My Fellow Americans,
Yesterday, December 27th 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was brutally assassinated by an Al-Qaeda suicide bomber. Two dozen or so innocent bystanders were needlessly slain, and over one hundred other individuals were maimed and burned by the bomb. In an e-mail to be released upon her death, Bhutto pointed the finger of blame at President Pervez Musharraf for not providing her adequate security. Currently, Pakistan is engulfed in an atmosphere of outrage, anger, grief, violence, and death. Yet, President Bush remains on vacation during this international crisis...
Benazir Bhutto, who was the first female Prime Minister of a major Muslim country, returned to her native Pakistan in order to save her oppressed people from the destructive forces of Islamic Fundamentalism (Al-Qaeda & Taliban) and the illegitimate dictatorship (Musharraf). Bhutto was a charismatic visionary who would have presided over Pakistan's journey into parliamentary democracy and socio-economic mobility. This courageous woman suffered a martyr's death for democracy and the people, but her progressive agenda ought to persevere until Pakistan is reformed for the better. Implementing martial law and postponing the elections would be completely antithetical to the hope-filled message of Bhutto.
Immediately after Benazir Bhutto's assassination, major news networks seemed to be more concerned with that tragic events' effect upon the 2008 race to the White House than the loss of her life. While that speculative conversation should be had in the near future, I have found that such an imprudent discussion is unfortunately dominating the news now. Currently, the world should be centered upon the life, sacrifice, and legacy of this extraordinary woman, instead of the geo-political ramifications of her assassination.
Certainly, my thoughts and prayers are with the Pakistani people, most especially the family of Benazir Bhutto. May Allah, Whose Name was the last word from her lips, receive his fallen servant into Paradise. Amen.
Requiescat in Pace,
James
So, I just met Ray McGovern.
Who?
Ray McGovern.
We're doing a TV appearance in regards to the Department Of Peace with Kucinich and Ray McGovern both on Manchester's Cable Access channel, as well as on KucinichTV.com tonight at 8pm.
When me and Jesse picked him up from the bus station tonight,
he was facing into the corner reading a newspaper. I introduced myself to him, and asked him if he needed any help. He'd fallen on the ice and hurt his back, so I took his bag for him out to the car.
While we navigated the poorly plowed streets in a 15 passanger van and getting lost thanks to Google Maps being totally useless, he told jokes, and asked us about why we support Kucinich, and got to talking about the 9-11 truth movement.
We eventually got to his hotel after disregarding the Google Map instructions, and looking at the map, and realizing that the way to get there was far simpler than it was trying to have us go.
I helped him with his bags once more, and he asked my last name. We shook hands, and he said he looked forwards to meeting me again tonight in the M-Cam studio.
I look forwards to talking with him some more.
God, I love working on this campaign!
Asher
This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.
I met Dennis this morning at the School of Americas/WHINSEC protest. The man is the closest thing I have ever met to a saint. Calling this man President would reset the entire world.
I'd right more but I'm crazy-exhausted.
Keep up the fight, Kucitizens.
Zaid
Ah Black Friday.
The Day After Thanksgiving... This year, it falls on November 23rd.
traditionally on this day, people head to the shopping malls of America to trample each other in search of bargain deals on cheap plastic crap and marked-up clothing made overseas under sweatshop conditions in places like China and Honduras.
Americans spend more money on this day than any other day of the year.
As a culture, we REVEL in this holiday of spending our hard earned money in a big orgiastic release of our funds into the hands of corporate America. It is our consumer holiday. We go nuts in a frenzy of materialism.
And my family members are starting to ask me what I want for Christmas.
Well, this year, I'm asking for World Peace.
And that's not a joke.
Last year, I told my family I wanted a better world for Christmas, so I asked them to donate whatever money they'd have spent on clothes, or trinkets or ties (because all males need ties, and should be given one at every gift giving opportunity)on organizations like Oxfam, Amnesty International, the ACLU, and news organizations like PBS and DemocracyNOW!
This year, I'm asking my family to donate to Dennis Kucinich on my behalf. And I want them to do it on November 23rd.
Myself, I'm an intern with the Dennis Kucinich for President Campaign. I receive a $400 monthly stipend. This month, I'm going to donate the whole thing back to the campaign. not that I don't need it, but because I care that much.
I'm okay with eating Ramen for a month just so long as I have somebody who understands the US Constitution.
Dennis Kucinich is the ONLY Democratic candidate who understands the Constitution. And I'm not just saying that. He's the only one who voted against the USAPATRIOT act, and the only one who voted against re-authorizing it.
Obama? Hillary? Edwards? They have all collectively undermined and eroded the US Constitution with their past votes. 
Collectively they've voted for the Bush Revisions of the FISA laws. They voted several times to re-authorize and broaden the scope of the USAPATRIOT act. They have voted to overturn Habeas Corpus (illegally) by voting for the Military Comissions act.
These people don't even understand what it means to be American, and based on their voting records, they obviously have NO CLUE what the Constitution even says-- and yet somehow we're supposed to believe them when they take the oath of office? That they'll "swear to protect and uphold the US Constitution?"
How can they know how to do that if they don't understand it?
Now, I'm not willing to accept the Neo-Con agenda just because it's coming from Democratic Mouthpieces.
Congress is also currently considering legislation that would allow the Federal Military to intervene in enforcing Domestic law.
That's a direct violation of Posse Comitatus, a law passed to prevent a Police State from occuring. When the Military enforces Domestic law, that's called MARTIAL LAW. That is a form of Fascism. Right here in the USA, land of the Free and Home of the Brave.
Well, I for one want America to start standing for what it stands for.
I want the rule of law, and the Bill of Rights restored. No other democrat is talking about the assaults on our Constitution, and even if they are, their voting record shows that they are the ones doing the damage they are complaining about.
Except Dennis.
What's more, is I want a president who recognizes that without health care, a lot of people will die of easily curable or preventable illnesses, and that access to health care is a part of our right to life.
Right now, the number of people who die from a lack of access to health care is nine times that of the number of people who died on September 11th, 2001. Every year.
That's due to either insurance being to expensive and being uninsured, as well as being underinsured, which is to say, thinking that you insurance covers you, only to find out later that sadly, no, you've been left out in the cold, despite your paying them thousands of dollars.
We aren't going to solve the problem by subsidizing the health insurance companies. They're the PROBLEM. Edwards, Obama, and Hillary all want to do with health insurance what the Bush administration did with the oil Industry-- subsidize it. Halliburton health anyone?
And we aren't going to solve the problem by making buying health insurance mandatory. Edwards and Hillary both want to make having no health insurance illegal-- you MUST pay these private insurers! Or else! Effectively and completely criminalizing poverty in America.
Perhaps Hillary and Edwards are geniuses. It is true that under their plans those who cannot afford health insurance will have universal access to it-- in prison.
We're seeing a police state forming here, and the Democrats are turning a blind eye to it.
Except Dennis.
These things are too important to sit on the sidelines for any longer. It's time we got up off our asses and got involved.
I propose that on November 23rd, Black Friday, we purchase the future we want to see.
When congressman Kucinich ran for the house in Ohio, his slogan was, "Light Up America!"
Let's Light Up Black Friday.
The math is simple: If 100,000 people donate $100 dollars a piece, you will raise 10 million dollars.
That's front runner status right there. With Federal Matching funds doubling whatever we make, that's 20 million.
How many people would buy into the lies of Dennis being "unelectable" if he had 20 million in the bank?
Plus, think about the media stir.
Ron Paul got hundreds of millions of dollars of free airtime over the 4 million he raised.
Kudos to his supporters, but I think we can top it.
