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Today's
Stories
April
23, 2004
Paul
de Rooij
Graveyard of Justifications: Glossary
of the Iraqi Occupation
April
22, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
When Terror Came to Basra: "I
Saw a Minibus of Children on Fire"
Tanya
Reinhart
The Wall Behind Disengagement
Lance
Selfa
Why is Kucinich Still in the Race?
Josh
Frank
Street Fighting Man? Kucinich's Pulled Punches
Sen.
Robert Byrd
Bush Owes America Answers on Iraq
William
S. Lind
Why We Get It Wrong
Mickey
Z.
Undoing the Latches
Robert
Jensen
Why They Fast: Remembering the Victims of the World Bank
John
L. Hess
The New York Times from 30,000 Feet
April
21, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Yeats on Iraq
Alfredo
Castro
Colombia's Forgotten Prisoners
Dr.
Susan Block
Bush's Taliban Drug Deal
William
A. Cook
George 1 to George 2
Jack
Random
Iraq and Vietnam
Jean-Guy
Allard
Alarcon Meets the Editors
Mike
Whitney
Charade in the Desert
Bill
Christison
Only Major Policies Changes Can
Help Washington Now
April 20, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Bush and Kerry Share a Problem
Stan
Cox
Wal-Mart's Magic Numbers
Bruce
Anderson
On Listening to Air America
Joseph
Kalvoda
Czech Mate for Condi
Greg
Moses
Yesterday's Intelligence
Stan
Goff
The Democrats and Iraq
Website
of the Day
Santorum Happens
April 19, 2004
Kurt
Nimmo
The "Central Hand" of the
Resistance
Mike
Whitney
Bob Woodward's Imperial Trifles
Douglas
Valentine
52 Pick-Up and the 100-to-1
Rule
John
Chuckman
The Sharon Annex: Evil Does Often
Triumph
Doug
Giebel
Welcome to the Club
Rahul
Mahajan
Hospital Closings and War Crimes
April
16 / 18, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Bush Legitimizes Terror
Saul
Landau
Subverting Brazil and Cuba
Dave
Lindorff
Paying for War: $2,150 per Family
and Counting
Brandy
Baker
Fallujah's Collateral Damage
Mickey
Z.
The Left Attacks from the Right
Bruce
Jackson
The Bush Press Conference: Gott Mit
Uns
Norman
Solomon
How the "NewsHour" Changed
History
Alexander
Cockburn
Bush, Kerry and Empire
April
15, 2004
Greg
Moses
Follow the Families, Not the Script
Virginia
Tilley
The Carnage According to Gen. Kimmitt:
Just Change the Channel
Ron
Jacobs
They Coulda Been Champions of the
World: Hurricane Carter and Ron Kovic
Michael
Neumann
A Happy Compromise: Hate Crimes
Reporting in the Toronto Globe and Mail
April
14, 2004
Tom
Reeves
Return to Haiti: an American Learning
Zone
Reza
Fiyouzat
Japan and Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
What Bush Really Said
Diane
Christian
The Real Passion
April 10 /
12, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Greatest Radical Journalist of His Age
Patrick Cockburn
Ambush, Kidnap, Murder: Another Day in "Post War" Iraq
Ellen Cantarow
Health Under Siege on the West Bank
Tariq Ali
Iraqi
Resistance: a New Phase
Werther
Pseudoconservatism Revisited: When God is Pro War & Other
Delicacies
Robert Fisk
Bush's War Lords to Their Critics: "Just Shut Up"
Gary Leupp
Indian Wars, Vietnam and Orientalist Fantasy
Ron Jacobs
The Iranian Revolution, Cont.
Jorge Mariscal
Perils of the Bootstrap
Phil Gasper
Defying Stereotypes About Death Row
Dave Zirin
Bringing the Black Freedom Struggle Into Sports: an Interview
with Lee Evans
Brandy Baker
The Revolution is Playing at a Theater Near You
Mickey Z.
Underground Music is Free Media: an Interview with Twiin
Ali Tonak
Get Ready for the Million Worker March
Harry Browne
Asking the Wrong Question About Richard Clarke & 9/11
Gideon Samet
The Sharonizing of America
Conn Hallinan
Remote Control Warriors
Website of
the Weekend
Taboo
Tunes
April 9, 2004
Robert Fisk
This
War's Simple Truth: Iraqis Do Not Want Us
John L. Hess
The
Non-Confessions of a Warrior Princess: Condi on the Stand
Niranjan Ramakrishnan
Condoleezza's Condescensions
Christopher Brauchli
Holes in the Sky: Bush's Crazed Missile Defense Plan
Don Santina
Forget the Alamo!: Glorifying the Fight for Slavery in Texas
William S. Lind
The 4G Warfare Seminar, Cont.
