Global

FREEP HEROES

Demonstrators at the TABD in Cincinnati

In November, the heroic struggle against undemocratic corporate globalism continued in Cincinnati when people took to the streets to expose the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) as the CEO puppetmasters behind the World Trade Organization. The battle between the forces advocating economic control by a few corporate honchos and people demanding bottom-up democratic control really will decide the fate of the 6 billion people on this planet. Once again, the demonstrators realized that politeness and politics as usual will only play into corporate domination of the world.

Ralph Nader

The Nader campaign for president was the most successful for democratic left forces since Norman Thomas in 1932 and much more justified. Thomas ran against the liberal FDR; Nader gave us a clear alternative to the vacuous and sterile rhetoric of the damnable New Democrat Al Gore. Nader allowed us to vote our conscience, express our values and to open up green space in the closed U.S. political system.

THE FREE PRESS SALUTES

Jesse Jackson

the hotchkiss cannon’s opened up . . . .

as those who ran, were chased down   like rabbits.

women with or without child, men and even children

   all unarmed.

deadly silence fell over the killing fields . . . .

as cardinal red blood lay in stark contrast

 to falling pure and driven snow.

all metaphors still stand . . . .

distinctly apart, only one of the earth

 all balance remains undone.

michael eckhardt
december 29, 2000

Watts your name?

Oooh Oooh -

Is it Eugene or just Gene

Watts your name?

Oooh Oooh -

Why’s your legislation so obscene?

I have always been aghast

At legislators like you

Who wrap up in the flag

And bad-mouth the

public schools

Watts your name?

Was it at the capitol?

(Senate or house?)

Or was it at your home in Galloway?

Or was it on the day you were born

That your good sense was taken away ?

Oh - Oh

Watts your name?

Oooh Oooh -

Is it Eugene or just Gene

Watts your name?

Oooh Oooh -

You’re so smug and so serene,

But you’re the kind of guy we love to hate

Because you are so mean.

Watts your name?

Doetn doetn doetn doetn doe oh ohhhhhhhhh!!!

-- Ukulele Man, P. Thomas Harker

The liberal public interest outfits rushed to the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on the theme that John Ashcroft, Bush's nominee to run the Justice Department, is athwart the national consensus, "too extreme" to be confirmed as U.S. attorney general, as Ralph Neas of People for The American Way put it.

This alleged athwartness is attributed to Ashcroft's Christian fundamentalism, support for the Second Amendment and imputed racism. Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority has taken the same tack: "Women's organizations are justifiably outraged over Bush's appointment of right wing, anti-women's rights extremists. Both Ashcroft and [Wisconsin governor Tommy] Thompson [Bush's nominee to run Health and Human Services (HHS)] want to criminalize abortion and make it a felony."

Among other malfeasances, Ashcroft is charged with the liberals as being the driving force behind "charitable choice," the contracting-out of federal functions to private religious organizations not covered under federal anti-discrimination law.

It was a remarkable comment that passed without notice. After interviewing the new White House chief of staff, a network anchor bade him farewell. "All right, Andy Card," said CNN's Judy Woodruff, "we look forward to working with you, to covering your administration."

If major news outlets were committed to independent journalism, Woodruff's statement on national television Jan.19 would have caused quite a media stir -- as a sign of undue coziness with power brokers in Washington. But it was far from conspicuous.

Woodruff's remark was matter-of-fact. Warm collaboration is routine. Many reporters work closely with each new crew of top government officials.

Leading journalists and spinners in high places are accustomed to mutual reliance. That's good for professional advancement. But the public's right to know is another matter.

Once, back when I was just a young piglet, I lived with my daddy and mommy in the basement of our house on the near eastside. My dad said good-bye to me every morning before he left for work at the community college. I knew he worked there because he took me to visit a couple of times. One time a little boy there saw me and cried “Look, it’s a plig!” and another time, well, I wasn’t used to elevators so I made a little mess. Anyway, one day after the Big Guy left, I found the back basement door open and ran out into the yard. It wasn’t hard to snout the fence open.

