Nader's progressive agenda is first--if only he woudn't spoil it by running!

9:15 AM

Even if only one red state goes blue on this year's general election evening, it will have proven Howard right all along.

Hopefully that news will make the first page of the next day's newspapers and network news.

9:16 AM EST

If Obama wins the dem nomination and the presidency, IMO it will have most to do with early support primarily from young people of all races who saw something that a lot of older folks didn't see -- Jesse Jackson Jr supporting Obama and convincing his father to eventually do the same, etc. (kind of reminds me of the early opposition to the Vietnam war, it took a long while before my father got on board to opposing that war):

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4337434&page=1

By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
HOUSTON

...

The same year that Garcia helped launch Bill Clinton's campaign for the presidency, Ana Hernandez was in the eighth grade.

Today, Garcia, 55, is a Harris County commissioner in Houston, and Hernandez, 27, is a state House member whose district overlaps the area Garcia represents. Garcia supports Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign; Hernandez picked Barack Obama for "his ability to engage young people."

The women represent two sides of a generation gap clouding Clinton's hopes for a momentum-changing victory in Texas, the biggest prize of the four presidential contests March 4.

On paper, Texas should be Clinton country. The New York senator and her husband have roots here dating back to Democrat George McGovern's presidential campaign in 1972, when they helped register Hispanic voters in the Rio Grande Valley. The Hispanic vote, which helped deliver California to Clinton on Feb. 5, accounts for as much as one-third of the electorate in Democratic primary elections here.

Texas is also the second-youngest state in the nation in terms of median age, largely because of the state's booming Hispanic population. Of the 3.6 million Hispanics eligible to vote in Texas, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, 31% are between the ages of 18 and 29.

Younger voters are a constituency that appears to be fueling what U.S. Rep. Gene Green of Houston, a Clinton backer, calls "the Obama phenomenon."

Recent polls show the Illinois senator within striking distance of Clinton in Texas, findings not disputed by Clinton loyalists here.

...

8:28 AM EST

If Obama does win the dem nomination, then all those supporters of Obama (especially early ones like Oprah Winfrey, Deval Patrick, Tim Kaine, Caroline Kennedy, Jesse Jackson, Jr. etc.) will be vindicated.

oh yeah, I remember Nader!  he's the guy who took massive donations from Bush's bundlers in 2004 and defended it to the end - shame on him for scolding HC or BO!!  he's the guy who preffered Bush win rather than Gore - and we see where that got us.  he's the guy who said he wouldn't get into that race as long as he felt the people had a voice, then presented a poll to determine public interest, got waaaay more requests not to run than to run and threw his hat in the ring anyway.  yeah, he's really the guy who has this country's best interest at heart.  he's narcissistic and delusional.  and if the dlc gets behind him for the general, THEN I'll worry about him, because that would prove that it isn't about Obama - it's about us.  they don't want us to challenge their power, their RIGHT to continue to lead the democratic party, even off the edge of the cliff, if necessary!

Nader's progressive agenda is first--if only he woudn't spoil it by running!

I'll welcome the added choice if he's on my ballot. And Nader will help keep Obama from running too far to the right once he secures the nomination. 

If Obama doesn't contest my state, as Gore and Kerry didn't after Clinton won it in 1996, or if he's way ahead, I'll possibly vote for Nader -- if he's on my ballot (he wasn't last time).

I may also vote for Nader if Obama starts sounding too Republican. 

Ya gotta dmit, Hillary and Barrack do toss some humour in their speeches.......BO with the Cheney bloodline was hilarious and Hillary with the Obama "age of aquarious" deer in the head lights comparison was great for a few chuckles..........................

Voting for the authorization to go to war in Iraq (and, especially, not feeling the need to apologize for it afterwards) is unforgivable:

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

...

U.S. military deaths  3972

...

