[Brad]

The War is the main issue....and I'm sure there is no one right way to approach it. The ideal situation would be anything that removes our troops from that area while also leaving a stable government behind. It'll take years to fix properly so I'm obviously going to be voting for people that are willing to stay the course and manage that problem over the long term.

On the home front I'm concerned about the following:

- Education: Anytime we can spend more money on education I'm all for it as long as it's put to good use. I do not agree with the way the education system is run (at least in my experiences with it both as a student and as a big bother seeing both my siblings deal with it).

For one thing funding should be sent where it's needed most. I'm kinda torn here because allowing federal money to be spent means every state can benefit but it's often mis-managed to the point where I can see at least my local schools begin better off without it (in other words the states would have to take care of their own).

Another thing: The teachers are still underpaid, lets raise the wages to attract good educators and get rid of the useless ones (and there are plenty of them in the system that's for sure). Also buying new equipment for a football team with everything it already needs is not a good use of funding!!! Sports come after the classroom, not before.

- The Internet, Big Media, DRM, Consumer rights: Anyone that supports further restrictions of my rights automatically gets placed on my "shit list". . I'm a firm believer in freedom on the internet and freedom to copy media/files I own and have paid for. I do not support restrictions on anything in the name of "the children" or whatever other hot-button issue comes up.

- The war on drugs: Just as bad as the war on Iraq IMHO. My opinion of the war on drugs is this: Catching violent drug dealers is good but filling up the prisons with "drug users" is bad.

If someone is sitting in prison for a drug charge and has not committed a violent crime isn't it obviously a bad idea to stick him in a system with tons of violent criminals? How can you not expect someone to come out of prison worse off in a situation like that? You know they tell "war stories" in there right?

<"So, what are you in for?>

I think we should go easier with the drug charges, fines instead of prison time would be a good start (although it varies from state to state). Prison should be a last resort after things like counseling and rehab are attempted. Drug use (especially addiction) are the result of other personal problems more often then not.

My point is these people need help and we should attempt to help them. If you can help someone that has gone astray and made a few mistakes and turn them into a working and productive member of our society then we've done the best we can do and that is obviously a better use for the money than what we spend it on now (go look up how much it costs to keep one man in prison for one year).

- Social issues: Gangs are still a huge problem everywhere and the issues go very deep (a lot of things are drawn a long the lines of race, after that comes control of resources and money). Worse yet they are even operating inside of our prisons! (I really hate prisons because it's just a hot bed of bad activity -,-).

We need more people out in the field keeping up with the gangs. Most of the large cities have "gang units" that take care of this stuff. I think we should have one in every community, and it should be there before there is already a large problem if possible. This is mostly a local issue but the federal government could help out in some respects (training begin the main one.)

- Health Care: The current way is total bullshit imho. Insurance hasn't changed since the days when it was sold from a horse and buggy. I would be willing to allow a portion of my pay to go towards a fund which would insure health care for me (and others) when needed. If I walk into an ER I shouldn't have to worry about begin turned away nor should anyone else.

Medications should not cost an arm and a leg. The producers of medications should not be allowed to profit off the illness of the people in the world.

- The Space Program: Lots of stuff going on at NASA atm, a lot of it not good. ;/

Things we need as far as the space program is concerned:

1) A reliable way to get to low-earth orbit (and beyond) after the shuttle is retired.
2) A replacement, or extending the planned de-orbit date of, the Hubble Space Telescope.
3) I'm not in full support of a "manned Mars shot". Instead I'd like to see more probes sent to more places of interest. Putting a man up there is great and all but it just drives up the cost of missions. For one manned mission we can do multiple unmanned missions.

O and NASA is always in need of more funding. -,-

- One paranoid issue to end this post: Anyone that supports anything resembling the world of the book 1984 isn't getting my vote. I'm happy I live in the boondocks where they the pine trees provide a lot of cover and they'll never be able to put up cameras (or at the very least, I can avoid them).

Signed - The man in the tin-foil hat.

O yea, did I mention it's almost impossible to find someone that I'd like to vote for? I think it's obvious that no sane person would run supporting most of the things I do! What I try to do is get an idea of who the person is behind the agenda and politics. In other words I try to vote for the one that has their head screwed on correctly.