President Obama Speaks in Indonesia

U.S.A. President Barack Obama gives an inspiring speech in Indonesia, on November 9, 2010. Obama's 30-minute talk describes America's partnership with Indonesia, sustainable development, how democracy promotes economic progress, and education for the future in a rapidly-changing world.

You can watch a video of the talk here:




Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Raj Patel and His Book: The Value of Nothing

The Value of Nothing
How to reshape market society and redefine democracy

by Raj Patel
Paperback, 240 pages. $ 14
ISBN: 978-0-312-42924-9
Published by Picador, January 2010

In Walden, that incomparable work that connects economics to all aspects of a person's life, Henry David Thoreau writes:

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root ... "

In October 2008, Americans were told by all the experts that our economy had regressed 80 years, and was so weak it could crash and collapse like a bad soufflé. At that time, I had five thoughts:

1. The foundation of our economic system is thoroughly unsound.
2. If we survive this round of catastrophe, the same problems could strike gain.
3. Exploiting our health and our environment cannot be the foundation of economics of the future.
4. If anything is "too big to fail" then it must be made to regulated so that it is just the right size to succeed.
5. The Economy is too complex for any one person to understand.

I am thrilled to discover that I was wrong about the fifth item on my list. In The Value of Nothing, Raj Patel has not only explained the causes of our floundering economy, he has pointed to ways we can transform our floundering, ever-teetering and unjust economic system into a healthy, fair and stable one.

Part One of the book diagnoses our present peril. Patel calls back to that tense October 2008. In a telling moment, Alan Greenspan admitted to a Congressional Committee that his entire theory of laissez-faire capitalism was flawed. Patel then exposes and skewers other villains in the crisis: McDonalds, Monsanto, John Stuart Mill, psychopathic corporations, Goldman Sachs, and especially the misguided manifesto of deadly selfishness, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

There are a handful of heroes in this section, including Karl Polanyi, and his book The Great Transformation, which explains "how the most powerful groups in society tried to turn land and labor into 'fictitious commodities,' into things that were in principle very different from the goods that had previously been exchanged in markets."

In Part Two, Patel describes activities that have successfully challenged the free market system, and improved lives. La Via Campesina now operates in 69 nations and has 150 million members. Another organization, Abahlali baseMjondolo, in Durban, helps to prevent shackowners from being harassed and evicted. In Mexico, a group called the Zapatistas, run their political and monetary affairs using a slow-moving, Athenian-style democracy, where persons who serve in office wear ski masks to protect their identities.

Works such as The Soul of Man Under Socialism (Oscar Wilde), The Poverty of Affluence (Paul L. Wachtel), To Have or To Be (Erich Fromm) and to some extent Affluenza (film and book) argue that people are diminished -- intellectually, culturally, artistically, emotionally -- by lives devoted to acquiring too much money and things. Patel cannot be faulted for skimming past this dimension: there are too many urgent consequences to attend to. He reports that for American children born in the year 2000, one out of three will develop diabetes -- and for children of color, the odds jump to one out of every two.

This essential guide to a sustainable economy might have been called (if Schumacher had not already coined the phrase), "Economics as if people mattered." The Value of Nothing is a revelatory book, filled with indisputable facts and original insights. Most admirable in the author's approach is the balance. Patel sees the need for personal change (we must consume less and consume more wisely); we also need to change the big things, the free trade model of economics that exploits the many to enrich the few.

To complete the great thought of Thoreau:

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve."

--Michael Pastore


Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Obama Delivers State of the Union Address

President Obama delivered the annual State of the Union address, focusing on the economy, and also touching on the subjects of health care, defense, climate change, human rights, and the crisis in Haiti.



Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Health Care Reform: A Commentary by Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann delivers an intelligent, impassioned comment about health care reform.

Watch it here:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Arianna Karenina — A novel of Change and Hope

Last night I dreamed about writing a sequel to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. The modern sequel might be called Arianna Karenina — unlike the Salinger sequel, the publication could not be stopped by the author of the original work. The new book begins when a brilliant woman ends her relationship with Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin, and then jumps on a train to New York, to transform the world with liberal ideas, citizen participation, and intelligent debate. Instead of despairing over love and loss, the heroine finds hope and fulfillment in her meaningful work.

