BCDC May 2003 Newsletter, page 2

Page 2

Beach Cities Democratic Club

From the President’s Pen

With W making campaign stops landing on aircraft carriers, and pro-

moting yet another outrageous tax giveaway to his big donor constituency, Campaign 2004 is off to a new low.

Many millions of dollars will be spent trying to persuade voters who to cast their ballots for.

I think our government should spend some serious time and money bringing our citizens back into the process and convincing them that it is in their best interest to take part in our democracy.

Some people like to say that one vote won’t make any difference, and that politicians are all the same, that it doesn’t really matter who is in charge. In the wake of Election 2000 and its aftermath, we now can definitively say these arguments are completely false.

We take for granted our rights and privileges at our own peril.

What can and should be done?

Maybe voting should be linked to the Super Bowl. Half the seats in the stadium could be earmarked for lucky voters. When you vote you get a chance at going to the big game. That might get sports fans off the couch. Or have a million dollar voting lotto.

Easy money would move people.

Kidding aside. Congress must act. The health of our Nation depends on it.

Every possible option must be explored.

Holiday: Make Election Day a national holiday. Move Election Day to Monday and add a second day of voting on Sunday.

Television: The air waves belong to us, and we must demand thorough, thoughtful coverage of all races for at

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April Recap

Saving Spaceship Earth

BCDC member Lillian Light gave an impassioned presentation on the state of environmental deregulation under the Bush administration. Lillian is president of the Environmental Priorities Network, a sponsor of the recent Earth Day event “Saving Spaceship Earth II” held at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro.

Lillian reported that the Bush administration is steadily dismantling the policies and laws that were put into place after the first Earth Day thirtythree years ago. The first casualty was the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandated environmental impact reports and public participation in decision-making.

Current targets include the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, the Endangered Species Act, and the EPA itself.
Since Bush took office, more than 200 changes have been made to weaken environmental and health policies. National monuments are being opened to logging, and land in national parks is being given to private interests and to local governments to build paved highways through ancient forest

New members Jeffrey Klein and Christiani Amorim

land. The Bureau of Land Management claims that the changes in rules are exempt from environmental review.

Under the Bush administration, no action has been taken to alleviate the effects of the thousands of toxic chemicals that threaten our health. EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman has refused to act on the problem of toxins found in the body and wants to cut back on screenings for lead poisoning.

The toxic cleanup Superfund has been under-funded in this Administration, with an $82 million shortfall this year alone. Bush has replaced the “Polluter Pays Principle” with the “Taxpayer Pays Principle,” absolving big polluters from cleaning up their own waste in the name of “tax relief” for corporations. Budgets at the EPA and other agencies have been cut by more than 50%. At present, Bush is attempting to roll back the Clean Air Act, making anti-pollution upgrades voluntary.

Nothing is sacred: Interior Secretary Gale Holmes Norton, in Lillian’s opinion the worst of Bush’s appointees, has not added a single species to the Endangered Species list and has delisted many endangered animals. She attempted to start oil drilling off the California coast while Bush banned coastal drilling in Florida to help his brother’s gubernatorial campaign. Now she is attempting to privatize the department’s personnel, replacing rangers and scientists with workers from the logging and mining companies.

Bush’s “healthy forest” initiative calls for cutting down the largest oldgrowth trees, claiming it will reduce the risk of forest fires—exactly the opposite of what the experts believe. Cutting is already underway in backwoods areas, out of public view. Because this initiative wouldn’t have a chance of getting Congressional approval, it is

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