Beinart on Joe Klein

Beinart on Joe Klein

Peter Beinart reviews Joe Klein's new book. According to Mr. Beinart, Joe Klein is looking for something to enjoy as we look toward the 2008 Presidential campaign. (And who could blame him for wanting to leave the gloom and doom behind?) Klein's pretty tough on Democrats, and Beinart says it's for "good reason" - - political consultants are "at their most debilitating when the politicians they serve lack the courage of their convictions."

Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004 lacked the self-confidence to fire the consultants who kept them from saying what they really believed [..] Klein rightly flays Gore and Kerry for not being true to themselves..

Beinart mentions "the revolt against the consultants" and says that Joe Klein will likely get his wish for a more lively political campaign in 2008, when politics will become "more blunt, more free-wheeling, more fun."

Speaking from my own experience, I have been blogging at former Senator and VP candidate John Edward's One America Committee blog, and I've paid close attention to Senator Edwards' activity out there in grassroots America. I've watched him focus on the 21st-century fight against Poverty and I see that he's inspiring others to do the same. I read about his leadership on a recent trip to New Orleans where he and college students spent their Spring break assisting in the post-Katrina clean-up and rebuilding. I've listened to his impassioned speeches at colleges, in town halls, at union gatherings. Tomorrow night he will speak in Brussels to the most influential American and European political, corporate, and intellectual leaders to address pressing challenges currently facing both sides of the Atlantic. [Brussels Forum: Transatlantic Challenges in a Global Era]

Mr. Beinart closes by saying

Whether authenticity leads to victory, however, is less certain. Democrats may be learning to speak from the heart. But in a party that has been confused about its core beliefs for almost four decades, no one can be entirely sure how that will sound.

I understand Beinart's fear and I believe we both have the same hope that the American public, after so many years of Republican talking points that sound fantastic but wound up having no meat - (not even filler), will open their ears to a Democrat whose ideas don't just sound like more empty hamburger buns. They want the whole sandwich and they won't vote for anything less. I think Joe Klein will not only become interested while watching John Edwards as 2008 approaches...he may start turning some cartwheels and singing "Hallelujah". Edwards isn't "learning how" to speak from the heart...he's doing it right now... with gusto!

I Am But A Visitor to This Place

UNC Chapel Hill in May

I Am But A Visitor to This Place

I sit here in Syracuse N.Y., but in my mind I'm goin' to Carolina. How fond I have become of the South in the Springtime. The North Carolina flowers bloom long before the snow melts away in the Northeast.

I recall the pastoral scenes from small towns along Route 85, the Blue Ridge wind singing ancient songs as it tickles my ear, the jewel-like Charlotte skyline at night, the charm of its tree-lined streets and sweet-smelling magnolia blossoms. I carry it with me throughout all my days. Every place has its own soul...it's own story. I've come away enchanted by the soul of these North Carolina places. I am haunted by great mystery, and North Carolina has more than its share of ghosts and inexplicable happenings.

One passed-down set of North Carolinian stories that has captured my imagination comes

from the days not so long ago when flesh and blood fell from the sky like rain. It happened in Sampson and Chatham counties. The first "flesh fall" recorded in North Carolina occurred on 15 February 1850 on the farm of Thomas Clarkson, thirteen miles southwest of the county seat of Clinton. The strange event was written about in the North Carolinian, a newspaper published in Fayetteville. In an account of that first incident, it was written:

"On the 15th Feb'y, 1850, there fell within 100 yards of the residence of Thos. M. Clarkson in Sampson county, a shower of Flesh and Blood, about 250 or 300 yards in length [...] Neill Campbell, Esq. living close by, was on the spot shortly after it fell, and pronounced it as above. One of his children was about 150 yards from the shower and came running to the rest saying he smelt something like blood. During the time it was falling there was a cloud overhead, having a red appearance like a wind cloud. There was no rain." [link]

The second flesh fall recorded in North Carolina occurred on February 25, 1884. Mrs. Kit Lasater, wife of a black tenant farmer who lived on the farm of Silas Beckworth in New Hope Township in Chatham County was standing in a freshly plowed field near a barn a short distance from her family's one room cabin when blood fell from a clear sky upon the ground, bushes and fence all around her. This strange event was chronicled in the local newspaper, the Chatham Record. Of the event, the paper reported:

"Many of the neighbors, after hearing of her statement, visited the spot and they all say that the ground--embracing an area of about 60 feet in circumference--was covered with splotches of something like blood: and an examination of the trees in this place showed blood on the branches. We are informed that a reputable physician of the neighborhood visited the spot and said it was blood." [link]

Chatham County has other legends, such as the one that began shortly after the first settlers came to Chatham County when they discovered a strange site, which soon became known as the Devil's Tramping Ground. An infertile circular patch of ground was thought to be Beelzebub's own footprints...the nocturnal retreat of the hellish Prince of Darkness which was shunned and avoided by the Chatham countyfolk.


