The Angry Grass Seed

They've Just Proved Cousin Raub Correct!

2004-09-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

A Summary of Bipartisan Relations

"Bipartisanship is another term for date rape." - Grover Norquist

So the Republicans have said it themselves.

Seeing John Kerry in Person

2004-09-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

I'm Tired of the Lies They're Telling About My Candidate!
I was sitting on the floor in the disabled section of the hangar when Kerry's plane pulled in, having exhausted myself directing pedestrian traffic. It is a truly awesome thing to see a full sized aircraft pull up right next to you, and soon I had to stand again, because half the disabled were standing. People we had carefully seated for the two hour wait stood up if they could - and remained standing throughout Kerry's address. Some held onto the barriers.

Local veterans formed an informal honor guard, lining the path from the plane to the platform. Prominent local Democrats waited. Senator Kerry, followed by former Senator John Glenn, stopped and shook hands, talked to, or autographed for each person. As the two men approached the welcoming Democrats, the vets climbed onto the stage, where they stood in three rows throughout the event. Old and young, black and white, male and female, they stood proud.

Since it was a hot night, Senator Kerry soon stripped off his suitcoat and threw it to one of his party. As he began to speak, I studied him to see what manner of man he might be. First, this is not a man who has to be "handled". He is always aware of his environment, watching and listening to everything. The stories he told about his train trip confirmed this; he spoke of the people he had seen through the window and those he had stopped and talked to, schedule or no. Then he delighted us all by naming Nashville as Music City USA, home of the Titans, and home of Goo Goo Candy - this last, I know is not a national brand.

To us Kerry mainly spoke of the domestic issues like jobs, health care, and education that are impacting on us every day to a greater extent than the War on Terror. He spoke of the environment and how in 28 states a father can no longer take his son fishing and expect to eat the fish. We cannot win or be successful at any undertaking while we are undercutting our own people.

Many times he was stopped by cheering. I myself was waving my arms over my head, yelling with pure joy that someone at last was interested in my issues. Senator Kerry handled the interruptions quite nicely. Whenever he wished to resume, he simply said, "Now let me tell you something". There is no condescention here.

When he finished speaking, he waded into the crowd for handshakes and autographs. This crowd had signed no pledges of loyalty; we had merely gone through metal detectors. Nor can I swear that everyone who got into the general, white ticket section actually had a ticket. People were coming in too fast.

John Kerry does not have the charisma of Bobby Kennedy, who could encompass a whole auditorium in his personality. He is a practical man used to command who will be very particular about his intelligence.

A Dime's Worth of Difference???

2004-09-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

I'm Getting Tired of This!

Kerry invites us to participate in the same health care plan government employees have, with the government taking the catastrophic claims. Economist Paul Krugman confirms it can be done as Kerry suggests by taking away Bush’s tax cut for families earning $200,000 or above.

Bush wants to lower our health insurance by limiting medical malpractice suits.

Kerry proposes to allow Medicare, OUR Medicare, to use its bargaining power to get lower prescription drug prices and to let in medicine from Canada.

Bush has forbidden Medicare to lower prescription drug prices and has done everything possible to keep Canadian medicine out of our hands.

Kerry proposes to change the tax code to reward businesses that create jobs in America rather than offshore.

Bush sees nothing wrong with American jobs going overseas.

Kerry has always voted to protect women’s reproductive health, despite denunciation of his own church.

Bush has in essence declared war on women’s reproductive health.

While not for gay marriage, Kerry supports civil unions giving the same legal rights. He does not support the so-called marriage amendment.

Bush is actively pursuing a constitutional amendment limiting gay rights.

Kerry has a fine environmental record and will not allow polluters to write the law. He actually believes we should accept scientific findings.

Bush is allowing polluters to write the law and has suppressed scientific evidence, as in the air quality at Ground Zero.

Kerry has consistently supported unions and living wages for workers.

Bush appointed the aggressively anti-union Elaine Chiao as Secretary of Labor.

No, Kerry won’t get us out of Iraq immediately. He does mean to use a very powerful tool to make stabilizing Iraq a real NATO effort – he means to allow foreign firms to bid on Iraqi reconstruction contracts.

Bush intends to go it alone to the bitter end and to keep all the contracts and power in his own hands, regardless of the consequences.

Kerry will address large, unscreened crowds; you only need go through a metal detector.

Bush will address only those who have signed a pledge to support him.

