Month: July 2011

Here’s another thread. The old one was full. I assume you have an opinion on the debt ceiling that you would like to express.

As the outlines of the deal start to become clearer, I still don’t think this is that bad of a deal. If you stop dreaming about stimulus for a moment and look at what is on the table, it’s unlikely to result in some fiasco. First, there’s the $900 billion in cuts that Biden signed off on during the negotiations. These cuts are probably specifically designed to do little harm to the economy over the next two years, just like the cuts in the spring. Then there’s the joint committee, tasked with raising another $1.5 trillion over the next decade. If it fails, automatic cuts will happen that affect Medicare providers and the Pentagon equally on a one-to-one basis. Additionally, programs designed specifically to protect the poor and veterans are protected.

Much attention will be focused on the debt committee and the prospect that they will urge cuts in Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. They probably will look to give a haircut to those programs, but the Pentagon will be on the chopping block as well. I honestly expect modest changes that are pushed out far into the future, and I always expected some modifications. I don’t think we’re going to see a major facelift.

To me, there are two big downsides. The first is that we’ve now established a precedent that we will negotiate with terrorists, so we’re going to be living with this bullshit for a long time. It’s easier to let them shoot the hostage when the result is the National Zoo is closed than when it destroys the global economy, so expect more pushback over the budget.

The second downside is that we couldn’t extract any stimulus at all, as far as I can tell. So, this won’t hurt the economy much, but it certainly isn’t going to help it.

Politically, we came out far ahead in this battle. We’ll see how we come out around Thanksgiving when the debt committee presents us with their work.

And, hey, at least the debt didn’t increase so we can stop wasting money on more interest payments. Even though I understand the need to deficit spend in times of high unemployment, there’s still nothing I like paying for less than interest.

The one thing this debt ceiling death battle has succeeded in doing is making otherwise sane people start sounding like babbling idiots. I guess people are just starting to crack under the strain. I don’t know if it is just dawning on people or what, but electing dozens of tea baggers to Congress means that horrible things are going to happen. When you finally find out what those horrible things are going to be, you shouldn’t act shocked. This is why it was vitally important that people on the left show some unity of purpose instead of taking their ball and going home. But, when did that ever happen with a Democrat in the White House? I guess, when they tried to impeach Clinton we were united. Other than that? Never. It’s just who we are, and why we lose. Still, the magical thinking is depressing me.

An election for the Presidency of Ireland will be held on 27th. October, and the field of candidates is beginning to take shape. It is difficult to make the case that Booman Tribune readers should be interested in this election because the office is largely a ceremonial one, and one of limited significance in a larger global context. It used to be viewed as something of a retirement home for retired Prime or Cabinet ministers (the President lives in a magnificent mansion in Dublin’s Phoenix Park) but the popular significance of the office was transformed by our last two Presidents.

However the current campaign has also raised issues around the appropriate limits of public sexual morality and the representations that public representatives can legitimately make on behalf of their partners, friends and constituents.

Mary Robinson was elected President in the wake of a long struggle against conservative forces in the areas of women’s equality, contraception, divorce, and the interference of the state (acting as a proxy for the Catholic Church) in what should be private matters.  The election of Mary McAleese, who hails from Belfast, gave some recognition to the Catholic nationalist minority in Northern Ireland who felt they had been abandoned and forgotten when the Irish state was set up to their exclusion.

Both were elected amid considerable controversy – Mary Robinson, because her feminist views were not yet embraced by the establishment, and Mary McAleese, because she was seen in some quarters as dangerously close to Northern Irish Republican paramilitaries. Both succeeded in becoming almost universally popular and redefining, to some extent, what Ireland was all about. Mary Robinson’s term can be seen as bringing the gross marginalisation of women to an end (although full equality is still some way off).  The Queen’s visit last May, the highlight of Mary McAleese’s term,  can be seen as bringing centuries of Anglo-Irish antagonism to a formal end.

The current campaign is being riven by controversy concerning the candidate currently leading in the polls – prominent Gay rights campaigner David Norris – over letters he wrote in support of a former partner convicted of a statutory rape of a 15 year old Palestinian boy in Israel in 1997 and an interview he gave to a restaurant critic, in 2002, in which he appeared to extol the virtues of classical Greek society in which older men sometimes initiated adolescent boys in the practice of sex.  Given the trauma surrounding child sexual abuse that Ireland is currently undergoing, both controversies could hardly come up at a worse time for his campaign.

