How this Canadian voted on the issues.
Joseph Raglione
February 02, 2008
Hello Gentle Readers:
Below are the issues I support from my perspective as an international journalist living up here in Canada.
I support:
1. Universal Medicare. Yes! Why? Because it works and I use it and I've been protecting our Medicare system up here in Canada for several decades. Only our expensive Dentists have been left out of the Medicare system and as a consequence, millions of lower middle class Canadians now suffer from bad teeth! Middle and lower middle class citizens are not on welfare and surprisingly, many cannot afford to visit the Dentist. Why? Because they have house mortgages and car payments and children to support and they quietly suffer with bad teeth, postponing the inevitable. When they finally do go visit a Dentist, they are terrorized by the dental bills! Strangely enough, millions of our poorest welfare citizens are protected by the government and have almost free access to Dentists, as long as they present their welfare cards. If you admit to being poor, and submit to government control, you can get Dental help. You do lose your dignity and pride but you get to keep your Teeth!
Universal Medicare gives everybody dignity and pride. It places rich and poor on the same playing field and human rights and human dignity are preserved. Dentists should be included within this system.
2. Abortion Rights. Yes! Imagine you are a young woman living in Darfur and you are attacked by killers and rapists. They kill your family and they rape you! The question is, should you have the choice to abort the fetus? Imagine you are a Mother of three small children living in New York and your credit card is maxed out and your husband just lost his job. What if by accident you become pregnant? Should you have the choice to abort the fetus? Adoption is an alternative to abortion for circumstances less severe than these mentioned above, but freedom of choice is important.
3. Death Penalty. No! Imagine you are wrongly accused of murder and sent to jail to face a lethal injection. The Governor decides not to commute your sentence and after spending years in jail you are about to die! Then suddenly sombody learns how to use DNA as evidence and finally, you are set free! What if they had carried out the sentence a day after you were wrongly convicted? What if they had never discovered how to use DNA as evidence? What if...indeed!
4. No Child Left Behind. Yes! I was left behind in school because the teachers did not recognize my learning disability. Today, I forgive all the authoritarians who did not recognize my emotional and psychological problems as a child. Why? Because most are dead! Today, I happily expose ignorant authorities to national and international audiences.
5. Federal Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Yes! Because it's wonderful science and stem cells are now found outside the umbilical chord. It is no longer a moral or ethical issue and lives are being saved as I write these words.
6. ANWR Drilling. No! Oil is on it's way out! Not only is it destructive to the environment but the World is switching to: Windmills, Geothermal heating, Super insulating methods, Hydrogen powered cars, Electric powered cars, Heavy underwear, Thicker Sweaters, Hot chilli Peppers...and a lot less television advertising for Gas and Cars and Oil products.
7. Kyoto Protocol. Yes! Kyoto, however, is out of style. The new Bali aggreement is now active and within a year the United States will join the coalition of the willing. The world is changing fast and not a moment too soon!
8. Assault Weapons Ban. Yes! If not, I will buy myself a fifty caliber machine gun for target practice on public property. Give me a break, folks! The world absolutely believes Americans as a group are fanatically dangerous! Why prove them correct?
9. Gun Background Checks. Yes! If not, I recomend selling guns to mental hospital patients. Guns kill!They don't dig gardens, they kill! Freedom is threatened by guns and certainly not protected by guns!
10. Patriot Act. No! I'm a Canadian and as such I like to think of myself as a citizen of the world! An international journalist. A member of the Homo Sapient Human Race. A peace loving human being who resents the fact his minority Canadian Conservative government sent fighting troops to Afghanistan in support of "our friends next door" within the Federal administration.
11. Guantanamo Detention Camp. No! We Canadians already contributed one poor innocent Muslim scape goat to the cause. He was fingered by our RCM-P brains and then secretely captured by U.S. agents and secretely sent to another country to be tortured for information. When he was finally released, he sued the Canadian government and won a million dollars! At least Bush was appeased and did not attack Canada!
