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Rev. Jeremiah Wright is right

steveargue2 — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 23:37:02 GMT

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is right
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
By: Ben Becker

The corporate lynching of a Black reverend

You know a political system is bankrupt when telling the truth becomes a scandal.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been the target of a racist media campaign.

In the last week, the corporate media has effectively sullied the image of Barack Obama to millions of potential voters. He has not been exposed for an extramarital affair or fiscal corruption. No, the scandal is that Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, talks openly about the history and perseverance of institutional racism in this country.

Wright is a Black liberation theologian, encouraging his congregation to embrace a perspective that reveals and highlights the concealed role of Africa and people of African descent, so they can speak "for themselves, as subjects in history, not objects in history." He is a widely respected community leader whose sermons focus on social justice, public health, collective responsibility and Black self-determination. Trinity welcomes people of all nationalities. He is part of the United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination that includes 1.2 million members from all backgrounds.

Regardless, the corporate media pundits seized upon the remarks of Obama’s spiritual advisor and smeared him as an anti-white, anti-American "Black racist." In this demonization campaign, political and social context were thrown out the window, and all pretenses of objectivity abandoned. As with the media campaign against Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic in the run-up to the imperialist invasions of their countries, the only thing that emerged out of this slanderous "journalism" was the image of the "demon."

The campaign has been effective at pushing some white voters away from supporting Obama. In a national Democratic poll conducted between March 14 and 18, Sen. Hillary Clinton overtook Obama by seven percentage points. Just a few days earlier, Obama was ahead by several points. Obama lost his lead over Sen. John McCain in the same period. This abrupt swing can only be attributed to the racist demonization campaign conducted against Rev. Wright.

Corporate media shapes racist consciousness

When Obama won the Iowa caucuses in early January, he started off his speech with the words, "They said this day would never come." His message was indirect, but clear: his presidency would unite the nation and heal the historical rifts, between blue states and red states, Black people and white people. If an African American man could win a state that was 92 percent white, clearly there was reason to believe or "hope" that this country could finally bury racism.

Obama himself has gone to great lengths to avoid being labeled as the "Black candidate," leaving it to others to emphasize the potential symbolism of an African American president. He has hewed the Democratic Party line closely, avoiding any subjects that could appear as "Black issues."

With his message of "change," powerfully orated and carefully packaged, Obama went on to win not only the states in the southeast with large Black populations, but also overwhelmingly white states like Kansas, Vermont and Wyoming. This in itself was a remarkable development. It showed that without an active racist campaign stirred up by the government and the media, there exists the basis for multinational unity—even if in this case on patriotic and non-working-class terms—organized under Black leadership.

It was actually Bill Clinton, the self-styled ally of the Black community, who first tried to stir up racism among white voters. He suggestively compared Obama’s primary victory in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson’s victory there 20 years earlier. In doing so, he intended to elicit fears from white "middle" America that Obama was a civil rights warrior in disguise.

Later, Hillary Clinton prodded Obama in a presidential debate about why he had "denounced" but not "rejected" Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The question was beyond ridiculous. It was merely an attempt to link Farrakhan’s name with Obama’s in the minds of backward white voters. At present, the Clinton camp is undoubtedly celebrating the vile demonization of Rev. Wright.

This is the tragic reality of racism in U.S. society. It is not automatically the overriding factor in every political context. But it can be turned on, almost with the flip of a switch, by the country’s ruling class. With the mass media, they have tested and precisely calibrated this racist machine over generations. Like all ideologies, it can be challenged, cracked, and in some instances, smashed. But this requires an active anti-racist struggle, which shows through experience the class character of the media and the common benefits of multinational organizing.

If these white voters had sat through one of Wright’s sermons, had heard a fuller clip of his remarks, or had been given the chance to hear the reverend himself, it is doubtful his comments would have had a major impact. But instead, in show after show, newsreel after newsreel, FoxNews and CNN only played sound-bites of Wright saying "Goddamn America." Long before corporate-owned television had become the primary instrument for shaping popular consciousness, Marx famously wrote, "the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas." Centuries later, his words hold true.

Wright is right

Rev. Wright was right when he identified the centrality of racism in U.S. history and said, "the country and culture is controlled by rich white people." A brief survey of Wall St. board rooms—or the Senate floor—makes this an indisputable fact.

Rev. Wright was right when he said, "the government lied about the Pearl Harbor." Rev. Wright was right when he said Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction. Rev. Wright was right when he called the government an "arrogant, racist military superpower."

He was right when he called Black men turning on Black men "fighting the wrong enemy," because "both are primary targets in an oppressive society that sees both of you as a dangerous threat." Look at the disproportionate incarceration rate and lengthier sentences for young Black men.

Rev. Wright was right when he said Washington supported "state terrorism against the Palestinians and Black South Africans" and now, referencing the World Trade Center attacks, "the stuff we’ve done overseas is now brought right back home into our own front yards. America’s chickens are coming home to roost."

Why is it so hard to believe that a destructive and imperial foreign policy creates enemies abroad? U.S. activity in the Middle East—not to mention the occupation of the Muslim holy lands in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf war—caused widespread indignation in the region.

Yet, while Democrats have scored points off of Bush’s declining popularity due to the Iraq war, it is still considered heretical to suggest that the plane hijackers had a motive beyond "extremism." Bush’s ridiculous notion that they "hate our freedom" still holds sway.

Rev. Wright was right when he said "the government lied about the Tuskegee experiment," in which the government left African American men infected with syphilis to die. In every stage of U.S. history, Black people have had to endure criminal and sadistic medical experimentation. Puerto Rican women were forcibly sterilized. This history is rarely mentioned in history textbooks, but is well known in the most oppressed sectors of society. A grave distrust for the established medical consensus on the origins of HIV is perfectly justifiable.

And yes, Rev. Wright is right when he says "Goddamn America" for killing innocent people without batting an eye and "for treating her citizens as less than human." Should the country be blessed for defending apartheid South Africa and upholding Jim Crow too?

On March 18, Obama gave a lengthy speech condemning "in unequivocal terms" Wright’s comments as "not only wrong, but divisive."

Obama referred to Wright as a sort of radical uncle, whose views he does not endorse, but who he cannot disown any "more than he can disown the Black community." He called Wright’s views on the centrality of racism in U.S. society "profoundly distorted," a reflection of an embittered civil rights generation for whom "the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away." Distancing himself from Wright’s defense of the Palestinian people, Obama emphasized that conflicts in the Middle East stemmed not from "stalwart allies like Israel," but instead from the "perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam."

The New York Times lauded Obama’s speech as one of the most important political pronouncements in 50 years, for having stimulated dialogue on such a sensitive issue. This episode— in which the media forced Obama to repudiate the politics of the Black community in order to maintain credibility—reveals what the liberal commentators will not say: Wright is right.

Although it is certainly historic that millions of white voters have entered their local polling stations and pulled the lever for a Black candidate, a more profound anti-racist struggle is needed to halt the ruling class’s racist campaign. A good place to start is to defend Rev. Wright from the corporate media lynch mob.

posted in Democrats - 2 replies

Telling the Truth is Islam Bashing?

Rocky — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:20:12 GMT

Democrats and Republicans need to read this entire blog:

Telling the Truth is Islam Bashing?

"I am bombarded by hate and threats by the Allah-fearing fanatics, simply because I speak the truth about Islam. If telling the truth about Islam is Islam bashing, then mea culpa.

Question: Does Islam get a pass because it is a religion? Who says Islam is a religion? Millions do? What is the evidence? The words of masses of brainwashed carriers of the Islamic virus, transmitted to them by their parents, are worthless as evidence. What counts is the irrefutable fact that this creed, claimed to be the one and only religion of Allah, has been and continues to be a source of great suffering for non-Muslims as well as the ignorant masses of Muslims themselves.

I will share with you just a few of thousands of horrific things that Muslims do to people of other religions or those without any religion at all..."

Enjoy the full blog
http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2008/07/telling-truth-is-islam-bashing.html

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posted in Democrats - 0 replies

McDonald's pays $1 million in illegal immigration case

Rocky — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:30:59 GMT

McDonald's pays $1 million in illegal immigration case

McDonald's franchisee will pay $1 million in Nevada illegal immigration case

By Associated Press

"NEW YORK (AP) _ A McDonald's Corp. franchisee will pay a $1 million fine after pleading guilty in Las Vegas federal court to felony immigration offenses for giving false Social Security numbers to illegal aliens.

The charges follow an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who have said management of Mack Associates Inc. knowingly hired illegal alien workers in Reno, Nev.-area McDonald's restaurants, supplying them with false identification.

The Justice Department released details of the plea agreement late Wednesday.

In U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, attorneys for Mack Associates filed guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien's unlawful residence in the U.S. and one count of aiding and abetting an alien to remain in the U.S., which are felony offenses.

According to the plea agreement, Mack Associates management hired people known to reside in the U.S. illegally, and gave them names and Social Security numbers belonging to other individuals.

In addition to the fine, the government and Mack Associates agreed that the company be placed on probation during the period the fine is outstanding.

Joe Gillespie, director of operations for Mack Associates, and the franchisee's former vice president, Jimmy Moore, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting an alien to remain in the U.S. Both men face a maximum penalty of no more than five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In September, agents encountered 58 people working illegally at 11 McDonald's restaurants owned by Mack Associates near Reno, Nev., and were arrested. About 30 of these workers have been returned to their native countries. The remaining workers were provided with documentation to stay in the U.S., pending an outcome of the criminal investigation.

