|
|
~SITE
PHILOSOPHY~ This site is provided by
enlighten technologies, inc.™, an Iowa based
corporation, and is intended as a resource
rich research site aimed at giving back to the
community and the state of Iowa in
appreciation for all those who have helped us
these past thirteen years to succeed in the
law service industry. We feel that
helping to promote the State of Iowa Caucus is
an important part of the political process and
is beneficial to both our community and
the State of Iowa.
|
|
|
DENNIS KUCINICH
"I want to inspire America to take a new path, a different direction.
I envision an America which has the capacity to reconnect with the
heart of the world; an America which proceeds in the world
optimistically and courageously. An America which understands that the
world is interdependent, that it is inter-connected, and that what we do
today impacts future generations." -
Dennis Kucinich
|
Statistics
-
|
| CAMPAIGN
SLOGAN: "Strength through Peace." |
| FULL
NAME: Dennis John Kucinich |
| DATE
OF BIRTH: October 8, 1946 |
| AGE:
61 |
| ASTROLOGICAL
SIGN: Libra |
| SPOUSE:
Elizabeth Harper |
| CHILDREN:
Jacqueline |
| PETS:
Pound rescues Harry
- Beagle-Basset, Lucie - Beagle, and George - Cocker Spaniel |
| RESIDENCE:
Cleveland, OH |
| RELIGION:
Roman Catholic |
| PROFESSION:
Politician |
| ALTERNATE
CAREER CHOICE: Astronaut |
| FAVORITE
BOOK/LAST READ: Einstein's Dreams |
| FAVORITE
FOOD TO COOK/EAT: Hot water, according to his
wife; he doesn't cook. A vegan, he favors fresh fruits and vegetables. |
| TALENTS:
Hits just as well against
right-handers as left-handers |
| FAVORITE
FITNESS ACTIVITY: Walking
fast |
| WORST
HABIT: "Ask my
wife." |
| LAST
MUSIC PURCHASE: Likes Willie
Nelson |
|
QUICK
FACT: Dennis has been honored by Public Citizen, the Sierra
Club, Friends of the Earth and the League of Conservation Voters as a
champion of clean air, clean water and an unspoiled earth, and he is
the 2003 recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award.
|
| OFFICIAL
WEBSITE: http://kucinich.us |
| CONTACT:
http://kucinich.us/contact |
Biography -
Dennis John
Kucinich is an American
politician of the Democratic party and currently represents the 10th District of Ohio in the United States House of
Representatives. His district includes most of western Cleveland, as well as
such suburbs as Parma and Cuyahoga Heights. He is currently the chairman of
the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform and serves on the
Congressional Education
and Labor Committee. He is a member of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus and is a self-described "Wellstone
Democrat."
Kucinich was born in
Cleveland as the eldest of the seven children of Frank and Virginia Kucinich.
His father, a truck driver, was Croatian; his Irish American mother, a
homemaker. In 1973, he graduated from Case Western Reserve University with
both a BA, and an MA in speech and communication. Kucinich was baptized a
Roman Catholic. He is twice-divorced, with a daughter, Jackie, from his
marriage to Sandra Lee McCarthy and married his third wife, Elizabeth
Harper, a British citizen, on August 21, 2005. Kucinich's political
career began early and, in 1969, when he was only 23, he was
elected to the Cleveland City Council.
In 1972,
Kucinich ran for a seat in the United
States House of Representatives, losing narrowly to incumbent Republican
William E. Minshall Jr. In 1974,
after Minshall's retirement, Kucinich sought the seat again, this time
failing to get the Democratic nomination. Kucinich ran in the general election anyway, as an
independent. While he came in third, he still managed to garner almost 30%
of the vote.
In 1975,
Kucinich became clerk of the municipal court in Cleveland and served in that
position for two years. In 1977, Kucinich was
elected Mayor of Cleveland and served in that position until 1979.
