I am more than pleased by Barack Obama's support of the recent Supreme Court decision not to ban handguns in Washington D.C. It is the right of every citizen to protect themselves from criminals and who knows who else? Criminals will always have guns, laws or not. Any protest of this decision is an extreme case of supidity.
There have been disasterous compromises made in the proposed FISA bill. One of which extends the time period wire tapping can be done before approval by FISA. Any evidence gathered during the surveillance is not subject to appeal after it is gathered.
Recently, an artist who was working on a project linking science to art. His wife died suddenly of a heart attack. Because he had harmless bacteria in his house, and a copy of the Koran, it took a very long time before he escaped the tyranny of suspision.
We live in a time of paranoia, a time people are so afriad for the safety, they will give up almost every freedom without much of a fight. When I visited Peru some years ago, there were machine gunned men at the airport and at every building of significance. There were tanks on the corners. We had to be carefull about what we photographed, lest we be interrogated.
When I asked our guide why, he said, "There're here for our own protection." I was stunned and amazed. But, with the loss of freedom that has already happened here, I fear for my country.
It is up to us to make our voices heard. Even Barack Obama should listen to us.
This war, so much like Viet Nam, has to be ended. The same way Nixon ended Viet Nam. We must leave them to their civil war. It has worked out well for the Viet Namese and the United States. The only exception is, we left many of those who aided us behind to face death and consequences of their choice.
Because of U.S. fear of anyone Arab, we have failed to offer refuge to those who aided the occupation. Sweden, a country of only 8 million people has done far better than we have. It is time for us to do the moral thing.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/6/20/world_refugee_day_us_criticized_for
Now McCain is saying he is a candidate for "Change." Because the nation has overwhelmingly declared they we want change now, he is trying to switch his message.
His latest idea, to jointly host town hall meetings, is an obvious attempt to cash in on Obama's ability to draw large crowds to his events. It's a bad idea. There's no point giving McCain any tools from the Obama tool belt.
By March of this year, 28% of Americans had no idea how many had died in Iraq. There are many reasons news from that war torn country never makes it to the nightly news let alone the first page of the newspaper (not all of them conspiratorial). The American people are quite distracted by the economy, by the drama of the elections, by rising gas prices. More than that, they feel totally helpless to stop this war now that it has begun.
In the wrong hands, the government will not stop this war. We have seen how ineffective the efforts of Congress have been to even scale down the proportions of the war. We are building battleships and jet fighters to fight an enemy that doesn't own a rowboat or any kind of jet. They are fighting with equipment you can get at any radio shack and we're boasting of "winning." People never pay attention to or know about all the attacks on the Green Zone because they're so common nobody reports on them anymore (with the exception of a few obscure news sources).
I know one man cannot do anything to stop this machine by himself. It will take a whole natiion to rise up and say "no more of this." Before that will happen, they have to hear about what's really going on. Yes. We have hope. We need and have more than that. We have a candidate who isn't owned by the same companies that are profiting big by this war. Not even China can be the boogie man. They are borrowing us the money to spend a trillion dollars just this year on defense spending. They are laughing all the way to the bank. They've established peaceful relations with Taiwan and strong ties to the U.S. economy. Why would they rock our boat? We're the goose that laid their golden egg.
I think it is better explained in the following news piece. I hope you will take the time to read it.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080531_the_corporate_state_and_the_subversion_of_democracy/
I'm not sure I can say enough about the need to stay cool in the midst of all the heat that's coming from Hillary's kitchen (I can say that because I have one too and there have been men in it - cooking!) It would do nothing more than fan the flames to enter into an attempt at civilized debate.
I think civility and dignity are rare commodities now days. Rarity in and of itself creates value and demand. If the streets were paved with diamonds would everybody want to own one? Hardly. It is exactly because they are scarce that they are valuable.
This election year has captured me. It has offered us what may be a once in a life time chance to elect a president who is not owned by lobbyists - who does not stoop to political sham and theatrics. I have never believed in a candidate so strongly. Not even JFK. I was only in the fifth grade when he ran for president, but I read the newspapers and I worried about where his family money came from. He turned out to be a great president, from a family of great political leaders, but my little girl worries have never gone away.
