democracycellproject

Kerry on Obama Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-10T04:18:27Z

“I congratulate President Obama on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This is an honor of the highest magnitude and all Americans should be proud of this recognition. Since his inauguration, President Obama has taken great strides to elevate America’s standing in the world. Under President Obama, America has returned to its true spirit and core values – global engagement, alliance-building, and respect for international human rights and treaties. The Nobel Committee and the world have taken note of America’s renewed commitment to responsible leadership.”

9-12-09 We Shall Overcome

2009-09-13T05:55:01Z

I was glad to see this posted by Karen Bradley as kind of an antidote to all the madness in WA DC today with the "tea baggers."

One of Many Tributes to Senator Ted Kennedy, Exemplary Public Servant

2009-08-30T03:12:45Z

Here are some items collected over the past week..

Senators Robert Byrd and John Kerry

Letter written by Dennis Kucinich some 40 years ago ..

Dear Friends,

I wanted to share with you a comment that I wrote and subsequently was published in Time Magazine, some 40 years ago. I wrote this comment about Ted Kennedy as a private citizen before I began my public career.

Time News Magazine, January 24, 1969, Vol. 93, No. 4: Ted v. Teddy - Sir: Senator Edward Kennedy’s victory in the contest for Democratic majority whip (Jan. 10) is a significant event in the Democratic Party’s move toward effecting a liberal stance in the formulation of party positions on key issues. As majority whip, Kennedy will do much to accomplish arapprochement of liberal factions alienated in the travesty at Chicago. This is a good Ted Kennedy, for the Democratic Party, for the people. Dennis J. Kucinich - Cleveland

Sincerely.

Robert Byrd

Kerry on Kennedy

Excerpt (received from his office):

“Without him, there might still be a military draft. The war in Vietnam might have lasted longer. There might have been delays in passing the Voting Rights Act or Medicare and Medicaid. Soviet Jewish refuseniks might have been ignored—and who would have been there to help them as Ted did? Without him we might not have stood up against the apartheid government in South Africa. The barriers to fair immigration might be higher.

“If everyone only knew…

“Without Ted, 18-year-olds might not be able to vote. There might not be a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Meals on Wheels, student loans, increases in the minimum wage, equal funding for women’s college sports, , health insurance portability, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the first billions for AIDS research, workplace safety, Americorps, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

“If everyone only knew…

“He stood against judges who would turn back the clock on constitutional rights. He stood against the war in Iraq. For nearly four decades, and all through his final days, he labored with all his might to make health care a right for all Americans.

Letter From the President / Cool Artwork

Slugbug -- Michelle and I were heartbroken to learn this morning of the death of our dear friend, Senator Ted Kennedy. For nearly five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts. His ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives -- in seniors who know new dignity; in families that know new opportunity; in children who know education's promise; and in all who can pursue their dream in an America that is more equal and more just, including me. In the United States Senate, I can think of no one who engendered greater respect or affection from members of both sides of the aisle. His seriousness of purpose was perpetually matched by humility, warmth and good cheer. He battled passionately on the Senate floor for the causes that he held dear, and yet still maintained warm friendships across party lines. And that's one reason he became not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy. I personally valued his wise counsel in the Senate, where, regardless of the swirl of events, he always had time for a new colleague. I cherished his confidence and momentous support in my race for the Presidency. And even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've benefited as President from his encouragement and wisdom. His fight gave us the opportunity we were denied when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us: the blessing of time to say thank you and goodbye. The outpouring of love, gratitude and fond memories to which we've all borne witness is a testament to the way this singular figure in American history touched so many lives. For America, he was a defender of a dream. For his family, he was a guardian. Our hearts and prayers go out to them today -- to his wonderful wife, Vicki, his children Ted Jr., Patrick and Kara, his grandchildren and his extended family. Today, our country mourns. We say goodbye to a friend and a true leader who challenged us all to live out our noblest values. And we give thanks for his memory, which inspires us still. Sincerely, President Barack Obama

(artwork suggested by Robin, seen at Daily Kos: A Special Tribute by Editorial Cartoonists: "The Dream Lives On"

All items published in the last week at Silenced Majority Portal blog by Slugbug, Nyc & Kayakbiker

.. a little more ..

