MLW Rocks the Uptown Vote with Ginger
MLW attended a women's event last week at the 92nd Street Y. Entitled, "About Women" the panel included former Representative Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY), Jehmu Green, President of Rock the Vote, and Gloria Steinem. The discussion, a focus on the female vote, was moderated by Amy Richards of The Third Wave Foundation, a feminist activist organization.
The night began with a celeb-sighting. As I waited in line for my prepurchased ticket, a tall, extremely thin, and heavily made-up redhead pushed me aside to loudly ask for tickets. "My name is Tina Louise and I need my tickets." Apparently, Ginger left her manners on Gilligan's Island. For some reason, the celebrity sightings I have in New York are either A list (Woody Allen, Kirsten Dunst) or D list (Tammy Faye Baker) - no middle ground. But on to the serious stuff...
As I've mentioned before 22 million women did not vote in 2000. The panel discussed the reasons behind this and how to encourage women to vote. Steinem noted that "Guilt is not a radicalizing emotion. We need to get radical on our own concerns." She also criticzed the Democrats who "... do not know how to activate their own base." Steinem went on to describe voting as an act of rebellion and self-respect and briefly discussed the history of voter suppression in the U.S. (starting with that Republican icon loudly applauded at the RNC, Tricky Dick Nixon)
As the least-participatory democracy in the world, the U.S. lands on tops in the "difficulty in voting" process. Other countries keep elections open for a week or hold them on a weekend. Don't employers have to give their employees ample time to vote? Richards spoke about her views on voting and I liked this comment on how voting is good citizenship, "It's the least we can do, not the most we can do."
Greene shared her experience at Rock the Vote and for the first time, I felt there is a chance for Kerry can win. She noted that over 700,000 registration forms had been downloaded from their website. Today, the site notes that more than 900,000 individuals have been registered. She brought up an excellent point about the polls that show Bush ahead. She noted that most young voters exclusively use cell phones so there is no way for their opinions to be represented in polls. She talked about the power of same-day registration in states like Minnesota and how that has increased the 18-25 vote.
I was excited to see Ferraro but I have to admit, overall she was disappointing. She talked about being elected when she was not the party favorite, but she towed the party line. Why can't Democrats just speak the truth instead of following outdated and robotic words that do not incite action or support? We can handle the truth! She mentioned that she had two female candidates who she would like to see in the The White House. Steinem asked her to name them. She said Hillary Clinton and Kay Hutchinson, a conservative Republican Senator from Texas. I don't know anything about Hutchinson so I did some research from her website. This is what I found:
On Iraq- "I am troubled when I hear leaders say this is another Vietnam. We have troops on the ground in harm's way. Is it really productive for us to be labeling Iraq after 1 year as another Vietnam? Is it helpful to heap criticism on our President? Is it even helpful to be dissecting what happened in the run-up on the war on terrorism that began on September 11, 2001? Is that what we ought to be talking about right now? I don't think so. I think what we ought to be talking about right now is how we can come together as a country and make sure everyone in America understands the importance of this cause; that we support our Commander in Chief, and that we support our troops on the ground. But the one thing we must all do is be committed to the proposition we can't fail, and dividing our country in half over who was responsible for faulty intelligence is one way we could fail. What we need right now is a united country, not a country sniping at our President, whether it is on the Senate floor or out in the field.
Yes Kay, discourse about the direction of our foreign policy and the state of the occupation is productive, is helpful, and is we what we should be talking about. It's the best evidence that we are a healthy democracy in action. But wait there's more. Breeze through these insightful comments regarding the highest-ranking female in the junta, Condoleeza Rice.
On Condi Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission: "I am pleased by the extremely strong testimony provided today by Condi Rice to the 9-11 commission. She established beyond any doubt that the Bush Administration fully appreciated the threat posed by terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, and was rapidly putting in place a more robust policy to combat it.
That robust policy that led John-7-deferments-Ashcroft on September 10, 2001, to dismiss acting FBI Director Thomas Pickard's request for counterterrorism enhancements? That robust policy that had proved our military incapable of stopping an attack on our shores? I'm guessing the state of Texas has a different definition of robust than my dictionary. But back to the panel discussion . . .
Steinem pressed Ferraro on her support of Hutchinson and she responded with a lame story about Margaret Thatcher and girls growing up believing that they can be in politics; that just having a female in office, regardless of her political affiliation, was important. I had rather hoped we were past the idea of voting for someone based on anything but their views. I'm not denying the impact of a role model but being female doesn't exempt you from misguided and fascist political idealogy. There is a big difference between Eleanor Roosevelt and Laura Bush. There is an even bigger difference between Clarence Thomas and Al Sharpton. It's El Al in my book and I'm not talking about the Israeli airline.Ferraro did speak about the voting organization she is currently represents - www.grannyvote.org which states its mission as "We want to inform, inspire, and engage grandparents so that they vote for sustainable policies protecting the quality of their grandchildren's lives decades into the future and the stability of the America they will inhabit." A fascinating contrast to W's complete disinterest of his impact on the future - something along the lines of not caring how he'll be judged since he'll be dead.
