The REAL Polarbear's Blog

INTRODUCTION:

The original blog post items appear in RED.  My comments and answers appear in BLUE. 

1) To be the Candidate of National security: a) Victory in Iraq

---Are you saying someone who will "stay the course" of Bush's failure? Someone who will support spilling more blood and more money on that lost cause? Someone who will support an unnecessary war? The only TRUE VICTORY in Iraq will be our people coming home soon.

*****What we really need is someone who will end this damn war as soon as possible.

b) Fully support NSA, Patriot act, tough interrogations, keeping Gitmo open

---I get it. Four more years of violating international law and torturing human beings in the same way OUR people were tortured in past wars. Four more years of being the aggressor nation and bullying others. Four more years of stepping all over our own Constitutional rights. Four more years of the the criminal Partiot Act and illegal wire taps and illegal searches. Four more years of undermining the Bill Of Rights.

*****What we need is a president who will set a good example by upholding international laws and treat human beings with dignity, because it is the right thing to do. This is America, we are better than that. We DO NOT TORTURE!! We need a president who will defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Who will ensure that our rights are never infringed on. Someone who will not use security as an excuse to make this a police state.

c) A Candidate that pledges to NOT demean our military while they are fighting for their Country. eg Harry Reid: "the surge has failed", "the war is lost" d) Candidate that promises to ensure that our veterans can live out their lives in dignity.

---So it is not demeaning to keep sending MORE people to an unnecessary death? It is NOT demeaning for a presidential candidate who happens to be a veteran to refuse to support a bi-partisan modern day GI bill that would reward our men and women for their service? It is NOT demeaning to not provide the proper mental health services to reduce suicides of returning soldiers?

*****What we need is a president that is in touch with reality. The surge didn't work. The war IS a lost cause. We are wasting lives and money fighting an unnecessary battle. It is time to put an end to this thing. We need to reward our returning men and women. They served their country, even in the bull**** war. Nothing in this world can ever completely thank them for their service. The current politicians and administration are not even worthy of breathing the same air our men and women breathe. The LEAST we could do is pass the new GI bill to help these individuals with housing and education and other expenses. Provide ALL necessary medical health and mental health necessary. There is no excuse to keep throwing money at Iraq and treat our people like crap.

2) The Candidate who pledges to oppose Appeasement: a) The Candidate will oppose any and all efforts to negotiate with dictators of the world in places like Iran, Syria, N.Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela without "pre-conditions"

---ABSOLUTELY WRONG!!

*****We need a mature president who is in touch with the real world and realizes the global world we live in. We need a president who is open to communicating with other countrues. Open to finding out WHY they feel as they do and what cna be done to fix the problem. We need open communication, even with enemies, to ensure we are aware of what is going on and if there are any threats. We need a president who will end this silly, immature embargo with Cuba. They are our neighbor to the South and it is in our best interest to be on good terms with them. There's no place for the "cowboy diplomacy" of the Bush Administration. 

 The Candidate Pledges to support Tax CUTS, and fiscal responsibility: a) The American people are NOT under taxed, Government Spends too much

---ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!

*****If you want this, John McCain is NOT the person to vote for. The man who once opposed the Bush tax cuts for the rich now wants to make them permanent. Tax cuts for the rich are bull****. They need to be greatly reduced. Tax cuts for Big Business and Big Oil especially need to be drastically cut. Tax cuts need to be given to families and poorer Americans instead.

b) The Candidate who Pledges to ELIMINATE and VOTE AGAINST ALL Earmarks ---ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!

*****We need a president who will be tough on earmarks and pork barrel spending. The CBS Evening News does a great segement called "Follow the Money" that exposes many of these outrageous earmarks. They're a drain on the system and they need to be stopped, PERIOD.

c) The Candidate pledges to BALANCE the budget

---Yes!

*****In order to balance the budget, we first need to stop adding to it. That means eliminating the biggest waste of money in the world, the Iraq War. We need to put an immediate end to the "borrow & spend" economic policy of the Bush administration. He has single-handedly bankrupted our country and passed the burden of his mistake on to future generations.

4) The Candidate Pledges to be a supporter of "Energy Independence" a) supports Immediate drilling in Anwar and the 48 states

---It is WRONG to allow drilling in protected areas and it is WRONG to allow the destruction of natural habitats.

*****Drilling in these places is equivalent to treating a bullet wound with a band aid. What we really need is a long term solution that will help the American consumer as well as protect our environment. We need to put serious work into alternative fuels. We need to stop the dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels that contribute to the greenhouse effect and global warming. We need to stop rewarding the oil companies with record profits and help consumers, who cannot afford fuel.

b) Building new refineries

---No more refineries. No more pollution-causing energy sources. See above.

*****Rather than continuing the current downward spiral, we need to begin researching and investing in alternative fuels, solar power, wind power. We need to expand these new, growing industries to give Americans necessary jobs. We need to look to the future and embrace these new technologies.

c) Begin building and using Nuclear Facilities

---OK, to a point. We need to be careful with nuclear technology. We need to ensure that it is done safely.

d) expand coal mining

---Absolutely NOT!! The last thing we need to do is MORE coal mining.

