Turmoil of 1000 Hands

Obama's answer- "A More Perfect Union"

2008-03-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 'A More Perfect Union'

Philadelphia, PA | March 18, 2008
As Prepared for Delivery

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at its very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.

And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.

This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren.

This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It's a story that hasn't made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.

Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.

This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either "too black" or "not black enough." We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.

And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.

On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.

Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way

But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.

In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:

"People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend's voice up into the rafters....And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion's den, Ezekiel's field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn't need to feel shame about...memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild."

That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, "The past isn't dead and buried. In fact, it isn't even past." We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today's black and white students.

Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today's urban and rural communities.

A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.

This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What's remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.

But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn't make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician's own failings.

And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.

In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don't feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they're concerned, no one's handed them anything, they've built it from scratch. They've worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.

Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren't always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.

Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naÃ¯ve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.

For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.

Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright's sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.

The profound mistake of Reverend Wright's sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It's that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old -- is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know -- what we have seen - is that America can change. That is the true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.

In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world's great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother's keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister's keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

I would not be running for President if I didn't believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.

There is one story in particularly that I'd like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King's birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

"I'm here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.

* * *

Wow! These are Presidential words as only a Gen-Xer can provide. I have watched Obama's speech on race four times, going on five. It is one of the best. Ever. This guy is on an FDR or Lincoln level as an oratator. I've sent the link around to every person in my address book and have the text displayed on my blog. NO politician has ever laid that issue on the table with such honesty and profundity. Obama is in the unique position of being the only person who could bring this message to forefront and speak with any kind of certitude to people of all races. He is the right person, in the right place at the right time.

MBT

Fox Attacks Obama

2008-03-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

And the Republican attack machine gets into high gear on Barack Obama! See actual parroting by an NBC news anchor! See meaningless crap become issues just 'cause Fox wants it! Watch big biz and vested corporate interests try to fight what they most fear: real change:

Remembering Nana

2008-02-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

Our minister, Nathan Stone at UU Waco, performed the funeral service for my grandmother this past Saturday. He always has the family write short pieces about the person they've lost. This is mine about Edna Kathryn Griffin Tankersley, also known as Nana:

Having Nana around always meant coming home to me. My fondest memories of childhood are almost all at her and Pa's house, where the Kool-Aid never stopped flowing, the apple pie was secret recipe and better than any you've ever tasted and the warmth of love for family was palpable. The best times were late on Fridays when I was in elementary school and I got to stay up late, watch Johnny Carson and drink a Coke with Nana.

I used to love to sit and listen to Nana tell stories about her life. The characters in those missives were people who had died years before I was born, but through Nana's voice, they became material again and I knew them personally. I recall fondly Nana's sister, named Helen, but always "Sister" in Nana's stories. Her favorite grandfather, Grandpa Griffin, or "Peg Leg," who had a prosthetic leg from the knee down and would say to Nana "Sing for me, monk" as she was a bit of a stoic child, which amused him to no end.

Stories come to mind about her Uncle Henry, who wrote letters from "Somewhere in France" in WWI, and her Uncle Clifford and Aunte Erie and the rest. They all played musical instruments or sang and would harmonize for hours for entertainment. I heard about the days before cars were common and her Daddy's two teams of horses, the Blues and the Greys; about Nana's horse, Dido, about racing trains on roller skates when she was nine. Nana made all these people live again, as vibrant as you or I as we talked while looking at the sepia-toned photos in her albums.

I recall watching Nana complete the crossword puzzle in each day's paper, after, of course, she had read it front-to-back, including the articles about places in the world most people skip over. Because of this, as I got older, we could have discussions about almost anything happening in the world and she'd know what was going on. Nana was always straight-up honest about things, she just didn't have any tolerance for anything untruthful.

