Why is Clark a member of NED....

[wakeme2008]

:grr:

I had Clark high on the list of ppl I would like to run for Pres in 2008. But in this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2060272 it is pointed out Clark is also a member of NED.

NED is funding Bush's friends in Haiti.

NED has funded the groups trying to overthrow the govt of Venezuela.

You basic neocon group but there is Clark and a couple other listed on their who belongs page. http://www.ned.org/about/who.html right after Senator Bayh and a couple before Frist... :grr:



Directors

Ambassador Morton Abramowitz, More...
Senior Fellow
Century Foundation

The Honorable Evan Bayh, More...
United States Senate

General Wesley K. Clark, More...
Wesley K. Clark & Associates

he Honorable Christopher Cox

Ms. Rita DiMartino, More...

The Honorable Kenneth M. Duberstein, More...
Chairman and CEO
Duberstein Group Inc

Ms. Ester Dyson, More...
Chairman
Edventure Holdings

The Honorable William H. Frist, More...
United States Senate

[KittyWampus]

1. Because the NED is BiPartisan & Funds some very good programs

around the world.

Democrats AND Republicans are on the board of the NED and the projects that get money reflect BOTH GOP and Democratic values.

What you and many other Reactionary Screamers here on DU don't know about the NED is quite a lot.

[400Years]

3. what are the "very good programs" you speak of? name them

[KittyWampus]

4. Search DU archives from the primaries. They were listed ad naseum

[400Years]

5. so you can't even name one, okay

thanks.

[wakeme2008]

8. LOL I am waiting for one good example myself :) nt

[Tom Rinaldo]

10. A friend saved an old DU post by a member who worked at NED

There was a debate going on at the time and the poster had been asked to comment. Near the bottom is a quick description of some programs supported that the poster was proud of:

"This is sculber's answer:

My pleasure -- I'm proud to have worked at the NED, and I can't stand it when people (on the left and the right) attack it without having the foggiest clue what it's all about. There are always going to be people who misconstrue what the NED does, but the simple explanation is this: the promotion of democracy abroad is a high-risk, low-returns business. The NED executive board selects projects and groups for funding four times a year, and goes through between $30-40 million a year. If you measure "returns on investment", most would say that the NED is throwing money away since many of the countries targetted have not made significant strides.

The criticisms re: the Venezuela coup essentially come down to this: the NED funded an organization in DC that funded a civil society organization in Venezuela to do legitimate projects. The head of that organization in Venezuela led the uprising, and briefly took power during the 24-hours that President Chavez was out of office. That's it. I know that there were Congressional hearings on this (though the decisions on who to fund is entirely up to the NED board, the NED gets most of its money from Congress), and to the best of my recollection the NED was entirely cleared.

As for any PNAC allegations, I have to tell you that it's laughable. The only thing I can think of is that Paul Wolfowitz was on the NED board, but that was before Wes. It's a very diverse and bi-partisan board (some I remember were Senator Bob Graham, Senator Lugar, Senator Bayh, Rep. Don Payne, Esther Dyson, Francis Fukuyama, John Brademus, etc.), and Wolfowitz was Dean of a graduate school at the time.

Ack, I forgot the most important part about the NED!

Despite the "high-investment, low-returns" nature of promoting democracy abroad, the NED has had some great successes as well. The NED supported Solidarity in Poland during the Cold War (along with a ton of other underground groups in Eastern Europe) as well as OTPOR, the student group that ultimately led the demonstrations that brought down Milosevic. They are long-time supporters of Tibetan groups that are fighting for freedom and the Burmese groups (including Aung Sun Suu Kyi's party) that are fighting for their lives.

Not long after I started working at the NED, I attended an award ceremony for the Ambassadors of the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the United States. Both men had been dissidents during Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, and both had been members of groups supported by the NED. They spoke movingly about how much support -- both financial and moral -- of the NED meant to them and their families during their struggles for freedom, especially when they were jailed.

Like I said, I'm proud to have worked there"

[400Years]

13. this post pretty much shows the nature of the NED

It has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with furthering the interests of the elite in DC. Using the NED as a check against China or other Cold War "enemies" does not mean they promote democracy in any way shape or form.

[KittyWampus]

15. Here Are Several From Africa: For The Ill Informed Reactionary Screamers

who like to pretend they are so well informed/

Mutawinat Benevolent Company
$35,000
To raise public awareness about women(s legal rights with a program including workshops on labor issues and land tenure laws; a training course for its network of paralegal volunteers on reporting, monitoring and documenting violence against women; and institutional support for its four local offices. Mutawinat will also provide a book on the condition of women in Sudan’s prisons; a quarterly newsletter in English and Arabic; posters and pamphlets on women’s rights and legal aid; and a full-page advertisement in a daily newspaper twice a month on women’s rights issues.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
$100,000
To assist a select group of Sudanese women’s organizations in developing their role in the ongoing peace process and the post-conflict implementation phase of the peace plan. The secondary aim of this six-month project is to promote communication between northern and southern civil society organizations.

Southern Women Group for Peace
$27,000*
To establish a women’s peace center, which will conduct research and documentation on gender and governance and explore issues of justice, equity, and conflict resolution in other countries. The organization will continue its justice and peace lobbying campaigns, which target political leaders, community groups, and the grassroots and international communities. It will also hold a series of training workshops on human rights, conflict resolution, and peace lobbying.

[400Years]

20. Look it's no different than the U.S. government

which is twisted to do some good things and bad depending on who is doing the twisting but and as long as the lunatics run the asylum the NED will continue to fund anti-democratic actions in Latin America.

[Jai4WKC08]

17. I'd rather promote democracy around the world

By funnelling money to democratizing organizations (media, unions, university, etc), than the neocon approach of just invading any country we don't happen to like (today).

Fwiw, promoting democracy has been a formal, documented objective of every administration, Dem and Repub, since shortly after WWII. Some have pursued it harder than others, and we can see with the Bushies the methods some are willing to resort to.

NED was created by the Democratic-controlled Congress back in the 1980s.

[400Years]

21. Yes, read my post #20

[Jai4WKC08]

23. Then read my #14

What would you have Clark, Gephardt, and the other liberal Dems on the board of directors do? Resign? That's a good plan (not). Leave NED 100% in wing-nut hands. Be unprepared to redirect its orientation when we get some control back in Congress.

Maybe you think the U.S. should just butt out of the rest of the world. Ain't gonna happen. And that's not a centrist/DLC position. Even Kucinich is not that much of an isolationist.

[400Years]

25. No I would like to see real democrats take over and cut out the bullshit

As far as what the NED is up to I am referring to all the latest shenanigans.

But as far as Clark is concerned and that may be your reason for posting here I am ambivalent.

But as far as the isolationism accusation is concerned I think it would be wise for the U.S. to adopt some humility and stop assuming a father-knows-best/white man's burden attitude even if they are couched in good intentions. Most of what the people in Latin America are clamoring for is self-determination, a concept that is basically unheard of in Beltway circles.

[Jai4WKC08]

35. Who are the "real democrats"

I'm assuming you did not leave "democrats" uncapitalized on purpose, but maybe you did. :shrug:

Another question: Do you mean take over NED or take over Congress? (I'm for both, fwiw, but I guess NED will remain "bi-partisan" and it will be Congress' job to priortize funding properly.)

Elsewhere in the thread, a poster remarks that NED received unanimous support from the Senate as recently as 2003, and all but one of the House. So that must mean Clinton, Kerry, Edwards, Feingold, Bayh (well, we know he's on the NED board) all either voted for the resolution or didn't bother to show up that day... I'm trying to cover all the 2008 hopefulls. The OP says he was considering support for Clark, but that his NED participation might change his mind. Why not the other potential candidates who also support the NED? Are they not "real Democrats"?

And in the House, what about Conyers, Lee, Waters, Kucinich... are they "real democrats" too?

Personally, I don't see an inherent conflict between third-world democratization and self-determination. In fact, TRUE democratization would lead to self-determination, since the people would vote for the govt they want--I'll grant that's an ideal that isn't easily achieved. But establishing independent newspapers, or labor unions, or lending institutions for start-up businesses is hardly carrying out "the white man's burden." It's providing resources that allow workers and other regular people shape their own destiny.

[rman]

74. Funnelling money to RW media, unions, universities etc

NED doesn't just promote democracy, it supports RW/neoliberal politics and opposes progressive politics.

[Tom Rinaldo]

22. I see you have gotten further replies, which is good

But Burma for example was NOT a cold war enemy of the U.S. and the junta there is not Communist. And even though Eastern Europe was a focus of the Cold War, that doesn't change the fact that the overwhelming majority of the people who live there wanted greater Democracy than they were being given by the governments of the then Warsaw Pact.

Far as I can tell, some good, some bad things have been associated with NED, but it is definitely bipartisan. In October 2003 Congress passed resolutions commending its work. The vote was unanimous in the Senate, and the vote was 391-1 in the House.

From their site:

"NED's congressional support has grown steadily during its first twenty years. From the early days of close and frequent votes on its authorizing and appropriating legislation, it has moved beyond survival to widespread bipartisan endorsement on the Hill. In fact, identical Senate and House resolutions (S. Con Res 66; H. Con Res 274) commending the National Endowment for Democracy “for its major contributions to the strengthening of democracy around the world on the occasion of the 20th anniversary” of its establishment, and endeavoring “to continue to support vital work” were passed in October, 2003. The Senate resolution was passed by unanimous voice vote; the House resolution sailed through on a roll call vote of 391-1. Both resolutions had strong, bipartisan co-sponsorship.(10) These votes were a reflection of how far the Endowment had come over the years in establishing not only its legitimacy but also the widespread bipartisan approval of its work."
http://www.ned.org/about/nedhistory.html

[400Years]

26. I wasn't referring to Burma

but the net result of U.S. intervention throughout the world has been a negative even if done in the name of democracy.

