Roseanne Barr continues Presidential bid

Roseanne Barr is continuing her Presidential campaign and is now in the running for the Peace and Freedom Party nomination.  Her running mate is peace advocate Cindy Sheehan.

Overview of Candidates foreign policy positions

Barack Obama (D) - Supported the initial invasion of Afghanistan and sent more troops there as President.  Opposed the initial invasion of Iraq, but voted for Iraq War funding why'll in congress.  Supports unmanned predator drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen against enemy combatants and suspected terrorists which often result in civilian casulties.  Supports keeping U.S. bases open worldwide.  Has clear bias in favor of Israel over Arab and Muslim states.  Opposes U.N. recognized Palestinian state.

Mitt Romney (R) - Supported the initial invasion of Afghanistan and sending more troops there.  Supported the initial invasion of Iraq, as well as the "troop surge".  Supports unmanned predator drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen against enemy combatants and suspected terrorists which often result in civilian casualties.  Supports keeping U.S. bases open worldwide.  Has clear bias in favor of Israel over Arab and Muslim states.  Opposes U.N. recongnized Palestinian state.

Gary Johnson (L) - Supported the initial invasion of Afghanistan, but opposed sending more troops there.  Opposed the initial invasion of Iraq and the troop surge.  Supports unmanned predator drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen against enemy combatants and suspected terrorists which often result in civilian casualties.  Opposes keeping U.S. bases open worldwide, but would be open to keeping some bases open in Afghanistan.  Has some level of bias in favor of Israel over Arab and Muslim states.  Is silent on the possibility of Palestinian statehood.

Rocky Anderson (JPUSA) - Former Democrat and supported former Democratic Party platforms and administration policies.  Opposed the initial invasion of Iraq and the troop surge.  Opposes unmanned predator drone strikes.  Opposes keeping U.S. bases open worldwide.  Was supportive of U.S. and NATO intervention in Libya, but would have sought congressional approval.  Is unclear on the Israel/Palestinian conflict.

Jill Stein (G) - Is running with a party whose 2008 nominee voted for the initial invasion of Afghansitan, but later came to oppose the continued occupation.  Opposed the initial invasion of Iraq and troops surge, and opposes unmanned predator drone strikes.  Opposes keeping U.S. bases open worldwide and proposes a 30% cut to the military budget.  Opposed NATO intervention in Libya for the purpose of "regime change".  Supports U.N. recognized Palestinian state, while also recognizing Israel's "right to exist".

Virgil Goode (Con.) - Former member of both the Democratic and Republican parties, served in congress as a Republcian.  Supported the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, is unclear on the continued occupations.  Opposes keeping U.S. bases open overseas, per the Constitution Party paleoconservative platform.  Opposed intervention in Libya, opposes U.S. participation in the U.N. and all foreign aid, including to Israel.

Stewart Alexander (SPUSA) - Opposes the continued occupation of Afghanistan and opposed the intial invasion of Iraq.  Opposes unmanned drone strikes and keeping U.S. bases overseas.  Supports an immediate 50% cut to the military budget with more cuts from there, the goal being to eventually get military spending to less than 10% of what it is now.  Supports U.N. recognized independent Palestinian state, recognizes the historic value of "cultural Zionism", but opposes political Zionism and the policies of the current administration in Israel and it's policy of apartheid.

Peta Lindsay (PSL) - Outspoken anti-war advocate, opposes all wars and foreign intervention carried out by U.S. in recent history.  Opposes predetor drone strikes, supports U.N. recognized Palestinian state, is highly critical of the state of Israel.  Opposes keeping any U.S. military bases overseas, does not support aboltion of the U.S. miltary or pentagon, but supports those institutions being taken over by the working class.

Stephen Durham (FSP) - Outspoken anti-war advocate, opposed invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, but is critical of "anti-feminist" and "oppressive" middle eastern regimes.  Supports abolition of the pentagon, but not the U.S. military.  Supports the right of soldiers to form labor unions.  Sides with the rebels in the current Syria conflict.

Jerry White (SEP) - Party platform declares support for abolition of the standing army and calls for reperations to be given to countries we have wronged.

Socialist Workers Party nominates James Harris

The Socialist Workers Party has nominated it's presidential candidate, African American communist James Harris.  He is a fierce anti-war advocate and strong opponent of the death penalty.  His running mate is Maura DeLuca.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harris_(politician)

Jill Stein's running mate

Green Party nominee Jill Stein has been officially nominated by the Green Party and has chosen her running mate, anti-poverty advocate Cheri Honkala.  http://www.jillstein.org/cheri_honkala

The Election that Could have Been

I see little difference between Obama and Romney, especially in the area of foreign policy.  I've never been an Obama supporter.  I heard loud and clear in '08 when he said he wanted to send more troops to Afghanistan.  Not only did he do that, he also increased drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, and signed the NDAA, which gives the President of the United States the authority to indefinitley detain U.S. citizens without trial.  Romney would certainly be no better, and on economics and social issues, he would be far worse.  So what is the alternative?  There are many third parties running this year, and all of them have better foreign policies than Obama and Romney, the left wing and libertarian candidates also being better on social issues.  But this is not the election that had to happen.  There were many other challengers in both primaries.  Ron Paul, for all his economic conservatism, is much better on foreign policy than Obama, proposing an immediate end to the wars as well as the closure of all U.S. bases overseas.  If the election had been Ron Paul vs. Obama, everything would have been on it's heals.  Ron Paul's foreign policy would have made Obama look like a total warmonger.  Peaceful liberals would have had to decide whether to vote for the peaceful conservative or the warmongering liberal, or to still go ahead and vote for a peaceful leftist third party candidate.  There were also challengers to Obama in the primary.  Both Dary G. Richardson and John Wolfe Jr. had much better foreign policies than Obama and opposed the wars, with Richardson supporting an immediate end to the Afghanistan conflict.  John Wolfe Jr. supports a single payer medicare for all plan.  Despite Wolfe's left of Obama policies, only conservative media would give him the time of day, and that was only to make the Democrats and Obama look bad, essentially to embarrass the Democrats and reveal that a John Doe candidate could potentially upstage Obama in Arkansas.  Wolfe didn't win the Arkansas primary, but he did get 42% of the vote, the most a Democratic primary challenger to an incumbent president ever has since Ted Kennedy challenged Jimmy Carter in 1980.  If Richardson or Wolfe had been the Democratic nominee running against Ron Paul as a Republican, it would have been a truly just process, with economic issues being in the front and center.  Two candidates with morals and principles who oppose wars of aggression battling for the soul of America, whether we will be a truly progressive nation, or a truly conservative libertarian nation.  Instead, we have two neoconservative corporatist candidates seeing who can outspend each other on ads and who can look more like the "tough guy".  Ultra nationalism is tearing this country apart, with Americans only caring about themselves, ignoring the plight of civilians overseas who suffer daily due to U.S. imperialism.  I would hope to one day see a true debate of the progressive and conservative agendas without warmongering in the mix, a pure battle of ideology, not two sides of the same battered coin.  Until then, I will look to third parties.  As it stands now, the two major parties are beyond repair.

Darcy Richardson New Campaign Website

Former Democratic candidate Darcy G Richardson has a new campaign website for his bid to get the Reform Party nomination.  http://darcy2012.com/