Envisioning President Barack Obama

I envision not only a great President, but a great Nation and ultimately, a great World.

Unfit for Publication

Indeed.

The First Big "Diss"appointment

The first disappointment is always the worse. Particularly when it's something you really believed in. Giving immunity to the Telecoms for not stepping up to the plate and saying no to a destructive President, ugh. I've longed been angered by this as I feel that the Telecomms knew exactly what the law said and knew it would be an issue down the line. I'm sure they were strongarmed, but I'm sure they also were eager for data experimentation as well. The House and possibly the Senate are going to reel in FISA but still let the Telecomms go free. Oh how I long sometimes for impeachment.

Anyhoo, Obama disappointed on this one. It may be that he's saving it for Bush, or it may be he has some plan down the line. Or he's just like, what I have always feared, like all the others.

We shall see.

Sometimes, You Need Some Straight Talk

After eight years, you finally get it:

Obama Press Conference, South Dakota, May 16, 2008

Veterans and McCain

War heroes are great, but war heroes change. War heroes become politicians.

My brain is exploding these days. I see Sen. John McCain cling to his military service. Yes, it was torturous, to say the least, and dude, I salute you for it; but it sickens me at the same people. Folks hail his traumatic events, but they vilify Sen. John Kerry's equally heroic events. And it makes me sick because John McCain has been forgetting soldiers since 2005.

Do not be fooled: John McCain is a Republican, no matter how he can reach across the aisle. It's the kind of Republicans any sane person would not want to be aligned with. These guys are masterful bi-triangulators of the spoken word, overlapping each other, shouting loudly, getting up and taking their toys home and swallowing the truth whole up until the truth is not only obscured, but plummeted senseless. In other words, they lie, and they lie right to your face.

Back in 2005, during Congress's incredible piece of insurance man love, known as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, the following amendment, introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Il) was defeated:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 109th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005

Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (Durbin Amdt. No. 16, As Modified. )
Vote Number: 13 Vote Date: March 1, 2005, 06:07 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 16 to S. 256
Statement of Purpose: To protect servicemembers and veterans from means testing in bankruptcy, to disallow certain claims by lenders charging usurious interest rates to servicemembers, and to allow servicemembers to exempt property based on the law of the State of their premilitary residence.
Vote Counts: YEAs 38
NAYs 58
Not Voting 4

The amendment went down in flames. McCain and Hagel were in the Nay column; Kerry and Obama and Clinton, yea.

So the next time someone tells you that McCain loves the troops, tell them that you don't believe them. If he loved them so much, how come he did not break with his Party and vote for the best interests of the Armed Services?

The "reintroduction of John McCain," is already out there. Sure, there may be some good things here and there, but really, he's the same old same old.

It's the same mouth service. Voting for McCain is voting for Bush III.

DO. NOT. FORGET. IT.

Wright After 9/11

On this Easter Sunday, a reflection:

Consequentialism refers to those moral theories which hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome, or consequence.


Some folks (I shall not call them "typical" for fear of getting into trouble, though the "typical" comes in many colors) are upset with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in regards to the sermons he gave at his Trinity Church in Chicago. This church is the home church of one Senator Barack Obama, candidate for president. Snippets of Wright's sermons have been cut up and put on the teevee in an endless loop, highlighting some of his more... uh... colorful... statements and indicting him, and by association, Obama, for his continued participation in the church. This kerfuffle over the past few weeks is really no more than an attempt to morph Obama from a "radical Muslim" to a "radical Christian." Everything, that is, except for a middle-of-the-road, middle-class American. He's got to reach up to a patriotism bar that not even Captain America could reach.

Of course, no one is paying much attention to the actual sermons; folks in the public sphere (or at least on the teevee and the Internet) are more concerned with painting a broad and tarred brush regarding Obama. Hey, you all knew something was strange about that dude, eh?

Several people have lately delved a bit more into the sermons themselves instead of the soundbytes. Andrew Sullivan posted the text of the two sermons of concern on his site and Roland Martin has the audio of the two sermons in question on his news blog at Essence.

Here's the complete 9/11 sermon audio clip. I double dog dare you to listen to the entire sermon.

powered by ODEO

I'd like to talk about this 9/11 sermon in particular. Chalk it up to me not going to church after 9/11. Is six years too late to attend a 9/11 sermon? Probably, but some 9/11 sermons we should be reminded of again and again, but not in the way this one is now being portrayed.

I want to make clear that I left the Christian church a while ago. I believe in an ecumenical and universal spirit, but I'm more of an agnostic leaning toward Buddhist beliefs of self-reliance, self-awareness and compassion. In regards to the Christian church, I think in 65% of sermons these days, Christian ministers go over the top in their rhetoric and the message: hellfire, brimstone, America is full of sin because of abortion, gays and your little dog, too. Others walk a thin line between the feel-good and salvation, and still others, it's all feel good or quiet contemplation. There are no scientific studies to back up what I've said above. I made it up. Just as a lot of folks these days do.