+++

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3422319.ece?openComment=true

What a difference a few months make. Iraq was going to be Gordon Brown’s big prime ministerial headache but since the withdrawal of British troops from Basra it has slipped well down the political agenda. Brown took the poisoned chalice left by Tony Blair and quickly poured it down the drain. He has a sea of troubles, but Iraq, for now at least, is not high on the list of them.

In America, Iraq was going to dominate the presidential campaign, pundits predicted. If Barack Obama’s team have their way, it still will. They have been trying to generate some heat by reminding the electorate that John McCain and Hillary Clinton supported the war at first, unlike Obama, and have even been calling it the “Bush/McCain war”.

But, partly because of the success of the US troop surge in reducing casualty numbers in Iraq, and in particular the bodybag count for American forces, the issue is not as salient as it was. Polling in America shows that voters think the troop surge is working. They think the war was a mistake and are highly critical of George W Bush’s handling of it, but Bush is on his way out and Americans have something else to think about: the state of their economy. With main-stream forecasters talking about an election-year recession, even a foreign policy issue as explosive as Iraq has slipped into the background.

If Joe Stiglitz has anything to do with it, however, it will not remain there. He is the Nobel prizewinning economist who, unlike most who get to those dizzy intellectual heights, has refused to remain in an ivory tower.

Eight years ago he quit his position as chief economist at the World Bank, having launched an outspoken attack on its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund. He said the fund was made up of “third-rate economists from first-rate universities”, peddling snake-oil remedies to poor countries desperate for economic development.

He wrote a book, Globalisation and Its Discontents, which made him a poster boy for the antiglobalisation movement. Another, Making Globalisation Work, tackled the question of how to make the world’s poor benefit from free trade. Having been an economic adviser to Bill Clinton in a decade he calls the Roaring Nineties, he has been keen to contrast the success of that era – in which a Democrat president slashed the budget deficit – with the troubles of the Bush era.

Stiglitz’s big passion now, however, is Iraq. In his new book, The Three Trillion Dollar War, written with Linda Bilmes (and published in Britain by Allen Lane), he argues that not only has the cost of the conflict been much greater than anybody close to the White House has admitted, but that the war is closely tied in to America’s present economic woes.

...

10:22 AM EST

a letter to the editor of Salisbury, NC newspapert:

http://www.salisburypost.com/opinion/303614733009852.php

Mon, Feb 25, 2008

I am frightened of the future of our economy. We have all seen the evidence of a looming recession. We see people losing their homes because of the subprime meltdown. Gas prices are high, food is expensive, and the general cost of living is going up and up. Unemployment is high, and the unemployed often have no health insurance.

Times are becoming hard. But look at who is prospering by the billions. Halliburton and Blackwater are raking it in. The war in Iraq is costing this country $338 million every day. Wouldn't it be a godsend if that money were spent at home instead? We could have health care for children, affordable housing for all, scholarships to pay for education and services to benefit all of us.

...

10:23 AM EST

Ya gotta dmit, Hillary and Barrack do toss some humour in their speeches.......BO with the Cheney bloodline was hilarious and Hillary with the Obama "age of aquarious" deer in the head lights comparison was great for a few chuckles...

+++

Michael -

You're comparing apples and oranges.

BO is making fun of himself (having Cheney bloodline) whilst HC is making fun of Barack and especially Hillary's making fun of Barack's supporters.

HC's jokes and sarcasm will backfire.

Things are a bit crazy and heated this primary season, so I thought I'd share a little humor I got from a friend:

 When to start Cussing.... (cracked me up)

A 6 year old and a 4 year old are upstairs in their bedroom. 'You know what?' says the 6 year old. 'I think it's about time we started cussing. The 4 year old nods his head in approval. The 6 year old continues, 'When we go downstairs for breakfast, I'm gonna say something with hell and you say something with ass.' The 4 year old agrees with enthusiasm.

When the mother walks into the kitchen and asks the 6 year old what he wants for breakfast, he replies, 'Aw, hell, Mom, I guess I'll have some Cheerios.' WHACK! He flies out of his chair, tumbles across the kitchen floor, gets up, and runs upstairs crying his eyes out, with his mother in hot pursuit, slapping his rear with every step. His mom locks him in his room and shouts, 'You can stay there until I let you out!'

