Dear Mr. Ralph Nader,

As a citizen who believes in the importance of principles, values and beliefs, as a citizen who supported, promoted, and voted for you and Matt Gonzalez and as a citizen who loves this country but even more so loves this planet, I must make one request of you.

If Barack Obama offers you a position in his cabinet, for the love of ration, logic and Matt Gonzalez's 2012 campaign, accept it. Please.

The facts are that you, Ralph Nader, will never become President of these United States of America. It is simply not going to happen, unless we see a seismic paradigm shift in the mentality of the average citizen. Though it's irrational, the majority blames you for President George W. Bush. I know, I know Ralph, trust me, I know. I've defended you against these claims countless times but the facts remain that a huge proportion of voters has cemented you as the catalyst for Bush.

There is only one way for the Independent party to progress forward, for you to reclaim your legacy and for the country to truly benefit from your diligent work and that is to suck it up and take a job with Obama. From the inside, you'll be well positioned to guard against the tyranny of corporations and ensure that the environment and civil liberties are safeguarded. From the outside you have less of a chance of doing so. Plus, humbly accepting a position and doing a stellar job will only serve to promote the Independent Party's platform.

Now, realistically I know you'll likely not even receive an offer for a post inside the White House. Further, you'd probably decline it anyway. That's OK, each man deserves to decide for himself what he should or should not do. However, please, please, please do not run for president in 2012. In Matt Gonzalez you have found a presidential candidate who is eloquent, charming, and intelligent. Let him carry the torch forward, for at this point you only serve to weigh him down.

Honestly, I'm sorry it's come to this Ralph but it's time for you to focus on doing what you do best, being a kick-ass U.S. private citizen and fighting the good fight. Fight for universal health care, fight for free and equal access to debates, fight for fair ballot access, fight for citizen empowerement and corporate restraint, but please be realistic and stop fighting for the presidency. Matt Gonzalez is more than capable of taking it from here. Let's give him a chance.

Thank you for being a greater citizen than I'll ever likely be.

Sincere regards,

Adam Pieniazek

Wow, I heart The Onion.

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

That video literally forced tears of laughter to roll down my cheeks.

The Onion was really on point this year and especially down the stretch. Comedic genius.

Check out some of their other hilarious stories:

• Black Guy Asks Nation for Change
• Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress
• Bush: 'Can I Stop Being President Now?'
• Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

It's funny because it's true.

President Elect Barack Obama

Photo credit to insunlight.

Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama!

Though I voted for Nader-Gonzalez and encouraged others to do the same, I am not disappointed by Barack Obama winning the United States Presidency. Rather I think he's a huge upgrade over Bush, purely by being intelligent, eloquent and charismatic. He ran an impressive campaign and frankly deserved to win. America's place in the world will be much improved via an Obama presidency. I favor Nader's stances on the actual political issues, but politics aside Obama seems to be a capable person, heck I even endorsed him on Monday.

Riding my bike through the streets of Boston after Obama won, there were people cheering and dancing and yelling and honking their horns in celebration. There were even a group of people splashing jubilantly in a fountain. There wasn't a mass of people like after the Sox, Celtics, or Patriots victories, but nevertheless there was a lot more people out and about past midnight on a Tuesday night in November than usual. Needless to say, the vast majority of the college students and young people of Boston voted for Barack Obama and last night and early this morning they celebrated with President Barack Obama.

Rajon Rando of the Celtics celebrated twice last night, winning a basketball game and seeing Obama win the presidency as he returned to the locker room. Overall, I'm proud of this country for making a historic vote and for participating in our democracy in historic numbers. Check out the Obama celebration scene outside the White House, where even the Secret Service were surprised and impressed by the outpouring of support. Say what you want about Obama or his politics but that's a pretty cool scene there and one Americans can be proud of.

Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama.

Recently I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to open up our political process and truly democratize it. When asked, many people believe that viable third party candidates (say those who can theoretically win) should be able to attend nationally televised debates and be covered by the mainstream press. In other words, the average American would agree that political candidates should be given a fair chance at getting their issues and solutions in front of the American public, regardless of political affiliation. Opening debates is one much needed step to greater democracy in this country. The other step, and one I find very interesting and full of potential is to enact Instant Runoff Voting.

Massachusetts Absentee Ballot

Photo credit to Andrew Teman.

Basically, Instant Runoff Voting [IRV] is a system of voting where candidates are ranked in order of preference by the voter. Depending on the particular IRV system you can either rank as many or as few candidates as you wish or you must rank all candidates. In either case, once all ballots are cast, the candidate in the #1 spot on the ballot is awarded one vote. After all the ballots are analyzed and added up, if any one candidate has a majority of the votes (e.g. more than half), then he/she is declared the winner.