Bill Christison
9/11
Commission is Bush's New Lapdog
Website of the Day
What We've Done to Fallujah
April 8,
2004
Wayne Madsen
Rice
(and the Record) Proves It: Bush Knew, But Failed to Act
Kurt Nimmo
Will
Bush Flatten Fallajuh?
Patrick Cockburn
Guided
Missile; Misguided War
Laura Flanders
Steamed
Rice
Larry Everest
What Condi Rice is Hiding
Adam Federman
Sacred Capitalism Hits Russia
M. Junaid Alam
The Iraqi Intifada Begins
Norman Solomon
The Quest for a Monopoly on Violence
Douglas Valentine
Echoes
of Vietnam: Phoenix, Assassination and Blowback in Iraq
Website of the Day
Xispas: Chicano Art, Culture and Politics
April 7, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Those
Pulitzers!
Sen. Robert
Byrd
Deeper
into the Mouth of Hell: We Must Find the Exit from Iraq
Ron Jacobs
Tet
in Iraq: Closer to the Cosmic Disaster?
Patrick Cockburn
Battles
Across Iraq: US Death Toll Mounts
Kathy Kelly
Pacification: Worth the Price?
Sonali Kolhatkar
What Are You Doing About Afghanistan?
Rahul Mahajan
Report from Baghdad: Opening the Gates of Hell
Robert Fisk
US Airlifts Saddam to Qatar
Mike Whitney
America Out of Iraq, Now!
Sam Hamod
Bush, Pandora's Box and the Tiger
April 6,
2004
C.G. Estabrook
Mercenaries
and Occupiers
William Blum
The
Anti-Empire Report: the Israel Lobby
Col. Dan Smith
The
Language of Disbelief: 1.3 Billion Still Live in War Zones
Dr. Bulent Gokay
The Coming Islamic Republic of Iraq?
Lynn Landes
Faking Democracy: Americans Don't Vote; Machines Do
Sheila Samples
What Would Royko Write?
Jason Leopold
Condi's Blind Spot: Rice Never Mentioned al-Qaeda
Mickey Z.
A Reality Show with No End in Sight
Robert Fisk
Iraq on the Brink of Anarchy
April 5, 2004
John Farrell
Lessons
from El Salvador and Iraq
Robert Fisk
Bloodbath
a Bad Omen for Bush
Gary Leupp
Shiites Say No: Another "Nightmare
Scenario"
April 3 / 4, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Anti-Depressants
a Problem? We're Shocked
Jeffrey St. Clair
How Neil Bush Succeeded in Business
Without Really Trying
Gary Leupp
On Jefferson, Diderot and the Political Uses of God
Lawrence Davidson
Orwell and Kafka in Israel / Palestine
Frederick B.
Hudson
Condi Rice: the Family Retainer
Phillip Cryan
The Magic of Coca-Cola: Colombian Workers, Civil Rights and Advertising
Dave Zirin
Lester Speaks: an Interview with Lester "Red" Rodney
Ben Tripp
Talking Dirty: Obscene But Not Heard
Bruce Anderson
Phony Liberals and Fake Concern for the Homeless
Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Justice and Legitimacy in Haiti
Mark Scaramella
Do You Have What It Takes to Be Sec. of Defense? Take the Rumsfeld
Quiz
Sharon Smith
Do Most Iraqis Really Want the US to Stay?
Rick Giombetti
Melissa Ann Rowland: a Witch for Our Time
Nader/Kerry
Quandary
Stephen Gowans
Communists
for Capitalism?
Frank Bardacke / Doug Lummis
Support Nader; Dump Bush: an Election Manifesto
Mickey Z
Turn ON
Saul Landau
Kerry: a Less Dangerous Imperialist?
Richard Oxman
Nader and/or Death?
Poets' Basement
Holt, LaMorticella, Davies, Albert and Tripp
Website of the Weekend
Missing
April 2, 2004
Dave Lindorff
Barbaric
Relativism: the Press and Fallujah
Kurt Nimmo
Wherever
Bush Goes, Osama is Bound to Follow
Emma Miller
The
Role of the West in the Rwandan Genocide
Dr. Susan Block
Same
Sex Marriages: Just Say "No" to Prohibition
Norman Solomon
Media Strategy Memo for George & Dick
Sacha Guney
The Meaning of the Elections in Turkey
Christopher
Brauchli
The
Disturbing Case of Cpt. Yee
Website of the Day
Mercenaries, Inc.
