Soapbox

This is a partial transcript of Rev. Al Shaprton’s address to the Democratic convention. I still have issues with Shaprton over his conduct the Tawana Brawley case, but there is no doubt that the man has rasied issues that needed to be raised in this campaign, and said a few things that no one else had the courage to say. Al Franken reports that Sharpton said to him “I know I”m not going to win this primary, but sometimes you just have to slap that donkey to get it moving again.” And that he has done.

We are here 228 years after right here in Boston we fought to establish the freedoms of America. The first person to die in the Revolutionary War is buried not far from here, a Black man from Barbados, named Crispus Attucks.

Forty years ago, in 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party stood at the Democratic convention in Atlantic City fighting to preserve voting rights for all America and all Democrats, regardless of race or gender.

Hamer’s stand inspired Dr. King’s march in Selma, which brought about the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Twenty years ago, Reverend Jesse Jackson stood at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, again, appealing to the preserve those freedoms.

Tonight, we stand with those freedoms at risk and our security as citizens in question.

I have come here tonight to say, that the only choice we have to preserve our freedoms at this point in history is to elect John Kerry the president of the United States.

I stood with both John Kerry and John Edwards on over 30 occasions during the primary season. I not only debated them, I watched them, I observed their deeds, I looked into their eyes. I am convinced that they are men who say what they mean and mean what they say.

I’m also convinced that at a time when a vicious spirit in the body politic of this country that attempts to undermine America’s freedoms — our civil rights, and civil liberties — we must leave this city and go forth and organize this nation for victory for our party and John Kerry and John Edwards in November.

And let me quickly say, this is not just about winning an election. It’s about preserving the principles on which this very nation was founded.

Look at the current view of our nation worldwide as a results of our unilateral foreign policy. We went from unprecedented international support and solidarity on September 12, 2001, to hostility and hatred as we stand here tonight. We can’t survive in the world by ourselves.

We are also faced with the prospect of in the next four years that two or more of the Supreme Court Justice seats will become available. This year we celebrated the anniversary of Brown v. the Board of Education.

This court has voted five to four on critical issues of women’s rights and civil rights. It is frightening to think that the gains of civil and women rights and those movements in the last century could be reversed if this administration is in the White House in these next four years.

I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in ’54, Clarence Thomas would have never got to law school.
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This is a partial transcript of the speech given by soon-to-be Senator Barack Obama at the Democratic Convention on Tuesday night. No wownder he was asked to be the keynote speaker. It was awesome!

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Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation — not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago:
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’

That is the true genius of America — a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles. That we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted at least, most of the time.

Now don’t get me wrong. The people I meet — in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks — they don’t expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead — and they want to.

Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don’t want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon.

Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can’t teach our kids to learn — they know that parents have to teach, that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. They know those things.

People don’t expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all.

They know we can do better. And they want that choice.
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I think that this writer glosses over some of the more nefarious history of the U. S. in propping up evil dictators and turning a blind eye to death and devastation whenever it suited our purposes…still, I found this essay thought-provoking and worth repeating.

“A Time to Weep”
By Theodore Sorensen, special counsel to President John Kennedy.

Commencement address to the New School University on May 21

To every thing, there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under heaven.

This is not a speech. Two weeks ago I set aside the speech I prepared. This is a cry from the heart, a lamentation for the loss of this country’s goodness and therefore its greatness. Future historians studying the decline and fall of America will mark this as the time the tide began to turn — toward a mean-spirited mediocrity in place of a noble beacon. For me the final blow was American guards laughing over the naked, helpless bodies of abused prisoners in Iraq. “There is a time to laugh,” the Bible tells us, “and a time to weep.” Today I weep for the country I love, the country I proudly served, the country to which my four grandparents sailed over a century ago with hopes for a new land of peace and freedom. I cannot remain silent when that country is in the deepest trouble of my lifetime.

I am not talking only about the prison abuse scandal — that stench will someday subside. Nor am I referring only to the Iraq war — that too will pass — nor to any one political leader or party. This is no time for politics as usual, in which no one responsible admits responsibility, no one genuinely apologizes, no one resigns, and everyone else is blamed. The damage done to this country by its own misconduct in the last few months and years, to its very heart and soul, is far greater and longer lasting than any damage that any terrorist could possibly inflict upon us. The stain on our credibility, our reputation for decency and integrity, will not quickly wash away.

Last week, a family friend of an accused American guard in Iraq recited the atrocities inflicted by our enemies on Americans, and asked: “Must we be held to a different standard?” My answer is yes. We must hold ourselves to a different standard. Not only because others expect it, not only because God demands it, but because it serves our security.

Our greatest strength has long been not erely our military might but our moral authority. Our surest protection against assault from abroad has been not all our guards, gates and guns, or even our two oceans, but our essential goodness as a people. Our richest asset has been not our material wealth but our values.
We were world leaders once — helping found the United Nations, the Marshall Plan, NATO, and programs like Food for Peace, international human rights and international environmental standards. The world admired not only the bravery of our Marine Corps but also the idealism of our Peace Corps. Our word was as good as our gold.