Representatives for Mack Associates and McDonald's were not immediately available to comment."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-mcdonalds-investigation,0,3392325.story

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posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Kucinich's July 4th message

Rocky — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:37:00 GMT

Kucinich's July 4th message

Friday July 4, 2008

"Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has been at the forefront of the attempt to push for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and last month presented 35 articles of impeachment to Congress.

Now Kucinich has released an Independence Day message which invokes the words of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to urge support for impeachment and the restoration of the rule of law.

"Some Democratic leaders say impeachment's off the table," Kucinich begins. "So let's set a new table for our nation, upon which we place the Constitution, and where we demand that all those who've taken an oath to defend it keep their promise and protect our nation from the threat within. Please go to kucinich.us now and sign the petition which calls for impeachment. This is the one petition that will make a difference because I will be personally delivering it to your member of Congress."

"Two hundred thirty two years ago, our nation was 'conceived in liberty,' continues Kucinich, quoting Lincoln's famous phrase. "We have once again reached a moment of truth, one that Lincoln recognized at Gettysburg, as to 'whether this nation, or any nation so conceived or so dedicated, can long endure.'"

"Through the ashes of the Civil War," he goes on, "Lincoln prayed 'that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.' This 4th of July 2008, we face a different kind of war, one which is trying our souls, a war based on lies."

"With the power of truth, the power of the people," Kucinich concludes, "we can achieve a new birth of freedom." As the strains of "America the Beautiful" swell in the background, he urges, "Be the answer to Lincoln's prayer. Please pledge your support now for restoring the rule of law in America. As we once again celebrate Independence Day, let us celebrate freedom from fear and pledge that this government of the people will survive in this land that we love."

Meanwhile, President Bush delivered a July 4th address before a naturalization ceremony for new citizens at Thomas Jefferson's home of Monticello that was repeatedly interrupted by protesters. According to news accounts, "shouts from protesters were heard during Bush's remarks," while a transcript notes repeated occurrences all through the speech of "Audience disturbance," "Audience interruption," and "Audience interruption continues."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Kucinich_calls_for_new_birth_of_0704.html

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Obama Support For 'Faith-Based' Program Is Disappointing, Says Americans United

Rocky — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:06:54 GMT

Obama Support For 'Faith-Based' Program Is Disappointing, Says Americans United

But Watchdog Group Says Candidate’s Opposition To Religious Discrimination In Hiring And Publicly Funded Proselytism Are Steps In Right Direction

"Rather than try to correct the defects of the Bush “faith-based” initiative, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would do better to shut it down, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Obama today announced a proposal to expand faith-based funding during a speech in Zanesville, Ohio.

“I am disappointed,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “This initiative has been a failure on all counts, and it ought to be shut down, not expanded.”

However, Lynn said he was pleased to hear Obama express support for church-state separation and say that he would bar government-funded proselytism and religious discrimination in hiring when tax dollars are involved.

“It is imperative that public funds not pay for proselytizing or subsidize discrimination in hiring,” said Lynn. “Obama has promised that he will not support publicly funded proselytism or discrimination in hiring, and that’s an important commitment.”

The Bush administration has repeatedly insisted that religious charities can discriminate on religious grounds in hiring staff when running publicly funded programs.

Lynn said he is concerned that the Obama plan apparently would allow direct tax funding of houses of worship to run social service programs. That, said Lynn, raises serious issues of entanglement between religion and government.

Americans United has led opposition to the Bush faith-based initiative since it was unveiled in 2001."

http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=9927&JServSessionIdr009=oibugz9xz3.app13a

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posted in Democrats - 0 replies

"SCOTUS overturns 'Roe', eliminates right of privacy"

Enrika — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:56:31 GMT

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/3/123640/9421/696/528154

"SCOTUS overturns 'Roe', eliminates right of privacy"

by clammyc
Tue Jun 03, 2008 at 09:37:00 AM PDT

You can expect to see that headline if John McCain wins the Presidency.

It is no secret that the non-"activist judges" on the Supreme Court are the older ones, and it is no secret that there could be two, maybe even three appointments over the next 4 years. And it is also no secret that McCain has been pandering to those who want to erode the Constitution further - ironically in the name of "strictly interpreting it".

One of the more difficult things that face Democrats and progressives is to undo the "maverick" and "moderate" brand that McCain has spent decades building and crafting. There are mountains of evidence, hundreds of votes, countless comments, actions and people that he has closely aligned himself with - yet he is STILL though of as more likely to reach across the aisle and more likely to effectively work with the other party than Obama.

There are millions of independent or moderate voters who don’t know The real McCain and are unable to or unwilling to accept the cold hard reality that he is precisely the opposite of the carefully crafted persona that he is perceived to have.

I’ve been doing a lot of opposition research and writing about McCain over the past few months, and have been trying to figure out (as have many others) what the best way to rebrand him, convince uninformed voters about, and get information out regarding him. There are a lot of ways - there is the ties to lobbyists, there is the "double talk", there is the "bomb bomb bomb Iran", the "100 years in Iraq", the Hagee endorsement, the "angry and unstable" approach, the "third Bush term" approach and there is the approach of using his words and votes against him.

As we all know, McCain is a highly flawed candidate in so many ways. And while some of these are better than others to convince people of just what John McCain is all about, there hasn’t been nearly enough focus on what he would do with the Supreme Court and how drastically his preferred choices would restrict personal privacy and freedoms as well as expand corporate secrecy, executive power and erode the Church/State separation.

The attack is simple: McCain’s ideal SCOTUS would take away your privacy and expand his.

We have his own words to back this up as well. Just as Bush used code words in talking to his "base", McCain has done the same. Back in January, McCain said the following to Byron York:

"Let me just look you in the eye," McCain told me. "I've said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I've said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I've said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible], and I am proud of my record of working to get them confirmed, and people who worked to get them confirmed will tell you how hard I worked."

Clones of Roberts and Alito. The two SCOTUS justices who have driven the Court further to the right than any other Court in recent memory. Alito - one who was all for the unauthorized strip searching a ten year old girl during a search that was only authorized for her father and his home. Roberts, who thinks that parolees who are not in violation of their parole can be searched without any cause or suspicion. And both, who think that mentally ill should be able to receive the death penalty - just to name a few cases.

Let’s also remember that McCain voted for every single one of Bush’s judicial appointees, and that the court he is looking to expand has done the following things in a short period of time:

"in just three years the Roberts Court has crippled school-desegregation efforts (and hinted that affirmative action may be next); approved a federal law that bans a form of abortion; limited the reach of job-discrimination laws; and made it more difficult to challenge the mixing of church and state."

Besides the fact that this is the very definition of "activist judges" or "legislating from the bench", the SCOTUS that McCain wants to see will continue to erode personal freedoms and rights. Not only that, but McCain also cited Scalia as a "model" of who he would select.

Scalia - the most extreme of the Justices - one who approves of torture and one who, unlike Thomas (who I may disagree with on nearly everything but is at least relatively consistent in his decision making process) is highly hypocritical in his views and decisions and has a long history of not supporting personal rights and freedoms.

This is the reality - the Constitution has been eroded on a tremendous scale by the Bush administration, and abetted in no small part by Scalia, Alito and the Roberts SCOTUS. John McCain’s dream is to pack and stack the Court with more Justices that will eliminate or erode personal rights and freedoms under the Bill of Rights, whether it be the First, Fourth or Eight amendments, whether it be in the area of a woman’s right of privacy, whether it be intruding into people’s personal lives or expanding Executive power and secrecy (as Scalia has already proven when he protected Cheney and his secret energy commission, despite being duck hunting buddies).

For me, this is the biggest reason to make sure that McCain does not win in November. It is bad enough that we have to deal with a couple of decades of Roberts and Alito and Thomas and Scalia. To add two or three more Justices to this draconian line of thinking will be devastating to the future and direction of this country.

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

The RBC results are in

Enrika — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:59:18 GMT

"The vote is 27 votes to seat the entire Florida delegation, with everyone getting a half vote. No committee member voted no or abstained."

"Michigan Delegation to Be Sat at Half Strength. 19 votes for, 8 votes against. Again, 69 pledged delegates to Clinton, 59 pledged delegates to Obama, each delegate gets a half vote."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/31/184311/435/559/526265
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/31/1973/67320/515/526285

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

James Pence: If I Was A Terrorist

Enrika — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:30:56 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1EXKLVgEx0

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Turn John McCain's YouTube Problem into a Nightmare!

Enrika — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:47:27 GMT

From Brave New Films:

"There's no question John McCain is getting a free ride from the mainstream press. But with the power of YouTube and the blogosphere, we can provide an accurate portrayal of the so-called Maverick. We can put the brakes on his free ride!