A dime’s worth of difference? Not if you’re a woman or gay or sick or out of a job.

Real Humans Suffered and Died To Give Us Rights!

2004-09-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

Remember!
Too many people have forgotten the New Deal and the terrible suffering that brought it about. This last month I've been reminded of another thing we forget - American women suffered torment to get the right to vote!

I was somewhat familiar with the violence of the British movement, and of course I knew about the work of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott. But most of my women's history readings have been about Civil War or labor issues or women in the arts. I was not aware of the brutal beatings arrested suffragists suffered from a sadistic sheriff. I had heard something about force feeding suffragist hunger strikers but had no idea it was done to the point of inducing vomiting. Nor did I know that powerful politicians had tried to have Alice Paul declared insane so they could confine her indefinitely.

I did know and was proud of Tennessee's part in ratifying the 19th Amendment. We were the "Perfect 36", the last state needed to ratify. One vote made the difference, the vote of a young man whose mother wrote him to "do the right thing and help Mrs. Catt put the "rat" in ratification". He suffered harrassment for his convictions; according to some accounts, he slipped out a second floor window at the Capitol and walked a dangerous ledge to enter another room and evade his angry fellow legislators. The women in the Senate balcony, in the meanwhile, shredded the yellow roses that symbolized their movement and showered the petals on legislators. - Yet today we have women too apathetic to vote.

This year's Women for Kerry-Edwards campaign memorialized our rights by starting their campaign on August 26, the day Woodrow Wilson signed the Amendment. In Nashville, we gave out yellow paper roses along with cookies and water to some 300 hearty Democrats who gathered on Capitol Hill beneath the statue of Andrew Jackson. Our women in the state and local government spoke to us, along with Bluebird Cafe owner Amy Kurland.

John Kerry and John Edwards are right on for women's issues -health care, affordable prescription drugs, education, social security, and care for the veterans among us. We cannot win a war on anything by draining our own country of its strength.

Where Are They Now?

2004-08-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

Working For An International Bully

On September 15, 2001, I was on a Greyhound bus heading home to Nashville after a Constant Reader Convention in Milwaukee. (Those who could get there by land decided to cock a snook at the terrorists.) The bus stopped outside Fort Campbell to pick up some soldiers, and the driver remarked on the tight security. He had been able to drive right into the fort even during Gulf War I.

Since the driver was a former paratrooper who apparently drove this route frequently, the boys began talking shop. They were wondering where and when they would be ordered to fight, and none of them showed much confidence in the judgement of their Commander in Chief. "He's trying to be a hero, but he'll wind up being a zero." They discussed the number of Muslim countries in the world, showing an excellent grasp of geography, and asserted they couldn't be expected to take on all of them. Some reviewed the Israel situation and quoted the Bible. They were relaxed and hospitable enough to allow me, a mere civilian old enough to be their grandmothers, to chime in with a bit of fact they were trying to remember.

It isn't a long drive from Fort Campbell to Clarksville, where the boys got off to head to their various destinations, but I've never forgotten them. They seemed confident in their professional skills and abilities. Are any still alive and whole now, I wonder? They certainly deserved better than they have been getting.

Death In Nashville

2004-08-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

What's a few deaths between friends?
On Friday July 30 a six story scaffold collapsed on workers who were trying to dismantle it. One died. Two are seriously injured, and one of those may never walk again. The Sunday TENNESSEAN had this to say about the incident:

The primary contractor, Construction Enterprises Incc of Nashville, hired Safway Services to erect and dismantle the scaffolding.
Safway has a record of safety violations, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Web site.
The company was fined $10,000 last year by OSHA in connection with safety violations discovered after an accident in Oregon. It was also fined a total of $3,800 for two other violations found at work sites in FLorida and Pennsylvania last year. A $450 fine was levied against the company in April for a safety violation at a California work site.
A Safway Services worker was killed June 22 in a scaffolding accident at an energy plant in Salix, Iowa, according to The Associated Press.
Since 2002, Construction Enterprises Inc. has been fined a total of $5,850 by OSHA for 10 violations, six of which were labeled "serious".

The pictures in the paper left me with another question, so I drove by the jobsite on my way to lunch. Only one set of scaffolding had been taken down; much was still in place. It confirmed what I thought I saw in the pictures - these scaffolds have no handrail, midrail, and toe board as required by OSHA. A single misstep could lead to a six story fall, or a tool accidentally knocked off could strike someone on the ground.