This is from when there was actually news on television - with content. This debate occurred in 1971 and the plans were relatively progressive compared to now, and we STILL haven't done anything. Imagine all the human misery because of our massive FAIL for healthcare, just as we have delayed decent mass transport until it's far more expensive. Some complain about our trillions in deficits but decent health and education are a drop in the bucket compared to what we spend on defending the corporations and their profits.

They don't make television debate like that any more.

We printed this in July of 2008. Silenced Majority Portal: Ted Kennedy Supports Health Care in America AND Sings Mexican Music

I supported Kerry and Obama first because of the Ted Kennedy endorsement. Here's Ted Kennedy on Healthcare (he has nine lives, I think!) and singing Mexican music.

Edward M. Kennedy | "The Cause of My Life"
http://www.truthout.org/071909R?n
Edward M. Kennedy, Newsweek: "In 1964, I was flying with several companions to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention when our small plane crashed and burned short of the runway. My friend and colleague in the Senate, Birch Bayh, risked his life to pull me from the wreckage. Our pilot, Edwin Zimny, and my administrative assistant, Ed Moss, didn't survive. With crushed vertebrae, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, I spent months in New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. To prevent paralysis, I was strapped into a special bed that immobilizes a patient between two canvas slings. Nurses would regularly turn me over so my lungs didn't fill with fluid. I knew the care was expensive, but I didn't have to worry about that. I needed the care and I got it."

From April, 2009

Silenced Majority Portal: UPDATED with RFK photo: Ted Kennedy Gives the Obamas A Portie Doe Called "Bo" (Diddley)

Silenced Majority Portal: Ted Kennedy Throws First Pitch

Happy Birthday Richard Bell!!!

2009-08-08T17:23:48Z

.... along with Barack Obama, William Clinton & myself! (DiAnne Grieser)

Multiple Fish Car

2009-08-01T15:01:48Z

Some guys gave my Liberal Beetle three thumbs down during the commute, so it was refreshing to see this car when I got to Seattle. (This car art is not meant to represent this site in general or any other, just me and anyone else who resonates with it.)

(photo D. Grieser)

John Kerry Wisely Warns Against Sabre Rattling

2009-06-18T13:42:01Z

according to hospital doctors in Iran the attacks on civilians are from the chest up. they are taking and burrying the bodies b4 family sees

female med student says that they would not let the injured tell the docs their name. she had 13 yr old boy die and disappear unknown name

I want more than just a new president, I want an end to this brutal regime.

(just received from his office) I am very interested in this, having gone to University with some of those who desperately hated the Shah, who was supported by our regime here. I am republishing it here because JFK makes clear the history involving Mosadeq, Shah Reza Pahlavi and the change from more moderates to hardliners because of our sabre-rattling and meddling, which have arguably worsened the situation. (read about that below - article published as sent from his office and as also seen today at New York Times and at )

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry (D-MA) wrote the following op-ed this morning in the New York Times entitled “With Iran, Think Before You Speak.”

The grass-roots protests that have engulfed Iran since its presidential election last week have grabbed America’s attention and captured headlines — unfortunately, so has the clamor from neoconservatives urging President Obama to denounce the voting as a sham and insert ourselves directly in Iran’s unrest.

No less a figure than Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, has denounced President Obama’s response as “tepid.” He has also claimed that “if we are steadfast eventually the Iranian people will prevail.”

Mr. McCain’s rhetoric, of course, would be cathartic for any American policy maker weary of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hostile message of division. We are all inspired by Iran’s peaceful demonstrations, the likes of which have not been seen there in three decades. Our sympathies are with those Iranians who seek a more respectful, cooperative relationship with the world. Watching heartbreaking video images of Basij paramilitaries terrorizing protesters, we feel the temptation to respond emotionally.

There’s just one problem. If we actually want to empower the Iranian people, we have to understand how our words can be manipulated and used against us to strengthen the clerical establishment, distract Iranians from a failing economy and rally a fiercely independent populace against outside interference. Iran’s hard-liners are already working hard to pin the election dispute, and the protests, as the result of American meddling. On Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry chastised American officials for “interventionist” statements. Government complaints of slanted coverage by the foreign press are rising in pitch.

