By Paul Hill
HOUSTON - The Lone Star Iconoclast, a weekly newspaper in Crawford,
Texas (declared hometown of George W. Bush) endorsed Democrat John Kerry for
president. The editors endorsed Kerry on Sept. 29 citing problems with the Bush
administration as follows: "His initiatives to disable the Social Security
system, the deteriorating state of the American economy, a dangerous shift away
from the basic freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his continuous
mistakes regarding terrorism and Iraq." The paper also noted their differences
with the Bush agenda's "denial of stem cell research, shortchanging veterans'
entitlements, cutting school programs and grants, dictating what our children
learn through a thought-controlling 'test' from Washington rather than allowing
local school boards and parents to decide how young people should be taught,
ignoring the environment, and creating extraneous language in the Patriot Act
that removes some of the very freedoms that our founding fathers and generations
of soldiers fought so hard to preserve." The newspaper's editors endorsed
Bush in 2000.
The paper also expressed concerns about the "vast exportation of jobs to
other countries" and the diversion of funds to support small business to
large oil and gas concerns such as Halliburton. The paper cites the multi-billion
dollar contracts Vice President Cheney's Halliburton has been awarded without
any meaningful bid process and calls this "an enormous conflict of interest".
The editors point out that Homeland Security has been inadequately funded and
the Community Oriented Policing Program (COPS) has been cut by 94 percent. They
note that Bush fought against the creation of the 911 Commission and has not
yet embraced its recommendations. The editorial declares "The re-election
of George W. Bush would be a mandate to continue on our present course of chaos...We
need to be moving in the opposite direction."
The Iconoclast was highly critical of Bush's plan to privatize Social Security
and predict this plan "would put the entire economy in a dramatic tailspin."
They note "Privatization is problematic in that it would subject Social
Security to the ups, downs, and outright crashes of the Stock Market. It would
take millions in brokerage fees and commissions out of the system, and, unless
we have assurance that the Ivan Boeskys and Ken Lays of the world will be caught
and punished as a deterrent, subject both the Market and the Social Security
Fund to fraud and market manipulation, not to mention devastate and ruin multitudes
of American families that would find their lives lost to starvation, shame and
isolation. They point out that Kerry wants to keep Social Security intact.
Although the paper initially supported the war in Iraq, the editorial indicates
they now feel the Bush administration "let us down" and "Instead
we were duped into following yet another privileged agenda." The paper
states "What has evolved from the virtual go-it alone conquest of Iraq
is more gruesome than a stain on a White House intern's dress. America's reputation
and influence in the world has diminished, leaving us with brute force as our
most persuasive voice...Iraq is now a quagmire: no WMDs, no substantive link
between Saddam and Osama, and no workable plan for the withdrawal of our troops."
They remind us that we have been asked to go along on "faith", but
point out that "blind patriotism can be a dangerous thing and 'spin' will
not bring back to life a dead soldier; certainly not a thousand of them."
The newspaper supports Kerry's position on the Iraq war. They note Kerry "believes
President Bush rushed into war before the inspectors finished their jobs."
The editors explain Kerry voted against the $87 billion for troop funding "because
the bill promoted poor policy in Iraq, privileged Halliburton and other corporate
friends of the Bush administration to profiteer from the war, and forced debt
upon future generations of Americans."
The author can be reached at PHill2@houston.rr.com