Letter to Hillary: remember when John McCain slimed your daughter
Dear Hillary,
Reasons abound why you should do all you can to defeat John McCain—but for you, it should be personal. Maybe you've forgotten in the heat of the Democratic contest. But remember McCain's cruel joke about your daughter, when Chelsea was 18 and vulnerable. This alone should give you every reason to stand against McCain—and nothing to boost his chances.
McCain made the joke at a 1998 Republican Senate fundraiser. "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?" he asked. "Because her father is Janet Reno." Chelsea was a lovely young woman then, and is even lovelier now. But when you're 18, an attack like that can be deeply wounding. It's outrageous for McCain to slime an innocent young woman who'd done nothing to offend him—just to throw red meat to a Republican crowd.
It would be bad enough had McCain's joke targeted only Janet Reno and you, feeding the misogynist myth that any assertive woman must be gay. But as adults, both you and Reno could recognize the nasty joke as reflecting solely on the man who made it. Sliming teenage Chelsea like that, however, crossed a fundamental line—a line that I’m sure matters for you and Bill as parents.
Reasons abound why you should do all you can to defeat John McCain—but for you, it should be personal. Maybe you've forgotten in the heat of the Democratic contest. But remember McCain's cruel joke about your daughter, when Chelsea was 18 and vulnerable. This alone should give you every reason to stand against McCain—and nothing to boost his chances.
McCain made the joke at a 1998 Republican Senate fundraiser. "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?" he asked. "Because her father is Janet Reno." Chelsea was a lovely young woman then, and is even lovelier now. But when you're 18, an attack like that can be deeply wounding. It's outrageous for McCain to slime an innocent young woman who'd done nothing to offend him—just to throw red meat to a Republican crowd.
It would be bad enough had McCain's joke targeted only Janet Reno and you, feeding the misogynist myth that any assertive woman must be gay. But as adults, both you and Reno could recognize the nasty joke as reflecting solely on the man who made it. Sliming teenage Chelsea like that, however, crossed a fundamental line—a line that I’m sure matters for you and Bill as parents.
Jesus knows a camel when he sees one: We are NOT passing through the eye of that needle, America...
Dedicated to Bobbie L.
In the sermon just minutes before his death, Archbishop Oscar Romero (a man who truly practiced the teachings of Christ) reminded his congregation of the parable of the wheat. "Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grains of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us. I am bound, as a pastor, by divine command to give my life for those whom I love, and that is all Salvadoreans, even those who are going to kill me."
--These words appeared in a newspaper just two weeks before Archbishop Romero was shot (by a filthy Right Wing Death Squad supported by the US) while celebrating Holy Communion in the hospital which had been his home since his enthronement in 1977.
"You could piss off Jesus Christ himself!"
--Russ Miller
In the sermon just minutes before his death, Archbishop Oscar Romero (a man who truly practiced the teachings of Christ) reminded his congregation of the parable of the wheat. "Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grains of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us. I am bound, as a pastor, by divine command to give my life for those whom I love, and that is all Salvadoreans, even those who are going to kill me."
--These words appeared in a newspaper just two weeks before Archbishop Romero was shot (by a filthy Right Wing Death Squad supported by the US) while celebrating Holy Communion in the hospital which had been his home since his enthronement in 1977.
"You could piss off Jesus Christ himself!"
--Russ Miller
Granny D says Bush guilty of treason, urges people to scare Congress into ending occupation
Doris "Granny D" Haddock, 98, delivered the following remarks in Gettysburg:
Thank you.
It is a great honor to be here again. One should never bring a long speech to Gettysburg, so I shall be only two or three times as long as Mr. Lincoln.
I first met some of you eight years ago. We were all so worried about losing our democracy that we were wiling to walk across the country and go to jail. You meet the nicest people in the Washington jail, by the way –that’s where I met Lou and Patricia Hammann.
Eight years ago we could not have imagined what our country was headed into.
Thank you.
It is a great honor to be here again. One should never bring a long speech to Gettysburg, so I shall be only two or three times as long as Mr. Lincoln.
I first met some of you eight years ago. We were all so worried about losing our democracy that we were wiling to walk across the country and go to jail. You meet the nicest people in the Washington jail, by the way –that’s where I met Lou and Patricia Hammann.
Eight years ago we could not have imagined what our country was headed into.
A tale of three men: Pete, Norman, and Bill - More from the take back America conference
A Tale of Three Men: Pete, Norman, and Bill
More from the Take Back America Conference
I've already written about the energy and passion of the presenters and honorees at the Take Back America (TBA) conference. Some even made their appearance on celluloid, rather than in person. Although Pete Seeger was not actually at the conference, we were well aware of his influence and his example. "Pete Seeger - the Power of Song" is a movie I had been eager to see ever since I first heard about it. I didn't realize that the conference's honoree, Norman Lear, was the co-producer. Because I was late to the session, I also missed Lear's opening remarks and the very beginning of the film. So I got to see it without any editorial commentary. It didn't take long to realize that Pete Seeger was and is the embodiment of that very same energy, passion and love of country that characterized the conference. In fact, it was quite easy to see what drove Norman Lear to make this documentary. The two men have a lot in common.