At 31, he was the youngest mayor of a major city in the United
States and was successful in a battle against selling the municipal
electric utility. Melvin
G. Holli placed Kucinich among
the ten worst big-city mayors of all time in the book Best and Worst of the Big-City Leaders
1820–1993, while Kucinich's supporters say that Kucinich kept his
campaign promise of refusing to sell Muny Light to CEI and was brave for not
giving in to big business. In fact, in 1993, then-Cleveland Mayor Michael
White cited Kucinich's "wisdom" in not selling the utility. In
1998 the council honored him for having the "courage and
foresight" to stand up to the banks and saving the city an estimated
$195 million between 1985 and 1995.
After losing his
re-election bid for Mayor to George
Voinovich in 1979, Kucinich kept a low-profile in Cleveland politics. He struggled to find employment and
moved to Los
Angeles, California where he stayed with a friend, actress Shirley
MacLaine.
During the next three years, Kucinich earned money as a radio talk show
host, lecturer, and consultant.
However, this was a very difficult period for Kucinich financially. Without
a steady paycheck, Kucinich fell behind in his mortgage payments, nearly
lost his house in Cleveland, and ended up borrowing money from friends,
including MacLaine, to keep it.
On his 1982 income tax return, Kucinich reported income of $38.
When discussing this period, Kucinich stated, "When I was growing up in
Cleveland, my early experience conditioned me to hang in there and not to
quit. . . (During that time, his family had moved frequently, sometimes
living in cars between apartments.) It's one thing to experience that as a
child, but when you have to as an adult, it has a way to remind you how
difficult things can be. You understand what people go through."
In 1982, Kucinich
moved back to Cleveland and, in 1983, he won a special election to fill the seat of a Cleveland
city councilman who had died.
His brother, Gary
Kucinich, was also a councilman at the time. In
1985, Kucinich gave up his council position to run for governor of
Ohio as an independent, but later withdrew from the race.
After this, Kucinich, in his own words, moved to New Mexico "on a quest for meaning,"
and lived quietly until 1994
when he won a seat in the State
Senate.
"He was in political Siberia in the 1980s," said Joseph Tegreene
years later. "It was only when it became clear to people that he was
right... he got belated recognition for the things that he did."
In 1996, Kucinich was
elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 10th district
of Ohio. He defeated two-term Republican incumbent Martin
Hoke in what is still regarded as an upset given the 10th's historic
Republican lean.
In 2003, Kucinich was
the recipient of the Gandhi
Peace Award, an annual award bestowed by the Religious
Society of Friends-affiliated organization Promoting
Enduring Peace. On December 10, 2003,
the American
Broadcasting Company (ABC) announced the removal of its correspondents
from the campaigns of Kucinich, Carol
Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton. The announcement came one day after a Democratic presidential debate hosted
by ABC News' Ted Koppel, in which Koppel asked whether the candidacies of
Kucinich,
Moseley Braun and Sharpton were merely vanity
campaigns, and Koppel and Kucinich exchanged uncomfortable dialogue.
Kucinich, previously critical of the limited coverage given his campaign,
characterized ABC's decision as an example of media companies' power to
shape campaigns by choosing which candidates to cover and questioned its
timing, coming immediately after the debate. ABC News, while stating its commitment to give coverage to a wide range of
candidates, argued that focusing more of its finite resources on those
candidates most likely to win would best serve the public debate.
In the Iowa
caucuses he finished fifth, receiving about one percent of the state
delegates from Iowa. Kucinich's best showing in any Democratic contest was in the February
24 Hawaii
caucus, in which he won 31% of caucus participants, coming in second place
to Senator John
Kerry of Massachusetts.
He also saw a double-digit showing in Maine
on February
8, where he got 16% in that state's caucus. On
Super
Tuesday, March
2, Kucinich gained another strong showing with the Minnesota
caucus, where 17% of the ballots went to him. In his home state of Ohio, he
gained nine percent in the primary. Ralph Nader praised Kucinich as "a
genuine progressive", and most Greens were friendly to Kucinich's
campaign, some going so far as to indicate that they would not have run
against him had he won the Democratic nomination.