Since we first released The Real McCain a year ago, our REAL McCain series has garnered close to 2 million views, with over 13,000 comments and tens of thousands more in petition signatures! Clearly, John McCain's record is something the public wants to discuss, and yet the corporate media is doing NOTHING to present the truth. We feel obliged to continue countering the mainstream media's love of McCain. And so we thought it was high time for a sequel: The Real McCain 2."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

http://therealmccain.com/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/27/191613/927/960/523806

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

CBS Coverage of Anti-War Strike

steveargue2 — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:00:09 GMT

CBS Coverage of Anti-War Strike

West Coast Dockworkers Strike Against Iraq War
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKzLEjzvtfM&feature=related

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

NAZIS TO ATTEMPT RALLY, WASHINGTON DC ON 19 APRIL, 2008

steveargue2 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:59:20 GMT

http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/142834/index.php

[ In order to see the video and the comments to this posting from indymedia click on the link above ]

Youtube video:
www.youtube.com/watch

Assemble at 11:30 AM on the Southwest corner of Constitution Ave NW and 14th St NW
Neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement Plans to Rally on National Mall near Washington Monument

On, April 19, 2008, at 12 PM (noon) the neo-Nazi, white-supremacist organization known as the “National Socialist Movement” is planning to march and rally “against illegal immigration” on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on the North Side of the Washington Monument. The monument is located to the South of Constitution Avenue NW, between 15th St NW and 17th St NW.

Coming on the heels of the racist immigration ordinance passed in Prince William County, Virginia (and similar laws passed elsewhere in the US), and coupled with the alarming rise in the number of known hate groups in the United States, we feel that the march of these racist bigots must be confronted vigorously, and with strength.

Despite claims that those opposed to immigration are concerned about “the rule of law”, terrorist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and the National Socialist Movement have always attempted to blame immigrants, African-Americans, Jews, non-heterosexual people, and all people of color for what they perceive to be “societal problems”. It is clear that their hatred is based on racial prejudice, and the law is merely an excuse to spread their white supremacist beliefs. We believe that it is not any coincidence that xenophobes and white supremacists share views on immigration, and immigrants.

The National Socialist Movement, according to their website, are “America's Nazi Party”, and are “…inspired by our Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.” The group is currently, according to the Anti-Defamation League, the largest neo-Nazi group in the United States, largely due to the implosion of several other neo-Nazi groups.

They are the same organization that, in order to stir up hatred, marched in Toledo, Ohio (in 2005) in a neighborhood largely made up of people of color. They did indeed, get a reaction, as riots ensued, and the Nazis, and the police protecting them, were run out of the area for a time.

We invite all those opposed to fascism and racism to come and confront this very real, and dangerous neo-Nazi group. Gather at 11:30 AM on the Southwest corner of Constitution Ave NW and 14th St NW (the Mall side), to assemble before confronting the fascists.

posted in Democrats - 3 replies

Check Out the new “Cool Earth Party” tribe

steveargue2 — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:33:48 GMT

The Democrats and Republicans are the paid agents of the oil, armament, and insurance industries. Their continued rule of America will assure a future of more imperialist war, a healthcare system that doesn't work, and no meaningful action on global warming (the single biggest threat to the future of humanity and a healthy planet).

The Cool Earth Party is being established on the principles of revolutionary democratic socialism. We call for an end to the dictatorial power of the wealthy through the nationalization of major industries and for the establishment of a planned economy run to meet human and environmental needs. This socialist society must be established within the framework of full democratic freedoms and multi-party proportional democracy. To be truly Democratic all parties running in elections will be legally guaranteed equal time in the media, big campaign spending will be outlawed, and electronic voting machines (which are presently used to rig American elections) will be eliminated.

Upon taking power the Cool Earth Party will establish a system of socialized medicine for the United States, end all U.S. military occupations of other countries, end U.S. military aid to repressive governments, and nationalize the auto and energy industries to carry out immediate emergency measures to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Cool Earth Party
http://tribes.tribe.net/coolearth

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Biofuel Caused Hunger Brings Down Haitian Prime Minister

steveargue2 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:09:25 GMT

In this Liberation News Mailing:

1. Biofuel Caused Hunger Brings Down Haitian Prime Minister
2. UK Protests call for Biofuel Targets to be Scrapped
3. Other Suggested Reading

********************
Movement to cap food prices brings down Haiti's prime minister
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
By: Silvio Rodrigues
(Reprinted with permission of the Party for Socialism and Liberation)

Food crisis sparks mass demonstrations

Pressured by mass protests and riots against rising food prices, Haitian lawmakers dismissed Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis in hopes of defusing the crisis. Just days before, 16 of 27 Haitian senators signed a letter calling for the resignation of Alexis.

Demonstrations began on April 2 in Les Cayes, but quickly spread to other areas of the country. For several days, Haitians erected barricades of burning tires and old cars in the streets.

On April 8, thousands of Haitians marched to the presidential palace to protest the sharp increase in food staples and to demand the resignation of the President René Préval. (Utah Independent, April 8)

Demonstrators rammed the palace gates with a rolling dumpster in an attempt to storm the building. U.N. occupation forces in jeeps and assault vehicles responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Soon, the U.N. troops were overwhelmed by the size and fury of the crowds, who turned their anger against the surrounding stores. (Times Republic, April 8)

Opposition lawmakers spearheaded the vote against Alexis, a close ally of Préval, in hopes of mitigating popular anger and capitalizing on the crisis. Youri Latortue, nephew of former prime minister Gerárd Latortue, played a key role in the opposition campaign. Gerárd Latortue became prime minister following the 2004 coup against Aristide, working hand in hand with Washington and its imperialist allies. (Reuters, April 10)

Whether the opposition’s move will be effective remains to be seen. About 25 demonstrators gathered to chant "Aristide or death" outside the parliament following the vote. ""Alexis left? What's the difference?" asked a Haitian chicken vendor. (International Herald Tribune, April 12)

Alexis’ dismissal will do little to fill the stomachs of hungry Haitians. The poorest Haitians live on less than $2 a month. The country suffers from scarce arable land and imports most of its food, including more than 80 percent of its rice. (CTV News, April 12)

Cookies made from dirt, salt and shortening are a staple of the Haitian diet, costing only around 5 cents as of January. Doctors say that relying on the cookies for sustenance can be dangerous; for Haitians, they alleviate the pain caused by hunger. (National Geographic, Jan. 30)

The rising price of foodstuffs is a global phenomenon—protests have erupted in Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, Burkina Faso and elsewhere.

The crisis springs from the inherent anarchy of capitalist production. Producers make economic decisions that affect the lives of billions with only their own short-term gains in mind. Among other factors, the growing demand for ethanol has shifted agricultural production away from food crops.

Because capitalists must constantly seek the most profitable alternatives in order not to be driven out of business by their competitors, they are unable to avoid such crises—or to offer a way out of them, for that matter. Subsidies or international "aid" are at times provided to temper popular unrest when it threatens imperialist interests.

It is hard to say whether such "relief" would appease the ire of Haitians at the present juncture. For the impoverished masses, the food crisis was the catalyst for an explosive outburst of deep-rooted hatred for the occupation. The February 2004 coup that toppled Aristide left an indelible mark in the consciousness of a people already well-familiar with imperialist intervention.

René Préval was elected to the presidency in 2006, supported by poor Haitians largely because of his past association with former president Aristide. At the time, two years had passed since the coup and Haiti was already under U.N. occupation. Some sectors of progressive and liberal opinion believed that the 2006 "democratic" elections indicated that things were getting better.

The imperialist occupation under the U.N. flag has continued throughout Préval’s presidency. One only remains in power under occupation by adhering to the framework stipulated by the occupiers. The Préval government has not—and cannot—end the imperialist occupation.

With neither the government nor the opposition offering a way out, poor and working Haitians are growing increasingly reliant on the most powerful force for change—themselves.

***************
UK Protests call for Biofuel Targets to be Scrapped

16 April 2008 joint press release by Biofuelwatch and Global Forest Coalition

London-There were demonstrations in London yesterday and groups across the UK also protested against the introduction of mandatory biofuel blending.

Outside Downing Street speakers from Friends of the Earth, Global Forest Coalition, GM Freeze, campaign against Climate Change and Biofuelwatch condemned the government's decision to go ahead with its biofuel policy against overwhelming evidence of catastrophic impacts on climate, communities, biodiversity and food security.

Other protests were held outside the constituency offices of Ruth Kelley, Secretary of State for Transport, and Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment. More protests took place at BP and Tesco fuel stations. BP and Tesco are two of the companies with significant investment in biofuels (also called agrofuels) from large-scale monocultures. They have been strongly lobbying for mandatory biofuel blending.

"The UK has chosen to ignore a vast mountain of evidence that biofuels are contributing to hunger, climate change, deforestation and human rights abuses," said Dr. Rachel Smolker, main author of "The Real Cost of Agrofuels." She continued, "Perhaps they are counting on new technologies using cellulose from wood and grasses, but these won't sidestep the problems either. Whatever feedstocks are used will result in further expansion of industrial monocultures, possibly including genetically engineered trees. The bottom line is that there is a limited amount of land available, a large population to feed and a desperate need to preserve remaining biodiverse ecosystems. Instead of focusing on improving efficiency and reducing consumption, the UK is mandating further destruction."

Almuth Ernsting from Biofuelwatch adds, "Protests against the agrofuel industry and this government's biofuel policies will not end. The government is talking about vague 'sustainability standards', whilst agrofuels are causing ever greater harm to the climate, to forests and other ecosystems, to communities in the global South, to biodiversity worldwide, and to food sovereignty and food security. We need a moratorium on all agrofuel incentives and targets to prevent those catastrophic impacts."