At the start of the Cuban missile crisis, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, President Kennedy’s special envoy to brief French President de Gaulle, offered to document our case by having the actual pictures of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba brought in. “No,” shrugged the usually difficult de Gaulle: “The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me.”
Can you imagine that today?
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Contributed to the Columbus Dispatch 7/24/04. I keep plodding away, like the little engine that could.

When Marie Antoinette was told that peasants were rioting because they had no bread, she said, “Let them eat cake instead!”
The Bush administration has just announced a new initiative in their plan to strengthen America: a jobs web site for homeless people.
Do you think he understands what “homeless” means?

Yes, many libraries do offer internet connections: it is not a totally worthless plan. But it is only a token, when substantial help is needed. Mr. President, some homeless people actually have jobs, but none of them have homes! Your administration has cut funds for low-income housing.
This seems to be typical of the priorities of the Bush presidency. Head Start programs are quietly closing in some areas as funding dries up. A Bush official said that many people at food pantries are “taking the easy way out”. The Department of Education proposed a $270 mill. cut in Pell grants, which help the poor go to college. Workers upset about their jobs being outsourced were told by the administration to “stop whining”.

The number of un-insured in this country has become an election issue, so this week George Bush touted his health insurance tax shelter that requires an expensive buy-in to a catastrophic insurance policy and has a $2,000-$5000 deductible for everyday medical expenses. This does nothing to address the insurance crisis in America, since most people who can afford the hefty price tag for this scheme can already afford insurance!
Do you think he understands what “poor” means?

There are currently 7.16 million more people in American living below the federal poverty limit than when Bush took office. That’s 12.1 million kids who are “whining” and “taking the easy way out”.

Under Bush’s tax plan, a worker who earns a $50,000 salary pays 3 times more taxes on his wages than a wealthy investor pays on $50,000 of investment dividends. Sadly, the huge and growing national debt means that our children and grandchildren will probably be paying for that investor’s tax cut 20 years from now.

The president has repeatedly asked for pay and benefit cuts for American servicemen while they are at war! Congress just denied funding to improve housing for military families. Halliburton steals millions from its un-bid and practically unsupervised government contract, while children without the proper paperwork can’t get a free sandwich in America. (Dispatch, 7/23)

America, is this the candidate that shares your values?

From the “Common Dreams” website (see links)
Among the many crimes that will one day be laid at George Bush’s feet….

Remember Afghanistan?
by Marty Jezer

Afghanistan has not been in the news much in recent months. A good thing for the Bush administration if not for the Afghan people: for the news coming out of Afghanistan has not been good.

Afghanistan? That’s where Al Qaida, in the years leading up to the terrorist attack of 9/11, were protected and trained. That’s where, with international backing, we fought our first “war against terrorism� and promised the Afghans security and help in constructing a safe and independent, democratic nation.

Instead, the Bush administration abandoned Afghanistan for its great adventure in Iraq. There are 140,000 American troops in Iraq; only 20,000 in Afghanistan. NATO has an additional 6500 peacekeepers in Afghanistan, and more are promised. But at the insistence of the Bush administration, our allies are not allowed to patrol the countryside lest they interfere with our military operations.

The result? The Taliban are back. Osama bin Ladin and Al Qaida are still safe within their mountain strongholds along the Pakistan border. Coordinated efforts by the U.S. and Pakistan to disrupt these havens have created huge numbers of Afghan refugees — potential recruits for a new generation of anti-American terrorists — without capturing bin Ladin or destroying, much less uncovering, the terrorist infrastructure.

Just this week, eleven Afghans, including a district police chief, were killed in that part of Afghanistan where the Taliban are active. More than 800 people have been killed in Afghanistan this past year, most of them by Taliban guerrillas. Yet, President Hamid Karzai, in an interview with the New York Times, insists that it’s not the Taliban that threaten Afghanistan; it’s our allies, the warlords of the Northern Alliance that are the greater danger. Because of the violent activities of their private armies, security is almost non-existent outside of Kabul. Nation building is stalled, as are major projects for internal reconstruction.

This past week, the Karzai government postponed presidential and parliamentary elections. Elections, when they occur, “won’t be pretty,� U.S. Ambassador William Taylor acknowledges. His concern is that the warlords, enriched by the booming opium trade, will not surrender their power. Attempts to disarm the militias have not been successful.

The fall of the Taliban was supposed to mean a new era of freedom for women. But, according to Amnesty International, “Two years after the ending of the Taliban regime, the international community and the Afghan transitional administration…have proved unable to protect women. The risk of rape and sexual violence by members of armed factions and former combatants is still high….â€? The U.S.-based Feminist Majority, which advocates for Afghan women, further states that over 30 girls’ schools have suffered arson or other violent attacks, and some of the warlords continue to harass women who work, go out without a burqa, or advocate for women’s rights.
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