News and Politics

Michigan GOP helps Nader

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Does this leave any doubt that Nader was put up to it by the Republicans to split the vote and insure a win for Bush?

Ralph Nader seems determined to make the ballot in this election year’s crucial swing states. So determined, in fact, that he’s once again accepting Republican help to do it, this time in Michigan, where state GOP leaders are happy to help the would-be spoiler gather signatures. The Associated Press reports: “‘It’s another example of state Republicans willing to try every unethical trick in the book to hold power,’ Democratic Executive Chairman Mark Brewer said Thursday. ‘This clearly shows that a vote for Ralph Nader is a vote to re-elect George Bush. The Republicans know that, and that’s why they are desperate to have Nader on the Michigan ballot.’

“Greg McNeilly of the state Republican Party said the GOP is doing nothing wrong and hopes Nader will draw votes from the Democratic candidate. Republicans will make sure Nader has more than the 30,000 valid signatures he needs by July 15 to qualify for the Michigan ballot, McNeilly said.

“‘Unlike the Democratic Party, where ‘D’ stands for disenfranchisement, we want voters to have choices,’ he said.

“Brewer sent a letter to Nader on Thursday asking that he refuse the GOP’s assistance and any petition signatures collected by the Republican Party, its staff or volunteers. ‘We’re not out there focusing on getting Libertarians on the ballot,’ Brewer said. ‘If the Republicans refuse to stop their efforts and Nader accepts their help, we will have no choice but to oppose his petition effort, review every signature and challenge his petitions if they are insufficient in any way.'” But considering the Nader campaign’s recent behavior in Arizona and Oregon, it’s unlikely that the perennial third-party candidate will back down this time around.

[via Salon]

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

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Via metafilter: “Wave of Outings hits Congress–Closet-cases running scared –being targeted are the closeted anti-gay members of Congress (and their staff), all a result of the Federal Marriage Amendment, due to come to a symbolic vote sometime before the election in November. More here, too: “We have accepted for far too long fellow gays who work for horribly anti-gay politicians and thus help those politicians bash our community,” Aravosis said.

“It’s time we stopped tolerating this situation as normal. These people need, at the very least, to be confronted over their hypocrisy, and when we see them in public we ought to tell them we don’t approve.” And still more from Signorile“

Orrin Hatch criminalizes the iPod

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Orrin Hatch criminalizes the iPod: “With Orrin Hatch’s nation-destroying Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act headed for law, EFF has decided to create a real example of just what kind of “piracy” Hatch is targetting. Here’s EFF’s hypothetical complaint against Apple (for making the iPod) C|Net (for reviewing the iPod), and Toshiba (for supplying hard drives for iPods). All three of these activities fall within the scope of activity that Hatch’s bill seeks to end:

As detailed further in Professor Expert’s report, the iPod would have been much less attractive to consumers had it been incompatible with the music files downloaded from P2P networks and had it not allowed consumer-to-consumer transfers. Professor Expert’s report also makes it clear that the iPod, in turn, enhanced the attractiveness of P2P networks by offering iPod owners expansive storage capability and lightning-fast data transfer, allowing them to listen to any number of infringing music files when away from the computer.

Surveys conducted by Professor Expert establish that a majority of iPod owners have used at least some significant portion of their iPods to store and play infringing music files, whether derived from P2P networks or promiscuous hand-to-hand copying. Upon information and belief, Apple was certainly aware of this fact from its own internal marketing research.

Link

(Thanks, Jason (and good work!))”

(Via Boing Boing Blog.)

DMB to Play Kerry Benefit

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DMB to Play Kerry Benefit: “Dave Matthews Band will be performing at a benefit for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, according to an announcement on the band’s website. The July 8th event, which fits nicely into the band’s schedule, will be held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and will also feature Mary J. Blige, John Mellencamp, Jon Bon Jovi and Wyclef Jean. Dave Matthews has endorsed John Kerry for the presidency.”

(Via nancies.org.)

Where is this country headed?

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Is U.S. like Germany of the ’30s? (via Metafilter)

This is a time of great peril in American history because a phony patriotism and an America-worshipping religion threaten the authentic American genius of tolerance and respect for other people.

The strongest criticism that the administration levels at Sen. John Kerry is that he changes his mind. In fact, instead of a president who claims an infallibility that exceeds that of the pope, America would be much better off with a president who, like John F. Kennedy, is honest enough to admit mistakes and secure enough to change his mind.

Jim Stork Endorsed By Howard Dean And Democracy For America

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Jim Stork is one of the latest candidates endorced by Dean & Democracy For America.

Few congressional races have attracted so much attention so fast. A former mayor and small business man featured nationally in Entrepreneur Magazine, openly gay Stork announced his run in March and out-raised incumbent Clay Shaw by over $150,000 in the first quarter of this year. In 2000, Shaw barely won reelection by 599 votes in this Democratic leaning district where Kerry is currently leading by double digits. This year Stork has the momentum. Democracy for America joins Senator Ted Kennedy, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and over a dozen members of Congress in enthusiastically endorsing Jim Stork.

Decline of the presidency

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For a few days I’ve been considering whether to write about the passing of Ronald Reagan and what I should write. I won’t take issue with his politics, even though I disagree with most of it.

I believe Reagan’s election marked the decline of the presidency. There were bad presidents before him, but before Reagan, the president was always an intelligent, strong man who made his own decisions rather than depending on advisors. Before Reagan, presidents were elected on issues, not image.

Reagan was elected for his image, personality, and communcation skills rather than his policies & ideas. There was no substance behind his image. Lack of knowledge became a plus. The president was now nothing more than a figurehead, with his advisors making the real decisions.

Both Bushes continue the same tradition. George W. Bush once said that he doesn’t read newspapers. He depends on his aides to inform him of important events. How did ignorance ever become a good thing for the president?