Our 2-Party System: Spineless Demos, Ruthless GOP

Excellent. This article hit it right on the head. A copy of this article should be sent to every Democratic member of Congress. Never have I seen a more spineless group of people.

We need a new type of person to be a Democrat. It is amazing, but right now I cannot think of ONE Democratic politician, anywhere, that I would consider to be tough. Oh yeah, there's one -- Maxine Waters. It is time to ask the question: Can Liberals/Democrats be tough? Is it because we care about other people, empathize with people that we don't have balls?

Al Gore is not President today because he is spineless. He was not prepared to do what he had to do to win in Florida, while the Republicans were. To this extent, Gore does not deserve to be President. I still cringe when I think of poor, little, stammering Warren Christopher up against James Baker.

It is very sad that the very first person to call on Gore to give up the fight after the Gang of Five awarded the election to Bush was the Chairman of the Democratic Party. It is even more amazing that he now wants to be the Governor of Pennsylvania. And get this: He has the support of the Democrat party. He is just their kinda guy. Spineless & treacherous.

When will we get a leader who understands that bi-partisanship means that the other party yields and the Democrats stick together and vote in one block? When will we get rid of Daschle and Gephardt? As long as they are there the Democrats will NEVER be a fighting party. This has to be the first step. When will we create a grassroots organization that will protect our leaders from the right-wing and the right-wing press?

Do we have to wait for another generation until we have determined, focused men and women of passion who really want to win? Is it really going to be that long?

Winston Lawrence Cooper

After just finishing reading your article on the Bush pardons, I say good for you. I feel like the dems have laid down and allowed themselves to be steamrolled by the GOP. I am so tired of the Clinton bashing, I could scream! If it were not for reporting such as yours, I would feel like there is no one to represant the way I feel.

Connie Cochran

Winston Churchill once said:

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

"herself"

Kissinger And The Blockade Of News

Bravo, keep the pressure on this man until he has to answer questions to the citizens of the USA and the world.

Charles Pearson (N Carolina)

Henry Kissinger was awarded The Nobel Peace Prize. Why? He knew all the details of atrocities, rapes and genocide being committed by army of Pakistan in Bangladesh during 1970 or 1971. The brutal suppression of Bangladeshi by Pakistan (aided and abetted by Kissinger and Nixon) forced mass migration of millions of people to refugee camps in India. When Indian forces entered Bangladesh to free that country from brutal regime of Pakistan and to resolve its refugee problem, Kissinger and Nixon sent an aircraft carrier carrying nuclear weapons to intimidate India. Kissinger tried to encourage China to attack India to open a second front for Indian forces.

A person like Kissinger, at other times, could be considered a war criminal; he certainly did not deserve a Nobel Prize. His hands are full of blood on innocent people of Asian subcontinent.

"DPA48"

I was writing in hopes of finding some sort of contacts or groups that are involved in taking Kissinger to court for his war crimes. I am attempting to either locate and aid in this struggle, or begin a network for which we can move foward in this proceedure.

Monet DuValle

Fish Farms Threaten World Fish Population

Most of this article talks about farms on coastal lands and I was wondering if you have other articles on farming from ponds and what impact this has on world fish. The reason I ask I am thinking of starting a fish farm on my 80 acres I own in Ohio.

Tammy Andrews

A recent science conference discussed fish farming at great length. See Fish Farms Not Sustainable, Experts Warn in the current Monitor issue.   -- Editor

Julia "Butterfly" Hill Triumphs

My daughter (12) and I are reading her book, and we will be in California this summer to see the redwoods face to face. The work Julia and the other activists have done is inspirational. I am wondering at this point what can we do to help keep the redwoods and other old growth forests standing.

Sherry Ferguson

Sue Colombia's Right-Wing Death Squads

It never ceases to shock me when I read about Colombian right-wing paramilitary organizations murdering indigenous people, unionists, stealing land, and extortion. It is interesting that the "most feared Colombian death squad leader, Carlos Castano," boasts of being associated with the AUC. If that is true, it may be legally argued the AUC, its landowners and business contributors, constitute a criminal racketeering enterprise.

AUC's surviving Colombian victims may be able to use the U.S. Racketeering law (RICO) to sue the AUC, its associates ,and business contributors, in the United States. For U.S. jurisdiction purposes, Colombian plaintiffs (victims) may have to prove which international and/or Colombian business interests, if any, have contributed to the AUC and also conduct business in the United States. It is not necessary Colombian plaintiffs discover all of the AUC's alleged business or individual contributors. Establishing even a few corporate contributors may be enough for Colombian victims to commence racketeering lawsuits in the U.S. against the AUC. The deep pockets of alleged corporate wrongdoers may be enough to inspire U.S. attorneys to represent Colombian victims who wish to sue the AUC and/or Carlos Castano. A class action RICO suit against the AUC may also be possible.

