Earlier today (at my blog as well as Orange and ET) I posted my first response to the speech and to the first round of media reaction, plus the sections of the speech I found most significant.

Here are a few further reflections on the content and form. First, the most obvious: Obama presented himself to Europe as the anti-Bush, and at some risk.  He's going to be hammered by the rabid right simply for the line very early in the speech in which he says he is speaking as a U.S. citizen, and a citizen of the world.

There are no innocent bystanders in America

Many columnists aware of the relentless movement of the calendar and the current pre-convention status of the two Presidential contenders are starting to ask the only significant question of concern in the upcoming American election. There are many major issues facing America, most created by sheer visionary neglect by the current Presidential administration, but as far as the election is concerned RACE triumphs them all. The burning question is not whether America is ready for an African American President; the actual gut question is America ready for THIS African American man, Senator Barack Obama, to be its leader! America is standing on the threshold of the greatest decision it will ever make in the course of its 370 year history. The question of race engenders another question, namely, how do you effectively campaign for the highest political office with a serious ever-present racial handicap in the minds of voters? We will look at this below the fold.

Palestinian Children encounter many obstacles to their education: harrassment and violence from settlers, impediments, such as roadblocks and checkpoints and in some cases, damage or closure of their schools.  Accompanying children to school has been one of Christian Peacemaker Teams' violence reduction programs for many years in the West Bank.

A few incidents four years ago convinced the Israeli Knesset that children near At-Tuwani needed an escort from Israeli soldiers to protect them from settler violence:

In 2004, two CPT members, Kim Lamberty and Chris Brown in At-Tuwani were severely injured when settlers attacked them as they were walking children to school.[17] A few days later, the team, along with Operation Dove and Amnesty International members were again attacked. In response to these attacks, the Israeli Knesset Committee for Children's Rights initiated an order to have soldiers escort the Palestinian children to school in At-Tuwani

The children continue to risk injury from settlers when their military escort is late or fails to appear.

Tinfoil hats on, please.

I just read a review of a bit of journalism on Armand Hammer. The reviewed book is "DOSSIER: THE SECRET HISTORY OF ARMAND HAMMER" by Edward Jay Epstein What I didn't expect to see where connections between him, the Ruskies, Hoover and Occidental Petroleum. Turns out Al Gore Senior was, at first the political face for Armand Hammer's empire: one built on secret multi-generational family relationships with the Communists (WHHHhhhaaaa?). Apparently Hammer was a secret Commie and son of a not so secret commie. He made his fortune, according to the reviewed book, through backroom dealings with the Communists, essentially helping to secretly set up their access to the capitalist marketplace, especially acting as launderer for Communist funds inside the US.

The under-funded Gore the Senior's career was started with Hammer's money - and therefore tainted by Communist influence on some level. Hoover opened a file on the organization, scrawling 'a rotten bunch' across the top way back in 1919. When Senator Gore retired, he went to work for Hammer's Occidental Petroleum. Before retiring, Gore served (no irony here!!) as chairman of the 'Special Committee on Attempts to Influence Senators' during the 84th Congress (chuckle).

full review

Senator Gore Sr. on Wiki

Soo.. The Bush's were created by dirty dealings with the fascists, the Gores with the Commies..

Kinda makes Joe Kennedy's rum-running look all the more mainstream American by comparison!

Which mass murdering autocrats did YOUR grandfather make shady deals with to attain the pinnacle of power? None? Too bad. Probably explains a lot.

Cross-posted at Project Vote's Voting Matters Blog

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

In 2000, Florida's disastrous effort to purge former felons from voter rolls resulted in the disenfranchisement of hundreds if not thousands of legitimate voters and clearly influenced the outcome of the presidential contest in that state. History may repeat itself this November with states taking potentially reckless and unlawful measures to clean voter rolls before Election Day.

Lawrence of Cyberia wrote the following essay as a comment to a diary at My Left Wing a few days ago. She reproduced it on her site because it was also a suitable response to readers who email her from time to time with questions along the lines of,

How can criticizing a Jewish state not be anti-Semitic?

Lawrence of Cyberia's response (slightly revised to a generic "you") was: I think this question misses the point entirely about why people can be anti-Zionist but not anti-Semitic. And it misses the point because it starts off from a strawman argument (about) why people might be opposed to Zionism. Whether you are a hard Zionist or a soft anti-Zionist, her response is enlightening.