That dream might have been triggered by a package that came in the mail a few days ago. It was a signed-by-author copy of The Huffington Post Complete Guide To Blogging — my prize for being a runner-up in a Huffington Post contest. (My nearly-winning 5-word sentence was: "Blogs: Weapons of Mass Instruction."). The book does not claim to reveal the secrets of transforming your hardly-noticed blog into a blog read by millions. Instead, it provides the basics of blogging, and offers a glimpse into the success of the Huffington Post (blog), and the innovative vision of a remarkable woman named Arianna Huffington.

Other books written by Ms. Huffington include Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe (2008); and On Becoming Fearless ... In Love, Work and Life (pictured above).

Watch Arianna discuss her book about blogging:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/arianna-discusses-huffpos_b_149803.html


Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Senator Bernard Sanders is Fighting for Credit Card Reforms

Vermont Senator Bernard Sanders is fighting for reform in the Credit Card Industry. He has introduced legislation that would limit the interest rates on credit cards to 15 percent.

Sanders writes, on his website:

Credit Card Rip-offs ... People in Vermont and throughout the country are outraged by skyrocketing credit card interest rates. At a time when the taxpayers in this country are bailing out Wall Street financial institutions, these very same banks are charging them 20, 25, 30 percent interest rates on their credit cards.

Sanders has put together a collection of letters from persons who've had unpleasant experiences with credit card companies. You can read these letters online, from Sanders's website. And you can add comments of your own. http://www.sanders.senate.gov/qa/creditcards.cfm

Thanks to the Huffington Post for alerting us about this story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/testimonies-on-credit-car_b_197151.html

For more information about Credit Cards and Debit Cards, visit Clark Howard's website.

Also of interest is today's New York Times's story about Bank of America needing 33.9 billion dollars:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/business/06stress.html

Watch the Sanders video, on YouTube, here:




Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Ethical Markets by Hazel Henderson

Green is the color of the new economy. To understand what all this greening is about, you can read Hazel Henderson's book, Ethical Markets.

Henderson's websites have more excellent resources:

Ethical Markets
http://www.ethicalmarkets.com/

and

Ethical Markets TV
http://www.ethicalmarkets.tv/

— Michael Pastore


Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

The Solomon Scandals by David Rothman (book review)

The Solomon Scandals
a novel by David Rothman
Published by Twilight Times Books
January 2009
ISBN: 978-1-60619-042-5
Paperback, 252 pages, $ 16.95
Ebook: $ 5.95
Sample chapters at: www.SolomonScandals.com

Reviewed by Michael Pastore

Just for fun, go to Google and type into the search box: "scandals Washington D.C." In a fraction of one second, more than 3.7 million results appear. Whereas other East Coast cities are notorious for a unique genre of scandal — Boston for stranglers, New York for Wall Street, and Philadelphia (the City of Muggerly Love) for mundane street crime — Washington D.C. is unique for the variety, inventiveness, and chutzpah of its offenses. The city ennobled by George Washington, Thom Jefferson and Abe Lincoln has a checkered past encompassing Watergate, the Plame outing, missing persons, missing emails, briberies, conspiracies, frauds, tax evasions, spying, lying, and the D.C. Madam, whose client list included more than 10,000 customers.

David Rothman's new novel, The Solomon Scandals, depicts a Washington D.C. tainted with corruption on a grand scale. There's no small stuff sweated here: these are Madoffian white-collar crimes that pay splendidly, and involve some of the city's most respected kingpins. The novel tells the story of a ballsy Jewish reporter, Jonathan Stone, who investigates a rich, powerful pillar of the Jewish community, Seymour Solomon. Stone's efforts are hindered by an ethically-challenged editor hoping to hush the inconvenient truths; and helped by a grad student who shares her bathtub and her bed. Politicians are exposed and the media skewered in this comic-tragic tale of Washington D.C. laid bare.

Three things about this novel impressed me. Real settings (D.C. by someone who knows it intimately), and real events -- for example, the collapse of the Ronan Point housing project -- are skillfully interweaved with the fictional characters and plot. The book's women are especially likable: they radiate that screwball-comedy pizzazz ala Roz Russell's Hildy Johnson in the film His Girl Friday. And humor: though the theme could hardly be more serious -- and the book's conclusion comes as a sad but inevitable shock -- this is often a subtly funny book. Stone getting grilled by his meddling parents, and the first meeting between the honest reporter and his sleazy subject are two scenes that made me laugh out loud.

