Sometimes I wonder why we all blog....

It's crazy, no one reads it (with a few notable exceptions) so I said screw it and left it alone for a while. Didn't help that Hillary didn't get the nod. But I got over it, actually worked for Obama's campaign, and I am quite happy at the election outcome. We might actually get some change this time. It reminds me of the whole Kennedy aura - so full of hope. "Hope springs eternal.)

Painful Primary

I think SuzanneW says it best over at HRC:

I am 44 years old, and was never much interested in politics. So, you know, when all this primary stuff started a year ago, I really didn’t have much interest in any of the candidates specifically, only “let’s get anyone else in there other than Bush”. But, I started watching the debates and reading up on all the candidates. In a perfect, ideal world, we wouldn’t be voting for a person because of their “Party” and friends, we would be voting for that individual who has a track record of crossing those very lines and trying to get the important things we all want in life: health, wealth, harmony and happiness, regardless of, gasp, party affiliation. Quite quickly, I realized Senator Clinton was head and shoulders above Obama and the others, on every issue, on judgment, character and certainly experience. She frankly blew me away with her command of the issues. I found myself picking the person that has a track record of what I am looking for. That person is Senator Clinton. She has worked hard and diligently for all Americans, and spent years (35) building strong relationships because she has a passionate vision of what America can be. She became MY candidate. “Hill-R-We”, became my mantra.

When I read that the "party leaders were tired" of the Clinton campaign bringing up the FL & MI votes for the past few weeks, I thought: well, E-X-C-U-S-E ME! I am tired of not having a say in a Presidential election, I am tired of not having my vote count, I am tired of no insurance, I am tired of little business in a struggling economy, and I am REALLY tired of some out-of-touch, well-paid, Washington fatcats deciding they know more than their constituents! The straw that broke this voter’s back was the way the DNC mishandled the FL and MI votes. That is NOT democracy, NOT the values of the Democratic Party and certainly NOT my values! The media has mounted the most biased, blatant one-sided campaign for Obama that frankly reeks of more than just voter suppression. What happened to journalistic integrity? What happened to objective reporting and let the voters decide? The misogynistic, gender bias that exists in this country is deplorable (from pundits, party leaders, the media) and if Senator Clinton gives in to the DNC and “follows the lead” they want her to take with Obama even after she is winning the popular vote, it would send a message that it is Ok to trash talk a leading woman politician, to belittle her accomplishments as if she were “just someone’s wife”, and this would send a message to every man out there to pile it on, to ignore and expect every woman to “get in line” like a good girl, for the betterment of society. Even if that very woman is the most accomplished candidate out there, or the most qualified professional for the job. What kind of message is that to send to our mothers, sisters, daughters, and sons?

This primary race has revealed a very flawed, twisted system and I for one will happily go back to my long-term Independent status soon, if Senator Clinton is not the nominee. I would love nothing more than for Hillary to run as an Independent candidate with 18+ million supporters strong. The Democratic Party is gone in my eyes. They have turned their back on the voters, on Senator Clinton, and on all that is good in this country. Manipulating the media, the voters, and the very “democratic” process itself has exposed our system as nothing better than any other country with flawed elections, tampering and propaganda. Shame on America, Shame on the Democrats.

18.000,000 of us don't seem to matter....

Admitting the Inevitable

Hillary may be the change we have been looking for.....but unfortunately an equally-talented black man is running against her with 92% of the African American vote and almost 100% of the under 35 behind him. My heart is broken that I may not see a woman in the white house in my lifetime.

What a terrible crossroads - two historic candidates, with tremendous support. I love Hillary, I met her and she is so dynamic and charismatic it is overwhelming. And yet she still has the time to look into your eyes and make you feel as if no one else in the room existed. I know in my soul she is THE ONE. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama has even more supporters. None of us are bad people, no matter what some of these gutless, faceless bloggers write. Unless Obama gets hit by a bus, he will be the nominee, no matter how many mathematical permutation hoops we jump through. Granted, the media has a lot to do with painting a picture of him as the new Messiah.

The writing is on the wall -- we must have an Obama-Clinton ticket in the fall. I don't care if they or their supporters hate each other. Lots of us have to work with people we don't like. They'll get over it, a la Kennedy and Johnson, et al. Their platforms are also identical, and just think of what our party could achieve with these strong candidates.

It's time to stop the harmful rhetoric, and focus on the real satan in the campaign, Mr. World War III himself, John "Teflon" McCain.

Israeli love-fest and the forgotten Palestinians.

In the "I love Israel more than you do" contest of the presidential race. the Palestinians are never mentioned - our politicians apparently don't consider it worth discussing. Our billions of support for Israel contribute to this tragedy.

I've always considered it so ironic that these "survivors of the holocaust" are so cruel. Examples: running over a woman with a bulldozer, letting a man die waiting for permission to cross the barricade, letting people sit for days waiting to go through the wall. Multiply this by many thousands or maybe even millions and you have a repressive regime perpetrating human rights violations, to put it mildly.

