Here's what's actually historic, and why I'm working hard for Obama even though I know he's not my dream progressive: for the first time, the dominant Caucasian folk are working with the dominated people of color as allies.
The black teenagers that pass my house wave at this middle-aged white lady and make a power-to-the-people fist cuz I have an Obama sign in my yard. They stop and we talk about how this country can begin to heal and turn in a better direction. They see an ally, and I see allies, where before we all saw 'threat'.
When I walk down the street and meet a man of color, my childhood-programmed response to 'threat' doesn't kick in right away, because Obama has changed my wiring at a deep level. Maybe that man's programming is shifting too. The old white lady at church told me today that she 'got' a person who assumed she had voted for 'the old man'. She said, "I told her, what makes you so sure? As a matter of fact, my husband and I both voted for Obama."
All this alliance among so-called enemies is so extremely threatening to the ruling class, they are pulling out all the stops to renew racial emnity and xenophobia. Even if the purists all vote for immediate perfection and the GOP derails democracy again and Obama loses, this new thing will not go away, because it is meant to be.
I wish, just once during this debate, Barack would respond to McCain punching below the belt by channelling Ronnie Reagan - shaking his head with wry humor and saying, with a smile and twinkle in his eye, "Oh, John, there you go again!"
It would be the perfect thing to do - remind all the GOP watchers of how McCain is nothing like their blessed St. Ronald, while making McCain so mad he'd go for the throat and slit his own in the process.
Ah... but I can dream, can't I?
A young friend of mine in Jolly Old England is so interested in our little colonial election that he's set up a my.bo site of his own, and he and I have been trading missives back and forth across the pond as we haven't in years.
In a recent email, my friend included a link to a marvelous piece of analysis by Andrew Sullivan he'd found in the UK Times online site. I'm not much of a Times reader - it's the UK equivalent of the Wall Street Journal... very conservative, a foil for the more liberal Guardian. But it's often the case that conservatives in other countries see clearly how UNconservative the so-called conservatives in the USA actually are.
Sullivan compares Obama to the Road Runner of cartoon fame - staying calm and cheerful while the Coyote tries to kill him every which way, only to find his violence turned back upon his murderous head. Sullivan notes that this strategy has served Obama since early in the primaries, when the Coyote was played (with mounting frustration) by Hillary Clinton.
I highly recommend the piece for anyone wondering why Barack Obama won't lambaste McCain tonight the way McCain deserves lambasting. Why he'll stay on-message, calm, and respectful, no matter how McCain implodes, explodes, and dares to punch below the belt.
He has played a little class warfare. But nothing too dramatic, nothing too angry, nothing too risky. The polling around the country is now more emphatically Democratic than ever before. Obama is now ahead in every battleground state and, by most estimates, could lose all the currently close states and still win the election.And still he’s calm. Not too cocky. A little aloof, but very professional. He learnt all of this as a black man in a white country: no sudden moves; no anger. That’s how he managed his white mother in adolescence. That’s how he manages a white electorate increasingly at ease with him. And, by a massive stroke of luck, that’s what voters want now. In an economy that is melting down, with two wars still raging, they want calm above everything else. They want to know that the man in charge will not panic, will not be flustered, will not blow up.
He has played a little class warfare. But nothing too dramatic, nothing too angry, nothing too risky. The polling around the country is now more emphatically Democratic than ever before. Obama is now ahead in every battleground state and, by most estimates, could lose all the currently close states and still win the election.
And still he’s calm. Not too cocky. A little aloof, but very professional. He learnt all of this as a black man in a white country: no sudden moves; no anger. That’s how he managed his white mother in adolescence. That’s how he manages a white electorate increasingly at ease with him. And, by a massive stroke of luck, that’s what voters want now. In an economy that is melting down, with two wars still raging, they want calm above everything else. They want to know that the man in charge will not panic, will not be flustered, will not blow up.
Hey Gramps! Beep Beep!
I got the strangest call last night, from - try to believe this - a woman who is a reporter with Municipal Workers magazine (KA) in Sweden. She had seen my post about being Jill Six-Pack and wanted to talk with me about my views regarding Sarah Palin and the election.
