Moving Ideas News: Vote or Die? Not Exactly

October 28 - November 3, 2004

SPECIAL EVENT

How to Move the Progressive Agenda Forward with Technology
On November 18th, prominent progressives (including Moving Ideas staff) will meet at the AFL-CIO to discuss ways to move the progressive agenda forward with the use of technology. Join Farai Chideya (political journalist and activist), Vanessa German (Slam Bush contest winner) and others for this exciting event. Tickets are only $12 prior to the event and $15 at the door. Union members get in free! For more information: http://www.2004progressivetech.com

NEW FROM MOVING IDEAS

Investigate Voter Intimidation!
Urge U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to launch an investigation into reports of voter intimidation and obstruction by partisan operatives.
http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/movingideas/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=229

FEATURED ARTICLES

'Vote or Die'? -- Not Exactly
From: WORKINGFORCHANGE.COM
Sean Gonsalves
The author says activism, not one election, changes the world.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6045

U.S. Elections and Latin America: Can the United States Ever be a Good Neighbor?
From: INTERHEMISPHERIC RESOURCE CENTER
Laura Carlsen
Much of the debate about the U.S. presidential elections in Latin American countries does not center on who would be better for the region, Bush or Kerry, but on whether it makes any difference at all.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6006

Female Job Seekers Have Fewer Opportunities than in the Past
From: ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE
Sylvia Allegretto
Female employment rates have decreased by 1.7 percentage points since the last business cycle peak in March 2001. This is a reversal of a historically persistent, increasing trend.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6040

NOVEMBER 2ND ELECTION

Values-Driven
From: THE AMERICAN PROSPECT
Harold Meyerson
Last night’s cultural census showed the red states getting a whole lot redder.
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=8830

Securing the Vote: A Report on Election Fraud
From: DEMOS
Election fraud is at most a minor problem across the 50 U.S. states, and does not affect election outcomes, according to this re-released 2003 study.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6022

Purged!
From: DEMOS
This report provides an in-depth analysis of the confusing, disorganized and often partisan process used to 'purge' voter rolls and deny eligible Americans the right to vote.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6042

High Stakes in Nevada
From: CENTURY FOUNDATION
Tova Andrea Wang
Fourth in a series on election problems in battleground states, the author discusses Nevada. In addition to allegations of voter fraud, Nevada will be the first state in the nation to use electronic voting machines with a voter verifiable paper trail feature.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6010

Notes on a Bad Night
From: WORKINGFORCHANGE.COM
Will Durst
The author winces past the graveyard.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6044

We Run this Country
From: WORKINGFORCHANGE.COM
Molly Ivins
The author says you're the boss, and on election day you get to act like it.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6014

Jim Crow in Massachusetts? Prisoner Disenfranchisement
From: PRISON POLICY INITIATIVE
Peter Wagner
In 2000, Massachusetts took away the right of prisoners to vote. This report shows for the stark racial disparity caused by disenfranchisement in Massachusetts. On election day, more than 3% of Black men in Massachusetts will be barred from voting.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=601

DOMESTIC SOCIAL

Out-of-Pocket Spending on Health Care by Medicare Beneficiaries Age 65 and Older in 2003
From: AARP PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE
Craig Caplan and Normandy Brangan
How much age 65+ Medicare beneficiaries paid out of their own pockets for health care in 2003 is projected in this Data Digest, which also highlights out-of-pocket spending differences by demographic characteristics, income level, supplemental coverage status, and type of service.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6032

The Medicaid Matching Formula: Policy Considerations and Options for Modification
From: AARP PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE
Vic Miller and Andy Schneider
The formula for allocating federal Medicaid funds among states and options for making it more responsive to state economic conditions are described in this Issue Paper.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6033

Understanding Consumer Attitudes About Wireless Telephone Directories and Privacy
From: AARP PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE
Neal Walters and Christopher Baker
Cell phone users' interest - or lack thereof - in making their wireless phone numbers publicly available through directories is assessed in this Fact Sheet reporting the results of a June 2004 survey.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6034

The Great Divide 2004
From: ACORN
This study of mortgage lending shows evidence of increased lending disparities where even upper-income African-Americans were more than twice as likely (2.6 times) to be turned down for loans than upper-income whites.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6028

Financing Drug Research: What Are the Issues?
From: CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH
Dean Baker
The author contributes to a growing public debate on alternatives to the patent system as a mechanism to fund pharmaceutical research.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6038

Dismantling the Dream
From: DRUM MAJOR INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY
Andrew Young
The author, a former mayor of Atlanta, says the federal government has created a number of legislative programs that encourage hard work and facilitate economic mobility into America's middle class. Last week, the Bush administration took steps to dismantle one of them - exposing the rift between reality and Bush's stated interest in creating an 'ownership society.'
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6036