[Donna Zen]

47. You do realize that NED is the board not the funding organizations

....don't you?

There are four separate organizations that write grants. They are separate...absofuckinglutely.

The branch of NED that is run by the republicans is funding the shit you are worried about. Unless, and until you understand how NED works, then you will remain alarmed.

The Democratic branch of NED recently wrote a grant for funding grassroots training in Iraq's rural areas. Grassroots. The who headed the mission was once a Democratic political organizer in Ohio. He got sick of American politics and decided to do some good in the world, thus, he joined NED. I have no problem with that although you might. They were training both men and women in how to organize representational government. Recently the Democratic branch of NED continued their support of Tibetians trying to get their country back. The only bumper sticker on my car is "Free Tibet." Personally, I have no desire to support totalitarian regimes.

If not for NED, soladarity in Poland would have starved. In this case it was a combination of the Labor branch and the Democratic branch.

We do so much wrong in the world, why do you piss on the good?

[CarolNYC]

73. Gee Donna, there you go...

throwing facts on a perfectly good fire. :o

If these people attempted to understand how it worked then they might have to give up their alarm...can't have that, you know....

As a second generation American of Polish ancestry, with many relatives still living in Poland, I and my many Polish relatives are happy that someone was there to support Solidarity, even if other branches of the same organization were doing awful, horrible, indefensible things...I wonder what that makes me, eh?

[Hestia]

168. Agree

I totally agree - sounds like a CIA front organization

[Tom Rinaldo]

176. Could be. And Gore, Edwards, Feingold, and Kerry are behind it

as well as Clark.

[IndianaGreen]

31. NED, another name for the Colonial Office

You can still find former civil servants in England that are proud of their work for the Colonial Office.

Those being colonized had a different take altogether.

[radio4progressives]

56. Sounds like a cover for EHM, to me..

Read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins...

He gives the nuts and bolts of what we do when we spread democracy around the world - it's Empire Building, without using our Military.

Military being the "last resort"... to accomplish the same Empire Building (read Neo Liberal Imperialism) agenda.

[1932]

57. Could someone provide the link for this post?

Thanks.

[Tom Rinaldo]

58. Don't have it

I gather the original post was copied and saved and later posted someplace else because someone thought the content was interesting. That's as much as I know.

[1932]

61. Could you use that star to search for the text?

If not you, then someone else?

[Tom Rinaldo]

67. Not really . Made a short try but without luck

That name may not be the posters ID. Don't have any time frame of the post. Don't know what forum it was posted on, and to be honest when I tried to think back how I got it, there's a chance it originally was on a different message board and not DU when I think about it, I saved it somewhere I stick DU stuff but sometimes other stuff too, and I never had a link. I'm not trying to be difficult 1932, I'm actually trying to be helpful, which is why I'm responding, but I can't. I was just passing on someone's opinion, which is all I had, and wasn't trying to prove anything really, so I didn't think I needed a link to post it. I figured people could use those events to research further if it mattered to them.

[1932]

80. So, then, how much credibility should we give that post?

[Tom Rinaldo]

82. Like I said above, it has opinions but it cites grants that can be checked

The post included some stuff that could be considered flattering to NED, like efforts to promote Democracy in Eastern Europe, and some stuff that some here have already found unflattering to NED, like who was involved in the Chavez coup. I didn't edit it to look one way or another. I put it up when I did because there was a repeated challange to mention one thing positive NED had done, and that post mentioned several. I know it is public record that NED did Democracy related work in Eastern Europe, some information on all of their projects is public record, whether it paints an acuurate total picture is always another story. But I had forgotten, if I ever knew at all, that NED had given support to the Burmese Democracy movement for example. I don't think that fact is in dispute, but if anyone doubts it, researching it is easy enough to do.

[JNelson6563]

106. I can vouch for Tom

He's an honest guy. If he claims it was a legit post from a legit source, we can take his word.

Julie--not always in agreement with Tom but knows he is respectable

[Tom Rinaldo]

110. Thank you Julie n/t

[1932]

124. I'd still like to see the responses to that post the first time it was

posted.

Could you search for it?

[JNelson6563]

135. I can't. No star.

Or I would. Been meaning to remedy that....

Julie

[CarolNYC]

140. friendly suggestion here...

Get yourself a star...It really doesn't cost much....Then you can search for whatever you want...just a thought...

[1932]

143. Sometimes people complain that something has been discussed before.

Well, if that's a good argument, then you'd think we could at least see the DISCUSSION and not just a single post from the discussion.

[CarolNYC]

146. Well, I'm just saying that anyone with a star can go back and search for

whatever discussion they want to see....It doesn't cost much and it's for a good cause...But, of course, as always, it's your choice.

[1932]

151. Yeah, it's my choice. But if this issue was discussed before, I'd actually

wouldn't mind seeing the discussion. Maybe not so much that I'll pay for the privilege. But enough that I feel comfortable asking people with stars if they could search for it.

[autorank]

64. Well this is interesting.

"The criticisms re: the Venezuela coup essentially come down to this: the NED funded an organization in DC that funded a civil society organization in Venezuela to do legitimate projects. The head of that organization in Venezuela led the uprising, and briefly took power during the 24-hours that President Chavez was out of office. That's it. I know that there were Congressional hearings on this (though the decisions on who to fund is entirely up to the NED board, the NED gets most of its money from Congress), and to the best of my recollection the NED was entirely cleared."

Wow, the guy NED funded lead the coup, that stinks. and "NED was entirely cleared." By whom? Congress.

I want a presidential candidate who says "take a hike" to all these quasi governmental organizations. They're just extensions of US foreign policy. A true populist would never belong to these groups. That's what I want, no special clubs, NGO's with congressional funding, "shadow governments" in waiting. This description of NED is extremely disappointing.

[Tom Rinaldo]

70. It is all over the map it seems to me

Some of the NED Grantees (there are 4 main groups inside it) supported the opposition in the Ukraine that ultimately pulled off the Orange rebellion. Jimmy Carter just used NED funding to help insure fair elections in Liberia
http://www.cartercenter.org/viewdoc.asp?docID=2210&submenu=news

But some of this stuff, especially some of the stuff supported by the Republican affiliated grantees, does give me real problems. In a way it mirrors my feelings about the United Sates Government in the best of times, (right now my feelings are off the chart, angry and alarmed, with the government under Bush).

[autorank]

92. Here's what it is: "A waste of tax payer dollars." How about health here

rather than some obscure crap that we can't even verify over there. Xenophobic, nah, it's just a way to dismiss this type of exercise. We DO NOT have the money waste.

[1932]

76. Could you do me the favor of finding a link to that post.

I'd love to see the debate in encouraged.

Thanks.

[Clarkie1]

165. self-delete.

[IA_Seth]

16. Here are some more....

http://www.ned.org/grants/03programs/grants-africa.html

[MrBenchley]

9. Here's a good link showing some of the programs....

http://www.ned.org/grants/03programs/grants-lac.html

Seems like some people can't pass up a chance to bash Democrats....even if they have to make shit up...

[Maddy McCall]

11. Ain't that the truth.

[wakeme2008]

49. Did

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/1441204 make up this article from today.

[MrBenchley]

113. Who knows...

I never heard of Fenton before your post.

[jonnyblitz]

93. do you really think you are going to get an honest critique

of an organization by going to the organizations SITE? If you were going to do some honest research on Bush would you go to Bush's website for an unbiased critique? :rofl::rofl:

could you insult are intelligence any more? how fucking ridiculous!!

[MrBenchley]

114. Ah, those moving goalposts....

The question was about programs...and you got the information.

"could you insult are intelligence"
No need to....you've done the damage yourself. (snicker)

[KittyWampus]

120. so we are waiting for YOU to come up with an honest CRITIQUE of those

programs.

You think they're all sinister?

PROVE IT!

[Tom Rinaldo]

121. So go to the Carter Center then, and research the programs they

have done using NED funding recently. Or do research on the Solidarity movement in Poland, there are lots of first hand accounts available to use as sources, to see if anything NED did then actually was helpful in helping Poland nonviolently become a Democracy. Or do a simple Google search on Burma like the one I am about to post at the bottom of this thread.

[Maddy McCall]

2. Here's what I can't figure out.

The discussion and the information was in the original thread.

Why start a new thread with the identical discussion that was already ongoing in a thread that was just started 30 minutes ago?

:shrug:

[wakeme2008]

7. the other thread was titled

US Channels Millions Through NED to Fund Anti-Lavalas Groups in Haiti


Then somebody posted on Clark and there was a couple replies. I wanted a Clark thread :)

[Maddy McCall]

12. You weren't here, I suppose, during the primaries.

Some of us have agreed to a truce on inflammatory posts on any of the candidates. The primary battles were very ugly, and your post is just about identical to some posted during that war. I really hope that we can wait until 2007 before we begin engaging in those battles again. Indeed, I hope we never see primary battles the likes of what we saw in the last presidential election cycle.

The information you wanted has been provided. It's really not that difficult to search the archives for info on specific topics, though.

