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The American Liberalism Project
Individual Liberty—Progress—Humanity—Ethics—Rule of Law
"...if by a liberal they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties—if that is what they mean by a "liberal," then I am proud to be a liberal."
-- John F. Kennedy
Secessionists
by: SueZ
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 16:52:14 PM CDT
The following article, written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is about Last Refuge of The Scoundrel.
I am sick and tired of all the rhetoric being tossed out about a relationship between our Democratic candidate for President and an aging, now very well respected college professor, when the ones who are doing the spewing have skeletons galore in their own closets. The difference in this whole scenario is that while Palin and McCain go on and on blathering about homegrown terrorism, the Republican VP pick is herself, "pallin'" around with one...unless she has stopped "pallin'around" with her husband.
While Barack Obama's relationship with William "Bill" Ayers, did not evolve until he was an adult and Ayers was far and away removed from those things which he had done as a college student, over 40 years ago, until just recently the "first Dude", a/k/a Todd Palin, has been a member of a group, AIP (the Alaskan Independence Party) who's sole purpose has been to try and have Alaska secede from the lower 48 and whose founder has uttered the most hateful and vitriolic statements about America.
Just which side do you swing on Sarah? Win the govenorship of the state so that you can have Todd-O in there (as we have come to see that he is) to agitate for the secession? Set things up for it?? I think more should be asked about this from the Republican candidates.
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Washington Week
by: SueZ
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 11:52:15 AM CDT
Pete Williams sitting in for Gwen Ifill this week brings us Washington Week.
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"The End of Life As We Know It"
by: James R Brett
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 11:45:17 AM CDT
The Washington Post leads this Sunday morning with an article about race creeping into the Presidental contest as if race has not been the central issue in America for 350 years! Race is the crack in our Liberty Bell as nearly every child understands by the fourth or fifth grade. Race is the original sin of a country that believes in original sin and its consequences. Race certainly is the pivotal, if not the most important issue in the campaign. It is the hinge upon which swings the final vote of people who are trapped by circumstance into lives of not-so-quiet desperation.
The hinge of fate is whether the so-called Bradley Effect will turn a significant number of voters away from voting for Barack Obama despite their statements to pollsters that they would vote for him. And, now, there is a Reverse Bradley Effect, one I encountered in reverse in my own phone-bank experience last week. I called a man with an Hispanic first and last name and asked him if the election were today did he know whom he would vote for? He said "yes" rather than Obama or McCain. I stumbled for a moment and said that I wanted to know which of the two men he would vote for. He said, that's not the question you asked. I heard other people in the room where he was. I said, if I name the candidates will you tell me yes or no? He said yes. Obama, no. McCain, yes. This man was afraid to name his vote in front of his family. The Reverse Bradley Effect is like that, but it says that people who favor Obama, but live in racially sensitive cultures are likely to say "no" to Obama to pollsters, but vote "yes" for Obama in the peace and quiet of the voting booth. No one knows how strong the Bradley Effect or the Reverse Bradley Effect will be.
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A Cartoon For Today-Cagle Cartoons
by: SueZ
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 08:33:52 AM CDT
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Playing With Fire
by: SueZ
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 07:47:04 AM CDT
Writing in The Wahington Post, Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner, has addressed the issue of McCain and Palin's lack of moral courage and their continued use of Barack Obama's middle name to fan the flames of fear in their supporters.
This reminds me of Pastor Martin NiemĂśller (1892-1984)* who wrote a poem entitled, "First they came..."* about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. But when they finally got around to coming for them there was no one left to speak up. We truly need to be mindful of that.
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That Was The Week That Was
by: SueZ
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 07:28:45 AM CDT
This was certainly the week from Hell for John McCain. It would appear that he has perhaps, or maybe his handlers have, finally seen the foolhardiness of continuing to pursue a campaign filled with divisiveness and smear. Ahh, was it perhaps the lady in red that finally brought it home to him? Was it her statement that Obama was "an Arab" that made John realize that the line had been crossed?
One member of Congress, Representative John Lewis (D-GA), has seen fit to liken this McCain campaign to the racial hatred of the 1960's and the campaign of George Wallace. While that may be a bit strong, it surely has had the same tone. At the same time, Represenative Lewis was quick to point out that he was in no way comparing McCain to George Wallace only referring to the tone of his campaign.
The GOP , ever mindful of it's role as one of the two major political parties, is shuddeirng in it's shoes with the garbage that has been strewn about the past months, especially since Sarah Palin has been let loose at McCain rallies.
Let us hope that those who are responsible members of the GOP will approach John McCain and reinforce the need to make this a civilized campaign, just as he said it would be. Maybe we can blame it on his getting carried away with all this Maverick business.
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Sunday Art and Perspective
by: James R Brett
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 07:00:00 AM CDT
 untitled, Jean-Claude Gaugy, Gaugy Museum, Santa Fe, NM.