However, if not candidate receives a majority of votes then the lowest ranked candidate on each ballot is eliminated and the votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates. This process continues until one candidate has a majority of the votes cast. Like any system, IRV is not perfect, but I believe it would be an upgrade over the electoral college system and allow more candidates a realistic chance at winning, and thus increase competition which helps everyone.

My Instant Runoff Voting Ballot

If we had an Instant Runoff Voting system in place in the United States today, here is how my ballot would likely look:

1. Ralph Nader & Matt Gonzalez
2. Chuck Baldwin & Darrell Castle
3. Barack Obama & Joe Biden
4. Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente
5. Bob Barr & Wayne Allen Root
6. John McCain & Sarah Palin

So let's run through my thought process. First, all candidates were ranked to ensure that my ballot counted through each round. If my ballot only ranked two parties, let's say Nader-Gonzalez first and Baldwin-Castle second, then if more than two rounds of run-offs were needed to get a majority winner my ballot would become exhausted and no longer add support for either Gonzalez nor Castle.

In terms of actual candidates, McCain-Palin were ranked last because they are my least preferred presidency. Next, Barr-Root are ranked second to last because frankly, I find them to be highly disingenuous and highly suspect they are Republicans masquerading as libertarians. Bob Barr ran a poor campaign and alienated those who were most likely to support him while WAR (Wayne Allen Root) comes across as someone who does not do any research and instead blindly lambasts the government for everything. If WAR is so against government he should not be running for a government job. Next up are McKinney and Clemente, who would be my number two choice but neither seem qualified to lead. McKinney, as noted in my review of her, is brash, abrasive and arrogant, which are not the traits of a good leader.

Next I place Obama-Biden. Biden scares me, but the one aspect of Barack Obama we all must admit is that he runs one hell of a tightly organized campaign. I do not agree with many of his stances, and believe he is too closely aligned with corporate interests, but Obama does have the ability to motivate a large group of people and get his message across efficiently. He might not be my first choice for president, but I'm glad he's an American citizen and not running for president of some other country. Next up I ranked Baldwin-Castle, purely because they come across as genuine and seem willing to compromise and co-operate. I also consider myself somewhat of a fiscal conservative which aligns closely with Baldwin's fiscal plans. Finally, I ranked Nader-Gonzalez as my top choice for president because I agree with nearly all of his stances, especially his socially liberal and progressive platform. Check out my top ten reasons I'm voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez post for more details about the choice.

So there you have it, what would your Instant Runoff Voting ballot look like?

No, you're not seeing things, that title is correct. I, Adam Pieniazek, endorse Barack Obama.

Now, that does not mean I will vote for him (tip of the hat to Stephen Colbert for this idea). Quite on the contrary, I will be voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez. However, I realize that all my readers do not live in a state like Massachusetts where one of the mainstream candidates will win in a landslide. I also realize that some of my readers will steadfastly support either a Democrat or Republican only.

I fully support third parties and their battle to gain equal rights but if you live in a battleground state and are only deciding between Barack Obama and John McCain (for instance, if you live in Oklahoma where write-in candidates are not allowed and only Obama and McCain are listed on the ballot) then I highly urge you to vote for Barack Obama. There is a simple reason behind this endorsement, and it is not based on any tax system, religion, race, or any political affiliation. Rather, you should vote for Barack Obama because he is eloquent, charismatic, and well liked by the global community. This country is literally teetering on a precipice and one candidate can keep us on the cliff while the other wants to push us off it.

We can elect John McCain and in essence give a big fat middle finger to the rest of the world. Now some of you might say, "Exactly! That's why I'm voting for John McCain." Well, the simple truth is we are not number one right now. Every last bastion of American pride has shown huge, undeniable faults over the past eight years. From election errors to military difficulties to the recent financial fallout, America is not viewed as a super power by many individuals and countries in the global community. Electing John McCain will announce to the world that we do not care what they think, at which point they may very well ostracize us, or worse.

On the other hand, we can elect Barack Obama as our President and regain some much needed credibility and respect in the international community. Further Obama will use his charisma and eloquence to regain the international community's trust and friendship. The truth is we live in a global society and we as a country need to be viewed in a positive and friendly manner. We simply are not strong enough to be arrogant right now.

In a truly democratic system, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader and other parties would have been allowed full and equal access to the debates and ballots and given a fair shot at being elected president. Alas, our system is not such and for many people their only choice is between Obama or McCain. If you find yourself in such a situation, please put your country first and elect Barack Obama.