Another legends surrounds lost treasure. A large amount of gold and silver was said to have been cached during the Civil War by the owner of the Williamson Plantation near Bynum on the Haw River. He was killed during the war without ever having revealed the location of the alleged cache.


I visited this little corner of the world of mystery last May. There's a lake covering the land where an entire community once stood. I sat in a very old cemetary that sits just off the side of the highway amid a small plot of leaning headstones in a field of wildflowers and weeds. Bugs buzzing 'round my head. The sound of an occasional car passing by. I found the headstone of a Silas Beckwith. Hmmm...Silas Beckwith...Silas Beckworth? Could they have been one and the same? I closed my eyes and tried to imagine blood and flesh falling down from a pink cloud in an otherwise blue North Carolina sky. Today you'd have your scientists running DNA tests and telling you exactly where that blood and flesh came from. You can't fool anyone these days. Mysteries are solved in the blink of an eye or the swish of a test tube. But what if it happened today and it stymied even the most advanced teams in the scientific community?

"I am but a visitor in the land of living things. The skin we wear is but a temporary robe.... That which we may receive in this place must be left here.. things cannot be taken with us, but all of our riches that we have accumulated in memories and knowledge shall go with us forever...."

- from Robert Morning Sky's 10 commandments of the Star Warriors

PNAC and Bush Admin Gave "Experience" a Bad Name

PNAC and Bush Admin Gave "Experience" a Bad Name

Stephen Colbert is a satirical American treasure. His interview of Bill Kristol the other night on Comedy Central's Colbert Report opened up the bleeding wound that was just beginning to scar over. Mr. Kristol gets a "special dressing" for that embarrassing wound every Sunday on Fox News...another chance each week to explain away the mountainous error of his (and the PNAC's) Utopian pre-Iraq war fantasies. Mr. Kristol isn't some neocon monster. He's a very intelligent man who got a little too drunk on his own power. He and a lot of other "experienced" men and women who were "in good" with the other "experienced" men and women in Bush administration got their big chance to use some of that "experience" to create ideas that brought our nation to the threshhold of a war that was never necessary. Where "experience" might have whispered "Be careful" in their ear, they ignored the voice. Their vision was too close. They held the power in their hands. "Experience" was set aside as they embarked on a never-before attempted endeavor. Pre-emptive war. Pax Americana.

The "experience" of war-seasoned Generals was ignored.
The "experience" of chickenhawk wonks prevailed.
These "experienced" people have made a f&$king mess of things for our nation.

The next time I hear ANYONE complaining about a Russ Feingold, a Mark Warner, a Hillary Clinton, or a John Edwards with the complaint that he (or she) has no foreign policy "experience", I think I will remind them that EXPERIENCE DIDN'T WIN US ANY BROWNIE POINTS in Bush's war on terror.

Bill Kristol is still a powerful guy..and a smart fellow. After Iraq, however, we see that he has not won by the power of his (or the PNAC's) ideas. As a matter of fact, we see that those ideas are quite dangerous. Perhaps they are more dangerous than the threat of terror itself.

So, when you hear Bill Kristol flapping his gums with a flash of his winning smile on Fox News talking about our need to gear up the wheels of the military draft in preparation for war on Iran and the Sudan, remember how far "experience" got us in Iraq. These people failed us. They failed our troops. They misled us. For all their "experience", they are empty power-drunk heads with missing hearts. A recent poll showed that 94% of Americans now understand that they were lied to. These "experienced" men of power couldn't win a f*$#king heart or mind in Iraq and they aren't doing such a hot job right here at home, either. They've lost the trust of American citizens because their actions (and the results of those actions) have proven that, for all their "experience", they do not deserve trust.

America deserves better than this and we all know it. We need to start electing trustworthy, intuitive, and intelligent leaders with better ideas. "Experience" tells us that we need to put these liars far behind us.


Transcript
Video

A Soldier Writes to President Bush

A Soldier Writes to President Bush

This letter was sent to President Bush by someone I know and admire...an American soldier and patriot whose vision of America I support. Please take a moment to read it.

A Controversy in Europe Is Silenced in U.S.

A Controversy in Europe Is Silenced in U.S.

Who is this man.... and why is he at the center of a controversial news story that is big in Europe, connected to our own ineterests here in America, yet never talked about in our media?

Why don't we talk about the body counts in Iraq? If other societies aren't squeamish about it, why do American cable TV news pundits with their perfect coifs and chiclet smiles never talk about the people who are dying in the country with whom we went to an absolutely unnecessary war? Why is John Sloboda (seen in the photo) being knowingly stingy with the numbers he allows to be put up on the IBC website (Iraq Body Count)?
Why is he so hot under the collar about journalists like John Pilger who confront him on the facts? Read this story (by Gabriele Zamparini) and you will find out.

