The Current won the following awards from the Missouri College Media Association for 2006 publications at two-year colleges:
First Place
Second Place
Third Place
Honorable Mention
Current alumna Courtney Kuns (UMKC’s U-News) won first place for News Section Front in Division 1.
December 12, 2003
Retired Army General
Background Information
Wesley Clark was born in 1944 and grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Westpoint Military Academy in 1966, was awarded the Rhodes scholarship and moved on to earn a master’s in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University. During his thirty-eight-year military career, he participated in both in the Vietnam and Gulf wars. He retired from the army soon after his stint as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO throughout the Kosovo conflict. Since then, Clark has been working as an investment banker and a CNN military analyst.
Political Allies
Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR), infamous for the scandal surrounding his cocaine use and a string of other southern Democratic legislators; George Bruno, Democratic National Committee member
Political Fumbles
A Republican most of his life, Clark voted for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
Issues at a glance A: Occupation of Iraq B: Economy C: Environment D: Health Care E: Civil Liberties
A: Clark has been touted as one of the anti-war candidates. On Sep. 20, the Washington Post reported Clark saying that his views resemble those of Joe Lieberman and John Kerry and that he “probably” would have voted for the congressional resolution authorizing the Iraq War. The day after that statement, the Associated Press reported that he backtracked and said, “I would never have voted for this war.” Although advocating involvement of Iraqis in providing security and forming a democratic government for their country, he sees it necessary for the U.S. to maintain their presence in Iraq for a very long time. A strong supporter of Israel’s far-right government, on CNN Clark referred to Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people as a struggle for the existence of Israel.
B: Clark is a “blue dog” (economically conservative) Democrat, similar to Pres. Clinton. He also advocates the fostering of small business.
C: He believes in a balance between commercial exploitation and respect for the environment. NPR radio quoted Clark as saying, “We should work right now on clean air, clean water, and climate change. We need to support upgrades to air pollution.”
D: Clark is opposed to the single-payer system, employed by all other industrialized nations except the United States, in which all citizens are guaranteed universal health care. Solutions he has proposed to the current health care crisis include raising the limits on Medicaid and, according to his website, “promoting physical vigor.”
E: Clark wants to review anti-terrorism measures, including the PATRIOT Act, and repeal unconstitutional aspects. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that after Sep. 11, while he was an investment banker, Clark counseled clients on how to pitch commercial technologies for “homeland-security” use to the government. Fortune magazine has reported that Clark is also a board member of the database company Axicom and has been spearheading their pursuit of contracts with the government for products that would scan for and compile information on all American citizens. A complaint to the FTA has been filed against Axicom for turning over information on two million passengers to Torch, a military contractor. Torch is designing an updated version of the Computer-Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System which will profile every airline passenger to predict unwanted behavior patterns. The search may include medical, travel, purchase and criminal information.
See also:
December 12, 2003
Congressman (Cleveland, Ohio)
Background Information
In 1977, at the age of 31, Cleveland, Ohio councilman Dennis Kucinich took office as mayor of Cleveland. After a 15-year political hiatus, he was appointed to Ohio Senate. In 1996, he was elected to serve Ohio in the U.S. House, where he remains.
Political Allies
Former presidential candidate Ralph Nadar; Rep. Lynn Woolsey; Sen. John Hottinger; singers Willie Nelson and Ani DeFranco; actors Ed Asner, Mimi Kennedy and actor/activist Danny Glover
Political Fumbles
As mayor, Kucinich refused to sell Cleveland’s city-owned power company, Muny Light, to a private company. Because of his rejection, Cleveland banks tied to the private company refused to roll over the city’s debts that year. Cleveland fell back on its deficit, the first U.S. city to do so since the Depression. Re-election failed, but the Cleveland city council later praised Kucinich for his decision – one that is said to have saved the city millions of dollars.
Issues at a glance A: Occupation of Iraq B: Economy C: Environment D: Health Care E: Civil Liberties
A: Kucinich is very, very anti-occupation of Iraq. He’s an aggressive advocate of peace. This year, he received the Gandhi Peace Award. If elected, he plans to push two bills that he currently sponsors in Congress. One piece of legislation will build a cabinet-level Department of Peace. The other bill, the Space Preservation Treaty, bans docking missiles in space.
B: Kucinich gets off fighting injustices of the American world, so a great deal of his economic policy is crafted with the “little guy” in mind. Like many of the other candidates, he’s out to level the corporate playing field – in other words, promote corporate integrity. But unlike many of the other candidates, Kucinich wants to withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA and WTO. The U.S. must form and enforce our own trade agreements, demanding that human rights and environmental standards are upheld overseas. He led 114 Democrats to Seattle, rallying Pres. Clinton to lobby WTO for improved environmental and workplace practices.
C: The Green Party’s past presidential candidate Ralph Nadar said he might not run for president if Kucinich wins the Democratic bid. Kucinich, a longtime critic of nuclear power, strongly pushes the use of safe, renewable energy sources across the globe.
D: Like Moseley Braun, forming a single-payer health care system is one of Kucinich’s primary platforms. The government would provide coverage to everybody. The money saved by switching to a single-payer system is the money used to pay for this universal health care system. Under the single-payer system, the government could buy prescription drugs in bulk, thereby lowering prescription prices and premiums.
