Monday, July 26, 2004

FEATURED ARTICLES - An Open Letter to Progressives: Vote Kerry and Cobb,         by Medea Benjamin/Peter Coyote/John Eder/Daniel Ellsberg et al - AP Story Giving Bush Electoral Lead Is Faulty,        by Stephen Crockett & Al Lawrence, Demsonline.net - NOW Members Urge U.N. Oversight of 2004 Presidential Election, NOW.org - Protecting Our Franchise, by Jesse L. Jackson Sr., QUOTE OF THE DAY "This is not a perfect party. We are not a perfect people. Yet, we are called to a perfect mission. Our mission: to feed the hungry: to clothe the naked; to house the homeless; to teach the illiterate; to provide jobs for the jobless; and to choose the human race over the nuclear race." - - Jesse Jackson Sr. (In his address to the 1984 Democratic Convention) KNOW YOUR HISTORY - JULY 26th 1990 -- Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) becomes law. Millions celebrate. RHINO HERE: Today's blog briefing offers a variety of pieces on the coming Presidential election.  To begin, a group of high profile progressives has issued an open letter urging U.S. progressives to mobilize behind John Kerry in the so-called swing states, and behind Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, in the "safe states."  They're also encouraging activists    "to engage in election-year vigilance to ensure that all votes count, especially those of racial minorities get counted -- and to advocate for instant runoff voting and other reforms so that voters in future elections can support the candidate they most believe in without risk of electing the candidate they most oppose." An Open Letter to Progressives: Vote Kerry and Cobb by Medea Benjamin/Peter Coyote/John Eder/Daniel Ellsberg et al Published Friday, July 23, 2004 by CommonDreams.org There is no greater political imperative this year than to retire the Bush regime, one of the most dangerous and extremist in U.S. history. As people dedicated to peace, economic justice, equality, sustainability and constitutional freedoms, we are committed to defeating Bush. The only candidate who can win instead of Bush in November is John Kerry. We want Kerry to replace Bush, because a Kerry administration would be less dangerous in many crucial areas, including militarism, civil liberties, civil rights, judicial appointments, reproductive rights and environmental protection. But while helping Kerry-Edwards defeat Bush-Cheney, we don't want to endorse Kerry positions that are an insult to various causes we support, including movements for global justice and peace that have burgeoned in recent years. Indeed, we want to communicate to Kerry and the world that we oppose many of his policies, including some that are barely distinguishable from Bush policies.  Accordingly, we encourage progressives to organize and vote strategically this year... READ THE ENTIRE LETTER AT:  http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0723-09.htm Here is a list of the signatories:  Medea Benjamin (Code Pink, Global Exchange); Peter Coyote (actor); John Eder (Maine state legislator/Green Party); Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers whistleblower); Angela Gilliam (professor/feminist scholar); Kevin Gray (Jackson '88/Sharpton '04); Tom Hayden (former California State Senator/activist); Elizabeth Horton Sheff (Hartford City Council/Green Party); Rabbi Michael Lerner (Tikkun); Robert McChesney (communications professor/author); Norman Solomon (author/columnist) While sharing the desire to hold a Kerry administration accountable to progressive values, The Rhino ponders (worries) if all the states considered safe in 2000, or even safe right now in July 2004, will really be safe come November.  My initial reaction for this year is take no chances of unknown electoral twists. I respect each one of the signatories of this letter, and therefore, living in a "safe state," will consider their suggestions. However, Republican strategists have recently thrown down a gauntlet here in California proclaiming they think they can take California. No way you say?  Rhino sez, "Remember The Governator was elected here less than a year ago.  And then there's the effects of any dog wagging that Karl Rove is currently conjuring up in his witches' kettle. Folks, anything's possible. Aren't all these swing & safe deemings based on polls?  Have any of you Rhino's Blog readers ever been polled?   I haven't. Are these polls real & / or is the reporting of the poll numbers real?   Witness the following: AP Story Giving Bush Electoral Lead Is Faulty Stephen Crockett & Al Lawrence, Demsonline.net Recently, the Associated Press ran a story that was widely published in newspapers and on the Internet titled, "Bush Leads Kerry In Electoral Votes" that could have been written by the Bush campaign. The assignment of states to candidates, the headline and the conclusions were all simply wrong. MORE: Electoral Lead Meanwhile, The National Organization For Women, concerned about the tossing of votes in Florida & elsewhere, and the threats posed by electronic voting machines and the shrub gang's plans for postponing the election should a terror attack occur, has issued a call for UN monitoring of the 2004 election. For additional information about the appeal to the U.N. and to join 20,000 other progressives who have signed a petition demanding that President Bush approve election monitors, contact Democrats.com  at: Election Monitors NOW Members Urge U.N. Oversight of 2004 Presidential Election By Rachel Weisshaar, NOW.org, July 23, 2004 Calling attention to escalating concerns about the fairness of election practices in the United States, delegates in Las Vegas at the annual National NOW Conference last week passed a resolution urging United Nations oversight of the November elections.  The resolution, which passed unanimously on July 18, supports the members of Congress who sent a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on July 1 asking for U.N. oversight of the presidential elections. It cites a number of troubling reports... MORE: http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/072304unoversight.html 7:45:48 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Protecting Our Franchise Protecting Our Franchise by Jesse L. Jackson Sr., San Francisco Chronicle, July 23, 2004 Twenty years ago, I stood before the Democratic Convention in San Francisco, a candidate for the presidency of the United States, to speak of the hopes and dreams of Americans who, lacking voice in their everyday lives as well as the political process, took an apathetic attitude toward voting. That night I challenged the party to expand its center, to make room for America's working poor, our struggling middle class, those at the bottom who were and are the heart of the multi-ethnic, multi-issue Rainbow Coalition -- the organization that spurred my 1984 presidential campaign. In 1984, we registered 2 million new voters. In 1986, we helped return the U.S. Senate to the Democrats. In 1988, we helped elect newly empowered candidates, including New York City Mayor David Dinkins, Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder and others in cities, counties and states across.   The strategy of expanding the center, enfranchising all of America, worked for Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. Remember, the elder Bush and Sen. Bob Dole got more white votes alone than Clinton. But Clinton got more white, black, brown and Asian votes than they did -- and he won. Yet if the '84 and '88 elections empowered the disenfranchised, the 2000 election showed their vulnerability. In that calamity for democracy, Florida alone dumped 179,000 votes -- 54 percent of them cast by African Americans. Nationwide, nearly 2 million votes went uncounted. Half of them were black, according to data from the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and Harvard University's Civil Rights Project.  Is it any wonder that, four decades after the Selma march and four years after that flagrantly stolen 2000 election, some 8 million to 10 million African Americans are not registered to vote?... MORE AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0723-13.htm "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 7:01:07 AM    comment

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