After the lecture, my friend Alica and I went to an outdoor cafe for a quick bite. As we were chatting we saw Greene leaving the Y alone and walking in our direction. We asked her to join us for a drink and it ended up being a much later night than anticipated. I asked her how she got involved with RTV and she talked about her previous work at the Democratic National Committee. She told us some great stories about who she had met in her non-stop travelling job and she confirmed that Barack Obama is the real deal.
I asked her opinion on the potential for fraud with the computerized voting based on blurbs like this one from www.inthesetimes.com:
"In August 2003, the head of one of the biggest manufacturers of voting machines wrote a fundraising letter saying he is “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.” According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Walden O’Dell, CEO of Diebold INC., also “attended a strategy pow-wow with wealthy Bush benefactors—known as Rangers and Pioneers—at the president’s Crawford, Texas, ranch earlier this month.” The next week, he invited guests to a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for the Ohio GOP at his mansion in the Cleveland suburbs. This is the man whose machines have no paper trail and will be used by at least 8 million voters in the upcoming election."
She said she wasn't worried because the same potential for fraud existed with paper ballots, too. That old saying, "Vote early. Vote often" came from somewhere (1960, Richard Daley, Cook County). Besides Rock the Vote, P. Diddy's Citizen Change (www.citizenchange.com) has also been focused on registering the 42 million eligible individuals between the ages of 18-25. For most states, the last day to register is October 4. Ask everyone you know if they are registered. If they aren't, send them to either of these websites for information about registration in their state.
Shout-Outs Around the Nation
All you 25 and under- Listen Up - The Call Up - Coming Up
We have two shout-outs this week. First Jennifer Scott from the land of the cactus directs us to websites for all men (and women, too!) under the age of 25 with some disturbing information:
"There is pending legislation in the House and Senate which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin as early as spring, 2005, just after the 2004 presidential election. This legislation called HR 163 and can be found in detail at http://thomas.loc.gov/. Enter "HR 163" and click search and it will bring up the bill for you to read. If this bill passes, it will include all men and all women from ages 18 - 26 in a draft for military action. In addition, college will no longer be an option for avoiding the draft and they will be signing an agreement with the Canada which will no longer permit anyone attempting to dodge the draft to stay within its borders. This bill also includes the extension of military service for all those that are currently active. Please take the time to write your congressman and let them know how you feel about this legislation. www.house.gov and www.senate.gov. For more information, please see www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html to view the Selective Service System annual performance plan, fiscal year 2004. The Pentagon has quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide."
Nevermind about the hunt for Bin Laden
And for John Beary and Dennis Virga - their movie theatre, The Majestic , in Crested Butte, Colorado is one of only three theatres in the country showing "The Hunting of the President" which follows "The ten-year campaign to destroy Bill Clinton."
From the Barrister's Chair: More Fodder for Winning Family Fights
Thanks to Ann Molloy for her contribution of excerpts from Bush pere's memoirs "A World Transformed" on why he didn't pursue Saddam Hussein at the end of the Gulf War.
"Trying to eliminate Saddam...would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible.... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq....There was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."
Thanks to Joe Bednar for these words from the man in charge of Mourning in America, Ronald Reagan.
"I think when you make that decision (to vote) , it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago?
And if you answer all of those questions yes, why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to whom you will vote for. If you don't agree, if you don't think that this course that we've been on for the last four years is what you would like to see us follow for the next four, then I could suggest another
choice that you have. This country doesn't have to be in the shape that it is in."
Button of the Week
"I only sleep with Democrats"
Overheard in Union Square
"These New Yorkers just HATE Bush!"
Guess which Dictatorship
MLW has plethora of reports about goon squad tactics by security forces in an unnamed country currently ruled by a a leader who assumed power during a bloodless coup d'etat. Can you guess in which country these events occured?
- A woman getting fired because she had a bumper sticker in support of the opposition party on her car
- A mother being removed from a speech by the wife of the ruling party's leader after questioning the legitimacy of the his war in which her son was killed
- Individuals being barred from a speaking engagement of the ruling party's co-leader unless they signed a pledge to vote for the dictator in the upcoming "election"
You guessed it - the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Red State Mutiny of the Week or Another Son of a Former Republican President Gets Smart
From the New Hampshire Union Leader on Septmber 30, 2004
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=44657
"As son of a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is automatically expected by many that I am a Republican. For 50 years, through the election of 2000, I was. With the current administration’s decision to invade Iraq unilaterally, however, I changed my voter registration to independent, and barring some utterly unforeseen development, I intend to vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry."
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