When I first went to work in insurance, I read some of the safety literature in the office and learned that before OSHA the general expectation was for one death per story of a building or mile of road. Fortunately, the American people decided that was unacceptable. Not only does OSHA do what it can to enforce safety, citizens can read about contractors' safety records on the website!

Obviously, we need somebody in the Presidency who believes worker safety is important. The Kerry/Edwards team is certainly qualified.

Use the Paper Ballot!

2004-08-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

I've finally come up with a plan!
Ever since the last election, we've been hearing worrisome news about the Diebold electronic voting machines widely used in the richer venues. Diebold does not provide - and claims not to be able to provide - a paper backup. In fact, as we recently learned in Florida, they can't even insure they can keep the computer record of the election safely archived! No one in the government knows anything about the programming of these machines - it's a proprietary system.

In June I had the opportunity to talk to the local Democrat who coordinates poll workers. She was very frustrated about the touchscreen machines. "They come in and set them in the morning and come in and set them in the evening, and we don't know a thing about them." Since then several news stories have pointed to the relative inaccuracy of the touchscreen systen as opposed to older electronic methods. Still, the state and local election commissions dither and insist they can't do anything. I understand some districts in California still use them despite a state injunction.

I began to remember the presence of those archaic little booths for write-in voting that have featured in every election for some years. Why not use those paper ballots? You mark them yourself with a pencil; there's none of this business of trying to punch a hole in something and just hoping the extra paper has been cleared from the machine so the punch will be clean.

Yes, people can cheat with paper ballots and have been doing so since the beginning of the Republic. BUT THE PAPER VOTES ARE PHYSICALLY EXISTENT AND CAN BE RECOUNTED.

I used the paper ballot to vote early in the Tennessee August 5 primary. It takes a little more time, but it insures your vote exists.

Free Speech and the Bottom Line

2004-07-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

The First Amendment Is In Big Trouble
President Bush is obviously thin skinned and extremely unwilling to take what his party has gleefully dished out to Democrats, but that's not the whole problem - not by any means. Why did Slim Fast fire Whoopi Goldberg? Why was Linda Ronstaadt fired from her Vegas show? - They were threatening their patrons' bottom lines.

Corporate bottom lines are affecting all that we are allowed to see and hear on the supposedly public airwaves. A relatively few giant corporations control the media, and it's not just political speech they censor. They won't tolerate risk or innovation in any direction - it might hurt the bottom line. A recent Ted Turner article on the AlterNet laid it out in black and white. Money is controlling not only our free expression but our culture, and both are being stifled.

We're familiar with American Greed in other contexts. Japanese automakers were willing to take a few years of losses to develop a hybred car. Now they have a marketable product and are in the black again. American auto executives wouldn't take the risk.

The reason the Occupational Safety and Health Act was necessary and continues to be controversial is that spending money on employee safety can cause a short term dip in the bottom line. Machine guarding costs money and doesn't really produce a profit; it just keeps your employees from getting their arms cut off in the machines. A safe workplace produces a better, steadier profit in the long run, but it can make nasty bumps in your bottom line.

Now this greed is stifling our culture and our First Amendment freedoms.

Terror and November 2

2004-07-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Remember, I died for democracy. Democracy means free elections.
I have been greatly upset by Bush's trial balloons about putting off the election in the event of a terror attack. As Norman Solomon noted on the AlterNet, the media comment so far has been negative but leaves the possibility open that a postponement might be necessary. WE MUST NEVER LET THIS HAPPEN.

The VILLAGE VOICE has turned up a more likely - and chilling scenario:

Wayne Madsen, who worked at the National Security Agency (NSA) during the Reagan administration and currently is a journalist, sketches a more plausible scenario than the recent trial balloon floated by the administration-controlled Election Assistance Commission about possibly postponing the vote if there is a terrorist attack. Here's Madsen's scenario, step by creepy step:
If, on November 2, Kerry is ahead in key battleground states, then Bush will announce an imminent terrorist threat in California and maybe Washington state.
By 5 p.m. EST (2 p.m. on the Pacific Coast), Bush HQ will know whether Kentucky and Indiana—key states—are lost. If it looks like they are going down the drain, then the White House will flash the go-ahead, and the U.S. Northern Command (which has military jurisdiction over the U.S.) will, along with the Homeland Security Department and California authorities, declare an imminent terrorist threat.
Polls will remain open, but everyone will be trying to get out of urban centers as fast as they can. Traffic jams will cause panic and make people change their plans to vote after work. "A number of working-class voters in urban centers," Madsen theorizes, "will either be caught up in California's infamous freeway traffic and be too late to get to their polling places or be more concerned about their families and avoid voting altogether."
The people mostly likely thrown off balance who will decide not to vote will be middle- and low-income Californians—the Democratic base. Well-to-do voters (Republicans, more often than not) will likely have cast their ballots early.
By reducing the turnout among urban Democrats, Bush HQ will thus be manipulating the state's 54 votes into the Republican column. If things get worse for Bush as the Eastern vote comes in, the "terrorist alert" can be expanded to Washington state, where panicky rush-hour traffic jams in cities like Seattle can reduce the Democratic vote there, too.

