John McCain is famous for the fact that he was captured by the North Vietnamese, and that he did not give into his captors, or allow himself to be used for North Vietnamese propaganda purposes.  

This is the most harrowing of experiences, and he deserves our deepest respect, first for serving in the country, and second, for surviving and functioning after it was over.  Being captured by an enemy in itself is not a measure of a man’s courage, or his patriotism, or his heroism.  It is far more a measure of having being the victim of circumstance, and  of a national policy that put men in the most desparate situations imagineble.  There is a legitimate argument that we owe such a man a debt of gratitude for his service. 

It is a strange contradiction, though, when a man who exhibited such integrity as a pilot and POW chooses to cast his lot with the Bush Administration, who has manipulated the language around torture, while utilizing its horrendous methods. 

John McCain’s story is the story of torture, how it is used to gain false confessions to support a government’s lies, in this case the North Vietnamese government.  His story illustrates how torture is used as an attempt to demoralize an enemy and manipulate a populace.

Sadly, McCain’s legacy will be more about the lies of the Bush Administration, and the fact that he, John McCain, is willing to submit, not just to lies about his adopted child from Bangladesh being illegitimate, but that he is willing to submit to a model of American values (as it has been provided by the Neocons) that sees corporate plunder, both of foreign resources (specifically Iraqi and Iranian oil), and the plunder and dismantling of the American government by those same corporate interests, as its primary concerns.

 These are the questions I would ask of John McCain: 

How can you both align yourself with torturers, and claim to be against the act of torture.

How can you maintain the lies cast by Dick Cheney and George Bush about the nature of the Iraq war, its relationship (or lack thereof) with Al Qaeda, the Iranian nuclear (should I say nucular?) threat, and expect to be seen as a ‘straight talker?’

How can you  claim to have little expertise in relation to the economy and at the same time put yourself forward to be leader in charge of this faltering economy?  And, how can you state that recession is ‘partly psychological and not inevitible’, and do so with a straight face, while we watch the housing crisis mount, the price of oil jump well over $105 per barrel, consumer confidence fail, jobless claims mount, and the roles of the homeless continue to grow?

 These are only a few of the questions I would ask John McCain.  There are many more I would ask both candidates.  Those are soon to come.

 As far as I am concerned, Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee.  I look forward to seeing him and Mr. McCain debate real issues.  I’m afraid that McCain’s popularity cannot last once the real race begins.

To get a real picture of the real racial environment in this country, I invite you to read the words of Pat Buchanan (keep the Pepto handy). His posting on WorldNet Daily, entitled “Uprooting the New Racism” is enough to make you puke. He spews racially charged ideology, while trying to pin the blame on Barack Obama for being a Black man who went to an Ivy League school – the nerve! He tries to compare the wrongs done to Black Americans over the course of 400 years to 40 years of Affirmative Action. He’s still spouting that tired ol’ song about how the Obamas should have left Trinity because of the racist pastor, blah, blah, blah. And just to make it “fair and balanced, he throws in a little comment about how white men have been denied access to colleges and universities not only because of their race, but their gender, too.

Damn, the women are keeping the White Man down, too?

He goes on to extoll the virtues of Ward Connerly of the American Civil Rights Institute, who, Buchanan is quick to point out, is also of “mixed ancestry.” The banner on the ACRI website is “Race has no place in American life or law.” True words. Too bad they have no chance of ever becoming real in this country. Mr. Connerly thinks just because he spearheads the abolition of Affirmative Action, that everything is suddenly going to become equal across the races. Well, I hope he isn’t too disappointed.

So, in the interest of “fair and balanced” blogging, please, read Mr. Buchanan’s article.

Keep the barf bag handy.

If you want to read another, more in-depth reaction to the article, please go to:

brotherpeacemaker

It saddens me to see that there is still a major focus on the media-driven Rev. Wright “controversy”. It’s sad because that was a distraction that obviously worked. I have been reading various newspapers to see what is happening in the editorial columns, and there are still people doubting Senator Obama’s ability to lead this country based on the comments of a preacher. I don’t see a lot of people discussing the issues that really confront us. There are a lot of people still stuck on the race issue. That’s truly distressing.

This is not about Rev. Wright or campaign politics. This about reality, the reality that defines this country that we call the United States of America. This is about the reality of the world that we live in, where “disenfranchised” Americans fight for subsistence every day. They are White, Black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian, and all combinations thereof. They are mothers and fathers who cannot put food on their tables, or diapers on their babies butts. They are grandparents with grandbabies of all different colors who are despeartely looking for ways to make ends meet on limited incomes. This is not about whether you are Christian, Muslim, Jewish or a Druid. Whether you call yourself Republican or Democrat, Progressive or Conservative, Left or Right, somehow you have to bring yourself to the realization that there is a problem in our country, and it’s not the color of our skin or the religion that we do, or don’t, follow. The recession (dare I say the word) that we are currently in does not know race or gender. It is affecting all of us equally. We are all paying more for everything. If we are homeowners, we have seen the value of our homes drop like rocks, regardless of what market we live in. We’re paying more at the pump, and watching the value of our paychecks shrink like your favorite wool sweater that got mixed in with the laundry. There are homes being foreclosed all over America. There are 4,000 plus soldiers dead in Iraq. There are people, American citizens, that can’t get their healthcare needs met.

