Vice Presidents

Just on the eve of the conventions, the candidates must now choose their running mates. Vice Presidents typically have very little authority in the administration. Their job description is to rarely find themselves in the same location as the President (in case the President comes under attack) and to sit around and wait for something to happen to the President so he/she can assume their responsibilities. If the administration ends on a positive note, the economy is doing fine and the country is in no crisis, there is an added perk to the position. He/she becomes heir-apparent to their party's nomination. Although the VP has done little for the previous eight years, the party deems this person ready to become next in line to the throne (in a manner of speaking.)

There are several schools of thought regarding what characteristics the VP should possess. Some believe is should be someone who can help the ticket carry a potential pivotal state while others believe he/she should be strong in areas where the candidate himself is weak and still others carry the conviction that the VP should mirror the candidate's position to unite the party or contrast the positions to collect more Independent votes. Whatever strategy you adhere to there is just as much evidence that the opposing your view.

There has been many prominent democrats mentioned as Senator Barark Obama potential running mate including the second place finisher in the campaign, Hillary Clinton, who garnished nearly as many votes and delegates as Barack himself yet he went with another candidate who received very few votes Senator Joseph Biden out of Delaware. The scars of the long drawn out nomination process must have been too deep for the obvious choice. There must have been so much animosity between the two that Obama's campaign never even vetted the runner-up. Instead, Sen. Obama went with a candidate that strengthens his obvious weaknesses. Obama is very inexperienced and lacks any foreign affairs background so he chose a candidate who the electorate felt was his only strengths. As a matter of fact, he chose a running mate who was rather vocal in his criticism of this weakness during the Democrat's debates. Rather peculiar for the "Candidate of Change" to one of the longest running members of the Senate!?!?

Actually, Senator Joseph Biden was a good choice in my estimation. He is very knowledgeable on foreign affairs, he is very good in a one on one interview and he has very similar liberal beliefs. The problems with Biden is he tends to talk too much until he makes a mistake and he comes off as unbelievable when campaigning. In the debates and on the stump he plasters on a fake smile and an insincere persona. Of all the democratic candidates I believe he would do the best job in the office but he has proved to be an inadequate campaign. In addition, he supported the war which the opposite has become the corner stone of the Obama campaign.

Who Senator John McCain chooses as his running mate is yet to be seen. It has been rumored that he might go with a governor of a key state, or someone who is strong on the economy (his self-described weakness) or in the way of the "maverick" John McCain is known he has even considered a democrat.

Although advisors and analysts are paid to make more out of this choice than, in all practicality, it really deserves the media will become obsesses with anyone rumored to be the running mate of the candidates.

http://www.presidentsusa.net/presvplist.html

Iran

Iran is a Muslim republic that is run by the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei , and has final say in all internal and foreign policy and is elected by the Assembly of Experts. The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , is in charge of the government but the Supreme Leader still has some executive powers such as over the military and declaring war.

The Muslim religion is a peaceful religion unless you talk about the fringe elements just as in any religion. (Catholics and Protestants fought for years in Northern Ireland.) The problem is today the Muslim fundamentalists are powerful, outspoken and have hijacked the religion in world’s view when reality is they are the minority. This minority is what is governing Iran. Ahmadinejad has made many inflammatory statements, “...the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime...”, Israel should be “wiped off the map”, the Holocaust is a “myth”, and more recently “the life of the regime has come to an end”. These statements clearly exhibit his intentions in the Middle East. Let’s make no mistake about it, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a terrorist and has supported terrorist activities in Iraq since the war began as well as others in the region.

Ahmadinejad has been acquiring the ability to enrich uranium, a process in attaining nuclear power/weapons. He states it is for energy purposes but his statements lead us to question his intentions. The U.S. has insisted they are developing nuclear weapons and has worked with the world community to put as much pressure on Iran to abandon their nuclear goal. The European community agreed this was more of a regional problem and worked to come up with their own solution to no avail. Israel has stated that they will use preemptive strikes to eliminate the threat only to have Iran as well as Russia claim that their response would be “devastating.” Israel has been carrying out military exercises to demonstrate they are capable of destroying Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran has given every indication they want to destroy Israel and is developing the nuclear weapons that can carry out the threat. Israel cannot wait to respond to Iran’s actions that would be devastating and too late. Iran is daring Israel to take action which would bring the world community down on them but it may be too costly to call Iran’s “bluff” if they are bluffing. Hopefully this plays out like the Cold War with the threats being enough to provoke restraint but this very well could be the beginning of something much bigger.