I was flummoxed! And very flattered. We had a lovely conversation (Peach waves at Catarina). I couldn't get the magazine's web page to come up (maybe server prob?) but I was able to find a wikipedia article about the magazine.
Municipal worker (Kommunalarbetaren), magazine, a member of the union newspaper Svenska kommunalarbetare League. Municipal worker was founded in 1910 and is Scandinavia's largest trade union newspaper. The magazine was nominated for this year's magazine 2006 in the specialized category. The magazine is published 22 times a year and has a circulation of approximately 605 000 copies (TS FY 2006). The magazine mirrors and examines members' conditions and everyday news, reportage and debate. Municipal worker is an independent online version as part based on the newspaper's content. It premiered in 1999. Liv Beck Power since 1998, is chief editor and publisher. The editor's address is Hagagatan 2 in Stockholm.
Municipal worker (Kommunalarbetaren), magazine, a member of the union newspaper Svenska kommunalarbetare League. Municipal worker was founded in 1910 and is Scandinavia's largest trade union newspaper. The magazine was nominated for this year's magazine 2006 in the specialized category.
The magazine is published 22 times a year and has a circulation of approximately 605 000 copies (TS FY 2006). The magazine mirrors and examines members' conditions and everyday news, reportage and debate. Municipal worker is an independent online version as part based on the newspaper's content. It premiered in 1999.
Liv Beck Power since 1998, is chief editor and publisher. The editor's address is Hagagatan 2 in Stockholm.
Think about this for a minute, Americans - in Sweden, the municipal workers have their own magazine. It has over a 1/2 million readers, and comes out bi-weekly. It has enough money to send a reporter to New York and North Carolina to cover the US election, and was interested in the opinions of blue collar workers.
I remember growing up in Milwaukee. The competing papers both had a Labor section, not just a Business section. This wasn't advice about how to get and keep a corporate job, like the "Work" section of the Raleigh News & Observer. This was a section about union leaders and negotiations, working conditions at the local factories, and editorials from a working person's perspective. Imagine that!
Once we get Barack Obama elected, with the economy in need of complete overhaul, I think it would be an ideal time for working people to demand that labor relations in the US be overhauled as well.
It's no time to think small. Be assured, the CEOs have gotten an amazing bonus from the recent Bailout Bill. So let the working people also look for their share in the new economy.
Not just Health Care, but Living Wages, safe Day Care for workers' children, and media coverage of workers' lives and issues. The time is now to begin to think about what our new economy will look like. I say, the US needs some KA!
As a working-class woman from Milwaukee, one thing that really ticks me off is seeing Palin talk like Jill 6-Pack with Katie Couric or in the debate, when she doesn't in her older videos.
I do talk that way. I AM JILL 6-PACK. It's how my parents talked, and even after traveling all over the country, I still talk that way - especially after a couple of beers. So it really chafs my fanny that she's putting on my way of speaking to try to connect with me in this completely fake way, like I'm so dumb I would vote for how a person talks and not who they are or what they've done or what direction they would take this country. It's like she's doing a caricature of me all the time in order to delude and steal from me.
And now she's using her Jill Sixer phony dialect to whip up violent hatred in the no-neck crowd who comes to her rallies, assuming that every white person with a blue collar is a racist fool, and calling McCain a quitter for not hitting lower below the belt.
She gives every Jill 6-Pack a very bad name, and as Jill 6-Pack, it pisses me off.
Our next door neighbors are very nice people. They're our landlords so I'm grateful for how nice they really are.
At the same time, they're very scared people. Scared of all the people who don't look like them moving into our neighborhood. Scared of the kids dressed like fashionable thugsters who don't have enough to do with their spare time. Scared of sending their child to public schools with the thugsters. Nice, scared, Christian folk. McCain folk.
I know they're scared, because they tell me they are. They're scared of property values dropping, and scared of taxes going up. They're scared that if Obama becomes president, their priviledged way of life will suffer (have I got news for them....)
They're voting for McCain because he looks like them and speaks a language they understand. They don't listen to what Obama has to say because he doesn't look like them, and they've been convinced that 'everyone in politics lies' except Rush and Mr. Straight-Talk.