We can’t escape the reality that for reformers in Tehran to have any hope for success, Iran’s election must be about Iran — not America.

And if the street protests of the last days have taught us anything, it is that this is an Iranian moment, not an American one.

To understand this, we need only listen to the demonstrators. Their signs, slogans and Twitter postings say nothing about getting help from Washington — instead they are adapting the language of their own revolution. When Iranians shout “Allahu Akbar” from rooftops, they are repackaging the signature gesture of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Mir Hussein Moussavi, the leading reformist presidential candidate, has advocated a more conciliatory approach to America. But his political legitimacy comes from his revolutionary credentials for helping overthrow an American-backed shah — a history that today helps protect protesters against accusations of being an American “fifth column.”

Iran’s internal change is happening on two levels: on the streets, but also within the clerical establishment. Ultimately, no matter who wins the election, our fundamental security challenge will be the same — preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. That will take patient effort, and premature engagement in Iran’s domestic politics may well make negotiations more difficult.

What comes next in Iran is unclear. What is clear is that the tough talk that Senator McCain advocates got us nowhere for the last eight years. Our saber-rattling only empowered hard-liners and put reformers on the defensive. An Iranian president who advocated a “dialogue among civilizations” and societal reforms was replaced by one who denied the Holocaust and routinely called for the destruction of Israel.

Meanwhile, Iran’s influence in the Middle East expanded and it made considerable progress on its nuclear program.

The last thing we should do is give Mr. Ahmadinejad an opportunity to evoke the 1953 American-sponsored coup, which ousted Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and returned Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to power. Doing so would only allow him to cast himself as a modern-day Mossadegh, standing up for principle against a Western puppet.

Words are important. President Obama has made that clear in devising a new approach to Iran and the wider Muslim world. In offering negotiation and conciliation, he has put the region’s extremists on the defensive.

We have seen the results of this new vision already. His outreach may have helped to make a difference in the election last week in Lebanon, where a pro-Western coalition surprised many by winning a resounding victory.

We’re seeing signs that it’s having an impact in Iran as well. Returning to harsh criticism now would only erase this progress, empower hard-liners in Iran who want to see negotiations fail and undercut those who have risen up in support of a better relationship.

"Compassionate Conservatives" Questions Obama's Use of "Empathy"

2009-05-30T13:19:07Z

This is EXTREME Bizarro World.

"Compassionate Conservative" was the oxymoronic phrase used by Bush II in his 2000 campaign. It was tried in Texas under Rove/Bush - as a strategy for funding "faith-based" friends to take over social programs, just as in funding "corporate-based" friends to take over the other functions of government. By banding together the fanatics with the neocons, with some cheating added in, they could come to power for awhile. By 2004, Bush had to ask Rove, "Are we doing Compassion again?" By then, they didn't bother, as they had the Terror Card to play, along with the old Guns, Gods & Gays wedge issues.

COMPASSION is a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering.

What is compassionate about two terms which resulted in a quagmire in the middle east with millions dead, maimed or homeless, and a near-depression that is resulting in foreclosures, teacher layoffs and other misery?

Now, some wingnuts have called Obama's criterion for "empathy" in a judge a "code word."
Even Clarence Thomas has written that he is "empathic" and David Brooks writes in the NY Times that a judge without empathy cannot be objective, but here is an opposing viewpoint from the Wall Street Journal. Conservatives are divided on "empathy" - not their strong point in the first place.

