The Vice President Issue

In this issue, with the Presidential race now being settled, we will be taking a look at the list of candidates for the second highest office in the land, the vice president.

But first, our Hillary joke of the blog:

And on the list of names from which our probable next VP will be from.

Since it looks like John McCain will be making his choice soon, ln this issue we will deal with the potential Republican VP's

Tier I

Mitt Romney

Former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney made flip flopping an art form when he realized being governor of the most liberal state in the union wasn't going to win many votes among the rank and file Republicans outside of the Northeast (just Google "Mitt Romney, flip flop"). Thanks to the Republican winner-take-all primary system, Romney was out of the primary after Super Tuesday, thus sparing the Republican Party the agony that has is known as Barack vs Hillary.

Pros: Super Rich, willing to dig deep into his pockets to help finance the campaign, very popular with business elites and tax minded suburbanites, known as a "hands on" kind of man, could appeal in native state of Michigan, where his father was a wildly popular governor.

Cons: Went from liberal pro reproduction rights, pro homosexual rights, pro gun control to anti on all 3 issues in just 2 years, leading many in both parties to see him as a sleazy opportunist. Mormon faith not well liked among the Christian Right (funny how no one in Massachusetts cared about Romney being a Mormon). Finally, McCain and Romney had a bitter primary fight and it is rumored that the 2 really don't like each other in person.

Charlie Crist

Current governor of Florida, Crist is currently a member of that threatened species, Republicanus populus, the popular Republican. Even Florida Democrats have a grudging respect for this man. Though Crist got his start as Attorney General of Florida back when it was being run by George's Bush's brother Jeb, he has never been close to the Bushes, which has only helped his popularity. And while as governor Crist has been very supportive to the gun lobby, as well as being tough on illegal immigration, Crist has also won praise from many for his pro environmental views (his record is actually better than some Democrats) as well as his aggressive drive to recruit legal immigrants to settle in Florida.

Pros: Will guarantee Florida and its 19 electoral votes, pro legal immigration support could help get some of Hispanic vote, environmental record defiantly will win some votes. The fact that Crist is not your standard Republican clone will also help McCain get back his Maverick appeal.

Cons: Crist is not the standard Republican clone that its main base likes to vote for. Plus Crist isn't married. Republicans want their politicians to be family people and it's rare to find outside of the northeast an unmarried Republican in high office. Add in the fact that the last unmarried Republican to come out of Florida was Mark Foley, you got one uneasy base.

Bobby Jindal

Currently Governor of Louisiana, this man is a member of that endangered species the Republicanus Noncauscasianus, the non white Republican. The son of immigrants from India, Jindal is another rising star in the Republican Party. Jindal is a standard modern Republican, all for God (Jindal is a devout Catholic who loves to talk about his faith), family, guns, and drilling for oil anywhere. With Obama about to clinch the Democratic nomination, and Republicans becoming whiter and whiter, Jindal could be the man the Republicans need to reverse the trend of becoming an all white party.

Pros: Will defiantly get the religious voters out in large numbers (many of whom are not comfortable with McCain being the nominee), also could even win back some of the conservative non white vote that had voted for Bush back in 2000, but has since stopped supporting any Republicans.

Cons: Jindal is 36, making him to be 10 years younger than Obama, and being in politics for a much shorter time than Obama, having Jindal on the ticket will prevent McCain from using the experience card as a major weapon. Also, Jindal's religious views could scare away a good number of independents who would otherwise vote for McCain.

Tier II

Mike Huckabee

Former Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee came out of no where to win the Iowa primary and ended up staying in the race longer than anyone else, before he had to concede defeat when McCain reached the number of delegates needed to win the nomination. Huckabee, who was born in Hope, the same home town as Bill Clinton, as Governor of Arkansas ran the state with a combination of old time religion (Huckabee is an ordained Southern Baptist minister and just loves to talk about Jesus) and economic populism (as governor he supported and signed a series of tax increases that were designed to help poorer people in the state).

Pros: Will bring out the full force of the Evangelical/Fundamentalist vote, which makes up between 25% and 30% of the total US population.

Cons: Will send the remaining 70% of the population running screaming into the Democratic camp.

Condoleezza Rice

Once it became clear that the nominee was going to be either Hillary or Obama, Condoleezza's name came up as a VP nom. In one stroke the Republicans could counter the first black or first female nominee with this black female in the number two spot. Also, she is a die hard neoconservative, which will guarantee their presence in a McCain White House.

