Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for Obama
VA Veterans
Dissent is the highest form of PATRIOTISM. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Friday, June 27, 2008
Veterans for Obama
New Hampshire Veterans
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for Obama
VA Veterans
Dissent is the highest form of PATRIOTISM. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for Obama
VA Veterans
Dissent is the highest form of PATRIOTISM. ~ Thomas Jefferson
Monday, June 9, 2008
Retrospective of 1968
Meet The Press on this extremely warm Sunday morning did a retrospective on Bobby Kennedy and June of 1968. He was challenging an incumbent President because of his failed war policy in South East Asia. That president would eventually announce that “He would not seek nor would he accept the nomination of his party for the Presidency of the United States”. This led to a contested primary season within the Democratic Party with the Vietnam War being the central focus of that contest. It was also in the Spring and then in the early Summer of 1968 that showed the underlying violence that had become the plague of ‘public discourse’ in that decade of shame. Martin Luther King, Junior was murdered in Memphis during April of that year followed by Sirhan Sirhan’s murder of Robert Kennedy in June following his victory in the California Primary.
Meet the Press Remembers RFK
1968 was a significant year in my life as well. I graduated from high School in Fort Wayne, Indiana and then the following Fall I would head off for my freshman year in college. I want to go back to April of that year before I graduated from high school. We had lived in Fort Wayne since January of 1961, but Dallas had been our home since 1954. Spring Break of 1968 was going to be very special for myself and my younger siblings because my mother took us to Dallas for that week. The trip to Dallas though long, remembering the Inter-State System was far from completed, was fun but you often had to travel through metropolitan areas instead of being able to bypass them as you can today.
My mother decided we should go home through Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and finally back into Indiana. It was late in the day when we left Dallas, but we made it to Texarkana that first evening. While we had dinner at a restaurant near our motel, other patrons came in with the news that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis. Reactions and remarks varied but you have to remember where we were and when it was. She didn’t say much but it was quite evident that my mother was much more concerned than she wanted us to realize. I think she was more concerned to not alarm the rest of us and keep us from knowing how worried she was. That turned out to be the best night of the trip home. We were on the road first thing in the morning since Mom knew we had at least two days before we could expect to be home. I was eighteen ready to graduate from high school and thought I was so grown up, but that day opened my eyes to issues and attitudes that began to make me wonder about the promise of America.
What I remember most about that day was one military convoy after another coming south. Encountering military convoys back then wasn’t a strange occurrence, but what confused me was that there were so many of them. I guess we don’t think about it today because they are all in Iraq. The drive to Memphis wasn’t bad but once we were there we had no choice but to drive through the city. What did we encounter and what did we see? Well, it was something I never expected to see in the United States or it was my own naiveté. We drove up a rise in what was then the downtown business district of the city, and you wouldn’t believe what I saw or you shouldn’t be. I saw American troops walking down ‘Main Street, USA’ carrying automatic weapons in the midst of armored vehicles and tanks tearing up streets for which someone just got the City Council to approve improvements. We finally got out of Memphis driving northward seeing more convoys traveling south as we went north and I looked at Mother and asked her ‘WHY’ but she had no answer that made sense.
Then I noticed the increase flow of traffic as we travelled north. It wasn’t just holiday traffic returning home, but the kind of traffic that impedes its flow and speed because of the congestion on the highway. Those of us who grew up during the 1960’s remember well the stark reality of the riots in Watts and Detroit as well as far too many other American cities. Hindsight is a wonderful gift and one not so wonderful at times because it can enlighten us to what was more difficult to perceive at the moment. What I do remember was one gasoline station after another saying no gas, and motels and hotels with flashing signs saying ‘NO VACANCIES’. We had no alternative but to keep driving further and further north eventually finding ourselves in Northern Kentucky with our gas gauge getting closer and closer to empty. My mother had four children with her ranging in age from eighteen to ten, and she knew that a decision had to be made. What she didn’t know was whether it was the wisest or safest one under very strained circumstances.
She took the next exit knowing that we were nowhere close to a large city in search of gas and a motel. I was becoming more frightened with each mile we drove, but finally and well past midnight and probably having driven an additional seventy miles since we had taken that exit we found a motel. It was not the ‘Ritz’ but it was a roof over our heads and as cramped as it was we all had an opportunity for much needed rest especially my mother. The next morning we were able to find gas and made our way back to the highway that would take us to Fort Wayne. Such fear and prejudice still permeated American society in 1968 that many both in and out of government were afraid that a ‘Race War’ or some major expression of violence would follow Martin Luther King, Junior’s death. That did not happen because most supporters of King believed in his Dream and one that was nonviolent.
In 1968 when Hoosiers found themselves at the center of a dynamic struggle over a Presidential nomination and the future direction of our nation gave insight into the tensions, tragedy and emotions of a singular moment—Senator Robert Kennedy's remarks in Indianapolis just hours after Dr. Martin Luther King had been shot—and provides a deeper understanding of one of the more significant events in our nation's long, contentious civil rights journey." —U.S. Senator Evan Bayh
The following is a report of how Robert Kennedy received the news of Martin Luther King, Junior’s Assassination while making a campaign a campaign stop in Indianapolis, IN April 4, 1968.
It was supposed to be a routine campaign stop. In a poor section of Indianapolis, 40 years ago, a largely black crowd had waited an hour to hear the presidential candidate speak. The candidate, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, had been warned not to go by the city's police chief.
As his car entered the neighborhood, his police escort left him. Once there, he stood in the back of a flatbed truck. He turned to an aide and asked, "Do they know about Martin Luther King?"
They didn't, and it was left to Kennedy to tell them that King had been shot and killed that night in Memphis, Tenn. The crowd gasped in horror.
Kennedy spoke of King's dedication to "love and to justice between fellow human beings," adding that "he died in the cause of that effort."
And Kennedy sought to heal the racial wounds that were certain to follow by referring to the death of his own brother, President John F. Kennedy.
"For those of you who are black and are tempted to ... be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling," he said. "I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man."
Many other American cities burned after King was killed. But there was no fire in Indianapolis, which heard the words of Robert Kennedy.
A historian says a well-organized black community kept its calm. It's hard to overlook the image of one single man, standing on a flatbed truck, who never looked down at the paper in his hand — only at the faces in the crowd.
"My favorite poem, my — my favorite poet was Aeschylus," Robert Kennedy said, "and he once wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black."
RFK Announces the Death of MLK
Two months later, Robert Kennedy himself was felled by an assassin's bullet.
Assassination of RFK
Total Popular Vote in the Democratic Primaries of 1968:
Eugene McCarthy: 2,914,933 (38.73 per cent)
Robert F. Kennedy: 2,305,148 (30.63 per cent)
Stephen M. Young: 549,140 (7.30 per cent)
Lyndon B. Johnson: 383,590 (5.10 per cent)
Thomas C. Lynch: 380,286 (5.05 per cent)
Roger D. Branigin: 238,700 (3.17 per cent)
George Smathers: 236,242 (3.14 per cent)
Hubert Humphrey: 166,463 (2.21 per cent)
Unpledged: 161,143 (2.14 per cent)
Scott Kelly: 128,899 (1.71 per cent)
George Wallace: 34,489 (0.46 per cent)
Richard Nixon (write-in): 13,610 (0.18 per cent)
Ronald Reagan (write-in): 5,309 (0.07 per cent)
Ted Kennedy: 4,052 (0.05 per cent)
Paul C. Fisher: 506 (0.01 per cent)
John G. Crommelin: 186 (0.00 per cent)
The two leading candidates in 1968 were Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy who both advocated Peace and an end to the Vietnam War. The nomination should have gone to Eugene McCarthy, but as a result the influence of President Lyndon Johnson and the DNC Hubert Humphrey who had received just over 2 per cent of the popular vote won the nomination. Hubert Humphrey would go on to lose the general election to Richard Nixon in a close election.
Richard Nixon: 31,783,783
Hubert Humphrey: 31,271,839
There are political analysts who have maintained for many years that Humphrey’s failure to disassociate himself from the policies of Lyndon Johnson was the single greatest factor in his loss. Would a Robert Kennedy candidacy in the 1968 Presidential election have made a difference? I think so but it is something we will never know because it did not happen. There was part of Tim Russert’s retrospective that I found interesting especially in the context our election in November. He pointed out in a Speech that Robert Kennedy had given as Attorney General his belief that in forty years a Negro could be elected president and hold the same office as his brother. If someone would have suggested this same possibility in 1968, he or she would probably be given the mantel of ‘Fool’ for such naiveté. Yet, it is 2008 and we find ourselves in historic times. Yes, we have an African American as a candidate of a major political party for the Presidency of the United States but we also have the opportunity of redefining ourselves and how we expect government to operate. Do we want a government that puts the needs/desires of Corporate America over the Human needs of its citizens? Do we want a government that allows speculation on commodities that drive fuel and food prices higher and higher? Do you want a government that separates families from one another because they can no longer afford the gasoline to visit them? The social divide that Katrina showed so clearly to the nation and the world, now Wall Street is showing almost daily how deep that chasm is in the United States of America.
Meet the Press Remembers RFK
1968 was a significant year in my life as well. I graduated from high School in Fort Wayne, Indiana and then the following Fall I would head off for my freshman year in college. I want to go back to April of that year before I graduated from high school. We had lived in Fort Wayne since January of 1961, but Dallas had been our home since 1954. Spring Break of 1968 was going to be very special for myself and my younger siblings because my mother took us to Dallas for that week. The trip to Dallas though long, remembering the Inter-State System was far from completed, was fun but you often had to travel through metropolitan areas instead of being able to bypass them as you can today.
