The Dream Lives On

I hear alot of people trying to disparage Sen. Obama by saying 'oh...he's just trying to sound like Martin Luther King'. If only Barack were so lucky. If only ALL OF US were so lucky to be as eloquent, as principled, as passionate and as sacrificing as Dr. King.

Forty years ago, a great man died for what was right. He was an idealist. He was an optimist. He was a dreamer. A man who loved this nation so much that he couldn't go on seeing it harm itself with a spirit of hypocrisy and hatred. He detested the backward, self-destructive nature of racism while loving the racist who spat in his face.

Forty years ago, the Dreamer died. But the dream lives on.

Martin lived for hope. He died for change. He opposed a corrupt and unjust war and paid the ultimate price for daring to speak up and change this land for the better.

Today, Barack Obama speaks of that same hope. Today, Senator Obama challenges us to remember that same spirit of change. He, too, opposed a rushed and questionable war. Today and tomorrow, he dares to speak of the power within all of us to stand up and change our nation for the better. To not stand idly by with our arms folded in cynicism. But to reach out to one another, embracing our fellow American in brotherhood and love and with a spirit of cooperative hope.

There is a reason that Barack Obama's message touches the heart and stirs the mind. It's because we have heard it before. We heard it in Selma and Montgomery from Dr. King. We heard it in Johannesburg from Nelson Mandela. We heard it in India from Mahatma Gandhi.

It's a universal song so sweet to the heart and so common to the human experience that it's lyrics will always energize people who hunger for freedom and equality. It will always quench the thirst of those seeking a better life free from hatred, bigotry and corruption.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of the Dreamer but his Dream is about to come true. A man shall rise among us in the greatest nation on Earth with a message of peace and love and equality and hope. His skin color won't matter. His lineage won't matter. Only his ideas will matter. Only his heart and his mind and his ability to unite us will matter.

"Free at last" said the dreamer.

Free at last. Thank God almighty...we are free at last.

There's nothing democratic about the Democrats, it seems

It's the day after Super Tuesday and, according to CNN, Barack Obama is leading Hillary Clinton according to Pledged Delegates 603 to 590.

This means that more of THE PEOPLE want Obama to be our next Democratic nominee for President.

Then along comes the past. The old days of backroom decision making. The 'Superdelegates' including her own husband.

Now, because of these insiders who are apparently way more important than the average voter, she's now up 783 to 709.

Is it just me or does anyone else see a problem with allowing a person (who cares if they're a former President) to have such a glut of power in our electoral process and be able to personally hijack this election from the will of the people? With this system, there are actually two elections going on. One out in the open and one being decided over high-priced dinners and on the golf course. The people can never truly have a grassroots outsider rise up from amongst them because the old entrenched suits within the Democratic Party can just strike him down.

It's not over and I believe that Obama will still win but the concept of the Superdelegate needs to be done away with. How disgusting would it be if a former President is able to personally install his own wife as the "Democratic" nominee?

Obama's the man in Iowa. Time to start screening his calls.

Just saw Jesse Jackson on CNN and he couldn't go two minutes without running down the laundry list of offenses that African-Americans have to endure on a daily basis. The question was: why did you say that Barack was 'acting white' in that article some months back.

Damn.

I'll give you Al Sharpton. A bullhorn has nothing on him in terms of volume. He's a big, fat, loud, arrogant political boss who offers knee-jerk reactions to racial situations that just happen to suit and promote his personal agendas. I fell out of love with the guy when he strongly hinted on NYC radio that the reason he's supporting Hillary and not Barack was because Hillary had no problem ponying up a check to his Political Action Network aka his pockets.

But I've always seen Jesse as a very diluted MLK. Is he really hopelessly stuck on the issue of race in terms of what he can focus on???

I'm saying this because I've been reading alot about Obama's win and one refrain keeps coming up by his supporters and even people who didn't vote for him but respect and admire him:

"He never plays the race card. He wouldn't be the first Black President. He'd be a smart, young, honest President who just happened to have a father born in Africa."

Damn. I have to agree with another poster here that Barack would be best served to never appear in a photo with either of these two divisive forces. And when I say 'divisive forces', I'm not saying that what they're saying isn't true or valid but just that taking everything to the racial level makes people want to vote for you less and less and less. Your greater message gets lost in the whole 'black man' thing.

If I was Obama's campaign manager, I'd hire two people. One to monitor the physical whereabouts of Sharpton and Jackson 24/7 and MAKE SURE there was never an occassion before the general election where they'd meet and have 'that picture' taken by a member of the press.

Damn.

Al Sharpton & The Art of Constant Complaining

Today, he's holding a 'March for Justice' in Washington D.C.

