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Joe Lieberman, please don't run as an independent. You lost today's primary fair and square. Sure, you can point to the fact that your web site was down today to twist today's results into a claim that the true will of the voters was routed. But we all know the real reason you will run as an independent: You are an egomaniac.
Please Joe, please don't do it.
If you live in Connecticut I strongly encourage you to vote for Ned Lamont this fall. If you know someone in Connecticut, give them a call and encourage them to get out and vote for Lamont and the Democratic take-over in the Senate this fall.
Joe Lieberman represents everything that is wrong and out-of-date about the Democratic Party. Ned Lamont represents the present and the future. He is an entrepreneur, a liberal, and stands with most Americans in his opposition to President Bush's failed Republican policies at home and abroad.
And if you don't live in Connecticut, send money to that important race but also get out and help your state party win like it never has before. Howard Dean's brilliant fifty state strategy depends on each of us to do our part. Look how far the passionate people of Connecticut took the Lamont campaign and imagine how far it still has yet to go. Now think of the races in your state that were long ago written off as impossible. You can make a difference there.
May no Republican or Democrat-in-name-only run unopposed ever again!
For the first time in years I get to vote in an election where the victor might actually eventually get to decide real policy. This is a refreshing change from voting in DC where my whole crew got worked up about who gets to shuffle around the scraps tossed to the city by the federal government. Ah DC politics...
But election day here comes with its own quirks. Today is the primary election for the upcoming elections in November so turnout will be very low. Californians are suffering from what pollsters and pundits are calling election fatigue. This caused in large part by the fact that there have been statewide elections at least once a year for the previous five years.
The last election we had here took place just as I was moving so I didn't have time to go vote. Fortunately, the state voted the way I would have wanted them to: No on all referenda. This state seems to lead the nation in goofy direct-to-voter initiatives. Because I'm from Illinois I have no trouble abdicating governing authority to a largely corrupt but effective group of professional politicians and bureaucrats. Here in California the residents seem to think they can do a better job than the representatives they vote for, often on the same piece of paper.
Today is no exception. In the Democratic primary for gubernatorial candidate, real estate developer cum State Treasurer Phil Angelides and eBay executive cum State Controller Steve Westley have spent the last month throwing mud at each-other. When you cut through the negative politicking these are essentially two true-blue liberals who differ only on what approach to take to solving the state's budget crisis (oh, that...).
Westley proposes cutting waste by increasing efficiency and stopping corruption and Angelides wants to increase taxes on Californians pulling in the big bucks and mega-corporations. I'm down with both of these ideas and think we should probably be doing both of these things to solve the state's problems. However, the ballot today also includes some pesky initiatives.
There is a proposal to fund libraries by issuing bonds because the state has dropped the ball on keeping them going with regular old tax revenue and there is a proposal to fund universal pre-school by taxing Californians making more than $400,000. Libraries are good for everybody and preschool is good for kids but how will Westley or Angelides (or Schwarzenegger for that matter) be able to get the state out of this mess if the voters are supporting them while mandating spending in this way? Aren't these the same rich people that Angelides wants to tax? Are we creating new programs that Westley will need to clean up? Are these more opportunities for Schwarzenegger to screw things up in Sacramento?
It seems counter-intuitive to have representative government and direct democracy in the same system. But I live here now so I have to suck it up and when I go to the polls after work decide if I trust the state to fund libraries without borrowing money or whether I can count on my governor to provide universal preschool without forcing his hand. Ah, California. Having my vote actually count for something is a heavy responsibility and a welcome one!
In nearly every American city immigrants from the far reaches of the globe are joining in solidarity to demand their rights. They demand only what they have justly earned by the hardships endured on extended sea voyages in shipping crates from Hong Kong, deadly desert crossings from Mexico, and the many other myriad ways that immigrants make there way to our border.
These immigrants have earned the respect and dignity they demand through years of toil. Whether picking crops that supply our overstocked grocery stores or locked in a WALMART through the night expected to clean for little pay they have suffered as our government turns an official blind eye.
They have had enough. Their safety is being threatened by jingoistic Republicans desperate to garner votes in the fall elections by inflaming the latent racism and desperation of the white working class. These machinations will fail and through solidarity and public protest the deep believers in the promise of America who take to the street today will have their voices heard.
