MLK Open Thread
Chat away...
And if you've got a memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., please share.
Comments (88) «
Yeah. It's called shivers up my spine and goose bumps on my skin when I hear the man speak. He resonates with power. I wish we could get to the bottom of who is taking these great leaders away from us. RFK, MLK, JFK, and Malcolm X etc. We need to questions our government more often in these cases and recent cases. Release the documents!! Transparency in Government is a necessity. Release the tapes.
I just saw a report on the news on the Museum. Even though I have no memory of it happening, I was 5 years old, the report choked me up. I really would like to see it. There is so much to learn from MLK.
I saw a report on the Museum. I dont remember it happening (I was 5) but it choked me up. I really want to visit. Everyone can learn so much from MLK.
O.K., enough with the Hillary Zelig moments.
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on April 4, 2008 at 05:07 PM
You don't think a woman can do all those things as well as Woody Allen?
Give the woman credit for conducting one of the world's longest presidential campaigns....you run out of fresh material after a while. She was just being creative.
McCain is so bored that he's reliving his checkered past...and is still bored.
It's been so long since the first debate last year that Obama thinks he was elected and has retired already. Why else is he raising more money in one month than Bill Clinton got making speeches in six years?
Whatever they come up with in 2012, I don't want it to start till February of that year. Marathons are for runners.
I remember the day exactly. People were told to turn their headlights on for 30 days whenever they drove somewhere.
Most did.
On the bad side, that was the beginning of Jesse Jackson's camera hogging.
It has never stopped.
How do we best go about fulfilling Dr. King's Dream? Fighting for social equality and working to end poverty? We need to figure it out.
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Do you think the Mark Penn Columbia lobbyist story is going to come back to bite The Cintons on her present NAFTA stand?
This guy meets Monday with those that want to get this newest free trade deal passed and then he's got her staff saying she's for re-negotiating these NAFTA-type deals?
They're talking out of both sides of their mouths when so many people in Pennslyvania have lost jobs to outsourcing to other countries. At least the Republicans are blatant about it.
It's time that this part of the Clinton campaign is exposed for what it is. I don't care how many of these feel good, witty guest spots she makes on prime time. There is something really wrong with the ethics.
Someone is pulling our leg.
Mark Penn and ethics??!
Puh-leeze. HE is also the PR guy for McCain. He's working both sides of the street.
Countdown (tonight hosted by Rachel Maddow) has it as the lead story.
Posted by Orangutan on April 4, 2008 at 07:26 PM
Orangutan,
Until we stop spending so much money on unnecessary military occupations, there will be no resources left to do anything else.
And the end of trickle down economics would help tremendously.
And demanding that American capitalists start re-investing in America instead of furthering their multinationalist profiteering, all the working people in the world will be exploited for short-term gain.
The direction is clear. We create goals for America not the world...and demand that all Americans participate if they want to retain their citizenship.
Evening all good Dems,
I heard this morning on National Public Radio that Una Merkel was in a closed door meeting with bush and others. They said it got pretty hot and Una Merkel was really pissed at bush and his phony stance on bringing ex-soviet states into NATO. Putin is also pissed at bush's attitude. Wnen is this Asshole going to grow up?
There is nothing in the MSM of course.
Bush is such an Asshole.
109 million dollars.
Wow.
I take it that Hillary does not shop at Target huh?
It's not a crime to make as much money as you can.
But it is disingenuous to try to portray yourself as "part of blue collar America" when you take home is over 2 million a year.
The only "blue collar" Sen. Clinton has is on her designer pant suit.
Thom Hartman today had a quest who was co-author with Thom in their latest book. He and Thom were saying that there is a conspiracy theory about the death of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Somehow the CIA is involved and refuses to release the "secret" documents relating to the investigations. Congress passed a law years ago requiring the CIA to release the information so we can prove the theory and hang whoever was behind the killings and it wasn't Oswald and the other guy who killed King.
I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't kill Bobby Kennedy as well.
These laws have never been inforced and never will so long as we have republicans in the Congress and White House. We must write to our Congresspersons and demand the release of the CIA files and tapes.
DPD,
She's fighting for the working people? It's more like she's got Penn working with the GOP pushing this rumor that Obama is an elitist?
An elistist? A black man accused of conspiring with a Black Panther preacher who took drugs and hung out on the streets of Chicago is somehow more chic and privileged than one who was raised as a Goldwater girl?
Hillary apparently thinks living in Arkansas for a time and making excuses for her wandering spouse makes her a redneck?
What a piece of work this Clinton campaign has become...has always been? Tell me again why The Clintons derserve the presidency.
More like she deserves to be questioned on her ethics. Sad to say it, but the Reagan Democrats have been telling us for two decades now that there is something about those two that you just can't trust.
They have been playing every marked card in the deck this primary season. And I still want to know why the Centralist agenda never produces anything but GOP gains.
Sorry for the rant. Everytime I think I've found something sincere in her delivery, I find out that that's all it is...a delivery. Where's the the real Hillary?
I don't know want to know any longer. She a phoney. They both are frauds. I'm ready for a real change from this Clinton/Bush blow job.
Good night.
I guess we know now where that $5 million she loaned her campaign came from.
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Obama08 on April 4, 2008 at 06:18 PM
You think she'd be able to fork over a little more to cover those unpaid bills!
I am concerned that Florida Democratic leaders, superdelegates, are going to be raising heck at convention. They met with Governor Dean on Wednesday in DC.
They sounded pretty friendly and make efforts to work things out about the seating.
But that night Debbie Wasserman Schultz goes on CNN and says they are not ready to compromise on the counting of the delegate unless it is what they want.
Tired of Florida.
Well,okay, I'll post a comment here about MLK, jr. I was just twelve years old when he was assassinated, and that's just a year older than my son is now. My son has the privilege to share his birthday with tis great man; 15 January.
I did not know, or go on any marches with the Rev. King, and my memory only goes as far as watching this horrendous tragedy on the nightly news in black and white, which I think now was quite fitting for this stupid act.
I think now of my reading Letter from Birmingham Jail in my freshman year in college. Before I read this letter, in it's entirety, I was only just okay with Rev. King having a national holiday to commemorate his intellect. However, after reading the letter I now say that we owe him much more than just a Monday holiday. We owe Rev. King our devotion that all realize his dream.
If there is anybody left that has not read this letter then click the link in this post and enjoy!