If you are looking for a champion of religion from this blog, you're not going to find it. In fact, I have a link in my sidebar to Theocracy Watch, which keeps an eye on the Religious Right and the Republican Party. I don't like religion, though I love worship. I believe that religion itself, as led by imperfect men, leads to more harm than good. If you take offense at my belief, I would have to say, like Dick Cheney would, "So?"

Now, I don't want anyone to think that I'm defending left-leaning churches; I'm not. What goes for the right can also go for the left. However, I do think that the basic message of Rev. Wright's 9/11 sermon is getting short-swiftboat-shrifted when it comes to its content. Are there crazy things in both sermons that are snipped and chipped over and over on radio and television? Yes. Are the sermons loud and dangerous sounding? Yes. Are there inflammatory juicy bits sprinkled throughout? Yes. Yes. Is there anything of importance that can be gleaned from the sermons? That answer, again, is yes.

Here is a portion of Rev. Wright's sermon after 9/11 that is of great importance. The question is, "What should our response be" after that day? I asked myself that question that day, didn't you? I'm sure millions of Americans asked themselves that question. Rev. Wright gives us an answer out of many possibilities:

[Gentle voice] Now, now. C'mon back to my question to the Lord, "What should our response be right now. In light of such an unthinkable act. I asked the Lord that question Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

I was stuck in Newark, New Jersey. No flights were leaving La Guardia, JFK, or Newark Airport. On the day tht the FAA opened up the airports to bring into the destinations of cities those flights that had been diverted because of the hijacking, a scare in New York close all three regional airports and I couldn't even get her for Mr. Radford's father's funeral. And I asked God, "What should our response be?

I saw pictures of the incredible. People jumping from the 110th floor; people jumping from the roof because the stair wells and elevators above the 89th floor were gone-- no more. Black people, jumping to a certain death; people holding hands jumping; people on fire jumping. [plaintiff high voice] And I asked the Lord, "What should our response be?" I read what the people of faith felt in 551 BC [taken from an earlier part of his sermon regarding Psalm 137]. But this is a different time, this is a different enemy, a different world, a different terror. This is a different reality. What should our response be, and the Lord showed me three things. Let me share them with you quickly and I'm gonna leave you alone to think about the faith footnote.

Number one: The Lord showed me that this is a time for self-examination. [cheers] As I sat 900 miles away from my family and my community of faith, two months after my own father's death, God showed me that this was a time for me to examine my relationship with God. MY own relationship with God-- personal relationship with God.

[snip]

This is a time for me to examine my own relationship with God. Is it real or is it fake? Is it forever or is it for show? Is it something that you do for the sake of the public or is it something that you do for the sake of eternity? [voice rising] This is a time for me to examine my own, and a time for you to examine your own relationship with God -- self examination.

After 9/11, as I lived in my city with its heart ripped out, I thought long and hard about the decisions that were to be made by my government. I did not go to church, but I worshiped at the shrines of candles, at the shrines of places where people gathered to watch the Twin Towers site burn; I worshiped with a million people who were all examining what had happened, and maybe people wondered what would happen. If I remember correctly, I was full of hate, despair, anguish and concern and there were moments when I wanted to strike back and strike back hard. I was also full of momentary gratitude (for the first time in eight years) to Rudy Giuliani for telling me to get out the house and go shopping. (Luckily, I quickly remembered that Rudy was still a butthead, but that's a different story.)

I knew we were going to go to war. I knew we only looked at the situation from a one-side prism. I knew our leaders would not encourage teaching moments to understand how we got from point A to point B. I knew we didn't understand, as a country, the consequences of our past actions and the consequences of what we were about to do. And we still don't.

Rev. Wright's 9/11 sermon, after stating a slew of actions we have taken as a country, asked us to examine the consequences of our actions, our real actions as a country, our actions as a people. One of these actions that we could have taken (and which we subsequently did take), was revenge. Earlier in the sermon, Wright quotes the last verse of Psalm 137, a cry from the Israelites cast out of Jerusalem who long to seek revenge in order to return to their home. According to Wikidpedia, Psalm 137, "'...ends with violent fantasies of revenge, telling a "Daughter of Babylon" of the delight of "he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.'"

Wright says in his sermon:

Blessed are they who dash your baby’s brains against a rock. And that, my beloved, is a dangerous place to be, yet that is where the people of faith are in the 551 BC, and that is where far too many people of faith are in 2001 AD. We have moved from the hatred of armed enemies to the hatred of unarmed innocents. We want revenge, we want paybacks, and we don't care who gets hurt in the process.