So, that's my neighbors. Let's call them Stan and Betty (not their real names). I talked to Betty yesterday about the videos and tapes coming out documenting truly nauseating hatefulness and will-to-violence among the crowd at Palin rallies.
She (rightly) pointed out the possibility of agents provocateurs, and that there is a wide spectrum associated with both parties. But Betty said she was certain that Palin would never encourage or foment such behavior. I asked why, then, did McCain and Palin not disavow and discourage supporters making remarks like, "Kill him!" and "Traitor!" and "Terrorist!"
She said that McCain and Palin didn't have a lot of control over the sorts of people who voted for them, and said there were some radicals associated with the Democratic Party as well.
I begged to differ. I pointed out politely that the Dem party was well to the right of anything at all radical - the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Green Party, and the Naderites (whatever they're calling themselves) were all left of the Dems, and that Obama knew better than to count on any support from those folks.
I reminded her that I was, myself, well to the left of a candidate who wasn't mandating Single-Payer Health Care, a Living Wage, and who voted for that Bailout and money to continue the war in Iraq. I reminded her that she's not scared of me or my hubby, radical though we might look to Senator Obama.
And there we stood.
She didn't want to have anything to do with the nasty people yelling hate speech, and neither did I. The fact that these are the people McCain and Palin are playing to in their stump speeches makes both of us queasy. We may not vote the same way, but we have this in common.
Senator McCain, Governor Palin, is this really your constituency? And if not, why is your campaign defending their putrescent bile?
"Barack Obama's attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn't understand regular people and the issues they care about. He dismisses hardworking middle class Americans as clinging to guns and religion, while at the same time attacking average Americans at McCain rallies who are angry at Washington, Wall Street and the status quo," reads a statement from spokesman Brian Rogers.
Careful you don't cultivate the constituency from hell at the expense of the real McCain Folk.
If Ayers were still an outlaw, underground, or bombing things, it would be very appropriate to disclose a connection with a presidential candidate. But the guy's an English professor at an excellent university, for pity's sake. While Ayers was bombing things, Barack Obama was in grade school. Obama doesn't know the man well and has condemned his actions. Everyone knows this already. Including Palin.
Did you know that, after the front page, the most read part of any newspaper is the Letters to the Editor? Yep! It's the largest forum most everyday citizens can hope to address, and with email, it doesn't even cost a stamp!
I just love the tool on our my.barackobama home page that allows us to write letters to the editors of local and national papers. In case you don't have time for compositions, but would like to try it out, here's a nifty 200 wd letter:
Making jokes about bombs in airports gets you arrested for good reason: joking about an actual threat can get people killed. Sarah Palin, and the GOP, use abysmal judgment when they make use of Ayers' history with the Weather Underground for political purposes. If Ayers were still an outlaw, underground, bombing things, it would be VERY appropriate to disclose a connection with a presidential candidate. But the guy's an English professor at an excellent university, for pity's sake. While Ayers was bombing things, Barack Obama was in grade school. Obama doesn't know the man well, and has condemned the actions that Ayers has done his time for. Everyone knows this already. Including Palin.So if Palin and the GOP raise the spectre of terrorist connections when you and she and we all know it's a specious pile o' poo, what happens if they get into office and there’s a true impending threat? Who will believe them?? The same 10% who still believe Bush?It's crucial that a leader in this time of uncertainty, anxiety, and insecurity think twice before stampeding the cattle. But now the terrorist threat is something the McCain campaign can play politics with. Bad idea. Very bad.
Feel free to cut and paste that letter into an email or into a webform for submission to your local paper, or fwd it to your undecided friends. Another great place to look for material is at the Ghost Writer Guild site, which has been set up specifically for the purpose of providing opinion pieces to Obama supporters who feel less confident putting thoughts on paper.
Now's the time when many Americans begin paying attention to campaigns and are looking for reasons to vote one way or another. Your letter might just persuade them, but you'll never know if you don't try... YES YOU CAN!!!
It's traditional for the VP candidate to make the sorts of attacks that would be 'bad form' for a presidential candidate. So, when 'Winkie' Palin makes ridiculous remarks about Obama "palling around with terrorists", she's just doing her job. She's parrotting a talking point given to her by campaign hadnlers who direly need the conversation to be about anything but the issues (and especially the economy!).
