Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

I just found the results of the Green Party caucuses in California on Super Tuesday, provided by the League of Women Voters. I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed in the results.

The candidates who have been out and hustling their way around the Green Party state meetings for months and months now got a minority of the vote.

Cynthia McKinney got 26.0%

Elaine Brown 1,330 got 4.6%

Kat Swift got 3.1%

Kent Mesplay got 2.0%

Jesse Johnson got 1.8%

Jared Ball 467 got 1.5%

Along comes Ralph Nader, waltzing in at the last minute, with his surrogate Howie Hawkins, suggesting that he just might, maybe, run for President, but he’s not sure. How much of the California Green vote did Nader get? 61 percent.

I’m groaning. Ralph Nader fails pathetically in his Green Party presidential run in 1996. So, what does the Green Party do? They nominate him again in the year 2000. Then, in the year 2004, Ralph Nader ran as an independent candidate, courted Republican support, and trashed the Green Party. So, now, in 2008, what are the Greens doing? Nominating Ralph Nader for President again.

Pardon me, is the Green Party really a political party, or is it just a stage upon which we all get to watch the Ralph Nader melodrama unfold in excruciating slow motion?

By way of public notice, I have just finished and posted a message to the all of the members of Unity08 only “Delegate Committee” group that I know of: u08delegatecouncil@yahoogroups.com. In this message, I suggested that we, as duly registered Unity08 “Delegate” continue to meet online to form the consciousness of Unity08, as it were,  and to follow the finally ownership of Unity-8 email lite. I happen to be it belongs to all of the registered delegates of Unity08. In this message I have also called for “u08delegatecouncil”  members to start thinking about the possibility of forming an authentic “online” political party that did, in fact, represent the voices of its registered membership.

At this time, I would like to invite all “duly registered Unity08 “Delegates” to become members of u08delegatecouncil and help us move forward with this effort.

 ex animo

davidfarrar

I really didn’t think they could be this out of touch with the American people.

GOP Rivals Argue Who’s Most Conservative

GOP rivals argue who’s most conservative
By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press WriterMon Oct 22, 6:31 PM ET

Republican front-runners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney defended their conservative credentials in the face of pointed attacks from campaign rivals Sunday night in the most aggressive debate to date of the race for the White House.

“You’ve just spent the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don’t want you to start fooling them about mine,” Arizona Sen. John McCain bluntly told Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson made Giuliani his target, saying the former New York mayor supported federal funding for abortion, gun control and havens for illegal immigrants.

“He sides with Hillary Clinton on each of those issues,” added Thompson, referring to the New York Democrat who leads in the polls for her party’s presidential nomination.

The clashes in the early moments of a 90-minute debate prompted former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to say he wanted no part of a “demolition derby” with others of his own party. “What I’m interested in is fighting for the American people.”

Whatever their disagreements among one another, the eight rivals agreed on one issue. They took turns criticizing Clinton, the Democratic front-runner.

Asked whether she was fit to be commander in chief, Romney replied, “I’d vote no.”

Giuliani said he agreed with one thing the former first lady said recently. “I have a million ideas. America cannot afford them all,” he quoted her as saying as laughter filled the debate hall. “I’m not making it up.”

McCain said Clinton had recently tried to spend $1 million on a Woodstock Museum, commemorating perhaps the most famous counterculture event of the 1960s.

“Now my friends I wasn’t there. I’m sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event,” he said.

“I was tied up at the time,” he deadpanned, and the audience rose to applaud the reference to the five and a half years McCain spent as a prisoner of war during Vietnam.

The debate was the first since Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas dropped out of the race, winnowing the field. The remaining rivals stood on a stage at a resort 10 miles from Walt Disney World, fielding questions at an event broadcast by Fox News Channel.

The leadoff Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 3, 2008, for Republicans. In their most recent debate, Oct. 9, Giuliani and Romney swapped charges with each other, vying for primacy in the race.

This time they largely ignored each other. Instead, Giuliani’s lead in the nation polls, as well as Romney’s perceived strength in early voting states, made them obvious targets for McCain and Thompson.

The first question went to Giuliani, asked whether he was more conservative than Thompson. “I can’t comment on Fred,” the former mayor said.