E: Kucinich is the only Democratic candidate who’s a member of Congress who voted against implementing USA PATRIOT Act. He claims he will oust the Patriot Act as soon as he is voted into office. Although Kucinich is against abortion personally, he feels women should have the right to choose. It’s only recently he swung this way, after coming to the conclusion that without choice, women wouldn’t be equal to men. He promises to only nominate justices to the Supreme Court if they uphold Roe v. Wade.
See also:
December 12, 2003
Minister and Political Activist
Background Information
Al Sharpton was born in 1954 in New York City. Renowned as a child prodigy in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood, where his working-class parents raised him, he started preaching at age four and was ordained as a Pentacostal minister at age 10. In his teen years, he was the youth director for Operation Breadbasket, Jesse Jackson’s campaign to economically improve African-American neighborhoods. In the late ’70s he was manager of James Brown’s concert tours. During the ’90s he ran for the U.S. Senate and the New York mayoral office, losing both times. The founder of National Youth Movement and National Action Network, Sharpton has been a consistent leader in political activism focusing on racial, economic and social justice.
Political Allies
Black Enterprise Magazine; The Reverend Floyd D. Harris, Jr., Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene, Fresno, California; Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-NY)
Political Fumbles
In 1989 Sharpton was charged with 67 counts of larceny, fraud and felony tax evasion relating to the National Youth Movement. Although acquitted on all of those counts, Sharpton pled guilty four years later to not filing a New York state income tax return and was convicted of a misdemeanor.
Issues at a glance A: Occupation of Iraq B: Economy C: Environment D: Health Care E: Civil Liberties
A: A staunch opponent of the Iraq War, Sharpton believes that Bush’s pre-emptive war doctrine is dangerous. He says that the war has weakened the United Nations and the structure of international law. He has also criticized the administration for capturing Osama Bin Laden. At Sep. 9′s Congressional Black Caucus Institute Debate, Sharpton said, “As president, I would have become involved only if there were American lives at stake. I would not run around trying to be the world’s bully.”
B: He wants to balance the budget by repealing the Bush tax cuts, invest in job development and increase funding for social services. Sharpton is a traditional economic liberal.
C: MoveOn.org quotes Sharpton saying, “Converting our economy to renewable fuels as rapidly as practical and feasible would be one of my top priorities. I believe that protecting the environment is also labor intensive. Thus, creating a clean, safe and sustainable environment would also create jobs, not cost jobs.”
D: Sharpton wants to establish a national single-payer universal health care plan. He also believes there should be a constitutional amendment guaranteeing all Americans the right to health care.
E: In an interview with finalcall.com, Sharpton criticized the PATRIOT Act saying, “To say that the attorney general at his sole discretion has the right to eavesdrop through wiretapping on lawyer/client conversations is absurd and it is a police state mentality. To say they have the right to detain people without charging them [means] they have just totally torn up parts of the constitution.”
See also:
December 12, 2003
U.S. Senator (North Carolina)
Background Information
Edwards gained notoriety in North Carolina as a successful trial lawyer. In 1998, the state sent him to the U.S. Senate.
Political Allies
Black Rep. Albert Wynn; Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson; North Carolina Democrat Congressional Delegation; actor Ashton Kutcher and more than 200 former and current city and state office holders in make-or-break Iowa
Political Fumbles
So far, he’s squeaky clean. Edwards’s credibility to pro-Iraq voters might be damaged with his vote against approving Bush’s request for $87 billion in aid for Iraq. He told Meet the Press he does not approve of gay marriage.
Issues at a glance A: Occupation of Iraq B: Economy C: Environment D: Health Care E: Civil Liberties
A: Like Bush, Edwards stresses the importance of winning our war on terror. Our winning strategy includes, pumping up homeland security, securing the world’s greatest military, rebuilding Iraq and working globally to end production of WMDs. Edwards supports measures used to collect information on “terrorists.” The data collected should be analyzed and utilized to prevent future terrorist acts. Part of his homeland security initiative includes the addition of an office of individual liberties.
B: Edwards has it bad for the middle class. He’s defended them as a trial lawyer for 20 years. He plans to cut taxes of companies who keep business in the states. Edwards has many ideas that he claims protect American corporate employees from the dishonesty of the executives they work for. He also plans to reform labor laws, increase hourly wages and extend unemployment benefits. Edwards will fight for enforcement of U.S. trade agreements with other countries’- in particular, China.
C: Edwards boasts of increasing fuel-efficiency standards, using renewable resources for energy production and enforcing environmental laws. Like Joe Lieberman, he fought against Bush’s rollbacks to the Clean Air Act and oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. America needs to align with other world leaders to protect the earth’s environment as a whole, according to Edwards.
D: Edwards says health care expenses must decrease. At the same time the quality must increase. The nation has a responsibility to provide health care for all children, uninsured low-income employees, the unemployed and the elderly. The nation also has a responsibility to increase the amount of resources found in hospitals and medical clinics.
E: He seeks equality in college admissions and hiring. Edwards will focus efforts on sealing the gender and racial pay gap. Racial profiling in law enforcement must also cease. Like the other candidates, he seeks a serious approach to end and prevent crimes of hate. The war on terrorism has taken away civil liberties that he feels we must get back. Did Edwards forget that he voted “yes” for the USA PATRIOT Act?
See also:
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May 1, 2007
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