the-peoples-patriot, a political Blog: 08/22/2004

Friday, August 27, 2004

Nader/Camejo Out pouring

"He who is willing to sacrifice freedom for safety deserves neither freedom nor safety." - Ben Franklin
&
"One useless man is called a disgrace; two useless men are called a law firm; and three or more useless men are a congress" - John Adams
&
Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons.

Round two of the big party conventions will be taking place in New York City next week. Just as at the Democratic Convention, the only topic of debate at the GOP extravaganza will be how to best cordon off thousands of peace-loving protesters into designated "free speech zones."

Inside Madison Square Garden, Republican operatives will be fine-tuning the timed releases of their balloons to ensure a better effect than the spectacle at the Fleet Center. RNC speech writers will infuse the RNC's messages with similarly heavy-handed platitudes of deception, delivered to cue ambitious applause for their war-time President.

The quadrennial tradition of gorging on fanfare and frivolity, bought and paid for by large corporations and subsidized by 13 million of your tax dollars is alive and well.

Nader/Camejo considers the expectations of those who fought to secure our rights by declaring independence from tyrants. Today, our campaign declares independence from corporate-driven wars. Peace is possible only when we resist the status quo. Deflate the balloons of those party goers who justify war. Breathe life into the spirit of resistance. Declare your independence, arouse and vote Nader/Camejo 2004.

Theresa Amato
Campaign Manager

Attention attorneys in Nevada, West Virginia, Missouri, and North Carolina!
We urgently need pro bono legal assistance for upcoming litigation in these and many other states! To learn more, click here.

MY ADVICE endeavors at keen.com. The number is 1-800-275-5336 (800-ask-keen) + ext. 0329063 for tech stuff, 0329117 for running a small business, and 0329144 on investing. Want to CHAT, I use Yahoo's IM as the_web_ster. View me in the Friends & Family part of webcamnow.com, just click on "view cams", then in the Java window click on WebcamNow Communities drop down arrow & select Friends & Family. Under the live webcams look for & click on me "the_webster".

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10 weeks left

There are 10 weeks left until the most important election of our lifetimes.

A year ago, most of the experts believed that Bush was going to be a shoo-in. But today, thanks in no small part to the hard work of MoveOn members across the country, we're dead even. And if we really push in the next 10 weeks, on November 2nd, we'll elect a new President.

That's why today we're upping the ante and launching a 10-week countdown featuring creative, funny, and beautiful ads from some of America's top directors and actors, including Rob Reiner, to Scarlett Johanssen, John Sayles, Matt Damon, and many more. We call it 10 Weeks: Don't Get Mad, Get Even! Each week, we'll pair one new ad with a couple of actions we can all take to make a difference as we speed toward the finish line.

Check out the breathtaking first "10 Weeks" ad, Benny Boom's "Everybody," now at:

http://www.moveonpac.org/10weeks/

If you like it, please show it to your friends. Anyone who signs up for MoveOn will be invited to watch each ad as it's debuted.

Then help us put it on TV by donating at:

https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/everybody.html

Today, as the first ad in our 10-week countdown, we're launching a tremendously powerful piece from hip-hop director Benny Boom. The ad has the feel of a music video and highlights the issue of voter suppression, the same issue we engaged yesterday when we joined Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jr., NAACP President Julian Bond, and several members of Congress in putting out a petition calling on the Bush campaign and RNC to swear off tactics aimed at stopping black folks from voting. Benny's ad is brilliant. It is a moving and galvanizing call to African-Americans and the youth of this country to reclaim their power to vote, and we're aiming to air it on MTV and BET next week.

In the weeks to come, we'll be sending out ads featuring the work of notable American film directors and actors including: Matt Damon, Rob Reiner, Richard Linklater, Scarlett Johanssen, Kevin Bacon, Al Franken, Rebecca Romijn, Martin Sheen, Margaret Cho, Doug Limon (The Bourne Identity), Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), Donal Logue, Ed Asner, Charlie Fisher (Bush in 30 Seconds Ad Contest Winner), Moby, John Sayles (Silver City), Allison Anders, Illeana Douglas, Ione Skye, and many others. If you're on the MoveOn list, you'll be among the first to see these new ads.

Every ad in this campaign bears the unique handprint of the directors and artists who created them. But they're unified by one goal: unseating President Bush in November. That's the singular purpose behind this campaign and it is why folks with this caliber of talent are working side by side with MoveOn members to take back our country.
To see the first ad in our "10 Weeks" countdown, just go to:

http://www.moveonpac.org/10weeks/

We've got 10 Weeks to change the course of history. Together, we can do it.

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RUMSFELD MISLEADS ABOUT PRISON ABUSE

Speaking yesterday in Phoenix, Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld claimed that there was no way that
he and other top military officials could have
known about the abuse and torture that took place at
Abu Ghraib and other prisons. Rumsfeld said, "if you
are in Washington, D.C., you can't know what's
going on in the midnight shift in one of those many
prisons around the world."[1] But a classified portion
of a report by three Army generals (the Fay report)
- obtained by the New York Times - found that the
atrocities that took place in military prisons were
the result of actions taken at the top of the
military hierarchy.