He then added that he had brought down crime, cleaned up Times Square, cut taxes and eliminated the city’s deficits. “I think that was a pretty darned good conservative record,” he said.

Giuliani took a more conservative position on gay marriage than he has thus far, saying he would support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage if states begin to legalize it.

Giuliani lived with an openly gay couple after separating from his second wife, Donna Hanover, and one member of the couple said at the time that Giuliani promised to marry them if gay marriage was ever legalized.

Attacked by the former Tennessee senator moments later, Giuliani fired back at his antagonist. “Fred has problems, too,” he said. He said Thompson was the “single biggest obstacle” in the Senate to legislation limiting the ability of individuals filing lawsuits to recover unlimited damages.

“He stood with the Democrats over and over again” on the issue, Giuliani added.

Thompson said he believed states should decide whether to limit lawsuits in their own states.

Republicans in Congress tried for years to pass legislation that would cap damages in lawsuits, but never succeeded before losing their majority to Democrats in 2006.

Romney was asked about McCain’s earlier claims that he had shifted positions on a number of issues to appeal to conservative Republicans.

The former Massachusetts governor responded that he was proud of his record, particularly since the state had an overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature. “I fought to make sure we kept our taxes down. I fought for pro-growth strategies. I cut taxes,” he said.

Moments later, though, McCain personally turned on Romney.

“Governor Romney, you’ve been spending the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don’t want you to start fooling them about mine,” he said.

Saying he would run on his record as a conservative, McCain added, “I don’t think you can fool the American people. I think the first thing you’d need is their respect.”

Coming up next, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain debate the looming threat of of a domino effect of the Red Menace. Stay tuned!

Mr. Trotsky has been purged for reasons that include, but are not limited to, the following repeated violation of these party guidelines:

1). Trotskyism is the theory of “permanent” (uninterrupted) revolution….But Trotsky does not confine himself to this indignant opinion. He goes further and asserts: “The entire edifice of Leninism at the present time is built on lies and falsification and bears within itself the poisonous elements of its own decay”

2). Trotskyism is distrust of the Bolshevik Party principle, of the monolithic character of the Party, of its hostility towards opportunist elements. In the sphere of organisation, Trotskyism is the theory that revolutionaries and opportunists can co-exist and form groups and coteries within a single party. You are, no doubt, familiar with the history of Trotsky’s August bloc, in which the Martovites and Otzovists, the Liquidators and Trotskyites, happily co-operated, pretending that they were a “real” party.

3).Trotskyism is distrust of the leaders of Bolshevism, an attempt to discredit, to defame them. I do not know of a single trend in the Party that could compare with Trotskyism in the matter of discrediting the leaders of Leninism or the central institutions of the Party.

Source: Pravda, No. 269, November 26, 1924

Help save Salvia in Illinois, Time is running out fast!!! Email our Governor or better yet fax, if you have a fax machine 

If Fax:  Address Fax to Governor Rod Blagojevich, subject line: Citizens request that you line item veto:  HB0457: page 7 LRB095 04451 RLC 26428 b and remove Salvia from the bill.  Governor at the following fax numbers:  217-524-6262 or 312-814-4862

This is what to fax or email the Governor: (COPY AND PASTE THE BELOW)

Governor Rod Blagojevich:  Citizens request that you line item veto:  HB0457: page 7 LRB095 04451 RLC 26428 b  and remove Salvia from the bill.  