From the BBC News:

Tutu: Gaza blockade abomination

Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu has called Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip an "abomination". He strongly condemned what he called international "silence and complicity" on the blockade, which he compared to the actions of Burma's leaders. Speaking at the end of a two day mission to the area, the former archbishop said the humanitarian situation there could not be justified. Earlier, 60 Palestinians were detained in an Israeli raid on northern Gaza. Residents in the Beit Hanoun area were summoned to a local square by Israeli troops with loudhailers before dozens were taken away, witnesses said.

'International complicity'

Mr Tutu was in Gaza on a United Nations fact-finding mission into the killing of 19 Palestinians by Israeli shellfire in November 2006. He said his message to the international community is that our silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all. It is almost like the behaviour of the military junta in Burma. Tutu, the former archbishop of Cape Town, said the international community's "silence and complicity, especially on the situation in Gaza, shames us all". Mr Tutu said conflicts were resolved through talking to enemies, not friends.
He said his meeting with the deposed prime minister, Ismail Haniya, was an opportunity to tell the Hamas leader the firing of rockets into Israel was also a violation of human rights.

During his two-day visit, Mr Tutu met relatives of 19 civilians killed in the Israeli shelling of two houses in Beit Hanoun; he is due to report his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. He condemned the incident as a "massacre".

Israel says the Beit Hanoun deaths in November 2006 were a mistake during action to target areas used by Palestinian militants. The Israeli military confirmed its pre-dawn incursion into Gaza on Thursday and said about 60 "wanted Palestinians" were being interrogated. Armoured military bulldozers destroyed farmland during the incursion, witnesses told AFP news agency.

Israeli forces launch frequent attacks into Gaza which they say are aimed at combating Palestinian militants who fire rockets into Israel. Mr. Tutu said conflicts were resolved through talking to enemies not friends. He said his meeting with the deposed prime minister, Ismail Haniya, was an opportunity to tell the Hamas leader the firing of rockets into Israel was also a violation of human rights. During his two-day visit, Mr Tutu met relatives of 19 civilians killed in the Israeli shelling of two houses in Beit Hanoun and is due to report his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

I'm sure the Palestinians are comforted knowing their loved ones were killed by a "mistake".

Significant Other Clinton-Obama Wars

Politics can sure make living in the same household a bit tricky. I am a Clinton supporter and my partner is an Obama supporter. This morning we had a lovely "discussion" (actually a mutual hissy fit) about the Michigan/Florida voting and delegate situation. My partner thinks that everyone should abide by the DNC's decision to not count the votes. I think that is disenfranchising millions of voters. Sometimes people get so wrapped up the process, they are blind to the objective.

Numbers from Miami Herald and Michigan government.

Florida Registered Voter Population 2007: ~ 10 million

3.82 million are Republicans

4.13 million are Democrats

1.91 million are Independents or other


Michigan Voter Population 2000 : ~ 6.86 million

No party breakdown available, but it leans to the Democrats.

The Dems must win these states to win the big states in the November election. Clinton is the presumptive winner in both Michigan and Florida, and the total number of electoral votes is 44, no small prize.



Clinton beats John McCain in most if not all of those states. Her total electoral vote count for the states is 308; Obama's total is 224; and the talking heads and Obamaniacs tell her to get out of the race? In what universe? Sheeeesh.

BTW me and SO negotiated a truce - absolutely no political discussion until after the primary. Let's see how we do!

I originally wrote this is in October 2004. I never thought it would still be mostly applicable.

I know I am an alien. I never used to be, but one day I woke up and found myself on another planet, a stranger in a strange land. The country I love so much is still called the USA, but it's not the country I remember just a few years ago. It's become an Orwellian "bizarro-world", in which up is down, war is good, the rest of the world is wrong and the (neo-Christian) US is always right, and our war dead are silently and unceremoniously brought home secretly, as if in in shame. I can't help thinking of that old song from Country Joe and the Fish:

And it's 1, 2, 3 - what are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Viet Nam
And it's 5, 6, 7 - open up the pearly gates
Ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! We're all gonna die

It's "Deja Vu, all over again......" I was in the military during the Viet Nam war. We were told to NOT wear our uniforms while traveling or in public because our commanders were afraid for our safety --- in the United States! This administration took care of that problem -- just don't show the caskets, sanitize the news, wave a lot of flags. And if you criticize, be careful! You unpatriotic traitors might find yourselves in Gitmo.

"Just cause you've got a good grip on the steering wheel doesn't mean you have to drive off a cliff." McCain't seems to have a real tight one...

Nothing like a Good-Old Fashioned CATFIGHT

Oh, yeah, guys love a good catfight, right?. (Remember that Seinfeld episode? Even back then it was considered sexist).

On MSNBC's "Morning Joe" today, Tucker Carlson said that "Hillary's like a cat in a box", made the "claw" sign with his hands, and gurgled the lovely "catfight" rarrrrrrrr sound. Are people really so blind that they don't think that's sexist?

It took HRC running for the nomination to show that "a long way baby" isn't very far.