Before I conclude this post, I must emphatically urge my readers to vote for a third party, however if you will not or cannot then please vote for Barack Obama. I however will be proudly casting my ballot for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez and highly encourage you to do so as well, especially if you're in a landslide state.

As noted before, I'm a big proponent of equal access to debates for all candidates who could potentially win the presidency. As of today, there are six parties with access on enough ballots to theoretically win the presidency [Constitution, Democrat, Green, Independent, Libertarian, and Republican]. Tonight there will be a debate between the vice-presidential candidates between at least three of these parties in Las Vegas. The vice-presidential candidates confirmed for the debate are Wayne Allen Root of the Libertarian party, Darrell Castle of the Constitution party and Matt Gonzalez, running under the Independent Nader-Gonzalez ticket. Note, I am voting for the Ralph Nader - Matt Gonzalez ticket. All six parties were invited to the debate, but no word from Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, nor Rosa Clemente yet on whether they will attend.

No word yet on whether C-SPAN will cover tonight's debate (my guess is they'll end up covering it at the last minute) but there will be a free live video stream at They Will Be Heard at 9 PM (Eastern), so make sure you check it out! Proletariat Power will also live-blog the debate, much like they did with the presidential debate on October 23rd. It's nice to see that the third part candidates have begun setting up their own debates, perhaps next time they can do so before the major parties and get a head start on getting their message heard.

There was also a presidential debate this past Thursday, October 30th between Constitution candidate Chuck Baldwin, Indepedent candidate Ralph Nader, and Libertarian candidate Bob Barr at the City Club in Cleveland Ohio. You can check out the full one hour video of the debate at We Demand Videos!

Vote third party!

After a lot of back and forth, there will be a third party presidential debate tonight in Washington D.C. The debate will also be broadcast live on CSPAN starting at 9PM. So far, all six presidential candidates have been invited but so far only Constitutional candidate Chuck Baldwin and Independent candidate Ralph Nader have confirmed their attendance. Still, these two candidates represent opposite sides of the political spectrum, with Chuck Baldwin being a true conservative in the Ron Paul tradition, while Ralph Nader is a true liberal in the Ralph Nader tradition.

I'm glad that a debate will occur, as I was actually thinking of withdrawing my vote for Nader if he was not able to debate someone, my thinking being that if you can't get a debate going, how could you ever manage a country? Now, I know this debate is not organized by Mr. Nader and that he has a campaign to run but in my opinion the best thing for Ron Paul and Ralph Nader would have been to spend some of those megabucks raised by money bombs and fundraising on getting a new debate going counter to the mainstream, corporate owned debates.

Hopefully Cynthia McKinney is able to show up at the debates tonight too, though Bob Barr has stated numerous times he will not attend due to a prior engagement at Georgia Tech. Honestly, if I was in charge of the Barr event at GT, I'd cancel it and encourage him to attend the debate, but perhaps that's why I'm not running a campaign...

In either case, tune in tonight to C-SPAN or head on over to Restore the Republic Radio for a live web stream of the event.

A few months ago I wrote a post here discussing my attempts to get a 3rd party debate going between Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin. Well, a few other parties have managed to get a debate scheduled for this Sunday, October 19!

So far Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin and Cynthia McKinney have confirmed their attendance. Bob Barr is stating he has a scheduling conflict, though the even organizers are stating he wants to only debate Ralph Nader. In either case, Barr is running a very odd campaign, first ditching uber-popular Ron Paul and now refusing to participate in a debate with his fellow third party candidates.

Right now there are actually two debates scheduled, on being an online debate this Sunday from 7pm to 9pm while the other is a physical debate starting at 8pm. Seeing as how the physical debate is being televised by CSPAN and moderated by Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman it seems the online only debate organized by Trevor Lyman will fall to the wayside, especially seeing as how only Cynthia McKinney has confirmed she'd participate.

In either case, three of the four candidates will be at the physical debate, hosted by The Free and Equal Elections Coalition and the Columbia Political Union. So confused yet by the varying debates and times and places? Well so are the candidates who are now waffling about whether they will or will not attend, even though three of them confirmed their attendance a few days ago. In either case, the debate is scheduled and set up and now it's up to the candidates to show up. For the sake of progress for our democracy, let's hope they do show up. Send e-mails to your candidates encouraging them to show up! Even Barack Obama and John McCain are invited, let's have one debate between all six candidates!

After literally months and months of personal deliberation, I've decided who I'm voting for in this year's presidential elections. We are in absolute lockstep agreement on the most important issues of our time and their correct solutions. This year I will proudly cast my vote for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez as President and Vice-president of the United States of America.