She then comes back downstairs, looks at the 4 year old and asks with a stern voice, 'And what do YOU want for breakfast, young man?' I don't know, he blubbers, 'but you can bet your fat ass it won't be Cheerios!'

* rdorgan
Mon, 02/25/08
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Of cours you are the voice of reason rd.lol Look mate, whomever gets in is gonna have a worse mess than the unflushable toilet...........all the hope, dreams, speeches and other BS aint gonna put people back to work or food on their table or their kids(forget the adults according to BO) having health care......

Obamas policies speak for themsekves and Im rather unimpressed save for the fact he would stick his neck out and meet with "undesiable" leaders..we shall see how far that goes because Obama has yet to challenge the real culprits in this country forcing their policies on our politicians.................defend that please.  Of course, Clinton is just as bad and worse to be fair..........

Obama, IF he gets in may be the best thing since sliced bread and I would be the forst to applaud him on that endeavour..............I remain "realistic" however........there IS a differance between pessimistic and realistic.......................

* rdorgan
Mon, 02/25/08
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Of cours you are the voice of reason rd.lol Look mate, whomever gets in is gonna have a worse mess than the unflushable toilet...........all the hope, dreams, speeches and other BS

...

+++

Michael -

What you see is BS, others don't.

Hey, you never were FOR anyone in this prez race anyways, so what does it matter to you anyways.

I for one don't really care if you're not impressed.

Results of Rutland DFA's Endorsement Poll:

Barack Obama 94.74%
Hillary Clinton 5.26%
Ron Paul 0%
John McCain 0%
Mike Huckabee 0%

John, unless he runs Nader's progressive agenda will never have the chance (although slim)to get any attention.  Nader runs because he has that right and because he does speak to millions of disaffected voters in this country.  What is amazing is to listen to so many self-described progressives reject this man outright.  They insult, they demean, without a care for the truth.  For too many politics is a game of numbers and strategy and not of real life issues.  We continually elect Democrats who turn around and disappoint.  Do we continue to take this? 

His record of deeds for the public interest and good are unsurpassed by any elected official past or current.  Most of our consumer protections and public interest law would not exist if it weren't for Nader and his early, groundbreaking work in the 60's and 70's.  The subsequent development of many public interest research groups and political action groups have continued the important and vital work that keeps corporations and their political cronies in check at all.  This legacy cannot be tarnished.

The Democratic nominee will have to speak to me about the issues I am deeply concerned about; health care, education, the environment and the military budget.  As Mike pointed out in the previous thread, right now Mr. Nader is on the right side of these issues (and others) and neither of the Democratic contenders are.  But that does not necessarily mean that Ralph has succeeded in securing my vote.  Democrats still offer the best chance at change from the bully pulpit of the Presidency.  But the DLC candidate can't offer it and the hope candidate doesn't seem to want to.

And now, in the immortal words of Johnny Storm, "Flame On!"

Great new piece of much needed legislation here:

CREDIT CARD SAFETY STAR ACT OF 2007

Introduced by Senators Wyden and Obama

Working to give consumers the tools to make informed choices about complex credit card agreements, Senators Wyden and Obama introduced the "Credit Card Safety Star Act of 2007."  The legislation creates a five-star safety rating system for credit cards in order to increase the transparency of credit card agreements and encourage issuers to abandon abusive practices by offering consumers fair terms they can understand. 

Much like the five-star crash test rating system for new cars, the "Credit Card Safety Star Act of 2007" will give consumers a window into the safety of their credit cards.  Under the legislation, every credit card, billing statement, agreement, application, and piece of marketing material will be required to carry the credit card’s safety star rating, which will range anywhere from one to five stars, with five stars representing the safest cards. 

