Monday, October 25, 2004

Vote Change 2004

By Tony Soldo

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Posted 10/25 | Add a Comment

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  1. Like Chomsky said recently on Amy Goodman’s show, citizens should spend about five minutes deciding who to vote for; the unaddressed need is for activists to put the bulk of their heartbeats into other forms of “participation.” I submit that what’s suggested in the final paragraph will NOT be realized, not come to pass...unless much more action is taken “DIRECTLY”...outside of the ballot box. Please contact me for suggestions at

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  10/25  at  11:45 AM

  2. Ralph Nader’s Index
    Number of Americans living in poverty: 35.9 million
    Percentage of the U.S. population living in poverty: 12.5%
    Number of Americans without health insurance: 45 million
    Number of children uninsured in the United States: 27 million
    Percentage of all children in the United States who lack insurance: 36.7%
    Number of Americans who die annually because they do not have health insurance: 18,000
    Number of September 11ths it would take every year to equal the death toll of Americans who lack health insurance: 6
    The only industrialized country that does not provide universal health care: United States of America
    U.S. ranking in overall quality of health care it provides: 37th
    U.S. world ranking in national expenditures on health care: 1
    Ratio of infants born poor in the United States: 1 in 3
    Number of years Bush has presided over an increase in child poverty without sounding an alarm: 3 years in a row
    Number of full-time workers earning less than $8.75 per hour before payroll taxes: 1 in every 4
    Average wage of corporate CEO’s who lobby against upping the minimum wage: $7,000 per hour
    Comparison of average CEO pay to average worker pay in America: CEO’s earn 300 to 500 times more
    In 1982: 42 times more
    In 1965: 26 times more
    Amount the minimum wage would be if it had increased in tandem with CEO pay since 1990: $15.71
    Increase in corporate profits in the same time frame: 128%
    Number of U.S. soldiers who have died to date in this illegal war and occupation in Iraq: Over 1,000
    Number of Iraqi civilians the U.S. has killed in this illegal war and occupation: Over 15,000
    Number of Americans an AP poll found would consider voting for Ralph Nader if they thought he had a chance to win: 33%
    Number of presidential candidates standing up to corporate power: 1
    Name of the presidential candidate standing up to corporate power: Ralph Nader
    Your job on Nov. 2: Vote Nader!

    *Paid for by Nader for President 2004 General Election Committee*

    Posted by steve conn from seward,alaska  on  10/25  at  01:37 PM

  3. Sounds like you want to capitulate the election to George Bush by urging people to vote for Nader. You have missed our point as a party. The Democrats stand for first and always for individual rights as guaranted by the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. The Patriot Act as concieved by GWB and the elephants erodes these rights. Even Rhenquest, a neandralthal when it comes to individual rights had to agree. Voting for Nader is a vote for Bush.

    Posted by LarryM from  on  10/25  at  10:33 PM

  4. Kerry not only totally supported the Pat Act, he wrote part of it. Phrases like “The Democrats stand for...” show that the writer does not distinguish between the map and the territory; “standing for” something theoretically, in terms of PR, etc. has zero correlation w the historical record/intention. Now get the vote out for Nader or Peltier...and get busy w our real work OUTSIDE OF THE BALLOT BOX.

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  10/26  at  02:04 AM

  5. Tons of explosives missing at Iraq site

    This morning, The New York Times published a story that offers further proof of how the Bush administration’s incompetence and arrogance has endangered the lives of our troops and the American people.

    Even before invading Iraq, the Bush administration knew that a huge facility, called Al Qaqaa, contained nearly 380 tons of deadly explosives. Despite the fact that they knew exactly where this facility was and what was there, they took no action to secure or protect the site. Due to the stunning incompetence of the Bush administration and their incomprehensible failure to plan, these explosives have disappeared.

    Let me put this in perspective—the bomb that took down Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland used less than one pound of this same explosive.

