Tim Russert 1950-2008
The Whole World Is Watching
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I know the issues that America currently faces with regard to racism and sexism have been addressed at many levels. While I’m encouraged by the conversations people are having (even the immature ones), I’m saddened with the reality that our country…our world…is saddled with such unnecessary burdens. I hate that we are so ignorant and [...]
Desolate Highways and Heartbreak
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The lonely highways of America will grow even more desolate as fuel prices continue to rise with no end in sight. Day by day, the number of “for lease” and “going out of business” signs escalate in communities throughout the country.
E Pluribus Unum: You Say You Want an Evolution?
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Three small words and one very BIG idea: E Pluribus Unum – “out of many, one”. It is easy to say but troublesome to achieve. Our advancement inside the Party in the last four years has brought the Progressive movement to the brink of a broader leadership role. The question is – how will we [...]
Hasta La Vista, U.S. Business
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Question: Has Bush & Company, unintentionally helped solve the U.S. immigration problem across our Mexican border? With no thought about consequences for future American business or our country’s citizens, George W. Bush and mostly Republicans, may have precipitated the extinction of the trade mark, “Made in USA,” to be replaced with “Hecho en Mexico,” along [...]
Who the Hell is Voting for McCain?
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I thought the best thing John McCain did when he first became the “presumptive Republican nominee” for President was attaching himself to George W. Bush like some bizarre reversal of a Siamese twin separation operation. I mean how stupid is that? Bush is almost inarguably the worst President we have ever had. I say almost [...]
Worse Than Any Impeachable Offense
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I would never have thought there’d be any greater crimes than those of George W. Bush, nor any villain greater. I’m wrong. And no, it’s not Dick Cheney, either, or anything he’s perpetrated. Nor any of their colleagues. It’s Nancy Pelosi, and her colleagues, and what they seem quite literally hell-bent on doing. Why at [...]
The Bloodline Revenge of Mad King George III
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“I desire what is good. Therefore, everyone who does not agree with me is a traitor.”: “Mad King George, III.” His tutors found George a difficult student. He was silent and morose and when angry, he became obstinate and sullen. At twenty he still wrote like a child. George III became king when he was [...]
Senator Jim Webb for Vice President
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Senator Jim Webb declined to stand in line to have his picture taken with President Bush. The chicken hearted occupant of the bully pulpit had been warned that he shouldn’t talk about Webb’s son, who just had a close brush with death serving in Iraq . W, the pugnacious, cocky bantam rooster, approached Webb and [...]
No Instant Runoff Voting? No Nationwide Popular Vote? Looks Like Here in California, Looks Like I’m Going to Be Disenfranchised Again
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Most of the country was captivated on Tuesday night, June 3, by the apparent nomination for the first time of someone other than a European-American man as a major party presidential candidate. Here in Los Angeles, however, we had a very consequential and quite captivating election of our own taking place on the very same [...]
The Case for a Woman as Vice President, and then President
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Although the office of vice president carries little inherent power, it positions its occupant to be the natural frontrunner to succeed a successful president. And because no political party plans for its presidential nominee to not be successful, almost every time a party holds a convention, it is in effect nominating not just one presidential [...]
The Night of Terror: Winning the Vote for Women
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The Night of Terror at Occoquan Warehouse is the story of our grandmothers, and great-grandmothers and their fight to win the right to vote. This is what they lived only 90 years ago. It was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote in the United States. [...]
Between the Lines
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On This Day, In This Time I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody’ll dare Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen,” Then. Besides, [...]
A Jefferson for Obama
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A hornet’s nest was stirred up recently by my public endorsement of Obama as our next president and then again with my recognition during a speech at University of Virginia of the cousins in my family who are descendants of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. (As a member of the Jefferson family at large, I [...]
We’re Thrilled!
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Although Sharon flirted briefly with Clinton and Dick looked hard at Edwards, we came out early and strongly for Barack Obama, making our cases just before California’s January primary here and here. Through the spring, we worked a bit on the Obama campaign and continued our full support here on the LA Progressive. As we’re [...]
Mr Russert – Will YOU Ante up for War Victims Like YOU Asked of Scott McClellan?
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Mr. Russert, last Sunday (June 1, 2008), on “Meet The Press” you had as your guest former George W. Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan. You asked him the following question: “Some have suggested because you were part of the propaganda machine that sold the war, that many people have died and been injured because of [...]
Elect the Barack Obama-Jim Webb Ticket
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Now that Barack Obama has emerged as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, our attention turns quickly to which running mate would most help secure victory in November and who would stand that proverbial heartbeat away from the presidency. Earlier this week, Linda Milazzo proposed on these pages the provocative and engaging choice of Caroline Kennedy. [...]
My Dream Ticket: Barack Obama & Caroline Kennedy
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For nearly her entire 51 years, Caroline Kennedy has been part of the socio-political fabric of this nation. She first captivated America as the tiny daughter of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. She was the delightful little blonde atop her pony Macaroni, and the adoring older sister to precocious brother, John. Caroline Kennedy, throughout her life, [...]
Hillary Clinton The Lovely Parting Gift
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I woke up one morning feeling like I’d awakened in a different country. Sort of. Barack Obama’s passing the numerical finish line was still not quite the end of the Democratic primary season. “She” had yet to concede. It should have been All-Obama-All-the-Time, but it wasn’t. Very well, then. He’s handled this turn of events [...]
What the Lieberman-Warner Climate Change Legislation and the Selling of Indulgences Have In Common
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In the grand tradition of the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s, the mortgage-backed securities meltdown that currently threatens to undermine our financial markets, NAFTA, GATT, and the invasion and occupation of Iraq , our leaders in the Senate are once again preparing to hoist upon an unsuspecting public another catastrophe in the making. [...]
Semi Final Results – LA County Superior Court
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Candidate Votes JUDGE-SUPERIOR COURT – OFFICE NO 3 DANIEL P RAMIREZ………………….381,923 JUDGE-SUPERIOR COURT – OFFICE NO 4 RALPH W DAU…………………………..308,358 SYDNEE R SINGER…………………….159,657 JUDGE-SUPERIOR COURT – OFFICE NO 35 JUAN C DOMINGUEZ………………..365,981
Hillary Open to VP Spot
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My wife and I have supported Sen. Obama for president since before Super Tuesday. However, as we have said, we believe that Sen. Clinton would also make an effective and honorable chief executive, commander-in- chief, and head of state. And those judgments were blind to color and gender. The fact that our party has now [...]
Criticism Of Integrity In The (Black) Press: I Write For “The People,” Not For “A Paper”
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“There is no place like home. There is no place like home. There is no place like home.” – Dorothy from the “Wizard of Oz” This week, for the first time in 15 years, I called a new place “home.” For the 17 years I’ve been writing my national weekly commentary; being based in Los [...]
Have We Forgotten About Iraq?
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Now slogging through its sixth bloody year, America’s invasion and occupation of Iraq is much on my mind this Saturday afternoon. On the television in the next room, the Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee ponders the Florida and Michigan delegations, just now reaching its compromise.
Should We Judge the Judges?
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On Tuesday, June 3rd, Californians will go to the polls. Many will struggle over which candidates to select for the Superior Court Judge offices. Two weeks ago, I posted an article, “Judging the Judges.” In it, I said I’d get back to you before June 3rd.
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Good Job, Hillary
Anyone reading the L.A. Progressive knows I support Barack Obama. But I have to admit that as I sat watching and listening to Hillary Clinton announce that she was suspending her campaign this past Saturday, I felt a tinge sadness and a sense of loss. I didn’t expect to feel this. I was getting tired [...]