Rachel wearing Keith's pinstripes? I always wondered if it was an Olbermann trademark, but now I guess it's a Countdown trademark...
krugman on health care and the candidates:
"Indeed, while Mrs. Edwards focused her criticism on Mr. McCain, she also made it clear that she prefers Hillary Clinton’s approach — “Sen. Clinton’s plan is a great plan” — to Barack Obama’s. The Clinton plan closely resembles the plan for universal coverage that John Edwards laid out more than a year ago. By contrast, Mr. Obama offers a watered-down plan that falls short of universality, and it would have higher costs per person covered.
Worse yet, Mr. Obama attacked his Democratic rivals’ health plans using conservative talking points about choice and the evil of having the government tell you what to do. That’s going to make it hard — if he is the nominee — to refute Mr. McCain when he makes similar arguments on behalf of such things as privatizing veterans’ care."
BBC World News just ended on one of my PBS stations.
As usual, they did an excellent job covering the MLK assassination whereas the MSM in this country just gave it about 30 seconds of valuable airtime because we all need to know what the latest celebutard scandal is.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The State Department will renew its contract with Blackwater to provide security in Iraq, Greg Starr, acting assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, said Friday.http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/04/blackwater/index.html Are these contracts EVER going to be competatively bid?
The loss of nearly a quarter-million jobs so far this year and a jump in the unemployment rate means the debate over whether there is a recession is pretty much over."There is a recession. The question now is how deep and how long," said Lakshman Achuthan, the managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. And he thinks the economy could get worse.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/04/news/economy/recession_jobs/index.htm?cnn=yes
I thought we let the top 1% keep all that tax money so they would create jobs for us peons. What happened???
Well, ABC Nightline has deigned to close their show with a 2 minute King piece. Really "white" of them.
Why not the entire 20 minutes? (less commercials from drug companies.)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain has made it very clear he doesn't want Secret Service protection, but Friday bowed to reality and said he will take it.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/04/mccain.secret.service/index.html
I guess McLame doesn't want all them secret service guys nosing in on his jet plane trips with cute little blonde lobbyist.
Poor demented old weird guy.
Posted by Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo on April 5, 2008 at 12:04 AM
DPD,
Obviously they have too many other more "relavent" stories like how far a turtle travels for its dinner.
hi chicago and dpd. lots of rain here today. spring is trying to get started but is stumbling a bit.
i can't believe ten democrats went along with the repelicans in the senate to write out the plan to have judges review mortgage rates on sub primes. we can't get any justice at all in this country. robbery is now legal for those with money and everyone else is outa luck.
anyhow i remember when doctor king was assassinated and later in the summer i fell asleep with a transistor radio under my pillow listening to jean shepard and got woken up by the news that rfk had been shot in l.a. seems like yesterday.
see you in the morning.
Posted by Chicago on April 5, 2008 at 12:08 AM
He's not eligible for Secret Service protection until the Pug convention is over unless he has received death threats. Hillary gets it due to being the spouse of Bill, Obama gets it BECAUSE of death threats.
Have you seen that his Church is getting threats now? The cops have to waste money protecting it from arsonists.
These clowns have even barged into hospital rooms and harassed patients in their beds in order to get a "quote".
G'nite Gregg, DPD,
Glad to see you both on tonight. And no trolls.
One of these nights I'm going to have to find time to get in here sooner.
Not much spare time lately.
Off to sleep...
Later.
On December 8, 1999, Dr. William Pepper made his closing statement to the jury in Memphis. Martin Luther King, he said, had become more than a civil rights organizer, and more even than a voice against the war on Vietnam. Pepper explained why King had become so dangerous to the ruling powers that a decision was taken at the highest level that he was not to leave Memphis alive.
Pepper said:
I put it to you that his opposition to that war had little to do with ideology, with capitalism, with democracy. It had to do with money. It had to do with huge amounts of money that that war was generating to large multinational corporations that were based in the United States.
When he threatened to bring that war to a close through massive popular opposition, he was threatening the bottom lines of some of the largest construction companies, one of which was in the State of Texas, that patronized the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson and had the major construction contracts at Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. (Brown and Root was the contractor for the dredging of Cam Ranh Bay – M.G.) This is what Martin King was challenging. He was challenging the weapons industry, the hardware, the armament industries, that all would lose as a result of the end of the war.
The second aspect of his work that also dealt with money that caused a great deal of consternation in the circles of power in this land had to do with his commitment to take a massive group of people to Washington and there to encamp them in the shadow of the Washington memorial for as long as it took. For as long as it took, they would make daily trips to the halls of Congress and they would try to compel the Congress to act, as they had previously acted in terms of civil rights legislation, now to act in terms of social legislation.
www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/who-killed-martin-luther-king/
Hello, what would happen today if some leader were to emerge to lead a big march on Washington for social legislation?
Hillary, leads the sit-in for the redistribution of wealth in WAshington DC 2008.
In 1977 the family of Martin Luther King engaged an attorney and friend, Dr. William Pepper, to investigate a suspicion they had. They no longer believed that James Earl Ray was the killer. For their peace of mind, for an accurate record of history, and out of a sense of justice they conducted a two decade long investigation. The evidence they uncovered was put before a jury in Memphis, TN, in November 1999. 70 witnesses testified under oath, 4,000 pages of transcripts described the evidence, much of it new. It took the jury 59 minutes to come back with their decision that Loyd Jowers, owner of Jim’s Grill, had participated in a conspiracy to kill King, a conspiracy that included J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, Richard Helms and the CIA, the military, the Memphis Police Department (MPD), and organized crime. That verdict exonerated James Earl Ray who had already died in prison.
The news of the verdict, in one of the most important national security trials in modern history, was suppressed. And to this day — with very, very few exceptions — the public does not know that this trial took place and what the outcome was.
www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/04/who-killed-martin-luther-king/
Wow, I learned quite a lot today about MLK's foes, that were opposed to his leading the war on poverty into enemy territory and beyond. J Edgar Hoover and GI Joe and Uncle Sam killed and martyred him, and covered it up as an object lesson to peaceful socialist leaders that might go getting a notion.
There are enough people in our land who don't want to know, or prefer their boats not rocked by the truth of these deeds, to make a false history the acceptable consensus. And that's what is really disturbing to the truth and justice obsessionists, and they will not let go of facts, no matter the level of ridicule and ill treatment heaped upon them for their efforts.