If attacked Iran promises to shut off the oil supply from the Persian Gulf and if you look at the map they could easily accomplish this feat. We would be talking gas prices 4 to 5 higher at the minimum. Talk about crippling our economy. We need to begin to drill for oil if for no other reason national security in case the unspeakable happens. If we wait and if what some say it will take 10 years to harvest the oil the U.S. as well as much of the free world suffer extreme hardship. I think this is a very real possibility considering the parties involved.

I hope all of you who think I am nuts can show me where my logic fails me

Race in Politics

Race stills plays a role in everyday life in America including politics and with the nomination of Senator Barack Obama it seems to be making the headlines on a regular basis. I am going to address a few aspects where race plays a role in today's politic but first a quick history lessons. The United States is a relatively new country. This new nation inherited a commerce that was highly depended upon slave labor. In a short period time this nation went to war against itself for one of several reasons, to abolish slavery. Americans today owe nothing to the descendants of slaves for their ancestors were the ones who risked their life to secure the slaves freedom.

Every person is prejudged by their appearance, the way they carry themselves and the way they speak. A beautiful person has advantages over a less attractive person. A wealthy person has many advantages over a poor person. Tall men have an advantage over short men. A white man in America has advantages over a minority. This is just human nature but it does not mean you cannot succeed. Your path to success may just be filled with a few more hurdles. You can fight it or you can accept it and work within the system. You cannot expect to change anyone's mind by continually demand more and more. You need to conform to the rules of the successful. Keep your underwear in your pants, put your hat on straight, walk like you are proud and with a purpose and for the love of God speak properly and respectful. Picture this in your mind:

A kid is walking down the street towards you. He has pants 3 sizes too big for him and they are pulled up just under his rear showing his boxers. He walks with a certain rhythm in his step and his head bobs from side to side. He wears a white tank undershirt known as a "wife beater" and has gold jewelry around his neck as well as in his mouth. He has a baseball cap on with a flat bill and turned to the side. What do you do? Do you fear nervous as he approaches?........What race did you depict the kid in your mind?

Bill Cosby has it right. The only way minorities are going to reduce prejudices and racism is by changing their stereotype. Take care of your own house before you expect to be treated differently. Take responsibility for your own actions and make those actions respectful to others and others will judge you differently. But what you cannot expect is to act antisocial and expect people to change how they treat you. Change must come from your own actions first and society will follow.

The black community has several self proclaimed leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Louis Farrakhon all derive their power from claiming they speak for the black community. If there is a situation with an apparent racial bias these men are quick to the news media to condemn the so called perpetrator of the injustice and sometimes followed by investigating the actual facts of the case. If the offender happens to be the police these leaders are even more enthusiastic about their representation. The problem with this profession is they are actually holding down the people and issues they are trying to promote. You cannot continually tell people they are getting cheated and expect them not to hold the powers to be with contempt. You cannot tell people they cannot succeed because they are being held down and expect them to play within the system which is the only way to succeed. Terrorists find sanctuary in failed or failing states, they thrive in poor communities and they prey on endemic poverty and despair. To a degree, many of the black leaders use the same strategy to derive their power. I look at it this way, if my kid thought they were getting an unfair chance at something, how would I advice them. Would I tell them to protest and keep yelling for equality or would I tell them to try harder and make it harder for the powers to exclude you?

Now Barack Obama and his quest for the Presidency of the U.S: Many think he has to overcome prejudices to succeed and this puts him at a disadvantage. I say this is huge advantage for him. Yes there are people who would never vote for an African American but there are more people voting for him BECAUSE of his race. The black community is almost unanimously in his corner just like there is a large contingent of white Americans who support him because they believe electing a black president will be a huge step in solving racial equalities in America. Being black may cause some to pull the opposite lever but more are pulling his lever because of his color and that is just as wrong.