Ross Regnart

The paramilitary AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) has waged a war of terror in Colombia for decades. As the "Plan Colombia" anti-drug campaign begins spending billions of dollars in its effort to eradicate coca growing, reports of kidnappings and intimidation from both the guerillas and paramilitaries have dramatically increased as the groups jockey for power. The shadowy AUC is the most violent, charged with hundreds of murders each month in its "scorched earth" campaign against suspected guerilla sympathizers. While the leftist guerilla organizations are on the U.S. State Department list of "terrorist" organizations, AUC is not, which allows the group to fundraise and lobby in the United States.   -- Editor

Palestinians Brace For Bloodbath

The election of Ariel Sharon to the premiership has done away with the false premise that Israel is committed to a peace process that will quickly bring finality to the conflict and relief for the Palestinians. What Ariel Sharon means when he says he is willing to engage the Palestinians in peace talks, is simply that he is willing to engage them in a series of interim agreements that will take years, if not decades, to implement.

Of course, what Ariel Sharon is proposing is nothing more than a return to the status quo ante -- i.e., to a policy of quiet creeping annexation of Palestinian lands, of confiscation of Palestinian property -- and most importantly, of building settlements, and more settlements. That is why the ending of violence is an essential pre-requisite to any peace talks as far as Mr. Sharon and his government are concerned: as long as there is violence in the colonies, the eyes of the world will remain on Israel's behavior and actions. And that is precisely why the Palestinians have refused to abandon their struggle.

This intifada, make no mistake about it, is a war for independence. And like all true wars of independence, it is being waged by the people, with their leadership doing all they can to catch up with them, lest they lose control. Putting down a guerilla insurgency is tough enough. Putting down the uprising of a whole people is impossible.

Ahmed Bouzid

Significant Western U.S. Air Pollution Comes From Asia

I think that we are forgetting that much of Asia is economically unstable. A lot do not have the means or education to fix these environmental concerns. Many do not even know that there is a problem with what they are doing.

Beth Graves

The Politics of D.A.R.E

The announcement came that D.A.R.E., the nation's largest and most well- known substance abuse prevention program, will shift its self-acknowledged ineffectual anti-use campaign to a more comprehensive strategy for drug abuse prevention. While this news would be a welcome improvement over the simplicity of the failed 1980s "just say no" mantra, the proposed change in focus does not move beyond more of the same tired propaganda concerning illicit drug use. Given that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program was created in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department, it is regrettably clear that the thrust of its mission remains politically motivated enforcement rather than unbiased health education.

Continuing to cast all (illegal) drug use as abuse, the new D.A.R.E. agenda merely readjusts its "just say no" message, by shifting who says it-from police officer to classmate. The principal investigator for the new project says that the program "draws on what we have learned from our research about the elements of effective prevention by addressing the normative beliefs, personal attitudes and problem solving and resistance skills of students." In other words, what they are calling "prevention science" will seek to use engineered peer pressure to cast all users of illegal drugs -- including responsible users -- as aberrant. The problem with this strategy is that it still relies on scare tactics (in this case, peer intimidation) and does not acknowledge the possibility for responsible consumption of potentially useful substances that are, under the on-going fever of the Drug War, currently outlawed.

Drug abuse is a problem. Drug use, need not be. Much of today's "drug problem" is the result of an infantile ("don't put that in your mouth") cultural relationship to drugs and a national drug policy based on zero-tolerance rather than respect. It's no surprise that the result is a country at war with drugs. It's time to change our way of thinking about drugs to embrace a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the potential benefits as well as the potential harms of a spectrum of drugs and their uses.

Wrye Sententia, Associate Director, Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics

In mid-February, D.A.R.E. announced a new curriculum, a tacit acknowledgement that the multi-million dollar program has failed. California's Department of Education has recommended that school districts no longer use D.A.R.E. and even stalwarts, such as the Petaluma, California school system profiled in our 1995 story, are turning to other programs.   -- Editor

Hey, Thanks

Great publication! Where have you been all my life? I have added your link to my list of good and useful sites at www.progressivelinks.com. Naturally you are listed in the periodical section.

Russ Nichols