According to secret sections of the Fay report, the
former top commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S.
Sanchez "approved the use in Iraq of some severe
interrogation practices intended to be limited to
captives held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and
Afghanistan."[2] Moreover, "by issuing and revising the rules
for interrogations in Iraq three times in 30 days,
General Sanchez and his legal staff sowed such
confusion that interrogators acted in ways that violated
the Geneva Conventions."[3]

A separate investigation headed by former defense
secretary James R. Schlesinger "faulted the
Pentagon's top civilian and military leadership yesterday
for failing to exercise adequate oversight and
allowing conditions that led to the abuse of detainees
in Iraq."[4] Rumsfeld was cited specifically for
contributing to "confusion over what techniques were
permissible for interrogating prisoners in Iraq."[5]

Sources:

1. "Rumsfeld: No plans to resign ," Arizona Daily
Star, 8/27/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52360.
2. "Army's Report Faults General in Prison Abuse,"
New York Times, 8/27/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52361.
3. Ibid,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52361.
4. "Top Pentagon Leaders Faulted in Prison Abuse,"
Washington Post, 8/25/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52362.
5. Ibid,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52362.

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Thursday, August 26, 2004

Stop GOP Suppression of Black Vote

Last month John Pappageorge, a Republican state representative in Michigan, told a journalist that the Republicans would do poorly if they failed to “suppress the Detroit vote.” Detroit, of course, is 83% black.[1]

Democratic officials expressed their outrage, and Pappageorge eventually apologized for his words, but his statement spoke to a bigger truth: Republicans continue to actively suppress black and minority votes in order to win elections through intimidation, misinformation, and tampering with voter rolls and records. In 2000, the black voters who were not allowed to vote would have almost certainly swung the election in Al Gore’s favor. And the practice continues: a recent report from the NAACP and the People for the American Way Foundation documents suppression tactics in use right now.[2]

The Republican Party's continued silence is shameful. We’re joining with Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP*, Reverend Jesse Jackson, President of the Rainbow/Push Coalition*, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others to demand that the Republican Party abandon these racist, unfair, and undemocratic tactics and condemn anyone in their ranks who uses them. Please join us by signing the petition below:

http://www.moveonpac.org/suppression/?id=3415-3646104-Vd9Ss9VfKVdj9mcBSzy3Mg

Many of the leaders above and other signers will personally deliver this petition to the Bush/Cheney campaign headquarters next month, so please sign today and ask your friends to sign.

Just last week, Bob Herbert of the New York Times wrote a column describing armed, plain-clothes officers from the Florida state police (which reports directly to Governor Jeb Bush) going into the homes of elderly black voters and interrogating them, supposedly as part of an investigation into voter fraud. While ostensibly random, several of those questioned were members of the Orlando League of Voters, a group that has been very successful in mobilizing the city's black vote. According to Herbert, this supposed "investigation" has resulted in a blanket of fear, leaving organizers afraid to work and voters afraid of contact with campaign workers.[3]

Four years ago, Florida election officials removed over 52,000 voters from the rolls under the guise of “cleansing” the list of felons. Over 90% of those purged were not guilty of any crime and 54% were African-American, a group which, in Florida, are likely to vote Democratic over 90% of the time.[4] The company that provided the purge list warned Florida officials that thousands of eligible voters would likely be disenfranchised in the process, but Katherine Harris, the Florida Secretary of State who also served as state campaign manager for George W. Bush, went forward with the purge anyway. The result was thousands of voters not allowed to vote in an election that was decided by just over 500 votes.

It’s not just Florida. A joint report from People for the American Way Foundation and the NAACP "The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today" highlights recent attempts to suppress African-American and minority voting, documenting instances of the following:[5]

Challenges and threats against individual voters at the polls by armed private guards, off-duty law enforcement officers, local creditors, fake poll monitors, and poll workers and managers.
Signs posted at the polling place warning of penalties for “voter fraud” or “non-citizen” voting, or illegally urging support for a candidate.
Poll workers “helping” voters fill out their ballots, and instructing them on how to vote.
Criminal tampering with voter registration rolls and records.
Fliers and radio ads containing false information about where, when and how to vote, voter eligibility, and the false threat of penalties.
Internal memos from party officials in which the explicit goal of suppressing black voter turnout is outlined.
Here are a few other incidents highlighted in the report and elsewhere:

In 2003, in Pennsylvania, men with clipboards bearing official-looking insignias were reportedly dispatched to African American neighborhoods. Tom Lindenfeld, who ran a counter-intimidation campaign for Democratic candidate John Street, said there were 300 cars with the decals resembling such federal agencies as the DEA and ATF and that the men were asking prospective voters for identification. In a post-election poll of 1000 African-American voters, seven percent said they had encountered such efforts.

