Talk:Wikinews interviews Jim Hedges, U.S. Prohibition Party presidential candidate
Not sure about the policy on interviews, but normally {{original reporting}} counts as a single source; shouldn't the interview itself be forwarded to scoop? — μ 18:58, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
- Give me an e-mail address and I will forward it.--William S. Saturn (talk) 18:59, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
- Original reporting does not generally fall foul of the single source rules. This is especially true with interviews except for items supplementary to the interview - such as the lede.
- A section on the talk page for original reporting notes is mandatory. Detail research, supplementary information sources, and so on. Where interview work is involved, summarise who interviewed, how, and when. Email interviews can be forwarded to scoop [at] wikinewsie.org. If this is done, say so in the OR notes section you add to the talk.
- HTH. --Brian McNeil / talk 19:28, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
- The e-mail has been sent.--William S. Saturn (talk) 19:34, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
Timeliness
editWhen is the election this guy ran in/may run in? --Brian McNeil / talk 19:31, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
w:United States presidential election, 2012 --William S. Saturn (talk) 19:34, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
Possible Error
editIs the Prohibition Party the "third oldest existing political party" (as stated in this article) or the "oldest existing third party in the US" (as stated in the Wikipedia 'Prohibition Party' article)?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 76.102.64.3 (talk • contribs)
- Wikipedia is not a reliable source
- These two are not mutually exclusive and, indeed,
- It is both third oldest and oldest third.
Blood Red Sandman (Talk) (Contribs) 16:40, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
Notes
editI have posted twenty-two specific questions below. Please let me know if any clarification is needed.
1. When and why did you decide to join the Prohibition Party?
2. You are the first (and only) member of the Prohibition Party to be elected to any office in the 21st century. How were you able to accomplish such a feat?
3. According to the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/politics/campaign/01candidate.html?_r=2), you were heavily involved in the 2004 split of the party that centered around five-time presidential nominee Earl Dodge. What exactly caused the split, and has the party since healed?
4. The late Gene Amondson, the 2004 & 2008 presidential nominee of the Prohibition Party was the national face of the party for a number of years. How well did you know Mr. Amondson, and what is the current state of the party with his absence?
5. Mr Amondson stated that "Prohibition was America's greatest 13 years" (http://www.seattlepi.com/local/197609_dry01.html) and that he would "rather have 100 Al Capones in every city than alcohol sold in every grocery store" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Amondson#cite_note-ocala-22) Do you agree with these comments, and additionally, do you second his projection that "Prohibition will come again for [a] fourth time" (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_interviews_Gene_Amondson,_Prohibition_Party_presidential_nominee)?
6. Why did you choose to run for president and what are your qualifications?
7. Who are some of your opponents for the nomination and why do you believe you are a better choice for the party?
8. When and where will the party hold their convention, and how will a nominee be decided upon?
9. Do you agree with the decision to allow prominent Libertarian Stephen Gordon to speak at the convention, despite his support for the sale of alcohol?
10. According to the Independent Political Report (http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2010/02/james-hedges-seeks-prohibition-party-presidential-nomination-in-2012/), the Prohibition Party has qualified for the ballot in only Florida. What will you do to gain ballot access in other states?
11. What issues or policy stances form the basis of your campaign?
12. Have you received any notable endorsements thus far?
13. According to Weekend America (http://weekendamerica.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/02/prohibition/), 2008 Vice-Presidential nominee Leroy Pletton was incapacitated following a stroke. Have you chosen a running mate, and if not, will health be a factor in the decision?
14. How often do you campaign, and how might that change should you win the nomination?
15. Describe a typical day for Jim Hedges. How do you spend your time?
16. What is your main source for political news?
17. What is your biggest political concern at the moment?
18. How would you assess the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama?
19. What are your thoughts on Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Movement?
20. What is your take on the the health care bill?
21. What are some of your foreign policy views?
22. What historical or contemporary figures do you identify with?
Any additional comments?
1. I have identified with the Prohibition Party since being in high school, in the 1950s. Being “a member” is trickier to specify, as I’ve sometimes registered to vote in other parties for temporary pragmatic reasons (or have not been registered, at all). I could not be active in the Party until after I retired from the military, in 1980.
Why? Well, I liked, and still like, the Prohibition platform better than I do the platform of any other political group. Partly, this is because of the anti-alcohol plank, but more generally because it seems more principled and more reasonable.
2. I ran for an insignificant local office which no one else wanted. Minor party people are always complaining that they can’t get elected – they can, if they start at the beginning instead of aiming at impossible goals.
3. To answer the last part first: It has largely healed. A few months after Dodge died, his hand-picked vice-chairman also died. The man who was third in line refused to carry on. That man, and the Dodge relatives, then dropped out completely; the other folks mostly are now working with the regular organization.