Peace
For the night owls:
British officials gave warning yesterday that America's commander in Iraq will declare that Iran is waging war against the US-backed Baghdad government. A strong statement from General David Petraeus about Iran's intervention in Iraq could set the stage for a US attack on Iranian military facilities, according to a Whitehall assessment. In closely watched testimony in Washington next week, Gen Petraeus will state that the Iranian threat has risen as Tehran has supplied and directed attacks by militia fighters against the Iraqi state and its US allies.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/05/wiran105.xml
Is Bush completely determined to turn over a shit storm??? The man needs to be in a white room with padded walls if he thinks this is even remotely the right thing to do.
Mnnnnnnnnnnnnn, Dick Morris supporting Obama?
Hillary Counting on Gullible Voters
Friday, April 4, 2008 7:53 AM
By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann Article Font Size
What worked for P.T. Barnum didn't do as well for Sen. Hillary Clinton. When the great showman said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people,” he unknowingly anticipated the fundamental assumption that underlay the campaign of the first woman seriously to contend for the presidency. But however correct Barnum's observations may have been about the circus audiences of years ago, it has proven a flawed premise for a 21st century presidential campaign.
From the very beginning of her solo political career, Hillary Clinton has manifested a consistently low opinion of the intelligence of voters.
Sometimes the bet has paid off — as when she tried to convince New Yorkers that she wanted to become one of them (when, in fact, she would have run in Montana had there been a vacancy). But lately, it hasn't.
Her entire decision to predicate her campaign on the basis of her so-called “experience” reflected a belief that she could put one over on us by co-opting Bill's experience and making it her own. So enticed was she by the prospect of attacking Obama for his lack of tenure in federal office that she didn't stop to notice that she didn't have much more than he did and could only make her point by exaggerating her role in her husband's administration. Small matter.
She was so confident that she could pull off the deception that she premised her entire campaign on her ability to do so.
In all matters but the most personal, Bill Clinton never played down to voters. His 1992 campaign mantra — the need for a new Democrat — addressed frankly the failures of the party for the past two decades. Facing globalization, he didn't talk down to the electorate but explained the nature of the new situation and articulated the ways in which we had to become competitive to meet it.
But Hillary always tries to put one over on us. She refused to release her financial records and tax returns and figured we'd never notice.
She spoke vaguely of her sympathy with those who wanted to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and bet that the media would never force her to articulate a real position.
Hillary tried to make her insistence on mandatory health insurance the lynchpin of her differences with Obama and assumed that she would never have to explain how she would enforce it. Her campaign was funded by lobbyists — and Obama's was not — but she guessed that it would never become an issue. She and Bill kept dropping hints about racial issues in the campaign, but they decided nobody would call them out on them.
Mrs. Clinton believed that she could support the Iraq war until moments before her presidential candidacy began and that the anti-war movement would welcome her as one of their own anyway.
The Clintons' entire approach to this campaign season was based on learning the wrong lessons from their political history. They survived the Lewinsky imbroglio, the pardons scandal, and the theft of White House gifts and assumed they were bulletproof.
They confused our forgiveness with gullibility and came to feel that they could get away with anything. When Hillary won her Senate seat in New York, after Giuliani dropped out and Lazio could offer only nominal opposition, she believed she could sell voters any kind of chimera and they would fall for it.
But she assumed wrong. We saw through her claims of experience and followed her twists and turns on Iraq. We realized that she was being propped up by lobbyists and special interests as a phony brand of change. And when we saw the real kind of change offered by Obama, we backed his candidacy.
© 2008 Dick Morris
Posted by margotb822 on April 5, 2008 at 02:01 AM
The internet rumor of the week has Chimpy attacking Iran on 4-6-08 @ 0400. It doesn't say if that's Eastern time, Tehran time or Zulu.
Oh well. I'm sure it's in capable hands.
Breaking News from MoneyNews.com
Senator, Financier Want 'Infrastructure' Bank
Financier Felix Rohatyn and former Senator Warren Rudman are urging the establishment of a national bank to fix the country’s aging infrastructure — roads, bridges, schools, water pipelines, ports, air control systems, dams and railroads.
They figure the spending on infrastructure should be $1.6 trillion over the next five years.
Rohatyn is credited with saving New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s, and Rudman made himself famous as the co-author of a budget deficit reduction bill in 1985. The $1.6 trillion figure comes from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
With the economy apparently entering a steep recession, the timing is perfect to "improve the country’s crumbling infrastructure,” the duo wrote in the Financial Times this week.
Breaking News from MoneyNews.com
Senator, Financier Want 'Infrastructure' Bank
Financier Felix Rohatyn and former Senator Warren Rudman are urging the establishment of a national bank to fix the country’s aging infrastructure — roads, bridges, schools, water pipelines, ports, air control systems, dams and railroads.
They figure the spending on infrastructure should be $1.6 trillion over the next five years.
Rohatyn is credited with saving New York City from bankruptcy in the 1970s, and Rudman made himself famous as the co-author of a budget deficit reduction bill in 1985. The $1.6 trillion figure comes from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
With the economy apparently entering a steep recession, the timing is perfect to "improve the country’s crumbling infrastructure,” the duo wrote in the Financial Times this week.
Story continues below . . .
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"A government-backed, long-term infrastructure investment program might provide some of the belief in our economy that has been under pressure as a result of the credit crisis,” Rohatyn and Rudman maintain.
These improvements would be paid for with borrowed private capital rather than new government spending, the duo argues, hence the need for a $60 billion national infrastructure bank.
Effectively, the bank idea would at least partially privatize many now public properties.
"Although the infrastructure bank’s initial ceiling to issue bonds would be $60 billion, it would bring in billions of additional dollars from outside investors,” Rohatyn and Rudman wrote.
"The bank would have any number of ways to finance itself, such as government guarantees and access to potential revenue streams as well as the sale of government assets.”
The bank should be able to issue bonds with maturities up to 50 years, matching the actual spending on the infrastructure with the benefits that spending creates, the pair recommend.
Editor’s Note: Financial Intelligence Report Stock Picks Soaring. Up 53% to 63%!
Repayment of bonds should eventually make the bank self-financing.
In terms of fighting off recession, the bank would ultimately produce hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs, according to Rohatyn and Rudman.