More from the Take Back America Conference
I've already written about the energy and passion of the presenters and honorees at the Take Back America (TBA) conference. Some even made their appearance on celluloid, rather than in person. Although Pete Seeger was not actually at the conference, we were well aware of his influence and his example. "Pete Seeger - the Power of Song" is a movie I had been eager to see ever since I first heard about it. I didn't realize that the conference's honoree, Norman Lear, was the co-producer. Because I was late to the session, I also missed Lear's opening remarks and the very beginning of the film. So I got to see it without any editorial commentary. It didn't take long to realize that Pete Seeger was and is the embodiment of that very same energy, passion and love of country that characterized the conference. In fact, it was quite easy to see what drove Norman Lear to make this documentary. The two men have a lot in common.
Fire and race
What could be more brittle than “Americanism”? What could be more tedious than the mass defense of its teary-eyed, ahistorical ignorance?
We are still in the toddler stage of national awareness, apparently, too young to be told how we got here. Thus the fiery Rev. Jeremiah Wright, proclaiming the bitter truths of ghetto America — skewering the ugly and cruel side of our righteousness, challenging the saintliness of our military might, railing about slavery and poverty and Nagasaki, committing the ultimate sacrilege of uttering “God damn America … for killing innocent people” — is just too, too much for the purveyors of genteel know-nothingism in the media who work so hard to make sure our presidential elections are intellectually stress-free and who have denounced him en masse with the all-purpose condemnation “anti-American.”
We are still in the toddler stage of national awareness, apparently, too young to be told how we got here. Thus the fiery Rev. Jeremiah Wright, proclaiming the bitter truths of ghetto America — skewering the ugly and cruel side of our righteousness, challenging the saintliness of our military might, railing about slavery and poverty and Nagasaki, committing the ultimate sacrilege of uttering “God damn America … for killing innocent people” — is just too, too much for the purveyors of genteel know-nothingism in the media who work so hard to make sure our presidential elections are intellectually stress-free and who have denounced him en masse with the all-purpose condemnation “anti-American.”
City of Peace
The great moral issue of our era is the illegal war in Iraq. Like the issues of slavery, the civil rights
movement and the Vietnam War in past epochs, silence on this issue equals complicity.
On March 17, the Citizens Grassroots Congress presented a Columbus "City for Peace" resolution to the Columbus City Council. Notably, 283 cities, 10 counties and 17 states across the nation have passed peace resolutions, from Arrowsic, Maine to South Charleston, West Virginia to Missoula, Montana.
Yet, the Columbus Dispatch, in a March 22 editorial, denounced the peace resolution as an "Empty gesture." They cautioned Council to "focus on city issues," not the war in Iraq. The Dispatch calls the resolution "symbolic and ineffectual."
In 1838, when Angelina Grimke became the first woman to address a legislative body in the U.S., her plea for a resolution from the Massachusetts legislature against slavery met with similar scorn from the mainstream media.
The slaves couldn’t speak for themselves, nor can the more than one million Iraqis who have died as a direct result of Bush’s war. The voices of 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been silenced as well.
On March 17, the Citizens Grassroots Congress presented a Columbus "City for Peace" resolution to the Columbus City Council. Notably, 283 cities, 10 counties and 17 states across the nation have passed peace resolutions, from Arrowsic, Maine to South Charleston, West Virginia to Missoula, Montana.
Yet, the Columbus Dispatch, in a March 22 editorial, denounced the peace resolution as an "Empty gesture." They cautioned Council to "focus on city issues," not the war in Iraq. The Dispatch calls the resolution "symbolic and ineffectual."
In 1838, when Angelina Grimke became the first woman to address a legislative body in the U.S., her plea for a resolution from the Massachusetts legislature against slavery met with similar scorn from the mainstream media.
The slaves couldn’t speak for themselves, nor can the more than one million Iraqis who have died as a direct result of Bush’s war. The voices of 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been silenced as well.
Will Al Gore help shut the nuke power loophole?
Today Al Gore is unveiling a massive campaign to fight climate chaos.
But the hugely funded atomic power industry has jumped on global warming with the Big Lie that its failed reactors can somehow help. It's a sorry replay of the 1950s promise that atomic power would be "too cheap to meter."
Just before the 2000 election, as senior advisor to the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, I wrote then-Vice President Gore asking that he help delete from the Kyoto Accords any reference to nukes as a possible solution to global warming. On November 3, 2000 (the letter is posted at the www.nirs.org web site) Gore wrote back:
But the hugely funded atomic power industry has jumped on global warming with the Big Lie that its failed reactors can somehow help. It's a sorry replay of the 1950s promise that atomic power would be "too cheap to meter."
