These guys are some of the "no-name candidates" so I won't spend much time talking about them. They don't have much chance of winning anyway. The link here is a table comparing where the candidates stand on issues. http://www.2decide.com/table.htm

And yes, these are my own personal opinions that sum up what I think of them because I don't have the time to do extensive research and write a biography on every candidate. You have every right to disagree with anything I say here, but defend your ideas.

Fred Thompson (R): I honestly have no idea why this guy's running. He can't memorize his lines and won't stop just to talk to his supporters. Regardless of where he stands on issues, he won't get the party nomination. He's better off going back to his acting career.

Dennis Kucinich (D): This guy has some good ideas, and he's honest. However, he's too socialistic to understand that socialism is extremely inefficient in practice. He's also for perpetuating No Child Left Behind, which was and always will be a horrible idea. He won't get the party nomination because he's too left of the spectrum and has neither adequate support nor adequate funds.

Chris Dodd (D): He's probably one of the more experienced candidates in the race. He's also bright, articulate, and a good diplomat (*). He's also a long-time senator and public servant. The reality, however, is that he doesn't stand out among his peers and doesn't really have viewpoints other than the typical liberal/Democrat. Although he may be well-prepared for the job of the presidency, I don't see him winning.

Bill Richardson (D): This guy is another stereotypical liberal/Democrat. He's a little lenient on illegal immigrants and appeals to Hispanics. Other than that, he's basically a clone of Chris Dodd.

Duncan Hunter (R): He's a moderate Republican who doesn't really stand out form his peers. He's also involved in all kinds of bribery and corruption scandals. There's not much else to say about him.


(*) I know about the parallel structure rule. I don't care unless I'm getting tested on it.

I recently heard that Cindy Sheehan is running against Nancy Pelosi in 2008 as an independent. I don't like either of these women, but the situation doesn't surprise me at all considering how the war turned out.

If you don't know who either of these people are, look them up on Wikipedia.

I searched Cindy Sheehan on YouTube to find out more information. I saw a clip from an episode of Hardball where Chris Matthews tells her that she should know the motives of people in Congress before personally attacking them based on one issue. The video is ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT_faGwBr1Q ). Listen to the last two minutes.

When I heard that, the light bulb on my head turned on. The motives drive the productivity (or lack thereof, as it is now) in every branch of government. The Congressmen have reasons for voting the way they do and if you do some research on their backgrounds, you can figure out why they're doing things a certain way.

Look at immigration, for example. There's a reason for the deadlock and lack of progress in the illegal immigration debate, from both Democrats and Republicans. The big businesses own a lot of politicians and are the group that benefit the most from illegal immigration.

Think about it: the desperate Mexicans jump the border looking for work. The corporations hire them for below minimum wage to make more profits for themselves and their investors. The illegals are stuck working the same menial jobs for the rest of their lives for little pay. They can't speak any English and don't have many skills, so how do you take care of them? Be generous with the taxpayers' money and give them generous benefits that many Americans can't afford like free healthcare and education for their kids from a Hispanic perspective in the Spanish language.

There isn't much reason for us to worry about the illegal aliens taking our jobs. You don't see any illegal alien investment bankers or illegal alien astronauts. Instead, they're sweeping the floors of McDonald's or picking Granny Smith apples for shipment. If anything, they're actually helping you by reducing labor costs so the companies can supply goods you can't imagine life without at rock bottom prices.

What's the solution? There are none. If you give them amnesty followed by full benefits of American workers, there would be a surplus of labor and shortage of work. If you round them up and send them back home, we have a shortage of labor and surplus of the kind of unskilled work that people don't want to do. If you keep things the way they are, you'll have proponents from both sides bitching about what a huge problem illegal immigration is right now.

The fact is that producers are greedy and consumers are stingy. They create this whole mess by electing politicians who will act based on their own selfish interests, then complain when they can't come up with a solution that works out for everyone.

I don't see any real progress in this issue no matter who controls the government.

I recently bought a video converter that lets me rip videotapes into my computer and convert them to MPEG-4, DVD, VCD, DivX, etc. videos that can play on most DVD players.

Videotapes were the latest and greatest thing a few decades ago, but they wear out easily and their quality is usually less than great. If you have a lot of old videotapes like I do, you probably hate how big they are and the fact that you have to rewind them after watching. They're also a hassle and wear out every time you watch them.

I've been thinking about making extra money by converting videotapes for people. I'll charge a relatively low amount for rip-and-burn but more if you want me to edit the tapes and do stuff with them.

Let me know if you're interested. I won't charge excessive amounts unless you give me really complicated orders. This is something I'm not planning on starting until after band is over when I have a lot of free time.

Oh, and I haven't decided on the price yet. Any suggestions for what a reasonable fee would be?

http://hs.facebook.com/marketplace/listing.php?classified_id=6604916501

This is one of those rare moments when there's absolutely nothing going on. Today is supposed to be International Peace Day, but who besides Dr. Giersch's music students actually knew that?

OK, it's not that there's nothing happening. It's just that the things that are happening are so few and meaningless that most people just don't care anymore. To give you an idea, here are some of the most ridiculous things I picked up from the news in the last few days...

1. In a recent press conference, President Bush was asked whether he would help or hurt his fellow Republicans' chances of winning in the next election. He said he would be a valuable asset. He also said Nelson Mandela is dead.

2. The SCHIP program (which I and many of you are using) is up for renewal and a bipartisan coalition is trying to extend coverage to millions of uninsured children. The president has vowed to veto legislation to renew the program calling it an attempted political victory by the Democrats because they waited until the program is just about to expire to renew it. Yes, he's blaming the Democrats for putting kids' lives on the line by not renewing the program until it was up for renewal so he's vetoing the legislation to.... Wait a minute. What?

3. The approval rating for the president is hovering around 29%. If you think that's bad, Congress is at 11%. I think we all know why.

4. O.J. is in trouble with the law once again. If he went to jail like he was supposed to over a decade ago, we wouldn't have to hear about this now. As before, the news will make a ton of hype over nothing and he'll get away with being a criminal. The press will forget about him and he'll write another book. Repeat.

5. Britney's agent dropped her. But the good news is that Britney's performance at the VMA is getting better and better. She's way past due for a suicide. So are Paris Hilton, Kevin Federline, and Lindsey Lohan.

6. You all know about the Jena 6 story, so I don't need to explain it.

7. The ACLU is trying to defend Senator Larry Craig. Yes, the same ACLU that Craig has been fighting for years is now trying to save his ass from liberal organizations like the ACLU who have been trying to get rid of him. Go figure.

8. Alan Greenspan took several lashes at President Bush including the Iraq war, the economy, and financial stability. I wonder what the Bush Administration has to say about all of this.

As you can see, the country is pretty screwed up right now. Any thoughts?