She was so actively curious about the world around her. I was tremendously interested in everything political from about the '84 Presidential election onward. Much of this was due to Nana, because her enthusiasm was infectious. We'd talk together and research each candidate, sorting out who we agreed with and who we didn't. Whenever I had a test coming up she made the perfect study partner, hatching mnemonics to improve my memory. Along with my mom, the teacher, Nana encouraged me so strongly in academics. I remember writing projects where she'd sit with me for hours teaching me how to express myself on paper. One never needed spell-check with Nana around!

And oh, did she love her Dudley! Since I never knew my dad very well, I would not have had any reference for how marriage was supposed to work except for seeing Nana and Pa together. They were about as perfectly suited for one another as any couple I have ever seen. What a lucky break for me to have them around after school when my mom was still working.

Nana was such a positive person, being part of that generation that raised themselves up out of the depression and won WWII. No matter what challenges life gave her, she continued moving forward, making her family's way. She beat cancer twice, including the loss of her right eye and just kept on going.

I remember when we went on vacation when I was about four years old- I was exhausted, we had been walking all day. Little Nana picked me up onto her shoulders piggyback, and I didn't have to be tired any longer. When I think about it, that's kind of how she has always been- carrying our family along on her deceptively strong shoulders.

MBT

Generation X Unite! Obama is the Only Logical Choice.

2008-02-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

Priceless commentary from "The Nameless Gen-Xer" LINK HERE

Just about says it all.

MBT

Donations for Change

2008-01-24T14:42:00.000-08:00

OK, I don't normally do this- full disclosure- this is a message asking you to help fund a political campaign.

However, I truly believe that we need a new direction in the United States and I believe Barack Obama is the candidate best suited to help us break the chains of the usual polemic, for these reasons:

1. I believe is time for a new generation to take over and clean up the messes left by Republicans and Democrats alike. I believe that this country has turned a corner. My generation has seen the mistakes made by the last four Presidents to hold office. Politicians from other generations have had their chance at leadership and they have failed, ethically and practically. We need a change.

2. I believe we have moved past the need for Manichean worldviews and a domestic policy based upon division into "interest groups." I tire of being told I should vote for a candidate because they look like me or sound like me. I shudder at being pigeon-holed as a "red" or "blue" American. We do not need a Caucasian candidate, nor a male candidate (or female, for that matter,) we need the BEST candidate.

3. I believe it is time for our next great American President. As a free-minded citizen, I do not require leadership, I am part of it. In order to reunite these United States, we need a candidate with charisma and chutzpah, who understands the internal workings of government but has enough credibility with those who feel "outside" the mainstream to reach a wider audience.

I believe that Barack Obama stands in upon a precipice few leaders in our nation's history have had the courage to brave. Men like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King have held the honor and unique responsibility of healing and uniting a wounded citizenry. Barack Obama holds qualities that I believe make him, like these men were for their
times, a leader for our times.

Please join me, if you agree, in supporting Barack by making a donation to my personal fundraising page:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/TankTX

MBT

This is Barack Obama

2008-01-18T12:09:00.000-08:00

I love this mass e-mail, which provides an all-inclusive look at why Barack Obama is the man we need to elect as our next President...

1) Senator Obama had the judgment to be against the Iraq War from the very beginning, even when it was very popular to support it. That position could have cost him his Senate bid, but he stuck with it. He takes positions based on principles, not poll tested positions. He has the impeccable judgment to keep us safe. That's why along with getting us out of Iraq, his first priority is going to be to refocus our attention on Afghanistan and capturing Bin Laden, which now should have been done years ago.

2) Senator Obama has proposed the most comprehensive, detailed, and economically responsible stimulus package to help the American People and this economy. It's the exact opposite of Bush's proposal. It's an investment of $120 billion that provides immediate relief by putting money in the hands of workers and seniors, stems the rising tide of the foreclosure crisis, and covers state budget shortfalls.

3) When he finished school, he could have easily taken a job on Wall Street and become a millionaire. Instead, he took a $12,000 a year job to be a community organizer, helping people who'd lost their jobs in the poor neighborhoods of Chicago. He has great judgment and great experience helping real Americans.