My mother decided we should go home through Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and finally back into Indiana. It was late in the day when we left Dallas, but we made it to Texarkana that first evening. While we had dinner at a restaurant near our motel, other patrons came in with the news that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis. Reactions and remarks varied but you have to remember where we were and when it was. She didn’t say much but it was quite evident that my mother was much more concerned than she wanted us to realize. I think she was more concerned to not alarm the rest of us and keep us from knowing how worried she was. That turned out to be the best night of the trip home. We were on the road first thing in the morning since Mom knew we had at least two days before we could expect to be home. I was eighteen ready to graduate from high school and thought I was so grown up, but that day opened my eyes to issues and attitudes that began to make me wonder about the promise of America.
What I remember most about that day was one military convoy after another coming south. Encountering military convoys back then wasn’t a strange occurrence, but what confused me was that there were so many of them. I guess we don’t think about it today because they are all in Iraq. The drive to Memphis wasn’t bad but once we were there we had no choice but to drive through the city. What did we encounter and what did we see? Well, it was something I never expected to see in the United States or it was my own naiveté. We drove up a rise in what was then the downtown business district of the city, and you wouldn’t believe what I saw or you shouldn’t be. I saw American troops walking down ‘Main Street, USA’ carrying automatic weapons in the midst of armored vehicles and tanks tearing up streets for which someone just got the City Council to approve improvements. We finally got out of Memphis driving northward seeing more convoys traveling south as we went north and I looked at Mother and asked her ‘WHY’ but she had no answer that made sense.
Then I noticed the increase flow of traffic as we travelled north. It wasn’t just holiday traffic returning home, but the kind of traffic that impedes its flow and speed because of the congestion on the highway. Those of us who grew up during the 1960’s remember well the stark reality of the riots in Watts and Detroit as well as far too many other American cities. Hindsight is a wonderful gift and one not so wonderful at times because it can enlighten us to what was more difficult to perceive at the moment. What I do remember was one gasoline station after another saying no gas, and motels and hotels with flashing signs saying ‘NO VACANCIES’. We had no alternative but to keep driving further and further north eventually finding ourselves in Northern Kentucky with our gas gauge getting closer and closer to empty. My mother had four children with her ranging in age from eighteen to ten, and she knew that a decision had to be made. What she didn’t know was whether it was the wisest or safest one under very strained circumstances.
She took the next exit knowing that we were nowhere close to a large city in search of gas and a motel. I was becoming more frightened with each mile we drove, but finally and well past midnight and probably having driven an additional seventy miles since we had taken that exit we found a motel. It was not the ‘Ritz’ but it was a roof over our heads and as cramped as it was we all had an opportunity for much needed rest especially my mother. The next morning we were able to find gas and made our way back to the highway that would take us to Fort Wayne. Such fear and prejudice still permeated American society in 1968 that many both in and out of government were afraid that a ‘Race War’ or some major expression of violence would follow Martin Luther King, Junior’s death. That did not happen because most supporters of King believed in his Dream and one that was nonviolent.
In 1968 when Hoosiers found themselves at the center of a dynamic struggle over a Presidential nomination and the future direction of our nation gave insight into the tensions, tragedy and emotions of a singular moment—Senator Robert Kennedy's remarks in Indianapolis just hours after Dr. Martin Luther King had been shot—and provides a deeper understanding of one of the more significant events in our nation's long, contentious civil rights journey." —U.S. Senator Evan Bayh
The following is a report of how Robert Kennedy received the news of Martin Luther King, Junior’s Assassination while making a campaign a campaign stop in Indianapolis, IN April 4, 1968.
It was supposed to be a routine campaign stop. In a poor section of Indianapolis, 40 years ago, a largely black crowd had waited an hour to hear the presidential candidate speak. The candidate, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, had been warned not to go by the city's police chief.
As his car entered the neighborhood, his police escort left him. Once there, he stood in the back of a flatbed truck. He turned to an aide and asked, "Do they know about Martin Luther King?"
They didn't, and it was left to Kennedy to tell them that King had been shot and killed that night in Memphis, Tenn. The crowd gasped in horror.
Kennedy spoke of King's dedication to "love and to justice between fellow human beings," adding that "he died in the cause of that effort."
And Kennedy sought to heal the racial wounds that were certain to follow by referring to the death of his own brother, President John F. Kennedy.
"For those of you who are black and are tempted to ... be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling," he said. "I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man."
Many other American cities burned after King was killed. But there was no fire in Indianapolis, which heard the words of Robert Kennedy.
A historian says a well-organized black community kept its calm. It's hard to overlook the image of one single man, standing on a flatbed truck, who never looked down at the paper in his hand — only at the faces in the crowd.
"My favorite poem, my — my favorite poet was Aeschylus," Robert Kennedy said, "and he once wrote:
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.
"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black."
RFK Announces the Death of MLK
Two months later, Robert Kennedy himself was felled by an assassin's bullet.
Assassination of RFK
Total Popular Vote in the Democratic Primaries of 1968:
Eugene McCarthy: 2,914,933 (38.73 per cent)
Robert F. Kennedy: 2,305,148 (30.63 per cent)
Stephen M. Young: 549,140 (7.30 per cent)
Lyndon B. Johnson: 383,590 (5.10 per cent)
Thomas C. Lynch: 380,286 (5.05 per cent)
Roger D. Branigin: 238,700 (3.17 per cent)
George Smathers: 236,242 (3.14 per cent)
Hubert Humphrey: 166,463 (2.21 per cent)
Unpledged: 161,143 (2.14 per cent)
Scott Kelly: 128,899 (1.71 per cent)
George Wallace: 34,489 (0.46 per cent)
Richard Nixon (write-in): 13,610 (0.18 per cent)
Ronald Reagan (write-in): 5,309 (0.07 per cent)
Ted Kennedy: 4,052 (0.05 per cent)
Paul C. Fisher: 506 (0.01 per cent)
John G. Crommelin: 186 (0.00 per cent)
The two leading candidates in 1968 were Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy who both advocated Peace and an end to the Vietnam War. The nomination should have gone to Eugene McCarthy, but as a result the influence of President Lyndon Johnson and the DNC Hubert Humphrey who had received just over 2 per cent of the popular vote won the nomination. Hubert Humphrey would go on to lose the general election to Richard Nixon in a close election.
Richard Nixon: 31,783,783
Hubert Humphrey: 31,271,839
There are political analysts who have maintained for many years that Humphrey’s failure to disassociate himself from the policies of Lyndon Johnson was the single greatest factor in his loss. Would a Robert Kennedy candidacy in the 1968 Presidential election have made a difference? I think so but it is something we will never know because it did not happen. There was part of Tim Russert’s retrospective that I found interesting especially in the context our election in November. He pointed out in a Speech that Robert Kennedy had given as Attorney General his belief that in forty years a Negro could be elected president and hold the same office as his brother. If someone would have suggested this same possibility in 1968, he or she would probably be given the mantel of ‘Fool’ for such naiveté. Yet, it is 2008 and we find ourselves in historic times. Yes, we have an African American as a candidate of a major political party for the Presidency of the United States but we also have the opportunity of redefining ourselves and how we expect government to operate. Do we want a government that puts the needs/desires of Corporate America over the Human needs of its citizens? Do we want a government that allows speculation on commodities that drive fuel and food prices higher and higher? Do you want a government that separates families from one another because they can no longer afford the gasoline to visit them? The social divide that Katrina showed so clearly to the nation and the world, now Wall Street is showing almost daily how deep that chasm is in the United States of America.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
This I Our Time
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama
Final Primary Night
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
St. Paul, Minnesota
As Prepared for Delivery
Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end.
Sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Thousands of miles have been traveled. Millions of voices have been heard. And because of what you said - because you decided that change must come to Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.
I want to thank every American who stood with us over the course of this campaign - through the good days and the bad; from the snows of Cedar Rapids to the sunshine of Sioux Falls. And tonight I also want to thank the men and woman who took this journey with me as fellow candidates for President.
At this defining moment for our nation, we should be proud that our party put forth one of the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office. I have not just competed with them as rivals, I have learned from them as friends, as public servants, and as patriots who love America and are willing to work tirelessly to make this country better. They are leaders of this party, and leaders that America will turn to for years to come.
That is particularly true for the candidate who has traveled further on this journey than anyone else. Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.
We've certainly had our differences over the last sixteen months. But as someone who's shared a stage with her many times, I can tell you that what gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning - even in the face of tough odds - is exactly what sent her and Bill Clinton to sign up for their first campaign in Texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at the Children's Defense Fund and made her fight for health care as First Lady; what led her to the United States Senate and fueled her barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency - an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, no matter how difficult the fight may be. And you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well I say that because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time. There are Independents and Republicans who understand that this election isn't just about the party in charge of Washington, it's about the need to change Washington. There are young people, and African-Americans, and Latinos, and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have broken records and inspired a nation.
All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the end of the day, we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn't do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - we cannot afford to keep doing what we've been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say - let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America.
In just a few short months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very different agenda. They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine. My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign.
Because while John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign.
It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush ninety-five percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.
It's not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that have failed to create well-paying jobs, or insure our workers, or help Americans afford the skyrocketing cost of college - policies that have lowered the real incomes of the average American family, widened the gap between Wall Street and Main Street, and left our children with a mountain of debt.
And it's not change when he promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians - a policy where all we look for are reasons to stay in Iraq, while we spend billions of dollars a month on a war that isn't making the American people any safer.
So I'll say this - there are many words to describe John McCain's attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush's policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not one of them.
