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.

Take the Newtown Creek to the BQE

Newtown Creek Trip
Summer, 2007
Video by Elderta

This video was taken on a trip up the Newton Creek. We usually only go about a quarter mile up the Creek, but on this trip, a smaller group took the Creek further up until we reached the Kosciuszko Bridge. We went a little past the bridge and hung out for a bit at a small bird sanctuary.

The Newtown Creek is still very industrial and is not quite as clean as the the East and Hudson Rivers have become over the last few years. However, it's getting better. Or at least I like to tell myself that as I'm kayaking in a small boat and watching the Creek bubble up from the massive 17 million gallon oil spill that still exists under the Creek bed.

I Dream of Summer

A Future Park
Brooklyn Waterfront, Summer 2007
Video by Elderta

Just a short video from last summer of some kayakers from the Long Island City Community Boathouse. We had just spent the day kayaking down the East River to the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way back to the boathouse in Queens, we stopped by a small cove that one day may be a animal and bird habitat and park.

I want summer to come so I can get back out onto the beautiful water that surrounds New York City. April seems so far away.

Hell and Handbaskets

Sums up my current feelings exactly...

Can We?

Can we really have hope and work together for the good of our country and the world?

Sometimes, I just don't know.

Kenya: How Genocide Begins

A few years ago, I wrote a paper on the archival collections of a man named Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin is the scholar who first coined the word, "genocide" and systematically wrote about its meaning, origins and affects on society. He singlehandedly pushed through the "Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide."

Article 2 of the Convention reads:

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Now read the Vigilante Reporter.

An excerpt:

There are accounts of groups of people moving east across the country toward the capital, instigateing organized ethnic cleansing. In Nakuru, countless died and were injured in clashes between the Kikuyus and Luos and Kalengins. A new displaced persons camp was opened in the stadium for a group of Luos fleeing violence by the Mungiki sect. Saturday afternoon nearly a thousand men, women and children were taken by the red cross to hide in the stadium after the Mungiki sect murdered 6 people the night before. Police presence was heavy after the first day of fighting and things cooled down dramatically on Monday when people could be seen returning to work and shops opening up for business again. The hospital on Friday evening, however, was a horror scene, with over 60 wounded mostly by machete, stoning and arrows.

To add to what is already happening, yesterday's killing of an opposition leader in Nairobi enters the mix. The Washington Post reports:

Even with former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan in Nairobi to mediate between Kibaki and Odinga, many Kenyans say their country is just a spark away from blazing out of control.

For a while Tuesday, it appeared that the killing of [Mugabe] Were, a 38-year-old lawmaker from Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, might provide it.

Were was shot once in the head and once in the chest as he was pulling into his driveway, his security guard said. Police are investigating whether it was a robbery, but his supporters immediately called his death a political assassination.

Were was a hero in his district, a mostly poor neighborhood of dirt paths and corrugated-metal homes where he funded an orphanage and paid children's school fees. As a successful candidate for parliament, Were also embodied the hopes Odinga's followers had to win political power.

If you will recall, the 1994 slaughter in Rwanda began in earnest when the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a helicopter crash.

All it takes is a spark to ignite the flames. I hope that cooler heads prevail and soon. I hope it's not too late but fear that the time has come and gone to prevent what's about to happen.

May the Universe have mercy on Kenya and all of its people.

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.

Thank You, Senator Dodd

This video (which contains yours truly somewhere in it), was made as a thank you to Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut regarding the stand he took recently on the FISA bill's immunity stance toward the telecomms.

Firedoglake wants you to fax your Congresspersons regarding the bill.

Big Damn Romney Hair Contest

I was completely surprised when I won last night's Big Damn Romney Hair Contest at Cafe Wellstone. Jacqrat Pizzicato was the men's winner. His afro was so big that we only saw his feet. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of him and I, so I only have a pic of me at the winner's board and of course, the hair.

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.

A Word About Heath Ledger

I think that word would be, 'damn.'

Other words would be: too talented, too handsome, too young to die.

The worse thing--besides his death at 28--is that he sought to shun the media and gossip spotlight, moving to Brooklyn with his girlfriend and daughter in order to find some respite from the swarming paparazzi. Now, his body, in a bag, is flashed across the world on television. His poor mother and father have to hear of his passing on the news millions of miles away from their son. Rumors fly around about drug use, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, all of which are suffered by scores of people worldwide whose names aren't dragged through the papers, despite not knowing what exactly killed him. His friends must grieve to the pit of their stomachs, knowing exactly who he was, having laughed and played and worked with him while having to hear terrible stories about the person millions of people didn't know. His daughter now has no father and will only be comforted by celluloid memories that won't be the touch of her dad.