It would be easy to just blow it off and remind ourselves that campaigns are all for show, and a big game, yadayada.... Problem is, terrorists are a very real threat. There actually are fundamentalist wackoes out there (of both the Muslim and Christian varieties) who consider themselves to be making their abomination of a god happy when they kill people of whom they disapprove (on their god's behalf).
Making jokes about bombs is not kosher in airports for a good reason - messin' around about an actual threat can get people killed. Sarah Palin, and the GOP, use truly horrible judgement when they make use of Ayers' history with the Weather Underground for political purposes.
If Ayers were still an outlaw, underground, bombing things, it would be VERY appropriate to disclose a connection with a presidential candidate. But the guy's an English professor at an excellent university, for pity's sake. While Ayers was bombing things, Obama was still in grade school. Obama doesn't know the man well, and has condemned the actions that Ayers did time for. Everyone knows this already. Including Palin.
So if Palin and the GOP go around raising the spectre of terrorist connections when you and she and we all know it's a specious pile o' poo, what happens when they get into office and warn us of an impending threat that isn't bullshit? Who will believe them?? The same 30% who still believe Bush?
That's why my mama told me not to cry 'Wolf'. But forget what a private citizen shouldn't do. It's much more crucial that a leader in this time of uncertainty, anxiety, and insecurity think twice before stampeding the cattle.
The GOP keeps telling us that terrorists are a real threat. The government as a whole keeps infringing upon our constitutional liberties to keep us safe from these awful people, who are walking among us with suitcase bombs hating our freedoms.
But suddenly, this threat is something they want to play politics with. Bad idea. Very bad. The GOP is just full of bad ideas. Ask your Republican friends whether they think this is a topic Sarah should risk her credibility messin' with. Just to see their faces.
I'm in shock. Palin made a joke about Joe Biden's AGE in a speech she made in Columbus Ohio. With ol' Grampy McCain standing right next to her. I'm almost too dumbstruck to type this... but here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqqBXNOu7so
Puh-leeze! If Barack Obama or Joe Biden had winked at the camera once, let alone three times, it would've ended their campaign as surely as the Dean Scream ended Howard's. It would've been all we heard pundits talk about ALL NIGHT and ALL DAY until the Dems tucked tail and went home.
Winking at the camera is so completely inappropriate to the context of a vice-presidential campaign debate. Imagine - the nation's economic structure crumbling, a failing health care system, two wars sucking our juices dry, and she's winking at us?? I'm calling her on that. Not charming, Mrs. Mooselini. We need real solutions to real problems, not coquettish flirtation with the camera and a phoney 'FARGO' accent that doesn't manifest in earlier interviews. VPILF to the penalty box.
The Dean Scream was a media-manufactured gaffe created by extracting the sound of the crowd from Dean yelling along. The Palin Winks were real, really out of place, and really 'not-ready for prime time'.
I was wondering how the GOP would handle the Biden/Palin debate. My guess was that there would be a 'family crisis' that required Sarah to jet back to AK (with that many kids, my odds were good). But they've come up with an interesting way to get around their problem: disqualify the moderator.
Gwen Ifill is a seasoned, respected journalist. She is the moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week" and senior correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." She moderated the Edwards/Cheney debate four years ago.
She also happens to be black. And she happens to be writing a book about race and politics, which includes stories about African-Americans in politics since the civil rights era. People like Colin Powell. People like Barack Obama. Given the phenomenon this campaign has become, the title of the book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama , was probably the publisher's idea.
This book she's writing has been available for pre-order on Amazon for months now, but only today has it become a problem that should disqualify her from moderating the VP debate. Nice timing. The Echo Chamber started this morning, as usual, with a bombshell 'scoop' on the Drudge Report. Drudge's outrage was picked up by Michele Malkin. Now it's all over the place. The corporate media are obeying their (advertisers') mandate to publicize, without critique, every scandal the Right can drum up.
I wonder what genius decided that today was 'time' to release the dogs? A couple days more, and Ifill's spotless journalistic record would've had time to be made better- known. Folks would've realized that the scandal was manufactured. Too late, and not enough people would've known to dismiss Ms. Ifill in advance. They might watch and make up their own minds.