Friends, we must prevent this! Let's encourage early voting.

Why We Can't Let Businesses Regulate Themselves

2004-07-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

You do know they're killing people out there, don't you?
The New York Times has just completed a seven month investigation of railroad crossing accidents, and the results are frankly chilling. Railroads, especially Union Pacific, are routinly destroying, mishandling, or losing incriminating evidence in crossing accidents. Sometimes they do not even report the crashes properly. NYT reporter Walt Bogdanich provides an example.
Blas Lopez, a father of four young children in Washington State was driving his potatoes to market. At a railroad crossing he was struck by a 4,700 ton Union Pacific train, literally ripping his body apart.
Of course, Union Pacific blamed him for not heeding the signal, but a witness reported the signal malfunctioned. The Lopez family lawyer arranged with the railroad to inspect the signal. On the appointed date, a railroad manager slipped out in the pre-dawn hours to replace the defective signal parts the manufacturer had urged Union Pacific to replace twelve years before. The ruse was only discovered when the Lopez lawyer some weeks later noticed the parts' serial numbers did not match railroad records.
During a recent 18 month period, Union Pacific, the nation's largest railroad, was sanctioned SEVEN TIMES by state and federal courts for destroying or failing to preserve evidence in crossing accidents. An eighth court ordered a case retried.
The Bush Administration has systematically starved federal regulatory agencies and has let Big Business write the laws. Don't you think it's time for a change??

Free To Read - Or Are We?

2004-07-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

A Mother Reads to Her Children

This week Congress is considering a bill to undo the most egregious portion of the Patriot Act - allowing Mr. Ashcroft's Justice Department virtually unfettered access to our book purchasing and library records, while forbiding these store owners and librarians from telling us we're being watched.

Richard Clarke in his book rightly points out there should be no circumstances in which this information should be necessary in terrorist investigation. He says the government shouldn't have allowed the provision to become an issue, but he doesn't dig this government's action - they WANT to know what we read! Remember how Ken Starr went after Monica Lewinski's reading records? Librarians are quite right to be shredding records daily.

Bush's government is also pressuring academics in Islamic studies to follow his line. Since government grants are important to them, they really feel the pinch. Some probably are aware of what the innocent Owen Lattimore suffered at the hands of the McCarthy Committee because he did not agree with the "old China hands"!

Now a recent NYT article reveals that the Department of Homeland Security has revitalized the old McCarran Act, which was designed to keep Communists out of the country. Now they are insisting that all journalists and novelists, even from countries with which we have a visa waiver agreement, get special visas. A female British novelist was recently subjected to handcuffing and body search before being sent back out of the country. One of Laura Bush's favorite authors, coming to lecture from Canada, was spared a similar ordeal only because they stopped him on the Canadian side. He was able to pull a few strings and come through, even to accept his lecture fee.

Don't you think this has gone far enough?

When There Wasn't A Social Safety Net

2004-07-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Mama & Great-Grandmother Greene 1940

Great-Grandmother Greene was widowed in the 1890s. Her husband, a railroad worker, had no life insurance, and of course there was no pension. She had three young children and her aging parents to provide for. Great-great-grandfather was a cobbler; his trade had been lost to mass production, though he still sometimes got a job. So Great-Grandmother and Great-Great-Grandmother set up a boarding house and took in washing and sewing. The children were sent to look for work.

My grandmother went to work at age 11 sticking labels on coffee cans at Cheek-Neal Coffee Company (now Maxwell House Coffee). She was so small her fellow workers could put her in a 50 pound bin and close the lid. Once she became ill, and the boss sent her a letter. He understood she was ill, he said, and because the company appreciated her good work she could stay home a few days and the job would still be there for her. We still have this carefully saved and cherished letter.

