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Towards a just & healthy democracy in the Commonwealth... and beyond!
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Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 15:42:37 PM EDT
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(Another dead-on editorial by Jason Pramas of Open Media Boston. - promoted by eli_beckerman)
I am forwarding this excellent editorial from Jason Pramas from OMG.
Mike Heichman
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Let Jill Stein Debate
by Jason Pramas (Staff), Aug-13-10
• OMB Editorial
It's really something to watch the mainstream media in our fair state close ranks around the mainstream candidates in the Mass. gubernatorial race. On Tuesday, Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein was contacted by a consortium of nine major local media organizations and (to quote her press release) "invited to participate in two major televised debates, providing she met certain criteria including raising $100,000 in campaign funds and achieving at least a 5 percent score in election polls." I would have to agree with Stein that the media outlets in question are setting the bar for entry to the debates too high to easily allow qualified third-party candidates to participate.
I would also agree with her campaign position on the matter, "All candidates that have qualified for the ballot under the election laws of the Commonwealth should be invited to participate in debates that use the public airways. We also think that fair treatment of all candidates is to be expected from the media corporations that are taking advantage of the privileges our society accords to journalistic enterprises. Those privileges are based on an assumption that journalists will contribute to the free and open dialogue that is essential to a healthy democracy. Journalists should refuse to be parties to any attempt to restrict the flow of information that voters need and deserve." |
| mikeheichman :: Let Jill Debate |
| This seems like a no-brainer from this corner. Stein definitely seems to have qualified for the ballot - having delivered 12,000 certified signatures (2,000 more than required) to state election authorities in advance of their August 3rd deadline. That means she has a statistically significant number of supporters. Plus the Green-Rainbow party has gotten more than one percent of the vote on a number of occasions in statewide races, and even had official party status for a few years after Stein's run for the Governor's seat got them over 3 percent of the vote when Nader as the Green Party presidential candidate. They are hardly newcomers on the Mass. political scene. And even if they were, they've proved they're a significant enough force to get on the ballot, and that should be enough to satisfy the local mainstream media. Who, last time I checked, are not a branch of government - and shouldn't be able to veto participation in debates for a major government office.
It would be nice if the other candidates backed her up on this one, but that's probably not going to happen. Regardless, the major media should do the right thing for Stein's supporters, potential supporters who are far less likely to hear her progressive views if she's not allowed to participate in the televised debates, and democracy ... and let Jill Stein debate!
Open Media Boston highly recommends that our viewers call and email the Globe, Herald, and major TV and radio outlets, and push for Stein on this one. Whether you agree with her politics or not. It's just the right thing to do.
Open Media Boston is a project of Media Working Group
and a member publication of the New England Newspaper and Press Association
Email us at info@openmediaboston.org |
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Green Mass Group is an online forum for Green thought and collective action in Massachusetts. It is a community forum for justice, sustainability, democracy and health in the Commonwealth and beyond.
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| Quotes |
"Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America."
--President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Despite Democratic control over the White House, despite Democratic control over the Senate, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people, a small minority of the members of the Republican-controlled House have successfully pushed an extreme right-wing agenda onto the American political landscape. It is an ideology which believes that despite the fact that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and poverty is increasing, all - all of the burden for deficit reduction should rest on working people."
--Independent Senator Bernie Sanders on the debt ceiling "deal"
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Then and Now
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Then...
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
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