On 8 April, twenty-nine UK and international groups wrote to the UK government, calling for an agrofuel moratorium and demanding a suspension of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, and opposition to new EU biofuel targets - both the proposed 10% biofuel target in the Renewable Energy Directive, and the inclusion of biofuels in the draft new Fuel Quality Directive. Around 200 organisations from North and South have signed a call for an EU moratorium on agrofuels from large-scale monocultures, and there are separate calls for a U.S. agrofuel moratorium and for an African agrofuel moratorium, as well as growing number of declarations from the Southern groups that are deeply concerned about the impacts which biofuel policies in Europe, including in the UK, are having on their communities, food sovereignty and environment.

Contact:
Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, +44-1224-324797 (UK, any time)
Orin Langelle, Global Forest Coalition, +1.802.578.6980 (U.S., any time)

*************************************
3. Other Suggested Reading:

Biofuels and The Internationalization of Genocide
by Fidel Castro
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/abril/mier4/14refexf.html

Clinton and Obama: Failures on War and Global Warming
by Steven Argue
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/02/10/18478172.php

US Marines occupy Haitian capital amid charges Aristide was kidnapped
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/mar2004/hait-m02.shtml

***************
Subscribe free to Liberation News:
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

What Barack Obama Could Not (and Should Not) Say

Rocky — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:24:24 GMT

What Barack Obama Could Not (and Should Not) Say
by Sam Harris

March 21, 2008

"Barack Obama delivered a truly brilliant and inspiring speech this week. There were a few things, however, that he did not and could not (and, indeed, should not) say:

He did not say that the mess he is in has as much to do with religion as with racism--and, indeed, religion is the reason why our political discourse in this country is so scandalously stupid. As Christopher Hitchens observed in Slate months ago, one glance at the website of the Trinity United Church of Christ should have convinced anyone that Obama's connection to Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. would be a problem at some point in this campaign. Why couldn't Obama just cut his ties to his church and move on? "

Enjoy the full article -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/what-barack-obama-could-n_b_92771.html

;

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Obama Speech: 'A More Perfect Union'

Enrika — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:29:21 GMT

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hisownwords/

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

2008 election results a little early...

Rocky — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:04:08 GMT

2008 election results a little early...

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/283.html

;

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

I HURL at the commentS by geraldine ferrarro!

lmbfreespirit — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:01:20 GMT

DIS.GUS.TING!
I am soooooooooooooo ashamed!

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

EXCUSE ME, I was under the impression that votes MATTER!

lmbfreespirit — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:26:52 GMT

she is lookin' like an old washed-up HAS BEEN... which she is~ looking like an IDIOT bushie~ trying to STEAL the election!!!!!!!
Barack does have MOST popular & delegates!!!!!!!

SOORY, but move along NOW!!!!!

posted in Democrats - 2 replies

HOPE, INTEGRITY, & "truthidy"!

lmbfreespirit — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:17:22 GMT

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Obama health care plan!

lmbfreespirit — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:08:47 GMT

Plan for a Healthy America
“We now face an opportunity — and an obligation — to turn the page on the failed politics of yesterday's health care debates… My plan begins by covering every American. If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less. If you are one of the 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance, you will have it after this plan becomes law. No one will be turned away because of a preexisting condition or illness.”

— Barack Obama, Speech in Iowa City, IA, May 29, 2007

At a Glance
Quality, Affordable and Portable Coverage for All
Lower Costs by Modernizing The U.S. Health Care System
Fight for New Initiatives

Speak your mind and help set the policies that will guide this campaign and change the country.

Present your ideas
Discuss with others
Watch the VideoThe Problem
Millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured because of rising medical costs: 47 million Americans — including nearly 9 million children — lack health insurance with no signs of this trend slowing down.

Health care costs are skyrocketing: Health insurance premiums have risen 4 times faster than wages over the past 6 years.

Too little is spent on prevention and public health: The nation faces epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases as well as new threats of pandemic flu and bioterrorism. Yet despite all of this less than 4 cents of every health care dollar is spent on prevention and public health.

Barack Obama's Plan
Quality, Affordable and Portable Coverage for All
Obama's Plan to Cover Uninsured Americans: Obama will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. The Obama plan will have the following features:
Guaranteed eligibility. No American will be turned away from any insurance plan because of illness or pre-existing conditions.
Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the plan members of Congress have. The plan will cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
Subsidies. Individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need financial assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.
Simplified paperwork and reined in health costs.
Easy enrollment. The new public plan will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
Portability and choice. Participants in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (see below) will be able to move from job to job without changing or jeopardizing their health care coverage.
Quality and efficiency. Participating insurance companies in the new public program will be required to report data to ensure that standards for quality, health information technology and administration are being met.
National Health Insurance Exchange: The Obama plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase a private insurance plan. The Exchange will act as a watchdog group and help reform the private insurance market by creating rules and standards for participating insurance plans to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy, and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and have the same standards for quality and efficiency. The Exchange would evaluate plans and make the differences among the plans, including cost of services, public.
Employer Contribution: Employers that do not offer or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan. Small employers that meet certain revenue thresholds will be exempt.
Mandatory Coverage of Children: Obama will require that all children have health care coverage. Obama will expand the number of options for young adults to get coverage, including allowing young people up to age 25 to continue coverage through their parents' plans.
Expansion Of Medicaid and SCHIP: Obama will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve their critical safety net function.
Flexibility for State Plans: Due to federal inaction, some states have taken the lead in health care reform. The Obama plan builds on these efforts and does not replace what states are doing. States can continue to experiment, provided they meet the minimum standards of the national plan.
Lower Costs by Modernizing The U.S. Health Care System
Reducing Costs of Catastrophic Illnesses for Employers and Their Employees: Catastrophic health expenditures account for a high percentage of medical expenses for private insurers. The Obama plan would reimburse employer health plans for a portion of the catastrophic costs they incur above a threshold if they guarantee such savings are used to reduce the cost of workers' premiums.
Helping Patients:
Support disease management programs. Seventy five percent of total health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Obama will require that providers that participate in the new public plan, Medicare or the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) utilize proven disease management programs. This will improve quality of care, give doctors better information and lower costs.
Coordinate and integrate care. Over 133 million Americans have at least one chronic disease and these chronic conditions cost a staggering $1.7 trillion yearly. Obama will support implementation of programs and encourage team care that will improve coordination and integration of care of those with chronic conditions.
Require full transparency about quality and costs. Obama will require hospitals and providers to collect and publicly report measures of health care costs and quality, including data on preventable medical errors, nurse staffing ratios, hospital-acquired infections, and disparities in care. Health plans will also be required to disclose the percentage of premiums that go to patient care as opposed to administrative costs.
Ensuring Providers Deliver Quality Care:
Promote patient safety. Obama will require providers to report preventable medical errors and support hospital and physician practice improvement to prevent future occurrences.
Align incentives for excellence. Both public and private insurers tend to pay providers based on the volume of services provided, rather than the quality or effectiveness of care. Providers who see patients enrolled in the new public plan, the National Health Insurance Exchange, Medicare and FEHBP will be rewarded for achieving performance thresholds on outcome measures.
Comparative effectiveness research. Obama will establish an independent institute to guide reviews and research on comparative effectiveness, so that Americans and their doctors will have the accurate and objective information they need to make the best decisions for their health and well-being.
Tackle disparities in health care. Obama will tackle the root causes of health disparities by addressing differences in access to health coverage and promoting prevention and public health, both of which play a major role in addressing disparities. He will also challenge the medical system to eliminate inequities in health care through quality measurement and reporting, implementation of effective interventions such as patient navigation programs, and diversification of the health workforce.
Insurance reform. Obama will strengthen antitrust laws to prevent insurers from overcharging physicians for their malpractice insurance and will promote new models for addressing errors that improve patient safety, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and reduce the need for malpractice suits.
Lowering Costs Through Investment in Electronic Health Information Technology Systems: Most medical records are still stored on paper, which makes it hard to coordinate care, measure quality or reduce medical errors and which costs twice as much as electronic claims. Obama will invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records, and will phase in requirements for full implementation of health IT. Obama will ensure that patients' privacy is protected.
Lowering Costs by Increasing Competition in the Insurance and Drug Markets: The insurance business today is dominated by a small group of large companies that has been gobbling up their rivals. There have been over 400 health care mergers in the last 10 years, and just two companies dominate a full third of the national market. These changes were supposed to make the industry more efficient, but instead premiums have skyrocketed by over 87 percent.
Barack Obama will prevent companies from abusing their monopoly power through unjustified price increases. His plan will force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care instead of keeping exorbitant amounts for profits and administration. His new National Health Exchange will help increase competition by insurers.
Lower prescription drug costs. The second-fastest growing type of health expenses is prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are selling the exact same drugs in Europe and Canada but charging Americans more than double the price. Obama will allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S. Obama will also repeal the ban that prevents the government from negotiating with drug companies, which could result in savings as high as $30 billion. Finally, Obama will work to increase the use of generic drugs in Medicare, Medicaid, and FEHBP and prohibit big name drug companies from keeping generics out of markets.
Fight for New Initiatives
Advance the Biomedical Research Field: As a result of biomedical research the prevention, early detection and treatment of diseases such as cancer and heart disease is better today than any other time in history. Barack Obama has consistently supported funding for the national institutes of health and the national science foundation. Obama strongly supports investments in biomedical research, as well as medical education and training in health-related fields, because it provides the foundation for new therapies and diagnostics. Obama has been a champion of research in cancer, mental health, health disparities, global health, women and children's health, and veterans' health. As president, Obama will strengthen funding for biomedical research, and better improve the efficiency of that research by improving coordination both within government and across government/private/non-profit partnerships. An Obama administration will ensure that we translate scientific progress into improved approaches to disease prevention, early detection and therapy that is available for all Americans.
Fight AIDS Worldwide. There are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS. As president, Obama will continue to be a global leader in the fight against AIDS. Obama believes in working across party lines to combat this epidemic and recently joined Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) at a large California evangelical church to promote greater investment in the global AIDS battle.
Support Americans with Disabilities: As a former civil rights lawyer, Barack Obama knows firsthand the importance of strong protections for minority communities in our society. Obama is committed to strengthening and better enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) so that future generations of Americans with disabilities have equal rights and opportunities. Obama believes we must restore the original legislative intent of the ADA in the wake of court decisions that have restricted the interpretation of this landmark legislation.