4) It has been proven in national poll after national poll, most recently by USA Today and Gallup, that Senator Obama is the most electable Democrat in the race today. He's the only Democrat beating all 5 Republicans, and unlike Hillary and as Obama's win in the Iowa Caucuses clearly showed, he strongly attracts Independents and Republicans. This has been proven nationwide. We want to support a winner and he's clearly our best shot. 50% of Americans have said that under no circumstances would they ever vote for Hillary Clinton.

Check out this action!

5) After watching Bush shred the constitution for the last 7 years, it'll be wonderful to have someone with the experience of being a constitutional law professor as President. The chief responsibility of the President of the United States is to enforce the law - no candidate knows the law better than Obama.

6) We can make world history by making Senator Obama the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, as Iowa made world history by making him the winner of the first-in-the-nation caucuses . . . "An Obama win in Iowa will be the biggest political story coming from America in a generation, in decades, that will be covered on the front pages of every major newspaper in the world on January 4th". -Chris Matthews (Hardball-MSNBC: 12.26.07)

I'm not just bs-ing around here folks, he's good...

7) After 7 years of Bush, we need a President with brains. Senator Obama is the 'anti-Bush'. He was president of the Harvard Law Review, the oldest and most prestigious pupil operated law review in the U.S. To be it's president, you have to be absolutely brilliant, and Senator Obama is brilliant.

8) After 7 years of being lied to by the President and other politicians, we deserve a President who not only tells the truth, but has an outstanding reputation for lifelong honesty, as does Senator Obama. We deserve an honest President.

9) It was Senator Obama who led the successful landmark effort in the United States Senate to pass the most comprehensive ethics and lobbying reform bill since Watergate. That bill strictly banned gifts and meals from lobbyists, and the use of corporate jets. He has the experience, both as an Illinois State Senator and as a United States Senator, of working throughout his entire political career for transparency and honesty in government.

10) There isn't another candidate in this race, Democrat or Republican, that offers Americans any more of an opportunity for real change and real hope and for a real breath of fresh air than Barack Obama. This country hasn't seen a leader come along like this since John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, and we may not see another leader like this again in our lifetime. We should seize this momentous and historic opportunity.

Damn straight we should!

Diebold Voting Machine Failures Found Across State During New Hampshire Primary

2008-01-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh... imagine that. Voting irregularities are again the darling of the internet and the Mainstream Press has yet to catch on and cover what should be a huge story. I wonder who might benefit from a Hillary Clinton or a John McCain nomination?

See The Brad Blog for breaking information, many more words and much better coverage than I could give you.

MBT

2007-12-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

See above for my historical meeting with Ralph "I Ruined the 2000 Election and Consequentially, the Next Decade or So for The United States" Nader, in the Borders at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. My hand still feels dirty.

Nah, seriously, I can't retain any real enmity for the man. After all, he is doing book-signings at airport booksellers, while Al Gore collects Nobel Peace Prizes and has hit films with PowerPoint presentations. Plus, then I'd have to make fun of myself for shaking his hand and asking him for a photo. Not to mention buying his book.

Very happy with the resulting shot, excepting the small, surprised person sprouting from Mr. Nader's left shoulder. He seems amazed he's emerging from the shoulder of an American historical giant. Even so, Ralph should have that growth looked into.

Upon my return to Texas, I contracted Acute Bronchitis From Hell, lapsing here and there into pneumonia. Draw whatever conclusions from that you will...

MBT (cough)

A Must-Read For Truth-Defending Citizens

2007-10-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

Re: The End of America by: Naomi Wolf

Written in the best tradition of revolutionary pamphleteers, Naomi Wolf's canny "letter of warning to a young patriot" serves as the smack-upside-the-head that our desensitized citizenry needs.

Very seldom do I come across a book I would define as a "must-read" for every friend I have, left-wing, right-wing or center-ist (read: scaredy-cat.) Wolf's latest effort easily makes that short list.