There is a fine thread that connects good fiction to genuine reality. This novel makes us stop and wonder: Is this story an exaggeration only, or is real-world politics equally depraved? ... With a new American president in the White House, we hope and believe that the clouds of deception have blown away, and a sunny ethic of honesty now pervades our nation's political heart. In as much as the news media can reflect this kind of seismic shift, this year's news has been shockingly mild. Already, it seems, many people miss the pre-Obama frenzy: the flood of outrageous D.C. revelations that characterized life under our former emperor.

Fortunately, all the corruption we could ever desire — artistically rendered and skillfully told — is tucked inside the pages of The Solomon Scandals. Financial rip-offs and large-scale shady deals may always be with us. But they are far more fun to read between the covers of a well-written novel, than on the front pages of our troubled newspapers and magazines.

-30-


Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Barack Obama is Sworn in as Our New President

This is the day!

Today, January 20, 2009, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of people will attend the ceremony in Washington, D.C., and millions more persons around the world will be watching via television or the Internet.

You can watch the ceremony live, right here:



If this fails, go to the CBS news site:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/08/national/inauguration09/main4707733.shtml

Joy to the world!
Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Obama Is Our President

Obama! ... Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States. The American people have voted for world peace, for economic justice, for a green economy, and for genuine change.

Here is the text of Obama's victory speech in Chicago, at midnight.

Obama's Speech on November 4, 2008

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Its the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

Its the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

Its the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

Its been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.


I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and hes fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nations promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nations next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy thats coming with us to the White House. And while shes no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what youve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didnt start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generations apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didnt do this just to win an election and I know you didnt do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how theyll make the mortgage, or pay their doctors bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who wont agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government cant solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, its that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one thats on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. Shes a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldnt vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that shes seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we cant, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when womens voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

NY Times Editorial Board Endorses Obama for President

The NY Times editorial board writes:

Barack Obama for President

Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation’s future truly hangs in the balance.

The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.

As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.

Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.

In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.

Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.

Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.

In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”

Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.

The Economy

The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution” — is still a believer.

Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.

Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending — about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem.

Mr. Obama is clear that the nation’s tax structure must be changed to make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefited disproportionately from Mr. Bush’s tax cuts will have to pay some more. Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall and their children’s options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in which workers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educational opportunities.

Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent. And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposed cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans while digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.

National Security

The American military — its people and equipment — is dangerously overstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan, which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary and staggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly and responsibly as possible.

While Iraq’s leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troops and a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is still taking about some ill-defined “victory.” As a result, he has offered no real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any further damage to Iraq and its neighbors.

Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq, and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawing American forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until the Pentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enough troops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused on Afghanistan’s dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboring Pakistan may quickly follow.

Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deep foreign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment. Mr. McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska more irresponsible.

Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Both candidates talk about repairing America’s image in the world. But it seems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world.

Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wants to create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that would incite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world.

Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as divided into friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposed kicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even before the invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow’s bullying, but we also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States must find a way to constrain the Russians’ worst impulses, while preserving the ability to work with them on arms control and other vital initiatives.

Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions. Mr. McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.

The Constitution and the Rule of Law

Under Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers have come under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of a unified nation, to try to place himself above the law.

Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges and browbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy on Americans. He has created untold numbers of “black” programs, including secret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will take years of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have been violated.

Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify and correct Mr. Bush’s attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain has been silent on the subject.

Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helped the White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of 2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court and put Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatly increasing the risk to American troops.

The next president will have the chance to appoint one or more justices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated by a radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges than some of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pick rigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge who believes in women’s reproductive rights.

The Candidates

It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.

Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility.

Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.

He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.

Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of “drill, baby, drill.”

Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies.

•

Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks ever mounted against a candidate. He’s been called un-American and accused of hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him to domestic terrorists and questioned his wife’s love of her country. Ms. Palin has also questioned millions of Americans’ patriotism, calling Republican-leaning states “pro-America.”

This politics of fear, division and character assassination helped Mr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeat Senator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of his failed presidency.

The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing “robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.

Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Barack Obama: The New Yorker's Choice for President

History will be made on November 4, as Americans choose whether to move bravely toward a sustainable future, or to continue a descent into barbarism in many realms: economic, environmental, educational, and social.

The New Yorker essay on October 13 (The Choice), is powerfully written, and signed "The Editors", although it is not difficult to detect the shrewd hand of Hendrik Hertzberg pushing the political pen. The essay begins with these words:

"Never in living memory has an election been more critical than the one fast approaching—that’s the quadrennial cliché, as expected as the balloons and the bombast. And yet when has it ever felt so urgently true? When have so many Americans had so clear a sense that a Presidency has—at the levels of competence, vision, and integrity—undermined the country and its ideals?"

