Hail, Caesar?

There is a growing perception -- and in some cases there are facts to back up the perception -- that Barack Obama has something of a superiority complex. The decision to plan for a stadium rally apart from the convention for his acceptance speech, and the imperial nature of his recent foreign tour, have raised questions. (Further details can be given.) Thinking people have known for some time that our democracy is under attack. Imperial tendencies are strong in both John McCain and Barack Obama has shown by their statements and actions. (Consider, for example, their policies toward Iran.) Such tendencies must be proscribed and eliminated from our political process without delay!

clipped from logisticsmonster.files.wordpress.com

Humanitarian Crisis in Haiti

People eating mudcakes for supper. This is the reality in today's Haiti where half the population is said to be facing starvation. In a world with so many resources this is more than a travesty, it is a horrible tragedy. When mega millionaires are greater in number than ever before, innocent children go to bed uncertain whether they will survive another day. This cannot be accepted by civilized nations. This situation is all the more reason for a new economic model, one in which corporations no longer run the world, and specifically huge food agribusinesses no longer have the power to stop the free flow of food.



http://www.truthout.org/article/half-haitians-face-starvation

Hillary Clinton for President

At the link below you should find a video of Sen. Clinton on the floor of the Senate recently speaking passionately and articulately about the energy situation in our country. (You may also click on the title above.) I ask this question: Can anyone honestly watch this video and not be impressed by the high quality of this person's mind? Can anyone doubt her sincerity? The passion, reasoned though it is, is unmistakable. Would we not want a person such as this in the White House?

Careful readers of my blog and e-mail will recall I have pointed out Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign but did not end it. Other observers of the political season have compared the current situation to the summer of 1932 in which FDR went to the Democratic convention without the requisite number of votes to earn the nomination. It was only on the fourth ballot he became the nominee. Today, neither Barack Obama or Sen. Clinton has garnered the required number of pledged delegates to win the nomination. Super delegates are not bound to any candidate and may change their minds up to the moment of voting. Thus there has been the effort by Just Say No Deal and the Denver Group to ensure Hillary Clinton is duly nominated at the Denver convention and that a fair vote is held.

In the last two months, the economy has continued to seriously sour. Major banks are failing. Gas prices are soaring. Consumer confidence has sunk. It is clear circumstances are much different than they were a year ago when the primary season was beginning. The kind of candidate who was acceptable then is not acceptable now. That is, we need experience and smarts -- and leadership. I believe Hillary Clinton has these requirements and must be assured of a fair nomination and vote at the Convention. I believe Super Delegates must reconsider their stance in light of new information. We must not fall victim to locked-in thinking. Let the conventioneers do their job. Let them hear the speeches on behalf of the candidates. And let them make their choice based on what is truly best for the welfare of this wonderful American country, the United States.



http://ohmyvalve.blogspot.com/2008/07/become-clinton-lobbyist.html

Let Your Voice Be Heard!

Please take time to participate in my new survey. This is my own survey of attitudes and opinions about politics in America in the summer of 2008. The poll should only take five to ten minutes. I will be posting the results here and sharing them with others.

Questions survey attitudes on civic life, types of government, and political avenues to follow in the America of now.

You may learn more at the link below, or by clicking on the title above. Please participate today -- and let your voice be heard!

http://www.misterpoll.com/polls/350239

House Judiciary Committee Holds Strong Hearing

I was so privileged today to listen to a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the so-called Imperial Presidency. There were several wonderful speakers including Dennis Kucinich, Elizabeth Holtzman, Bruce Fein, and Vincent Bugliosi. All four gave ringing calls for impeaching George Bush. Bugliosi was particularly fiery in calling for Bush to be prosecuted for murder in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Contrast my report with what I just read at the National Public Radio web site:

...The House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on Friday from Democrats who would like to see Congress impeach President Bush, even though there is no chance that will happen.

This sentence would be laughable if it weren't coming from such a source. Who knew NPR had a crystal ball? If such a sentence were true it would only be because, unlike in the era of Watergate, the major media in this country have so abdicated their responsibilities as to be accessories to a rising authoritarian state. (For evidence see elsewhere on this blog.)

We must not be dissuaded by the nerveless media. They would have predicted a hearing such as today would never have happened yet it did. I hope whoever wrote this sentence at NPR will be able to look himself or herself in the mirror because this person is a traitor to the cause of the rule of law in this country. Support for this statement is the hearing itself. (You should be able to watch an archive presentation at < CSPAN.org >.

Summer Hope Still Springing

Recipients of my personal e-mail list know of my keen interest in the organized effort to make sure Sen. Clinton's name is placed in nomination and duly voted on at the Denver Convention. The reasons are elucidated in the excellent blog post referred to here.

Please read the post and let its import sink in. You are not going to have the corporatized media agreeing this is important. (However, The New York Times has printed a short article about the movement today.)

But with the print ads which have already appeared in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, and an expected ad on C.N.N. in the offing, public awareness of the campaign is bound to increase.

For now, I am pleased to link to this fine article by Heidi Li Feldman.