12. Waterboarding Detainees. Yes, but only in Hawaii where the waves are huge and NO, if it means torturing people for information! I suggest those who advocate torture be tortured for information on why they like to torture people for information, excluding myself.
13. Citizen Path for Illegal Immigrants. Yes! Without the illegal work force, most U.S. government members would live in dirty houses.
14. Border Fence. No! I'm too old to climb fences! But if you do build a fence, it will stop U.S. citizens from entering Canada; but only temporarily. It is going to get very hot near the equator and global warming is not a joke! Guess who will want to migrate up to a cooler climate?
15. Internet Neutrality. Yes! I like writing on the internet, without being told what and where and how to write.
16. U.S. Sanctions Against Iran! No! They are nervous enough.
17. Military Action Against Iran! No! With two hundred thousand dead innocent Iraquis, the U.S.quota has been met for this decade!
18. Support Iraq War. No! I am a world humanitarian for peace and the ecology.
19. Increase Minimum Wage. Yes! I find fifteen Canadian dollars an hour is not enough...and our dollar surpassed the U.S. dollar!
20. Same-Sex Marriage. Yes! I'm a heterosexual who believes in live and let live. And there is solid evidence that Gays are born and not made.
21. Universal Health Care. Yes! Unless you enjoy watching people die in pain and agony because they haven't got medical insurance!
22. Free Trade. No! We tried it and we lost a billion dollars. Our Trees were clear cut, our Cattle were banned from crossing the border and now you want our water. At last count, Canada lost over a billion dollars with 'free' trade.
23. School Vouchers. Yes! To help all our schools go 'Green!'
24. Privatizing Social Security. No! The name is 'social security' and not 'every person for themselves' security!
25. Fair Tax Yes! Polls have proven that the Danes are the happiest people in the world because in Denmark, they pay more taxes than anybody else on Earth! The Taxes are used for their social benefit and not to line the pockets of the politicians or the ultra rich.
Who do you plan to vote for in 2008? Undecided Hillary Clinton Mike Gravel Mike Huckabee John McCain Barack Obama Ron Paul Mitt Romney
Visit this website and Click an issue for more information and to discuss it with other voters. http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html
Below are the issues I support from my perspective as an international journalist living up here in Canada.
I support:
1. Universal Medicare. Yes! Why? Because it works and I use it and I've been protecting our Medicare system up here in Canada for several decades. Only our expensive Dentists have been left out of the Medicare system and as a consequence, millions of lower middle class Canadians now suffer from bad teeth! Middle and lower middle class citizens are not on welfare and surprisingly, many cannot afford to visit the Dentist. Why? Because they have house mortgages and car payments and children to support and they quietly suffer with bad teeth, postponing the inevitable. When they finally do go visit a Dentist, they are terrorized by the dental bills! Strangely enough, millions of our poorest welfare citizens are protected by the government and have almost free access to Dentists, as long as they present their welfare cards. If you admit to being poor, and submit to government control, you can get Dental help. You do lose your dignity and pride but you get to keep your Teeth!
Universal Medicare gives everybody dignity and pride. It places rich and poor on the same playing field and human rights and human dignity are preserved. Dentists should be included within this system.
2. Abortion Rights. Yes! Imagine you are a young woman living in Darfur and you are attacked by killers and rapists. They kill your family and they rape you! The question is, should you have the choice to abort the fetus? Imagine you are a Mother of three small children living in New York and your credit card is maxed out and your husband just lost his job. What if by accident you become pregnant? Should you have the choice to abort the fetus? Adoption is an alternative to abortion for circumstances less severe than these mentioned above, but freedom of choice is important.
3. Death Penalty. No! Imagine you are wrongly accused of murder and sent to jail to face a lethal injection. The Governor decides not to commute your sentence and after spending years in jail you are about to die! Then suddenly sombody learns how to use DNA as evidence and finally, you are set free! What if they had carried out the sentence a day after you were wrongly convicted? What if they had never discovered how to use DNA as evidence? What if...indeed!