They support the National Infrastructure Bank Act authored by Senators Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). The bill was introduced last year, the same day that a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 and injuring hundreds.
The bank would be modeled in part on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), keeping it free of congressional interference in the form of earmarks.
"The American people deserve railways as good as Europe’s, ports that work as efficiently as modern Asian port facilities and public schools that are not in ruins,” Rohatyn and Rudman wrote.
While China spends for massive infrastructure improvement, "here, according to the Brookings Institution, congested roads, in 2005 alone, cost $78 billion in lost productivity and higher freight charges,” the pair wrote.
Sorry, I didn't get the add out above, never-the-less a real good read. Such a bank would provide thousands of new jobs here in out country!
Posted by MaggieCat on April 5, 2008 at 04:24 AM
Are you still on line?
I long for an America where the work ethic of the common man is appreciated and celebrated. I long for an America where the work of the black concrete finisher, the white bricklayer, the brown Native American who climes the "red iron", where the Mexican American who toils in our fields, and all the American People who work and struggle to contribute to this country is appreciated and celebrated.
When I look ar Barack Obama, I see the gangley frame of that one time rail splitter, Abraham Lincoln. When I look at Barack Obama, I see the flashing smile of John Kennedy. When I listen to Barack Obama, I here the words of Martin Luther Kinf and Bobby Kennedy.
The future is NOW!
YES WE CAN!
It seems the government should ban all non-essential travel using any gasoline to force the price down. Congress ask for a voluntary reduction in the amount of gas usage by government vehicles.
It seems Bush, Cheney & Co want to take us into recession unless we vote for their Bohemian candidates that they will manipulate the economy for their election result. They will bankrupt American Free Will in order to gain control of the "We the people" government. But America must never be Incorporated into a Conglomerate world order, instead we must Declare our Independence from the Royal Corporate Bohemian yoke.
Clintons made nearly $109M since 2000
WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton made nearly $109 million since they left the White House, capitalizing on the world's interest in the former first couple and lucrative business ventures.
The Clintons reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 as they gave the public the most detailed look at their finances in eight years. Almost half the former first couple's money came from Bill Clinton's speeches.
"I have absolutely nothing against rich people," Hillary Clinton told North Dakota Democrats at their party convention Friday night in Grand Forks. "As a matter of fact, my husband — much to my surprise and his — has made a lot of money since he left the White House doing what he loves doing most, talking to people."
So sad there are people losing their homes and the Clinton's have amazed a fortune in supposedly speech fees like a Rolling Stone rock star fees, and America's streets suffer neglect, I can imagine how they will make as Hillary as President. I think it is time to get someone down to earth to lead this nation. For the Clinton's to be facing bankruptcy and to report this figure is mind boggling in its Bohemian proportions. It makes a poet want to be a politician but then I may have to use Kitchen Sink Politics, and that is too much trash talk.
With what they write off as Election expense, no wonder they are hanging in there. It seems they could be fighting Cheney's Oil Companies.
Clinton aide sorry for trade meetingWASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief strategist apologized Friday for meeting with Colombian officials pushing a free trade agreement that the presidential candidate opposes.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the strategist, Mark Penn, met Monday with Colombia's ambassador to the United States. Clinton advisers said Penn's meetings were not connected to the campaign, but part of his job as chief executive of the lobbying and public relations firm Burson-Marsteller Worldwide.
But a Clinton adviser said the candidate was not happy to learn about the meeting, and Penn issued a statement expressing regrets.
"The meeting was an error in judgment that will not be repeated and I am sorry for it," Penn said in a written statement. "The senator's well-known opposition to this trade deal is clear and was not discussed."
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said the candidate has not discussed the Colombian deal with Penn.
Oh Mark The Penn, does Hillary have a secret agenda in Columbia? Will it be another secret NAPTA like deal? Oh Mark The Penn, what web do you weave in Bohemian dealings? Are you the Cheney of the Clinton's of secret closed door dealing?
I felt compelled to repost this in order to correct my prior misspelling of Dr. King's last name. My apologies to all.
I long for an America where the work ethic of the common man is appreciated and celebrated. I long for an America where the work of the black concrete finisher, the white bricklayer, the brown Native American who climes the "red iron", where the Mexican American who toils in our fields, and all the American People who work and struggle to contribute to this country is appreciated and celebrated.
When I look at Barack Obama, I see the gangley frame of that one time rail splitter, Abraham Lincoln. When I look at Barack Obama, I see the flashing smile of John Kennedy. When I listen to Barack Obama, I here the words of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.
The future is NOW!
YES WE CAN!
Posted by goodfoe on April 5, 2008 at 06:29 AM
Who is this anti-Constitutional John Yoo, who says we can torture and bypass Constitutional protections using warrant less invasion of privacy? How could one man be used to undermine over 200 years of constitutional law?
McCain Waits 25 Years to Apologize for Voting Against the MLK Bill
by Congressman John Conyers
Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 04:22:40 PM PDT
Four days after Dr. King's death, on April 8, 1968, I introduced a bill that would allow this nation to celebrate the life and work of its greatest civil rights leader with a federal holiday. Though it would take 15 years, from 1968 until 1983, the King Holiday Bill was eventually signed into law through the efforts of friends on the ground and friends in the Congress. Unfortunately, John McCain was not one of those friends.
* Congressman John Conyers's diary :: ::
*
On August 2, 1983, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the King Holiday Bill by a veto-proof vote of 338 to 90. While Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich voted for the bill, those in opposition included then-Representative John McCain. McCain likes to attribute his vote against the King Holiday to his being "brand-new in the Congress," but he certainly wasn't brand new to this matter of a holiday when he supported the Arizona governor's decision to repeal the state King holiday in 1987.
[I addressed this issue on MSNBC today outside the Lorraine Hotel. Crooks and Liars has that clip here.]
As we observe the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, I ask that we examine the principles and values on which Dr. King based his work, and apply them to our work today. It is 40 years later, and this country finds itself again poisoned by war, a war that is jeopardizing the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans - and again, Senator McCain is complicit. From the Iraq War and a failing economy, to inadequate healthcare and unsatisfactory schools, it is up to us to finish Dr. King's work. So I ask Senator McCain that as he apologizes for his vote 25 years ago, that he may recommit himself to advancing Dr. King's legacy.
=================================================
McCain ... same as Bush!
