what do you think is right?

2004-01-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

AlterNet: Issues Left Untackled, CBS censorship

2003-08-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

AlterNet: The Theft of Your Vote Is Just a Chip Away

2003-06-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

The Mythical North Korea Threat By Carlton Meyer
Lying about the Korean situation has become a cornerstone of the Pentagon's
effort to boost military spending beyond Cold War levels.

2003-06-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Wow! Salam Pax has been posting again since May 7. I had given up on checking his blog. I've got some reading to do.

2003-05-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

AlterNet: The Truth Will Emerge by Senator Robert Byrd

2003-04-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Troubleshooting: BlogThis for Bloggers

2003-04-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

"There is one simple way for the United States to decrease very significantly the amount of terror in the world," says Noam Chomsky, "and that is to just stop supporting and participating in it."
Noam Chomsky's Golden Rule by Eric Bosse, Alternet

2003-03-31T19:44:00.000-08:00

AlterNet: An Army of Propaganda

2003-03-29T11:48:00.000-08:00

There have been a lot of people calling for the Green Party to consolidate efforts with the 2004 Presidential Election. Here's what I think about that:

While one may hypothesize that third-party candidates take away votes from a "similar" major party, another possibility is that neither major party is able to "win" those votes because the two major parties do not come close to representing the views of the third party voters. In fact, rather than pretend that we even have a two party "democratic" system, one might argue that we have a de-facto one party system of Republicrats representing corporate interests. (I believe the Soviet Union had a similar one party system.)

Why should I vote for either a Democrat or a Republican when neither represents my views and both refuse to even consider those views? How could Senator Feinstein (D) publicly refer to an enormous stack of correspondance from her constituents against the war (compared to a much smaller stack for) and still vote away her constitutional responsibility for declaring war to President Bush? (Perhaps because the smaller stack represented more money, though that's just conjecture.) How could the Senate vote 99 to 0 in support of Bush's war when there are hundreds of thousands protesting in the streets every week? Was there even any discussion?

Anyone running against George W. Bush should have had a landslide victory. That the Dems lost to Bush, points more to their inability to put forth a strong candidate and a platform with backbone. The argument that Nader stole the election from Gore is thin. Third-party votes might be viewed as "protest" votes, but at least a clear message is made. Why can't the Republicrats get the message? We want a real choice. So, before the Green party prematurely decides whether it will back a Democratic presidential candidate, why don't we find out what candidate they choose? My prediction is that it will be another spineless symbol of their spineless party.

Furthermore, if we want to see real change in this country's government, it's going to happen through local/state government and the Congress, not the Presidency. Afterall, it was the Republicrat Congress that ratified the "USA PATRIOT Act." (Besides, the President is not really elected through a popular vote.) Individual lawmakers representing their constituents and actively engaging other lawmakers in discourse is a more plausible and achievable goal. Even if the Republicans had the majority in a legislature, Democrat/third-party coalitions could be formed (if there are any elected third-party officials) to counter any Republican agenda (i.e. Patriot Act).

As for myself, while Democrats may put forth "liberal/progressive" rhetoric, their actions speak louder to me. I'm not interested in supporting a Democrat. I did not pay membership dues to the Democratic party, I paid them to the Green party. If the Greens decide it's best not to run a presidential candidate that's fine by me, but put that money toward local/state/Congress campaigns instead of the already bloated Democratic party.

What do you think?

2003-03-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

Salam is back and alright!

2003-03-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

did anyone see the "4567" post on salam's blog 3/21/03? it disappeared after 15 minutes and there haven't been any posts since! email

2003-03-21T17:22:00.000-08:00

Adbusters: Boycott America

2003-03-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." --Teddy Roosevelt

2003-03-20T09:49:00.000-08:00

history repeating itself?

2003-03-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

Vote To Impeach Bush

2003-03-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

new beastie boys anti-war track

2003-03-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

moveon.org

2003-03-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

dear_raed.blogspot.com