NEWS FLASH!
Topic: State Of The Union
"The American Conservative" magazine has confirmed everything The Independent Voice has been telling you. George W. Bush is NOT a conservative. No one knows exactly what he is but he's definitely NOT a conservative. In fact he appears to be the worst of both the left and the right.

Read this article throroughly:

The American Conservative Magazine Endorses John F. Kerry

What's even more interesting than the endorsement is that the magazine recognizes that another 4 years of Bush would be absolutely cataclysmic for the REAL conservative ideology (sounds familiar, hum?).

That just goes to show you that the American people can either get a good helping of liberal pie now or wait another 4 years and they'll be screaming for a Ralph Nader/Howard Dean, as far left as you can go without falling off, liberal ticket. It's up to you. Personally I opt for now. Just the thought of more balloning deficits, unnecessary war, lies, deceit, excuses, and unfortunately needless death and destruction, just scares the be-jesus out of me.

But hey, if you think a Presidential election should be decided on one issue like gay marriage, vote for Bush. Just remember that a vote for Bush is a vote for a liberal in 4 years and for a long time to come. It's in your hands.

VOTE WISELY

New World Cinema
Topic: Hopefully Humorous


In a time when people just don't care... In a place where people can't see past their own borders... Lies a man in a court appointed position of inscrutable power...

Coming Soon To A World Theater Near You!

VOTE!!!

The Independent Voice Chat

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Kerry's Korner
Topic: Misc.
The first Bush/Cheney sign went up in the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. The night of the last debate the first Kerry/Edwards sign went up, mine. Now the 3 of the 4 houses on the corner of where my road meets another has a Kerry/Edwards sign. One of the houses is owned by people still going through the process of becoming citizens, and yet they proudly display their appreciation of the free speech that this country already provides them. Down the road another neighbor who can't vote has canvassed for the Kerry/Edwards campaign. These 3 people own houses, cars, pay taxes, and show a fundamental understanding for American democracy that many lifelong citizens don't appreciate.

The sign on the lawn is a symbol of what makes this country so great- free speech. We need more of it. When the citizens of a democracy become apathetic it leads to, well, what we have now. If the outcome of this election is that there are a lot of pissed off people, it will be a great success. If necessary I am willing to sacrifice the next 4 years to a failing ideology so that people understand where apathy will led us.

Yes, we do need more free speech. That sign on your lawn or that bumper sticker on your car isn't for you. It's for your neighbors, your friends and your acquaintances. Let them know how you think and feel and you may find out that they agree with you. If you respectfully disagree and engage in a little free speech we'll all benefit. Apathy never inspired anyone; silence has never moved people to act.

A Culture Of Life
Topic: Personal
I have a question for the pro-lifers: if you truly believe that there is no distinction between someone that shoots and kills another human being and an impregnated mother who decides to abort a fetus, then why don't you do something about it? If your child or your neighbor's child was being attacked by a madman that was going to kill, wouldn't you defend that child? Why do you talk about abortion like it is murder and express the belief that nothing separates it from a violent homicidal attack by adults, and yet a majority of you stand by and do nothing?

I have a question for the pro-choicers: if you truly believe that abortion comes about because of unwanted pregnancies, what have you done to prevent them? At what point do you think abortion is murder? If you believe that life doesn't begin at conception, where does it begin? Don't you understand that just because you terminate a fetus early doesn't mean that the fetus would not have developed into a life as we know it? If you do have a life that is capable of reaching independence inside you, why do you think that it is "just" your body, after all, no one would live very long without help from others?

Wouldn't the both of you agree that we need to promote a "culture of life"? But what does that mean?

I respectfully ask the Pro-lifers to put themselves in the positions of people that are faced with these hard decisions. Think about the possible circumstances in which your strongly held beliefs might change. Think about a situation where you are a married man and your wife is raped by someone that is HIV infected, or a crack fiend. Do you abort then? O.K. maybe that's an improbable example, but what do you do if your child is impregnated by another family member? Again that's another rare scenario, but these things do happen. Here's one that isn't as rare as you think: your married and your partner becomes pregnant. "Great", you think because that was your goal. The doctor then informs you that if your wife continues with the pregnancy she could become severely ill or die. What do you do?

Or a more probable situation is one where 2 teenagers go to a party and get drunk, have sex and the girl becomes impregnated because they didn't use protection or used it improperly. The girl can't talk to her parents about it and the guy is nowhere to be found. She has plans for college and didn't plan on getting pregnant until after graduation, no less by a guy who was just in it for the sex. What would you do?

Does a "culture of life" accept the reality that these things go on all the time, and offer real solutions, including birth control, sexual education, and expedited adoption, to combat abortion? To take it a step further, would you be willing to adopt an "unwanted" child, educate children about sex and financially support those that cannot provide for themselves? What should be the government's responsibility if they tell citizens that all unwanted pregnancies legally cannot be aborted?

