One thing I REALLY don't want to happen. I don't want this primary to end with Bill Clinton looking like some buffoon. The truth is that we ALL look foolish when we are defending the people we love and Bill is no different in that attribute. The following post is longer than I intended when I began. If you don't like to read, go to the extended post. There are some you tubes of Bill playing the sax.
Bill Clinton may very well be the brightest American President in our history. I am not sure but I think he has the highest IQ of any president ever. People close to him report that he is always curious about new innovations and new ways to do things.
The BEST example of this pioneering spirt in my opinion was when he was Governor of Arkansas and both he and Hillary had a friend who had known and worked with Muhammad Yunus. Some of you may know of Yunus. (He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.) He is known as "the banker to the poor". His vision is a poverty-free world. Yunus is an economist who founded Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with miniscule loans. He would make small loans such as $25 to street beggars to buy candy to sell instead of begging. He would loan $100 to women to purchase sewing machines. His micro-credit programs have grown Grameen Bank into a mulit billion dollar financial institution, thus proving that even the poorest of poor are trustworthy of credit--a lesson that Chase Manhattan might learn. :) I've forgotten what their default on loans is, but is is MUCH LOWER than any traditional bank.
Read More »TAKE A LOOK AT HILLARY'S CLUB--THE DLC
If you are a real Democrat, you seriously need to learn about the “Democratic Leadership Council” and what they are trying to turn our party into. Both the Clintons belong to it as did Joe Liebermann. [Liebermann may even still belong, I don’t know. This bunch is so Republican-friendly that they may still allow him to belong. I do know that many of the DLC supported Liebermann over Ned Lamont, the democratic nominee. Bill Clinton is reported to have said that it didn’t matter to him whether Ned Lamont or Liebermann (McCain-suck-up) won. Al From, one of the founders of the DLC was Liebermann’s campaign manager against the Democrat.]
DO YOU WANT A MEMBER OF A GROUP WHO GAVE STRONG SUPPORT FOR THE 2003 INVASION OF IRAQ AS OUR PRESIDENT? I DON’T.
The DLC gave strong support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. That was a smart decision now wasn’t it? That alone should tell anyone with and IQ over 60 what this bunch stand for. Prior to the war, Will Marshall co-signed a letter to President Bush from the Project for the New American Century endorsing military action against Saddam Hussein. [For those who may not know, Will Marshall is one of the founders of the New Democratic movement which aims to steer the Democratic Party to a centrist position. They are represented by organizations such as the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), the New Democrat Network, and the Senate and House New Democrat Coalitions.]
Read More »There is a clear pattern emerging from the Clinton campaign, but it's not the one Hillary Clinton wished to suggest.
Hillary's recent words underline a clear pattern in the way both the Clintons have been using race in this campaign. However poorly worded, Hillary's recent words suggest the fundamental reason the Clintons have betrayed the honorific title of "first black president" once bestowed on Bill Clinton by the great American writer Toni Morrison:
"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.
The African-American community has clearly recognized and understood the implications of this pattern of racialized discourse, and has almost completly renounced and rejected the Clintons as a result. Results from the Indiana and North Carolina primaries this week indicate that over 90% of African-Americans voted against the Clintons.
Since the election of a Democratic President in November depends so heavily on the African-American vote, all superdelegates need to be asking, in spite of Hillary Clinton's claims to the contrary: Who really has "a much broader base to build a winning coalition on"?
http://policybusters.blogspot.com
CLINTON CREDIBILITY:
A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS
Why are Democrats tolerating Hillary Clinton’s selfish juggernaut to destroy the Democratic Party? You’re sitting around allowing your nomination process to be corrupted, then asking, “Why can’t Obama close the deal?” Open your eyes. The man is fighting Hillary, Bill, the entire Republican Party, plus Rush Limbaugh and the entire FOX news staff. Read More »
I have been a supporter, not without severe criticism, of Jeremiah Wright. (See my first post on Wright, called "Politicians and Preachers," below.) I continue to support Trinity UCC, of which he is no longer the pastor. And I am glad for his many years of ministry for the thousands of people who have been helped through his dynamic congregation. I did not see the Moyers interview, but I heard many positive reviews of it.
However, his speech at the NAACP congress and the National Press Club show that Wright has let this controversy go to his head. He thinks that the uproar is about him. And then he says, it's not about Jeremiah Wright, "It's an attack on the black church."
Let's be clear about two things: 1. It's not about him or the black church, directly. It's about the Right-wing attack on Barack Obama, the Democratic frontrunner made possible by an ignorant and cynical press corp.
2. It also has led to attacks on the black church and has revealed the continuing racism in our society. But, Jeremiah Wright has contributed to the forces of racism by his egotistical identification of himself with the black church. Wright is saying in effect, "THE BLACK CHURCH? I AM THE BLACK CHURCH."
