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Something needs to be done to address absentee voting!
March 25, 2009
I want to start off by apologizing to my readers, for not keeping this blog up to date as much as a good blogger should. I have always wanted to have a daily blog, but it takes a lot of work to write a well-thought out blog post that is both co-herent and meaningful. It usually takes me several hours before I’m satisfied with a post, so I have to have subject-matter that I really care about to be able to write a post I can feel good about.  Most day-to-day news does not fit in that category. So when I found out about twitter, about a month ago, I began to micro-blog. I’m not shutting down this blog totally, but the posts will continue to be few. If you want to read my thoughts on day-to-day news, follow me on twitter<a href=”http://www.twitter.com/echopulse”>@echopulse</a>. With that said, I do have something I want to talk about today. Military Voting. Or lack therof.
I noticed during the last election cycle that little was done to court the military vote by either party. This includes both the politicians and news personalities on both sides of the isle. I feel this needs to change. I wish someone would bring up the subject of absentee voting at least once during a debate, or town-hall meeting. In the last election, I witnessed what has to be the biggest disenfranchisement of any voting bloc. And nothing is being done to correct it. Here is my story.
Our boat was out to sea during both the primary and general elections. We were on deployment during the primaries, but we pulled into a few foreign ports early on, so the crewmembers who wanted to vote were able to request their absentee ballots via snail mail. I sent my request in early November for the March 3rd election in Texas, so I would have time to get my ballot, and send it in. We then hit another port in early January, and at that time, I hadn’t yet recieved my ballot, even though other sailors had gotten mail. I wasn’t the only one that didn’t get a ballot. However. I knew that we would be hitting another port in mid-Febuary, and surely, I would get it then. Sadly,when we arrived, it wasn’t there. The election was only a few weeks away, so I wasn’t able to vote at all. Did I ever get my ballot? Yes, I did - two months later, after my candidate, Mike Huckabee had already dropped out of the race. When I did finally get my ballots, I received two of them, So I voted for him twice, but sadly, my votes were probably never even opened.
Our boat was also out to sea for a few weeks at a time leading up to the general election. The Commanding Officer did his part to encourage the crewmembers to request our absentee ballots, because we would be leaving Nov. 1st to go back out to sea. We had to go to our local elections office, or an office on base to get our ballot requests, and then mail them into our elections office, just like during the primaries. They weren’t available on the ship. But at least most of the crewmembers were able to vote if they wanted to. The voting process was still very cumbersome, and many crewmembers avoided it altogether because they just didn’t have time or energy to go through the process. I am politically active, so I talked to many of the crewmembers about their experience. Some did not receive their ballots in time, and others did not believe that their votes would be counted, because they knew that most results are tallied electronically on election night, and they know the election is called before the absentee votes have time to be opened. According to my unscientific poll, I calculated that about 20% of the members of my boat actually mailed in their ballots. I believe that this is widespread, un-American, and needs to be addressed. It is us military folk who are fighting for rights of the average citizen, but it is made very difficult for us to participate in choosing our leaders, and especially our Commander in Cheif!
We need to call for a system to be set up to allow active duty military, including those who are on shore duty, out-of-state, and far away from their registered polling places, to be able to vote securely online. If ebay and Visa can set up secure sites, surely some technology firm could set up a online voting system that is secure.
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 5:45 pm No Comments »
Are Political Labels Helpful, or Hurtful?
February 5, 2009
I have been pondering the subject of political labels for quite some time, and the subject is like muddy water. The words don’t mean what people think they mean. I recently looked up the words conservative, liberal, and progressive in a dictionary, and what I found was quite surprising. I have always considered myself very conservative, but after reading these definitions, I can’t say that any of these labels fit my political ideology.
Conservative:
1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
Liberal:
1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
With that in mind, I don’t think what most conservatives stand for can actually be called “conservative”. A lot of conservatives support the FairTax, and that would be an enormous change from the status-quo. It would also be progress towards a more robust economy. Eliminating any government agency or program would be a definite change. Many other initiatives that are usually thought of as conservative, could be thought of as making progress. The only area that I actually see us being conservative on, in the truest sense of the word, is on moral issues. We are definitely favorable to maximum individual freedom, and that is part of the definition of liberal.