I have never been disappointed by Lawrence's acute logic yet obvious humanism and leanings toward common civil and human rights in government, especially when discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This conflict obviously continues because Israel seems incapable of affording ordinary human rights to Palestinians, the same ones that Jews were deprived of throughout modern history. What we find out is that the oppressed can become oppressors, and that ordinary people have flaws they may be unaware of.

New Systems Keep a Close Eye on Online Students at Home

Tucked away in a 1,200-page bill now in Congress is a small paragraph that could lead distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students' homes.

I no longer recognize my country.

    On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a ground breaking executive order requiring all city agencies to provide language assistance services for people who speak Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian or French Creole.  According to The New York Times, this is the first time that all New York City agencies will be forced to follow the same standard in providing translation and language interpretation services to people who do not speak English:

Immigrant advocates and city officials say it is the most comprehensive order of its kind in the country. The mayor refused to be specific about how much the services will cost, saying only that it was a "relatively small" amount given the size of the city's budget. He added: "This executive order will make our city more accessible, while helping us become the most inclusive municipal government in the nation."

The Opportunity Agenda fact sheet Immigration Reform: Promoting Opportunity for All details the need for immigrants to have access to language assistance services in order to achieve their full potential. In providing immigrant groups with this access, Mayor Bloomberg has taken the entire city forward and empowered communities throughout New York.

    Politicians have also been busy down in Washington, D.C. working to provide language assistance for immigrant families across the United States.  At noon today, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Congressman Mike Honda are introducing the "Strengthening Communities through Education and Integration Act of 2008." In addition to providing English language literacy and civics education to immigrant families who are in the process of becoming citizens, the bill:

will help immigrant communities become a more integral part of the American fabric and maximize their social and economic contributions.

Legislation like this is crucial to aiding immigrants on their way to becoming U.S. citizens, and is a necessary part of treating immigrants like full and equal members of our community.

*    The aftermath of the ICE raids in Postville, Houston, and most recently Rhode Island, is still being felt in communities across America.  However, a Washington Post article describes how it is not only workers and their families feeling this strife - now, it is employers as well:

The crackdown's relatively high costs and limited results are also fueling criticism. In an economy with more than 6 million companies and 8 million unauthorized workers, the corporate enforcement effort is still dwarfed by the high-profile raids that have sentenced thousands of illegal immigrants to prison time and deportation.

*    A story in the MetroWest Daily News calls attention to a local organization in Massachusetts, the MetroWest Immigrant Worker Center, that is defending the rights of immigrant workers in the U.S.  Immigrant workers are routinely subject to labor law violations, including the denial of compensation and overtime, as well as unnecessary injuries on job sites.  In addition, the article points out that all immigrants, including undocumented ones, have worker rights:

Contrary to what many people think, illegal workers have rights. Although in the country illegally, those who work are entitled to be paid for their labor and overtime. If they are injured on the job, they are eligible for workers' compensation coverage, said [Diego] Low, [director of the MetroWest Immigrant Worker Center] who has been advocating for immigrant workers' rights for the last 25 years.

*    A DMI Blog posting points to an extremely upsetting Associated Press report of a beating in a Pennsylvania town that left a 25 year old Mexican immigrant named Luis Ramirez dead.  

Hate crime or not, the killing has exposed long-simmering tensions in Shenandoah, a blue-collar town of 5,000 about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia that has a growing number of Hispanic residents drawn by jobs in factories and farm fields.

I wasn't planning on posting anything today, have to much to do and other thoughts on my mind.

But yesterday I watched, as many have seen by now, someone who should have a much better understanding, above that of it's citizens, what this countries policies are and their implementation.

 McClatchy  has a couple of reports  that hit on a couple of the Points of the 'surge':

Over the last few days the McCain camp has started to get desperate with all the good news for Obama. So what does a campaign run by the architect of negative campaigning do?

Do some good 'ole negative campaigning of course. Here's a recap.

by YouTube.

Yuval Azoulay of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported this story recently, that B'Tselem cameras pay off for victims of settler attacks.

Three months ago, B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights organization gave 100 video cameras to ordinary Palestinians living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in order that they might document human rights abuses. One of those cameras recorded an incident in which a nonviolent peace activist in Ni'ilin, while in custody: blindfolded and handcuffed, was shot in the foot by a rubber-coated bullet.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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