Actions produce effects. Effects produce consequences. If, as Rev. Wright suggests, you or I or we believe in God (or not), we have to examine ourselves and our actions. We have to self-examine, question, and form a rational basis for the next move. From Wright's Christian standpoint, and as talked about in the start of his sermon, he states outright that our actions as a nation have not been completely honorable. It takes a lot of verve to say that our actions have all been virtuous. It takes a lot of head-in-the-sand mentality to think we are perfect.

I ask you today: did you think of the consequences of that day? Did you self-examine your heart that day? Did you cry out to God for revenge? Did you feel the anger within your soul and what did you want to do with that anger if you did? Where you ready to kill without looking at the reasons behind that horrible day of September 11, 2001?

He goes on to say that we need to examine out relationship to our family, not only the blood family but also the Church family and in an even larger context, the world 'family.' He makes sure that all of his congregation turns to each other and says, "I love you" because it might be the last day they have to say it. Say I love you to your family everywhere, all the time, right now, because tragedy can take you in a heartbeat.

Lastly, he says it's a time for social transformation, a time of change of how we do things as an arrogant and yes, in some ways and some times, racist-seeming, empire. We can't keep taking actions like we have without blowback. Maybe, he says, we need to find the money to cure AIDS instead of rebuilding downtown New York and stuffing the pockets of the already wealthy.

And who, really, could argue with that?

I know there are some out there will say, "but... but... but... they want to kill us." Yes, they may want to kill us, but we want to take their stuff and conform to our beliefs.

Easter Sunday for Christians is a time of spiritual renewal. It is a time of reflection, a time of self-examination. I ask that you and me and we take a moment to examine our relationship to the Universe or God if you want to use that word, say "I love you to your family," and know that it's a period of social transformation as well.

Most of all, I would like you ask yourself: where do our our actions of now lead us in the future and what are the consequences of our own needs for revenge?

I hear...

... that the speech was great but I haven't seen it yet. I briefly scanned it earlier today but that's about it. Portions of it made me emotional.

Enough of that right now.

I also hear that we're in deep bank doo-doo, too.

Oy.

The race talk means little in the face of an imploding economy and lingering war.

We need to talk issues besides the color of our skin, folks. We know it's there, and we know we need to do something about it. If we don't have any cash in our pockets, that green color we all love is the only thing we'll be worried about.

I hear there's worst to come.

By the way, Obama is NOT the "black" candidate. Joe Scarborough, you're an idiot.
(Sorry, watching David Gregory's new show and Scarborough just called him "the black candidate." Oy. Idiots.)

Half-White and High-Yellow Like Me

I'm the product of an act which was illegal at the time it was committed.

OK, first of all, it happened in Pakistan, so I'm sure it was illegal there (sex, that is), but when I finally came out of my birth mother's canal here in the United States, I was literally born illegally.

I am miscegenated.

Just like Barack Obama.

I am a miscegenated bastard out of Detroit.

(Michigan, luckily, repealed its anti-miscegenation laws in 1887 regarding the legal marriage of blacks, not necessarily births. The last anti-miscegenation law was repealed in 1967. I was born in 1964.)

I'm a house Negro. I'm the Master's girl. I'm the Oreo. I'm the toast (white bread, black burn). I'm the outsider.

Just like Barack Obama.

And all I really want is for America to live up to the ideals that it's suppose to believe, that are written in the Constitution.

But sometimes it's not so easy to do so.

At times the anger becomes so great. And my skin attracts that anger. And I understand every freaking drop of it.

And I can step away. Because of my skin.

If, of course, it was 1934 or 1959 or something and the movie was Imitation of Life.

But it's not, and I wouldn't turn my backs on my brothers and sisters for anything in the world.

But others have (and maybe I have at times, too) and so it's not so easy to trust. Anyone.

The other side of my miscegenated self feels all of the freedom in the world. It walks freely to the store, to the good neighborhood, the fancy restaurant, the Hermes store. Humph, who am I fooling? I've never been in a Hermes store. But I have been to Disney World.

There's a lot that my other side likes to do, but mostly it likes to get away from race. It would like to live in peace, above it all, but there's just so many different people in the world who aren't like me.

In America, there is no way to get away from race, no matter how hard you try.

I grew up in an African-American home with my wonderful, pre-Depression Era black parents. They were cotton and tobacco pickers. They were treated like dirt. Not poor dirt, but poor, Black dirt. They raised themselves up from nothing and obtained more things than either of them thought possible. They found dignity among their people, and were always wary of white people. And through it all, they did not hate white people, but they never could learn to trust them. And can you blame them?

I have heard everything from AIDs was a manufactured disease to OJ was innocent to God Damn America. And I have shaken my head and thought, how could anyone believe any of that?

Well, it's easy if you've been lied to time and again and you try to find some reason why bad things keep happening to you. It's easy if you try everything within your power to become fully human and you aren't allowed to. In fact, after a while you don't give a damn anymore and you stay within your community and say "fuck you."

