Stream of Consciousness

Chances are that if you live in the US, you might be voting February 5th. If you are undecided, or if you are leaning toward a candidate who is not Barack Obama, please read the following.

For those of you leaning toward Hillary Clinton: She is completely disqualified for so many reasons that I will have to give just the highlights here. I’ll start with a practical, tactical and strategic argument for my fellow Democrats and independents. All due respect to Senator Clinton, but please understand the extent to which a nominee who is so bitterly polarizing and divisive will put us at a disadvantage in the general election. There are two reasons for this. First, as Richard Bond, former chair of the RNC indicated in the NYTimes last week, nothing will unite a currently disjointed Republican party and inspire Republicans to take up arms like having Hillary Clinton as an opponent. Let’s not unite their party for them. Obama had four times as many Republicans caucusing for him in Iowa. Read Peter Wehner’s article Why Republicans Like Obama, Washington Post 2/3.

Second, remember how close Florida was in 2000 and Ohio in 2004? It will be that close again, especially if John McCain is the man to beat. We will need votes from Republicans and independents if we want a Democrat in the oval office. Barack has BY FAR the best shot to get their votes. In a November Gallup poll, with a strong lead nationally, Senator Clinton’s net favorability among independents was -9%. Senator Obama’s was +24%. Her net favorability among Republicans was -64% versus -24% for Obama. This should give you great pause. Their policies are so similar and they are both highly capable and intelligent. Vote wisely.

We need someone who will be able to unite this country and move us forward to a common purpose - Senator Clinton cannot do this. She is far too polarizing and will divide our country further.

She’s disqualified for me because she voted for the Iraq war (Obama is the only leading candidate who opposed it). She has been a hawk on Iran (see her yes vote on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard resolution). I will not compromise my commitment to peace by voting for a candidate who voted for war. Are you ready to compromise your commitment to peace?

She is so out of touch with what true change for the country would mean: she has taken more money from federal lobbyists than any other candidate (Obama has taken nothing from federal lobbyists). Also, just one quick case study: the Clintons’ backers tried to sue to disenfranchise casino and hotel workers in the NV caucus - it was luckily denied by a judge (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/us/politics/17cnd-campaign.html). How GROSS!!!

Also, check out this video. Fired Up and Ready to Go has been a Barack Obama slogan for some time - it was said spontaneously by an older woman in the audience at a campaign event and it caught on. How embarrassing for Senator Clinton. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rweVOO-fhug. This kind of thing illustrates a lack of genuine inspiration and authenticity. And that says something very important about her as a candidate.

Also, Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton? America was founded in part on the rejection of dynastic rule. So, what, all of Bill’s old cronies are going to have the same kind of access to Hillary? The same old favors and back scratching? No! IF WE WANT TRUE CHANGE, THE NAME CLINTON CANNOT BE IN THE EQUATION.

With Barack, we have a shot to show the world a new face of America and to re-engage with our neighbors in a respectful way behind a leader who is the embodiment of what the US should be in the 21st century: honest, humble, respectful, worldly, genuine, courageous, brilliant. This is our have-our-cake-and-eat-it-too moment! A super-progressive, decent, young statesman with a diverse background who can actually win!

I’m for Barack because with him, I don’t have to compromise any of my progressive values (he has a much more liberal voting record than Hillary - to check, see the National Journal’s rankings). For example, I won’t compromise my commitment to peace, so I can’t vote for somebody who voted for war. And he seems genuine and authentic to me - seems like a regular person. His vision of where this country needs to go meets up with mine very well: universal health care, heavy government-led effort to reverse climate change, serious re-engagement with our world institutions and neighbors, heavy efforts to shore up American education, insistence on peace and diplomacy and good science.

Congressman Abercrombie of Hawaii recently said that Barack is the first citizen of the world to run for president of the United States. That’s the kind of leader we need. Heaven for bid we might have someone in the White House with a father from Kenya and who lived in Indonesia as a child. Whose Dad split early and who grew up poor and worked his ass off to get through school. He just paid back his student loans. He still lives in a regular neighborhood in Chicago. He was a civil rights lawyer. Got his start as a community organizer on the south side of Chicago. He was a lecturer of constitutional law for 11 years. And on and on…

JFK’s daughter made Barack her first ever endorsement. Ted Kennedy endorsed him. MoveOn.org endorsed him.

