http://www.rezoom.com Welcome to our Politics Unplugged blog! en-us Copyright by ReZoom.com 2008 admin@rezoom.com Politics-unplugged RSS 2.0 generation class http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5776/its-show-time-in-iowa/ For the first time in over 50 years, no incumbent president or vice president is contending for the White House. Both the Democratic and Republican nominations are up for grabs. It’s show time in Iowa and the results raise more questions than they answer. Joe Earnest http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5776/its-show-time-in-iowa/ Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:50:48 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5772/when-electability-trumps-principle/ There’s this thing about Principle. If you don’t stand for it, just what are you standing on?On November 7th, Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President. He stood side by side with the former New York Mayor. But ignored the Giuliani’s stand in favor of abortion rights and gay marriage. Not to mention the rather messy way Rudy sheds wives.Because he’s electable? This from a guy who in 2003 asked his “audience” to pray for God to remove three Supreme Court judges because of a ruling that he believed “opened the door to homosexual marriage.”And who believes that abortion is murder. This blog is not about abortion or gay marriage. What it is about is that Principle cannot be laid aside at any time. Especially in an election year. Strange bedfellows indeed. Jerry Hunnicutt http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5772/when-electability-trumps-principle/ Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:49:34 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5771/robertson-&-giuliani-...-part-2/ Pat Robertson asked his fellow Christians to follow his lead and support The Mayor. Evidently they didn’t listen. Because in the month and a half since his endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani’s numbers have been dropping.The latest poll results shows that the Iowa Caucus is a two-man race. And neither of them is a candidate named Rudy.With two weeks to go, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are battling it out. And Huckabee’s support is strongest among Christian conservatives – the very audience that Pat Robertson encouraged to vote for Giuliani.The bottom line is that former Christian leaders are just that. Former. And their ability to sway evangelicals ain’t what it used to be. Jerry Hunnicutt http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5771/robertson-&-giuliani-...-part-2/ Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:45:46 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5770/democratic-success-or-failure/ The Democratic Party took over Congress this past year with great expectations. Chief among them was bringing the war in Iraq to an end. Or at the very least, the beginning of an end.By that standard, grade the party leadership House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with an F. On every vote on any issue relating to Iraq, the President got the best of the 101st Congress.The military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, remains open. Bush's warrantless surveillance program was actually codified and expanded on the Democrats' watch. Lawmakers were unable to eliminate the use of harsh interrogation tactics by the CIA. And at the end of the year, Congress handed the President a blank check in the amount of $70 billion to further fund the war.Oh, give the party some credit. Jerry Hunnicutt http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5770/democratic-success-or-failure/ Fri, 21 Dec 2007 09:42:20 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5769/reaching-across-the-isle-joe-lieberman-endorses-john-mccain/ Ground control to Major Joe: Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong. Can you hear me Major Joe? .... Those good folks at Democratic headquarters have got to be shaking their head. Lieberman, Al Gore’s vice presidential running mate in 2004, announced his endorsement of Republican John McCain for president. by saying, "There are some things more important than the political parties. One is friendship and the other is I think this guy is the best of all the candidates to unite our country and cross political lines so we can begin to finally solve some of the political problems that we have in this country and to lead us against the war versus Islamic elitist terrorism." Joe Earnest http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5769/reaching-across-the-isle-joe-lieberman-endorses-john-mccain/ Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:38:42 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5768/gridlock-again-on-alternative-minimum-tax/ In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, just 19% of respondents said they approved of the job Congress is doing, while 68% disapproved. That is barely half a good as George Bush’s most recent grade. Their collective work on the Alternative Minimum Tax issue is one of the reasons why. It is a great example of the partisan gridlock that plagues us. Joe Earnest http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5768/gridlock-again-on-alternative-minimum-tax/ Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:28:50 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5767/oprah’s-support-of-obama-is-a-measured-support/ Oprah Winfrey threw her political support behind Barack Obama back in early May. Now that she is actually hitting the campaign trail, the question of her power to influence voters is the hot topic. In fact, right at a time when Obama needs to convince voters that he is qualified to be the leader of the country, no one is listening to what he is saying. Everyone is focused on Oprah. Joe Earnest http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5767/oprah’s-support-of-obama-is-a-measured-support/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:06:06 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5766/stem-cell-research-no-longer-a-wedge-issue/ Recent news about the discovery of a technique to transform mouse skin cells into cells nearly identical to embryonic stem cells has sent waves of excitement through the scientific community. The reason: if it works in humans, a simple skin biopsy could be “re-programmed” to create a cell equivalent to embryonic stem cells without cloning, using or destroying embryos. The scientific community is so enthusiastic about the possibility of overcoming ethical questions surrounding stem cell research that even Ian Wilmut, the cloner of Dolly the sheep, announced he was abandoning his work on cloning to put his efforts toward this new research. Here is a good layman’s explanation of the new discovery. Joe Earnest http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5766/stem-cell-research-no-longer-a-wedge-issue/ Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:15:23 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5765/there’s-something-smelly-about-all-this/ The Environmental Protection Agency is no longer in the protection business? It used to be that businesses and industries were required to report the toxic chemicals they use, store and release. That was then, this is now. Bush’s version of the EPA thinks we need to know less. Last December, the EPA came up with new rules that permitted shorter and less detailed forms for companies that store or release less than 5,000 pounds of toxic chemicals. The old rules required a longer, more comprehensive form whenever a company stored or discharged as little as 500 pounds. Jerry Hunnicutt http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5765/there’s-something-smelly-about-all-this/ Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:10:25 -0600 ReZoom.com http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5764/american-values-corrupted/ There’s one thing we have accomplished in Iraq. A thriving economy. The only thing is, it’s an economy based on widespread corruption.Don’t have a job? Not to worry, if you can come up with $500, just like that you’re a member of the Iraqi police force. And if you decide to drop, your commanders will gladly accept your salaries. To the tune of more than $100,000 a month.Want a promotion? Get a fake college degree, just $40.Interested in starting your own business? Open a carwash in Baghdad. Get a compressor, the water’s free because it’s readily available from broken city pipes. Your third-grader needs a textbook? You can buy them (stolen from the Ministry of Education) at bookstores for three times what schools once charged.Depending on your point of view, this war was and is either immoral or not. But this is for sure: What’s going on in Iraq now is a sin. Jerry Hunnicutt http://www.rezoom.com/blogs/politics-unplugged/read/5764/american-values-corrupted/ Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:03:21 -0600 ReZoom.com