Citizens request that you line item veto:  HB0457: page 7 LRB095 04451 RLC 26428 b and remove Salvia from the bill.  Salvia is not a plant that should be considered for this bill.  If you make this plant illegal not only will you be eliminating 100,000 of dollars a year in tax revenue to the state of Illinois, you will be shutting down businesses and putting people out of work.  Salvia is currently used in shaman rituals, religious ceremonies and for healing both by lisc. and holistic doctors and practitioners.  The plant has antioxidants, is a natural anti- depressant, is being used and researched to treat bipolar disorder,alzheimer’s (because it unlocks memory and helps recall), is being used to benefit suffers of rheumatism and joint pain, to aid others overcome severe drug additions and treat severe depression (documented in medical studies has been successful where other medications have failed), it has also be used to ease depression related to PMS and new cutting edge research of biosynthesis and medical applications of rosmarinic acid has been held promising. Hundred’s of thousands who could be helped by the benefits of Salvia will be left to suffer.  Medical research is very hopeful about how it can assist in a greater understanding of the brain. The state would also be rejecting alternative religions, cultures and societies that hold this plant SACRED, yes SACRED (American Indians, Shaman faiths, Alternative faiths and societies and peoples who immigrated from South and Central America into the US, use it to Salvia to commune with the Holy Mother and the Divine (God) and many of these people are in the US and Illinois.  It would cost Illinois taxpayers millions to police salvia.  People would illegally grow it, sell it, without the tax benefits going to our schools, roads, hospitals, cities and townships. Press accounts of efforts to ban Salvia often quote law enforcement and government officials who exhibit an inaccurate knowledge of the plant’s effects. Salvia has a nondescript appearance (being in the same genus as cooking sage), can be grown in a small space, has no odor and requires no elaborate lighting set-up. For these reasons, criminalization is likely to affect only the commercial sale of the plant, and not its private cultivation, which would be very difficult to police and extremely costly to tax payers.  

Citizens request that you line item veto:  HB0457: page 7 LRB095 04451 RLC 26428 b  and remove Salvia from the bill.  Salvia divinorum has begun to be researched and documented by a number of companies and universities on the medicinal applications of Salvia.  Including antioxidants, as a natural anti- depressant, use against rheumatism and joint pain, to aid others overcome additions and treat severe depression where other medications have failed (these cases have already been medically documented), to ease depression related to PMS and new cutting edge research of biosynthesis and medical applications of rosmarinic acid.  But if salvia is made illegal, it will greatly reduce the amount of research needed and treatment protocols that may result in ending the suffering of 1000’s of individuals.  Salvia is in no way a stimulant, a sedative, a narcotic, nor a tranquilizer.  Medical research has great hope for this plant. Be cautious about outlawing plants when you have yet to uncover its medicinal value.  For example, we have just found out in newly released medical research of another plant that has been crucified as a drug in the US for decades and is currently illegal in most states, yet NOW been proven by medical research that it slows and even stops the growth of tumors and may be especially beneficial to breast cancer research.  Thousands of women die each year from Breast Cancer and could have been saved had people who did their research, stopped and considered the long-term affects on medicine and society and got informed.  Thousands more could benefit from the treatments using Salvia.  Salvia has never caused anyone harm and does not have 1/10 the negative side affects of cigarettes, tobacco, alcohol or many, many prescription drugs (we know why no one bans them, money and lobbyist).  Thousands upon thousands die from addictions to tabacco and alcohol every year–yet not one tries to band these because it is big business.  Lastly, under the Federal Analogue Act, salvia fails to meet the “chemically similar” criteria and thus is not subject to the analogue act provisions.

SALVIA DIVINORUM should be available for all those over the age of 18. STOP THE WITCH HUNT AND BE THE GOVERNOR OF REASON AND LEAD THE WAY! 

Please also email the ACLU acluofillinois@aclu-il.org, please pass on to friends

Earlier today, Green Party presidential candidate Alan Augustson challenged Republican candidate Ron Paul’s call for the dismantling of the International Criminal Court. Auguston called Paul’s opposition to the prosecution of war criminals “really disturbing”.

Auguston then reiterated his own support for the International Criminal Court, saying, “One item, central to my plans for building peace, is for the US to become a signatory to the Rome Accord, submitting thereby to the jurisdiction of the ICC in The Hague.”

So, the big day came in here Oregon this week, and as usual, the institutional Democrats won the contest. Ted Kulongoski has been widely recognized as an ineffective governor, by Democrats and Republicans alike. Yet, what did the the Democratic Party establishment in Oregon do? They stood like stiff wooden planks right by Kulongoski, and used their resources to make sure that he got a victory in the primary on Tuesday.

That’s the way things go, I guess, but there is still one candidate in the race who has the ideals of progressives truly at heart. Joe Keating is running for Governor of Oregon as a member of the Pacific Green Party.

Joe Keating has real guts. He’s calling for Ted Kulongoski to recall the Oregon National Guard out of the Iraq War, and back home where it belongs. That takes real courage, so Joe Keating has my vote.

As for those establishment Democrats who tell me that my vote for Keating is a waste, I say screw them! Screw them! My freedom to choose how to cast my own vote for myself is never a waste.