Kucinich has always
been easily reelected to Congress, though Republicans and conservative
Democrats have made increasingly high-profile attempts to challenge him. In
the 2004 primary election, Kucinich was renominated for the seat
representing Ohio's 10th
congressional district. Kucinich defeated
Republican candidate Ed
Herman. Because of Kucinich's national fame, both candidates received
much backing by their parties from outside the district, particularly on the
Internet. In 2006, Kucinich
defeated another Democratic primary challenger by a wide margin, and
defeated Republican Mike
Dovilla in the general election with 66% of the vote, despite
last-minute Republican attempts to bring more support to Dovilla.
On April
17, 2007,
Kucinich sent a letter to his Democratic colleagues saying that he planned
to file impeachment
proceedings against Dick
Cheney, the vice president of the United States, without specifying the
charges to be brought.
Kucinich planned to introduce the impeachment
articles on April
24, 2007,
but in light of Cheney's surprise doctor's visit to inspect a blood clot,
Kucinich decided to postpone the scheduled press conference "until the
vice president's condition is clarified."
Kucinich held a press
conference on the evening of April
24, 2007,
revealing US
House Resolution 333 and the three articles of impeachment against
Cheney. He charges Cheney with manipulating the evidence of Iraq's weapons
program, deceiving the nation about Iraq's connection to al-Qaeda, and
threatening aggression against Iran in violation of the United
Nations charter.
During the first
Democratic Presidential debate at South
Carolina State University,
none of the other candidates' hands went up when the moderator, Brian
Williams, asked if they would support Kucinich's plan to impeach Cheney.
In response, Kucinich retrieved a "pocket-sized" copy of the U.S.
Constitution from his coat and expressed the importance of protecting
and defending Constitutional principles. As of June 29, 2007,
nine other Congressional representatives have become co-sponsors.
Three of these are members of the House
Judiciary Committee.
Kucinich is one of 75
co-sponsors in the House of Representatives of the United
States National Health Insurance Act or HR 676 proposed by Rep. John
Conyers, which provides for a universal single-payer public
health-insurance plan of
the type supported by most Americans. Kucinich voted against
the USA
PATRIOT Act and his voting record is not always in line with that of the Democratic
Party. Kucinich criticizes the
revolving door between Washington and industry; the move by some senior Bush
Administration officials from senior government posts to senior jobs in the
industries that they were supposed to regulate. Kucinich
also criticized
the flag-burning amendment and voted against the impeachment of President
Clinton. His congressional voting record has leaned toward a pro-life
stance, although he noted that he has never supported a constitutional
amendment prohibiting abortion altogether. In 2003, however, he began
describing himself as pro-choice
and said he had shifted away from his earlier position on the issue.
Press releases have indicated that he is pro-choice and supports ending the
"abstinence-only" policy of sex education and increasing the use
of contraception to make abortion "less necessary" over time.
Kucinich has criticized Diebold
Election Systems for promoting voting machines that fail to leave a
traceable paper trail, and posted internal company memos on his website in
which company executives promised to deliver the 2004 Ohio election to Bush.
He was one of the 31 who voted in the House to not count the electoral
votes from Ohio
in the United
States presidential election of 2004 and has criticized the foreign policy of President Bush, including the 2003
invasion of Iraq and what Kucinich perceives to be building American
hostility towards Iran. In 2005, Kucinich voted against the Iran
Freedom and Support Act, calling it a "stepping stone to war."
Kucinich has also been
a strong opponent of space
based weapons and has sponsored legislation, HR 2977, banning the
deployment and use of space-based weapons.
Kucinich advocates
U.S. withdrawal from the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) because, in his view, it causes
the loss of more American jobs than it creates, and does not provide
adequate protections for worker rights and safety and environmental
safeguards. He is also against the Central
American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) for the same reason. He believes the U.S.
should move aggressively to reduce emissions that cause climate change due
to global warming
and should sign a major international agreement signed by over 160 countries
called the Kyoto
Protocol to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by each
signatory.