April 1, 2004
Ron Jacobs
Dying in Vain in Iraq
Harry Browne
No Smoke, Plenty of Fire: Ireland's Pubs Go Smokefree
Chris Floyd
Towel Boy: Bush Hits Workers with Chemical Weapons
Nicole Colson
Inside America's Concentration Camp: Tortured at Guantanamo
Charles Arthur
Haiti's Army Cracks Down on Workers
Laura Flanders
Elaine
Chao: a First Daughter for the First Son
March 31, 2004
M. Junaid Alam
Israel:
Suicide Nation?
John L. Hess
Condi
Under Oath: But What About the NYTs Reporters?
Fernando Suarez
del Solar
A
Year Since My Son's Death in Iraq
Sofia Perez
Spain's
U-Turn on Iraq is Real Democracy in Action
David Vest
Stick 'Em Up: Put Cheney and Bush Under Oath
Tanya Reinhart
As in Tiannamen Square: Justice and the Yassin Assassination
Mike Whitney
Time to Dump the Pledge
Donald Kaul
Martha Stewart's Lesson: Never Talk to the FBI
Milt Bearden
Mired in the Tracks of Alexander the Great
Marjorie Cohn
The
Illegal Coup in Haiti: How the Kidnapping of Aristide Violated
US and International Law
Website of the Day
New Pentagon Papers Dropped at DC Starbucks
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
April
23, 2004
Sierra Club,
Inc.
The Best Directors
Money Can Buy
By KARYN STRICKLER
Hearty congratulations to Lisa Renstorm,
Jan O'Connell, Nick Aumen, Sanjay Ranchod and Dave Karpf. They
won the election for the Sierra Club Board of Directors. I like
to call them the Chosen 5. They won in an unprecedented, landslide
victory. Why, it was so remarkable, that it was virtually divinely
ordained.
Never before has a candidate
for the Board of Directors won with a stunning total of nearly
142,000 votes. And never before has so much money been spent
on candidates for the Sierra Club Board. The Club can now boast
the very best, new Directors that money can buy.
We know that an expensive mailing
was sent to about 550,000 members. Many Chapter newsletters nationwide
carried a message supporting the Chosen 5--in violation of the
Club's bylaws and the California law. The problem is that we
don't know exactly how much money was spent. We do know that
printing and postage to such large lists costs hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
Despite many questions to those
directly involved, no one seems to be willing to provide answers.
So, I estimate that reform candidates were outspent by as much
as $1000: $1. After the first official report, all 9 reform candidates
had spent a combined total of less than $500 on their own campaigns.
Did I mention that all candidates
in the race agreed to a spending limit of $2,000 per candidate?
But the Chosen 5 rose above that trivial commitment by getting
others to spend undisclosed amounts on their elections, without
having to do a thing. Someone orchestrated a bizarre independent
expenditure-type campaign on which there are no limits and no
reports. But my guess is that they spent close to half a million
dollars.
So, let's calculate the cost
per vote for the Chosen 5. The highest vote getter, Lisa Renstrom,
got approximately 142,000 votes. Now, let's say that there was
$500,000 dollars spent for 142,000 votes -- that calculates out
to $3.52 per vote or less than 1/3 of a vote per dollar spent.
Even if Renstrom spent only half of the original amount estimated
-- $250,000 -- that's $1.76 per vote, less than 2/3 of a vote
per dollar spent.
As the vote totals go down,
which they do for all of the remaining Chosen 5, the cost per
vote goes up. Let's consider the cost for the lowest vote getter
among the Chosen 5, Dave Karpf. He received about 111,000 votes.
If $500,000 dollars were spent, that's $4.50 per vote and about
1/5 of a vote per dollar spent.
I was a candidate in the 2004
Sierra Club Board of Director's election. I spent a grand total
of $27.95 on my election. I received 8,333 votes. That comes
out to $.003 dollars per vote. I received 298 votes per dollar
spent. If I had spent $250,000, I would have gotten about 75,000,000--yes,
seventy five million votes.
If I had spent $500,000, at
298 votes per dollar, I would have received about 150,000,000
votes -- that's one hundred and fifty million votes. Can we talk
about unprecedented? That's nearly three times the number of
votes needed to be elected President of the United States. Of
course, there are not even that many members in the Club, so
this is strictly an academic exercise, but you get the point.
