Sunday, October 22, 2006

Stop the War Slate Update: Sole Endorsed by Michigan Citizen

Michigan Citizen Endorsement of David Sole, Green Party/Stop the War Slate Candidate For United States Senate

Do not vote straight Democrat, there is a choice Nov. 7
Voters owe it to themselves, their children and ancestors to NOT vote a straight Democratic ticket this Nov. 7 election.

The first name to skip over is Debbie Stabenow. She has no right to take the seat as senator from Michigan. She sits as the senator for banking, finance and the George Bush war machine. But she does not represent the working person, whether poor or middle class.

When Congress pushed to reward the banking community and the credit card companies with a stricter bankruptcy law, she was right there to reward the creditors and do in the consumer. Thanks to her vote in the Senate, everyone struggling with rising bills, stagnant wages and additional taxes and fees is in deep trouble and with the sometimes needed remedy of bankruptcy all but out of reach.

That vote was no isolated incident. She voted for the war in Iraq, a war draining billions from public needs — health care, education, decent housing, environmental justice and worker protections. Death over domestic needs, that’s how Debbie voted and continues to vote.

Stab-me-now did us in again recently with a long term measure our children will find unforgivable — the 2006 Miliary Commissions Act. She agreed with the right wing, the Bushite oil interests, and the Rumsfeld enemies of liberty to deny the basic Constitutional guarantee of habeas corpus for “terrorist” detainees. With that same vote she agreed that torture is okay, in defiance of the Geneva Conventions.

Go directly to the Green Party portion of the ballot and cast your vote for David Sole for Senate, a long time activist for peace and justice.

Your vote will send the world a message. You may not be on the winning side in November, but you surely will be on the winning side of history.

David Sole for Senate.


Stabenow okays torture measure

Green Party candidate offers anti-war stand

By Bankole Thompson
The Michigan Citizen

DETROIT — Twelve Senate Democrats, including Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow, joined Senate Republicans to pass a bill authorizing President George Bush to create military commissions and squash habeas corpus rights of individuals suspected of terror.

Bush signed the bill into law Oct. 17. The measure strips U.S. courts of jurisdiction over detainees, and denies detainees of their right to seek a writ of habeas corpus.

David Sole, the Green Party’s anti-war candidate running against Stabenow, said for that alone the senator does not deserve reelection.

“I’ve got emails from people telling me they are not going to vote for her after this legislation,” Sole said. “What voters need to know is that Stabenow is on the right wing end of the Democratic Party.”

Michigan Sen. Carl Levin voted against the bill.

Sen. Patrick Leahy described the damage of the bill in a speech from the senate floor.

“We are about to put the darkest blot possible on the nation’s conscience. This is so wrong. It is unconstitutional,” Leahy said.

Sole said he confronted Stabenow at a recent Grand Rapids debate with her challenger Oakland County Republican Michael Bouchard.

“I asked them why are they supporting the war? She [Stabenow] told me she is supporting the troops,” Sole said. “My feeling is you support the troops by getting them out, not appropriating money for the war.”

Sole said the military commission bill Stabenow supported was opposed by top Democrats including Levin.

“We will look back on this day as a stain on our nation’s history,” Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold told the Associated Press.

“It allows the government to seize individuals on American soil and detain them indefinitely with no opportunity to challenge their detention in court. And the new law would permit an individual to be convicted on the basis of coerced testimony and even allow someone convicted under these rules to be put to death.”

Stabenow’s office did not return calls. Her other opponent, Bouchard, a strong supporter of Bush also did not agree to interview requests.

However, Sole said if “Stabenow can allow torture of even American citizens with this legislation,” those voters who may want to return her to office should be rethinking.

More than 60 percent of Americans oppose the war in Iraq, according to recent polls.

While Stabenow and Bouchard voiced support for the war, Sole, in contrast, is the only candidate running on an anti-war platform.

“I call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq. Three thousand US troops have been killed, tens of thousands more have been seriously injured, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people have been killed as a result of this illegal and immoral war fought at the behest of the U.S. oil companies,” Sole said. “The cost of the Iraq war is now $334 billion. If that money had been used for human needs and not war, Michigan’s share, $8.9 billion, could have gone a long way toward providing health care, housing and jobs at living wages for all.”

While Stabenow initially voted against the war she has made it clear ever since that she is in support of the war by voting for every single military appropriation to fund and maintain the occupation of Iraq.

Sole accused both Stabenow and Bouchard of opposing amnesty for immigrants.

According to the Washington Post Votes Database, Stabenow also voted for Sen. Bill HR 6061, the Secure Fence Act, to create a fence between Mexico and the U.S. to curb illegal immigration. Sen. Levin voted against the measure.

On his website, Bouchard is endorsed by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a leading anti-immigration group in the nation.

“I support amnesty and full legal rights for all immigrants,” Sole said. “Both candidates express their anti-immigrant views.”

Stabenow and other 18 Democrats also helped Republicans passed a bankruptcy bill—the first in 27 years—that made it more difficult for consumers and low-income earners to wipe out debt.

The legislation was sponsored by the credit card industry.