Norris ‘remains committed’ to presidential campaign

A letter written on Seanad notepaper in which the Trinity Senator seeks clemency for Mr Yizhak was published online and in some newspapers today.

In the letter, Mr Norris describes Mr Yizhak as “an intelligent, honest trustworthy, good and moral person.” It goes on to claim that Mr Yizhak was “lured into a carefully prepared trap” and had “unwisely” pleaded guilty to the charges against him

Director of communications Jane Cregan and director of elections Derek Murphy are among those to resign from Mr Norris’s campaign team following the latest revelations.

In an interview in today’s Sunday Independent  the Senator admitted his campaign was in trouble but said he was “absolutely committed” to running for the presidency.

Mr Norris’ campaign was embroiled in controversy earlier in the summer when comments he made about sexual activity between older and younger men and boys in Magill  magazine in January 2002 resurfaced.

The interview with restaurant critic and columnist Helen Lucy Burke was circulated to county councillors in May following Mr Norris’ announcement that he was going to seek a nomination to run for the presidency.

Ms Burke said Mr Norris’ “dangerous” and “shocking” views on sexuality made him an unsuitable person to be president of Ireland.

Mr Norris told the Irish Times  at that stage that he had engaged in an academic discussion on sexual relations between older men and younger men and boys arising from Plato’s Symposium and ancient Greek classical literature.

“I made a distinction between paedophilia and pederasty, which is a totally different thing. To the average person it would not make any difference I suppose but to me it did because I knew what I was talking about. That got mixed up and stayed mixed up.

“I abhor with every fibre of my being the idea of interference with children, sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse. My record on that speaks for itself.”

The controversy was revived a few weeks later when an interview Mr Norris gave to the Daily Mail  last year covering much of the same ground was reprinted.

While they set back Mr Norris’ prospects of getting a nomination from county councils he appeared to have recovered in recent weeks following an Irish Times  poll that showed him leading the presidential race with 25 per cent support.

There are, of course, questions being asked as to why letters written in 1997 and an interview given almost 10 years ago have suddenly been brought back into the public domain by a pro-Israeli blogger and by the restaurant critic who conducted the interview over a meal. It certainly seems plausible that Norris waxed somewhat over lyrical in his praise of the sexual practices of ancient Greece – allegedly in an “academic” context  – and his letters in support of his former partner is in line of a long tradition of Irish parliamentarians writing character references and letters of support for friends, colleagues, and constituents in trouble the world over. Many aren’t worth the paper they are written on, but Norris’ submission to the Israeli High Court is somewhat presumptuous and extraordinarily detailed. It failed, however, to express any sympathy with the victim of the crime.

There is no suggestion that Norris has himself practised pederasty or condoned paedophilia, and indeed his record of campaigning in support of gay and children’s rights at a time when homosexuality was illegal and child abuse was swept under the carpet is much admired. I find it quite extraordinary the degree to which Norris campaign had recovered from the previous interview revelations to retain his leadership in opinion polls, but these latest revelations may be the coup de grace.  So far Norris’ campaign to achieve a nomination for the election through getting a (constitutional) minimum of four County or City Councils to support him has been incompetent, and his alternate pathway to securing a nomination – obtaining the support of 20 members of Parliament – has been stuck at 15.  It will now be increasingly difficult for him to achieve that 20 vote minimum to achieve a nomination without which he cannot stand as a candidate.

With the success of Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese the office of President has become an important symbol of national Unity and of where, the Irish people see ourselves going in the future. It seems unlikely that David Norris, for all his much admired courage in fighting for the rights of those who had been suppressed in Irish society, will be able to overcome concerns that he has been less than discrete and astute in the expression of his own views.  Certainly his management of his own campaign has been extremely amateurish to date, and several key members of his campaign team have now resigned.