Senator Wyden introduced the concept of this legislation on C-Span this morning's Center for American Progress. Read more on this page at at Wyden's website:

http://wyden.senate.gov/issues/Legislation/Credit_Card_Safety_Star.cfm

Pictures of Obama in Kenya with native dress on have now been released to media. Wow, the Clintonistas are plain desperate.

With Nader's hat in the ring, I'm expecting Jaxrook to come back and chastise the "duopoly"

10:52 am

Go, Rutland, VT. Wow. I think Barack will do very well in VT. *Cherries for Change* (Ben & Jerry's) Yum.

10:58 AM EST

Pictures of Obama in Kenya with native dress on have now been released to media. Wow, the Clintonistas are plain desperate.

+++

mary vb -

I've been to Sierra Leone, West Africa with my wife (who's from there) and each time we bring back African garb and [sic] OMG wear it here on the streets of Boston !

We've not yet been stopped and questioned: "Are you Americans ?" "Are you Muslims ?"

Boy, looks like Hillary and her handlers are pulling out all stops this week to throw at Barack, his staff and his supporters.

16.

 I may also vote for Nader if Obama starts sounding too Republican. 

Sitka: Be careful what you think you would be trying to do here.  

However, there is little chance that Obama will ever be "sounding" Republican. He can work across the party lines as he did in Illinois and in the U S Senate, but that doesn't mean he will or ever has abandoned his progressive Democratic agenda.

And considering the apparent nominee on the Republican side, he would have no need to sound more like him. It will be McCain who will be trying to sound more like Obama.

With Nader's hat in the ring, I'm expecting Jaxrook to come back and chastise the "duopoly"

Somebody needs to. 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5734551070026840153&q=redacted&total=872&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1 

It's the whole Brian DePalma movie--130 minutes 

11.

Lynn

Hilarious! Thanks for the morning laugh.

11:05 AM EST

http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2008/02/23/news/news943.txt

Sitka: Be careful what you think you would be trying to do here.

I'll use my vote as I see fit. And I won't caution others how to use theirs nor try to convince them to use it as I see fit.  

However, there is little chance that Obama will ever be "sounding" Republican. He can work across the party lines as he did in Illinois and in the U S Senate, but that doesn't mean he will or ever has abandoned his progressive Democratic agenda.

I hope you're right. But if he thinks he may lose enough votes to Nader in critical states, he'll be less likely to take liberals for granted.

And considering the apparent nominee on the Republican side, he would have no need to sound more like him. It will be McCain who will be trying to sound more like Obama.

That may depend on whether conservatives cuts him enough slack to abandon their agenda. 

Morning,

It's absolutely great to be human.  We are walking contradictions, walking irony.  

It would seem reasonable that the human species would be heartily sick of war and destruction, yet, we'll cling to our ideologies no matter what.

Some contradictions: Jews are massacred in Europe and with the tacit consent of the U.S. and Britain. They gain their own state, and they become an oppressive power.  We ignore the larger truth that American and Euoropean powers have been meddling and attempting to colonize the Middle East for 100 years.  Actually, people in the Middle East are getting very tired of war and have pretty much given up hope the the West will or can do anything to change that.

We talk about the atrocities of war, yet the two candidates who want to not only end this war but change the mindset, one gets nowhere, the other is ridiculed as unrealistic, a dreamer, all words.  To sit down at the table with all parties is the only solution to war.  You never win a war; you just create the conditions for more wars.

Howard Dean was opposed by the DLC, in which the Clintons had a large share of the power, but Hillary Clinton, who supported the war, voted to label the Revolutionary guards in Iran as terrorists, who supported the triangulation of corporate welfare, Republicans, and Democrats  is supported by  supporters of Howard Dean as opposed to a biracial candidate who talks peace, who talks hope, who talks reason.

People want a fighter, but fighter is the same old meme.  I'm stronger than you, smarter than you, righter than you, have more weapons, resources, support, and I will defeat you and banish you.  More of the same old, same old, yet, people call themselves cynics as a rationale (and we do need skeptics to question, to recognize the deceptions and propaganda), preferring war to any new efforts toward reconcilation.

