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Hawkins calls upon New Yorkers to Vote for Peace
Time to Derail Presidential Ambitions of Hillary Clinton
"Let's Make this Election a Referendum Against the War" |
Media Release
For immediate release: August 23, 2006
For more information:
Howie Hawkins, (315) 425-1019
Meghan Keegan, (518) 225-0134 media@hawkinsforsenate.net
Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for US Senate who earlier this week submitted twice the number of required signatures to get on the ballot, called today for New Yorkers to help bring the troops home from Iraq by voting against Senator Clinton in the upcoming elections.
“The voters in Connecticut shook up politicians nationally by defeating pro-war Senator Lieberman in the recent primary. New York voters must finish the job by standing out for peace and casting out the pro-war Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s defeat in the US Senate race will also help defeat the growing trend in national politics of family political dynasties. The American patriots threw out King George in 1776. Its time for the new patriots to throw out both Queen Hillary and King George the 44th this November,” added Hawkins.
Hawkins said it was time for Clinton to stop ducking debates with her anti-war opponents. Hawkins promised to run a vigorous campaign over the next few months. “The country is watching this Senate election because of 2008 presidential election. I intend to challenge Clinton on her pro-war, pro-corporate, and anti-consumer record,” stated Hawkins.
“War hawks like Hillary Clinton love to send the youth of America to die and kill on foreign soil, installing puppet regimes with bombs and bullets and calling it democracy. But here at home they’re scared to death to allow any semblance of democracy to break out. They want elections without debates about principles and programs, elections that are reduced to competitions for corporate cash,” said Hawkins, a former Marine who was active in organizing opposition to the Vietnam War.
Nationally, of the 50 industries providing the most amount of money in the current election cycle, Clinton was the most favored candidate of 13. Clinton was the favorite of lawyers and law firms, real estate, securities and investment, entertainment, accounting, publishing, and food and beverages, among others. Clinton is the second highest recipient nationally of campaign contributions from the health care industry – doctors, hospitals, drug manufacturers, insurance companies – trailing only Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Many openly acknowledge they are heavily investing in Clinton since they expect her to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, following the usual rules to buy a seat at the table.
“Many New Yorkers don’t realize how strongly Clinton promotes war. She gave unconditional support to the recent bombings and attacks on civilians in Lebanon. Not only did she vote to give the green light to President Bush to invade Iraq, but she publicly boasted that it was her husband’s administration that first attempted regime change in Iraq with sanctions and bombings. When she see voters turning against the war in Connecticut, she drags Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld before her committee so she can posture against him for a poorly executed war rather than to oppose the war,” noted Hawkins.
Hawkins said that public debate was also needed to educate the voters on Clinton’s position on issues such as health care and global warming. “Many Americans still don’t realize that it was Clinton in 1993 who undercut the movement for national health insurance by promoting HMOs instead. She still opposes a Medicare for All system, instead drawing cheers and campaign checks from the insurance companies when she embraces the Massachusetts mandate that consumers buy private health insurance. And many voters don’t realize that both Clintons, along with Al Gore, prevented ratification of the Kyoto Protocols on global warming,” observed Hawkins. Just a few months ago, the Boston Globe described Senator Clinton as a “no-show on climate change.”
Hawkins said he would fund a worldwide transition to clean energy by redirecting $300 billion a year from the military spending to building a new energy infrastructure based on renewable sources. “The great scandal in America is the obscene amount of our tax money we give to the war profiteers, money that we should spend instead on improving our schools, making housing affordable, and rebuilding our cities and mass transit. We are mortgaging our grandchildren’s future to enrich the military industries and pay for huge tax giveaways to the rich,” added Hawkins.
Hawkins also said it was time to take a fresh look at 9/11. “Five years ago, shortly after the WTC towers fell, the Green Party called for the murder of thousands to be treated as a crime against humanity. Instead President Bush, with the active support of Clinton and Democratic Party, has launched a disastrous war to secure oil fields in the Middle East while Osama bin Laden and the other 9/11 guilty parties remain free. We need a new investigation into who was responsible for 9/11 and then vigorous pursuit and prosecution of the responsible parties who supported the hijackers. And we need to debate whether building a world based on the principles of peace and justice for all would be more productive than wars for oil mislabeled the war on terrorism, which has led to a civil war in Iraq and spying on Americans at home,” added Hawkins.
Hawkins noted that the two chairs of the 9/11 Commission recently released a book stating that the administration lied to the 9/11 Commission about how NORAD and the air force responded to the hijackings. “We also know now that the administration lied about the health risks posed to residents and rescue workers from the collapse of the World Trade Center. And of course the administration lied about the reasons for invading Iraq. Polls show that a majority of New Yorkers and Americans want a new investigation to uncover the truth about 9/11,” Hawkins said.
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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