Dr. King: Drum Major for Justice
We celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His dedication and his vision, expressed in word and deed, inspire generation after generation. “I have a dream” will be heard in classrooms across America. School children and TV specials will remind us of his vision of an America in which we would judge others on the quality their character, not the color of their skin. President Bush will add his praise on Dr. King’s birthday. But we should not airbrush Dr. King for public viewing. Dr. King had a dream, but he was just not a dreamer. He was a poetic orator, but he was not just an orator.
Remember me, Dr. King said, as a “drum major for justice.” He was arrested, stoned, knifed, wiretapped, scorned and hated during his life. Then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover loathed King, and the Bureau sought to discredit him even after his death.
Remember me, Dr. King said, as a “drum major for justice.” He was arrested, stoned, knifed, wiretapped, scorned and hated during his life. Then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover loathed King, and the Bureau sought to discredit him even after his death.
The latest Bush mega-catastrophe is now pharmaceuticals
No matter what you think of George W. Bush, he is staking out his claim as a bona fide Horseman of the Apocalypse.
With his Hand of Hell in Iraq already yielding countless dead, $200 billion wasted and a global war against Islam well on its way to Armageddon, Bush has definitively established his ability to wreak unparalleled disaster on a global scale with zero positive outcome.
By drowning New Orleans and turning its alleged rebuilding plan into a sinkhole of corruption and disarray, he has shown he can lay waste to an entire American city.
And now he is visiting disease and death on tens of millions of our elderly and ill with a botched Medicare/Medicaid drug plan that has plunged the nation's pharmacies into total chaos while driving the states even closer to bankruptcy. As you read this, millions of Americans are without medications that may be life-sustaining because of what Bush has done to "improve" their pharmaceutical plan.
One can only shudder at what might come next.
There have, of course, been lesser catastrophes, or ones whose long-term devastation is primarily political.
With his Hand of Hell in Iraq already yielding countless dead, $200 billion wasted and a global war against Islam well on its way to Armageddon, Bush has definitively established his ability to wreak unparalleled disaster on a global scale with zero positive outcome.
By drowning New Orleans and turning its alleged rebuilding plan into a sinkhole of corruption and disarray, he has shown he can lay waste to an entire American city.
And now he is visiting disease and death on tens of millions of our elderly and ill with a botched Medicare/Medicaid drug plan that has plunged the nation's pharmacies into total chaos while driving the states even closer to bankruptcy. As you read this, millions of Americans are without medications that may be life-sustaining because of what Bush has done to "improve" their pharmaceutical plan.
One can only shudder at what might come next.
There have, of course, been lesser catastrophes, or ones whose long-term devastation is primarily political.
Filibuster evasion
In the wake of the Alito hearings, mainline pundits are calling his nomination a done deal. Alito didn’t spew obscenities or green bile. He didn’t admit that he’d reverse Roe v. Wade or vow to proclaim George Bush Lord Emperor. Rehearsed and coached by committee member Lindsay Graham (and by some of the same lawyers who justified Bush’s NSA wiretaps), he instead spoke deferentially and humbly about respecting legal precedent and separation of powers, while Republican committee members made him out to be a mix of Solomon and Mother Teresa. Much like Clarence Thomas during his hearings, Alito dodged the tough questions with evasions and platitudes, suffered convenient memory lapses on areas he couldn’t dodge, and justified controversial past stands by saying he was just trying to be a team player. We know little more about him than before--except about his capacity to dissemble.
Filibuster Bush, impeach Alito
In the wake of the Alito hearings, mainline pundits are calling his
nomination a done deal. Alito didn't spew obscenities or green bile. He
didn't admit that he'd reverse Roe v. Wade or vow to proclaim George Bush
Lord Emperor. Rehearsed and coached by committee member Lindsay Graham (and
by some of the same lawyers who justified Bush's NSA wiretaps), he instead
spoke deferentially and humbly about respecting legal precedent and
separation of powers, while Republican committee members made him out to be
a mix of Solomon and Mother Teresa. Much like Clarence Thomas during his
hearings, Alito dodged the tough questions with evasions and platitudes,
suffered convenient memory lapses on areas he couldn't dodge, and justified
controversial past stands by saying he was just trying to be a team player.
We know little more about him than before--except about his capacity to
dissemble.