Being the adventurous, impulsive pig that I was, I started to follow my daddy’s trail to school. Needless to say, mommy became hysterical when she saw me high-tailing it down the alley and lured me back with some apples. I shiver to think what would have happened to me if I’d become a statistic that day. Unfortunately lots of other animals think they’re doing the right thing when they leave their house, and become lost.

I also heard of a little pot-bellied pig who was wrapped in a blanket and left in field with a note, “Please take care of me.” Now there’s hope for pets in these situations.

When you mention Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan together, people don’t expect to hear the word alliance. In fact, it would be hard to find two well-known people further apart on the political spectrum. Why then talk of alliances?

Ralph Nader controls a virtual empire of interconnected NGOs. Riding the post-Seattle upsurge in activism, one of these groups, Public Citizen has been at the forefront of education and lobbying efforts on “fair-trade” issues around the nation and in Congress.

During the intense lobbying efforts to derail Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PTR) status for China Mike Dolan (Deputy Field Director for Public Citizen) sent an e-mail to Public Citizen’s e-mail listserv entitled “Trade Patriot Buchanan.” Public Citizen coordinated lobbying activities with Buchanan and other right wing forces in a last ditch attempt to keep China out of the WTO.

I do not have personal knowledge of the facts regarding an “alliance” between Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan on trade issues. Since I don’t have anything to offer on the facts of this matter, I won’t try to dispute whether such an alleged alliance actually existed. Even if the “alliance” Mr. Bellow alleges did exist, I offer some thoughts to balance the issue.

Seattle was over a year ago. Since then, Mr. Nader and the Green Party mounted the most-effective third-party campaign for President in the 2000 Campaign. This effort successfully marginalized Mr. Buchanan’s own efforts and prevented him from gaining any kind of media attention for this race. This was the most important anti-Buchanan action of the past year. If Mr. Bellow doubts Ralph Nader’s credentials on “inclusiveness” he should read Nader’s speech to the NAACP from earlier this year - it was an incredible moment.

After a so-called moderate administration that is responsible for incarcerating the highest amount of marijuana offenders in history, averaging one arrest every 30 seconds, a complete right wing administration takes its place. So, when Bill Clinton made the sweet gesture declaring that marijuana should be decriminalized during his last weeks in office, it was a little too late to get thanks from the movement. Bye Bye Bill, “Exhale to the Chief.” It is unclear how much worse the attack on marijuana and marijuana users can get. Bush and his “Persian Gulf Syndrome” cabinet inheriting the Clinton ground war in Columbia is a definite worry. Their plan is to reduce tons of marijuana imported from Columbia to merely pounds and to contaminate or kill marijuana with new eco destroying biological fungicides and herbicides recently laboratory developed in Montana. The new chemicals are much worse than the paraquat of the 1970’s. With this, domestic production will increase and so will arrests and the amount of prisons. One must wonder (sarcastically) if Bush will deploy thousands of snitch subversives into metro areas or begin smart-bombing grow houses and head shops.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Day Three of the Bush Restoration, and the lights are going out in California. Naturally, the Blame Game is afoot, and many and varied are those who are getting the blame dumped on them for this lollapalooza of a mess. "A stupid bureaucratic decision," one Californian told The New York Times, which is really unfair.

"The idiots in the legislature," said another, which is only partly true.

The right wing already has a nominee for blame: the NIMBY forces -- folks who say "not in my backyard" when their friendly neighborhood power company wants to put a new plant next door. Of course, right-wingers don't like power plants in their neighborhoods either, so this is weak stuff. Their alternative is to blame "the environmentalists," apparently for having opposed building a nuclear power plant on the San Andreas Fault.

Actually, if you would like to get a firm grip on this issue, notice who spent millions and millions of dollars to lobby for utilities deregulation, not only through the California Legislature but around the country. It was -- tah-dah! -- the utilities themselves, of course.