[wakeme2008]

46. What has the primaries have to do with TODAY's news

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/1441204

And what NED has become in the past couple years.

[Maddy McCall]

52. Nice deflection.

Your posts show that you have no knowledge of what the NED is or ever has been, outside of one article.

Why not start this identical thread about Paul Wellstone, as he was also on NED's board. You can entitle it, "Can you believe that Paul WEllstone was a NEOCON?"

:eyes:

[TacticalPeek]

88. Nice injection.

:toast:

[wakeme2008]

104. Good try at Nice deflection.

WHAT does what NED did 4 years ago have to with today how funding Bush friends in Haiti.

Wellstone probably supported NSA.

Wellstone probably thought the FDA was to protect us...

Stop living in the past and .....

[rman]

68. different subject, different forum,

revolving around information that came up in a thread about another subject, in another forum.

Though i figure some people don't want attention drawn to this matter.

[400Years]

6. Because the majority of people who travel in the Beltway circles

support U.S. global dominance at all cost.

[Jai4WKC08]

14. You truncated the list of directors

Gephardt and Holbrooke are also there. And other liberals.

As someone said above, NED is fundamentally a bipartisan organization. If I recall, Clark was appointed to it by the Clinton administration. But it's funding and priorities come from Congress, so with the Repub lock on both houses, most of the money goes to neocon and other administration-supported programs.

What's the alternative? Should all the liberals resign and leave NED totally in right-wing hands? Where would that leave us if/when Democrats take back Congress and ultimately the White House?

[IA_Seth]

18. How dare you use logic and common sense!

I couldn't agree more. Why would we fault liberal representatives being present on the board? Would we rather the NED be overrun with pukes?

I think the ommittance of Gephardt, et al from the original post is pretty telling.

[IndianaGreen]

33. Neither Gephard or Holbrooke are liberals

Anyone that supports wars of aggression, as the invasion of Iraq was, or the PATRIOT Act, cannot possibly be a liberal.

[Tom Rinaldo]

34. How do you describe John Edwards by the way?

He fits your definition as stated above

Gephardt apologized and admitted he was wrong about Iraq. The man had a very long career of fighting for working people's interests. He was strongly Pro Union, he fought against Free Trade agreements which he argued would hurt the interests of working Americans. Gephardt never tried to ride his connections through Congress to great personal wealth. He was seriously wrong on Iraq, but does that erase the rest of his entire career and make him a conservative?

[Maddy McCall]

51. Was Paul Wellstone a liberal?

He was on the NED before his death.

[1932]

144. Are you sure you're not confusing the NEA with the NED?

Have a link for that claim?

[Adelante]

171. I'm actually not sure

I was thinking about this yesterday. I know it's been said many times that Wellstone was on the board of the NED. I've said it myself. It wouldn't surprise me if he had been, because he was big on bipartisanship and took a high interest in foreign policy, but perhaps we've confused his active support in Congress for NED with something that's become a DU myth. When you see something enough times you start to believe it. So we should either produce a link or stop saying it. You're right :hi:

[1932]

173. I did a search and the only times Wellstone is mentioned with NED are when

he is held up as an example of a Democrat who disagrees with Democrats who support the NED.

I don't think he was on the board of the NED.

[Tom Rinaldo]

177. I will look around more also, but Wellstone positively cited NED

as recently as May 2001 at least, when he chose to include it in a piece of legislation that he co-authored:



"107th Congress, 1st Session: S. 852
In the Senate: May 9, 2001

Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. WELLSTONE, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. TORRICELLI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

A Bill

To support the aspirations of the Tibetan people to safeguard their distinct identity.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Sec. 1. Short Title.

This Act may be cited as `Tibetan Policy Act of 2001'.
Sec. 2. Statement Of Purpose.

The purpose of this Act is to support the aspirations of the Tibetan people to safeguard their distinct identity...


... Educational And Cultural Exchange Programs- Of the amounts authorized to be appropriated for educational and cultural exchange programs for fiscal years 2002, 2003, and 2004--


$500,000 for each such fiscal year is authorized to be available only for the Ngawang Choephel Tibetan scholarship program for Tibetans in exile; and


$250,000 for each such fiscal year is authorized to be available only for assistance to nongovernmental organizations, such as the National Endowment for Democracy, for the purpose of providing training and education in democracy activities for Tibetans and monitoring the human rights situation in Tibet..."
http://www.savetibet.org/tibet/us/legislation/s852.php

[Adelante]

179. I am most certain he would have had disagreements with some of it

However, when Clinton tried to increase funding to the NED and there was a backlash against it in Congress, Wellstone was one of the Senators who led the fight to save the NED from being trashed. He also sponsored a bill on Tibet citing the NED as the kind of group that should be funded to work in Tibet. It doesn't work to look for an all for nothing stand on this from anybody, because the NED isn't one thing or another, it's many things, some worthy and some unworthy.

[autorank]

94. The alternative is to stop messing in other countries...NED looks like AID

in civilian clothes. It's headed by a neocon, it funded the guy who took over Venezuela for a day (not to do that necessariliy, but it looks pretty bad).

Why are we meddling? Why can't we promote democracy by having some here...and get free and fair elections in place, no more bogus machines, and real honesty in government. Those are the issues.

[jonnyblitz]

19. google National Endowment for Democracy combined with

any leftist online magazine (ie ZMAG) and you will find some interesting articles. I will leave it at that. I don't have the energy or time to argue with the CLarkies today.

[Tom Rinaldo]

24. Tell it to your favorite Liberal Congressperson, or Boxer or Feingold

Chances are they all were in Congress in October of 2003. Hold them accountable also if you feel strongly about this.

"Identical Senate and House resolutions (S. Con Res 66; H. Con Res 274) commending the National Endowment for Democracy “for its major contributions to the strengthening of democracy around the world on the occasion of the 20th anniversary” of its establishment, and endeavoring “to continue to support vital work” were passed in October, 2003. The Senate resolution was passed by unanimous voice vote; the House resolution sailed through on a roll call vote of 391-1. Both resolutions had strong, bipartisan co-sponsorship"

[jonnyblitz]

98. i dont have favorite congresspersons. I dont worship politicians.

I dont idolize a politician and then tailor my belief system around whatever they believe on a given day and then freak out and insult people when somebody points something out to me that is unpleasant. NO cults of personality for me. sorry.

[wakeme2008]

44. How about today's news

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/1441204

[FrenchieCat]

27. My 2 cents on NED!

NED has been in existence since 1984, and was organized at the time to fight communism in concert with the Pope and Poland's Soledarity Movement led by Lech Waleza, Poland's first democratically elected President.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/special_report/1999/09/99/iron_curtain/timelines/poland_80.stm

NED is a govermental organization, and is not some secret organization. It has been funded every year, under all administrations since 1984. Clinton/Gore did not see fit to get rid of such an organization, nor did either Republican or Democratic congress throughout to the present. Senators vote on NED funding every year.

Like all government organizations it has been used towards both good and BAD ends... as the Left and Right BOTH get to direct where funds go. The funds are dispursed through the following four organizations (two are Democratic/Labor & two are Republican).

"The NED sends its money overseas either through direct grants to foreign organizations or through four NED core institutes: the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS), the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)." (snip)

NED has always had SEVERAL Democrats on its board at any one time....some of whom were or are presently in Congress, including: Sen. Bob Graham(Fla), Rep. Gregory Meeks (N.Y.), Howard Wolpe(Michigan), Lee Hamilton(Indiana), Matthew McHugh (NY), Evan Bayh (Indiana). Clark was a Clinton appointee.

There are also Labor Representatives on the board:

The reason there are both White and Black hats is because the NED is BI-PARTISAN non profit organization funded by Congress (after 1994 it accepts contributions from private sector).
-------------------
the IRI (Republican) arm of NED has been blamed for causing unrest in Venenzuela, and that may certainly be true. But NED has also done good Stuff by fellows who received grants from the NED (which has gotten good words from Amnesty International):

Chaihark Hahm, (November 2001 - August 2002)
Constitutionalism and Democracy in South Korea
Dr. Hahm's project focuses on constitutional review and democracy in South Korea. He examines the role of the Korean Constitutional Court in building democracy in South Korea, using a comparative framework that considers the influence of political culture and cultural traditions

Charlie James Hughes, (May 2002 - August 2002)
A Practitioner's Handbook on Civic Education Initiatives
Charlie Hughes is the director and "driving force" behind the Forum for Democratic Initiatives (FORDI) in Sierra Leone. His project focuses on civic education initiatives in the United States which can be applied in
Sierra Leone

Ramin Jahanbegloo, (October 2001 - August 2002 )
Intellectuals and Democracy in Iran
Dr. Jahanbegloo's project focuses on the role of Iranian intellectuals in promoting Iranian democracy, including the attitudes of youth and young professionals in Iran today

Yuriy Krynytskyy, (April - August 2002)
Political Technologies and the Promotion of Democracy in Ukraine
Mr. Krynytskyy is a young activist from Kharkiv, Ukraine, who serves as press secretary and head of a district division of the "Rukh" party (People's Movement of Ukraine).

