Blog Center: Kurt's Blog

In just under two hours we begin our journey down the homestretch. Our first team of 8 activists leaves tonight, followed by a team of 7 in the early morning and we will be met by 4 more who have flown to Florida. We'll be working with the LCV south of Orlando in Osceola County.

The last three months with Driving Votes, organizing trips, coordinating activists and working with other progressive, activists organizations has all come down to these last 5 days. From the looks of the polls and the movement over the past weeks.....we have all done our job well.

Now comes the most critical part, and all our past efforts no longer matter. I have heard many times over the last few weeks "voting is not enough". We have too much at stake and each and everyone of us has to find a way to help bring about the defeat of the most despictable administration that our country has seen since Harding. We can allow no further erosion of the values and rights that make us all so very proud to be Americans.

Here's to a great progressive and Democratic Victory on Tuesday!

If I didn't know better, I'd say there has to be a Karl Rove opposite in Bizarro World working on Kerry's behalf. The Bush league team has had quite a bit of success portraying W as the better of the candidates in making our country more secure and protecting us from the evil-doers. This in spite of the non-existent WMD's, the published results of the 9-11 commission, the bogging down of our troops in Iraq struggling with poor planning, and the loss of 1,100 soldiers.

Today we find out that 380 tons of explosives are now missing in Iraq. Explosives that the UN had monitored until the U.S. invaded Iraq. How do you lose 380 freakin’ tons of explosives! Wasn’t there any effort to coordinate with the UN in regards to known explosives locations? This is just another example of horrendous planning and execution on the Administration’s part. But the Administration’s response is merely to blow it off…..there are tons of this stuff available across the globe and its not even nuclear material. What kind of convoluted response is that? I’m paraphrasing, but read it for yourself online at the New York Times .

Anybody who still thinks we are safer under W is simply ignoring the evidence that suggests his blunders have now put our troops, Americans overseas and American’s at home in more jeopardy.

By the way, I understand that the Oil Ministry in Baghdad is still safe and secure….maybe more attention should be paid elsewhere.

On Tuesday, Corporate America received a huge gift from Congress as they get ready to hit the campaign trail for the November 2nd election. What was originally designed as a bill to correct industry subsidies on which the U.S. had been cited turned out to be a $140 billion give away to Corporations and their lobbyists.

How ridiculous was this bill? Well leasing businesses of aircraft and vessels received $995 million, NASCAR received $101 million and a special provision was provided for General Electric (owner of NBC). You can read about some of the other blatant gifts to Corporate America at Taxpayers for Common Sense

Two thoughts come to mind when I read about this kowtowing to artificial entities (corporations) as we continue to burden the middle class in America:

1. We need campaign finance reform more than ever in this country. Corporations should no longer control the political agenda that affects the working people of this great nation.

2. Under Bush, our country now appears to be further down the road to economic fascism,a merging of political and corporate power and interests, than ever. In the article "Economic Fascism", Thomas J. DiLorenzo wrote: “One of the most outspoken American fascists was economist Lawrence Dennis. In his 1936 book, The Coming American Fascism, Dennis declared that defenders of "18th-century Americanism" were sure to become "the laughing stock of their own countrymen" and that the adoption of economic fascism would intensify "national spirit" and put it behind "the enterprises of public welfare and social control." The big stumbling block to the development of economic fascism, Dennis bemoaned, was "liberal norms of law or constitutional guarantees of private rights."

Those of us who so fervently believe in the liberal norms of law and our constitutional guarantees must work harder than ever to ensure we impede the progress of a corporate fascist state. The work begins on November 2nd and must continue from there!