-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">
</A> -Cui Bono?-
4/5/00
Progressive, Populist, Liberal. An idiot by any other name would
still smell.
These people are mostly responsible for the state of the world.
These are the evil morons who continually elect the lesser of the two
evils which are most responsible for wars, and environmental degradation.
They are good hearted war mongers who backed the attacks on a sovereign
nation because they were too stupid to recognize propaganda when they
are being manipulated by it. They supported the break up of Yugoslavia,
and the destruction of Kosovo.
They elected the last two governments of the USA, the most corrupt
administrations of the 20th century. They elected Brit Labor. They believe that
they are nice folks but they are not. The road to hell is paved with their good
intentions.
As if there is a real difference between Al Gore and Bush. As if Ralph Nader
will dismantle Capitalism rather than just tweak it as all good progressives
try to do to ease their conscience about an economic system which they benefit
from, but is killing so many others, and is the main destroyer of the worlds
forests.
Take their advice. Vote for DemocRATS the other Big Business Party.
Evil selfish cowards.
Joshua2
============================
> J Cullen wrote:
>
> THE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST:
> A JOURNAL FROM THE HEARTLAND
> April 15, 2000 -- Volume 6, Number 7
> ________________________________________________________
> http://www.populist.com/00.7.edit.html
> ________________________________________________________
>
> EDITORIAL
> Keep the Heat On
>
> Many of our friends voted for Al Gore in the Democratic primary and are
> celebrating his early clinching of the nomination. Bill Bradley attracted
> some worthy progressive supporters to his campaign but he never generated
> a groundswell of popular support.
> Perhaps, as Molly Ivins suggests, Bradley lost because he has no Elvis
> in him, but Democratic voters also saw no compelling reason to dump the
> vice president when Bradley was only marginally more progressive. Neither
> of the Democratic candidates varied from the ³free trade² position of
> their corporate sponsors, nor did the Republicans.
> Now we have nearly nine months left before the general election with a
> race between Vice President Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush that Jim
> Hightower has characterized as ³Dull vs. Dullard.²
> Both nominees-apparent immediately made claims on the reform mantles of
> Bradley and McCain, but neither Gore nor Bush have much credibility in
> that new area of interest.
> Gore, of course, participated in the 1996 Democratic campaign that
> broke new ground in the use and abuse of hard and soft money. He narrowly
> avoided having an independent prosecutor attached to his tail as a result.
> But at least he appears to be embarrassed by the necessity of constant
> fundraising and he might sign a bill providing for reforms of the current
> corrupt system if one ever got through Congress.
> Bush, who has been spending other peopleıs money his entire life and
> already has raised a record $74 million for this race, thinks ³reform²
> means making it harder for injured people to win lawsuits against
> businesses. Bush has made it clear that he would not support McCainıs
> proposed limits on soft money contributions to political parties, which
> favor the GOP. Nor would Bush support any reforms that would reduce the
> fundraising advantage that the Republican Party holds, or make political
> action committees accountable for their attack ads, such as the series his
> Texas sponsors, the Wyly brothers, spent $2.5 million on to smear John
> McCain prior to the Super Tuesday primaries.
> Bush follows the lead of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Senator
> Mitch McConnell, the leading Republican defenders of the corrupt campaign
> finance status quo who showed their contempt for campaign finance
> regulations by insisting that President Clinton appoint Bradley Smith, who
> opposes the nationıs campaign finance laws and believes they should be
> repealed, to serve as a Republican Commissioner on the Federal Election
> Commission (FEC). Clinton reportedly went along with Smithıs appointment
> in part to get Senate action on some of his judicial appointments that
> have been held up for years, but reform organizations such as Common
> Cause, Democracy 21, and the Brennan Center for Justice are pushing the
> Senate Rules Committee to hold full hearings on the nomination, and to
> allow outside groups to testify.
>
> Ralph Naderıs campaign is a positive form of progressive populism that
> should be encouraged. Read his announcement speech on page 13; then ask
> yourself if you agree more with Nader or Gore. Even if you canıt bring
> yourself to vote for someone other than the Democratic nominee, you should
> recognize that Naderıs Blue-Green insurgency could help progressive
> Democrats by at least giving them a recourse from the party bossesı ³take
> it or leave it² line.
> America is having one of those ³When in the course of human events²
> moments again, Hightower noted as he introduced Nader at an Austin rally
> on March 12. ³Weıve got to take our country back,² he said, adding that
> the protests in Seattle last December were a good start, ³at what I call
> the Seattle Tea Party when 50,000 uninvited guests showed up at the WTOıs
> little private confab, and what happened in Seattle was that the people
> opened a great old big can of kickass and, I tell you what, they canıt put
> the lid back on that can. The people are loose and now weıve got a chance
> to express that through a political channel because Ralph Nader is going
> to carry that message of little dı democracy, and grassroots power, all
> across the country.²
> Without the Green/Nader option, populists have nowhere to go but the
> Reform Party, whose leading candidate, Pat Buchanan, holds right-wing
> social policy views that are unacceptable. With Nader, progressive
> populists at least have an alternative.
> We would not advise our readers to do anything that would cause the
> election of George W. Bush or Republican majorities in Congress, but
> progressives at least must demand more of the Democratic nominee and use
> Nader as leverage. After Gore has clinched the nomination it will be tough
> to get him to address progressive priorities as he moves to pick up
> support on the right. But donıt let him take his progressive constituency
> for granted. If pollsters call, tell them you support Nader even if you
> plan to vote for Gore. If they donıt list Nader, bring up his name. Maybe
> heıll even reach the 15 percent threshold to crash the presidential
> debates.