The author lays out her points with a sobering straight-forwardness, practically daring critics to exhume their favorite bromide when confronted with parallels between today's United States and past dictatorships: the dreaded label of "conspiracy theory."

My compliments to Wolf on her bold choice to write such a "letter" without the usual liberal apologies and conceits. Although she does lapse into this from time-to-time, for the most part her matter-of-fact style is well-suited to the material. This book could have easily been written as a thesis at three-times the length, which would have diluted its impact as well as overshot the intended audience.

Inspired by a mentor who observed (and survived) 1930's Germany, this critical examination of modern-day "echoes" of past totalitarian states will rivet, fascinate and alarm.

* * *

And after you read the book, don't forget to visit The American Freedom Campaign website.

MBT

Don't Taser Me Either, Bro...

2007-09-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

Prepare to be sickened as you watch the video below...

NO! NO! NO!

Freedom of Political Speech- no matter HOW loud, obnoxious or annoying- should be held SACRED in our country. It is a RIGHT.

John "Early Exit" Kerry proved how little he cares about our rights as citizens when he failed to contest the election in 2004. Looks like the trend continues- he and his handlers are complicit in this travesty of justice through their negligence to STOP it from happening.

One note on the media coverage- MSNBC, FOX News and others did little justice by broadcasting only the portion where Meyer asks his "Skull and Bones" question. This implies that the entirety of the question(s) Meyers asked were along the same vein- igniting the ol' "conspiracy theory" trope.

MBT

The REAL Rudy Giuliani

2007-09-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

Rudy "America's Mayor" Giuliani, or should I call him Rudy "9/11 Victims in the Landfill" Giuliani, at his finest, or not-so-finest. Sadly, this may be the former. I'm a little pissed that they didn't mention the whole thing about paving streets with 9/11 victims' remains even as their families watch in horror, but I suppose the fine folks at Brave New Films couldn't fit everything in part one. Enjoy, or don't...

The Administration's Propaganda Dogs Are Barking About Iran...

2007-08-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

... and what are we gonna do about it?

Sign this, please. Do nothing and we'll be doomed to face the mistakes of the past. The government's fat old hound dogs at Fox News continue to howl while pooping paranoia for their intellectually-challenged viewership. And the smell is making us all sick. War with Iran will ignite the whole Middle East. A conflict with them would differ ever so slightly from the Iraq-debacle- it promises to be long and bloody.

This "President" Cheney (and his minion, w. Bush) should be removed from office like a cancerous tumor from an old dog's anus.

MBT

"It's Gonna Be a Hot, Bloody August"

2007-08-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

Here we go...

Cheney Urges Military Strikes on Iran

MBT

You Will Respect Their Authorit-eye!

2007-08-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

I just read one of the more disturbing articles I've come across ever, in the history of ever.

It comes from LewRockwall.com, purportedly a Libertarian website. As someone who displays an upside-down American flag upon my blog for the same reasons as the couple who were arrested from the article, this certainly causes me pause. Just what are we turning into here in these great United States?

Also, is anybody else as creeped out as I am about the term "Homeland" being applied with increasing frequency? I don't recall hearing anyone, ever, refer to the U.S. as the "Homeland" prior to September 11.

Imagine hearing that and seeing the arrests described in this article from an outsider's point of view. Not to mention aberrations of American ideals such as "free speech zones," camps built for "illegal immigrants" (plus possibly, dissidents) and the utter corruption of the "unitary" Executive Branch. Scary times, eh?

Anyhow, read the paragraph below, then read the complete piece at the link...

Just as a person is defiled by what goes out of the mouth, rather than what goes into it (Matthew 15:11), the US flag is defiled by what is done in its name, rather than what is done to the physical symbol. This is splendidly illustrated in the photograph to the right, in which we see the arrest of a peaceful man who had committed no crime against persons or property, but whose patriotic display of the U.S. flag engendered a violent response from local adherents to the cult of nationalism.

