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Winter 2003 | Summer 2004 |
 President's Message (Maile Bay)Openness in the Courts (Jackie Parnell)Our Comprehensive (Full) Public Funding Bill 2004 (Grace Furukawa)Public Funding of Presidential Primary and General ElectionWhere Has Our Democracy Gone? (Grace Furukawa)Ray of Sunshine (Jean Aoki)Local League News - HonoluluLocal League News - Hawaii (Lois Cecil)Local League News - Kauai (Carol Bain)What is the Act 190 Task Force and Who Cares? (Jaurene Judy)NBC to Televise Democratic Presidential Primary Debate... LWVUS |
President's MessageIt's 2004, a presidential election year. The League and its members have a duty "to get the vote out." The "down to the wire" count in Florida that was curtailed by the U.S. Supreme Court showed that every vote can count. What a difference four years can make! Our elected leaders and their appointees have used he need for safety to curtail civil rights. They have created laws entitled with loaded words such as the "Patriot Act" to rally around, where the law actually strips away the due process protections afforded people by the Bill of Rights. Persons critical of the "War on Iraq" and its billion dollar aftermath cleanup are accused of failing to support the soldiers sent there to fight and defend the U.S.'s imperialistic actions. Strip away the finger-pointing and rhetoric and what do we behold: Non-bid billion dollar contracts going to the cronies of high-level federal leaders; No accountability for the high-level members of Enron, a company left a shell that has "lost" billions of dollars while those high-level people walk the street free of charges; and National energy policy being made by industry insiders. This is nothing new. However, the American public needs to hold its elected officials accountable. Citizens need leaders who will serve the public, not themselves or their cronies. People need to feel strong and empowered to preserve the future of democracy. We can accomplish this at the ballot box! League members vote, but we need to ensure that our friends, voting-age children, co-workers, and everyone else votes too. We need to talk up voting and its importance to preserving what our country's founders strived to create and provide for us. Each of us has a duty make this happen. Our lives and those of our children depend on preserving the voting power of the American public. Please call with your ideas of how we can get the vote out for 2004. The best way to reach me is at 225-9210. Maile M. Bay "May we never confuse honest dissent
with disloyal subversion."
League of Women Voters of Hawaii President - Maile Bay
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