We are then, however left with a relatively uninspiring field of candidate of which I add this potted summary for your delectation:

Fine Gael

With the demise of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael are the dominant ruling party in Ireland, and continue to enjoy a honeymoon in the public affections with 38% support. Ordinarily one would therefore expect the Fine Gael candidate to win the election, but Fine Gael has never won a Presidential election campaign before. John Bruton, former Taoiseach and EU ambassador to the USA would probably have been a shoe-in for the nomination had he wanted the job.  In the event, four candidates vied for the Fine Gael Nomination:

1. Pat Cox, former President of the European Parliament, whose main problem is that he was a member of the now defunct neo-liberal Progressive Democrats, then an Independent, and has only just joined Fine Gael, leading to resentment among long time party members that he is only using them to boost his chances. In addition the “European” brand isn’t what it used to be in Ireland.
2. Gay Mitchell, a European Parliament member for Dublin and sometime junior Government minister. Some joke that Gay is the second gay in the race, but in political terms, Gay is as straight as they come: A hard working populist constituency worker who has few achievements to his name, despite a long career in politics.
3. Mairead McGuinness, a European Parliament member for Leinster and former journalist, with few discernible achievements in either role.
4. Avril Doyle, former member of the Irish and European Parliaments and member of a long time prominent Fine Gael family dynasty. Her detractors joked that she would have to downsize her living accommodation if she won the Presidency, as the President’s Mansion is apparently somewhat smaller than her own…

In the event, Gay Mitchell won the Fine Gael nomination without creating much excitement outside of die hard Fine Gael supporters particularly in his Dublin base. He currently stands at 21% in the polls, only about half his party’s support, and just behind David Norris on 25%.

Labour

Labour had three candidates for their nomination:

1. Michael D. Higgins, an native Irish speaker, poet, sociologist, author and Cabinet Minister with a long history of supporting progressive causes, but few discernible achievements in Office. Some feel that, at 70, he is somewhat old for the job.
2. Fergus Finlay, former Chef the Cabinet of the Labour party, “spin doctor”, author, commentator, journalist and head of a prominent children’s charity.  Perhaps Ireland’s answer to Alastair Campbell, although also a very personable and popular commentator.
3. Kathleen O’Meara, a women of no great distinction. It is difficult to see why a politician who has failed to win even one general election and who has no particular achievements outside politics should see herself as qualified for the Office, other than as part of an affirmative action programme for women candidates.

Michael D. Higgins won the nomination and currently stands third in the Polls, at 18%, in line with Labour party support. He is also the most “transfer friendly” of the candidates, however, and might now become the favourite.

Fianna Fail

Still toxic in the polls, Fianna Fail would prefer not to give the electorate another opportunity to humiliate them just yet.  Memories of their last period in office are still too raw. Former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is said to have wanted the job, but his unpopularity is such that Fianna Fail have run a mile from nominating him. Two other candidates have expressed an interest:

1. Eamon O’Cuiv, grandson of Eamon De Valera, former Taoiseach and President, and former Cabinet Minister for “Craggy Island”, also known as the Department for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.
2. Brian Crowley, Member of the European Parliament, whose chief achievement appears to be becoming a member of the European Parliament despite his disability (he is wheelchair bound following an accident).

At this stage it is not clear whether Fianna Fail will contest the election or support any other candidate, but at 11% in the polls, their leading candidate, Eamon O’Cuiv, does not exactly inspire confidence that he can spark a revival of Fianna Fail’s fortunes…

Sinn Fein

At this stage it seems unlikely that Sinn Fein will nominate a candidate or support any other.  I had a somewhat mischievous letter published in the Irish Independent last January (prior to the General Election) suggesting they should nominate David Norris:

Sinn Fein should nominate Norris – Letters, Opinion – Independent.ie

I see the Red C/Paddy Power opinion poll shows Senator David Norris to be the most popular choice for president ahead of Mairead McGuinness, Bertie Ahern, Fergus Finlay and Michael D Higgins.

His difficulty is going to be in securing a constitutional nomination to run in the election, as this requires the support of 20 members of the Oireachtas, or four county or city councils. Up until now, this has meant that only Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and (sometimes) Labour have had the wherewithal to nominate a candidate, and they generally use this opportunity to nominate one of their own.

However, Mary Robinson was technically an independent when nominated by Labour as she had resigned from the party over the Anglo-Irish Agreement and so there is a precedent for a party nominating a non-member.

Would this not be a glorious opportunity for Sinn Fein and others to demonstrate their non-sectarian and non-discriminatory credentials by nominating an independent, Church of Ireland, and openly gay campaigner to run in the election?

Opinion polls show Sinn Fein and a variety of independents and smaller parties to be in line to achieve significantly more than 20 seats after the next General Election.