Call for a filibuster
From Sheila Parks:
I have just come from a meeting with two Kennedy aides - about Alito. This is about a filibuster. We must get enough Democratic votes for a filibuster. Everyone in each state must work on their Senator - those that voted for Roberts. Call, email, visit, etc., etc., etc. Those up for election are especially vulnerable (of course, this precludes the e-voting machines).
Two free numbers for D.C Capitol Switchboard: 1-866-340-9281 and 1-866-340-9279
EVERYONE SHOULD CALL FEINSTEIN IN CA. SHE IS ON THE COMMITTEE. Everyone should call Feingold - (this from us: 202-224-5323 - or the above numbers. As far as working on the Repubs, there is always Chafee, Snowe and Collins, but working on the Dems is better.
CHOICE IS THE KEY ISSUE we were told
From Stephanie Low:
New Yorkers, in addition to the request below, join the phone banks at PFAW this week and next. Call Tony Simone at 212 420 0440 and tell him you can come in with your cell phone to call people to lobby their reps against Alito. Thanks!
I have just come from a meeting with two Kennedy aides - about Alito. This is about a filibuster. We must get enough Democratic votes for a filibuster. Everyone in each state must work on their Senator - those that voted for Roberts. Call, email, visit, etc., etc., etc. Those up for election are especially vulnerable (of course, this precludes the e-voting machines).
Two free numbers for D.C Capitol Switchboard: 1-866-340-9281 and 1-866-340-9279
EVERYONE SHOULD CALL FEINSTEIN IN CA. SHE IS ON THE COMMITTEE. Everyone should call Feingold - (this from us: 202-224-5323 - or the above numbers. As far as working on the Repubs, there is always Chafee, Snowe and Collins, but working on the Dems is better.
CHOICE IS THE KEY ISSUE we were told
From Stephanie Low:
New Yorkers, in addition to the request below, join the phone banks at PFAW this week and next. Call Tony Simone at 212 420 0440 and tell him you can come in with your cell phone to call people to lobby their reps against Alito. Thanks!
Birth of awareness
One of the heroes of My Lai died a few days ago, dislodging the old horrors and a fleeting national debate the world is begging us to reopen.
Are we the good guys? Is God on our side?
"We kept flying back and forth, reconning in front and in the rear, and it didn't take very long until we started noticing the large number of bodies everywhere. Everywhere we'd look, we'd see bodies. These were infants, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever."
This story only gets worse. It took almost two years before a full-scale investigation got underway and the American public slowly became aware of what helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson happened upon on March 16, 1968: a wanton slaughter of Vietnamese civilians, being carried out by American troops.
"I think a count has been anywhere from two to four hundred, five hundred bodies. . . . I think that's a small count," Thompson, who died of cancer on Jan. 6, related during a My Lai symposium at Tulane University in 1994. He and his two-man crew stood in for the American conscience on that day.
Are we the good guys? Is God on our side?
"We kept flying back and forth, reconning in front and in the rear, and it didn't take very long until we started noticing the large number of bodies everywhere. Everywhere we'd look, we'd see bodies. These were infants, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever."
This story only gets worse. It took almost two years before a full-scale investigation got underway and the American public slowly became aware of what helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson happened upon on March 16, 1968: a wanton slaughter of Vietnamese civilians, being carried out by American troops.
"I think a count has been anywhere from two to four hundred, five hundred bodies. . . . I think that's a small count," Thompson, who died of cancer on Jan. 6, related during a My Lai symposium at Tulane University in 1994. He and his two-man crew stood in for the American conscience on that day.
If it's not one thing...
AUSTIN, Texas -- Boy, you really can't take your eyes off this bunch for a minute, can you? If they're not screwing up one thing, then they're screwing up another -- busy little beavers. And then there are the administrative nightmares they have created all by themselves: The new Medicare prescription-drug benefit is such a disaster area, four states took it over in less than a week just to make sure poor people received their drugs.
A peace movement demanding the rule of law
Remarks prepared for Out of Iraq event in Washington, D.C., on day of 164 Out of Iraq Events around the country, Jan. 7, 2006.
President Nixon famously said that if the President does it, it's legal. And he didn't think that up on his own – that's a way of thinking that has long had currency in America.