Change is a foreign policy that doesn't begin and end with a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged. I won't stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what's not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years - especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.
We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in - but start leaving we must. It's time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future. It's time to rebuild our military and give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve when they come home. It's time to refocus our efforts on al Qaeda's leadership and Afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st century - terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. That's what change is.
Change is realizing that meeting today's threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy - tough, direct diplomacy where the President of the United States isn't afraid to let any petty dictator know where America stands and what we stand for. We must once again have the courage and conviction to lead the free world. That is the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy. That's what the American people want. That's what change is.
Change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and workers who created it. It's understanding that the struggles facing working families can't be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs, but by giving a the middle-class a tax break, and investing in our crumbling infrastructure, and transforming how we use energy, and improving our schools, and renewing our commitment to science and innovation. Its understanding that fiscal responsibility and shared prosperity can go hand-in-hand, as they did when Bill Clinton was President.
John McCain has spent a lot of time talking about trips to Iraq in the last few weeks, but maybe if he spent some time taking trips to the cities and towns that have been hardest hit by this economy - cities in Michigan, and Ohio, and right here in Minnesota - he'd understand the kind of change that people are looking for.
Maybe if he went to Iowa and met the student who works the night shift after a full day of class and still can't pay the medical bills for a sister who's ill, he'd understand that she can't afford four more years of a health care plan that only takes care of the healthy and wealthy. She needs us to pass health care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants it and brings down premiums for every family who needs it. That's the change we need.
Maybe if he went to Pennsylvania and met the man who lost his job but can't even afford the gas to drive around and look for a new one, he'd understand that we can't afford four more years of our addiction to oil from dictators. That man needs us to pass an energy policy that works with automakers to raise fuel standards, and makes corporations pay for their pollution, and oil companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future - an energy policy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced. That's the change we need.
And maybe if he spent some time in the schools of South Carolina or St. Paul or where he spoke tonight in New Orleans, he'd understand that we can't afford to leave the money behind for No Child Left Behind; that we owe it to our children to invest in early childhood education; to recruit an army of new teachers and give them better pay and more support; to finally decide that in this global economy, the chance to get a college education should not be a privilege for the wealthy few, but the birthright of every American. That's the change we need in America. That's why I'm running for President.
The other side will come here in September and offer a very different set of policies and positions, and that is a debate I look forward to. It is a debate the American people deserve. But what you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon - that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.
Despite what the good Senator from Arizona said tonight, I have seen people of differing views and opinions find common cause many times during my two decades in public life, and I have brought many together myself. I've walked arm-in-arm with community leaders on the South Side of Chicago and watched tensions fade as black, white, and Latino fought together for good jobs and good schools. I've sat across the table from law enforcement and civil rights advocates to reform a criminal justice system that sent thirteen innocent people to death row. And I've worked with friends in the other party to provide more children with health insurance and more working families with a tax break; to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and ensure that the American people know where their tax dollars are being spent; and to reduce the influence of lobbyists who have all too often set the agenda in Washington.
In our country, I have found that this cooperation happens not because we agree on everything, but because behind all the labels and false divisions and categories that define us; beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes. And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again.
So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.
So it was for the Greatest Generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity.
So it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom's cause.
So it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that's better, and kinder, and more just. And so it must be for us.
America, this is our moment. This is our time. It is our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.
The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.
Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Final Primary Night
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
St. Paul, Minnesota
As Prepared for Delivery
Tonight, after fifty-four hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end.
Sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Thousands of miles have been traveled. Millions of voices have been heard. And because of what you said - because you decided that change must come to Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.
I want to thank every American who stood with us over the course of this campaign - through the good days and the bad; from the snows of Cedar Rapids to the sunshine of Sioux Falls. And tonight I also want to thank the men and woman who took this journey with me as fellow candidates for President.
At this defining moment for our nation, we should be proud that our party put forth one of the most talented, qualified field of individuals ever to run for this office. I have not just competed with them as rivals, I have learned from them as friends, as public servants, and as patriots who love America and are willing to work tirelessly to make this country better. They are leaders of this party, and leaders that America will turn to for years to come.
That is particularly true for the candidate who has traveled further on this journey than anyone else. Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.
We've certainly had our differences over the last sixteen months. But as someone who's shared a stage with her many times, I can tell you that what gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning - even in the face of tough odds - is exactly what sent her and Bill Clinton to sign up for their first campaign in Texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at the Children's Defense Fund and made her fight for health care as First Lady; what led her to the United States Senate and fueled her barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency - an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, no matter how difficult the fight may be. And you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
There are those who say that this primary has somehow left us weaker and more divided. Well I say that because of this primary, there are millions of Americans who have cast their ballot for the very first time. There are Independents and Republicans who understand that this election isn't just about the party in charge of Washington, it's about the need to change Washington. There are young people, and African-Americans, and Latinos, and women of all ages who have voted in numbers that have broken records and inspired a nation.
All of you chose to support a candidate you believe in deeply. But at the end of the day, we aren't the reason you came out and waited in lines that stretched block after block to make your voice heard. You didn't do that because of me or Senator Clinton or anyone else. You did it because you know in your hearts that at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - we cannot afford to keep doing what we've been doing. We owe our children a better future. We owe our country a better future. And for all those who dream of that future tonight, I say - let us begin the work together. Let us unite in common effort to chart a new course for America.
In just a few short months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very different agenda. They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny mine. My differences with him are not personal; they are with the policies he has proposed in this campaign.
Because while John McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past, such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign.
It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush ninety-five percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.
It's not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that have failed to create well-paying jobs, or insure our workers, or help Americans afford the skyrocketing cost of college - policies that have lowered the real incomes of the average American family, widened the gap between Wall Street and Main Street, and left our children with a mountain of debt.
And it's not change when he promises to continue a policy in Iraq that asks everything of our brave men and women in uniform and nothing of Iraqi politicians - a policy where all we look for are reasons to stay in Iraq, while we spend billions of dollars a month on a war that isn't making the American people any safer.
So I'll say this - there are many words to describe John McCain's attempt to pass off his embrace of George Bush's policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not one of them.
Change is a foreign policy that doesn't begin and end with a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged. I won't stand here and pretend that there are many good options left in Iraq, but what's not an option is leaving our troops in that country for the next hundred years - especially at a time when our military is overstretched, our nation is isolated, and nearly every other threat to America is being ignored.
We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in - but start leaving we must. It's time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their future. It's time to rebuild our military and give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve when they come home. It's time to refocus our efforts on al Qaeda's leadership and Afghanistan, and rally the world against the common threats of the 21st century - terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. That's what change is.
Change is realizing that meeting today's threats requires not just our firepower, but the power of our diplomacy - tough, direct diplomacy where the President of the United States isn't afraid to let any petty dictator know where America stands and what we stand for. We must once again have the courage and conviction to lead the free world. That is the legacy of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy. That's what the American people want. That's what change is.
Change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and workers who created it. It's understanding that the struggles facing working families can't be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs, but by giving a the middle-class a tax break, and investing in our crumbling infrastructure, and transforming how we use energy, and improving our schools, and renewing our commitment to science and innovation. Its understanding that fiscal responsibility and shared prosperity can go hand-in-hand, as they did when Bill Clinton was President.
John McCain has spent a lot of time talking about trips to Iraq in the last few weeks, but maybe if he spent some time taking trips to the cities and towns that have been hardest hit by this economy - cities in Michigan, and Ohio, and right here in Minnesota - he'd understand the kind of change that people are looking for.
Maybe if he went to Iowa and met the student who works the night shift after a full day of class and still can't pay the medical bills for a sister who's ill, he'd understand that she can't afford four more years of a health care plan that only takes care of the healthy and wealthy. She needs us to pass health care plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants it and brings down premiums for every family who needs it. That's the change we need.
Maybe if he went to Pennsylvania and met the man who lost his job but can't even afford the gas to drive around and look for a new one, he'd understand that we can't afford four more years of our addiction to oil from dictators. That man needs us to pass an energy policy that works with automakers to raise fuel standards, and makes corporations pay for their pollution, and oil companies invest their record profits in a clean energy future - an energy policy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced. That's the change we need.
And maybe if he spent some time in the schools of South Carolina or St. Paul or where he spoke tonight in New Orleans, he'd understand that we can't afford to leave the money behind for No Child Left Behind; that we owe it to our children to invest in early childhood education; to recruit an army of new teachers and give them better pay and more support; to finally decide that in this global economy, the chance to get a college education should not be a privilege for the wealthy few, but the birthright of every American. That's the change we need in America. That's why I'm running for President.
The other side will come here in September and offer a very different set of policies and positions, and that is a debate I look forward to. It is a debate the American people deserve. But what you don't deserve is another election that's governed by fear, and innuendo, and division. What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon - that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize. Because we may call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first. We are always Americans first.
Despite what the good Senator from Arizona said tonight, I have seen people of differing views and opinions find common cause many times during my two decades in public life, and I have brought many together myself. I've walked arm-in-arm with community leaders on the South Side of Chicago and watched tensions fade as black, white, and Latino fought together for good jobs and good schools. I've sat across the table from law enforcement and civil rights advocates to reform a criminal justice system that sent thirteen innocent people to death row. And I've worked with friends in the other party to provide more children with health insurance and more working families with a tax break; to curb the spread of nuclear weapons and ensure that the American people know where their tax dollars are being spent; and to reduce the influence of lobbyists who have all too often set the agenda in Washington.
In our country, I have found that this cooperation happens not because we agree on everything, but because behind all the labels and false divisions and categories that define us; beyond all the petty bickering and point-scoring in Washington, Americans are a decent, generous, compassionate people, united by common challenges and common hopes. And every so often, there are moments which call on that fundamental goodness to make this country great again.
