Summer
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ASSIST
MEDICAL
RESEARCH
Nader’s Green Party gets
votes for ballot inclusion
By Kate Grafel
Staff Writer
Nebraska Green Party co
chairmen Tim Rinne and Frances
Mendenhall announced Tuesday
that circulators have gathered
enough petition signatures to get
Presidential nominee Ralph
Nader on the Nebraska election
ballot for November.
The Green Party needed
5,600 signatures to qualify for the
ballot. Mindenhall said that as of
her arrival in Lincoln on Tuesday
morning, more than 10,500 had
been gathered from Nebraska's
three Congressional districts.
The initial crowd of 28 sup
porters rapidly grew to nearly 40
as the Green Party began its press
conference outside the west
entrance to the Capitol under die
blinding mid-day sun. Volunteers
ranging in age from 4 to 74 held
two-tone green signs that resem
bled the American flag and read
“Ralph Nader for President.”
Under Rinne's direction, a
chant began: “2,4,6,8! We want
Nader in the debate!” Later the
chant shifted to “Bush and Gore
make me wanna Ralph!”
This day when we get our
signatures turned in, we know Ralph
is on the ballot. The next step is
getting the votes.”
TimRinne
co-chair, Nebraska Green Party
Rinne said that if Nader were
to win five percent of the national
popular vote in November, he
would quality for federal match
ing campaign funds in 2004.
“This day when we get our
signatures turned in,” Rinne said,
“we know Ralph is on the ballot.
The next step is getting the
votes.”
Rinne assured his audience
that Gore had no chance of win
ning any electoral votes in
Nebraska, a historically
Republican state, and urged them
instead to give Nader the support
he needed to garner his 5 percent.
“Don’t waste your vote in
Nebraska or any of the other
states that George Bush already
has in his political pocket,” Rinne
said to Nebraska voters.
Marc Tuepker, a junior sociol
ogy major at UNL, became
involved with the Green Party as
a supporter of former Green
Presidential candidate Jello
Biafra.
Tuepker said he supports the
party for reasons of “social jus
tice, grass-roots democracy and
people doing it themselves and
not getting paid for it.”
UNL junior Josh Bader, a
biology and geography major,
said he is interested in the envi
ronmental issues and politics for
working-class people.
The Green Party will official
ly announce Nader Is candidacy at
its state convention on Aug. 26 in
Lincoln.
Former dissident to speak at NU
ByJiUZeman
Staff writer
On Friday, politics in
Nebraska will take on an interna
tional flair as Alexandr Vondra,
the Czech Republic’s ambassa
dor to the United States, is
scheduled to speak at 3:30 p.m.
at the Nebraska Union.
Vondra’s speech, “The Czech
Republic: On the Threshold of
the 21st Century,” will address
the Czech Republic’s place in
Central Europe and its pending
Saskova-Pierce said Vondra
was drawn to the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln because of
Nebraska’s strong Czech her
itage.
“Nebraska Czech history is
rather glorious,” she said.
The Czech language has
uiciiiucisiiip imu me cuiupcmi
Union, said Mila Saskova
Pierce, professor of modem lan
guages and literature.
The 38-year-old ambassador
was active in the mid 1980s as a
pro-democracy dissident leader
and because of his controversial
actions, he was arrested and
imprisoned for two months.
Vondra has been the Czech
Republic’s ambassador since
1997, when he was appointed by
President Vaclav Havel,
Saskova-Pierce said.
The ambassador has sched
uled many stops during his stay
in Nebraska. After speaking at
UNL, he plans on addressing the
Nebraska Department of
Economic Development and
then he will meet with state and
local politicians and members of
Nebraska industries, she said.
Vondra will also attend the
Nebraska Czech Festival in
Wilber, Aug. 4-6, she said.
uccn uucreu ai upil since iw/,
and was one of the first foreign
languages to be taught at the uni
versity, she said.
Saskova-Pierce said in order
to bring Vondra here, she had to
contact the Embassy, write an
official invitation and find fund
ing for the event.
“He was ready to come and
we wanted him to come,” she
said.
Tom Carr, a UNL professor
of modem languages and litera
ture, was part of the team that
helped find ways to fund
Vondra’s visitation.
“I’m delighted he’s coming
and I plan on attending,” he said.
Saskova-Pierce said she
hopes Vondra's speech will draw
a large crowd.
“We invite everybody and
anybody to come,” she said.
“He’s a very important and
interesting person.”