So, is the label “conservative” helping our cause, or hurting it. I once heard a song that said, “The only thing that doesn’t change is change.” Change can be very good, or it can be bad. So why should a political label that has multiple meanings, define us, or stand in the way?
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 12:10 pm No Comments »
Saul Anuzis would be a great RNC Chair!
January 28, 2009
I have previously voiced my support for Ken Blackwell for RNC Chairman, but after further research, I have decided to throw my support behind Saul Anuzis. The GOP needs a conservative who can connect with the voters. Saul “gets” it; he blogs, twitters, and takes full advantage of social media.  His support of the FairTax proves that he connects with the grassroots supporters. I think he can rebuild the party from the ground up, and bring it back to majority status. Ken Blackwell remains my second choice. Either of these men would be great leaders, and they would stand up for conservative principles.
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 5:54 pm No Comments »
If We Had Some Global Warming
January 24, 2009
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 8:31 am No Comments »
Today’s Generation Needs to Look Back for Wholesome Role Models!
January 22, 2009
I grew up in the 80’s, a very different generation from today. We had vales. The shows that we watched, and the books that we read in school actually portrayed wholesome messages. Today’s youth are growing up with “so called” role models, like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Eminem. They are watching movies like American Pie, Road Trip, Mallrats, and these celebrities and movies portray messages of broken family values. Drugs, sex, prostitution, smoking, drinking, and filthy language are all glorified by today’s media. The media is constantly attacking family values. From the academy awards to the nightly news hollywood promotes disgraceful behavior. Devorce is on the rise. It is a slap in the facepeople with real moral values. There are still a few good shows being made today, but they are few and far between. Today’s generation wouldbe better off to go back and read some of the books, and watch some of the movies of the past.
I’m a nostalgic type of person, and I happen to remember some of the shows I watched, and the books I read as a child. If you are a parent, or a concerned baby-sitter, you might want to take a look at some of my children’s resources. All the movies and books on those lists promote wholesome family values. They are all geared at adolesents. I hightlight the ones I enjoyed  from my childhood, as well as ones being made today, that I find wholesome. The movies lists are organized by male and female character, in order to facilitate finding films that are geared towards males, or females.
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 11:51 am No Comments »
Republicans Lost - Time to Rebuild the Party!
December 27, 2008
After taking a sabbatical from blogging for quite some time, due to the fact that I have been out to sea for much of the time, I feel it is time to make a comeback.
Since my return, several people have come up to me and said, you (republicans) lost your elections this year. Well let me first start out by saying, we (conservatives) did not lose. We had no one running on the ballot this year. John McCain was a liberal republican who would have never won the nomination of our party if democrats and independents had not been allowed to cross-over and vote in our primaries. Mike Huckabee would have probably won. He was one of the few real conservatives running. In the senate and congress, the republicans who lost, were mostly moderates. This is a good thing, it means we (conservatives) are cleaning house. We actually won several races that were held by democrats. And Prop 8 won in CA. When we run on conservatisim, we usually win. The next two elections will focus on re-building the conservative wing of the party, so that we will re-capture what we have lost. If we keep running moderates on the republican ticket, we will continue to lose.
In order to help re-build the party, I am endorsing Ken Blackwell for RNC Chair. He is teaming up with Tina Benkiser, Committewoman from Texas. She is a superb choice as his co-chair. Please support Ken and Tina by calling your state chairs and asking them to vote for Ken Blackwell at the January meeting, where the republican party will choose it’s next chairman.
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 4:17 pm No Comments »
Water: The answer to our fuel problem?