As time went on, she attracted the attention of my grandfather, a foreman coffee roaster, and they began going together. One day her married sister stopped my grandfather as he went to call. "You don't want to go marrying Blanche," she warned. "If you do, you'll have Mama and Grandpa living with you the rest of their lives." My grandfather immediately proposed.

Mama and Grandpa did live with the young couple. Great-Grandmother continued to do housework, sewing, and yard work, and Great-Great-Grandfather still occasionally made a pair of shoes. Great-Grandmother lived on her son-in-law's charity for forty-some years. (Republicans didn't want women to work then, since they weren't having to pay for their support.) The situation was sometimes acrimonious. My grandfather refused to welcome the rest of the Greene family to the house, especially the son who gave not a penny for his mother's support.

Luckily, Great-Grandmother was seldom ill. She pulled her weight in the house and helped care for my father. But she had no money of her own. She learned how to write whole letters to her friends on nickel postcards. Life was especially strained during the Depression, when my grandfather lost his job and house and cried tears of pain and anger. Eventually he found a good job in a new profession - but Great-Grandmother still had no money of her own.

That was before all those failed liberal programs.

The Government Is US Helping Our Weaker Citizens

2004-06-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

Tax Cut = Service Cut

The Republicans want to "starve the beast" of federally provided social programs. We liberals know from experience that our government is the only mechanism we have to provide for our neediest and least employable. NGOs are wonderful - God bless them! - but they can never do enough. Only the government can both print money and set enforceable standards of care and services. Providing for our old folks, affordable health care for all of us, services for the mentally ill and other disabled - these are things we the people have been doing through our government since the time of Franklin Roosevelt.

A special word about faith-based charities in providing these services - I know something about the inability of faith-based groups, especially fundamentalist ones, to deal with mental health issues. My own brother was born schizophrenic, and our religious community could never accept the fact, much less deal with it. Bible reading and prayer just don't reach deep mental health problems. People with mental health problems need help with no religious strings attached.

Why Single Women Should Vote For Kerry

2004-06-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

What Do You Mean Single Women Have No Reason To Vote For Kerry?

According to The Village Voice, many single women feel like sitting the election out. Bush turns them off, but they don't feel John Kerry will do anything for them.

Ladies, John Kerry is in your corner on two important issues - good jobs and health insurance. While Bush congratulates himself on having created some jobs that pay about a third less than those lost, Kerry is planning to change the tax structure to keep good jobs here.

The health care piece of the picture is even more important. John Kerry plans to extend the existing government employees' insurance program to all of us, with special credits for small businesses. He plans to have the government pick up 75% of the tab in catastrophic cases (approximately 12% of total claims). He's starting from an existing, working plan, so there's no room for smokescreens by Harry and Louise.

The idea Bush has for health insurance is to allow his Association Health Plans to cherry pick the healthiest employees from any given group - thus fracturing group rates and leaving most of us out in the cold.

Get out there and register and vote!

How Much Is It Worth To You?

2004-06-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

A Chorus Line drawn from an old photo by FLP

Some people have only two issues in this election - preventing abortion and preventing gay marriage. Here are a few questions for them:

If George Bush could guarantee no abortions or gay marriages, would you be willing to:

1. Take a job that pays a third less than your current one and is without benefits because your job has been outsourced.
2. Lose your health insurance with your job because you are unable to keep the payments up.
3. Take a job that pays so little you qualify for food stamps.
4. Help your elderly parents choose between medicine and food.
5. See your grown children suffer and die for lack of medical care because they lack insurance and neither you nor they can afford treatment.
6. See your children go into a shooting war with inadequate body armor.

All these are happening as a result of George Bush's policies or programs he tacitly approves. He can't guarantee to stop abortions or gay marriages, either, not unless he overturns the Constitution.

Don't you think it might be sensible to consider other factors when you vote?

Bush Has Made It Harder To Grow Old!

2004-06-17T17:08:00.000-07:00

The Hell of Growing Old

I was moved by a June 8 letter to The Tennessean from Mr. Winston Burkett of Gallatin, which I reproduce here:

The new senior drug discount cards have only been in effect for a few days now. I elected to take the card offered through my health insurance plan. I filled my blood pressure prescription and was surprised to find that it now cost me 5% more than it did before the discount went into effect.
I questioned the druggist because I thought there had been a mistake. He assured me that the price was correct. I was told that the pharmaceutical companies had raised the prices on the medications by a margin that not only offset the discount but also called for a greater out of pocket expense.
I spoke with several other seniors and found that they'd had a similar experience. Where does this leave the majority who have elected to forgo this confusing program? A program that was pitched as a great benefit and was to give some relief from the high drug cost but is in reality a greater burden. I don't believe we can afford any more help from Washington; the price is much too high.
I feel that this action by the pharmaceutical companies is immoral at the best and possibly criminal.