Hidden Horrors: California Dairy Workers Face Danger and Abuse
From: DOLLARS AND SENSE
R.M. Arrieta
Hundreds of workers face dangerous working conditions on California's dairy farms. Their immigration status, combined with the fact that they live in company housing on the land where they work, inhibits activism, leaving them isolated — and vulnerable to employer retribution.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6020

Primary Care and Health System Performance: Adults' Experiences in Five Countries
From: INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY
This article examines the primary health care experiences of adults in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Published in Health Affairs.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6017

Los Angeles County 2004 Children's ScoreCard
From: INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF HOMELESSNESS AND POVERTY
This report measures children's well-being in Los Angeles County. It explores health (uninsured, asthma, overweight, low birth weight, prenatal care); families (child abuse and foster care); and family economic security (poverty, subsidized school lunches and the Earned Income Tax Credit).
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6035

Public Opinion Watch
From: CENTURY FOUNDATION
Ruy Teixeira
In this Issue: Bush's Battleground Blues; Gallup Poll Racially Biased; The Nader Nonfactor; and much more.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6041

DOMESTIC ECONOMIC

Share of Economy Going to Wages and Salaries Drops for Unprecedented 14th Straight Quarter
From: CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES
Isaac Shapiro and David Kamin
The Commerce Department's new GDP data indicate a continuation of a 14 quarter trend: changes in wage and salary income have lagged behind changes in the overall economy. At the same time, corporate profits have experienced exceptionally robust growth.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6030

Recent Myths about the Budget and Taxes
From: CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES
Five recent myths about the budget and taxes are exposed.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6031

Wage Growth Continues to Slow; Falls Behind Inflation
From: ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE
Jared Bernstein
The Employment Cost Index offers more detail on the performance of wages. It shows that nominal (i.e., pre-inflation) wages grew at the slowest rate ever recorded in a data series first reported in 1982. The 2.4% growth of wages and salaries over the past year fell behind inflation, which was 2.7% for the period.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6026

GDP Growth Fueled by Consumer Debt, Defense Spending
From: ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE
Lee Price
In the third quarter, GDP posted a 3.7% gain, better than the 3.3% gain in the second quarter but far short of the 4.5% many analysts had predicted. Strong auto sales and defense spending, which contributed about 1.4 points of third quarter growth, were not enough to overcome negative factors, such as the nation's mounting trade deficit, which created enough drag to keep growth below expectations.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6027

OMB Watcher
From: OMB WATCH
In this Issue: Election Day Ballot Initiatives Could Affect State and Local Tax Policy; Upcoming 2006 Budget Process Portends Deep Discretionary Cuts; Mercury Emissions Adversely Affect Minorities; and much more.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6005

FOREIGN POLICY

Tracking Courage in Washington
From: CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE
'Think tanks are supposed to help the rest of us figure out how to deal with future challenges - and how to avoid major pitfalls. But when the Bush Administration decided to go to war against Iraq, most U.S. politicians and think tank leaders hedged their bets. A rare exception was Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.' The Globalist presents her views on Iraq.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6012

The Political-Economic Conundrum: The Affinity of Economic and Political Reform in the Middle East and North Africa
From: CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE
Eva Bellin
For nearly two decades the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have languished in economic stagnation and lassitude. At a time when the logic of market-driven reform and export-oriented growth has become nearly canonical worldwide, the MENA region has proven steadfastly unenthusiastic about reform, shutting itself out of the benefits of economic globalization and falling behind most other regions in economic development.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6043

Free Markets and Death Squads
From: DOLLARS AND SENSE
Ricky Baldwin
Days after right-wing troops took control of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, they began attacking factory workers and sharecroppers at the behest of factory owners and large landowners.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6021

For Scary Halloween Reading, Dig Deeper into the Duelfer Report
From: FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS
Michael Roston
America received a frightening jolt when the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that heavy-duty explosives perfectly suited for terrorist bombing attacks had gone missing from critical sites in Iraq. But a far more terrifying revelation was made in the Central Intelligence Agency's publicly released Duelfer Report on October 6.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6023

Privatizations: The End of a Cycle of Plundering
From: INTERHEMISPHERIC RESOURCE CENTER
Raúl Zibechi
One of the cornerstones of the neoliberal policies adopted by most Latin American governments in the 1990s was the privatization of state-owned enterprises. This process of passing national wealth on to the private sector has been so injurious that it could soon render entire countries unviable.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6007

The People's Voice: Community Radio in Guatemala
From: INTERHEMISPHERIC RESOURCE CENTER
Lisa Viscidi
On May 22, 1987, the frequency of a state-approved radio station was hijacked to broadcast Voz Popular, the voice of URNG - Guatemala's guerilla party, from a mobile unit atop Central America's highest peak. For nine years, the insurgents provided an alternative media source to the government propaganda broadcast by most radio and television stations, which often censored their programming for fear of government reprisal.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6029

