H
humbubba
Guest
My platformed hasn't changed, but US Iraq policy is wobbling toward my
plan. Note the first few SPECIFICS.
Rick "The Ayatolla Yu-So" Hohensee
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:
Presidential platform of Rick Hohensee, revised January 2006
INTRODUCTION
One must look at my platform in totality. Parts of it will impinge on
a
particular individual negatively. One must make an assessment of the
overall effect. This is especially true, for example, as pertains to
something like "labor policy". I have no explicit labor policy, but
have
several proposals that dramatically favor people typically categorized
as
"labor". This is how problems are solved; by breaking them into
smaller
and smaller problems, solving the smaller problems, and letting the
little
things take care of the big things. Most politicians, however, have
no
interest in solutions at all. Most are lawyers, and make their money
perpetuating problems. 3/4 of Congress, for example, voted to invade
Iraq.
Based on what I know from an adult Internet account, basic cable,
modest
but extremely varied everyday experience, and various print and
broadcast
media, I want to be President so that I can try to...
In short, give the USA a much-needed overhaul.
SPECIFICS (in very roughly top-down priority)
Get out of Iraqi cities immediately, including vacating the Green
Zone,
and retire to functions of state and federal governments, until the
cities
form regional alliances analagous to, and perhaps with external,
nations,
as they, the representatives of the Iraqi cities, see fit. This may
involve a turf trade between Shi'a and Kurd areas of Iran, for
example. If
Iraq chooses to reform as Iraq, make it as easy as possible for the
new
Iraq to be a secular democratic republic at the federal level.
(Jan '06) Jack Murtha's epochal 6-month withdrawal proposal is
basically a
military expression of the above political framework. His "quick-
strike
force" and an "over-the-horizon presence of Marines" is my 'functions
of
state and federal governments'. My withdrawl is within Iraq, however.
Murtha wants completely out ASAP. I'm one step less abrupt.
Reaffirm that the "war on terror" is mostly diplomacy and police work
when
prosecuted by the competent, and only becomes all-out war when
prosecuted
by the incompetent and/or corrupt. (Jan '06) Desperate right-wingers
are
now in the habit of justifying any and everything by noting that we
are at
war. We need to call it off. Claiming that some group declared war on
the
the former USA on 9-11 gives said groups far to much credence as an
opponent.
Hand over Halliburton functions in Iraq to the US military and
mideastern
engineering firms. Let Iraqis rebuild Iraq. Reduce US funding for the
purpose of rebuilding Iraq by a factor of 4, paid directly to locals.
I
expect this to get 10 times as much accomplished at 1/10 the cost.
Similarly localize the flow of FEMA money into the gulf region.
Guarantee jobs to soldiers injured in Iraq, with preference for
aquisitions roles in the Pentagon, such as making sure Halliburton
recieves funds due to them.
Guarantee jobs to all Jersey Girls and similar in the DOJ and
similar.
Arrest and prosecute George Walker Bush for crimes against humanity
under
US law, most notably the violation of the UN Charter, which is US law,
in
the failure to get Security Council approval of a violent invasion.
Signal the end of anglophone imperialist belligerence by isolating
and
peacefully dismantling the Zionist proxy political establishment in
Palestine. Isolate Israel, in other words.
Pressure Israel to relinquish it's nuclear weapons. We can't disallow
nukes to Iran et cetera if Israel has them.
Fire all Bush/Reagan appointees in the Executive Branch. Work
diligently
to destroy every legislator that voted for the invasion of Iraq, and
are
thus complicitous with a major war crime and disgrace of the USA.
(Nov
'05) There is one class of Bush appointee that is of particular
interest
for retention. Those who have quit or been fired. I am of course
speaking
of the Gunns, the refugees from a corrupted CIA, and so on, not the
Michael "It's Not My Job" Brownies.
Unilaterally or otherwise liberate Darfur from the "Sudan"
"government" in
Khartoum. (I had suggested a no-fly-zone over Darfur. This has since
been
agreed to.) (July 05) There has been some semblance of a change of
regime
in Khartoum, I believe. I will revisit this issue as President with
better
information, and the understanding that the epochal cultural seam
between
East and West currently runs through Sudan. (Nov. 05) The situation
in
Sudan is deteriorating once again. Remind the Khartoum government
that
there are certain standards even in the Sahel that must be met to be
considered the government of a people. Provide Darfuris with
defensive
weapons such as low-cost .22 caliber rimfire pistols and .22 caliber
rimfire manual action rifles.
Un-offshore America's corporate tax base. I've heard sheltered
offshore
income is on the order of 10 trillion dollars. If that's even
remotely
true, fixing that problem can basically solve all the former USA's
fiscal
problems.
Visit New Orleans for about a continuous week, and render it's
recovery
sustainable. Address the subsidence issue of all similar regions. For
New
Orleans in particular, my current thinking is that it should be in-
filled
to sea-level using fill provided by barge and/or rail, beginning
along
levees and proceeding over the long term until the entire city drains
by
gravity. That is an earthwork in the few billions of dollars. The
drainage canals also strike me as a severe mis-design, such they they
should be dry canals with pumping stations at thier outfall ends. When
I
get to New Orleans, Senators Landrieu and Vitter will want to avoid
me,
which they are welcome to do.
Investigate allegations of bombings of the New Orleans levees.
FEMA's role in the early phases of an emergency is to be one of
passive
auditor and passive money provider, with the utter inabilty to
prevent
anything. FEMA must be prevented from preventing anything when hours
are
lives. FEMA must be enabled to smile sweetly and cut billions of
dollars
in checks to the likes of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin without
question,
but with full expectation of reportage of where the money went when
the
dust clears. Think Federal Emergency Money Auditors.
The Coast Guard will be tasked with creating a hurricane follower
fleet to
provide most time-critical relief, communications and surveillance at
the
trailing edge of all hurricanes making landfall. Said fleet may be
offered
to neighbor nations in severe cases. Said fleet should contemplate a
'Katrita' scenario, and should contemplate high-wind aerial
surveillance,
water and other hour-timescale-critical supply, emergency ship-
generated
electricity, hospital capability, and a general expectation of the
unexpectable.
Replace the Pledge of Alliegance with daily recitals of varying
paragraphs
of the Constitution. People that like oaths of subjugation can
pledge
their allegiance to the students every day. If you can't live without
the
Pledge of Allegiance, join the Marine Corps.
Provide every public school student in grades 5 and up a copy of the
Constitution every year. Include dissemination of explanations of
phrases
like "writ of mandamus" and "letters of marque and reprisal" (which
latter
I personally don't currently understand, by the way) which occur in
the
Constitution. There is an effort under way to put a synopsis of the
constitution on paper currency. This also might better be a matter of
varying excerpts.
Overhaul the White House press corps to exclude the major war
infomercial
networks; Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS and so on. I'll probably limit that
access to
newswire services, Mother Jones, The Nation, Al Jazeera and so on.
That
is, credible outlets.
Reduce legacy government secrets as closely as possible to nothing.
That
is, I will massively reduce "classified information", particularly
older
documents, probably everything over 5 years old except for nuclear
technologies and similar. Set up a periodic challenge and review
system
for classified information to remain classified on about a 5-year
periodicity, with increasingly difficult tests and decreasing
periodicity
to remain classified as time passes. A jury-like mechanism may well
also
be useful for this purpose. This could be a Judicial Branch matter.
Semi-legalize drugs. Implement a closely controlled self-prescription
program for adults to use such drugs as cocaine, heroin, marijuana
and
penicillin. That is, I will call off the corrupt counter-democratic
drug
war and de-glamourize narcotics. Drugs are for sick people. Sick
people
can obtain drugs cost-effectively in a healthy society. This will
reduce
the US black market economy, reduce the outflow of capital from the
country, improve the image of small business, improve patient
information
recieved by doctors from their patients, vastly reduce the area of
the
world hostile to the US, reduce medical costs, reduce the use of
needles,
wipe out several rogue militaries in Latin America, and many other
unimaginable benefits one would expect from choosing to discontinue
losing
a war. PCP and similarly destructive toxins will not be legalized,
nor
will truly sophisticated drugs actually requiring a doctor to even
understand the accepted purpose of. I don't think any amphetamines
such as
meth and ecstasy will be legal (self-prescribeable) at this point.
The
LEAP group, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, leap.cc on the
Internet,
has useful information and contacts on this issue.
Remove the degenerate military term "intelligence" from what the CIA
claims to do. Replace it with the degenerate military-style term
"strinfo", a contraction of "strategic information".
De-commission the CIA entirely, and un-authorize them totally,
immediately. Out them all in about 6 months. Re-deploy them if they
choose
to hang on under INS. The counter-proliferation forces may
reconstitute
under the Nuclear Regulatory Agency or similar. Otherwise, if a CIA
agent
or analyst wants to go to work for another strinfo agency, of which
there
are some 14 in the Executive Branch, they will have to get personal
approval from me, and I'll be very busy with other things. The
Legislature
is currently (Sept. 04) fiddling with the CIA organizational chart.
That's
not going to make me listen to their garbage reports. (Nov 04) The CIA
is
basically fired anyway by their own total lack of credibility. With
the
internal shenanigans going on there now firing them all will probably
be
the most humane option. The current US intelligence problem would
largely
be solved by a President that can use a web browser and search
engine.
There will be some premium placed on counter-proliferation agents
seeking
re-assignment. (Nov '05) The CIA's concentration camp network is in
fact
not surprising, and doesn't effect this platform item. This item was
based
on such assumptions.
In particular, eliminate covert operations outside actual war zones
immediately. Such behavior is well beneath the greatest and most
powerful
nation ever, and if you are so patriotic that you want to commit
psychopathic acts for your country, you should be willing and
expectant to
die or spend the rest of your life in a small cage in Asia to do so.
The
US will only remain the world's sole superpower if it does so with
some
sense of fair play, and the CIA has no such sense.
Naturalization of undocumented immigrants becomes an issue of
documentation. Biometrically identify every non-citizen on US soil I
can
get my hands on. Emphasize undocumented aliens in lieu of the
dehumanizing
term "illegal". Aliens are entitled to basic human rights, but
security
and other concerns greatly compromise further rights of aliens.
Naturalization thus becomes a matter of good behavior for a
significant
period of time, i.e. a matter of very-long-term personal
accountability.
Promote the vote for ex-criminals. There are too many election abuses
now
and abuses of the term "felon" to disenfranchise ex-felons.
Conversely,
soldiers can not be presumed to have any freedom from political
pressure,
and thus should not be allowed to vote. Conversely, voting by troops
in
war zones is fundamentally suspect.
Make federal election days maximal national holidays, in the sense
that it
shall be unlawful for any adult to not have 4 hours of time off from
work
on an election day during local polling hours, with severe fines for
employers violating this. Employers are Republicans, and employees
are
Democrats. That's fine. What's not fine is one Republican being
capable of
denying a dozen Democrats access to the polls with a work schedule.
Require any election polling place, provisional or mail-in voting
option
to accept a plain piece of paper with handwritten votes as the
required
Constitutional default ballot, in addition to whatever other
conveniences
thay may provide, q.v.
Teach evolution as legally factual and the Bible, Talmud, Koran, the
Analects, the Tao Te Ching, Aristotle's Ethics, Machiavelli and so on
as
ethics studies. Foster an Ethics Channel on cable TV.
Foster a newswire broadcast TV channel featuring AP and Reuter's text
and
video feeds. Possibly require such a channel to operate a satellite
or
cable TV company, and maybe an ethics channel as well. Newswires
involved
may include AP, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Pravda, the BBC and so on.
Offer Al Jazeera a UHF airwave TV broadcast slot in greater DC.
Establish a grade school diploma indicating that the holder can
perform
such basic tasks of self-actualization as reading a reputable
newspaper, a
roadmap, and the Constitution with some comprehension and compute
unit
prices for groceries in their head.