Gotta hand it to 'em - those hatchet men on the Right really know their business. But their business is attacks, scandals, and smears - not government.
Looks like Pelosi and her posse are going to try to ram this Bailout through again tonight. SHEESH. What most of the media I'm looking at aren't mentioning is the alternative proposed by a (D) Rep from Oregon named DeFazio.
Along with several members of the progressive caucus, including Dennis Kucinich, DeFazio has introduced a completely different take on fixing this mess.
DeFazio, a vociferous opponent of the Bush Administration's $700 billion Wall Street bailout, calls his legislation the "No BAILOUTS Act" and he talked about it today at a Capitol Hill press conference. He was joined by several other House Democrats:And the underlying concern we all share is, we question the Paulson premise. That is that giving him 700, borrowing or printing $700 billion, giving it to him and having him buy bad assets, on Wall Street,somehow will solve the interbank loan problem and even less likely the underlying problems of the economy.And the interesting thing is 400 economists last week questioned that premise. That was brushed off. But if you read today's New York Times, at the point in which the world market thought we were going to adopt the Paulson plan and roll over, it says here, "Other analysts noted that credit markets around the world were almost entirely dysfunctional on Monday morning when political leaders and investors alike assumed Congress had reached a firm deal and would easily approve the bailout." It goes on from there with some detail. The point is the premise is faulty. And as much as the Democratic leadership has tried to improve it, it still is likely to fail. So we have an alternative. And we would like to talk a little bit about that today and then we're going to have further discussion from other members. If there's a no-cost or low-cost alternative available for the taxpayers, we should take it. And we have a working paper -- it's not done yet. I'm going to be talking to Darrell Issa on the Republican side and John Shadegg later today. This is a common set of points we have so far, but it's a work in progress.
DeFazio, a vociferous opponent of the Bush Administration's $700 billion Wall Street bailout, calls his legislation the "No BAILOUTS Act" and he talked about it today at a Capitol Hill press conference. He was joined by several other House Democrats:
And the underlying concern we all share is, we question the Paulson premise. That is that giving him 700, borrowing or printing $700 billion, giving it to him and having him buy bad assets, on Wall Street,somehow will solve the interbank loan problem and even less likely the underlying problems of the economy.
And the interesting thing is 400 economists last week questioned that premise. That was brushed off. But if you read today's New York Times, at the point in which the world market thought we were going to adopt the Paulson plan and roll over, it says here, "Other analysts noted that credit markets around the world were almost entirely dysfunctional on Monday morning when political leaders and investors alike assumed Congress had reached a firm deal and would easily approve the bailout." It goes on from there with some detail. The point is the premise is faulty. And as much as the Democratic leadership has tried to improve it, it still is likely to fail. So we have an alternative. And we would like to talk a little bit about that today and then we're going to have further discussion from other members.
If there's a no-cost or low-cost alternative available for the taxpayers, we should take it. And we have a working paper -- it's not done yet. I'm going to be talking to Darrell Issa on the Republican side and John Shadegg later today. This is a common set of points we have so far, but it's a work in progress.
The great thing is that, while no one will say for sure whether the Bailout will fix things, the alternative prescription has already been shown to work, and was developed by a REPUBLICAN, so there's a good chance of bi-partisan support.
If, God willing, the Bad Bailout Bill of 08 doesn't pass this evening, we'll have a chance at an actual debate. If you haven't called your Congress-critter yet, it's time to get on the phone.
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 or google your rep and call his/her office directly. Tell them to vote against any Bailout that involves giving taxpayer dollars to the executive brance or its appointees, and urge them to co-sponsor DeFazio's No Bailouts Acth
Letter sent using the take action tool to local and national papers:
Folks are focussed on Wall Street just now, but from a working-class perspective, I'm worried about the distraction from fixing our health care system. Just last month John McCain said he would deregulate the health care industry “as we have done over the last decade in banking.” Yike! I'm worried that Americans will fall for the 'shock doctrine' push to bail out Wall Street, and that they will allow the completely broken health care system in this country to fall off their radar. Barack Obama is funded by Main Street, not Wall Street. He's committed to making health care work for everyone. John McCain has been a devout believer in industries, including the insurance industry, voluntarily regulating themselves. He wants to tax our employer-provided health care benefits, and set us up with a private, on-your-own health care system. Another good reason for working-class people to work to elect Barack Obama.