Can anyone say that none of this has had an affect on them because of their skin color? I don’t think so.

I am the child of Southern and West Indian Blacks, White people with their roots in Britain and who knows where else, and Native Americans. I have children and grandchildren who have Jewish, Latin, Scandanavian and Eastern European, and Native American blood coursing through their veins. I have heard the words the Senator refers to that made him cringe, directed at me. I had people ask me, when I was a young woman living in Brooklyn in the 60′s, if I did houses.

It’s time to put aside the racial epithets, the sidelong glances. It’s time to come together as a people and fight the good fight, to look at what has happened to us as a nation and refuse to take it anymore. It’s time for us all to take a critical look at where we’re at and refuse to allow the corporations to dictate how we will live. Lincoln said it better than anyone: a house divided cannot stand. They, however you want to define “they,” have done their best to keep us divided, and therefore, powerless. It’s time to take back our power, but we cannot do that if we continue to allow them to distract us with sensationalist garbage. This is not about Rev. Wright, Barack, Hilary, McCain or Bush. This is about us.

But if you can’t get pass Rev. Wright, think about this: Rev John Hagee (anti-Catholic, Jew, homosexual and anything else that doesn’t meet his criteria). Ditto Ron Parsley, who thinks that Washington, Jefferson, et al, did what they did to ultimately destroy Islam. He’s John McCain’s “spiritual advisor”. They preach hatred toward other human beings, but I don’t hear a hue and cry about them. Then there’s Hillary’s denomination of choice, The Fellowship, which includes folks like John Ashcroft, James Baker, and Rick Santorum. They’ve turned Jesus into a neo-con. The meek don’t inherit the earth – the powerful political elite do. That group is lead by a man named Doug Coe. She’s been attending this “church” since 1993. She seems to have chosen her Family and her “church”.

So now can we get back to the issues?

I am astounded.

 Maybe you’ve heard, and maybe you haven’t.  Obama gave a major speech on the economy, and his economic plan.  Two major news networks were to cover the entire speech, and then, in the middle, they dropped it with no explanation.

 Why did this happen?  Do you think it might have been something he said?

 In my humble opinion, the speech was far more important on some levels than debunking the attacks from the media, Clinton, and McCain about Reverend Wright, though I have to agree with the comments from some quarters that called that speech the first significant speech of the 21st century, and one that will be taught in high schools and colleges. 

 In fact (again, this is my humble opinion), the economic plan laid before the few Americans who got to see it was the most detailed and significant economic plan in modern American history.  I recommend that everyone take the time to read it (again, here is the link).   

So, why did both CNN and MSNBC cut the speech from their lineup?  If you read it, you know.  Obama broke some silent rules about what can be said in a political campaign.  He spoke the truth about the need for oversight, for our banks, and the international corporations that are wreaking havoc on our nation.

 It is telling that Air America Radio ignored that speech, even the commentators that support Obama were silent.  They intend to erase that speech from our memory, the few of us that heard it.  They intend to erase all memory of it.  This has to be unprecedented in American politics.

 I have to say, people.  This scares me.  Almost as much as 9/11/01 scared me.

 Our nation may not have changed as much as I think.  Maybe it was always like this, and I was sleeping.  Maybe.

 But, I’m awake now.

 And I just feel like shaking the rest of America.

 My gut tells me this is not the biggest news we will witness this year, but it portends what is comming, and I’m not happy.

There is a flaw that is present in all political and governmental systems:  no system has proven effective at eliminating corruption.  All signs are that our nation is unraveling.  All signs point to the fact that the corrupt have gained almost absolute power in this country.  And those powers are playing us like fools.

An example is the media’s is attempt to split the Democratic Party along race lines, not to help win an election, but to prevent us, the people, from believing that we have the power to win.  And, much of the media seems to want us to believe Geraldine Ferraro’s claim that Barack Obama would not be front-runner “if he was a white man.” 

The reason for this is simple:  Barack Obama has committed to the American people in ways that unite us.   This comes at a time when so many political forces intend to divide us and thereby control us.

In answer to the Clinton campaign and the media: Yes, black people are supporting Barack Obama.  The point is that Barack Obama would be nothing without the support of so many white people and persons of many other races who have not so much chosen to put race aside, but to transcend it. 