Posted by YoungPoet on April 5, 2008 at 07:42 AM
Good morning, Dave. Though your question my be rheotrical the amswer is quite simple. John Yoo is the jackass from DOJ who signed off for legal purposes, though that may be an oxymoronic statement, on the memo(s) that gave the Bush administration the quasi-legal standing to trash the First, Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. John Yoo, and his NeoCon ilk, believe in an imperial presidency.
Good Morning!
What a wonderful day! It's finally going to be spring out in northern Indiana and a time for a renewed feeling about our future.
Today we open up an Obama headquarters in our hometown! I think they will be spilling out into the street for the event. Former Congressman and 911 Commissioner, Tim Roemer will be on hand to help with the opening. I hope to finally meet him.
Yep - today is the start of a new beginning.
I feel great!
Keep on Rockn'
Oh yes, Maggie - don't feel so down. A good fight between us Democrats is what it's all about. We will prevail and be stronger for it. Hillary won't tear this party down - not in a long shot. The Clinton's have had their day in Washington. It's time for a new and fresh start. Chin up and be strong. Once this fight is over and we have one candidate - we will pull together.
Posted by YoungPoet on April 5, 2008 at 07:42 AM
Good morning, Dave. Though your question may be rheotrical the answer is quite simple. John Yoo is the jackass from DOJ who signed off for legal purposes, though that may be an oxymoronic statement, on the memo(s) that gave the Bush administration the quasi-legal standing to trash the First, Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. John Yoo, and his NeoCon ilk, believe in an imperial presidency.
ohn McCain: Willing to Keep American Troops in Iraq for 100 Years
by DHinMI
Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 05:21:50 PM PDT
Remember when John McCain said he'd be fine with American troops in Iraq for 100 years?
Well, according to the Republican National Committee, he never said it, or not really like it's being quoted, or there were mitigating circumstances, or...and...but...but...
To paraphrase Shakespeare,
The
RNC
Doth
Protest
Too
Much
Methinks.
The Republicans and their lackeys are trying to say that McCain didn't mean we'd be at war for the full hundred years. Well, then why say it? There's little indication we've "subdued" Iraq enough that we'll ever not be at war there. To do that, to eliminate any attacks on the US occupying forces, will probably never happen. But if one were open to the possibility that we could eventually subdue all Iraqi opposition, what would be a good estimate of how long it might take?
100 years sounds about right to me...and to John McCain.
The difference between John McCain and the Republican dead-enders vs the Democrats and the two-thirds or more of Americans willing to face reality is that we realize it's time to start leaving Iraq. John McCain wants us to stay there another 100 years to see if things get better. And the RNC is trying desperately to convince people John McCain didn't mean it. Or didn't say it. Or...something.
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Oh please stop it, McCain not only said but said it many times. Just ask him and he'll tell you that we are NOT leaving Iraq ... ever! Just ask him if there will be more wars ... he'll promise it.
This is all GOP smoke and mirrors. Yet, another way to try to confuse the public. Bush did the same in 2004 when he said he would never privatize social security. He then spent the better part of 2004-2005 trying to do exactly that.
The GOP are lying sacks of crap.
McCain ... same as Bush.
maggie so if obama wins it will be because he is a great charismatic leader and if he loses it will be because of hillary?
i find it amusing how some obamiacs are setting up to use the old repelican song...blame the clintons!
Now, it's John McCain's turn. Where are his tax forms?
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 4/04/2008 06:47:00 PM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: 26 Comments · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!
The DNC wants to know where McCain's tax returns are. So do we. Given McCain's utter contempt for campaign finance laws (he's breaking the law), we really need full disclosure.
Yesterday, CNN reported on McCain's access to lots of money from his second wife. Lots of money:
As heiress to her father's stake in Hensley & Co. of Phoenix, Cindy McCain is an executive whose worth may exceed $100 million. Her beer earnings have afforded the GOP presidential nominee a wealthy lifestyle with a private jet and vacation homes at his disposal, and her connections helped him launch his political career -- even if the millions remain in her name alone. Yet the arm's-length distance between McCain and his wife's assets also has helped shield him from conflict-of-interest problems.
Remember how the right wingers made Teresa Heinz Kerry (and her wealth) an issue in 2004? Remember that?
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Yeah McCrap, how about it?
Posted by rjsnj on April 5, 2008 at 07:48 AM
Even if he says he will change, he won't really change. Mccain is what he has always been. He has shown that he will say what is needed to get elected, but inside he is what he has always been, which I suspect is more than just a little bit racist.
BBC:
Food riots turn deadly in Haiti
At least four people were killed and 20 wounded when demonstrations against rising food prices turned into riots in southern Haiti, officials say.
Reports say scores of people went on the rampage in the town of Les Cayes, blocking roads, looting shops and shooting at UN peacekeepers...
...interesting how we can spend hundreds of billions in iraq for god only knows what purpose but we have practically no concern for these starving people of color at our front door...
Labor group: "It’s time for Senator Hillary Clinton to send her vaunted ‘chief strategist’ Mark Penn packing"
by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 4/04/2008 02:49:00 PM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: 56 Comments · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!
Today, Mark Penn apologized for meeting with his client, the Colombian government, to discuss a trade pact that his client, Hillary Clinton, opposes. This story about Penn's controversial meeting broke last night -- and it has caused a firestorm.
Today, the labor group, Change to Win, told Clinton they've had it with Penn and his anti-labor ways. The group called on Clinton to fire Mark Penn:
“It’s time for Senator Hillary Clinton to send her vaunted ‘chief strategist’ Mark Penn packing -- back to his job consulting for union busting corporations and anti-labor governments for good.
“We have questioned Penn’s role in the Clinton campaign in the past for his representation of union busting employers like Cintas. At that time, Penn said there was a wall between him and his firm’s representation of union busters. The latest revelation that Penn -- whose firm represents the Colombian government in its effort to secure passage of a so-called free trade agreement -- is actively involved in securing its passage in the middle of Senator Clinton’s presidential campaign is outrageous. It also suggests that he has been playing a double role – advising the Senator on what to say to curry Democratic voters and advising the Colombian government on what to say to curry a majority of votes in Congress.
For a full look at Penn's long and shady history of union busting, read the seminal article Ari Berman's wrote in The Nation last spring.
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Clinton should dump this bum. Clinton supporters should be blasting her to finally get rid of this guy. He's caused her campaign more harm than good and I believe is a big reason for the "kitchen sink" garbage strategy. Get rid of Penn already ... he's more GOP than Democratic.