Legalize insider trading. Insider trading laws are unenforceable, are
used
as a political bludgeon as in the case of Martha Stewart, and give a
false
sense of security to small investors. In general, financial markets
are
too liquid anyway, in my opinion. Who owns what is not accountable
enough
in America, and people aren't involved enough in what they own.
Abolish leveraged buyouts if they haven't been already (Bobby). (Jan
'06)
The Economist Jan 7-13 06 opines that the leveraged buyout industry
is
currently forming a large unsustainable bubble.
Investigate Sun Myung Moon for illegal donations and information
transfers
to North Korea.
Actively campaign for Taiwan to adopt an official name not including
the
word "China". Taiwan is entitled to independance from China, as
"Taiwan".
Eliminate the "not for profit" designation for corporations,
churches,
schools, trust funds and anything else. Charity is taxable income. If
the
government wants to subsidize something it can do so accountably, by
direct subsidy. This is the only way to "close loopholes"; all of them
at
once.
A radically simplified tax/welfare system will include eliminating
foodstamps. USDA infrastructure to distribute agricultural surpluses
may
be overhauled to provide a subsidized USDA brand, or not. The
distribution
of surpluses and so on may be further expedited by government grocery
stores in low-income areas, or not. The extremely indigent will have
federally provided debit cards via regular banks to regulate the flow
of
funds on a daily or weekly basis so they don't "sell their foodstamps"
or
put their SSI check in a slot machine all at once and so on. Similar
controls will be created analagous to WIC. The total funds going to
poor
people will increase. The Texas Lonestar Card or whatever it is is
exemplary, but should not carry the stigma of a special card. Also,
foodstamps will apply to anything sold in e.g. a 7-11. The
proscription of
"restaurant food" runs to some rather ridiculous distinctions,
particularly if you are homeless. In Texas, for example, a Big Gulp
ceases
to be groceries when you stick the straw in the lid.
Require businesses selling gasoline retail to have an easily
accessible
public restroom. (a lovely bit of civility from Texas State law).
Some
other type of business should be required to maintain public restrooms
so
that urban areas are well-covered.
Ensure voting systems accountable to the electorate nationwide, such
as
demo'ed by my own "votescript" (Internet search in 'groups' [Usenet]
for
'votescript').
Invite the Congress to take over the Anthrax and Chandra Levy
investigations using the U.S. Capitol Police and any Executive Branch
law
enforcement capabilities they may wish to avail themselves of, such as
the
Postal Inspector's forces. In other words, promote law enforcement
upon
the Executive Branch by another branch, perhaps with some improved
latitude for the President to manage strictly executive affairs, such
as
e.g. promotion issues in the military. The underlying problem
addressed
here is that the balance of power does not extend to police power,
which
is excessively concentrated in the Executive Branch. Police power must
be
balanced for the overall balance of power to remain standing.
Put all Electors voting for Bush in the Electoral College in 2004 on
a
corruption watch-list.
Eliminate economic status requirements, particularly college degree
requirements, from positions and licenses granted by the Federal
government. This will be enforced very promptly in the US military as
pertains to rank. No place needs to be a pure meritocracy any more
than
the US armed forces. That is, graduating from a service academy
guarantees
no rank. Such guarantees predate a literate general population, and
are
thus absurd. Conversely, certain rank may be provided via
examination.
Federally audit license testing, and allow associations to make up
their
own tests, if re-testing the licensed is periodic. Land grant
universities
will probably lose students, but gain some license testing business,
for a
net loss of gross business. This, however, is conjecture about what
are
basically market forces.
Plead to the Supreme Court to exclude Florida from the Electoral
College
for the rest of JEB Bush's governorship (slated to end in 2006) plus
13
years, for systemic election fraud.
Investigate and probably prosecute Katherine Harris for election
fraud.
Investigate and probably prosecute the management of Diebold Corp.
and
similar for treason. There is preponderant circumstantial evidence of
Diebold/Republican theft of the Congress in 2002, "The Diebold
Bounce",
and of course the evidence suggests quite compellingly that Kerry
would
have won a fair 2004 Presidential election by some 5,000,000 votes.
Explain and confirm that there are no proprietary software copyrights
on
election technologies.
Maintain a potent, progressive military with current uniformed
personnel
levels for the forseeable future but sharply curtailed systems
aquisitions. Figure 50% of current aquisitions levels or less.
Maintain
current basic research levels, i.e. DARPA-type stuff. The mythology
is
that if you can imagine it, the US military has it. That's a valuable
mythology, and doesn't require the belief that they have A LOT of it.
Explicitly allow articulating motor-tricycles that lean like a 2-
wheeled
motorcycle. Honda has made small vehicles with this characteristic.
Require that motorcycles have 2 headlights 3 feet apart. These two
items
will save hundreds of lives a year at current levels of motorcycle
ridership, which figures to increase massively.
Task the National Endowment for the Arts with promulgating
cycluphonics,
ratiolity, and the unwound cycle of fifths as a method of subsetting
tonal
clusters. http://linux01.gwdg.de/~rhohen
Get some computer programmers at DARPA to finish Ha3sm, Hohensee's
Autonomous 3-stack machine, a computer operating system.
ftp://linux01.gwdg.de/pub/cLIeNUX/interim/Forreal.tgz, or it may be
archived at ibiblio, or email me.
Make it unlawful for entities other than individuals to contribute
funds
to political campaigns. In particular, corporations shall have no
political funding rights. I thought of this myself, but the Tom DeLay
case
illustrates that Texas saw the importance of this issue some 100
years
ago. I'm also very curious about how the whole board of directors
thing
works, or rather fails to work. My suspicion is that it would be
beneficial to make boards of directors advisory only.
Conduct or review a variety of politically curious re-autopsies, such
as
on Nicholas Berg, Lori Klausutis, Vince Foster, Ron Brown, and the
guy
that was murdered and described as a suicide in Bush's State
Department
right in headquarters in Foggy Bottom, John J. Kokal, and many
others.
(Nov 05) There's also now a Colonel in Iraq in the notably odd
suicide
category.
Survey all cases of persons who have died in police custody in the
last 10
years.
Establish a position of national participatory sports promoter and
invite
Cal Ripkin and/or Carl Lewis to take their on-going work Federal.
Establish a US Executive Organic Demonstration Farm within the
Beltsville
national agricultural research center and get all food consumed at
the
White House from that farm, or as close to that ideal as possible,
with
all deliberate speed and as the maturation times of various crops and
livestock permits. The White House culinary staff shall advise on the
crops and varieties grown, and culinary considerations of husbandry.
Consultancy shall be sought from persons such as Kent Whealey of the
Seed
Savers Exchange.
Abolish Daylight Savings Time.
Convert the Executive Branch to use of open-source computer operating
systems, such as Linux, BSD, or Plan 9 From Bell Labs. The military
will
be ordered to do so. I hope they aren't waiting for orders. Tip to
unixphobes: learn the ed editor and turn off all servers on your
local
box. See also: my cLIeNUX Linux "distribution", particularly the
"seedocs". cLIeNUX is probably archived at ibiblio.
Make all publications of the government available by FTP download from
the
Internet in effectively non-proprietary data formats. Make all
Executive
Branch websites lucid when viewed with the Lynx text-based web
browser.
Implement checks and balances on law enforcement such that no
jurisdiction
can monopolize the evidence pertaining to any suspicious death. This
item
is also discussed under GENERALITIES q.v. The word "police" does not
occur
in the Constitution, and the balance of power needs to be extended to
police entities policing each other, federally and between the
States.
Inter-State this can be limited to matters of wrongful death. Whereas
the
US is a nation of laws, the Constitutional "sovereignty" of the
several
States means a State right to lawfully execute, not to murder. I may
require that all copyable evidence of any ongoing wrongful death
investigation be submitted to the FBI for investigative and records
redundancy. The Federal Government has an obligation to guarantee a
republican government to the several States. That includes preventing
a
particular State from implementing a Murder Incorporated. When I
leave
office no State or branch of the Federal Government will have a
monopoly
on the investigation of any suspicious death.
Manage the White House grounds and monumental DC landscaping
organically.
Increase personal financial accountability of members of Congress and
lobbyists and lobbying organizations.
Implement a graduated progressive debt-monetization schedule for the
Reagan/Bush/Bush National Debt to eventually eliminate the regressive
debt
costs left by the Bush Treason Family.
Generalize the definitions of criminal anti-competitive behavior to
better
protect small businesses and economic diversity. Lots of things e.g.
Microsoft does legally will become illegal, such as kickbacks to
system
administrators. By the way, business owners need to not allow their
employees to take kickbacks from Microsoft, on their own initiative.
System admins like to keep people on their networks dysfunctionalized,
so
they like WinDoS for end users. Don't be such a sucker. Apple went to
unix
(MacOS X is a BSD unix with an Apple GUI) for a reason. Be advised
also
that Windows is still MSDOS and not suitable for connection to the
Internet. (Jan '06) Bill Gates said recently that security is easy.
Bill
Gates is a pathological liar. The latest version of MSDOS (Windows
'Vista') was delayed for years by bug-chasing.
Provide two copies of every required schoolbook to every public
student in
America; a hardback that stays in the classroom and is not to be
defaced
and remains school property, and a Federally provided paperback that
becomes the property of the student.
Task the dairy industry with deciding upon a variety of real natural
fermented cheese to bear the legal designation "American cheese", and
without compensation, remove the designation "American" from
artificial
imitations of cheese. Let fake cheese be "Amercun cheeth". For
example,
make burger chains call their "cheeseburgers" "cheethburgers", or use
real
cheese.
Uphold the contractual obligations of the USA while allowing certain
bad
investments to lose their value abruptly, such as companies
constituting
an excessive capacity to manufacture weapons, Halliburton, and so on.
Ensure that transportation policy emphasize pedestrians and other
human-power transport first, then mass transit, then roads. I will
encourage buses, in particular, publicly and privately operated.
Running a
bus line will become a right of a business entity wishing to do so,
assuming reasonable safety regulation compliance. A useful
counterexample
to this is bus service around the University of Maryland, which is
designed to subsidize the middle class at the expense of those most
in
need of public transportation, and thus most beneficial to society as
a
whole to recieve such services. The 86 Metrobus route in particular is
not
allowed to visit the College Park subway station, which is a
strikingly
arrogant perversion of the politics of public thoroughfares.
Establish a cabinet-level auditing office, with a general permanent
mandate and authorization to eliminate corruption and improve
efficiency
throughout the Executive Branch via creative random audits of anything
of
interest for such audits.
Reduce the implementation costs of the tax system and the welfare
system
by simplifying the income tax code to a single simple formula with a
positive component, formerly mis-named as the proposed "negative
income
tax". Thus there will be no brackets. The top tax rate should be about
50%
and the top positive tax rate should provide a homeless man with
about
$10-- a day in 2004 dollars. Since I suggested this Bush has noted
that
Americans spend 6 billion hours, I believe it was, a year figuring
their
taxes. That's about $120B worth of wasted time.
(Another thing I'm looking at is a flat top rate of 50% so that a
large
segment of low income people pay no income tax, but that's just an
item of
curiosity so far. It depends where the level is that will produce
revenue
comparable to Clinton-era tax levels. Another idea here is to consider
all
gross revenue as income, rather than considering profit as income. At
a
much lower nominal tax rate on a much larger tax base, this can
inately
eliminate the distinctions between not-for-profits, businesses, and
private parties. The distinction between business and consumer is
abused
in America. Regardless, any changes I make to tax codes will be huge
net
simplifications. Complexity itself is a reduceable cost.)
Assuming the same basic tax system as we have now, in terms of
bracketed
income taxes being the bulk of federal revenue, the top tax rate
should be
in the range of 40%, PLUS the percentage of debt service in the
federal
budget. The top tax rate is thus currently 60%, since debt service is
roughly 20% of the federal budget. This allows Republicans to pay for
their debt. A gradual debt monetization program may also be
necessary.