But really, that's crass and boring. So crass, so boring. And it's a model that doesn't work anymore.

My other side has a model, too. Prior to Geraldine Ferraro's words recently, I never wanted to believe what I've read and heard regarding white liberals: they only care about you when you are poor and on the bottom. Once you reach a certain nadir, then it's time for them to put you back into your place. I know this is not the full truth, but if a black man who has obvious qualifications for the presidency of the United States (Harvard Law School, Harvard Law Review, State and U.S. Senator) is just lucky to be black and in the position of frontrunner to the presidency, then you've got to wonder about what you've heard all of these years.

I live in an incredibly poor neighborhood in the Bronx. It's not dissimilar to my hometown of Detroit. Here are some things I have wondered. I have often wondered why there is trash in the streets, why there are loud talking and rude children, why the houses are falling down and why it seems like no one is trying to pick themselves us.

I lived in Philadelphia for a few years. I have wondered why the Badlands are worse than portions of Detroit and the Bronx combined. I was in New Orleans the week before Hurricane Katrina blew into town. And I screamed at the teevee for five days after that Sunday and wondered why thousands of people were stranded in the hot, humid, flooded streets of downtown New Orleans.

And I realize that there are answers to these questions that are both false and true. And I don't know what to do about it. There almost seems to be no answer. No relief. No justice. No peace.

===================

You all just crack me up, America. You really do.

First he was a radical Muslim. Now he's a radical Black Nationalist Christian. Nevermind the Harvard. The career. The carriage. The words. Some people just think he's a house Negro. I'll leave it up to you to figure out who thinks that last one.

Yes, America, through it all, you do make me laugh.

When Obama gives his speech today regarding race in America, it's going to make one hell of a talking point for several days. But I wonder, will we finally laugh together? If we cannot heal this most deep and festering of wounds, how are we going to get through all of the other problems that face us?

I just wonder at it all.

Bobby Kennedy in Indianapolis, April 4th, 1968

Thanks to irishamerican at Daily Kos for the video link.

This past weekend's events surrounding Senator Barack Obama and the issue of his minister's rhetoric were highly emotional for the country as well as for myself. The vehemence of Rev. Wright's text was charged, to say the least, and I'm sure highly offensive to many. And while saying that, I also believe that many people believe what he says. Whether it's rumors about 9/11 being planned or rumors about AIDs as a constructed and planned African plague, some people will believe crazy stuff no matter what the proof. These rumors are pervasive. Some religious and non-religious people also believe that gays are bad and bacon is too.

I have also noticed that while both people and press have been horrible on Clinton, Obama has had to walk a much hotter gauntlet then she has lately. She went through the wringer back in the day, and possibly misogynist and sexist overtures have clouded people's judgments now, but there are also quite compelling reasons not to fully back her for the presidential nomination, namely, her vote on the Iraq War "Authority to Use Military Force" and her vote for the Kyl-Lieberman Act.

Meanwhile, Obama has had to walk not only the "he's a closet radical Muslim" Rollerball game, but now he's about to be made to fit into the "he's a closet radical Black Nationalist Christian" Running Man scenario. He's been alluded to as an Affirmative-Action Candidate doll (with With Amazing push-button Running of Dynamic Campaign Action!), but really, let's just say he's only where he is because he's lucky to be black. Oh, and he's lying about his house, too. He probably not only eats babies (as a Clinton supporter once said of her candidate in a fit of rage at how Obama supporters where treating her candidate) said to me, but probably worships the Angry God of All Black People, too.

Hey, I know that Angry Black God dude, and let me tell you, he's one angry Mofo. (Dude, you know I love you.)

So, I was dismayed, to say the least, at seeing the sermon of Rev. Wright when it hit the virus waves on Friday. Dismayed because a part of me believes them (a subset of affluent Americans, regardless of race, is determined to keep and hold onto power for the sake of money and control; while 9/11 wasn't an inside job, there were obvious miscues in the Bush administration regarding their wealth of information on possible al Qaeda attacks (see "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the United States.")). I have also said, a few times, at least, words similar to "God Damn America." Boo hoo. Live with it. 100% patriotism without a bit of anger now and then over these last eight years is asking for a whole heck of a lot from someone who so vehemently disagrees with the present administration.

Other sentiments professed by Wright, I have some harder issues with. While Sen. Clinton may have never been called the N-word, she has been called a host of other crude words. After all, there is a group of freakenoids (by way of Republican lobbyist and "I Scream at Spitzer" nightmare Roger Stone) who has created an anti-Hillary site that spells out the acronym: C.U.N.T.

Believe it or not. That crap hurts as much as being called a boy.

So, now, Sen. Obama has had to reject and denounce a host of people in order to calm the brows of the American people who have been once again stirred up by Race Fever. And now, it's at an emotional height instead of a "let's burn down the neighborhood" height. Well, thank the FSM for small miracles.