Viva democracy!



http://heidilipotpourri.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-being-on-ballot-is-not-enough.html

Impeachment Campaign Still Gaining Strength

You may have heard that an impeachment hearing has finally been scheduled in the House Judiciary Committee. The chairman, John Conyers, has reportedly said that "we don't do impeachment", but that Rep. Dennis Kucinich will be allowed to talk about impeachment. The article linked below tells all about the work of several impeachment lobbyists now at work in Washington, D.C. (You may also click on the title above.)

You have probably also heard about the claims why Bush and Cheney should not be impeached: not enough time, a distraction, and so on. However, the fact is impeachment is long, long over-due and it is not too late. In fact every day that goes by makes impeachment more urgent: relentless violence in Iraq predicated on Presidential (and Vice-Presidential) lies, outing a C.I.A. agent, conducting an un-Constitutional and illegal wiretap program, illegally detaining U.S. citizens in military brigs. If this President is not held accountable the next President will see it as a green light to continue to violate the Constitution. As Naomi Wolf has pointed out in her best-selling work, The End of America, our country is in the midst of a Fascist shift, with all the attributes of that earlier Fascist shift in Nazi Germany. This is serious business!

Fortunately, our Founding Fathers foresaw just such a circumstance and provided the mechanism of impeachment. If the media in this country were doing its job, every American would understand why it is crucial that this person be impeached. And you will recall that impeachment is like a bill of allegations. Only the Senate can convict leading to a President's removal from office. Thus, a good, strong case will have to be made before the President is legally removed from office.

I harbor no personal animosity to anyone. But I do put our country's needs ahead of the need of any one individual to have a particular job. So I hope you will join me in supporting impeachment. And if you are an American citizen, you can start by calling the Judiciary Committee to offer your support (phone no. 202/225-3951).

http://www.democrats.com/node/17173

Grassroots Movement to Nominate Hillary Clinton Anyway!

It was my pleasure and privilege to listen in moments ago on a conference-call "radio show" about the movement to have Hillary Clinton nominated for President by the Democratic Party in 2008! Though this may seem fantastic, we must remember the very unusual times in which we are living.

We are in a situation in which the national media is several months behind reality in their reporting, and grossly underestimating the painful economic difficulties many honest and hard-working Americans find themselves in now. Into this void, a grassroots movement, born of anger over the patronizing of the national Democratic committee under the leadership of Howard Dean, has arisen to try to represent the New Deal core of the Democratic Party.

This movement has begun to get some media coverage with Fox News somewhat leading the way (albeit with ulterior motives as many ex-Clinton supporters initially said they were voting for John McCain.) As I have read about this movement and watched their representatives on television, I find the people involved to be capable and credible. Though the effort is in its infancy, it is telling that after thirty days of the corporate media treating Sen. Obama as if he were already the nominee, millions (apparently) of people, both women and men, have -- with varying amounts of vehemence -- refused to acknowledge Barack Obama as the true candidate of the Democratic Party.

Much organizing is going on with caravans to Denver planned, letter-writing campaigns in full swing, and a call-in "radio program" up and running on a regular basis. (For more on the "radio" program see the link below.)

Never in my life have I seen the people of this country take unto themselves so directly the task of challenging a supposed nominee. I do believe there is a chance they could actually succeed, although the task is a difficult one. However, with Sen. Obama tacking hard to the right and millions of his supporters disillusioned, it almost seems he would have to change his positions again in order to stop the loss of his more left-leaning supporters.

So there are many unknowns here. But the fact that this movement exists at all is interesting, if nothing else. And, in the best case, there may actually be a chance for success if it becomes widely apparent among Democrats, including the superdelegates, that the Obama campaign is not solidly based and thus doomed to failure.

Do visit < puma08.com > and see for yourself.


http://www.blogtalkradio.com/show.aspx?userurl=NO-WE-WONT&year=2008&month=07&day=07&url=No-We-Wont

Total Information Awareness is Creeping Back and It IS Creepy!

You may remember the Total Information Awareness program which sought to enlist utility workers and others in spying on ordinary Americans. This program, when discovered, became very controversial and Americans were told it had been shelved.

Now comes word of a state-by-state revival of the domestic spying program. Six states have already activated the program and many more are set to follow suit. This is what happened in Hitler's Germany and has happened in many societies. It is a technique of control on the part of the government and has little if anything to do with stopping "terrorists." The employing of lay persons to engage in law enforcement activities is particularly dangerous.

I once again recommend The End of America by Naomi Wolf as being the best explanation of creeping fascism in America. My friend, this is real. I strongly and urgently recommend you get this book and learn what is happening in America now!




http://www.truthout.org/article/federal-terror-watch-program-uses-local-law-enforcement-eyes

Rampant Ignorance in America

Today I have looked over an interesting article on the state of knowledge of the average American, particularly regarding basic civics facts. The point of the author, Rick Shenkman, is we cannot have a democracy with a citizenry so woefully ignorant about basic information.

To read the essay click on the title above. Also there you can click through to a great clip of Mr. Shenkman on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. There are also links to other articles and web sites.


http://www.truthout.org/article/how-ignorant-are-we