I think it was Fred who remarked that rather than the 50 state strategy, the internet, and speaking truth to power, it was the disaster of the Bush Administration that brought forth an Obama.  I think there's truth in that.  As humans we keep doing the same old things and foolishly think everything will come out all right.  We just keep getting the same results. But, it's much safer to say that hope, working together, listening to the people is bogus than to say, this is what we've been longing for as a species.

And like Jonathan Swift's  Gulliver's Travels, we'll happily go to war over how to crack a poached egg.  Read health care policy, time table for returning the troops from Iraq, CAFTA/NAFTA, etc.

And we'll insist that we are Progressive; yet, that seems to be a set of statements that ignores any having to work with reality, to be flexible, to look for new solutions, to think, as the cliche goes, outside the box. 

And, I've always believed in argumentation, rationality, the enlightenment, people coming together to seek the truth of things.  I'm afraid that won't do it anymore either.  No one is convinced.  We cling to our own preferences, sense of right, and we use ridicule and mockery, just like elementary school children, which shows how powerless we truly are. 

What a piece of work is man." Shakespeare 

Before I checked my mail and found that link to REDACTED, I was reading about Penn and Black, McCain's media consultant.  They're part of the same corporation.  If I remember correctly, Kerry hired himself people who shared a shop with the Bush ad people. 

When did politicians get the idea that it would be a good idea for them to be sold like soap flakes?

The consultants were concerning about Obama, as well.  He seems to have gotten a handle on them.  

It's being reported that Hillary Clinton never had control of the accounts.  As I said the other day, she's a parvenu.  Doesn't know how to handle money. 

rdorgan - But what I wanna know is: Do you wear your flag pin when wearing your African garments? That will prove to me that you are indeed Americans. LOL

11:18 AM EST

rdorgan - But what I wanna know is: Do you wear your flag pin when wearing your African garments? That will prove to me that you are indeed Americans. LOL

+++

mary vb -

No pins on clothes and no flag decals on cars and no flags affixed to our house.  Our neighbors have a flag each affixed to their front porches but they don't seem to mind that my wife and I don't.

Maybe we'll shock them though by putting up a flag on Nov 5, the day after Barack wins the election [smile].

15.  Gee, I hope they pair those with Bush Two's recent efforts to dance along with his hosts.

Pictures of Obama in Kenya with native dress on have now been released to media. Wow, the Clintonistas are plain desperate.

I doubt if more than a handful of hardcore cranks have anything against Kenya. 

Joe Stiglitz was Edwards' economic advisor rdorgan, thanks for the link . The man makes sense to me.

It's probably to counter the pic of him in a black ten gallon hat.  Should go retrieve that.

Hillary Clinton - the CAN'T-didate.  thank goodness SHE wasn't around during the American Revolution...  "sorry boys. get your heads out of the clouds and kiss the King's boots - we can't just wave a magic wand and make him go away."

The Bush administration said yesterday that the government "lost intelligence information"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

only if they have programs they are keeping secret from Congress, because all of the ongoing ones now have warrants good for a year, or they are illegal

the whole thing with the walkout was a stunt

I want to add we need cynics as well as skeptics.  I'm thinking of Diogenes who went naked through the streets of Athens, violated every social code, carried a lantern looking for one honest man, and broke his one possession, a bowl, deliberately when he saw a child scoop water from a well with his hands. 

A hard, lonely role, but also a necessary one, I think 

Pictures of Obama in Kenya with native dress on have now been released to media. Wow, the Clintonistas are plain desperate.

I doubt if more than a handful of hardcore cranks have anything against Kenya.

+++

Sitka -

The issue about the East African pics of Obama is the subliminal association the Clintons are hoping to imply by bringing up the false perception that Obama is a Muslim.  Rovian spin on the part of Penn and company ?

Just a thought but I wonder if Hillary has gone nuclear because she knows she isn't getting some endorsements (JRE, Richardson, et al). Perhaps she figures she has nothing to lose.