Luckily, Senator Obama, faces this explosion head-on. How? He faces it by sitting down with the Netroots first (Huffington Post), moves on to friendly teevee media (Keith Olbermann), and then proceeds to choppier waters: CNN and ultimately, the central hub of our Race Fever: Fox News.

If you haven't guessed it by now, I'm satisfied with my candidate, Senator Barack Hussein Obama for President of the United States of America. If he is 1/3 as good as I think he will be as President, then I'll be ok. I know that he is both progressive and centrist, with a healthy combination in between. (Of course, he could be more progressive for me, but then again, you should know that by now, too.)

So I was happy that Obama sat down not only with the press teevee outlets, but then he went one step further, to the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday as well. Both newspapers have endorsed him in the primary and both have said that he needed to come clean about the Rezko / house buying allegations regarding possible influence peddling between him now indicted Rezko. So, a few days after his campaign issued a huge list of the earmarks that have been requested by Obama since he's been in the Senate, he spent over 1.5 hours with each of the papers individually. And the Tribune actually put the entire taped interview online.

I'm sure Sen. Obama will have to jump over a few more hoops before his final destination as the Democratic nominee, and that's ok. November, is, after all, a long way away.

Finally, Obama addressed a rally on Saturday in Indianapolis. Just prior to finishing his remarks and answering audience questions, he evoked a speech made by Robert Kennedy in the days after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. He reminded the audience that it was in Indianapolis where Kennedy gave his speech, and it is these words that I would like to hold onto as we continue down the road to electing Obama as president and hopefully producing some healing to not only internal American wounds but external wounds as well.

By way of Mother Talkers and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, here is the speech given by Bobby Kennedy upon the death of Dr. King:

I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black--considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible--you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

In our current fever, I hope that there is a calm head amongst us to lead. I will try to be a calm head myself.

Here's to another week at the races and one more day closer to the White House.

Right Wingers are Easily Led by Idiots

Back in October I wrote about the stupidity of Lapel Pin Politics. Isn't it time for Republicans to start thinking on their own instead of being lead by idiots, particularly liars like Jack Kingston? Aren't you all sick of it already?

It's There... If You Look For It

I'm getting a little tired of hearing that Barack Obama is just an empty media meme. So, here's a quick cull from the Internet, of some of Obama's accomplishments in the Senate.

First of all, thanks is owed to a diarist at Daily Kos.

Graph of Obama's legislation in the Illinois Senate.

A second Kos diary with links to bills from Illinois. My favorite? The bill he sponsored to make it mandatory that all interrogations of suspects be videotaped.

A third diary from Kos that compares Clinton's and Obama's records in depth and presents a list of both of their accomplishments in the Senate.

A 2006 article from Obsidian Wings.

More from Hilzoy, 2008

From an Internet comment:

Just a few things a doer (Barack Obama) has done:
• Passed a bill making Illinois the first state that required that interrogations and confessions be videotaped
• Passed Illinois' first earned-income tax credit to help the working poor
• Passed first Illinois ethics and campaign finance law in 25 years
• Co-authored, with Tom Coburn, the new lobbying reform law that requires lawmakers to disclose the names of lobbyists who "bundle" contributions for them
• Passed the Lugar-Obama Non-Proliferation Legislation, expands U.S. cooperation to destroy conventional weapons and the State Department's ability to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction
• Opposed the war in Iraq from the start and only Barack Obama established legislation that would, by force of law, begin a phased redeployment by May 1, 2007, and have all combat forces out of Iraq by March 31, 2008 (not passed)
• Co-sponsored legislation in the Senate to close a tax loophole that permitted hedge fund investors to pay levies on billions of dollars in profit at a lower rate than most income earners.
• Authored legislation with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to provide $20 million in emergency aid to African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces in Sudan that passed the Senate as part of a larger Department of Defense (DOD) spending bill to be signed into law by the President
• The AU is the only international force in Darfur working to prevent a further deterioration of a situation where 400,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes.
• Obama met with AU commanders in Eastern Chad where thousands of Sudanese refugees have fled from the violence that has engulfed their country," Obama said. "It quickly became clear to me that bolstering the AU mission is critical to short-term efforts to protect innocent civilians and allow humanitarian operations in the region. While we have so much more to do to stop the slaughter of innocents, this funding, combined with recent pledges of assistance from European governments, is an important step in the right direction."
 In late August, 2007 Senator Obama visited the Mile Refugee Camp, one of 12 encampments on Chad's eastern border. The camp is home to 15,000 refugees who crossed the Sudanese border seeking safety from Janjaweed militias who have been terrorizing ethnic African tribes in Darfur. During his visit to Eastern Chad, Senator Obama met with refugees from the Darfur region, AU military commanders, local Chadian officials, U.S. military officers, and U.N. personnel.
• Sponsored legislation that allows gas stations to receive tax credits for installing E85 ethanol refueling pumps.
• Introduced legislation along with Tom Harkin, establishing a National Low-Carbon Fuel Standard that would reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions in the short and long-term. The bill requires a reduction of about 180 million metric tons in emissions in 2020 - the equivalent of taking over 30 million cars off the road. The Obama-Harkin fuel standard embraces the growth of the renewable fuels market, including corn-based ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel as a key component of fighting climate change, while incentivizing lower carbon emissions in their production. (May, 2007)
• Sponsored legislation, bill dedicated to pandemic flu preparedness
• Introduced Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2006, a bill to improve access to and appropriate utilization of valid, reliable and accurate genetic tests by all populations
• Introduced legislation to better secure one of the most vulnerable gaps in our homeland security-chemical plants
• Passed amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that would help speed the creation of regulations to protect our nation's children from dangerous lead paint poisoning
• His "health care for hybrids" bill
• An Energy Security Bill
• Various bills on relief for Hurricane Katrina, including aid for kids and a ban on no-bid contracts by FEMA
• A public database of all federal spending and contracts
• Legislation to raise CAFE standards
• Veterans' health care
• Making certain kinds of voter intimidation illegal
• Proposal to revamp ethics oversight, replacing the present ethics Committee with a bipartisan commission of retired judges and members of Congress, and allowing any citizen to report ethics violations. This would have fixed one of the huge problems with the present system, namely: that the members have to police themselves.
• Supports the Employee Free Choice Act, an act to restore workers' free choice to join unions
• Marched alongside striking hotel workers in Chicago last year