4. No Child Left Behind. Yes! I was left behind in school because the teachers did not recognize my learning disability. Today, I forgive all the authoritarians who did not recognize my emotional and psychological problems as a child. Why? Because most are dead! Today, I happily expose ignorant authorities to national and international audiences.
5. Federal Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Yes! Because it's wonderful science and stem cells are now found outside the umbilical chord. It is no longer a moral or ethical issue and lives are being saved as I write these words.
6. ANWR Drilling. No! Oil is on it's way out! Not only is it destructive to the environment but the World is switching to: Windmills, Geothermal heating, Super insulating methods, Hydrogen powered cars, Electric powered cars, Heavy underwear, Thicker Sweaters, Hot chilli Peppers...and a lot less television advertising for Gas and Cars and Oil products.
7. Kyoto Protocol. Yes! Kyoto, however, is out of style. The new Bali aggreement is now active and within a year the United States will join the coalition of the willing. The world is changing fast and not a moment too soon!
8. Assault Weapons Ban. Yes! If not, I will buy myself a fifty caliber machine gun for target practice on public property. Give me a break, folks! The world absolutely believes Americans as a group are fanatically dangerous! Why prove them correct?
9. Gun Background Checks. Yes! If not, I recomend selling guns to mental hospital patients. Guns kill!They don't dig gardens, they kill! Freedom is threatened by guns and certainly not protected by guns!
10. Patriot Act. No! I'm a Canadian and as such I like to think of myself as a citizen of the world! An international journalist. A member of the Homo Sapient Human Race. A peace loving human being who resents the fact his minority Canadian Conservative government sent fighting troops to Afghanistan in support of "our friends next door" within the Federal administration.
11. Guantanamo Detention Camp. No! We Canadians already contributed one poor innocent Muslim scape goat to the cause. He was fingered by our RCM-P brains and then secretely captured by U.S. agents and secretely sent to another country to be tortured for information. When he was finally released, he sued the Canadian government and won a million dollars! At least Bush was appeased and did not attack Canada!
12. Waterboarding Detainees. Yes, but only in Hawaii where the waves are huge and NO, if it means torturing people for information! I suggest those who advocate torture be tortured for information on why they like to torture people for information, excluding myself.
13. Citizen Path for Illegal Immigrants. Yes! Without the illegal work force, most U.S. government members would live in dirty houses.
14. Border Fence. No! I'm too old to climb fences! But if you do build a fence, it will stop U.S. citizens from entering Canada; but only temporarily. It is going to get very hot near the equator and global warming is not a joke! Guess who will want to migrate up to a cooler climate?
15. Internet Neutrality. Yes! I like writing on the internet, without being told what and where and how to write.
16. U.S. Sanctions Against Iran! No! They are nervous enough.
17. Military Action Against Iran! No! With two hundred thousand dead innocent Iraquis, the U.S.quota has been met for this decade!
18. Support Iraq War. No! I am a world humanitarian for peace and the ecology.
19. Increase Minimum Wage. Yes! I find fifteen Canadian dollars an hour is not enough...and our dollar surpassed the U.S. dollar!
20. Same-Sex Marriage. Yes! I'm a heterosexual who believes in live and let live. And there is solid evidence that Gays are born and not made.
21. Universal Health Care. Yes! Unless you enjoy watching people die in pain and agony because they haven't got medical insurance!
22. Free Trade. No! We tried it and we lost a billion dollars. Our Trees were clear cut, our Cattle were banned from crossing the border and now you want our water. At last count, Canada lost over a billion dollars with 'free' trade.
23. School Vouchers. Yes! To help all our schools go 'Green!'
24. Privatizing Social Security. No! The name is 'social security' and not 'every person for themselves' security!
25. Fair Tax Yes! Polls have proven that the Danes are the happiest people in the world because in Denmark, they pay more taxes than anybody else on Earth! The Taxes are used for their social benefit and not to line the pockets of the politicians or the ultra rich.
Who do you plan to vote for in 2008? Undecided Hillary Clinton Mike Gravel Mike Huckabee John McCain Barack Obama Ron Paul Mitt Romney
Visit this website and Click an issue for more information and to discuss it with other voters. http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html
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