Author: TL

So Now Everyone’s Supposed to Hate Barack

Posted on by TL

I don’t get it.

Hillary Clinton wins New Hampshire, and now the left is taking shots at Barack Obama.

I listened to Randy Rhodes this afternoon for a spell on Air America Radio. Always-provocative, fascinating and sensible Randy Rhodes was criticizing Barack Obama, and gloating that Hillary Clinton won — by 3 percentage points.

Hats off to Senator Clinton for a well-crafted victory in the New Hampshire Primary. Senator Obama did sound a bit over-confident, even presumptuous in the last few days, and his, “You’re likable enough,” comment to Clinton in the most recent debate was debasing and should have been beneath him.

But now we’re all supposed to hate Barack Obama? Because of New Hampshire?

Come on, Randy. Lighten up.

I don’t get it.

Barack Pulled It Off

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I have to admit I was surprised.

Barack Obama won the Iowa caucus.

The race was exceptionally close, and the Big Three finished close together. The New York Times reports:

On the Democratic side, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Obama had 37.6 percent of the delegate support, Mr. Edwards 29.8 percent and Mrs. Clinton had 29.5 percent. Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico was fourth, at 2.11 percent.

Obama did not end up with a double-digit lead, but even this margin is impressive.

After I heard about Barack’s victory, I checked my e-mail, and there was a note from his campaign. Short, sweet:

Subject: Turn on your television
We just won Iowa, and I’m about to head down to talk to everyone.

Democrats turned out in record numbers tonight, and independents and even some Republicans joined our party to stand together for change.

Thank you for everything you’ve done to make this possible.

Barack

Donate

I’m including the “Donate” button as a courtesy to the senator. I am impressed.

I remember arriving at a rally in Matteson, IL, just a couple of years ago, when Barack was running for the U.S. Senate. The rally was not for Barack. It was a “Green Day”, organized by the Village of Matteson, IL, State. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., and others. The idea was to persuade area businesses to do business again in the South Suburbs of Chicago.

Barack was sitting in his car in the parking lot by himself, waiting for something, or someone. He looked a bit nervous, alone. Or maybe he was just bored. No one was around his car. I did not go up to talk to him. Nor sure why. I was heading for the rally, and he looked like he wanted to be alone.

I think about that now, how accessible he was then, and how things have changed.

When the race for Senate in Illinois began, I was inspired by Barack. He is very inspiring. I participated in a 4th of July parade with his campaign in Monee, IL, that year. I was also supporting State Senator Debbie Halvorson, who is now running for Congress.

Barack was very fit. While I was sweating trying to keep up with the parade, Barack did not break a sweat in the heat and humidity running from side to side of the street, greeting people, saying hello.

Barack won Iowa. That’s impressive. That’s not the White House. But he won a very, very white state. That’s encouraging. It’s also very encouraging that so many young people came out to caucus.

I don’t fall for the inspirational speeches as easily now. But when I clicked on the “Donate” button in my email, I heard a selection from Barack’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.

He was very good.

I really, really hope this guy is for real. I am not at all sure he has the experience to lead a nation — but I’m willing to take a chance on him.

Looking forward to seeing where this story ends.

Family Killed, Grandfather Charged

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A horrible story out of Chicago this morning:

An Oak Forest man set a fire that killed his pregnant daughter, son-in-law and young grandson because he was upset over his daughter’s marriage, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Subhash Chander, 57, told police that he resented the couple for what he considered a “cultural slight” — that his daughter Monika Rani, 22, had married a man from a lower caste and done so without his consent, according to a court document.

One person commented on the story, saying the problem is immigration — all immigration should be stopped.  That’s completely off-base.  Do we really think this is a problem that politicians can fix, and immigration is the root cause?

The overwhelming vast majority of immigrants and “home-grown” are wonderful people, but we have major problems.  This one is simply horribly sad.

Why not ask the big questions instead of shooting from the hip?  Yes, the man should be prosecuted.  But our already over-burdened legal system will not and cannot fix the problem.

One of the big questions is, “How do we create a society where there is less violence?”  More laws won’t do it.  “Three strikes and you’re out” is just a silly placebo.  Politicians are ancillary.

Stop immigration?  We’re fooling ourselves.

This is the most violent country in the world outside of a war zone.  Face it — we have real problems here.  And the root cause is not immigration, socioeconomics, class, caste, race, sex, too many guns, too few guns, gay marriage, divorce, abortion, or anything else.  For some reason, Americans resort to violence first, and ask questions later.