Excerpts from Defeating the Jihadists: A Blueprint for Action
From: CENTURY FOUNDATION
Excerpts now available from the forthcoming report of a task force assembled and chaired by Richard A. Clarke on how to confront the terrorist threat.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6008

Afghanistan Watch
From: CENTURY FOUNDATION
In this edition of Afghanistan Watch, Dr. Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy, one of the world's leading experts on international drug trafficking, is interviewed to get a more complete picture of the many impacts of opium of Afghanistan's development.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6011

COMMENTARY

Bush Administration Disasters Depicted as Triumphs
From: FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS
Stephen Zunes
Even putting aside the many important legal and moral questions about the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, the author argues it has been a disaster even on practical terms. Mainstream to conservative strategic analysts and retired generals recognize that the invasion and occupation has made America less secure rather than more secure.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6024

Untangling the Knot: The Future of U.S.-South Korean Security Relations
From: FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS
John Feffer
Since 2000, when U.S. relations with both halves of the Korean Peninsula seemed to be on the upswing, Washington has managed to unravel its incipient relationship with Pyongyang while tangling its ties with Seoul.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6025

Bush's Electoral Prospects Get a Little Help from Overseas
From: THE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE
Ivan Eland
Although John Kerry has a commanding lead in worldwide polling with 72 percent, George W. Bush's prospects may have been boosted in the more important election here at home by a single foreigner - Osama bin Laden.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6013

Bush's Iraq War: An Offer You Would Have Refused
From: THE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE
Robert Higgs
Would you have bought into the Iraq War if George W. Bush had made you an honest offer? This question is a revealing variant of one that people often ask and answer: 'Is the war worth its price?'
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6039

Flu Vaccine Shortage: Another Example of How Bush Dis-Torts the Truth About Lawsuits
From: PUBLIC CITIZEN
Lawsuits are not the reason that so few drug companies make the flu vaccine – few lawsuits have ever been filed over the flu vaccine. Instead, the problem is based on a lack of profit and the economic risks associated with making the vaccine, according to this fact sheet.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6037

The 'Unfunded Liabilities' Ruse
From: CENTURY FOUNDATION
Bernard Wasow
The author debunks the myths about the threat of 'unfunded liabilities' in this new issue brief.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6009

Politicizing Osama
From: WORKINGFORCHANGE.COM
E.J. Dionne, Jr.
The author writes that Bush squandered our national unity on a dangerous power grab.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6015

Taking Stock of 100,000 Iraqi Deaths
From: FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS
Amy Quinn
In late October, public health experts calculated that 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.
http://www.movingideas.org/cgi-bin/rd/epn_letter.pl?id=6018

EVENTS

For a complete listing of events, please visit our site at http://www.movingideas.org/events/

** November 5, 2004 Campaign for America's Future and Democracy Corps Poll Briefing, Washington, DC

** November 9, 2004 Economic Policy Institute 'Briefing: Repairing Federal Fiscal Policy,' Washington, DC

** November 10, 2004 Oregon Center for Public Policy, “American Dream: The Nation’s Drive to End Welfare,” Portland State University

** November 10, 2004 Demos and Brennan Center for Justice 'Making Democracy Work,' New York, NY

** November 18, 2004 PopandPolitics.com, 'How to Move the Progressive Agenda Forward with Technology,' Washington, DC

** December 11-12, 2004 Center for Policy Alternatives, 'Summit on the States Conference,' Washington, DC

** June 20-21, 2005 The Institute for Women's Policy Research is pleased to announce its Eighth International Women's Policy Research Conference, 'When Women Gain, So Does the World,' Washington, DC

JOBS

For a complete listing of jobs, please visit our site at http://www.movingideas.org/jobs/

** Legislative Director, New America Foundation, Asset Building Program, Washington, DC

** Director of Public Affairs, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, NY

** Operations Manager, The Sentencing Project, Washington, DC

** Director of Advocacy, The Sentencing Project, Washington, DC

** Development Manager, The Sentencing Project, Washington, DC

** Research Analyst, Good Jobs First, Washington, DC

** Program Associate - Spectrum Policy Program, New America Foundation, Washington, DC

** Editorial Assistant, The American Prospect, Washington, DC

** Research Associate - State Fiscal Project, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, DC

** Outreach Assistant, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, DC

** Assistant Director for State Network Fundraising, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, DC

** Research Director, Public Citizen's Congress Watch, Washington, D.C.

** Media Relations Coordinator, American Rights at Work, Washington , DC

** Communications Assistant, American Rights at Work, Washington, D.C.

** Research Scholar, Strategic Analysis, The Levy Economics Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

** Internship/Research Assistant, Financial Policy Forum, Washington, DC

** Deputy Director, Fellows Program, New America Foundation, Washington, DC

Moving Ideas Network
2000 L Street NW, Suite 717
Washington, DC 20036
http://www.movingideas.org/