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Statements of Support
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Endorsement
from Leslie Feinberg:
Oct. 31, 2006
While "Dubya" was recently on the hustings in Michigan for Republican
Senate candidate Mike Bouchard, and Democrats were pounding the podium
for incumbent Debbie Stabenow, I have been in Michigan campaigning for
Green Party slate Senate candidate David Sole and the entire "Stop the
War" slate on which he is running.
As a transgender lesbian activist, I am enraged and appalled at the
competition on both sides of the aisle of the Senate between Democrats
and Republicans over who can be more reactionary when it comes to
demonizing lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans lives, loves and
relationships. David Sole is a principled and staunch supporter of the
LGBT struggle--and he has been for decades.
Senate candidates from both parties of big business agree on one thing:
ongoing, brutal war and occupation in the Middle East--from Iraq to
Afghanistan, Palestine to Lebanon. And these politicians are starving
the cities here to pay for this imperial war which only profits Big
Oil, Wall Street and the banks. The Stop the War Slate demands: Bring
the troops home, now!
Organizing and agitating in support of the "Stop the War" slate is an
opportunity to turn this election into a struggle in which working and
oppressed peoples can finally be heard in their demand to stop the war
and bring the troops home now, to fight Prop 2, all forms of racism,
sexism and anti-LGBT bigotry, and for solidarity with Katrina/Rita
survivors, undocumented workers, reproductive rights, jobs, health
care, education and housing.
I add my voice to that of the African American newspaper "the Michigan
Citizen" in urging you to make your ballot count: Vote for the "Stop
the War" slate!
Leslie Feinberg is an internationally
known activist and leader in the struggle for gay, lesbian, bisexual
and trans (LGBT) rights and liberation. She is an award-winning
author whose works include "Stone Butch Blues," "Transgender Warriors:
Making History from Joan of Arc to RuPaul," "Trans Liberation: Beyond
Pink or Blue," and the new novel, "Drag King Dreams." She is
co-chair of the National Writers Union-UAW Local 1981, a member of
Pride At Work-ALF-CIO, and an associate member of the Steelworkers
Union. Feinberg is a Marxist and long-time activist against U.S.
wars and interventions, against racism, for reproductive rights, and in
many other struggles.
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I like your background
Oct. 30, 2006
David,
I’m an independent
voter but with a Libertarian affiliation. I see a lot of
commonality in our 2 parties. I wished that somehow we minorities
would unite under a common platform and give the Dems and Republicans
(neo-Nazis) a run for their money.
I really like your
background. I don’t ally myself solely with one political party
as it is against my principle.
As a graduate of the
United States Military Academy, I and many of my classmates are very
disturbed by the abuse of power within our government. But even
more worrying is that this abuse of power stems from the writings and
influence of non-elected officials (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, etc).
But you won’t hear
our voices because the government doesn’t want the public to hear
us. How dare West Point graduates challenge the core of our
government and the Presidency!!! (I participated at the
Washington protests prior to the Iraq war - Oct 2002).
I support your goals
and ambitions and look forward to voting for you on election day.
Sincerely,
J. S.
USMA Class of 74,
registered Libertarian, defender of the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence.
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Dear friends:
I am not able to find
it within myself to support Stabenow for
anything. She voted to build the wall across the border, to support the
bankruptcy bill, which penalizes poor people, she started the wheels in
motion to dismantle public school funding before she became a Senator,
and is a supporter of the war.
I cannot imagine what
could make anyone support such a person,
regardless of party affiliation. I cannot understand how anyone could
support this person and think that they are not themselves supporters
of such actions. She can
only do this with the
support and complicity of the people who put her
in office.
There has to be a
point where good people stand up against such
horrific activities of our government. We cannot be afraid to call this
what it is:genocide of a class of people to which we
ourselves belong.
Perhaps working
people have become demoralized at the fact that we
cannot afford to outspend the corporate interests which buy and sell
our elected officials on a daily basis. We can, however, refuse to vote
for them or stand silently by when we see things as agregious as what
we have seen from Senator Stabenow. What part of this don't we
understand? We must stand up against this; no amount of sugar coating
can defend this war, a wall against the Mexican people, defunding of
schools in the service of savage greed.
As a Chicana,
descended from those who crossed that border, as a mother
of children who attended Detroit Public Schools and as a working class
person who pays for being nearly poor, I cannot abide any excuse for
supporting such a clear enemy of me and my beloved working class and
beloved race, my beloved children. Further, there is a viable
alternative for whom to vote.
David Sole is running
on the anti-war slate of the Green Party ticket.
He has been on every picket line with us for as long as i can recall.
He is unafraid to speak truth to power, and this is no time for
cowardice. I am proud to be a supporter of such a person and do not see
any reason in the world to vote for anyone else on this matter.
Am I alone here? It
sure feels like it.
Elena Herrada
Detroit
This letter was widely distributed via email to progressives throughout
Michigan and also appeared in StreetCred.
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Vote to Prevent Your own
Imprisonment/Torture (and against StabMeNow)
Senator
Stabenow (or StabMeNow?) voted for the recently passed law giving Bush
the right to arrest American citizens without trial or reason and to
torture them endlessly. This means you can now be arrested or tortured
for years for doing something Bush doesn't like (like having sex
outside marriage, using birth control, drinking alcohol, being against
religious fundamentalism or USA terrorism, criticizing Bush or his
corrupt/incompetent friends/cronies, etc.). It's always useful to vote
Green, but it's very important on Nov. 7 to vote for the Green Party
candidate for Senate, David Sole, the only candidate who has the
courage to stand up to Republican sadism/terrorism. Please pass this
information along, or forward this email to anyone you know (including
your relatives).