Kucinich has been a
vocal opponent of the H1B and L1 visa programs. In an article on his
campaign website,
he states: "The expanded use
of H-1B and L-1 visas has had a negative effect on the workplace of
Information Technology workers in America. It has caused a reduction in
wages. It has forced workers to accept deteriorating working conditions and
allowed U.S. companies to concentrate work in technical and geographic areas
that American workers consider undesirable. It has also reduced the number
of IT jobs held by Americans." Kucinich is also
involved in efforts to bring back The
Fairness Doctrine, requiring radio stations to give liberal and
conservative points of view equal time. He is joined in this effort by
fellow Democrats Nancy
Pelosi, Howard
Dean and Maurice
Hichney, among others, as well as independent Senator Bernie
Sanders.
Conservatives have criticized these plans, stating that liberal-dominated
Hollywood, academia and mainstream media would not be subject to these
regulations
Kucinich addresses the
issue of factory
farming in his policy encouraging independent, family-owned, and organic
farming. This would help lead to "the meat that we consume coming from
happy and healthy free-range animals", Kucinich states on his campaign
website. Kucinich has the
distinction of being the only vegan
in Congress. He has maintained a diet for many years that excludes animal
products in accordance with his conviction that "all life on our Earth
[is] sacred."
(See http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/05/from_foods_to_m.html.)
(See http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=318.)
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Kucinich.)
|
|
|
Platform
Issues -
|
| Universal
Health Care: |
|
Our health care system is broken,
and H.R. 676, the Conyers-Kucinich bill, is the only comprehensive
solution to the problem and is the system endorsed by more than
14,000 physicians from Physicians for a National Health Program.
Nearly 46 million Americans have no health care and over 40 million
more have only minimal coverage. In 2005 some 41% of moderate and
middle income Americans went without health care for part of the year.
53% of those earning less than $20,000 went
without insurance for all of 2005. The National Academy of
Science's Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 Americans die
each year because they have no health insurance.
Even those with coverage too
often pay exorbitant rates. The current profit-driven system,
dominated by private insurance firms and their bureaucracies, has
failed. We must establish streamlined
national health insurance, "Enhanced Medicare for Everyone."
American businesses can no longer be competitive shouldering
the entire cost of health care. Health care is a right that all
Americans deserve. (Read
More http://kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php.) |
| International
Cooperation: US out of Iraq, UN in |
|
In the past three years, the U.S.
has subjected the world community to a doctrine of preventive,
unilateral, and illegal first strikes against "forces of
evil" that have not attacked us. We have insisted that everyone else adhere to rules of international
order that we have no intention of following ourselves. We have
demonstrated a contempt for international organizations and any
multilateral constraints whatsoever on the employment of American
power.
All of this has estranged and
frightened our allies and provoked enduring enmity in the councils of
other governments and the hearts of citizens around the world. George
Bush's foreign policies have made us the new foreign enemies; his defense policies have weakened our
defenses; and his responses to 9/11 have made future 9/11s more likely to occur.
In the America I see
flourishing under new administration,
other nations will encounter a country that accommodates rather than
alienates, makes
friends instead of enemies, and employs carrots far more often than
sticks. Our country and all nations must review and modify all treaties that
reject national sovereignty in the cause of a global corporate ethic
that does not respect human rights, workers' rights, and environmental
quality standards. With a
Department of Peace, we can articulate a vision of the future where
humanity has abolished war itself.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/internatcoop.php.)
|
| Jobs
Programs / Infrastructure & Withdrawal from NAFTA & WTO: |
|
Our country is facing twin
crises: high unemployment and a decrepit infrastructure. At the same
time, millions of manufacturing and high-tech jobs are being shipped
overseas. Unless we
cancel the WTO and pull out of NAFTA, corporations will continue to
move jobs out of the country and produce goods in developing and
third-world nations (with great costs to those countries' workers and
environment). By initiating a WPA-style jobs program
that puts Americans back to work rebuilding America, we can create
millions of jobs and simultaneously improve our quality of life.