Immigrant communities, it is reported by the press, are divided over whether a strike is the best course of action. One need only look at the direct cause and effect of a few short weeks ago. The House of Representatives had passed reprehensible legislation that would have made the millions of undocumented workers who clean our offices and stores, pick our vegetables, and construct the edifices of our opulence into felons. In Los Angeles and elsewhere, students and workers took to the streets demanding justice.
Congress responded. The protests worked. The Senate reached a better compromise. The new position is not good enough, but those who took to the streets learned that they could stay the hand of intolerance through mass action.
Today is another opportunity and as I drove to work this morning I was excited to see the shops in the immigrant neighborhoods closed. I was glad to see traffic a little lighter than usual and imagined that all of those people would be joining the marches.
I'm at work today and not at the mid-day march. I will join the afternoon march for those who did not take off work. I am the descendant of immigrants, we all are. We all must turn out and show solidarity.
I just got back from PJA's screening of Robert Greenwald's new documentary, WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Prices and I am genuinly shocked. I have been solidly in the WAL-MART is evil camp for some time what with their notorious sex discrimination, practice of locking undocumented workers in stores over night, and general loathing for America's rudimentary labor laws. This documentary wraps all that and more up into a gorgeous little package.
As a film it is a little rough but you stop caring once you realize that you jaw has been on the floor for most of the film in total shock at the kind of stuff this company does.
Over the next 13 days, I and a thousand other geeks will be on-call as tech support for the army of volunteers around the country working with MoveOn.org to win the election for John Kerry. As they go door to door and report back to HQ, I will be here ready to answer any questions and resolve any technological hiccups.
Although I never want to work in tech support again, I decided that I can best serve our democracy by putting my knowledge to work behind the scenes. If you are a volunteer out in the field and your precinct captain is struggling to get data off the web or report back, know that MoveOn volunteer tech support is only a phone call away.
Protesters have successfully made their mark on the 2004 Republican National Convention. Before Bush speaks tomorrow the press has turned their eye to the activities of the masses outside the fortified Madison Square Gardens.
On Sunday, a crowd of over 500,000 greeted the delegates to the Republican convention to NYC. For six hours, the two mile long crowd wound its way past the delegates.
"Four more years," the delegates chanted.
"Four more months," the protesters responded.
Double the number that had been predicted by United for Peace and Justice, the group that organized the march, the event forced its way into the news cycle as the week began.
Many held out hope that the protests would continue through the week drawing attention to dissent in New York City as speakers inside attempted to claim the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, for their own political gain.
Showing that they would have none of it, protesters have regrouped and momentum appears to be growing.
Protests flared up all day Monday and on Tuesday police arrested almost 1,000 people as they marched on the Convention. The arrests brought the convention total to 1,460.
Today, thousands of demonstrators stood silently on the sidewalk in a column that stretched for miles to protest the the high rate of joblessness in the Bush economy. The "unemployment" line was organized by People for the American Way to daw attention to the administration's new rules covering overtime pay.
According to non-partisan estimates, the revision of the rules will shut out over 2 million people who currently receive overtime pay.
Later in the day, ten AIDS activists rose from amid the ranks of Republican youths on the floor of the convention, blew whistles and chanted "Bush kills!" as the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, spoke.
No wonder Bush might not even stay overnight in New York this week. Good thing he's not a girlie man...
Cue the recent documentary Outfoxed to 01:12:14 and you will see Julie at a Code Pink rally that she helped organize last year against Clear Channel consolidation.
This rally is used in the film as an example of positive citizen action against media consolidation and the negative influence of big business on the substance of news. Kudos to Julie for being a good citizen and kudos to the makers of Outfoxed for noticing!
Our apartment filled with cheers tonight as almost twenty of us raised our voices to praise John Kerry. Many of us waited for tonight's speech with hesitation, concerned that John Kerry would be unable to meet the high bar set each previous night of convention.
First, Bill Clinton, arguably the most perfect public speaker of our media age, delivered a powerful address that reminded us of our prosperous past and cheered the potential that John Kerry and John Edwards can help bring America. The next night Barack Obama took the stage and filled me with pride to be an Illinoisan. His speech was to a national audience. His words reflected a consciousness that can be claimed by all sides of the political spectrum. Yes, he is a proud liberal with undeniable progressive credentials. Yet he took his opportunity to speak to America on broader terms. We are not an America of blue and red states, he observed, we are an America of red, white and blue.
