Senator Ted Kennedy 1932 - 2009

Edward Kennedy via last.fm

Senator Edward Kennedy died after a long bout with cancer late Tuesday night. He was 77. For many people he was the last of the Kennedy brothers & bearer of the torch. To me, he was my senator for most of my life & that is the way I will remember him.


Growing up in Western Massachusetts, the name Kennedy was the only name you ever heard. In fact, when I was younger, I used to hate the Kennedys. Teddy at the time was seen as a buffoon; a lying, drunk, womanizing, bloated rich kid. Mitt Romney almost defeated him in 1994 until Kennedy staged a late election surge. One of the Boston radio stations, WAAF, had a morning radio guy, Greg Hill, who used to have a Kennedy impersonator as one of his cast of characters. The guy would come on the radio with a thick low “Bah-stan” accent, say things like “eer-up”, then crack open a beer & go into drunken slurred speech. High comedy back in the 70s & 80s in the state.

It wasn’t until I got older that I realized just what Ted Kennedy accomplished. I grew to like, then love, him for what he had done for Massachusetts & the country as a whole. For the state, what he did will never be equaled. He sent so much money for construction projects, schools, homeless shelters, & the like. He authored a lot of legislation; so much so, that he is now known as the most effective legislator in the history of the U.S. Senate. Many laws & programs are enjoyed by all Americans because of Kennedy; from COBRA to Meals on Wheels to the Americans with Disabilities Act to health insurance for poor kids. He did it by reaching across the aisle to republicans & compromising. He didn’t bash people over the head, although he was known as someone you’d never really want to cross in a battle, but he always got the job done. Today’s Congress would be wise to learn from how Kennedy got legislation passed. Unfortunately, they also could learn about civility when someone passes. The conservatives have had a field day today trashing Sen. Kennedy. One, Michelle Malkin, has taken the word bitch to a whole other level with a post on you tube. Very shamefull. If even Mitt Romney can say something nice about Ted, why can't she or at least, shut the f*** up.

There’s already been a lot of talk today about how health care reform will not pass now because Sen. Kennedy is not there to get the legislation through. Maybe now because of his untimely passing, senators will double their efforts & pass health care reform in honor of him; much like civil rights legislation was passed in honor of his brother John after his assassination.

HBO ran a special Teddy: In His Own Words last month. I hope they run it again. If you get the chance, watch it. It’s a great history on what the man went through; from his family’s tragedies to his plane & car crashes to his many triumphs. His was a life well lived. We should all be so lucky. God speed, Teddy. May you finally rest in peace.

Glenn Beck Boycott Working

I often find it funny that when Republicans are offended by something that someone says, they want to boycott. When one of their own says something offensive, they say it’s freedom of speech. I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again. People can say whatever they want to. That’s the beauty of America. However, this does not mean that I have to financially support companies who advertise with people who say or do offensive things. That’s also the beauty of America.


To that end, I called for a strong response when Glenn Beck said offensive things about President Obama. I blogged a partial list, courtesy of colorofchange.org, of companies that advertised on his show. I’d love to take credit for the response but alas, I can not. Thanks to colorofchange.org & a few other organizations, it looks like we are getting the desired effect. About 20 companies have pulled their advertising from Glenn Beck’s television show http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-rucker/wal-mart-cvs-best-buy-dit_b_261424.html. Plus, it looks like Fox News has told him to take a little time off http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2009/08/is-the-glenn-beck-boycott-working.html.

It’s Fox’s hope that things will cool down. It is my hope that the pressure will be kept on. We need to let Fox News & advertisers know that we will not tolerate hate speech, whether it’s from a liberal or a conservative. There will no longer be any place for that in our society & if people do it & companies support it, they will pay a financial price for it. Hate speech has gotten completely out of control lately. It’s time to fight back.

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Why Health Care Reform WILL Pass

I read a really good article about health care today that's written by a doctor. It's a must read that will explain what to watch for & why health care reform WILL pass. Here's the link & a few paragraphs:


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32468082/ns/health-health_care/

From all the attention focused on the rambunctious town hall meetings, ranting about “death panels” and repetitive shrieking against government health care on right-wing radio, one might think health reform is pretty much dead in America. Think again.