(July 05) the above tax ruminations are vague, but rest assured,
current
Bush tax policy is a reactionary joke, and his mumblings about tax
simplification since I proposed a tax simplification are to be feared
like
a tropical virus, and do seem to be recieving the appropriate
reception, a
horrified public recoil.
Eliminate parasitic "protectionist" tariffs, farm and other subsidies
to
the advantaged. Do what Reagan said, not what he did, and strictly
limit
subsidies to benefit the truly needy, i.e. put money where it is
cost-effective for the populace, such as immunization programs and so
on.
Welfare is for poor people.
Require all products bodily ingested by humans, such as cigarettes,
have
their ingredients listed as is now the case for most foods. This will
include products with long-standing exemptions from such
requirements,
such as COCA Cola. The regulation to list ingredients on medicines
wiped
out narcotics-based "patent medicines", and should have a positive
overall
effect on cigarettes and what is in them. Eliminate the current
parasitic
relationship between the government and tobacco company fines. By the
way,
the way I quit smoking for a year now is to chew tobacco. I chew Red
Man,
and chew small quantities I can swallow rather than spitting, thus
avoiding horrors like spit cups. This is still poison, but I suspect
it's
much less harmful than smoking. It undoubtably is less harmful to me
given
the condition my lungs were in a year ago. They are far from healed a
year
later.
Outlaw kickbacks to doctors on prescriptions, with draconian
penalties.
Re-outlaw consumer advertising of prescription (and proposed
self-prescription) drugs.
Closely investigate a legal doctrine of reduced liability proportional
to
pre-existing risk. That is, childbirth and old age, for example, are
risky. That risk in negligence cases pertaining to people at high
pre-existing risk is to be taken into account somehow. Wrongful loss
of
life is to be pro-rated to 80 years, or ten years older than the
decedent,
which ever is greater. Or something like that.
Improve employability and general functionalization services to the
homeless, literacy programs generally, and many other areas currently
exhibiting barbaric and outrageously costly neglect. Another area that
I
personally find emblematic of the neglect the USA bestows upon it's
helpless, my pet peeve if you will, is the condition of the average
public
basketball backboard. A decent outdoor basketball goal is a very
cost-effective thing. Expect to see full regulation-dimensions
rectangular
backboards with straight rims appearing when I am President, starting
around the White House. Maybe even nets.
Solicit involvement of professional athletes in adult literacy
outreach
programs. My personal experience with illiterate homeless men is they
need
a Ray Lewis or similar to help them with their phonics. The NBA read
to
Achieve program for example, should target adults.
Institute a sentancing premium on illiteracy for jail and prison
terms,
which can be overcome by learning to read while incarcerated. Make
the
premium greater for shorter incarcerations, up to 2 to 1 for sentences
of
less than 6 months.
Reduce disaster funding for semi-normal occurances like hurricanes
along
the Gulf of Mexico. (Oct '05) For example, FEMA flood insurance in
the
storm surge range should be capped at about $20,000--. For example,
Trent
Lott can rebuild his $3 mil mansion on the water on FEMA money if he
had
insurance, but if it gets blown away again he can only get $20k for
it.
You could call this "The Cabana Way".
Closely review the remedy ruling in the Microsoft anti-trust case
decided
by Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly. My current thinking is that she failed
her
mandate to provide a remedy.
Emphasize North American and Western Hemisphere resources in US
energy
policy. That is, reduce or de-emphasize dependance on oil and LNG
tankers.
Emphasize the Internet and other non-traditional channels in
education.
Formal education is a contradiction of terms. Also emphasize sports,
gardening, and the arts. The teachers' unions and/or public schools
are
certified failures, and were of very little use to me after 3rd
grade.
That's is thiers to correct. I have education to worry about.
The validity of the Patent Office is to be subjected to fundamental
review. In the mean time, certain areas of technology are grossly and
absolutely inappropriate for patent protection. Genetics and computer
software should not be patentable at all. There is an Amendment to
this
effect suggested below.
Foster a weekly blues jam and bar-b-que at the White House in the
summer.
The Office of the President will provide the duct tape. Eat Duct
Tape;
200,000 Roadies Can't Be Wrong.
Manage my legislative agenda like an open source software project,
with
input from the general population via an FTP site and/or web wiki.
Make public spaces in DC available to the National Arboretum and
Beltville
research farm for planting and long term observation of ornamental,
fruit
and shade tree and shrub varieties developed at those facilities.
Promote
such plantings in low-income DC in particular. The program to develop
a
blight-proof American Chestnut tree should find fertile ground in DC,
for
example.
I am a personal fan of the National Zoo. I was quoted in the cover
story
"Gorilla Groupies" in the Washington City Paper years ago. Problems at
the
NZP will be attended to. The Zoo is in part a victim of it's own
fabulous
historical successes. The first white tiger in the US, Mohini Rewa,
was a
gift to the US from India. Now you can be killed by one in your own
mansion in Vegas, or in it's cage in a Florida zoo, or at a petting
zoo in
the Midwest. A new mission may be in order. For example, the national
zoo
of the USA could be more North American in focus. Elk, moose,
turkeys,
dugong, manatee, coyote, paw-paw, chestnut, indigenous azaleas....
such
things are as bizarre to most zoo-goers as a white tiger, and yet are
indigenous to North America. The current plan for demonstration
elephant
breeding in downtown DC is a textbook lack of vision and sense of
mission.
Smithsonian people are quite full of themselves. Nothing a zoo does
in
terms of artistic display and clever signage compares to, for example,
a
prairie dog. Meanwhile, it is an absolute scandal that there isn't a
bus
or something up the length of the zoo. Rock Creek to Connecticut
Avenue is
over 200 feet of elevation change, quite the tough hike for fat
Americans.
(Jan '06) The Zoo has progressed. They have a Przywalski's Horse, for
example. And a petting zoo. Nigerian Dwarf Goats. This is the former
USA,
politically, but it's still a wonderland.
I support statutes and regulations that result in a decrease in the
gross
bulk of statutes and regulations for the sake thereof, such as more
use of
parametric "schedules" such as the well-known "GS-16" schedule of
government salaries. A quick glance at the US Code suggests that it
could
easily be smaller by a factor of 4 or more. Obfuscation is parasitic.
Gun control is a population density issue. A moose gun is insane in
Manhatten. Being without one is insane in most of Alaska. A simple
tax
can be developed based on how many people are in range of a weapon.
Let's
say the tax is 5 cents a year for each human within range of a
weapon.
That's 20 cents for a moose gun in the outskirts of Nome, and hundreds
of
thousands of dollars for a moose gun in Manhatten. The details need
some
work, but therein lies the solution. There are a number of possible
side-effects, like gun shops become inately rural businesses, which is
a
good thing. A gun collector may be forced to move to the country to
retain
his collection. There's also the issue of a one-second factor, like 5
cents for each round the thing can fire in one second, times
population
density. Thus automatic and semi-automatic weapons cost more in
proportion
to their fire rate. There would also be an exemption if the tax on a
weapon is below a certain threshhold, such as $10--.
Reassess the health risks of cyclamates and other sugar alternatives
versus aspartame. Note that Donald Rumsfeld was a key lobbyist for
aspartame.
Abolish diplomatic immunity outside embassies, and transit to the
borders
from embassies. The US doesn't have royals, and doesn't acknowledge
them
before the law on our soil to any extent, except heads of state and
other
modern civil officers.
Change the names of Blair Mansion, the Ronald Reagan White Elephant
and
Internationalist Boondoggle Center, Reagan National Airport, the J.
Edgar
Hoover Building, and the Herbert Hoover Building. The Reagan Building
might be a nice thing to name after Rosa Parks, for example.
Destroy the LBJ Memorial. LBJ has JFK's limo scrubbed. It's time to
scrub
LBJ.
Increase compensation to Federal elected officials. Congresspersons
should
make at least $500,000 per year. The current situation is like the
elitist
"amateurism" scam prevalent in track and field before Carl Lewis, and
the
myriad 'volunteerism' scams throughout DC and elsewhere. The fastest
way
to do this may be to encourage the States to pay thier
representatives,
who work FOR the States, by the way, large honoraria.
Closely scrutinize zoning laws. New Orleans is a nice place to try
abolishing zoning laws, for example. One idea here is to make it
illegal
for any area to be precluded from use as a residence. This idea is to
make
it more problematic to pollute, create hazards, and to help reduce
dependance on transportation. This may also have side-benefits for
the
homeless. Rather than making factories and so on uninhabitable, an
officer
of the operating company should be required to reside with his/her
family
at such locations, such as Union Carbide's facility in Bhopal.
Closely scrutinize the concept of personal trust funds.
Set up a history ftp/website in the Education department
Keep America's shipyards open at a low level with ships with
potential
civilian or humanitarian roles. The US doesn't currently need
submarines,
destroyers, aircraft carriers and so on. Freighters, troop ships and
so on
can continue to be built. They might be nuclear powered, but will be
lightly armed, if at all. An oil-spill response ship might be worth
consideration. Another possibility is a floating marine biology
college.
An oceanic debris cleaner of some kind perhaps. Suggestions welcome.
Provide a low-cost clinic option besides a hospital to every county in
the
USA (one rare good idea in the Republicon platform).
One immigration rule for all countries (per Al Sharpton). This is part
of
the complete breakfast of simplifying the US Code and the Code of
Federal
Regulations, as well as being a matter of fundamental racial
fairness.
This does not preclude special control of Mideasterners, who are
currently
worthy of special treatment for security reasons.
Promise exhibition MLB baseball games in Cuba if Castro adopts a
constitution with real elections and so on. Invite Castro to the
White
House and smoke Phillies cognac-flavored Blunts to annoy him.
Heavily tax mineral resources extracted from Federal land. Distribute
said
monies to the regions said resources were extracted from. Oil money,
for
example, should remain in the Gulf region to a much larger extent than
it
does.
AMENDMENTS
I suggest several Constitutional amendments. The language in this
listing
is not necessarily exact, but is close. Actual experts should be
consulted
on the details.
........................................................................
...
Employees or compensated agents of the Executive Branch at the
time
of an offense are excluded from the pardon power of the
President
for said offense. The Senate may pardon such persons in such
cases
if the pardonee and offense are explicitly named and the
pardon
approved by simple majory of a quorum of the Senate.
........................................................................
...
Citizens may grow any species of photosynthetic plant in any
quantity.
........................................................................
...
The Judiciary shall have the power to declare periods of up
to
twenty years of Federal disenfranchisement over States or
municipalities found to have harbored Federal election fraud.
........................................................................
...
Letters patent shall not issue, and such letters patent
issued prior to this Amendment shall be void, for any living
thing
and for any instruction sequence for computing automata, i.e.
computer software.
........................................................................
...
The Electoral College is dissolved. Voting for Federal
officers
shall be by direct nationwide tally. Failure of any single
candidate to achieve a majority for a particular office shall
be
handled as prior to this Amendment.
........................................................................
...
A voter in a Federal election may make one vote of approval
for
each of possibly several persons the voter approves of for
each
office contested. That is, one vote per voter per candidate.
........................................................................
...
A State may secede from the United States of America by
written notification of the President from the executive of
the
State in question. The President shall then withdraw the
mobile
military assets and munitions from the moribund region and
release former citizens from that region from military
service.
Persons fleeing to the USA from the moribund region within a
year
who were citizens of the USA reclaim their citizenship
immediately
and inately.
........................................................................
...
Children and genetic half and full siblings of a President
are
disqualified from becoming President or Vice President.
Grandchildren are not disqualified.
........................................................................
...
Handwritten paper ballots shall be accepted in any Federal
election, in addition to whatever other means of documenting
votes
are provided.
........................................................................
...
The offices of a national at-large Representive and three at-
large
Senators are hereby created. Every Federal 2-year election
shall
involve the nationwide election of the at-large Representive
and
one of the at-large Senators, in the usual Senatorial 6-year
cycle. The first three at-large Senator's terms will be
established one at a time in echelon over the three elections
following the adoption of this Amendment. The qualifications,
powers and terms for at-large offices shall be as per a
regular
seat in each body. Plurality shall be the sufficient margin
to
elect an at-large Legislator.
