My laundry list for the Kerry Administration.

[Cleita]

These are the top ten things I think they need to go to work on right away after the inauguration in January 2005.

1. End military intervention in the Middle East and Afghanistan by involving NATO, the United Nations and signing a new Marshall Plan into law to enable these war battered countries get back on their feet. BRING OUR MILITARY HOME.

2. Get rid of that poisonous Medicare prescription plan. It does nothing for senior citizens and gives the for-profit pharmaceutical companies a new way to raid our treasury and the Medicare program.

3. Reverse the Bush tax cut for the rich.

4. Get universal health care on top of the to do list for both the White House and Congress.

5. Pass legislation that will bring our out-sourced jobs home.

6. Change the way we do elections. Appoint a commission to study this problem and update our elections so that our government becomes a government of the people and by the people.

7. Open up a inquiry into the criminal intent of the Bush Administration in key events that they were involved in, like the pre-emptive war in Iraq and what part they had in 9-11 whether it was criminal neglect or out and out malfeasance.

Okay I don’t have eight, nine and ten outlined but DU’ers what are three more things that need the attention of the next LEGITIMATE government to take over the White House?

[madmax]

1. Exile the bush family

to some remote island.

[Auntie Bush]

24. and then blow it up. (preemptive strike)

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Repeal USA Patriot Acts I and II

and No (Rich) Child Left Behind -- immediately!

On edit: Restore the Bill of Rights.

[Cleita]

4. Without a doubt.

Thanks for thinking about it.

[kiahzero]

20. Patriot II was never passed (n/t)

[Zynx]

21. Didn't Sensenbrenner kill it?

I remember that Republicans were really angry at him about that.

[Zhade]

23. Not in its totality. But bits and pieces are being passed in other bills.

For example, the FBI "national security letters" legislation attached to an intelligence spending bill last year:

The new provision in the spending bill redefines the meaning of "financial institution." The wider definition explicitly includes insurance companies, real estate agents, the U.S. Postal Service, travel agencies, casinos, pawn shops, car dealers and any other business whose "cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax or regulatory matters."

Justice Department officials tried earlier this year to write a bill to expand the Patriot Act. A draft -- dubbed Patriot II -- was leaked and caused such an uproar that Justice officials backed down. The new provision inserts one of the most controversial aspects of Patriot II into the spending bill.

Intelligence spending bills are considered sensitive, so they are usually drafted in secret and approved without debate or public comment.

Chris Schroeder, a Duke law professor and former assistant attorney general in the office of legal counsel at the Justice Department, said the re-insertion shows that "people who want to expand the powers of the FBI didn't want to stop after Patriot II was leaked."

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,61341,00.html

[DenverDem]

3. Probably included in #5

Turn "free" trade into "fair" trade by repealing globalist trade agreements.

[Cleita]

5. I think there are several actions that could make #5 effective and

your suggestion is one of them.

[many a good man]

6. Apollo Project for Energy Independence

alternative fuels research now to reduce the likelihood of more wars for oil!

[UrbScotty]

9. There you go. (nt)

[Cleita]

11. Also, do-able is solar energy for home use.

If the government gives each home owner an incentive to put solar panels on their houses, there would be a lot of savings in energy consumption from fuel sources.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Education

seriously look at the No Child Left Behind Act. Listen to what the teachers and parents say. Fix it and then fully fund it.

[UrbScotty]

8. The environment

Much of what the administration has done on the environment has been by executive order, which unlike, say, the Bush tax cuts, can be repealed by executive order.

[Zynx]

10. The Budget

It is a critical situation and needs incredible leadership to turn around. Those economists who say that it isn't a crisis are the same ones who praise Bush's tax cuts and can't be trusted. The long term fiscal situation of this country is facing a devastating crisis if we do not act immediately.

[Lexingtonian]

12. sounds pretty routine

The push for most of those things is already there, though it may not be transparent and they're not going to talk about it much before election day. Trust me, the campaign is getting no shortage of 'suggestions' from think tanks, major supporters, consultants, Capitol Hill folks with long memories, and Democrats inside all the federal agencies.

I'm not sure the question is really what Kerry's people ought to be doing. May I paraphrase John F. Kennedy and ask what it is you are willing to do to help make it possible to do so (e.g. get Kerry elected in the first place), and then whether you will continue to do so in the periods when the going on the follow through gets tough (iow, refrain from doing the Dutch Uncle routine and help with the actual work it turns out to take)?

[Zhade]

13. Great ideas!

I concur with these (although #6 is kind of a fox-henhouse situation), and the ones below in other replies.

#5 should be handled by cancelling NAFTA and pulling out of the WTO - and no FTAA of any kind!

I especially want to stress Peak Oil and climate change, because these two things will kill us all if we don't do something to lessen the impact.

Now, the real problem: how do we make Kerry, assuming the nom and a win, do these things? What tactics can be used to achieve these goals?

[Mattforclark]

14. End all trade distorting subsidies

to corporate farmers. For family farmers, if we want to subsidize them, just give them a check rather than giving them money specifically for the purpose of growing food (green subsidies).

[DenverDem]

15. Discredit and crush the fallacious doctines of the wrong wing.

And don't stop until Liberal means "compassionate intelligence" again.

[Mattforclark]

16. Save $15 billion wasted every year

and end the "war on drugs." Shift that money to something useful, like treatment programs. Or regular old healthcare. IIRC half of the uninsured could be insured with $15 billion per year.

[Cleita]

17. This is true. If the war on drugs money was put into health care for

everyone, drug abuse could be treated as the illness that it is.

[NJCher]

18. re your first one

There's nothing I'd like better than to see us out of the Middle East but there's no reason in the world for NATO or any other organization to go in there. This is a huge, major mistake and we will bear the burden for it for a long, long time. It's sad but true.

We will never see any help from anyone in the world because our country allowed the chimp in the Oval Office. This is America's burden.

We may be suckers but the rest of the world isn't.


Cher

[Cleita]

19. I agree. Bush really did turn everyone against us.

Kerry will have his work cut out for him in this diplomatic swamp. I hope many of these nations see it as a positive regime change and I hope he enlists Clinton and Clark in diplomatic roles to reverse this terrible damage. Clinton is well liked in the international community. We need him back to fix this.

[Name removed]

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