National priorities?

We should all be grateful for organizations like the National Priority Project for revealing some amazing - and frightening - statistics about how much the $87 billion Iraq costs you: ["The Cost of War for States and Selected Cities"]. The state of Massachusetts' share for this? $2.6 billion. The state of New Hampshire's share for this? $388 million. Couldn't we use that money at home?

'The Cancellation of Democracy'

Here's an extremely interesting column by Bob Guldin in the Baltimore Sun, "The Cancellation of Democracy," which, unfortunately, misses some important points.
First off, canceling any election is a bad thing, especially if it is for financial reasons, so don’t get me wrong here. Budgetary times are bad; cancel elections! How insane is that?
However, in most cases, primary and preliminary elections, especially at the local level, have been cancelled left and right due mostly to non-interest – by candidates and voters. So, it isn’t an unusual thing, and we should probably get used to this happening more and more.
Disturbing? Yes. Extraordinary? No.

Kucinich pleads with Greens and Naderites for help ...
Having already raised $ 2 million, Kucinich is really pulling out all the stops: ["Open Letter to Nader Voters and the Greens"]

"I am a Democrat, but I understand that Greens and Nader voters are not just liberal Democrats. Still, I note that in Europe, even when political parties disagree on issues, they are often able to work together with each other in coalition. I'd like to raise that possibility again today. And I note that Ralph Nader has suggested that my candidacy is worth supporting. We all know we will do better if we work together. Perhaps we can find common ground on issues and principles. I would like to open up that possibility. And I would like to ask that you give serious consideration to my candidacy for President. Because a better world is still possible."

...But Norman Solomon says greens have other intentions
["Green Party Taking the Plunge for 2004"]

"The Green Party is now hampered by rigidity that prevents it from acknowledging a grim reality: The presidency of George W. Bush has turned out to be so terrible in so many ways that even a typically craven corporate Democrat would be a significant improvement in some important respects. Fueled by idealistic fervor for its social-change program (which I basically share), the Green Party has become an odd sort of counterpoint to the liberals who have allowed pro-corporate centrists to dominate the Democratic Party for a dozen years now. Those liberal Democrats routinely sacrifice principles and idealism in the name of electoral strategy. The Greens are now largely doing the reverse -- proceeding toward the 2004 presidential race without any semblance of a viable electoral strategy, all in the name of principled idealism. "