Barack Obama is also committed to ensuring that disabled Americans receive Medicaid and Medicare benefits in a low-cost, effective and timely manner. Recognizing that many individuals with disabilities rely on Medicare, Obama worked with Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) to urge the department of health and human services to provide clear and reliable information on the Medicare prescription drug benefit and to ensure that the Medicare recipients were protected from fraudulent claims by marketers and drug plan agents.
Improve Mental Health Care. Mental illness affects approximately one in five American families. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that untreated mental illnesses cost the U.S. more than $100 billion per year. As president, Obama will support mental health parity so that coverage for serious mental illnesses are provided on the same terms and conditions as other illnesses and diseases.
Protect Our Children from Lead Poisoning. More than 430,000 American children have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood. Lead can cause irreversible brain damage, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death. As president, Obama will protect children from lead poisoning by requiring that child care facilities be lead-safe within five years.
Reduce Risks of Mercury Pollution. More than five million women of childbearing age have high levels of toxic mercury in their blood, and approximately 630,000 newborns are born at risk every year. Barack Obama has a plan to significantly reduce the amount of mercury that is deposited in oceans, lakes, and rivers, which in turn would reduce the amount of mercury in fish.
Support Americans with Autism. More than one million Americans have autism, a complex neurobiological condition that has a range of impacts on thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others. As diagnostic criteria broaden and awareness increases, more cases of autism have been recognized across the country. Barack Obama believes that we can do more to help autistic Americans and their families understand and live with autism. He has been a strong supporter of more than $1 billion in federal funding for autism research on the root causes and treatments, and he believes that we should increase funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to truly ensure that no child is left behind.

More than anything, autism remains a profound mystery with a broad spectrum of effects on autistic individuals, their families, loved ones, the community, and education and health care systems. Obama believes that the government and our communities should work together to provide a helping hand to autistic individuals and their families.

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

The Anti-War Candidates

steveargue2 — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:22:43 GMT

While Obama, Clinton, Huckabee, and McCain are all pro-war and have no real solutions for global warming, there are a number of candidates opposed to the war. Besides anti-war Republican Ron Paul, who on the question of global warming opposes all environmental regulations, each of the following political parties will likely run anti-war candidates:

Peace and Freedom Party
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/

Green Party
http://www.cagreens.org/

Socialist Equality Party
http://www.wsws.org/index.shtml

Socialist Party
http://sp-usa.org/

Party for Socialism and Liberation
http://www.pslweb.org/site/PageServer

Socialist Workers Party
http://www.themilitant.com/index.shtml

Workers World Party
http://www.workers.org/

In addition the following are anti-war candidates and likely running whether or not they get their party’s nomination:

Mike Gravel
http://www.gravel2008.us/

Cynthia McKinney
http://www.runcynthiarun.org/

And the following are anti-war anti-global warming events in opposition to the Democrats and Republicans.

DNC Disruption 2008
http://dncdisruption08.org/

RNC Welcoming Committee
http://www.rncwelcomingcommittee.org/

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

keep HOPE alive!

lmbfreespirit — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:40:24 GMT

LisAnne,

Your blog post "the HOPE of stemcells!" to Cal Poly Mustangs For Obama has been approved
by the group administrator.
Please go to the link below to view the group.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/CalPolyMustangsForObama

Thank you.

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

California results with 96.1% in

steveargue2 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:15:37 GMT

California results with 96.1% in:

Peace and Freedom Party:
Stewart A. Alexander (P&F) 283 5.4 %
Gloria E. La Riva (P&F) 1,059 20.4 %
John Crockford (P&F) 292 5.7 %
Stanley Hetz (P&F) 87 1.6 %
Brian P. Moore (P&F) 280 5.3 %
Ralph Nader (P&F) 2,093 40.2 %
Cynthia McKinney (P&F) 1,114 21.4 %

P&F Web Page
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/

Green Party
Kent Mesplay (Grn) 564 2.0 %
Jared Ball (Grn) 446 1.6 %
Jesse Johnson (Grn) 509 1.8 %
Kat Swift (Grn) 846 3.0 %
Ralph Nader (Grn) 16,872 61.1 %
Elaine Brown (Grn) 1,259 4.6 %
Cynthia McKinney (Grn) 7,138 25.9 %

Green Party web page:
http://www.cagreens.org/

Propositions:
91 N Transportation Funds. 2,660,054 41.9% 3,683,643 58.1%
92 N Community Colleges. Funding. Governance. Fees. 2,789,400 42.6% 3,747,831 57.4%
93 N Limits on Legislators' Terms in Office. 3,077,373 46.5% 3,532,127 53.5%
94 Y Ref on Amd to Indian Gaming Compact: Pechanga 3,737,815 55.8% 2,965,739 44.2%
95 Y Ref on Amd to Indian Gaming Compact: Morongo 3,734,992 55.8% 2,959,430 44.2%
96 Y Ref on Amd to Indian Gaming Compact: Sycuan 3,717,234 55.7% 2,962,109 44.3%
97 Y Ref on Amd to Indian Gaming Compact: Agua Caliente 3,718,478 55.7% 2,957,947 44.3%

Democrat Party:
Barack Obama (Dem) 1,690,307 42.4 %
Hillary Clinton (Dem) 2,068,837 51.9 %
Mike Gravel (Dem) 6,479 0.1 %

DNC Disruption 2008
http://dncdisruption08.org/

Obama is leading Nationally:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8358.html

Republican Party:
Mike Huckabee (Rep) 261,276 11.6 %
Duncan Hunter (Rep) 12,055 0.5 %
Alan Keyes (Rep) 9,274 0.4 %
Sam Brownback (Rep) 1,978 0.0 %
John H. Cox (Rep) 2,580 0.1 %
John McCain (Rep) 955,211 42.1 %
Ron Paul (Rep) 96,544 4.2 %
Mitt Romney (Rep) 768,338 33.9 %
Tom Tancredo (Rep) 3,237 0.1 %

RNC Welcoming Committee
http://www.rncwelcomingcommittee.org/

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Yes We Can

Enrika — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 03:32:28 GMT

http://www.yeswecansong.com/

To everyone in Super Tuesday states: *Please*, VOTE on February 5th, and bring your family, friends, coworkers, people you find wandering on the street, etc. Our future depends on it.

http://www.barackobama.com/

http://factcheck.barackobama.com/

Lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

"Yesterday, a new independent video about Barack Obama began flying around the Internet that embodies the sense of inspiration that so many people feel about his candidacy. Words don't do it justice, you have to watch it for yourself." -- MoveOn.org

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Liberation News Voting Recommendations

steveargue2 — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:41:07 GMT

Every couple years the American people are subjected to the farce of bourgeois democracy, a “democracy” where only the candidates chosen by the very wealthy have any chance of being elected. That season of nicely dressed pathological liars and false hopes is now upon us.

Since the corporate media of the United States has long ago abandoned any semblance of reporting on anything of substance about candidates such as voting records and actual political views, it is up to the journalists of the left press to do so.

**************
Liberation News Voting Recommendations for The February 5, 2008 California Primaries
By STEVEN ARGUE

State Ballot Propositions

Proposition 91, Transportation Funds – Vote NO

Prop 91 will force the governor and state legislature to use the $2 billion collected annually from the gasoline tax only for transportation uses. It doesn’t address the need for higher subsidies for public transportation nor other measures necessary to curtail global warming. Vote NO.

Proposition 92, Community College Funding, Governance and Fees – Vote YES

Prop 92 will reduce community college costs to $15 per unit, and freeze it there, while also sending more state money from the general fund to community colleges. This measure is also supported by the California Federation of Teachers and the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. Vote YES.

Proposition 93, Limits on Legislators’ Terms in Office – Vote NO

Prop 93 will reduce the current term limit of 14 years to 12 years for California state legislators. This is a useless proposition that will not address the undemocratic nature of U.S. elections, ruled by the money of donations by big capital, ruled by the propaganda of the corporate media, and ruled by winner takes-all elections as opposed to proportional representation. If voters want to continue to re-elect particular politicians, that should be their democratic choice. Vote NO.

Propositions 94, 95, 96, and 97, Amendments to Indian Gaming Compacts – Vote YES

This is a question of Native sovereignty. The State of California has no right to tell Native people how to run their nations. These measures would allow the Pechanga, Morongo, Sycuan, and Agua Caliente bands to add more slot machines to their casinos. Native people in the United States, as compared to whites, suffer much higher infant mortality, lower life-expectancy, and higher unemployment. This is due to American racism, land theft, and genocide against Native people. The ability of Native people to use their status of sovereignty to their advantage and make money from gaming is a good thing. One drawback is that a number of California First Nations will not get any of the money from this gaming because they are not federally recognized. Yet, what needs to change is having federal recognition of tribes currently denied. In addition, casino workers deserve higher pay and union protections. Yet, the fact that gaming money should be more evenly distributed and that casino workers should be better able to organize unions, doesn’t change the fact that Indian gaming has helped Native people, and that the fundamental question here is one of Native sovereignty. Vote YES.