    Our troops are the best-trained and best-led forces in the world, and they have been doing their job honorably and bravely. The problem is the commander in chief has not being doing his. George Bush refuses to recognize his failures in Iraq, so he can’t fix them and is doomed to repeat them.

    After being warned about the danger of major stockpiles of explosives in Iraq, this administration failed to guard those stockpiles. This is one of the great blunders of the Bush policy in Iraq. The administration has several key questions to answer:

    1. Why did the administration ignore warnings from the IAEA to secure the nearly 380 tons of explosives in Iraq?

    2. Did President Bush’s failure to listen to General Shinseki and others about the troop levels that would be needed to secure Iraq after the initial military operations contribute to the military’s inability to secure the site?

    3. How many terrorist bombings in Iraq, Egypt or elsewhere have been carried out using HMX, RDX or PETN explosives since 2002?

    4. Who knew what, when? When was the civilian leadership at the Pentagon told about the missing explosives? When did Secretary Rumsfeld learn that the explosives had gone missing? When was the president’s National Security Council informed? When was national security advisor Condoleezza Rice briefed on this? When was the president told?

    5. What is the chronology of action taken by the Bush administration after being informed that the explosives had gone missing?

    6. Has the site been inspected recently?

    7. Why did the Bush administration deny the IAEA’s request to go back into Iraq to verify the status of the stockpile?

    8. What action did Paul Bremer take after reportedly being warned in May 2004 that the explosives had gone missing?
    <li>9. In addition to the missing explosives and reports of machine tools that can be used for nuclear and non nuclear purposes, what other sites in Iraq with dangerous material were not adequately protected and subsequently looted?

    10. Is there an estimate for the total amount of munitions, weapons and explosives that have gone missing in Iraq?

    Posted by theglobalchinese from New York  on  10/26  at  04:08 AM

  6. We can criticize “straw-man” Bush all we want, but we had better get off the following track:
    “Our troops are the best-trained and best-led forces in the world, and they have been doing their job honorably and bravely.” What’s with this?  Why aren’t Press Action readers jumping all over this kind of destructive talk?  Are you all too busy taking the easy, obvious route...down Bash Bush Rd.?  The time has come for “progressives"/"revolutionaries" to make it absolutely clear that the country is rotten to the core as presently constituted...and that the troops are part and parcel of its very spine. Someone mentioned today that if someone’s faced with an economic dilemma “forcing” them toward joining the military...they should commit suicide before signing up.  Yes. Oui. Si.

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  10/27  at  02:12 AM

  7. Richy is right again! The problem is NOT Bush.  The problem is Capitalism.  As long as the government can keep a pool of desperate people at the bottom, the government can get them to do anything. The Fed Reserve has always had a plan to keep a certain number of people unemployed and hungry.....think about it, has the U.S. ever, had a national policy of full employment. NO ! NO full employment and NO livable wage...that is the OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT POLICY of both the Democrats and the Republicans.  Things will NOT change until we, WE THE PEOPLE, take some REAL action. All we do is talk to each other. Instead we all should be following Richy’s lead and be thinking in terms of action.  The time for words alone is long past.  PEACE, rosemarie

    Posted by rosemarie jackowski from  on  10/27  at  09:25 AM

  8. I’d like Rosemarie (or another brave soul)to discuss the failure of the Soviet Union as the nation embracing Communist ideals, which appear to be reflective of what the progressives ultimately strive for in my eyes. As a former Soviet Union resident,where I was born and grew up, I happen to think your ultimate goal is very ideal but belongs to the kingdom of unrealistic utopia.

    Posted by sks from nyc  on  10/27  at  01:26 PM

  9. “Progressives” embrace many different visions --the former Soviet model “fans” NOT making of a particularly large fraction of the total number-- and I invite you to review my upcoming piece on this site titled VINE DELORIA JR. TRIBUTE (which I trust will be posted w/i the next few days) to delve into one.

    Posted by Richard Oxman from  on  10/27  at  07:28 PM
    10. Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. {/if}

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