Mydd is just a laugh-fest now. Headlines for OH's polls: Clinton Holding Steady. But she's dropped 11 points in a week and a half. LOL

ignores any having to work with reality

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pat

For you only pragmatists need apply?

I want to take this species to a place where universal rights are recognized. why I engage in politics

do I need to admit this is an evolutionary step and sapiens need not apply? that I'm a dreamer? I wouldn't think I would have to face that kind of comedown from an Obama supporter. Is that what we are doing if we switch to him, settle for what they will give us?

11:39 AM EST

Joe Stiglitz was Edwards' economic advisor rdorgan, thanks for the link . The man makes sense to me.

+++

Phil -

No problem.

Well, at least something I've posted of late gets a nod of approval from you [smile, just ribbing ya: hey I'm partial to those who especially take heat early on for backing someone -- ie. Oprah got a lot of hate email from some of her viewers that was way over the top -- what she did at least was help expose Obama and get his name out to even more viewers, so that even if it was initially a negative reception, many of those have started to come around -- the whole crux of the Obama campaign to me is the change/hope framing but the biggest emphasis of the campaign has been getting the word out about Obama, that at least got him up to a more playing field to Clinton, who already had the name recognition).

And from here to the general election, I will talk up about the real economic costs of the Iraq War -- whilst Iraq starts getting it's lights turned on with dollars from American taxpayers, those same taxpayers are starting to see "their own lights turned off".

14

Paz,

no flame from me. well said

Monica Smith
Mon, 02/25/08
___________________________________________________________________________

Please..............after LBJ and Bush 2........this country has had enough cowboys...........

Its 11.43am

Pictures of Obama in Kenya with native dress on have now been released to media. Wow, the Clintonistas are plain desperate.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Theres nothing wrong with a head of statw respecting another countries rich traditions and dress..........just think, IF Obama goes to Scotland........he will have to wear a kilt!

#32 Phil,

Good reply. No, thinking outside the war frame isn't a-take-what-they-give-us.  That's the old opposition that is so bankrupt.  We can get what is necessary and possible for the human species, but it won't come about by war, by defeating the other side and excluding them.  That's what I meant.

It will come about by inclusiveness, recognizing that what we do has consequences; what we think has consequences; that we are all reponsible for each  other.  That means that the coporations which seem to value only money are doing terrible damage, to everyone, and our job is to figure out how to make us all repsonsible, that the corporations have as big a part to play as any entity, and when there is poverty, injustice, suffering, the corporations have to work to alleviate it.

That's what I meant. 

It's interesting how locked in we are to the old frames of reference. 

The Democratic nominee will have to speak to me about the issues I am deeply concerned about; health care, education, the environment and the military budget.  As Mike pointed out in the previous thread, right now Mr. Nader is on the right side of these issues (and others) and neither of the Democratic contenders are. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are down to two choices in the remaining dozen and a half states that will decide whether progressives are inside or outside of the Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton could have been a progressive but charted a course away from us. Obama could co-opt us but won't outright fight us. so Nader is only a problem for the Democratic Party if we force it on ourselves

I am perplexed. If we had Clinton as a nominee, people are vexed.

Now that Obama is on his way to being the nominee. people are pissed.

What do you want? Obama is the progressive, so why aren't you happy?

Or would you rather have a nut like McCain?

47.

Thanks for digging up that pic Monica.

Obama will be the best looking president we have ever had -- IMO of course:))

Pat

Obama continued the work of Sam Nunn in working with Richard Lugar to secure loose nukes. Party labels didn't apply there. I agree that sometimes you just do what you have to do to get a job done. But to have that as your philosophical underpinning for organizing your actions, no.

linda b

I'm delighted Obama is on his way to the nomination and hope he wins both Ohio and Texas (Vermont is a given, Rhode Island is a long shot) 

#44 For the sake of argument, Phil, why not?