........................................................................
...
One office of at-large at-random Representative is hereby
created.
The Congress shall by law formulate a random drawing or
lottery to
select a Representative to the House from among nationwide
applicants for the office, such that each applicant has the
same
chance. It shall be possible to apply by post card, possibly
in
addition to other means. The qualifications, powers and term
for
this office shall be as per any other Representative.
........................................................................
...
At noon on the first Monday after ratification of this
Amendment,
Richard Allen Hohensee of Adelphi Maryland shall, upon taking
the
Oath of Office of the President, assume the office of
President of
the United States, and then-Senator Russell Feingold shall
similarly assume the office of Vice President, and both shall
hereby be elected for the balance of the 2004 Presidential
term.
The term limit effect of this election-by-Amendment shall be
equivalent to a one year emergency term, such that the
electees
shall be eligible for two more full terms if subsequently
elected
normally.
[The above language assumes ratification before the 2008
election.]
........................................................................
...
The above herb amendment to allow growing any herb could be
constructed so
as to foster small exurban family farms and serve as a permanent
seedbed
for small businesses.
States are history. Maryland, for example, has a ridiculous
boundary.
Rhode Island, originally "Rhode Island Plantation", having the same
representation in the Senate as e.g. California is ridiculous. A
third
house of Congress might be in order based on cities, which House of
Cities
might reduce the role of the Senate over time. The Senate is real good
at
singing "God Bless America" on the Capitol steps while the Pentagon
burns.
GENERALITIES
Make my life as President extremely public, to the greatest extent
possible consistant with national security. The adult public will be
able
to monitor most of my personal activity via live motion pictures. A
Presidential webcam, so to speak, with a general and an adult outlet.
Big
Brother is already here. I give the people of the USA the option of
keeping an unblinking eye on Big Brother if they are so inclined.
(Nov
'05) I think about this a lot. I don't know to what extent this is
actually practical, but I think I can guarantee a 24/7 video feed from
the
Oval Office and main Cabinet meeting room, for example.
Marriage is not a federal concern. (The country seems to have already
adopted this idea since I proposed it.) The proposed tax formula will
provide positive taxes (back to the person) to dependants, not
married
couples per se. Children and the homeless will get the same subsidy
per
each. The homeless are societies children. The homeless will recieve
a
direct subsidy, while childrens' subsidies will go to thier guardians,
in
the normal case. Personal social and philisophical issues are a huge
area
the federal government can beneficially recuse itself from, and it
bears
mention that such issues are not mentioned in the Constitution.
Monogamous
marriage may or may not be the backbone of American society, but it is
not
the backbone of government, and certainly not the Federal government.
The legal tradition of the USA has some fundamental quirks going back
to
English Common Law that need fixing. Malice, intent, custodial
relationships, sanity and other subtleties are sentencing issues, not
corpus delecti. That is, intent is not part of the crucial body of a
crime. In the jargon of computer programming, and Charles Moore (the
Forth
programming language) in particular, the criminal legal system is
'mis-factored'. "What" and "why" are beneficially separable, and this
is a
fundamental and systemic departure from English legal tradition. This
tectonic problem can realistically be addressed within the confines of
the
Federal criminal code, or possibly the military code, and let the
States
observe the effects derived.
The US military will be excercized in the third world to project
sustenance. That is, when the global situation allows, the US
military
will be used as a variant or branch of the Peace Corps. The courage of
the
military will be required to sustain losses to disease and to operate
substantially unarmed in theaters where the US military is a semi-
welcome
guest and the mosquito, tse-tse fly and AIDS virus are the brutal de-
facto
overlords. Sustenance-projection exercizes in Africa may also be an
important return stop for abused troops, such as those now in Iraq.
(Oct
'05) This item would have set a useful precedent and advisor cadre for
the
response to hurricane Katrina. (Nov 05) Jack Murtha alleges that a
huge
proportion of the force in Iraq is emotionally damaged. This is
undoubtable. A buffer tour, possibly shorter than a normal tour, in
some
place like Sudan and/or Alaska is to be closely considered for troops
returning from Iraq.
There is no specific labor policy as such at this time. In theory I do
not
support the distinction between labor and management, nor the
distinction
between business and consumer. Both distinctions are elitist. Labor
interests should note my positions which are not explicitly labor
initiatives such as the elimination of degree requirements from all
positions licensed by the Federal government, the elimination of
various
subsidies to various sectors other than the working man/woman, the
possible huge increase in manpower and facilities to the INS via the
de-commissioning of the CIA, the improved immigration enforcement
possible
in the absence of a corrupt and bizarre drug war, the biometric
identification of all immigrants, the reduction in impetus of Latin
Americans to emigrate to the US in the absense of a corrupt drug war
in
their home regions, substantive measures to reduce health costs, the
top
tax rate of 40%+, and other policies that help the working man, woman
or
family substantively, but not necessarily directly or explicitly.
Guarantee a veto on any and every bill submitted to me longer than 50
pages in length, thus fostering clarity, modularity, efficiency and
atomicity in legislation, and autonomy between the Executive and
Legislative branches. The reader may note that this entire platform is
in
sync with such a policy.
The right-wing talking point of 'activist judges' is a good clue to
something America needs; a more activist Judiciary. The ACLU is the
former
USA's de-facto federal public defender. They need collegial
competition
from a branch of the Federal government, probably in the Judiciary.
There
is a dysfunctional power slush-fund between the Executive and
Legislative
Branches, particularly as relates to the ludicrously misnamed
intelligence
community. The President needs more lattitude to coordinate the
Executive
Branch, while having less ability to warp extra-Executive functions
such
as special prosecutors. Special prosecuters should be a normal
function of
the Judiciary, i.e. not so special. Clarifying the balance of power
between the three main Branches of government would benefit from a
more
active Judiciary, and greater police powers for the Legislative and
Judicial Branches. Executive law enforcement agencies should have a
rock-paper-scissors relationship with Judicial and Legislative
police,
perhaps expanded from the US Capitol Police (Legislative) and US
Marshalls
(Judicial?).
I oppose capital punishment. It's not cost-effective, and is
distracting
to Governors and Presidents, particularly those such as George Walker
Bush
who so richly deserve it. An execution, however, cannot remotely
repair
the damage caused by a George Dubya Bush, a John Wayne Gacy, or even
a
perpetrator of a single deliberate vehicular homicide such as Laura
Welch
Bush.
Enforce the law with emphasis on the most priviledged facing the
closest
scrutiny. This is my affirmative action policy. I am quite fatigued
with
rich white men like Skull and Bones (WH Taft, Bush 41, Bush, Kerry)
giving
me a bad name. I do not hope to abolish wealth. I hope to require it
to
exhibit some class or be abruptly impoverished. Wealth is a valuable
incentive. A static stratification is not. If the big trees never die,
you
are not in a living forest. The US economy needs some lightning
strikes,
particularly to clear out areas that are natural business seedbeds
like
software and small farms, but not a huge forest fire. I don't have
any
major beef I'm aware of with IBM, UPS and numerous other large
companies.
The former USA needs an overhaul, but the engine block is more than
salvageable.
I will conduct my personal relationship with the District of Columbia
as
an example of America's relationship with the world. The current
federal
relationship with DC is neglectful, arrogant and parasitic. Quite
telling.
The continued operation of Reagan National Airport is lethal
arrogance,
and strikingly well-named as such. With a smaller Air Force One,
National
and Andrews could switch roles. I will work to make every corner of
the
District of Columbia burst into bloom in every way. For example, DC
has a
worse-than-scandalous adult illiteracy rate, and a wealth of
influential
religious, sports and entertainment figures to become involved in
correcting that national disgrace, among others. I am opposed to a
new
baseball statium in DC, however. DC needs a triple-A club in RFK,
which is
what I've said all along, and is basically what they have as of this
writing with the Expos. You don't create a beloved pro sports
tradition by
fiat. (July 05) The Nats are in first place in the NL East. They are
drawing well, and an argument can be made that the magic of RFK
Stadium
contributes positively to the Nats' success. I have proposed a low-
cost
soccer stadium so that DC United has it's own field. They draw well,
but
less than the Nats. Switching the field at RFK from soccer to baseball
is
a temporary measure. Arguments for a new stadium for the Nats are, as
best
I can see, rooted entirely in corrupt motives. (Jan '06) My original
position on this issue continues to be validated by the bad waltz
between
MLB and The District. A new stadium is going to cost twice the
original
estimate. The city should pledge a new college-grade soccer stadium
for DC
United (the soccer franchise) and $100M for improvements to RFK, and
tell
MLB to take it or leave it.
I don't like the idea of homosexual couples adopting children, but I'd
be
hesitant to second-guess local social workers from the federal level.
I will try to do things in a way that displacements of workforces have
a
gains to go with the losses. The term for this would be assisted
workforce
migration. Allowing CIA employees to migrate to the INS, for example.
Another example is the reduction of need for police that should
accrue
from civilization of the country's barbaric drug laws. The currrent
prohibition means America has too many cops and corrections officers.
Other initiatives in this platform indicate that the USA also has a
severe
dearth of border control personnel, and a huge dearth of bus drivers
and
other surface public transport personnel, so there is an assisted
workforce migration possible. Cops will be offered free training for a
CDL
to drive buses, for example.
The Federal bipartisan "Republicrat" establishment is largely held
together by a mortal desperation to keep a large volume of hideous
secrets
from the American people. As a fanciful example, the whole JFK/Bay of
Pigs
story falls together quite nicely if you place George "Poppy" HW Bush,
our
41st President, in the sniper's nest in the Texas Schoolbook
Depository.
That is, if you make him the primary shooter in the JFK assassination.
The
history of secrets is that the reality tends to be many times worse
than a
private individual can imagine. Many such stories lie unexposed in
classified materials. This is the most important thing the
establishment
loses if I become President. All those fabulously dirty secrets. This
is
how I will make my Presidency an outrageous smash success in a matter
of
weeks, if not hours. I'm not in the club. Many prominent Democrats
are.
My guess is that the last President with no shared skeletons in his
closet
was Carter, and perhaps Eisenhower before that. The government club's
relationship with the populace is parasitic. Secrets are what you
keep
from your enemies, and the current establishment, we see in the news,
is
to a huge extent the people's enemy. I'm not.
The President is the central strinfo agent of the country. I will have
a
national security triumvirate to advise me on urgent security matters,
who
will take reports from the 14 strinfo agencies besides the CIA
existing in
the Executive Branch. Said triumvirate will all have interrupt-
capable
access to the President and Vice President.
The various main departments of the Executive Branch will be
represented
by a cabinet of some nine primary officials, representing the
following
topics of governance, and recieving reports from the pertinent
existing
departments; Audits, Commerce, Culture, Defense, Diplomacy, Health,
Justice, Resources, Funding. Diplomacy will basically be the State
Department as is, so the Diplomacy advisor will be the Secretary of
State,
but other primary advisors may represent an agglomeration of existing
departments. Culture will be education, the arts, science, the FCC,
and so
on. A routine periodic "cabinet meeting" will be those 9 primary
officials, the President, and perhaps the Vice President.
The better tone of American foreign policy was set by the Monroe
Doctrine
the better part of two centuries ago. The Monroe Doctrine has some
very
prominent misinterpretations, however. I believe the correct
interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine is that the USA must consider
free
nations it's allies, and less than free countries less than nations.
In a
sentence, A nation is a secular democracy, and other areas are
primitive
countries and regions needing help to become or join the community of
real
nations. This latter category currently includes Israel, and to my
knowledge, the entire Arabian Peninsula, as examples. My policy is to
attempt to side with nature in all things, as best one can interpret
nature, and to favor such regions evolving into nations, as is clearly
the
long-term trend of human history.