The split was caused by dissatisfaction with Dodge’s management. Dodge was a somewhat paranoid person who trusted no one to help him. For example, he made one of his daughters “treasurer” of the Prohibition National Committee, but he did not allow her access to the bank account. He was the only “signer” listed on the check card. Another example: He used money from a bequest to purchase a small office condominium, then without telling even his vice-chairman, he mortgaged the condo, cashed it out, and after a time lost it (because the mortgage was not being paid); the vice-chairman discovered all this only after Dodge died. Dodge could sell the office condo undetected, because he held it in the name of a shell corporation controlled by himself and the said daughter.
4. I met Amondson at a couple of conventions; otherwise, I knew him only from correspondence and from telephone calls.
Amondson was a congenial person, warm and approachable. He was recommended to us by one of our supporters. He had an act, a re-creation of Rev. Billy Sunday’s sermon on booze, which he performed at conservative churches and other sympathetic venues. We hoped that his name recognition and the audience appeal of his act would enhance the Party’s appeal.
As it turned out, he had a handicap, analogous to dyslexia, which prevented him from stringing words together into fluent sentences. His act was great. His public speaking and his writing were, um, unremarkable.
We miss his ability to attract attention to us.
5. I expect that national prohibition will come again “someday,” because nothing we’re tried since then has worked as well in reducing per-capita consumption of alcoholic beverages and the related social problems.
The rest of that is campaign hyperbole.
6. It’s partly a “finger-in-the-dike” tactic, because I see no one else in the organization who has the free time and the personal background needed to mount a plausible campaign. Partly, also, it’s the realization that, at age 72, if I’m ever going to do it, I’d better get on with doing it now.
Many times in the past, the Prohibition Party has recruited presidential candidates from outside its own ranks. The same may happen again this year. If not, I see myself as being the most broadly educated and widely experienced person within the core group of the Party.
I have a BA in musical performance (Iowa, 1960) and served 20 years in one of our nation’s most elite military units, The United States Marine Band.
I have a family-farm background, plus 20 years of life in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. I understand both rural and urban communities.
Ii have an MA in Geography (Maryland, 1972), have published research in refereed journals both here and abroad, and for 11 years edited a journal.
I have done volunteer work with and served as an officer of community organizations ranging from The Salvation Army to friends of the library to recycling programs to historical and literary clubs.
I have done newspaper reporting, primarily on local government.
7. To my knowledge, no one else has yet expressed an interest in the Prohibition Party nomination.
8. Cullman, Alabama, in June. See the National Committee’s website for details: www.prohibitionparty.org
A vote of the credentialed delegates will determine who is the candidate.
9. Yes. First of all, the Prohibition Party and the Libertarian Party share some common interests, such as small government, balanced budgets, and personal freedoms. Secondly, we should all take time to listen to those who disagree with us, in order to sharpen our debating skills. Thirdly, we shouldn’t be complacent, because…. we might actually be wrong!
10. Most likely, we will be able to meet the ballot requirements in only 2 or 3 states in addition to Florida (which has among the most lenient ballot access regulations today). Colorado is a likely one, as are Mississippi and Louisiana.
For small parties, the states where they run has very little to do with where they have the most support and very much to do with which states have the easiest regulations.
11. Inasmuch as beverage alcohol is our signature issue, I anticipate spending most of my time talking about the alcohol connection with various social problems: public safety, public health, taxes, homelessness, spouse abuse, child welfare, military preparedness, industrial efficiency, product quality, and so forth.
The platform most likely will address a lot of other things, but, let’s face it: The Prohibition Party today is an exercise in living history. We’re like the weekend warriors who put on costumes and re-enact the Civil War. The South is not going to rise again. Neither is national prohibition going to come back (not, at least, in our lifetimes). But in both cases, we think there are important historical lessons which ought not be forgotten. And so, we soldier on against all odds.
Unless we stay on the message (of alcohol), our living history lesson will be lost.
12. No. Neither have I sought any.
13. The Public Radio announcement appears to be a case of mistaken identity. I have checked with Pletten, and no such thing happened.
I’ve been asking around. I know who I’d like to have, but it’s still under discussion.
Health should enter into it. We don’t need another Reagan!
14. Very little campaigning, at this point. I sent out a series of monthly postcards last year, ;presenting myself to the people on the Party mailing list. There is also a (very rudimentary) campaign website – www.hedges4-12.com I’m in touch with the people who will make the decision, at the Convention this coming June.
If I should receive the nomination, the website will have to be improved, and there will have to be press releases and some personal visits to states where we get on the ballot. I’ll have to obtain advice on making more effective use of the internet.