Posted by: Katy7540 | January 9, 2008 08:37 PM

Lawrence Lessig, he of Creative Commons and the Electronic Freedom Frontier, thinks his technology plans are the bees knees.

First the importantly balanced: You'll read he's a supporter of Net Neutrality. No surprise there. But read carefully what Net Neutrality for Obama is. There's no blanket ban on offering better service; the ban is on contracts that offer different terms to different providers for that better service. And there's no promise to police what's under the technical hood (beyond the commitment already articulated by Chairman Powell): This is a sensible and valuable Net Neutrality policy that shows a team keen to get it right -- which includes making it enforceable in an efficient way, even if not as radical as some possible friends would like.

Second, on the important: As you'll read, Obama has committed himself to a technology policy for government that could radically change how government works. The small part of that is simple efficiency -- the appointment with broad power of a CTO for the government, making the insanely backwards technology systems of government actually work.

Need more? What about 260 more reasons?

Just a few things to gnaw on. You don't have to agree with them all, as I'm sure a lot of folks won't. But it's time to put this "empty suit" nonsense to bed.

NO YOU CAN'T!

So, you REALLY think that you can be inspired to reach greater heights and purposes with that silly, "Yes We Can" stuff written by some guy who can't even spell his name correctly?

The Billionaires For Bush would like you to remember that while you may consider for a split second a vote for a Democrat (even one who sends tingles down Chris Matthews' legs when he speaks), you will be voting a vote for health, clean climate, rebuilding infrastructure and the return of big money for little people... you! Oh, the horror of it all!

Pshaw, my little friends! The Billionaires have banded together again (or actually, they never go away) in order to remind you that only their power and money matters! So, VOTE GOP to continue their healthy bottom line!

Billionaires are constantly at work in the dark recesses of their walk-in vaults planning new ways to ensure that their power structure remains the status quo! Watch their new video answer to "Yes We Can," answered with a rousing, NO YOU CAN'T!

If this video angers you, then do something about it. Vote for a Democrat!

Summing Up McCain [and the Republican Party]

I was reading a blog entry on Daily Kos tonight after the "Potomac Chesapeake Crabcake" primaries in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. As you may know, Barack Obama and John McCain swept all three primaries, with Obama winning with some impressive numbers and McCain getting by against Mike Hucklebee.

Hillary Clinton spoke in El Paso, Texas tonight without acknowledging tonight's losses, though I do think the little Mexican-American boy with his traditional mariachi outfit who brought her flowers was darn cute. Obama followed up with a moving and powerful speech. McCain came along toward the middle of Obama's speech and he basically said all you would expect him to say: if he doesn't win, America is in danger of Democrats deciding things for you, getting you attacked, taking your money, and doubling the size of government. And he said the last two with a straight face despite his party's reckless spending and bloat. Go figure. I guess if you can believe Bush for the last seven years, you can believe that shit smells good. I sat and watched McCain's entire speech (thank the FSM that it was short) and I laughed out loud at the end of his dog and pony show: Obama is certainly making McCain nervous; McCain stole one of Obama's lines. (As if he's the only one on this campaign who has done that.)