US academic deported and banned for criticizing Israel

Israel's wonderful tolerance and freedom:
From the Guardian: Norman Finkelstein, the controversial Jewish American academic and fierce critic of Israel, has been deported from the country and banned from the Jewish state for 10 years, it emerged yesterday. Finkelstein, the son of a Holocaust survivor who has accused Israel of using the genocidal Nazi campaign against Jews to justify its actions against the Palestinians, was detained by the Israeli security service, Shin Bet, when he landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Friday. Shin Bet interrogated him for around 24 hours about his contact with the Lebanese Islamic militia, Hizbullah, when he travelled to Lebanon earlier this year and expressed solidarity with the group which waged war against Israel in 2006. He was also accused of having contact with al-Qaida. But Finkelstein rejected the accusations, saying he had travelled to Israel to visit an old friend. "I did my best to provide absolutely candid and comprehensive answers to all the questions put to me," he told an Israeli newspaper in an email exchange. "I am confident that I have nothing to hide. Apart from my political views, and the supporting scholarship, there isn't much more to say for myself: alas, no suicide missions or secret rendezvous with terrorist organisations. I've always supported a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. I'm not an enemy of Israel." Finkelstein is one of several scholars rejected by Israel in the increasingly bitter divide in academic circles, between those who support and those who criticise its treatment of Palestinians. Last year, Israel's most contentious "new historian", Ilan Pappe, left his job as senior lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa after he endorsed the international academic boycott of Israeli institutions, provoking the university president to call for his resignation. Finkelstein was also refused tenure last year at Chicago's DePaul University for attacking several staunch Israel supporters and academics such as Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said the deportation of Finkelstein was an assault on free speech. "The decision to prevent someone from voicing their opinions by arresting and deporting them is typical of a totalitarian regime," said the association's lawyer, Oded Peler. "A democratic state, where freedom of expression is the highest principle, does not shut out criticism or ideas just because they are uncomfortable for its authorities to hear. It confronts those ideas in public debate." Finkelstein said he was held in a cell and encountered "several unpleasant moments with the guards" and that eventually he borrowed the mobile phone of another detainee and called a friend who in turn called a lawyer. Although entitled to appeal against the entry ban, Finkelstein said he would not contest it.

Complaint Letter to Olbermann RE: "Special" Comment

Dear Mr. Olbermann:

Your program has always been interesting and entertaining, and I have enjoyed your intelligence, wit and humor. I look forward to hearing about the latest “worst persons” and “Oddball”. Your special comments are incisive and insightful: you speak for many of us.

As one of your most loyal fans, it pains me to write this, but it needs to be written.

I am not a thin-skinned wussy. I am tough feminist immigrant who is proud of becoming a citizen. I served in the USAF during the Viet Nam era, worked my way through college with a 3.8, struggled with bigotry and prejudice, worked as a network engineer for 25 years….you get the picture. I think I turned out okay.

Voting is precious to me, and I have been active in local and national politics. This year, however, is painful. I shrug most of it off; but when I listen to you; your constant criticism of Senator Clinton is too much. It is “Fox Newsing” & “Roving” every Clinton-related sound bite or news item; “I call this “gotcha trolling.”

I’ve tried to remain objective, and I think I have. Oddly enough, it was Kevin Spacey who bared the simple truth on your program. When you played one of Senator Clinton’s sound bites, you asked him what he thought. He replied, to paraphrase, “it’s just what it appears to be.” He did not read any more into it; he did not twist or mischaracterize the words; he refused to play.

Your recent special comment on the “assassination” remark was cruel and unwarranted. It wasn’t “special” at all. Bobby Kennedy’s assassination is a clear and sad memory for me, and I never thought for one minute Senator Clinton meant it in a nasty, political way. RFK was an inspiration to her, so it doesn’t make sense. Yes, it was a dumb remark, but she does not deserve this treatment. By the way, those wonderful Obama campaign members forwarded the video to most of the known world -- this ugly, over-the-top piece is now viral, and most people will never know the truth.

Why you hate Senator Clinton so much is a mystery to me. Her current struggle is a testament to the ubiquitous daily attacks (not just yours, Keith). Remember, she does have almost 50% of the Democratic primary votes, most of us the “invisible women”, you disparage. We’re just quieter than the other campaign’s supporters.

I’m not asking that you treat her any differently than other Democrats. Think about what she is saying and interpret it properly. When she makes a mistake, pretend she is Barack Obama. She is not Dick Cheney, the Bushes, or Karl Rove. You don’t have to like her. Please – just be fair.

I hope this is read in the spirit in which it is written. I wouldn’t even bother if I didn’t think you are great. Please think about what I have written with an open mind. This disrespect serves no useful purpose, and if she is on the ticket it could be even more harmful. This primary is only made more divisive by yellow journalism.

I've been away too long

I gave up blogging after the 2004 elections, but watching HBO's "Recount" last night infused new energy. So I'm just getting started again. My old blog "Wake Up and Think" is no longer active and has been cached; I think my new blog title is more relevant!

Now all you Bush voters - are you happy now?

Q: Do you know what it means when you see a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker on a car?
A: The owner couldn't get it off!

Oh boy! Bob Barr has entered the election as an Libertarian. This should be interesting. (More on that later.)