Rick (Richard Allen) Hohensee
plan. Note the first few SPECIFICS.
Rick "The Ayatolla Yu-So" Hohensee
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:
Presidential platform of Rick Hohensee, revised January 2006
INTRODUCTION
One must look at my platform in totality. Parts of it will impinge on
a
particular individual negatively. One must make an assessment of the
overall effect. This is especially true, for example, as pertains to
something like "labor policy". I have no explicit labor policy, but
have
several proposals that dramatically favor people typically categorized
as
"labor". This is how problems are solved; by breaking them into
smaller
and smaller problems, solving the smaller problems, and letting the
little
things take care of the big things. Most politicians, however, have
no
interest in solutions at all. Most are lawyers, and make their money
perpetuating problems. 3/4 of Congress, for example, voted to invade
Iraq.
Based on what I know from an adult Internet account, basic cable,
modest
but extremely varied everyday experience, and various print and
broadcast
media, I want to be President so that I can try to...
In short, give the USA a much-needed overhaul.
SPECIFICS (in very roughly top-down priority)
Get out of Iraqi cities immediately, including vacating the Green
Zone,
and retire to functions of state and federal governments, until the
cities
form regional alliances analagous to, and perhaps with external,
nations,
as they, the representatives of the Iraqi cities, see fit. This may
involve a turf trade between Shi'a and Kurd areas of Iran, for
example. If
Iraq chooses to reform as Iraq, make it as easy as possible for the
new
Iraq to be a secular democratic republic at the federal level.
(Jan '06) Jack Murtha's epochal 6-month withdrawal proposal is
basically a
military expression of the above political framework. His "quick-
strike
force" and an "over-the-horizon presence of Marines" is my 'functions
of
state and federal governments'. My withdrawl is within Iraq, however.
Murtha wants completely out ASAP. I'm one step less abrupt.
Reaffirm that the "war on terror" is mostly diplomacy and police work
when
prosecuted by the competent, and only becomes all-out war when
prosecuted
by the incompetent and/or corrupt. (Jan '06) Desperate right-wingers
are
now in the habit of justifying any and everything by noting that we
are at
war. We need to call it off. Claiming that some group declared war on
the
the former USA on 9-11 gives said groups far to much credence as an
opponent.
Hand over Halliburton functions in Iraq to the US military and
mideastern
engineering firms. Let Iraqis rebuild Iraq. Reduce US funding for the
purpose of rebuilding Iraq by a factor of 4, paid directly to locals.
I
expect this to get 10 times as much accomplished at 1/10 the cost.
Similarly localize the flow of FEMA money into the gulf region.
Guarantee jobs to soldiers injured in Iraq, with preference for
aquisitions roles in the Pentagon, such as making sure Halliburton
recieves funds due to them.
Guarantee jobs to all Jersey Girls and similar in the DOJ and
similar.
Arrest and prosecute George Walker Bush for crimes against humanity
under
US law, most notably the violation of the UN Charter, which is US law,
in
the failure to get Security Council approval of a violent invasion.
Signal the end of anglophone imperialist belligerence by isolating
and
peacefully dismantling the Zionist proxy political establishment in
Palestine. Isolate Israel, in other words.
Pressure Israel to relinquish it's nuclear weapons. We can't disallow
nukes to Iran et cetera if Israel has them.
Fire all Bush/Reagan appointees in the Executive Branch. Work
diligently
to destroy every legislator that voted for the invasion of Iraq, and
are
thus complicitous with a major war crime and disgrace of the USA.
(Nov
'05) There is one class of Bush appointee that is of particular
interest
for retention. Those who have quit or been fired. I am of course
speaking
of the Gunns, the refugees from a corrupted CIA, and so on, not the
Michael "It's Not My Job" Brownies.
Unilaterally or otherwise liberate Darfur from the "Sudan"
"government" in
Khartoum. (I had suggested a no-fly-zone over Darfur. This has since
been
agreed to.) (July 05) There has been some semblance of a change of
regime
in Khartoum, I believe. I will revisit this issue as President with
better
information, and the understanding that the epochal cultural seam
between
East and West currently runs through Sudan. (Nov. 05) The situation
in
Sudan is deteriorating once again. Remind the Khartoum government
that
there are certain standards even in the Sahel that must be met to be
considered the government of a people. Provide Darfuris with
defensive
weapons such as low-cost .22 caliber rimfire pistols and .22 caliber
rimfire manual action rifles.
Un-offshore America's corporate tax base. I've heard sheltered
offshore
income is on the order of 10 trillion dollars. If that's even
remotely
true, fixing that problem can basically solve all the former USA's
fiscal
problems.
Visit New Orleans for about a continuous week, and render it's
recovery
sustainable. Address the subsidence issue of all similar regions. For
New
Orleans in particular, my current thinking is that it should be in-
filled
to sea-level using fill provided by barge and/or rail, beginning
along
levees and proceeding over the long term until the entire city drains
by
gravity. That is an earthwork in the few billions of dollars. The
drainage canals also strike me as a severe mis-design, such they they
should be dry canals with pumping stations at thier outfall ends. When
I
get to New Orleans, Senators Landrieu and Vitter will want to avoid
me,
which they are welcome to do.
Investigate allegations of bombings of the New Orleans levees.
FEMA's role in the early phases of an emergency is to be one of
passive
auditor and passive money provider, with the utter inabilty to
prevent
anything. FEMA must be prevented from preventing anything when hours
are
lives. FEMA must be enabled to smile sweetly and cut billions of
dollars
in checks to the likes of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin without
question,
but with full expectation of reportage of where the money went when
the
dust clears. Think Federal Emergency Money Auditors.
The Coast Guard will be tasked with creating a hurricane follower
fleet to
provide most time-critical relief, communications and surveillance at
the
trailing edge of all hurricanes making landfall. Said fleet may be
offered
to neighbor nations in severe cases. Said fleet should contemplate a
'Katrita' scenario, and should contemplate high-wind aerial
surveillance,
water and other hour-timescale-critical supply, emergency ship-
generated
electricity, hospital capability, and a general expectation of the
unexpectable.
Replace the Pledge of Alliegance with daily recitals of varying
paragraphs
of the Constitution. People that like oaths of subjugation can
pledge
their allegiance to the students every day. If you can't live without
the
Pledge of Allegiance, join the Marine Corps.
Provide every public school student in grades 5 and up a copy of the
Constitution every year. Include dissemination of explanations of
phrases
like "writ of mandamus" and "letters of marque and reprisal" (which
latter
I personally don't currently understand, by the way) which occur in
the
Constitution. There is an effort under way to put a synopsis of the
constitution on paper currency. This also might better be a matter of
varying excerpts.
Overhaul the White House press corps to exclude the major war
infomercial
networks; Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS and so on. I'll probably limit that
access to
newswire services, Mother Jones, The Nation, Al Jazeera and so on.
That
is, credible outlets.
Reduce legacy government secrets as closely as possible to nothing.
That
is, I will massively reduce "classified information", particularly
older
documents, probably everything over 5 years old except for nuclear
technologies and similar. Set up a periodic challenge and review
system
for classified information to remain classified on about a 5-year
periodicity, with increasingly difficult tests and decreasing
periodicity
to remain classified as time passes. A jury-like mechanism may well
also
be useful for this purpose. This could be a Judicial Branch matter.
Semi-legalize drugs. Implement a closely controlled self-prescription
program for adults to use such drugs as cocaine, heroin, marijuana
and
penicillin. That is, I will call off the corrupt counter-democratic
drug
war and de-glamourize narcotics. Drugs are for sick people. Sick
people
can obtain drugs cost-effectively in a healthy society. This will
reduce
the US black market economy, reduce the outflow of capital from the
country, improve the image of small business, improve patient
information
recieved by doctors from their patients, vastly reduce the area of
the
world hostile to the US, reduce medical costs, reduce the use of
needles,
wipe out several rogue militaries in Latin America, and many other
unimaginable benefits one would expect from choosing to discontinue
losing
a war. PCP and similarly destructive toxins will not be legalized,
nor
will truly sophisticated drugs actually requiring a doctor to even
understand the accepted purpose of. I don't think any amphetamines
such as
meth and ecstasy will be legal (self-prescribeable) at this point.
The
LEAP group, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, leap.cc on the
Internet,
has useful information and contacts on this issue.
Remove the degenerate military term "intelligence" from what the CIA
claims to do. Replace it with the degenerate military-style term
"strinfo", a contraction of "strategic information".
De-commission the CIA entirely, and un-authorize them totally,
immediately. Out them all in about 6 months. Re-deploy them if they
choose
to hang on under INS. The counter-proliferation forces may
reconstitute
under the Nuclear Regulatory Agency or similar. Otherwise, if a CIA
agent
or analyst wants to go to work for another strinfo agency, of which
there
are some 14 in the Executive Branch, they will have to get personal
approval from me, and I'll be very busy with other things. The
Legislature
is currently (Sept. 04) fiddling with the CIA organizational chart.
That's
not going to make me listen to their garbage reports. (Nov 04) The CIA
is
basically fired anyway by their own total lack of credibility. With
the
internal shenanigans going on there now firing them all will probably
be
the most humane option. The current US intelligence problem would
largely
be solved by a President that can use a web browser and search
engine.
There will be some premium placed on counter-proliferation agents
seeking
re-assignment. (Nov '05) The CIA's concentration camp network is in
fact
not surprising, and doesn't effect this platform item. This item was
based
on such assumptions.
In particular, eliminate covert operations outside actual war zones
immediately. Such behavior is well beneath the greatest and most
powerful
nation ever, and if you are so patriotic that you want to commit
psychopathic acts for your country, you should be willing and
expectant to
die or spend the rest of your life in a small cage in Asia to do so.
The
US will only remain the world's sole superpower if it does so with
some
sense of fair play, and the CIA has no such sense.
Naturalization of undocumented immigrants becomes an issue of
documentation. Biometrically identify every non-citizen on US soil I
can
get my hands on. Emphasize undocumented aliens in lieu of the
dehumanizing
term "illegal". Aliens are entitled to basic human rights, but
security
and other concerns greatly compromise further rights of aliens.
Naturalization thus becomes a matter of good behavior for a
significant
period of time, i.e. a matter of very-long-term personal
accountability.
Promote the vote for ex-criminals. There are too many election abuses
now
and abuses of the term "felon" to disenfranchise ex-felons.
Conversely,
soldiers can not be presumed to have any freedom from political
pressure,
and thus should not be allowed to vote. Conversely, voting by troops
in
war zones is fundamentally suspect.
Make federal election days maximal national holidays, in the sense
that it
shall be unlawful for any adult to not have 4 hours of time off from
work
on an election day during local polling hours, with severe fines for
employers violating this. Employers are Republicans, and employees
are
Democrats. That's fine. What's not fine is one Republican being
capable of
denying a dozen Democrats access to the polls with a work schedule.
Require any election polling place, provisional or mail-in voting
option
to accept a plain piece of paper with handwritten votes as the
required
Constitutional default ballot, in addition to whatever other
conveniences
thay may provide, q.v.
Teach evolution as legally factual and the Bible, Talmud, Koran, the
Analects, the Tao Te Ching, Aristotle's Ethics, Machiavelli and so on
as
ethics studies. Foster an Ethics Channel on cable TV.
Foster a newswire broadcast TV channel featuring AP and Reuter's text
and
video feeds. Possibly require such a channel to operate a satellite
or
cable TV company, and maybe an ethics channel as well. Newswires
involved
may include AP, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Pravda, the BBC and so on.
Offer Al Jazeera a UHF airwave TV broadcast slot in greater DC.
Establish a grade school diploma indicating that the holder can
perform
such basic tasks of self-actualization as reading a reputable
newspaper, a
roadmap, and the Constitution with some comprehension and compute
unit
prices for groceries in their head.
