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.

Two videos for you tonight. First up is a video warning us that President hijack Bush and Vice-President Halliburton Cheney have too much time on their hands to mess up our country even more. Of course, any time war criminals have any time is too much time!

What makes little sense is that if Congress believes the President is innocent the absolute best way to show so is to impeach! If there are no crimes, then an impeachment trial would show that. The truth is, they do not want to impeach the Executive branch for fear of dragging their own congressional crimes into the mix.

The truth is that there is enough potential evidence of war crimes that impeachment is a no brainer. Here's one clear example of perjury by President George W. Bush. On two occasions Mr. Bush stated under oath that he would "...to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States", yet he also publicly declared that "The Constitution is just a goddamned piece of paper!" Right there Mr. Bush violated his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and he should at the very least be held accountable for his perjury. Let's not forget that he also openly admitted to committing war crimes.

At least there is one man doing his constitutional duty to hold Bushco accountable for their crimes against humanity and against the USA. The man's name is Dennis Kucinich and he's a true American hero. Here is a video from Representative Kucinich thanking American citizens for signing his impeachment petitions and providing support for justice. Mr. Kucinich will be making the case for impeachment this Friday thanks to all the support.

Perhaps there is some hope for re-legitimizing the government of these United States of America. Perhaps the Democrats will wake up and realize that we Americans do not want "change", we want a return to a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The elitist corporate lobbies running our congress and executive branch are not the voice of the average American.

Happy Friday everyone!

My elbow is still a bit tight and sore from the fall I took a few days ago so this morning I'll share a few more videos from Revver with you.

Daily Greens 86 - Workin' For The Weekend

One positive benefit of rising gas prices, four day work weeks! Hopefully 4 day weeks are a trend that will continue as workers will be more productive with that extra day of rest and our economy will benefit from healthier people who are not cooped up inside their office five days a week.

No Paine, No Gain

A look back at Thomas Paine and his positive influence on the USA. Should we look to radicalism in our modern times for solutions to our great economic, educational, and environmental issues?

Where is your hippie “hope” now?

A satirical video about Barack Obama crushing the dreams of young kids hoping to become the next star athlete or musician. Personally, I think it's about time schools integrate rap music into the curriculum and teach students how to use musical equipment in a music class rather than ignoring kids' interests and discouraging them from following dreams. Sure, everyone won't make it as a musician or athlete but by providing these kids a venue in an educational setting it could help keep them involved in the rest of their education.

Newspapers

Rest in peace newspapers, you're simply not efficient or useful anymore. Nearly all of my news comes from the internet, which I'm finding is now much, much more accurate than the generic, corporate run newspapers. Plus, there's no need to consume a bunch of paper to get a few stories I might find interesting when I can just use the internet to get the most updated version of the story and communicate instantly with others about the story. Attempts by the newspaper industry to adjust without adjusting draws similarities to the movie and music industry, both of whom are still struggling to understand our modern world.

Recycle An Old T-Shirt into a Sexy Bikini

I'd call this reusing more than recycling but in either case it's a great tip for the ladies out there. We reuse our old shirts as rags around here but since it's just cloth there's more than one or two reuses for them.

That is all, folks. Have a great weekend!

I just sent the below text to all of these individuals or parties and hope to receive positive responses. What do you think? Is a debate between Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Bob Barr and the Green Party candidate a good idea? Would you watch such a debate?

Hello Mr. Barr, Green Party Candidate, Mr. Nader, Mr. Paul, and Mr. Kucinich,

I've watched some of the mainstream debates on TV but felt they were simply too slanted towards certain candidates and too moderated to truly be called a debate.

An event where you debate Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Bob Barr and the Green Party candidate would provide a truly rational and balanced discussion of how to best shape America going forward. The debate would also draw a lot of attention to 3rd party candidates and hopefully sway more Americans to avoid voting for the Democrats or Republicans.

I'm sending this short e-mail to all of you to gauge your interest in such a debate. If all parties are interested I will start an open-source non-profit organization to raise funds for, market and host the debate.

I truly feel such a debate could be the best in American history and hope you do too.

Regards,

Adam Pieniazek

If all these candidates are interested, I'll try wicked hard to make it a reality as it'll give underrepresented political candidates a fair, open, and public forum to discuss their stances and ideas.

What about you? What's your take on this hypothetical debate? Who do you think would win?