What would make a man like John Sloboda refuse to answer relevant questions from media watchdog Media Lens? The editors of Media Lens' central claim is that IBC underestimates the number of deaths in Iraq by relying on western media reports.They just aren't independent of Western media...not enough to be considered a reliable source of information. From A BBC Two report:

Media Lens and other critics have also attacked IBC for being run by "amateurs", unlike the professional epidemiologists who ran the sample-based Lancet study....An editorial asks: "How many journalists are aware that IBC is not in fact run by professional epidemiologists?

Aren't the European and American societies already aware (and sick) enough of the lies that make up the debate by those who want to hide and/or cover up the numbers? (See David Fuller's BBC follow-up and Media Lens' final word).

Bottom line, we still don't know exactly how many people have been killed as a result of the Iraq War. The powers that be, along with the assistance of a media that keep the story "fuzzy", don't want you to know. Is John Sloboda a willing accomplice to the "fuzz" or an independent thinker? Decide for yourself.

If you aren't curious to know how many have died...if you do not want to know the truth...then you may keep your head buried in the sand while some of us try to reach the truth for the sake of truth.


*See:

- Do Iraqi Lives Matter? March 2006, Cat's Dream

- Iraqi Civilian Deaths - Time to Know the Truth, March 2006, Cat's Dream

- Dead Reckoning: Counting Iraq's Civilian Dead, May/June 2006, Mother Jones

- Counting the Iraqi Dead; Interview: Tallying the cost of war, and holding power accountable, April 2006, Mother Jones

If We're Addicted to Oil, Where's The Rehab, Already?

If We're Addicted to Oil, Where's The Rehab, Already??

How can you look at your country's people with a straight face, as their leader, and tell them that they'd better "get over their oil addiction" when it's not an addiction, but a necessity? Knowing that we live in the era of globalization where families are not only forced to spread out all over the nation to find job opportunities based on their respective professions, but all over the world - how can George W. Bush pop in at a Gulf Coast gas station and shake someone's gas-pumping hand or put his arm around some poor price-gouged sap and tell them he's going to be able to do a damned thing to help them while hypocritically and unfairly criticizing their alleged "gas-addiction?"

Where's the rehab? There isn't any, you say?
Say! What kind of outreach program is this, anyhow?
Today Bush rejected the idea of a tax on the windfall profits of oil companies.

What has the Bush administration done (and what will they do) to change anything at all? In Biloxi, Miss., Bush renewed his brave call for Congress to give him the authority to "raise" mileage standards for all passenger cars. According to the Washington Post, White House officials said later that they didn't know when or how the president would use that authority! Is Bush all talk and no plan? It seems that way. Tell me where I'm wrong if you disagree. I haven't seen anyone in Congress or the Bush administration juiced up about raising passenger car standards. There has been no action in years. And now the consumer is in deep trouble with these outrageous oil prices.

The reality of globalization, peak oil, and war is coming home to roost and the GOP cannot explain away the great American giveaway with meaningful policy to counter the effects of these rising oil prices. They're being pushed into a corner and now they are trying to look like bold environmentalists when they are little more than robbers and rapists hiding behind years of perveted policy. Blaming the consumer for their habits is cheap and it won't bring about the solutions required by great minds. (There are no great minds in the GOP today, I am convinced.)

Do you say to a cocaine addict, "You need to get off coke"...and then offer $100 apiece to a large group of people to convince them to start brand new poppy fields in order to harvest more coke for the addict's nose?

Think ANWR. The GOP's idea to issue $100 "tax rebates" is no solution, It's an offer to entice Americans to give the GOP political authority to rape the ANWR. To pump out more of the stuff we're being told we're "addicted" to while blaming our culture for the government and the market's failure to come up with real solutions.

I say to that: Bullcrap! we're not addicted. We travel to work, to see our families, to go to the dentist and take our kids to football practice. Show us some creative solutions and to the GOP: stop trying to politically pay us off for supporting our "habit"!

You're in power now - take some real responsibility - show us some REAL ideas!

Partick Fitzgerald Update

Patrick Fitzgerald Update

- I just love Steve Benen's blogpost title: It's beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas.

- Swopa cleverly says that "Rove is trying to pull off one more would-be Houdini maneuver to escape Fitz's tightening of the straps on his legal straitjacket."

- Jeralyn at Talk Left is on the story with an update. According to Raw Story, MSNBC's David Schuster will report today that Rove's lawyers have been told there will be no announcements for at least ten days. Jeralyn has a great collection of news and blogposts at her site.

- Steve Soto has more to say about David Schuster's reporting:

Shuster of MSNBC reported today that despite the sunny appearance from Rove after his grand jury testimony yesterday, he described the experience as “hell”, and he now thinks it is possible that he will be indicted.