Read the entire essay here:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/10/13/081013taco_talk_editors




Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Does McCain Understand Modern Economics ?

Before slinging any more mud at Barack Obama, the McCain campaign might want to explain McCain's ties with a convicted felon, and McCain's history of bad judgment about the American economy. McCain has been a strong supporter of de-regulation and non-regulation: letting the big corporations do almost anything they want to do. That bad judgment caused the famous S&L scandal (discussed in this video), and it caused the current meltdown: the worst economic crisis since America's Great Depression.

Here is a video that every undecided voter should watch, then verify:





Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Hillary Clinton Unites the Democrats

Hillary Clinton, with an inspired and inspiring speech at the Democratic National Convention last night, united the Democrats as she urged them to join together to accomplish their essential goals.

There were two great comic lines, but for the most part, Clinton eloquently epitomized the Democratic platform, and re-affirmed her support for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The speech last evening resolves every doubt, in my mind, about the issue of whether or not women who supported Hillary will vote for Obama: they will. Skeptics may still murmur that Hillary wanted to be president to serve her own selfish needs for power. Last evening, these doubts as well were vanquished as Senator Clinton shined -- with courage, sincerity, and grace -- in the most significant moment of her career.

Read her speech here (NY Times log in required):
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/us/politics/27text-clinton.html

And/or watch the video here (courtesy of MSNBC.com):




Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Obama, Biden and Drama at the Democratic National Convention

Barack Obama has chosen Joe Biden to be his running mate on the Democratic ticket.

Watch the convention live, at MSNBC.com:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Or watch here, at the bottom of the NY Times DNC blog:
Watch the Convention (via NY Times convention blog)

Learn about Joe Biden:
Joe Biden bio at the NY Times


Nancy Pelosi's DNC speech on Monday, August 25, 2008 (full text)

Michelle Obama's DNC speech on Monday, August 25, 2008 (full text)

The drama at the DNC continues on Tuesday afternoon at 3p.m., when the Democrats attempt to unify the party.

DNC coverage at the Huffington Post



Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Unfit For Publication - a free ebook from the Obama Campaign

Truth will set us free.

Unfit for Publication is a new ebook, written and published by the Obama campaign. This 40-page PDF document exposes the lies in a recent book about Obama, titled Obama Nation. Download this rebuttal today: it tells the truth about Obama's life and extraordinary work.

The goal of this ebook, of course, is to prevent the same kind of character assassination (now known as "swift-boating") that plagued the John Kerry presidential run in 2004.

You can download this ebook, free, from the Obama campaign website, via this page:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/corsi

You will notice that the cover of the ebook shows the face of the author of the smear book. We at Epublishers Weekly could not stand to look at this cowardly face, therefore we covered it up. You will see the actual image of the author's face when you visit the Obama website, and download the free ebook.

The New York Times has written about this work:

NY Times article about Unfit for Publication:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Anti-Obama-Book.html

Not everything that is written deserves to be published. It is shocking to learn that the smear-book was published by an affiliate of Simon & Schuster publishers. This is a blemish on their professionalism, one which lowers the prestige of that company to the level of a tabloid newspaper.

Yet it is encouraging to see that the Obama campaign is fighting back against fanaticism and cowardice in the world of mainstream book publishing. As the old proverb reminds us: "Heaven and Earth have sworn the truth shall be disclosed."


Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Mongol — The New Film by Sergei Bodrov

Mongol, the new film by Sergei Bodrov, is strangely appealing. Despite the length (120 minutes), the distracting subtitles, and the never-ending bloody battles, the interest never dims. The hero is always in danger, his wife is lovely, the scenery in stunning, and the music perfectly captures the spirit of the age. Yet to grasp the secret of of this film, one must -- as the director must have done -- view the earlier version, made in 1956, called The Conqueror.

Both films tell the story of Genghis Khan during his first 40 or so years. The Conqueror stars John Wayne as a cowboy rendition of Genghis, and Susan Hayward as his wayward wife. The highlight of this film is Susan Hayward's "Dance of the Single Veil"; and the lowlight is the first meeting between Genghis and his future bride, where the macho Wayne introduces himself to Hayward by ripping off her dress and exposing her breasts (not shown to the audience, of course). The Genghis Khan depicted in The Conqueror is a barbarian, hardly different from any of the killing, burning, ravishing hordes of other tribes and tribal leaders. But late in the film, Genghis's blood brother explains why the fighters follow the great Khan:

"He has a quality of spirit that commands love, and makes men greater than themselves. "

The earlier film talks about this quality of spirit, yet the film's hero never shows it, not in his treatment of his enemies or friends. The Khan in The Conqueror is a bully, who says of his wife "There is no limit to her perfidy," and then kicks a slave to the ground so that his wife can use this human being as a step to descend from her palanquin.