How much more likely would they be to reach that target if they were to announce, in advance, their intention to nominate Mr Norris — the most popular, independent, and widely respected potential candidate — for the presidential election?

It is time we broke the stranglehold of the established parties on our political processes and appointments. The electorate deserve a wider choice, and at the moment that choice is most likely to be Mr Norris should he be given the opportunity to stand.

Frank Schnittger

Independents

Two independents now look as if they will achieve sufficient support from County Councils to be nominated to stand in the election.

1. Seán Gallagher, entrepreneur and panellist on the Dragons’ Den television programme and former member of the Fianna Fáil National Executive. Down playing his Fianna Fail roots as much as possible, he appears to believe that his TV profile allied to an unremarkable business career qualifies him for the job.
2. Mary Davis, disability rights campaigner and best known as organiser of the very successful 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games. Mary would complete a hat-trick of successive Presidents called Mary with a strong profile in voluntary and community organisations.

Niall O’Dowd, New York based journalist and publisher, confident of President Clinton and high profile “Irish American” attempted to gain a nomination on the grounds that he could represent the Irish diaspora.

I wrote an unpublished letter to the editor on his candidacy as follows:

Many thanks for publishing  a well written piece by Bruce Morrison (23rd. June) on Nial O’Dowd’s possible candidancy for the Presidency. It is a welcome corrective to the provo loving, Britain bashing, and misty-eyed adherents of Glocca Morra caricature painted by your former correspondent, Walter Ennis (15th. June).  

O’Dowd’s candidacy may have uncomfortable resonances of the returned Yank coming to teach the locals a thing or two, and if we put the “selling Brand Ireland” function of the Presidency too brazenly to the forefront, we are reducing the dignity of the office. Chief executive of Enterprise Ireland or An Bord Failte it is not.  

Having said that, the Presidency doesn’t have an awfully big Raison D’etre in and of itself, as many commentators have noted, given its very limited constitutional powers. It is very much up to whoever is elected to make something meaningful of the office.  

For many people, Mary Robinson’s election signalled the dawn of a more inclusive and progressive society where women could become equals. Mary McAleese helped to discharge an obligation to give some recognition to the many in the North of Ireland who had felt excluded by the Treaty. David Norris could do the same for the LGBT community and others who have felt marginalised because of their non-conformity to very restrictive social norms..  

But O’Dowd could do something to discharge our obligations to those we often forced to emigrate from this isle. It is not so much what they can now do for us in our hour of need, but also what we still owe them.  A vote for recent emigrants would be a good start – as is the case for emigrants from most other European states. But why not also some representation, if not in the Senate, then perhaps, if only to make  the point, in the Presidency itself?  

At the very least, O’Dowd’s candidacy would strengthen the field and widen the choice for voters. It is legitimate to define ourselves not just by those who happen to be resident on this island at the present time.  

But please spare us too much of “what Irish America can do for us” talk. If anything, we owe them for forcing them out.  

And even if we are currently at a low ebb, we do not want to put out the begging bowl again. This crisis can only be resolved by we ourselves, for ourselves, not by our European “partners”, and not by our Irish American kinsfolk.  

If anything, the Presidency has to be symbol of our self-sufficiency, pride in what we are, and sovereignty:  Not our dependency on others no matter how interdependent sovereign nations have now in reality become.  

So fine man he undoubtedly is, I probably ultimately wouldn’t vote for him, even if I would welcome his addition to the ballot paper. The real question is: do we have anybody clearly better on offer? And isn’t this the real sign of our current poverty in intellect and spirit?

As the letter indicated, we are not spoiled for choice at the moment. O’Dowd subsequently withdrew his campaign on the grounds that he didn’t think he could secure a nomination. Norris may be fatally wounded by his indiscretions and inept campaign management. John Bruton didn’t want the job. Pat Cox, the only other candidate who had held a major office before, has failed to secure a nomination.

However Mary McAleese wasn’t a particularly well known Broadcaster and college Professor before she was elected, and has ended up doing a good job.  The real problem is perhaps that the Office has so few real constitutional powers, and so it tends to attract “personality” candidates of little intellectual or political achievement. It looks as if the Office might descend back into the retirement home it once was.  Ireland has lost its way, and it is perhaps only natural that the holder of the office of President should reflect that.  However that would be a pity given what the last two Presidents achieved. We should not underestimate the importance of having a functioning democracy in our country, and the Presidency is part of that system.