But the only way that this can work is if you tell EVERYBODY YOU KNOW about November 23rd.
And if you encounter those naysayers who tell you that they love his platform, but that he has no chance to win, just look them in the eye and tell them, "Throw $100 on the pile on Nov 23rd, and tell me if you still think that on Nov 24th."
Today I woke up and decided that I was going to wear my good old Kucinich for President 2008 shirt.
My Fellow Americans,
Last week, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), the best candidate for President, introduced H.R. 799, calling for the impeachment of Vice-President Dick Cheney. Hats off to Dennis J. Kucinich for being a great, American statesman! Unlike other congressional Democrats, who spinelessly cower before this corrupt Administration, Kucinich boldly does what is right, just, and proper for our country.
First and foremost, this Regime lied to our nation about WMDs, in order to justify a unilateral war for oil and corporate profit. Where are the innumerable litres of death and destruction, which were supposed to kill us all? Oh yeah, they never existed!
Second, the Administration, particularly Cheney, manufactured a false Saddam-Al-Qaeda-9/11 connection to further bolster the flimsy case for war. Before March 23, 2003, Al-Qaeda did not even have a formidable presence in Iraq, but now, they are on the ground, savagely attacking our soldiers. Like Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) once said: "Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a Bush-fulfilling prophecy."
Are these not grounds for impeachment? If President Clinton was impeached for lying about receiving a blow job from Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern, why should we not impeach Cheney now and Bush later for their fatal lies? Remember, when Clinton lied, no one died. These two war criminals have the blood of nearly four thousand Americans on their hands, and they ought to be brought to justice for their high crimes against our country.
Shame on "Negative Nancy" and the other cowardly, congressional Democrats, who attempted to table Kucinich's resolution! Our spineless Speaker says, "Impeachment is off the table." Impeachment is off the table? So long as Iran is on the table, so is impeachment. So long as our troops are still in Iraq indefinitely, impeachment remains on the table. So long as our civil rights and civil liberties are trampled upon, impeachment stays on the table.
Of all the Democrats in Congress, Dennis J. Kucinich seems to be the only one who is doing what we elected them to do in November of 2006. The lives of our troops, the upholding of our civil liberties/rights, and the triumph of justice should be more important to our lawmakers than politics and votes. Kucinich not only understands this, but he lives it.
Please visit www.dennis4president.com and support Kucinich in his quest to take America back for the people.
Strength Through Peace,
James Pasquale
“Kucitizens Making Signs For Kucinich” was a complete success! There were about 20 people who showed up to do some fun arts and crafts. We all made signs that said Dennis Kucinich on them, when the primaries are for Arizona, and whatever information we wanted. It was so fun because the age difference was so diverse. The youngest one there was I, I’m 18, and the eldest one was our good friend Joy who is 67.
The event was held at the Peace Tree House, which is also where we had our “Concert for Kucinich” fundraiser. My friends Marc and Abby own the house and they hold concerts there every month.
Some signs said “Dennis Kucinich in 2008” or “Vote for Dennis Kucinich in the Primaries!” or something along those lines. At this sign-making party we discussed how we can get Dennis’s name out there more and really start showing people that he has a following. So, we decided that this Friday (November 16) we’re going to all meet up at Mill Ave. in Tempe, AZ, a popular downtown street, and march with the signs while chanting for Dennis Kucinich. We’re all really excited about this.
This was a great way for Arizona Kucitizens to get to know each other. I encourage you all to do this in your own towns and states. All I did was get the email list from the local coordinator for the Kucinich campaign and I also made a facebook group (ASU Students for Kucinich) and also a myspace page (Arizonans for Kucinich). This helped me find others who are interested in getting Dennis Kucinich elected to be our next president.
I’ll keep you all updated as to how the march went! Also, I will have pictures up soon from the Concert for Kucinich, the Sign-Making, and also the march. Take care and peace to the world,
-Dakota Jeane
Here is the flyer for this Friday:
Here is what we are wearing on our T-Shirts:
Wonderful huge crowd in Boston:
Keep up the good work, Dennis!
Zaid
At least one Presidential candidate is standing up for our Constitution.
Zaid
During the last debate in Philly, we met up with Davis Fleetwood at the University of New Hampshire (UNH).
If you don't know Davis Fleetwood from his YouTube videos, like this challenge to students:
You will now, because he's working with us now:
We've been going all around New Hampshire putting together Students For Kucinich groups, and gathering contacts.
Also, since Dennis is going to be here in New Hampshire for two weeks, and will be doing a campus tour for a week straight, we've been going from campus to campus ahead of him, kind of like John the Baptist, getting things started ahead of his arrival.
Right this second, fellow intern Dennis DeAsis is editing videos of what we've done so far, and we'll get these up on the blog soon!
Keep your eyes here to see updates of our visits to college campuses, and stay tuned to facebook and your local and college newspapers, because we're going to be advertising before we swing into your campus! And if you're in new england, we'll be at your campus soon!
If you want us to come to your school, be sure to email josef@kucinich.us
The past 36 hours here on the Kucinich campaign have been incredibly busy for me... so I apologize for not getting this out sooner. Here's this week's latest news from the campaign in digest form-- so it's easier for you to digest.
DENNIS ROCKS THE HOUSE
On Tuesday, Congressman Kucinich forced a vote on the House floor calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney on charges of deceiving the American public and international community in regards to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
The bill was in threat of being killed when many members of Congress came in at the last minute to support hearing debate for impeachment. Ultimately, the resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee where it will be determined whether or not the bill continues on to the floor of Congress.
In order to successfuly ensure that the House votes on impeaching Dick Cheney, Congressman Kucinich needs your help. Please call Representatives of the Judiciary Committee TODAY and tell them to IMPEACH DICK.
"I urge the Representative to recommend a VOTE TO START IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS as outlined in Congressman Dennis Kucinich's House Resolution 799."
After you've done that, you can even place a follow-up call to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office at (202) 225-0100 and tell her the same thing.
DEMOCRACY (AND DENNIS) FOR AMERICA
I e-mailed. You saw. We conquered. Also on Tuesday, Democracy For America-- the largest network of progressives in the country-- released the results of its 2007 Presidential Candidates' Pulse Poll. AND WE PWNED IT. Technically, Dennis won a whopping 47 out of 50 states with write-in Al Gore's votes going to us. Without Gore, we carried about 41 states... on our own. E-mails from DFA have gone out to their 650,000 members nationally to urge them to join our campaign and support Dennis in his race to the White House.It is because of YOU that Dennis won! On behalf of the Congressman himself, I personally thank you for your tireless dedication to getting Dennis the recognition we know he deserves.
YOUR CAMPUS MATERIALS: READY TO BE SHIPPED OUT
It's official: we're ready to roll out our first shipments of campus materials to all of you Campus Coordinators out there. Supplies have been on back-order for weeks due to the volume we've been expecting. To get your paws on official campaign swag (such as posters, stickers, and buttons), zip me an e-mail to josef@kucinich.us and give me your name, the school you are organizing for, and an address to send your stuff. I'll also need your phone number, and a secondary contact person for your SfK chapter.Once you get you gear, plaster your campus in everything Kucinich-- and send me the pictures. We'll proudly host them on our upcoming Students For Kucinich webpage at the official campaign website!
TAKE YOUR LOVE FOR DENNIS TO OUR BLOG
While the pen may be mightier than the sword, these days it's the keyboard that wins the battle. My fellow Students For Kucinich Regional Coordinators and I have gotten extremely busy these days, and no longer have time to contribute daily posts to this here SfK blog. Now it's time for you to get involved and represent for us.