May 9, 2008
I used to think that the answer to our fuel problem was opening up ANWR for drilling, and building more nuclear power plants. With the price of gasoline soaring to nearly four dollars a gallon, I have begun to realize that even if that were to happen, it would take years to realize the benefits, and by that time, our economy would be sunk. People have told me that the oil companies have been keeping information about alternative fuels from us, because they were greedy. At first I didn’t want to hear it, but after learning that Rush refuses to listen to arguments that don’t agree with his premise, as was the case with his argument against Mike Huckabee, I began to question some of his other long held beliefs. I began to research alternative fuels. What I found was quite a surprise. I have known about hydrogen fuel cells for years. The question in my mind has always been how are we going to get the hydorgen in our cars. I thought it would take a decade to build the infrastructure to deliver it. Someone alerted me to a process called electorosys, which uses electricity to extract the gas from water? Could it be possible? I did a Yahoo search, because I hate google. I came across a news video showing a working fuel cell powered only by water. I did more research, and came across Run Your Car On Water . This site details how you can increase your fuel effiency by almost 50%. Imagine getting 60 mpg! You would save over 100 dollars a month. It costs less than 200 dollars to do the modification. Everyone should know about this new technology. Tell everyone you know. This could be the answer to our energy crisis.
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 11:38 pm No Comments »
For all your Huckabee Doubters
November 26, 2007
As I have been telling everyone that will listen about my ferverent support for Mike Huckabee as our next President, I constantly hear people say that they like Huckabee, but they can’t support him because he can’t win against Hillary or any other Democrat. Of course I have heard the same thing about the other (R) candidates as well. The conventional wisdom goes that a Democrat will win next year, but I strongly believe that if we put put up a candidate that will rally the base, that we can overcome the conventional wisdom. Mike Huckabee is that man. Mitt Flip-Flop Romney will not do it. The liberal Rudy will surely not do it. Fred Thompson could do it if he had some drive and passion. I agree with Fred on many issues, but he does not articulate his ideas well. He would be terrible at pushing good public policy through congress. I could see democrats running over him, just like they do Bush. Can you say lame duck from the start. But I will hold my nose and vote for him if he wins the nomination That is not the case for Rudy. On the other hand, Mike Huckabee is better at articulating the conservative message than anyone I have observed in the political arena. The only thing holding him back is name recognition and money. That is quickly changing. Some recent polls have him doing very well both in Iowa , Febuary 5th states , and even nationally. A just released Zogby poll has him beating Hillary Clinton in a matchup by 5%! Not even Rudy can claim that. I think it is because of crossover apeal. Now some right wing republicans are not going to like that. But we need a president who will unite the country, not divide it. I feel so strongly about this issue that I have donated over $2000 dollars to the Huckabee Campaign. It looks like my hard earned money is paying off. If you care about the country, I ask you to please donate to the Huckabee campaign . If you can afford 10 or 20 dollars, that is fine. Every little bit helps. Help Mike reach his goal of 1.25 million raised online in the month of November. He does not have the war chest of Rudy or Mitt, but with a little well spent money, he can beat back the attacks that will surely come, so that he can become our next President.
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 2:47 pm No Comments »
Huckabee Wins Washington Breifing Straw Poll
October 21, 2007
I had a great time at the Washington Breifing. I got to pesronally meet a lot of really great people and candidates. Among them, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Duncan Hunter, Ben Stein, and even Ron Paul. I also heard many many great speeches, but far and away, Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich’s were the best. Here are the results of the straw Poll.
Mike Huckabee 488 51.26%
Mitt Romney 99 10.40%
Fred Thompson 77 8.09%
Tom Tancredo 65 6.83%%
It’s funny that Ron Paul came in 9th place with 25 votes!
Now, some media sources are saying that Romney won the straw poll. Well, that is a seperate online poll that anyone who donated a dollar could vote in. The real poll is the one of the people who were at the event, and watched the speeches voted in.
I encourage you to go to the Washington Breifing web site and watch all the speeches. Especially Mike Huckabee!
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 11:42 am No Comments »
Mike Huckabee’s Best Moments
October 12, 2007
Yours truly, Joshua Clinard @ 5:56 pm No Comments »
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