In 2002, in Louisiana, fliers were distributed in African American communities stating, “‘Vote!!! Bad Weather? No problem!!! If the weather is uncomfortable on election day [Saturday, December 7th], remember you can wait and cast your ballot on Tuesday, December 10th.” In a separate incident, apparently targeting potential supporters of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Republican Party admitted to paying African American youths $75 to hold signs aloft on street corners in black neighborhoods that appeared to discourage African-Americans from voting.

Last month, in South Dakota, Native American voters were sent to the wrong polling places, and given misleading information about the ID they need to vote.[6]
Stopping eligible voters from voting is a basic affront to democracy. It is an outrage for any political party to condone or encourage the practice, especially given the history of African-Americans and other minorities being disenfranchised in our country. In the vast majority of these cases, Republicans are the perpetrators or it's a Republican candidate that stands to benefit. Call on Republican leaders to to publicly disavow the suppression of the minority vote by signing the petition at:

http://www.moveonpac.org/suppression/?id=3415-3646104-Vd9Ss9VfKVdj9mcBSzy3Mg

Thanks for all you do,

-- James Rucker, Laura Dawn, and the rest of the MoveOn PAC team
MoveOn PAC
Thursday, August, 26th 2004

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BUSH TRIES TO HIDE POVERTY NUMBERS

Anticipating the release of devastating new poverty
and health care
statistics, the Bush administration today took the
extraordinary step today
of trying to bury the numbers. Specifically, the
Administration had its top
political appointee at the Census Bureau release
the numbers a month earlier
than usual, during the August congressional recess
when many reporters and
Americans take their summer vacations. The
rescheduling of the announcement
also means that the bad numbers will not come out
in September immediately
after the Republican National Convention, when they
have traditionally been
released.

With the President's economic and health care
agenda leaving millions
behind, the Associated Press reports, "the
statistics today show the number
of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3
million last year, while the
ranks of the uninsured swelled by 1.4 million."[1]

This is not the first time the White House and
Republicans have gone to
great lengths to hide damning information. As CBS
News reported, President
Bush released his military service records late on
a Friday night on the eve
of a three day weekend in order to make sure the
story about his poor
attendance was seen by as few people as
possible.[2]

In Congress, GOP leaders regularly pass the most
controversial bills in the
middle of the night. Those included bills to slash
veterans benefits and
health/education funding, as well as spending $87
billion on war in Iraq and
passing the President's Medicare bill.[3]

Sources:

1. "Ranks of Poverty, Uninsured Rose in 2003," The
Guardian, 8/26/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52131.
2. "Bush's Records: All In The Timing," CBS News,
2/15/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52132.
3. "Under The Cover Of Darkness," TomPaine.com,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52133.

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Naer News

"Pro-war convention number two" is gearing up in New York City as thousands of protestors are planning to hit the streets on Sunday, August 29th.

Come to Manhattan to protest and join the Nader/Camejo 2004 Counter Convention. Peter Miguel Camejo speaks Saturday, August 28th at Washington Square Park.

The Nader/Camejo 2004 contingency will be meeting and marching from 20th Street & 6th Avenue on Sunday, August 29th organizing at 10 a.m.

We'll be a visible presence at the march. We're creating a 20-foot banner that says "Impeach Bush/Cheney". Not only will we need your help carrying the banner, we need everyone's help paying for it. Your contributions will help us print t-shirts, placards, and stickers to give the Nader/Camejo ticket a strong presence at the march. Help us spread the word that Nader/Camejo is the only ticket calling to bring our troops home.

We also need you Monday night, Peter Miguel Camejo speaks again at Synod Hall, Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Hear Ralph Nader speak at the Anti-War Counter Convention on Tuesday night at Miller Theatre 2960 Broadway at 116th Street, Columbia University.

Nader/Camejo 2004 The only ticket over the last four years loudly and consistently opposing :

Regime change in Iraq (we weren't "misled", even from the start)

The Patriot Act

No Child Left Behind

The Bush Tax Plan

The only ticket calling for impeachment of George W. Bush!

Paid for by Nader for President 2004
(202) 265-4000-P.O. Box 18002,Washington, DC 20036

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From a friend on Kerry

I'm Not sure how much of this is true, but something to consider........

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following is a brief background on Mrs. John Kerry . She hates being called that, by the way:

Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry. Married Senator Kerry in 1995. She only took his name eighteen months ago and she is an "interesting" paradox of conflicts.

If you thought John Kerry was scary, he doesn't hold a candle to his wife! Maria Teresa Thiersten Simoes-Ferreira Heinz Kerry was born in Mozambique, the daughter of a Portuguese physician, was educated in Switzerland and South Africa. Fluent in five languages, she was working as a United Nations interpreter in Geneva in the mid-60's when she met a "handsome" young American, H. John Heinz, III, who worked at a bank in Geneva. He told her his family was "in the food business."