Austin Murphy
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Why
I'm not voting for Debbie Stabenow this election
from: Arab
American News
By:
Jon C. Swanson
Until
this year I had always supported Debbie Stabenow. After all she is a
social worker just as I am and I thought we shared many of the same
values. When she ran against Chrysler in 1998 I supported her - even
sent her money and when she was the underdog against Spence Abraham in
2000 I supported her and once again contributed to her campaign. But
this year, sadly, I just can't bring myself to help her or even vote
for her, mainly because of her votes against civil liberties and human
rights.
The
beginning of my disillusionment came on May 2, 2002 when I watched her
sit as president pro-tem of the Senate while her colleagues offered
tortured and self-serving explanations of why they were supporting
S.Res. 247. This resolution, introduced by Joe Lieberman (CN) and
Gordon Smith (OR), expressed "solidarity" with Israel
in the "fight against terrorism." Fritz Hollings, (SC) one of only two
senators who voted against the bill (The other was Robert Byrd of West
Virginia.), resisted eloquently, stating that after 30 years in the
senate he recognized a purely political resolution when he saw one and
added that the legislation did not serve the interests of the U.S.,
Israel.or the Palestinians.
Not
mentioned by Hollings however, was that equating the U.S. fight against terrorism with Israel's violent suppression of
Palestinian resistance to the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza was itself
absurd. Indeed, this resolution was passed in the wake of "Operation
Colorful Journey" and other operations against the Palestinian
resistance in Jenin, Balata, Ramallah and Bethlehem, which had since January
claimed the lives of 621 Palestinians and 216 Israelis. During this
same period hundreds of Palestinian homes were destroyed while orchards
and groves were plowed under. M eanwhile, Israel
continued to colonize the West Bank,
illegally confiscating more and more Palestinian land.
It
is possible that despite a significant Palestinian and Arab
constituency, Sen. Stabenow, who gazed passively into space as Hollings
spoke, was unaware of the situation on the West
Bank. Perhaps her sympathies for the occupied were tempered
by the $20, 982 she received from pro-Israel pacs in the 1999-2000
election cycle and her hopes of getting more in 2006.
If
the latter was the case, her dreams have come true. So far this
election cycle, she is the fourth largest recipient of pro-Israel pac
money, a total of $57,000. Maybe this explains why on July 18 of 2006
she voted in favor of S.Res.534 supporting Israel's invasion of Lebanon,
yet another political vote. This one encouraged Israel's wholesale destruction of South Lebanon, which killed well over a thousand
civilians, littered the countryside with fragmentation bombs and left
nearly a million homeless. Again many of those driven from their homes
were friends and relatives of her consti tuents in Michigan. To salve her conscience,
the good senator sponsored a bill to pay for the evacuation of
Lebanese-Americans who had been visiting their relatives when the war
broke out.
If
Stabenow is incapable of empathizing with the colonized and
dispossessed, one would at least expect her to perceive the relation
between America's
uncritical support of Israel and the ongoing
terrorist response from the Muslim world and push for a just solution
to the Palestine-Israel conflict. Instead she seeks to protect us from
terrorism by supporting a bill that eliminates habeas corpus for
non-U.S. citizens, a right cherished by English speakers since 1215,
and to our further shame and peril weakens restrictions on torture.
Indeed, this bill calls into question her commitment to the code of
ethics of the National Association of Social Workers, to which she
belongs.
Nor
are these my only complaints about Senator Stabenow. She also supported
a constitutional amendment criminalizing flag burning, thus at a single
stroke idolizing a symbol of our democracy while undermining the very
principles it stands for. This is not leadership but a form of
demagoguery. So too is her support of a security fence on our Southern
border aimed at protecting us from the desperate made destitute by a
trade agreement that has destroyed the rural economy of much of Mexico
and Central America.
Many
of my friends have said that not voting for the senator may help elect
a Republican who would be far worse. Politics is, they say, about
compromise, about accepting half a loaf or even a slice of bread. But
while I am willing to compromise on many things I am no longer willing
to compromise on issues of human rights or civil liberties. I have
written the Senator many times to no avail. I have nothing left but my
ballot. She shall not get it. I'm voting Green.
The
writer is a social worker with an M.S.W. and Ph.D.
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Oct. 9, 2006
Good evening Mr. Sole,
My
name is A. Hunt and I am currently stationed in Virginia Beach as an
electronics technichian in the Navy. I just filled out my Michigan
absentee ballot, and I want to let you know that you recieved 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 anti-war views. Good luck with your campaign, and I
hope you are able to make an impact on people's minds while you are on
the trail.
Sincerely,
A. Hunter
The name of the sender has been changed.
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Dear Senator
Stabenow,
Your vote on Senate roll call 259 was a mistake, and it will cost you
my vote and my support. Furthermore, I will encourage everyone I
know to support your opponent, Green Party candidate David Sole, in the
election on November 7th. The fact that you supported an
amendment that might have mitigated some of the worst aspects of this
terrible legislation means nothing--you are kowtowing to
authoritarians.
Democrats need to know that their "base" will walk away from them when
they make the wrong political calculus. If there are any
principles that hold us together as Americans, they are those of equal
justice under the law. I'll leave the explanations of
the outrages included in this legislation to the many others who
have already thoroughly explained them. Suffice it to say that
giving torturers a free pass, handing the President the power to
"interpret" international standards of decency, and approving torture
methods does not pass muster for the support of any informed citizen.
Democrats
are losing elections because they abandon principle on a political
calcuIus of avoiding offense to the right wing. Every Democrat
who voted for this legislation needs to lose because of it.
I regret the fact that apparently you need to become an example to
the rest of the party of what happens when you abandon principle.
You have served the public faithfully and accomplished many good works;
it's a shame to lose you.
Sincerely,
Michael J. McGillivray
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