Empathy is understanding and entering into another's feelings. Sounds alot like compassion. Let's check the thesaurus, and we find that both empathy is a deep awareness of other's feelings and compassion is a deep awareness of another's suffering. A splitting of hairs in Bizarro World.

empathy

Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	understanding
Synonyms:	affinity, appreciation, being on same wavelength, being there for someone,communion, community of interests,compassion, comprehension, concord, cottoning to, good vibrations, hitting it off, insight, picking up on, pity, rapport, recognition, responsiveness, soul, sympathy, warmth
Notes:	empathy denotes a deep emotional understanding of another's feelings or problems, while sympathy is more general and can apply to small annoyances or setbacks sympathy means the stimulation in a person of feelings that are similar in kind to those that affect another person; empathy means a mental or affective projection into the feelings or state of mind of another person
Antonyms:	apathy, misunderstanding, unfeelingness

Repression in the Name of Religion: Liberty University & the Taleban

2009-05-24T20:22:30Z

In the United States, Christian Fundamentalists such as the Falwell-inspired culture police at Liberty University are in the news, as when they forbid students from affiliating with the Democratic Party. A commencement speech by the Christian President is considered controversial, as is his appearance, at a Catholic University, because of a moral issue. This very President was widely criticized for having the middle name Hussein and for having lived in a Muslim country and for having Muslim relatives.

Church has increasingly encroached on State to the extent where one candidate came from a Christian belief system which is heretical to the Pentecostal Church and which believes the earth is less than 5000 years old. A popular female pundit who professes to be a Christian uses hate speech routinely and advocates violence, along with the belief that all Jews and Muslims must convert to Christianity or die. At least there are millions of moderate Christians who would find much of the above abominable and who prefer to live in peaceful coexistence with those of other faiths or beliefs. At least that is my hope.

In the middle east, we recall Islamic Fundamentalists like the Taleban destroying the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan and now, their brethren in Pakistan are harassing Sufi Mystics. The militants bombed the tomb of Rahman Baba, a revered Sufi mystic. Many of us are not scholars of religion and though we hear about Sunnis, Shiites and factions therein, we do not really understand the ramifications or history of the region enough to make much more than general statements. Yet we know that religious disagreement is a huge component of past and present geopolitical unrest, along with struggles for land, resources and power.

Even a superficial reading of the literature of any of the major world religions will also reveal the following universals: greed, search for compassion, danger of extreme ego and prevalence of warfare among humons.

I recently read an essay by a Muslim moderate who said that the clash of civilizations is not just between religions but between moderate and fanatical sects within each religion. This could not be more correct.

(painting by D. Grieser)

Sow flowers so your surroundings become a garden
Don’t sow thorns; for they will prick your feet
If you shoot arrows at others,
Know that the same arrow will come back to hit you.
Don’t dig a well in another’s path,
In case you come to the well’s edge
You look at everyone with hungry eyes
But you will be first to become mere dirt.
Humans are all one body,
Whoever tortures another, wounds himself.

(Sufi poem)

Silenced Majority Portal also.

Darwin Car - Several Intelligent Designs

2009-04-27T21:54:12Z

Buy Local, Buy Vintage

2009-04-13T15:36:00Z

Here is why. Where else is there this kind of selection where you can find a treasure like this (which I actually only photographed.) It was Easter, too rainy to go to the zoo as planned, and even the local Mall was closed. We headed to the Fremont/Seattle Flea Market and it was like a trip back in time! I found a delightful framed photograph from Firenze, Italy with real gold leaf - $8. World's Fair posters, an August Macke print, a great metal Chinese Checker set with real marbles (not plastic), postcard sets of Mississippi River Boats and Redwood Forest trees with one-cent postage, and best of all - an original date copy of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," which I read when I was 13 years old!

Drip, drip, drip....

2009-04-11T00:31:22Z

If you've been in any chain bookstore, you've seen them: massive piles of hardbacks by Stephanie Meyer with glossy black covers and simple titles (New Moon, Twilight, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn)that give no indication of what might be inside.

I've been ignoring this phenomenon for a while, but I was stopped short by an item in USA TODAY:

"Vampires rule:Twilight author Stephenie Meyer continues to dominate USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list. Sales of her novels accounted for about 16% of all book sales tracked by the list in the first quarter of 2009. That's about one in seven books."

Whoa! One in seven?

Newspapers are dying left and right, but vampires are flying off the shelves. Is there something about the late-Bush/post-Bush era that makes vampires so popular? Or is that blood-sucking sound coming from Wall Streeters downing $700 billion (and counting) of our tax dollars for a bailout so murky we don't even know where the money went?

Any Meyer readers out there? What do you think is happening? What country are we living in, anyway?

