Politics

I thought the best line of the night was delivered by Federico Pena, "Not four years, how about just four more months?"

It stands to reason to say of course he is, he was a victim of it himself. Sadly that is not entirely true. John McCain has appeared to lead the charge to end the use of torture unequivocally, but his legislative compromises have allowed the practice to continue and have even provided immunity from prosecution for its perpetrators.

Now, TrueMajority is working with Catholics United and School of the Americas Watch to bring you the voices of torture survivors and military interrogators who are asking Sen. McCain to regain his moral footing and ban torture.

Please see below a video from Joshua Casteel, a former interrogator at Abu Ghraib, turned conscientious objector, asking John McCain to ban ALL TORTURE

Watch the video and sign their petition demanding an end to torture:

More on John McCain’s position on torture below the fold

Bill,
It seems to me that greed is the source and power is the energy. But I could be wrong.

I recall a legal precedent re: corporations having legal status/standing as individuals of some sorts, but I can not recall it. If they are individuals then maybe we can address them as such biblically.

I would say that both greed and power need to be addressed in the economic white paper now being created. IMO, any Christian economic policies should be addressed from a strong theologically progressive perspective.

I'll catch up after I return from vacation the 27th.

Rich

Is Bob Barr a "Looney Tune"? I don't think so. He may be a nasty attack dog for the manner in which he went after the Clintons, but that's personal ugliness, which is matched by other ugly aspects of his personal life. (You could look it up.) However, in terms of policies, I perceive some good stuff in his very brief issues statements. Some of it sounds more progressive than what Obama has proposed.

My main problem with the Libertarians is that I think they completely misunderstand the nature of our corporate-based economic and political system. Therefore they buy into the notion that we have a "free market". They assume that this hypothetical free market will always work its magic. Always for the good. Just get Big Government out of the way.

Nevertheless, despite seeming to be oblivious to the problem of corporatism, Barr and the Libertarians aren't conscious corporatists. They hate taxes so much that they want to end "corporate welfare". However, they're corporate-enablers in that they want government to get out of the way and let the high rollers play.

The part of the "Cut Big Spending" section of Barr's platform that refers to the military reads like this:

* The federal government must take the lead in making significant cuts in spending.
Focusing on earmarks risks distracting attention from the broader problem of a

Given the racism that Obama is confronted with, and that presumably will become more prevalent and vicious later on in the campaign, it's a lot easier for Nader to make a (nuanced) commitment to Affirmative Action than it is for Obama. So don't take my posting of this part of Nader's platform as a criticism of Obama for not stating a position on Affirmative Action. Rather, it's a defense of Nader from the charge of "racism".

Obama has suggested in one of his debates with Hillary Clinton that affirmative action in higher education might switch from a focus on race to one on class. See http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/04/17/qt and http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/05/12/kahlenberg. That's probably a viable way to go for all forms of affirmative action. Class has been under-emphasized for too long, so that's a plus for those of us who think that "class consciousness" is a good and necessary component of progressive strategies for change. A broad and expanded program of affirmative action based on class would be of practical value to African-Americans, although many are wary that they might be short-changed in its politically sensitive implementation. And there's some loss of historical consciousness and sense of social responsibility if the idea of "reparations" is embedded so deeply in a class-based program that reparations disappears as a distinct factor.

Here's a radical idea; that we take seriously the whole concept of Christian forgiveness and apply it to our foreign policy with Iran.

In the Lord's Prayer we ask that our trangressions towards other be forgiven as we ask others to forgive ours. We all know how much of a challenge it is to forgive. We all know it is more blessed to give than recieve. That's why the Lord's prayer asks 1st for forgiveness of our transgressions, it frees us to then forgive others. That's the psychological basis of The Golden Rule.

Now let us summon up the courage to face, quite honestly, our history with Iran over the past half century or so. In the late 1890's a British oil company found significant oil reserves in Iran, set up shop and after concessions were granted in 1901, began to exploit those resources, mostly for their own profit. In 1933 improved terms were granted to Iran. During WW2 Reza Shah Pahlevi, seeking to gain greater control over his nations oil reserves from the British sided with the Axis powers which resulted in a British-Soviet Union occupation of the oil fields in 1941. Reza Shah Palevi abdicated. His son, Muhammad Reza Shah Palevi succeeded to the throne and adopted pro-Western policies. (This is the Shah we are most familiar with.)

Today I read in the paper about the first gay marriages to take place today after the California Supreme Court ruling making it legal in the state. The San Francisco Chronicle has had a series of articles on the history of the gay marriage debate, on the work of attorneys willing to fight for the right and on priests willing to perform the marriage services, and on the change in attitudes of the institution of marriage among the gay and lesbian community. I think the San Francisco Chronicle has done a great job of educating the public on the history of the gay marriage debate, showing both sides of the issue and giving a good reason as to why it is so important for the gay and lesbian community.

One could say that my life has been a series of debates. This is not to say that I’m argumentative. I’ve just been lucky in my life to have had friends with whom I could talk about issues and debate politics and religion. Although I’m fairly liberal in my politics, I’ve had in my life a fair amount of conservative Republican friends with whom I used to be able to debate on points of disagreement and while still maintaining a sense of respect for each other. Somehow, though, those type of talks have become less frequent in the past couple of years. I’m not sure if people in the past few years have just become more polarized along certain positions and are no longer tolerant of differing opinions. It’s become rare to meet that kind of friend, that friendship of opposites, and I miss those type of conversations.

I just read on CNN news that Sen. Ted Kennedy was admitted to the hospital mid morning with stroke like symptoms. Not many details yet. Keep posted, meanwhile keep him in your prayers. He's giant in the Senate and for our brand of progressive politics. Even Sen. McCain had kind words for him.

May he fully recover and continue to serve us, all.

Rich

Excerpts from Christopher Story’s May 2008 report … Christopher Story is the long time editor of THE INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY REVIEW. You may see the entire report at: http://www.worldreports.org/news/132_refinancing_the_world_and_refloatin...

"THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC SECURITY AND REFORMATION ACT
We also understood that documents concerning the National Economic Security and Reformation Act (NESARA), hoarded by Chief Justice Roberts on behalf of the Weltkriminalgesellschaft, had been taken from him, apparently on the orders of The Queen (implemented by MI6, who have been present as noted in the United States (ever since 2006), with the authority of the World Court).

This legislation, signed into law by President Clinton in March 2000, comes into effect when it is announced; and the primary objective of the Bush-Clinton-Cheney kleptocracy, especially since implementation of the Act was deliberately sabotaged by 9/11, has been to prevent at all costs this announcement ever happening – so that their secret financial rapine could continue indefinitely.