Good evening. Let's start things off with Democracy Now!
AFL-CIO Convention Calls for End to Iraq Occupation
Under major pressure form its membership and dissident unions that pulled out of the federation, the AFL-CIO has passed a resolution calling for a "rapid" return of all U.S. troops currently in Iraq. The resolution came at the group's national convention in Chicago. The group US Labor Against the War called the resolution a "major shift in policy." The groups says that the AFL-CIO General Executive Council had tried to push through a watered-down resolution that did not clearly call for a prompt end to the occupation. This attempt was headed-off after one of the leaders of Labor Against the War put forward an amendment calling for an end to the occupation.
Gene Bruskin, US Labor Against the War: The resolution was an historic one because it ended decades of silence from the labor movement and actual support for the U.S. government on the issue of foreign policy. As Henry Nicholas, president of 1199 AFSCME of Philadelphia said when he rose to the mic to condemn the war, "In my 45 years in the labor movement, this is my proudest moment. We have finally stood up to this war and said, 'Enough is enough.'"
Good news because we need some leaders today and we don't see any in D.C. Jane Fonda, the AFL-CIO, Bright Eyes are standing and accounted for.
Anyone else going to join them? Made me think about one of Ruth's Morning Edition Reports where she talked about how the change comes from the people not our elected leaders. And what she told The Third Estate Sunday Review when they interviewed her:
"I guess," Ruth says slowly, "I'd say we're at the turn of the tide. That's my guess. That's what it feels like to me. The Bully Boy's played every card trick he can play. It's over. We've had over four years of floating along on a fantasy but now reality is seeping in. Maybe I'm being too optimistic but it really feels to me like the tide has turned. Finally. It's past time to bring the troops home from a war they never should have been sent to fight. I don't think that's going to happen tomorrow or next month but I think we will be hearing more calls for that and, hopefully, the troops will be brought home. But, based on the way I remember it, I'd add that the call and the pressure have to build and build before anything is accomplished. Keep fighting."
And that's one of the great things about The Common Ills community. Cedric and me were on the phone last night and talking about that and how it can be easy to think that there's no one listening and all and that maybe you're in this alone. But then something like The Common Ills comes along and you realize that you are not alone and that there are a lot of people who feel like you do. Cedric was talking about some guy that I never heard of who does some Chinese proverb or something and Cedric was going that in the time that The Common Ills has been going, that guy has flipped and flopped on the war. Or the guy's been saying, "We need to listen to James Dobson." Or the guy's saying, "I didn't know that guy was for the war!" This idiot has been blogging and flip-flopping for months. Cedric goes, "You gotta have a core. You gotta have things you believe in. Otherwise you never stand for anything."
And that reminded me of a thing Rebecca wrote. There's so much coming out of that community and it's amazing what's been created. I would say, "What C.I. has created" but I know I'd get a lecture from C.I. about how members made that community. And it's so great that the community has so many voices. And we've got members doing blogs like Cedric and me and Rebecca and Betty and Kat. And we got The Third Estate Sunday Review. And you got members like Isaiah and Ruth doing stuff over at The Common Ills. And like for six months, you had Folding Star blogging. And don't forget the gina & krista round-robin or the UK Computer Gurus newsletters. So there's just a lot that's come out of this community in a really short time. And like Rebecca's on vacation and Elaine's filling in for her which is so cool and I think Elaine's doing some amazing stuff and understand why Rebecca and C.I. were always saying that Elaine needed to blog.
I think Dad was the one who found "Should This Marriage Be Saved?" but that's probably one of my favorite things at The Common Ills on Iraq. It's important to to speak out against the war and not be like some kind of Thomas Friedman twisting in the wind.
Let's dip into the e-mails. Bobbie has a question today. She's 19 and says she doesn't get why sex is so important because "it's nothing but three minutes of heavy breathing and a little sweat."
It would be real easy to make a joke but I think Bobbie is really serious. So I'd offer that maybe she needs to find a better level of lover and not some guy fumbling around in the dark. But I'm going to toss this out to everybody and share your thoughts and some more of my own tomorrow.
Now I want to close with a post of Cedric's from yesterday cause I was the new kid for a long time and I know it can be hard and all finding your voice and all and figuring out what you're trying for. I think Cedric's doing a great job and I think all of his posts are worth reading. Here's his thing from Wednesday. If you haven't checked him out, please get over to his site:
Two women, two paths, one leads to killing, the other to peace
A lot of talk about Hillary Clinton these days since she gave that speech Monday at the DLC gathering.
With my friends, she blew any credibility she had left in that one non-shining moment in time. There's not a lot that she's really done that any of us point to anyway. And we all know the Democratic Leadership Council for their attacks on Jesse Jackson (Sr.) so we see it as a racist organization that tries to stomp out anyone who doesn't want to sell out to the highest corporate bidder.
That Clinton thinks she needs to lick the boots of the DLC would mean she's an idiot. That Clinton thinks the DLC represents America would still mean that she's an idiot. No matter what hypothesis you can come up the conclusion is the same: she's an idiot.
Over at Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Rebecca came out some time ago against Hillary Clinton as a 2008 primary candidate. I'm going to back that up. Hillary Clinton is now officially a joke. Not the wronged wife you're sorry for. Not the junior senator from New York who makes one mistake after another (usually out of cowardice) that you can excuse by saying, "Well she's new to the Senate." She's made herself disgusting.
There was a time when the DLC had the illusion of power. It doesn't now. But they hitched their star to the former First Lady this week and they and their hate driven policies got back into the spotlight which is what they wanted. Hillary Clinton let them use her for that, for whatever reason. She has made herself disgusting.
As she "moderates" her positions repeatedly, we see that African-Americans are a group she has little concern for. She goes to Ohio to speak to the DLC. Where was she at the recent NAACP conference?
Where has she been on our issues? She can't be found. And I heard that and more repeatedly since Monday. The woman has an image problem now and she has only herself to blame for that.
As she has rushed to push each talking point of Operation Happy Talk, it's become quite clear that she's not very concerned with the actual dying in Iraq. Whether it's Iraqis or (to use Ava and C.I.'s phrase) those fighting in the coalition of Operation Enduring Falsehood, Clinton just can't be bothered. Yesterday Elaine pointed out what a war monger Hillary Clinton has become. It Takes a Village to Destroy a Village would be her next book, I'm guessing.
Lawanda, a woman from my church, said tonight after the service that Hillary Clinton has sold moral convictions to prove herself as a war monger and I'd agree with that 100%. Lawanda said she used to feel sorry for Clinton due to Monica Lewinsky but that those days are long past. "Her husband cheated on her," Lawanda explained, "that only gets you so much sympathy. She's destroyed it with her continued support for a war that neither she nor anyone in her family will fight, a war that goes against church teachings I'm aware of. If she truly was the devoted follower so many have claimed over the years she would long ago have said, 'In the name of Jesus, I'm asking that we stop this immoral war and the killing.'"
Harsher words came from the choir director who says she's got blood lust dripping on her power lust.
On the other hand, there was praise for Jane Fonda and her decision to start out a speak out tour against the war. The differences between the way the two women were spoken of was pretty amazing. But as my preacher said to me after the service, they've chosen different paths, one leads to killing and the other to peace. As his wife said, "Mrs. Clinton appears to have forgotten that Jesus was the Prince of the Peace."
There's a drawing that Isaiah did for The Common Ills of Jane Fonda that I'd like to put up here but in case it doesn't work, you can see it by clicking here.
I really like how Cedric weaves it all together and how he talks about what the people at his church were saying.