(Tip of the hat to Media Bistro)

Colbert Guts Beck

2009-04-07T14:40:14Z

I have to confess that I rarely have the stomach to watch Limbaugh, Beck, Fox News, etc. For those of you who want to know what Rush is up to without having to sit through the show, Media Matters has started the Limbaugh Wire, an hour-by-hour critique of Rush's latest.

And then there is Glen Beck. Thanks to the comic genius of Stephen Colbert, I feel like I know everything I will ever want to know about Beck--Colbert leaves Beck's corpse on the floor. While I agree that the mainstream media often present a very distorted picture of the world, it is gratifying to know that there are popular shows on TV that can be funny and play smash-mouth politics at the same time.

The Wall of Peace and Freedom

2009-03-14T18:40:15Z

John Lennon wall in Prague

Is Social Networking Becoming Increasingly Narcissistic and Time Consuming (Or Is It Just My Age Catching Up With Me??)

2009-02-28T23:16:12Z

I may be a relative Luddite or perhaps a little antisocial, as I don't even give out my cell phone number much or use the thing other than for very specific purposes! I've been blogging for a long time, but MySpace and Facebook may be about as far as I want to take it and some of that has been experimental! These can be definite black holes of time consumption. MySpace offers infinite ways to personalize the page and Facebook lets people be pirates, throw food and be kids in many respects. Both have potential for political activity, artistic and musical networking and much more. I get invitations to join other social networking sites and now I delete them. I am maxed out. Do we have any idea how much data these people are collecting about us? Doesn't Rupert Murdoch own MySpace? Doesn't he own FOX News? Should we be wondering?

Now it's en vogue to "tweet" on Twitter and I have not figured it out entirely and am questioning whether to. Daniel Schorr (who is in his 90s but still comments at NPR) had kind of laugh at the idea this morning on NPR. "Why do people do it?" has asked, and the interviewer didn't seem to really have an answer! 140 keystrokes - that's how long a message can be! I can see text messaging someone but the whole world? Our "followers"? Or "following" someone? Can someone please explain this to me? I can't stay on top of emails!

I enjoyed reading what Lee Woodruff at Daily Beast had to say about it all:

How far are we from the minutiae of someone’s stomach virus, a lost button on a favorite pair of corduroys or, to steal loosely from the late John Updike, the announcement of a perfectly coiled bowel movement in the bowl after the morning’s first cup of Joe?

I do enjoy the fact that Greg Palast follows one of our blogs, and that I am a Facebook "friend" of people like Ann Magnuson and Max Blumenthal, who I think are intensely cool! It blows me away that these sites have people on them from all over the world! I may be reaching the breaking point though!

More from Lee (Is there a way I can be her "friend?!")

I don’t need to know that someone just visited their office vending machine for Doritos or that they are about to take their Shit-zu for a walk. I don’t want to know that kind of info about my own husband.

Again, who are these people who are Twittering back? If they are employed, shouldn’t they be (particularly in this economy) putting their noses to the grindstone? Shouldn’t they be concerned for their jobs, laboring away at their desks, working the phones, hopping to, rather than twittering away about last night’s bad Chinese food? And what if they aren’t employed? What if they are kicking about at home, maybe a wife or hubby just hanging out while the kids are at school, or someone in transit on a train or bus. Don’t these people have better things to do then telegraph their where-abouts? Isn’t there laundry to throw in, some real news to catch up on online or a good book to read? Books. Remember them? They came off a printing press. What about a little do-gooding in the community, English as a second language to teach, a PTO board to assist. How about, God forbid, an honest good old-fashioned moment of repose and reflection?

I am not embarrassed to post this and be all "uncool" and not Twitter (or is it "Tweet" ON Twitter?) So far I just can't face the fact of having a sea of messages on my cell phone or having to do anything social in real time (other than in person) and I don't have a great attention span in the first place! I can't even send pictures, which makes it a little too "wordy" for me, a little too "left-brained"!

Jefferson: Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies

2009-02-23T15:12:15Z

In light of the present financial crisis, it's interesting to read what Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

Doesn't this sound eerily familiar to what is happening in America today?