In the new film by Bodrov, we do see this rare great quality of spirit. The hero is not merely a bloodthirsty warrior who dominates by force, he is a true leader who unites the barbaric world by bringing laws to these lawless tribes. Bodrov's Genghis Khan is a family man who believes in justice, who cares about the common tribesman, who respect women and children, and desires peace far more than war.

By election-time in November, let us hope that American voters can understand this all-important difference.

== Story Links ==

Watch The Conqueror on Filmschatten:
http://filmschatten.blogspot.com/2008/06/conqueror.html


Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Albert Gore - A Declaration of Energy Independence

Albert Gore has given us a passionate and insightful speech about the world's future, and how we must act, immediately, to save ourselves and future generations.

For more information, visit this website about Gore's plan:

http://www.wecansolveit.org/

Read this heroic speech below, or view the video here:




An here below is the full text of this brilliant speech, given on July 17, 2008.

A Generational Challenge to Repower America

Ladies and gentlemen:

There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment.

The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more – if more should be required – the future of human civilization is at stake. I don’t remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously. Our economy is in terrible shape and getting worse, gasoline prices are increasing dramatically, and so are electricity rates. Jobs are being outsourced. Home mortgages are in trouble. Banks, automobile companies and other institutions we depend upon are under growing pressure. Distinguished senior business leaders are telling us that this is just the beginning unless we find the courage to make some major changes quickly.

The climate crisis, in particular, is getting a lot worse – much more quickly than predicted. Scientists with access to data from Navy submarines traversing underneath the North polar ice cap have warned that there is now a 75 percent chance that within five years the entire ice cap will completely disappear during the summer months. This will further increase the melting pressure on Greenland. According to experts, the Jakobshavn glacier, one of Greenland’s largest, is moving at a faster rate than ever before, losing 20 million tons of ice every day, equivalent to the amount of water used every year by the residents of New York City.

Two major studies from military intelligence experts have warned our leaders about the dangerous national security implications of the climate crisis, including the possibility of hundreds of millions of climate refugees destabilizing nations around the world. Just two days ago, 27 senior statesmen and retired military leaders warned of the national security threat from an “energy tsunami” that would be triggered by a loss of our access to foreign oil. Meanwhile, the war in Iraq continues, and now the war in Afghanistan appears to be getting worse.


And by the way, our weather sure is getting strange, isn’t it? There seem to be more tornadoes than in living memory, longer droughts, bigger downpours and record floods. Unprecedented fires are burning in California and elsewhere in the American West. Higher temperatures lead to drier vegetation that makes kindling for mega-fires of the kind that have been raging in Canada, Greece, Russia, China, South America, Australia and Africa. Scientists in the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Science at Tel Aviv University tell us that for every one degree increase in temperature, lightning strikes will go up another 10 percent. And it is lightning, after all, that is principally responsible for igniting the conflagration in California today.

Like a lot of people, it seems to me that all these problems are bigger than any of the solutions that have thus far been proposed for them, and that’s been worrying me. I’m convinced that one reason we’ve seemed paralyzed in the face of these crises is our tendency to offer old solutions to each crisis separately – without taking the others into account. And these outdated proposals have not only been ineffective – they almost always make the other crises even worse.

Yet when we look at all three of these seemingly intractable challenges at the same time, we can see the common thread running through them, deeply ironic in its simplicity: our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of these challenges – the economic, environmental and national security crises. We’re borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways
that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change. But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard, all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we’re holding the answer to all of them right in our hand.

The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels. In my search for genuinely effective answers to the climate crisis, I have held a series of “solutions summits” with engineers, scientists, and CEOs. In those discussions, one thing has become abundantly clear: when you connect the dots, it turns out that the real solutions to the climate crisis are the very same measures needed to renew our economy and escape the trap of ever-rising energy prices. Moreover, they are also the very same solutions we need to guarantee our national security without having to go to war in the Persian Gulf.