Weekly Standard: Replace Rumsfeld with McCain

Weekly Standard: Replace Rumsfeld with McCain

Employing the logic that Senator John McCain's fate is already tied to Iraq, Ari Richter of the Weekly Standard raises the idea of McCain replacing Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. I tend to agree with this logic. Bush owes John McCain the chance - especially after all the dirty rotten crap Bush pulled on McCain in the 2000 presidential election race. And McCain certainly would garner more respect and cooperation from our Military, who seem to be teetering on the edge of full blown revolt. The Generals want someone they can work with and respect. We Democrats already know that Bush won't choose anyone of whom we'd approve to replace Rummy. If I was President, my choice would be Wes Clark or Tony Zinni, but I realize that my vision is much different than Bush's. I wouldn't have sent troops unilaterally into Iraq in the first place and I certainly wouldn't have lied or tolerated misleadings and lies from my administration to the American people about Iraq. Rumsfeld needs to go. We know (and can safely cross party lines to agree on) that much. If McCain gets the job and screws up, America will likely decide he doesn't deserve a shot at the presidency. If he comes out smelling like a rose, so be it. All the better for America. There are still some fantastic Democratic candidates waiting to offer better solutions and a competitive new vision for America.

Immigration: Jim Crow 2006

Immigration: Jim Crow 2006

The Rev. Graylan Hagler, senior pastor of Plymouth Congregational United Catholic Church in the District, said yesterday that members of his predominantly black congregation also plan to join the boycott: "There is a growing solidarity between people of color in this country. ... We join with this struggle and embrace it." [Washington Times]

He also called the criminalization of immigrants the new Jim Crow-ism of 2006.

The lack of dignity and respect for human beings in any new immigration legislation will cause a new civil rights battle in this nation.

CSPAN recorded the event from where these comments took flight. See "Int'l May 1st Coalition on Immigrant Boycott" (4/27/2006)


An informal poll of 2,000 immigrants conducted in 20 cities in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia showed that 97 percent of them would risk losing their jobs to participate in an immigration-themed boycott of school, shopping and work planned for May 1st. [see Washington Times]

Catholic Church Speaks Decisively on Immigration

Catholic Church Speaks Decisively on Immigration

The Catholic Bishops are speaking decisively and firmly on the moral issues surrounding immigration while the Conservative Christian leadership is appearing as a fractious and morally confused front.

Democratic Senators Ted Kennedy, Dick Durbin, and Harry Reid will appear with Roman Catholic Cardinals today for a press opportunity [per ABC's Note].

This is not only an American issue. In London today, the Archbishop of Westminster has called on London's Catholic parishes to embrace migrants whatever their legal status (ahead of a major Mass in the UK capital.)


AP writer Rachel Zoll reports [Boston Globe] that "the national immigration debate is muddying Republican relations with Roman Catholics, swing voters who make up about one-quarter of the American electorate." I see the immigration issue as the issue that may reverse the slow tide of once solidly Democratic Catholics leaning toward Republicanism. (What ever were they thinking, anyhow? ;)

Read the first paragraph of this anti-Catholic/anti-human rights manifesto and you may understand why Catholics are turned off by the radical and decidedly immoral stand that is being taken by the far Right.

Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE)

Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE)


CitizensCampaign.org is a website representing Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE). CCE is working on Environmental issues, including the hazards of lawn and garden pesticides. I briefly spoke with one of their representatives Gerard Dolan tonight on my front porch. I was in the middle of a "My Name is Earl" episode (with Clint Howard as Crazy Rodney ;) and he was trying to get through the entire neighborhood, so we only were able to speak briefly. Gerry is not only an environmentalist, he is also an Iraq war veteran with a brand new baby boy (Congrats again, Gerry!) If you're in Syracuse and he or any of the CCE reps come to visit you, be sure to sign their petition to the County legislators for a requirement on Pesticide Neighbor Notification. There are also job opportunities at CCE. See the website for details.

The local office of CCE is at 466 Westcott Street, 2nd Floor, Syracuse, N.Y. 13210, phone 315-72-1339.

Syracuse: Catholic Mass in Support of Moral Immigration Reform

"When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I the Lord am your God." (Leviticus 19:33)

Syracuse: Catholic Mass in Support of Moral Immigration Reform

Dedicated to the Memory of Sister Karen Klimczak

Sister Karen Klimczak, along with Rev. Roy Herberger, founded Bissonette House, a halfway house for former inmates in the city of Buffalo, N.Y. to provide ex-convicts with opportunity for a new life. Bissonette House was named for a priest named Father A. Joseph Bissonette who'd been murdered at the site. It was a holistic approach to help transition the former inmates who'd had no family or home to go back to after their release from prison back into society. On this past Good Friday, a resident of the house who'd been involved with drugs and was attempting to steal a cell phone killed Sister Karen Klimczak in the same place where she'd tried to help them find jobs and better lives. In conversations that had taken place before she was killed, Sister Karen had maintained that if she were ever the victim of a violent death, she would be adamantly opposed to a death sentence for the perpetrator. If there is one clear message that Sister Karen would wish to ring out from her death, Rev. Herberger believes she would want it to be "forgiveness."

