American Candidate

Submitted for your amusement...and perhaps serious consideration.

By now we've all heard the lament that more people pay attention to "American Idol" than vote. Then there's the perception that elected officials aren't "like us." What if you could combine both those thoughts and get voters more interested and involved? How about "American Candidate?"

Get 10 or 15 average, down-to-earth folks who might not otherwise have name recognition or the financial wherewithal to make a viable bid for office, but who would be interested and willing to run. You probably wouldn't want to run incumbents here, because you'd really be looking for "Average Joe (or Jane)." You'd want people who could easily be your next-door-neighbor.

Take 8 or 10 weeks. Every week there's a new "task." Each task could be focused on a particular issue, and/or you could have tasks like coming up with a budget that require cooperation among the contestants. Film a half- or one-hour show each weekend of the contestants participating in the task. Put it on YouTube. Have people vote for the contestant of their choice - lowest vote getter is gone.

Yes, there would be a lot to be worked out on how the voting happens. Pure internet voting - early and often? Pay-as-you-vote, like a text message fee or a toll call? That would make it more difficult on out-of-district moonbats attempting to skew the numbers. Attempts to limit voting to Rs or Rs and Us would necessitate some offline voting method / verification and would probably be time- and effort-prohibitive. Would it - should it be partisan? If it's not, is the winner more credible?

What office would you do this for? A lower office means more ability to verify votes (assuming you wanted to do that), but less buzz and probably less participation from viewers/voters. Higher office means more interest, but more difficulty in verifying votes and less credibility if you don't.

What does the winner get? Name recognition - this would probably generate quite a bit of media buzz. Money? I'm sure the campaign finance laws would have to be consulted. How would you fund a money prize? Perhaps with the buck-a-vote you charge?

Awaiting your slings and arrows...

Air Islam Now Serving Logan Airport

The latest Transportation Bill making its way through Congress has an amendment attached by a Republican Congressman limiting the liability of fellow passengers from reporting suspicious activity of other passengers. We all know the story by now of the Islamic rabble rousers asking for seatbelt extenders and praising Osama & Saddam on a US Air flight in Minnesota. They are now trying to sue fellow passengers that reported their suspicious activity on that flight in question. This would have a chilling effect on anyone even thinking about ratting out the next Shoe Bomber before he reaches the point of no return. From what I heard, the amendment was approved with about 120 votes against. Our tally? 9-1 AGAINST!! (I guess I need to say something nice about Steve Lynch here?) We can be so proud of our delegation sticking up for the rights of Islamic terrorists to continue to threaten and kill innocent Americans.

Do you think they'll be boasting about this vote at the next Democrat Pancake Breakfast? Senator Timilty, is this why Barney Frank is your political hero? Once again, I am ashamed to say that I live in Massachusetts.......

Exporting Massachusetts

The Globe reports that new Senate President Therese Murray, (D-Plymouth) supports repealing the Massachusetts law that prohibits the issuance of marriage licenses to out-of-state homosexual couples if their home states would not recognize the marriage. Why? If the home state doesn't recognize it, what purpose does it serve, other than to generate test cases to be exported across the country? Surely the catering and wedding planning industry can't be that powerful - that the Senate President advocates for the repeal of a law solely to boost it's bottom line.