We're looking for passionate Students For Kucinich to join our blogging team and contribute a weekly upload to the official online journal of Students For Kucinich. Share what you've been doing on your campus, tell your peers around the country why they too should support Dennis, and embed videos and photos relevant to the campaign. Send me an e-mail if you're up for the job.
That's all I got for now, but be on the lookout for updates soon. As always, you can also feel free to get in touch with me for any questions you may have.
This afternoon, Congressman Dennis Kucinich is forcing a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives with respect to his bill, HR 333-- the move to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney on charges related to deception of the American public regarding the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
This move invokes the right of a "privileged resolution," meaning that hundreds of thousands of citizens have signed countless petitions calling for these impeachment proceedings. Congressman Kucinich heard the will of the people loud and clear, and submitted these petitions on behalf of all Americans. Since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would only allow a few pages of petitions to be turned in each day, it has taken the American people months to see their efforts come to light.
Today is the day that we will force our Congress to vote on impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney.
Even with petitions, our work is not done; we have to urge our Representatives to support this bill and not table it-- which effectively kills it and our hopes for a democracy of the people, for the people.
Call the Capitol switchboard right now at (202) 224-3121 or go to http://www.house.gov and enter your ZIP Code to find your local member of Congress, and then tell them the following:
"I urge the Representative to VOTE TO START IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS as outlined in HR 333."
It's time that "we the people" take back our government and hold our leaders accountable for their actions.
Salon's Rebecca Traister knocks it out of the park:
You are lying to yourselves. In a quest for an "electable," "not insane" presidential candidate, you are willfully overlooking the candidate who actually comes closest to representing the things in which you really believe: justice and peace and the basic freedoms that should be afforded to every American, regardless of race, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation or galactic origin. In an effort to distance yourself from the squish of the Birkenstock and the stench of the patchouli, you have convinced yourself that compromise and pragmatism light the path to the White House. And you are correct. But still, before walking listlessly down the aisle toward our impending union with tepid centrism, let's rip our clothes off for one final, ill-advised fling with ideological honesty:
Dennis Kucinich is our man!
Read the whole piece here.
There is absolutely, positively, no stopping us now. Since I last wrote to our Students For Kucinich on Thursday morning, Dennis has climbed into first place on Democracy For America's 2008 Pulse Poll! This amazing feat is thanks to all of you out there, and Dennis is definitely paying attention: He even mentioned his gratitude yesterday when I saw him here in New Hampshire.
However, there is one last collective push for us to make if we are going to secure national media attention for Dennis and his message of Strength Through Peace.
The Democracy For America poll is still open until midnight on November 5, which only gives us this weekend to secure a considerable enough lead to earn the coveted DFA endorsement. Will you take a moment of your time to encourage your friends to join you at http://www.democracyforamerica.com/pulsepoll and vote Dennis Kucinich as their first choice for President?
You and I have already maxed out our allowed votes to help Dennis secure his lead; now, it's up to us to bring new voters into the mix to help us carry the majority percentage required to gain the endorsement. Start by e-mailing the http://democracyforamerica.com/pulsepoll link to all of your friends and family members with instructions on how to vote, then follow-up by posting blogs and social-networking announcements to everyone you know!
Together, our grassroots campaign can keep growing into something great. Together, we can show the world that we don't need our Presidential candidates accepting money from corporations and billionaires elites in order to obtain press coverage.
And together, we can get Dennis Kucinich into the White House.
Hey everybody!
Right now, I'm sitting at a laptop in a supporter's kitchen here in Plymouth, NH. Everybody has been great so far.
Will Hopkins, the student organizer here at PSU, has been wonderful! In two days notice, he got together a group of friends of his, as well as organized a place for us to stay (Cathy and John Bentwood, thank you so much for putting us up in your house! You guys RULE!), and got us a spot on the campus radio for a half hour radio debate with a supporter of Tom Tancredo. We video taped it as well. We dont' have video editing software right now, but eventually we'll have a laptop, wifi, an aircard, and video editing software, and we will be able to upload video from the road.
Right now though, we'll have to wait to get video up later, when we get back into Dover on Saturday.
Today is the second day of the Strength Through Grease tour!
It's not really through Grease yet, we have a rental car, but we just bought the diesel truck yesterday, and we're picking it up and having it converted to run on veggie oil in two weeks. It's a chevy suburban, but it gets 55 miles to the gallon (because it's a diesel and it's an AWESOME CAR.) It's literally a monster truck. That's actually what the guy who we bought it from wanted to use it for, but decided against it when he realized that he couldn't get it through the car wash like that. Hilariously awesome.
It's also all wired up with a 1500w stereo system, and a dual battery, so we're going to hook up a laptop to the stereo system and a video projector, and shoot movies out the back (or at least, that's what I want to do... I have to see if I can steal the video projector from the Dover office still). Then we can shoot movies out the back, or broadcast dennis on Kucinichr.com LIVE and 26 feet tall on the side of a building.
The Campus Organization had its' first meeting today, and it ROCKED. We printed up 650 flyers to hand out, and we gave them all away, plus more. We had other posters that we thought we'd be able to put up all over campus, but they have really strict rules here about flyering, and rather than pissing the administrative people off (who are all fans of Kucinich! woo woo!) we decided to follow the rules. Good thing, because we had to use our flyers that we were going to plaster the place with as handouts to tell people about the meeting today.
It was really suprising to find that even though we got 10 people to show up for our first meeting, none of them save two had ever heard of Kucinich before. THIS IS THE FIGHT WE ARE UP AGAINST. We really need to do visibility AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
So the first meeting was just talking more about Kucinich's platform, and Will talked about his experience in Iraq, and what it was like to be in Fallujah, and how things got worse every day here was there, and why he supports Kucinich. It was all really moving stuff, and we'll have it up on this blog here later.
Well, it's 8pm, and Tom, Jackson and I are going to walk the mile back into town and get something to eat.
Peace!
er..
GREASE!
-Asher
Congressman Kucinich made the AP newswire today with his remarks about President Bush:
"I seriously believe we have to start asking questions about his mental health," Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, said in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer's editorial board on Tuesday. "There's something wrong. He does not seem to understand his words have real impact."
...
"You cannot be a president of the United States who's wanton in his expression of violence," Kucinich said. "There's a lot of people who need care. He might be one of them. If there isn't something wrong with him, then there's something wrong with us. This, to me, is a very serious question."
Will Nancy Pelosi condemn his comments and browbeat him into submission for speaking the obvious truth like she did to Pete Stark? Maybe she can try, but Dennis has never been one to back down from speaking the truth.
Our friends over at A Town Called Dobson sum that up quite well:
Oh Dennis, why can't more Presidential candidates be like you?
- Zaid
So I was recently deleted from Facebook.
Like yesterday.
I was deleted for being a "spammer" because I was "using a feature of Facebook persistantly and rapidly."
But, then I was told that Facebook could not give me a reason why my account was disabled or which features I was using too rapidly. I did however receive warnings in the form of pop-up windows whenever I did anything, that my account could be disabled at any moment-- for the duration of that day.
Facebook seemed to think that every message I wrote, every time I wrote on a friend's wall, and every time I used an application or talked in a forum, that I was "spamming" and I was told "your account could be disabled!"
I thought that this was a problem that I'd been wrongly accused of spamming, so I wrote the e-mail that the pop-up warnings instructed me to, if I thought I'd received these warnings in error. Immediately afterwards, when I tried to log in, I saw this screen (red circle added by me):
So they don't actually have a reason for deleting my account.