Last night, John Edwards laid out the details of the Democratic platform for this election year. Healthcare for all children. No tax breaks for companies that betray American working people. Restoration of America's place in the world. And he declared, most forcefully, that terrorists will have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide because America and our allies will destroy them.
On the heels of these and so many other great speeches by Democratic luminaries of all stripes, John Kerry had a high bar to reach. Although he is a strong candidate, his speaking in the past has smacked of too much equivocation and not enough passion.
Tonight was truly an exception.
He started slow by sharing anecdotes of his family history. But it was undeniable that his entrance through the assembled throng had filled him with energy. He played up that connection with the crowd as he provided the grand structure to fit John Edwards' detail from the night before. We heard the familiar call to restore America's reputation in the world. He promised to be a President who would believe in science. He swore to cut taxes on the middle class and role back the irresponsible tax cuts on Americans who make more than $200,000 annually. He promised Americans an Attorney General who will respect the Constitution and a Secretary of Defense who will listen to military experts over baseless ideology. Kerry swore to implement every recommendation of the 9/11 Commission and to build an intelligence service based on facts not on politics.
John Kerry took this opportunity to lay out a new Democratic vision for America. This vision is the synthesis of ongoing tensions within the Democratic party. His speech was, as all that preceded it had been, progressive in its policy solutions and moderate in its calls for personal responsibility.
While many of the policies advocated by John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats as a whole are big ideas, it is time that America is called to dream once more. Perhaps the Republicans in Congress will stymy our efforts for true national healthcare. Perhaps we will struggle to implement reforms to the intelligence community. Even if every policy fails, the attempt alone is a dramatic improvement over the Bush administration.
It is time for a change in America and John Kerry inspired my friends and I tonight to believe that change is possible.
To Whom It May Concern:
This evening I was pleased to discover that the ACLU is actively reaching out to my generation by organizing the 2003 College Freedom Tour. I recently graduate from a small university in the Midwest and spent my college career fighting an administration intent on limiting the reproductive rights of women and failing to stand up and lead the way in protecting the rights of GLBT students and faculty. Like so many campuses across the country, Campus Crusade for Christ was one of our largest campus organizations followed by Republican and other neo-conservative groups. As you know from your good work, the academic climate in America is stifling and that is why now more than ever students need to hear what the ACLU has to say.
Yet I am dismayed to see that your Freedom Tour is traveling only to campuses already sympathetic to your cause. Your only stop in the Midwest is at the progressive University of Wisconsin in Madison. Who will you reach there that has not already heard your message? As it is currently arranged this tour will meet with successful turnout and cheers. You will fill rooms with students excited about your cause and the powerful brand that the ACLU brings with it. When you finish the tour there will still be hundreds of campuses across the country where small groups of students are fighting the same battle that you are. I hope that you can either find a way to stop at some smaller schools or put as much effort in reaching out to them. Perhaps the tour should stop at some schools in the South or the Midwest where success will not be so sure but the potential payoff will be great.
Now is the time for the ACLU to lead the charge and stimulate debate on every campus in America. Religious fundamentalists, traditional conservatives, gay right advocates, and civil libertarians all share in the benefits of the liberties that the ACLU fights to protect. It gives a good feeling to preach to the choir, but it can change America for the better to risk failure to reach out to those on the fence and those who have not connected the dots. If cost is the reason for your choice, I propose recording and photographing all of the events around the country and making them available online and as a DVD so students anywhere can benefit from this material. An online community with discussion boards, a blog, and activism tools would be a great way for students at the University of Wisconsin or Harvard who saw the tour to connect with students in Alabama, Illinois, or South Dakota dealing with different pieces of these same issues.
Please do not allow this tour to end at the prestigious liberal campuses you are planning to visit. America needs more than that. My generation needs more than that. Do not leave those of us out who were not able to go to Ivy League schools. We have just as important a role to play in the future of this country and the freedoms on which it rests.
-Sam Felder
Class of 2003 Bradley University, Peoria, IL
Who is this guy?