Shut out of Michigan ‘debates’
Anti-war slate runs grassroots campaign

By Kris Hamel
Detroit
Published Oct 19, 2006 8:47 PM
Courtesy of Workers World Newspaper
http://www.workers.org

The Sole for U.S. Senate campaign is taking its antiwar message across Michigan. David Sole and Michael Merriweather, a Wayne State University student who is running for WSU’s Board of Governors, recently returned from a northern campaign trip. Both candidates are on the Green Party ticket and are running on the Stop the War Slate.

In Traverse City, over 30 people met at a local bookstore to hear the candidates speak on the Iraq war and growing joblessness. A dozen students from Northwestern Michigan College attended, as well as some high school students. Sole was interviewed by the Traverse City Record Eagle, the local daily newspaper, and a high school paper.

While Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow and her Republican challenger, Michael Bouchard, were debating Oct. 15 at public TV/radio station WGVS in Grand Rapids, Sole and campaign activists protested his exclusion outside the station. Sole and campaign organizer Jerry Goldberg disrupted a press conference afterward and confronted Stabenow on her pro-war position.

A press release issued by Sole’s campaign stated: “The Oct. 15 Senate candidates’ debate demonstrated why it is so critical that David Sole, the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate and the only antiwar candidate, be included in the debates and have his views publicized by the media.

“On the same day polls indicated that 65 percent of the people of Michigan oppose the Iraq war, in the so-called Senate debate both Stabenow and Bouchard voiced support for the war. While Stabenow stated she initially voted against the war, she made clear ... she has voted for every single military appropriation to fund and maintain the war. When asked if she would call for a time limit for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, she refused to do so, and echoed the Bush double talk about the Iraqi forces taking a more active role, a total joke in light of recent events. Bouchard echoed Stabenow’s support for the war.

“In contrast, David Sole stated: ‘I call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. Three thousand U.S. troops have been killed, tens of thousands more have been seriously injured, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people have been killed as a recent of this illegal ... war, fought at the behest of the U.S. oil companies. ... The cost of the Iraq war is now $334 billion. If that money had been used for human needs, Michigan’s share, $8.9 billion, could have gone a long way toward providing health care, housing and jobs at living wages for all.’

“Sole continued: ‘In the debate Stabenow was asked if she supported a national health plan. She ducked the question. I support a free national health plan, which would be funded by dramatically slashing the Pentagon budget that was recently passed without opposition in the U.S. Senate. Both candidates expressed their anti-immigrant views. I support amnesty and full legal rights for all immigrants. And both candidates repeated the failed ‘trickle down economics’ calling for tax breaks for big business to protect jobs. I call for an immediate moratorium on all plant closings and layoffs and a public works program to rebuild our cities, a shorter work week, a $15 hour minimum wage and elimination of corporate bankruptcy laws which allow companies to use bankruptcy to eliminate workers’ pensions.’”

The campaign and supporters will protest on Oct. 18 outside a candidates’ debate for Stabenow and Bouchard sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, where Sole is again fighting exclusion.

The complicity of the corporate media in ignoring candidates besides Democrats and Republicans has been exposed by the Stop the War Slate. Interviews are granted grudgingly, and campaign activists have to search hard to find evidence that they occurred.

Breakthroughs in alternative media

However, the Michigan Citizen, a progressive African-American community weekly newspaper, printed a front-page article and photo on Sole’s antiwar campaign in its latest issue. The Metro Times, a free weekly, interviewed Sole after his campaign manager called to complain that a story on progressive candidates ignored the Green Party.

Sole appeared on the talk radio show “Fighting for Justice” and is scheduled for an interview with WDET, Detroit’s public radio station. At Michigan State University, the student paper interviewed Sole when he campaigned with MSU student and Board of Trustees candidate Lauren Spencer.

Sole recently received an e-mail from an active-duty technician in the U.S. Navy stationed in Virginia Beach, Va. The message read in part, “I just filled out my Michigan absentee ballot, and I want to let you know that you received my vote for the Senate race. I am a small minority in this conservative military town, and the people I know from back home in Michigan are likewise very conservative, so it is relieving to find a candidate who shares my strong antiwar views. Good luck with your campaign, and I hope you are able to make an impact on people’s minds.”

Sole recently taped a telephone message to U.S. soldiers, their families and U.S. citizens outside the country—a potential 6 million voters—for the Department of Defense Voting Information Center. By calling 800-438-8683 and following the many prompts, GIs can hear a message from Sole: “I am the only candidate for U.S. Senate who calls for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, who says that no more lives should be lost on behalf of the oil companies and giant contracting corporations.”

Other exciting news for the Stop the War Slate was the endorsement of Lauren Spencer for MSU Trustee from Between the Lines, Michigan’s weekly newspaper for the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities.

For more information on Stop the War Slate and Green Party candidates, visit http://www.stopthewarslate.org , http://www.migreens.org , or e-mail campaign@stopthewarslate.org. Donations can be made to Sole for Senate Campaign, 5922 Second Ave., Detroit, MI 48202.
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Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Page printed from:
http://www.workers.org/2006/us/anti-war-1026/

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