If we were to go back 15 years, which of us hasn’t said and done things which were never intended for prime time and which we would now regret – especially in defence of a loved one, or over a bottle of wine. The question is: should a different standard be applied to potential Heads of State who are supposed to be wise and popular figures a large majority of people can identify with and be proud to have representing them abroad?

And is Norris really as opposed to pederasty as he now claims to be when it has become inconvenient to publicly hold such views? Have the child abuse scandals made us hypersensitive and even puritanical over all things connected with adolescents and children? I don’t doubt that Norris has never harmed anyone, but his comments could be misconstrued as self-justification by those that do. Paedophiles are notoriously sophisticated at making their victims feel complicit in the process, and at persuading themselves that they are only extending paternalistic care and love.

While I would have very much wanted a President who could have continued to push the boundaries of tolerance and acceptance towards those previously discriminated against, I am now reluctantly coming to the conclusion that Norris is a man of great past struggles rather than a representative or iconic figure for the future.

The trouble is, we are then left with a very mixed bunch. Michael D Higgins would be a somewhat romantic throwback to an era of compassionate socialism and Mary Davis an embodiment of successful community and voluntary activism; Gay Mitchell a good constituency worker and Seán Gallagher a symbol of the pervasiveness of reality TV. Perhaps Bob Geldof could be persuaded to do a gig in the Park, or would Bono become tax resident in Ireland to take up the job?

At least that would fund the Presidency and much else…

If Jonathan Karl’s reporting is correct, the final deal on the debt ceiling is pretty good considering that this is a hostage situation. First, the president is getting enough money that he won’t have to go back and ask for more before election day in 2012. Second, the congressional debt committee will be authorized to recommend tax hikes. Third, the trigger to enforce action on the debt committee involves across-the-board cuts, but they hit the Pentagon harder than Medicare, and any Medicare cuts would hurt providers and not affect beneficiaries. If this is a true picture of the deal, then the Democrats came out better than most of us feared.

There is still no stimulus mentioned, like an extension of the payroll tax holiday or unemployment insurance. That’s extremely unfortunate, but it seems like the GOP’s bottom line is that nothing can be done by the federal government that might alleviate or improve unemployment.

In any case, this deal is certainly better than blowing up the economy on purpose.

Despair, anger, helplessness.

I confess I have felt all of those emotions, not only over the past few weeks, but ever since Al Gore conceded defeat in the 2000 election after the Supreme Court effectively appointed George W. Bush to the Presidency. I have felt helpless as horror after horror in our country has piled up: 9/11, anthrax, wars, torture, illegal surveillance, the Patriot Act, corruption, massive deficits, the lack of good jobs and then the lack of jobs at all, the failure of our ever more insidious murder by spreadsheet health care system, the collapse of our economy because of greed and avarice and stupidity, the use of tasers used to kill and torture people, murders and assassination attempts by domestic right wing terrorists, the utter failure to address climate change, racism, homophobia, the subversion of our military by extreme right wing Dominionist “Christians,” rapacious looters on Wall Street and polluters of the public discourse on our airwaves — oh, the list is too long to recall every incident or trauma that we, as individuals, communities and a nation have endured these last 11 years. You no doubt can think of many more than I that should and could be added to this list.

And how has it come to this? How has an extreme faction of an already extreme party funded by wealthy billionaires and criminal corporations led us to this point in our history? Well, we know the reasons. We know the fear and hatred and divisions that have been used against “We, the people of the United States” to fracture and splinter us into small, easily managed and easily manipulated groups. We have seen our neighbors, friends and family rise up and rage in hatred — not against the real villains of our age — but against the designated scapegoats those villains have chosen to be slandered, cursed and abused.

We have borne witness to the dissipation of the better angels of our nature, our human nature, even here, even among a self-selected community of people who seek the betterment of our country, who work to see the ideals we believe in and which we have always been told are the bedrock of its foundation realized. Yes, even here many of us have succumbed to the darkness that lives within everyone. We have fought and disparaged one another and allowed a divide to grow between people with the same goals, people who should be allies, not enemies.

We have many reasons to feel disheartened.

I wanted to write a diary today that would dispel such feelings, that would offer hope to you out there, but I soon realized I was as much in need of hope as anyone else I know. What words could I offer when my heart is burdened with anxiety and worry for so many that I love and fro whom I care?

