Too Awakened For the White House?
February 16th, 2057

There can be no doubt about it; the proven fraud in last year's election, and the shortened campaign season announced by congress have conspired to, by far, the most eclectic and diverse group of candidates to ever run for the UCAS' highest office. With a dwarf/troll shaman ticket from the Democratic One World party, an ork VP running for the Republicans, a female mage running the New Century Party, and a great dragon running as an independent, it seems like the "plain vanilla" candidates, Booth and Brackhaven, are the minority.

The choices for the voter seem endless. Who would vote for a plain-jane politician like Booth, when most of the candidates have exotic looks and access to fantastic magical powers? Wouldn't a mage or a shaman be best to deal with the magical bug spirit problem in Chicago? What about a dragon? Nobody really knows what dragons are capable of or how they think; all we know is that they're ancient creatures of great power. Wouldn't Dunkelzahn be able to wave his claw and banish the bugs forever? It seems as though choosing one of the many "awakened" candidates is obviously superior to choosing a "mundane" leader like Booth or Brackhaven.

But is the choice really so simple?

James Booth has years of experience on the hill, with numerous successes in both legislation and foreign policy. His term as VP saw him negotiating tough treaties with our North American neighbors (none of which harbor much love for the old Stars, Leaves, and Stripes), and winning strong terms that favored UCAS trade. Kenneth Brackhaven is a politically intentioned businessman who's had several successes of his own. While neither man is adept at magic, they are, to varrying degrees, clearly adept at governing, and isn't that what we want in a president? After all, what's more important to the UCAS people; conjuring or congress, magic or management?

With recent reports from Knight Errant showing that metahuman magic users, the so-called "insect shamans," are the original source of the bug spirits that inhabit our world (and thus, the Chicago Containment Zone), do we really feel comfortable trusting the White House to Vogel's "eagle" shaman VP, Gary Grey? Do we want, as our leader, a woman who flaunts her membership in a secretive magical order and proposes "integrating" more magic into every UCASer's daily life? Last of all, can the UCAS afford to have a commander-in-chief who is irreperably magical by his very nature, has an unknowable alien mind, predates the time of Christ, and is a multi-ton predatory carnivore?

Maybe now we can see why plain vanilla is so popular.

High School Students Protest Brackhaven Speech

February 13th, 2057

Winnipeg, Manitoba: High school students at Martin Mulroney High School left classes and picketed a planned speech by Archconservative candidate Kenneth Brackhaven. The students, some eleven hundred of them, formed a crowd outside the Mulroney High gymnasium, blocking the entrance, and carrying signs that read "Hope not Hatred," and "No White Hoods in the White House."

The protest, in all likelihood organized by the teachers at Martin Mulroney (though they claim otherwise), refused to disperse and allow Brackhaven and his staff entrance to the gymnasium podium. Martin Mulroney Principal Deborah Eggers, who requested that Brackhaven come and deliver a speech at the school, attempted to break up the crowds with threats of suspensions, but the crowd was unswayed. Instead, many accused Eggers of being a Humanis Policlub member, and cowing to Brackhaven's so-called "racist" agenda.

"This is not entirely unexpected," Brackhaven told NewsFax. "Those who cannot do, teach. Saddly, that axiom is more true now than ever. In today's competitive world, where honest, lucrative positions are available to all citizens with the drive to make something of themselves, only the purely socialistic nature of the UCAS public education system rewards intellectual laziness and radical left-wing and non-human politics. Thus, these radical fringe members of our society, filled with leftist hatred for honest religion, normality, and hard, honest work, are given jobs as teachers and allowed to survive on the teat of government handouts, while simultaneously polluting the hearts of our children with dangerous ideas. This is why I say a fully privatized education system is needed to ensure that only those worthy to cut it in today's world are involved with education."Kenneth Brackhaven was born in 2011. His mother died of complications as a result of his birth. His father, Charles Brackhaven, lavished his son with every luxury, while casting a critical eye on his son as unworthy of the "sacrifice" made by his mother. Kenneth Brackhaven went to Pacific State University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in marketing. He earned his MBA at the Harvard Business School, then went to work in the family investments business. When Charles passed away in 2044, Kenneth Brackhaven stepped up to take over the family business. He invested many resources into politics, through his fundraising and lobbying organization the Citizen's Coalition for Security (CCFS), and became a powerful voice on many political issues, particularly those in which the government unduly burdened ordinary UCAS citizens with unnecessary legislation and taxation purely to benefit non-normative fringe groups. This political influence culminated in his current bid for UCAS president.

Pricuricu: Innocent Awakened Animal Or Threat to Jobs?

February 9th, 2057

By now, everyone has heard the presidential hullabaloo about Federated Boeing's eradication of local pricuricu colonies. Everyone in Seattle remembers the massive protests at Boeing field that blocked downtown traffic and prompted Lone Star's Riot Division to mobilize in order to prevent violence from the vocal mob. Coincidentally, this large conservation protest managed to happen when Democratic "One-World Party" candidate, and self-proclaimed eco-activist Arthur Vogel was in Seattle on his election P.R. tour.
Rather than denounce the angry gathering, Vogel rushed to a podium (already built when he arrived), and addressed the crowd. Vogel thanked the rioters for coming, then spoke of the UCAS' duty to put the rights of paranormal animals over those of "oppressive" corporate interests. He defended the pricuricu as an innocent "awakened" creature, and a gift of the so-called "Sixth World." The "great" dragon Dunkelzahn soon arrived in his astral form, and also addressed the crowds on the importance of living in harmony with innocent creatures like the picuricu.
But is the picuricu really so innocent? Would a corporation like Federated Boeing, which handles vast contracts for the UCAS military, supplies the world with safe aircraft, and employs over two-hundred thousand Seattlites, wantonly kill an innocent and harmless little bird?
The fact is that the picuricu, for those in any business related to aircraft or remote-sensing drones, is a known nuissance and, all too often, a killer.
The "awakend" form of the common thrush (H. mustelina), the picuricu is nocturnal and navigates by emitting ultra-high pitched cries. These cries, though innaudible to metahumans, can play havoc with modern sonar and sensor systems. Any pilot will tell you, loss of ultrasonic sensors can easily mean loss of life to hundreds of air comuters, and the thousands of real innocents who live in the houses below. Is it any wonder why Federated Boeing, in the interest of the public safety, and at no cost to the public, destroys picuricu flocks?
Unfortunately, despite evidence of the deadly nature of this "gift to the 'Sixth world,'" two of the more radical presidential hopefulls seem to be firmly in the camp of the "innocent" picuricu. Should either Vogel or Dunkelzahn be elected POTUCAS, we may see corps like Federated Boeing shut down by overbearing legislation designed to ensure that plane-killing birds have a home, but hard working Seattlites don't.