In order to buy American, we have to assure that goods
are still being produced in America. My entire mission is aimed at
increasing the benefits to the public good, and my campaigns are financed
completely by ordinary individuals, not large corporations. I am not
beholden to any corporate interests; there are no strings attached. My
campaigns and my work represent all the people of our nation, not just
the wealthy elite.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/jobs.php.) |
| Repeal
of the "Patriot Act": |
|
As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I spoke against
the PATRIOT Act,
I voted against it, and I introduced legislation for its repeal. From
traveling across America, it's unmistakably clear to me that there is
an almost universal rejection of the PATRIOT Act.
Just 45 days after the September
11, 2001 attacks, President Bush rammed the "PATRIOT Act"
through Congress with virtually no debate. Many provisions of the act had been
long sought after by law enforcement and repeatedly rejected by
Congress. Without a warrant or probable
cause, the FBI can now search your private medical records or your library
records, and your doctor and library are forbidden from
notifying you. The government may
search your home while you are away and in some cases even confiscate
your property. I believe the only way to stop
these unconstitutional infringements on basic American freedoms is to
revoke the exorbitant powers the PATRIOT Act has granted the
government.
In eroding
our civil liberties, President Bush has taken our freedom while making
us no safer, no better protected against terrorism. The "PATRIOT
Act" is not what American patriots fought and died for. As
Americans, we cannot allow fear and scare-mongering to lead us to a
place where we abandon our most precious traditions.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/patriot_act.php.) |
| Guaranteed
Quality Education, Pre-K through College: |
|
Studies have shown that the most critical cognitive development occurs
in the years from birth to age 3. That is one reason I have been a
leading advocate for early childhood education, with a special
emphasis on the support and care of low-income infants and toddlers.
For grades K through 12, my
priorities are based on the bedrock principle of a free, universal,
and high quality public education for every child in America. I
believe that
we cannot improve education by draining funding from our public
schools. There are 12 million young
Americans who attend public institutions, colleges, and universities.
They now pay, on average, over $10,000 a year. That adds up to $120
billion a year. That's less than the President's most recent tax cut
for the wealthy. The current Administration wants
to box our young people in with standardized tests and a limited focus
on math and science. Education must emphasize creative and critical
thinking, not just test taking. The right of every American child
to a high-quality free public education is one of America's most
treasured principles. We must improve the quality of public education
in those schools that are struggling and expand public education to
include pre-kindergarten beginning at age 3, as well as tuition-free college for millions of students.
The education and well-being of our nation's children is a collective
responsibility that all Americans share.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/education.php.) |
| Full
Social Security Benefits at Age 65: |
My
platform is centered
upon a non-negotiable commitment to preserve Social Security
against all assaults. I stand to return full Social Security
benefits to senior citizens at age 65 -- a rollback from the
present age of 67. I staunchly oppose all efforts
to privatize Social Security, thus diverting payroll tax dollars
into individual accounts. Throughout my career in
public service, I have been a strong supporter of seniors'
issues, advocating for the amended Older Americans Act, showing my support for older Americans' needs for adequate
income in retirement, the best possible physical and mental
health, suitable housing, long-term care services (with special
attention to those who wish to stay in their homes and for their
caregivers), help for grandparents raising children, and
efficient community services. I see a country where all citizens can retire
with full benefits at age 65, where social security will never
become privatized, and where retirement years won't land in the
hands of the stock market. I see an America where equal access
and equal rights are obtained by all; where health care is
regarded as a human right; and where the people who have lived
to see this country grow can continue to grow old with it in
peace.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/seniors.php.)
|
| Right-to-Choose,
Privacy & Civil Rights: |
|
Reproductive
Rights
Republicans have hidden from an honest up or down vote
on abortion and, instead, continue fooling well-intentioned voters who feel
strongly about abortion that they "feel their pain." The fact is that
most Americans, including myself, are uncomfortable with abortions,
but the vast majority
of Americans recognize that there are circumstances in which a woman
and her doctor should be allowed to make this most difficult decision
without government intervention. I have a plan to
reduce abortions by encouraging family planning, including abstinence
training, combined with a full economic and health care plan that
would clearly alleviate the number of abortions. Voters have a choice:
Choose Republican rhetoric, or a real plan to reduce the number of abortions with a program
of economic justice.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/rightsreproductive.php.)
