Posted by admin on Aug 17, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments
A very timely movie, the recent Hollywood flick Swing Vote (2008) tries to capitalize on the ongoing race to US presidential election, with Obama and Mrs Clinton heating things up. The satirical route taken to depict political realities when a nation goes to polls is a kind of wearying as towards the end it focuses more on personal grievance handling than on larger issues.
Greeting us on-screen are Kevin Costner as Bud Johnson and Madeline Carroll as his 5th grade daughter Molly settled in the tiny, impoverished town in New Mexico. A degenerate, barely-employed, drunkard father is persuaded by an intelligent, responsible daughter to vote in the presidential election. The latter in a drunken fit fails to turn up on the D-day and the melodrama heightens thereafter. The clever and politically conscious Molly somehow manages to sneak past the dozing poll officer to cast a vote in the name of her father. However, a machine malfunction leaves the vote half stuck as polling comes to a close.
This is followed by a frenzied rush for Bud’s vote by the hot seat contenders. The camera zooms in on the wretched man’s dwelling and the world waits with bated breath. Who would get the swing vote when it is recast? A new face of political Leviathan raises its head as the hopefuls for presidential vote start jostling to grab Bud’s vote. Political lust, odious pandering, coarse commercials, and mean servility smear the face of civil existence. Good intentions, funny moments, annoying times, political follies and never-ending ambitions - ”Swing Vote” stirs up a cacophony of human realities.
Towards the end, Bud gives a long-winded, grandiloquent speech punctuated by wisdom tooth and honest yearning to bring about some real change against the canvas of US presidential run. The fate of swinging vote, however, remains dangling as the flick disappears in the flower of speech. Nice performance Kevin, after a long hiatus! Wake up all you fellas- Realize the power to make a difference wherever you are!
An avid Internet Marketer, working on Performance Marketing for Tech support,I carry the burden of a Doctorate degree in an obscure language of Indo-European family. Anything that has to do with word or Words is game to me.
I have already got one book published on Medieval Court Biographies, and several articles on spiritual, philosophical, literary,management and software design domains. I love diversity and thrive best in versatile challenges.Like minded folks, hit on me!
Dancing Thoughts
Want to Live Extra Years?
read more
Posted by admin on Jun 1, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments
The best way to vote is with your wallet!
What are your voting options at the 2008 election? Like many people, you got the idea once and a while that politicians have a short memory. Forget what you promised is like a disease called Alzheimer light. The thought comes often up in my mind; ?Why should I vote next time?? Another option is a blanc protest vote. You demonstrate the unhappiness with the choice of candidates or current political system. A blanc vote you is a statement that you are involved. People who don’t vote also give a sign of disinterest.
Do you know how you?re vote really makes a difference?
If you think you did your duty by voting at the local elections and the new president, you forgot the most powerful option. You don?t know how democracy really works. Oke, I?ve said it. Did it hurt?
You got to know, when I point one finger at you, there are more fingers pointing in my direction. I too didn?t use my voting rights to it?s full potential. We not only have the option to vote when they ask us to do so, but you have the power to vote every day, every hour and every minute!
Your wallet is the best way to vote! If I decide to buy some cheap products, perhaps I vote for child labor? Or the product I just bought helps a dictator in another country. Or worse, it gives ?fuel? to a war. But if you don’t know all these matters. Information is key to have your vote counted for.
With these options your vote should be perfectly clear. If you go to the supermarket and buy heavily processed junk foods, you agree that those companies use all those chemical additives that undermine your health. An expensive health insurance system in the future is another hidden vote. If you have shares with Merck you don?t bother that 78.000 people died using their painkiller Vioxx.
Those are only two examples where we as consumers have the power to vote with our wallet. If more people black label their products they must change their policy or go out of business. In the pre-Internet age those companies could influence us through the newspapers, radio and television. With all the Internet options, blogging, personal websites, forums etc, everyone becomes a journalist.