They were married in 1966 and returned to Pittsburgh where his family ran the giant H. J. Heinz food company. He was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1971, and in 1976 he was elected to the first of three terms in the United States Senate. A Republican, he wrote a burning diatribe against some of the causes backed by young House member John Kerry.)

Several years later, in 1991, he was killed when his plane collided with a Sun Oil Company helicopter over a Philadelphia suburb. The senator, his pilot and copilot, and both of Sun's helicopter pilots were killed. He was survived by his wife, Teresa, and their three young sons.
Four years later, having inherited Heinz's $500 million fortune, she married Senator John Forbes Kerry, the liberal then-junior senator from Massachusetts. She became a registered Democrat and the process of her radicalization was set in motion.

Heinz Kerry is not shy about telling people that she required Kerry to sign a prenuptial agreement before they were married. John Kerry may not have check writing privileges on the Heinz catsup and pickle fortune, but he is certainly a willing and uncomplaining beneficiary of it.

A lot of hard-earned money, made through many years of hawking catsup, mustard, and pickles has fallen into the hands of two people who despise successful entrepreneurship and who believe in the confiscatory redistribution of wealth.

So how does Mrs. Heinz Kerry spend John Heinz's money?

Just one example:
According to the G2 Bulletin, an online intelligence newsletter of WorldNetDaily, in the years between 1995-2001 she gave more than $4 million to an organization called the Tides Foundation. And what does the Tides Foundation do with John Heinz's money?

They support numerous antiwar groups, including Ramsey Clark's International Action Center. Clark has offered to defend Saddam Hussein when he's tried.

They support the Democratic Justice Fund, a joint venture of the Tides Foundation and billionaire hate-monger George Soros. The Democratic Justice Fund seeks to ease restrictions on Muslim immigration from "terrorist" states.

They support the Council for American-Islamic Relations, whose leaders are known to have close ties to the terrorist group, Hamas.

They support the National Lawyers Guild, organized as a communist front during the Cold War era. One of their attorneys, Lynne Stewart, has been arrested for helping a client, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, communicate with terror cells in Egypt. He is the convicted mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

They support the "Barrio Warriors," a radical Hispanic group whose primary goal is to return all of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to Mexico.

These are but a few of the radical groups that benefit, through the anonymity provided by the Tides Foundation, from the generosity of our would-be first lady, the wealthy widow of Republican senator John Heinz, and now the wife of the Democratic senator who aspires to be the 44th President of the United States.

Aiding and supporting our enemies is not good for America, regardless of your political views.

If voters will open their eyes, educate themselves and see the real Teresa Heinz Kerry, they will not appreciate her position as ultra rich fairy godmother of the radical left. They will not want to imagine her laying her head on a pillow each night inches away from the President of the United States.

Hopefully they love this country enough to decide that the only way these two will ever be allowed into the White House is with an engraved invitation in hand.

Instead of deleting this, pass it on. Let everyone know these people are unfit to represent this great nation. The uninformed will never hear the truth from the press, who wants Kerry elected!

Those who buy the Kerry facade, beware what you vote for - - - you may regret that you got it!

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Wednesday, August 25, 2004

MORE BUSH CONNECTIONS TO SMEAR ADS

While aides to President Bush continue to claim "we
weren't involved in any
way in these ads"[1] against Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
by Swift boat vets, more
evidence emerged yesterday to disprove those
denials.

First, the Washington Post reports that a "top
lawyer in President Bush's
reelection campaign acknowledged that he has been
advising the veterans
group." Benjamin L. Ginsberg, the "chief outside
counsel to the Bush
campaign" admitted "I've done some work for" the
Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth.[2] Ginsberg has long been a top adviser to
Bush. The LA Times reports
he represented the Bush campaign in 2000 and became
a prominent figure
during the Florida recount. In the current
presidential campaign, his law
firm has been paid $256,635 for his services[3] by
the Bush campaign. That
figure does not include any cash Ginsberg made in
his work with the Swift
Boat Veterans.

Additionally, the Dallas Morning News yesterday
reported that the man
bankrolling the smear ads is hosting President
Bush's top political adviser
at a fundraiser in New York during the Republican
National Convention.
Robert Perry, the top Bush-Cheney fundraiser who is
financing the Swift Boat
Veterans for Truth ads, "is listed as the co-host"
of an event whose guest
list includes Karl Rove on September 1.[4]

This news follows revelations earlier this week
that one of the veterans
smearing Kerry in the ads is actually a member of
the Bush-Cheney
campaign.[5] It also follows news that the
Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters
in Florida is distributing fliers promoting the
group smearing Kerry.[6]

Sources:

1. "Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan,"
WhiteHouse.gov, 8/20/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52004.
2. "Bush-Cheney Lawyer Advised Anti-Kerry Vets,"
Washington Post, 8/25/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52005.
3. "Bush Lawyer Also Advises Anti-Kerry Veterans,"
LA Times, 8/25/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52006.
4. "Kerry critic listed as fund-raiser's co-host,"
Dallas Morning News,
8/23/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52007.
5. "Bush Misleads on Connection to Smear Campaign,"
Misleader.org, 8/23/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52008.
6. "Swift Boat member skips rally over fliers at
Bush campaign office,"
Miami Herald, 8/22/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=52009.