Later, I set up another account, "Asher WasDeleted" (I was going to say my full name was "Asher Hates Facebook" but they have filters). Because the email I used for this account did not have a college network associated with it, they make me fill out a word bubble form every time I do ANYTHING-- add a friend, send a message, write on somebodies wall, etc. There are single images of two words that you are supposed to type in. I was frustrated enough that I'd had my account deleted, ostensibly for political activism, when:
Democratic Scum? Maybe that's why I was deleted: for working for Dennis Kucinich? That was a single image. Those two words were NOT randomly paired.
So that's what Facebook thinks of Dennis Kucinich and I. Democratic Scum. Great.
By the way, what I was doing on there was directing people to the Democracy For America poll at Democracy For America
Dennis Kucinich is now winning the DFA poll! Let's keep it up! We're only ahead of Barack Obama by two thousand votes. We're still at risk for losing our lead...
Vote Now!
I left the Cleveland office for the west coast a few weeks ago. I had my first politics class here at UC Santa Cruz last week. The teacher told us that we would be doing group projects on presidential candidates from each party. "From the democrats we will have Hillary, Obama, Edwards, Biden, Dodd, and . . . .Richardson." The Ron Paul followers immediately jumped in, screaming that their god was not included with the Republicans. "We are sticking to the major candidates," the professor said.
I send him an email that night explaining my position on the campaign, and how I was very upset that he decided to leave Kucinich out. I then proceeded to explain to him that he was not speaking truthfully, claiming to only stick to the main candidates when Kucinich is currently pooling higher than Chris Dodd and Joe Biden combined.
In class he announced that he would be including Kucinich in the project because someone had sent him an email that caused him to change his mind.
I got assigned to Hillary.
Either way, I plan on recruiting some Students for Kucinich from this class soon.
-Dr. Ben Rubin
If you will indulge me, I would like to share with my large-hearted yet fearful friends why I believe Congressman Dennis Kucinich can become President of the United States in 2008.
We have reason to fear being optimistic, and our efforts to protect ourselves from more disappointment are understandable. Yet, if we only look to the past to predict the future, we will only get more of what we don't want. I understand how our protective thinking has come about regarding a progressive candidate like Kucinich, and yet I am compelled to challenge it. We are living in a unique time with new potential. Suddenly ‘Green’ is cool! Something has shifted.
I hear people say, "Oh, if only Dennis could win. He's my first choice, but he's not electable" or "I really like him but he doesn't have a chance." My answer is, "Why not?" As Dennis says, he's electable, if we vote for him. That's all we have to do, although sending financial contributions to his campaign would certainly help, as would talking with other people about him and his plans.
I know Kucinich has a chance of winning— IF people vote for him in the caucuses and primaries.
I spent two days on the road with the Kucinich campaign in New Hampshire in early April, and from what I saw, I believe he can win. In those two days he did nonstop radio and TV interviews plus town hall meetings at which people kept saying, "You're the only one saying this" and "You're the only one being specific on these issues."
My belief is that he can win the New Hampshire primary. And since the primaries are closer together this year than in past years, if he wins in New Hampshire, he has a better chance of winning more primaries than previous candidates in that position. Kucinich has defeated Republican challengers, including incumbents, in his home district in Ohio.
Michael Moore has been telling audiences that the only presidential candidate supporting nonprofit health care is Dennis Kucinich, which is helping his name get out there. Ed Schultz devoted a 3-hour show to interviewing Kucinich a couple of weeks ago on progressive talk radio.
This year, unlike 2004, Kucinich has been treated like the serious presidential candidate that he is on Late Night with David Letterman and The Tonight Show. He was interviewed by Newsweek in February of this year, whereas in 2004 he was not mentioned and was cut out of a photo of the Democratic presidential candidates on the cover of Newsweek.
With only six minutes to talk in the presidential debate on ABC-TV's "This Week" a few weeks ago, Kucinich came in FIRST in the online vote following the debate. This man CAN win!
So let’s challenge our cynicism, understandable as it is, because it gets in the way of us going for what we really believe in and putting our energy behind it. Fear depletes energy; vision creates it.
In 2004, people voted their fears— they voted against something rather than for something— and that got us nothing but more Bush, more war, more debt, and more erosion of our civil rights.
Recently a wise friend of mine said that "cynicism is the intellectual side of despair." That really resonated with me. So I'm willing to acknowledge my despair, challenge my cynicism, and put it aside, at least until after the 2008 primaries.
The preceding "open letter" was penned by Sharon Abreu, a vocal Kucinich supporter in Washington, and has been reproduced with her permission. When she's not writing letters to the community in support of sending Congressman Dennis Kucinich to the White House, Sharon can be found uploading anti-war and Kucinich-themed videos on YouTube at http://www.YouTube.com/Sharmuse; in addition to presenting her work at http://www.sharmuse.com.
I don't know if it's redundant to post this as a blog here, but there is a YouTube video contest at KucinichContest.blogspot.com
Please check it out!
And now, for something completely different: an actual student for Kucinich.
(...imagine that, eh?)
I'm back at school, now. [and of course, right after I type that, I get a resounding "yes, yes you are" in the form of Dave Matthews' Band being played across the hall from me.] I suppose this makes me a '.50 intern' now, because I'm still a young person doing a lot of work for the campaign, and I'm still the SfK coordinator for the Great Lakes region. I just don't sit in the office all day every day with the rest of the Cleveland interns. I'm also going to continue to blog, which'll be an interesting part of it. Consider me your correspondent, I suppose.
Though I have approximately as much free time as I did while back up in Cleveland (read: minimal), I would like to report that I have in fact seen the sun for the first time since I've been here. I saw it today at about 11:15am. T'was pretty awesome and in no way overrated. So, before I return to my regularly scheduled Thursday Pwnage, this is for my homefries up north:
"SUN"
(artist's rendition)
Nowadays I frequently run around looking for places to go and people to talk into joining us (usually the former which results in the latter), which I like to refer to as activisting. At my school's involvement fair, I politely walked right past the army recruitment tables to go hit up every table under the "special interests" sign... mostly with classic "Hey! I LOVE [your cause]!! Talk to me!" kinda enthusiasm.
The mention that I'm with the Kucinich crew got me mostly lukewarm reactions, but I did get a couple of sincerely excited people who were very happy to sign up with me and a lot of contact info from big important orgs like Amnesty and the campus' ACLU chapter. More promising: I've got a whole lineup of human rights, pro-civil liberties, anti-war, super-actiony/issue-specific campus group meetings to go to so that I can talk to people and basically say "If you care about [issue], this is who you should be voting for, ps help me out." Starting what's only the third student campaign on this here densely populated campus will be quite the adventure.
--That's right, by the way, the third. The Ron Paulers are everywhere, including here, and I have spoken to and made peace with them. They don't get in our way at all, and the ones I spoke with were actually decent to me, so good for them. I talked to the Obama kids under the guise that I too was a supporter (..hah), and among other things, they expressed how they were all quite pleased that Clinton's people do not have a presence here. My goal here is to build a Kucinich Coalition that'll make the Obama kids wish they only had Clinton people to deal with instead. I also aim to
An afterthought: I have yet to see or hear of any Edwards supporters here at all, however there is a guy on my floor who kinda really looks like him. I plan to make him aware of this in eventuality.
There's been a few discouraging moments thus far, but I'm doing my best to turn a blind eye to them on my worst days... and on my best days, I sass right back (uh, in the nicest way possible), 'cuz I'm about done with people who want to tell me that I'm the fool 'cuz I don't support their precious corporate democrats.
And with that sentiment thoroughly expressed, I'm going to go for a little walk. I've kinda missed the outside world and its crudely rendered green smile, after all.
-s.
We're swamped.