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Repercussions
by: SueZ
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 06:56:49 AM CDT
We are not in this sinking economic boat all by ourselves. There are plenty of bailers trying to help to prevent it taking a nosedive like the Titanic. Nice to believe that we were the great super power and stood alone, but the world's finances were almost inextricably tied to us and we are in danger of killing everyone off.
The G7 met, and have decided to do whatever it takes to SOS, but just how much can everyone do before some of the smaller nations cannot be pulled back from the brink? Australia has decided to insure their deposits a la the F.D.I.C., and the European nations are gathering together to take whatever steps may be necessary to prevent a worldwide depression.
Is it any wonder that all the other G7 nations have gathered together to say, "We told you so"?
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Today's Quote
by: SueZ
Sun Oct 12, 2008 at 00:30:00 AM CDT
 [The US has] developed two coordinate governing classes: the one, called 'business,' building cities, manufacturing and distributing goods, and holding complete and autocratic
power over the livelihood of millions; the other, called 'government,' concerned with preaching and
exemplification of spiritual ideals, so caught in a mass of theory, that when it wished to move in a practical world it had to do so by means of a sub rosa political machine."
Thurman Arnold
(1891-1969) former head of the Anti-Trust Division of the U.S. Justice Department (1938-1943)
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Brown Shirts
by: James R Brett
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 14:55:00 PM CDT
During Wall Street's worst week ever the McCain Campaign learned an important lesson. The lesson is that the American people are very much afraid of the future and are willing to believe nearly anything that fits their preconceptions of what the causal factors in public life are. Many of them have been brainwashed—like the poor people of Kansas—into believing that "Liberalism" is the cause, that people who are Liberal have fundamentally different ideas about cause and effect and about basic principles. So, when Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin began their trek down the low road, bombarding their live rally audiences with the "Hussein" meme and the "terrorist sympathizer (Ayers)" meme, people became unglued. They began to shout out their fear with "Kill him!" "Bomb Obama!" and the like.
These people don't understand political rhetoric that is intended to be fully false and designed to incite them to emotional frenzies. This is America, they say to themselves, responsible people would not tell such lies. There must be some truth to something I hear many times a day, week after week, month after month. These people are not feebleminded; they are brainwashed. They have been taught to find egregious unfairness in the world and to blame the great satan of Liberalism for it all. They have been taught to rail against things that cannot be fixed easily or at all, because these rages keep them in a constant state of fear and victimhood.
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Connecticut's Decision
by: SueZ
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 09:25:15 AM CDT
With all the other news this week, a news item of some historic significance has rather been overlooked. I am sure that most of us heard about it, but I hate to admit that we here at ALP did not give it due recognition.
In a suit, Kerrigan and Mock v. the Connecticut Department of Public Health , the court found for the plaintiff's and agreed to allow same sex marriage. Connecticut is only the third state, behind Massachusetts and more recently California, that has recognized that the legal benefits to couples was greater in a marriage than in a civil union.
We applaud the State of Connecticut in seeing it's responsibility to do what was only right and fair, and in rendering this verdict JUSTICE RICHARD N. PALMER, of the Connecticut Supreme Court, writing for the majority in a 5-4 ruling, stated,"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice."
We congratulate all those who will now take advantage of this new avenue, and we wish you all well.
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Commander in Chief
by: SueZ
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 08:51:58 AM CDT
A short while ago Sarah Palin called Obama's approach to Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., the white flag of surrender, and to talk with ones enemies without any pre-conditions a silly and naive way to go. The naivete is coming from the McCain/Palin camp, as General Petraeus, whom McCain is fond of conjuring up, as his ear to the ground and trusting him to tell us what is right and wrong about our military standing in the ME region, has backed Barack Obama by saying, you have to talk to your enemies .
I think that McCain might wnat to look back and realize that if Henry Kissinger had not talked with the North Vietnamese in Paris, John McCain's fate might have been very much different!
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A Cartoon for Today-Mike Lane, Baltimore, Maryland
by: SueZ
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 08:10:18 AM CDT
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What the Troopergate Report Really Says
by: SueZ
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 08:04:23 AM CDT
This report from TIME magazine answers the questions about why this is an important investigation in more ways than one.
With all the brouhaha about Sarah Palin's experience, or lack thereof, this should answer that question once and for all. Is she out of her league? Yes. Out of her depth? Yes. It would seem that she is not very much in control in her own home state. God forbid she ever came close to running this country!
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Bill Moyers Journal
by: James R Brett
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 07:00:00 AM CDT
Bill Moyers Journal this week has an interview with George Soros and with Kathleen Hall Jamieson on the week in the campaigns. The campaigns took a couple more turns for the worse today as people who are angry at the market for evaporating their life savings responded to the hate and racism message of Cindy McCain, John McCain, and Sarah Palin. McCain has begun to try to put an end to his campaign's kindling of the hatred and racism, but everyone is holding their breath to see if he really means it. If not, you will soon see brown shirts in the crowds and major trouble across the land.
The Soros interview dovetails with my posting yesterday that linked to the book review of Soros's new book. If you did not get all the way through it, you owe yourself the 20 minute interview, for it is no less chilling and authoritative. We are, indeed, at the end of an era.