At the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse, N.Y. last Tuesday, a cardboard sign in the shape of a white dove with blue trim graced the steps of the altar bearing the simple phrase: "I leave peaceprints."


I was told that Sister Karen had created these cut-out signs to display on lawns in Buffalo and that it had been her belief that we leave behind our fingerprints on everything we do. She chose to leave the mark of peace wherever she went and she inspired and challenged others to do the same thing.

It was in that spirit on Tuesday that a Witness and Celebration mass was presided over by Bishop Thomas Costello of the Diocese of Syracuse and attended by mostly sisters who represented Region 2 Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in New York State in support of the immigrant community and immigration reform that respects all people as human beings. A small group of migrant workers from Guatemala joined the sisters and Bishop Costello in the mass by providing witness, rhythm, and song. This was a group of people that the public had "met" last October when their meager temporary living quarters made of cinder blocks at a pumpkin and onion farm in the town of Schroeppel in Upstate New York had exploded as a result of a propane tank failure and one migrant worker was killed and nine workers were seriously injured. All that was left intact were the mattresses from the floor that they'd slept on and the cardboard boxes they'd lived out of while doing their seasonal work. They couldn't speak a word of English. They were afraid to give their names to the press. Until that place exploded, no one knew or cared much about who they were or why they were there.


A Journey of Hope


Before the mass, there was a rally held at a federal building in
Syracuse where the migrant workers had provided witness to what they had experienced while working the farm fields of America. The LCWR had expressed their preference for immigration reform that would take into account the fullness of the humanity of these migrant workers. Current immigration policies keep an estimated 11 million undocumented persons in the shadows, separate families and disrupt family life and cause undue hardship to those who are working hard. Largely in line with the particulars of the "Secure America Act", co-written by Senators Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and John McCain of Arizona, a representative of the LCWR advised me that the organization supports the following for migrant workers in the United States:

- Worker Protections
- Reunification of Families
- A Path to Legalization



In the spirit of Sister Karen Klimczak's message of forgiveness and peace, the purpose of this event was to raise people’s awareness of the important issue of the plight of immigrants. The LCWR would like all of us to become more knowledgeable about the particulars of the legislation that is now before the U.S. Congress. As Sister Patricia Burkard of the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse has said, "Hopefully, the hearts of whoever hears our message would be moved to actively engage in advocacy for justice for immigrants and that our country will once again welcome the stranger and embrace those who come to this land in search of a better life."



A Message from Most Rev. Thomas Costello

Below I have written a brief summary of Bishop Thomas Costello's homily.

Migrant workers can be cursed, insulted, but they cannot be bid "good riddance". A new population of foreign-born workers in America is affording us more blessings than we can readily identify and while there are problems with immigration, most can be adjusted; some can be solved, but all must be endured. The immigration system we have now in this country is broken. Current laws undermine human dignity and family life. The immigration reform that has come out of the U.S. House of Representatives was flawed, and the reconsideration of the reform toward a more favorable bill for human rights has come from the Senate (*Kennedy-McCain). The Bishop said that the Catholic social teachings and experience as an "immigrant church" (with 71% of new parishioners being foreign-born) play a large part in shaping policy.

Bishop Costello reminded those present of the spiritual directives in the Bible that call upon the faithful to speak out about the issue of immigration. In Deuteronomy, the chosen ones were enslaved in Egypt and God (my comment: in a decidedly political act) God helped them to escape their enslavement. Deuteronomy 27:19 states, "Cursed is he who distorts the justice due an alien, orphan, and widow."
Exodus 12:49 says, "The same law applies to the native-born and to the alien living among you." Exodus 23:21 says, "Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt." The Bishop said that, from our spiritual heritage alone, we should know how alienation feels. Let alien, orphan, and widow find sustenance. Love them.

In the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, Jesus' teachings are clear. He calls upon us to "welcome the stranger." (Mt. 25:31-46) In the parable of the Good Samaritan, He blatantly tells us to embrace the stranger no matter how different he or she may be from us. St. Paul advocated hospitality to the stranger when he reminded us to entertain angels. Hebrew 13:2: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." We are all one family of God.