Here's a cool video that you should forward to all your friends as to why they should come to Kucinich's side:
From WolvesBook.com
Ending the Stronghold of Globalization
and Upholding Workers’ Rights
Stop. Take a look around.
You see that girl drinking a latte? Notice that guy's new sneakers? What about the last time you called your cell phone company about your bill, and received help from a friendly foreign accent? Chances are, you're encountering the results of unfair labor practices every day—and you probably don't even realize it.
The workers who pick and process those coffee beans—often women and children— are subjected to low wages; discrimination; and sexual, physical and verbal abuse. This violates both regional and international law, but it continues to happen nonetheless. Kenyan coffee workers earn about $12 USD a month, which is the cost of just three lattes made from the very same beans they're picking. Additionally, 60% of the workers on Kenyan coffee plantations are children. Working 10-12 hours a day, like adults twice their age, prevents child workers from getting an education. Because coffee workers of all ages begin working as children, illiteracy persists into adulthood. When female workers were interviewed about labor rights in Guatemala, 84% indicated that they did not know what "labor rights" meant.
It’s not just the female workers in Guatemala, either. Women throughout the Global South—the developing countries located below the Equator—are being exploited at alarming rates, put to work under slave-like conditions in sweatshops from Argentina to Zimbabwe. Globalization occuring through NAFTA and the WTO allows large transnational corporations to violate people in less-developed regions of the world through substandard working conditions. Think we’re safe here in the U.S.? Think again. Sweatshops can be found in some of our nation’s most industrious cities’ garment districts where labor rights violations run rampant. But sweatshops are only the beginning of labor rights violations here at home: some of the worst offenders are American mass-market retail chains that refuse to acknowledge the universal rights of their workers to unionize.
That’s not all globalization is doing to devastate our country’s workers. Outsourcing is stripping our country's workforce of the jobs that at one time were filled by hard-working Americans. But you’re getting a degree, so what do you have to worry about? The truth is that white-collar industries like the ones being offered as majors at universities—such as mechanical and electrical engineering, and computer programming—are now being outsourced to places like the Indus Valley before the Silicon Valley. Even one of those customer service jobs would be great for spending cash while you’re in school… only problem is they’re getting outsourced, too.Now is the time we have to act. We have to send a message to Washington, D.C. to make them realize that the current policy towards “free trade” is not working. A shift towards bilateral fair trade is a better alternative, and helps us concentrate on creating sustainable work environments that uphold workers’ rights and provide living wages, in addition to keeping a focus on stabilizing local job markets.
One candidate who gets this message loud and clear is Dennis Kucinich—and that’s why we need to elect him for President in 2008.
XO,
Josef
Creating a Culture of Compassion
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
-- the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963.
This Fall 2007 semester, while you are experiencing anxiety before an exam, nineteen of your fellow Americans will be experiencing anxiety before an execution, as they wait on Death Row. Think that Quantitative Methods of Calculus is torture? In this same semester, 340 detainees sit in their cells on American soil at Guantanamo Bay, living their lives at risk of enduring cruel forms of punishment… and real torture. And although you might be fine with skipping breakfast on your morning rush to class, millions of American schoolchildren have also skipped their breakfast—and last night’s dinner too, since they live in extreme poverty and hunger due to frighteningly high levels of economic disparity in our country.
It’s time that humanity begins helping humanity, and that time is right now.
As a member of Congress, Dennis Kucinich introduced the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2003 to establish an end to capital punishment. There is no reason that our government should be killing its own citizens—especially when there have been well-documented cases of innocent people being found on Death Row. Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is the best alternative to government-sponsored executions.When Eleanor Roosevelt helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations in 1948, she stressed Article 5, which states, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” This concept is not new. Our founding fathers even wrote in Amendment 8 of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights that “…cruel and unusual punishments [shall not] be inflicted.” So why is our country still committing cruel acts of punishment in the form of torture? We consider ourselves to be an advanced civilization, yet torture is the most barbaric a society can get. Torture should never be an option.
Economic disparity has sharply increased, with the poor finding themselves trapped in their socioeconomic class. Balconies of expensive high-rise condominiums in our country’s major urban centers often overlook dilapidated housing projects just blocks away. Our healthy “organic” foods have become costly luxury items even though they are cheaper to produce than the genetically modified and preservative-loaded foods that are the only affordable option of the working poor. There shouldn’t be such a contrast between the “haves” and “have-nots”—for us to be a just society, both “haves” must be able to come together and form a more equal whole.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich has plans to help create this “culture of compassion” in American society… and it begins with your pledge to send him to the White House in 2008.
XO,
Josef
The Presidential elections are coming up. Are you sick and tired of having to pick from the lesser of two evils? Do you feel discouraged voting for a third party, knowing they are shut out of the debates by the corporate powers that be? Do you feel that voting for one of the two major parties compromises your values? Do you wish the two major parties would put forth candidates that were more responsive to the American People, and less beholden to corporate power and the Military-Industrial complex (aka sucked less)? Well, have I got just the cure for you-- voting in the primary elections!
Now, primary elections are a bit of a grey fuzzy area for a large number of people. Most people I talk to envision the selection of candidates going like this:
In a dark smoky back room, there is a table, illuminated by a single naked lightbulb. Sitting around it are the inner-most party members, members of the corporate aristocracy, the conglomerate media, and the military industrial complex. They grease each other's palms with money, and decide which candidate would be best at giving them more money and more power. I've even talked to some who think that the selection of the presidential candidate is done by the board of either the GOP or the DNC, based purely on opinion polls. Some in my age group (eighteen to twenty something) think that donating money is the only way to influence the outcome of the primary elections. Very few people realize that they either can, or should, vote in the primary elections.
That smoky room described above? I have some good news and some bad news. That does happen. But it doesn't happen in secret. It happens right in front of our very eyes, but the one big difference between this fantasy and reality (which is the good news) is that you do have a say, and you can put a stop to it.
Yes, you can vote, and yes your vote does make a difference-- and it's vital that you do make a difference. The primary elections are just as important, if not more important, than the general elections. Why? The Primary elections are when you get to choose the direction of the party you've chosen by electing the candidates that will run for office. It's your job to stand guard, and make sure that terrible candidates don't get the nomination. Ever watch the news, see the latest scandal and think, “My god, how do these people get elected?” The answer is: because you didn't vote in the primary.
The blindly loyal of each party (who do vote in every primary) get tricked by the false dichotomy of Republican versus Democrat, and vote for “safe” candidates portrayed as being “electable” by the conglomerate-owned corporate media. These candidates get lots of attention from the media because they have millions of dollars, which interestingly comes largely from the same companies and people who own the media. Hillary Clinton, for example, can count Rupert Murdoch, owner of the conservative public relations spin zones FoxNews and NewsCorp, as being one of her largest donors. The public, seduced by horse-race style coverage that is devoid of any discussion of the issues or where the candidates stand on them, are sold these candidates as if they were being sold dish detergent, and end up thinking that simply voting one person out of office in favor of another will be enough to cure their political woes, without realizing that many have the same backers and agenda in both parties.
Sometimes the difference between the corporate candidates and the ones who actually want change becomes apparent in public forums, like debates. When this happens, it's a favored tactic to point out that “as different as our views are here, the differences between us are small compared to the differences between us and the opposing party,” which, if examined in any depth, is false. Truly, when funded by the same interests, there are actually fewer differences between the corporate-chosen “mainstream” candidates in either party and the candidates who are portrayed as “radical.” This portrayal is ironic as most “radical” candidates are portrayed as such only because they threaten the grip on power and control of public policy that the wealthy elite have. In reality, they are much more in line with the average American on every issue.
