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Obama rises from political obscurity to verge of history.
2008-05-15 00:00:00
Lost in all the drama between Hillary and Obama in this race to the finish is the historic precedence set by both candidates. Since it's basically a done deal that Barack will be the Democratic nominee, the Associated Press ran an article this past weekend that really captured the historic rise of his candidacy: The amazement was on their faces. Hundreds waited for Barack Obama on that evening in South Carolina, 15 weeks ago, to claim victory - a surprising victory, surprisingly large. And amazing it was. It made it possible for him to stand today on the verge of being the first black person ever nominated for president by a major party. One could guess the thoughts of the blacks and whites in that crowd: Can you believe that our state - South Carolina, first to secede and first to open fire in the Civil War - is now catapulting a black man to the front of the presidential contest in a year that bodes well for Democrats? "Race doesn't matter," some began to chant. "Race doesn...
More About: Political

Why Barack Obama chose Reverend Wright's church.
2008-05-01 00:00:00
With all the hub-bub about how the Reverend Wright's "Paster-Disaster" will impact the Obama campaign, there is an interesting article over at The New Republic's website which shines some light on Obama's relationship with the the outspoken Wright: But more than that, Wright's church, Trinity, and its less doctrinal approach to the Bible intrigued and attracted Obama. "Faith to him is how he sees the human condition," Wright said. "Faith to him is not . . . litmus test, mouth-spouting, quoting Scripture. It's what you do with your life, how you live your life. That's far more important than beating someone over the head with Scripture that says women shouldn't wear pants or if you drink, you're going to hell. That's just not who Barack is." Wright's ministry was indeed an activist one which espoused views anathema to most of the other black ministries in Chicago: Wright remains a maverick among Chicago's vast assortment of black preachers. He will question Scripture wh...
More About: Church , Barack Obama

63% of Americans still think Iraq war a mistake.
2008-04-29 00:00:00
At an all-time high, a new Gallup poll tracks the American public's discontent with this war in Iraq : A new USA Today/Gallup poll found that 63 percent of Americans say "the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, a new high mark by one percentage point." Gallup notes that "majority opposition to the Iraq war is basically cemented." Gallup adds, "The new high in Iraq war opposition is also notable because it is the highest 'mistake' percentage Gallup has ever measured for an active war involving the United States -- surpassing by two points the 61% who said the Vietnam War was a mistake in May 1971." Finally, By now, public opposition to the war is pretty well-established. Gallup has found at least half of Americans calling the war a mistake in all but one survey since December 2005. The average percentage saying the war is a mistake has increased every year of the conflict, and is nearly twice as high thus far in 2008 (the sixth year of the conflict) as it was ...
More About: Iraq War

The Pentagon's massive Iraq war propaganda machine.
2008-04-23 00:00:00
There is an extensive story in the NY Times today about the massive propaganda machine set up by the Pentagon to sell the Iraq war to the American public: Five years into the Iraq war, most details of the architecture and execution of the Pentagon's campaign have never been disclosed. But The Times successfully sued the Defense Department to gain access to 8,000 pages of e-mail messages, transcripts and records describing years of private briefings, trips to Iraq and Guantanamo and an extensive Pentagon talking points operation. These records reveal a symbiotic relationship where the usual dividing lines between government and journalism have been obliterated. Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates" who could be counted on to deliver administration "themes and messages" to millions of Americans "in the form of their own opinions." Over time, the Pentagon recruited more than 75 retired officers, althoug...
More About: Iraq War , Machine , Propaganda

Your Modern Republican Party
2008-04-15 00:00:00
Geoff Davis, Republican from Kentucky, compared Obama to a "snake oil salesman," who said recently that he participated, along with Obama, in a "highly classified, national security simulation": "I'm going to tell you something: That boy's finger does not need to be on the button," Davis said. "He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country." Yup...he really said "that boy." Incredible. Then there was this, from the Minority Leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, speaking of Hillary Clinton: "I hear she hasn't been this worried since a new Hooters opened" near her home with former President Bill Clinton, McConnell said, prompting laughs from the 400 Northern Kentucky Republicans. Ladies and Gentlemen: Your Modern -day Republican Party !
More About: Republican Party