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Strangely enough, while I was writing this blogpost, I got a phone call from a polling company wanting my opinion about Obama and McCain on lots of issues. I think I convinced my poller to vote Obama!
I just so hate it when Republicans get it right for the wrong reasons. Now we owe them a big one. The Bailout Bill was hideous. Check out Kucinich talking to Amy Goodman (Kucinich was way ahead of this a year ago, and was my first choice in the primary). "This is really about whether the government will side with Main Street or with Wall Street."
The House Republicans voted against the Bailout because it put caps on CEO pay and didn't eliminate capital gains taxes. Ewwww. Please. But at least they voted no on a bad bill.
Please watch and listen to Dennis Kucinich and learn what Obama and ALL the Dem representatives should be fighting for: $$ for people in danger of losing their homes, not for bankers who played those buyers for fools.
It would cost around $350B to pay endangered mortgages for the next 4 years. How 'bout a bailout for Main Street?
Everyone's got their spin on this debate, but I wanted to write about something you won't see on many newscasts -- the amazing, empowering phenomenon of Watch Parties. I'm almost 50, y'all. I've never seen the like. This is real democracy stuff, and it's Real Fun too.
First, I watched the Dem Convention at the Broad St Cafe. The room was PACKED with people. The energy in that room was festive and electric. Looking around, I saw three generations and a rainbow of ethnicities. I said to myself, "I'm so glad I don't have cable. If I was at home watching this, it wouldn't be nearly as cool."
So I signed up to attend the First Debate Watch party down at the Carolina Ale House. Not shoulder-to-shoulder packed, but definitely lively and healthily multigenerational and integrated. A person could get used to that sort of gathering, y'know?
Thank you, Barack, for giving Caucasian Americans a campaign and these Watch Parties where we can get together with Americans of other hues and do something TOGETHER. It's a healing America has needed for SO LONG.
My table last night held a child of the 50's, two children of the 60's, and three pups of the 70's or 80's. Three were anglo, one black, two asian. We had a gas. All we needed was an excuse. Could it really have been that easy all along?
So I jumped on-line today to find the Debate Watch Party for the Biden-VP bout on 10/2 (9pm EDT). There wasn't one.... So I CREATED ONE. I love this.
Maybe you can't come to the Watch Party I'm hosting, but I hope anyone reading this will try to get to a Watch Party before this 2008 election is over. I know we've had election night returns parties forever, but this is different. Check it out for yourself.
Be there, or be at home yelling at your tv all by yourself.
PLEASE, Senator Obama, don't fall for that chickenshit McCain trying to weasel out of the Friday night debate. I could not believe what I was hearing. But what else did I expect?
The well-rehearsed pompous 'seriousity'... the false call to put politics aside even while playing a total political game; the reflexive reference to 9/11; the self-serving timing. It was all there - the whole GOP arsenal.
I almost puked on my steering wheel while I was driving.
Don't let him push you, Barack. He played a wicked trump card, out of fear and playing on American fears (another GOP habit) but I think you can deflect it.
Or.... Let us do it for you. Ask your 'troops' whether they think you should play McCain's game. I vote NOOOOooOOOOoooo!!!!
Maybe we all call Obama's Senate Office in DC and vote NOoooOOOOooooOOO!!!
Sorry, gang, but McCain is rightly outraged at being taken out of context by the Obama campaign when he says "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."
McCain is referring to the fundamentals of capitalism - profit, supply-demand, and all that - being, at base, the most feasible, fairest way to run the global distribution of goods and services. And much as I hate to say it, McCain is correct to say that Obama's campaign is manufacturing outrage about this. Seriously, is Obama about to publically question the viability of capitalism? I don't think so.
What Obama needs to make clear is that the economic system put into place these last 20 years or so is NOT capitalist by a long shot. I would FAR prefer capitalism to the corporatism we've devolved toward. Obama needs to make clear that he questions McCain's defense of a system that socializes corporate losses while privatizing their profits.
The problem is, Obama can only name that devil obliquely, since he's in bed with the same nasty, if not as deep or as long as McCain.
