what would you like kerry to do once he wins

[thebigmansentme]

obviously he is going to be better than bush, but what are the specific changes that you would like to see while his administration is in charge.

for me, i would like to see:

white colar crime - cracking down on large scale tax evasion for corporations and making it easier to punish crooked executives, making sentences tougher

evironmental - making punishments a lot tougher for corporations and expanding and actually enforcing our environmental protection laws

felons - helping people find work after prison, rehabilitation treatment for non-violent drug users instead of prison

illegal immigrants - cracking down on our borders and stopping illegal immigrations, granting amnesty to those illegal immigrants who are here to work and don't have criminal records, very steep fines for corporations that hire illegal immigrants

preserving jobs - rewrite tax code, increase taxes for corporations that outsource jobs, cut taxes for corporations that hire and produce in usa

women - make sure that a woman who has to take time off work because of pregnancy has the same amount of legal protection as a reservist soldier who is being deployed

make civil unions legal and give them every single federal and state benefit that goes with traditional marriage

universal health care, or at least expand medicaid to include all people who are currently uninsured

raise minimum wage to livable wage

enforce anti-trust laws and sue large corporations, the way microsoft was sued before, starting with corporations that control media

repeal tax cuts, increase taxes on wealthy, give tax breaks to small businesses and corporations that hire and produce in usa

hold elections in iraq and get the hell out

better funding for cia and homeland security, secure our nuclear and chemical plants, cia needs 10 times as much money at it's getting now to effectively combat al quada

stop wasting money on star wars program

recognize palestine with borders along the green line and institute 'marshall' plan for palestine

[swag]

1. Dismantle Gitmo immediately

[thebigmansentme]

2. what kind of gismo

is gitmo again?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. Guantanamo Bay = GTMO (military abbrev) = "gitmo" common parlance

And yes, getting rid of the American gulag should be the first act.

Taking steps to break up the RW media machine should be an important goal of his administration as well.

[FascistAdder]

3. One thing I would like is....

To see some sort of system for regulating the action of companies when they get in other countries to do business. They go out and force people off their lands, divert water resources for villages, dump waste directly into the food and water. Aside from that they are generally rude in terms of there understanding of the local beliefs. To my mind companies are our diplomats as much as a foot soldier, politician, or the average American. They should have the responsibilities that should go with that.

[welshTerrier2]

4. the first thing i'd like him to do

is to thank the voters for giving him a democratic House and a democratic Senate to work with ...

[nankerphelge]

5. sign kyoto

we would have already implemented it 4 years ago with Gore.

[merh]

6. Stop the base closings and the closing of VA hospitals.

Restore the benefits to the veterans and be sure that veterans have adequate health care, both physical and emotional. Too many will come home from this war harmed in more ways than we can imagine.

Edited to include: Tax cuts or no taxation of the military, the men and woman who actually serve this nation.

Tax cuts or incentives for those who serve in the private sector: e.g. police, fire, rescue, teachers.

[Zen]

7. Honestly, He should have Bush executed for crimes against humanity

Seriously :)

[Taylor Mason Powell]

8. Sic the Kerry Justice Department on the Bushies.

Hound them all until they're in prison or penniless or both.

[merh]

13. Yeah, penniless, they must forfeit all their ill gotten money to pay the

victims of this war, the veterans and their families.

[Taylor Mason Powell]

16. And...

the name "Bush" must become synonymous with corruption, treason, war crimes, war profiteering.

(Truth be told, it should ALREADY BE that way, god dammit!!! What is wrong with this country?!)

[merh]

18. You Judas, you Benedict Arnold, you BUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be gone with you!

[yardwork]

9. Fund development of alternative energy sources.

It's way past time that we stopped depending on Saudi Arabia for our fuel, just because the Bushes make billions on the deals.

[thebigmansentme]

12. yeah

kerry has plenty of special interests behind him, but i don't think oil is one of them.

and fund the stem cell research too.

[merh]

14. True "campaign finance reform" PACs to be monitored, if not

abolished altogether, no intermingling and transferring of funds.

[Rosco T.]

11. Without Question...

by executive order, begin a 'manhattan project' for energy independence within 10 years, set up so that it CAN NOT be sidetracked or cut back.

- Start building wind farms on the Great Plains

- quintiple the research in solar cell efficency (there are some university projects that Shrubya killed the funding for that were looking at close to 70% efficency vs. the 10-18% we have now)

- 100% tax credit (spread over 3-5 years) for the purchase of a hybrid/electric/naturalgas/anythingbutgasoline vehicle

[thebigmansentme]

15. you know

we can have energy independence right now if we build 20 nuclear power plants, they can be used to power hydrogen cells in electric cars also, instead of fossil fuels. good plan? i guess not.

or we can just do the bush's 'energy plan' and drill everywhere in our country.

but yea, having bush looking into alternative fuel is like having cat guarding fish, it's just not happening

[flaminbats]

17. What would I like to see happen, or what can he make happen?

:shrug:

I would like to see most of things happen that you have already listed..plus

the elimination of the electoral college, the department of homeland defense, and the national debt. But I doubt this will happen in our lifetimes. I would also like to see Kerry bring back the Windfall Profits Energy tax imposed on energy companies..the dollars of which would be used to develop government patented, renewable sources of energy and fuel efficient technology which will be increasingly in demand.

[Treaghon]

19. His work will be daunting, but...

Repealing all policies that are blatantly pro-business that are at odds with the general public's wishes and at the expense of environmental conditions.

This kinda crap needs to stop. Our representitives are supposed to speak for all of us, not the very few company lobbyists who speak for the profit margins.

Just who the hell lobbies for the general polulace? And it better not be a dead green paper president that folds neatly in Washington's pockets.

