The Candidates: Barack Obama

*Check out my earlier blog posts on Ron Paul and John Edwards.

Things I Agree With Barak Obama About:

• He wants to take China "to the mat" about currency manipulation.
• He wants to regulate financial instruments to protect home mortgages.
• He wants to end tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas.
• He wants to close tax loopholes for US companies relocating abroad.
• He wants to reward companies that create US jobs.
• He wants to hold corporations responsible for pensions and work conditions.
• He wants to provide tax incentives for corporate responsibility.
• He believes the politics of fear undermines our civil liberties.
• He wants to more strongly enforce the Equal Pay Act for women.
• He wants to strengthen the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• He opposes gay marriage but supports civil union & equality.
• He wants the Confederate flag in museums, not state houses.
• He voted NO on recommending Constitutional ban on flag-burning.
• Voted NO on reforming bankruptcy to include means-testing and restrictions.
• He supports alternative sentencing and rehabilitation.
• He does not want to lower the drinking age to 18.
• His First Senate bill: increase Pell Grant from $4,050 to $5,100.
• He sponsored legislations that recruit and reward good teachers.
• He voted YES on $52M for "21st century community learning centers".
• He voted YES on $5B for grants to local educational agencies.
• He voted YES on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education.
• He wants to cap-and-trade carbon emissions; raise CAFE standard.
• He wants to stop sending $800M a day to Mideast dictators for oil.
• He wants Detroit to build more hybrids & use more ethanol.
• He does not believe we can drill our way out of our addiction to oil.
• He sponsored legislations that improve energy efficiency.
• He wants to get 20% nation's power supply from renewable sources by 2020.
• He wants tradable credits for renewable energy.
• Voted YES on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies.
• Voted YES on making oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal.
• Voted YES on factoring global warming into federal project planning.
• Voted YES on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska's ANWR.
• Voted YES on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas.
• Voted YES on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%).
• Voted YES on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• He wants to educe mercury and lead to protect community health.
• He wants to protect the Great Lakes & our National Parks and Forests.
• He wanted to give Katrina contracts to locals, not to Halliburton.
• He spent three months working on minority students recycling.
• Voted YES on including oil & gas smokestacks in mercury regulations.
• He believes China is a competitor but not an enemy.
• He is willing to meet with Fidel Castro, Kim Jung Il & Hugo Chavez.
• He protested South African apartheid while at college.
• He visited Africa in 2006; encouraged HIV testing & research.
• He wants to enforce existing safety laws against Chinese products.
• He wants to stand firm against CAFTA for labor & environmental standards.
• He believes Congress subsidizing of mega-farms hurts family farmers.
• He wants to amend NAFTA to add labor agreements.
• He does not believe that the market alone can not solve the healthcare crisis.
• He wants to close Guantanamo.
• Voted NO on removing need for FISA warrant for wiretapping abroad.
• Voted YES on limiting soldiers' deployment to 12 months.
• Voted YES on implementing the 9/11 Commission report.
• Voted YES on preserving habeus corpus for Guantanamo detainees.
• Voted YES on requiring CIA reports on detainees & interrogation methods.
• Voted NO on extending the PATRIOT Act's wiretap provision.
• Voted YES on restricting business with entities linked to terrorism.
• Voted YES on restoring $565M for states' and ports' first responders.
• Voted YES on comprehensive immigration reform.
• Voted YES on establishing a Guest Worker program.
• Voted YES on giving Guest Workers a path to citizenship.
• Voted YES on restricting employer interference in union organizing.
• Voted YES on increasing minimum wage to $7.25.
• He wants to get al Qaeda hiding in hills between Afghanistan & Pakistan.
• He is against the Iraq war (and says he wouldn't have voted NO on authorizing the President to go to war).
• Voted YES on investigating contract awards in Iraq & Afghanistan.

Things I Disagree With Barack Obama About:

• He voted NO on $40B in reduced federal overall spending.
• He supports continuing affirmative action.
• Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act.
• He supports Roe v. Wade.
• Voted NO on declaring English as the official language of the US government.
• Voted YES on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security.
• He wouldn't say the Pledge of Allegiance and he's a Muslim - JUST KIDDING! (That stuff isn't true, by the way).

Things Barack Obama Believes That I'm Not Sure About:

• He wants to give $50B annually to strengthen weak foreign states at risk of collapse.
• I can't seem to get handle on what he believes about Israel and Palestine.
• Voted YES on building a fence along the Mexican border.
• I haven't seen a whole about where he stands on taxes, other than wanting to repeal the Bush tax cuts to pay for health care, which I'm undecided about.

What It Boils Down To For Me About Barack Obama is this: I had no idea until I did all of this research how much I like Barack Obama. I really like a lot of what Ron Paul has to say, but I can't imagine voting Republican (especially after the last eight years) and I'm doubtful he'll win his party's nomination, anyway.

More to come!

How Not To Start An Interview

"Dear Jack" Trailer

This is the trailer for an incredible documentary directed by two of my good friends and former co-workers from MTV, Corey Moss (now an executive producer for Yahoo!) and Josh Morrisroe. It's about Jack's Mannequin / Something Corporate singer Andrew McMahon's fight with leukemia. The movie is narrated by Tommy Lee (yes the Tommy Lee).