I have seen in my own life what money in the wrong hands can do. I know about pay back and back scratching very well. I am jaded. But I believe this message of hope. I believe Barack means what he is saying. It will be very difficult to turn Washington inside out. Just look at the resistance now. But, people are hungry for it. Reasonable people can see that what has been going on is unreasonable.
I say seize the day. Creating opportunity for one, creates opportunity for many. Every donation, every letter, every email, every conversation can make a difference. There is not enough I can do to see this election through to a positive conclusion. There is not enough I can do for my country right now.
It has been said that evil only prospers when good men are silent. This is no time to shout others down, it is a time to stand up firmly for what you believe in.
Right now is a good time to "keep your head while all others arround you are losing theirs" (or something like that.
When I saw the news reports showing the Clinton protesters outside the DNC meeting and then read the blog entries on the Democratic Party National Blog I thought, "They're going to tear down everything we've worked for in my generation." The blog entries as the protesters were nothing short of shrill and vindictive, the very labels we couldn't abide as women. Now they're out there for everyone to see. I have been embarassed and ashamed, now I'm mortified.
I will be campaigning vigorously for Obama in the same positive manner the campaign has been run from the start knowing that no matter how the voters and the delegates vote, somebody is going to fly into a rage. It is unfortunate we have gone past the kitchen sink days and into the bathroom.
Since dignity is going to be a rare commodity among some women, I would hope all of us will keep ours. Somebody reasonable and probably just as dismayed as I was posted something I might have thought a bit corny on another day. Today, it seemed just perfect.
http://www.democrats.org/page/community/post/kathyhenry/C5gt/commentary#comment-gGBDdd
The abrasive, conservative head of the Iranian government is being challenged for leadership by a progessive, popular oppontent who favors negotiations with the West and forming agreements concerning Iran's nuclear enrichment program.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1810456,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily'
Obama's willingness to talk has been made much of by the McCain campaign, but the political winds are blowing favorably in the direction of change.
The majority of New York State's voters favor Obama The majority of New York voters favor Obama and believe it is time for their very own Senator Clinton to drop out of the race. Obama leads John McCain by a sizeable margin. This will be a very important state in the upcoming electiions. It is time for the voters to be heard.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/new_york/election_2008_new_york_presidential_election
With money raised by a PAC, Clinton is running ads to encourage women voters to attend a protest "Count Every Vote" against the DNC ruling that Florida and Michegan (especially Florida) cannot have their http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn full delegation seated.
Obama has requested his supporters, in a continuing commitment to the high road, not to engaged in a counter protest.
Imagine the outrage there would be if Obama urged people of color to organize in his favor. Clinton has demonstrated once again her expertise in divisive politics, a trait that would only serve to further entrench bi-partisan politics as usual were she to achieve her goal.
I had the pleasure of participating in a voter registration effort yesterday. Probably because the location chosen was loaded with political activists, only a handful needed to register or update their registration. It was rewarding to find so many Utah citizens registered and participating in the full democratic process. President Bush is in Utah with McCain to raise funds for the upcoming election. Of course, the fundraising events were held behind closed doors. Previous efforts also excluded the public and the press.
As I walked to the local market, I found the street blocked off as tens of police, secret service, and bomb squad vehicles raced up the "secret" route. A few mildly interested people waited in small groups for the president to pass by. In one apartment window over looking the street there was a sign that said, "Bush = lies." Another sign called him, among other things, a War Monger. One woman wore a t-shirt calling for impeachment. There was only one person waving in support of Bush.
At the demonstration, Salt Lake City former mayor Rocky Anderson organized, Daniel Elsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times spoke. He said all of us have to decide what price we will pay to return the Republic to the vision of the founding fathers, not the Republic of East Germany. Signs protested illegal wiretapping and called for the troops to be returned home. In another speech, a former Mormon missionary spoke of a female LDS missionary who had been recruited as an Arabic translater. She was assigned to a prison in Iraq where one of the interrogation techniques involved female Americans fondling the genitals of Arab prisoners to make then feel impure and unacceptable to Allah - ready to confess to anything. Especially because of her background, she asked for a transfer after her participation in these interrogations. A short time later, she killed herself.
The high price of war in terms of human suffering was brought home to the hundreds gathered to demonstrate against Bush and the War. It was a purple moment in a red state and it gave me cause to believe this election might be different for the people of Utah. Even here, people are sick to death of the policies effected by the Bush-Cheney administration. They may not sign up for four more years of it.
