Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Rhino Endorsements on Election Eve, 11/1/04 FEATURED IN THIS SPECIAL ELECTION BLOG - RHINO's CALIFORNIA ELECTION ENDORSEMENTS - Michael Moore's Election Eve Letter - Rhino's explanation of YES ON California Prop 70 "Indian Gaming Fare Share" - Explanation of YES ON California Prop 71 "Stem Cell Research", by Michael Helfant RHINO's CALIFORNIA ELECTION ENDORSEMENTS President & Vice President Kerry / Edwards Senator Barbara Boxer California Propositions 1A: YES. Keep local tax revenues local. 59: YES. Sunshine, Not Secrecy. 60: YES. Keep Primary Elections As Is 60A: NO. Let Legislators Decide Budget 61: YES. Health Care Funding 62: NO. Keep Primary Elections As Is 63: YES. Mental Health Funding 64: NO. Keep Your Right to Sue. 65: NO. Let Legislators Decide Budget 66: YES. Fix "Three Strikes" Law. 67: YES. Fund Emergency Medcal Care 68: NO: Non Indian Gaming 69: NO. DNA Databasing. 70: YES. Indian Fair Share (Equality in state taxes, no casinos off reservation lands, no limits on games) 71:  YES. Stem Cell Research 72: YES. Workplace Health Insurance. One Day Left By Michael Moore, MichaelMoore.com, November 1, 2004 Dear Friends, This is it. ONE DAY LEFT. There are many things I'd like to say. I've been on the road getting out the vote for 51 straight days so I haven't had much time to write. So I've put together a bunch of notes to various groups all in this one letter. Please feel free to copy and send whatever portions are appropriate to your friends and family as you spend these last 24 hours trying to convince whomever you can to show up and vote for John Kerry.  Here are my final words: http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110204X.shtml YES ON California proposition 70 - The American Indian Casino Fair Share Proposition Call me a flip-flopper but I have changed my mind and am firmly recommending a YES ON 70. I realize that this has been a difficult issue to understand. If it's been difficult for me whose day job is Native rights issues, then it must really be difficult for your average California citizen. Here's the information I offer. The Governator has been negotiating gaming compacts with the Indian, one tribe at a time. These negotiations have resulted in the tribes being told what games they may have in their casinos and how many they can have.  They have also required the tribes to pay anywhere from 15 to 18% in state taxes.  If 70 is voted down (NO) then that will all stay the same. If 70 is passed (YES) all the gaming compacts will be null & void and the tribes will be able to have their casinos, have whatever games they want and how ever many they want, and they will be required to pay the same state corporate tax rate as any other corporation in the state which is just under 9%. Here are my reasons for voting yes on 70, - If the governor cant tell a restaurant what kind of food it serves and cant tell a tire company how many tires it can sell, then why should he have the power to control those types of details of the Indians' businesses? - Why should the Indian casinos be forced to pay twice as much in state taxes as any other corporate business? - When the history of the state in regards to Indians has for centuries been to claim that the Indians were not the responsibility of the state, that it was a federal issue, even when they were starving or being hunted down by vigilantes, is it right that as soon as there's money to be had, that suddenly the state can claim jurisdiction? RHINO SEZ, "YES ON 70 Last but not least is California Prop 71  which I have received many passionate letters & notes about  I have decided to vote YES ON &! and I reprint with permission a letter written by a dear friend of mine who made the most sense to me on the issues involved.  Rhino thanks you all for your kind attention. Gary Regarding Prop 71,  the genesis of this initiative did not start at all with the pharmaceutical or the insurance companies. Prop 71 was initiated by parents and families. NOT the "medical/pharmaceutical/insurance complex" - families that could potentially benefit from the promise of stem cell research by curing the diseases of their loved ones.  I feel very strongly about this initiative.   I know I am influenced by the hope that one day diabetes will be cured and my daughter will no longer be insulin dependent.  But it truly isn't just about my daughter. I have spoken with many researchers and doctors and I am convinced of the following.   Prop 71 represents a new frontier in medical research with unprecedented potential to cure disease and save lives.  All of the funding under this proposition will be spent in California supporting our local biotechnology industry and ultimately saving all of us and our government billions and billions of dollars in healthcare costs.  Prop 71 is the ultimate investment in our future and the health and well being of our children and their children.   Because President Bush refused to allow government funding at the federal level, scientists and research are moving overseas where other governments are more supportive. California has an opportunity to change that reality.     Funding for issues like stem cell research and finding environmentally safe alternative energy sources should be pushed and supported by government because they simply will not be the priority for the private sector.   Gary, imagine if 30 years ago, after the first Arab oil embargo, our government had really committed to fund research for more efficient energy sources like we all hoped. Why did it take so many years for the Hybrid cars to come to market?   We know that solar power can be developed into a more efficient source of power, but it isn't there yet.  Why haven't these technologies been pursued the way they needed to be? Because too many people and and too many companies are making too much money with the existing dependency on oil.  There is no incentive for them to find alternatives which diminish their own profitability.   Similarly, the pharmaceutical and medical companies aren't necessarily prioritizing "cure". Right now, they are making so much money in the "care" and maintenance business.     Prop 71 is a bold initiative.  I appreciate that it seems like a lot of money.  It is.  But we need to be bold because the potential is so great.  Stem cell research has the potential to revolutionize our ability to fight all kinds of diseases.     It amazes me that the anti Prop 71 and the anti "stem cell research" lobby goes right to the concern about "harvesting" embryos, cloning and exploiting women.   The reality is that there are hundreds of thousands of embryonic stem cell lines already frozen in labs across the country.  Most of the anti-stem cell lobby would rather see these embryos defrosted and thrown in the garbage instead of letting them be used for stem cell research.  What could be more "pro-life" than using embryonic stem cells that would otherwise be discarded for research to cure lives?  I just don't get it.   The incredible thing about a strong embryonic stem cell line is that they repeatedly replicate other identical cells for further research.   I use the word replicate because the term more commonly used - "cloning" - conjures up all of the negative notions of human cloning.  I have been amazed when I hear opponents of stem cell research assert that we would be creating human clones to harvest body parts.  They are so misguided and ignorant about the focus of stem cell research - namely to find the key to cell differentiation - so that we can direct undifferentiated stem cells into healthy differentiated cells, such as nerve cells, brain cells, insulin producing beta cells, etc, that will then cure/replace damaged and cancerous tissue.   President Bush will only allow funding with previously identified stem cell lines of which only 15 or so have proved viable.  This is simply not enough of a source of stem cells to conduct the necessary research.  But there are many many existing embryonic stem cells which could produce viable stem cell lines without going anywhere near the "harvesting" scenario painted by Rebecca from Care2.   Regarding the oversight of spending, I understand that the group that will oversee this will be composed of a mixture of government representatives, scientists, doctors and civilians in order to preserve a balance in the decision making process.   For these reasons and for all of our children, I urge you and all of your readers to vote YES on PROP 71.   Michael Helfant Rhino's Blog is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. Feedback & requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. (rhino@kifaru.com) See The Latest Greatest Political Cartoons      While You Read Rhino's Blog 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. 10:20:03 AM    comment

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