Truer Words

All kinds of people are offering Senator Obama advice on how to win the election. One pundit offered a countrified homily, to “dance with the one who brung him”. This is in reference to stay true to the activists who have supported him to victory in the primaries. Others have offered the sage advice that once you have won the primaries the wise course of action is to moderate the tone of your campaign to attract more of those in the middle. And then after having stated that he would re-evaluate his position on withdrawing troops from Iraq once he has made the trip over there had the Republicans screaming that he was flip-flopping. (If ever the pot was calling the kettle black, no pun intended.) One of McCain’s surrogates had the balls to advise Obama that words have consequences. I guess that is true unless you are McCain and the press just gives you a free pass on damn near anything you say. What’s a candidate to do?
Probably the best advice I have seen to date is what I read just this evening from the Washington Post’s Peter Beinart, “As Ruy Teixeira and John Halpin have noted, the Democrats’ biggest political liability is not that Americans believe they are too liberal but rather that they believe that Democrats don’t stand for anything at all.” Most certainly Obama’s equivocation on FISA does nothing to tell the voters he stands for certain principles. That does not mean Obama can not change any of the positions he has taken but it does mean that he can not change them without some changed external condition giving rise to his change of position. Anything less than that and he will lose not only the middle but those as well who “brung him.”

Letter to Senator McCaskill

Dear Senator McCaskill,

I voted for you in 2006 and glad to see you win over Jim Talent. I voted for you, a Democrat, because I thought it was time for a change from the big business interests represented by the Republicans. I believe the coming showdown over the FISA immunity of the the big telecoms will be a time where true blue Democrats can show they hold our Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees to be of key importance. In the past, unfortunately, Democrats have not shown the discipline of the Republicans. Republicans repeatedly were on the wrong side of issues and still held together. Now is the opportunity for Democrats to be on the right side of the issue. My bet is that like in the past the caucus will be divided. Your vote on this issue will be one I will not forget when it comes time for your re-election.

Sincerely,

RichMc

My Email to Obama Today

Up to this point I am committed to voting for Sen. Obama in November.
One issue that is of great concern to me is defense of our Constitution. These past 7 years have threatened more than just a few of our constitutional guarantees. FISA is currently before the Senate. It is my sincere hope Senator Obama does the right thing and helps to prevent passage of amnesty for those who broke the law.
In the past month Republicans have shown what a united caucus can achieve. I hope Senator Obama can demonstrate the same holds true for Democrats. From all indications Republicans seem to able to unite for all the wrong reasons whlie Democrats can’t even get behind the right ones. If that remains to be the case what difference will it make to put a majority of Democrats in power this fall?

Do Something

The last new oil refinery was built in 1976. Since then several refineries have been shuttered. And then do you remember when Katrina hit and gasoline prices went up because we lacked refinery capacity? What has been done since? NOTHING!
Then today in the news we read a report that Honda is rolling its first new fuel cell vehicle off the production line, the FCX Clarity. The article went on to report Honda would get up to full production by 2018. So what is the United States going to do wait until 2018 for Honda to supply us with vehicles that will get better gas mileage? It is time to get someone leading this country who has some vision and can get things moving in the right direction. I do not think that person is John McCain.

What’s McCain Saying Today.

From day to day there is no telling just what John McCain will say that directly contradicts a position he has held or something he has said in the past. Not so unsurprisingly the mainstream media/press either have not researched this or just do not care, much less ask him why he has changed his position. Wonder why this liberal media is so damn liberal with John McCain?

Here are two great examples:

It was a shameful thing to ask men to suffer and die, to persevere through god-awful afflictions and heartache, to endure the dehumanizing experiences that are unavoidable in combat, for a cause that the country wouldn’t support over time and that our leaders so wrongly believed could be achieved at a smaller cost than our enemy was prepared to make us pay. No other national endeavor requires as much unshakable resolve as war. If the nation and the government lack that resolve, it is criminal to expect men in the field to carry it alone.

The fundamental question is “What is the United States’ interest in Lebanon? It is said we are there to keep the peace. I ask, what peace? It is said we are there to aid the government. I ask, what government? It is said we are there to stabilize the region. I ask, how can the US presence stabilize the region?…

The longer we stay in Lebanon, the harder it will be for us to leave. We will be trapped by the case we make for having our troops there in the first place.

