George Harrison

February 25, 1943 – November 29, 2001

"The Pope owns 51% of General Motors and the stock exchange is the only thing he's qualified to quote us"
George Harrison















Tributes:


Its shaky at first but give it a second:

William Jefferson Obama?

31 out 40 of Obama appointees have ties to the Clinton administration; one of them is Bill's biggest supporter, his wife. For months prior to the election I cited Obama's voting record as proof that his message of "change" was nothing more then a marketing ploy cooked up by the same advertising industry that sells you your toothpaste. Still people have said that Obama was only trying to gain the support of the centrist in order to win the election. The mantra was "wait until he gets into office". We are less then two months away from that date and what do we have? A replay of the politics of the nineties, with the same cast of characters.

In relation to these points here are three essential reads:

"This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House" By Jeremy Scahill
If you only read one this is it. Scahill gives a brief summation of many of the people that have joined the Obama team.

"In the Public Interest: The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same" By Ralph Nader

"Change We Can Bank On" By Robert Scheer

Evo Morales

Bolivia has been in a state of tension for some time now. President Evo Morales has wrongfully come under pressure from the Bush Administration for of their drug enforcement policy. This conflict has led the DEA and US ambassadors both being kicked out of Boliva. The ambassador was removed due to belief that he has been involved with opposition groups trying to overthrow the Morales government. Small portions of the population have been disgruntled with the Morales presidency due to the nationalization of natural resources, which in turn has greatly helped the population.

Roger Burbach has written an great piece breaking down the events of the past few months. I highly recommend reading this article since most of the information has been kept out of the US media, instead choosing to portrait Morales as evil.

How Bush Tried to Bring Down Evo Morales: Orchestrating a Civic Coup in Bolivia By Roger Burbach

President Morales was also interviewed on Demorcay Now yesterday. Amy Goodman talks with President Morales about realtions with the United States, Free Trade agreements, the massacre in Pando and the proposed new constitution.

The interview can be heard or read by clicking here:

“Neoliberalism Is No Solution for Humankind” an interview with Evo Morales

Two Interviews From Amy Goodman

Today Namoi Kline was featured on Democracy Now!. As usual she covers a variety of issues including: Bloomberg's lawsuit for disclosure on the 2 trillion dollars in loans made by the federal reserve, how Britain handled their bail out of banks, the conflict between the wishes of the american people and the movers and shakers of the us economy and the bailout profiteers.

To Read The Interview Click Here: Naomi Klein On The Bailout Profiteers and the Multi- Trillion- Dollar Crime Scene


Host of Demorcay Now! Amy Goodman also interviewed former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights on Obama's Intelligence Transition Team. The team features John Brennan and Jami Miscik both are former intelligence officials who served under George Tenet. Brennan supported warrantees wiretapping and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead up to the Iraq War.

To Read The Interview Click Here: Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama's Intelligence Transition Team


What we see in both of these interviews is conformation that we will be getting more of the same from the Obama administration in the econmy, civil rights and intelligence gathering.

Revving Up The Cold War Engine

Robert Scheer reports on the involvement of cold war era hawks that have been advising Obama. The piece takes a close look at their involvement and what this means for US relations with Russia. Again we see more of the same coming from the administration of change.

Cold War Hawks Nesting With Obama By Robert Scheer

Two From Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges is a journalist and author who's work focuses on American and Middle Eastern societies. His writing has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times. Today I am linking to two pieces Hedges recently released.

The first is on America's illiteracy and how it relates to politics. Hedges explains how we have gone from a print based society to an image based society and how this impacts our country and its future.

The second is on the growing third party movements in the United States. It seems almost inevitable that a third party movement will grow out of the failure of Obama's presidency. Hedges asks weather this movement will be based in left or right wing ideologies.

America the Illiterate By Chris Hedges

Populism Arising—but Will It Be the Killer Kind? By Chris Hedges

Tuli's Thoughts On The Election

The title says it all

Noam Chomsky Comments On The Election

Click Here to hear Noam Chomsky's thoughts on the 2008 election.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel Appointed To Obama White House

President Elect Barack Obama has appointed one of the first member of his cabinet, Rep. Rahm Emanuel as the white house chief of staff. As a congressmen he voted on the 2002 resolution authorizing the Iraq war. He is a vocal supporter of Israel's occupation of the west bank and Gaza, Emaneul also supported their attack on Lebanon. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Emanuel was the top recipient of donations from “hedge funds, private equity firms and the larger securities/investment industry” in the 2008 election cycle.