LINK

Hair!

2007-07-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

See the best YouTube campaign spot yet:

I'll bet there are a lot of sheepish Republicans after they see this...

MBT

Sign the Petition- Impeach Cheney Now!

2007-07-09T14:30:00.001-07:00

You read the headline- do it NOW!

and furthermore:

Please call the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. H.R. 333 has to get through this committee before it can be voted on in the House. Phone numbers are here: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/judiciarycommittee

AfterDowningStreet.org has more ways to get involved here: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/cheney

MBT, cut-n-paste fiend

Never Fear. Always Hope. Again.

2007-07-03T12:30:00.001-07:00

"This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address

* * *

Never fear. Always Hope. Fear is the opposite of hope. Witness what is happening, upon the subpoena battles between The White House and the Democrats in Congress, the commutation of the sentence of a convicted felon to protect the highest political and corporate powers from answering to their crimes. There seem to be different rules for you and I and for those who have the money and clout to push their agenda.

Shadows remain over our country- looming sandstorms of pure driven terror, and it's hard to tell from which direction they blow. Those in power believe their interests are more important than the will of the people. They believe they are Lords of the Land and we should cower in hopelessness and helplessness under their rule.

Never fear. Always hope. Hope is the opposite of fear. It begins with one person, one spark in the engulfing wilderness of dishonesty and manipulation, the darkness of the controlling mind. One person, talking to another, who talks to another and so on until the fire of truth ignites the timbers of tired lies, until there are millions standing in triumph over the faded specters of fear.

We are those people. We are the lights, the fires that illuminate the pathway for honesty, decency, truth and liberty.

Fear takes orders. Hope takes stands. Fear destroys via exploitation of our greatest weaknesses. Hope builds upon our greatest strengths. We can overcome the weaknesses that would retire us to despair and disunity by standing united upon the strength of hope!

We have the power to refuse fear. We have the power to choose hope.

MBT

You Want To Be Married? Sit Right Down On That Government-Owned Couch...

2007-04-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

From "The Austinist blog:

TX Legislature: Mandatory Marriage Course for all Texans

Yesterday, on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives, Rep. Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) raised House Bill 2685, a bill that seeks to encourage couples to undertake "education courses" that would provide them with "the skills necessary to resolve marital conflicts, which will make for stronger marriages that are less likely to end in failure." Under this bill, Texans will be faced with an ultimatum under the law: take a State-designed marriage counseling course, or pay an increased marriage fee (the fee was $60; with this bill, it's increased to $100).

Read the rest here...

This isn't too bad of an idea, in fact, with a little work here and there it could be quite nice. Especially in the case of first-time marriages. Many couples are still in that "so-in-love" stage, full of the romance and excitement of engagement, when they make their relationship legal. Letting them know to expect things will change and that no, they are not the one unique couple this won't happen to, is a great idea, although you might defeat your purpose and scare off some folks!

And none of this crap that marriage is not the business of the state. Marriage is a legal contract, guaranteeing that property will be shared and the woman will be amply compensated for giving sex to the man no matter how creepy he looks as he ages. A couple can choose to make it a religious statement. Whichever fanatical, deluded faith they use to give the ceremony more pomp than going to the local Justice of the Peace should be their mistake.

Being the progeny of divorced parents, it might have been nice if they had some professional counseling prior to producing children. When marriage goes badly, the children are the ones most affected. That doesn't mean I'm advocating for adults to stay in horrible relationships, especially in abusive cases.I get angry when I hear people decry children from so-called "broken" homes but also when I hear (mostly conservatives) suggest that husbands and wives should stick together no matter what.

A little mandated marriage counseling, however, could help with most couples' problems, should they be non-abusive couples. The boomer generation has personified selfishness so long... I wonder how my generation might have improved had they had to go through a marriage education program?

A sticking point- we'd need to avoid any mention of religion... and that might be, um, nigh-impossible seeing as how the legislation originated with Texas Republicans. Those guys are so deep in the hind end of their false piety they're practically spewing out its mouth; I'm certain they'd want to Jesus things up.

