Campaign Slogans

What are the slogans for this years campaign?

Here are some interesting ones that worked in years past.
1964--Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson-Barry Goldwater's slogan" In Your Heart Heart You Know He's Right" was popular with the Republican right. Johnson countered with "In Your Guts, You Know He's Nuts." Johnson won.

1868; Ulysses S. Grant ran for the presidency under the slogan "Vote as You Shot" He was referring to his Civil War victories and telling Union voters to vote Republican. He won.

In 1976 Jimmy Carter used the slogan " Jimmy Carter~Not Just Peanuts" to help propel himself into the White House. He tried to stress that he was a humble peanut farmer and a candidate to be taken seriously.

In 1940, FDR ran for his third term as president. His opponent, Wendell Willkie, put "Roosevelt for EX-President" on his buttons. As you know, FDR won.

One More Dirty Campaign..the Worst in History??

John Adams lived long enough to see his son become president in 1825, but he died before John Quincy Adams lost the presidency to Andrew Jackson in 1828. Fortunately, that meant he didn't have to witness what many historians consider the nastiest contest in American history.

The slurs flew back and forth, with John Quincy Adams being labeled a pimp, and Andrew Jackson's wife getting called a slut.

As the election progressed, editorials in the American newspapers read more like bathroom graffiti than political commentary. One paper reported that "General Jackson's mother was a common prostitute, brought to this country by the British soldiers! She afterward married a mulatto man, with whom she had several children, of which number General Jackson is one!"

What got Americans so fired up? For one thing, many voters felt John Quincy Adams should never have been president in the first place. During the election of 1824, Jackson had won the popular vote, but not the electoral vote, so the election was decided by the House of Representatives. Henry Clay, one of the other candidates running for president, threw his support behind Adams. To return the favor, Adams promptly made him secretary of state. Jackson's supporters labeled it "The Corrupt Bargain" and spent the next four years calling Adams a usurper.

Beyond getting the short end of the electoral stick, Andrew Jackson managed to connect with voters via his background -- which couldn't have been more different than Adams'.

By the time John Quincy was 15, he'd traveled extensively in Europe, mastered several languages, and worked as a translator in the court of Catherine the Great.

Meanwhile, Andrew Jackson had none of those privileges. By 15, he'd been kidnapped and beaten by British soldiers, orphaned, and left to fend for himself on the streets of South Carolina.

Adams was a Harvard-educated diplomat from a prominent New England family. Jackson was a humble war hero from the rural South who'd never learned to spell. He was the first presidential candidate in American history to really sell himself as a man of the people, and the people loved him for it.

Having been denied their candidate in 1824, the masses were up in arms for Jackson four years later. And though his lack of education and political experience terrified many Adams supporters, that argument didn't hold water for the throngs who lined up to cast their votes for "Old Hickory."

Ever since Jackson's decisive victory, no presidential candidate has dared take a step toward the White House without first holding hands with the common man.

Thoughts on this one??

Dirty Campaigning..now you know the rest of the story.....

Negative campaigning in America was begun by two lifelong friends, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Back in 1776, they had nothing but love and respect for one another as they worked to claim America's independence. But by 1800, politics had so distanced the pair that, for the first and last time in U.S. history, a president found himself running against his vice president.

Things got ugly fast. Jefferson's camp accused President Adams of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."

In return, Adams' men called Vice President Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."

As the slurs piled on, Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a tyrant, while Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist, a libertine, and a coward.

Back then, presidential candidates didn't actively campaign. In fact, Adams and Jefferson spent much of the election season at their respective homes in Massachusetts and Virginia.

The key difference between the two politicians was that Jefferson hired a hatchet man named James Callendar to do his smearing for him. Adams, on the other hand, considered himself above such tactics. To Jefferson's credit, Callendar proved incredibly effective, convincing many Americans that Adams desperately wanted to attack France. Although the claim was completely untrue, voters bought it, and Jefferson stole the election.

Jefferson paid a price for his dirty campaign tactics, though. Callendar served jail time for the slander he wrote about Adams, and when he emerged from prison in 1801, he felt Jefferson still owed him.

After Jefferson did little to appease him, Callendar broke a story in 1802 that had only been a rumor until then -- that the President was having an affair with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. In a series of articles, Callendar claimed that Jefferson had lived with Hemings in France and that she had given birth to five of his children.

The story plagued Jefferson for the rest of his career. And although generations of historians shrugged off the story as part of Callendar's propaganda, DNA testing in 1998 showed a link between Hemings' descendants and the Jefferson family.

Just as truth persists, however, so does friendship. Twelve years after the vicious election of 1800, Adams and Jefferson began writing letters to each other and became friends again. They remained pen pals for the rest of their lives and passed away on the same day, July 4, 1826.
It was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

While this is not a Paul Harvey story, it sure sounds like it could be. Thoughts?