Posted by rjsnj on April 5, 2008 at 07:48 AM
He is a Republican. What did you expect? The GOP have been throwing African-Americans under the proverbial bus since the Dixiecrats were thrown out of the Democratic Party and joined the GOP in the late 60's because of our support for civil rights.
The GOP nominee knows he is going to have trouble rallying the conservative base therefore, his strategy may be going for votes in unusual places such as the African-American community. As evidenced by the reception he received at the Lorraine Motel memorial, I think we can still count on 85%+ support from the African-American community.
Morning all good Dems,
Posted by rjsnj on April 5, 2008 at 07:54 AM
I suppose mclame didn't sing he song about bombing Iran either. He was just misunderstood.
Yesterday the local radio announced the death of a soldier from New Mexico in Iraq. The announcer, a miltitary type, said "Global War on Terror".
These people are brainwashed.
Global War on Terror = World War III
One of the big things out of emanating from the lying mouths of republicans is the statement, I don't want to pay to educate their children, care for them healthwise or have them take our jobs. They are talking, of course, about the bogeyman (the dreaded ILLEGAL ALIENS).
This is one of the reasons they cite when they bitch about socialism and giving every American our right to healthcare and education. "The illegals will be included, we can't have that."
I am sick of this crap.
The repukes are the ones that have not protected our borders. The repuke God (raygun) amnestied 12 million of them in 1987. They have been letting the rest in for the last twenty years to work as slaves.
In the meantime, the American workers is screwed. Last month 80,000 lost their jobs.
LET'S TAKE BACK OUR GOVERNMENT FROM THESE BASTARDS.
He is a Republican. What did you expect?
===================================================
Hi Bob, is that right? He's actually registered as a Republican. Penn has got to go.
Posted by Johne on April 5, 2008 at 08:05 AM
===============================================
Good morning JE and all,
McLame, McSame ... can't deny what he has said a number of times. One time and it may have been a "bad joke", a dozen times and it's clear that's his position.
McCain ... same as Bush.
Mark, Mark, Mark ...
04.03.08 -- 10:30PM
By Josh Marshall
Just out from the Wall Street Journal ...
Hillary Clinton's chief campaign strategist met with Colombia's ambassador to the U.S. on Monday to discuss a bilateral free-trade agreement, a pact the presidential candidate opposes.
Attendance by the adviser, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Colombian officials. He wasn't there in his campaign role, but in his separate job as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, an international communications and lobbying firm.
The firm has a contract with the South American nation to help promote congressional approval of the trade deal, among other things, according to filings with the Justice Department.
There are so many reasons why candidates should be paying Mark Penn to stay as far away from their campaigns as possible. But this is yet another. Having your key campaign advisor also be an international man of mystery-cum-PR-lobbyist-cheeseball is fairly problematic. But for Hillary's sake, when her political future is on the line in a state like Pennsylvania, wracked by the loss of industrial jobs for decades, you think he could have waited a few more weeks before prancing off to help get a new free trade pact passed?
====================================================
Okay, had enough of this creep yet? Mark Penn must go!
This is one of the reasons they cite when they bitch about socialism and giving every American our right to healthcare and education. "The illegals will be included, we can't have that."
I am sick of this crap.
=================================================
JE, I agree with 100%. Immigrants have become the excuse the GOP makes for everything. In fact, most studies have shown that immigrants are a positive influence on social programs. In fact, they do pay into these systems.
This sort of lie was manufactured in the hate radio sphere. The worse creep in this area is Michael Savage ... a vicious little snit just like his name sake implies.
Posted by rjsnj on April 5, 2008 at 08:19 AM
I was referring to the GOP nominee, RJ. But I agree with you about Mark Penn. He totally blew the junior senator from NY's campaign strategy. They ran a general election campaign from the start. They proceeded from the false assumption that she would be the nominee. They had no plan after Super Tuesday. And they totally ignored the smaller states.
Sen. Obama (D-IL) has run a vastly superior campaign which is one the major reasons I decided to support him after Sen. Biden (D-DE) dropped out. I feel more comfortable about Sen. Obama's ability to govern based on how he has run his campaign.
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Obama08 on April 5, 2008 at 08:36 AM
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Okay. Whoa, that would have been a major insult if Penn were really registered GOP.
Penn is a creep. Alot of people warned Clinton about him.
So it's now fact that there is no firewall in Penn's company between the Clinton campaign and his other GOP lines of interest. This makes the story that his company also represents McCain that much more damning!
Mark Penn must go now!
In case you missed it:
Barack Speaks on the 40th Anniversary of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I think, I wish to leave the United States and write my Free Speech wings in overseas poetic poverty. I just cannot afford being an American patriot anymore with these Cheney gas prices. I do not have the Clinton’s gift of political gab in high paying speech agendas that gets those luxurious Royalty Clinton fees. It seems, when I give political commentary, they want to ban me into further Liberal poverty. It seems Poetry does not pay like being a Clinton does, and hell, they only use prose. I might have to fork the money for a passport, but then the Bush/Cheney team has taken the dollar so low that I might have to get a handout as Ben Franklin look alike to survive. My question is this, when the Clinton’s speak it seems they never use American Artmosphere verse, just Kitchen Sink scenarios in how hard they are having it that everyone is picking on their All Star lifestyles of Bohemian Political Royalty, so are they improvised. It seems after they list all their accomplishments of mission accomplished and deflate the hot air, I look at what is left in truth, it leaves one wanting a better actor.
Posted by rjsnj on April 5, 2008 at 08:42 AM
...Mark Penn must go now!
If for no other reason than he is another one guilty of attempting to sell the American Dream to the lowest or highest bidder. And now for my "Lou Dobbsish" rallying cry:
American jobs for American workers!
Posted by gregg on April 5, 2008 at 07:54 AM
morning {{{gregg and other Dems}}}
That is only the German troll, still hating the Clintons because they ended up in office for 8 years in which the sour grapes flowed daily! It KILLED them that Clinton beat Bush Sr and then Bobbie Dole, the ED king. They cannot move past it.
Bush's Legacy = TWO recessions in his Term !
Now that has to be some kind of Record!!
Huge Job Losses Set Off Recession Alarms
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Economy.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Watch Out!