I am not up to the task, my friends. Yet, I remembered this much of our nation’s history. There have been many times when despair, fear, anger, hatred and bigotry consumed our nation, many times when the nation has looked into the abyss and believed that this great experiment in human rights, freedom and equality was at an end.

And each time when hope seemed to have fled, there was someone who spoke for the powerless, who found a way to inspire and bring new strength of purpose to the American people. Progressive and Prophetic Leaders who knew that hope itself, no matter how fragile it seems, has a greater power than we know. So, tonight, let me use their words, if you please. They knew what to say better than I. Read them, please, and remember your own strength again, once more cast off your doubt and anger and helplessness.

Here, let me stop now and let them speak for all of us.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. […]

And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.

Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True, they have tried. But their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.

Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy, the moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men.

Recognition of that falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, and on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

… 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. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security 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. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And 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 self-hood 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. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — 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.

And 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, and 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, and 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.

And this will be the day — this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with 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.

And 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 snow-capped 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 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!

Robert F. Kennedy

My favorite poem, my — my favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King — yeah, it’s true — but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love — a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We’ve had difficult times in the past, but we — and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it’s not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

And let’s dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Thank you very much.

Eugene Debs

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free. […]

Standing here this morning, I recall my boyhood. At fourteen I went to work in a railroad shop; at sixteen I was firing a freight engine on a railroad. I remember all the hardships and privations of that earlier day, and from that time until now my heart has been with the working class. I could have been in Congress long ago. I have preferred to go to prison…

I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and the factories; of the men in the mines and on the railroads. I am thinking of the women who for a paltry wage are compelled to work out their barren lives; of the little children who in this system are robbed of their childhood and in their tender years are seized in the remorseless grasp of Mammon and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the monster machines while they themselves are being starved and stunted, body and soul. I see them dwarfed and diseased and their little lives broken and blasted because in this high noon of Christian civilization money is still so much more important than the flesh and blood of childhood. In very truth gold is god today and rules with pitiless sway in the affairs of men.

In this country — the most favored beneath the bending skies — we have vast areas of the richest and most fertile soil, material resources in inexhaustible abundance, the most marvelous productive machinery on earth, and millions of eager workers ready to apply their labor to that machinery to produce in abundance for every man, woman, and child — and if there are still vast numbers of our people who are the victims of poverty and whose lives are an unceasing struggle all the way from youth to old age, until at last death comes to their rescue and lulls these hapless victims to dreamless sleep, it is not the fault of the Almighty: it cannot be charged to nature, but it is due entirely to the outgrown social system in which we live that ought to be abolished not only in the interest of the toiling masses but in the higher interest of all humanity […]

I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.

This order of things cannot always endure. I have registered my protest against it. I recognize the feebleness of my effort, but, fortunately, I am not alone. There are multiplied thousands of others who, like myself, have come to realize that before we may truly enjoy the blessings of civilized life, we must reorganize society upon a mutual and cooperative basis; and to this end we have organized a great economic and political movement that spreads over the face of all the earth. […]

Your Honor, I ask no mercy and I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never so clearly comprehended as now the great struggle between the powers of greed and exploitation on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of industrial freedom and social justice.

I can see the dawn of the better day for humanity. The people are awakening. In due time they will and must come to their own.

Sojourner Truth

“Dat man ober dar say dat womin needs to be helped into carriages, and lifted ober ditches, and to hab de best place everywhar. Nobody eber helps me into carriages, or ober mud­puddles, or gibs me any best place!”

“And a’n’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And a’n’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man-when I could get it-and bear de lash as well! And a’n’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen chilern, and seen ’em mos’ all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And a’n’t I a woman?

“Den dey talks ’bout dis ting in de head; what dis dey call it?” (“Intellect,” whispered some one near.) “Dat’s it, honey. What’s dat got to do wid womin’s rights or nigger’s rights. If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yourn holds a quart, wouldn’t ye be mean not to let me have my little half­measure full?”

“Den dat little man in black dar, he say women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wan’t a woman! Whar did your Christ come from?”

“Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him.”

“If de fust woman God ever made was strong enough to turn de world upside down all alone, dese women togedder ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now dey is asking to do it, de men better let ’em.”

” ‘Bleeged to ye for hearin’ on me, and now ole Sojourner han’t got nothin’ more to say.”

