Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

In Presidential Primaries that seem to be about Show Business, DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

CAN I BEG YOU TO READ A LONG POST? THE WHOLE THING?

Most of you know that I rarely if EVER bring up politics on my page. But I will say this: 1) NEVER vote on one or two issues alone. Especially for President, he/she had better know about (and represent you) in MANY issues. 2) DO YOUR RESEARCH! Don't believe what a politician says automatically. Increasingly, and this year especially, debates have been about PERFORMANCES and not about truth. Just because someone repeats a lie over and over, it does not make a lie true...but somehow it gets it repeated by gullible voters (and media) as if truth.
     Here is one tool I found to use. Yes, on social issues, most Democrats tend to agree with each other, and most Republicans tend to agree with each other. Still a Voter's Guide can give info in other ways. Did they answer the questions at all? If not, is the info available from the Candidates Official Record and Resources.
     Let me start with Democrats because there is little variance - but still you should look at the citations. 10 social issues / questions are addressed. Neither Clinton or Sanders answered the survey, but they do agree on the issues that the Guide could find documented answers for. There is no citation provided (found?) as to whether they believe in interpreting the US Constitution based on current situations or the intent of the original creators. This is important - and unknown - because one of the first acts of our next President will likely be the appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice. Go to the Citation sources and learn as much as you can before voting in the Primary. Sanders sources are all his own Issues page or Senate roll call. Three of Clinton's were not on her own site but available in articles or a PAC's page.

     Now for Republicans - I will go with top 3 only. Cruz and Rubio both answered all questions, and agreed. And here is where I want REPUBLICANS TO PAY ATTENTION! (Maybe I should have led with this...) Trump did not answer any of the questions. Because CAP (who puts out the voters guide) is a Conservative Agency (though they do no endorsing) Democrats tend not to answer and Republicans almost always do. So for a REPUBLICAN to not answer is a big RED FLAG. If I give him the benefit of the doubt because he has no history in politics and doesn't know better, or doesn't care, then let's look at what can be found - as is done for most Democratic candidates. The Guide could only FIND the answer to 5 OUT OF 10 questions - DISTURBING! And 3 of those 5 were found on his TWITTER page, not his website - SERIOUSLY DISTURBING! The other two sources were NBC News and Ammoland Shooting Sports News - I don't even know what to say about that... PLEASE VOTE RESPONSIBLY!
http://azvoterguide.com/  Although this is from Arizona, it's about the President so helps everyone - including Independents. (The one thing I found difficult about the Guide is that



you have to hover over the number in blue to find out the issue being cited, and then it covers the answer. But do the WORK...it's our COUNTRY's FUTURE we are talking about.)

Heather J. Kirk
Art by Heather J. Kirk www.heather-kirk.artistwebsites.com
Literature by Heather J. Kirk http://www.photographicartistry.citymax.com/Books.html

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

We have "Truth in Advertising" laws. I suggest that we create "#Truth in #Politics" laws.

We have "Truth in Advertising" laws. I suggest that we create "Truth in Politicizing" laws. If a candidate or PAC lies about a candidate during a debate or a commercial, they would have to 1) pay for a commercial on which 2) they say they were wrong (I lied, I misquoted, I misunderstood...) about 'x', 3) but the truth is that my opponent...
 
Maybe then we would not have so much garbage going around and so much spinning in a way that it could hardly be called the truth anymore. Take it out of their campaign funds!

In a debate like tonight’s with each calling the other a liar over and over, how can we ultimately know the truth. Do you just stick with your Party? Do you wait and see how the media spins it? Whoever wins the poll? Do you check on sites that pretend to tell the truth but are highly politicized themselves, like MoveOn.org, FactCheck.com or BarackObama.com/TruthTeam. Just a hint here - his website is going to say he told the truth. You can't trust each candidate to check themselves.

We need outside sources. Go to statistics, to economic indicators for more than the past 4 years.  Go to newspaper reports or radio interviews - listen to the whole thing, not just the sound bites; look at governmental records.  I bet you can look up a whole lot of things stated in the debate that was immediately  contradicted by the other, go beyond the sound bites to the whole context; look at governmental records. I bet you can look up Licenses for drilling on Federal Lands somewhere. The question is not should we or should we not, but what is true about drilling there based on what these two (angry/frustrated/contradictory) men said.
Lot's of "Talk to the Hand" going on...

Too much work? Don’t want to do all that research? Then go ahead and vote on who is cuter, or who the news says wins the popularity contest, vote for who is more charming. None of that will matter in the Presidency, but what the heck. Even a straight party ticket without knowing the parties’ platforms is pretty worthless.
Or, if doing a little research is too much for you, then please, don’t vote.


Heather J. Kirk