So it was for that band of patriots who declared in a Philadelphia hall the formation of a more perfect union; and for all those who gave on the fields of Gettysburg and Antietam their last full measure of devotion to save that same union.
So it was for the Greatest Generation that conquered fear itself, and liberated a continent from tyranny, and made this country home to untold opportunity and prosperity.
So it was for the workers who stood out on the picket lines; the women who shattered glass ceilings; the children who braved a Selma bridge for freedom's cause.
So it has been for every generation that faced down the greatest challenges and the most improbable odds to leave their children a world that's better, and kinder, and more just. And so it must be for us.
America, this is our moment. This is our time. It is our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.
The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment - this was the time - when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.
Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Trivia - Our National Anthem
I was working on some nonsense for my personal Domestic Pagina and came upon the Anacreon Society which could portend either national significance or insignificance in this election year that has gone on so long. I am not so sure that if I were attending some event where our ‘National Anthem’ was being sung, wouldn’t prefer the original lyrics to Francis Scott Key’s inspiring poem about a battle and war. I am fairly confident that these candidate and especially all the political pundits who are telling us how we ought to think wouldn’t be better off with “The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS's Vine”.
Senex Magister
Anacréon, Bacchus and Cupid
(Anacréon, Bacchus and Cupid) 
A noted Greek lyric poet of the sixth century BC, Anacreon composed verses about love, friendship, and wine, often calling on Eros, Dionysus, and Aphrodite for aid in pursuit of his pleasures. Anacreon's poetry was so popular in eighteenth-century England that a group of fun-loving men formed the Anacreon Society in 1776 with the goal of getting drunk and singing songs. The group's signature song "To Anacreon in Heav'n" became well-known in the United States, and eventually provided the melody for Francis Scott Key's "Star-Spangled Banner", officially adopted as the national anthem in 1931. The
ANACREONTIC SONG
As Sung at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand
1
To ANACREON in Heav'n, where he sat in full Glee,
A few Sons of Harmony sent a Petition,
That He their Inspirer and Patron wou'd be;
When this Answer arriv'd from the JOLLY OLD GRECIAN
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
"No longer be mute,
"I'll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot,
"And, besides, I'll instruct you like me, to intwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS's Vine.
2
The news through OLYMPUS immediately flew;
When OLD THUNDER pretended to give himself Airs
If these Mortals are suffer'd their Scheme to pursue,
The Devil a Goddess will stay above Stairs.
"Hark! already they cry,
"In Transports of Joy
"Away to the Sons of ANACREON we'll fly,
"And there, with good Fellows, we'll learn to intwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
3
"The YELLOW-HAIR'D GOD and his nine fusty Maids
"From HELICON'S Banks will incontinent flee,
"IDALIA will boast but of tenantless Shades,
"And the bi-forked Hill a mere Desart will be
"My Thunder, no fear on't,
"Shall soon do it's Errand,
"And, dam'me! I'll swinge the Ringleaders I warrant,
"I'll trim the young Dogs, for thus daring to twine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
4
APOLLO rose up; and said, "Pr'ythee ne'er quarrel,
"Good King of the Gods with my Vot'ries below:
"Your Thunder is useless_then, shewing his Laurel,
Cry'd. "Sic evitabile fulmen, you know!
"Then over each Head
"My Laurels I'll spread
"So my Sons from your Crackers no Mischief shall dread,
"Whilst snug in their Club-Room, they Jovially twine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
5
Next MOMUS got up, with his risible Phiz,
And swore with APOLLO he'd cheerfull join<
"The full Tide of Harmony still shall be his,
"But the Song, and the Catch, & the Laugh shall bemine
"Then, JOVE, be not jealous
Of these honest Fellows,
Cry'd JOVE, "We relent, since the Truth you now tell us;
"And swear, by OLD STYX, that they long shall entwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
6
Ye Sons of ANACREON, then, join Hand in Hand;
Preserve Unanimity, Friendship, and Love!
'Tis your's to support what's so happily plann'd;
You've the Sanction of Gods, and the FIAT of JOVE.
While thus we agree
Our Toast let it be.
May our Club flourish happy, united and free!
And long may the Sons of ANACREON intwine<
The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
Senex Magister
(Anacréon, Bacchus and Cupid)
ANACREONTIC SONG
As Sung at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand
1
To ANACREON in Heav'n, where he sat in full Glee,
A few Sons of Harmony sent a Petition,
That He their Inspirer and Patron wou'd be;
When this Answer arriv'd from the JOLLY OLD GRECIAN
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
"No longer be mute,
"I'll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot,
"And, besides, I'll instruct you like me, to intwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS's Vine.
2
The news through OLYMPUS immediately flew;
When OLD THUNDER pretended to give himself Airs
If these Mortals are suffer'd their Scheme to pursue,
The Devil a Goddess will stay above Stairs.
"Hark! already they cry,
"In Transports of Joy
"Away to the Sons of ANACREON we'll fly,
"And there, with good Fellows, we'll learn to intwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
3
"The YELLOW-HAIR'D GOD and his nine fusty Maids
"From HELICON'S Banks will incontinent flee,
"IDALIA will boast but of tenantless Shades,
"And the bi-forked Hill a mere Desart will be
"My Thunder, no fear on't,
"Shall soon do it's Errand,
"And, dam'me! I'll swinge the Ringleaders I warrant,
"I'll trim the young Dogs, for thus daring to twine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
4
APOLLO rose up; and said, "Pr'ythee ne'er quarrel,
"Good King of the Gods with my Vot'ries below:
"Your Thunder is useless_then, shewing his Laurel,
Cry'd. "Sic evitabile fulmen, you know!
"Then over each Head
"My Laurels I'll spread
"So my Sons from your Crackers no Mischief shall dread,
"Whilst snug in their Club-Room, they Jovially twine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
5
Next MOMUS got up, with his risible Phiz,
And swore with APOLLO he'd cheerfull join<
"The full Tide of Harmony still shall be his,
"But the Song, and the Catch, & the Laugh shall bemine
"Then, JOVE, be not jealous
Of these honest Fellows,
Cry'd JOVE, "We relent, since the Truth you now tell us;
"And swear, by OLD STYX, that they long shall entwine
"The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
6
Ye Sons of ANACREON, then, join Hand in Hand;
Preserve Unanimity, Friendship, and Love!
'Tis your's to support what's so happily plann'd;
You've the Sanction of Gods, and the FIAT of JOVE.
While thus we agree
Our Toast let it be.
May our Club flourish happy, united and free!
And long may the Sons of ANACREON intwine<
The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS'S Vine.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Inhumanity is harmful to every age.
Ante Diem III KALENDAS MARTIAS
MMDCCLXI AUC
27 February 2008
Day of Mercury
Mercurius
Inhumanitas omni aetate molesta est.
Inhumanity is harmful to every age.
This one quote of Cicero continues to haunt my mind each time I read it and use it in a blog. I believe that his words are as vital and vibrant as they were two millennia ago. There is another quote from George Santayana from the early part of this past century that has had the same impact upon me.
Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense, Scribner's, 1905
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller (January 14, 1892 - March 6, 1984) was a prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor. He is best known as the author of the poem First they came....
Although he was a national conservative and initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler, he became one of the founders of the Confessing Church, which opposed the nazification of German Protestant churches. Despite his own anti-Semitic attitudes, he vehemently opposed the Nazis' Aryan Paragraph. For his opposition to the Nazi's state control of the churches, Niemöller was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945. He narrowly escaped execution and survived imprisonment. After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis. He turned away from his earlier anti-Semitic and nationalistic beliefs and was one of the initiators of the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt. Since the 1950s, he was a vocal pacifist and anti-war activist, and vice-chair of War Resisters' International from 1966 to 1972. He met with Ho Chi Minh during the Vietnam War and was a committed campaigner for nuclear disarmament.
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.
Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.
Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.
Als sie die Juden holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Jude.
Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
We live in an era where racial, religious, and political profiling is becoming too common place and individual rights and the dignity of humanity seem to have less importance and sanctity every day. We once had a Constitution in this country that guaranteed legal rights to citizens as well as anyone legally residing or traveling in the United States. When people speak of Rendition and Torture, it brings images to my mind of Hitler and National Socialism as well as Stalin and the Gulags of Soviet Communism. The tragic reality is that we are talking about the United States in the first decade of the twenty first century. Let us continue to remind ourselves of the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero and George Santayana.
Senex Magister
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Natura Ipsa Sapientem Locupletat.
Ante Diem IV KALENDAS MARTIAS
MMDCCLXI AUC
26 February 2008)
Endotercisus: Dies Fastus a.m., Dies Comitialis p.m.
Dies Martis
Originally, the last month of the year, February derives from 'februa" the instruments of purification that were used to propitiate the gods and prepare for Spring, which Varro indicates began on February 5.
NATURA IPSA SAPIENTEM LOCUPLETAT.
NATURE HERSELF MAKES THE WISE MAN RICH.
M. TVLLI CICERONIS DE FINIBVS BONORVM ET MALORVM
Cicero like Marcus Aurelius after him was a Stoic Philosopher, and he would have believed that the world was governed by law and reason. I suppose the question would be is what does Cicero mean when he says that "Nature herself will make a wise man rich"? Reason and Faith can become confused especially when they are misused in an attempt to keep us misinformed. Is my truth and reality simply a lie and a fantasy to someone else? I would never presume to be so dogmatic by maintaining that my view of the world is an absolute. Yet, when we see such glaring contradictions caused by 'Man' on this mater terra that we have been entrusted to care for. Have we addressed the social divide in this country that Katrina so clearly pointed out to us all?