 *****We need to again look to alternative energy sources. We need to become less dependent on coal. With our current mines we need to increase safety and avoid tragedies like the mine collapses we have had in the past.

e) realistic steward of the environment While simultaneously working with private industry to develop the new energy technologies for the future, with the goal being that America becomes completely energy independent within the next 15 years.

 ---This is what we need to do. increasing mining and oil drilling will NOT help.

 *****We need a president that realizes global warming IS real and man IS contributing to it. We need strict regulations and punishments for companies that pollute and damage our environment.

5) The Candidate pledges to secure our borders completely within 12 months: a) build all necessary fences

b) use all available technology to help and support agents at the border

c) train and hire agents as needed

---NO FENCES!!

*****We need a president who realizes a fence is not a logical solution in the modern world. We don't need another great wall of China. What we need is to talk to Mexico. We need to assess what the problem is and when it began. We need to offer solutions and help them fix THEIR problems which will in turn fix our problems. Solve the problems with jobs and money there to stop them from coming here for jobs.

6) Healthcare: The Candidate will look for Free-Market solutions to the problems facing the Healthcare industry, and will vigorously oppose any efforts to "nationalize healthcare".

---We need a Universal Health Care system we all pay into and can all get something out of.   We need the opposite-oppostion to the current privatized system.

*****Free Market=Privatized. We already have a privatized health care system. We are the only industiralized nation without some form of Universal Health Care. We need to drop the "rest of the world is wrong" attitude and help our citizens. HMOs run the system and people are hurt by it, all as the insurance companies make record profits. What we need is a candidate who will vigorously oppose the privatization of health care and further putting control and power into the hands of Big Business. We need a Universal Health Care system everyone pays into.

a) The Candidate will fight for Individual health savings accounts, that includes "catastrophic insurance" for every American, so people can control their own healthcare choices.

---Forget about "choices" and "personal accounts". We first need to get EVERY American citizen health care coverage.

*****We need to go after Drug Companies as well as doctors and hospitals who charge outrageous prices all in the name of making money. Health Care needs to NOT be treated as a business. The bureaucracy needs to be ended.

*****We need to stop this system of "sick care". Instead we need to invest in getting EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN access to PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE. Treating people and giving them regular checkups to avoid disease/illness from getting to advanced stages, requiring more expensive care.

7) Education: a) The Candidate pledges to "save" American children from the failing educational system

---Yes!

*****The first step is to put an end to the No Child Left Behind disaster caused by George Bush. Education needs to be reformed from the highest levels all the way down to the local school. Corruption, greed and mismanagement of money need to be confronted and ended.

b) The Candidate will fight to break the unholy alliance of the Democratic party and teachers unions, which at best has institutionalized mediocrity, and has failed children across the country

---Again, the corruption and mishandling of money need to be confronted and ended. School sdministrators and teachers need to be held accountable for their actions. Incompitent teachers kept on the payroll because of "seniority" need to be terminated.

c) fight for "CHOICE" in education and let parents decide d) fight for vouchers for parents

---Read my lips: ABSOLUTELY NO VOUCHERS!!

*****Vouchers must be fought with full power. We cannot allow money from already cash-strapped school districts. The law requires that the government provide PUBLIC EDUCATION. If you want to send your children elsewhere, it is YOUR responsibility to pay for it, NOT the government's. Taking money away from schools only hurts the school more. We need to instead fix the current broken public school system. Taking money from the system will not help.

*****More choice will not help. If anything, it has only hurt the system. These charter schools and vouchers are only taking away from the public education system. We need to invest in fixing the current public education system.

8) Social Security and Medicare: a) The Candidate will "save" social security and medicare from bankruptcy.

---Yes. We need to ensure Social Security is protected and will be around in the future.

b) Options will include "private retirement" funds so people can "control" their own destiny.

---NO. We cannot allow people to take money out of social security. We must keep it the way it is now.

*****Many candidates(usually Republicans) always talk of "choice" in social security. Choice is bad, People will not "choose" to save their money. They will treat it as extra spending money to use now. We mus ensure that EVERY American pays into the system so they can get money back in their old age.

9) Judges a) The Candidate vows to support ONLY judges who recognize that their job is to interpret the Constitution, and NOT legislate from the bench.

---Stop appointing judges who agree with the president's views.

*****Several of Bush's appointed judges share his conservative beliefs and we are close to being in danger of violating the woman's right to her body and reproductive rights in Roe v. Wade.  No more conservative judges.  This country is headed in a dangerous, ugly direction because the conservatives have taken power. 

10) American Dream: The Candidate accepts as their duty and responsibility to educate, inform, and remind people that with the blessings of Freedom comes a Great responsibility. That Government's primary goal is to preserve, protect and defend our God given gift of freedom.

---Exactly. I wouldn't say God given, but instead the rights in our Bill Of Rights and Constitution.

*****We must fight to protect our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and the rights the Founding Fathers fought for. We must defend our principles of tolerance for others and religious freedom and not imposing beliefs on others.