MID QUARTER END

ALL posts prior to this post will be counted towards midquarter of Quarter 1.

Pastors challenging the IRS

A 1954 amendment to the Internal Revenue Service code submitted by Democratic Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson permits the IRS to revoke a church's tax-exempt status if the preaching gets too political.

This political season some pastors around the country are defying this amendment and challenging the IRS. "Pulpit Freedom Sunday"was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, an organization of lawyers dedicated to defending religious liberty. The ADF believes that pastors have a First Amendment right to speak on politics if they choose, and that by using its tax authority to limit pulpit content, it is the government, and not the preacher, who is violating the separation of church and state.

What do you think? Should the government limit what pastors can preach about? Should they try to ban politics from the pulpit?

New Penny

Starting on Feb. 12, 2009 the tails side of the penny will get a new image. The coins will be commemorating the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln's birth. The new coins will debut in three-month intervals. In 2010, the penny will get a new tails side image that has yet to be selected.
The penny has not been redesigned in 50 years.

Penny facts:

• The profile of Lincoln that debuted on the "obverse" side of the penny in 1909 was the first image of a president to appear on a circulated U.S. coin.

• Unlike other presidential profiles on coins, he's facing right.

• The Lincoln Memorial first appeared on the reverse side in 1959 in honor of the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

• "In God We Trust" appears on the heads side of the penny. The phrase became a standard feature on U.S. money in 1963.

Some think we should just stop making the penny because it can cost more than a cent to make one because of copper prices. Some lawmakers in Congress have pushed that the penny be phased out.
What do you think?

Gore, Gwyneth Paltrow Go Overseas To Rally Voters

Former Vice President Al Gore and actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Hudson swept into London to encourage US citizens living in Europe to vote-and make donations -to the Democratic party.

"Every single day for the last two or three weeks we've been registering voters," said Miki Bowman head of the British branch of Republicans Abroad. "The lessons have been learned from 2000, that the ex-pat (ex-pat meaning ex-patriot-which is a term used to describe a US citizen living in another country) vote can be critical."

Both Republican and Democrats are working to round up the votes and dollars of overseas US citizens. There are approximately 6 million US citizens who live overseas and are eligible to vote in the election.

Americans living overseas can vote in their home states by mail and can offer donations to campaign funds. Democrats Abroad said that only around 1 million voted in the 2004 election.

With the election getting closer and the race very close, both sides want to get as many overseas votes as possible.


Did you know about overseas voters? Are you surprised at the large number of US citizens living abroad? Do you think they should be allowed to vote in the election?

Right to Bear Arms..in school???

The school district of Harrold, Texas began allowing teachers and staff members to carry concealed firearms to school this year. They are hoping to deter and protect against school shootings. For employees to have a gun, they must have a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun, must be authorized by the district, receive training in crisis management and hostile situations, and use ammunition designed to minimize the risk of ricocheeting bullets. No other school in the US is known to have such a policy.
What do you think? Would you be comfortable with this policy?

Freedom of Speech on the Internet.....sometimes with consequences attached.

Last January 13 students from Eden Prairie High School were punished when pictures of them drinking and partying were taken from someone's Facebook and given to school officials anonymously on a disc. A few days later 4 students at Woodbury High were disciplined for partying pictures of them taken from Facebook. This time, however, a student took the pictures off the website, used them in a powerpoint on drinking, showed the powerpoint in health class and now the kids in the pics are in trouble.
If you thought what you post on the Internet is safe, think again.
What many young people may not realize is the long term consequences of networking sites. "It's an electronic trail right now. And it can be found by college administrators, by potential employers, by friends, by grandparents, by people who you don't want to see some of the mistakes you've made," Media Specialist John Rash.

"It's becoming increasingly common for schools or potential employers to check social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and to penalize kids or other people for what they find," said William McGeveran, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and expert on data privacy.

"Facebook is largely a public space. Users don't always perceive it that way, but that's what it is," McGeveran said.

Employers check?? In an interview with Tim DeMello, owner of Internet company Ziggs,
when DeMello was asked if he does an Internet search for online profiles when he chooses whom to hire, he replies, "Of course. Everybody does."

DeMello estimates that about 20 percent of companies are secretly scanning online profiles before they interview applicants.

"Within a short period of time, you could find these 83 photos on every search engine on the Web, and these 83 photos could be attached to your name for the rest of your career," says DeMello.

An Ottawa , Canada grocery store (Farm Boy) fired two employees after they read postings on a Facebook groups called " I Got Farm Boy'd" The employees had talked about stealing merchandise from the store. One of the employees spoke out and denied stealing from the store. He said the post was only hypothetical.

A minimum wage Argos employee in the UK was fired for gross misconduct after he vented on Facebook about a frustrating day at work.