Dr. Martin Luther King assasinated 40 years ago.
2008-04-07 00:00:00
A few days ago (April 4th) marked the 40th anniversary of the death of the great civil rights crusader, Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr., one of the greatest Americans of all time, up there with Washington and Lincoln and FDR, for sure. He would have been 79 this year, and the world continues to mourn this giant. How sad it is, indeed, that he's not still with us. The last speech he gave, in Memphis, TN, on the night before his murder was entitled, "I've Been to the Mountaintop." According to Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta and aid to King at that time, Dr. King had given this speech a few times before, always in the most tense and dangerous moments of the non-violent civil rights movement. At the time in early April, 1968, there were ominous signs that King's life was in danger. In fact, the FBI had been secretly taping him and following him for some time, and his aids were worried. He had just come back to march the next day in support of the Memphis garbage workers who were ...
More About: Years

Brzezinski on withdraw from Iraq
2008-04-04 00:00:00
The Smart Way Out of a Foolish War Yet again, Zbigniew Brzezinski lays it out clear as can be why we need to get out of Iraq : If the American people had been asked more than five years ago whether Bush's obsession with the removal of Saddam Hussein was worth 4,000 American lives, almost 30,000 wounded Americans and several trillion dollars -- not to mention the less precisely measurable damage to the United States' world-wide credibility, legitimacy and moral standing -- the answer almost certainly would have been an unequivocal "no." Nor do the costs of this fiasco end there. The war has inflamed anti-American passions in the Middle East and South Asia while fragmenting Iraqi society and increasing the influence of Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent visit to Baghdad offers ample testimony that even the U.S.-installed government in Iraq is becoming susceptible to Iranian blandishments. In brief, the war has become a national tragedy, an economic catastrophe, ...

Obama's historic speech...resonating now and into the future.
2008-03-27 05:51:00
Barack Obama's historic speech last week on the state of race relations (transcript here) was certainly instigated by the political costs inflicted on his campaign by the Reverend Wright controversy, but it will no doubt go down as one of the most important of our generation. Written by Obama himself and delivered in a measured tone using - aghast! - compound sentences, sections will be read in history classes for generations to come, standing toe to toe with Kennedy's speech on religion. He began: I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners ...
More About: Future , The Future , Historic , Speech

Pentagon finds no link between al Qaeda & Saddam Hussein...then tries to hi
2008-03-27 00:00:00
This story came out last week and is truly a pathetic attempt at censorship by our government: The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention. This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report's release and will no longer make the report available online. The report was to be posted on the Joint Forces Command website this afternoon, followed by a background briefing with the authors. No more. The report will be made available only to those who ask for it, and it will be sent via U.S. mail from Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. It won't be emailed to reporters and it won't be posted online. One Pentagon spokesman's excuse for not putting it up on the website, as originally planned, was that initial press reports made it too "politically sensitive." Well, no duh! And yet the report, who's executive summary can be...
More About: Link , Al Qaeda

Bush cements legacy: The U.S. Officially Tortures
2008-03-11 00:00:00
Our president has completely blackened our image with his most recent veto of a bill that explicitly prohibited our nation from waterboarding and other torture methods. He basically said that he didn't want to hold the C.I.A. and all the...
More About: Bush , Legacy

Iran and Iraq are buddy/buddies
2008-03-03 00:25:00
Stunning: Pomp and ceremony greeted Iran ian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his arrival in Iraq on Sunday, the fanfare a stark contrast to the rushed and secretive visits of his bitter rival U.S. President George W. Bush. Ahmadinejad held hands with...
More About: Buddy

Saudi men arrested for flirting...yes, flirting.
2008-02-24 00:00:00
Wake up America! This is what our "ally" stands for? Prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have begun investigating 57 young men who were arrested on Thursday for flirting with girls at shopping centres in Mecca. The men are accused of wearing...
More About: Arrested , Flirting

Barbara Ehrenreich on Obama
2008-02-15 02:46:00
From The Huffington Post: Obama is different, really different, and that in itself represents "change." A Kenyan-Kansan with roots in Indonesia and multiracial Hawaii, he seems to be the perfect answer to the bumper sticker that says, "I love you...
More About: Barbara

Army Buried Study Faulting Iraq Planning
2008-02-13 00:00:00
From the, "no duh," column, comes this: After 18 months of research, RAND submitted a report in the summer of 2005 called "Rebuilding Iraq ." RAND researchers provided an unclassified version of the report along with a secret one, hoping that...
More About: Study , Planning , Army

Super Tuesday
2008-02-05 15:43:00
Big day in the primary races. It's Super Tuesday ! Get out and vote vote vote!! ...especially for Barack Obama... Read Toni Morrison's incredibly eloquent endorsement of Obama: In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned myself when...
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Bush's Lies...over and over and over and over....
2008-01-24 03:40:00
Ever wonder exactly how many lies were thrown about leading up to the invasion of Iraq? Well, a new report on the website of The Center for Public Integrity has compiled them all in a searchable database and clear presentation:...
More About: Lies