Health reform is a lock to pass. The only issue is in what form. You need to look past the noise, fear-mongering, misquotes, inconsistent claims, inaccurate assertions and political gamesmanship and pay attention to what is truly at issue as Congress gets down to the business of reform in the fall.



Why am I so certain reform will happen? Well, August is media silly season. Anything that can get you to look up from your beach or lake reading to watch TV tops the news. That is why creepy Michael Jackson, animal abuser Michael Vick and a few thousand angry old white guys, some packing heat, all yelling at Congressmen, dominate the airwaves. Summer will soon be over, though, and that signals a return to a very different world of politics and media coverage.

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Whole Foods CEO

Image via Wikipedia

Apparently, the crunchy granola world is flustered over the fact that Whole Foods’ CEO wrote an op ed where he said, among other things, that health care wasn’t a right http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32471153/ns/us_news-washington_post/. Why does this shock people? A lot of companies that you might think have a liberal bend have people running them who are extremely conservative. Where do you think all that money for conservative think tanks & operative groups comes from?


For example, for all the talk about how liberal Hollywood is, the fact is that it’s really only the actors who might be liberal. The entertainment industry is run by multinational conglomerates whose boards of directors & CEOs are mainly conservative. Dominos Pizza is run by an ultraconservative who gives the majority of his money to far right causes. That’s why I don’t eat their pizza.

If you really want to find out where your money is going, do some research online. There are many web sites that keep track of who gives how much money to which causes. Then, send these CEOs a message that you will not give money to their companies. People who shop at Whole Foods should not be shocked in the least.

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State Department vs Chavez Over Golf

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State Department spokeman P.J. Crowley took the opportunity the other day to criticize Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Was it over human rights abuses? Nope. Was it for meddling in Columbia's affairs? Eh eh. It was over a golf comment. Seriously.


Chavez plans to close golf courses in Maracay and Caraballeda & said it was a rich man's sport. He also said it was a shame that in the middle of the city, there's a golf course with so much land lacking for buildings for the people & that if rich people wanted to play golf, they could build one outside the city. He also called golf a "bourgeous" sport.

Well, thems fighting words for P.J. Crowley. "As the Department of State's self-appointed ambassador-at-large for golf, I wish to protest the unwarranted attack by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on the game of golf. Once again Mr. Chavez, one of the hemisphere's most divisive figures, finds himself out of bounds," Crowley said. "The suggestion by Mr. Chavez that golf, a truly global sport, is bourgeois is a mulligan."

It's so good to see that the State department has time to care about golf. What, with all of the world's problems out there, golf easily comes up in the top 3 things to deal with. I think it's right after worrying about the spread of global reality television & who Brittany, Lindsey, & Paris are doing (oooh..maybe each other!!). If Crowley's so bent out of shape over a golf comment that Chavez made (a comment that, I admit, I find myself agreeing with, unfortunately), I'd hate to see what he would've done to Mark Twain for his "golf is a good walk spoiled" comment. Crowley probably would've had him deported.

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Health Care Failing

Angry crowds, tons of orchestrated protesters, socialism, harsh words. 2009? Nope. 1994's health care debate. The same reactions that are going on today to the Obama health care plan are the same orchestrated reactions to the Clinton health care plan in 1994. According to a new poll released today, the protests are having the same affect the 1994 protests did. They're working against Obama.


There are many people to blame for this. Let's start with the Obama administration & Obama specifically. He said there was a reason why health care reform hasn't been achieved in 50 years. Did he think his popularity was going to let him cakewalk over this issue? Did he think his plan wasn't going to get the same treatment as Clinton's did? Why didn't they see all of this coming? Perhaps, instead of sending Clinton to North Korea last week, Clinton should've gone to Washington to have a discussion on how not to roll out a major program. Obama needs to be more hands on with this. He's beginning to but it may be too late.

What about the democrats? When will they ever learn that the republicans do not play fair? They play dirty & they play to win. They spread disinformation & will use whatever they have to, including racist overtones. Knowing all of that, where are the counterprotests? Where are all the counterprotesters in the town halls? All I hear & see when I'm watching these town hall meetings are people who agree with the wingnuts. I never see people agreeing with the plan.