We have determined that race is not a legitimate issue in determining who our leader is.  And, Obama is the only candidate that deliberately attempts to avoid making race the issue.  Race, when it is politicized, is always divisive.  And those who insert it into politics do so as a tactic – to divide and conquer.

Hillary Clinton has, by all measures (except in terms of committed Super Delegates), lost this election.  She is banking on uncommitted Super Delegates, and seems intent on maintaining power for a narrow and specific set of people who have already proven themselves to not have the American people’s best interests at heart.

In many ways, she and McCain represent the same constituency that Bush does.  This can be established by listening to their rhetoric.  Both are willing to say things that are divisive.  Both redirect our attention from real issues.  And both criticize the other candidates to make political gains.

Obama is supported mostly by individuals across America, and because of that, he is answerable to us in a way the other two are not.  He speaks to us collectively, which breaks down the barriers that have been put there to divide us.  He does not focus on the negative.  And, he honors hope.

This election is important beyond words.  We must win.  There is far too much at stake to stand by and allow this election to slip away.  There is only one candidate that speaks of hope, and there is only one candidate in this race who leaves room for it.

If we do not support Barack Obama at this stage of the election, the corruption that grips this country wins again.  Barack is our best hope to take back our country and our constitution.  We cannot afford to let the selfish interests that have controlled this country for so long to win.

There are two distinctly different views in this country of the word patriotism and what it means. This posting analyzes those two views.

One group of people sees the world in terms of what team you are on, and they do so in a way that says, “You are either for me, or against me.” For them, patriotism seems to be about following the hegemonic rules set. And any deviation from that rule set is termed unpatriotic or cowardly. You must wear your lapel pin and put your hand over your heart at ritual moments or you are not a true American. And, you must always be proud, because America can do no wrong. America is ‘right’ by definition. We will (using one of their own tactics: ‘label it and dismiss it’) call this group, ‘The Blind.’

The other group sees patriotism as an individual act of integrity, upholding the rights and needs of the citizenry at all cost, whether such an act is accepted by the hegemony, or not. The citizen is to be defended first, the constitution second, and the will of the politician—even the president—well down the line in terms of importance. If the politician is wrong, we are not to continue following blindly along; we are to protest, loudly, to prevent bad things from being done in our name. Our politicians, after all, are our representatives. They should damn well represent us. And (using another tactic of The Blind: ‘label it and revere it’), we shall call this group ‘The Brave.’

The flap about Obama refusing to wear a lapel pin emblazoned with the US flag is instructive. There were those who proclaimed him unpatriotic on the specific basis that he refused to wear that pin. This, by itself, proved he is not one of the proverbial ‘us’. If he were one of ‘us’, he would wear the pin. He is unpatriotic (labeled and dismissed).

This approach—the one that makes issue of such trivial garbage as a lapel pin—this is the approach that stifles all dissent and disagreement. There is only one ‘right’ answer to questions of patriotism, and it is already known. Our place is not to question, it is to submit.

I believe this was what Obama was trying to communicate—that patriotism is about individual integrity, and about standing against the majority, when it is appropriate, in defense of what is right.

Freedom is not just for those on your team. It’s not about exclusion. It’s not about who you are better than. And, it’s not about telling people that disagreement is disloyal, or that it makes you less American, or less part of some other team. Disagreement is a healthy part of a free society, and the best members of society disagree when it is important.

Labeling, on the other hand, is about bigotry and cowardice, and blindness.

If any of us are to be free, we must be willing to allow others to be who they are in our presence, whether they are Christian, or Muslim, black or white or brown or whatever, and we must do so without fear. And, we must distinguish between being different and being disrespectful. We must understand the limit of any label or category, that such tools are arbitrary, and not the basis for dismissal or derision.

I’m just as committed to America as anyone else, but I refuse to overtly express it, because I don’t want to be mistaken for the type of ‘patriot’ the loudest Americans are saying we have to be. Personally, I’m ashamed of the way that kind of patriotism and I fight it at every turn. I do not wish to be labeled ‘Patriot’ if it means I must blindly follow bad leaders, or support unjust wars, or stand silent as other humans are tortured in the name of our ‘security.’

I believe that being against the war is supportive of our troops.

When I think of how this country supports its troops, I think of Pat Tillman, and I think of Walter Reed. I think about sign-on bonuses that aren’t paid to men who are injured in battle and can’t fill their commitment because of it. I think of the number of homeless veterans there have been since Korea and Vietnam, and how our nation has abandoned them. And, I remember that the politicians telling us loudest that supporting the war is the only way to support our troops – those are the same ones responsible for all of these things and more.

I don’t call that supportive of the troops. I don’t call those who support our current administration, who is responsible for all of these things, patriots. And, I don’t call those Americans who followed these idiots blindly over the course of the last eight years patriots, either. Those are the ones I call ‘The Blind.’

And, as for those who understood what was being done, and continued to support this administration, I don’t call them patriots either.

Those are the ones who I label cowards.