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Next week in New York, Republican politicians will try to make the case that their party represents mainstream American values. Don't be fooled.

Because at the same time that Republicans claim they represent all of America, they're fielding candidates who have some pretty outrageous and radical views. Republican congressional candidate and eugenics supporter James Hart, for example, recently explained his campaign strategy to reporters: "Every person who opens the door — as long as they're white — I'll say, 'I'm James Hart. I'm running for Congress."[1]

We can't afford to let people like James Hart run our country. So today, we're highlighting five of the candidates who are going to take it back – folks running against far-right candidates in very close races. If we support all of them, we have a great chance of winning back control of the U.S. Senate.

Contribute to their races and watch our shocking new web video featuring more radical Republican quotes at:

https://www.moveonpac.org/give/04endorsed.html

Our video is comprised of actual quotes from Republican candidates and office holders, highlighting the truly extreme, hate-filled views of many of the Republican party's top officials and current candidates for public office. It's short, and definitely worth watching. Check it out at the link above.

The right wing's strategy for tightening its control over America and the world depends on convincing us that the Republican party is fundamentally moderate. But the fact is, Republican candidates hold a lot of views that sharply differ with those of ordinary Americans. And they try to gloss over these differences through spin — remember Bush's 2000 campaign theme of "compassionate" conservatism and his promise of a "humble" foreign policy?

We can't let Republicans get away with this bait-and-switch any longer. If we want to take back our country and defend the values that make it great, defeating President Bush is not enough. Even if Kerry wins, he won't be able to turn things around if Republican extremists still control the U.S. Senate.

We've got to win back the Senate, seat by seat.

Today, we urge you to support five Senate candidates who have a great chance of winning important races and knocking out the kind of extremists highlighted in our web video. They are: Ken Salazar in Colorado, Tony Knowles in Alaska, Erskine Bowles in North Carolina, Inez Tenenbaum in South Carolina, and Brad Carson in Oklahoma.

Each of these candidates is running in a state that has increasingly come under Republican control. Yet their races are still competitive. And with your help, we have a real chance to win these crucial Senate seats and an opportunity to take back the U.S. Senate.

These five candidates will be competing against some of the most right-wing Republicans in the country, all whom will be well funded. Pete Coors, beer magnate and leading donor to the conservative Heritage Foundation, is the GOP nominee in Colorado. In Oklahoma, the Republican Senate candidate is U.S. Representative Tom Coburn, who criticized Newt Gingrich for being too moderate and also said, "I favor the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life."

And while each of these candidates has an opponent who has proven themselves to be far to the right of the mainstream, each of these five Democratic candidates has proven their ability to win, often against great odds.

Inez Tenenbaum, currently the Commissioner of Education in South Carolina, won more votes on the 2002 ballot than any other state-wide candidate in this increasingly conservative state. Tony Knowles, the Democrat who was twice elected Governor of Alaska, remains popular in Alaska, a solid Republican state. And Erskine Bowles, former Clinton Administration Chief of Staff, continues to lead in the North Carolina polls, despite the GOP's best efforts to undermine him.

Your gift of $25, $50, or $100 to each of these candidates can and will make a huge difference, for each of these candidates and for the country as a whole.

You can give to each of them in less than five minutes at:

https://www.moveonpac.org/give/04endorsed.html

With your help, we can take back control of the U.S. Senate and stop a new generation of extremist candidates before they get to Washington.

Sincerely,

--Eli Pariser & Hannah Pingree
MoveOn PAC
Wednesday, August 25th, 2004

Footnote:
1. Read more about James Hart at: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040803_904.html

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Study Contradicts Cheney-Bush Claim of Undue Limits on Western Oil, Gas Drilling

A new study of federal land records finds no evidence for the Bush administration's insistent claims that restrictions on access to U.S. public lands have hampered oil and gas development and led to greater dependence on foreign oil.

In a town meeting in Arkansas on August 3, Vice President Cheney asserted again that "[w]e've taken large chunks of the country and put it off limits to any kind of exploration or development...large parts of the Rocky Mountain West are off limits." Cheney blamed this alleged lack of access for the fact that "we aren't producing [oil and gas] here at home".

An extensive investigation by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found Cheney's assertion to be little more than myth. "The west has been wide open to the oil and gas industry for the last 22 years," Dusty Horwitt, one of the lead authors, told BushGreenwatch. "The rhetoric" about lack of access, Horwitt said, "is just an attempt to open especially sensitive lands to friends of the administration."