Where's the NAACP & other groups? When a white cop shoots a black man, they can't find the media fast enough. When a major piece of legislation needs a boost in the black community, they suddenly go silent. They should be out in the community & on tv, educating people that there's no such thing as a death panel & other misinformation. Yet another example of leadership failing the community.

The administration, the democrats, & their supporters better learn the rules to this game fast. Otherwise, the republicans will succeed in defeating what could be very good legislation.

Congress Plays Games With the Money Again

Image by Royalty-free image collection via Flickr

Congress plays this game a lot. They'll make a big deal about how they set aside money to do something but in reality, no mey is actually se aside. The newest example is NASA's program to look for the killer asteroids that are out there. Before you go "yeah right. killer asteroids. don't exist. sci fi", they do exist. In fact, one is supposed to come close in 2028. However, if there are any others, we won't know until it's too late because Congress played games with the money. Here's the link & some of the article:


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32387796/

WASHINGTON - NASA is charged with seeking out nearly all the asteroids that threaten Earth but does not have the money to do the job, a U.S. government report says.

That is because even though Congress assigned the space agency this mission four years ago, it never gave NASA money to build the necessary telescopes, the new National Academy of Sciences report says. Specifically, NASA has been ordered to spot 90 percent of the potentially deadly rocks hurtling through space by 2020.

Even so, NASA says it has completed about one-third of its assignment with its current telescope system.

NASA estimates that there are about 20,000 asteroids and comets in our solar system that are potential threats to Earth. They are larger than 460 feet (140 meters) in diameter — slightly smaller than a sports stadium in New Orleans. So far, scientists know where about 6,000 of these objects are.

Rocks between 460 feet and 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) in diameter can devastate an entire region but not the entire globe, said Lindley Johnson, NASA's manager of the near-Earth objects program. Objects bigger than that are even more threatening, of course.

Just last month astronomers were surprised when an object of unknown size and origin bashed into Jupiter and created an Earth-sized bruise that is still spreading. Jupiter does get slammed more often than Earth because of its immense gravity, enormous size and location.

Disaster movies like "Armageddon" and near misses in previous years may have scared people and alerted them to a serious issue. But when it comes to doing something about monitoring the threat, the academy concluded "there has been relatively little effort by the U.S. government."

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Africa & the United States

     There's a really good article about the problems that the US State Dept has with its Africa Bureau. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-08-10-africa_N.htm Among some of the problems the article points out are:

• Diplomats feel overwhelmed by new demands without additional staff.
• The group in charge of boosting the U.S. image is a "failed office" with no strategic plan and little integration with other diplomats.
• While the United States "helps feed Africa," it should focus more on helping Africans feed themselves — and on preventing HIV/AIDS as well as treating the condition.
• There isn't enough travel money to properly oversee a $2 billion Africa peacekeeping program.
• A new military command in Africa is "stepping into a void created by a lack of resources for traditional development."
• Corruption "receives insufficient attention as an impediment to trade, development and investment."
     There's one other main problem that should be addressed & that is Al Queda. The United States & its western allies have ignored & taken advantage of the African continent for centuries. As a result, extreme poverty & corruption have increased dramatically. That's given Al Queda furtile ground to sow. Their results have been staggering. Radical Islamic regimes have popped up in in the northeast countries & are making their way south. Pirating is dramatically up.
     The western countries have to stop shoveling money into Africa & get these countries into a survival mode where they can be prosperous on their own. Otherwise, other emerging super powers such as China will start to take over or Al Queda will complete its African domination. Then we'll all be wondering why we're sending troops to Africa to fight, only it'll be our own fault for ignoring a growing situation for far too long.