Lest we forget!
The following appeared in the Washington Post this morning: NATO Confronts Surprisingly Fierce Taliban
In the year and a half since NATO took over southern Afghanistan from U.S. forces, its mission has changed dramatically. Dispatched to the region to maintain newly restored order and help local Afghans reconstruct their shattered communities, Dutch and other troops from the alliance now find themselves on the front lines of a renewed fight with a more cunning and aggressive Taliban.
More foreign soldiers and Afghan civilians died in Taliban-related fighting last year than in any year since U.S. and coalition forces ousted the extremist Islamic militia, which ruled most of the country, in 2001. Military officials here expect the coming year to be just as deadly, if not more so, as the Taliban becomes more adept militarily and more formidable in its deployment of suicide bombers and roadside explosives.
The Taliban's growing strength, which surprised Dutch forces here, helps explain why NATO members are reluctant to send more troops to an increasingly dangerous battlefield and have instead adopted a strategy based less on military force.
In his recent criticism of NATO's refusal to deploy more forces, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates accused the alliance of being ill-prepared for counterinsurgency operations. NATO countries, however, while not opposed to the war effort in Afghanistan, have always viewed the key to success as one that relied on giving Afghans new schools, health clinics and other elements of a sturdy civil society.
We left Afghanistan to fight an ill conceived and unjust war in Iraq with a callous disregard to the victims of 9/11. The Central point and message that is so critical at this juncture can be seen in this last paragraph.
"NATO countries have always viewed the key to success as one that relied on giving Afghans new schools, health clinics and other elements of a sturdy civil society."
If we would have had the wisdom to do exactly this when Soviet troops were driven out of Afghanistan, there very well may never have been a 9/11. Like Charlie Wilson said, "We know how to start the game, but just don't seem to be able to finish it".
Charlie Wilson and Changing the World
I have no answers but it would be nice to think that it is possible.
Senex Magister
It is past time to bring this war to an end and live as brothers in a world based on fairness for all of us.
Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism. ~Thomas Jefferson~
Bring Them Home
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Bring Them Home
Bring Them Home
It is Super Bowl Sunday which has become almost a National Holiday or at least Day of Celebration. It is a day that has become much more than just the culmination of the National Football League's hugely profitable season. Team owners whether they are winners or losers continue to profit from America's obsession with the NFL. I will also admit that I fall victim to the same obsession every year. Many of us will gather today in our homes with family or friends to enjoy pre-game activities and then the ever anticipated (?) 'What was I going to say here'? Is it the game or the ever growing cost of Super Bowl Commercial time for whatever product? I am not necessarily saying this is a bad thing, but it is an example and reminder of 'American Greed'.
There is another example and reminder of the same kind of greed and that is the profitability that many American Companies have found in Iraq. I have remained very curious about the meetings that the Vice President had with our critically important 'Energy Corporations' in the early moments of the Bush Administration. Yet, they were deemed so sensitive that the Cheney-Bush Administration classified the discussions of those meetings. I think each of us should be asking ourselves 'why' especially within the context of the growing profits of these companies and then the invasion of oil rich Iraq. We can be given many reasons why we went to war and allowed ourselves to become a debtor nation, but there is only one answer that comes close to a sufficiently honest answer and that again is 'American Greed'.
We have important primaries on Tuesday but then candidates of both parties have not given me a clear enough answer about 'WHEN WILL THEY BRING ALL OUR MEN AND WOMEN HOME'. The Republican simply want to continue the failed policies of George W. Bush while the Democrats talk about ending the war but they are very fuzzy about exactly when.
RON PAUL - JUST BRING THEM HOME
I am not a supporter of Ron Paul's political philosophy of no government, but this is a good clip. It not only shows the futility of this struggle but those who are bearing the emotional and physical cost of this war. If the War in Iraq were truly a National Struggle where the children and grandchildren of CEO's of American Corporations as well as members of Congress were being placed in Harm's Way, do you believe this war would continue or would we 'Bring Them Home'?
Barack Obama wins South Carolina primary: Portrait of Obama
This is a clip of Barack Obama addressing Veterans as well as issues of people who simply have no voice. It is not just a tragedy but an unconscionable disgrace that we have Homeless Veterans in 2008.
Iraq War Support Our Troops Stop All War Profiteering
HILLARY CLINTON @ DNC: "I'll End This War"
Hilary Clinton like many others voted to give George W. Bush the authority to use military force against Iraq in 2002. If we are going to be fair to the senator, we must remember that she was deceived by faulty intelligence like so many others did. It was a mistake but it was one that was based on a lie.
The Democratic Party is putting forth two excellent candidates that will bring a change and a new direction to government in Washington. One of the most important changes that either one will do for this nation is 'Bring Them Home'. The decision will be difficult but whomever you choose it must be for a candidate who will 'Bring Them Home'.
Senex Magister
It is past time to bring this war to an end and live as brothers in a world based on fairness for all of us.
~Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism. ~Thomas Jefferson~
Bring Them Home
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The Media or Fourth Estate
I was speaking this morning with a friend of forty five plus years and our conversation, as it quite often does, led to politics and the current presidential campaigns. Neither of us really disagrees with one another about the importance of change in the White House and electing a President who will lead this country away from the failed policies of George W. Bush. This is why we both agree in how important a Democratic Victory in November is so essential for this critical change to occur in Washington. This led into a discussion over the recent controversy between Obama and Clinton on race and gender but especially concerning race. The media or what we used to refer to as the Fourth Estate, I believe, has attempted from the onset to created an environment of confrontation and controversy between candidates over apparent personal disagreements having nothing to do with the important political issues of the day. I also think it is very unfair to even intimate that either Bill or Hilary Clinton have a racist bone in their bodies. What far too many of us are doing is allowing the media to turn brother against brother. I was as opposed to the Vietnam War as I am to the Iraq War and in that sense I am much closer to Barack Obama’s position on the Iraq War. I would have no difficulty in supporting either candidate for President except for one serious caveat. I would hope that either an African American or a woman could run and be elected President of the United States in 2008. However, I am sadly fearful that this nation has not yet overcome the sin of racism and bigotry that has plagued us for so many years and still contributes to the social divide that separates us one from another. I am also saddened by the role that the media is playing in perpetuating this divide within the United States.
Senex Magister
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Clinton, Obama, King and Johnson | PBS
I Have A Dream
Civil Rights Act of 1964
In an 11 June 1963 speech broadcast live on national television and radio, President John F. Kennedy unveiled plans to pursue a comprehensive civil rights bill in Congress, stating, ‘‘this nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free’’ (‘‘President Kennedy’s Radio-TV Address,’’ 970). King congratulated Kennedy on his speech, calling it ‘‘one of the most eloquent, profound and unequivocal pleas for justice and the freedom of all men ever made by any president’’ (King, 12 June 1963).
The earlier Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first law addressing the legal rights of African Americans passed by Congress since Reconstruction, had established the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to investigate claims of racial discrimination. Before the 1957 bill was passed Congress had, however, removed a provision that would have empowered the Justice Department to enforce the Brown v. Board of Education decision. A. Philip Randolph and other civil rights leaders continued to press the major political parties and presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy to enact such legislation and to outlaw segregation. The civil rights legislation that Kennedy introduced to Congress on 19 June 1963 addressed these issues, and King advocated for its passage.
In an article published after the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that posed the question, ‘‘what next?’’ King wrote, ‘‘the hundreds of thousands who marched in Washington marched to level barriers. They summed up everything in a word—NOW. What is the content of NOW? Everything, not some things, in the President’s civil rights bill is part of NOW’’ (King, ‘‘In a Word—Now’’).
Following Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, King continued to press for the bill as did newly inaugurated President Lyndon B. Johnson. In his 4 January 1964 column in the New York Amsterdam News, King maintained that the legislation was ‘‘the order of the day at the great March on Washington last summer. The Negro and his compatriots for self-respect and human dignity will not be denied’’ (King, ‘‘A Look to 1964’’).
The bill passed the House of Representatives in mid-February 1964, but became mired in the Senate due to a filibuster by southern senators that lasted 75 days. When the bill finally passed the Senate, King hailed it as one that would ‘‘bring practical relief to the Negro in the South, and will give the Negro in the North a psychological boost that he sorely needs’’ (King, 19 June 1964). On 2 July 1964, Johnson signed the new Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law with King and other civil rights leaders present. The law’s provisions created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to address race and sex discrimination in employment and a Community Relations Service to help local communities solve racial disputes; authorized federal intervention to ensure the desegregation of schools, parks, swimming pools, and other public facilities; and restricted the use of literacy tests as a requirement for voter registration.
Source: King Encyclopedia
Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908 – 1973)
President Johnson’s five years in office brought about critical civil rights legislation and innovative anti-poverty programs through his Great Society initiative, though his presidency was marred by mishandling of the war in Vietnam. Though Martin Luther King, Jr., called Johnson’s 1964 election “one of America’s finest hours,” and believed that Johnson had an “amazing understanding of the depth and dimension of the problem of racial injustice,” King’s outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War damaged his relationship with Johnson and brought an end to an alliance that had enabled major civil rights reforms in America (King, 4 November 1964; King, 6 March 1965).
Johnson was born in rural Texas on 27 August 1908. He graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1930 and briefly taught in Texas public schools before becoming secretary to a Texas congressman in Washington, D.C. In 1937, Johnson was elected to serve out the term of a Texas representative who had died in office. In 1948, he was elected a senator, becoming Democratic whip, then minority leader. In 1954, Johnson became the second youngest man ever to be named Senate majority leader. From this position of power, Johnson used his political leverage to engineer passage of the 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights Acts.