Harvey Milk

My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you.

I’ve been saying this one for years. It’s a political joke. I can’t help it–I’ve got to tell it. I’ve never been able to talk to this many political people before, so if I tell you nothing else you may be able to go home laughing a bit.

This ocean liner was going across the ocean and it sank. And there was one little piece of wood floating and three people swam to it and they realized only one person could hold on to it. So they had a little debate about which was the person. It so happened that the three people were the Pope, the President, and Mayor Daley. The Pope said he was titular head of one of the greatest religions of the world and he was spiritual adviser to many, many millions and he went on and pontificated and they thought it was a good argument. Then the President said he was leader of the largest and most powerful nation of the world. What takes place in this country affects the whole world and they thought that was a good argument. And Mayor Daley said he was mayor of the backbone of the Untied States and what took place in Chicago affected the world, and what took place in the archdiocese of Chicago affected Catholicism. And they thought that was a good argument. So they did it the democratic way and voted. And Daley won, seven to two.

About six months ago, Anita Bryant in her speaking to God said that the drought in California was because of the gay people. On November 9, the day after I got elected, it started to rain. On the day I got sworn in, we walked to City Hall and it was kinda nice, and as soon as I said the word “I do,” it started to rain again. It’s been raining since then and the people of San Francisco figure the only way to stop it is to do a recall petition. That’s the local joke.

So much for that. Why are we here? Why are gay people here? And what’s happening? What’s happening to me is the antithesis of what you read about in the papers and what you hear about on the radio. You hear about and read about this movement to the right. That we must band together and fight back this movement to the right. And I’m here to go ahead and say that what you hear and read is what they want you to think because it’s not happening. The major media in this country has talked about the movement to the right so the legislators think that there is indeed a movement to the right and that the Congress and the legislators and the city councils will start to move to the right the way the major media want them. So they keep on talking about this move to the right.

So let’s look at 1977 and see if there was indeed a move to the right. In 1977, gay people had their rights taken away from them in Miami. But you must remember that in the week before Miami and the week after that, the word homosexual or gay appeared in every single newspaper in this nation in articles both pro and con. In every radio station, in every TV station and every household. For the first time in the history of the world, everybody was talking about it, good or bad. Unless you have dialogue, unless you open the walls of dialogue, you can never reach to change people’s opinion. In those two weeks, more good and bad, but more about the word homosexual and gay was written than probably in the history of mankind. Once you have dialogue starting, you know you can break down prejudice. In 1977 we saw a dialogue start. In 1977, we saw a gay person elected in San Francisco. In 1977 we saw the state of Mississippi decriminalize marijuana. In 1977, we saw the convention of conventions in Houston. And I want to know where the movement to the right is happening. […]

… I know we are pressed for time so I’m going to cover just one more little point. That is to understand why it is important that gay people run for office and that gay people get elected. I know there are many people in this room who are running for central committee who are gay. I encourage you. There’s a major reason why. If my non-gay friends and supporters in this room understand it, they’ll probably understand why I’ve run so often before I finally made it. Y’see right now, there’s a controversy going on in this convention about the gay governor. Is he speaking out enough? Is he strong enough for gay rights? And there is controversy and for us to say it is not would be foolish. Some people are satisfied and some people are not.

You see there is am major difference–and it remains a vital difference–between a friend and a gay person, a friend in office and a gay person in office. Gay people have been slandered nationwide. We’ve been tarred and we’ve been brushed with the picture of pornography. In Dade County, we were accused of child molestation. It’s not enough anymore just to have friends represent us. No matter how good that friend may be.

The black community made up its mind to that a long time ago. That the myths against blacks can only be dispelled by electing black leaders, so the black community could be judged by the leaders and not by the myths or black criminals. The Spanish community must not be judged by Latin criminals or myths. The Asian community must not be judged by Asian criminals or myths. The Italian community must not be judged by the mafia, myths. And the time has come when the gay community must not be judged by our criminals and myths.

Like every other group, we must be judged by our leaders and by those who are themselves gay, those who are visible. For invisible, we remain in limbo–a myth, a person with no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no friends who are straight, no important positions in employment. A tenth of the nation supposedly composed of stereotypes and would-be seducers of children–and no offense meant to the stereotypes. But today, the black community is not judged by its friends, but by its black legislators and leaders. And we must give people the chance to judge us by our leaders and legislators. A gay person in office can set a tone, con command respect not only from the larger community, but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope.