Presidential Candidate Recommendations

Democrat and Republican Parties, Not Recommended

On Principle, Liberation News opposes both the Democrat and Republican Parties as capitalist parties funded and controlled by big capital. Continued corporate control of America will only bring more wars, environmental destruction, exploitation, racism, sexism, homophobia, and a further erosion of democratic rights. All Democrat and Republican candidates, with exceptions of Democrat Mike Gravel and Republican Ron Paul, are pro-war. All Democrat and Republican candidates are also opposed to socialized medicine, and only Mike Gravel is for single payer medicine.

Also see:
Pro-War Democrats Battle for the Presidency
http://people.tribe.net/steveargue2/blog/685fff76-d834-41f1-8187-d280883740dc

The Case for Socialized Medicine in the United States, and the Struggle to Achieve It
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2008/01/212284.php

Green Party, Not Recommended

While the Green Party and its candidates generally have fairly good immediate positions on the war and a number of other social issues, Liberation News does not support Green Party candidates because the Green Party is a capitalist party.

The Green Party is clear in their program. They state that they are for a system of small capitalism. Yet the small capitalists commonly have a smaller profit margin and often exploit workers worse than the big capitalists. In opposition to such a vision of small and inefficient capitalist exploiters, Liberation News looks to labor struggle and the nationalization of industry under democratic workers’ control, with universal suffrage and democratic rights, as the way to fight and neutralize the corporate exploiters and bring justice for the working class.

It was a massive and fighting labor movement, led to large extent by socialists, that forced the American ruling class and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to carry out the New Deal reforms in the 1930’s. This was out of fear of further unrest and potential revolution. It is the position of Liberation News that the most meaningful reforms do not come from reformism, such as that of the Green Party, but from revolutionary and working class struggle.

Peace and Freedom Party, Recommended

The Peace and Freedom Party has seven candidates. While the Peace and Freedom Party is socialist in its program, many members have a propensity towards supporting liberal capitalist candidates at times. This is reflected in the choices registered Peace and Freedom Party members will be deciding between. Those seven candidates will now be briefly evaluated.

Stewart Alexander, Recommended

Liberation News recommends a vote for Stewart Alexander, the best activist candidate with a clear socialist and democratic program. He is currently in the Peace and Freedom Party and he is the Executive Director of the African American Civil Liberties Union and was the Peace and Freedom Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2006. He is clearly for an immediate end to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, supports fully socialized medicine, and is in favor of a socialized economy with the resources of society used for human and environmental needs as opposed to the profit and exploitation of capitalism. YES on Alexander.

Gloria LaRiva, Not Recommended

Gloria LaRiva is a clear socialist and dedicated activist against U.S. imperialist wars and racism as well as other socialist causes. This makes her worth considering. Besides running in the Peace and Freedom Party primaries, Gloria LaRiva is the Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate for president. Yet, her party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is not clear, as Stewart Alexander is, about the need for socialism to be democratic. While a number of countries did better with undemocratic forms of socialism than how they were doing under capitalism, including Cuba today, the abuses that have also occurred in undemocratic socialist societies have proven the need for universal suffrage and full democratic rights in socialist societies.

Brian Moore, Worth Considering

Brian Moore is a socialist and dedicated activist against the war. Besides running in the Peace and Freedom Party primaries, Brian Moore is also the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party. He calls for immediate withdrawal from Iraq and has helped organize an important coalition against the war in Florida. Generally, however, Stewart Alexander does a better job of using his campaign to explain the root evils of capitalism and the need for socialism.

Ralph Nader, Not Recommended

Ralph Nader is a liberal millionaire capitalist, and not a socialist. He agrees with the capitalist Green Party program. In addition, he will not run unless Hillary Clinton is nominated. If that happens he says he may run for president to oppose her. Earlier in the primaries he also endorsed Democrat John Edwards. Yet there is little difference between pro-war, pro-“PATRIOT” Act, and anti-single payer healthcare Obama and Edwards, and pro-war, pro-“PATRIOT” Act, and anti-single payer healthcare Clinton. Still, Nader spreads illusions that various war-mongering corporate Democrat candidates are worth supporting. This is one of the reasons Nader is not worth supporting.

Stanly Hetz, Not a Serious Candidate

Stanly Hetz does not call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, nor does he call for socialized medicine or single-payer healthcare, and instead calls for suing insurance companies under certain situations. He also seems to have a late start in his campaign and does not yet even have a website up. Hetz is not worth considering for such a serious post as winning people to the program of socialism through his electoral campaign.

Cynthia McKinney, Not Recommended

Cynthia McKinney was a congressperson of the Democrat Party for twelve years. She has since broken with the Democrats and is running as a Green Party candidate, but was also put on the Peace and Freedom Party primary ballot. While McKinney takes a number of good stands against the war and for single payer healthcare (not fully socialized healthcare), she is presently in support of the program of the Green Party, a party for a system of small capitalism. Yet the small capitalists commonly have a smaller profit margin and often exploit workers worse than the big capitalists. In opposition to such a vision of small and inefficient capitalist exploiters, socialists look to labor struggle and the nationalization of industry under democratic workers’ control, with universal suffrage and democratic rights, as the way to fight and neutralize the corporate exploiters and bring justice for the working class.

John Crockford, Not a Serious Candidate

In the official California voter guide John Crockford uses the precious space available to him to repeatedly say that he will be best qualified to represent the San Joaquin Valley. Yet he’s running for president in a socialist party where he should be putting forward an internationalist program to end capitalism, imperialism, and the environmental destruction of the planet. Crockford is not worth considering for such a serious post as winning people to the program of socialism through his electoral campaign.

Summary of State Recommendations:

Proposition 91, Transportation Funds – Vote NO

Proposition 92, Community College Funding, Governance and Fees – Vote YES

Proposition 93, Limits on Legislators’ Terms in Office – Vote NO

Propositions 94, 95, 96, and 97, Amendments to Indian Gaming Compacts – Vote YES

Presidential Candidate recommendation:

Stewart Alexander, Peace and Freedom Party

These are the recommendations of Liberation News, subscribe free:
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Starting an Intra-Dem party 'Stop Hillary' Campaign

breindl — Tue, 08 May 2007 01:24:13 GMT

Starting an Intra-Dem party 'Stop Hillary' Campaign

Every Democrat (actually almost every person) I ask thinks there is no way that Hillary can win the election.
Many of same people dislike her and don't want to see her opportunistic spinelessness in power.
But regardless of one's personal reaction to her, it is plain to see that she CANNOT win. Somehow the big money is willfully ignoring this. YET AGAIN the dem party machinery is backing a loser.
She is despised on the left and on the right and disliked in t he center. The Democratic party appears to be in*yet another slow-motion train wreck*. She will activate Republican resistance like no other candidate. I saw a Hillary scarecrow on an organic blueberry farm in New England last summer. She is HATED.

Do other horrified onlookers have an interest in speaking out about this obvious disaster in the making? And working to dissuade the big guns from backing yet another loser and ensuring more Republican rule.

I'm not much of an organizer, but this is a major folly that needs stopping.

posted in Democrats - 3 replies

MoveOn.org endorses Obama for President

Enrika — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:32:07 GMT

Dear MoveOn member,

With hundreds of thousands of ballots cast across the country, for the first time in MoveOn's history, we've voted together to endorse a presidential candidate in the primary. That candidate is Barack Obama.

Something big is clearly happening. A few weeks ago, MoveOn members we surveyed were split. But with John Edwards bowing out, progressives are coming together. Obama won over 70% of the vote yesterday, and he's moving up in polls nationwide.1 As comments poured in from MoveOn members across the country, the sense of hope was inspiring. Here's how Christine Y. in New Jersey put it:

"I've never felt so strongly about any one candidate in my entire life. He's truly an inspiration to all of us—especially the younger generation. I will stand by him 100% for as long as he's willing to stand up and fight for this country!"

What does MoveOn's endorsement mean? People-power. Together, we are 3.2 million Americans who care about our country and want change. Half of us live in states with primaries or caucuses this coming "Super Tuesday."

We know how to roll up our sleeves and win elections, and if we all pitch in together between now and Tuesday, we can help Sen. Obama win the biggest primary day in American history. Think about it: volunteering during the next four days could mean four years of a progressive president. Can you sign up right now to volunteer for Obama's campaign? Click here:

http://pol.moveon.org/volunteerforobama/?id=12015-7567656-RaEtvO&t=535

There are lots of ways to help. You can call voters from home, go door-to-door with others in your community, travel to "Super Tuesday" states, donate, put up a yard sign, volunteer in a campaign office, or join a local meetup. Senator Obama is running a grassroots campaign, and there's a role for everyone.