The EWG study reports that oil and gas interests poured over $75 million into political campaigns, of which 79% went to Republicans. [1]

The study, "Who Owns the West?: Oil and Gas Leases," found that since 1982 the federal government has leased 229 million acres for drilling on public and private land in 12 western states -- an area equal to Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona combined.

Moreover, according to the federal government's own studies, the oil and gas industry already has access to a high percentage of land in the five western basins that contain "most of the natural gas and much of the oil under public ownership within the 48 contiguous states."

In these reserves, 88 percent of the natural gas and 85 percent of the oil is on land open to leasing.

Since 1982, U.S. dependence on foreign oil has doubled, and American reliance on foreign gas has tripled. At current rates of U.S. energy consumption, the reserves in the five richest western basins contain at most a 279-day supply of oil and an 8-year supply of natural gas.

Domestic energy production can do little to close America's yawning gap between production and consumption, or address the problem of increasing dependence. Despite the relatively small amounts of energy available in the West, the Bush administration has made a determined push to remove barriers for drilling on an additional 45 million acres. It has also reversed environmental protections on lands already open to development.

The Bush effort will do little to make the U.S. less vulnerable to foreign energy producers. But, noted Horwitt, it will line the pockets of the oil and gas industries.

###

SOURCES:
[1] "Who Owns the West?: Oil and Gas Leases," EWG report, Aug. 25, 2004.

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Tuesday, August 24, 2004

BUSH'S CIA NOMINEE TRIED TO GUT KEY INTELLIGENCE

President Bush has repeatedly criticized his
opponent[1] for joining with
Republicans to slightly reduce funding for
intelligence after the end of the
Cold War.[2] But a new report shows that the
President recently nominated a
CIA Director who tried to make far deeper cuts in
intelligence, even as
terrorist attacks against the United States
increased.

Despite the known threat of terrorism, Bush
nominated Rep. Porter Goss
(R-FL) to be the new CIA Director - a man who has
led the effort to cut the
very intelligence priorities that are most critical
to the fight against
terrorism. As the Washington Post reports, Goss
actually "sponsored
legislation that would have cut intelligence
personnel by 20 percent in the
late 1990s." Goss insisted on these cuts even after
the 1993 World Trade
Center attack when America became aware of the
serious terrorist threat. As
the story notes, the cuts Goss supported are far
larger than those proposed
by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and were specifically
targeted at "human
intelligence." That is the very same priority which
the 9/11 Commission and
other independent experts say was lacking in the
days and months leading up
to the 9/11 attacks.[3]

The revelations about Goss come only a few weeks
after similar evidence came
to light showing that Vice President Cheney has
also repeatedly tried to
stop intelligence reforms and cut critical defense
programs. For instance,
in 1992, Cheney led the effort to block the very
same intelligence reforms
the 9/11 Commission said would have made the United
States better prepared
to deal with the threat of al Qaeda. Similarly,
while the Bush-Cheney
campaign has attacked Kerry for supposedly reducing
defense spending,[4] it
was Cheney himself in 2000 who admitted that as
Defense Secretary, he "did
in fact significantly reduce the overall size of
the U.S. military."[5] And
in 1990, it was Cheney who went to Capitol Hill to
tout his effort to slash
defense, bragging about "programs that I have
recommended for
termination."[6]

Sources:

1. "Bush chides Kerry on intelligence cuts,"
Washington Times, 3/09/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51644.
2. "Bush Strains Facts Re: Kerry's Plan To Cut
Intelligence Funding in
'90's," FactCheck.org, 3/15/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51645.
3. "Goss Backed '95 Bill to Slash Intelligence,"
Washington Post, 8/24/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51646.
4. "Remarks by the Vice President at the Ronald
Reagan Presidential Library
and Museum," WhiteHouse.gov, 3/17/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51647.
5. "latimes.com: Cheney acknowledges defense cuts
began on his watch,"
CNN.com, 8/24/00,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51648.
6. Congressional Testimony, 2/01/90.

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New Lawsuits Aim at Bush EPA Action Enabling Millions of Fish Kills

As reported by BushGreenwatch last February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opted to allow existing power plants and other industrial facilities to continue using cooling water systems which kill countless fish in American rivers every year--and to mitigate the damage by trying to restock the fish.

EPA issued this regulation despite a unanimous decision by the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which found that allowing massive destruction of wildlife in cooling systems, and then attempting to replace them in the ecosystem, did not fulfill the Clean Water Act requirement to use the "best technology available" to mitigate environmental damage.

Now, the Hudson River-based organization Riverkeeper is again leading a national coalition of environmental groups in suing EPA, charging the agency with violating the mandate of Congress under the Clean Water Act.