> Gore knows whatıs wrong with the system even Nader acknowledges that
> Gore wrote a fine book in Earth in the Balance, but as vice president heıs
> turned his back on his principles to satisfy the powers that be. Organized
> labor secured his nomination but he still looks to the big-business
> Democratic Leadership Council and his corporate sponsors for direction.
> Send him and the Beltway Democrats a message: The ³little d² democrats
> will take charge again.
> And if Gore stays in the DLC camp, who knows? The election of Jesse
> Ventura makes all things possible.
>
> Wall Street is pulling out all the stops to get permanent most favored
> nation status for China. The AFL-CIO is fighting it and more farmers and
> small businesses are coming to the realization that they have little if
> anything to gain from opening our markets to China.
> Democrats donıt need a trade fight as they attempt to regain a majority
> in the House; pushing for trade with China will only alienate workers who
> the Democrats will need to mobilize in the fall, but President Clinton has
> made China a priority. Vice President Al Gore, after giving the AFL-CIO
> signals that he favored renegotiating the deal to force more labor and
> environmental concessions from China, has gotten back with the program and
> will lobby for the passage of the done deal. House Democratic Leader Dick
> Gephardt, a free trade critic, reportedly has agreed to step aside and let
> the business lobbyists have their way, presumably in exchange for
> ³considerations² at a later date.
> However, the US Chamber of Commerce may have undermined support for the
> China normalization when the Chamber decided to endorse the Republican
> challenger to Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), a first-term moderate who has
> supported normalized trade ties with Beijing. It demonstrated once again
> that, given the choice of a Republican who will support big business 100
> percent of the time and a ³moderate² Democrat who will vote for big
> business 25 percent of the time, business bosses will go for the
> Republican every time.
> One House aide told the Washington Post the Chamberıs decision had a
> ³direct impact² on six or seven moderate Democrats who are facing
> difficult reelection battles this fall and now realize they canıt count on
> the Chamber of Commerce for support in the fall.
> Labor also pointed out the potential price for a ³free trade² vote in
> California, where Democratic US Rep. Matthew Martinez antagonized unions
> when he voted ³present² for fast track consideration of trade deals in
> 1998 and then supported normalization of trade with China last year. The
> Los Angeles County Federation of Labor recruited state Sen. Hilda Solis, a
> longtime union supporter who beat Martinez with 63 percent of the primary
> vote in working-class East Los Angeles County.
> Let your representative know that China will deserve normal trade
> relations with the United States when it adopts fair labor and
> environmental standards and leaves Taiwan alone. The US Capitol
> switchboard is 202-224-3121. JMC
>
> ________________________________________________________
> TABLE OF CONTENTS, Progressive Populist, April 15, 2000
> (Articles marked with * are available through our web site,
> http://www.populist.com.)
>
> COVER/Harold Meyerson
> A four-letter word for President
> EDITORIAL *
> Keep the heat on
> JIM HIGHTOWER
> Corporate thuggery in Congress; Bushıs wiley Wyly brothers; The Havesı
> and The Have SıMoresı; A happy firing; Echelon is listening to you;
> Getting away from it all.
> LETTERS TO THE EDITOR *
> RURAL ROUTES/Margot McMillen *
> Gene-tinkered foods: Is isı is?
> CONVERSATIONS/Jim Van Der Pol
> Livestock belong with crops
> HARRY BOYTE
> Spinning a web of community cohesion
> RONNIE CUMMINS *
> USDA surrenders, organic consumers win
> CALAMITY HOWLER/A.V. Krebs *
> IBP lawsuits mount
> SOLUTIONS/American News Svc.
> Helping consumers challenge insurers
> HEALTH CARE/Joan Retsinas
> Lawsuit mania in health care
> JOHN BUELL *
> Revisiting Canadian health care
> CORPORATE FOCUS/Russell Mokhiber & Robert Weissman
> Corporate welfare environmentalism
> REPORT/Ronnie Dugger *
> Government wins Democracy Brigade trial
> LABOR TALK/Harry Kelber
> Boeingıs brain power
> STEVEN HILL & ROB RICHIE
> Without McCain, will independents vote?
> MARK WEISBROT
> Greenspan plays with firewho gets burned?
> MARTY JEZER
> We need a livable minimum wage
> DISPATCHES *
> Wal-Mart busts union, sprawls, sells radar meat
> REPORT/Jim Cullen *
> Nader stumps for Green nomination
> SPEECH/Ralph Nader *
> Closing the Democracy Gap
> GRASSROOTS/Hank Kalet
> Police on trial
> MEDIA BEAT/Norman Solomon
> Tribune swallows Times
> JOHN NICHOLS
> Street democracy in D.C. this April
> TED RALL
> Let the good times go: Bored Americans turn right against prosperity
> MADE IN USA/Joel D. Joseph
> Use NAFTA to restore oil competition
> PLAIN TALK/Dave Zweifel
> Pulitzer entries prove press can still be great
> WAYNE OıLEARY
> Problems we canıt solve
> TED GLICK
> An economic and cultural alternative
> AMERICAS/Gonzales & Rodriguez
> Census aids demographic genocideı
> ALEXANDER COCKBURN
> Eugenics impulse never dies
> PUBLIC INTEREST/Ralph Nader
> Emperor Davis
> JESSE JACKSON
> Stripped of the right to vote
> OUCH!/Public Campaign
> Corruption Perception Index
> GRANNY D/Doris Haddock *
> Taxation without representation
> CHARLES LEVENDOSKY
> States brutalize problem children
> SILICON LOUNGE/Donna Ladd
> Aim high
> MOLLY IVINS
> Playtimeıs overhow about some substance?; Unusual convergence of politics
> and good policy; A wonderful fellow, especially for a banker.
> KEN BRESLER
> Not a nonvoter, yet
>
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