FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Confrontational T-Shirt Challenges Bush’s Re-Election “Mandate”

(Chicago, Ill.) -- A new t-shirt, “Mandate, My Ass!”, criticizes President Bush’s re-election. The creator of the t-shirt is veteran black political activist Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, who has a graphic design company here.

“I created this t-shirt to counter the political spin of President Bush and the Republican Party, which the establishment media support, that his re-election has given him a mandate to run the country anyway he wants for the next four years,” says Ervin, a former Black Panther.

“What mandate? Mandate means a clear authorization from the masses of people, more than a slight majority. Bush won 51 percent of the popular vote, and John Kerry won 49 percent. Two percentage points is not a mandate. Neither is 100,000 votes, Bush’s margin in Ohio, which decided the election.”

Ervin says, “Look at it like this. The U.S. electorate was evenly divided on Nov. 2. Even the political pundits said so. There are 204 million eligible voting adults in this country. Only 59 million voted for Bush, 57 million others voted for Kerry, and there were those who did not like either candidate. This adds up to 145 million Americans who did not vote for Bush.

“Bush didn’t have a mandate. In fact, he was barely re-elected. We can’t be fooled by Karl Rove or Fox News. We must not passively accept an agenda dictated by the oil companies and the military-industrial establishment.”

Ervin says the “Mandate” t-shirt and others he’s designing are part of a line of anti-Bush/anti-war t-shirts. He wants to inspire those on the left not to get disheartened by Bush’s re-election and to keep up the fight against the president's extreme right-wing, pro-big business policies, Ervin says.

“I hope progressive activists make the Mandate My Ass! t-shirt the 'official' t-shirt of the Inauguration Day protests on Jan. 20.”

Ervin says look for the t-shirts on Ebay and his website, www.protesttshirts.com. shoppingcartsplus.com/index.html.

The “Mandate” t-shirt costs $12, plus $3 for shipping and handling. In addition to Ebay and Ervin's website, the t-shirt may be purchased by sending a certified check, money order or cash, payable to Lorenzo Ervin, at Box 420, 1507 E. 53rd St., Chicago, IL 60615.

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