
Issue No 67		18 August 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

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Paul Howes' Week on the Web

Paul's US Election Special takes you to the online nerve centres of the Presidential campaign.

With all the fun and games of the US Presidential Primaries over and as the US gets wound up for the great "Festival of Democracy" that is the General Election I thought I should take time out this week and explore what's hot and what's not in US Election sites.

And where else to start but with the candidates themselves. The two-front runners Democrat Al Gore http://www.algore2000.org and Republican George W. Bush http://www.georgewbush.com have almost identical sites in terms of content and layout. The only noticeable differences being Gore has a "Gay & Lesbians for Gore" Section and Bush has a "American Gun Owners for Bush" Section. However it is obvious that both campaigns have invested a lot of time, money and energy into their sites and it is having it's rewards, the McCain Campaign in one night received over 2 Million Dollars in online donations.

Greens Party Candidate long time consumer rights and environmental campaigner Ralph Nader http://www.votenader.com has taken a different strategy with his site and made it into a grass roots campaigning tool. Nader who is currently polling around 6 % nationally and is attracting a large section of votes from liberals disillusioned with the Democrats stands to possibly become the most significant third party candidate since ex-Alabama Governor George Wallace ran in the 1960's.

Another third party which a year ago looked set to rock the foundations of the American Two-Party system is the Reform Party founded by Ross Perot in 1996. The Reform Party was most successful just last year when ex-Wrestler Jesse "The Rock" Ventura became the Governor of Minnesota as a Reform Party Candidate. However in the time since the party has imploded with a take-over by hard line conservatives lead by ex-Republican Pat Buchanan. As a consequence the party split and now there is two candidates both claiming to hold the reform Party's nomination those being Pat Buchanan http://www.buchananform.org and little known Nuclear Physicist John Hagelin http://www.hagelin.org who interestingly enough also holds the Natural Law Party Nomination.

McCain http://www.mccain2000.com the man who the Republicans wish would just go away is still maintaining his website although now its remodeled as "Straight Talk Express". Which seems to be a campaign of endorsing Republican Candidates for the Senate and House of Reps who agree with McCain's anti-corporate donation stance.

At the time of writing the Democrats Convention http://www.dems2000.com in Los Angels is almost over and the Republicans http://www.gopconvention.com in Philadelphia have finished theirs. Whilst these conventions are just stage managed campaign launches for the Candidates they are never the less quite amazing in the amount of organisation and hype put into them and their websites are just as amazing.

In terms of keeping up on developments in the elections from a non-partisan view the US has a wealth of resources on the net. One of the more noteworthy sites is Slate.com http://politics.slate.msn.com. Whilst Slate.com is a part of the evil empire (Microsoft) it has already defined it self as being one the most respected and independent commentary pieces on American politics and well worth checking out.

Other commentary sites that are also worthwhile checking out are CNN http://www.cnn.com, C-Span http://www.cspan.org/campaign2000, Politics.com http://www.politics.com, SpeakOut.com http://www.speakout.com/election2000 and The Washington Times http://www.washtimes.com/election2000.

A who bunch of parody sites are now up and running and it seems for every candidate for President, Senate & House of Representatives there is a parody site my two personal favorites are All Gore http://www.allgore.com and BushOnCrack http://www.bushoncrack.com.

Just briefly back to Australia for a moment in Fridays' (18/08/00) Fin Review Stephen Long has written an interesting piece on a year since the New generation took over the ACTU http://www.afr.com.au/news/20000818/A11252-2000Aug17.html and also the CFMEU launched their new site http://www.cfmeu.asn.au a larger review will appear in a fortnight.

If you have any sites you think Paul should review or should be added to the LaborNET links section email him at mailto:[email protected].

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Issue 67 contents

Interview: Slyly Selling the Silver
In their recently published book Privatisation, Sell-off? or Sell out? (ABC Books), Bob and Betty Walker took a long hard look at the major government asset sales of the last decade. Here they tell Workers Online what they've learnt.

Politics: Dysfunctional Society
Noel Pearson looks at the plight of Aboriginal people through a prism of class and comes up with a challenging perspective on Aboriginal welfare, law and order and the state of our society.

History: Money Power
Should the People or the Banks Rule? Reserve Bank Governor McFarlane thinks he knows the answer. Eddie Ward was pretty strongly of the opposite view when the ALP introduced the Commonwealth Banking Legislation in 1945.

International: Soccer Pro Tackles Nike
Olympic sponsor Nike is under pressure over its human rights record in the run up to the Sydney Games.

Economics: Globalony
Frank Stillwell looks at the contradictory nature of the globalising economy and fears it is turning into a race to the bottom.

Satire: IVF Debate: Federal Government Tells Lesbians: "Get Fucked"
MELBOURNE, Monday: The Federal Court decision to allow single women and lesbians to use infertility treatment in Victoria has been attacked by the Federal Government, the Catholic Church and by pro-family community groups.

Review: Confessions Of A Union Buster
It's not a new tome but the threat for Australian Unions remains the same if not greater as when this book appeared five years ago.

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» Bellicose Joy: Baseball Bats and Tinsel

» Selleys Fight Kicks On

» Fiji To Dominate SPOCTU Summit

» Trade Unionists Stand In ARM Elections

» Sydney Hosts Child Care Conference

» Roboboss Corrigan Straddles Lemon

» Staff Vote With Feet At Commonwealth

» Paying Dues Made Easier

» Telstra Risks Roasting Workers

» East Timor's Year One Celebration

» Senate Applauds Australian Seafarers