FEARnet: "Untraceable" Premiere Coverage

This week I covered the premiere of "Untraceable" for FEARnet. You can watch it RIGHT HERE.

The Candidates: John Edwards

Things I Agree With John Edwards About:

• He wants to investigate the oil companies and ask for conservation.
• He wants to give up SUVs & make other sacrifices to deal with climate crisis
• He wants to reduce greenhouse emissions by 80% by the year 2050.
• He wants bold transformation to stop importing 12M bbl of oil per day.
• He wants to cap carbon emissions & invest in carbon sequestration.
• He wants to store nuclear waste near nuclear plants, not in Yucca Mt.
• He supports real increases in CAFE standards.
• He wants to convert agricultural waste into energy products.
• He Voted NO on drilling ANWR on national security grounds.
• He wants to keep efficient air conditioner rule to conserve energy.
• He wants to eliminate tax-breaks given to corporations for outsourcing jobs.
• He believes that our trade policy caters to the interests of big business vs. working people.
• He believes hedge fund investors should help figure out and reduce poverty.
• He is in favor of a share-holder and worker Bill Of Rights.
• Has said he was wrong to vote for Bankruptcy Reform Act.
• Has said he was wrong to have supported the invasion of Iraq.
• He voted NO on prioritizing national debt reduction below tax cuts.
• He is against gay marriage but is OK with civil unions and is against discrimination.
• He wants to raise the minimum wage.
• He wants to reduce sentencing disparity for crack cocaine retroactively
• He wants to eliminate mandatory minimums for non-violent crimes.
• He does not believe that flag-burning is a Constitutional issue.
• He supports a national ban on smoking in public places.
• He supports drug courts and alternatives to incarceration.
• He is not in favor of lowering the drinking age to 18.
• He supports a free first year of college for all willing to work for it.

Things I Disagree With John Edwards About:

• He wants stricter civil liberties watchdogging of the PATRIOT ACT but he is not in favor of abolishing it outright. Like Ron Paul, I personally think it should be done away with altogether. John Edwards does not.
• He voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wire-tapping.
• He voted YES on Bush Administration Energy Policy.
• He voted YES on ending discussion of CAFE fuel efficiency standards.
• He voted YES on defunding renewable and solar energy.
• He is pro-choice with very few limits that I have seen.
• He thinks it's OK to teach second-graders about same-sex couples.
• He believes Affirmative Action is still necessary.
• Although he does want to require DNA testing for all federal executions, he is pro-death penalty even in its present state.
• He voted for the Bankruptcy Reform Act.
• He voted for and supported the invasion of Iraq.

Things John Edwards Believes That I Am Unsure About:

• Wants to increase federal funding for education. For example, he wants to make community colleges and public universities free. This problem is more complicated than simply throwing money at it and I'm not confident that the federal government can really run much of anything. I would like to see more privatized education, tax breaks for those who home-school (which Ron Paul favors) and see the states controlling what goes on with public schools a bit more than the federal government.

What it boils down to for me with John Edwards is that while I appreciate his position on a great many things from the environment to the war in Iraq and certainly where his heart is at with education and health care, his voting record is awful.

He voted in support of the war, he voted for Bush's energy policy (!), he supports the PATRIOT ACT, he voted for bankruptcy reform, he voted in favor of ending the CAFE energy efficiency standard discussion, he voted in favor of defunding solar renewable and solar energy... What kind of Democrat is that anyway? Why support a Democrat who does all of the things I disagree with Republicans about? The thing I like about Republicans - or true conservatives, anyway - is their aversion to big government and big government spending. Back when he had power to make any real change for progressive values he chose to play the role of politician instead. I know he says he's changed... But hasn't he already blown his chance?

Edwards has all of the classic Democrat big government ideas coupled with a voting record that supported the Bush regime on war, civil liberties, working people and the environment when Bush was still popular.

I repeat: He might say he's sorry now, but when he actually HAD POWER he backed the war, voted against working people in bankruptcy trouble and worked AGAINST the environment. Add to that his still unapologetic support of the PATRIOT ACT and the death penalty (regardless of your stances on abortion or gay marriage) and I just don't think that his good intentions, changes of heart and pro-rehab stances are enough for me to vote for him. Earlier in the race I was really becoming a John Edwards supporter, but after careful review of his record and positions, I just can't endorse him. (Sorry, Tom B.!).

More to come on other leading candidates!

The Candidates: Ron Paul

It's time for me to get political and talk about the candidates. You knew it was coming! I plan to keep this short and simple in the interest of streamlining the information I've come across and expressing my opinion about the various candidates positions.