The law is a last resort after everything else has gone to Hell.  We need to seriously ask ourselves how we can create a society where people do not resort to violence as a first option.

“George Bush Is A Genius!”

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We all thought George Bush had no idea what he was doing. Little did we know he knew exactly what he was doing:

Thanks to Politics After 50 for pointing the way to this wonderful segment from the comedy of Bremner, Bird and Fortune, a satirical British television program.

Of greater concern, and not-so-funny, is an “oil revenue law that the American government is forcing down the throats of the Iraqi people, which will of course give the Americans control of most of the Iraqi oil.”

Check out HandsOffIraqiOil.org for information on that.

On A Positive Note with the HRC

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The Human Rights Campaign launched a short video with ideas for New Year’s Resolutions.

This just in from Joe Salmonese:

Did you make any resolutions last night?

Have you broken any yet?

I’m excited to share a new HRC video with you: it’s a close-up look at some of the faces of our community and the changes they want to make in their lives this year.

Watch now >>

I have to say, people came up with some great, unexpected ideas about how to promote GLBT equality in 2008.

And there are a few other resolutions in there that might surprise you, too. For example, did you know what “lesson one of the Beyoncé handbook” is?

Me neither. Don’t ask. Just watch.

This video is inspiring. It’s funny. And it’ll get you thinking about the small things you can do to make a big difference – in your own life, in your community, and in our country.

We have so much to do together in 2008.

Happy New Year!

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese

Joe Solmonese

President

P.S. Here’s a resolution you can keep right away: donate now and help us reach our goal of 2,008 new and 2,008 renewing members by January 28th.

Worth checking out.

I resolve to persuade as many people as possible to vote.

Conservative William Kristol Joins New York Times

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The New York Times announced Saturday that William Kristol, “one of the nation’s leading conservative writers and a vigorous supporter of the Iraq war, will become an Op-Ed page columnist for The New York Times.”  The publication acknowledges that Kristol has been a “fierce critic” of The Times.

Interesting twist.  While on the other end of the fence, Kristol has a sharp intellect, and I look forward to reading him.

Will he be sharing an office with Maureen Dowd?

Iraq – Actually Twice As Bad

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Leave it to the Republicans to finally let the truth slip out.

Iraq is twice as bad as any of us thought.

For years now — yes, years — I’ve been using the National Priorities  Project as the quintessential barometer for how much the United States is spending in Iraq.  Turns out the NPP was wrong, by half.

No fault of their own.  The NPP says the United States is spending $275 million per day.  The truth is closer to $480 million per day.  That is, if you believe the Republicans.  I have the Bad Astronomer to thank for this woeful news.  Once again, he has “one-upped” the Liberal bloggers.

He cites Senator Ted Stevens in the Washington Post.  Stevens actually used the revised figures to demonstrate the need for more money.  According to Stevens:

The latest estimate of the growing costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the worldwide battle against terrorism — nearly $15 billion a month — came last week from one of the Senate’s leading proponents of a continued U.S. military presence in Iraq.

“This cost of this war is approaching $15 billion a month, with the Army spending $4.2 billion of that every month,” Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations defense subcommittee, said in a little-noticed floor speech Dec. 18. His remarks came in support of adding $70 billion to the omnibus fiscal 2008 spending legislation to pay for the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, as well as counterterrorism activities, for the six months from Oct. 1, 2007, through March 31 of next year.

So it’s even worse than we all thought.

So, where does that leave us with the numbers?  Do we actually know how much money we’ve spent in Iraq?

Our national debt right now is estimated to be at $9.127 trillion.  We have lost 3901 American soldiers in Iraq.  At least 80,137 Iraq civilians have been killed, although some estimates put the total much higher than 100,000.  And somewhere between 23,000 and 100,000 American soldiers have been wounded in Iraq.

Are all of these numbers not related to each other?  What possible solution can we count on while many of the most prominent members of Congress are running for President?

Does anybody care about this crisis?  Or is it all just useful for the current campaigns?

The Star of Bethlehem

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Every year we listen to a host of theories about the Star of Bethlehem. The story of the star appears only in Matthew’s Gospel, in one of the two Infancy Narratives in the gospels. The other is in the Gospel of Luke. Both of these stories are wonderful tales which are really trying to tell Christians about the adult, risen Christ — according to Christians. These stories are not at all about what really happened. Phil Plait does an excellent job dealing with what may or may not have really happened, and he’s probably right that the tale grew in the telling.