What if we could use fuels that are not expensive, don’t cause pollution and are abundantly available right here at home? We have such fuels. Scientists have confirmed that enough solar energy falls on the surface of the earth every 40 minutes to meet 100 percent of the entire world’s energy needs for a full year. Tapping just a small portion of this solar energy could provide all of the electricity America uses. And enough wind power blows through the Midwest corridor every day to also meet 100 percent of US electricity demand. Geothermal energy, similarly, is capable of providing enormous supplies of electricity for America.

The quickest, cheapest and best way to start using all this renewable energy is in the production of electricity. In fact, we can start right now using solar power, wind power and geothermal power to make electricity for our homes and businesses. But to make this exciting potential a reality, and truly solve our nation’s problems, we need a new start.

That’s why I’m proposing today a strategic initiative designed to free us from the crises that are holding us down and to regain control of our own destiny. It’s not the only thing we need to do. But this strategic challenge is the lynchpin of a bold new strategy needed to re-power America.

Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans – in every walk of life: to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen.

A few years ago, it would not have been possible to issue such a challenge. But here’s what’s changed: the sharp cost reductions now beginning to take place in solar, wind, and geothermal power – coupled with the recent dramatic price increases for oil and coal – have radically changed the economics of energy.

When I first went to Congress 32 years ago, I listened to experts testify that if oil ever got to $35 a barrel, then renewable sources of energy would become competitive. Well, today, the price of oil is over $135 per barrel. And sure enough, billions of dollars of new investment are flowing into the development of concentrated solar thermal, photovoltaics, windmills, geothermal plants, and a variety of ingenious new ways to improve our efficiency and conserve presently wasted energy.

And as the demand for renewable energy grows, the costs will continue to fall. Let me give you one revealing example: the price of the specialized silicon used to make solar cells was recently as high as $300 per kilogram. But the newest contracts have prices as low as $50 a kilogram.

You know, the same thing happened with computer chips – also made out of silicon. The price paid for the same performance came down by 50 percent every 18 months – year after year, and that’s what’s happened for 40 years in a row. To those who argue that we do not yet have the technology to accomplish these results
with renewable energy: I ask them to come with me to meet the entrepreneurs who will drive this revolution. I’ve seen what they are doing and I have no doubt that we can meet this challenge.

To those who say the costs are still too high: I ask them to consider whether the costs of oil and coal will ever stop increasing if we keep relying on quickly depleting energy sources to feed a rapidly growing demand all around the world. When demand for oil and coal increases, their price goes up. When demand for solar cells increases, the price often comes down.

When we send money to foreign countries to buy nearly 70 percent of the oil we use every day, they build new skyscrapers and we lose jobs. When we spend that money building solar arrays and windmills, we build competitive industries and gain jobs here at home.

Of course there are those who will tell us this can’t be done. Some of the voices we hear are the defenders of the status quo – the ones with a vested interest in perpetuating the current system, no matter how high a price the rest of us will have to pay. But even those who reap the profits of the carbon age have to recognize the inevitability of its demise. As one OPEC oil minister observed, “The Stone Age didn’t end because of a shortage of stones.”

To those who say 10 years is not enough time, I respectfully ask them to consider what the world’s scientists are telling us about the risks we face if we don’t act in 10 years. The leading experts predict that we have less than 10 years to make dramatic changes in our global warming pollution lest we lose our ability to ever recover from this environmental crisis. When the use of oil and coal goes up, pollution goes up. When the use of solar, wind and geothermal increases, pollution comes down.

To those who say the challenge is not politically viable: I suggest they go before the American people and try to defend the status quo. Then bear witness to the people’s appetite for change. I for one do not believe our country can withstand 10 more years of the status quo. Our families cannot stand 10 more years of gas price increases. Our workers cannot stand 10 more years of job losses and outsourcing of factories. Our economy cannot stand 10 more years of sending $2 billion every 24 hours to foreign countries for oil. And our soldiers
and their families cannot take another 10 years of repeated troop deployments to dangerous regions that just happen to have large oil supplies.

What could we do instead for the next 10 years? What should we do during the next 10 years? Some of our greatest accomplishments as a nation have resulted from commitments to reach a goal that fell well beyond the next election: the Marshall Plan, Social Security, the interstate highway system. But a political promise to do something 40 years from now is universally ignored because everyone knows that it’s meaningless.

Ten years is about the maximum time that we as a nation can hold a steady aim and hit our target. When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in 10 years, many people doubted we could accomplish that goal. But 8 years and 2 months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon.