Ndubisi Obiorah, (June - August 2002)
Corruption and Democracy in Africa: A Comparative Perspective
Mr. Obiorah is a Nigerian human rights lawyer who has worked for HURILAWS, the Human Rights Law Service in Lagos


Adotei Akwei, Ghana
Governance, Repression, and Human Rights in Africa
Visiting Fellow, July - December 2003
Mr. Akwei is Senior Advocacy Director for Africa at Amnesty International USA, serving as his organization's chief spokesperson, strategist, and liaison with the U.S. government, media, and the general public on
African human rights issues and U.S. foreign policy toward Africa

Ladan Boroumand, Iran
Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in Iran
Visiting Fellow, October 2002 - September 2003
Dr. Ladan Boroumand is director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy in Iran. She earned her doctorate in history from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en
Sciences Sociales in Paris, where she published La guerre des principes (1999), a book exploring the tensions during the French Revolution between the rights of man and the sovereignty of the nation. Her
project examines the prospects for democracy in Iran from a historical perspective.
----------------
Clark, during the '04 primaries proposed a DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AID (similar to Kucinich's Dept. of Peace, but as an International dept/not so much domestic) which would have possibly replaced NED, as there would no longer be a need for such an organization.

Clark Wants More Foreign Aid, New Department to Handle It
Book Faults Bush for Pursuing Notion of American 'Empire'
By Bradley Graham
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 29, 2003; Page A05
A new book by Wesley K. Clark, the retired Army general running for president, calls for a major expansion in U.S. foreign assistance programs and establishment of a Department of International Assistance to manage the initiative.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14400-20...
----------
This is a rather long critique of NED by the Libertarian (leaning right) Cato institute with a heck of alot of information in it... Keeping with the copyright guidelines, I will simply post this:

"NED's 10-year history has proven the skeptics right, however. On a number of occasions the lack of coordination between NED and the federal government has resulted in NED programs that undermine official U.S. foreign policy. Examples of NED failures are ubiquitous, but NED's defenders are hard-pressed to cite definitive successes.

At its most innocuous, NED is a slush fund for politicians.(3) Journalist David Corn has described it as "a porkbarrel for a small circle of Republican and Democratic party activists, conservative trade unionists and free marketeers who use the endowment money to run their own mini-State Departments."(4) The distribution of money to opposing interest groups helps NED deflect charges of partisanship in the distribution of pork, but the fact remains that the taxpayer is picking up the tab for politicking.

Moreover, although the four core grantees appear to represent diverse constituencies, Corn and other liberal critics accuse NED of leaning too far to the right, because the Republican party, business (represented by the Chamber of Commerce group), and organized labor all generally adopt a conservative stance when it comes to foreign policy. That leaves only the National Democratic Institute to represent more liberal views.

At the same time, conservative critics bring up the issue of proportion among the four main recipients: the AFL CIO receives approximately 40 percent of available funding, while each of the other groups receives around 10 percent. That imbalance has prompted speculation that NED is in the hands of the neo-Trotskyite Social Democrats/USA, whose membership includes both NED president Carl Gershman and a number of AFL-CIO officials involved with the endowment.(5) Such political rancor is inevitable when an organization is authorized to pursue partisan agendas abroad at taxpayers' expense."
http://www.cato.org/pubs/fpbriefs/fpb-027.html

So the leftist believe NED to be right leaning....while the Right consider it too socialistic. Take your pick as to what it is.....and understand that most of government is exactly as this organization. Not all good and not all bad....depending on the issue and the players.

Were you asleep during the 2004 primaries?

:hi:

[wakeme2008]

41. what does what ned is doing TODAY have to do with the primaries.

It is TODAY funding the overthrow of elected governments.

[autorank]

95. Here's what I think. I hope Clark dumps this and all other beltway like

groups and runs like a fire-breathing populist. This comes under the category of "elitist waste of taxpayer dollars." We don't even have Democracy here! How about something on that. I gave to Clark in the primary and supported him until he dropped out. Took some grief for that on the home front too.

We've talked before a number of times. This type of "insider" organization that's private but really gets its money from Congress represents a lot of whats WRONG with Washington today. If the US government wants to do this, let them do it. Don't send it to an organization run by a major neocon, long standing and then say, "Oh both sides get their slush funds" which, of course, cancel themselves out.

I'm tired of all the "foundations" and others who get mucho dinero from the money of "We the people" when we have little democracy left here and seniors have to fast in order to buy their medications.

This is the drift that that I hope General Clark takes. Out with the scoundrels, now! No more free lunch for partisan give-aways overseas or here, etc.

Stuff like this actually helps Clark or any other candidate because it's "push-back" on a particular issue that makes the candidate stronger if they take a hard look.

[1932]

175. Greg Meeks was one of few Dems to vote for CAFTA, BTW.

And even though Bob Graham became a major critic of the IWR evidence, when he voted agains the IWR his reason was that it didn't go far enough.

[Totally Committed]

28. I am sick of these threads that show up like clockwork

about the same things over and over and sometimes like this one, with the list of directors edited to skew the uninformed readers' understanding. It's just plain dishonest.

NED is a BIPARTISAN group. We are lucky to have someone like Wes in there keeping an eye on the bad guys on our behalf. Don't like the NED? Don't think it should be funded? Talk it up with the Senators on both sides of the aisle doing the funding.

If you don't like Wes or oppose Wes, then say so, and say why and we can have an honest discussion about it. But, posts like the OP here, imo, prove the addage, "If you can't dazzle them with knowledge, baffle them with bullsh*t."

TC

[wiley]

32. The Green Party?

Do you think members of The Green Party are doing this?

[wakeme2008]

48. Maybe you should

talk to http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/1441204 about why they are carrying this on TODAY news.

[Tom Rinaldo]

55. Re-read post #47. Republicans control one granting element

Democrats another. Big Business has one also and so does Organized Labor. These are seperate grant awarding decision making bodies within NED. I think you can guess where most of the trouble originates. But like I said elsewhere on this thread. Congress funds NED and it's 20th year anniversary was just commended by unanimous vote TWO years ago in the Senate, not four, with a roll call vote of the House turning up only one member unwilling to lavish praise on this organization. Take this up with Congress!

[rman]

72. NED's opposition of progressive leaders abroad is not bullshit

I think it's clear the OP opposes Clark - and why.

So with could discuss NED (and SOA). But just calling claims about NED being bad news "bullshit" won't cut it.

[Tom Rinaldo]

78. Discussing NED isn't Bullshit

It's just that with this and some other issues it all can be traced back to Congressional Authorization, and often Congressional initiatives, and then it always depends on Congressional funding. Without that there would be no NED. And we have several hundred men and women up in Washington who we pay good money to say Yay or Nay to all of these programs, but somehow they are always left off the hook when people get upset. OK, the Governors get a by on this one. But in those 2003 resolutions there was one and only one objecting voice to NED in Congress. That means both Conyers and Kucinich couldn't have voted agaist it because that is double the number of dissenting votes right there. But this discussion is hinged around a Democratic appointee, Clark, rather than the Congress that set up the appointment process in the first place by creating and sustaining NED.

If the program exists and is being funded and Democrats are gladly reauthorizing it every time it comes up for a vote, then it is better to not let Republicans alone be involved with where the money goes. It's kind of like Congress now, Republicans have the numbers to get their way most of the time but I'm still glad we have Democrats in the minority as opposed to none at all.

[IndianaGreen]

29. NED is a PNAC neocon/PPI neolib imperialist front

Those that associate themselves with NED is an enemy of the progressive forces that are fighting Bush.

If Clark, or anyone else, is a member of NED, he/she should resign immediately.

[Jai4WKC08]

36. NED predates PNAC

And was created by a Democratic Congress in the early 1980s.

If it furthers PNAC goals now, it's because of neocon control of Congress. We need to change Congress, not NED. In the meantime, we desparately need to have keep good Democrats on the NED board. Otherwise, the Repubs will continue to control the NED agenda, thru what it communicates to Congress, after we win control of Congress back. Assuming we're able to do so... but if not, we (and the rest of the world) are far more screwed that whatever evil NED can accomplish.

[IndianaGreen]

37. Abolish NED!

We don't even have democracy in our own country, and we are unfit to tell anyone else how to run their countries.

NED is nothing but a front for Wall Street.

[Jai4WKC08]

38. Fine, but who's gonna do it?

Maybe you're right; maybe NED should be abolished. But currently, even the most liberal Congressmen and women support it, as you can read elsewhere in the thread. And even if they all came to see the light, it wouldn't happen so long as Repubs control Congress and NED serves their purposes.

So, if NED cannot be abolished, then doesn't it only makes sense for liberal Democrats to participate in it? Doesn't doing otherwise turn NED over to the Repubs completely?

'Course, it could be argued that Congress is a front for Wall Street too. It certainly is now, while it's controlled by the GOP. Maybe Congress should be abolished too. But, ummm..., in the meantime, should every liberal member resign?

[Tom Rinaldo]

39. If we had the power to abolish NED, we would be in a different reality

That's a key point. If we had enough votes to actually abolish NED, rather than just shout that it needs to be abolished, then we might have enough votes to create something more clearly progressive in it's place. I assume you don't count as allied forces any right wing Republican votes that might want to shut down NED and replace it with something more reactionary. So until that time, do you think Democrats should leave NED completely under the control of Republicans?

[wakeme2008]

45. I agree

what NED was 5 years ago is not the same as today.

Today's news

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/1441204

[Maddy McCall]

54. LOL. You know nothing about NED.

You admitted so much in your OP. Now, since several of us have called you on trying to inflame now-dead primary wars, you suddenly became an expert on what NED "has become in the past 5 years."

Too funny--very transparent, too.

[MountainLaurel]

50. Hey Indiana

As an aside, William Engdahl's "A Century of War" discusses the founding of NED (as well as other insidious groups like the Council for Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission) and the reasons behind it. Good stuff that you might be interested in.