Legalize insider trading. Insider trading laws are unenforceable, are
used
as a political bludgeon as in the case of Martha Stewart, and give a
false
sense of security to small investors. In general, financial markets
are
too liquid anyway, in my opinion. Who owns what is not accountable
enough
in America, and people aren't involved enough in what they own.
Abolish leveraged buyouts if they haven't been already (Bobby). (Jan
'06)
The Economist Jan 7-13 06 opines that the leveraged buyout industry
is
currently forming a large unsustainable bubble.
Investigate Sun Myung Moon for illegal donations and information
transfers
to North Korea.
Actively campaign for Taiwan to adopt an official name not including
the
word "China". Taiwan is entitled to independance from China, as
"Taiwan".
Eliminate the "not for profit" designation for corporations,
churches,
schools, trust funds and anything else. Charity is taxable income. If
the
government wants to subsidize something it can do so accountably, by
direct subsidy. This is the only way to "close loopholes"; all of them
at
once.
A radically simplified tax/welfare system will include eliminating
foodstamps. USDA infrastructure to distribute agricultural surpluses
may
be overhauled to provide a subsidized USDA brand, or not. The
distribution
of surpluses and so on may be further expedited by government grocery
stores in low-income areas, or not. The extremely indigent will have
federally provided debit cards via regular banks to regulate the flow
of
funds on a daily or weekly basis so they don't "sell their foodstamps"
or
put their SSI check in a slot machine all at once and so on. Similar
controls will be created analagous to WIC. The total funds going to
poor
people will increase. The Texas Lonestar Card or whatever it is is
exemplary, but should not carry the stigma of a special card. Also,
foodstamps will apply to anything sold in e.g. a 7-11. The
proscription of
"restaurant food" runs to some rather ridiculous distinctions,
particularly if you are homeless. In Texas, for example, a Big Gulp
ceases
to be groceries when you stick the straw in the lid.
Require businesses selling gasoline retail to have an easily
accessible
public restroom. (a lovely bit of civility from Texas State law).
Some
other type of business should be required to maintain public restrooms
so
that urban areas are well-covered.
Ensure voting systems accountable to the electorate nationwide, such
as
demo'ed by my own "votescript" (Internet search in 'groups' [Usenet]
for
'votescript').
Invite the Congress to take over the Anthrax and Chandra Levy
investigations using the U.S. Capitol Police and any Executive Branch
law
enforcement capabilities they may wish to avail themselves of, such as
the
Postal Inspector's forces. In other words, promote law enforcement
upon
the Executive Branch by another branch, perhaps with some improved
latitude for the President to manage strictly executive affairs, such
as
e.g. promotion issues in the military. The underlying problem
addressed
here is that the balance of power does not extend to police power,
which
is excessively concentrated in the Executive Branch. Police power must
be
balanced for the overall balance of power to remain standing.
Put all Electors voting for Bush in the Electoral College in 2004 on
a
corruption watch-list.
Eliminate economic status requirements, particularly college degree
requirements, from positions and licenses granted by the Federal
government. This will be enforced very promptly in the US military as
pertains to rank. No place needs to be a pure meritocracy any more
than
the US armed forces. That is, graduating from a service academy
guarantees
no rank. Such guarantees predate a literate general population, and
are
thus absurd. Conversely, certain rank may be provided via
examination.
Federally audit license testing, and allow associations to make up
their
own tests, if re-testing the licensed is periodic. Land grant
universities
will probably lose students, but gain some license testing business,
for a
net loss of gross business. This, however, is conjecture about what
are
basically market forces.
Plead to the Supreme Court to exclude Florida from the Electoral
College
for the rest of JEB Bush's governorship (slated to end in 2006) plus
13
years, for systemic election fraud.
Investigate and probably prosecute Katherine Harris for election
fraud.
Investigate and probably prosecute the management of Diebold Corp.
and
similar for treason. There is preponderant circumstantial evidence of
Diebold/Republican theft of the Congress in 2002, "The Diebold
Bounce",
and of course the evidence suggests quite compellingly that Kerry
would
have won a fair 2004 Presidential election by some 5,000,000 votes.
Explain and confirm that there are no proprietary software copyrights
on
election technologies.
Maintain a potent, progressive military with current uniformed
personnel
levels for the forseeable future but sharply curtailed systems
aquisitions. Figure 50% of current aquisitions levels or less.
Maintain
current basic research levels, i.e. DARPA-type stuff. The mythology
is
that if you can imagine it, the US military has it. That's a valuable
mythology, and doesn't require the belief that they have A LOT of it.
Explicitly allow articulating motor-tricycles that lean like a 2-
wheeled
motorcycle. Honda has made small vehicles with this characteristic.
Require that motorcycles have 2 headlights 3 feet apart. These two
items
will save hundreds of lives a year at current levels of motorcycle
ridership, which figures to increase massively.
Task the National Endowment for the Arts with promulgating
cycluphonics,
ratiolity, and the unwound cycle of fifths as a method of subsetting
tonal
clusters. http://linux01.gwdg.de/~rhohen
Get some computer programmers at DARPA to finish Ha3sm, Hohensee's
Autonomous 3-stack machine, a computer operating system.
ftp://linux01.gwdg.de/pub/cLIeNUX/interim/Forreal.tgz, or it may be
archived at ibiblio, or email me.
Make it unlawful for entities other than individuals to contribute
funds
to political campaigns. In particular, corporations shall have no
political funding rights. I thought of this myself, but the Tom DeLay
case
illustrates that Texas saw the importance of this issue some 100
years
ago. I'm also very curious about how the whole board of directors
thing
works, or rather fails to work. My suspicion is that it would be
beneficial to make boards of directors advisory only.
Conduct or review a variety of politically curious re-autopsies, such
as
on Nicholas Berg, Lori Klausutis, Vince Foster, Ron Brown, and the
guy
that was murdered and described as a suicide in Bush's State
Department
right in headquarters in Foggy Bottom, John J. Kokal, and many
others.
(Nov 05) There's also now a Colonel in Iraq in the notably odd
suicide
category.
Survey all cases of persons who have died in police custody in the
last 10
years.
Establish a position of national participatory sports promoter and
invite
Cal Ripkin and/or Carl Lewis to take their on-going work Federal.
Establish a US Executive Organic Demonstration Farm within the
Beltsville
national agricultural research center and get all food consumed at
the
White House from that farm, or as close to that ideal as possible,
with
all deliberate speed and as the maturation times of various crops and
livestock permits. The White House culinary staff shall advise on the
crops and varieties grown, and culinary considerations of husbandry.
Consultancy shall be sought from persons such as Kent Whealey of the
Seed
Savers Exchange.
Abolish Daylight Savings Time.
Convert the Executive Branch to use of open-source computer operating
systems, such as Linux, BSD, or Plan 9 From Bell Labs. The military
will
be ordered to do so. I hope they aren't waiting for orders. Tip to
unixphobes: learn the ed editor and turn off all servers on your
local
box. See also: my cLIeNUX Linux "distribution", particularly the
"seedocs". cLIeNUX is probably archived at ibiblio.
Make all publications of the government available by FTP download from
the
Internet in effectively non-proprietary data formats. Make all
Executive
Branch websites lucid when viewed with the Lynx text-based web
browser.
Implement checks and balances on law enforcement such that no
jurisdiction
can monopolize the evidence pertaining to any suspicious death. This
item
is also discussed under GENERALITIES q.v. The word "police" does not
occur
in the Constitution, and the balance of power needs to be extended to
police entities policing each other, federally and between the
States.
Inter-State this can be limited to matters of wrongful death. Whereas
the
US is a nation of laws, the Constitutional "sovereignty" of the
several
States means a State right to lawfully execute, not to murder. I may
require that all copyable evidence of any ongoing wrongful death
investigation be submitted to the FBI for investigative and records
redundancy. The Federal Government has an obligation to guarantee a
republican government to the several States. That includes preventing
a
particular State from implementing a Murder Incorporated. When I
leave
office no State or branch of the Federal Government will have a
monopoly
on the investigation of any suspicious death.
Manage the White House grounds and monumental DC landscaping
organically.
Increase personal financial accountability of members of Congress and
lobbyists and lobbying organizations.
Implement a graduated progressive debt-monetization schedule for the
Reagan/Bush/Bush National Debt to eventually eliminate the regressive
debt
costs left by the Bush Treason Family.
Generalize the definitions of criminal anti-competitive behavior to
better
protect small businesses and economic diversity. Lots of things e.g.
Microsoft does legally will become illegal, such as kickbacks to
system
administrators. By the way, business owners need to not allow their
employees to take kickbacks from Microsoft, on their own initiative.
System admins like to keep people on their networks dysfunctionalized,
so
they like WinDoS for end users. Don't be such a sucker. Apple went to
unix
(MacOS X is a BSD unix with an Apple GUI) for a reason. Be advised
also
that Windows is still MSDOS and not suitable for connection to the
Internet. (Jan '06) Bill Gates said recently that security is easy.
Bill
Gates is a pathological liar. The latest version of MSDOS (Windows
'Vista') was delayed for years by bug-chasing.
Provide two copies of every required schoolbook to every public
student in
America; a hardback that stays in the classroom and is not to be
defaced
and remains school property, and a Federally provided paperback that
becomes the property of the student.
Task the dairy industry with deciding upon a variety of real natural
fermented cheese to bear the legal designation "American cheese", and
without compensation, remove the designation "American" from
artificial
imitations of cheese. Let fake cheese be "Amercun cheeth". For
example,
make burger chains call their "cheeseburgers" "cheethburgers", or use
real
cheese.
Uphold the contractual obligations of the USA while allowing certain
bad
investments to lose their value abruptly, such as companies
constituting
an excessive capacity to manufacture weapons, Halliburton, and so on.
Ensure that transportation policy emphasize pedestrians and other
human-power transport first, then mass transit, then roads. I will
encourage buses, in particular, publicly and privately operated.
Running a
bus line will become a right of a business entity wishing to do so,
assuming reasonable safety regulation compliance. A useful
counterexample
to this is bus service around the University of Maryland, which is
designed to subsidize the middle class at the expense of those most
in
need of public transportation, and thus most beneficial to society as
a
whole to recieve such services. The 86 Metrobus route in particular is
not
allowed to visit the College Park subway station, which is a
strikingly
arrogant perversion of the politics of public thoroughfares.
Establish a cabinet-level auditing office, with a general permanent
mandate and authorization to eliminate corruption and improve
efficiency
throughout the Executive Branch via creative random audits of anything
of
interest for such audits.
Reduce the implementation costs of the tax system and the welfare
system
by simplifying the income tax code to a single simple formula with a
positive component, formerly mis-named as the proposed "negative
income
tax". Thus there will be no brackets. The top tax rate should be about
50%
and the top positive tax rate should provide a homeless man with
about
$10-- a day in 2004 dollars. Since I suggested this Bush has noted
that
Americans spend 6 billion hours, I believe it was, a year figuring
their
taxes. That's about $120B worth of wasted time.
(Another thing I'm looking at is a flat top rate of 50% so that a
large
segment of low income people pay no income tax, but that's just an
item of
curiosity so far. It depends where the level is that will produce
revenue
comparable to Clinton-era tax levels. Another idea here is to consider
all
gross revenue as income, rather than considering profit as income. At
a
much lower nominal tax rate on a much larger tax base, this can
inately
eliminate the distinctions between not-for-profits, businesses, and
private parties. The distinction between business and consumer is
abused
in America. Regardless, any changes I make to tax codes will be huge
net
simplifications. Complexity itself is a reduceable cost.)
Assuming the same basic tax system as we have now, in terms of
bracketed
income taxes being the bulk of federal revenue, the top tax rate
should be
in the range of 40%, PLUS the percentage of debt service in the
federal
budget. The top tax rate is thus currently 60%, since debt service is
roughly 20% of the federal budget. This allows Republicans to pay for
their debt. A gradual debt monetization program may also be
necessary.