Pros: Rice has an impressive resume (she is currently Secretary of State and before that NSA Advisor), and has unquestionable Republican credentials.

Cons: Rice has never held elected office, plus she is a close personal friend George W Bush, and a die follower of Neoconservatism.

Rudy Guilani

Back in 2006, this former mayor of NYC and hero of 9-11 was the one everyone assumed would win the nomination. But along the way, Guillani stopped in Florida and stayed there until he got run over by McCain's Straight Talk Express.

Pros: Hero of 9-11. Plus liberal social views definitely will help with independents.

Cons: Liberal social views will cause Evangelical/Fundamentalist voters to stay at home or vote for a third party candidate. Plus Rudy is a bit of a jerk in real life. While Chelsea Clinton, the Romney boys, and McCain's daughter Meghan have supported their parents on the campaign trail, Rudy's daughter has openly supported Obama and his son said if his father was ever elected President, he would boycott the inauguration.

Kay Bailey Hutchison

Senator from Texas since 1993, Hutchison is your classic country club pro business pro strong defense Republican, Hutchison could help with the more conservative independent voters.

Pros: Hutchison has never been close to the Bushes (an amazing feat considering she is a Republican from Texas). Also can also help win back female voters who helped put Bush in office but fell away as the Republicans became more and more corrupt and inept.

Cons: Is not a member of the Religious Right and is a moderate on most social issues, which will not help with bringing out the religious vote (which the Republican Party will be needing badly in many congressional races this fall).

Well that's the group of people McCain will probably pick his VP nominee from. Next week we'll meet the people Obama will be picking his VP nominee from.

Meet your first congressman (well in this issue, a Senator)

Today the Swanson Blog is going have its first issue of Meet Your Congressman (though in this issue, it will be involving a Senator), but first we have a couple of items to mention first:

Hillary joke of the Blog: Until Senator Hillary Clinton realizes there is no hope short of divine intervention of winning the Democratic primary, I will show an anti Hillary joke in each issue. And there are plenty going back almost 20 years so I have plenty to use. Here is today's Hillary joke:

China and Burma: In the past couple of weeks, a deadly cyclone has caused horrific damage in Burma killing (at the latest count) over 100,000 people and another 2 million in danger of dying due to either disease or starvation. The ruling junta of Burma has blocked most foreign aid, and has stolen most of what was donated for itself. Even though all foreigners have been banned from the hardiest hit areas, footage shot by locals have been smuggled out showing how bad the damage is and the horrific conditions that the survivors must live in. If that wasn't enough, a week later in Western China, a major earthquake struck killing (at the latest count) 35,000 dead and another 30,000 missing. Grief turned to anger among the survivors when many realized that most buildings collapsed because the buildings were not up to code and local officials were bribed to look the other way. While the Chinese government has been quick to act (as well to allow foreign media in to film the damage), don't be surprise to see some high level trials and a round of executions - remember this is the nation that executed a government official over bad dog food.

On to Today's Topic

Meet Your Congressman: Senator David Vitter, Republican, of Louisiana

Member of the Senate since 2005, before that serving in the House of Representatives representing Louisiana's First District beginning in 1999, and before that Vitter served in the Louisiana State Legislature. Vitter has made a name for himself as a hard core champion of "family values". A strict Catholic (at his home parish Vitter is a lector - that is he reads the Bible passages during mass), Vitter has built his whole political career on the "family values" theme, and he even used his family very publicly during his campaigns; you can see some of his political ads on Youtube. The problem is Vitter's children are still in elementary school. Now why I don't have any issue with adult and teenage children taking part in the parents political campaigns, I have never approved of using young children who probably don't know what they're doing in political ads.

Anyway, since entering the halls of congress, Vitter has become one of the most vocal members of the Christian Right, and since his election to the Senate, one of its more powerful members, speaking out against the evils of gay marriage, single motherhood, reproduction rights, as well as the rights of those who are not religious or simply hold religious beliefs that are not in line with the Far Right. No friend of science, Vitter even got $100,000 earmarked for a creationist museum in Louisiana. The Christian Collation has rated Vitter a 100 out of 100, meaning that this man is a full blown theocrat.