When John F. Kennedy secured the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1960, he surprisingly chose Johnson as his running mate, hoping the Texas senator would appeal to southern voters. Shortly after winning the election, Kennedy named Johnson chairman of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. With Johnson’s encouragement, on 11 June 1963, Kennedy framed civil rights in moral terms for the first time during a national address.
Following the assassination of President Kennedy on 22 November 1963, Johnson challenged Congress to pass the civil rights legislation that had been deadlocked at the time of Kennedy’s death. King publicly supported Johnson, saying that Johnson had taught him to recognize that there were “new white elements” in the South “whose love of their land was stronger than the grip of old habits and customs,” and expressed optimism that Johnson’s term would benefit African Americans (King, 1964).
On 2 July 1964 Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a far reaching bill he hoped would “eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in America” (Kenworthy, “President Signs Civil Rights Bill”). King stood behind Johnson as he signed the bill into law. A month later, they clashed over the recognition of delegates from the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) at the Democratic National Convention of 1964. MFDP sought recognition as the legitimate Democratic Party delegation from Mississippi instead of the all-white “regular” delegation. However, Johnson feared this change would cost him southern Democratic votes in the upcoming election against Republican Barry Goldwater, and recommended a compromise that King eventually supported.
Later that year, Johnson won a decisive victory in the 1964 election, garnering the widest popular margin in presidential history. King had campaigned actively for Johnson and welcomed the victory saying, “the forces of good will and progress have triumphed” (King, 4 November 1964). In the first months of Johnson’s elected term, King joined a voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama, where less than two percent of eligible black voters had been able to register to vote. The brutality of white law enforcement during the Selma to Montgomery March stirred Johnson to send a voting rights bill to Congress. When introducing the bill, Johnson reflected publicly on the poverty and racism he had encountered teaching high school to Mexican immigrant children in Texas. King called Johnson’s speech “one of the most eloquent, unequivocal, and passionate pleas for human rights ever made by the President of the United States” (King, 16 March 1965). Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law on 6 August.
During the first four years of Johnson’s tenure as president, he deflected the criticisms of King that were fed to him almost daily by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover, who nursed personal animosity toward King. Johnson saw King as a natural ally for his civil rights agenda, soliciting King’s advice on civil rights matters, and collaborating on tactics for pushing legislation through Congress. This relationship, coupled with Johnson’s civil rights record, made King initially hesitant to speak out against his administration’s policies in Vietnam. When asked his opinion by journalists in March 1965, King cautiously stated that he was “sympathetic” to Johnson’s predicament, but that he himself did not believe that “violence can solve the problem” (King, 6 March 1965). In late 1966, King’s last phone call to Johnson was to discuss Vietnam.
In the months that followed, Johnson attempted to meet with King on two occasions, but King canceled both engagements. Johnson was bewildered and asked his aides to find out why King was avoiding him. On 4 April 1967, the answer was revealed to Johnson in a speech, “Beyond Vietnam, “that King delivered at New York’s Riverside Church in conjunction with Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. In his speech, King said that he was moved to “break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart” against the war in Vietnam, and in a devastating indictment of Johnson’s policies, King called the United States government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” (King, “Beyond Vietnam,” 141; 143). Shocked by King’s address and feeling personally betrayed, Johnson caved in to Hoover’s pressure and asked his press secretary to distribute the FBI’s information about King’s ties with alleged communist Stanley Levison to reliable reporters.
Beyond Vietnam
A year later, a press conference for the Poor People’s Campaign, King announced that he would not support Johnson in the 1968 presidential election. “I was a strong supporter,” King recalled. “I voted for President Johnson and saw great hope there, and I’m very sorry and very sad about the course of action that has followed” (King, 26 March 1968). On 31 March 1968, Johnson shocked the nation by declaring that he would not seek reelection, and pledged that he would spend the remainder of his term seeking “an honorable peace” in Vietnam (“Transcript”).
Four days later, on 4 April 1968, King was assassinated. Johnson wrote in his memoir that he had rarely felt a “sense of powerlessness more acutely than the day Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed” (Johnson, 173). Less than a week later, Johnson invoked King’s memory when he signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Among other provisions, the bill barred discrimination in federally funded housing and created new penalties for threatening or injuring persons exercising their civil rights. In his final year as president, Johnson halted bombing in North Vietnam and pressed for peace talks. He would not, however, live to see peace in Vietnam; he died of a heart attack at his Texas ranch on 22 January 1973.
Source: King Encyclopedia
It is past time to bring this war to an end and live as brothers in a world based on fairness for all of us.
Senex Magister
BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Clinton, Obama, King and Johnson | PBS
I Have A Dream
Civil Rights Act of 1964
In an 11 June 1963 speech broadcast live on national television and radio, President John F. Kennedy unveiled plans to pursue a comprehensive civil rights bill in Congress, stating, ‘‘this nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free’’ (‘‘President Kennedy’s Radio-TV Address,’’ 970). King congratulated Kennedy on his speech, calling it ‘‘one of the most eloquent, profound and unequivocal pleas for justice and the freedom of all men ever made by any president’’ (King, 12 June 1963).
The earlier Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first law addressing the legal rights of African Americans passed by Congress since Reconstruction, had established the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to investigate claims of racial discrimination. Before the 1957 bill was passed Congress had, however, removed a provision that would have empowered the Justice Department to enforce the Brown v. Board of Education decision. A. Philip Randolph and other civil rights leaders continued to press the major political parties and presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy to enact such legislation and to outlaw segregation. The civil rights legislation that Kennedy introduced to Congress on 19 June 1963 addressed these issues, and King advocated for its passage.
In an article published after the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that posed the question, ‘‘what next?’’ King wrote, ‘‘the hundreds of thousands who marched in Washington marched to level barriers. They summed up everything in a word—NOW. What is the content of NOW? Everything, not some things, in the President’s civil rights bill is part of NOW’’ (King, ‘‘In a Word—Now’’).
Following Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, King continued to press for the bill as did newly inaugurated President Lyndon B. Johnson. In his 4 January 1964 column in the New York Amsterdam News, King maintained that the legislation was ‘‘the order of the day at the great March on Washington last summer. The Negro and his compatriots for self-respect and human dignity will not be denied’’ (King, ‘‘A Look to 1964’’).
The bill passed the House of Representatives in mid-February 1964, but became mired in the Senate due to a filibuster by southern senators that lasted 75 days. When the bill finally passed the Senate, King hailed it as one that would ‘‘bring practical relief to the Negro in the South, and will give the Negro in the North a psychological boost that he sorely needs’’ (King, 19 June 1964). On 2 July 1964, Johnson signed the new Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law with King and other civil rights leaders present. The law’s provisions created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to address race and sex discrimination in employment and a Community Relations Service to help local communities solve racial disputes; authorized federal intervention to ensure the desegregation of schools, parks, swimming pools, and other public facilities; and restricted the use of literacy tests as a requirement for voter registration.
Source: King Encyclopedia
Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908 – 1973)
President Johnson’s five years in office brought about critical civil rights legislation and innovative anti-poverty programs through his Great Society initiative, though his presidency was marred by mishandling of the war in Vietnam. Though Martin Luther King, Jr., called Johnson’s 1964 election “one of America’s finest hours,” and believed that Johnson had an “amazing understanding of the depth and dimension of the problem of racial injustice,” King’s outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War damaged his relationship with Johnson and brought an end to an alliance that had enabled major civil rights reforms in America (King, 4 November 1964; King, 6 March 1965).
Johnson was born in rural Texas on 27 August 1908. He graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1930 and briefly taught in Texas public schools before becoming secretary to a Texas congressman in Washington, D.C. In 1937, Johnson was elected to serve out the term of a Texas representative who had died in office. In 1948, he was elected a senator, becoming Democratic whip, then minority leader. In 1954, Johnson became the second youngest man ever to be named Senate majority leader. From this position of power, Johnson used his political leverage to engineer passage of the 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights Acts.
When John F. Kennedy secured the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1960, he surprisingly chose Johnson as his running mate, hoping the Texas senator would appeal to southern voters. Shortly after winning the election, Kennedy named Johnson chairman of the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. With Johnson’s encouragement, on 11 June 1963, Kennedy framed civil rights in moral terms for the first time during a national address.
Following the assassination of President Kennedy on 22 November 1963, Johnson challenged Congress to pass the civil rights legislation that had been deadlocked at the time of Kennedy’s death. King publicly supported Johnson, saying that Johnson had taught him to recognize that there were “new white elements” in the South “whose love of their land was stronger than the grip of old habits and customs,” and expressed optimism that Johnson’s term would benefit African Americans (King, 1964).
On 2 July 1964 Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a far reaching bill he hoped would “eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in America” (Kenworthy, “President Signs Civil Rights Bill”). King stood behind Johnson as he signed the bill into law. A month later, they clashed over the recognition of delegates from the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) at the Democratic National Convention of 1964. MFDP sought recognition as the legitimate Democratic Party delegation from Mississippi instead of the all-white “regular” delegation. However, Johnson feared this change would cost him southern Democratic votes in the upcoming election against Republican Barry Goldwater, and recommended a compromise that King eventually supported.