[IndianaGreen]

60. Thanks for the info

I will check it out.

[wiley]

30. Dramatic Little Icons!

Feel better now that you have been shown the bigger picture?

[Adelante]

40. This post reminds me of the 2003 primaries

A poster who posted this same thing all the time said George W. Bush scared him less than Wesley Clark. If I remember correctly, that person, too, claimed to have Clark high on the list. Wonder what he thinks now?

Were you wakeme2004 back then?

In any case, wakeme2008, you do right in crossing Clark off your list if you don't share his goals, because he believes in democracy, he is an internationalist, and he sits on many boards. Thank God, he and other Democrats do, or they might all end up entirely in anti-democratic hands. Paul Wellstone was also on the NED, Richard Holbrooke is on the NED, and so are Greg Meeks and Dick Gephardt. Bill Clinton appointed Wesley Clark to the board of the NED. Do you have something against Democrats?

The NED is attacked by the right as well as the left, as far as I can tell, so form a circle and join hands.

[wakeme2008]

42. Why does what NED was like 4 years ago have anything to do

with TODAY.

Here is TODAY's news from DemocracyNow.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/23/1441204

[Totally Committed]

43. WesDem, 'deja vu all over again'...

as Yogi would say.

TC

[incapsulated]

59. Let's put the NED to BED

In 2008! :)

(well, I can dream...)

[autorank]

97. Get Gannon to do it! n/t

[rman]

69. NED supports the RW and opposes the Left abroad

What are progressives supposed to think of that?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

71. Ask the Wellstone supporters?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

53. Don't ask him, whatever you do. Don't thoroughly investigate b4

starting another in a long tiresome series of threads meant to bash him.

No, just do it the way the MSM or the GOP does.

Scream first, facts? Maybe later, maybe not.

[autorank]

62. wakeme2008, thanks. I like Clark but I found this a few months ago and

it bothered me a great deal. I mean if this isn't a front for something ugly, I don't know what is?

I think someone needs to get to him and give us an answer. It's all part of the selection process and done in a spirit of intellectual honesty and disclosure.

He could have joined just for the heck of it, or because he has some friend there but lordy, Ken Duberstein.

This is a valid question, the answer to which will influence my political choices.

RECOMMENDED.

[incapsulated]

63. If you really cared at all...

Maybe you should educate yourself by reading this thread. He was appointed to NED by Clinton.

I guess fellow member Paul Wellstone ain't what you thought he was either.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

65. Oh no, not Wellstone. Cognitive dissonance is on its way, I hear it

coming in for a landing now for some posters here.

;)

[autorank]

89. I do care...but I'll try to care more...honest, the check's in the mail.

I think the organization stinks. I don't care who belongs. They can see the board, and the executive director, and they can get the Hell out. Sarbanes is on it, like him but I don't approve of this at all and I have every right to make my decisions based on what I see rather than see based on a candidate I support.

See, these guys work for me and everybody else. We don't have to bow and curtsy. We don't have to hold back the tough questions. Given what this groups does, belonging is simply not acceptable from my point of view.

But, hey, just keep on caring for all of us. You've got a big heart.

Check this out and the follow up post...cuz I do really care.

:hug:

[LittleClarkie]

66. Probably for the same reason he's on Fox

Effecting change doesn't mean insulating oneself from the other side.

It would seem that you might be asking if Clark is who he says he is, or if he has some secret nefarious plan, aka if he is a closet Republican.

No, I don't think that is true. But we likely can't answer your question properly without more input from Clark as to his reasons.

[Adelante]

79. There's been a lot of support for NED

Kerry, Kennedy, Carol Mosley-Braun, Jimmy Carter, aside from Wellstone, Gephardt, etc., already mentioned. How bad could it be if liberals back it? :shrug: I mean, these are pols I trust for the most part, so it's hard to know what to think about this uproar. Clearly a bipartisan organization is going to some things we like and some things we don't like.

[LittleClarkie]

83. Sheesh, I hadn't seen all those names yet.

WELLSTONE?! Oh, for pete's sake!

What's all the hubbub, indeed!

Yep, I trust most of those folks. Move along people, nothing to see here.

Like I said, this NED thing seems to resurrect the "Clark is a closet Repub" talking point, and that has been refuted again and again.

[autorank]

90. Carter on elections.

After the 2000 mess, Carter took a strong position against Voter ID cards as a form of disenfranchisement.

Then in 2004, he joined with the "thief of Election 2000" Jim Baker on the "Baker-Carter Election Commission." The Commission Director, appointed by both Carter and Baker is long time Carter Center associate Robert A. Pastor, PhD (who proposed invading Iraq in 1998 with a PNAC affiliate!).

Guess what the Baker-Carter Commission wants: a national voter ID card! The response from NAACP, civil rights lawyers, elections advocates, etc. was unanimous...it sucks.

But that's not all. I of all people predicted that this would result in a wave of Voter ID laws proposed in the South (even a broken clock is right twice a day). Well it was my second...Georgia and Alabama came right out with Voter ID laws and guess who they used as evidence for the non-racial nature of the laws, President Carter.

I'm sorry but I'm not here to think based on personal affiliations of politicians that I vote for or like. I'm looking at facts and this groups stinks, Carter's record on the Voter ID stinks, no more free lunch for people who think they run the universe and that we have to bow down before them because they're demo-Gods.

The days of the in-crowd carving up the limited pie (in their minds) and taking the biggest pieces is over. We need a real party based on populist and democratic principles, not some in-crowd process that rewards the icons without careful examination.

And, btw, I don't see politicians as good or bad based on one position. On balance, I like Clark, I love Wellstone and Sarbanes...but they need to be held accountable.

[rman]

108. "How bad could it be?" There's only one way to find out -

that is not to go by the number of Dems who support it, but rather to investigate.

[Adelante]

136. I agree

Get Congress to investigate. It's their baby.

[Donna Zen]

75. Refusal to read?

NED is not one organization. That is not how it works. Got that? Okay? So if you or democracy now find out that bad things are being done, then you must find out which organization of the four separate organizations has sponser the grant and applied for the funding.

The four organizations are stand-alone entities. NED is NOT now, nor will it ever be ONE organization. That is why NED appears to be a mixed-bag. It is not. Instead it is FOUR completely different orgs. What is it about that concept that is so difficult to understand?

Money is lumped summed and thus, one board sits over it. Each of the four organizations applies for funds that cannot be connected to any government including our own. The various organizations then write grants and apply for money. That money gets distributed equally among the four organizations. Democrats have nothing to say or do about what the republicans say or do.

Hey, maybe democracy now doesn't approve of democracy. Or maybe they condemn the people of Tibet to live under a totalitarian government. Maybe that is what they want. I don't approve of the projects sponsered by the republicans. I do approve that NED recently sponsered the trip by the Dali Lama. Hell, maybe democracy now hates him too. Maybe the Buddha pisses them off.

[CarolNYC]

77. What is it about that concept that is so difficult to understand?

The fact that it might force some to give up some of the outrage, maybe?? I'm having a hard time believing smart folks like these sincerely can't comprehend such a simple concept...

[Donna Zen]

81. It also plays into the hands of the enemy

Look, I have no doubt that the man that ran the office to encourage voting in Venezuela was also the man who was installed during the coup. (I'm not on my computer and too tired to google) but that was connected to republican organization. It was also investigated by the congress and they could not prove a connection. The union branch of NED was cleared. (Or are we suppose to hate unions now too? Better call democracy now and find out.)

If anyone really cared, if this was their "thing" then they 1) investigate how NED is structured 2) go after the actual organization, the republican one, that is doing this shit.

Although...omg...I did see a post on DU where someone was ranting because people funded by NED (the Dem Org) actually helped out in Ukrainian election with training grassroots activists. Can you believe it? I do read, and when I read crap like that I want to scream.

[CarolNYC]

109. And still they ignore you...

as if you weren't even here.

Oh well, it is not surprising. One thing I've found as I've become familiar with politics is that there are those on the left at least as capable and willing to ignore facts that don't fit the agenda as those on the right. Discouraging though. :(

[QC]

84. Drama queens love to clutch their pearls and faint,

and any opportunity to make a grand scene will do. Inform youself about an issue and you might take all the drama out of it.

Quelle dommage!

[tabasco]

86. The drama queens are oh so tiresome.

They really depress the level of discourse on DU.

Uninformed harangues against people on our side really piss me off.

These gullible people are taken in by fools like Nader, get their feelings hurt when exposed, but they keep coming back for more.

[jonnyblitz]

101. the only drama queens i see on here are the CLarkies who

completely lose their minds when anybody does anything less than gush over their man. NOBODY is above criticism. worshipping politicians is creepy.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

115. Are you reading this thread or just bringing up old "talking points"

regarding Wes Clark and his followers?

Read for comprehension.

[Sparkly]

118. Thank you, Donna.

I wish I could highlight your post in this thread. Hope everybody reads it. :hi:

[allemand]

141. Thank you for this information.

The fact that they ignore you is very telling.

[alittlelark]

85. The NED is NOT GOOD!!!! W. Clark is GOOD... he is

on so many boards he likely doesn't understand that this one is evil (I Hope).



Dem Now did a great piece on it today http://www.democracynow.org/

I will send it to the Clark camp - I hope others do likewise.

[autorank]

91. This is what discourse is about...helping our side.

All the quips about "drama queens" etc. up thread are really just quips, which is fine.