This is the first official sign from Obama that we can expect more of the same in the US's relations towards Israel. The fact that he was top recipient of donations from hedge funds, private equity firms and the larger securities/investment industry” is also very disturbing, but I guess it make sense a corporate advisor for a corporate candidate.

So What Comes Next?

"Not I" Said The Cat Named Ralph Nader

I was recently asked by a family member why Ralph Nader didn't cost the democrats the election in 2000. This was done in part to explain the past but to also justify voting for Ralph and other third part candidates in the future. Many of the issues addressed about the 2000 election are still extremly relevant to the election in 2008. Some of these same factors will decide who wins tomorrow. As you can see above I placed a vote for Ralph in the current election via absentee ballot.

"Not I" Said The Cat, Named Ralph Nader
By Matthew McLoughlin

People often like to blame others for thier mistakes and inadquecies.  So its no suprise when people lose they like to shift the blame from themselves to someone else.  When the Democrats lost the election in 2000 and 2004 many chose to put the blame on someone else, that someone else is Ralph Nader.
 
The accusations were that many of Naders supports "took" votes away from Al Gore, being that there is no way these voters would have voted for George Bush. When I was on the streets petitioning to get Nader on the ballot in Illinois I got tons of arguments as to why Nader's presence caused the democrats to loose. None of these reasons found the democrats looking in the mirror.

Florida

Many like to blame Nader for costing Gore the state of Florida, since Gore lost the state of by only 537 votes.  While Nader did win 97,421 votes in Flordia, EVERY third party candidate won more then 537 votes.  In effect every third party candidate running effected the results in the state of Florida, not just Ralph Nader.  Some of these candidates weren't running serious campaigns, appearing only a few other state ballots, where as Ralph Nader was making a serious run for the presidency of the United States. There was also an astonishing 250,000 self-identified Democrats who voted for Bush in Florida.  Had 537 of those indivuals voted thier party line Gore would have won the state of Florida.
In the Democrats own magazine "Blueprint' party strategist and Democratic Leadership Council chair Al From stated that "The assertion that Nader's marginal vote hurt Gore is not borne out by polling data. When exit pollers asked voters how they would have voted in a two-way race, Bush actually won by a point. That was better than he did with Nader in the race." So according to the Democratic Party Gore still would have lost had Nader not been on the ballot."

Tennessee

Home states are usually a guarantee for candidates. Even if the candidate looses they almost always win their home state. When Mondale ran against Regan in 1984 the only state he won was Minnesota, his home state. Dukakis only one eight or nine states in 1988, one of them being Massachusetts his home state. When Jimmy Carter ran for reelection against Ronald Regan and only won seven states, one of them was his home state Georgia. Do you see a pattern developing? Gore lost in his home state of Tennessee, a state Clinton carried in both of his campaigns.

Why Not Look In The Mirror?

Gore ran a poor campaign and showed the American people zero personality. A personality that seemed to bloom a year later with an appearance on Saturday Night Live and a hit movie. Where was this charm when he needed to win the election?
There are two other main factors that cost Gore the election. Sadly the Democratic Party has refused to addresses either of these issues. The first being confusing ballots. Although there has been some reform every state has different voting rules and regulations. While this may seem fair for local elections it makes no sense on a national level. If we are all voting in the same contest we should all have to go through the same procedure.

The second issue which may cause Barack Obama the election (an issue he never brings up) is the electoral college. In 2000 Al Gore won 50,999,897 votes (48.4%), George Bush came away with 50,456,002 (47.9%). If a national popular vote had been the decider Al Gore would have rightfully won. Instead the confusing electoral college gave George Bush the election. Each state has a certain number of elector votes, which value each state. Winning certain states can carry more weight then others. This allows a candidate who didn't receive a majority of votes to win the election. This system was set up because our founding fathers believed the American people weren't smart enough to elect their leaders (the same reason they denied blacks, non land owners and women the right to vote for so long).
If you were to ask Al Gore who cost him the election his answer would be the electoral college, not Ralph Nader. As the law stands now the popular vote (the vote you place on election day) carries no legal weight. Just because a candidate wins the popular vote in a state doesn't mean the electoral college will go to them, that will be decided by the states electors.