"ipsos," a blogger on Daily Kos said,

[Obama] is no longer running for the Democratic nomination for president. He's running for president, period - and even John McCain knows it, with the addition of his lines about "platitudes" to his speech tonight. (And what a hell of a contrast between the tens of thousands of people of all ages and colors at the Obama rally and the little crowd of old white people, including the exhumed corpse of John Warner, in suits behind McCain a few minutes later!)

Yes there was a definite contrast between both Clinton's and Obama's audiences tonight, not the least of which was the diversity of the crowd... and heartbeat.

At the end of the speech McCain riffed on Obama's line of "Fired Up and Ready to Go." McCain's riff was this: "My friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go." Ok, I know it's verbatim and not much of a riff, and I also know that imitation is the highest form of flattery but can't these people come up with anything of their own?

At the end of ipso's blog entry, he wrote the following signature line that pretty much sums up McCain's run for presidency and why he won't be President, whether he goes against Clinton or Obama:

John McCain: Tired out, and ready...for bed!

I don't want to enter another "ism," ageism, into the 2008 presidential race to join its partners, sexism and racism, but man, McCain looked tired... and more than that, he sounded that way, too.

Americans have been hypnotized into the same old stale rhetoric of the Republican Party, and frankly, it's tired out. Just like John McCain.

Fired up, indeed.

What About Iowa??? It's Not White Enough for You?

I was listening to Sam Sedar today, sitting in for Randi Rhodes today since it was her birthday and she took the day off. A couple of the callers today said that South Carolina went for Barack Obama this past weekend because of the African-Americans in that state. They made it sound as if that's the only reason why he won 55% of the vote. I've heard folks repeat this on the talking heads shows on the teevee, also.

I know that Iowa was a caucus and it's a different system of voting for a candidate, but if I remember correctly, Iowa has a hell of a lot of white folks in it. In fact, according to 2006 Census data, the state, with its population of 2,982,085, is 94.6% Caucasian-American. Obama won the caucus with 38% of the vote, compared to Clinton's 30%.

It's not the huge margin of victory seen in South Carolina, but still, Iowa's got a lot of white folks who voted for a black man. And yeah, New Hampshire's got a lot of white folks too (as well as Florida, which Clinton won tonight, despite the lack of delegates to be seated) who didn't vote for a black man, but really, can you say that only black people are voting for Obama? Really?

Note to people: that meme don't necessarily fly. Stop embarrassing yourselves by repeating it.

FISA on for Another Day

OK, I know that was a bad pun for a title, but hey, it's late! I'm just glad that the telecomms who illegally spied on you and me won't be getting amnesty... yet.

An update on today's FISA vote from TPMuckracker:

The fight goes on.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) cloture vote failed 48-45 just now, well short of the 60 votes necessary.

In the end, four Dems crossed over to vote with the Republicans: Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) was the lone Republican to vote with the Dems.

For now, the old FISA law, perfectly legal and more than adequate in that a warrant is required for wiretaps, will come back online Friday. However, there may be a vote in the House and Senate over the next few days to extend the present Protect America Act for another 30 days.

Now I want to know: why are Senators Pryor, Nelson, Lincoln and Landrieu Democrats? Once again, this Gang of Four have banded together and voted, not only against the best interests of their Party, but against the best interests of the American people as well. Makes my head spin. And thanks, Senator Spector, for being the only Republican to vote with the Dems.

Both Senators Clinton and Obama came back from the campaign trail to vote "Nay" on cloture, and Obama was endorsed by three members of the Kennedy family: Ted, Caroline, and Patrick.

Lastly, some dude gave a speech tonight. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster that I don't have to listen to him give another one.

Ouch, that's gotta hurt...

Speaking of the mud wrestling I talked of yesterday, this video, submitted without comment from me, has gotta sting...


*Originally seen on Andrew Sullivan's "Daily Dish"

They Should Just Mud Wrestle

Life Ring -- Chicago 2007
Photo by Elderta

I've got to say that the arguments between Barack Obama (whom I support for the Democratic Presidential nomination) and Hillary Clinton (my Senator here in New York, whom I like as a Senator) are so over the top that I think that they should just mud rassle for the nomination. Don't think that Obama has the upper hand; Clinton could take him since she has Bill who'll tag-team her in the ring and whomp on Barack.

Obama has said that he will not let accusations and swiftboating go unchallenged as John Kerry did in 2004, and with that I agree. Clinton is maligning his record and she should really stop it. She's no saint, that's for sure. The Clinton campaign is going after him fast and furious in order to stem the momentum he had coming out of Iowa. And you know what? It's working. Why? Cause Americans sometimes are pretty easy to lead around by their noses.

I tell you now, from what I've read coming from Republicans over the years, Obama may have trouble winning the White House, but the only thing that can unite the flailing Republicans is Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. How will they unite? By voting the Republican nominee into office.

Maybe I'm wrong, but they hate her with a passion and they aren't too happy with Bill, particularly with the prospect of having to hear him for a potential eight years. For my part, I am tired of the Bush / Clinton / Bush dynasties and I want someone new, particularly if that someone new is a Democrat.