Many of us feel like change is within reach for the first time in years. Here's some more of what MoveOn members see in Obama:

"This country needs real, progressive transformation. Barack Obama is the candidate who gives us the best hope of uniting and inspiring the nation to move in that direction, while also restoring America's dignity and standing as a member of the global community."—James M., Connecticut

"While I'm impressed with Clinton and believe she would make a very good president, I'm actually MOVED by Obama. In the end, I believe if Obama is elected he has the potential to bring the country together behind him."—Patricia S., Wisconsin

"He was right on the biggest question of the era—opposing the war from the start."—Jacob S., Washington, D.C.

"I support Barack Obama for the same reasons I support MoveOn.org: the more people are inspired to get involved, the better the outcome for our country. Senator Obama has demonstrated a unique capacity to inspire participation and to make public service 'cool' again. He is also sound on all the issues that matter to me and my family."—Liz B., New York

"I live in a red state, and I see my conservative neighbors and friends showing a positive interest in Barack. They like him. They are ready to be swayed. And I see my Democratic friends and family members getting excited like never before...With Barack as our candidate, I am convinced that we can win in a landslide in 2008 and usher in a new era of progressive politics."—Desirina B., Georgia

To be clear, we won't always agree with all of Obama's positions. And MoveOn members said overwhelmingly that, regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination, we'll work hard to win the White House in 2008. Whatever happens in the primary, we'll push the Democratic nominee to campaign progressively and then we'll push them to fulfill their promises after they win.

The building of a progressive consensus around Senator Obama is tangible. Earlier this week, John F. Kennedy's daughter Caroline Kennedy said Obama is the first presidential candidate to be as inspirational as her father.2 Yesterday, progressive magazine The Nation said that electing Obama is "a chance we can't pass up."3 And then DailyKos.com, the most widely read progressive blog, announced Obama won 76% in a reader poll this week.4

It's time to get to work electing a president who is inspiring a nation and is talking about big, progressive change. Click here to volunteer in these next crucial days:

http://pol.moveon.org/volunteerforobama/?id=12015-7567656-RaEtvO&t=536

This is just the beginning of a long road to victory in November. Thanks for all you do, and will do to change our country for the better in 2008.

–Eli, Wes, Joan, Justin, Adam G., Adam R., Ilyse, Karin, Nita, Noah, Marika, Laura, Peter, Anna, Matt, Daniel, Carrie, Tanya, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, February 1st, 2008

P.S. As we were about to click "send" we received the following response from Senator Obama. We wanted to share it with you: "In just a few years, the members of MoveOn have once again demonstrated that real change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up. From their principled opposition to the Iraq war—a war I also opposed from the start—to their strong support for a number of progressive causes, MoveOn shows what Americans can achieve when we come together in a grassroots movement for change. I thank them for their support and look forward to working with their members in the weeks and months ahead."

Sources:

1. "Race Tightening Between Obama and Clinton," The Nation, January 31, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3364&id=12015-7567656-RaEtvO&t=537

2. "A President Like My Father," Caroline Kennedy in the New York Times, January 27, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3360&id=12015-7567656-RaEtvO&t=538

3. "The Choice," Chris Hayes in The Nation, January 31, 2008
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080218/hayes

4. "2008: 1/30 results," DailyKos.com reader poll, January 30, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3361&id=12015-7567656-RaEtvO&t=539

Support our member-driven organization: MoveOn.org Political Action is entirely funded by our 3.2 million members. We have no corporate contributors, no foundation grants, no money from unions. Our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. If you'd like to support our work, you can give now at:

http://political.moveon.org/donate/email.html?id=12015-7567656-RaEtvO&t=540

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

I have the audacity of HOPE!

lmbfreespirit — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:45:12 GMT

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/group?referrer=http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/globalwarmingactivistsforobama

posted in Democrats - 1 reply

Why did Edwards suspend his candidacy?

Wildman — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 04:14:35 GMT

I haven't been able to put my finger on it yet. What do you think? Especially Edwards supporters.

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

http://action.barackobama.com/page/signup/

lmbfreespirit — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 03:05:07 GMT

http://action.barackobama.com/page/signup/

posted in Democrats - 2 replies

A Critical Time in My Campaign

Frank — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:58:40 GMT

At this time I am coming to you at a critical time in my campaign and now is the time that I truly need your help to keep my campaign alive and growing.

I need everyone to perform three very easy and quick tasks.

First, the New American Independent Party has decided to hold their nominating process in early February. In order to vote in that process you must be registered with them by February 1st. Please go to the following web address and register so that you can vote for me in the upcoming nomination.

http://www.newamericanindependent.com/Join.html

Second, in conjunction with my being on the ballot in the Arizona primary, I am working towards receiving the endorsement of two newspapers in the Tucson area. As part of that process I need you to click on the link below and vote for me in their poll. My portion is located about half way down the page.

http://projectwhitehouse08.blogspot.com

Third, please pass this email along to everyone you know requesting that they also participate in helping me continue to move the campaign forward.

That's it, short, sweet and simple; but I need your help.

"Anything is Possible in America"

Don't forget to ask for your campaign cards so we can continue to spread the word.

Media Update:

I will also be discussing the question of illegal immigration with Joe Bechtold on his show on January 20th at 1 PM PST at www.freeworldradionetwork.net

Thank-you for your continued support and please remember to tell everyone you know about my efforts. The election is still a long ways away and with your help I am continuing to make progress.

Thanks
Frank McEnulty
frank@frankforpresident.org
www.frankforpresident.org

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

Bush to Sell Billions in Weapons to Saudi Dictatorship

Wildman — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:33:38 GMT

I wonder how many Americans will end up killed by these weapons...

White House Times Arms Sale, Bush Trip
By Matthew Lee
The Associated Press

Saturday 12 January 2008

Washington - The Bush administration will notify Congress on Monday of its intent to sell $20 billion in weapons, including precision-guided bombs, to Saudi Arabia, moving up the announcement to coincide with the president's arrival in Riyadh, The Associated Press has learned.

Despite concern about the deal from some lawmakers, the State Department, which last month said it would delay the notification until after Congress comes back into session, will announce the proposed sale on Jan. 14, a day before the House returns to work and more than a week before senators return to Washington, said a senior official.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations on the matter.

The official said the new timing was "appropriate" and "symbolic" as it would come within hours of Bush's arrival in Saudi Arabia, the penultimate stop on his current Middle East trip. Air Force One is scheduled to land in Riyadh on Monday after a stop in Dubai.

The official announcement will kick off a 30-day review period during which lawmakers could move to block the sale.

Faced with congressional unease and requests from senior lawmakers for more time to review the sale, the administration agreed in December to put back the notification until Congress returns to session this month.

Although the new House session does not officially begin until Jan. 15 and senators do not return until Jan. 22, Senate Democrats have been briefly opening and closing the body each day during its holiday break, meaning the upper house remains technically at work.

The sale is a key element in the U.S. strategy to bolster the defenses of its Arab allies in Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing majority Sunni Muslim Gulf nations against threats from Shiite Iran.

A main aim of Bush's Mideast visit is to convince the Saudi leadership as well as those in Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates that he remains committed to preventing Iran from destabilizing the region, despite U.S. intelligence findings that Tehran halted its nuclear weapons development in 2003.

Although administration has staunchly defended the sale as critical to U.S. interests, its desire to sell Saudi Arabia sophisticated weaponry has raised eyebrows from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who say the transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munitions technology would lend it highly accurate targeting abilities that could threaten Israel.

Those concerns have not been assuaged by the administration's plan to counterbalance the Saudi sale with $30 billion in military assistance to Israel - a more than 25 percent increase over the next 10 years - and statements from Israeli officials who say they understand the rationale for the sale and will not oppose it.

In a letter to Bush sent last fall after plans for the sale first became public, 186 House members expressed serious reservations about the plan and at least one, Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., has said he plans to introduce a resolution to block the sale. His resolution has nearly three dozen co-sponsors.

posted in Democrats - 0 replies

No to Rightist Ron Paul, How We Can Really End the War

steveargue2 — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:32:26 GMT

"I'd rather vote for something I want and not get it than vote for something I don't want, and get it." Socialist Anti-war Candidate Eugene Debs (who garnered nearly a million votes while he sat in prison for opposition to U.S. involvement in World War One).

"Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action" wrote Ron Paul, who voted against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act in Congress, the act that gave Blacks the right to vote, quote from his “Ron Paul Newsletter”.

No to NYC Indymedia Censorship, How We Can Really End the War

By STEVEN ARGUE

Claiming that only an alliance with Ron Paul conservatives can end the war, New York City Indymedia volunteers have allowed blatant slander against Liberation News and have censored attempts to respond to those lies. Among the slanders posted were accusations that Liberation News is opposed to Ron Paul because we support Hillary Clinton and her healthcare program. I tried posting the following response, but it was censored on the site:

Ron Paul supporter: “it's pointed out that yes Ron Paul is a racist but Stevies candidate Hillary is even worse.”

Steven Argue: “I don’t support Hillary Clinton. Never have, but you don’t listen. This is pure slander.”

They then repeat their slander that I support Hillary Clinton for her healthcare plan saying, “It's pointed out that Stevie is willing to sacrifice liberty for a bogus health care plan”

Steven Argue: “Hillary Clinton opposes both socialized medicine and single payer healthcare. She supports insurance company healthcare, the kind that is killing untold millions in the United States. This is one of many reasons I oppose her.”