Later that year, Johnson won a decisive victory in the 1964 election, garnering the widest popular margin in presidential history. King had campaigned actively for Johnson and welcomed the victory saying, “the forces of good will and progress have triumphed” (King, 4 November 1964). In the first months of Johnson’s elected term, King joined a voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama, where less than two percent of eligible black voters had been able to register to vote. The brutality of white law enforcement during the Selma to Montgomery March stirred Johnson to send a voting rights bill to Congress. When introducing the bill, Johnson reflected publicly on the poverty and racism he had encountered teaching high school to Mexican immigrant children in Texas. King called Johnson’s speech “one of the most eloquent, unequivocal, and passionate pleas for human rights ever made by the President of the United States” (King, 16 March 1965). Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law on 6 August.
During the first four years of Johnson’s tenure as president, he deflected the criticisms of King that were fed to him almost daily by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover, who nursed personal animosity toward King. Johnson saw King as a natural ally for his civil rights agenda, soliciting King’s advice on civil rights matters, and collaborating on tactics for pushing legislation through Congress. This relationship, coupled with Johnson’s civil rights record, made King initially hesitant to speak out against his administration’s policies in Vietnam. When asked his opinion by journalists in March 1965, King cautiously stated that he was “sympathetic” to Johnson’s predicament, but that he himself did not believe that “violence can solve the problem” (King, 6 March 1965). In late 1966, King’s last phone call to Johnson was to discuss Vietnam.
In the months that followed, Johnson attempted to meet with King on two occasions, but King canceled both engagements. Johnson was bewildered and asked his aides to find out why King was avoiding him. On 4 April 1967, the answer was revealed to Johnson in a speech, “Beyond Vietnam, “that King delivered at New York’s Riverside Church in conjunction with Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. In his speech, King said that he was moved to “break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart” against the war in Vietnam, and in a devastating indictment of Johnson’s policies, King called the United States government “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today” (King, “Beyond Vietnam,” 141; 143). Shocked by King’s address and feeling personally betrayed, Johnson caved in to Hoover’s pressure and asked his press secretary to distribute the FBI’s information about King’s ties with alleged communist Stanley Levison to reliable reporters.
Beyond Vietnam
A year later, a press conference for the Poor People’s Campaign, King announced that he would not support Johnson in the 1968 presidential election. “I was a strong supporter,” King recalled. “I voted for President Johnson and saw great hope there, and I’m very sorry and very sad about the course of action that has followed” (King, 26 March 1968). On 31 March 1968, Johnson shocked the nation by declaring that he would not seek reelection, and pledged that he would spend the remainder of his term seeking “an honorable peace” in Vietnam (“Transcript”).
Four days later, on 4 April 1968, King was assassinated. Johnson wrote in his memoir that he had rarely felt a “sense of powerlessness more acutely than the day Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed” (Johnson, 173). Less than a week later, Johnson invoked King’s memory when he signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Among other provisions, the bill barred discrimination in federally funded housing and created new penalties for threatening or injuring persons exercising their civil rights. In his final year as president, Johnson halted bombing in North Vietnam and pressed for peace talks. He would not, however, live to see peace in Vietnam; he died of a heart attack at his Texas ranch on 22 January 1973.
Source: King Encyclopedia
It is past time to bring this war to an end and live as brothers in a world based on fairness for all of us.
~Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism. ~Thomas Jefferson~
Bring Them Home
Friday, February 1, 2008
Our Government Has Become Extra Legal
EXTRA LEGAL: What the hooch could that mean. For us who make up the simple citizenry of this great nation it means beyond or outside of the law. What happens to the simple citizens of the US who believe that they can live beyond or out side of the law? They go to jail! However, and I want you to think about this seriously, what happens when it is the President who is EXTRA LEGAL?
Senex Magister
Sunday, January 27, 2008
What Are Your Priorities?
How would you prioritize issues facing this country as we move through our political process in selecting nominees for the Presidency of the United States? This is my list which could be altered, added to, subtracted from, and even ignored depending on what you believe is the legitimate and appropriate role of government in a society such as ours.
Iraq War Central Issue in 2008
Immigration and Guest Worker Programs
Racial/Social Divide in 2008
American Companies Outsourcing Jobs
The Role of Religion in a Multicultural Society
Stem Cell Research
Fiscal Responsibility and the Size of Government
Taxes: Who Should Pay and Why
Partisanship and Issues
The Gender Gap in Presidential Nominations
Abortion and Anti-Abortion Politics
These issues have become confused and clouded over the last seven years since we have had a President and an Administration that has rejected the fundamental principle of Constitutional Law and Individual Rights in their pursuit and acquisition of power on a scale unseen in our history. I believe that change as well as experience are important qualities to look for in a presidential nominee, but they are not exclusive qualifications to reject someone as a possible nominee.
I have two role models when it comes to political theory. They are John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. John Locke in his Two Treatises of Government stated that Man in his original state was happy and had the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. In order to protect these rights, Man entered into a social contract to create government, and grant limited power. If government which was part of the contract failed to protect these natural rights or exceeded its authority, Man has the right to alter or change it. Thus John Locke became the intellectual justification for the Glorious Revolution. The American Declaration of Independence was written chiefly by Thomas Jefferson reflecting his thinking based on John Locke in a slightly altered form. Jefferson said that all men are created equal" and "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Jefferson said to secure these rights that governments are instituted among men, "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed". He further said that "Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government. However, "government long established should not be changed for light and transient causes." These men articulated what has become known as the Contract Theory of Government which in recent years, I believe, we have lost as a reality in our own government. Let me put it more simply. Both men believed that government existed with one sole role and that was to serve the people by guaranteeing and protecting their natural rights.
John Locke
Thomas Jefferson
Barack Obama won a significant victory yesterday in the South Carolina Democratic Primary. It is becoming more evident every day that either Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton will eventually become the nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2008 Election. Yet, this divisive rhetoric that has emerged over race and gender that is underscored by political confrontation and not issue focused debate is harmful to everyone who desires to see a new direction for this nation. I also believe that this divisiveness is being fueled by the news media in their constant need to create some kind of controversy that can leave the public misinformed over critical issues of the day.
We are faced with many problems in this country of which most, I believe, can find their origin in this ill conceived and unjustified war in Iraq. If it becomes a victory for Al Qaeda, the responsibility lays with our current president who fought the wrong war in the wrong place. It cannot and should not be used to justify a continued US military presence in Iraq. This has become a partisan issue when the Republican leadership simply ignores the fact that fifty nine percent of the American People believe that the War in Iraq "Was Not Worth It".
Senex Magister
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Masters of Rome
The First Man in Rome is the first historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.
The novel includes most of the major historical figures of the late Roman Republic, including: Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, as well as Gaius Julius Caesar (grandfather of Julius Caesar), Julia, Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, Publius Rutilius Rufus and Lucius Appuleius Saturninus.
The main plot of the novel is generally concerned with the rise of Marius, his marriage to Julia, his success in replacing Metellus as general in charge of the Numidian theatre of war, his defeat of King Jugurtha of Numidia, his re-organization of the Roman Army system, his unprecedented consecutive consulships, his defeat of a massive invasion of German tribes (the Teutones, the Cimbri and the Marcomanni/Cherusci/Tigurini), and the details of his relationship with his subordinate and close friend Sulla.
However, though Marius can be considered the main protagonist, Sulla occasionally becomes the central figure of the narrative; there are several lengthy sections dealing with his plot to murder the two wealthy women with whom he lives, his use of the newfound wealth in establishing himself politically, his homosexual relationship with the Greek child-actor Metrobius, and his marriage to the (fictional) younger daughter of 'Julius Caesar Grandfather', Julilla.
The novel closes with the rise and fall of the demagogue Saturninus. After fighting many battles together, there is some reason for Marius and Sulla to hope that Rome will be at peace.
The Grass Crown is the second historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.
The novel opens shortly after the action of The First Man in Rome. Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla eat dinner together with their wives, and discuss the threat presented by Mithridates VI of Pontus and Tigranes II of Armenia.
Though these two powerful Eastern rulers would eventually declare war on Rome, and slaughter thousands of Roman citizens, the plot of the novel centres on the Social War of 91 to 88 BC, a civil war which Rome fought against its mutinous Italian Allies after they were refused full Roman citizenship. (The lengthy section dealing with Marcus Livius Drusus' attempt to secure them the citizenship, which ends in his tragic assassination, is one of the main turning points in the entire series.)
Marius and Sulla, still friends and professional colleagues, face the Italian threat together, and succeed in putting down the rebellion of the Italians. During this struggle, Sulla, rallying his troops against certain destruction near Nola, is hailed as 'imperator' on the field of battle and presented with the highest honour a Roman general can receive: the corona graminea, the eponymous 'Grass Crown'. This was only awarded a very few times during the Republic, and only ever to a general or commander who broke the blockade around a beleaguered Roman army or otherwise saved an entire legion or army from annihilation.
However, once Rome has settled this pressing domestic matter, and can begin to plot revenge against Mithridates and Tigranes, Marius and Sulla have their first serious falling out over the question of who should lead the legions East. Marius, now an aged statesman dubbed the 'Third Founder of Rome', is pining for further glory and believes only he has the talent necessary to defeat the allied Kings. Sulla, of course, feels as though his old mentor is unwilling to step aside and wants to destroy his chance of ever outshining him. The seeds of serious discord are planted.
The commission quickly becomes a source of political conflict between the two men, and leads to Sulla's first shocking march on Rome. It also leads Gaius Marius to pursue an unheard of seventh consulship, which he wins and undertakes after suffering a series of strokes, and perhaps going mad.
Other narrative threads of note: the childhood of Julius Caesar and Cato the Younger, as well as the early military careers of Pompey and Cicero (who was appointed to Pompeius Strabo as a cadet) in the Social War.
Fortune's Favorites is the third historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.