15. Before going to sleep each evening, I map out the following day in my mind. Then, in the morning, I roll out (not too early), tend to personal care and a hearty breakfast, go to the other house (when my wife and I were married, 20 years ago, we each had a paid-for house, and it was convenient to keep both of them) and tend to the pets. The rest of the morning is spent dealing with paper mail and other clerical work. In warm weather, afternoons are devoted to yard work and to gardening; in cold weather, I do household maintenance chores, work in the shop, work on the wood pile. After supper, if there is not a rehearsal or a concert to go to, I practice half an hour on my tuba, then look at the internet or read.
Every day is different, but that’s the basic schedule.
16. Three weekly newsmagazines: The Economist, The Nation, and Science.
17. In the next 10 years, eliminating governmental deficits, primarily in the United States and in Europe. In the next 100 years, dealing with the social and economic consequences of the rise in sea level due to climatic warming.
18. Bush the Younger was unquestionably the most damaging president since FDR, perhaps the most damaging of all time: His “Patriot Act” and other security measures trashed the Constitution, our Constitution. His deficits have never been equaled. His foreign military adventures are the longest wars ever fought by our country.
Obama was dealt a miserable hand, but even so, I’m becoming disappointed. We still have Bush ‘s deficit spending. We still have Bush’s wars. We still have Bush’s failure to secure the border with Mexico. We still have Bush’s exporting American jobs overseas. What is there to like?
Obama did end Bush’s “global gag rule,” which attempted to prevent family planning agencies all over the world from even discussing abortion. And he did make a stab at improving medical care.
19. Palin was given a job for four years by the voters of Alaska. When she got bored with it, she handed the office key to her lieutenant governor and walked away. That’s not responsible behavior.
The Tea Party folks are on the right track in trying to get the federal budget deficit under control. I fear, though, that they lack the patience and flexibility to do the job gracefully. And, they’re too easily distracted by unrelated issues.
20. Obamacare is a step in the right direction, but it leaves intact the private insurance industry, which is a major source of waste. We need a public health service, like the one in England.
21. America first! Our unqualified support for Israel is doing us a great deal of damage elsewhere in the world. We need to stop all aid, both civilian and military, to Israel until Israel abides by the Oslo Accords.
We need to stop being the world’s bully and, instead, lead by example: ratify Kyoto, ratify CEDAW, rein in the international corporations.
22. You know, I think it would be appropriate to name Jimmy Carter. I didn’t always agree with what he did, but I could sympathize with why he did it. To the extent that any president can be, he was an honest, well-meaning person.
Look at the things he has done since leaving the White House, then look at the things other presidents have done after their terms ended. Carter has continued to serve the American people, and the world, while the others have hie’d themselves to their clubs and estates, to their lecture circuits and their corporate boards.
Yes, I would like to be a person such as Jimmy Carter.
Review of revision 1170464 [Failed]
edit  |
Revision 1170464 of this article has been reviewed by Blood Red Sandman (talk · contribs) and found not ready at 21:01, 28 January 2011 (UTC).
Comments by reviewer: I'd hoped not to have to fail this, but since you seem to be no longer online I'm left with little choice. Buzz me when you're ready for it done again, second review should be very quick and easy. Questions about the above? Ask. If possible, please address the above issues then resubmit the article for another review (by replacing {{tasks}} in the article with {{review}}). This talk page will be updated with subsequent reviews. |
Revision 1170464 of this article has been reviewed by Blood Red Sandman (talk · contribs) and found not ready at 21:01, 28 January 2011 (UTC).
Comments by reviewer: I'd hoped not to have to fail this, but since you seem to be no longer online I'm left with little choice. Buzz me when you're ready for it done again, second review should be very quick and easy. Questions about the above? Ask. If possible, please address the above issues then resubmit the article for another review (by replacing {{tasks}} in the article with {{review}}). This talk page will be updated with subsequent reviews. |
Review of revision 1170899 [Passed]
edit  |
Revision 1170899 of this article has been reviewed by Blood Red Sandman (talk · contribs) and has passed its review at 12:34, 29 January 2011 (UTC).
Comments by reviewer: None added. The reviewed revision should automatically have been edited by removing {{Review}} and adding {{Publish}} at the bottom, and the edit sighted; if this did not happen, it may be done manually by a reviewer. |
Revision 1170899 of this article has been reviewed by Blood Red Sandman (talk · contribs) and has passed its review at 12:34, 29 January 2011 (UTC).
Comments by reviewer: None added. The reviewed revision should automatically have been edited by removing {{Review}} and adding {{Publish}} at the bottom, and the edit sighted; if this did not happen, it may be done manually by a reviewer. |