Our moment is now.

No, it really is. If you are voting Barack and know someone who WOULD but are not planning on voting, BRING THEM WITH YOU TO VOTE!!!!! It’s going to be close.

For inspiration, watch this speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tydfsfSQiYc

written by lila sklar, from the soup list

Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am and director Jesse Dylan, Bob Dylan’s son created this “song” - essentially written by Barack Obama. The lyrics are adapted from his “Yes We Can” speech after the New Hampshire primary. “Yes We Can” was inspired by Cesar Chavez’s motto for a United Farm Workers hunger strike in 1972.

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

I remember back to when I was five - starting to become aware of the world around me - and John Fitzgerald Kennedy was president. My father had great respect for this man who was President of the United States. I did, too, and I cried a year later when he was assassinated.

My son - now six - has become aware of the world with a President he thinks of a stupid (a bad word), corrupt and mean. This saddens me greatly.

Barack Obama is the first presidential hopeful that truly inspires me. I say it that way, as Dennis Kucinich also inspires me, but the U.S. is just not ready for a vegan president. Yes, I thought Bill Clinton was a great statesman and capable leader, but I was not inspired. His wife, unfortunately, I fear is the ultimate politician, with every word coming out of her mouth calculated to land with maximum effect to whoever her current audience is. I don’t trust her a bit. Nor do I trust McCain, who though centrist, has only one strong position in his platform: war is good.

But Barack Obama speaks like a man who not only believes (Bush’s only quality) but also thinks and is aware of the world around him. He seems capable, and while he may make some mistakes (heck, even JFK made some pretty serious mistakes) he will strive to do the right thing by the people of the United States and the world. And where people on all sides of the aisle are saying they want change, he’s - in my opinion - the only viable candidate that represents a hope for change.

I want my son to grow up with a President we can all believe in. A President who will work to right the wrongs that have been committed in recent years, and a President who has a dream - a good dream - for where we can be in the future.

I hope we can.

It is troubling that the growing theocracy in this country and connections between church and state has increased in me a distrust of religion - and thus religious people - when the fact is that there are many good religious people and most religions are built upon good ideals such as peace, justice and harmony with each other and with nature. I was delighted to be reminded of this when a friend pointed me to an audiocast by Father John Rausch, Glenmary priest and missionary, coordinator for peace and justice for the diocese of Lexington, Kentucky and Director of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia. Please listen and perhaps look at some of the associated links:

• ProvokeRadio Archives or
  http://76.12.87.139/shows/Provoke_68_Appalachia_WEB.mp3 (direct link)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining
• http://www.appalachian-center.org/

Peace,
=Fen

From Ethan Kiczek’s blog:

Cool campaign finance flash thing, via techPresident:

The New York Times has produced a great Flash feature that lays campaign contributions (unfortunately, only those over $200) over a map of the United States, divided by candidate. There are no real revelations here, but it’s a great way to visualize how much money the candidates received, and where it came from.

I came across this today, and really enjoyed it: 95 Theses of Geek Activism.

Perhaps it helps that I identify as a hacker in the manner described in the first thesis. Geek Activism is really all about being smart, thinking for yourself and not simply accepting what others say just because they happen to be on TV or run the corporations or government (the differences between these are fading).

Read them. Follow the links. You’ll learn a little bit more about me - and maybe a little bit more about yourself, too. I’ll end with a quote that comes to mind, perhaps because activists are geeks, too (though they may not know it).

People single me out for being an activist, but I always say that the impulse is inborn - it just needs to be nurtured. It starts when you’re little, and you see some kids being unkind to another kid on the bus. Maybe you do something. Maybe you don’t. But there was that little hint in your brain that something was wrong, that you weren’t comfortable with the situation.

Throughout your life, you have the opportunity to learn from that experience, to react to that little voice inside of you that says something has crossed your moral bottom line, to ignore what others are telling you to do and honor your impulse. The very core of being an activist is being true to yourself.