The novel opens with Lucius Cornelius Sulla's return from the East, his rise to the Dictatorship, and his proscriptions against those who formed an antagonistic government under Marius (now dead) while he was away.
While Sulla's shadow covers the majority of the rest of the book -- his physical deformity, after his pale skin is all but destroyed by intense sun exposure, is always contrasted with his near-absolute political power -- after his willing resignation of power, retirement to a pleasure villa and dramatic death, three young men of the next generation begin to vie to become the Masters of Rome in their own right: Pompey the Great's youthful campaigns and his fierce battle against the Roman renegade Quintus Sertorius are narrated, as are Marcus Licinius Crassus' struggle against Spartacus, and the youthful adventures of Julius Caesar.
The novel culminates with halcyon year of Pompey and Crassus' first joint consulship.
The book's title is a reference to an often repeated theme in the series, and expresses the Roman belief that Fortuna, the Goddess of Luck, would take a hand in the lives of those who please her, helping them along when they most needed it.
Caesar's Women is the fourth historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, published on 21 March 1996.
The novel is set during a ten-year interval, from 68-58 BC, which Julius Caesar spent mainly in Rome, climbing the political ladder and outmaneuvering his many enemies. It opens with Caesar returning early from his quaestorship in Spain, and closes with his epochal departure for the Gallic campaigns.
Some of the pivotal moments include: Caesar's marriage to Pompeia; his curule aedileship; his narrow election as Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC; his praetorship in 62 BC; his divorce from Pompeia; his governorship of Further Spain; the first time he was hailed imperator on the field by his troops (for which success he could have secured a triumphal parade, but was blocked from doing so by Marcus Porcius Cato); the creation of the First Triumvirate, which Caesar formed with Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in 60 BC; his betrothal of his daughter Julia to Pompey; his marriage to Calpurnia; and his first consulship, in 59 BC.
Despite the title, very little of the action has to do with the women in Caesar's life. Certainly, his divorce and re-marriage come into play, as does his daughter's marriage, his lengthy affair with Servilia and his close relationship with his mother, Aurelia. However, most of the plot is concerned with the political struggles of Caesar's rise to power, his conflict with the conservative 'boni' faction, and his election to each post on the Roman ladder of government.
Caesar is the fifth historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.
The novel opens in 54 BC, with Caesar in the middle of his epochal Gallic campaigns, having just invaded Britannia. The first half of the novel deals broadly with the conclusion of his conquests in Gaul, and the second half narrates the growing sense of unease in Rome concerning Caesar's intentions, the antagonism of the conservative 'boni' faction towards him, his crossing of the Rubicon, his invasion of Italy and his victory in the Civil War.
Some of the pivotal moments include: Caesar's return from Britannia; his narrow escape during the battle of Gergovia; his great victory at Alesia, which involved the complete circumvallation of the citadel, the repulse of a relief force, and the acceptance of the surrender of Vercingetorix; his final destruction of the Gallic resistance at Uxellodunum; the death of Julia and Marcus Licinius Crassus; his falling out with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and the final collapse of the First Triumvirate system; his failed negotiations concerning his re-election as consul; the opening of the Civil War; the Battle of Dyrrhachium and the Battle of Pharsalus; the flight of Pompey to Ptolemaic Egypt and his assassination there; and the scattering of the 'boni' leadership.
When the book ends, Caesar has become the undisputed ruler of the Roman World, and he is facing the temptation of kingship.
The October Horse is the sixth novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.
The October Horse begins with Gaius Julius Caesar's Egyptian campaign in Alexandria, his final battles with the Republicans led by Metellus Scipio, Cato the Younger, Titus Labienus and the Brothers Pompeius in Africa and Spain, and ultimately Caesar's assassination on the Ides Of March by Marcus Brutus, Gaius Cassius and the Liberators. The latter stages of The October Horse chronicles the death of Cicero, the emergence of Octavian and his battles with Mark Anthony then concluding with the Battle of Phillipi.
Explanation of the novel's title
The title of the book, The October Horse comes from the chariot race in Rome on the Ides of October, where the right-hand horse of the winning team was sacrificed to the Roman gods, before two teams, one each from The Subura and The Via Sacra competed for the Horse's head. Julius Caesar, literally the best war horse in Rome, represents The October Horse in this novel.
Antony and Cleopatra is the seventh and final novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.
It has just been released in December 2007 just in time for holiday shopping.
Review
"A sprawling, captivating saga.... The tragic denouement is, in McCullough's capable hands, no less compelling for being so well known. As with the previous volumes in the series, the author's scholarship and larger-than-life characters bring a tempestuous Rome to life."
-- Publishers Weekly
Each book is a wonderful read as well as being excellent historical novels. You will actually learn some real Roman History unlike the questionable presentation in HBO's Rome.
Senex Magister
Friday, January 11, 2008
This and That and a Little of Me
MMDCCLXI AUC
(11 January 2008)
Today, the Flamen Carmentalis, assisted by the Pontifices, offers sacrifice at the shrine of Carmenta, which stays next to the Porta Carmentalis near
the Capitol. The two days of the Carmentalia are separated by an impair number of days (the second day is on January 15), which is especially pleasing to the Gods.
I borrowed the following from Bob Patrick's Latin Proverbs.
Dum bibimus, dum serta, unguenta, puellas poscimus, obrepit non intellecta senectus.
While we are drinking and demanding garlands, oil and girls, old age sneaks up on us unknown to us.
Juvenal, Satires, 9:128-9
Another way of putting this might be as a statement: When we wake up one morning and discover that old age has definitely arrived (however one determines that) what do we want to look back over our shoulders and see?
The best answer to that (only fools try to answer this question for others-so call me a fool) may be that we are utterly unattached to the past, and that we are fully at peace to have arrived at old age.
It still leaves ME asking for myself: am I living today in a way that I can let today go when today is over, and not regret it tomorrow? If so, old age, when it arrives (I'm sure that aging is happening, but not ready to call myself "in" old age) will be just like another day.
That would be nice.
Bob
Regret, I feel, is a wasted state of mind but it is an emotion that sadly is far too easy to become its victim. I disagree with the idea that 'we are utterly unattached to the past' because I do believe that life is a process through which many factors and experiences have had an impact upon whom we are today. I am not a sociologist or a psychologist but I do know that certain events and individuals have influenced the direction of my life. I came from a family that taught me that the greatest good which one can experience occurs in service for others. I had a professor in college who became both mentor and friend to me, and he opened my mind to a world of words and language and people and the diversity of their cultures. He taught me the joy and learning that can be derived from studying Latin Literature. This man was largely responsible for what became the reality of my adult life which was teaching Latin for twenty six years in a Virginia high school. The murders of John Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy in my adolescent youth as well as the Vietnam War and President Bush's War in Iraq have had a profound impact upon my World View and the role the US should play in it. One of the most defining moments in my life came in the summer of 2000 when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of fifty one. I think I live a life more of Thanksgiving than of Regret. It is difficult though to let loose of that anger when chronic illness takes away your ability of being a self sufficient and independent person.
I have two poems that I have posted before but I think they are still important and I hope you take the time to read them and consider the emotion that brought them into being.
Forgotten Yesterdays
A yesterday can never be forgotten though
it maybe shrouded in the mist of time and space.
Memories are spiritual dreams that can speak
to us a reality that no veil can conceal from our mind.
Yesterday I met a friend in class and who would ever know that
forty two years and beyond we still knew what a friend really means.
Riding bikes, Chevrolets, Movies and Drive - In cruising we shared.
Innocence born of ignorance haunted us then and it can still delude the mind.
Yesterday I kissed the sweetest lips and realized that my innocence
had come to lift me into a realm that I never knew or believed could be.
Where was the oracle to enlighten my psyche of everything to come and
to prepare me for the joys as well as the heart aches to come.
Yesterday my mother told me not to play with guns because whether
it may be a toy or something more lethal - it will only leave the image of death.
Then Uncle Sam came and told Joey down the street it was time to
answer freedom's call while I studied Latin in the hallowed halls of academia.
Yesterday my mother called to say that Joey died in place called Khe Sanh.
I wept for a friend not just for his death but a government that allowed
him to die and me to live. Where is the nobility when such injustice reigns?
Still to this day I look for answers when the old send the young to die.
Yesterday I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and looked into my
wife's eyes and asked her to explain why me and why now.
She had no answers because there are none but she told me to remember that I
will have many tomorrows where others only have yesterdays from a past that is no more.
© Senex Magister
It Is Hard For Me To Think
It is hard for me to think
Without the thought of another.
It is hard for me to see
Without her eyes to guide.
It is hard for me to feel
Without the tenderness of her touch.
It is hard for me to believe
Without the consciousness of her heart.
When I was young and whole,
She taught me how to smile and laugh.
When my hand moved where they shouldn't be,
She smiled with a gleam that brings sweetness to one's heart.
When I asked her to speak and tell me the truth,
She opened my heart to something new.
When I was alone and knew not what to do,
She came into my heart and filled it with joy.
I live a life now that is broken in body, but
Her love is pure and clean.
I know of sorrow and grief of what can not be, but
Her breath and smell brings hope to one's soul.
I cry and complain with a heart so torn, but
Her presence show me God's grace and love.
I moan and sigh with the pleasure of youth because
Her beauty and softness keeps me whole.
Who do I speak of when my dreams do not know?
She is the spirit that gives life and love.
Who do I speak of when I can not see or hear?
She is my friend who holds me close and dear.
Who do I speak of when I am sick and hurt?
She is my soul mate who cares for me and keeps me sane.
Who do I speak of when I feel lost to the world?
She is my wife whose selflessness has always shown me the way.
©Senex Magister
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