In 1891 Pope Leo XIII recognized the right of all people to move freely from nation to nation. Prompted by the refuge crisis after WWII in 1952, Pope Pius XII committed us to caring for the pilgrim, alien, exile, and immigrant alike. (Encyclical Letter Exsul Familia). Pope John XXIII recognized that refugees cannot lose their human rights simply because they are deprived of citizenship of their own states. When there are just reasons in favor of it, he must be permitted to emigrate to other countries and to take up residence there. The fact that he is a citizen of a particular state does not deprive him of membership in the human family, nor the citizenship in that universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men. The human rights of every single person demand respect regardless of their legal status. (Pacem in Terris, 1963)

There are economic ramifications surrounding the politicization of immigration reform. There will always be poverty and greed in play. Fear is real since 9/11. When all is said and done, we see that U.S. popular opinion and governmental policy is unfriendly to "the stranger." The INS is probably the least "user-friendly" part of the governmental bureaucracy. There is a sense of apathy about the issue because it is so complicated and confusing. The Bishop assures us there are things we can do to support immigration reform that takes into consideration the dignity of every human being, regardless of their native land.

1. Prayer.
2. Education - becoming self-aware and teaching others.
3. Advocacy

I have one more thing to share with you about the day. I was speaking to one of the Sisters before the mass and I said to her that I couldn't believe that our President was an inhumane person and I hoped he would become a stronger proponent of a moral resolution on immigration reform and lead our nation out of fear and distrust toward an understanding and just compromise on the issue. The Sister replied that perhaps this was President Bush's chance to get into Heaven, because up until now, he hasn't met up to the standards for entry into Gloryland on most of the other issues. ;)

Chancelucky's Blogiversary

Chancelucky's Blogiversary

Happy Blogiversary to Chancelucky!

NYT: Bush Fuzzy and Bland on Immigration

NYT: Bush Fuzzy and Bland on Immigration

Today's New York Times editorial gives President Bush a virtual "NO-DUH!" award for what said in California about the immigration issue yesterday.

"...all President Bush offered was a restatement of the painfully obvious and a bunch of bland generalities.."

They also criticized him over what he failed to say.

"this is a moment for specifics. The president could have argued forcefully for comprehensive reform and spelled out the distinction that the Senate has drawn between an earned route to legalization and the detested free ride of amnesty. Instead, he blandly labeled the Senate compromise an "interesting approach," as if he were pondering a piece of modern art rather than the fate of something central to his domestic agenda."

I wish President Bush was a stronger leader on such an important issue. I didn't vote for him in the last two elections because I do not share his vision for America. Now I'm left to wonder what the hell his vision is. When he fails to argue effectively and convincingly, it opens the door for the radical faction within his own GOP to move the bill far-out Right where most Americans would not care to see it go. I wonder if he has any strong conviction on the issue? I'm not hearing it in the form of any ideas that would spark our curiosity or inspire us to hope for a decent legislative compromise. I don't see Bush as inhuman and I think it's true that mass deportation would be a waste of our tax dollars. But where was he yesterday (other than "in California?")

I had hoped we'd hear something decisive and clear from Bush yesterday. And then I woke up - - and realized there's not much more to Bush's recent hollow rap on immigration than just rap. And then I woke up - -and realized there isn't much of a leadership vibe going on in the noggin or that heart of Bush's. Is he just an empty suit? We need solid leadership - and knock-knock-knock...HELLO-O?!?....nobody's home. And they accuse Democrats of not having a plan!?!

And could there be any bigger turds than the shameless people within the RNC who've decided to spread out-and-out lies to Mexican immigrants by broadcasting on Spanish-language radio ads in the Southwest that Democrats are supporting efforts to turn illegal immigrants into felons (when Democrats are advocating the opposite?)

Today in Syracuse I'll be attending a public witness on behalf of immigrants that is sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, who are leaders of orders of Roman Catholic Sisters across New York State. It will begin at 11:30 a.m. at the James M. Hanley U.S. Court House and Federal Building in Syracuse. From the Catholic Sun:

Immigration lawyer Sister Gaye Moorhead, RSM, will address the sisters during the event. Other speakers will include those who work directly with immigrants as well as immigrants themselves who will share their personal experiences of living and working in the U.S. The public witness will be followed by a Mass celebrated by Bishop Thomas Costello at 1:15 p.m., at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse. The Sisters of St. Francis have renewed their commitment to stand by immigrants, this time as advocates. The sisters have asked people of all faiths to join them in this event.

Another purpose of the event is to build support for the McCain-Kennedy “Secure America Act,” which includes elements of immigration reform supported by the sisters. In their quest for justice for immigrants, the sisters want government officials to know that opportunities for citizenship, protection of workers’ rights and reunification of families must be part of any effective reform.

I'll be reporting on the event's outcome.

Tags: Bush, Immigration

Gideon's Blog

Gideon's Bible Blog

Gideon Starorzewski is a newbie in the Blogosphere. Off to a great start, he's already been mentioned at Slate.com. Be sure to check him out.

An Eighth General Revolts

An Eighth General Revolts

An eighth General has urged Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to step down. Will The Decider care?