(July 05) the above tax ruminations are vague, but rest assured,
current
Bush tax policy is a reactionary joke, and his mumblings about tax
simplification since I proposed a tax simplification are to be feared
like
a tropical virus, and do seem to be recieving the appropriate
reception, a
horrified public recoil.
Eliminate parasitic "protectionist" tariffs, farm and other subsidies
to
the advantaged. Do what Reagan said, not what he did, and strictly
limit
subsidies to benefit the truly needy, i.e. put money where it is
cost-effective for the populace, such as immunization programs and so
on.
Welfare is for poor people.
Require all products bodily ingested by humans, such as cigarettes,
have
their ingredients listed as is now the case for most foods. This will
include products with long-standing exemptions from such
requirements,
such as COCA Cola. The regulation to list ingredients on medicines
wiped
out narcotics-based "patent medicines", and should have a positive
overall
effect on cigarettes and what is in them. Eliminate the current
parasitic
relationship between the government and tobacco company fines. By the
way,
the way I quit smoking for a year now is to chew tobacco. I chew Red
Man,
and chew small quantities I can swallow rather than spitting, thus
avoiding horrors like spit cups. This is still poison, but I suspect
it's
much less harmful than smoking. It undoubtably is less harmful to me
given
the condition my lungs were in a year ago. They are far from healed a
year
later.
Outlaw kickbacks to doctors on prescriptions, with draconian
penalties.
Re-outlaw consumer advertising of prescription (and proposed
self-prescription) drugs.
Closely investigate a legal doctrine of reduced liability proportional
to
pre-existing risk. That is, childbirth and old age, for example, are
risky. That risk in negligence cases pertaining to people at high
pre-existing risk is to be taken into account somehow. Wrongful loss
of
life is to be pro-rated to 80 years, or ten years older than the
decedent,
which ever is greater. Or something like that.
Improve employability and general functionalization services to the
homeless, literacy programs generally, and many other areas currently
exhibiting barbaric and outrageously costly neglect. Another area that
I
personally find emblematic of the neglect the USA bestows upon it's
helpless, my pet peeve if you will, is the condition of the average
public
basketball backboard. A decent outdoor basketball goal is a very
cost-effective thing. Expect to see full regulation-dimensions
rectangular
backboards with straight rims appearing when I am President, starting
around the White House. Maybe even nets.
Solicit involvement of professional athletes in adult literacy
outreach
programs. My personal experience with illiterate homeless men is they
need
a Ray Lewis or similar to help them with their phonics. The NBA read
to
Achieve program for example, should target adults.
Institute a sentancing premium on illiteracy for jail and prison
terms,
which can be overcome by learning to read while incarcerated. Make
the
premium greater for shorter incarcerations, up to 2 to 1 for sentences
of
less than 6 months.
Reduce disaster funding for semi-normal occurances like hurricanes
along
the Gulf of Mexico. (Oct '05) For example, FEMA flood insurance in
the
storm surge range should be capped at about $20,000--. For example,
Trent
Lott can rebuild his $3 mil mansion on the water on FEMA money if he
had
insurance, but if it gets blown away again he can only get $20k for
it.
You could call this "The Cabana Way".
Closely review the remedy ruling in the Microsoft anti-trust case
decided
by Judge Collen Kollar-Kotelly. My current thinking is that she failed
her
mandate to provide a remedy.
Emphasize North American and Western Hemisphere resources in US
energy
policy. That is, reduce or de-emphasize dependance on oil and LNG
tankers.
Emphasize the Internet and other non-traditional channels in
education.
Formal education is a contradiction of terms. Also emphasize sports,
gardening, and the arts. The teachers' unions and/or public schools
are
certified failures, and were of very little use to me after 3rd
grade.
That's is thiers to correct. I have education to worry about.
The validity of the Patent Office is to be subjected to fundamental
review. In the mean time, certain areas of technology are grossly and
absolutely inappropriate for patent protection. Genetics and computer
software should not be patentable at all. There is an Amendment to
this
effect suggested below.
Foster a weekly blues jam and bar-b-que at the White House in the
summer.
The Office of the President will provide the duct tape. Eat Duct
Tape;
200,000 Roadies Can't Be Wrong.
Manage my legislative agenda like an open source software project,
with
input from the general population via an FTP site and/or web wiki.
Make public spaces in DC available to the National Arboretum and
Beltville
research farm for planting and long term observation of ornamental,
fruit
and shade tree and shrub varieties developed at those facilities.
Promote
such plantings in low-income DC in particular. The program to develop
a
blight-proof American Chestnut tree should find fertile ground in DC,
for
example.
I am a personal fan of the National Zoo. I was quoted in the cover
story
"Gorilla Groupies" in the Washington City Paper years ago. Problems at
the
NZP will be attended to. The Zoo is in part a victim of it's own
fabulous
historical successes. The first white tiger in the US, Mohini Rewa,
was a
gift to the US from India. Now you can be killed by one in your own
mansion in Vegas, or in it's cage in a Florida zoo, or at a petting
zoo in
the Midwest. A new mission may be in order. For example, the national
zoo
of the USA could be more North American in focus. Elk, moose,
turkeys,
dugong, manatee, coyote, paw-paw, chestnut, indigenous azaleas....
such
things are as bizarre to most zoo-goers as a white tiger, and yet are
indigenous to North America. The current plan for demonstration
elephant
breeding in downtown DC is a textbook lack of vision and sense of
mission.
Smithsonian people are quite full of themselves. Nothing a zoo does
in
terms of artistic display and clever signage compares to, for example,
a
prairie dog. Meanwhile, it is an absolute scandal that there isn't a
bus
or something up the length of the zoo. Rock Creek to Connecticut
Avenue is
over 200 feet of elevation change, quite the tough hike for fat
Americans.
(Jan '06) The Zoo has progressed. They have a Przywalski's Horse, for
example. And a petting zoo. Nigerian Dwarf Goats. This is the former
USA,
politically, but it's still a wonderland.
I support statutes and regulations that result in a decrease in the
gross
bulk of statutes and regulations for the sake thereof, such as more
use of
parametric "schedules" such as the well-known "GS-16" schedule of
government salaries. A quick glance at the US Code suggests that it
could
easily be smaller by a factor of 4 or more. Obfuscation is parasitic.
Gun control is a population density issue. A moose gun is insane in
Manhatten. Being without one is insane in most of Alaska. A simple
tax
can be developed based on how many people are in range of a weapon.
Let's
say the tax is 5 cents a year for each human within range of a
weapon.
That's 20 cents for a moose gun in the outskirts of Nome, and hundreds
of
thousands of dollars for a moose gun in Manhatten. The details need
some
work, but therein lies the solution. There are a number of possible
side-effects, like gun shops become inately rural businesses, which is
a
good thing. A gun collector may be forced to move to the country to
retain
his collection. There's also the issue of a one-second factor, like 5
cents for each round the thing can fire in one second, times
population
density. Thus automatic and semi-automatic weapons cost more in
proportion
to their fire rate. There would also be an exemption if the tax on a
weapon is below a certain threshhold, such as $10--.
Reassess the health risks of cyclamates and other sugar alternatives
versus aspartame. Note that Donald Rumsfeld was a key lobbyist for
aspartame.
Abolish diplomatic immunity outside embassies, and transit to the
borders
from embassies. The US doesn't have royals, and doesn't acknowledge
them
before the law on our soil to any extent, except heads of state and
other
modern civil officers.
Change the names of Blair Mansion, the Ronald Reagan White Elephant
and
Internationalist Boondoggle Center, Reagan National Airport, the J.
Edgar
Hoover Building, and the Herbert Hoover Building. The Reagan Building
might be a nice thing to name after Rosa Parks, for example.
Destroy the LBJ Memorial. LBJ has JFK's limo scrubbed. It's time to
scrub
LBJ.
Increase compensation to Federal elected officials. Congresspersons
should
make at least $500,000 per year. The current situation is like the
elitist
"amateurism" scam prevalent in track and field before Carl Lewis, and
the
myriad 'volunteerism' scams throughout DC and elsewhere. The fastest
way
to do this may be to encourage the States to pay thier
representatives,
who work FOR the States, by the way, large honoraria.
Closely scrutinize zoning laws. New Orleans is a nice place to try
abolishing zoning laws, for example. One idea here is to make it
illegal
for any area to be precluded from use as a residence. This idea is to
make
it more problematic to pollute, create hazards, and to help reduce
dependance on transportation. This may also have side-benefits for
the
homeless. Rather than making factories and so on uninhabitable, an
officer
of the operating company should be required to reside with his/her
family
at such locations, such as Union Carbide's facility in Bhopal.
Closely scrutinize the concept of personal trust funds.
Set up a history ftp/website in the Education department
Keep America's shipyards open at a low level with ships with
potential
civilian or humanitarian roles. The US doesn't currently need
submarines,
destroyers, aircraft carriers and so on. Freighters, troop ships and
so on
can continue to be built. They might be nuclear powered, but will be
lightly armed, if at all. An oil-spill response ship might be worth
consideration. Another possibility is a floating marine biology
college.
An oceanic debris cleaner of some kind perhaps. Suggestions welcome.
Provide a low-cost clinic option besides a hospital to every county in
the
USA (one rare good idea in the Republicon platform).
One immigration rule for all countries (per Al Sharpton). This is part
of
the complete breakfast of simplifying the US Code and the Code of
Federal
Regulations, as well as being a matter of fundamental racial
fairness.
This does not preclude special control of Mideasterners, who are
currently
worthy of special treatment for security reasons.
Promise exhibition MLB baseball games in Cuba if Castro adopts a
constitution with real elections and so on. Invite Castro to the
White
House and smoke Phillies cognac-flavored Blunts to annoy him.
Heavily tax mineral resources extracted from Federal land. Distribute
said
monies to the regions said resources were extracted from. Oil money,
for
example, should remain in the Gulf region to a much larger extent than
it
does.
AMENDMENTS
I suggest several Constitutional amendments. The language in this
listing
is not necessarily exact, but is close. Actual experts should be
consulted
on the details.
........................................................................
...
Employees or compensated agents of the Executive Branch at the
time
of an offense are excluded from the pardon power of the
President
for said offense. The Senate may pardon such persons in such
cases
if the pardonee and offense are explicitly named and the
pardon
approved by simple majory of a quorum of the Senate.
........................................................................
...
Citizens may grow any species of photosynthetic plant in any
quantity.
........................................................................
...
The Judiciary shall have the power to declare periods of up
to
twenty years of Federal disenfranchisement over States or
municipalities found to have harbored Federal election fraud.
........................................................................
...
Letters patent shall not issue, and such letters patent
issued prior to this Amendment shall be void, for any living
thing
and for any instruction sequence for computing automata, i.e.
computer software.
........................................................................
...
The Electoral College is dissolved. Voting for Federal
officers
shall be by direct nationwide tally. Failure of any single
candidate to achieve a majority for a particular office shall
be
handled as prior to this Amendment.
........................................................................
...
A voter in a Federal election may make one vote of approval
for
each of possibly several persons the voter approves of for
each
office contested. That is, one vote per voter per candidate.
........................................................................
...
A State may secede from the United States of America by
written notification of the President from the executive of
the
State in question. The President shall then withdraw the
mobile
military assets and munitions from the moribund region and
release former citizens from that region from military
service.
Persons fleeing to the USA from the moribund region within a
year
who were citizens of the USA reclaim their citizenship
immediately
and inately.
........................................................................
...
Children and genetic half and full siblings of a President
are
disqualified from becoming President or Vice President.
Grandchildren are not disqualified.
........................................................................
...
Handwritten paper ballots shall be accepted in any Federal
election, in addition to whatever other means of documenting
votes
are provided.
........................................................................
...
The offices of a national at-large Representive and three at-
large
Senators are hereby created. Every Federal 2-year election
shall
involve the nationwide election of the at-large Representive
and
one of the at-large Senators, in the usual Senatorial 6-year
cycle. The first three at-large Senator's terms will be
established one at a time in echelon over the three elections
following the adoption of this Amendment. The qualifications,
powers and terms for at-large offices shall be as per a
regular
seat in each body. Plurality shall be the sufficient margin
to
elect an at-large Legislator.