What can we expect if we withdraw from Lebanon? The same as will happen if we stay. I acknowledge that the level of fighting will increase if we leave. I regretfully acknowledge that many innocent civilians will be hurt. But I firmly believe this will happen in any event.

Shamelessly filched from RealClearPolitics.

It Just Don’t Get Much Better Than This!

Borrowed from Josh Marshall’s TPM

this recent report (pdf) from the National Defense University by Joseph Collins, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Stability Operations in the Pentagon until 2004, couldn’t provide a starker contrast. It is titled “Choosing War: The Decision to Invade Iraq and Its Aftermath,” and it begins:

Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle….

It just don’t get no better than this and apparently neither does this war we are in.

Did He Really Say 100 Years?

Ah yes, 100 years, that seems to be a real failure as the political blue light special of the week. And, slowly the McCain Straight Talk people are beginning to realize that is more straight talk than the American public is willing to consume. So watch how they will spin themselves out of this one. When all is said and done they will have you believing McCain never uttered the words “100 Years”. Hey wasn’t that just a Foo Fighters song?

You’ve Got to Ask Yourself

You really have to wonder, why is it the most powerful nation on earth allied with the “legitimate power” of the Iraqi government and 5 years of opportunity to stand up a military that can overcome the insurgents and protect the country can not seem to stand up? On the other side of the coin is a ragtag bunch of militias that seem to be able to inspire the cohesion of their members and fight effectivley against what seems to be overwhelming odds. What gives? Why is that?

March 31, 2008
Associated Press Iraq’s new army is “developing steadily,” with “strong Iraqi leaders out front,” the chief U.S. trainer assured the American people. That was three-plus years ago, the U.S. Army general was David H. Petraeus, and some of those Iraqi officials at the time were busy embezzling more than $1 billion allotted for the new army’s weapons, according to investigators. ….

The Conciousness of Growing Up

Barack Obama’s speech this past week held my attention for all of its 37 minutes worth. It far transcended any defense of his association with Pastor White. I’d say in the not too distant future it will take its place among the greatest speeches in American history. For many of us white folks it provides an inkling of what it is to be non-white in America. But it does so much more.
The shocker that really drove the point home for me though was another story on NPR’s Morning Edition this past Friday. It moved me as no other story in the StoryCorps series has done. Click on this link to go to the NPR site where you can listen to this story. here is the transcript:

Mary Ellen Noone’s great-grandmother was a petite woman — probably 95 pounds wet — but she was very strong, Noone says.

Pinky Powell, who was born before the turn of the last century, used to say that she could pick 100 pounds of cotton by lunchtime, Noone adds.

“She never smiled, but I could tell when I looked in her eyes that she really loved me,” she says.

One night, Noone was painting her fingernails when her great-grandmother said, “You know, there was a time we couldn’t wear no fingernail polish.”

To explain, Powell told a story from when she was a girl. Around 1910, Powell lived on a plantation in Lowndes County, Ala., where “she would wash and iron for this white woman.”

“One day the lady had thrown away some of her old perfume and nail polish that had dried up. So [Powell] took it home and added some ingredients to the nail polish that made it pliable,” Noone says. “Well, when Sunday came, she got all dressed up and painted her nails and put on that perfume and went to church.

“On Monday, she went to the general store, and when she was ready to check out, the white owner asked her, ‘What are you doing with your nails painted up like a white woman?’ He proceeded to pick up a pair of pliers and he pulled out my grandmama’s nails out of its bed one by one.”

Noone, 65, says she often wondered as a child why her great-grandmother’s nails were so deformed.

“Every time I look at enamel red finger polish, I have a flashback, and I see red,” Noone says. “I still have that anger inside of me that someone would have that control over one person just because they wanted to feel like a woman.”

Noone recorded her interview as part of StoryCorps Griot, an initiative that collects the recollections of black Americans. This segment was produced for Morning Edition by Michael Garofalo with help from Vanara Taing.

Revealing Surprise

Today I was doing my daily read of the goings on. I was on Crooks and Liars and they had this link to Hot Chicks with Douchbags. Wish I would have thought of that one. The reveal is the posturing so many go through trying to impress. The facade! I really like the emphasis on the use of various kinds of hand gestures, like that is the really cool thing to do. At the very least it is good for a laugh and for some it will give great insight into the many macho pretenders out there.