Thanks to the corporate-owned media favoring the candidates with the most money, the public unconsciously equates money with electability. Think about that for a moment-- we measure a candidate's viability by how likely they are to be corrupted by dirty money. What does that say about us as a nation? It's no wonder people are so cynical as to see candidates, who they agree with, as being too good to be true, and that to compromise their politics for more “electable” candidates is the only real option. We've been conditioned not to vote in our best interest.
There are alternatives to the two-party plutocracy in the general election, known collectively as “third parties.” Even though there is more than one of them, the name makes it seem as as if the “first and “second” parties, the Republicans and Democrats, have a right to rule forever. These parties are where issues that affect the majority of Americans end up relegated, as the corporate candidates have and agenda of maintaining the status quo. There are, however, problems with our electoral system, created by the two-party system fearing any threat to it's duopolist power, that make it near impossible for third party candidates to gain ballot access, let alone win a seat in office. In order to make our system more democratic, more representative, and more responsive to the public's needs, we first must elect a candidate who will make changes to the system rather than protect his or her career interests. This person inevitably will have to come from one of the two major parties.
So, do you want change? If you really want change, it's absolutely vital for you to vote for in the primaries. If you don't, the general public will end up with a choice between two candidates who have allegiance to their corporate handlers and no allegiance to the American people.
In 2000, 60% of Americans didn't vote, because they were so fed up with the two party system. Many people today register as Independent, because they feel that neither of the two major parties represent them, not realizing that they are giving up their shot at turning the table -- voting so that instead of finding a party to suit them, they change the party to better represent them.
If we want real change in the 2008 election, Americans need to wake up, and register to vote. Not in the general election, where corporate owned candidates are already selected for us. We need to get involved at the entry level, and keep terrible politicians from getting the nomination in the first place. Are you ready to take democracy back into the hands of the people?
Cleveland is the epitome of the rust belt; desperately poor, incredibly loyal to the sports teams, burgeoning arts scene, great music scene and so on. all the money is in the suburbs, all the the jobs are in mexico and overseas but the people are still here. they are definitely still here and for the remainder of the campaign. parts of them are me, parts of me are them. it's funny to acclimate yourself to a city. to know it gradually through its twisting arterial streets, beating neighborhoods, Ohio City, Tremont, and the industrial guts of the East Side. it's a strange but pleasing slow knowledge which comes from making wrong turns, long trips on the bus and walks around downtown.
going out and about in Cleveland, like josef and i did on saturday, is probably the starkest reminder of why i'm here working for dennis. saturday night, we went to coventry village, and hung out in a wine bar, drank a glass of white wine with some friends we met last weekend, and then attempted to head home. as we stood at the RTA (Cleveland metro) station around 1:30am, proud holders of tickets 'good until 3am' the realization dawned on us, that while the tickets may have been good until 3, that didn't preclude the trains from stopping at midnight. so, after ruling out hitching, we decided to walk at least part of the 12 miles which separated us from home. we walked for a long, long time, down Carnegie ave, aware the further we walked, the more abandoned warehouses and boarded up homes there were. as both of us we used to cities, we traveled on, figuring we'd walk until fortune favored us with a bus. well, no bus came and the tired faces of old apartment buildings and shut-down businesses began to crumble even further.
i was reluctant to admit i was nervous. i grew up in a city, i'm a big guy who can handle himself okay, i should be able to walk a ways in the dark. in the dark. eventually, josef and i decided to flag down a cab. the driver stopped for us after about fifteen feet of hesitation and let us get in. when we told him how far we were planning to walk, and where through, he let us know we were probably in the worst possible neighborhood to be unfamiliar with at night. 'drug dealer prostitution central,' he called it. part of me always rails against such proclamations, 'whaddaya mean WORST neighborhood? you sure you don't just mean most-BLACK neighborhood or most POOR?' because in my experience, that's what most people usually mean. but, the part of me that was glad for a ride home in the earliest hours of the morning quelled my initial response. i don't think the driver really meant anything, his concern was more for two people who were clearly in a fish-out-of-water situation.
after we got home, i thought about it some more. it's no secret poor folks live in the worst areas of major cities. let me be absolutely clear though; these places are not terrible because poor folks live in them. it has little to do with the quality or character of the people there but it has everything to do with the services provided, the businesses who stay or leave, the landlords who either keep up places or don't, and the jobs which are there and especially the jobs which AREN'T there. i've seen it all my life in Albany, and i'm seeing it again in Cleveland Cleveland. and i'm sure as much as i'm tired of observing these situations, the people who have to live them every single day of their lives are furious and exhausted by them.
i think a Kucinich Administration could do a lot to change the status quo here. i'm hoping,with him in office, we can take steps to having inner-city neighborhoods where the services are equal, the opportunities real, and the fear and reality of street crime is reduced to the meanest ghost. yeah, yeah, i know; pipe dreams. but you better be sure that i wouldn't be here, that all of us interns wouldn't be here unless we thought Dennis could make a difference, alleviate some of the suffering of our nation and maybe even the world. i don't really have faith in him per se as much as i doggedly accept his possibility he offers the country. we still need all the help we can though. so, please, check us out.
Good evening,
As a Doctor of Divinity (and soon to be Doctor of Metaphysics), one could say that I am an expert on belief and what it is that makes people believe in something. I have often comtemplated topics such as life, the origin of the Universe, religion, etc. Today, however, I am contemplating something far different. The question at hand is why, oh why, do people stand so strongly by Barack Obama?
Over the course of this summer, I have spent a lot of time on Facebook. (both on my own account and through the Kucinich page) There is a group, a very large one, titled "One Million strong for Barack." As of right now, this group has over 332 thousand members, the majority of whom are college students of voting age. Many of my own friends are a part of this group. Why? That is exactly what I have set out to understand.
I asked 10 friends about why they choose to support Obama. "He is anti-war," said 4 of them. Is he? That is interesting. Its not exactly how I see it, or how he sees it either. None of the 10 random people who I polled (100% of the survey) had any idea what Obama's stances on issues were. In other words, these people are supporting a man to run their country whom they know absolutely nothing about.
So then I came to question why it is that they really choose to stand by him. I started to become more and more upset in the ignorant responses I was getting from people who I asked. A few friends replied to me saying that they "had not really looked into the candidates." So why support a specific candidate when you admit that you don't know anything about anyone?!
The best answer I could come up with is the classic problem with our country. A combination of ignorance and brainwashing. People are going to vote for Obama because it is the cool thing to do. Hes young (relatively), hes hip, he is cool. Those are not reasons enough. College students flock to support Obama because all of their friends are doing the same thing.
I saw Obama on the daily show last week. (it may have been a rerun) He came onto the stage and got the longest applause I have ever heard on the show. Young co-eds were screaming in joy like they had just seen Jude Law naked, masculine men were cheering like their home team just won the championship. This is not a frat party, kids. This is politics. This is the future of our country. Obama gave Jon Stewart a "cool" handshake and a pat on the back. He slouched ever so slightly in his chair. He was clearly trying to look like one of the guys, and it was working. He got an interview that was twice as long as any other candidate has gotten on that show. Shame on you, Jon Stewart.
Today I read that George Clooney was backing Obama. According to IMDB, Clooney said that "Obama is like a Rock Star." No mention of his policies, his record, his experience, just what he looks like. Damn shame.
In 8th grade I voted for our class president because I thought she was hot. I had no idea what she wanted to do for our class and I doubt she did either. She won. I was happy. The fate of the world should not be decided in such a way.
