The Nossiter Net The net that shall enmesh them all Edited, Written, and Published by J.C. Nossiter

The Morning Mendacity Thursday, September 30th, 2004

The Nossiter Net is cast  to snare some of  the riper rascalities of the day.  Comments?  editor@nossiter.net

Does the Kerry campaign subscribe to The Nation?  The latest issue would inform the Kerryites that they’re losing ground in Minnesota for want of yard signs.  According to John Nicols*, yard signs are a big deal in rural Minnesota, and though there are Bush signs aplenty, the Kerry campaign didn’t print enough of them.  It seems the campaign considered TV ads more important.  In a nice Minnesota way, local Kerry supporters are bitter. In Iowa and Wisconsin, Mr. Kerry is doing no better.  The Bush campaign plans ahead for each stop, asking schools to give kids the day off, drumming up supporters to ensure big crowds.  Mr. Bush gives them short, punchy speeches, then works the enthusiastic crowd, shaking hands and kissing babies.  The Kerry campaign does little or nothing to draw crowds, has Kerry work a rope line without speaking, then bumbles off to the next waste of time.  All this in the context of farmers going broke, industry shutting down, and a disproportionate number of rural youths serving in the Iraq quagmire. It gets worse.  The Nation goes on to describe vast swathes of Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico being turned from wilderness and ranches into post-industrial wasteland.  Seems that the Bush Bureau of Land Management, with the blessing of the Bush EPA, is leasing land to the natural gas industry as fast as it can.  The industry, now enjoying soaring natural gas prices, is sucking the clean-burning fuel out of the ground at a relentless pace.  Natural gas producers are enjoying their richest profits ever.  But the cost, according to Eyal Press**, in ruined soil, scarred landscapes, and depleted aquifers, is so high that ranchers and hunters find themselves in league with native Americans and environmentalists in a campaign to stop the devastation.  There’s a tremendous anger in these western states at the way the Bush administration has encouraged the despoiling of the land.  What could be a finer cause for Mr. Kerry, a sound environmentalist, to make his own?  Western voters, writes Press, are waiting for the Senator to address the issue. Minnesota, 10.  Iowa, 7.  Wisconsin, 10.  Wyoming, 3.  New Mexico, 5.  Colorado, 9.  Forty-four precious electoral votes that may go astray for want of proper care.  I’ve just written “FYI” across the cover of my copy of  The Nation and sent it off to Kerry Campaign headquarters.  I hope somebody reads it. *   http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041011&s=nichols. ** http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041011&s=press ©J.C. Nossiter 2004

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