To be sure, reaching the goal of 100 percent renewable and truly clean electricity within 10 years will require us to overcome many obstacles. At present, for example, we do not have a unified national grid that is sufficiently advanced to link the areas where the sun shines and the wind blows to the cities in the East and the West that need the electricity.

Our national electric grid is critical infrastructure, as vital to the health and security of our economy as our highways and telecommunication networks. Today, our grids are antiquated, fragile, and vulnerable to cascading failure. Power outages and defects in the current grid system cost US businesses more than $120 billion dollars a year. It has to be upgraded anyway.

We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid. At the same time, of course, we need to greatly improve our commitment to efficiency and conservation. That’s the best investment we can make.

America’s transition to renewable energy sources must also include adequate provisions to assist those Americans who would unfairly face hardship. For example, we must recognize those who have toiled in dangerous conditions to bring us our present energy supply. We should guarantee good jobs in the fresh air and sunshine for any coal miner displaced by impacts on the coal industry. Every single one of them.

Of course, we could and should speed up this transition by insisting that the price of carbon-based energy include the costs of the environmental damage it causes. I have long supported a sharp reduction in payroll taxes with the difference made up in CO2 taxes. We should tax what we burn, not what we earn. This is the single most important policy change we can make.

In order to foster international cooperation, it is also essential that the United States rejoin the global community and lead efforts to secure an international treaty at Copenhagen in December of next year that includes a cap on CO2 emissions and a global partnership that recognizes the necessity of addressing the threats of extreme poverty and disease as part of the world’s agenda for solving the climate crisis.

Of course the greatest obstacle to meeting the challenge of 100 percent renewable electricity in 10 years may be the deep dysfunction of our politics and our self-governing system as it exists today. In recent years, our politics has tended toward incremental proposals made up of small policies designed to avoid offending special interests, alternating with occasional baby steps in the right direction. Our democracy has become sclerotic at a time when these crises require boldness. It is only a truly dysfunctional system that would buy into the perverse logic that the short-term answer to high gasoline prices is drilling for more oil ten years from now.

Am I the only one who finds it strange that our government so often adopts a so-called solution that has absolutely nothing to do with the problem it is supposed to address? When people rightly complain about higher gasoline prices, we propose to give more money to the oil companies and pretend that they’re going to bring gasoline prices down.

It will do nothing of the sort, and everyone knows it. If we keep going back to the same policies that have never ever worked in the past and have served only to produce the highest gasoline prices in history alongside the greatest oil company profits in history, nobody should be surprised if we get the same result over and over again. But the Congress may be poised to move in that direction anyway because some of them are being stampeded by lobbyists for special interests that know how to make the system work for them instead of the American people.

If you want to know the truth about gasoline prices, here it is: the exploding demand for oil, especially in places like China, is overwhelming the rate of new discoveries by so much that oil prices are almost certain to continue upward over time no matter what the oil companies promise. And politicians cannot bring gasoline prices down in the short term.

However, there actually is one extremely effective way to bring the costs of driving a car way down within a few short years. The way to bring gas prices down is to end our dependence on oil and use the renewable sources that can give us the equivalent of $1 per gallon gasoline.

Many Americans have begun to wonder whether or not we’ve simply lost our appetite for bold policy solutions. And folks who claim to know how our system works these days have told us we might as well forget about our political system doing anything bold, especially if it is contrary to the wishes of special interests. And I’ve got to admit, that sure seems to be the way things have been going. But I’ve begun to hear different voices in this country from people who are not only tired of baby steps and special interest politics, but are hungry for a new, different and bold approach.

We are on the eve of a presidential election. We are in the midst of an international climate treaty process that will conclude its work before the end of the first year of the new president’s term. It is a great error to say that the United States must wait for others to join us in this matter. In fact, we must move first, because that is the key to getting others to follow; and because moving first is in our own national interest.

So I ask you to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge – for America to be running on 100 percent zero-carbon electricity in 10 years. It’s time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now.

This is a generational moment. A moment when we decide our own path and our collective fate. I’m asking you – each of you – to join me and build this future. Please join the WE campaign at wecansolveit.org. We need you. And we need you now. We’re committed to changing not just light bulbs, but laws. And laws will only change with leadership.

