Tag Archives: 2008 elections

Hope for New Orleans: Support Malik Rahim December 6th

Posted on November 9, 2008 | 1 comment

(Reposted from my piece on the Green Pages blog)


Yes we are a rich nation; yes we are one of the most powerful nations. But, the greatness of our nation is not in our government—it is in our people. I have seen the essence of that greatness in those who made sacrifices to come down to help us in our time of need. – Malik Rahim

Green Party candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in New Orlean’s 2nd Congressional District Malik Rahim is working towards the December 6th election which was postponed from November due to Hurrican Ike.

Malik Rahim is the founder of Common Ground Relief Collective, the mission of which is to provide short term relief for victims of hurricane disasters in the gulf coast region, and long term support in rebuilding the communities affected in the New Orleans area.  The collective was formed shortly after the flooding that occured as a result of Hurrican Katrina in 2005.

From Malik  Rahim’s Campaign website:

Malik Rahim, born and raised in New Orleans’ Algiers neighborhood, has worked as an organizer for decades around housing and prison issues. During Hurricane Katrina, Malik stayed to assist the community and has been speaking out about racism and the failures of government exposed by the Katrina disaster.

Malik Rahim founded and operated the Algiers Development Center and Invest Transitional Housing. He is co-founder and outreach organizer of “Housing is a Human Right” in San Francisco, California and co-founded Common Ground Relief in September 2005, with Scott Crow and Brandon Darby. Since Hurricane Katrina, nearly 13,000 volunteers have gutted over 3000 homes in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans through their efforts.

Malik Rahim is quoted at the Nola.com blog regarding the Common Ground Relief Collective and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:

We started with $50 at my kitchen table. Now, by the grace of the most high, we have been able to serve well over 150,000 people in direct services and maybe another 400,000 in indirect services. We started three health clinics, and helped start another three health clinics. We work under the premise of restoring hope, while teaching civic responsibility. We have challenged and have broken the stereotype of racial divide. We have had over 10,000 volunteers, with maybe over 9,000 being Caucasians working in African-American and minority communities…. We can make this a better world. It’s all about restoring hope.

Malik Rahim’s Campaign is focusing on these issues:

Malik Rahim spoke at the 2008 Annual National Meeting of the Green Party of the United States in Chicago:

There are many ways to help with the campaign to elect Malik Rahim to Congress.  Visit the campaign’s Take Action page to find out how you can help get him elected.

For information on the elections in Louisiana, visit the Secretary of State’s website.

Other sites offering information about the Malik Rahim:

Green Party of Louisiana

On The Wilder Side

Green Party Watch

Facebook

Independent Political Report

 

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The Mormon Church on “moral” issues

Posted on November 8, 2008 | 2 comments

I find it interesting that the Mormon Church went to great lengths to not only openly support the passage of Proposition 8, but financed an advertising campaign urging voters to support it which included messages to voters, believe it or not, such as if gay marriage is permitted, kindergärtners are likely to be educated on gay sex acts.  The ads were filled with lies and deceptions, particularly at the last minute, and opponents did not have adequate time to respond.

From Alternet News: Why the Prop 8 Gay Marriage Ban Won

Ad after ad told voters that without Prop 8, their churches would be forced to perform same-sex unions and stripped of their tax-exempt status; that schools would teach their children to practice homosexuality, and, perhaps most effective, that a smiling Barack Obama had said, "I’m not in favor of gay marriage." This last bit went out in a flier by the Yes on 8 campaign targeting black households.

From the Deseret News – LDS official lauds work for California’s Prop. 8-Elder Clayton says leaders ‘grateful for the sacrifice’
 
 
Elder L. Whitney Clayton, a member of the church’s Presidency of the Seventy who helped lead the church’s support for Proposition 8, told reporters during a press conference Wednesday that he doesn’t have a total for how much money was donated by Latter-day Saints. He did say it was "considerable and generous" and that church leaders are "grateful for the sacrifice" made by members who participated in the campaign.

“We believe it’s a moral issue and we reserve the right to speak out on moral issues. We of course disapprove when people take exception to us having spoken out, but we are well within our rights and we are glad to have done so, we believe it was the right thing to do,” Clayton said.
Here is a link to the "statement" by the LDS church on Prop 8

Yet when it comes to other "moral" issues (the LDS church’s defense on Prop 8 is that it is a "moral" issue) such as the act of killing in war, and in particular the illegal war and occupation of Iraq, the LDS church remains silent.

I cannot find any declaration or statement against the Iraq War from the LDS church.  So why, then, is it permissable to remain silent on killing and the violation of human rights by the U.S. and other countries in war and occupation, while supporting efforts to violate human rights on other issues?  Could it be that the LDS church has hidden financial benefits to profits from war?