Protest Music Videos - A New Kind of Contest

Protest Music Videos - A New Kind of Contest

Music has great influential power, especially when presented in the music video form. Raw Story's John Byrne writes about a new protest music video contest which will likely kindle anti-war sentiment. Raw Story also provides an Op-Critical music video that captures the funeral of Army Specialist Kendall Frederick, a Maryland native who was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb. Mr. Byrne says that Op-Critical shot the video at Arlington last October, and has since been banned from making films at the cemetery.Justice Through Music [jtmp.org] is announcing the 'Harmony Vids!' Protest Music Videos Campaign And Contest at their website. Their statement:

It is time to speak out loud about the state of the world through both music and videos. We know you have lots to say so we are having a contest as part of our New Harmony Vids! campaign. We are posting dozens of protest songs on our site courtesy of the band Op-Critical and offering at least a $500 cash prize to whoever makes the best video of each song by September 15, 2006.

A sample of lyrics from an Op-Critical song titled "Lobotomy":

I see what it is that turns you on,
Everything you like is so unreal
You accept whatever they feed you
Even when it's bad you take the pill

Will you ever wake up
Will you ever wake up
Will you ever wake up to the truth
You act like you were born without a brain

I can't understand why you follow
Every little fling they lead you on
You gave up your mind to something else
That every child would know is wrong.

Jesus Beneath the Fold

Jesus Beneath the Fold

Something controversial has happened that will increase the chances that a usually-quiet bedroom community is suddenly put on Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity’s glowing map of social injustice. You may ask yourself - - “Is it immigration? Is it a gay marriage issue? A hot-button abortion case? What have those ‘latte liberals’ in New York done this time?”

This time it’s Jesus.
About a wee boy saying: "Jesus saves - — - [the environment!?"]
About liberals hiding Jesus beneath the fold!

This is about a case that was handed up to the Supreme Court involving the Constitutional free-speech rights of a 5-year-old (and his mother, who assisted the boy). The Supremes have been asked clarify the fuzzy area of the First Amendment - particularly the U.S. Constitution's Establishment clause which guarantees the "free exercise" of religion. As it turns out, the high court won't intervene in a lower-court fight over a Jesus poster that was deliberately folded over by public school officials to hide the portion depicting the five year old's Lord and Savior.

According to the First Amendment Center -

The Baldwinsville Central School District in suburban Syracuse wanted justices to stop a lawsuit filed by Antonio Peck and his parents, who claim his free-speech rights were violated when school officials censored his poster.

The justices' action in Baldwinsville Central School District v. Peck leaves in place an appeals court ruling that requires a trial to determine whether Antonio's rights were violated when school officials obscured a robed figure in the boy's poster in displaying it at a school assembly in 1999.

The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had agreed with the school district that there was no evidence to suggest teachers or administrators had acted with hostility toward religion when they folded Antonio's poster in half.

And the appeals court found that Antonio's poster was not responsive to his teacher's assignment to "save the environment" by depicting trash collection and conservation efforts.

But the 2nd Circuit said a trial must be held to determine whether Antonio's free-speech rights were violated because his poster was censored by the district's viewpoint on religion.

The teacher in this case had said that the assigment was well explained and that the poster should have reflected what the students had been learning in class. It seems very clear that the poster was not in line with the assignment, but the courts believe it will take a trial to reach a fair and clear judgement. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the parents had raised a factual issue regarding whether officials had engaged in viewpoint discrimination based on the poster's religious content. It may take a trial to determine whether or not the boy's rights were violated, but the real public trial will be held nightly on cable television and talk radio. This is a perfect vehicle to divide the "Red" and "Blue" camps that the pundits have created and wish to keep alive lest we discover we are all Americans and their ratings slip down the drainpipe.

Let's talk about real life devoid of all the stereotypes, shall we?

Baldwinsville, New York started out as a little country village in central New York state that was incorporated in 1848. Centuries before American history was recorded, the Seneca River, which runs through Baldwinsville, transported people into the area which today is northwest of the city of Syracuse, N.Y. Predating the existence of the Erie Canal, the river was an key link in a waterway system connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Mississippi River. It's a lovely area with lush green rolling hills and fertile farmland. Some of my very own ancestors were here before the largely unsettled wilderness became a post-Revolution Military tract, and some came after. In 1790, the Towns of Lysander and Van Buren (both of which Baldwinsville is a part) were designated as part of "the Military tract." Regardless of any Native American who may have lived and hunted on the land for century upon century, much of the land was " given" to Revolutionary War veterans by the new government in appreciation of their military service.

In the 2000 Census, it was found that the racial makeup of the village was 96.87% White, 0.75% ; African American; and 0.51% Native American. Today, Baldwinsville is a typical evolutionary American story - picturesque and once-lucrative land of farming and closely-knit (primarily white Christian) social life turns to "bedroom community" with new suburban encalves springing up where every house looks pretty much like the one next door to it. It isn't much different than any village you'd find anywhere in rural America .A person could easily stand at sunset and look at the rolling landscape that surrounds Baldwinsville and be inspired to say to herself, "This is God's country."