Yep. They should just mud rassle... oh wait... maybe they are doing just that.

BOO!

Tanna Kohime, Halloween Maze.
Snapshot by Elderta

Hallo! OK, it's been a few weeks, and I missed Halloween, but really, I've had nothing to say, so I've said nothing. Plus, I was preparing to leave my job and I was helleva busy. So now here I am with a teeny teeny tiny update. Plus, the world is as it was two weeks ago: cccrraaazzzzyyyy!

Good news! I got a new J.O.B.! And I cleaned and rearranged my room. Egads, productivity galore! I start tomorrow and I'm very very very happy about this job and that I have a clean, rearranged, room. Woohoo!!

Just a few seconds ago, I saw the first commercial for the film, His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. If you haven't read this trilogy of books by Philip Pullman, I recommend that you run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore, take a turn in the young adult section, and get these books. I hope the film is as good as the book, but I completely doubt that's going to happen. I'll see them, but I'm sure there are arguments already brewing among geeks and hardcore fans.

I watched Saturday Night Live yesterday, and last night's host, Brian Williams was actually funny in a few places. The Weekend Update was hysterical, and Barack Obama showed up in the opening skit, completely unexpected. All in all, a good "shew," which is saying a lot for any of the SNLs these days.

In less entertainment-related news, I read that there have been small protests in Burma, led by monks and new protests may be led by farmers soon. Nothing large, but they still sprout up and continue. The country is about to sell off a bunch of rubies, which is a bi-yearly mainstay of the economy. Human rights advocates are requesting a boycott of buyers at the sale. Boycotts have a shaky track record, so we'll see if it actually pans out. Unfortunately, it's just been announced that the UN representative, Charles Petrie, has been booted out of Myanmar. He was a little too truthful when his office released a statement regarding Burma's recent protests, which were spurred by a sudden spike in the price of fuel, when he said that these "events clearly demonstrated the everyday struggle to meet basic needs, and the urgent necessity to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country. These are the same messages that the United Nations Country Team in Myanmar has been endeavouring to bring to the Government’s attention for some time."

Good luck with bringing that to their attention. Apparently they have not gotten the message and continue to blame the unrest on "outside foreign operatives." I guess that would be someone like me, but I wouldn't want to think that I had anything to do with people wanting better and more humane conditions in their every day lives. Buddha forbid.

The Congress is still playing around with torture, and my Senator... not Hillary... the other one, Chuck, caved in and, along with Dianne Feinstein, let the new nominee for Attorney General, Michael Mukasey get out of committee, even though he wouldn't firmly call waterboarding torture. Mukasey is a blowhard from the Bronx, and though his nomination was originally touted as a breakthrough in the Justice Department, once he started hemming and hawing about waterboarding, his lights went down in Saneville and his stats shot up in Crazytown. No, I don't have statistics to present to you. Sorry. Of course, Chuck thought him a wonderful candidate and couldn't say no to him after praising him to the high heavens.

Chuck: I'm not voting for you again. Cheers.

I won't even go into all the hissy fits that President Bush has been having on live teevee lately. Really, they are about as juvenile as a president can get without crawling around in a diaper in the Oval Office.

OK, that's about it for me. It's already 11:30, and I have a new job to start tomorrow.

Wish me luck!
And I wish you luck, too!

This is America?

America is amazing; completely head-'explodingly' amazing. With all the crap going on in the world these days, the only thing that people are concerned over is whether Barack Obama wears an American flag lapel pin or not. Unfrickingbelievable. I thought we were America, land of the free; free to be individuals, not pin-wearing automatons.

Why is it that in America the depth of one's patriotism is measured by whether a pin is attached to one's lapel? Can this be any more of a false whine that has ever left the lips of a right-wing operative? Is this really the measure of how much or how little an American can love his country? Is a lapel pin really the measure of a man's soul?

An Internet friend sent me a link to a William Rivers Pitt column at Truth Out, in which Pitt believes he may have developed a touch of the insane from the way that Republicans have successfully warped reality. I would like to tell him that he has not gone insane. The Republicans who are worried about this shit as well as Republicans who still shill for this administration, are the insane one and they have lost their fucking minds. And nothing, and I mean nothing, will bring them back to sanity. Why? Because they do not want to think clearly, they have created their own reality, and yes, it's backwards, opposite land. They are lost in their own need to win, to control, and be part of the "in" crowd of patriotic, hyper-American lapel pin wearers.

I declare that Obama is my candidate. He doesn't have to wear an American flag or yellow ribbon pin to prove to me that he loves his country or supports the troops. It's actions that count, not canned rhetoric. And if anyone needs that symbolism in order for him or her to love their country, it's a hollow, false and dead patriotism that I do not want and do not need.

Gore / Obama '08

I had a dream last night....