The first in my Issues According to a Candidate’s Website is on Republican Candidate Rudy Giuliani. His official website does have an issues page that starts out with a video that describes his “Twelve Commitments to the America People”. It’s really just a collection of sound bites, but does serve to outline which issues are important to him. Here are his twelve commitments in his own words:

1. I will keep America on offense in the Terrorists’ War on us.
2. I will end illegal immigration, secure our borders, and identify every non-citizen in our nation
3. I will restore fiscal discipline and cut wasteful Washington spending
4. I will cut taxes and reform the tax code
5. I will impose accountability on Washington
6. I will lead America towards energy independence
7. I will give Americans more control over and access to health care with affordable and portable free-market solutions
8. I will increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children
9. I will reform the legal system and appoint strict constructionist judges
10. I will ensure that every community in America is prepared for terrorist attacks and natural disasters
11. I will provide access to a quality education to every child in America by giving real school choice to parents
12. I will expand America’s involvement in the global economy and strengthen our reputation around the world

These were obviously crafted to appeal to the conservative core in this country which is very appropriate for a primary race. A third of them, including the first two relate either directly to security issues. This is a major red flag in my book. Security is definitely important, but I’d like to see a proportional response based on reason and not the overblown response based on emotion, especially fear, that we’ve endured over the past seven years. One’s odds of dying in a terrorist attack in this country is 1 in 88,000. Your odds of dying from firearms is about 1 in 300. See this website for more information. If Giuliani were serious about protecting Americans, to the point of limiting our civil liberties, it would be much more effective if he placed more emphasis eliminating gun crime, not combating terrorism. Admittedly, he did do this as mayor but is downplaying it since the conservative base does not like any gun control. Still the emphasis on terrorism is disproportional to the risk. I suspect all the candidates will be guilty of this. Now onto the issues on his website:

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Janet over at The Art of Getting By has the newest edition of her weekly question series entitled Tell It To Me Tuesday. I plan on reposting her question on my blog semi-regularly at her own encouragement. This week’s question is actually one of many that my wife collects and has asked a number of our friends and visitors:

If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?

Feel free to get creative here. No there aren’t any extra credit points involved, but a little ingenuity never hurt anyone, right?

I’ve answered this one a number of times but I never seem to remember how I answered it. I would have to say the ability to cure any disease or illness with just a touch. The ability to heal is the most benign power I can think of. Of course this power would make my life worse in many ways. The major way is that I would feel obligated to heal as many people as physically possible. I’d spend most of my waking hours at hospitals going from person to person and healing them. It definitely would turn into a life of duty. But I think helping others would make it worth it.

If I were to chose a much more selfish power, it would be the ability to read people’s thoughts. This would have obvious benefits, especially in negotiation situations. The downside to this power is that I’d learn exactly what people thought of me. Do I really want to know that my coworker thinks “Oh God, it’s him again” every time I stop by his or her cube? Or that the hot girl across the room privately considers me quite ugly? And I really don’t want to know how often I annoy my wife.

Every Tuesday and Thursday as I sit in my Adv. Micro class, I find myself thinking about how fortunate I am. Most people already think I am crazy for pursuing an advanced degree in Economics but when they hear me say that I am very fortunate to be in Micro, they call me absolutely nuts. Why in the world would I be thinking this while learning about maximizing utility and the about income and substitution effect, compensated demand and the LaGrangian Multiplier?? Simply because my professor begins each class with one simple question…”So what’s going on?”

Most people would answer that question with a simple “Nothing” or “Not Much”, but when you have a room full of Econ dorks you get questions about The Fed’s most recent drop in the Federal Funds Rate or what does the most recent CPI report tell us. It is refreshing to discuss current events with a more learned person and to start your evening with a short but meaning academic debate about the most recent news.

Now this brings me closer to my headliner of health care because I, knowing this particular prof earned his Ph.D. in Labor Economics had to ask, “Why do Unions find it beneficial to strike against their employer? Aren’t they, in the long run, really hurting the hand that feeds?”

I thought, with this question, that we could engage in a debate about the usefulness, or lack of, depending on which side of the fence you stand. But I was sadly mistaken! The professor quickly kind of agreed with me and we talked about how it seems that maybe Union members do not realize how good they actually have it, seeing as how the majority of them earn more than most college graduates, when one student asked a follow-up question that changed the tide of the conversation. He asked what I think most people believe and what, from my observation, people are fighting to change and that is Don’t you think it is really the health insurance companies that are really hurting the auto industry because of the high cost of health care and insurance?

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This is the first of what I hope to be a weekly series of posts that looks at the issues each presidential candidate address on their websites. I am an issues voter. I vote for the candidate whose stance on various issues most closely matches my own. I’m much less interested in their personalities, private lives, and life styles unless they contradict their stances. I’m even not that interested in ‘qualifications’ for the job of president. I think that how they address the important issues is the best indicator of how well they will govern the country.

I have chosen to read about their issues on their official campaign websites to give them the first chance to express their beliefs and goals. This eliminates the potential for spin by the media or by other candidates. Also, the web offers a unique opportunity for the candidates to fully develop their thoughts on any and all issues. We’ll see if any of them take advantage of this opportunity.

I will be taking each candidate one-by-one in no particular order. I don’t even know yet if I’ll alternate parties or not. I will summarize each of their stances on each issue listed and offer my analysis and opinion. I will then list issues that I find important that are not listed on the website and offer my thoughts on those omissions. Finally, I will attempt to synthesis and evaluate the candidate’s overall position.

Look for the first post in this series later this week!

I found this through fellow blogger Scott. Apparently, every Tuesday, a new question is posted on a blog entitled The Art of Getting By and they encourage other bloggers to repost the question. I’ll check in now and then and repost anytime they have an interesting question. Anyway here’s this weeks TITMT:

Today’s question is a simple one with the possibility of being a long, detailed answer:

What are your favorite songs with a name in the title?

My absolute favorite is Myron by one of my favorite bands, The Ocean Blue. I also came up with many, many more.

Columbus by my favorite band, The Church

Fripp and Show Me Marry by the sadly defunct group Catherine Wheel

Sophia by Cruxshadows (warning: site has audio at MAX volume)

Annie, Would I Lie to You? by Iris

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I just read a very interesting and insightful interview with Mike Burns. The interview is the first of a series of recently self-declared atheists. The goal of the series is to understand the thought process that leads some away from religion.

The series of interviews should be interesting in and of themselves, but one insight from this interview jumped out at me.

“But, as a demonstration of brain physiology, even today, my brain tells me that Jesus’ resurrection is more plausible than Mohammed flying to heaven on a winged horse. . . even though I know both are equally improbable! It takes time and great effort to overcome inculcated beliefs.”

When I read this I had one of those all-to-rare, jaw-dropping realizations about myself. I, too, intuitively find Jesus’ resurrection more plausible than Mohammed departing to heaven on a winged horse. This is the case despite the fact that I have long since abandoned my all my belief of supernatural events (aka miracles) and intellectually find them both absurd. Clearly this cognitive bias skews my views on comparative religion. I will have to work on overcoming this class of biases.

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