10 Reasons I'm Voting for Ralph Nader & Matt Gonzalez

1. Universal Health Care.

The argument over whether socialism is good or bad does not matter. Our government has already decided it will act as a socialist entity with Medicare, Social Security, bank bailouts and endless other infiltrations into the free market. To not provide universal health care is to openly admit we do not care about the well being of our citizens. This strategy must come to an end. As one of the richest countries in the world, we cannot afford to not provide our citizens guaranteed access to health care.

2. End to all wars.

The money to pay for universal health care and other infrastructure and development projects, within the U.S.A., will come from the savings of bringing every soldier home. Currently, more than half of every discretionary dollar spent by the U.S. government goes to military funding. Simply put, we are spending too much money killing people and not enough helping them.

3. End to corporate personhood.

I have railed against corporate personhood before and truly believe it is one of the reasons we are seeing the manufactured economics crises today. Many people do not realize that corporations are legally viewed as people, just the same as you and me. Corporations twisted the law freeing slaves to force corporate personhood and it's time we end this disgrace. Corporations are not people.

4. Impeach Bush and Cheney.

Impeachment is simply an analysis of whether the President and Vice-president committed crimes. So far, our politicians will not even debate whether we should debate if crimes were committed, eventhough Bush and Cheney openly and flagrantly admit to committing multiple crimes against our citizens, government and world.

5. National Initiative.

Perhaps the greatest of the Nader - Gonzalez plaform, the National Initiative would allow regular American citizens to petition and demand change from the government easily and reliably. A strong democracy is one where citizens may easily redress the government when it creates laws to benefit the few and harm the many.

6. Energy Policy.

Hands down the best energy policy of any presidential candidate. The Nader platform looks forward to the future to realize that we must act now to invest in and install clean, efficicent renewable forms of energy such as wind and solar power. Doing so will create new manufacturing jobs and break our need for dirty and expensive forms of energy such as nuclear, coal and oil.

7. Fair Tax.

Are you sick of hearing about corporate loop holes that allow big businesses to pay no taxes while half your paycheck goes to Uncle Sam? Me too. Ralph Nader realizes how broken our tax system has become and offers the fair tax which would close corporate loopholes and begin taxing negative things we do not want, such as pollution, to discourage the negative and encourage people to work and earn money.

Makes a lot more sense than our current system.

8. Ballot Access.

Currently each state in the union has their own ballot access laws, creating a stressful and chaotic scene where it is often a battle in and of itself for viable candidates to gain access to the ballot. Nader-Gonzalez propose one standard for all the states to ensure all candidates have fair access to the ballot, thus providing citizens with greater choice and creating greater competition amongst candidates, thus helping our democracy for everyone.

9. Open the debates.

Currently, we allow a private corporation to host debates between two political parties and allow this private corporation to ban other viable candidates from the debate. We cannot say we live in a democracy when we prevent candidates from having a seat at the table.

10. Federal Budget.

The Nader-Gonzalez campaign describes it perfectly:

The United States needs a redirected federal budget that adequately funds crucial priorities like infrastructure, transit and other public works, schools, clinics, libraries, forests, parks, sustainable energy and pollution controls. The budget should move away from the deeply documented and criticized (by the US General Accounting Office, retired Admirals and Generals and others) wasteful, redundant "military industrial complex" as President Eisenhower called it, as well as corporate welfare and tax cuts for the wealthy that expand the divide between the luxuries of the rich and the necessities of the poor and middle class.

Yes, rebuild America!

These are my reason for voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez in the 2008 presidential elections. The points I've outlined above are the ten of most important points to the future sustainability of this country and are clearly above and beyond any platform stance of any other presidential candidate. Simply put, the Nader-Gonzalez platform is not only good but also correct.

Do yourself and your country a favor and vote for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalelez in 2008.

My buddy just e-mailed me a photo from the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado of former President Bill Clinton. At first glance it's a fairly innocuous picture of the former leader of the free world shaking hands with someone.

If you look in Bill's left hand you can see he's holding a silver can of some sort, perhaps a silver bullet? Could it be the former president is slumming it with the common Coors Light?

Let's take a closer look:

Hmm, a little tough to tell but it does seem to have the blue rim and the greyish-whitish rendition of the Rockies on the side.

Let's compare with an actual Coors Light can (via ChuckThomas.com):

Hmm, still a bit too close to call definitively. I've asked my buddy to e-mail me the full resolution version of this photo when he gets a chance so hopefully we'll know for sure soon.

Let me be clear, I do not disapprove of Bill throwing back a cold one. After all, he's pretty much retired now so I say let him enjoy his time however he wants. If it is in fact a Coors Light, it's a funny way to perhaps gain some favor amongst the people in the state of Colorado. Or maybe he was just thirsty.