So now it is up to us, the Students for Kucinich. We need to spread the word about Dennis. Maybe he isn't 6'1 and a ton of fun. Maybe he doesn't have the "rock star" appeal to attract former bikini bandits to dance around in their panties and sing his praises. I will tell you what he does have, though. He has a plan. He has experience. He cares about each and every person. He understands what this country desperately needs. He is a true rock star. Hopefully we can convince the rest of these kids to realize this.
Peace,
-Ben Rubin D.D
Same Sexes! Same Rights!
Supporting the Right for All Couples to Marry
“Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.”
-- Article 6, the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights
However, as of right now, the United States of America is not recognizing same-sex couples as people before the law in terms of legalizing marriage. It’s time that our generation changes that.
In 1967, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in the Loving v. Virginia case that anti-miscegenation laws prohibiting whites and non-whites from marrying were unconstitutional. In it’s ruling, the Court declared that “Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man’…”
Mildred Loving, a woman of mixed African and Native American ancestry and a co-plantiff in the Loving v. Virginia case, said on the 40th anniversary of the Court’s decision:
“…[N]ot a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.
I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.”
Forty years ago, laws preventing the races from marrying on the basis of their mutual love were reversed. Forty years later, there are now laws preventing members of the LGBT community from marrying on the basis of their mutual love.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich is the most prominent candidate for President of the United States of America that fully supports the right for all American citizens to equal marriage—and not “civil unions” which unfairly discriminate same-sex couples from opposite-sex ones. Other candidates seem to be in favor of these “civil unions” that deny gays and lesbians their “equal right” to have marriage. Civil rights extend to all people regardless of race, religion, and sexual orientation. These “other candidates” are not in support of equal civil rights like they claim... so let’s use the power of our votes to send a message about true equality—and Dennis Kucinich to the White House in 2008.
XO,
Josef
Ah, Students for Kucinich.
A couple of us were awake at an obscene hour a couple nights ago, and decided that everyone really needed to get started on our big Students for Kucinich projects. The very next morning, we congregated here in the Intern Pit to start assigning specific tasks:
Harrison! Teach people how to start up SFK groups! Also teach people how to register to vote!
Asher! Write up a proposal for the $10 for Truth project! Tell people about the primary elections!
Josef! Write a proposal for another campaign idea! Contact lots of people and be friendly!
Stacey! Make pictures!
Ben! Keep watching tapes!
Hal! Hole yerself up in a dark room upstairs and make us sixteen websites! NO LESS THAN SIXTEEN. GO.
Great idea, right? It's important work, it needs to be done. However, as Asher mentioned, The Intern Family Hydra has just lost three heads. I illustrate:
"OH NO"
This means two things: an obvious change in atmosphere, and fewer thingdoers doing things. Thus, we've all been running around inside the office here for longer hours than usual. Harrison and Asher just sit at their computers and type all day long. Josef is contacting important people and being astoundingly friendly (in between sitting at his computer and typing as much as Harrison and Asher). I've been spending much time hovering over and around a copy machine. Hal... Poor Hal. His comings and goings are mostly unbeknownst to us-- all we really know is that he does very late nights.
In addition to this new SfK work, we have to do everything else that we had been working on before. We also have to answer phones.
We might see the sun approximately ten minutes a day, if we're lucky. Make no mistakes, we're getting a lot done at a decent pace. In the teeny little meanwhiles, though, we're becoming a wee bit unstable. In other words, it's been pretty crazy to the point where we've pretty much caught crazy. Harrison started talking in a voice that was something between "manly announcer" and "old-school Batman"-- which made us laugh 'til we cried. Asher won't (can't) stop beatboxing. Ben walks into the room every once in a long while, singing a line from some eighties tune in falsetto, and then walks out. Josef dances, and I cannot explain this any further. Me... I'm quiet. But rest assured, I'm going sufficiently crazy on the inside.
Josef says, "We're gonna lose it again today, you guys, I can feel it."
"A challenge, Josef? There is nothing I enjoy more," replies Harrison in his Batman voice.
I'm sure feelin' challenged. And I'm losing it. I can't piece together coherent thoughts too terribly well. So for this week's installment of Estasia's Thursday Pwnage, let's talk crazy.
When people have no solid arguments against something, sometimes they'll resort to petty insults. Lots of people have no legit reason to dislike Dennis Kucinich (or don't know enough about him to legitimately dislike him), so they pick on the way he looks. Judging by the things they say, Dennis isn't qualified to be president because he's too short. Or because he has ears that stick out some. Or because he gesticulates when he talks. Some people could simply never even consider a candidate who doesn't look and act exactly as they think a president should. Whatever, kids.
Well then, from there we consider the thought of supporting some candidate who voted for the war in Iraq and funded its continuation. The thought of voting for somebody who wants to give more money to insurance companies who deny patients coverage to make more money. The thought of voting for a rich corporate democrat of whom you've heard only because that candidate has been bought by those in charge of news coverage (see my last blog entry). How about voting for somebody who doesn't believe in what they're saying, somebody in whom you yourself can't entirely believe?
(..And it could go without saying that now, the thought of voting Republican at all is thoroughly crazy. But it won't.)
I'll tell you what all that is-- it's CRAZY. Voting (especially this time around) is a very important time NOT TO BE CRAZY.
I encourage everyone out there to encourage everyone else out there-- please, look into your favorite candidate's history and credentials, weigh the positives and negatives, and try your hardest to find out if there is another one who can do better. Vote for the one you can believe in, regardless of their reported popularity.
(yeah, it's probably Dennis. But seriously, don't take it straight from my mouth, people oughta figure it out for themselves.)
In final summation, I found some funny pictures of a few of the other candidates and wanted to incorporate them in this entry somehow. Do with them what you will.
Join me in laughter.
Meanwhile, Josef has developed a German accent.
-s
howdy,
i know it's nearly thursday but, welcome back to tuesdays with harrison. i know approximately zero html so don't expect no fancy links or nothin from me unlike asher's extremely well done post.
you know how in baseball they have the "dog days of summer"? well, the analogy lines up for the time we've been spending at the office recently. with our intern staff down by three and the real work of the campaign ahead of us, we've been logging 14 and 16 hour days. marathons in squeaky office chairs with tired wrists and bleary eyes. it's been fun though, there's a sort of primal satisfaction that comes with early days and long night, especially when you are making serious progress. i don't think anyone has described our office yet, so let me paint the picture for you:
we call it the pit. actually, since the a/c now works, that name really doesn't match up as well, but the pit it remains. we have four large office desks along the right side of the wall. on three of these sit a couple of IBM/Dells computers with flatscreen monitors and cpus which still have disk drives. there's a motley assortment of beat up squeaky chairs, some of which are surprisingly comfortable, some of which not-so-surprisingly lean back way too far when you sit in them.
each desk has started to inherit the personality of who sits there. mine has a picture of dennis taped to the top with red eyes colored in with the caption reading "flame of justice ----->" speakers and paper, paper everywhere. you know what? i spend enough time in the office. i think i'm done writing about the office (LIES!)
anyway, i've been working on the good ole
dial for dennis project like a madman. it's finally starting to come together, we've got numbers out to a bunch of volunteers so we'll see how it goes. students for kucinich is coming along real nicely and i'm pretty excited about the scope of that project. today, all of us went crazy around 9 o'clock and started laughing into the phone for the benefit of hal, who we thought was upstairs. it turned into singing and pretty soon we had a 4-part arrangement of 'breakfast at tiffany's' going before we stopped. laughing about how hal was probably wondering what the hell was going on, we turned back to our work as he walked in the back door.
There is a flow to life. Back home in Maine, I'd taken up foraging for wild edible and medicinal plants as a hobby, and learning what foods are edible also goes hand in hand with knowing when they are available to eat.