[Duncan Grant]

20. Revoke the tax-exempt status of churches.

We have a deficit to think about. Seems to me like the patriotic thing to do. Love it or leave it and all that...

(okay, I'll turn the sarcasm off now, but it's fun to think 'what if?'!).

[genius]

21. Take office

[Senior citizen]

22. I want a clean sweep--new broom style.

I want all freepers out of government, and all agencies headed by and staffed with people who want to improve them instead of destroy them.

I want the Civil Service System reformed and restored to a true merit basis. There has to be an end to test rigging, fiddling with scores, nepotism, cronyism, and evangelical-based hiring and retention.

I want the military-industrial complex destroyed. No contracts to any company that has ever overcharged or defrauded the government, and no more defense pork. I want to see the military-industrial complex held responsible for the trillions of taxpayer dollars it has been "unable to account for," before it is given another dime.

I want all nuclear programs to stop until all radioactive waste sites are cleaned up. You don't get any dinner until you clean up your room.

I want anyone in the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, or any other government agency, who has ever been found to have been guilty of harassment or discrimination of any sort, who was the named defendant in such a case that the government settled without trial, or who directly supervised persons who were, to be fired.

I want all persons who were ever fired from government positions or discharged from the military due solely to their sexual orientation, rehired, given back pay, and made whole.

I want anyone in the Justice Department who has ever been proven to have withheld disculpatory evidence, tampered with witnesses or transcripts, or otherwise violated legal or ethical standards, to be fired.

I want whatever it takes to ensure that no U.S. citizen is hungry, homeless, or without health care.

I want President Kerry to end the war, and to ensure that the prison torture is stopped, both within and outside the U.S.

I want the DEA to permit doctors to prescribe whatever narcotics are necessary to permit terminal patients to die without suffering.

Shoot...I could probably go on forever. I want a government that will "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility....promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity." I left out "provide for the common defence" because if we can't do the rest, we aren't worth defending.

[MillerNYC]

23. Yellowstone Super Volcano danger and misc.

I would like there to be an immediate investigation into the recent findings of the large Caldera in the Yellowstone range. There are many weird things happening and shown on websites that are mostly garbage, however the covering up of this issue is stupid!

This is something that Mr. Kerry has to investigate seriously. The reports out of Yellowstone indicate a Caldera of swelling Lava the size of a good part of the park, an earthquake of larger preportions according to the BBC report could trigger it.

Are these reports false? Maybe, maybe not. Making this a national issue could ruin the tourism economy, however ignoring it could lead to tragedy if these reports are true. According to sourcs on the web, such an event would have great effects on the weather of the entire US.

A think tank of mass proportions needs to be constructed concerning Al Quaida; a think tank that can take any of the complex ideology contributing to attacks of 9/11 and the recent 3/11, and take a more liberal approach to get into the mentality of Al Quaida.

Again, threats have proven to be nothing more than empty threats in the US since 9/11, however I am irked by the issue and the international hostility of Chirac and the hostility directed toward Israel, and at the same time a proposed EU membership for Turkey which is highly controversial because countries such as Romania and many in Eastern Europe are still plagued with problems.

Is Kerry the answer? An angel is not going to come out of the sky with a little arrow and make this international issue better. I hope that a future change in presidency, if there is; or at least within out own country; an inside existential movement to become more educated and aware of the growing problems that I personally am horrified by.

The danger, putting aside all politics, is considering 9-11 a phenomenon; the possibilities of the attack through all coverups could be precisely that for future current administration prosperity; the answers we will hopefully never know or will know eventually if Al Quaida succeeds again in the future. The international attention, all pointed toward the mid-east, and simply an "unknown" for the real facts, created an "unknown" fundamental for some kind of motive.

There is no answer except for time to answer our questions. Such environmental issues such as determining the TRUE danger of Yellowstone is essential.

[Skarbrowe]

24. all of the above and

did anyone mention revamping our disastrous health care system? I wish he could get us on the path to a single payer system. I'm fighting a losing battle in that department and it's kinda high on my list for personal reasons. But, all of you have great ideas and hopes for the Kerry administration.

Skarbrowe

[Treaghon]

25. I remember a report on that a few years back...

from: that it'll blow half the face of North America off the map...

to: creating a jaunty new theme park showcasing how skin slips off when doused with boiling hot water.


I'm thinking somewhere in between where the earth's core stops spinning and creating severe weather and only one man can stop a rengade robot cop in an outpost on the edge of space....


Okay, no more pop-corn movies for me this week.

[newyawker99]

27. Hi MillerNYC!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Piperay]

26. Sign Kyoto

IMMEDIATELY. :thumbsup:

[givemebackmycountry]

28. END THE DRUG WAR

End the foolish, heartbreaking, anti-family, billion dollar sham that is the so called war on drugs.

Sending people to prison for smoking pot is insane.

Sending SICK people to court to face charges that they broke the law when all they wanted to do is alleviate some of their pain caused by cancer and other terminal diseases is just wrong.

End the insanity that is the WAR ON DRUGS.

[porkrind]

29. I think you're wrong about the CIA

"better funding for cia and homeland security, secure our nuclear and chemical plants, cia needs 10 times as much money at it's getting now to effectively combat al quada"

I think the Dept of Homeland security should be dissolved. This is what the FBI is for. As for the CIA, I think their funding should be restricted and open to the congress. They have a very nasty history.

If you want to combat "Al Queda" (your CIA at work), changing our foreign policy is the ONLY way to do it.



As to what I'd like to see when Kerry takes office: Break up news media concentration, reinstitute a media "fairness doctrine", cut off corporate campaign contributions, limit terms for senators, tax corporations more, universal health care, eliminate homelessness, destroy the military-industrial-political-foreign war machine.

[leftofthedial]

30. you mean after the arrest warrants for the members of the Bush Cabal?

I suppose.