And now, thanks to this campaign to violate the rights of human beings in America, Utah faces a boycott of its tourist industry which will affect citizens adversely.

And shame on other religious communities for marching in step with the LDS church.

The LDS church has overstepped its stance on "moral" issues by bringing this issue into the political arena – an issue that should remain out of politics- thereby violating the principle of separation of church and state.  By virtue of its support on the gay marriage issue in the realm of politics, it has demonstrated to the world that an institution’s values can be imposed on a population of people with the right amount of money to influence how people should vote throught the pscyhological impacts of advertising.
 

 
 

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Lation Radio Talk Show Host Speaks on Latino Vote on Prop 8

Posted on November 8, 2008 | Leave a comment

I find it interesting what communities have supported to take away the rights of other human beings. Below is a commentary by a latino radio talk show host on the Latino vote for Proposition 8.

Commentary: Latinos should see gay marriage a civil right

By Fernando Espuelas
Special to CNN
Editor’s Note: Fernando Espuelas is the host and managing editor of Café Espuelas, a Los Angeles Spanish-language radio talk show and a media entrepreneur.


In spite of what seems to be sweeping approval for a progressive agenda, Latino support of Prop. 8  has exposed an entrenched bias against homosexuality at once profound and confounding.

A marginalized minority — Latinos — voting to take away the rights of another marginalized group — gays and lesbians — is like the kid who’s picked on in the third grade and only makes some headway when a punier kid comes along to take the punches instead.

Espuelas comments on the blitz of advertising swaying voters to vote against Prop 8 for really insane reasons:

Throughout this campaign, in an avalanche of Spanish-language commercials, Latinos were exhorted to vote "Yes" on Prop 8. A calm voice — a voice that could be selling baby wipes or low-fat cookies — told us that we should check yes "for the good of our families," that we must save everything that is good and decent about America.

Take away the civil rights of gays and lesbians so that we can be safe. But safe from what? The low-fat cookie voice of the radio commercial did not really say.

Latinos were asked not just to look away as these rights would be withdrawn, but to actively vote for the demolition of someone else’s family. We were implored to look at "them" as the unredeemable "aliens" that must be expurgated from our society. And we did.

Once you start the process of taking away other peoples’ fundamental rights — like food and water in a jail cell, or the right to drive and listen to whatever music you like — you must ask yourself where to draw the line, and who will draw it? What — and whose — rights will be next on the chopping block?

As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere." You’d think that as Latinos, proud and strong and willing to fight for our own rights,- we’d refuse to turn against the "punier kid," wouldn’t you?

That we might in fact stand up for that kid, tell the bullies to back off, the same way we told the bullies of racism and "the real America" to take a hike — and in the process carried Obama to triumph.

 


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Posted on November 8, 2008 | Leave a comment

Historic for Some, Same Old Shit for the Rest of Us

(excerpts from this Huffington Post piece by Harvey Fierstein)

While we dance in the streets and pat ourselves on the back for being a nation great enough to reach beyond racial divides to elect our first African-American president let us not forget that we remain a nation still proudly practicing prejudice.

We can still get married, just not to each other. Yes my friends, Florida and California have now made it legal for gay men and lesbians to marry as long as we don’t marry our partners. How much sense does that make?

Now, before you rise up on your high horse to holler, "We’re not against Civil Unions, just Gay Marriage", let me once again explain that THE SUPREME COURT HAS STATED THAT SEPARATE BUT EQUAL IS NOT EQUAL. And even if it were, civil unions are simply not equal to marriage.


So, while we rightfully celebrate the election of our first African American president, let us take a moment to mourn the passage of three new laws legalizing prejudice. Of course there will be those who claim that voters were only protecting the institution of marriage to whom I would suggest it is just as likely that Obama’s supporters were only voting against W. Breaking the lock on my door doesn’t make your home any more secure.

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Media Coverage on Utah Protest of Prop 8

Posted on November 8, 2008 | Leave a comment

Today’s Salt Lake Tribune has posted a slide show of yesterday’s protest against the LDS Church regarding it’s involvement on influencing voters on California’s Proposition 8.

 

People gather before marching on the Mormon Temple in protest Friday, Nov. 7, 2008, in Salt Lake City. Leaders of the successful Proposition 8 campaign say an unusual coalition of evangelical Christians, Mormons and Roman Catholics built a majority at the polls Tuesday by harnessing the organizational muscle of churches to a mainstream message about what school children might be taught about gay relationships if the ban failed. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
People gather before marching on the Mormon Temple in protest Friday, Nov. 7, 2008, in Salt Lake City. Leaders of the successful Proposition 8 campaign say an unusual coalition of evangelical Christians, Mormons and Roman Catholics built a majority at the polls Tuesday by harnessing the organizational muscle of churches to a mainstream message about what school children might be taught about gay relationships if the ban failed. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)

Thousands protest LDS stance on same-sex marriage

More than 3,000 people swarmed downtown Salt Lake City to march past the LDS temple and church headquarters, protesting Mormon involvement in the campaign for California’s Proposition 8.