"Unfortunately, the agency has illegally rewritten the Clean Water Act to allow industry to avoid upgrading power plants that function as aquatic slaughterhouses," said Alex Matthiessen, executive director of Riverkeeper, in the organization's July announcement of the suit. [1]

While the Second Circuit's February decision applied specifically to a portion of EPA's rules called Phase I regulation, which applies to new facilities, Riverkeeper charges EPA with exceeding its authority in applying a different standard to existing facilities with the subsequent set of rules, called Phase II regulation. [2]

"EPA has caved in to the demands of the power industry, and completely abdicated responsibility under the Clean Water Act," Reed Super, Riverkeeper senior attorney and lead counsel in the suit, told BushGreenwatch. "We hope the court will vacate or remand some or all of the rule." [3]

Super tells BushGreenwatch that six state attorneys general—Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island—have also filed suit against EPA.

"The states, as well as environmental groups, recognize that EPA is dropping the ball. This will raise the level of importance of the case in the eyes of the judge," says Super.

Currently, the best cooling technology available is "closed cycle, " which re-circulates water repeatedly to cool a plant. This dramatically lessens water use, and reduces the kills of fish and other organisms by approximately 95% over the much older, more destructive—and less expensive--"once-through" systems.

These older systems pull in several billion gallons of water a day, leading to a massive mortality--trillions of fish, shellfish, and other organisms--every year.

In once-through systems, larger animals are killed by "impingement," or being trapped against water intake screens. Their eggs and larvae are killed by "entrainment," being drawn in to exchangers that transfer the plant's heat to the water, where they die from heat, toxicity, and physical stress.

Once-through cooling systems rival the fishing industry in the number of fish and shellfish killed every year. About 52% of power plants in the U.S. use once-through systems. [3]

Super vividly describes the impact this outmoded technology has on the Hudson River. "Just one plant--the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant--uses 2.4 billion gallons a day of cooling water," he says. "By comparison, nine million people use New York City's water supply, and they consume only 1.2 billion gallons a day.

"Indian Point is just one of five plants on the Hudson using once-through cooling systems. Altogether they are sucking nearly five billion gallons daily from the river."

###

SOURCES:
[1] Riverkeeper press release, Jul. 26, 2004.
[2] Riverkeeper fact sheet.
[3] Ibid.

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Monday, August 23, 2004

BUSH MISLEADS ON CONNECTION TO SMEAR CAMPAIGN

President Bush has adamantly denied any connection
to discredited and unsubstantial attack ads, run by
the so-called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT),
a group that aims to smear John Kerry's record of
honorable military service. On Friday, White House
Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that the White
House and the Bush/Cheney campaign "weren't
involved in any way in these [SBVT] ads."[1]

McClellan neglected to mention that Kenneth
Cordier, who appears prominently in the SBVT ads, was a
member of the Bush/Cheney veterans steering
committee.[2] According to the campaign website, members of
the veterans steering committee "serve as
messengers for the President's re-election campaign."[3]
After the Kerry campaign exposed Cordier's
involvement, a spokesman for Bush, Steve Schmidt, announced
Cordier would "no longer participate" in the
campaign.[4] According to Schmidt, the campaign had no idea
that Cordier was involved in the SBVT ads - which
have been a major issue in the campaign for weeks
and replayed repeatedly on national television.

Also skipped over by McClellan: The primary
financial backer of the SBVT is Bob Perry - the top donor
to Republicans in the state of Texas.[5] Perry has
also been a friend of Karl Rove, Bush's top
political advisor, for nearly 20 years.[6] Perry ponied up
$46,000 for Bush's gubernatorial campaigns and
contributed generously to Bush's presidential races.[7]

Sources:
1. "Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan," The White
House, 08/20/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51520.
2. "Bush Campaign Drops Swift Boat Ad Figure," The
Washington Post, 8/22/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51521.
3. "U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons Announces Nevada Veterans
for Bush Leadership Team," GeorgeWBush.com,
8/20/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51522.
4. "Bush Campaign Drops Swift Boat Ad Figure,"
Washington Post, 8/22/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51521.
5. "Ad Wars: Behind an Attack on Kerry,"
International Herald Tribune, 8/20/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51523.
6. Ibid,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51523.
7. Ibid,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=2460565&l=51523.

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Edwards Hits Bush on Overtime Pay Rules

The Associated Press

RACINE, Wis. - John Edwards (news - web sites) chose the almost evenly divided state of Wisconsin to tout the Democratic presidential ticket's economic plans and criticize the Bush administration's new rules for overtime pay.

"Today, millions of workers will find out that instead of getting time-and-a-half, they're going to get a hard time from their government," the vice presidential nominee said in prepared remarks as the rules took effect Monday. "More than 60 years of protecting overtime work have been wiped out with the stroke of this president's pen."

The overhaul rewrites rules for awarding overtime pay for the first time in more than half a century. Employers sought the changes for decades, complaining that the regulations were too confusing and out of date.

The changes effect mostly white-collar workers, and the Labor Department (news - web sites) says manual laborers and other blue-collar workers won't be affected. The estimates of how many workers might see their pay change vary widely.