Today there are over 150 Out of Iraq events like this one happening around the country. A dozen members of Congress are taking part. Numerous candidates for Congress, local elected officials, and national leaders of the peace movement are speaking. Large crowds are gathering. We'll see what sort of job the media does of noticing. Thus far, progressive and rightwing radio have provided the most coverage. The event in New York will be broadcast on Air America / Nation Radio at 7 p.m. ET, as soon as this event is over.
When I spoke on a rightwing radio show yesterday, I heard from callers who would paraphrase Nixon thus: If the U.S. military does it, it's legal.
President Nixon famously said that if the President does it, it's legal. And he didn't think that up on his own – that's a way of thinking that has long had currency in America.
Today there are over 150 Out of Iraq events like this one happening around the country. A dozen members of Congress are taking part. Numerous candidates for Congress, local elected officials, and national leaders of the peace movement are speaking. Large crowds are gathering. We'll see what sort of job the media does of noticing. Thus far, progressive and rightwing radio have provided the most coverage. The event in New York will be broadcast on Air America / Nation Radio at 7 p.m. ET, as soon as this event is over.
When I spoke on a rightwing radio show yesterday, I heard from callers who would paraphrase Nixon thus: If the U.S. military does it, it's legal.
They must really think we
AUSTIN, Texas -- The governor of Texas is despicable. Of all the crass pandering, of all the gross political kowtowing to ignorance, we haven't seen anything this rank from Gov. Goodhair since, gee, last fall.
Then, he was trying to draw attention away from his spectacular failure on public schools by convincing Texans that gay marriage was a horrible threat to us all. Now, he's trying to disguise the fact that the schools are in freefall by proposing we teach creationism in biology classes.
The funding of the whole school system is so unfair it has been declared unconstitutional by the Texas Supreme Court. All last year, Perry haplessly called special session after special session, trying to fix the problem, and couldn't get anywhere -- not an iota, not a scintilla of leadership.
Instead of facing the grave crisis that may yet result in the schools being closed down, Perry has blithely gone off on creationism -- teach the little perishers the Earth is 6,000 years old, that people lived at the same time as dinosaurs and who cares if the school building is falling apart?
Then, he was trying to draw attention away from his spectacular failure on public schools by convincing Texans that gay marriage was a horrible threat to us all. Now, he's trying to disguise the fact that the schools are in freefall by proposing we teach creationism in biology classes.
The funding of the whole school system is so unfair it has been declared unconstitutional by the Texas Supreme Court. All last year, Perry haplessly called special session after special session, trying to fix the problem, and couldn't get anywhere -- not an iota, not a scintilla of leadership.
Instead of facing the grave crisis that may yet result in the schools being closed down, Perry has blithely gone off on creationism -- teach the little perishers the Earth is 6,000 years old, that people lived at the same time as dinosaurs and who cares if the school building is falling apart?
Forum with Congressmen Moran and Murtha packs hall, 500 turned away
A town hall forum hosted by Congressman Jim Moran and featuring Congressman Jack Murtha packed a large room in Arlington, Va., Thursday evening, and filled an overflow room, and had to turn away another 500 people. The media was well represented.
Both Moran and Murtha spoke strongly in support of ending the war as quickly as possible and pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Murtha complained repeatedly that the Bush Administration contributes only "rhetoric" and no "substance" to this debate.
"Sixty to eighty percent of Iraqis want us out," Murtha said. "And 45 pecent say it's justified to kill Americans. The State Department's own polls say the same thing. It's time to let Iraqis take over this effort. Let them solve their own problems, as we did in the revolutionary war."
"A number of senators running for president called me," Murtha added. "I told them there were two policies. One is redeployment. The other is the President's 'stay the course.' And they're in between. I told them they're missing an opportunity to show leadership. They're so hesitant to take a position."
Both Moran and Murtha spoke strongly in support of ending the war as quickly as possible and pulling all U.S. troops out of Iraq. Murtha complained repeatedly that the Bush Administration contributes only "rhetoric" and no "substance" to this debate.
"Sixty to eighty percent of Iraqis want us out," Murtha said. "And 45 pecent say it's justified to kill Americans. The State Department's own polls say the same thing. It's time to let Iraqis take over this effort. Let them solve their own problems, as we did in the revolutionary war."
"A number of senators running for president called me," Murtha added. "I told them there were two policies. One is redeployment. The other is the President's 'stay the course.' And they're in between. I told them they're missing an opportunity to show leadership. They're so hesitant to take a position."