Yes, folks, Mr. Burkett is right. The only reason the pharmaceutical companies can be so blatant is that they have bought our leadership and believe we can't do anything. Let's show them! Old age is bad enough as it is.

Remember What Liberal Programs Have Done for Tennessee

2004-06-14T19:53:00.000-07:00

Cousin Raub (with his Bird) says we're forgetting our heritage.

The people who yell for smaller government have forgotten about the TVA, a program created by FDR. Granted, the TVA has gotten into a mess with nuclear power plants, and our coal plants could probably be cleaner, but consider what this Federal program has done for us that we couldn't do for ourselves.

In Nashville we depend on the Cumberland River for both water and electricity. We were not always thus blessed. From the mid 1930s to the mid 1950s, my grandfather was superintendent of the water purification plant for the Madison Suburban Utility District, which was then privately owned. This district, then as now, provided clean water for the much of northern Davidson County. Winter and Spring months were sometimes plagued with flooding. In summer the Cumberland would get so low my father often helped his dad drag the intake pipe further and further into the river bed to provide adequate water for their customers. Obviously, neither the private owner nor the City of Nashville could do anything about the river levels. Downtown Nashville flooded many springs, floating steamboats onto First Avenue and forcing police to evacuate the red light district, often in boats.

Then when I was a small child the TVA built Old Hickory Dam, providing us abundant electricity, taming the river, and giving rise to a large recreational boating industry.

As energy problems have plagued the country, The Tennessean has provided stories of how our TVA authorities refused to work with Enron. When the Northeast Power Grid failed because none of the private owners had any incentive to maintain it, the TVA grid remained in fine shape and able to help out. Does anybody but an energy executive think it's a good idea to privatize energy distribution?

Wear Red on Freedom Fridays

2004-06-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

This email was forwarded to me by a cousin with Quaker connections. Pass it on!

My name is Nadia Jensen and I have an idea for a quiet revolution. Please take 5 minutes to read my email and then help me if you can: Here's some history behind this idea: When Norway was occupied by Germany in 1940, Norwegian women began to knit RED caps for children as a way of letting everyone know that they did not like what was happening in their country, that they didn't like having their freedom taken away by the Nazis. My great aunt, Karin Knudson Myrstad, was one of the women who knit red caps for her children and others.
Similarly, in Denmark, women knit red-white-and blue caps (colors of the Allies) for the very same reason. The result was that whenever Norwegians and Danes left their homes -- to go to the store, to work, etc, they could see that THE MAJORITY opposed what was going on in their country. As you know, both countries organized effective Resistance efforts and changed history -- everything that happened began simply by wearing red!!!! (or the colors of the >> Allies, in Denmark).
1. BACKGROUND: I believe, as many of us do, that at the very heart of our democracy is our right to oppose certain policies of our government. Increasingly, our Government is redefining "freedom" in ways that make too many Americans perceive that it is risky to oppose his policies -- and, in particular, current inroads about individual freedoms and policies in the U.S. and abroad. However, many of us DO oppose what our government is doing to individual rights-- and I have an idea that will allow all of us to recognize each other very easily so we can see that WE ARE THE MAJORITY.
2. SO... I have been thinking that it's time to take action in a way that is effective and easy for all of us to do: Just wear red every Friday between now and election day. Wear a little or a lot-- just be sure that when you leave your house to go about your day -- to work, to school, to the store, to the gas station, wherever you go in your daily routine -- that everyone who sees you will see that you are wearing red because you believe in freedom and you don't agree with our current administration's policies at home and abroad. I'm really certain that we'll see that lots of us wearing red for freedom -- because WE ARE THE MAJORITY. We just need a way to show each other who we are!!! Between now and election day, ask everyone you know to wear red for "Freedom Fridays".
3. 3. I have already spread the word to friends and have had a very enthusiastic response. This email has been forwarded around the country by many who receive it - feel free to send in on to your friends and co-workers. _________________Quakers mailing list

Useful Web Sites

2004-06-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Artwork is sometimes more relevant than a photo.