Those Who Didn't Vote

One of the main reasons Nader didn't cost Gore the election can be based on those who choose not to vote.  Nearly fifty percent of the country didn't vote in the 2000 election.  Aren't those who didn't even bother showing up more to blame then those who placed a vote for what they belived in?  There is a reason fifty percent of the nation doesn't vote; the two parties don't speak to a majority of Americans.

Why I Voted For Ralph

All Ralph Nader has done is speak directly to the views of a majority of Americans that aren't being answered by the two major party candidates.  Why should those who voted for Nader been or be forced into voting for something they don't belive in? 
 
Voting is not a horse race.  You aren't supposed to vote for who you think will win but what you belive in.  If this doesn't happen democracy fails, as it has been in the United States.   Major changes in the history of the United States have all taken place through third party movements: abolition of slavery, women's rights, workers rights, civil rights, environmental and consumer protection. If we don't show our support for the changes Ralph is talking about they will never be part of our future. Hopefully one day this country will see nationalized health care, free college education, the end of corporate control, and the end of our destructive foreign policy. These things though will never happen if we don't stand by those sticking up for these ideals and thats why I encourage anyone who cares about these ideals to vote NADER/GONZALEZ in 2008.

To find out more about The Nader/Gonzalez campaign vist: votenader.org

Oprah's Vote Dropped And Your's Could Be Too

Many people don't understand how serious the problems with electronic voting machines are. BE CAREFUL TOMMOROW, take your time and make sure your vote is completed properly.


FROM DEMOCRACY NOW!:Election Day is one day away. Tomorrow tens of millions of Americans will head to the polls. Is the nation’s voting system ready for the unprecedented turnout?

Already more votes have been cast before Election Day than ever before. As of Saturday night, there were some 27 million absentee and early votes in 30 states, according to the Associated Press. But already, reports of voting irregularities, long lines, malfunctioning machines and badly managed polling stations are pouring in from across the country.

Despite documented irregularities, about a quarter of all voters will use electronic machines that offer no paper record to verify that their choice was accurately recorded. Voting rights groups have filed lawsuits against election officials in Pennsylvania and Virginia, saying they have not stocked enough paper ballots to prepare for the expected turnout.

In Colorado, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia, voters have reported using touch-screen machines that have flipped their votes to the wrong candidate or party. Meanwhile, Florida has switched to its third ballot system in the past three election cycles, and glitches associated with the transition have caused confusion at early voting sites.

This all comes in the wake of voter suppression tactics that have seen tens of thousands of voters potentially lose their right to vote. In the battleground state of Colorado, voter rights activists recently won a major victory after state officials agreed to reinstate tens of thousands of people whose names had been removed from the rolls.

To Read an interview Amy Goodman (host of Democracy Now) conducted with Mark Crispin Miller author of "Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008." and "Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too" click here.

Studs Terkel

1912-2008 RIP

Actor, author, historian and broadcaster Studs Terkel passed away yesterday, October 31, 2008. Studs became famous for celebrating the uncelebrated.

This interview was conducted at the University Of California Berkley. It's very funny as well as informative.



Here is a documentary on Stud, its mostly random clips pieced together but its worth watching.: Studs On A Soapbox

NPR has put together some audio from Stud's on NPR as well as some interviews he conducted. I highly recommend listening to the interview with a young Bob Dylan which can be found in the left hand column. NPR COVERAGE

Here is are some excerpts from the interviews Stud's made to make "Working": Revisiting "Working" By Susan Stamberg

Here are some great quotes from Studs:

"With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, 'Studs, you're an optimist.' I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what's the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven."


On never losing hope, to The Associated Press in 2003: "A lot of people feel, 'What can I do, (it's) hopeless.' Well, through all these years there have been the people I'm talking about, whom we call activists ... who give us hope and through them we have hope."

Conversation with future Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing in 1969:
Lessing: "You do still have gangsters [in Chicago], don't you?" Terkel: "Yes, but these days they're mostly in business, or politics."