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Electoral Politics

July 20, 2004 - 11:01am -- nolympics
Analysis & Polemic
Electoral Politics

Enforced Democracy: the Bolivian Referendum


Jennifer Whitney


After a long day of tension, rumors, and ocasional provocations, Bolivian polling stations have closed and the counting of votes is underway. But the results are already known. Regardless of whether the “yes” vote or the “no” vote wins, Bolivia’s most valuable natural resource – natural gas – will remain in the hands of the
transnationals.


Bolivia, South America’s poorest country, has long had its wealth plundered by foreigners. First, it was the realization by the Spanish in the sixteenth century that a small hill in the southeast of the country was comprised almost entirely of silver. For two centuries, the wealth extracted from Cerro Rico in Potosí was, according to Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, “the primary nourishment of the capitalist development of Europe.” Next it was saltpeter, desperately needed as fertilizer for exhausted European soil, and plundered by the English. Then during the second world war, Bolivia’s tin was mined and sold at approximately ten times less the market price, leading to massive strikes, and massacres of the workers, who were only demanding to be paid a living wage. Now, the world wants Bolivia’s gas – the second largest reserves in Latin America. But Bolivians are sick of watching
the wealth of their nation stolen from underneath their feet.

July 20, 2004 - 10:56am -- jim
News
Electoral Politics

"Threat of Police Pickets Adds to Boston's Worries"

John Kifner, New York Times

Boston, July 17 — Besides the threat of a terrorist attack at the
Democratic National Convention here later this month, the police will
have to deal with at least 70 sets of demonstrators, including
opponents of abortion, particularly passionate in this heavily Roman
Catholic area; Quakers who want to protest the war in Iraq with 800
pairs of empty combat boots and a plowshare forged from 10,000 spent
bullet casings; anarchists; Buddhists — and even themselves.


That's right. Boston police officers, along with the city's
firefighters, are locked in a long-running contract dispute and plan
to picket several convention events, beginning with the 32 welcoming
parties for various state delegations given by Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

July 19, 2004 - 9:50am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Electoral Politics

Anonymous Comrade writes:

"America's Pathetic Liberals: The Sequel"

Featuring Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11"

John Chuckman

The controversy over Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" provides sharp insight into contemporary American liberalism. You might think from all the noise that something radical or revealing or important was happening.


But you would be wrong. The noise represents another example of what Robert Hughes called America's "Culture of Complaint," an endless bickering, never deciding anything but enjoyed purely for itself.


The film is at its heart a thoroughly conservative document, a fact which generally has gone unnoticed except in Robert Jensen's acute review, "A Stupid White Movie." Worse, it explains virtually nothing about events it claims to examine.

July 16, 2004 - 12:39pm -- jim
Announcements
Electoral Politics

Fundrace.org


Want to know exactly how much your next-door neighbors, those folks down the block, or that person across the country, gave to Bush or Kerry? Or Dean? Or Kucinich?


Want to see precisely how blue or red your city or state looked recently? Here's a great site for getting a lot of information many people might not expect to find in public. Most revealing!

July 14, 2004 - 8:43pm -- jim
Electoral Politics

Republicans Dip Freedom Fries in "W Ketchup", Not
Heinz


WASHINGTON, (AFP) — Americans allergic to the subtle
Democratic flavor of Heinz ketchup can now plunge
their "freedom fries" into a 100-percent guaranteed,
patriotic alternative: "W Ketchup."


"You don't support Democrats. Why should your
ketchup?" says the W Ketchup Internet site
www.wketchup.com, which promises a totally US-made
condiment, right down to the bottle....

"Choose Heinz and you're supporting Teresa and her
husband's Gulfstream Jet, and liberal causes such as
Kerry for President," it warns....

Testimonials on the company's Internet site are
glowing for the Republican-style ketchup.


"Thank you for giving us a delicious American
alternative to the standard Heinz Ketchup. Henry Heinz
may have been a great American, but I have absolutely
no interest in supporting The Kerry's anti-American
causes," wrote "S.S" of Akron, Ohio.


Heinz says it is non-partisan, stressing that all the
Heinz family trusts together hold less than four
percent of the stock. Neither Teresa Heinz, nor her
husband, have any role in management, it stresses....