But Vitter's record does not stop at voting for abstinence only sex education, speaking out against reproduction rights and blocking legislation that would allow adoptions by homosexual couples. Vitter has been also a die hard follower of the Bush/Cheney administration, even by Republican standards. Vitter has without question voted to allow government spying, to expand the usage of the death penalty, to drastically cut spending on public education, and to deny health care for up to 4 million children (how very Christian). On immigration, he was one of the hard line Republicans who refused to vote on the compromise bill worked out by Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy, thus causing it to be defeated. As for his environmental record, well let's just say he is no fan of setting aside land for public usage (though he is in favor of allowing hunting on publicly owned land).

However, Family Values remained Vitter's staple. You can check out footage of Vitter on the Senate floor giving speeches on the importance of family and the sanctity of marriage, and how important marriage was, and how dear a few liberal activist judges change the law to redefine marriage and family, because that undermined the sacredness of marriage and it is that sacredness that is the whole foundation of our values; and how dear they take God out of the public schools, because how else could our children be instilled with wholesome values and how dear Hollywood force all that sleaze and violence on us ect. And Vitter never ceased to show off how much he loved his family and how close he was to his wife Wendy and his four children.

Then, in July 2007, the scandal broke.

It turns out Vitter's phone number showed up on the records of a convicted Madam based in the DC area. While Vitter had successfully ducked several accusations earlier in his political career, this time the proof was there for all to see. Vitter quickly admitted to DC attorneys that he used the service occasionally back between 1999 and 2001, and the authorities left it at that and no charges were filed. Soon after another Madame in New Orleans went public stating that Vitter was a regular back in the 1990's. Some of prostitutes went public and revealed details of his private side. Apparently Mr. Family Values not only regularly used prostitutes, but also had a fetish for wearing diapers - though they did say he was a nice guy compared to most other customers. So what does Vitter do? Like any good politician caught with his pants down, he made a statement admitting that he had sinned in the past, all of this with his wife by his side. You can go on Youtube and see the entire brief statement. Here is a picture from it:

Now what makes this even funnier is back in 1999 when Vitter was running for congress for the first time (and don't forget when he was also a regular of the women in the employ of the Canal Street Madam), Wendy Vitter had publicly stated if she ever caught her husband cheating, she would simply castrate him. But what does Mrs Vitter do? She simply stated that it was a private matter that was settled a couple of years ago and then went after the media for making a big deal out it (after all, when your whole political carrier was built on defending Biblical values and "saving marriage" you have every right to privacy when you're found out to be a lying hypocrite). The Vitters then left without answering any questions. As of the writing of this issue, there is still no word on the status of Senator Vitter's penis.

Meanwhile up in Washington the Republican Party stood by Vitter and defended him - one of his more vocal defenders being the foot-tapping-in-the-mens' room Senator, Larry Craig. While a few die hard social conservatives did call for Vitter to resign, most have forgiven Vitter and welcomed him back in fold. However, the damage was done and since the scandal, Vitter no longer speaks out on the issues that he made his name with, and with the Democrats running the Senate, Vitter has lost most of his influence. Meanwhile back in Louisiana is it too soon to tell if Vitter will be running for another term in 2010. Only time (and the voters of Louisiana) will tell, if Vitter gets another six years in the Senate.

China - Part 2

In our last issue, we took a look a look at the men who are currently leading China and now we are going to turn our attention to the problems facing China today. While the Chinese government would like to say that everything is on the up and up, the reality is something very different. The fact that in 2005 there were over 87,000 riots and anti government demonstrations in China (mostly in rural areas) should give an idea how bad things really are in China.

While China had hopped that 2008 would be the year China would show off how wonderful things are, it so far hasn't turned out that way.

First came the snow storms that struck China during the New Years Holiday. If you're one of the 150 - 200 million Chinese migrant workers (you read that right, and if you don't believe me, go to cnn.com) then New Years is the only holiday you get off, and its the only time that you get to go back to your home province to visit your family. The snow storms that struck China this year were the worst in over 50 years and stranded millions of people at railway and bus stations waiting to go home to see their friends and family. Never before had so many people been prevented from traveling because of bad weather. Meanwhile, the rest of the nation saw the worst power outages and utility interruptions since the Communist Party took over back in 1949. The damage from the storms were totaled at being over 7 billion dollars.