Experience and the Race to the White House
2008-01-22 00:00:00
Nick Kristoff at the NY Times has an interesting column out where he details the role of experience in picking our president since 1900. Which president does this describe? With all the sniping from the Clinton camp about whether Barack...
More About: House , White House , White , Race , Experience

Benazir Bhutto...R.I.P.
2007-12-30 00:00:00
It's so hard to believe that the first woman leader of a Muslim country was murdered...especially as she was set to make a comeback in Pakistan. She was first elected Prime Minister back in 1988 at age 35, and although...
More About: Benazir , Benazir Bhutto , Bhutto , Hutto

Big Media Consolidation, Part II
2007-12-21 00:00:00
Back in 2003, the FCC, under the Bush Administration, voted to alter the rules of media consolidation making it easier for the largest companies to swallow-up smaller competition: Citing a need to update the decades-old rules to reflect new sources...
More About: Media , Big Media , Part , Dati , Soli

Did an Iranian Spy Clear Tehran of Nuclear Ambitions?
2007-12-06 00:00:00
Juan Cole's got the fascinating story: A prominent Iran specialist is suggesting on a private email list that very likely, it is explained by one name: Ali Reza Asghari. Asghari had been head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon...
More About: Nuclear , Clear , Tehran , Ambit

The (angry) Republican Base
2007-12-04 00:00:00
From Joe Klein's Swampland comes a disturbing report about the reaction of a Republican focus group to that night's Republican debate. Using instant-dialing knobs, the viewers could basically register their sentiments to each candidate's comments in real time: Last night,...
More About: Angry , Base

Condi Rice: Secretary of State?
2007-11-27 00:00:00
As the new "peace" talks between the Palestinians, Israelis, and Syrians begin in Annapolis this week, the NY Times has written a fairly comprehensive synopsis of the Middle East peace process up to this point. It generally tracks how Bush,...
More About: Rice , State , Condi Rice , Condi , Secretary of State

Barack Obama and Foreign Policy
2007-11-24 00:00:00
Ever since Hillary's campaign painted a portrait of Obama as too inexperienced to lead the country, all you hear from both the right and the left is that he's too young and untested to become President. Obama's answer, which is...
More About: Barack Obama , Barack , Policy , Foreign Policy

How did that American oil get under Iraq?
2007-11-12 00:00:00
Remember how Iraq was never about oil? Two months ago, this little tid-bit didn't receive too much attention: The Hunt Oil Company of Dallas has become the first international company to receive permission to drill for oil in the Kurdistan...
More About: American

US diplomats refuse Iraq postings
2007-11-02 00:00:00
Leave it to the BBC to cover this story. Any main stream American press talking about this? Hundreds of US diplomats have protested against a government move to force them to accept postings in war-torn Iraq . If too few volunteer,...
More About: Diplomat

11 Anti-war protests across America this weekend!
2007-10-26 00:00:00
If you're pissed off that we're still in Iraq after all these years, then get your body into the streets this Saturday, 10/27, at an anti-war protest near you! There are a zillion reasons why we shouldn't be in Iraq...
More About: America , Anti-War , Weekend , Anti , Protests

Connecting the Dots in American Politics
2007-10-14 00:00:00
Just in time for the '08 election cycle comes Politic alBase.com, a new website for all things political, both national and local: The idea of the site is to become a non-partisan politics and issues resource for people wanting to make...
More About: Politics , American , American Politics , Dots

Catastrophic Failure in Iraq
2007-10-14 00:00:00
The commander of the US forces in Iraq from June 2003 to July 2004, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, gave an interview to Stars and Stripes yesterday, and just laid into the Bush Administration's handling of this nightmare in Iraq: "There...
More About: Failure , Lure

Reporting While Black
2007-10-12 00:00:00
Here's an interesting article on what it's like to be black in crappy neighborhoods in Charlotte, NC: A tall white police officer got out of his car and ordered me toward him. Two other police officers, a white woman and...
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Ground Zero and the World Financial Center
2007-10-06 00:00:00
Although there is no "Architecture" section at Consilience Productions, the ongoing ramifications of 9/11 and the ripple effect that continues since that fateful day are profound. And until the area where the twin towers stood is fully developed, the scar...
More About: World , Financial , Ground , The World , Center