The fundamentals of the corporatist system, put into place under Reagan and strengthened by each succeeding administration (including Clinton's) are NOT strong. They have brought the nation to a crisis not only predictable, but widely predicted by economists and political experts 'out of favor' with the media. Noam Chomsky saw it coming. So did Michael Moore . But Americans aren't allowed to hear that side of the story without a side order of contempt.
So Americans wonder why our leaders didn't see this coming, and why they didn't stop this ugly zit from popping.
I would personally go still further in my critique, I question the strength of the fundamentals of capitalism itself. As a Christian, I wonder how any economy (the greek word means household) built on the sand of greed, usury, exploitation, and selfishness can possibly stand.
It's gotten to where Americans can't feed or clothe themselves without oppressing people they don't even know - I've been trying to find ways to minimize complicity with the horrible things corporations do to pad their bottom lines, but until you try, you can't imagine how hard that is.
I've been watching the sand around this ugly shack we call a McMansion erode for years, and telling my friends to invest in gold rather than flushing their retirement money down a 401k. Now, the tide is coming in. To switch scriptural metaphors, we are reaping what we've sowed. Obama can't say that out loud. But it's true. The sooner we realize that and repent, the sooner grace will be available to help us amend and heal. That's how Christianity works. For sinful people, and for whole sinful cultures.
LIPSTICK!
This article by Juan Cole of Salon.com should be required reading for all Dems - especially Dems of faith. Please read and forward....
What's the Difference Between Palin and Muslim Fundamentalists? Lipstick
A theocrat is a theocrat, whether Muslim or Christian
Dear Editors,My husband and I were aghast Sunday as we read the racist bilge spewed by the Johnson County sheriff. Neither of us could believe that this man's ugly opinions - sounding more like a throwback to Jim Crow than anything else - were considered front page news. Worse, they were reported without any real counterweight. It was something of a relief to see Bizzell's apology given front-page status. But now it's the N&O's turn. What in the world were you thinking? Where is your apology to your readers?America is a big, diverse place - full of hard-working people descended from immigrants from all over the world. My ancestors came from Norway and Ireland, and were considered stupid and 'trashy' by the rich folks who needed cheap help keeping their big houses clean. A man who doesn't eat spaghetti because he thinks of it as 'foreign' is not described as 'steeped in American culture' anymore, y'all. He's called a xenophobe and a dinosaur. Sincerely,Lezley McDouall
Dear Editors,
My husband and I were aghast Sunday as we read the racist bilge spewed by the Johnson County sheriff. Neither of us could believe that this man's ugly opinions - sounding more like a throwback to Jim Crow than anything else - were considered front page news. Worse, they were reported without any real counterweight. It was something of a relief to see Bizzell's apology given front-page status. But now it's the N&O's turn. What in the world were you thinking? Where is your apology to your readers?
America is a big, diverse place - full of hard-working people descended from immigrants from all over the world. My ancestors came from Norway and Ireland, and were considered stupid and 'trashy' by the rich folks who needed cheap help keeping their big houses clean. A man who doesn't eat spaghetti because he thinks of it as 'foreign' is not described as 'steeped in American culture' anymore, y'all. He's called a xenophobe and a dinosaur.
Sincerely,Lezley McDouall
What does this have to do with the Obama campaign? Simple: racism is racism. Tolerance for, and mainstreaming of, racism has been rampant under the current administration. It's one of the things we need to CHANGE, and Obama is a perfect person to spearhead that effort and speak out about our common goals and ideals as Americans.
Hate crimes are up against not only Hispanics, but blacks and gays. Racist groups have seen their membership swell on the backs of jingoist rhetoric pumped out by Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchanan, Karl Rove, and other radical right-wingers now given seats at the table as 'mainstream' pundits.
Let's talk about THAT too, when we talk about all the issues important to us in this election. Let's talk about a chance to move away from barely-coded GOP racist pandering and toward healing and unified action as Americans.YES, WE CAN! Obama '08
btw, the N&O receives letters to the editor at forum@newsobserver.com, if you have any thoughts for them.....
![[Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin winks as she speaks during her vice presidential debate against Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/winkwink1003.jpg "winkwink1003.jpg")