There were no birth certificates. The birth of Christ wasn’t even celebrated in early Christianity. The celebration grew up gradually throughout the Roman Empire, really only taking root after Christianity became a legal religion in 313 C.E. Christians gradually converted the old Roman feast of Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun) to a celebration of the birth of the Christ. While the Northern Hemisphere was at it’s darkest, Christians began to celebrate the birth of the Light of the World. The celebration was symbolic from the start, and the Gospel writers were quite comfortable using symbolism to introduce a wider audience to the Risen Christ by telling a rich story of His birth. Did they take some liberties? No doubt.

Theology is my day job. See, some Liberals do appreciate religion.

Why am I giving space here about the famous Star? Call it a preemptive strike against the Christian radicals as we move further into the election season. We are still in the middle of a Holiday Season, and have already endured strange and bizarre claims that there continues to be a “War on Christmas.” We can anticipate equally weird and bizarre claims as we move forward to the 2008 Presidential Election.

What will the weird right have in store for us? How will they work to create God in their image? In anticipation of all of the unholy rhetoric about to spew forth from the conservatives, I can’t help thinking of Yeats:

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Simple emotion may sway simple people. The weird right has used simplistic and hate-filled quasi-religious arguments before to sway the masses. Whatever they come up over the next 11 months, we must hold them to facts — and science. Otherwise, we haven’t got a prayer.

Benazir Bhutto Buried

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Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest Friday in Pakistan as unrest continued to spread throughout the country. The government is blaming al-Qaeda and the Taliban, an assertion that is wildly premature. No one from al-Qaeda has come forward to claim responsibility, and al-Qaeda is hardly shy about such admissions. Bhutto supporters allege that President Pervez Musharraf’s government is responsible — an assertion which may also be premature at this point. From this distance, all we can do is speculate.

The larger and more alarming concern is the continued destabilization of Pakistan, a nuclear power. The questions are overwhelming.  Ahmed Rhashid of the Washington Post iterates some of the most compelling:

Her death only exacerbates the problems Pakistan has been grappling with for the past few months: how to find a modicum of political stability through a representative government that the army can accept and will not work to undermine, and how to tackle the extremism spreading in the country.

Was Musharraf responsible? Was al-Qaeda involved? These questions pale in comparison to what may lie ahead for Pakistan. Musharraf does not seem the least bit interested in establishing a democracy, and President Bush should not forget this. Musharraf is no ally — but he must be dealt with. The only route to Afghanistan is through Pakistan, and Musharraf now holds every card in Pakistan.

To his credit, President Bush called on Pakistan to pursue justice in the aftermath of Bhutto’s assassination, and to honor her memory. In a statement, Bush said:

The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan’s democracy. Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice. Mrs. Bhutto served her nation twice as Prime Minister and she knew that her return to Pakistan earlier this year put her life at risk. Yet she refused to allow assassins to dictate the course of her country.

We stand with the people of Pakistan in their struggle against the forces of terror and extremism. We urge them to honor Benazir Bhutto’s memory by continuing with the democratic process for which she so bravely gave her life.

He’s right. Musharraf would do well to bring her murderers to justice. Otherwise, Pakistan will be lost to conspiracy theories forever, and someone even more radical than Musharraf may come closer to controlling the country’s nuclear arsenal.

Thank You, Wil Wheaton

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Wil Wheaton discusses just about anything on his blog, WWdN: In Exile. The one-and-only former Wesley Crusher is a Democrat, and a smart one at that.

I’ve shared before my dissatisfaction with the Democrats in Congress, their incredible failure to lead, and everyone’s dreams of living on Pennsylvania Ave. Too many of them are infatuated with the presidency, and the new Neverending Story is the campaign. Meanwhile, Congress simply cannot lead.

Hats off to Mr. Wheaton for his clarity. I couldn’t have said it better myself:

It is outrageous that Senators Clinton, Obama and Biden are asking for our votes, but are unwilling to provide leadership now. If they won’t stand up for the principles we all hold dear when they’re trying to earn our votes, how can we expect them to do it once they’re in the White House? Leadership is doing the right thing when it’s risky and when it’s unpopular. (And how depressing is it that upholding your oath of office is risky and unpopular? How doubly depressing is it that the only people who think that — and the only people being listened to — are Joe Klein, the DLC consultants, and the rest of the pundit class?)

Well, as a complete idiot once said: Fool me once, can’t get fooled again.

Amen.

Wheaton says he is inspired by John Edwards, and likes Chris Dodd. Even my Republican friends are saying we need a Democrat in ’08. But we need one who wants to work — not one who wants the White House. Showing leadership over the past several months would have been good, instead of having wet dreams about renting out the Lincoln Bedroom.