Let’s chat about a GREAT convention. This week was the 45th anniversary of the famous March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech. I take some calls. I even find 50 seconds or so to talk about Sarah Palin. Great Show. Enjoy.
I’m not sure why Michael Chertoff still has a job. As head of Homeland Security he gets a failing grade from me.
One of the things on the long list of ‘to-do’ items for our next president is to re-organize the government. Why FEMA is in the dysfunctional department of Homeland Security is a head scratcher to me.
New Orleans has been evacuated. I hope and pray that everyone has gotten out.
I don’t think that New Orleans is ready for another hurricane. I don’t think that the Gulf Coast is ready.
Lousiana Blogs, Liberty and Justice, is worried. Millwx has a huge update on Daily Kos. Kimberly is watching the tube. (I think that it is time for her to stop watching and get out.)
National Weather Service has just upgraded Gustav to a Category 4.
From Glenn Greenwald:
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning — one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a “hippie house,” where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with “peaceful kids” who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here. (more… )
Firedoglake has more – here and here.
Love Togetherness and Devotion, or just LTD, was a group led by Jeffrey Osborne in the late 70s and early 80s. They had the successful formula of a great lead singer, outstanding bass man and a hot horn section. This formula was used by groups like the Ohio Players and Earth Wind and Fire. Jeffrey Osborne went out on his own and LTD dissolved. Osborne had several successful albums. Unfortunately, his best album, Stay With Me Tonight, came out the same year that Lionel Richie put out the album Can’t Slow Down which had four or five top 20 hits including “All Night Long” and “Hello.”
LTD they did know how to jam though.
It is unfortunate that CNN didn’t date this video in which Governor Sarah Palin was asked if she thought she would be McCain’s vice presidential pick. She was either clueless or playing coy. Who knows?
How many people have gotten bogged down in trying to figure out who this Palin person is? I know, or at least I think I know, that she isn’t Michael Palin from Monty Python. No matter. I’m not going to focus on that for now. I’m going to revel in the afterglow of the Democratic National Convention.
The convention wasn’t perfect. Everyone wanted some one to say something else or something more. Senator Hilary Clinton didn’t support Senator Barack Obama enough– Horse feathers. Obama didn’t talk about the blight of blacks in the inner city– Give me a break. This is was the most energized and progressive convention that I have ever witnessed. It was coordinated. It was harmonious. It was as good a convention as the Democrats can put on in my opinion. It was marvelous.
So, I’m going to continue basking in this glow for a little longer. The music selection for tonight will be Terrence Trent D’arby. There was so much fanfare surrounding this one huge mega-hit. He was supposed to be the next Prince. NOT. He had this one hit then a minor one then he was gone. Poof.
If you haven’t seen the whole speech, your education has been inadequate. Be educated. This is one of the greatest speeches ever given or ever recorded. This was not the speech that Martin Luther King was suppose to give. If you look at the speech you can tell where King stops reading the written text and begins to tell nation of his dream.
This is the transcript of King’s famous speech (I’m not folding this transcript. Formatting and emphasis have been added for readability.):
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
A Great Week For Progress, Freedom & Hope!
These important moments came on the anniversary of The March on Washington, and the anniversary of ratification of a woman’s right to vote.
We’re ready to move forward now to even greater victories for all Americans.
Martin Luther King
Barack Obama
Susan B. Anthony
Hillary Clinton
The expectations. Managing the expectations. This was almost an impossible task. Some of the political pundits had set the bar so high Barack Obama needed to build a rocket ship, fly to the moon, land safely, and fly back again all while singing God bless America out of his belly button.
I’m sure that the Barack Obama camp, like myself, were somewhat confused at what he really needed to accomplish with his speech. I knew exactly what Sen. Hillary Clinton need to accomplish with her speech. I also knew exactly what former president Bill Clinton needed to achieve with his speech. Obama speech was altogether different. He needs to rally the troops so that they would be inspired to stuff envelopes and knock on doors and made hundreds of calls to get him elected. He needed to inspire.