Read More »They need to understand that we had a great economy under Bill Clinton. Most likely, these young first time voters' parents were able to purchase their homes under the good economy we had then. College tuition was much more affordable then. We had peace throughout the world and our nation was looked up to and respected, not only by US allies, but also by our adversaries. We had a balanced Federal budget, producing a surplus that was in part, used to pay down the national debt and restore funds robbed from the Social Security Trust Fund by Republicans.
President Bill Clinton enjoyed the highest approval ratings of just about any modern day President, including by Independents and many Republicans.
Democrats adored President Bill Clinton, in fact, every group of Democrats - blacks, women, GLBT, latinos, whites, etc., all had positive views of his Administration and supported him with pride.
It puzzles me how the young Obama first time voters can be so outspoken against the Administration of Bill Clinton, attempting to make him the issue of this campaign. He is not running and Hillary is strong enough to run on her own record and accomplishments. She does not attempt to rest on the accomplishments made by her husband. It puzzles me that the young first time voters for Obama can make such an issue about something that they know so little about. The average young first time voter for Obama was around age 2 when Bill Clinton first took office. They were typically age 10, perhaps for some, age 11 when he left office. Not exactly an age that would have given them any understanding of what things were like prior to his Administration or what accomplishments he made during his time in the White House.
I bring up this point because it is not typically older voters that have been so critical of President Bill Clinton's terms in office. It has only been with the young Obama supporters that were not even old enough to be aware of what was going on in this nation at that time of our history. They continually attempt to tie Hillary to Bill. She is her own person with her own ideas and agendas. She was never a carbon copy of Bill, even when she was First Lady.
I just find it a bit strange that these young Obama supporters can post comments on blogs, not just here but on other traditional blogging sites on the internet, attacking the record of President Bill Clinton, when they were not old enough to even be aware of what he inherited when he came into office and the many significant and positive accomplishments made under his leadership. They also forget that it was the "black community" that gave President Bill Clinton the title of "America's First Black President", due to his strong support for the issues that faced that community, yet now, that same community turns their back on Hillary.
April 29, 2008
An interesting article published in today’s New York Times by Mark Leibovich postulates that the Clinton couple will stop at nothing to win—even if it means that Bill will have to tarnish his beloved image with most Democrats.
The article explores the notion, as have James Clyburn, House Democratic Whip and others, that Clinton is playing the old white “reverse racist” card to exploit prejudices of white working class. Bill hardly needs to worry any more about the black vote for Hillary as that was lost by his remarks in South Carolina. Many of you may not remember, but there was a time in this campaign when Obama was not “black enough” and the black vote was competitively divided between Hillary and Barack. But Bill changed that dynamic single handedly in South Carolina.
Is Bill Clinton’s “ain’t we got it bad with all this reverse racism against white people” and finger wagging deliberate? Some argue that it is and others suggest that his heart condition has robbed his brain of too much oxygen. But there are few who will argue now that he is not doing it. And few will argue that it is not a pathetic low to which he has stooped. This behavior has alienated him with many people in the senate, including some of his old friends like Ted Kennedy. Thus, even if Hillary were to get the nomination, Bill’s ability to twist the arm of Congress for her has been irrevocably damaged by his behavior on the campaign trail. Bill’s own negative ratings have gone up to 51% since the beginning of this campaign.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/us/politics/29bill.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
If you want to learn more about the myth of reverse racism and cultural etiquette, here are some sources that I would recommend over Bill Clinton’s lesson plan:
In one of his numerous and brilliant articles on US Labor, “Labor—and a whole lot More”, Dick Meister made many very interesting points. In speaking about the 2006 Democratic political upset, Mr. Meister had this to say:
“Congress’ new Democratic majority owes much to the unions, which spent more than $100 million on the campaign. They put more than 100,000 members to work registering and turning out voters, distributing leaflets, and contacting an estimated 13 million voters directly.” Now that’s an unbeatable combination: Money and lots of people!
Give Congress your own report card, go to this article at Mr. Meister’s site and read Labor’s wish list. See how well Congress has delivered on that wish list in the past two years. After you’ve giving Congress a Labor grade, why don’t you send a copy of it to the Democratic legislators (along with the link to Dick’s site) so they can get an education regarding labor and its relationship not only to the Democratic Party, but to democracy itself.
http://www.dickmeister.com/id200.html
If you don’t think labor is important, you might want to have a chat with former President Bill Clinton. After he was elected in 1992, and barely at that with only 43% of the vote, he forgot about Labor and one of his first accomplishments was to cram NAFTA down the throats of Americans. What happened? To put it mildly, Labor bitch-slapped Clinton silly for his arrogance. The Democrats lost both houses to the Republicans in the mid-term elections. Clinton was only in the White House for two years when he gave away our Congress.
