justify that. It's bad enough that it's virtually impossible to watch a football game without turning the channel, or at least turning my head, but if the PG rating has been infiltrated, we can't guarantee that any movies are safe either.

Then again, with America's increasing rejection of Christianity and morals in general, what else can we expect?

Edmond the Hun

Politics Post 1 - Kerry's PLAN?

In the last week or so Kerry has outlined his plan for Iraq. But is it really his plan? Kerry says he will "internationalize" support and get help from our allies. Hello?? Is this not what Bush has been trying to do every since we went to war? Didn't he go before the UN on Tuesday and defend his cause and try to get more support?

If Kerry is going to do a better job at getting allies to help us than Bush has, please tell me how. It looks to me all Kerry is doing is taking what Bush has tried unsuccessfully to do and saying he'll do the same thing successfully, without explaining how. Can this really be called a plan?

Edmond the Hun

Hello World

I have exited my cave of uninvolvement to join the anonymity of the mass blogger world. I intend to comment on world events and post my thoughts and perspectives. My updating may be sporadic. You have been fair warned

Until next time

Edmund the Hun