Just as the bounty of the land changes with the change of the seasons, so does the bounty of other things. Right now, we are in a winter of sorts on the intern team. Chaz, Cory, and John have all left us. Chaz and Cory have left for NYC on the EuroRock 2007 tour to Rock the World for Peace.
You can see the shirts that our very own Stacey designed for the BR Family, and also the artist and our Harrison modeling themhere
John left us to head back home to St Paul. We'll miss you John, and we wish you well.
So once, there were eight. Now there are five. We've lost nearly half our staff. Yikes. If anybody wants to become and intern, please, please, please apply!
In spite of the recent shortage of staffers, we're still pushing ahead with all our projects, with full steam, including Students for Kucinich. Hal is working on getting a webpage that the Students For Kucinich groups can edit themselves. We'll have all sorts of resources up there for you, and as you figure out what things work on your campus, you can share your ideas online, and keep in touch with what other groups are doing.
In other news, after ABC gave us the full gauntlet to deny us meaningful coverage, there was an upwelling of support. They replaced the photograph that cut Dennis Kucinich out with one that included him. They did NOT however put the poll back up. It's still accessible through the link, but it's not linked to anywhere on ABCnews's website any longer (at least not that I could find.)
On MSNBC's AFL-CIO poll, Dennis Kucinich is now at number one with 27%!
And after MSNBC's LIVESTRONG forum, Kucinich not only brought the house down, but he also cleaned up at the poll with a full 36% of the vote.
Check it:
Irritatingly, they took down the poll that same day at 7:30 and replaced it with a poll that asks, "Which of the GOP candidates do you think will make Healthcare a priority?" which unlike >the one that Dennis won, has been up for a couple days now. Not suprisingly Ron Paul won, as he does with every online poll ever, with 41% last I checked.
I realize now that I never gave a real introductory post. I guess I should talk a bit about who I am.
My name is Asher, I'm a jazz musician from Maine. I'm currently a registered Green. I voted for Kerry back in 2004. That's why I'm registered Green now. The Green, Libertarian, and Reform parties were the only ones that challenged the voter fraud in Ohio in 2004. Bob Fitrakis of the Green party ran for Governor in Ohio in 2006 on the platform of suing Kenneth Blackwell for vote rigging with electronic machines.
Now, why the heck would I vote for Kerry? I had totally planned on "throwing my vote away" with gusto on the Cobb/LaMarche ticket (I don't actually think it's throwing it away), but I was a member of the League of Pissed Off Voters and we'd decided to vote for Kerry en bloc. I learned the hard way that if your candidate doesn't actually want to be president (because his running mate is a member of the same Neo-Fascist fraternal order), you shouldn't vote for them, because they are a patsy.
This same election cycle I also learned a ton about activism and the primary process. My student group, University Student Activists (U.S.A.--clever, no?) started to fall apart as we couldn't agree on whether or not to endorse a candidate, and from which party we should if we did. We continued to work on local election stuff, organizing protests against the war, and lobbying the campus cafeteria services provider,Aramark, to include locally grown foods in their offerings. I myself switched from supporting Dean to Kucinich, and after voting in the municipal primary, was elected as a delegate for the Maine State Convention. I witnessed Dennis Kucinich's speech there first hand. It was so moving, he moved from 11% to 33% of the delegation to the National Convention from Maine.
Because of a student group that me and some politically active and locally minded people started up, I was selected for a scholarship to go to a sort of boot-camp for political organizing in Columbus, OH, called the "Smack Down." It was amazing. I met people from all over the country, from all sorts of different ethnic and economic backgrounds.
We all had so many opportunities to talk about what life was like where we were, and what kinds of political fights we've had to fight on our own turf. It was like vicariously traveling and living in major cities all around the USA, condensed into the span of a week. There was a open-mic slam poetry fest held one night, and it was really quite inspiring. I had written one piece after the USAPATRIOT act passed, but I was so inspired by this event, I started seriously listening to, and writing slam poetry after that.
I also accepted a campus fellowship with EnviroCitizen.org, which was really helpful. I learned a lot about canvasing first hand with them, and I was able to collect information to use for my GOTV (get out the vote) efforts with the LPOV. I interviewed local candidates and asked them about issues that my campus group decided were important. I made up a great little voter guide, printed up a few thousand copies, and then distributed them to every person who lived on campus, and encouraged them to register and vote locally.
It worked. We had a massive surge in voter turnout, especially in my age group. We were able to affect real change locally as well. Later, I was able to lobby the candidates we'd endorsed, and I was able to submit legislation on some of the issues that my group championed, and hold those politicians accountable on their campaign stances. So later, I got the opportunity to testify in Augusta on behalf of bills I helped create. Which was way cool. While there I met a bunch of lobbyists who were there on behalf of the bio-fuels industry, and talking with them, I learned a lot about the state of bio-fuels in Maine.
After 2004 though, I was so burned out and so disappointed, dropped out of politics and I focused almost exclusively on playing bass, electronic music and composing and arranging orchestral music.
I'm supposed to be graduating this year. I applied to be an intern while bored at work one day, and I got it. I was totally prepared to let this election cycle go by with a little bit of campaigning, and a vote on my part. But I got in, and they've wanted me to stay so far. The political animal that was killed by cynicism back in 2004 is active and healthy again.
As far as the bounty of my activism goes, It's now mid-summer.
To whom it may concern,
Hello, my Name is Dr. Ben Rubin. "A doctor," you may ask. "But aren't you a student?" Good questions. Yes and yes. I have my honorary doctorate in divinity which I received online while attending school in California. I am looking forward to my upcoming second year at UCSC where I will be heading up the students for Kucinich chapter.
Sometime in May of this year, I was sitting with my roommates watching the first debate that I had seen thus far in this race. Since I had seen no debates, I naturally was only exposed to O(bomb)a and Hillary (I like wal-mart and fox news) Clinton. About 15 minutes into the debate, I noticed that a small man on the far podium was given a chance to speak. That was it for me. It was love at first sight. This congressman who I had never heard of began passionately speaking about ending the war while all the other candidates danced around questions and spoke as vaguely as possible. I hate right wing democrats. Little did I know that only a month later I would be sitting next to Dennis Kucinich discussing video ideas for his campaign.
When I arrived in Cleveland in June, I was pissed off. My parents had just moved here, and I was stuck in this red landmass known as the Buckeye State for my entire summer. I soon began working as a sandwich artist in a Subway inside of a gas station. My boss, while she was mixing together massive amounts of mayonnaise and Tuna, told me that I was wasting my time supporting Kucinich. (At that time I had just finished my first day volunteering at the Kucinich HQ, something that I had planned to do about once a week) We then began to argue about politics, and she asked me why I didn't "Just support a nice Republican." I was then called "an idiot" over and over again. When I tried to change the subject, my boss, and now another worker, would always come back to my stupidity for supporting Kucinich. I was fed up. "You are right," I told her. "I'm 18 years old working on a national Presidential campaign, fighting for what I believe in, and your 50, making sandwiches." After a long awkward silence, I quit my job as a sandwich artist. Trust me, there is no art to making those subs.
The following day I met Chad, the national media director on the campaign, and the next thing I knew, I had my own desk and was working full time doing video and media related work on the campaign.
So thats how it happened. That is how the original Kucinich intern came to be.
In my time here I have done many things. My main goal/project is to archive all of our DV tapes of Dennis speaking and edit that footage for an upcoming documentary. I also occasionally go out and film Dennis at local speaking engagements, make the intern videos, help with other videos, and I dabble in Facebook.
Anyway, that's all for now. I look forward to our next session.
-Dr. Ben Rubin