Read More »What they do represent are corporate interests. They do not, as Hillary slyly suggested, “represent people like you and me.” Lobbyists do not represent employees of corporations. Instead they represent the 10% (at most) of Americans who comprise the CEOs, the board of directors and the shareholders of these corporations. In addition, these lobbyists (except for those few who do represent unions) are anti-union.
The USA hasn’t gotten to the point yet where our government sends out death squads (at least not in the 21st century) to murder people who try to start unions but that is part of the evolution of governments who no longer accept the right of workers to organize and strike for improved working conditions.
We have to look no further than Colombia South America to see what happens when anti-unionists are in control of a country. On Wednesday, April 23 we learned for certain that Mario Uribe who is Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s cousin and closest political advisor, was arrested for connections with murderous right-wing paramilitaries responsible for assassinations of union activists and who also forced displacements of Afro-Colombian and other citizens off their lands.
Read More »Unlike the Bush Administration and Hillary who don’t support unions and who are outspoken in their dislike and mistrust of grass roots organizations like Move On, I do support unions and grass roots organizations like Move On.
[Oh Hillary will make the fire-brand speeches to the unions telling them what they want to hear like she did in Ohio and Pennsylvania, but her husband and her campaign strategists go behind our backs to smooth things over with anti-unionist murdering thugs like the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe from whom in 2007 Bill Clinton accepted an award and also from whose country Bill Clinton accepted $800,000 for four speeches. If you really believe that that money was for four speeches, then you are easily deceived. The money went to encourage Bill do all he can to twist his wife’s and Congress’s arm to support the anti-union Colombian FTA. If you think that Bill Clinton is not going to have his hand in our government when his wife is president, then you haven’t been listening to the Clintons.]
I understand the relationship between the health of a Democracy and the health of its unions. To the extent that our unions are not healthy, that is to the extent that our democracy is not healthy.
Read More »If you are a real Democrat, this should make you ready for real change—not a phony watered down Republican version of change but real solid Democratic grassroots change. If you are a real democrat, this should make you think twice about a candidate whose husband has taken $800,000 from a government who condones death squads to murder people who even try to start unions.
For five years the Aviation Transportation and Security Act has given Bush the authority to bar screeners from exercising collective bargaining rights that are granted to other federal employees. And how does management treat workers who have no union protection? Well the screeners like other non-union workers for corporations like Wal-Mart can be forced to work without prior notice. They can face retaliation for complaining. They can have their shifts arbitrarily changed, and in general they can be harassed any way that management feels like harassing them with impunity.
Read More »If you will remember, I have mentioned more than once the death squads in South America that murder union activists. I hope that you will also remember that Mark Penn was caught recently in South America feeding from both sides of the trough as he was making a $300,000 deal to represent the Colombians in helping them to get their trade agreement with USA passed. Hillary “fired” him even though he still works for her.
Her husband, Bill Clinton has taken $800,000* from the Colombians. Do you think perhaps that a wife does not benefit from her husband’s income? Perhaps some, but Hillary is not among them.
So what’s the squawk?
As if the previous were not enough to squawk about, then this should be:At last the lies regarding the Colombian government have been exposed. On Wednesday, April 23, Mario Uribe who is Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s cousin and closest political advisor, was arrested for connections with murderous right-wing paramilitaries responsible for assassinations of union activists and who also forced displacements of Afro-Colombian and other citizens off their lands.
According to Global Trade watch, last year’s Peru vote suggested that some members of Congress still don’t get that it’s the NAFTA model that is the problem. (Likely its the Republicans and the DLC members who "don't get it".)
At last, with this extraordinary piece of evidence, they will be forced to choose sides for the Free Tree Agreement (FTA) and its murderous human rights abuses or against the FTA and the Uribe government’s reign of terror. But the people will know.
Columbia has the world’s highest rate of assassinations of union leaders and activists in the world and it has increased relative to last year. Over 500 unionist have been killed by right-wing paramilitaries since Alvaro Uribe took office. They have prosecuted less than 3 percent of the cases.PLEASE STAND UP FOR LABOR! CONTACT YOUR US CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS NOW. TELL THEM TO VOTE NO ON THE COLUMBIA FTA
I started out the week on Monday with a trip to State College to meet with the PSU College Democrats. I took the time to give special thanks to the PSU Dems for their hard work getting students registered to vote in this election. It really is encouraging to see how interested young voters throughout the district are about this election. I think our young people realize that they have to get involved and make a difference in this election. Read More »
I swear , if this man wasn't a former POTUS , I'd tell him to go **** himself and all things considered, I have no doubt that this one actually would.