On July 16, 1969, the United States of America was finally ready to meet President Kennedy’s challenge of landing Americans on the moon. I will never forget standing beside my father a few miles from the launch site, waiting for the giant Saturn 5 rocket to lift Apollo 11 into the sky. I was a young man, 21 years old, who had graduated from college a month before and was enlisting in the United States Army three weeks later.
I will never forget the inspiration of those minutes. The power and the vibration of the giant rocket’s engines shook my entire body. As I watched the rocket rise, slowly at first and then with great speed, the sound was deafening. We craned our necks to follow its path until we were looking straight up into the air. And then four days later, I watched along with hundreds of millions of others around the world as Neil Armstrong took one small step to the surface of the moon and changed the history of the human race.

We must now lift our nation to reach another goal that will change history. Our entire civilization depends upon us now embarking on a new journey of exploration and discovery. Our success depends on our willingness as a people to undertake this journey and to complete it within 10 years. Once again, we have an opportunity to take a giant leap for humankind.

From Al Gore's blog:
http://blog.algore.com/2008/07/a_generational_challenge_to_re.html


Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Obama Wins Democratic Nomination for U.S. President

Barack Obama will almost certainly win the Democratic Party nomination, some time this evening. Congratulations to Senator Obama.

What is happening in America has not happened since J.F.K. -- Americans of all ages and backgrounds are filled with enthusiasm about politics and political leaders. We sense the return of honest government, intelligent government, and compassionate government. We dream of health care for all our citizens; and a sound economy, where everyone has enough. We want America to become a leader in environmental issues, and to move toward a sustainable -- or, "green" -- society. And we hope for peace in the world, and good feelings of brotherhood with all human beings, in all nations.

Senator Hillary Clinton waged a courageous campaign, and proved that she is respected and admired by millions of Americans. Clinton said today, for the first time, that if she is asked by Obama, then she will consider accepting the position of Vice President on the Democratic ticket. Her greatest test will come this evening, if she accepts defeat gracefully, and devotes herself wholeheartedly to helping the Obama campaign win the election in November 2008.

This good man and that good woman, in the two top governmental roles, would create what America needs most: smart change.

Here is Barack Obama's speech on the historic evening of June 3, 2008.





Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)

Race Prejudice, Frickin' Chicken and the Need for Change

Some months ago I drove south of the border (from New York State into Pennsylvania) to try to understand why some Pennsylvanians claimed that race (as in Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, and African American) would be a significant factor in their choice for U.S. President. Shortly after entering Pennsylvania, I stopped for gas beside a restaurant with this sign, that offered "Crispy Frickin' Chicken." Frick, of course, was a notorious American industrialist, "known for his uncompromising and cruel tactics". The lower-case word "frick", is slang for a four-letter word, unspeakable on daytime TV. Here then, was a not-so-subtle clue about food choices and political choices.

The vegetarian in me passed on the chicken, and then, arriving in the city of muggerly love, I spoke with a number of older residents. Some were for Clinton; others would support whoever won the Democratic nomination; one 84-year-old Republican was so disgusted at the current state of national affairs that he vowed to vote Democratic, for the first time in his life.

Yet the news, during the Pennsylvania primaries, reported that for a number of voters "race is a factor" in their choice of candidates. In blunter words, they would not vote for a non-white. Every day these Pennsylvanians worship and cheer for black athletes such as Jimmy Rollins, Allen Iverson, and Donovan McNabb. They have elected black men as mayors of their largest city. But never in a million years would they want to see a President of color: a non-white in the White House.

This foolish and perilous attitude -- this racial prejudice --




has been with us since the ancient world of Babylon. Today, there are three requirements to vote for U.S. President: you must be a U.S. citizen, 18 years old, and register to vote. In the year 2000 we learned than anyone can become president; and now we understand that the reason for that is that anyone can vote for president. A "voter's license" is not required: no tests must be passed, no training given, no skills or knowledge must be demonstrated. And perhaps it is better that way, because noone is wise enough to determine what these mental skills should be. Yet there is one thing we might ask: in order to vote, you must promise to your God, or your own deep self, or swear on your holy book (be it a bible or Hamlet or Leaves of Grass) that your vote shall not in any way be influenced by race.

Racial prejudice in America will not evaporate until long after November 2008. What can we do until then? Find someone you know -- your friend, your colleague, your bus driver -- who will not vote for a black candidate. And then talk with them about why they need to change this way of thinking. Explain how prejudice harms other persons, harms society in general, and harms the person who does not believe that all human beings deserve equal rights.

Change, of course, is what this 2008 presidential election is all about. Not only a change in Washington,D.C. -- which is of the utmost significance -- but a change, an expansion of consciousness, a great opening in the American mind.


Read more! ... (or go to this post's PermaLink)