Ideologues simply seem to foster polarization.  Did you see the Bill Moyers Journal last week?  A journalist is working in Afghanistan with the people there, making herbal soaps and other products.  She is absolutely dedicated to peace, to helping Afghanistan, but she is pragmatic in working to achieve that.  That was my point I hoped to make.  That standing on ideology is not only not enough, it's destructive if that's the only thing we  are doing. 

12:15 PM EST

linda b

I'm delighted Obama is on his way to the nomination and hope he wins both Ohio and Texas (Vermont is a given, Rhode Island is a long shot) 

+++

Phil -

I agree with you about Rhode Island.  Next to MA, it literally is Clinton country, more so IMO than even New York.  Only Arkansas is more pro-Hillary.

The funny thing about MA and RI, I always assumed they were more progressive than the state I grew up in CT but Feb 5 proved me wrong.

Hopefully, Obama supporters in RI and MA can help eek out a win in RI next Tuesday but there's a lot of Clinton history (to be truthful, good economic ones, especially small business starts) to balance out again in voters minds about a potential for something the same or even better from Obama.

Maybe the state founded by Roger Williams will surprise me after all next Tues.

In the 1960s, Brown helped form the Negro Industrial Economic Union to assist black-owned businesses. In 1988, he created the Amer-I-Can program, an effort to turn gang members from destructive to productive members of society. Today, Amer-I-Can is successfully operating in 12 U.S. cities and promoting a skills curriculum that is designed to teach inmates how to empower themselves to turn their lives around with positive self-esteem and self-determination. Brown and his program were closely involved with the development of a cease-fire between two of Los Angeles' most violent rival gangs, the Bloods and Crips. Brown continues to work in the community to create better lives for his fellow citizens.

Text Courtesy of
ESPN.com (Larry Swartz)

http://www.amer-i-can.org/

Want someone that looks good in African garb ain't no one gonna beat Jim Brown

The following excerpts are from "For Ralph Nader, But Not For President", by Howard Dean, published 4/12/04 in the New York Times:

"Many Democrats also admire Ralph Nader's achievements, as I do. But if they truly want George Bush out of the White House, they won't vote for Ralph Nader in November.

"Ralph Nader has built a remarkable legacy as a consumer advocate. . . . And I campaigned against the very same corporate special interests that he has been criticizing longer than almost anyone else.

"But I don't believe that the best way to do justice to Ralph Nader's legacy is to vote for him for president. Re-electing George Bush would undo everything Ralph Nader has worked for through his entire career and, in fact, could lead to the dismantling of many of his accomplishments.

"Voting for Ralph Nader, or for any third-party candidate for president, means a vote for a candidate who has no realistic shot of winning the White House. To underscore the danger of voting for any third-party candidate in elections this close, a statistic from the 2000 campaign may prove useful: a total of eight third-party candidates won more votes than the difference between Al Gore and George Bush nationwide.

" . . . .

"Ralph Nader once said that your best teacher is your last mistake. Too many of us learned the consequences of not standing together four years ago. This November, we can elect a president who fights for average Americans. But we can achieve this goal only if we join together — and don't repeat our last mistake."

new thread 12:21 pm est

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23978#comments

Pat

we need both the mountain and the river to sculpt the landscape

we need the clouds to bring back the water from the ocean

we need the moon to stir the tides

the sunshine to lift moisture to the clouds

humans can pick their role model

ice cracks the rocks and makes soil

plants in the soil feed the animals

our politics reflect our world

and we need both the mountain and the river

The following excerpts are from "For Ralph Nader, But Not For President", by Howard Dean, published 4/12/04 in the New York Times:

I voyed for howard Dean, but I would never let him dictate who I vote for. 

I welcome every candidate and reserve my option to vote for any of them. 

As with Edwards, Hillary record does not match her current rhetoric.

I can cite the 2001 Bankruptcy Law, NCLB, Patriot Crap, and Iraq invasion to back that up.

What can you cite to back up your claim that Obama's record doesn't match his rhetoric? 

#55

Beautiful and true.  Best said in poetry. 

56

Very familiar writing style here - why the anonymity?

I'm sure it's clear who you are.