I recently wrote a poem entitled "We're You. Only Sober" (I have it saved at home) that I deleted from Party Builder because it was seen by some in the Baby Bommer Generation as a little too divisive .Good friends in their 60's explained to me that even though it was a good poem, they just thought that it could have the potential to come across as ageist.
But , now I kind of regret it because Bill Clinton , today , just launched an all out ASSAULT on the YOUTH. Oh, yeah. He called us all FOOLS. So, okay. If you're not a Baby Boomer , you're a fool according to Bill Clinton. This is what he said in response to the polls showing a generational divide between Clinton and Obama. This was his excuse as to why younger voters are not flocking towards his wife. He's talking about two generations of VOTERS here people. Gen X and Millenials.
In any event , I would like to hear from Baby Boomers for both Clinton and Obama, especially the ones who read my poem and either complained ir cautioned against it. I would like to know what you think of the former POTUS's comments. I really would like to know if you think they hint or reek of ageism or is it okay when it's Boomers. I'm just curious. Please , feel free to express your true feelings. If you don't think it's a big deal, just say so.
Some are saying: "What does it matter if Bill Clinton takes $800,000 from Colombians who want the CAFTA trade agreements. So what if Hillary's campaign manager is representing Colombian and American businesses who want to pass CAFTA. All I can say to you is please get an education before you go to the polls!!!!!
Following from the Colombia Journal online is part of the evil violence that CAFTA would support and it is not my idea of an agenda for Democrats. PLEASE THINK ABOUT THIS BEFORE YOU VOTE FOR A CANDIDATE WHO THINKS THAT 35,000 LOBBYISTS IN DC are just fine and "the American way. Yeah just what we need, trade agreements with these kinds of people.
"In 2001, A lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Florida that accused the Coca-Cola Company, its Colombian subsidiary and business affiliates of using paramilitary death squads to murder, torture, kidnap and threaten union leaders at the multinational soft drink manufacturer's Colombian bottling plants. The suit was filed on July 20 by the United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of SINALTRAINAL, the Colombian union that represents workers at Coca-Cola's Colombian bottling plants; the estate of a murdered union leader; and five other unionists who worked for Coca-Cola and were threatened, kidnapped or tortured by paramilitaries.
Colombia has long been the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists with almost 4,000 murdered in the past 15 years. Last year saw 128 labor leaders assassinated. "
More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/nov/29/colombia.sibyllabrodzinsky
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SUPER-DELEGATES
I realize that many of you feel that you owe the Clintons your loyalty, and others are waiting to ensure that you act in the Democratic Party’s best interest, but when is enough enough? Even the most rabid Clinton supporters have to recognize by now that Hillary can’t possibly secure the Democratic nomination without literally tearing the Democratic Party apart--and Hillary knows that better than anyone. So it must be clear to everyone by now that Hillary is no longer in this race to win. Hillary’s sole purpose at this point is to stay in the race as long as she can, and sling enough mud on Barack Obama to prevent him from winning in November. Then, since at McCain’s age he’s not expected to remain in office but one term, Hillary will still be young enough to run in 2012. I’ve mentioned Hillary’s strategy before, but it bears repeating, since it stands as a monument to mean-spirited selfishness. Read More »
LUCY'S ASTONISHMENT WHEN "Desi" Bill returns from one of his foreign policy missions to South America with several hundred trade agreements stuffed in his carpet bag.
Posted By The Media Line Staff
IRAQ (The Media Line) April 8, 2008 " Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki announced on Monday he would ban a powerful Shi'ite parliamentary bloc from running in the next local elections unless it disarmed its 60,000-strong armed force.
The 'Sadri parliamentary bloc, led by Muqtada A-'Sadr, responded by saying it would disarm its armed force, known as the Mahdi Army, only if the Shi'ite religious authorities ordered them to do so.
"The Mahdi Army does not accept its orders from anyone except A-'Sadr and the religious authorities with whom he consults. If the religious authorities would ask him to disarm the Mahdi Army, he will definitely execute their demand," spokesman for the 'Sadri bloc, 'Salah A-'Ubeidi told reporters. Read More »
It’s a risky thing to do; I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t go near it, publicly, this controversy over the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of presidential contender, Barack Obama. However, since misunderstanding and obfuscation are galloping in the nation’s media, as a pastor and teacher both of the Bible and of ethics and politics, I must add a word to the tumult.
We have been inundated with one-minute excerpts from sermons of Pastor Wright on YouTube that make him appear to be a wacky black separatist and racist. Senator Clinton has implied and others have accused Senator Obama of holding racist views for refusing to repudiate Wright. Are these charges against Pastor Wright justified? Does he preach hate against white people? If so, why has he been so important to the church– both black and white– in America for a generation, even supported by the Methodist churches in Washington, DC and Arkansas that the Clintons attended for years? If not, why does his preaching sound so angry?