The process here is to vet the candidates, WHICH HELPS THE CANDIDATES.

Clark came on strong and then got sand bagged when he couldn't answer one question (the abortion one, ouch, I felt terrible for him). MSM will chew you up.

These quasi government organizations doing the governments work are a WASTE OF TAX PAYER DOLLARS.

That's a simple concept and I hope he grabs on to this. Clark has a great deal to offer but he needs some help on tis issue. Also on electronic voting. He actually favored 'internet voting.' Just some bad advice.

I actually gave some information to one of his supporters on elections issues and they were most grateful.

What's the hub bub about open discussion.

I agree with you.

[autorank]

87. wakeme2008. You asked an honest question. An honest answer.

I'm not here as a cheer leader for any candidate. I like Clark a great deal but I must say that NED is a vipers nest. I really don't care about personal testimonials about them. I care about facts. Vin Weber is an uber Conservative and was a key player in the organization that disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters in Florida 2000 (ChoicePoint). Can't forgive that. He's the Chairman of the NED Board! The guy who runs the group is a long time neocon. WTF? Why have anything to do with this. I'm defaulting to my long time favorite AL GORE!


From today's

Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News January 24, 2006

NED in action.

NED Board, Neocon leader (proof of that)

...and while you're there, read this one from COMPUTERWORLD!

A real security expert debunks electronic voting!

[Adelante]

127. How do you explain?

Al Gore's support of NED?

[autorank]

130. I don't. I disagree. I'll write him and tell him so. I stil support him

It's not black or white, right or wrong 100%, with me on everything or against me on everything.

Gore is my guy after I saw him on 1/16/06 and I put it in print

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0601/S00122.htm

He's wrong on this. That's how I explain it. Maybe he'll think about it or maybe not.

I want a populist, liberal, fighter...throw the bums out, no more insider crap, no more funding crap like NED or other things when you don't have to legislate to do it...just welfare for smartie pants ;)

Later

[Adelante]

131. You wrote that, autorank?

I am proud of you :pals:

I'm proud of Al Gore, too, for that speech.

[autorank]

132. I am that guy, THANKS

I see Gore's speech as a blue print. I don't think he'll run but I do think he "threw down" and made the key points for our party. If he does run, I'd support him and there would be only one option for VP, Clark. If not, then I want Clark. I think that he's much more savvy on the "media game" (Fox is a baptism under fire) and I think he'll rock. We'll see. BUT, he will be able to say, "I warned everybody about Iraq." Any opponent who can't say that will have trouble. We have yet to hear the true horror of that BushCo catastrophe.

[Adelante]

134. No VP for Clark

The VP should be a legislator, in my opinion, working the administration's's agenda through Congress. Lots of people seem to want Clark for VP, but I think, unless he's in the Oval, he's better off as SoS, and so is whoever the Dem president might be. I'll support the eventual nominee, of course, but in the primaries, I'm still for Wes with no doubt whatsoever.

[jonnyblitz]

96. posting links to the NED website to prove NED is virtuous is sad.

to those of you on this thread who have done that. would you link to a Bush website written by Rove to get an honest critique of Bush? please :rofl: :rofl:

[dogman]

142. That's right, democracynow is the true word handed down to the people.

The source of all true knowledge, THE APPLE. Any thing else is suspect and only self-promoting.:sarcasm:

[1932]

145. Sy Hersh says they're the only people doing real journalism now.

He says NPR is a shadow of what it was in the 70s. He says that Amy Goodman won't interview someone unless she knows enough about the subject matter so that she can make sure the person doesn't get away with bullshitting the audience.

[dogman]

147. Yet I've seen her bullshit the audience.

She should hold her self to the same standard she holds her guests.

[1932]

150. It helps when you give examples.

[dogman]

154. Her coverage of Clark.

She has an agenda of her own and it's her show so that's fine. I'm not buying it however.

[1932]

157. People can have agendas. That's fine. What mattes is if their arguments

are logical and based on facts.

[dogman]

161. Exactly.

She doesn't let facts get in the way of presenting her agenda. Her promotion of the WWIII BS and other anti-Clark propaganda. It's on her website and presented as fact without proof other than her choice to believe her guests if they say what she wants to hear.

[1932]

163. Could you be more specific about what you think she says without

supporting with logic and facts?

[CarolNYC]

148. Sy Hersh....

Oh, I love Sy Hersh...He thinks a lot of Gen Clark, too....

In fact, he told this story in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!:

What makes it interesting, while doing reporting on it(Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan), I called Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander, who is sort of an interesting guy in this stuff, because early in the war, early in my reporting on the war, I had written critically about a Delta Force operation. Delta is the secret unit of the army. The commander unit. They had been ambushed. The Delta guys were enraged. I'm talking about the first month of the war because they had been sent on this stupid operation and they had gotten hurt very badly. And they don't like it. Delta guys, they like to crawl in little holes for a week and get to their target. They were ordered to do it in a different way. Everybody denied the story like crazy. And Wes Clark, to his credit, told a bunch of newspapers, "Look, I know this is right." I had said 13 people were hurt and he said 12 was the number that he had. I saw in him somebody with a great streak of integrity, difficult he may be. In any case, I called him about this story while I was doing it. He encouraged me to write it. I didn't write it. About a year-and-a-half later, he's running for president. I mention this in the book, and I bump into him, and he jumped all over me. He said, "Why didn't you do that story?" I said, "Well, I just thought, it just would have been -- I just didn't do it." He said, "You should have done it. That was your job." Pretty scary. You know, he was right.

http://www.democracynow.org/static/hersh_trans.shtml

I like that he sees Wes Clark as somebody with a great streak of integrity....Nice words coming from someone I admire and respect.

[1932]

149. So, a point for trusting Democracy Now's reporting on the NED?

[CarolNYC]

152. At least a point for trusting Gen Clark's integrity....

I have no doubt that there are very awful things that branches of the NED have done.

Do you have a link to the direct quote by Sy about DemNow, please?

Thanks!

[1932]

153. I think one could have integrity but also believe that what the NED does

is valuable.

And you can have integrity and believe what they do is wrong.

Clark says things about Vietam, Iraq, and the School of Americas with which I disagree. I don't think that his opinions about those issues come from a lack of integrity. I think it comes from a very different view of American empire than the one I have.

[CarolNYC]

155. You have that Sy Hersh link yet? Thanks! n/t

[1932]

156. It's in a Podcast available through iTunes. Search "Berkeley"

and you'll find it.

It must also be available at the UC Berkeley web site.

It's a great lecture, but it's bascially the same lecture he has given everywhere for the past year and a half. I don't know if he plugs Democracy Now every time, but he definitely does so in the podcast available at iTunes.

Enjoy!

[CarolNYC]

158. So you don't have the quote....or a link

just your recollection of it? OK....

[1932]

159. I'll get it for you, but I expect to get Rinaldo's quote link in return,

OK?

[CarolNYC]

162. Nope, get your own star, honey

I gave you a link for what I brought to the conversation...I'm not asking you to search for someone else's link...If you don't want to get me the quote, don't. It's just that I've seen the way you "interpret" things so I'm just curious as to what Sy said...No worries, no big deal. If I really want to see it and you can't or won't provide it, I'll get it on my own but I'm not making any deals, OK?

Thanks anyway...have a good night. :hi:

[1932]

164. gosh, I sure feel stupid wasting my time looking up that link for you.

I probably spent more time doing that than it would take for you to use that star to find the link I'm interested in seeing.

You probably shouldn't bother asking people to do more work for you than you're willing to do for them.

[Tom Rinaldo]

172. OK. I resent this post

The implication is that I am lying and holding out on you 1932. For others information I will post the PM I sent to you yesterday below, which you didn't respond to, which was fine, until I saw your post today:

"1932, I made a minor effort for you but with no luck and there are too many blank variables to use the DU search function well on this. More of a problem, like I said on the thread after you asked for details about it, I'm not even 100% sure it was a DU post in the first place after I thought about it further. Odds are it is, but there's a reasonable chance it might originally have come from a campaign related site during the Primaries. If it originally was posted at Clark Community Network, to give one likely alternative, we are probably both out of luck because they changed the site over from one software to another and it seems like old archives will never be restored. Plus they don't even have a search function

I understand how tracking it back could be interesting and useful, but I reached my limit, and I'm not sure it is even possible.

Good luck (sincerely)

Tom"

[1932]

174. Thanks for the minor effort.

However, I've asked others in this thread to look for this link, and that's what I was doing here.

Also, I've responded to your PM.

[1932]

160. Here you go:

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events/index.php -- it's the 10/27 event. You can even watch it.

Once you've had a chance to confirm the accuracy of my recollection, I'll expect to see that link I'm looking for.

[snowbear]

99. I love you General Clark

:hug: ~~~ ~~~ :hug:

[HuskerDU]

100. I think that we need to focus on taking back Congress and

impeaching Bush, then worry about things like NED.

[autorank]

102. Politics isn't theology. Our candidates are not Gods.

We don't need to reason and research and discuss based on pre-ordained rules by the masters of "belief." We don't have to have 100% perfect candidates in order to work for the candidates or offer our vote.

We are free men and women who can discuss a candidate's assets and deficits. We should be able to do so without having to defend ourselves against deviation from a "theological" doctrine (my candidate is always right) or from devotion to our political God. To question a candidate is not heresy and it should not confine those raising the questions to cyber-Hell:evilgrin:

wakeme2008 began the thread with a question and a comment. The OP also points out that Clark was high on wakeme2008's list for 2008. I believe him and I agree on both points: a) Clark is quite a guy and b) WTF is he doing in this neocon run organization (that's spending our tax payer dollars...populism emerging).