So what do you do when almost 20 percent of your population is stranded in transit stations, angry at how they're spending their one time off of the year? Well President Hu and his crew knew that even the image of doing something was better than doing nothing. Primer Wen was quickly dispatched to the hardest hit areas and even Hu himself toured other areas and made sure to be seen on tv trying to fix the situation. Eventually, the crisis faded away as people started trickling home (in case you're wondering if these stranded workers got any extra time off - well I looked around on the Internet and - scary to say - could not find an answer).

Then in March came the uprising in Tibet - the largest since the major uprising in 1989. There were many different reasons why it occurred, but the end was the same as in 1989, with government troops and state police cracking down on the demonstrators. Just like in the demonstrations in Burma last year, the demonstrations in Tibet started with Buddhist monks protesting - this time to remember the events of 1959, which was the last time Tibet erupted in a full scale rebellion (it also caused the Dali Lama to flee to India during the crackdown). When the original monks were arrested, their fellow monks came out in larger numbers asking for their release, and soon large number or ordinary Tibetans joined in also. Soon, the demonstrations spread throughout Tibet and other areas of China with large Tibetan populations (when China took over Tibet in 1950, it annexed whole sections of Tibet and incorporated them into existing provinces of China). Besides marching protesting Chinese rule, the Tibetans also rioted, attacking government buildings and neighborhoods where Han Chinese lived. To no one's surprise, President Hu (who was one of the leaders in the 1989 crackdown) sent in the army to end the riots, with the dead being estimated at over 100. The Tibetans had many grievances, from being second class citizens to the recent influx of Han Chinese immigrants to the continual suppression of Tibetan culture. Basically, the Tibetans don't want Tibet to turn into Xinjiang.

What is Xinjiang?

Never heard of Xinjiang? Well don't be surprised, few have heard of the single largest region of China, Xinjiang, which makes up China's northwest. Xinjiang makes up one sixth of China's land mass, and historically was inhabited by the Urghurs, a people who are related to the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. Just like their cousins in the Central Asian republics, the Urghurs (by the way, I've found about four different spellings for Urghur) are Muslims and had their own colorful culture, even after centuries of Chinese rule. The Chinese emperors allowed to Urghurs to live their own lives as long as they paid their taxes and knew who was in charge. That all changed in 1949, with the coming to power of the Communist Party. Before long however, the Chinese government encouraged poorer Han Chinese to move to Xinjiang, and now over 40 percent of the permanent population is Han Chinese, and this does not include the migrant laborers who head there every year, as well as the normal group of bureaucrats, Communist Party officials, and military personnel. The Urghurs have watched their land and culture being destroyed, a process that has accelerated since the 1990's. Just like their Tibetan neighbors to the south, the Urghurs have protested to Chinese rule, but with part of Xinjiang bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Chinese government has repeatedly stated that these anti government groups are really fronts for Islamic terrorists. Whenever an Urghur is discovered in a terrorist camp (which isn't that often), the Chinese government gleefully declares it proof of a large scale Taliban/Al Quada conspiracy to end Chinese rule of Xinjiang. Since 2001, the Chinese government has used the US "War on Terror" to crackdown on all pro Urghur movements in Xinjiang, even those that are content with Chinese rule and only want the Urghurs to be treated better. Amnesty International reports that Xinjiang is the only part of China where political executions are still commonplace.

Oh, and China has little disregard for environmental laws in Xinjiang, so since the 1980's, the environment of Xinjiang has taken a nosedive as China continues to strip away land for minerals and more factories are built with no regards for the health of the workers and people who live around them.

Back to China

So since the crackdown on the Tibet protests in March, another major problem has struck China: inflation of food prices. Since January, food prices in China have rose by about 21 percent, and with 800 million Chinese living in poverty or near poverty, that is a major increase. The usually suspects have been accused in the rise in food prices: rise in costs of fuel, demand for bio fuels, a large middle class now eating just like their Western counterparts, ect... So far China is trying to deal with the problem, but its attempts so far have been not so great.

Add in a major disregard to the environment around the nation, major pollution, no regard for workers rights, and you have a nation with serious problems.

So now you have a better understanding of the most populous nation on Earth. You would think that our wonderful media might try to report more on it, but wait, a brand new dumb female celebrity has arrived on the scene, so as we all know, dumb celebrities are so much more important that the problems facing the nation where one fifth of all humanity lives.

Postscript

Congratulations to Senator Barack Obama in his victory over Senator Hillary Clinton! Only a miracle can save Billery now! Whether you're a liberal or a conservative, we can all take joy in the fact that the Clintons won't be moving back to the White House!