Civil Liberties
The recent disclosure of the
President's refusal to follow the FISA law should worry Americans
concerned with the dangers posed by a too-powerful executive. We elect
Presidents, not kings, and no president is above a clearly written law
expressly curbing his powers. More worrisome, however, is
the lap dog Congress that we currently have -- something even
Republican Congress is sheepishly admitting. Only
eight members of Congress have been told ANYTHING about the FISA
violations and are sworn to secrecy. However, when asked
if they were told much, several acknowledged that they have
been pretty much left in the dark.
Recent refusals by the Attorney General to disclose whether
similar programs are being used against purely domestic communications
should send a chill down all our spines.
All elected officials want terrorists to be caught, but does anyone seriously believe that terrorists
feel they can talk freely on the phone? The misleading and duplicitous
response that the government can't talk about its secret programs even
in secret sessions of Congress is ludicrous. The time to stop the erosion of
our rights is now.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/civilliberties.php.)
|
| Balance
Between Workers & Corporations: |
|
Whenever there is an organizing campaign, a picket line to walk, jobs
to save, working conditions to improve, laws to champion, I'm there.
This is my purpose: To stand up and to speak out on behalf of those
who have built this country and who want to rebuild this country. This
is my passion: To raise up the rights of working people. Workers' rights embody spiritual
principles that sustain families, nourish the soul, and create peace. Workers'
rights are the key to protecting our democracy.
Labor has stood almost alone
while corporations have cut wages and benefits, slashed working hours,
tried to undermine wage and hour provisions, reneged on contracts, and
jettisoned retirements through bankruptcy strategies. Since 1981, the share of income
of the richest 5% of this country has increased more than 40%, while
that of the lowest fifth has decreased more than 20%. According to Business Week, the average CEO made
531
times the average worker's pay in 2000.
People have a right to a job at a safe
workplace with decent wages and benefits; people have a right to organize and be
represented, to grieve about working conditions, strike, and get fair compensation for
injuries on the job, to sue if injured by negligent employers, have secure pension and
retirement benefits, and participate in the political
process. The rights of workers are core principles of an American Restoration.
These are timeless moral
principles, about fairness, about equality, and about justice.
Workers' rights are human rights.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/rightsworkers.php.) |
| Environmental
Renewal & Clean Energy: |
|
The
air, water, and land are viewed by this administration as
just another commodity to be used for private profit. We should view our natural resources as the
common property and commonwealth of all humanity. My candidacy arises from a philosophy of
interdependence and interconnection, which respects the environment as
a precondition for our survival. I am not tied to any corporate
interests that would strip our forests or pollute our air or water,
and throughout my career, I have worked for structures of law that protect
the environment. We must reverse course on most Bush Administration policies and
support the Kyoto Treaty that Bush rejected. We must strengthen
environmental laws and increase penalties on polluters. We should
provide tax and other incentives to businesses that conserve energy,
retrofit pollution prevention technologies, and redesign toxins out of
their manufacturing processes. We should use our country's leadership in sustainable energy
production to provide jobs at home, increase our independence from
foreign oil, and aid developing nations with cheap, dependable,
renewable energy technologies like wind and solar. A clean
environment, a sustainable economy, and an intact ozone layer are not
luxuries, but necessities for our planet's future.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/environment.php.)
|
| Restored
Rural Communities & Family Farms: |
|
Something is wrong when profits of agribusiness corporations
skyrocket, but farmers must find off-farm jobs or sell their farms to
survive. I believe the United States must implement the following farm
policies to benefit farmers, provide our nation with wholesome food,
protect our natural resources, and restore our rural communities:
1. Cancel NAFTA and the WTO, replacing them with bilateral trade
agreements to benefit family farmers and workers while
protecting the health of communities and the environment, and empowering farmers in the
marketplace by providing incentives to join a collective bargaining
unit.