........................................................................
...
One office of at-large at-random Representative is hereby
created.
The Congress shall by law formulate a random drawing or
lottery to
select a Representative to the House from among nationwide
applicants for the office, such that each applicant has the
same
chance. It shall be possible to apply by post card, possibly
in
addition to other means. The qualifications, powers and term
for
this office shall be as per any other Representative.
........................................................................
...
At noon on the first Monday after ratification of this
Amendment,
Richard Allen Hohensee of Adelphi Maryland shall, upon taking
the
Oath of Office of the President, assume the office of
President of
the United States, and then-Senator Russell Feingold shall
similarly assume the office of Vice President, and both shall
hereby be elected for the balance of the 2004 Presidential
term.
The term limit effect of this election-by-Amendment shall be
equivalent to a one year emergency term, such that the
electees
shall be eligible for two more full terms if subsequently
elected
normally.
[The above language assumes ratification before the 2008
election.]
........................................................................
...
The above herb amendment to allow growing any herb could be
constructed so
as to foster small exurban family farms and serve as a permanent
seedbed
for small businesses.
States are history. Maryland, for example, has a ridiculous
boundary.
Rhode Island, originally "Rhode Island Plantation", having the same
representation in the Senate as e.g. California is ridiculous. A
third
house of Congress might be in order based on cities, which House of
Cities
might reduce the role of the Senate over time. The Senate is real good
at
singing "God Bless America" on the Capitol steps while the Pentagon
burns.
GENERALITIES
Make my life as President extremely public, to the greatest extent
possible consistant with national security. The adult public will be
able
to monitor most of my personal activity via live motion pictures. A
Presidential webcam, so to speak, with a general and an adult outlet.
Big
Brother is already here. I give the people of the USA the option of
keeping an unblinking eye on Big Brother if they are so inclined.
(Nov
'05) I think about this a lot. I don't know to what extent this is
actually practical, but I think I can guarantee a 24/7 video feed from
the
Oval Office and main Cabinet meeting room, for example.
Marriage is not a federal concern. (The country seems to have already
adopted this idea since I proposed it.) The proposed tax formula will
provide positive taxes (back to the person) to dependants, not
married
couples per se. Children and the homeless will get the same subsidy
per
each. The homeless are societies children. The homeless will recieve
a
direct subsidy, while childrens' subsidies will go to thier guardians,
in
the normal case. Personal social and philisophical issues are a huge
area
the federal government can beneficially recuse itself from, and it
bears
mention that such issues are not mentioned in the Constitution.
Monogamous
marriage may or may not be the backbone of American society, but it is
not
the backbone of government, and certainly not the Federal government.
The legal tradition of the USA has some fundamental quirks going back
to
English Common Law that need fixing. Malice, intent, custodial
relationships, sanity and other subtleties are sentencing issues, not
corpus delecti. That is, intent is not part of the crucial body of a
crime. In the jargon of computer programming, and Charles Moore (the
Forth
programming language) in particular, the criminal legal system is
'mis-factored'. "What" and "why" are beneficially separable, and this
is a
fundamental and systemic departure from English legal tradition. This
tectonic problem can realistically be addressed within the confines of
the
Federal criminal code, or possibly the military code, and let the
States
observe the effects derived.
The US military will be excercized in the third world to project
sustenance. That is, when the global situation allows, the US
military
will be used as a variant or branch of the Peace Corps. The courage of
the
military will be required to sustain losses to disease and to operate
substantially unarmed in theaters where the US military is a semi-
welcome
guest and the mosquito, tse-tse fly and AIDS virus are the brutal de-
facto
overlords. Sustenance-projection exercizes in Africa may also be an
important return stop for abused troops, such as those now in Iraq.
(Oct
'05) This item would have set a useful precedent and advisor cadre for
the
response to hurricane Katrina. (Nov 05) Jack Murtha alleges that a
huge
proportion of the force in Iraq is emotionally damaged. This is
undoubtable. A buffer tour, possibly shorter than a normal tour, in
some
place like Sudan and/or Alaska is to be closely considered for troops
returning from Iraq.
There is no specific labor policy as such at this time. In theory I do
not
support the distinction between labor and management, nor the
distinction
between business and consumer. Both distinctions are elitist. Labor
interests should note my positions which are not explicitly labor
initiatives such as the elimination of degree requirements from all
positions licensed by the Federal government, the elimination of
various
subsidies to various sectors other than the working man/woman, the
possible huge increase in manpower and facilities to the INS via the
de-commissioning of the CIA, the improved immigration enforcement
possible
in the absence of a corrupt and bizarre drug war, the biometric
identification of all immigrants, the reduction in impetus of Latin
Americans to emigrate to the US in the absense of a corrupt drug war
in
their home regions, substantive measures to reduce health costs, the
top
tax rate of 40%+, and other policies that help the working man, woman
or
family substantively, but not necessarily directly or explicitly.
Guarantee a veto on any and every bill submitted to me longer than 50
pages in length, thus fostering clarity, modularity, efficiency and
atomicity in legislation, and autonomy between the Executive and
Legislative branches. The reader may note that this entire platform is
in
sync with such a policy.
The right-wing talking point of 'activist judges' is a good clue to
something America needs; a more activist Judiciary. The ACLU is the
former
USA's de-facto federal public defender. They need collegial
competition
from a branch of the Federal government, probably in the Judiciary.
There
is a dysfunctional power slush-fund between the Executive and
Legislative
Branches, particularly as relates to the ludicrously misnamed
intelligence
community. The President needs more lattitude to coordinate the
Executive
Branch, while having less ability to warp extra-Executive functions
such
as special prosecutors. Special prosecuters should be a normal
function of
the Judiciary, i.e. not so special. Clarifying the balance of power
between the three main Branches of government would benefit from a
more
active Judiciary, and greater police powers for the Legislative and
Judicial Branches. Executive law enforcement agencies should have a
rock-paper-scissors relationship with Judicial and Legislative
police,
perhaps expanded from the US Capitol Police (Legislative) and US
Marshalls
(Judicial?).
I oppose capital punishment. It's not cost-effective, and is
distracting
to Governors and Presidents, particularly those such as George Walker
Bush
who so richly deserve it. An execution, however, cannot remotely
repair
the damage caused by a George Dubya Bush, a John Wayne Gacy, or even
a
perpetrator of a single deliberate vehicular homicide such as Laura
Welch
Bush.
Enforce the law with emphasis on the most priviledged facing the
closest
scrutiny. This is my affirmative action policy. I am quite fatigued
with
rich white men like Skull and Bones (WH Taft, Bush 41, Bush, Kerry)
giving
me a bad name. I do not hope to abolish wealth. I hope to require it
to
exhibit some class or be abruptly impoverished. Wealth is a valuable
incentive. A static stratification is not. If the big trees never die,
you
are not in a living forest. The US economy needs some lightning
strikes,
particularly to clear out areas that are natural business seedbeds
like
software and small farms, but not a huge forest fire. I don't have
any
major beef I'm aware of with IBM, UPS and numerous other large
companies.
The former USA needs an overhaul, but the engine block is more than
salvageable.
I will conduct my personal relationship with the District of Columbia
as
an example of America's relationship with the world. The current
federal
relationship with DC is neglectful, arrogant and parasitic. Quite
telling.
The continued operation of Reagan National Airport is lethal
arrogance,
and strikingly well-named as such. With a smaller Air Force One,
National
and Andrews could switch roles. I will work to make every corner of
the
District of Columbia burst into bloom in every way. For example, DC
has a
worse-than-scandalous adult illiteracy rate, and a wealth of
influential
religious, sports and entertainment figures to become involved in
correcting that national disgrace, among others. I am opposed to a
new
baseball statium in DC, however. DC needs a triple-A club in RFK,
which is
what I've said all along, and is basically what they have as of this
writing with the Expos. You don't create a beloved pro sports
tradition by
fiat. (July 05) The Nats are in first place in the NL East. They are
drawing well, and an argument can be made that the magic of RFK
Stadium
contributes positively to the Nats' success. I have proposed a low-
cost
soccer stadium so that DC United has it's own field. They draw well,
but
less than the Nats. Switching the field at RFK from soccer to baseball
is
a temporary measure. Arguments for a new stadium for the Nats are, as
best
I can see, rooted entirely in corrupt motives. (Jan '06) My original
position on this issue continues to be validated by the bad waltz
between
MLB and The District. A new stadium is going to cost twice the
original
estimate. The city should pledge a new college-grade soccer stadium
for DC
United (the soccer franchise) and $100M for improvements to RFK, and
tell
MLB to take it or leave it.
I don't like the idea of homosexual couples adopting children, but I'd
be
hesitant to second-guess local social workers from the federal level.
I will try to do things in a way that displacements of workforces have
a
gains to go with the losses. The term for this would be assisted
workforce
migration. Allowing CIA employees to migrate to the INS, for example.
Another example is the reduction of need for police that should
accrue
from civilization of the country's barbaric drug laws. The currrent
prohibition means America has too many cops and corrections officers.
Other initiatives in this platform indicate that the USA also has a
severe
dearth of border control personnel, and a huge dearth of bus drivers
and
other surface public transport personnel, so there is an assisted
workforce migration possible. Cops will be offered free training for a
CDL
to drive buses, for example.
The Federal bipartisan "Republicrat" establishment is largely held
together by a mortal desperation to keep a large volume of hideous
secrets
from the American people. As a fanciful example, the whole JFK/Bay of
Pigs
story falls together quite nicely if you place George "Poppy" HW Bush,
our
41st President, in the sniper's nest in the Texas Schoolbook
Depository.
That is, if you make him the primary shooter in the JFK assassination.
The
history of secrets is that the reality tends to be many times worse
than a
private individual can imagine. Many such stories lie unexposed in
classified materials. This is the most important thing the
establishment
loses if I become President. All those fabulously dirty secrets. This
is
how I will make my Presidency an outrageous smash success in a matter
of
weeks, if not hours. I'm not in the club. Many prominent Democrats
are.
My guess is that the last President with no shared skeletons in his
closet
was Carter, and perhaps Eisenhower before that. The government club's
relationship with the populace is parasitic. Secrets are what you
keep
from your enemies, and the current establishment, we see in the news,
is
to a huge extent the people's enemy. I'm not.
The President is the central strinfo agent of the country. I will have
a
national security triumvirate to advise me on urgent security matters,
who
will take reports from the 14 strinfo agencies besides the CIA
existing in
the Executive Branch. Said triumvirate will all have interrupt-
capable
access to the President and Vice President.
The various main departments of the Executive Branch will be
represented
by a cabinet of some nine primary officials, representing the
following
topics of governance, and recieving reports from the pertinent
existing
departments; Audits, Commerce, Culture, Defense, Diplomacy, Health,
Justice, Resources, Funding. Diplomacy will basically be the State
Department as is, so the Diplomacy advisor will be the Secretary of
State,
but other primary advisors may represent an agglomeration of existing
departments. Culture will be education, the arts, science, the FCC,
and so
on. A routine periodic "cabinet meeting" will be those 9 primary
officials, the President, and perhaps the Vice President.
The better tone of American foreign policy was set by the Monroe
Doctrine
the better part of two centuries ago. The Monroe Doctrine has some
very
prominent misinterpretations, however. I believe the correct
interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine is that the USA must consider
free
nations it's allies, and less than free countries less than nations.
In a
sentence, A nation is a secular democracy, and other areas are
primitive
countries and regions needing help to become or join the community of
real
nations. This latter category currently includes Israel, and to my
knowledge, the entire Arabian Peninsula, as examples. My policy is to
attempt to side with nature in all things, as best one can interpret
nature, and to favor such regions evolving into nations, as is clearly
the
long-term trend of human history.
Rick (Richard Allen) Hohensee