As Rodney King said: "Can't we all just learn to get along." Probably not, but I thought I'd toss it out there.

This isn't church and we're not doing anyone any favors by acting like it is.

Separation of church and politics! Now, I know we all agree with that.

(and now I'm off to take the Advanced Vocaitons for the Universal Life Church)

[wakeme2008]

105. Very good.

It is like 6 years ago there was a great President in the WH and so the WH always has great Presidents, so by definition the current President is a great President.

LOL one poster tried to say because Paul Wellstone was a member it must be a great organization today. IMHO if Senator Wellstone saw what Bush has turned NED into, he would making loud noises.

[Tom Rinaldo]

111. We are so far from where we want/need to be

in repositiioning the priorities of the United States in the world. I essentially agree with you autorank, there is far too much about what is usual in business as usual that goes against the values that most of us on this board hold to, and that goes against the rhetoric of many good Democratic politicians. It's not just the serious abuses that have taken place through NED (although I do believe some good things have been supported by parts of NED also), it includes programs funded through the State Department, or the World Bank or dozens of other completely or partially funded by the U.S. government agencies. Just name it, there are programs tucked away in the Department of Agriculture for example. You don't doubt that had Al Gore been President instead of Clinton in the 90's, he also would have made Democratic appointments to NED, even though there had been some problems with NED under Reagan and Bush the elder also.

To use that old inertia metaphor, the United States is that huge Air Craft Carrier steaming forward on the open sea, it will not be turned around on a dime no matter who gives the command or how resolute their will. You have it right that we need to keep applying pressure, but we also have to make sure that the people in politics who are more or less on our side of the battle don't get ripped off the bridge by us constantly yanking their arms while the other side is fighting for the steering wheel. It is a difficult dance. NED is a program that virtually any Democrat who has been in Congress in recent years has supported. We have to deal with that reality as a starting point before pinning all the blame for what upsets us about it on those Democrats who were selected to fill the roles in NED that virtually all Democrats in Congress wanted filled.

[Jai4WKC08]

112. I don't get it

NED is not a "shadow" or "quasi-" anything. It's an agency of the US government as much as any other--created, regulated, and funded by act of Congress. No less so than the Dept of Defense, or Homeland Security, or all the thousands of government departments and agencies. Some are better known than others, but they're all official parts of the govt.

If you think NED should be abolished, then by all means contact your reps in Congress and tell them so.

But as long as NED exists, does it make sense that there should be no Democrats on its board? Doesn't that just make it easier for the Repubs to control, completely unchecked and unchallenged? Should all the Democrats serving in every other agency of the govt resign? What happens if/when we take back Congress? Start over from scratch?

If NED is doing bad things, and I don't doubt that it is, it's because Repubs are in charge. Congress is doing bad things because Repubs are in charge. So is the Dept of Defense and just about every other agency of the government. Our goal should be to oust the Republicans in charge, not the Democrats working as a counterbalance.

We're forgetting who the enemy is.

[CarolNYC]

116. tsk, tsk ,Jai...You're making too much sense

And it doesn't fit the agenda. No doubt, you'll too be ignored...

[autorank]

128. Let's both get it.

:hug: (it's my new mode around here, sensitive guy)

NED sucks. If a husband is really good most of the time but bests his wife once a month, what do you think of him. He's an abuser.

Given that, we can take on Clark or even Sarbanes (a 24 year FAVORITE of mine) and say get out. That doesn't mean we need to dismiss them or even abandon support. It's just criticism. They're not gods, we don't owe 100% allegiance. They should want critics to keep them on their toes.

Thats all and another :hug: "It's nice to be nice, I like everybody" (except the BFEE)

[Donna Zen]

137. NED as its title suggests

...is an endowment. I believe that agencies write policy and have a domain over which they have control.

The US has a sum of money, an endowment. Four different organizations have access to the money, that endowment, through a grant writing process. So I guess Jai, that I must disagree. Congress has over-sight regarding NED because the endowment is formed of taxpayer funds, but NED is not a policy writing agency.

The republicans are only in charge of the republican organization. Labor is in charge of the labor organization.

I suggest that if this is to be discussed then understanding the terms being thrown around would be a place to start.
IIRC, the grant applicants cannot be from this country and cannot be government employees.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

117. How dare you attack the great master of the universe?

I mean you need to stop this immediately.

And everyone else needs to stop also.

Wes is perfect, period.

:sarcasm:

That what you're talking about? Do you really see anyone doing that for real?

[autorank]

129. The end point of theology and god-like worship...

IMHO but a :hug: first

[Sparkly]

122. True.

But there's sort of an element of "faith" here. I have faith in General Clark, and many other Democrats as well -- including others who worked with NED.

I don't agree with any one politician on every single issue there is, but I trust that Democrats, in general, are not out to rip off the middle class, stifle free speech, undermine civil rights, etc... I have faith that their overall positions are right, and they haven't spent decades lying about them in order to spring a sudden about-face at some point and go all Zell Miller.

This sort of accusation, it seems to me, is over the top. It implies that General Clark has a secret sinister desire to wage war for imperialist reasons, take over territories for greed, upset governments to the detriment of citizens, use the military recklessly and for evil, bomb babies and God knows what else. From everything we know about the General, that is not and has never been who he is -- the very idea is ridiculous.

I think we should be careful not to broad-brush people based on their associations -- for example, General Clark is on Fox providing a reasoned Democratic voice to an audience accustomed to rightwing screechmonkeys, but that doesn't make him a rightwing screechmonkey himself. Democratic Senators collaborate with Republicans on legislation -- doesn't make them Republicans. Democrats supported military invasion of Afghanistan -- doesn't make them warmongers. Democrats go to church -- doesn't make them fundie-fascists. I hope I'm making the point.

I'd also recommend Donna Zen's post above, explaining more about NED.

[autorank]

167. Sparkly, I agree with the following totally...

"I think we should be careful not to broad-brush people based on their associations..." Totally agree (although the OP seems more like a ? than an attack). At the same time, we need to keep an eye out and get this stuff straightened out before hand.

I saw Gore on 1/16 in DC. One of the best parts of his speech centered on the need for real dialog, strong given and take, in order to keep the government from doing really stupid things like Iraq. He pointed out that * destroyed feedback from inside and outside the WH, and thus went blindly along without challenge.

Wes Clark taught philosophy at the college level and coached the West Point Debate team!

He's the type of guy who can take as well as give and come out the better for it. After his stint on Fox, he'll be a match for everybody (I see the Fox crew as his sparing partners;)

Best wishes to you & Husb?

[Adelante]

169. Autorank, I can't even count the number of times

Clark has said this in all kinds of venues in every part of the country for years now - audiences red and blue. So if you're saying this is what Clark could be saying, well, Wes is already a match for anybody.

"I saw Gore on 1/16 in DC. One of the best parts of his speech centered on the need for real dialog, strong given and take, in order to keep the government from doing really stupid things like Iraq. He pointed out that * destroyed feedback from inside and outside the WH, and thus went blindly along without challenge."

[autorank]

178. I'm not following his speeches closely. If he said what Gore said

in the DC speech, I'd like a copy or a couple of references. I don't doubt it, I'd just like it for my own review, etc. The Gore speech is an indictment, comprehensive. Anyone who agrees has my support. Take a look at the whole thing, it's quite something.

I don't see Clark as a moderate, rather as a liberal with guts and beau coup brains. I'm sure he understands these issues and articulates them. He needs a book with very big letters for the Faux autidnece, though;)

[DrBlix]

103. Wesley Clark joins FOX news

Joining me now to talk a bit about it, Fox News Military Analyst and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark joins me. General, always good to talk with you.
GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well good to be with you too.
.
http://securingamerica.com/node/463

[Tom Rinaldo]

119. Uh huh. Did you listen to the interview perhaps?

Or is your point only that he should have pulled out a dueling pistol instead of returning the greeting given him in kind?

[Adelante]

126. Yes, he thinks it is good he is on RW media

He thinks the rest of us already know it all and it's the right wing Dems and moderate Republicans and the red states that need to be educated with Democratic thought. Then again, he is a gentleman, and being polite is second nature. Which one bothers you most?

[autorank]

133. I'm glad Clark is on Fox. If they push him too far...

...he'll "kirk-out" ;)

We need those people to hear our message. If you start at 100% of Faux viewers and Clark gets 10-15%, that is a huge victory. The rest of Faux talking heads are just that. Clark is the real deal. He did what they can only talk about and he did it well. Even teevee junkies can figure that out.

I think Carville should be next on Faux. He stays and does the news everyday until they all agree to vote for Democrats.

[rman]

107. In all fairness

As some here have indicated it is possible that Clark and many other reps. are just ill informed about NED's activities - that they would not endorse NED if only they'd know.

There are several such issues (ie NAFTA/free trade), and instead of us informing them on each issue separately, it might be better to advise them to stop using the corporate media as their primary source of information, and to start listening to such independent media as Democracy Now.

[Tom Rinaldo]

123. "I would like to thank the National Endowment for Democracy "

VIDEOTAPED MESSAGE FROM DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI ON THE OCCASION OF THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MAY 1990 ELECTION VICTORY OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY IN BURMA.