July 9, 2004 - 12:19am -- jim
News
Electoral Politics

"Cheney Faces Criminal Indictments:
Other Illegal Actions Raise Warning Flags at White House"

Teresa Hampton, Capitol Hill Blue


Vice President Dick Cheney faces criminal indictments for illegal activities while CEO of energy giant Halliburton and also illegally intervened to secure a $7 billion no-bid contract for his former employer after his election to office, an analysis by the White House counsel’s office concludes.

July 7, 2004 - 9:41am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Electoral Politics

"A Deafening Silence of Meaning"

John Chuckman

Recently, John Kerry and his wife held a barbecue at the Pennsylvania White House. Never heard of the Pennsylvania White House? It's actually the homestead of Kerry's wife, a white-columned mansion on a tailored estate outside Pittsburgh built from the proceeds of a billion cans of spaghetti and bottles of ketchup. Kerry wants everyone to know he's an ordinary guy so he's holding barbecues these days instead of crystal-and-candlelight dinners. People who normally never would get past the front gate have now been allowed on the rolled greens to chomp hot dogs.

July 6, 2004 - 10:37am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Electoral Politics

"Why Stephen Harper Lost:

Reflections on an Interesting Canadian Election"

John Chuckman

Hubris played an important role in the recent Canadian election.


Paul Martin's assumption of power, after pushing aside a popular and successful, though aging, Liberal leader, was disconcerting to many. Then, despite Martin's reputation as an able technocrat in Jean Chretien's cabinet, he quickly demonstrated he was not an apt public speaker. It was not just the manner of his speech, but its content, often repeating generalities heard many times about new tax revenue for cities.

July 3, 2004 - 7:34pm -- nolympics
Analysis & Polemic
Electoral Politics

Yoshie Furuhashi writes "

How did the David Cobb/Pat LaMarche ticket receive the Green Party nomination? And what does it mean for the Green Party in particular and American politics in general? My conclusion is that the so-called "red states" Greens, by rejecting Ralph Nader/Peter Camejo campaign, diminished the Green Party's own strength in the "safe state" of California, ironically without helping the pro-war Democratic Party candidate John Kerry (despite the hope of the Cobb/LaMarche faction) in the most crucial "swing states": Ohio (20 electors/3.6% victory margin in 2000), Florida (27/0.0%), Pennsylvania (21/4.1%), and Michigan (17/5.1%).

California Green Al Sheahen reported that "The geographic voting was striking. The big industrial states of MA, CA, MI, MD, NJ, NY, and PA cast a combined 181 votes for Nader and 91 for Cobb -- a 2-1 ratio. The southern states of AL, AR, GA, LA, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, and VA cast a combined 99 votes for Cobb, but only 13 for Nader -- a 9-1 ratio" (June 27, 2004, republished at GreenAllianceUSA@yahoogroups.com, June 28, 2004).

July 3, 2004 - 7:34pm -- nolympics
Analysis & Polemic
Electoral Politics

Yoshie Furuhashi writes "

How did the David Cobb/Pat LaMarche ticket receive the Green Party nomination? And what does it mean for the Green Party in particular and American politics in general? My conclusion is that the so-called "red states" Greens, by rejecting Ralph Nader/Peter Camejo campaign, diminished the Green Party's own strength in the "safe state" of California, ironically without helping the pro-war Democratic Party candidate John Kerry (despite the hope of the Cobb/LaMarche faction) in the most crucial "swing states": Ohio (20 electors/3.6% victory margin in 2000), Florida (27/0.0%), Pennsylvania (21/4.1%), and Michigan (17/5.1%).

California Green Al Sheahen reported that "The geographic voting was striking. The big industrial states of MA, CA, MI, MD, NJ, NY, and PA cast a combined 181 votes for Nader and 91 for Cobb -- a 2-1 ratio. The southern states of AL, AR, GA, LA, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, and VA cast a combined 99 votes for Cobb, but only 13 for Nader -- a 9-1 ratio" (June 27, 2004, republished at GreenAllianceUSA@yahoogroups.com, June 28, 2004).

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