Too sad.

I saw him on the street in Brooklyn once, and being the New Yorker I am, I didn't say a thing to him as I stumbled past, but I can tell you, he was unbelievably easy on the eyes.

"10 Things I Hate About You," "A Knight's Tale," and "The Brothers Grimm" are three incredibly fun movies, while "Monster's Ball" packs a punch and "Brokeback Mountain," I've heard, is so sad that I can't even bear to watch it.

All in all, folks young and old pass every day. The greater majority of these folks we never know about, while some of those we do hear of make us sad that they are gone, and still others that we hear of, we don't regret their passing one bit. In the case of Heath Ledger, I personally, feel saddened that I will no longer see his face on new and different streets or that we will no longer see his face in new and different roles on the silver screen.

Damn.

Rest in peace, Mr. Ledger, rest in peace.

365 Days...

... until George W. Bush officially leaves the White House. My sidebar time clock widget is a wee bite off, but still, mark your calendars. Only one more year. It may be the longest year of them all.

Giraffe Kisses the Sun
St. John the Divine Sculpture Garden, New York City, Fall 2007
Photo by Elderta

UPDATE: And it's Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, too! See what happens when you're not working? The days blend into one!

Life is Incredibly Easy

Sun and Water and Gehry
Chicago 2007
Photo by Elderta

A friend of mine who is a social worker and who's been helping me cope with the past two years told me the other day that I needed to say some mantras in order to comfort myself when times get tough as well as enforce changes in my pattern of thinking. She's not the first person, nor probably the last, to tell me this. I've had a quasi-easy life, with a bunch of rough patches here and there, but the conditions of the world and the neverending voice in my head that tells me I'm gonna go to hell has taken its toll. Now, the cycle of life is being replaced by the cycle of death (the longer you live, the more people you know will pass away, until it's your turn), and while I'm generally happy, I do get down now and then.

Starting in January 2006, my kitty daughter, Zanzibar, died of an adrenal gland tumor. My dad then passed away in August 2006 of colon cancer. My foster brother, Brandon, died at the age of 20 in March 2007, and then on December 21, my aunt Helen died of a heart attack. On January 2, I found myself no longer working. Happy New Year!

Not having a job at the moment is actually a godsend, truth to tell. I've been so tired and emotionally drained over the past two years, that having a break is not necessarily a bad thing as long as I am able to find a position in the next three to five months. I have an entrepreneurial streak that I inherited from dad that will get me through this, and heck, I have three or four simultaneous careers, so something is bound to pan out. I'm trying to take this time to reassess and care for myself without going crazy that I have no job. (I've added a donate button to my sidebar, just in case anybody out there wants to throw me a buck or two... thanks!) Luckily, my social worker friend gave me some excellent mantras to recite, the most relaxing and comforting of which is: "Life is Incredibly Easy."

Now, as you can probably tell from my blog, I quite understand that life is NOT incredibly easy. Wars, genocide, bad government, etc., happens all the freaking time. To top things of, I'm become addicted to reading Andrew Sullivan (ack!) and a para-military force in Second Life has moved in next door to my tranquil house and they've just built a friggin' firing range in what was once a peaceful sim (eek!). Compared to what others are going through at this very second, I have it pretty damned easy. I just corresponded with an independent journalist (The Vigilant Journalist) who was very recently in the Kibera section of Nairobi, Kenya, where clashes between citizens and the military have taken place. People keep asking her if another Rwanda is about to happen. Not. Easy.

So, I'm well aware that life is NOT incredibly easy, but actually saying the words over and over again is quite comforting. Repeating the phrase helps get me through the day, even when I see documentaries like "Taxi to the Dark Side," which I saw last night with my fellow Billionaire, Yvonne. Thank goodness I immediately was able to go to a potluck party afterward because the documentary is quite devastating as well as on target. I said my mantra about a million times afterward on the subway ride out to Brooklyn. In other words if I compare myself to others, life is damned easy.

I wish everyone an incredibly easy life. Even under impossible circumstances. Well, everyone but Dick Cheney. That dude needs to be impeached yesterday.

Flick[e]red Past

J.W. Gates Funeral, N.Y.C., August 23, 1911
Library of Congress Collection on Flickr

A while back, I posted on an amazing late Depression Era--early World War II-collection of photographs newly digitized by the Library of Congress (LOC). The "Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939-1943" exhibit published over 1600 public domain photographs which were produced from slides and negatives. The online-only exhibit was first presented on the LOC's website and allowed the images taken by the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information as a photographic chronicle of America.

