Tag: 2008 elections

More than 80 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, the highest such number since the early 1990s, according to a new survey.

This according to a CBS – New York Times poll released yesterday (Thursday).

No shit?  Maybe we have been Yelling Loud Enough! Somebody is listening.

The people of this country ARE really beginning to pay attention and it couldn’t come at a better time!  

With national elections only 7 months away, the wheels are falling off the Republican propaganda wagon at a good time for Americans.  Yes, even the Republican-Americans that don’t even realize it.  

From CNN:

The CBS News-New York Times poll released Thursday showed 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.” That was up from 69 percent a year ago, and 35 percent in early 2002.

To borrow from Ricky Ricardo, “Bushie, you’ve got some ‘splaining to do.”  Yet, I don’t think anyone is listening anymore, Bushie.

No, not even to the “FEAR, BE AFRAID, TERRAHRISTS IN YOUR CORN FLAKES,” or even the old standby of “the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century” distortion of world policies that Bush wants to sell to you and I.  

His continuous insult to over a billion Muslims around the world by repeatedly speaking of Islam, fascism and terror in the same breath is only upstaged by his domestic slash and burn policies that are beginning to weigh down so hard on the entire population of the United States that even the most staunch of his backers are now backing away.

The only ideological struggle we are having in this 21st century is neo-con greed vs. the good of the people.

John S. McCain, III will turn 72 in August, 2008. McCain’s age, health, and mental acuity will inevitably be factors in the campaign.

Will American voters be paying attention? Will McCain release full and accurate information on his health?

And how can one distinguish whether McCain’s behavior and judgment are normal and acceptable, or are deteriorating and therefore potentially dangerous? When is a gaffe a symptom?

Several actuarial and medical data points suggest that McCain’s upcoming 72nd chronological birthday could well be the equivalent of a biological 83rd birthday.

Below the break are a few guidelines and links to help inform an assessment of McCain’s age, health, and fitness for the Presidency.

(Cross-posting at Daily Kos, Raising Kaine, and Bits of News.)

Original article subtitled The Case for a New Progressive Creed by Bernard Chazelle via Counterpunch.com.

We know that progressives are thought to be locked to the Democratic Party. We also know that progressives are pretty much ignored by said Party. Perhaps it’s time for those of us on the left to find a way to be seen as more than just another special interest group.

Yes. You read that right.

After completing a deep personal consideration that included exiting this time space continuum and meditating in tantric union with Montana Wildhack in a dome on Tralfamadore for 23 years…I have come to the conclusion that the inhabitants of this planet deserve to suffer…..more.

And I can’t think of a better way to increase their suffering than having George W. Bush refuse to step down.

Why do they need to suffer more? As I posited in NL’s recent essay it sometimes seems that that the only way people change is through crisis….and we need change desperately!

So here we human beings are on April First 2008……..facing some hard choices, while things get steadily worserer on this third rock from a minor sun in a rather nondescript little galaxy. One choice that looms larger each day will either present (in the grand scheme of things) a relatively small change for the worst, McCain…or a relatively small change for the better…a Dem.

I say why fuck around? I say we go for BIG change!

As many of you know, today is the last day of the quarter and we’re all busy fundraising. Everybody has a candidate they want you to donate to. I’m no different. While I’m glad that we progressives have put a lot of energy into the Presidential race and numerous House races, there’s another chamber that is just as important, if not more. The Senate! If any of you want to see the Democratic President’s agenda passed, or if you long for UHC in America, we need more seats in the Senate. Here in Oregon, House Speaker Jeff Merkley and lawyer/activist Steve Novick are vying for the Democratic nomination to go up against Republican Gordon Smith. I have decided to throw my support behind Jeff Merkley and I hope you’ll give him a look too!  

It looks like a lot of people are calling for Hillary to quit the race so that the dems can concentrate of beating McCain.  Most of the calls are coming from Obama supporters like Leahy.

I saw NO, but only if the candidates concentrate on the issues and the differences between them and McCain.  But if the candidates are going to continue to focus on the negative, with more attacks and insults, then they both should bow out.  The constant manure slinging is doing little to help the Dems and could very well assist McCain in his campaign.

But it appears that some if not all are running for president, for that reason only, everything else seems to be secondary.  In Obama’s case, this could very well be his only shot at the presidency and sometimes it appears that everything else is secondary.

The issues should be the focus.  The American people need answers to their questions on how to help solve their dilemmas.  Negativity is not help the Dems gain more votes, if anything it could be driving some away and towards that other party.

Source

The justification for Public Law 93-531 passed by Congress in 1974 was that the Navajo-Hopi land dispute is so serious that 10,000 Navajos near Big Mountain, Arizona, must be relocated, forcibly if necessary. It would be the largest forced relocation of U.S. citizens since the relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

But tradition-minded Navajo and Hopi claim there never was a land dispute. They say the dispute was invented to get the Navajos and their livestock off mineral-rich land in the Hopi reservation so it could be developed by mining companies such as Peabody Coal and Kerr-McGee.

I was just wondering what everyone thinks about Nader in the presidential mix?  I am not oo thrilled with him, but not for the reasons that some democrats have.  He is blamed for Gore’s loss, I hold no grudge on that matter.  I, however, have a problem with him because of his constant running for office.  While I hold must of his issues close to my heart, I do not like the fact that he seems to be a perpetual candidate.  But in the years between the elections he has little to say.  But then he revs up and all hell breaks lose.

I would like my candidate to be there even in the “off season’ fighting for the progressive agenda, not just show up every 4 years and spout some left leaning agenda and expect people like me to support him.  Nader does have a wide range of progressive stands and some are very appealing, but I just have a hard time throwing my support in his direction.

I would like to hear others thoughts about his candidacy.

You remember him?  He was that other candidate that the media marginalized. I guess he will be best remembered for his reading of the Pentagon papers into the Congressional record back in the ’70’s.  Granted he was never high on anyone’s list of candidates, but now he has finally made news and changed party affiliation.

His announcement yesterday.

“I’m joining the Libertarian Party because it is a party that combines a commitment to freedom and peace that can’t be found in the two major parties that control the government and politics of America,” Gravel said in a prepared statement. “My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American.”

While I am not a supporter by any means, he does have a point.  But it is not just the Democratic Party that is out of touch with average Americans; it is ALL politicians.  I do not foresee this move giving him any more clout than he had within the Dem Party, but maybe he will get a bit more publicity than he did before.  After all, is that not the goal of every politician?