Ralph is Coming to FL - Let's Show Our Support

Ralph is in Tampa tonight at the Holiday Inn from 6:30-9:30pm.

Please donate -- Donations before September 1st will be matched by the Fed's. (you know they're not happy about that one)

For more info visit Ralph's calendar...

We'll keep you posted here as well...

Are Democrats running for Bush? Against Nader?

The Democrats war on Nader
August 6, 2004

This all-out effort against Nader stands in stark contrast to the way that state Democrats made sure that George W. Bush was on the ballot. The late date of this year's Republican Party convention meant that Bush would not be able to meet a state deadline requiring that the official nominee be named by August 30.

So Democrats, led by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, helped pass an amendment allowing an exception for Bush. It’s enough to make you wonder who the Democrats are really running harder against: Bush or Nader?
Who’s in bed with the right?

"SPOILED," SELF-IMPORTANT," "a vanity campaign"--all this and more has been said about Ralph Nader’s 2004 presidential campaign, often enough by former supporters and sympathizers. But no slur has made the rounds with as much zeal as the charge that Nader--breaking with four decades of liberal activism against corporate abuses and political corruption--has jumped into bed with the right wing of the Republican Party.

Thus, Jeff Cohen, of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and the former communications director of Dennis Kucinich’s presidential campaign, recently complained about "how readily Nader has accepted the right-wing help"--citing a San Francsico Chronicle report that one in 10 Nader donors giving $1,000 or more had also donated to Bush and the Republicans.

Actually, Republicans have contributed only about $50,000 out of the total $1 million that Nader has raised--in other words, a drop in the bucket. Nader’s liberal attackers won’t tell you that. Nor will they mention the tens of millions of dollars in contributions for the Democratic Party from huge corporations--including those with longstanding ties to the Republicans.

For example, according to the Campaign Finance Institute, 24 "double-giver" companies--including General Electric, CitiGroup, Coca-Cola, DaimlerChrysler, Pfizer and AT&T--contributed both to the New York host committee for the Republican convention and the Boston host committee for the Democrats. Nader, of course, takes no corporate money for his campaign.

As left-wing writer Joshua Frank put it on the CounterPunch Web site, "Clearly, conservative money and support, which is minimal at best, is aiding Nader's efforts to get his name on certain state ballots. But Democrats are also guilty of having their hand in a tainted cookie jar. "The difference being, Nader is unlikely to be persuaded by such support. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for his opposition."

Creator of the Toxic Avenger endorses Nader

naderavenger, originally uploaded by costellojr.

Ralph Nader is one of the last honest men in America. This is the sort of person we should elect to the presidency, not more members of the same power-hungry, money-grubbing cabal that we've been foolishly voting into office for the past few decades. While Clinton was hopping around not inhaling and avoiding the draft, Nader was exposing corruption in the automobile industry. While Reagan was trying to forget the covert arms deals he brokered and Nancy was busy mashing peas for him, Nader was testifying before Congress to get a cleaner environment, not to mention a cleaner government. Nader cares about this country and its citizens. He deserves a chance to lead it.

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Green Party Struggle in California

From Counterpunch By Todd Chretien

Crossroads for the California Green Party
Will It Be Nader or Cobb?

Perhaps this would have remained an academic debate about internal Green Party process, but two new facts have re-opened it. First, although it was in motion before the Milwaukee convention, the campaign by the Democratic Party to disenfranchise millions of voters who support Nader/Camejo by employing Florida tactics to keep Nader off the ballot has developed into the most serious attack on democratic elections in the United States since the end of Jim Crow. Second, it has come to light in the past 48 hours that the California state Green Party, according to its own election code, can hold a state nominating convention in order to place a candidate on the ballot. These two facts give California Greens the motive and the opportunity to nominate Nader/Camejo for the California ballot, according to the rules and precedents of previous elections.