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Obama Leadership

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In one of New York City’s free tabloids, there was a front page headline that said Sweating the Numbers: Obama’s Approval Ratings Drop To 50% Over Economy. First off, I doubt that Obama’s really worrying about the poll numbers right now. Real leaders don’t concern themselves with petty issues like that, especially when there are a lot of problems that need fixing.
Second, a little historical perspective is needed here. Ronald Reagan, like Obama, inherited a recession; his from Jimmy Carter. Reagan took 3 years to pull the country out & while he was busy implementing policies, his approval ratings dropped…a lot. In fact, when he ran against Walter Mondale in 1984, he was actually behind in the polls until their second debate.
As it turned out, a lot of his policies are beginning to work. All of the economic indicators seem to show that the economy is beginning to bottom out & turn upward. The stock market is up almost 2000 points from its bottom only 6 months ago (so much for antiObama CNBC & the Obama bear market). Even unemployment, usually a lagging indicator, actually dipped downward last month so that's a good sign.
When people are trying to fix problems, they will not be popular because eventually, they will ruffle feathers (see health care reform for a more recent example). The real leaders won't stick their fingers up to see which wat the political wind is blowing. They will stand strong & with conviction that what they are doing is right.

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Glenn Beck Advertisers

Here are the advertisers on Glenn Beck's television show. Please join me & contact them. Let them know that you will no longer give your hard earned money to them so that they can support someone who practices racial politics for ratings. Freedom of speech is something that Glenn Beck is entitled to. However, we as human beings are also entitled to not give our money to companies that give financial support to such hatred.

http://foxnewsboycott.com/glenn-beck/glenn-becks-sponsors-named-in-donny-deutchs-boycott/

Nestle
Wal-Mart
Kellogg
Kraft Food
Chrysler
General Motors
Pfizer
Procter & Gamble
Campbell

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Stop Glenn Beck

Image by The Rocketeer via Flickr

Here's a letter that I recieved from colorofchange.org. I usually don't print this but I feel it's extremely important that we all do our part to stop people on all sides from playing racial politics for the sake of either ratings or to advance a policy.

Dear friends,
As you may know, right-wing talk show hosts have been bringing race-based fear mongering into the mainstream, but FOX's Glenn Beck just took it to another level. On Tuesday, Beck said:

This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people... this guy is, I believe, a racist.

It's part of a larger argument Beck has been making: that President Obama wants to serve the needs of Black communities at White people's expense. This kind of talk stirs up fear, hate, and it can lead to violence.
I've joined ColorOfChange.org's effort to stop Glenn Beck. ColorOfChange is already putting calls into Beck's advertisers, asking them if they want to be associated with this kind of racist hate and fear-mongering. When the advertisers see that tens of thousands of us are behind that question, I believe they'll move their advertising dollars elsewhere, and his show and platform will be history. Will you take a stand and be counted, and invite your friends and family to do the same? It takes just a moment:
http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=2188-143376
Glenn Beck is appealing to the worst in America. Of course, some Americans refuse to accept the fact that our president is Black or the idea that he could truly serve all Americans. But the only way these views fade away is if they're not reinforced by mainstream society. Instead, folks like Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, and Rush Limbaugh are exploiting racism and race-based fear to bump their ratings, stirring up racial discord in the process.
The dangers of these tactics are real. We saw the same dynamic during the presidential race: By the end, the McCain/Palin campaign was unable to control the violent energy whipped up by their race-baiting. It resulted in an unprecedented number of threats on Obama's life, a rise in the number of hate groups, and an increase in the number of threats and crimes against immigrants and Black people.
FOX has a horrible track record on pushing racist propaganda, but Glenn Beck appears to be taking the network to an even lower standard. He's trying to divide and distract America when we should be coming together and talking about issues that really matter--like health care and the economy. The good news is that we have the power to stop this. All major media is funded by advertising. And advertisers care more than anything what consumers think. If we want to change what's happening and put an end to folks like Glenn Beck having a platform, we can do it. It's up to us, and it can start now. Please join me:
http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=2188-143376
Thanks.
Here are some links to more info:
"Beck: Obama has 'exposed himself as a guy' with 'a deep seated hatred for white people'"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907280008

"Glenn Beck: Obama agenda driven by 'reparations' and desire to 'settle old racial scores'"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907230040

"MSNBC's Deutsch encourages viewers to demand advertisers on Beck's show spend money elsewhere"
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907290037

"On Television and Radio, Talk of Obama's Citizenship"
http://...com/mb467j

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