Read and Vote!

We all need to squeeze in some quality time with a few good books and/or websites before venturing to the voting booth this November. Our sources of political information should not be primarily short, shallow campaign ads designed to elicit emotional responses instead of informing the voter. We cannot solely rely on cable and broadcast TV news programs. The time devoted to hard, in-depth analysis of public issues by most Corporate Media sources has been declining year after year. Much of the remaining hard news content seems to be delivered with a strong pro-Corporate, Republican bias. Two sources of really good reading content are becoming increasingly available and are not totally controlled by a pro-Corporate, Republican bias. These simple alternative sources are the Internet and a growing list of political books.

Internet political news sources not controlled by the prevailing Corporate mindset include Buzzfash http://www.buzzflash.com, Truthout http://www.truthout.org, OpEd News http://www.opednews.com, Smirking Chimp http://www.smirkingchimp.com, Air America Radio http://www.airamericaradio.com, Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com and hundreds of other Progressive, labor union and Democratic websites. A search of the Internet, when possible, on political subjects should become a routine in every citizen's life. There are thousands of political websites of all flavors.

The bookshelves at bookstores and libraries are full of excellent books to help inform voters and provide some balance from the Corporate Media. We certainly recommend reading Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke for a better understanding of the Islamic terrorist threat and the 9-11 attacks. Plan Of Attack by Bob Woodward is the first stop on understanding how Bush pushed America to War in Iraq. Worse than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush by John Dean is a must read in understanding how style and policy are developed behind the closed doors of the Bush Administration. American Dynasty by Kevin Phillips gives a historical perspective on the rise of the Bush political machine over generations and their corruption of modern Republicanism from the viewpoint of a noted former Republican theorist. The Bush drove this writer from the Republican ranks. He had written the Republican 70's political "Bible", The Emerging Republican Majority before the Bushes captured modern Republicanism.

LIES And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by our fellow talk show host Al Franken is a humorous and educational read covering many current political issues and personalities. It is a fun read. Other good political reads are The Buying of the President 2004 by Charles Lewis, the fictional Capital Offense by Hill Kemp, Quiet Passion: A Biography of Senator Bob Graham by S. V. Date, The Awakening of an American: How My Country Broke My Heart by fellow talk show host Meria Heller, FRAUD: The Strategy Behind Bush Lies And Why The Media Didn't Tell You by Paul Waldman and Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber.

As always, we recommend The Best Democracy Money Could Buy by Greg Palast. We urge reading anything written by Molly Ivins, Williams River Pitt, Jim Hightower, Michael Moore, Paul Krugman, Joe Conason and many others. Our highest recommendation is just this, "read before you vote". Help make our Democracy work!

Column written by Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence (hosts of Democratic Talk Radio which is nationally syndicated on the ieAmerica Radio Network).

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/5/158743