— Susan Sarandon

My wife and I are eagerly looking forward to seeing the movie An Inconvenient Truth - we’d have seen it already if we had baby sitting lined up, and have arranged for this on the 19th of June. I’m confident that the movie will move us deeply. I just read a colleague’s blog post on the movie, and I received the list of links below from another close friend. (A second post from the same colleague is particularly germane to this topic: see Trees for the future: carbon offset programs. We are planning to participate in this program.)

Please see An Inconvenient Truth and urge your friends and family to see it, too. Visit ClimateCrisis.net, write your senators and representatives, and urge Al Gore to run for president. Something has changed in him since the election was stolen from him - he’s unafraid to stand up and speak what is right. This is what we need now. More importantly, this is what our children need and deserve.

Links from a friend with some comments from me:

• Petition to
  Draft Al Gore for President in 2008 - I’ve signed
• Excellent speech on the Constitutional crisis in this country [16 January 2006] - Al being forceful and eloquent while delivering a powerful message (audio and text versions available, too)
• An interview with Terry Gross from NPR.org [Fresh Air, 30 May 2006] - Al expressed surprise that there hasn’t been more outrage…. we need to assure him that there is, that we are not asleep!
• How to contact Al Gore - Drop him a line and see if there’s something you can do in your spare time to help
• Was the 2004 Election Stolen? [Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Rolling Stone, 1 June 2006]
• Finally, a little comic relief… - Hilarious!

May we bring honor and hope back to this country!

From the virtual desk of Declan McCullagh: Congress readies broad new digital copyright bill (CNET):

For the last few years, a coalition of technology companies, academics and computer programmers has been trying to persuade Congress to scale back the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Now Congress is preparing to do precisely the opposite. A proposed copyright law seen by CNET News.com would expand the DMCA’s restrictions on software that can bypass copy protections and grant federal police more wiretapping and enforcement powers.

This bill likens copyright infringers to terrorists, and would make it a federal offense even to talk about ways of violating copyright. For some background on what the DMCA has done for us so far, see this report published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The idea that such an abomination to free speech could even be considered speaks volumes of the power of corporate lobbiests - when will the American people wake up and demand the end of this crooked institution?

Update: See this coverage at IPac Action.

This is chilling: decisions being made now will shape the future of the Internet for a generation. Before long, all media &mdash TV, phone and the Web — will come to your home via the same broadband connection. The dispute over net neutrality is about who’ll control access to new and emerging technologies.

From http://SaveTheInternet.com:

Congress is pushing a law that would abandon Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment. Network neutrality prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you — based on what site pays them the most. Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.

Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn’t speak up now, Congress will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch online.

Please join and add your voice to help preserve Net Neutrality - don’t let the big telcos determing what information gets to pass through the wires.

For more information, check out Net Neutrality - Not an optional feature of the Internet.

Found on Digg:

3 convicted of jamming phones to a Democratic get out the vote campaign in New Hampshire. Turns out there had been more than 2 dozen calls between these guys and the White House, all within 3 days of election day 2004. Recently the republican party had paid millions in legal bills to defend these people.

See the full story on CNN.com.

It’s watergate all over again…

Yesterday Harry Taylor rose at one of those “Bush town hall” forums in North Carolina to tell President Bush that he’s never felt more ashamed of the leadership of his country. He said Bush has asserted his right to tap phone calls without a warrant, to arrest people and hold them without charges and to revoke a woman’s right to an abortion, among other things. After President Bush, was told by Harry that he should be ashamed of his policies, Bush defended the government’s secret eavesdropping program Thursday and said he would not apologize for listening in on the phone and e-mail conversations of Americans talking to people with suspected al-Qaida links.

On the same day Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the House Judiciary Committee that he believes President Bush has the authority to warrantlessly monitor all internal phone (and other electronic communications) within the US–purely domestic contacts. This position is contrary to Article 4 of the US Constitution which states:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

If you’d like to thank Harry Taylor for his timely and brilliant use of his First Amendment rights, use the first link below.

If you’d like to participate in a public action thanking Harry Taylor click the second link to learn how to do so.

http://thankyouharrytaylor.org/

http://thankyouharrytaylor.blogspot.com/