Massive Shiite protest planned in Iraq; more battles possible
By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD — Firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr on Thursday called for a massive demonstration against the "occupation" of Iraq on April 9, which would coincide with the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad and come just after U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are to testify to Congress about progress in Iraq.
As Sadr called for a million people to converge on the Shiite holy city of Najaf in southern Iraq, he also warned the government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to purge the security forces of members of the Badr Organization, the military wing of the rival Shiite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and of Sunni Baathists.
From Juan Cole:
Clashes Continue in Basra:
Badr Militia Strengthened
Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that clashes continued to be fought in Basra on Thursday between Iraqi government troops and the Mahdi Army militia.
It also says that US troops in civilian clothing were targeted in the Shiite city of Hillah south of Baghdad. They were attacked by unknown gunmen and had to call in airstrikes on enemy positions. So how come they were wearing civilian cloths?
The same report discussed the arrest of Yusuf Sanawi, leader of Tha'r Allah (the revenge of God), which stands accused of being behind much of the violence in Basra.
The LAT says Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is intent on pursuing his struggle with the Mahdi Army militia, not only in the southern port city of Basra but in other Shiite cities as well. Apparently he thinks big talk will substitute for successful military operations.
In response, Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mahdi Army, called for demonstrations on Friday and then for a million-man march on April 9, the anniversary of the US occupation of Baghdad and the fall of the Baath government. (Sadr is happy about the fall of Saddam; unhappy about the foreign military occupation).
Al-Zaman reports in Arabic that Iran and Kuwait have closed their borders with Iraq and halted the import-export trade because of the deterioration of security.
The New York Times confirms that "over a thousand" officers and troops of the Iraqi army declined to fight the Mahdi Army in Basra or deserted their posts. It also reports that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki replaced them by inducting 10,000 Shiite "tribal" fighters into the Iraqi army. But the Iraqi press didn't call them "tribal," it called them Badr Corps, the paramilitary of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, headed by Abdul Aziz al-Hakim and now al-Maliki's main political ally. I'm not sure about the source of the discrepancy, but the NYT piece seems to be based on interviews with Iraqi and American government officials. It is possible that the need to strengthen the Iraqi army by turning to a Shiite militia trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (terrorists!) was just too embarrassing to admit. So the officials used the euphemism "tribal forces" with the foreign press.
===============================================
Ummm President Chimpy
Ummm John McSame
It doesn't look like they are standing up. Instead, the Iraqi army is dropping their weapons in the field and bailing out.
Enough of this Iraq insanity.
Out of Iraq Now
Posted by YoungPoet on April 5, 2008 at 08:48 AM
Do not go quietly into that good night, my friend. The U.S. is a better place with you than without you. Your RFK-ish advocacies are a welcome addition and always merits serious thought and reflection. Even when we disagree, old sport!
Posted by PamB on April 5, 2008 at 08:56 AM
===============================================
Hi PamB,
We are definitely in a recession. States have been seeing it for some time now. It's just this nutty way we define recessions. It takes awhile to see the GDP going negative two quarters in a row.
At any rate, this is one of the worse economic situations ever for the past 7 years under the GOP and the GOP Chimp leader.
McCain is no different than Chimp on economic issues.
McCain ... same as Bush.
BAGHDAD: More than 30 people were killed in fresh violence in Iraq yesterday.
At least 20 people died when a bomber blew himself up at a funeral north of Baghdad.
The attack occurred in Sadiyah town in Diyala province, where US and Iraqi forces are battling Al Qaeda in Iraq militants.
Police said the bomber mingled among the mourners and then triggered an explosive vest.
In other violence, the US military said it killed at least six suspected militants and captured 20 in raids across northern Iraq.
A roadside bomb killed three policemen and wounded two others when it struck their patrol in Mussayab, 60km south of Baghdad. A US helicopter fired on militants at the request of Iraqi forces in Basra. Several houses were damaged.
Moqtada Al Sadr yesterday called for one million Iraqis to march against the US occupation of Iraq. The demonstration will be held in Baghdad on Wednesday marking the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, a top UN official warned of "very grave" humanitarian problems in Iraq, including a lack of food and the internal displacement of more than two million people.
"There are very grave humanitarian problems, the most serious is the internal displacement of the Iraqis... this is a phenomenon which we believe has slowed down significantly in recent months," UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes said.
An estimated 700 people were killed and more than 1,500 wounded in the clashes between government forces and Shi'ite militants, the UN's Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Iraq David Shearer said.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=213683&Sn=WORL&IssueID=31016
=================================================
The surge has failed.
More MLK statements that are just as true today:
"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."
* * *
"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."
* * *
"The time is always right to do what is right."
Posted by rjsnj on April 5, 2008 at 09:16 AM
The surge has failed.
The Iraqis have failed first and foremost, IMHO. They're the ones having the civil war as opposed to putting their country back together. They're the ones who were a dismal failure in Basra.
The Iraqis are quite literally dying to have a civil war. I say we give it to them. Withdraw the troops to Afghanistan, where the real war on terror is, wait for the end of the civil war, and then go back if they request our help. The perpretrators of 11SEP01 should be our primary focus, not Iraq.
More from David Sirota:
Clinton Chief On Colombian Payroll Now Strategizing On Free Trade Deal
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/clinton-chief-on-payroll_b_95033.html
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief strategist apologized Friday for meeting with Colombian officials pushing a free trade agreement that the presidential candidate opposes.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the strategist, Mark Penn, met Monday with Colombia's ambassador to the United States. Clinton advisers said Penn's meetings were not connected to the campaign, but part of his job as chief executive of the lobbying and public relations firm Burson-Marsteller Worldwide.
But a Clinton adviser said the candidate was not happy to learn about the meeting, and Penn issued a statement expressing regrets.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/04/mark-penn-apologizes-for_n_95090.html
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This is NOT good enough. It's an insult to working people across the country.
Mark Penn must go now!
Obama Refutes Colombian President
Nick Timiraos reports from Fort Wayne, Ind., on the presidential race.
Sen. Barack Obama pushed back against criticism from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who said Obama opposes the free-trade deal between Washington and Bogota because of election politics.
“I think the president is absolutely wrong on this,” Obama told reporters on his plane Friday morning. “You’ve got a government that is under a cloud of potentially having supported violence against unions, against labor, against opposition.” The Illinois senator has promised to rebuild America’s reputation abroad.