The California Green Party has been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dramatically raise its profile. Far from being a burden, holding a highly publicized nominating convention (in the days before the lunatic circus called the RNC) will act as a megaphone for the youth and the disenfranchised to hear what the party has to say about the need for an alternative to the two pro-war parties. The convention would take place just as campuses across California are opening session and could be the launching pad for an aggressive recruitment drive to win thousands of young people to the party. Besides the war radicalizing students, Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Democratic majority in Sacramento are ramming through catastrophic cuts to public education, which led to huge walk-outs and protests of state and community college students last spring. These students are alienated from mainstream politics and they are not enthusiastic about Kerry's Bush-lite program.

hundreds of thousands of pissed of California students are oblivious to the internal wrangling in Milwaukee, they do know that Ralph Nader is the guy who opposes the occupation of Iraq, uncompromisingly fights both mainstream parties and wants to tax the rich to get money for education. But it's not just students who the Green Party can attract in California if it acts boldly. Peter Miguel Camejo is the first Latino vice-president candidate in history. Camejo gained the sympathy of millions of Californians in the six televised debates in 2003. He is bi-lingual and is speaking on Spanish language media up and down the state. He is seen as a champion of one of the key modern civil rights issues for undocumented immigrants, namely, the right to get a drivers license in order to provide food for your family. David Cobb may be dedicated to building the Green Party where he can, but he is even less well-known amongst this fastest growing part of the population.

Ralph Nader's heritage and his principled stand for ending uncritical U.S. backing of Israel's war against the Palestinians has earned him a surge of support amongst Arab Americans. Backing Nader in 2004 shows remarkable courage from this group of people, who are the most direct victims of Patriot Act repression.

Kerry's and Edwards' praise for the Missouri constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage will force tens of thousands of lesbian and gay people in California to wake up from the Anybody But Bush haze and ask, "can we really vote for these bigots?" So too with these folks will Nader be the only candidate to get serious consideration.

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Represent... with Nader gear!

spoilertshirt, originally uploaded by costellojr.

Nike's plants have unions...don't they?

Other great US made gear at -- FAT AMERICAN --

3rd Parties!

thirdparties, originally uploaded by costellojr.

Run like Bush Lite, then blame Nader when you lose.

I'm John Kerry... Reporting for duty! If you wanted to enter the DNC make sure there are no peace signs on your clothes... that's not the message the DNC wants to make. The only message is ABB...

The Anybody But Bush left slanders Ralph Nader -- How can they defend Kerry?

NOW THAT delegates have emerged from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) "united" and "on message," the Anybody But Bush (ABB) left might want to pause for a moment of self-reflection--at its own culpability in selling Kerry as an antiwar candidate, despite all evidence to the contrary, while slandering the genuine antiwar candidacy of Ralph Nader and running mate Peter Camejo.

In June, the Green Party’s Medea Benjamin prefaced her rejection of the Nader-Camejo ticket by stating, "I totally support their antiwar, anti-corporate, pro-democracy message"--before warning that Nader and Camejo "might well help elect George Bush. This would be disastrous for our party, our country and our planet."

Peace signs were forcibly removed upon entering the Fleet Center, and Medea Benjamin herself was forcibly removed after she held up an anti-occupation banner. A Boston Globe poll showed that an overwhelming 95 percent of delegates to the DNC oppose the war in Iraq, yet the Democrats unanimously adopted a pro-war 2004 platform that would have made Barry Goldwater proud.

DNC FAN: "No peace signs allowed? What do I care, this is a Mercedes Benz shirt!" DNC REP: "Sorry highness... step right through to the sky box". Medea Benjamin's booted out after holding up an anti-war banner. Doesn't Medea know her banner may offend the 5% for the occupation. (insert your favorite 5% controls the 95% analogy here) The plot thickens...

The Democratic platform even puts Iran on notice--"a nuclear-armed Iran is an unacceptable risk to us and our allies"--while portending ominously, "With John Kerry as commander-in-chief, we will never wait for a green light from abroad when our safety is at stake."

Greenlight from NATO, the UN... Norwegian Polka Club? Didn't Kerry slam Bush for not obtaining a green light? We'll, at least he's the lesser of two EEE-VILS...

On July 16, Kerry was even more explicit about his war plans, when Wall Street Journal reporters asked Kerry whether he expects to have U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of his first term. He replied, "At the end of my first term, I would consider it a failure of my diplomacy if we haven't reduced the number significantly." (Translation: "Don’t hold your breath.")

How much lesser is this E-VIL again?

The ABB’s pre-emptive support for Kerry amounted to a self-fulfilling prophecy--leaving the rest of us to wonder what might have happened if the entire left had united behind an actual antiwar candidate, instead of smearing Nader simply because he is outside the Democratic Party.

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