I meant to put this drawing on my profile, but I'm just learning this technology. Anyway, here are some websites that will keep you up to date and provide in-depth coverage.
AlterNet.org - These folks have special sections on the election, the war, rights & liberties, mediamix, movies, environment, and the drug war. They also feature articles from a variety of sources, with links to more sources.
Counterpunch.org - These are longer articles from all over the world presenting many viewpoints and sidelights on all current issues.
ACLU.org - Don't forget this venerable organization. They have all the legal news on civil liberties issues, and you can sign on for their action alerts and sign their petitions.
ACLU-TN.org - Civil liberties issues in Tennessee.
Emergency.net - These folks have ongoing coverage of all disasters, whether war or natural. They also have extensive files on terrorism and terrorists, plus information on what we really need in Homeland Security.
Soldiers For the Truth - This site is run by military author Major David Hackworth and has lots of articles by soldiers about what is really going on and its consequences. You can learn a lot about how our troops are being exposed to depleted uranium.
All these sites lead to others. You can go in depth on almost anything.

Shop Democratic

2004-06-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Democrats, start shopping! There are goodies all over the net. You can access them from www.democraticunderground.com. Many are powered by CafePress, an organization that enables enthusiastic amateurs like us to get our designs onto all kinds of products. From their ministores you can buy shirts of all kinds, caps, mugs, stainless steel travel mugs, teddy bears, etc. all bearing your favorite message. Some of my favorites are Not Banned Yet, Join the Resistance, Angry in America, and American Voice. If you're really, really tired of right wing religion, go to ww.judyochristian.8m.com. Proceeds from the Kerry Swag site go to the Kerry campaign.

There's another creative approach, too. www.shoptodropbush.com has links to major merchants of all kinds. These merchants are giving the website their advertising commission (about 5%) to the site, which will give it to MoveOn or a similar organization. The site owners think they can get up to $4,000 that way - if we help, they can get more! Honestly, I had to sit on my credit card - exotic teas, bath gels, and classical music are among the treats, along with those expensive Italian shoes you've always wanted. We buy what we would buy anyway and support our cause.

Get shopping!

How Our Tax Code Helps Jobs and Dollars Leave the Country

2004-05-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

I just figured this out from information on the Kerry site. Bush didn't start this, though he has certainly created economic conditions to help it.

US corporations that make money overseas aren't taxed on that money until they bring it back to the United States. This didn't make much difference until tax rates in other countries went down to 21% while ours stayed at 34%. Add to that the fact that folks overseas will work cheaper and are not so concerned about safety and health standards. John Kerry plans to change that, and to sweeten the deal for corporations he'll give them a one year tax holiday to bring that money back and invest it in jobs over here.

Kerry is really on the ball about the movement of money. He plans to take steps against all those offshore offices in Bermuda and the Caymans, and he is very interested in tracing money. In fact, he wrote the money laundering provisions that eventually made their way into the Patriot Act. Bush won't fund or push them, since they might embarrass big business and his pals the Saudis. Kerry will, with or without the Patriot Act.

I haven't heard anything this sensible about money and the economy in a long time. Support John Kerry.

Fiction Is Sometimes Too Close To Home

2004-05-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Angry Grass Seed

Sometimes fiction makes a point better than fact. The following is an excerpt from Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! A dragon has gained control of Anhk-Morpork and is proposing to eat part of the citizenry. Here it communicates with the man who brought it there.

"In fact," said Wonse, trying to keep the trembling out of his voice, "before too long, if someone comes along and tells them that a dragon king is a bad idea, they'll kill him themselves."...

He felt the sensation of the dragon rummaging around in his mind, trying to find a clue to understanding. He half-saw, half-sensed the flicker of random images, of dragons, of the mythical age of reptiles and - here he felt the dragon's genuine astonishment - of some of the less commendable areas of human history, which were most of it. And after the astonishment came the baffled anger. There was practically nothing the dragon could do to people that they had not, soonor or later, tried on one another, often with enthusiasm.

You have the effrontery to be squeamish, it thought at him. But we were dragons.. We were supposed to be cruel, cunning, heartless, and terrible. But this much I can tell you, you ape - the great face pressed even closer, so that Wonse was staring into the pitiless depths of his eyes - we never burned and tortured and ripped one another apart and called it morality.

When this passage hits so close to home, we need a change. Support John Kerry.