“And no, I don't see Clinton as a first step towards socialized medicine. Her promise to force people to buy insurance has nothing in common with socialized medicine, nor partially socialized medicine (i.e. single payer). I’m clear about this in my article:

The Case for Socialized Medicine in the United States, and the Struggle to Achieve It, By STEVEN ARGUE
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/02/18469739.php

“As for Ron Paul, he wants to privatize everything, including public education, Social Security, and Medicare, eliminate the Voting Rights Act and Roe V Wade in the name of "states rights", signed on to the "Marriage Protection Act", would eliminate every environmental and labor protection, etc. etc. etc. This is a prescription for the slavery of the majority to protect the “liberty” of a tiny handful of capitalists to exploit.

“I oppose both Hillary Clinton and Ron Paul. But I’ve already made that clear as being my position. These accusations are slanderous.”

Ron Paul supporter: “Then Stevie moves the goal posts again. Waaa. He's being censored.”

Steven Argue: “I repeatedly posted a response to the slander that I support Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan, and the response is censored every time. I have no motive to make that up. I mentioned it because I wanted people to see my response. Frankly, I’m quite surprised it is happening. Let’s see if this one goes up.”

That response, as I feared, was also censored. Revealing the reasons behind the Ron Paul censorship at the site, the Ron Paul backers posted the following:

“Get off your sectarianism.

“What you don’t get is that there are only two ways we're going to end the occupation of Iraq:

“1.) A recession, and a bad one.

“2.) Convincing the vast majority of conservative Americans it's wrong. Ron Paul reaches these people. The guy with the Free Mumia shirt selling the "Socialist Worker" doesn't.

“To get anything done in a democracy you're going to have to work with people you don't agree with and people you might not even like. People in grown up countries do this all the time. They're called "coalitions".

“The Labor Party in Israel, for example, makes alliances with the ultra orthodox. The Liberal Democrats have made common cause with the Tories in the UK. The left made common cause with Vicente Fox to get the PRI out of power in Mexico.

“It's only in the puritan USA where everybody thinks you have to like all your political allies and agree with them on everything.”

Besides the fact that the majority of Americans already oppose the war; and besides the fact that these points show a total lack of understanding of the bourgeois nature of the coalitions in the countries mentioned; and besides showing a total lack of understanding of what it will take to end the war (I discuss this at the end of the article); New York City Indymedia’s lack of confidence in the ability of people to change has caused them to build a coalition with a capitalist politician who is a racist, homophobic, anti-worker, anti-environmental, bible thumping, sexist, anti-labor, anti-poor, free-market privatization fanatic. On top of that, they censor the left in order to achieve that coalition.

While a Ron Paul presidency would likely end the war, at what price would this come?

Ron Paul uses the term liberty a lot, so let’s take a look at what he means by liberty.

The liberty Ron Paul demands is:

The liberty of the capitalists to exploit without labor laws and environmental protections;

The "state’s right” to prevent Blacks from voting without the interference of the Voting Rights Act (voted against its renewal in Congress);

The "states right" to ban abortions without the interference of Roe v Wade;

The freedom of the government to deny same-sex rights (was an original sponsor of the "Marriage Protection Act");

The freedom of children not to attend schools (would abolish public education);

The freedom of the elderly and disabled to starve (would abolish Social Security);

The freedom of the sick to die (would abolish Medicare);

The freedom of the U.S. to destroy the planet without even the most basic limits on carbon emissions (opposes signing on to Kyoto and all other carbon limitations);

This is, in short, the liberty of a wealthy minority to make their money from the exploitation of labor and the environment with zero interference from labor laws, environmental laws, and the IRS. While his program is liberty for a minority of rich white heterosexual males, it is slavery for the majority.

Simply put, Ron Paul’s promises to end the war are not enough when one looks at the fact that he would eliminate two centuries of hard fought social progress in the United States.

Some of the anti-war backers of Ron Paul argue that we don’t have to worry about these things because Ron Paul will never be elected. They think that backing his campaign is a way to win over his supporters. What is clear is that such arguments could only come from people who are utterly lost and rudderless, which leaves unclear the question of what they are winning Ron Paul supporters over to. They are supporting a candidate whose program is George Wallace on crack cocaine! Yet, the ultimate absurdity is the fact that they are backing a candidate whose most reassuring feature is that he won’t get elected! Is this point lost on these people? And is the chance that their support may help him get elected a chance they really want to take? Nobody thought that third party candidate Jesse (the body) Ventura would get elected in Minnesota either, but he was, and as soon as he was elected he discarded his libertarian values on drug legalization and prostitution and instead proceeded to carrying out attacks on labor and carrying out disastrous cuts in education and other social spending.

Others argue that if Ron Paul is elected, he will easily be able to pull the troops out of Iraq, but congress will block him on the other issues. There is no doubt that they would block parts of Ron Paul’s program in order to prevent the social unrest such measures would cause, but with the ruling class’s desire to step up the exploitation of labor and the environment through eliminating regulation and through privatization, there can be little doubt that if he is able to maintain his presidency without being shot, aspects of Ron Paul’s domestic program would be implemented.

Today, in the United States we have two rightwing capitalist parties that rule. The activists who run New York Indymedia are floating around utterly lost and rudderless. On the one hand, their anarchist philosophy prohibits them from putting forward their own leadership or supporting socialist candidates; and on the other hand, they are stuck in the “real politic” of supporting “lesser evil” capitalist politicians. It is these characteristics that made them susceptible to being swept up on the Ron Paul band wagon. Despite their “libertarian” values of “freedom”, they have now taken this to the point where they are even willing to censor critics of Ron Paul on their website.

While Ron Paul, the only Republican candidate opposed to the war, is not worth supporting, the front running Democrats are also very bad. Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, are all pro-war. Both Edwards and Clinton voted for the war. Obama supporters claim that Obama never supported the war. While Obama was not yet in the Senate at the time of the Iraq war vote, Obama, Edwards, and Clinton have all voted for war appropriations. This puts them all in the position of having supported the war. Over a million Iraqis are dead due to the U.S. invasion and occupation, and billions of dollars have been squandered. Obama, by helping pay for the war, has his hands in this mass murder just as Clinton and Edwards do.

Obama’s Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007 supposedly would have begun troop withdrawal in May 2007. Yet, it didn't call for full nor immediate withdrawal. In addition, under the bill, the withdrawal could be halted if the Iraqi government met a number of criteria laid out by the Bush administration. These included a broad number of things such as changes in the use of oil revenue, government reforms, an end to sectarian violence, and other economic and reconstruction criteria. In Obama’s bill we have a crystal ball into the future. The excuses laid out in the bill will be heard once again as Obama, Clinton, or Edwards explain why they are keeping the troops in Iraq for their entire presidency; that is unless other actions are taken by the people to stop the war.

This brings us to the fundamental question of how to stop the war. If we are to listen to the Ron Paul censors / supporters at NYC Indymedia the only thing we can do to stop the war is support Ron Paul or hope for (pray for?) economic collapse. Yet, this ignores other less damaging possibilities. These include the troops refusing to fight, a general strike, strikes against the movement of war materials, or socialist revolution.

1. The troops refusing to fight. This worked in the struggle to end the U.S. aggression against Vietnam. It was the socialist movement who were the primary organizers of the anti-Vietnam War movement. That movement, immediately after the government’s murders at Kent State in May 1970 had 8 million students out on strike, and some Universities, such a Berkley, were taken over by students and faculty as anti-war universities. After May 1970, the majority of those drafted were already opposed to the war before they got to Vietnam. Refusal to fight was widespread, and the fragging of pro-war officers was common. Nixon could not continue to wage a war with soldiers who refused to fight. This, along with the heroic resistance of the Vietnamese, brought an end to the war in Vietnam.

Troops refusing to fight also helped bring an end to Russian involvement in the First World War, and helped bring down two pro-war governments in 1917.

2. A general strike or strikes against the movement of war materials. Strikes with such political demands have a long history of success. France has many good social programs because the workers there were willing to shut down their country to achieve them; and they are still willing to do the same to protect those hard fought gains.

3. Socialist revolution. The October Russian Revolution achieved an end to Russian involvement in the First World War. This was a good thing, despite the undemocratic nature of the revolution. Learning from those lessons, Liberation News opposes the dictatorial system of one party rule and raises the banner of revolutionary democratic socialism, while at the same time learning from many of the revolutionary strategies of Lenin and Trotsky.

Protests, pickets, information distribution, building a socialist movement, and answering pro-Ron Paul and pro-Obama-Clinton-Edwards propaganda all help towards building the momentum needed in achieving the kinds of actions that can end the war. Putting support behind Ron Paul only helps an extreme rightwing movement achieve the mantel of leadership for an anti-war sentiment that already represents majority public opinion. In addition, backing a guy like Ron Paul who just crossed a picket line to appear on Jay Lenno’s “Tonight Show” destroys the anti-war strategy of reaching out to the working class, as does backing a racist candidate like Ron Paul hurt the ability to reach out to the multi-racial working class.

No to the Democrats and Republicans!

U.S. Out of Iraq Now!

No to Insurance Company Healthcare, For Socialized Medicine!

Save the Planet, Curb Carbon Emissions Now!

Vote Socialist, Build the Labor Movement, Build the Anti-War Movement, Build the Socialist Movement.

[Note, small changes were made to the response that was censored at NYC Indymedia to make it more readable within the format of this article. Those wishing to see the original version will be given it upon request. Likewise, anyone wishing further sources will be provided them upon request]

This is an article of Liberation News, a low volume newsletter, Subscribe free!
https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/liberation_news

posted in Democrats - 0 replies