In an interview with the Journal’s Jose de Cordoba published Friday, Uribe said opposition to the trade agreement would deal a serious blow to U.S. relations with Colombia, one of Washington’s strongest allies in South America where anti-American attitudes have been resurging in recent years. “I deplore that Sen. Obama, apparently because he wants to be president of the U.S., ignores all that Colombia has achieved,” he said.
Labor unions have fought hard against the trade deal, arguing that the Bogota hasn’t done enough to quell violence against trade union organizers. Uribe said that the country had made progress, and that the number of assassinated union members and teachers had fallen to 26 last year from 205 in 2001.
“That’s not the kind of behavior that we want to reward,” Obama said. “I think until we get that straightened out its inappropriate for us to move forward.”
He pointed to his support of the Peru trade deal that Congress passed last year as an example of his support for free trade under the right circumstances. “We’ve got to have some sort of standards that we stick to,” he said.
Free trade remains particularly unpopular among the blue-collar Democratic voters that will play a critical role in upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana, where Obama campaigned on Friday. Both Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Clinton have sought to portray themselves as the most stalwart trade deal critics.
But Clinton’s position could be compromised by the fact that her top campaign strategist met with the Colombian ambassador earlier in the week to discuss the trade deal. Our colleague, Susan Davis reported that the campaign’s chief strategist, Mark Penn, met in his capacity as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, an international communications and lobbying firm that has a contract with Colombia to help get congressional approval of the trade deal.
Ahead of last month’s Ohio primary, a leaked memo from the Canadian government suggested that Obama’s top economic adviser had raised doubts with Canadian officials over Obama’s opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement. At the time, Clinton argued that the press should aggressively pursue the story. “Just ask yourself [what you would do] if some of my advisers had been having private meetings with foreign governments,” she said.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/04/04/obama-refutes-colombian-president/?mod=WSJBlog
=================================================
Sorry to harp on this BUT the response from the Clinton campaign is an insult. Mark Penn must go now!
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Obama08 on April 5, 2008 at 09:29 AM
===================================================
Bob, it had no chance of succeeding from the start. The entire Iraq policy is just wrong. You can't invade a nation and turn them into a Democracy by force (not that I believe that was ever really Bush / Mccain's goal). The system has to be one that appeals to the people. They must find their own reconciliation even if means civil strife.
This is a losing cause. There is no winning it, it was a failure from the start because it's based on lies.
Out of Iraq Now
Sen. John McCain's promise to restore America's standing in the world even while maintaining troop presence in Iraq is based on an essentially faulty premise, says Rep. John Murtha, a retired Marine and Vietnam veteran.
"There is no way that us continuing in Iraq is going to allow the other countries to believe that the United States is more credible," said the Pennsylvania Democrat, one of Congress' fiercest war critics.
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Murtha described current Iraq policy as damaging to U.S. credibility, wasteful in its expenses and lives lost, and in dire need of a an expeditious but realistic conclusion. He warned that it would be difficult to recruit international support -- which McCain pledged to do in his March 26th foreign policy speech -- so long as the U.S. remains bogged down in the war.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/04/murtha-war-backing-mccain_n_94982.html
Posted by BobVADemHawk-Obama08 on April 5, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Thank you it justs gets frustrating seeing the Bush WMD destruction, and the lack of Congressional oversight to protect our Constitution from the Bush/Cheney Bohemian Republic that decries a President a King with totalitarian powers of autocratic John Woo legal redefinitions that strip away our basic core of "We the people" right to own our nation over special interests, where even in our own homes, we are working slaves banned Free Speech. Never have so many American become secon class citizens to corporate owners.
From: Blacks4Barack.org
OBAMA PROVES WHITES NOT AS PREJUDICED AS WE THOUGHT !
" There's no way America would vote for a black president !.....America's not ready for a black president." That has historically been the sentiment and attitude shared by the majority of blacks in America due in part to the fact that we have always been under the assumption that most whites are so prejudiced that a black president in America would just never happen. But one of the most incredible things that has arisen through Barack Obamas campaign has been the vision of mass numbers of white people at each of the Obama rallys showing great love and support for this credible, intelligent, gifted, strong leader....who happens to also be black. It has been incredibly eye-opening and uplifting, and it, for the first time, shows us blacks that we have actually been wrong in our assumption that most whites are prejudiced toward us. Guess what ? Although you do have the exceptions to the rule, the fact is....most whites ARE NOT racist toward blacks. This is a very important revelation. VERY !!!
We, as blacks have held on to our injured history, which we rightfully feel was caused by whites, to such a degree that we have never had the opportunity to see or learn that the prejudiced attitudes of whites does not exist today like it had in the past. We just didn't know. We knew that a lot of whites like black music. We knew that millions of white women love Oprah, but we thought that was just a 'woman thing'. But in all honesty, we had no idea, until now, that white people of all ages....even older ones...could be as supportive of a black candidate as they have shown in great mass. We, as blacks have been wrong !
And now, to my black brothers and sisters....It's time for us to acknowledge this extremely important revelation...In other words....all whites are not prejudiced !!! In fact, MOST whites aren't ! I know, it's hard to believe because of our lifetime of thinking differently....but these are the facts. Just look in the eyes of the whites at Obama's rallys. You see a true warmth, compassion and true support for this man....who is black. What this means is that most whites have risen above the racism of old. Now, it is time for us, as blacks, to rise up as well. Of course, we as blacks will have the specific cases of injustice and prejudice as displayed through examples like Jena 6, Genarlow Wilson, Katrina and the like....and specific cases like those should be dealt with accordingly. In regards to economic, educational and criminal injustices and institutional racism....we still have a long way to go. But we must not continue to allow certain negative occurances to misdirect our minds toward thinking that these negative examples speak for the entire white race. The majority of whites of today are actually on our side !
Obama's campaign has already won by proving that whites and blacks can not only get along....but can work TOGETHER....toward a better tomorrow...for us all. And guess what my black family....America IS ready !!!
Greg Jones
Visit:www.Blacks4Barack.org (A Multi-Racial Organization)
Hey Gregsong, Very great to hear.It`s not a perfect world and we have a great opportunity to change this country in a big way. I`m excited because the younger generation is even more open then my generation. I can see the possibility of this country becoming the dream. We`ve always had the possibilities,but greed has been in the way. The few that want it all will put wedges anywhere to continue acquiring wealth and power.Keep the faith!
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