That?s the reason why the Codex Alimentarius becomes a threat for our democratic rights. We become silent, the movie, makes this clear. You and I aren?t allowed to share our personal health experiences in combination with a product or service we use. This will be seen as an unlawful health claim. In fact, Codex will impact our right to vote and ?. democracy!
By looking at things differently, I decided the use my voting right on a 24 / 7 base. A man can have thousand wishes, but if you lose your health, you?ve got only one wish left. All governments in our western world have made thousands decisions over the past decades. If we put them on a old fashioned balance and at the other side we put Codex Alimentarius combined with our poor food quality and the helpless sickness industry. The balance will smash to the ground, so hard, all thousand other government decisions will splash against the sealing. That leaves me on a 24/7 scale with only one second left. It?s the second that my government will ask me for my vote. Right now I will say; ?Sorry but I?ve got no time?. I?m too busy taking care for my personal health!
Helping people to preserve and maintain an optimum health status, that
Want to Live Extra Years?
read more
Posted by admin on May 20, 2010 in Articles | 0 comments
The story arc of Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace covers five years and three elections. Set in Minnesota, home to the nation’s highest voter turn-out, the Pierson family understands that voting is not a right but a privilege, and one they exercise regularly. With 2008 a presidential election year, readers of the novel might view Minnesota as an example for the rest of the country to follow.
Nationally between 1960 and 2004, voter participation in presidential election years declined from 63.1% in 1960 to 55.3% in 2004. There were encouraging blips, as percentages rose between 2000 and 2004, from 51.3% to 55.3%. Still, that pales in comparison to Minnesota where a whooping 76.8% of the population voted in 2004, leading the country in voter participation.
The decline in U.S. voter participation didn’t occur overnight and tangible factors contribute. In the age of YouTube where every politician’s foibles can be looped endlessly on the Internet, voter cynicism is high. Other factors in the nation’s political system also come into play, most notably the weakening of traditional party allegiances. Both the Democratic and Republic parties have been losing clout for years.
In the novel, it’s also clear that the Pierson family is active in DFL politics, hosting fundraisers, handing out candidate literature, and answering phones. Because Minnesota has such stellar turnout, it seemed important to include this subplot. Rather than focusing on the family’s political affiliation, I wanted readers to remember why it’s so essential to exercise a right too many of us take for granted, inspire them to get involved, and remind people that every vote does indeed count.
Don’t believe your vote matters? Jesse “The Body” Ventura didn’t become Governor of Minnesota in 1998 because no one went to the polls. Just the opposite, and for some, the realization of how important each vote is came when they voted for the former WWF wrestler not expecting him to ever win.
Some other great examples of a few votes making a big difference:
In 2002, Dan Sparks was elected to the Minnesota State Senate by five votes, and Mike McGinn won election by 35 votes.
In 1999, Leslie Byrne was elected to the Virginia Senate by 37 votes.
John F. Kennedy won the presidency in 1960 over Richard Nixon by a margin of less than one vote per precinct.
One vote per precinct passed women’s right to vote in California in 1911.
The presidential election of 2000 was a true cliffhanger, too close to call the morning after. At the time, I was working as a course developer for an international consulting firm. A few days before the election, I asked a co-worker if he was planning to vote. He said no, that his vote didn’t matter. I mentioned in passing that was too bad, because in other parts of the world people are willing to die for the privilege to cast their vote in a democratic election. The day after as the world waited in anticipation to see who the next President of the United States would be, Chris informed he had decided to vote after all and was glad he did.
The voting sub-plot in Shades of Darkness helps describe the Pierson family’s political activism in a progressive state. But it also serves as an impetus to get readers involved in their community and the world at large by implementing one of the most important privileges we as Americans have.
Catherine Johnson is the author of Shade of Darkness, Shades of Grace published through iUniverse. For more about the novel, visit Catherine Johnson Novels.
Want to Live Extra Years?
read more