Things I Agree With Ron Paul About:

• He is against the PATRIOT ACT.
• He wants an immediate withdrawal from Iraq and believes the neo-con interventionist ideology to be wrong.
• He wants to create tax deductions for parents who home-school.
• He wants to keep property taxes low.
• Ron Paul supports tax deductible medical expenses; Making it easier for small businesses to provide health care for their employees.
• He believes in the right to privacy and is against having a National ID.
• He believes only the Congress can take us to war NOT the President.
• He believes Blacks are treated unfairly in the "War on Drugs" and that the "War on Drugs" has been a total disaster. He believes it should all be reformed and the decision-making power on how to handle the drug problem should be given to the states. He wants to legalize medicinal marijuana. He does not believe in policing the borders to stop drug trafficking.
• He does not believe that waiters, waitresses and other service industry workers should have to pay taxes on their tips (as someone who waited tables for years, I feel pretty strongly about this one in particular!).
• He is against the government taking over property of individuals for special interests, such as NAFTA, under eminent domain.
• He is pro-life. He believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned so the states can have the power to decide.
• He believes evolution should be taught as a theory and not as a fact. He believes scientific support for Creationism should be presented as well.
• He strongly favors the 2nd Amendment.
• He has not supported the logging industry by tax dollar subsidies.
• He has supported alternative energy with tax credit legislation.
• He has been a part of Congressional Green Scissors Coalition whose purpose is to eliminate tax subsidies on environmentally harmful government spending.
• Voted YES on making permanent an increase in the child tax credit.
• Voted YES on permanently eliminating the marriage penalty.
• Voted YES on $99 B economic stimulus: capital gains & income tax cuts.
• Voted NO on the federal government defining marriage.
• He is against the death penalty because the system is flawed and there are too many mistakes.
• He is against subsidies for big oil.
• He wants to cut all foreign aid to Israel and Arab countries alike.

Things I Disagree With Ron Paul About:

• He wants to do away with the minimum wage.
• He seems to be against any sort of U.S. intervention in world affairs, ever. When it comes to East Timor, Bosnia, Darfur, etc. where atrocity and genocide run rampant, I believe it is a moral imperative to intervene to at least some degree.
• He is against stem-cell research.
• He is against the Kyoto Treaty.
• Voted NO on a national AMBER Alert System for missing kids.
• Voted NO on allowing stockholder voting on executive compensation.
• Voted YES on Bankruptcy Overhaul requiring partial debt repayment.
• Opposes "hate-crime" legislation.
• Voted NO on $156M to IMF for third-world debt reduction.
• Voted NO on campaign finance reform banning soft-money contributions.

Things Ron Paul Believes That I'm Not Sure About:

• He is against flat tax, consumption tax and income tax and wants to start phasing out the IRS immediately if he becomes President. It sounds great, however, I would have to really research this much more deeply before making up my mind on this.
• He wants to eliminate the department of education.
• Other than the things listed above he is pretty weak on the environment.
• His stance on immigration is tricky and convoluted; some of it makes sense to me, some of it does not.
• He is against government-run health care. I truly see both sides of this debate and I am undecided.
• He wants to abolish the federal welfare system and leave it all to states.
• He believes in a conspiracy (of sorts) to form a North American Union.

Want to know A LOT MORE about Ron Paul and all of the candidates? CLICK HERE!

Heath Ledger RIP

1979 - 2008.

FEARnet: "Cloverfield" Premiere Coverage

Last week I covered the premiere of "Cloverfield" (held on the Paramount Pictures lot complete with a 50 foot replica of the headless Statue of Liberty) for FEARnet and spoke to the film's director, writer and stars as well as Pete Wentz, Ashlee Simpson, will.i.am, Travis from Gym Class Heroes, Noah Gray Cabey (Micah on "Heroes"), a couple of cast members from the upcoming "Star Trek" reboot and a few other folks who were all curious to see if the buzzed-about monster flick lives up to the hype. You can watch it all right here.

FEARnet: Stan Lee!

I have not posted a new blog in quite some time. And as anyone who knows me personally knows, that's with good (AMAZING! MIRACULOUS!) reason. But I think I'm back in the swing of things now, though work is keeping me very, very busy.

Check out this interview I did with Stan "The Man" Lee recently, on the red carpet for a "Heroes" event at the Jules Verne Film Festival in downtown Los Angeles. We spoke about the new "Hulk" and "Iron Man" movies, among other things.

I had actually met Stan once before. When I was working at MTV News in Santa Monica and had moved into an office on the first floor with a window looking out onto the street, STAN LEE WALKED RIGHT PAST MY WINDOW. Now at that office, it wasn't uncommon to see anyone from Master P to Dave Navarro to that no-talent hack Fred Durst walking near or in the office.

BUT THIS WAS STAN LEE! I leapt out of my chair, ran down the hallway, rushed outside, and stopped him in his tracks. He was with two other gentlemen and they were all walking to a meeting at MGM, which used to be across the street from MTV.

I stuck my hand out and just stuttered, "Um, uh, Mr. Lee, I just wanted to say... Thank you."

Without skipping a beat (he must a. get this all of the time and b. know exactly what I'm thanking him for), he said warmly, "My pleasure, my pleasure. I appreciate it." I can't remember what else I blurted out but he chatted with me for a few moments. The FEARnet piece also includes my interviews with Doug Jones AKA "Abe Sapien" in "Hellboy" (and the guy in the motion capture suit as the Silver Surfer), "Heroes" co-creator Tim Kring and Jimmy Jean-Louis AKA "The Haitian" on "Heroes."