Just before the 2000 election, as senior advisor to the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, I wrote then-Vice President Gore asking that he help delete from the Kyoto Accords any reference to nukes as a possible solution to global warming. On November 3, 2000 (the letter is posted at the www.nirs.org web site) Gore wrote back:
Antioch College Alumni Outraged at University's Rejection of Bid; Vow to Continue to Fight and to Support "Nonstop Antioch"
March 28, 2008– Antioch College alumni working through the College Revival Fund, Inc. (CRF), restated their unwavering support for Nonstop Antioch today, in response to news that the University Board of Trustees had rejected a significant and viable offer by a group of major donors and educational leaders that would have enabled Antioch College to continue operating past the University's June 30, 2008 date of closure.
Ellen Borgersen, Acting President of the CRF, said today in a statement: "The suspicion that the University Board of Trustees was negotiating in bad faith and not interested in saving the College has, unfortunately, been confirmed. Over the past four months, the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (AC3) labored mightily to put together an offer that would be a win-win solution for the University and the College, as well as for the community and for everyone who believes in what Antioch stands for."
Ellen Borgersen, Acting President of the CRF, said today in a statement: "The suspicion that the University Board of Trustees was negotiating in bad faith and not interested in saving the College has, unfortunately, been confirmed. Over the past four months, the Antioch College Continuation Corporation (AC3) labored mightily to put together an offer that would be a win-win solution for the University and the College, as well as for the community and for everyone who believes in what Antioch stands for."
Dispatch smear campaign against Brunner is about delivering Ohio to the GOP
The Columbus Dispatch is in the middle of its most blatant editorial propaganda campaign since the questioning of the late Columbus School Board member Bill Moss' sanity in a front page article.
Their new target is Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The capitol city's daily monopoly and political bludgeon for the multimillionaire Wolfe family's real agenda is ensuring that the Republican Party control Ohio's Apportionment Board after the 2010 census. The party that controls apportionment gerrymanders the state.
The Wolfe family has not allowed a Democrat to be endorsed for President since the re-election of Woodrow Wilson in 1916. In that campaign, the Wolfe's pro-German sentiments won out over their time-honored role as Republican operatives.
The Republican Party believes that Brunner is the most politically vulnerable of the five-member Apportionment Board. The Secretary of State serves along with the Governor, the State Auditor and two members of the state legislature – one from each party by law. Do the math. Brunner's a Dem, so is Governor Strickland. Mary Taylor, the Auditor, is a Republican. It's now 3-2 for the Dems.
Their new target is Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The capitol city's daily monopoly and political bludgeon for the multimillionaire Wolfe family's real agenda is ensuring that the Republican Party control Ohio's Apportionment Board after the 2010 census. The party that controls apportionment gerrymanders the state.
The Wolfe family has not allowed a Democrat to be endorsed for President since the re-election of Woodrow Wilson in 1916. In that campaign, the Wolfe's pro-German sentiments won out over their time-honored role as Republican operatives.
The Republican Party believes that Brunner is the most politically vulnerable of the five-member Apportionment Board. The Secretary of State serves along with the Governor, the State Auditor and two members of the state legislature – one from each party by law. Do the math. Brunner's a Dem, so is Governor Strickland. Mary Taylor, the Auditor, is a Republican. It's now 3-2 for the Dems.
Keep the Republic
The ground feels a little soft, but we’re going to stand it.
Premise one: Having a fair election — all votes counted, all who are eligible and want to vote allowed to vote — is far, far more important, even in 2008, than who wins.
Premise two: Fair elections are not a given. They never have been, but things are worse now than ever before because of a perfect storm, you might say, of factors that have converged in the new millennium: officialdom’s seduction by unsafe, high-tech voting systems; the seizure of power by a party of ruthless true believers who feel entitled to rule and will do anything to win; a polite, confused opposition party that won’t make a stink about raw injustice; and an arrogantly complacent media embedded in the political and economic status quo.
The result: Benjamin Franklin’s worst nightmare.
"Well, Doctor, what have we got — a Republic or a Monarchy?"
"A Republic, if you can keep it."
Premise one: Having a fair election — all votes counted, all who are eligible and want to vote allowed to vote — is far, far more important, even in 2008, than who wins.
Premise two: Fair elections are not a given. They never have been, but things are worse now than ever before because of a perfect storm, you might say, of factors that have converged in the new millennium: officialdom’s seduction by unsafe, high-tech voting systems; the seizure of power by a party of ruthless true believers who feel entitled to rule and will do anything to win; a polite, confused opposition party that won’t make a stink about raw injustice; and an arrogantly complacent media embedded in the political and economic status quo.
The result: Benjamin Franklin’s worst nightmare.
"Well, Doctor, what have we got — a Republic or a Monarchy?"
"A Republic, if you can keep it."