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing the opinions of my readers. I know you're out there, 'cause I see the hit count. Hit me!

MBT

Stop the Coal Plant(s) Near Waco

2007-04-08T17:41:00.000-07:00

A Message from my friend Bruce regarding the local effort to Stop the Coal Plant(s) slated for the Waco area:

A major march/parade/coal plant site tour is being planned for Waco on Earth Day, Sunday April 22nd. This event is very important because many folks are assuming that with 8 out of 19 planned coal plants off the books for now, the "Coal War" is over. While we have had tremendous successes so far, this battle is anything but over. We need to re-engage the Waco area public to stop a dirty proposed coal plant in Reisel (about 12-13 miles from downtown Waco) and several other proposed plants within a short drive of Waco.

If you want to learn more about which plants are off the books for now and which are in the process of pursuing permits right now, go to www.stopthecoalplant.org . On their home page, click "find out more" (under "March across Texas...) and then click on "Download Sandy Creek facts."

We do not have the details of the Earth Day event planned as of yet, but we are working with several state and local groups to finalize these plans. As the plans stand now, we are going to have a short parade/march in Waco around 12-12:30 Sunday afternoon. (Feel free to come straight from church in your Sunday best). We will then have driving tour of local proposed coal plants sites (starting in Reisel). We need to help our neighbors and ourselves by going to Robertson County (closer than you might think) for press events there. So we are asking as many folks as possible to take a few hours (maybe 4 or 5 hours round trip after the Waco event) and go to two other nearby proposed coal plants sites.

If you can participate in the March/parade, you will help us out tremendously by registering for the march at www.stopthecoalplant.org (Note: The web page has not been updated but there is now going to be only one event on the 22nd, not two separate events on the 21st and 22nd).

Also don't forget to distribute this Email to any others who might be interested in giving some time on Earth Day for the earth and for public health).

Giuliani's 9/11 Victims-Landfill Travesty- UPDATE

2007-04-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Since writing about the 9/11 victims story last week, I found out that Keith Olbermann had covered the story, in a way at least, on March 27:

"But our winner to the government of the city of New York, Rudy W. Giuliani, then-mayor. A city contractor and a retired Sanitation Department official say in court papers they witnessed the city putting a rush order on the sifting of the debris from the World Trade Center in October of 2001. Thus, not only were body parts of the victims, some at least, lost, but that some of that debris wound up in the pile of junk used to fill pot holes on the streets of the city. And if you were wondering where New York City’s memorial to the victims of 9/11 was, now you know.

Then-mayor Giuliani and the government of the City of New York, today‘s Worst Persons in the World."

LINK MSNBC

I'm glad to hear he did mention it. I think it's a bigger story than just a "Worst Person In the World" entry. This is HUGE. It illustrates more clearly than anything else I've seen inside our U.S. borders, the lack of respect our "elected leaders" have for people. The very action that killed those people has been utilized to decimate our freedoms and create political gain for the right. This travesty of the very basics of human decency needs to be more publicized, and NOW.

In an unfortunate and downright spooky postscript, the landfill is called "Fresh Kills."

MBT

Ride The Peace Train Before It Gets Derailed

2007-04-05T16:34:00.001-07:00

Go here and see what Tehran, Iran looks like before we invade. Damn, that could be Anywhere, USA. C'mon, peace train, C'mon. Please let cooler heads prevail this time. Please.

http://www.lucasgray.com/video/peacetrain.html

FIGHT THIS! Giuliani, Bush, Bloomberg, others paving roads with 9/11 victims' remains

2007-04-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Today I heard of one of the most despicable, hard-core plutocratic moves ever made by the mafia that calls itself our government. Seems that some of the remains of those who perished in 9/11 ended up in a landfill. This happened because right-wing-proclaimed "America's Mayor" Rudolph Giuliani decided he wanted the mess cleaned up as quickly as possible from the 9/11 crime scene. Never mind that it was evidence, never mind that the bodies of the dead lay in parts, broken among steel shrapnel, plaster dust and suicide glass. Just wipe the stain as soon as possible.

