LEFT OF DAYTON
RILED UP AND ROLLLIN’…MUSINGS AND MISCELLANEA
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Ralph Nader Flirts with Presidential Bid. Give it up, Ralph…after what you did last time around [including accepting PAC money from REPUBLICANS] who do you think is going to vote for you? When I ponder who it is we need as our next President I try to imagine someone in the office who actually has the ability to LEAD. Nader’s “following” is so minuscule as to be next to non existent. Yes, he had a progressive role at one time, but, despite his rhetoric, Ralphie’s time has PASSED!
Mukasey Won’t Comment on Waterboarding
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday he will refuse to publicly say whether the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding is illegal, digging in against critics who want the Bush administration to define it as torture.
Did we say TOLD YOU SO?? Despite harsh questioning by Senators Leahy, Kennedy and Specter, the nations top Law Enforcement official refused [again] to condemn the torture technique of waterboarding as, of all things, torture.
“Given that waterboarding is not part of the current program and may never be added to the current program, I do not think it would be appropriate for me to pass definitive judgment on the technique’s legality,” he said.
The reasoning behind this deliberate dance of deceit? If the AG formally recognizes waterboarding as torture it puts his bosses, Mssr Bush and Cheney, in deep doo doo, mainly because they and their minions are ultimately responsible and could therefor conceivably be charged with War Crimes under the Geneva Conventions. Gasp! Shades of Alberto Gonzalez!
HILLARY CLINTON & WAL-MART
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Clinton Remained Silent As Wal-Mart Fought Unions
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/31/6761/
FIRST KUCINICH, NOW EDWARDS…PROGRESSIVES BAIL OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES.
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So, with John Edwards announcing today his departure from the Democratic presidential primary field, what’s a progressive with a populist inclination supposed to do? As a previous post here noted, the idealogical scope of the Democratic field was diminished by Kucinich’s departure. With Edward’s announcement the breadth of political views becomes even more constrained. Ok, yes, former Senator Mike Gravel is still technically in the race, but his presence & impact is for all practical purposes is non existent.
I don’t like the Triangulator and her Democratic Leadership Council buddies. Wrong on the Iraq War and NOT anti-war enough. And, overall, despite her rhetoric, I see her as being too deeply entwined with the status quo to do much “changin'”.
And I just don’t know about Obama. Is a vision of Hope enough? Plus, his seemingly unequivocal support for US policies on Israel [Republican AND democratic] is a sticking point with me. We’ve had a failed Middle East policy for decades, with that department of the State Department seemingly outsourced to the Israel lobby. His remarks to the powerful American Israeli Public Affairs Committee in March of ’07 articulate that view and are posted at his website, indicating they represent his basic current position on the Middle East. http://obama.senate.gov/speech/070302-aipac_policy_fo/
I fear facing another election cycle when the most necessary accessory for the voting booth is going to be a clothespin. I sincerely hope that does not turn out to be the case!
RON PAUL IS A RIGHT WING MOLE…
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I found this gem in comments on a Common Dreams blog…
Ron Paul is a right wing mole. No “libertarian”, once having taken office, does anything but vote along republican lines when it comes to foreign policy. Paul’s stance on immigration is flamingly reactionary, his attitude toward public health is 16th century. He represents people (”libertarians”) who think capitalism works if it’s just run correctly. Like vulgar marxists, they haul out their little schematics, and conveniently ignore what the system has always been- that is to say, a social system that uses the state to subsidize private interest. An administration run by Ron Paul will just be Ronald Reagan over again- Paul himself has never rejected Reagan’s legacy- and people who support him need to do not only their homework on him, but on the Ayn Randian utopian crap most of his supporters represent. Capitalism has no “unknown ideal”, its ideal has been trumpteted for centuries now and it’s a wash. 500 years after its inception and it still can’t keep its hands off of other people’s cultures. The market is the senior partner in any state dictatorship of the last 500 years, it’s too bad libertarians have never understood that.
For a detailed look at Ron Paul and his politics, check this link:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/15/124912/740
UPDATE>BUSTED FOR PROSTITUTION RELATED OFFENSES,DAYTON
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It’s a little, obscure list, but apparently an interesting one nonetheless. The list, of people convicted of prostitution related offense in Dayton Municipal court is normally compiled by the Prosecutors office, approximately quarterly.
No list has come out since August of ’07, so i called the Prosecutor’s office to find out where’s the most recent list? Delayed. The Dayton Court’s have been undergoing incremental conversion to a new computer system and the programming for this list is down near the bottom of the list of projects. An attorney for the Prosecutor’s office said she hoped the new list will be available in the next month or so. Hopefully.