I respectfully ask the pro-choicers to put themselves in the position of someone who believes so much in their convictions that they would be willing to sacrifice to the point of death, to uphold them. Do you understand that a fetus, barring any complications, will grow to the point of complete independence? With that being the case, do you understand why someone would say that life does indeed begin at conception? As a woman, don't you understand that having the ability to abort a fetus isn't power, it's responsibility? That responsibility gets shifted off both the man and the woman, and is put squarely on you. By insisting that it is your "choice", you have, for all intents and purpose, removed the father's responsibility to not only assist in making that decision but also to care for the child, after birth.

Wouldn't a "culture of life" need to address issues like poverty, crime, responsibility and famine? How can we allow children to be born into an environment where the mother can't afford to feed, clothe, educate and protect herself? Why shouldn't fathers have as much legal responsibility to their children as mothers do? Why should women have the sole responsibility for making decisions about the termination of pregnancy? Why should anyone be faced with the decision to terminate because they have no support, no food, no money, no healthcare, no way to provide and no hope?

Before condemning someone for having the opinions or convictions that they do, why don't you try to first accept the reality that these problems are real and affect people from every race, culture and economic status, and that complete understanding of these problems is necessary, before any real world solutions can be formulated? Both sides should agree that these problems are real. Both sides have different solutions to these problems, as each of you understands them. Neither side is completely right or wrong. Neither side has all the answers. Neither side is the only holder of the truth. You can either combat each other or combat the problem. You can either accept that there are good people with strongly held beliefs on both sides of the aisle, and that you both seek to solve these very human problems, or you can dismiss each other and leave these issues for future generations to fight.

The first step in the process of coming to any answers is communication, understanding, and tolerance of one another. The first step towards having a "culture of life" would be to promote these values.

Latest Voting Technology
Topic: Hopefully Humorous
This is a demo of the latest voting technology, brought to you by Diebold, a campaign donor of one of the candidates. See if you can find out which one:

Diebold Voting Machines

Terrorists For Bush
Topic: Bush
The Associated Press reported yesterday that Iran has officially backed George W. Bush for President. Yes, the country that if we had to invade anyone it should have been them. Yes, they are the country that does actually harbor Al-Queda. Iran (notice the "n" at the end of the name), is the country that does have programs to create Weapons Of Mass Destruction. And let us not forget that Iran treats it's citizens like absolute s*@t.

Yeah well that country is backing our President for another term. Our strong and decisive leader is actually preferred to the weak guy with the "pre-911 mentality".

The real reason that the terrorist are supporting Bush (I just love saying that), despite Bush having labeled them as being apart of the "axis of evil" (say that in an echo chamber for effect) is because unlike many in this country, the Iranian government actually looks at our President's actions and not his rhetoric.

George W. Bush is a windbag. He's full of brazen talk but does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to back it up and if you mention Iraq I'm gonna liberal slap you (that means harder than you've ever been hit). It was easy to invade a country in which we already controlled a majority of the air space, had imposed suffocating sanctions upon and knew that we easily conquered them 12 years ago when they were strong and it would be even easier to do it after we destroyed all their weapons.

Iran would be a different story.

The real reason that the terrorists prefer Bush over Kerry is because Kerry would actually do something that would put the hurt to the Iranian government. He would be slow and methodical. He would squeeze them from power with the weight of the world at our side. George W. Bush is going to keep doing what he's been doing there: NOTHING!

The real reason why the terrorists are supporting Bush (I said it again, yippee!) is because they fear Kerry's resolve to do something about governments around the world that actively oppress their citizens. The terrorists support Bush (yes!) because he's actually eliminated the moderate in the neighborhood who previously warred with Iran. In essence Bush has made the Iranians stronger.

Excerpts from the article include Iranian political analyst Mohsen Mofidi saying that ousting the Taliban and Saddam was the:

"biggest service any administration could have done for Iran."

He also said that Bush has learned from his mistakes:

"The experience of two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the responsibility Bush had, will make it a very remote possibility for him to risk attacking a much bigger and more powerful country like Iran".

He added:

"Democrats usually insist on human rights and they will have more excuses to pressure Iran."

A vote for Bush is a vote for the terrorists!

Bush Receives Endorsement From Iran

Open Letter
Topic: Misc.
This letter is in response to the United Kingdom editors and readers from the "Guardian" (The Guardian) who have taken it upon themselves to write to the undecided voters in Clark County, Ohio.

To Whom It May Concern,

Your actions have angered many here in the U.S. You have also made many here in the U.S. overjoyed. Regarding the former group of people I personally wanted to let you know that they do not represent all Americans.