Imagine the disappointment
of a true right-winger like former Club Vice President and current
Board member Chuck McGrady, if a reform candidate like me, who
wanted strong environmental protection, spent $500,000 and were
elected to the Board. McGrady resigned as the Club's Vice President
during the election because as he said, "I'm tired of being
rolled out to provide partisan cover for the Sierra Club. I'm
unwilling to serve in any leadership position which might place
me in the role of a spokesman for the Sierra Club in any strident
attacks on President Bush."
Speaking of President of the
United States, the Chosen 5 have nearly as much of a mandate
as George W. Bush. Sadly for the Chosen 5--those electoral Goliaths--the
election is not over. Hey, didn't that happen to Bush too? This
is getting eerie. While the results are in--with a lawsuit pending
over unfair election practices--justice and truth may yet prevail.
This election was really about
the old guard versus the reformers. The old guard wanted to maintain
power for power's sake and perpetuate the status quo. Reformers
want stronger protections and fewer compromises on environmental
issues and more grassroots involvement in the process.
Long-time Sierra Club leaders
from across the nation joined together to challenge numerous
illegal election practices employed this year in a desperate
attempt by the old guard to hang on to their power. Unprecedented
amounts of money were spent in an effort to keep reform candidates
from prevailing in this election. One-sided campaign mailers
and unfair election notices were allowed by election inspectors
and then challenged in this lawsuit.
The old guard's tactics have
been wildly successful to this point, but the judge in the lawsuit,
the Honorable James L. Warren, at a preliminary injunction hearing
on
April 14, stated that he agreed
with the plaintiff reformers that "the corporation, itself,
cannot legally advance at members' cost, one list of candidates
to the exclusion of others."
Judge Warren, denied the old
guard's motion, led by Club President Larry Fahn, to dismiss
the lawsuit and stated, "I do believe that there is probably
going to be a pretty good chance of success on the merits with
respect to the claim that the Sierra Club has not properly given
equal time to all of the candidates."
Incumbent, reform-oriented
Board member Marcia Hanscom said, "Basic democratic principles
of fairness and honesty were tossed aside in this election, leaving
the most progressive candidates at a decided disadvantage. The
candidates who want a stronger, more principled Sierra Club deserve
an unbiased election, and apparently the Judge who will decide
this case, agrees that fairness is required by the California
Corporation code."
The real story of this election
is the need for a Board that exercises proper oversight, insists
on holding elected officials of both major parties accountable,
fights for tough environmental protection without compromise
and consistently votes to support the important grassroots work
our activists do in chapters and groups across the country.
Reformers will have their day
in court and may get another chance to tell their story.
Karyn Strickler, former executive director of the
national Endangered Species Coalition and a reform candidate
for the Sierra Club Board of Directors. Contact: http://www.karynstrickler.com
or fiftyplusone@earthlink.net
.
Copyright 2004
Weekend
Edition Features for April 3 / 4, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Anti-Depressants
a Problem? We're Shocked
Jeffrey St. Clair
How Neil Bush Succeeded in Business
Without Really Trying
Gary Leupp
On Jefferson, Diderot and the Political Uses of God
Lawrence Davidson
Orwell and Kafka in Israel / Palestine
Frederick B.
Hudson
Condi Rice: the Family Retainer
Phillip Cryan
The Magic of Coca-Cola: Colombian Workers, Civil Rights and Advertising
Dave Zirin
Lester Speaks: an Interview with Lester "Red" Rodney
Ben Tripp
Talking Dirty: Obscene But Not Heard
Bruce Anderson
Phony Liberals and Fake Concern for the Homeless
Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Justice and Legitimacy in Haiti
Mark Scaramella
Do You Have What It Takes to Be Sec. of Defense? Take the Rumsfeld
Quiz
Sharon Smith
Do Most Iraqis Really Want the US to Stay?
Rick Giombetti
Melissa Ann Rowland: a Witch for Our Time
Nader/Kerry
Quandary
Stephen Gowans
Communists
for Capitalism?
Frank Bardacke / Doug Lummis
Support Nader; Dump Bush: an Election Manifesto
Mickey Z
Turn ON
Saul Landau
Kerry: a Less Dangerous Imperialist?
Richard Oxman
Nader and/or Death?
Poets' Basement
Holt, LaMorticella, Davies, Albert and Tripp
Website of the Weekend
Missing
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