A 29-year-old police officer from Ohio was fired from his department after he posted photos of evidence from criminal cases and of the speedometer of a police car going 100 mph on MySpace; he was the subject of a recent ABC News story.

People across the country have been fired for “not living up to the moral code of the company,” Stacey Elderbroom, co-creator of the “Protect Your Privates” campaign, said.

Last May, LSU swimmers Eddie Kenney and Matt Coenen were kicked off the team after athletics officials discovered they belonged to a Facebook affinity group that put up disparaging comments about swim coaches.

Loyola University Chicago is forbidding its athletes from belonging. Loyola athletics director John Planek says he ordered athletes off the site to protect them from gamblers, agents or sexual predators who could learn about them, or contact them, through their profiles. It is also an image issue for schools. Schools could be deeply embarrassed if underage star athletes are seen on a website drinking from a beer bong.

Officials at the University of Oxford are using Facebook to find — and fine — students that engaged in a spasm of "trashings," rowdy revels after exams end that include dousing classmates in foam, eggs and flour.

Disciplinary officials at Oxford scanned Facebook, found pictures of the rowdies and have begun e-mailing students fines equivalent to about $85 to $210 for breaking campus rules.

So...it is not just high schools using Facebook and Myspace to gather info. From what I read it sounds like coaches are just starting to use Myspace and Facebook as a place to keep tabs on their athletes. Employers look at it. It sounds like you have to be careful what you post--even if your account is set to private. Thoughts??????

We're in the RED

The White House foresees a $389 billion deficit for 2008, growing to $482 billion in 2009.

In 2008, the government will take in $2.66 Trillion dollars. It will come from:

• $1.25 trillion - Individual income tax
• $927.2 billion - Social Security and other payroll taxes
• $314.9 billion - Corporate income tax
• $68.1 billion - Excise taxes
• $29.2 billion - Customs duties
• $25.7 billion - Estate and gift taxes
• $50.7 billion - Other

The government will spend much more than this. This year they are expected to spend $389 billion more than what they take in. What will it be spent on?

• Mandatory spending: $1.788 trillion (+4.2%)
  • $608 billion (+4.5%) - Social Security
  • $386 billion (+5.2%) - Medicare
  • $209 billion (+5.6%) - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
  • $324 billion (+1.8%) - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
  • $261 billion (+9.2%) - Interest on National Debt

• Discretionary spending: $1.114 trillion (+3.1%)
  • $481.4 billion (+12.1%) - United States Department of Defense
  • $145.2 billion (+45.8%) - Global War on Terror
  • $69.3 billion (+0.3%) - Health and Human Services
  • $56.0 billion (+0.0%) - United States Department of Education
  • $39.4 billion (+18.7%) - United States Department of Veterans Affairs
  • $35.2 billion (+1.4%) - US Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • $35.0 billion (+22.0%) - State and Other International Programs
  • $34.3 billion (+7.2%) - Department of Homeland Security
  • $24.3 billion (+6.6%) - Energy
  • $20.2 billion (+4.1%) - Department of Justice
  • $20.2 billion (+3.1%) - Department of Agriculture
  • $17.3 billion (+6.8%) - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • $12.1 billion (+13.1%) - Department of Transportation
  • $12.1 billion (+6.1%) - Department of Treasury
  • $10.6 billion (+2.9%) - United States Department of the Interior
  • $10.6 billion (-9.4%) - United States Department of Labor
  • $51.8 billion (+9.7%) - Other On-budget Discretionary Spending
  • $39.0 billion - Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending
  
  
• Look over the list. Do you agree with where the money is being spent?
  
• How do you feel about the overspending?
  
• Go to the national debt clock to see more about how much we owe due to years of overspending--click here http://zfacts.com/p/461.htm

Should the DrIvInG AgE be RAISED???

More than 5,000 U.S. teens die each year in car crashes.

The rate of crashes, fatal and nonfatal, per mile driven for 16-year-old drivers is almost 10 times the rate for drivers ages 30 to 59, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.

Statistics like these have several groups pushing to raise the legal driving age to 17 or 18. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group funded by the auto insurance industry, is calling on states to raise the age for getting a driver's license.


Many industrialized countries in Europe and elsewhere have a driving age of 17 or 18.

"Getting the highest of the high-risk drivers away from the wheel probably isn't a bad idea," said Dr. Barbara Gaines, trauma director at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. What do you think??

GOP VP

Sarah Palin, John McCain's choice of Vice President, is big news this first week of school. She is unknown to most voters in the US. As more details emerge about her and her family, we get a better idea of who she is. What can you find out about her? Here is one to get you started.

Sarah Palin is the FIRST woman to be selected as a Republican Vice Presidential Candidate.

OR

What do you think about the controversy surrounding her daughter? Should family be a consideration in an election? What about the comments that as a mother of 5, one a baby with Down's Syndrome, that she will not have time to be Vice President?