The first gay people we elect must be strong. They must not be content to sit in the back of the bus. They must not be content to accept pablum. They must be above wheeling and dealing. They must be–for the good of all of us–independent, unbought. The anger and the frustrations that some of us feel is because we are misunderstood, and friends can’t feel the anger and frustration. They can sense it in us, but they can’t feel it. Because a friend has never gone through what is known as coming out. I will never forget what it was like coming out and having nobody to look up toward. I remember the lack of hope–and our friends can’t fulfill it.

I can’t forget the looks on faces of people who’ve lost hope. Be they gay, be they seniors, be they blacks looking for an almost-impossible job, be they Latins trying to explain their problems and aspirations in a tongue that’s foreign to them. I personally will never forget that people are more important than buildings. I use the word “I” because I’m proud. I stand here tonight in front of my gay sisters, brothers and friends because I’m proud of you. I think it’s time that we have many legislators who are gay and proud of that fact and do not have to remain in the closet. I think that a gay person, up-front, will not walk away from a responsibility and be afraid of being tossed out of office. After Dade County, I walked among the angry and the frustrated night after night and I looked at their faces. And in San Francisco, three days before Gay Pride Day, a person was killed just because he was gay. And that night, I walked among the sad and the frustrated at City Hall in San Francisco and later that night as they lit candles on Castro Street and stood in silence, reaching out for some symbolic thing that would give them hope. These were strong people, whose faces I knew from the shop, the streets, meetings and people who I never saw before but I knew. They were strong, but even they needed hope.

And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias and the Richmond, Minnesotas who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us’es, the us’es will give up. And if you help elect to the central committee and other offices, more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone.

So if there is a message I have to give, it is that I’ve found one overriding thing about my personal election, it’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope. Thank you very much.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.

Jobs for those who can work.

Security for those who need it.

The ending of special privilege for the few.

The preservation of civil liberties for all.

The enjoyment — The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, the basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples:

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.

We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.

I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying for today. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.

If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting patriotism ahead pocketbooks, will give you their applause.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world. […]

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

And a few last words, repeated from the above speeches, it’s true, but worth remembering, worth re-reading, worth hearing again.

Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country…

These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men.

I can see the dawn of the better day for humanity.

[T]here can be no end save victory.

And we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair…

The people are awakening.

And you and you and you, you have to give people hope.

Nothing is going to happen in Congress before 1pm tomorrow afternoon, so you can go to sleep now. Hopefully, you have already put all your wealth in your mattress, and you will sleep well. If you want to document your displeasure with our political system, use the comments section.

Here, watch some people having fun making music while we wait for the idiots to do something sane:

To post videos at the Frog Pond, make sure to check the box for ‘Use old embed code’ under ‘share’ + ’embed’ at YouTube.

with my wife and daughter. Nice to see a story where the good guys win and the bad guys lose. Certainly better than stressing about a debt ceiling “crisis” over which I have no control.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

And yeah, this is an open thread.

I think something we need to work on in the next election cycle is figuring out to make it clear to the American electorate that the Republican Party isn’t just in denial about climate change, they actually oppose anything that would reduce our consumption of fossil fuel products. That’s why, for example, Rep. Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is going to investigate the negotiations between automakers and the administration that resulted in new strict fuel economy standards.

Issa sent out letters to executives of the country’s major automakers Friday alerting them to the investigation and requesting that they keep all documents related to meetings with administration officials on the standards.

In the letters, which were obtained by The Hill, Issa says the administration’s efforts to negotiate the fuel economy standards “raise serious concerns.” The new rules, which were announced Friday by President Obama, will also limit consumer choice, Issa says.

“I am concerned about the agreements lack of transparency, the failure to conduct an open rulemaking process, as well as the potential for vehicle cost increases on consumers, and negative impact on American jobs,” the letters say.

Mind you, this is an agreement the automakers signed off on. It would require vehicles to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. That would save consumers almost 2 trillion dollars in gasoline costs, preserve 12 billion barrels of oil, and reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 6 billion metric tons. The average consumer would save over $8,000 on a new car bought in 2025 compared to a car bought today.

But, for Republicans, this means less profit for oil companies and so we must have investigations.