From the LOC webiste:

This U.S. government photography project was headed by Roy E. Stryker, formerly an economics instructor at Columbia University, and engaged such photographers as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn, Jack Delano, Marion Post Wolcott, Gordon Parks, John Vachon, and Carl Mydans. The project initially documented the Resettlement Administration's cash loans to individual farmers, and the agency's construction of planned suburban communities. The second stage focused on the lives of sharecroppers in the South and of migratory agricultural workers in the midwestern and western states. As the scope of the project expanded, the photographers turned to recording rural and urban conditions throughout the United States and mobilization efforts for World War II.

This group of photographs has joined a larger collection of materials from the Library of Congress and published on Google's Flickr website. Not only that, you can help the LOC "tag" the photographs, too. Just don't use too many profanities, eh?

The 1600 Depression Era photographs have been joined by 1500 additional "News in the 1910's" set. Gothamist wrote a piece about the New York City-tagged items from this set.

God Save Us From Mike Huckabee

Lately, I've been saying that I would be really mad if America ever made me say the words, "President Huckabee." Why? Well, for one, I've read the Handmaid's Tale and frankly, I don't put it past Christian fundamentalists one bit in this country to want a society that is similar to that rather depressing novel. A society like that (even one iota like that) scares the crap out of me, just like living under a theocratic Muslim society scares the crap out of me, too. Secondly, I grew up in a home that had one foot in sin (my dad owned a bar) and the other near saintdom (my mom knows Jesus), and let me tell you, the sinners were a lot more clear-headed than the saints ever were, even if the sinners were alcoholics and drug addicts.

Personally, the 2004 election made me stop trusting the good sense of Americans who gave us four more horrendous years of George W. Bush. If another Republican comes to office in 2008, particularly one that would like to change the Constitution rather than live within its boundaries, then God help us who don't believe exactly like the Huckabees of the U.S. of A.

Having grown up in both types of worlds, I know that there are not just two types of people, but many variations between both extremes. The Constitution is written for the people in the middle, to protect us from either extreme.

Now, you may think that there would be no way in hell that a man like Huckabee would win the Presidency of the United States. Moneyed and mainstream Republicans alike don't care for his rhetoric, but they have created a monster and may have to sleep with him, too. It's their courting of Christian fundamentalists that have brought them to the possible brink of getting what they asked for... even if they were lying through their teeth about what they really wanted from the fundamentalist masses in the first place. Democrats have stood by for too long laughing at the fever nightmare, thinking that it could "never happen in America" and hoping that Evangelicals would just go away and leave them alone.

I'm here to tell you that a Christian fundamentalist never leaves you alone. They either pray for you secretly in their closet or tell you to your face time after time that you need to repent and embrace Jesus. No matter how much you may believe in a Unitarian, Unity, Lutheran, Catholic or Episcopalian way, they will tell you that your God is not their God. They will also pray that the Devil stops telling you lies so that the veil of righteousness will reveal the true nature of the Holy Spirit. Whatever that means.

I was on the subway the other day and a lady got on, preaching preaching preaching. It didn't matter that she kept contradicting herself... "Jesus loves you and gave you free will and he'll love you no matter what... Jesus will send you to hell if you don't believe" that I had to chuckle to myself. Really? He loves you no matter what that he'll send you to hell if you don't believe. Really? Did you really mean to say that?

Christian fundamentalists and Evangelicals are full of contradictions that you are suppose to believe. Believe with faith, not fact. Believe or be thrown forever into the pit of neverending fire because Jesus loves you and wants you to give yourself freely to him. Believe that their God is the only God. Believe that the Constitution (supposedly, according to them), was written by a bunch of ministers who based the Constitution on the Bible but that this Constitution written by these "minister" Founders should be changed to reflect the "word of the living God" so that the Constitution "[is] in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards."

For my part, I pray that God saves us from men and women like Mike Huckabee. Amen.

Here's a video by a Huckabee supporter.

Contradiction, much?

Kenya Update

From my post yesterday regarding Kenya, I noted how I didn't know much about Kenyan politics, but I did know that Kenya is relatively stable compared to much of the Continent. A colleague of mine, Angelique Haugerud, writes about Eastern African affairs (as well as Billionaires For Bush). She appeared on NPR yesterday speaking about the origins of the post-election chaos in that country. You can hear the program here.

If that link doesn't work, go here and search for "Haugerud."

Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane
Results of your search for "Haugerud"

There was one program that matched your search.

1/16/2008
Hour 1
Kenya continues to recover from unrest following its recent presidential election. We get an update on the situation, learn more about Kenya's internal politics and ethnic groups, and discuss the implications for US foreign policy. Our guests are ANGELIQUE HAUGERUD, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University and BETH WHITAKER, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.