Presented at a Capitol Hill luncheon honoring the NLD
May 16, 2000

"It was a surprise to me to learn that the NED was planning to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the elections of 1990, but it was a very pleasant surprise."
Aung San Suu Kyi
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3190/assk/asskmsg26.html

There's this from Human Rights Watch:
U.N. Must Take Action on Human Rights in Burma

(Below I am quoting from one section of the long statement I have linked below"

"...Students and NGOs

The clearest evidence of the SPDC's intention to quash any opposition came with the October 7 press statement by Col. Thein Swe of the Office of Strategic Studies. Claiming a complex conspiracy "to incite anarchy" on the part of the NLD, student organizations, armed opposition groups and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the military authorities announced that fifty-four people, including twenty-three NLD members and some students, had been arrested. The SPDC's accusations, and the arrests of the students, were made after several small student protests broke out in Rangoon during August and September. At the time, the authorities appeared to be trying to reopen the country's universities, which had been closed since earlier student demonstrations in December 1996. The SPDC therefore charged that the NLD and other democracy activists were using the students as a cover to try and cause greater volatility and support for the people's parliament...

... Student groups in Burma, however, claim that the latest arrests mark the acceleration of a government clampdown on a new generation of students. The security services previously had concentrated on the 1988 generation of pro-democracy students, whose leader, Min Ko Naing, remains in prison amid continuing concerns about his state of health. Following the arrest early this year of the ABFSU central committee member Aung Tun, who had been writing a history of the student movement, the authorities began detaining individuals and breaking up literary groups or circles, a popular vehicle by which students have traditionally met and organized. According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Burma, Aung Tun was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment in March under Article 5(j) of the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act and the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law. The Special Rapporteur also reported that another student leader, Aung Kyaw Moe, who was serving a 14 year jail term in Thayawaddy Prison, died in the prison hospital on May 23 "after being beaten by prison authorities." The ABFSU itself calculates as many as 500 students have been detained in recent months and has provided Human Rights Watch with the names of sixty-five students and NLD youth members whom it believes are currently detained.

The SPDC has also accused the international media and four foreign NGOs—the Open Society Institute of the international financier George Soros, the Jesuit Refugee Service, the US-based National Endowment for Democracy and the Canadian International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development—of supporting the recent unrest and protests, principally through assistance to border-based groups, expatriates and individuals in Thailand. "NGOs in the name of democracy are using all possible devious means and exerting all kinds of pressure to destabilize the internal situation," said Col. Thein Swe. This is a charge the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) swiftly denied."
http://hrw.org/english/docs/1998/11/09/burma1410_txt.htm


OK, so this is NED support that I can probably understand.

[peacetalksforall]

125. NED has allowed the US to be held hostage by Cuban Americans for

decades and they are the conduit for kick-backs and money flow.

. You pay taxes.
. Congress allocates those taxes.
. They give plenty to NED.
. NED gives the money (big time money) to Cuban-American associations who come up with schemes to operate campaigns against Cuba - campaigns requiring other useless spending of other of your tax dollars. (In addition, these same Cuban-Americans have sent billions upon billions of their own money direct to their relatives in Cuba), money that could have been spent in the U.S. and which deflect from the embargo on the country that they themselves successfully won against Cuba.)
. These associations then put a portion of the NED money into the pockets of many Repbulicans and Democrats to make sure that they have historically outrageous support.
. Therefore, your tax dollars went right into their pocket in addition to their salaries and expenses - all due to the intervention and laundering system known as NED.

[Donna Zen]

138. I'm not the government, I'm NDI

The country now is ruled by militias, mullahs, and warlords. The simple citizen is not allowed to have his own rights, to say freely what he wants.” He put part of the blame on the Americans. “They are not caring much for a simple Iraqi citizen. They care for a chief of a tribe here, a mullah there, a religious man here, a militiaman here, head of a party there.”

It was possible to find Iraqis who were already coming forward to lay claim to their country’s political future. They were few in number, vastly outmatched in money and power by the parties and the militias, and they were, I thought, the toughest people on earth. Sometimes there were Americans ready to support them.

The National Democratic Institute was an organization funded largely by the U.S. government and affiliated with the Democratic Party’; it operated with relative independence, under the direction of the National Endowment for Democracy. The institute’s purpose was to find the “simple citizens” in a place like Iraq and help them to participate in democratic political life. This tended to be obscure, poorly funded work...

The workshop in Hilla took place in the city’s former secret-police headquarters, which had become a human-rights center. Forty Iraqis--including a political science professor and an unemployed sports instructor--had traveled at some risk to the attend the class. They listened intently and took careful notes as Dettman (NDI) stood, shoulders hunched, before a flip chart and resented his ten-step program on message development and voter contact. ..Dettman had told me earlier, “Politics is the art of getting people to vote for you. It’s applicable all over the world. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have a job.”

“I’m not the government,” Dettman said. “I’m NDI...”

Assassins’ Gate, G. Parker, (409-410)

^^^^^^^^^^

NOTE: If you hate democracy or self-government, then you will bash NED and refuse to understand what it does or how it works. I am proud to disagree with you.

[coldiggs]

139. OMG why do you think every liberal has to be in lock step with you

[Clarkie1]

166. Good for General Clark.

All this thread has done is demonstrate one more reason to support Wes and ignore the ranting kool-aid drinkers.

I had hoped we'd left such baseless attacks on good Democrats behind after 04', But some people just never learn...or want to learn.

The minds of such folks are like petrified wood....maybe Rove was right and the core of the Democratic Party has become "ossified."

Let's hope not...because if it has (and I don't believe it has), it's the beginning of the end of the Democratic Party.

[Adelante]

170. Since you wonder about Clark and only Clark

I thought I would round out the picture so you know who else to cross off your list, wakeme2008.

Promoting Democracy, Human Rights, Rule of Law, and Civil Society

American values and freedoms are a beacon unto nations, and we should use the power of our ideals to foster democracy, human rights, rule of law, and civil society throughout the world. The Democratic Party believes that America must continue to work closely with other nations, as well as non-governmental organizations to promote these goals. We aim to rededicate ourselves to the defense of democracy in the Americas at a moment when it is being brought into question in Peru and absent on the island of Cuba. We will continue to work with Haiti to deepen the roots of democracy that we helped replant. We will continue to press for human rights, the rule of law, and political freedom. We will continue to support the spread of democracy across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and the development of judiciary, legal systems, media and civil society organizations.

To accomplish this, we need the right tools. Al Gore and the Democratic Party support continued funding for the National Endowment for Democracy, Radio Liberty, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, Radio Marti, and other efforts to promote democracy and the free flow of ideas. We will build on our successful Reinventing Government program, led by Al Gore, to help other nations make their governments more responsive, more open, and more effective. We strongly support international educational exchanges. The students who come to America to study here — at the best academic institutions in the world — learn about our democratic values and institutions, our entrepreneurial skills, and our culture. They learn that Americans are noble dreamers remaining ever inclusive.

http://connecticut.smartcampaigns.com/index.php?q=book/view/108

"Promoting democracy around the world should be one of America's highest priorities-for the sake of those who love freedom around the world, and for the sake of our own security," Edwards said. "But encouraging democracy takes more than President Bush's combination of high-minded rhetoric at home and high-handed arrogance toward our allies. Encouraging democracy requires a concrete strategy for working together with other free nations, encouraging those who are building free societies amid oppression, and pressure the world's dictators to change their ways. My 'Strategy for Freedom' offers a concrete agenda to win the war of ideas and advance the cause of democracy around the world."

-snip


Substantially increase support for international democracy programs, starting by doubling the funding of the National Endowment for Democracy. The NED plays a vital role in supporting grass-roots civil society programs worldwide, but its resources do not match the importance of its mission. Edwards will double the NED's budget to over $80 million -- focusing specifically on programs in the Middle East and Africa -- and call on U.S. allies in Europe and elsewhere to establish similar democracy promotion institutions and match these funds.

http://www.cfr.org/publication.html?id=6666

108th CONGRESS

2d Session

S. 2096



To promote a free press and open media through the National Endowment for Democracy and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 23, 2004

Mr. LUGAR (for himself, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. HAGEL, and Mr. FEINGOLD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

March 18, 2004

-snip

(B) to bring together individuals and institutions to organize and focus greater attention on the establishment of new, and the enhancement of existing, free media programs throughout the world.

(6) The National Endowment for Democracy (in this section referred to as the `NED') is a nonprofit, federally funded, grantmaking, nongovernmental organization recognized by Congress in the National Endowment for Democracy Act (22 U.S.C. 4411 et seq.).

(7) The NED has historically provided support and coordination of the activities of private sector groups and nongovernmental organizations that promote democratic institutions.

(8) The NED has received strong bipartisan support from Presidents and Congress since it was established in 1983.

(9) The NED is the appropriate entity--

(A) to address issues related to the development of a free press and open media; and

(B) to bring together individuals and institutions to organize and focus greater attention on the establishment of new, and enhancement of existing, free media programs throughout the world.

Kerry Calls for Stronger Relationship with Latin America

6/26/2004 11:58:00 AM

-snip

-- Triple U.S. Funds to the National Endowment for Democracy's Programs to Strengthen Democracy in Latin America: This would enable us to significantly increase NED's work training and organizing party leaders abroad. These funds would assist both traditional and fledgling political parties overseas to practice inclusion at the grassroots level, enable them to forge stronger ties to poor communities and strengthen democracies by broadening party participation.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=32521

Maybe I'll find some more if I have time later :hi: and if this thread is still going.


Edit: forgot link