Many here in the U.S. that spew vitriol over your actions don't recognize the irony of their statements. They say things like "stop meddling in our election", but they forget that RIGHT NOW in 2 different countries, not only is the U.S. government "meddling" but they're also creating, appointing, managing, and building the governments of 2 formerly sovereign nations. The astonishment of those that have uttered this vitriol, by the few of us that actually understand what it means to be an American patriot, is only surpassed by the amazement of their complete ignorance of American history.

Unfortunately some of us in the U.S. forget about our "meddling" in Vietnam and our failure to "meddle" in World War II until it was absolutely forced upon us. Some would say that we actually "saved" the Europeans because of our altruistic ideals, while they forget that the British were losing the same number of people every week from German bombs, that we lost on 9/11. They forget that this went on for 2 straight years while we sat back content with our economy and our ability to condition air. They forget about our "interventions" in the politics of countries around the globe, where we either removed or aided in the removal of governments.

Unfortunately some people within our country are content to let the poor of this country die for their beliefs. They do not have a problem with sitting in comfort while people in this country and around the world are affected by their decisions. It's about time that the citizens of this country hear how our decisions affect others. That is why I wanted to personally thank you for doing what so many of our institutions fail to do. Thank you for going out of your way to let people of this country know how you feel. We don't have to agree with what you are saying but we should respect it.

Those of us that look at questioning our government as a patriotic and constitutional duty can handle the truth. Please keep up the letters. For this American the problem of our ignorance and indifference extends way beyond a Presidential election and will only be solved through education. Education will breed empathy and only until the citizens reach that point will our policies change to reflect our values.

Thanks again,

The Independent Voice

You Are NOT A Republican!
Topic: Misc.
Unfortunately at this time in our country's history a small minority of people (the true self-interested Republicans) have been able to convince large numbers of people to vote against their own self-interest and the country's collective interest. Basically the true self-interested Republicans (which usually respresent large corporate interests) have been able to divide average citizens by claiming that they have the moral high ground with issues like abortion, gun control and gay marriage. It is indeed ironic that many of the Bush administration's stated public policy goals are the same as that of the liberals he condemns. In fact those imitative policies come from over 70 years of liberal propositions. The Independent Voice has already covered how these Bush administration policies are shallow and empty promises; a policy of say one thing and do another.

Let's talk about why you, YES YOU, reading these words right now, are in fact a liberal and you don't even realize it. If you are able to separate out single issues like abortion, gun control and gay marriage, and you embark upon a discussion of why you shouldn't vote against your own self-interest, you first need to start thinking about the issues that liberals have backed for over the past 70 years.

These are examples of the issues that affect you, that liberals have fought for. Many of these issues began with Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the "New Deal", continued through the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson, William Jefferson Clinton and hopefully John Forbes Kerry:

* Federal Balanced Budget
* Social Security
* Medicare
* Medicaid
* Unemployment Insurance
* Minimum wages
* Abolition Of Child labor
* Workplace Standards
* Welfare for children and the handicapped
* Collective Bargaining
* Securities And Exchange Commission
* Meat Packing Industry Regulations
* Drinking Water Quality Standards
* Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
* Department of Housing and Urban Development
* Department of Transportation
* National Endowments for Humanities and Arts
* Corporation for Public Broadcasting
* Environmental Legislation
* Minimum Car Safety Standards
* Food Stamps program
* Head Start
* Volunteers in Service to America
* Upward Bound
* Job Corps
* Rural Electrification

* Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

- offered assistance to underfunded public school districts throughout the country (sound familiar???)

* Higher Education Act Of 1965

- provided aid to needy college and university students

* Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

- aimed to help the poor through education, job training, community development, "community action," and the participation of the poor themselves in framing and administering the programs

* Civil Rights Acts

- Of 1964 which forbade job discrimination and the segregation of public accommodations

- Of 1965 which guaranteed black voting rights

- Of 1968 which banned housing discrimination and extended constitutional protections to Indians on reservations

And while guys like Al Gore didn't "invent" the Internet (nor did he claim to have done so, he actually said "During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet") he did initiate the push to make the publicly funded governmental, academic and military intranets, open to the public. The larger point that many Republicans miss is that the liberal policies of funding private and governmental institutions, eventually brought about the creation of the Internet as we know it. Without liberals like Gore, the disparate private networks would not have become what we take for granted today.

And while the list above is not an exhaustive one, the same Republicans that bad mouth liberal policies, are the same Republicans that enjoy and take for granted all the liberal provided benefits.

If you start learning about the issues that directly affect you, you should come to the conclusion that you too are NOT a Republican but rather a proud liberal.

4 More Years
Topic: Bush
The Independent Voice just wanted to show with pictures what you'd be missing by voting for John Kerry:

The Greeks Are Now Burning Our Flag!

U.S. Global Reputation At All Time Low