Edwards and presidential nominee John Kerry (news - web sites) predict the changes mean smaller paychecks for millions and predict workers like teachers and computer programers could see their pay shrink.

"Taking away the right to overtime pay and doing nothing while paychecks shrink and jobs go overseas makes sense only to someone who does not understand American values and does not respect what work means in this country," Edwards said.

The Bush-Cheney campaign said the Democrats have distorted the president's record and that the new rules will grant overtime pay to some workers not now eligible.

"This attack is another example of the Kerry campaign trying to mislead American workers," said spokesman Matt McDonald. "The only loser under this reform is the trial lawyers who have created an overtime lawsuit industry that costs our economy $2 billion per year."

Edwards amassed his personal fortune as a plaintiff's trial lawyer before winning election to the Senate from North Carolina in 1998.

Want more info on the new overtime laws, just search on "overtime" once your in the "news" section of Yahoo, or whoever you use.

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Sunday, August 22, 2004

Vietnam Vet Says Has No Proof for Claim Kerry Lied

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A veteran who disputed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites)'s Vietnam war record acknowledged on Sunday he had no proof to back his charge that Kerry fabricated the reports of enemy fire that won him two medals.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Van Odell, a member of the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that has spearheaded a campaign against Kerry's service record, said his was one of seven eyewitness accounts and he was not being directed by President Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign.

He has charged that then Navy Lt. Kerry, a Swift boat commander, fabricated the "after-action" report saying he faced enemy fire on March 13, 1969, for which he was awarded the Bronze Star and his third Purple Heart for being wounded while pulling a fellow soldier to safety.

"I do not have a single document," Odell said. "I have the fact that I wasn't wounded in that 5,000 meters of fire that he wrote about."

"There was no enemy fire from either bank," he added.

The assertion was another broadside in a debate that has been raging for weeks, and with at least one CBS poll showing the issue cutting into Kerry's support among veterans, the Massachusetts senator has accused the group of collaborating with the Bush campaign and demanded Bush repudiate the ads.

Odell said he had met with Republican strategist Merrie Spaeth, a public relations consultant to his group, and once bought a home from Bob Perry, a large Republican donor from Texas and close associate of Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser.

DOLE JOINS KERRY CRITICS

Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole joined critics of Kerry, telling CNN's "Late Edition" Kerry should apologize for his testimony to Congress more than 30 years ago in which he quoted other veterans talking about alleged atrocities in Vietnam.

Dole also said Kerry had received only "superficial wounds" in Vietnam and had been taken out of combat as a result.

"I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and he never bled, that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you're out," said Dole who himself was badly wounded in World War II.

"Maybe he should apologize to the other 2.5 million veterans who served," said Dole. "He wasn't the only one who was in Vietnam."

Kerry still carries shrapnel in his thigh from one of his wounds in Vietnam.

Republican Sen. Pat Roberts (news, bio, voting record) of Kansas, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said while the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group had "every right" to express their opinion, "we ought to get out of the character assassination business."

Kerry took a day off campaigning on Sunday, but his running mate, John Edwards (news - web sites), tied the attacks "directly to President Bush and his friends."

Campaigning in North Carolina, Edwards said: "Senator Kerry had a moment of truth in 1968 when he decided to volunteer and serve his country and put his life on the line for his country. This is a moment of truth for President Bush."

Kerry's Vietnam service has been central to his challenge to Bush. The two candidates have been running neck and neck in key polls.

The Bush campaign has denied any collaboration with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and other such groups. Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman, on NBC's "Meet the Press," played down the connection between the group and the campaign, or Rove. "Karl Rove is friends with lots of different people," he said.

The Bush campaign has acknowledged that Ken Cordier, a Vietnam veteran who appeared in a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial, had been working with the campaign but said he had resigned. (Additional reporting by Carol Giacomo and Adam Entous)

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the-peoples-patriot, a political Blog

Friday, August 27, 2004

Nader/Camejo Out pouring

10 weeks left

RUMSFELD MISLEADS ABOUT PRISON ABUSE

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Stop GOP Suppression of Black Vote

BUSH TRIES TO HIDE POVERTY NUMBERS

Naer News

From a friend on Kerry

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

MORE BUSH CONNECTIONS TO SMEAR ADS

Next week in New York, Republican politicians will try to make the case that their party represents mainstream American values. Don't be fooled.

Study Contradicts Cheney-Bush Claim of Undue Limits on Western Oil, Gas Drilling

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

BUSH'S CIA NOMINEE TRIED TO GUT KEY INTELLIGENCE

New Lawsuits Aim at Bush EPA Action Enabling Millions of Fish Kills

Monday, August 23, 2004

BUSH MISLEADS ON CONNECTION TO SMEAR CAMPAIGN

Edwards Hits Bush on Overtime Pay Rules

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Vietnam Vet Says Has No Proof for Claim Kerry Lied

Agree or not, talking it over is better...

Saturday Night Live - Palin / Hillary Open

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