Global
The same broadcast networks that eagerly devote endless prime-time
hours to vacuous sitcoms and unreal "reality shows" couldn't spare a total
of more than a few hours last week for live coverage of the Democratic
National Convention.
It's true that complaining about scant news coverage from NBC, ABC and CBS is a bit like griping about small portions of meals from restaurants that serve lousy food. But still: the conventions are worth watching, if only to keep up with the rhetorical needles that party strategists are trying to thread these days.
Gathering for the convention in Boston, several network anchors participated in a high-profile panel at Harvard University. One of the more interesting moments came when the panelists responded to a question about the scant amount of air time the commercial broadcast networks were devoting to the convention.
It's true that complaining about scant news coverage from NBC, ABC and CBS is a bit like griping about small portions of meals from restaurants that serve lousy food. But still: the conventions are worth watching, if only to keep up with the rhetorical needles that party strategists are trying to thread these days.
Gathering for the convention in Boston, several network anchors participated in a high-profile panel at Harvard University. One of the more interesting moments came when the panelists responded to a question about the scant amount of air time the commercial broadcast networks were devoting to the convention.
The last thing this community needs is a lecture from George Bush on
worker productivity and what we need to do to keep America’s jobs in
America. If he was serious about keeping America’s jobs in America he
wouldn’t be giving tax breaks to companies who move their jobs overseas.
If he was serious about keeping America’s jobs in America, he would fight
for America’s workers instead of having a trade enforcement record that
even Republican Senator George Voinovich calls “abysmal.”
Using our own Timken Steelworkers as a backdrop, George Bush told Canton last year that his tax cut would create a million new jobs by the end of 2004. He said his tax cut would create half a million new jobs in Ohio alone. A year later, the Timken Company is making record profits and announced the potential lay off of 1300 workers. Unemployment in Ohio continues to go up and we are still looking for the 485,000 jobs George Bush promised Ohio. In the last week alone, Stark County lost another two hundred steelworker jobs with the closure World Kitchens.
Using our own Timken Steelworkers as a backdrop, George Bush told Canton last year that his tax cut would create a million new jobs by the end of 2004. He said his tax cut would create half a million new jobs in Ohio alone. A year later, the Timken Company is making record profits and announced the potential lay off of 1300 workers. Unemployment in Ohio continues to go up and we are still looking for the 485,000 jobs George Bush promised Ohio. In the last week alone, Stark County lost another two hundred steelworker jobs with the closure World Kitchens.
We write with an almost overwhelming sense of disgust and anger.
Yesterday, Governor Pataki vetoed the minimum-wage bill. To say this caught us by surprise is an understatement. The political class had confidently and uniformly predicted that he would sign the bill.
But perhaps we shouldn't be shocked.
This is a governor with a history of unbridled hostility to funding schools attended by poor children. This is a governor whose recent budget proposals once again slash benefits for the weak and powerless, even as he curries favor with the powerful. Vetoing the minimum-wage merely expands the range of people who can feel the Pataki lash.
The reasons given in his veto message are laughable and often factually wrong. You can read it on our web site.
Yesterday, Governor Pataki vetoed the minimum-wage bill. To say this caught us by surprise is an understatement. The political class had confidently and uniformly predicted that he would sign the bill.
But perhaps we shouldn't be shocked.
This is a governor with a history of unbridled hostility to funding schools attended by poor children. This is a governor whose recent budget proposals once again slash benefits for the weak and powerless, even as he curries favor with the powerful. Vetoing the minimum-wage merely expands the range of people who can feel the Pataki lash.
The reasons given in his veto message are laughable and often factually wrong. You can read it on our web site.
As the Libertarian Party of Ohio's Executive Director Robert Butler initially predicted on June 14th, another terror warning has been issued for a swing state crucial to the Bush-Cheney re-eletion . This time it's New Mexico.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge just announced that the State of New Mexico may become a terrorist target, but the information was unsubstantiated and uncollaborated.
It's unfortunate that the current administration continues to issue vague warnings. This only serves to increase the level of anxiety in states crucial to the election of George W. Bush.
In June, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a bomb plot for a Columbus, Ohio shopping mall. The FBI later contradicted Ashcroft by stating no target had been identified.
We again hope that the media reports these warnings for the scare tactics they are.
For the full June 14th comments from Robert Butler, please see below:
Columbus Terror Target No Surprise
The hype and hysteria reached even the sleepy North Shore of Boston. In the
weeks leading up to the summer's seminal event in The Big City, local police
chiefs were predicting endless commutes and near-constant gridlock. Many
advised
locals to "go to New Hampshire for the week and don't look back." Thanks to
the comfort of an overwhelming Police (State) presence, the terrorists,
tourists, troublemakers and travelers were kept at bay.
More investigation needed: Bush conflicts of interest; who paid for the
9/11 hijackings; the role of US foreign policy; exploitation of 9/11 to
justify war on Iraq.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Leaders of the Green Party called the results of the 9/11 Commission a valuable first step in the probe of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., but called for more far-reaching investigation into the failure to discover and prevent the attacks and into the White House's response to the attacks.
"Instead of merely extending the current commission, which Sen. Kerry favors, we need to see a new, independent Commission to continue to the investigation into the 9/11 attacks, with family members of 9/11 victims given a prominent role," said Patrick Driscoll, Green candidate for Congress in California (5th District).