The previous listing of offenders has had nearly 250 views so far this month, indicating an on-going interest in this “vital statistic“…hope to post the next exciting list soon…
Mitt Romney’s Words on the MLK Holiday/Dr. Jerrie L. Bascome McGill
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I received this in an email today and was struck by the character insight Dr McGGill provides into Republican Presidential candidate Willard “Mitt” Romney.
Her essay:
“Teach kids they ought to get married before they have babies!”
These were the words spoken by Republican candidate for President, Mitt Romney, after he had posed smilingly with a group of African American children and was asked to make a comment. To publicly speak his thoughts in this way on any day gives all of us a clear indicator of his skewed beliefs about a people. But to publicly pronounce his belief that promiscuity is factual within African American youth on the day the nation paused to honor a world renown African American visionary is absolutely egregious. (more…)
With Kucinich’s Exit, Democratic Discourse is Diminished
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John Nichols
Posted 01/24/2008 @ 10:46pm
The media managers of the 2008 presidential contest
worked for months to get Dennis Kucinich off the stage
and out of the running. And they have finally succeeded,
as the Ohio Congressman says he is now “transitioning
out of the presidential campaign” and into a tough
Democratic primary race for reelection to his Cleveland-
area U.S. House seat.
Kucinich’s decision to quit the Democratic presidential
race is an acknowledgement of reality. Never flush with
the funds needed to buy paid media, he has lately been
denied access to the free media that is the lifeblood of
insurgent candidacies. The congressman was excluded from
the last few debates by the television networks, and his
campaign events — even those that drew substantial
crowds in New Hampshire and Michigan – went largely
uncovered. (more…)
Don’t Be Fooled by the Myth of John McCain
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By Johann Hari
January 24, 2008, The Independent/UK
A lazy, hazy myth has arisen out of the mists of New
Hampshire and South Carolina. Across the pan-Atlantic press,
the grizzled 71-year-old Vietnam vet, John McCain, is being
billed as the Republican liberals can live with. He is ‘a
bipartisan progressive'”, ‘a principled hard liberal’, ‘a
decent man’ – in the words of liberal newspapers. His fragile
new frontrunner status as we go into Super Tuesday is being
seen as something to cautiously welcome, a kick to the rotten
Republican establishment.
But the truth is that McCain is the candidate we should most
fear. Not only is he to the right of Bush on a whole range of
subjects, he is also the Republican candidate most likely to
dispense with Hillary or Barack. (more…)
Barak Obama Isn’t a Muslim…But Over 1 BILLION People Are!
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The headline line grabbed me by the balls, eyeballs that is.
Obama: I Am Not a Muslim.
“I’ve been to the same church — the same Christian church — for almost 20 years,” Obama said, stressing the word Christian and drawing cheers from the faithful in reply. “I was sworn in with my hand on the family Bible. Whenever I’m in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. So if you get some silly e-mail . . . send it back to whoever sent it and tell them this is all crazy. Educate.“
The Christian author Jim Wallis was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart discussing his new book, the Great Awakening, last night, and one of the things he said was: “the dominance of the Christian Right over our politics is finally finished”. I really want to believe him, but, when I see politicians like Mr Obama flat out pandering to religious conservatives, acting like being called a Muslim was somehow a smear, something dishonorable, I have to wonder if that is in fact so.
Ok, Barak, we know you are “Christian”. We get it. But how about instead of taking the low road of defensive defiance you stop pandering to a right wing rumor mill?
A couple of your fore bearers were MUSLIM. Wake Up and Smell the Coffee. You want change?? Howzabout talking about being a president who has cultural roots that connect him to a world in which we are in the deepest ideological conflict. Isn’t it possible that you could use that heritage to reach out, to give substance to your call for CHANGE??
The High Road has you giving forth about tolerance, responding to the rumor mill with withering wit, dispatching the hate mongers to the political compost pile.The question to ask is why is it that being called Muslim can be used as a smear? Define the kind of people who would do that. Denounce them not because they called you a Muslim, but because what they did was bigoted & hateful.
Miscellaneous Posts I found Interesting>>01/23/08
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Army Gets Fewer High School Grads in ’07
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGqkVjgOw8nOOgvDqpNAlfqXIF_g
Deregulation and the Financial Crisis
by Robert Weissman
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/22/6531/
LEFT OF DAYTON 