Randomness Daryl Ducharme Randomness Daryl Ducharme

The Vice Presidential Debate

Since last night was the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, I thought I'd add one more vice presidential voice to your listening. Matt Gonzalez, Ralph Nader's vice presidential running mate. Have I mentioned that he's my favorite vice presidential candidate? ...

Both Rosa Clemente of the Green Party and Matt Gonzalez got a chance to speak about the debate on this morning's edition of Democracy Now!

If you missed the debate here it is compliments of hulu:

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Randomness Daryl Ducharme Randomness Daryl Ducharme

Nader Commercials

One thing I have been quite impressed with from the Nader campaign is how organized they are for an independent run for office. The ability to get on the ballots and reach their fund raising goals is amazing. Unfortunately, I have not and probably won't see any commercials for Ralph Nader. Air time for these commercials and production costs are forcing the campaign to focus on new media - the internet. Well, since Ralph Nader's message is the same as it has been for a long time I thought commercials from his 2000 campaign would work. Just change the names and some of the stats and it's like it was made for today. ...

Please keep in mind that this election the web address is www.VoteNader.org

Some of these kids probably have grown up and can vote now. I hope they aren't apathetic.

It's good to watch Phil Donahue from 2000 as well. He is a respected tv personality who communicates the reasons Ralph Nader is running well.

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Randomness Daryl Ducharme Randomness Daryl Ducharme

Keep it up America

It keeps seeming like the bailout bill is ready to be passed. People make compromises and it looks like we will move forward with a massive financial plan that has only been discussed for a week(or less). Thanks to the strongest declaration that America is run by the people that I have ever seen, and a few congress members who are against it on principle, the "final" bailout bill got rejected by the house. And stocks plummetted. Like many people, I am worried about the affects all this will have but I know that an optimal solution can be reached as long as we slow down. My family is starting to be affected by this crisis already as my wife works for Citigroup now( so it would seem ), but that only makes me want to make sure we take the time to work out a plan to keep this kind of mess from happening again. While this was created by a failure of the entire system, I still think we need to make sure that the most heinous corporate criminals pay for their crimes against society so that in the future people take a moment before letting their greed take over.

Who is and has been talking about this for years? Ralph Nader. Along with speaking out against corporate crime he has said again and again that citizens need to take back their country. The amount of letters, emails and phone calls that our members of congress are recieving is making them balk at passing this bill. Keep it up. I am proud to be an American today.

Nader Gonzalez 2008!

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Thank you...Republicans?

Yesterday all the news I read pointed to lawmakers coming to an agreement on the bailout. Then this morning my wife told me all about what she watched on C-Span during a bout of insomnia last night. It seems everybody is in agreement on the direction of the $700,000,000,000.00 Bailout except the House Republicans. Because of that I must say thank you. ...

I have one reader/commenter Jason the Saj who continually complains about politics down the party line and I agree with him whole heartedly. That is why it is easy for me to applaud any group of lawmakers saying, "Hold Up! What other options do we have here." My wife and I even discuss a $25 co-pay to decide whether or not it is the best option even though good health is extremely important to both of us. So I applaud someone saying, we can take a little time and make sure we are doing what is best for the tax payers.

FDR said it best,"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". There is also a quote from Dune that works but I digress. We must not cave to the fear of the situation. In the recent past we have found ourselves doing this too often and it seems to breed more fear and uncertainty. We must let this fear pass over and through us as we see our way forward.

On a slightly related topic, it would be nice to hear people begin to talk like the $700,000,000,000.00 bailout is not a done deal. When I first heard about it, I thought it was already written in stone. Now it appears that it isn't a sure thing and yet the media and most others are all talking like it is. Let Wall Street live through a few weeks of uncertainty - as all the paperwork says there is no assurances in investing. Those of us who don't work on Wall Street ( A.K.A. the vast majority ) appreciate less panic and more calm discussions leading to the most agreeable outcome.

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Randomness Daryl Ducharme Randomness Daryl Ducharme

Funny but disturbing

I don't have cable so I'm always a day behind in watching The Daily Show. So last night, I watched Tuesday's episode. While I get most of my news online, The Daily Show gives me a chance to relish in the ridiculousness of politics and the main stream news media. Usually, I just feel better after watching it but this clips punchline was just a little too disturbing.

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Randomness Daryl Ducharme Randomness Daryl Ducharme

Primus on Boing Boing TV

One of my favorite bands is Primus.Primus sucks! When I was first learning bass guitar my friend and guitarist Jeff had me buy a CD to get inspired. While he later regretted that decision as he didn't want to sound like Primus, it did turn me on to an extremely interesting band to listen to. So today was the first time I actually watched an episode of Boing Boing TV rather than just skim the article as they had a interview with Les & Ler. I just hope that a new album is indeed in the works. My friend Fats and I have been waiting. ...

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Call To Action - Call your senators

I don't like my money funding expenses that corporations should have to cover. After reading the book Free Lunch, all about hidden corporate subsidies by the US Government, I am more apalled than ever about how easy it is for the people who don't need money to get my money. That is why I am asking all Americans to call their senators and tell them you do not support Senate Bill 3325. It is known as the The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008. ...

The The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008, is a bill that takes the responsibility of enforcing copyright/trademark away from the copyright/trademark owners and puts it on the US Government. In this way, it nearly eliminates the cost burden a copyright holder must bear when dealing with cases of infringement. The recent history of the MPAA and RIAA lawsuits has already spent much of my taxpayers dollars on having courts deal with cases that are witchhunts at best ( though some witches may have been caught ). A bill like this just sets these witchhunts up as government sponsored and my money goes to support them.

By all means, if you want to spend your tax dollars helping the RIAA, the MPAA and others enforce copyright and trademark violations then do nothing. However, if you think your tax dollars could be put to better use elsewhere or that you shouldn't be taxed as much call your Senators and tell them no on Senate bill 3325. While you are at it, both major party presidential candidates are senators so find out what they think of spending your tax dollars to support the coffers of MPAA and the RIAA.

S. 3325 on OpenCongress
S. 3325 on THOMAS - Full bill text.

Find your senator at the US Goverment's Senate website.

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An interview with Matt Gonzalez

Matt Gonzalez is my favorite VP candidate, and not just because he is Ralph Nader's running mate. I've mentioned my opinion on Wayne Root when he got nominated. Rosa Clemente, I like what she is doing but she doesn't speak to me directly. Then there is the mainstream candidates. Biden, I liked hearing him speak in the Democratic debates because he was different but I definately didn't want him to be president. Then there is Sarah Palin. I heard somebody say recently, "What a disaster." I like Matt Gonzalez because he has an uncanny way of talking about ( with a history to back it up ) of talking about dramatic almost revolutionary change with a laid back tone. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten a chance to hear him speak much. Luckily I came across this hour long interview with him on Fora.tv. ...

Matt did really well in this interview in the face of an interviewer who had some good counter questions for him as a candidate against the so-called people's party. In watching this, I want to know more about that notebook he has. He must have notes for any question people are likely to ask him with statistics, numbers, quotes and more to answer with. The fact that he can find what he is looking in there so fast says that he has a good indexing system.

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