What goes on in "God's country"? The VFW is still a fairly popular place with a friendly barkeeps, lively conversation, and plenty of family activities. I 've been there myself. The houses of worship are busy on Sunday morning and the Baldwinsville Diner gets pretty busy after church, serving up hearty plates of eggs and toast. The Betsy Baldwin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution meet and the Rotary Club stresses service above self. The social capital in this place would put a smile on Robert Putnam's face.

For many, the heart of social life still rests with the church and traditional community-based activities. For some of those less inclined to be social, hearts rest in the leisurely activities supplied by the life around the Seneca river - fishing, hunting, boating, and art. It's not the kind of place where the streets are teeming with the vibrancy of trendsetters, although it's constantly trying to improve its image as a place where the young people who actually live there might actually want to gather. For many, especially the youth, social life is found with friends at the mall outside of the village limits, at their jobs, at the small taverns, on MySpace, on their IPods, in their X-Box screens, and in their television sets. It's America. We all share it. Red, Blue, Liberal, Conservative, Democrat, and Republican. The poetry of singer/songwriter Ben Folds comes to mind when he speaks about those uniquely American places where you drive through and never see many on the streets other than the homeless or mentally ill. He collectively calls these homogeneous places "Jesusland":

Take a walk
out the gate you go and never stop
past all the stores and wig shops
quarter in a cup for every block
and watch the buildings grow
smaller as you go



Down the tracks
beautiful McMansions on a hill
that overlook a highway
with riverboat casinos and you still
have yet to see a soul


Some of us sit back and see America for what it is. We laugh about it, but we're not mocking Jesus and we are all a part of America, so please don't tell us we hate it. I'm a Christian myself, and I say so without reservation. I am a liberal Democrat. I live and work among others who don't fit my description and I don't argue with them when I have an occasion to greet them. We don't see each other as creatures of political invention. We see one another as human beings.

We'll be hearing more about little Antonio Peck from people who want to divide us as political creatures. But whether or not you who are reading this are believers in God, I think you can at least agree that we were not created (or born, if you prefer) to thrive on the supposition that you must extract from your fellow man (or woman) their ideology before you can care about them or cooperate as members of a thriving community. I don't know if it was right for the school to have folded Jesus out of the taxfunding-public eye, but I'd suspect if you asked most parents in that elementary school in Baldwinsville N.Y., they probably wouldn't even have noticed whether Jesus was exposed or hidden. Were the school officials "hostile" to religion when they folded Jesus, or were they just trying to minimize the possibilitythat some parents who subscribe to the divisive "Red/Blue" religion would cause a fuss when they saw the Holy Robed Crusader inspiring others to save the Earth? Does it make common sense to be wary of the social and political encroachment of those who have a political agenda based on Dominionism? Yes, I think we need to be aware ot its existence and what has been done for decades to alter the political and Constitutional landscape of America. [See these coments from Bill Moyers.] But let's not let this blind us to the fact that we are all Americans and that we need political leadership to set an example of how we can best take our common values and set our nation in a new direction. These wedge issues have been doing little except empowering and enriching divisive mouthpieces like Rush Limbaugh and prompting good but impressionable and uninformed people to vote for moral misleaders like George W. Bush. We haven't seen our leaders act in such a responsible or cooperative manner in quite some time, so it's no wonder that we keep fighting on political sites like cats and dogs Reds and Blues.

I think it's high time for a new American conversation, based more on the life in our own communities and less on the divisive drone from the little electronic box in our living room corners which promotes the stereotypes that have produced Republican electoral successes for far too long. What happened in Baldwinsville, N.Y. could happen anywhere in America.

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


And children can nestle snug in their beds until
the antichrist comes and God sends his asteroids hurling toward the earth,
smashing it to smithereens.
Wouldn't that make a really cool poster?
Happy Earth Day, little darlings.


Cross-posted at American Street

Irons Presents Common Sense Ideas for Tax Reform

Irons Presents Common Sense Ideas for Tax Reform

John Irons of the Center for American Progress has laid out ideas for a comprehensive tax code overhaul which he says is overdue. [Washington Post]

Schlesinger Appeals to Bush for Change in Foreign Policy

Schlesinger Appeals to Bush for Change in Foreign Policy
Says Lincoln would rejoice

"There is no more dangerous thing for a democracy than a foreign policy based on presidential preventive war.

Maybe President Bush, who seems a humane man, might be moved by daily sorrows of death and destruction to forgo solo preventive war and return to cooperation with other countries in the interest of collective security. Abraham Lincoln would rejoice."

- Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Bush's Thousand Days, seen in today's Washington Post