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and three openly gay state legislators, Sen. Scott McCoy and Reps. Jackie Biskupski and Christine Johnson, spoke out in support. At one point, the crowd took up the mantra made famous by the country’s new president-elect: "Yes, we can!"

"The main focus is going to be going after the Utah brand," John Aravosis, an influential Washington, D.C.-based blogger, told the Associated Press. "We’re going to destroy the Utah brand. It is a hate state."

The LDS church response, according to the above cited article:

 

Church officials are "disturbed" that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was "singled out for speaking up as part of its democratic right in a free election," said LDS spokesman Scott Trotter earlier Friday.

    "Millions of others from every faith, ethnicity and political affiliation who voted for Proposition 8 exercised the most sacrosanct and individual rights in the United States – that of free expression and voting," Trotter said. "While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process."

From participants:

"We’ve been quiet for a really long time," said Jen Bogart, 24, who marched beside her girlfriend, with the Salt Lake Temple lit up to her left. "If the gays and lesbians in Utah can march in the streets, the gays and lesbians everywhere can march."
    Doyle Clayburn, 57, said he wanted Utahns to wake up to reality. "There’s not just one or two who care," he said. "It’s not a California issue. It’s a human issue."

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“Mr. Sulu” speaks out on gay marriage, including his own, and prop 8

Posted on November 8, 2008 | Leave a comment

Actor George Takei and his husband react to the vote on Proposition 8:

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Utah faces possible boycott over gay marriage issue

Posted on November 8, 2008 | Leave a comment

Utah faces boycott after Mormon work for Prop 8

By BROCK VERGAKIS

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s growing tourism industry and the star-studded Sundance Film Festival are being targeted for a boycott by bloggers, gay rights activists and others seeking to punish the Mormon church for its aggressive promotion of California’s ban on gay marriage.

It could be a heavy price to pay. Tourism brings in $6 billion a year to Utah, with world-class skiing, a spectacular red rock country and the film festival founded by Robert Redford, among other popular tourist draws.

"At a fundamental level, the Utah Mormons crossed the line on this one," said gay rights activist John Aravosis, an influential blogger in Washington, D.C.

"They just took marriage away from 20,000 couples and made their children bastards," he said. "You don’t do that and get away with it."

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Thousands of Prop. 8 opponents protest LDS Church at Temple Square

Posted on November 7, 2008 | Leave a comment

This is coverage of today’s protest on the passage of Proposition 8 in California.  It was huge!

 
Though the crowd started out small,
police estimate it has grown to
somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 people.
 

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McKinney on Nader and the Debates

Posted on November 7, 2008 | Leave a comment

I just saw this today and it’s pre-election, but has a great message. Thank you Cynthia!

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CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE REAL OBAMA NOW?

Posted on November 7, 2008 | Leave a comment

FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW UNDERNEWS
Washington’s Most Unofficial Source
611 Pennsylvania Ave SE #381
Washington DC 20003
202-423-7884
Editor: Sam Smith

It is historic that a black has been elected president, but we should remember that Obama was not running against Bull Connor, George Wallace or Strom Thurmond. Putting Obama in the same class as earlier black activists discredits the honor of those who died, suffered physical harm or were repeatedly jailed to achieve equality. Obama is not a catalyst of change, but rather its belated beneficiary. The delay, to be sure, is striking; after all, the two white elite sports of tennis and golf were integrated long before presidential politics, but Washington – as Phil Hart said of the Senate – has always been a place that always does things twenty years after it should have.

There is an informative precedent to Obama’s rise. Forty-two years ago Edward Brooke became the first black senator to be elected with a majority of white votes. Brooke was chosen from Massachusetts as a Republican in a state that was 97% white.

Jason Sokol, who teaches history at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in History News Network:

|||| On Election Day, Brooke triumphed with nearly 60 percent of the vote. Newspapers and magazines hummed with approval. The Boston Globe invoked a legacy that included the Pilgrims, Daniel Webster, and Charles Sumner, offering the Bay State as the nation’s racial and political pioneer. Journalist Carl Rowan was among the unconvinced. For whites, voting for Brooke became "a much easier way to wipe out guilt feelings about race than letting a Negro family into the neighborhood or shaking up a Jim Crow school setup." Polling numbers lent credence to Rowan’s unease. They showed that only 23 percent of Massachusetts residents approved of a statewide school integration law; just 17 percent supported open housing. ||||

That’s the problem with change coming from the top, as Obama might have heard when he was involved in real community organizing. It also may help to explain why there have been no more Catholic presidents since John Kennedy. Symbolism is not the change we need.

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