August 27, 2008 archive

We can never really know how others perceive us, but in todays political spectrum, I consider myself to be Far Left. Certainly some folks on Dkos and elsewhere would agree, and certainly folks elsewhere would not. Probably because I try to mix what I perceive as political reality or pragmatism into my principled politics. I have been called a Dirty Fucking Hippie Radical, a Purity Troll AND a sell out to the Corporate Fascist Insects in my time, both on the web and in “Real Life.” And this post may get me more of the same. But fuck it, this needs to be said. From the bottom of my  40 years on the Far Left heart….

PLEASE………stick a clothespin on your nose and Vote For Obama.

Yes, yes I know all of the objections. He is a tool of the Corporate warmongers. A Neo-con/Neo-liberal in Progressive clothing. Another empty suited con man for The System that is destroying Freedom and the Planet. The figurehead of a cult of personality whose intention is to bluff his way into office as a Populist Democrat and then continue all of the horrible agendas of the Ruling Class and the Military Industrial Complex. And a litany of other complaints to numerous to mention. And picking the tool of the Bankers and a leader of the insane War on Drugs just makes it worse. A vote for Obama is a vote for the continuation of The Same Old Shit.

To which I say ….so fucking what.

Obama is FAR from perfect. Obama is far from a true LEFT Progressive. Obama has yet to meet a principle that he is not willing to compromise on. Obama IS in bed with Corporate interests, the very people who have made this world the screwed up place it is today.Obama most likely will NOT fight hard for the things we hold dear. There is a veritable laundry list of things that are wrong with Obama. There are a lot of reasons not to vote for him, he is not a savior or the solution to all of the problems that beset the world. But there is one other thing he is not.

He is not a fucking Republican. He is not George Bush and he is NOT John McCain.

I’ve recently had some experiences in my professional life that validate the “bottom up” approach to change. I thought I’d share them with all of you to see if there are any threads of learning in them that can help us understand the ways we can work together to grow a movement.

Back in 2000, the non-profit I work for was asked to be part of a coalition with St. Paul Public Schools to write a federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant proposal. Our coalition was funded for three years. The role of our organization was to have staff on-site in three middle schools to work with students who are chronically suspended for fighting and/or bad behavior. We all know that sending these kids home for a few days relieves the school of safety concerns, but does little or nothing to address the behavior. In fact, for alot of students, getting a few days off from school is a reward. Our staff were there to work one-on-one with these students when they came back to school to provide structure and accountability – but also support and guidance.

The problem with this kind of coalition is that it dies once the three years of funding are up. That’s exactly what happened here. But the schools in which we participated were especially supportive of the service we had provided over those years and desperately wanted us to continue. After long and hard discussion (its difficult to continue work when you don’t know where the funding will come from), we scaled back to two schools and “hit the streets” to fund raise for these efforts.

Too much to say, too little time. I got into the Pepsi Arena but my pass was only good for the hallways, not the arena itself. Still… I got some good pictures. Thanks to a friend of mine, I’ll make it onto the floor tonight. So stay tuned y’all. Here’s my slide show from yesterday, If you have any questions, Comment here and I’ll respond. All of you at Docudharma are the best!

– ctrenta

h/t to Raw Story for covering this. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, and A-list bloggers Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher were all shut out of a Blue Dog Democrat party sponsored by AT & T. All three of them had press credentials. Here’s how Amy Goodman covered the event. Welcome to the Dems version of Dick Cheney’s energy council.

Hang tight. More to come! – ctrenta

August 27, 2008 – 6 min 47 sec

Stephen Zunes: Obama’s anti Iraq war stance wiped out by choosing hawk Biden

Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus (www.fpif.org). From 1996 to 1999, he served as chair of the Board of Peaceworkers, a US-based group supporting the non-violent struggle of the Kosovar Albanians and other non-violent movements and peacemakers in areas of conflict.

 

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