JB
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Saturday Selections
by: SueZ
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 05:36:22 AM CDT
Where oh where to start this Saturday morning? There is so much incredible news starting with the story,breaking last night, of Palin's abuse of power . A bi-partisan panel consisting of more Republicans then Democrats finished their investigation into what has come to be known as "Troopergate" and found Sarah had been a naughty girl.
And it was a woman in red who caused John McCain to finally have his ENOUGH moment. I have never been a fan of John McCain's, and it was hard for me to believe, having watched the way his campaign has been unfoldoing these past weeks, to believe that he was the decent human being so many people said he was. I am glad that he proved me wrong but I am still very skeptical as he never should have allowed it to get to this very dark place . Ironic isn't it that some of those in line shout to the protestors,"get a job"! Why are all those in line not at work?
Here in it's entirety is the text of the letter which appeared yesterday in The Baltimore Sun, and was referred to in Rachel Maddow's piece, above.
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Today's Quote
by: SueZ
Sat Oct 11, 2008 at 00:30:00 AM CDT
I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace.
Helen Keller (1880-1968)
American author, activist and lecturer
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George Soros on the Meltdown
by: James R Brett
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 14:33:53 PM CDT
George Soros made his fortune as a hedge fund manager. He quit for a while and came back to do it again. He really knows the market in ways that others wish they did. George, in this sense, may be part of the problem. I can't say that for sure, but I know that George is more than a hedge fund manager, too. He is a proponent of individual liberty and democracy around the world. He has spent a fortune that I can only imagine in support of democracy in Russia and elsewhere. He is a very astute person who knows what is important and the context that needs to be encouraged in our world. He saw this financial debacle coming and his prediction about it will curl your hair.
This book review is a little longer than it needs to be, but it leads after a discussion of the Soros Hypothesis about the macroeconomics of markets to his analysis of our life and times, about our civilization and its probable course. We are headed into what looks like an abyss. It looks like that because what we have become used to as verities and truths and comforts will soon enough be gone, replaced by other things or, more likely, become as irrelevant as Ptolmaic epicycles or phlogiston or hitching posts.
JB
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Madness
by: SueZ
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 14:18:26 PM CDT
First we had the madness of King George. Now we have the madness of would be King John. Where will it all end?
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On Voting
by: SueZ
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 13:39:37 PM CDT
What sort of voter are you? Am I registered ? Can I register?
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A Cartoon for Today-Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Utah
by: SueZ
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 11:45:18 AM CDT
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Pride Goeth Before A Fall
by: SueZ
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 11:36:59 AM CDT
Years ago I said that the Afghan war was the Soviets Vietnam, and it proved to be so, more or less. We underwrote the Afghans in their endeaver to throw the Soviets out, and in so doing we armed and trained Osama Bin Laden and his minions. Just as we underwrote Saddam Hussein in his war with Iraq (we were mad at the Ayatollah Khomeni,for usurping the Shah who had been our "buddy"). This has been our modus operandi for many, many years, supporting the "rebel" factions more times than not, and then acting shocked when it comes back to bite us in the nether regions.
Barack Obama is right in his idea that we need to finish what was started in Afghanistan, but is he really prepared for what we will run into when we get there? Anand Gopal, writing in TomDispatch.com (via AlterNet) has written about what we might really be in for.
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The "Enough" Award
by: SueZ
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 10:42:34 AM CDT
Hats have to be off to Tom Dart, the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois who has said, ENOUGH!
Sheriff Dart has decided that his office will no longer carry out evictions on unsuspecting tenants who have been paying their rent, "playing by the rules", as he has said, and are being penalized because of the actions of their mortgage defaulting landlords. As Sheriff Dart has said, not on my watch.
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The Annenberg Foundation
by: SueZ
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 10:12:36 AM CDT
Sarah Palin is like a ratter. A ratter is a dog trained to go into rat holes to get rodents, whether they be rats or other undesirable vermin. She will not let go of the "rat" of the Ayers/Obama connection, however, I think it is time that someone laid this out in the whole cloth so to speak, for Palin to see that her running mate has the same level of connection to William Ayers.
McCain, Obama and many others, who it turns out are rather large contributors to the Republican party, have all served on either the boards of the Wood Fund or The Annenberg Foundation . It is truly time for someone to stop the BS issuing forth from the McCain camp, because, as someone pointed out last night, McCain did not have the stones to look Obama in the eye over any of this, but he sure is spewing on about the "terrorist connection" or at least encouraging his running mate to continue in the defamation of Obama.
I daresay that Professor Ayers has received more publicity in the last month than he ever did as a member of the Weatherman!
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A Disgrace To Women
by: SueZ
Fri Oct 10, 2008 at 09:02:33 AM CDT
I remember what a stir Brigette Bardot caused when the movies she appeared in were first shown here. She did help to popularize the bikini, much to the delight of the male gender.
No stranger to controversy, the 74 year old actress and animal rights activist is still making waves, as can be seen in these words which she has for Sarah Palin . Go get 'em Brigette!!
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