Well, Barack Obama did more than inspire. He decided that he would also discuss policy. He would lay out a plan, a vision for America. He also was able to contrast his vision with that John McCain’s and the Republican party. And finally on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous I Have a Dream Speech, Barack Obama was able to tie his vision of looking forward towards the future to that of Martin Luther King’s so many years ago, where he also looked towards the horizon of hope and compassion. Obama gave a remarkable speech. Pat Buchanan said it was the best acceptance speech he had ever seen. (I really hate quoting Pat Buchanan.)
A portion of Barack Obama’s speech:
This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that’s not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that’s not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that’s not what keeps the world coming to our shores.
Instead, it is that American spirit – that American promise – that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.
That promise is our greatest inheritance. It’s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours – a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.
And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln’s Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.
Former Vice President Al Gore is a great American. He brought a can of whoop-ass to the convention and delivered a very thoughtful, funny, and forceful speech. He needs a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
This is the speech started Senator Barack Obama on his remarkable journey. It’s from the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.
In what must be one of the most thrilling and emotional events that I’ve ever seen at a national convention, Senator Hillary Clinton asked that the role call be stopped in order that Senator Barack Obama be nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate. It was a magnificent sight. If there was any remaining doubt to Clinton’s commitment, that should have been erased by this very magnanimous gesture. Chants of, “Hillary, Hillary, Hillary!” rang out from the crowd.
John Kerry is a very thoughtful, progressive politician. While I don’t usually think that he is a dynamic speaker, I think he gave a solid speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Here is a convention update from the Obama delegate from Ohio and Ohio State Representative, Tyrone K. Yates:
Last night I attended the Democratic National Convention in a
non-Delegate status because I donated my credentials to an Ohio Young Democrat.
Few if any of them will get to the floor to experience a national
convention. On his last visit to Dallas in November 1963, President John F.
Kennedy’s personal notes include a reference to insuring that Young
Democrats have seats at the TradeMart luncheon.Hillary Clinton’s speech was very good-excellent. At the breakfast this
morning I sat at a table where Governor Strickland sat. The national
president of AFSCME spoke and said that American labor must confront its
racism and any labor member refusing to vote for Obama and any
rationale against him is “bull….”We are experiencing a turning point in American race relations and
presidential politics-a point where our ideals and deeds must meet and
clash. The battle for our racial souls “augurs” well.
Yates lives in Cincinnati and is President of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus. He and I have been friends for many years.
Former president Bill Clinton stated, “Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she’ll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama. That makes two of us.”
Mr. Clinton reminded us that he still is a great communicator who understands policy by endorsing Barack Obama in no uncertain terms. He gave a GREAT speech.
A small faction of right-wing knuckleheads have been doggedly investigating Senator Barack Obama’s birth. “Investigating” may be a strong word that may be better characterized as generating rumors and lies. One of my readers was even sucked into this trap.
They say that Obama was born not in Hawaii, but elsewhere. They have no proof but they look at the 1961 birth certificate and say that it is a fake. Their champion is Jerome Corsi, who has been touting this idea on national television.
Thankfully, FactCheck.org has done their homework and looked at Obama’s birth certificate. They have verified the raised the seal. The birth certificate has even been verified by Jerome Corsi’s own publisher, WorldNetDaily. They recently wrote:
However, FactChecker.org says it obtained Obama’s actual birth certificate and that the document was indeed real. The site discredited some of the claims of Internet bloggers, such as that the certificate as viewed in a scanned copy released by Obama’s campaign lacked a raised seal. FactChecker.org also established that many of the alleged flaws in the document noted by bloggers were caused by the scanning of the document.
A separate WND investigation into Obama’s birth certificate utilizing forgery experts also found the document to be authentic. The investigation also revealed methods used by some of the bloggers to determine the document was fake involved forgeries, in that a few bloggers added text and images to the certificate scan that weren’t originally there. (more… )
I could spend some time describing what each of the Daily Show dudes were doing in this video, but why? Think Beer commercials and Colorado…
The Daily Show correspondents explain what they will bring the convention.
Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, full-time sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