2. Create new markets by
enforcing existing anti-trust laws and
proposing laws to force divestiture in concentrated markets,
breaking apart monopolistic agribusiness and shifting farm
economics towards higher commodity prices for farmer.
3.
Advocate for responsible farm sector biotechnology, creating an
indemnity fund -- financed by the corporations responsible for the
technology -- for farmers who incur losses caused by genetically
modified organisms, requiring labeling GMO seeds and food containing
GMOs.
4. Shift USDA funding
away from the promotion of concentrated
intensive and industrial agribusiness towards a focus that benefits
family farmers, rural communities, the environment, and consumers,
with policies crafted to enable farmers to earn a fair price and to
provide safe, nutritious food to all people; increase funding for
regional food processing facilities, and various programs.
5. Strengthen and enforce air and water quality laws to safeguard rural
communities from factory farm pollution; limit the number of animal units
per site to allow for on-site manure management; give local communities
control over the sitting of industrial livestock operations; expand
programs that reward family
farmers for protecting the environment; increase funding to help small independent farmers qualify for organic certification.
6. Implement new safety standards in meatpacking and food
processing; expand worker health and safety protections through
increased inspections and fines; back
meatpacking unions to bring wages and benefits in line with
the risks of the job; fund smaller packing plants to create better economic opportunities for family farmers, better
conditions for workers, and safer meat for consumers.
7. Initiate a major new program of investment in rural America, putting
thousands to work rebuilding invaluable public assets such as schools,
hospitals, libraries, swimming pools, and parks; offer incentives to
teachers, doctors,
veterinarians, and others to work in under-served areas; give financial incentives
to local businesses to have a fair chance to
compete.
(Read More http://kucinich.us/issues/farmpolicy.php.)
|
(See http://kucinich.us/issues.)
(See http://www.issues2000.org.)
DENNIS KUCINICH QUOTES
“We need to
understand the connection between peace and the environment. We know that
life on our planet is threatened by the twin threats of global warring and
global warming. They are
linked, and we have to understand that as we cognize the world as being
interconnected and
interdependent, we know that resource wars are passe and that the focus on
sustainability will
create peace.”
"As President, I
will lead the way in protecting our oceans, rivers and rural environments. I
will also lead in fighting for clean, affordable and accessible drinking
water. I have worked hand-in-hand with the environmental movement on many
battles, from thwarting a nuclear waste dump to boosting organics to
demanding labels on genetically-engineered products. A clean environment, a
sustainable economy, and an intact ozone layer are not luxuries, but
necessities for our planet's future."
“America is losing its way at home
and in the world. We have no money to rebuild America's cities, but we have
money to blow up cities in Iraq. No money to feed the hungry, to clothe the
naked, to shelter the homeless in America, but money to rain death,
destruction, and starvation on Iraq. Once again, the hopes of people of two
nations are being smashed by weapons in the name of eliminating
weapons."
"I believe the
American people are people of strength, wisdom, and courage. They have a
right to expect their government to be truly representative! It is time to
say stop this war. It is time to recognize that the terror we visit on the
people of Iraq will bring terror to our own people. Bring our troops
home."
"The United
States was founded on hope, optimism, and a commitment to freedom. We can
once again become a beacon of hope for the world. To do that, we must reject
the current administration's policies of fear, suspicion, and preemptive
war. It is time to jettison our illusions and fears and to transform age-old
challenges with new thinking. This is the idea behind my proposal to
establish a Department of Peace. This is the idea to make nonviolence an
organizing principle at home and abroad and dedicate ourselves to peaceful
coexistence, consensus building, disarmament, and respect for international
treaties. Violence and war are not inevitable. Nonviolence and peace are
inevitable."
(See http://kucinich.us.)
We thank the following resources:
Dennis Kucinich Official Website
http://kucinich.us
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com
Project Vote Smart
http://www.vote-smart.org
Wikipedia
http://www.wikipedia.com
On the Issues
http://www.issues2000.org
|
|