As previously mentioned, said body parts ended up in a pile destined to become the filler for potholes, a metaphor in living color for how our beloved corporatocracy treats human beings. If you're as outraged as I am over the travesty, please go to the following link, sign their petition and by all means, CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES in Congress:

http://www.wtcfamiliesforproperburial.com/

According to the organization, The Worst President in American History (tm) has been contacted and refuses to remark on the controversy. Giuliani, who fancies himself Presidential material, is tight-lipped as ever and his successor, Mayor Bloomberg, has mirrored his stance. The corporate media, as usual, has covered the issue on a Page 28 basis, burying the story below Anna Nicole, Britney, American Idol and who won the latest sporting spectacle. Since the families' battle has been stalled in the court system for a few years now, I guess 9/11 news isn't "sexy" anymore. Reprehensible. Let's make an issue of it- contact Keith Olbermann at countdown@msnbc.com. He led he fight to expose the Walter Reed Veteran's Hospital scandal, this fits his crusading brand of journalism.

MBT

Brave New Films Debunks Fox Noise Channel and Johnny "Flip" McCain

2007-02-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

This is an excellent piece of Fox Noise Channel debunking from the folks who brought you "Wal-Mart- The High Cost of Low Prices" and others.

Speaking of others, also check out this gem, regarding John "Straight Talk" McCain and his various changing opinions. Can we say "pandering"? How about the ol' "flip-flop"?

MBT

Barack to the Future

2007-01-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

It is time.

I was an at-large delegate to the 2004 Texas Democratic Convention voting for John Edwards. I have supported Edwards since early on in the primary process for the last Presidential election. I believe John Edwards is a good man and would make a great President. So please don't interpret this as any slight towards Edwards.

"If" Barack Obama runs for President in 2008 (all but a foregone conclusion,) I have pledged as much support as I can muster to his campaign. I do this for three reasons:

1. I believe is time for a new generation to take over and clean up the messes left by Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Cheney. I believe that this country has turned a corner in its overall direction. My generation has seen the mistakes made by the last three. Politicians from these groups have had their chance at leadership and they have failed, ethically and practically. We need a change.

2. I believe we have moved past the need for Manichean worldviews and a domestic policy based upon division into "interest groups." I tire of being told I should vote for a candidate because they look like me or sound like me. I do not need a Caucasian candidate, nor a male candidate, I need the BEST candidate.

3. I believe it is time for our next great American President. As a free-minded citizen, I do not require leadership, I allow leadership. In order to reunite these United States, we need a candidate with charisma and chutzpah, who understands the internal workings of government but has enough credibility with those who feel "outside" the mainstream to reach a wider audience.

I believe that Barack Obama stands in upon a precipice few leaders in our nation's history have had the courage to brave. Men like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King have held the honor and unique responsibility of healing and uniting a wounded citizenry. Barack Obama holds unique qualities that I believe make him, like these men were for their times, a leader for our times.

MBT

What They Don't Want You to Read Could Save Your Life

2006-12-28T13:21:00.000-08:00

An Important Story about the Burning of our EPA's Books, by CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI on Counterpunch:

"Science is not as intimidating as it first appears. Anyone can do it. It is important, however, that when done by scientists it be properly vetted by amateurs. And it is important that ordinary people don't have too much information since it will simply confuse them. Thanks to the actions of George Bush we will no longer have to fear an excessively informed public that may fall prey to the importunings of scientists who believe themselves able to educate the rest of us and, more daunting still, George Bush. That is because in a moment of unexpected enlightenment Mr. Bush has realized that one of the best ways to control what people think is to control the kinds of information to which people have access. Here is what Mr. Bush has done to restrict the scientific information available to would-be students towards the end of 2006."

Read the rest here ...