Why???...I have no idea...it's supposed to be protesting the U.S. Justice Dept. over the Sean Bell and Jena Six cases.

But we already MARCHED for the Jena Six and it was resolved. We're marching for no reason now???...Just for the exercise???

A poster on here made a great point. Instead of just walking and yelling for no reason, African-Americans would be better served by using electoral and financial pressure to achieve our aims.

At this point, Sharpton is marching just to march and I'm against that. If you're marching every damn week, it takes importance away from ACTUAL protests but every other word out of his mouth these days is promoting his group, the National Action Network, of which I'm sure he's receiving a salary.

Okay...now Al is starting to rub me the wrong way...that and he's gotten involved in the police shooting in Brooklyn that many have already deemed justifiable...

Come on, man. You'll never be Martin Luther King. Stop trying. It's 2007.

Sex & The Suburbs: How The GOP Played 'Slam, Bam and Thank You Ma'am' With the Religious Right

Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell got with the GOP in the 80s and formed the Master Plan of a long-standing marriage between the deeply faithful conservatives and the Republican Party.

Their plan actually succeeded as now we have experienced close to ten years of Fundamentalist Christian-friendly politicians including all three branches of government being under GOP control.

The only problem: George W. Bush.

They allowed an utter buffoon and his gang of corporate grifters to head up the culmination of all their hard work and planning and he has proven himself to be the anti-Reagan in every way. He's a no-nothing, vapid, clueless, stubborn dullard who said all the right things but did all the wrong things and as a result the American people have a horrible taste of what a Conservative America would be like.

George W. Bush is the best thing to happen to the Democratic Party from 2006 on.

What will likely happen is that the religious folk will un-gel and their vote will be scattered like it was in the days before Falwell and Robertson leaving the playing field open for more Liberal ideas to take hold i.e. Roe v. Wade.

I feel bad for many of them, though. They were sold a bill of goods by the Republicans regarding bringing God back into the public sphere and they got NOTHING. They were played for suckers by a neocon oligarchy only interested in manipulating world oil prices and relaxing tax burdens on the rich.

As far as the religious Right is concerned, the GOP is that tall, flashy stranger who blew into town and it's now the morning after and all they have to show for their devotion and hard work is an empty bed.

The Jena Six: Not Exactly Rosa Parks But We'll Take It

Don't get me wrong. I fully support coordinated African-American efforts to see justice done with regard to six young men in Jena, Louisiana who were facing trumped up charges for what amounted to a schoolyard fight. I get that. I certainly don't condone their actions but I understand their frustrations.

African-Americans who criticize themselves as being culturally disorganized and out of touch with the original message of Dr. King came out in force to march on Jena to take a stand and make a statement. Shout out the 'Bad Boy Michael Baisden' who was key to organizing the day's events via his nationally syndicated radio show.

But I just wish we were defending actually INNOCENT kids here and not a pack of young dudes who took justice into their own hands.

The irony here is that their actions were the exact opposite of Martin Luther King's nonviolence message yet we support them unconditionally just the same.

Do I believe that Mychael Bell and the others should receive new, fair trials as juveniles???...yes

Would I hold them up or hold their actions up as anything to emulate???...certainly not.

Such a shame. Maybe we, as a people, should gravitate slowly away from the Michael Vicks and Mychael Bells and actually find those people who are being discriminated against who don't drown dogs or kick white people in the head when they're unconscious. Maybe this is the first awakenings of a new black consciousness that is long overdue in appearing amid a culture awash in spinning rims, iced out cell phones and wholesale self-disrespect.

But that's just me.

For The Love of Money: Inside George Bush's Leaking War Machine And Why Victory Is Out Of Our Hands

Slowly but surely, the pro-war crowd is growing more and more silent. Their shouts of defiance to peace are now whispers against 'traitors' who sit on the Democrat side of Congress. To the pro-war crowd, victory means a stable Iraqi government and a functioning and efficient Iraqi military/police force to provide for their own defense.

One problem.

Those two things are completely out of our hands. They have to WANT a functioning multiethnic government and the their troops have to WANT to endure and risk kidnapping and murder to protect their own streets.

We're spending approximately $3 billion dollars a week sitting on our ass waiting for them to pull their country together and I don't like that. It's like handing a $5,000 a week welfare check to someone and waiting for them to get a job.

Not likely to happen. We've done all we can do but now 'victory' is in their hands. In fact, if I were a particularly subversive Iraqi, I'd sit back and glean a small moral victory knowing that not only are my invaders dying slowly in my backyard and their national bank account is being drained. Much like the fate that befell, and eventually ruined, the Soviet Union's incursion into Afghanistan.

I support a phased but SPEEDY withdrawl from Iraq.