Greens note that, contrary to President Bush's claims that Americans are now safer, the U.S. response to 9/11 has increased the risk of terrorism throughout the world. At home, the response has included curtailment of civil liberties, including the detention of thousands of Americans without being charged with any crime.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Leaders of the Green Party called the results of the 9/11 Commission a valuable first step in the probe of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., but called for more far-reaching investigation into the failure to discover and prevent the attacks and into the White House's response to the attacks.
"Instead of merely extending the current commission, which Sen. Kerry favors, we need to see a new, independent Commission to continue to the investigation into the 9/11 attacks, with family members of 9/11 victims given a prominent role," said Patrick Driscoll, Green candidate for Congress in California (5th District).
Greens note that, contrary to President Bush's claims that Americans are now safer, the U.S. response to 9/11 has increased the risk of terrorism throughout the world. At home, the response has included curtailment of civil liberties, including the detention of thousands of Americans without being charged with any crime.
No, hope does not gallop in like Paul Revere. And it certainly doesn't
arrive breathless from a corporate party convention.
Movements for peace and social justice can bring realistic hope -- not with rhetoric but with the tough daily tedious uplifting work of political organizing.
Yes, we'd be better off with John Kerry in the White House instead of the Rove-Cheney-Bush regime. And the only way that's going to happen is if enough people in swing states vote for Kerry on November 2.
But I'm already getting tired of the bulk email messages claiming that Kerry is the embodiment of progressive dreams. Please. We can simultaneously walk, chew gum and be clear about the reality that Kerry embraces a centrist matrix of militarism and corporatism -- and, at the same time, in a world of contradictions, it's extremely important that George W. Bush lose the election on November 2... Let's not make stuff up. And let's not imitate the Democratic Party's hype machine. Just because you think people should hold their nose and vote for Kerry, don't act like there isn't a stench.
Movements for peace and social justice can bring realistic hope -- not with rhetoric but with the tough daily tedious uplifting work of political organizing.
Yes, we'd be better off with John Kerry in the White House instead of the Rove-Cheney-Bush regime. And the only way that's going to happen is if enough people in swing states vote for Kerry on November 2.
But I'm already getting tired of the bulk email messages claiming that Kerry is the embodiment of progressive dreams. Please. We can simultaneously walk, chew gum and be clear about the reality that Kerry embraces a centrist matrix of militarism and corporatism -- and, at the same time, in a world of contradictions, it's extremely important that George W. Bush lose the election on November 2... Let's not make stuff up. And let's not imitate the Democratic Party's hype machine. Just because you think people should hold their nose and vote for Kerry, don't act like there isn't a stench.
This week the Democratic Party successfully launched a great ship of hope
from Boston harbor. And while the winds of change that would guide it grow
mightier, it is by no means certain that it will reach its destination
come this November.
As the election draws nearer, the many millions of us aboard this great ship should expect to be told and told again by the powers that be to be frightened of our voyage. They will dare us to imagine what terrors lie in wait within the seas of change. They will manufacture a dense fog of fear, and then claim only they can protect us from the unspeakable dangers that only they can see within it.
As the election draws nearer, the many millions of us aboard this great ship should expect to be told and told again by the powers that be to be frightened of our voyage. They will dare us to imagine what terrors lie in wait within the seas of change. They will manufacture a dense fog of fear, and then claim only they can protect us from the unspeakable dangers that only they can see within it.
50 Ways You Can Show George the Door in 2004
By Ben Cohen and Jason Salzman
Pages: 196; Price: $9.95
Publisher: Westview Press (Perseus Books Group)
ISBN: 0-8133-4282-1
Ice Cream man Ben Cohen has his own "Farenheit 9/11." It's a book, not a movie, and has no footage of George W. Bush reading "My Pet Goat" while the World Trace Center burns.
But as it joins the flood of anti-Bush books, it takes a uniquely funny, compelling must-read niche for the hordes of us desperate to see King George of the "Haves and Have mores" exit the presidency, and always looking for new ways to help.
Among the 50 ways the irascible icon of super-premium ice cream recommends are turning your dog into a political organizer. Giving your "pet for regime change" a name like Big Oil allows you to shout the slogan when you're calling for obedience. The animal can also be adorned with "Bite Bush" and other subtle slogans on buttons or bumper stickers.
By Ben Cohen and Jason Salzman
Pages: 196; Price: $9.95
Publisher: Westview Press (Perseus Books Group)
ISBN: 0-8133-4282-1
Ice Cream man Ben Cohen has his own "Farenheit 9/11." It's a book, not a movie, and has no footage of George W. Bush reading "My Pet Goat" while the World Trace Center burns.
But as it joins the flood of anti-Bush books, it takes a uniquely funny, compelling must-read niche for the hordes of us desperate to see King George of the "Haves and Have mores" exit the presidency, and always looking for new ways to help.
Among the 50 ways the irascible icon of super-premium ice cream recommends are turning your dog into a political organizer. Giving your "pet for regime change" a name like Big Oil allows you to shout the slogan when you're calling for obedience. The animal can also be adorned with "Bite Bush" and other subtle slogans on buttons or bumper stickers.