By:   JoAnn Wendl

Remember the song, “Where have all the flowers gone … long time

passing”… Indeed! Why are we dragged into war after war. Can

President Obama tell us why we’re repeatedly asked to back up

Corporations who trade our jobs for cheap labor in another country,

our lives behind a gun in pursuit of conquest in some foreign land ?

Can he tell us why we’ve participated alternately in past coups, or

supported villains, in South America, Haiti, Viet Nam, Iran, Iraq,

Afghanistan and more ? Was it really about protecting “us”, feeding

the Military Industrial Complex, or protecting corporate interests

that robbed us of our sons and daughters, compromised our values,

always lying that it was necessary, claiming motives unworthy of our

sacrifice???

Why are we taught by some who call themselves republicans to demonize

socialized programs, shun and punish our socialist neighbors, when we

can see by our own example that only a blend of democracy and

socialism can sustain a balanced government “ For the People and By

the People.”

It’s time to awaken from the onslaught of gun toting corporate paid

assailants who shout down attempts to explain the current proposed

health care program, upstaging the needs of concerned citizens,

democrats, independents and republicans, to participate in

constructive dialogue.

There are no victors in war , only perpetual bigotry and hatred. There

are no “wins” for those who cheat and lie. We’re becoming very good at

noticing when the “ Emperor Has No Clothes.”

These tactics are not deserving of our respect and attention.

JoAnn Wendl

Pomona, New York

Pennsylvania Senator, Arlen Specter, announced today that he is switching to the Democratic Party!  Always one of the more pragmatic (and less dogmatic) Republicans, Senator Specter broke from his party of 29 years after concluding that the Republican party had just moved too far to the right.  He saw the handwriting on the wall, after watching 200,000 Pennsylvanian Republicans cross over to the Democratic Party.

The good senator stated:  “I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.”

If the Al Franken debacle is ever rightfully resolved in Minnesota, this would give the Democrats 60 votes in the Senate, and would provide the Democrats with the means to break any Republican filibuster.

The move has left the Senate Republicans in a state of shock.   Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, called an emergency meeting of party leaders to try to sort things out, and to attempt to put the best possible face on the matter.

President Obama was informed of the momentous news and reportedly called Senator Specter to say:  “You have my full support,” and we are “thrilled to have you.”

For the full story please visit:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/specter-will-run-as-a-democrat-in-2010/?nl=pol&emc=pola1

Your Uncle Rave

and some final(?) words on this campaign.

Barack Obama has certainly inherited what, in all likelihood, could be the country’s biggest economic mess, in all of U.S. history.  Perhaps even greater than when FDR had to deal with the Great Depression.  At least back then Americans were much more humble about the work they WOULD do, and the U.S. could compete industrially.  These days just about everything can be produced cheaper on foreign soil.  Much/most of the service industry has been outsourced to countries like India and the Philippines.  And, banking and other financial jobs are dwindling faster than Michael Bloomberg can renege on term limits!  We certainly can’t ALL join the Military, or mercenary firms like Evergreen, DynCorp, Blackwater, etc.  We can’t all be doctors, lawyers, teachers, or various civil servants, either.  We’re going to have to develop new industries, such as renewable/alternative energies.  Environmental and infrastructure projects are desperately needed, and . . . I don’t know what else, BUT it’s not going to be easy, and it’s NOT going to happen overnight. 

I wouldn’t begin to blame this entire mess on George W. Bush, because this has been a long time coming (Asian countries becoming industrialized, de-regulation going back as far as the Reagan years, NAFTA, etc, etc.).  But, unfortunately for Duh-bya, it has all come to a head under his watch.  I definitely DON’T like just about ANY of his policies (foreign or domestic), but he really didn’t do much to remedy the growing situation, either.  He’ll very likely be remembered as a 21^st Century version of Herbert Hoover, in this regard.
 
John McCain’s “time” was back in 2000, when he was still a (real) maverick.  He was cheated by the Neocons, who had hijacked the Republican Party, back then.  And, I feel he was very likely set up to fail this time, by those very same people.  It definitely didn’t help that his campaign was centered on essentially continuing the Bush doctrine.  Staying the course in Iraq, and favoring Big Business and the rich, over the middle and poorer classes, was clearly a recipe for failure.  And, no matter how gracious and deferential he’s been to her, I refuse to believe that Sarah Palin was actually John McCain’s choice.  Maybe Karl Rove thought he really could manipulate the masses – one more time – with this bizarre, unknown, extreme right, storybook character . . . or maybe he knew there was no way John could possibly win with her.  We might never know . . . unless Karl writes a tell all book some day.  And, I kinda doubt that.
 
The vast majority of Americans desperately wanted a clean break from the failures of nearly 8 years of the Bush/Cheney administration’s lying and bullying mentality.  They longed for a return to diplomacy and civility, and a departure from the politics of fear.  Barack Obama best expressed/represented those ideals.  We’re just going to have to be realistic in our expectations with Mr. Obama.  He’s just a man . . . not a messiah.  No one should expect miracles.  It’s going to take a lot of hard work and patience to turn things around.  I think we’re going to see greater international cooperation with President Obama, and I think that will be the key to righting this ship.  I think this time we really need, and we finally got, an actual ”Uniter“.  Only time will tell, but (renewed) hope springs eternal!  (How audacious of US!)

YUR

Vote For Barack Obama

Or face 4 more LONG years of the Bush Doctrine

With the comfort(?) of knowing that Sarah Palin is just a

heartbeat away from being Leader of the Free World!!!

YUR

This comes from ANOTHER Palin e-mail that I received just late last evening.  It was purportedly written by Eve Ensler, playwright/author of The Vagina Monologues.  (If McCain/Palin prevail . . . I wonder if that piece would be banned?)  This is mainly directed to the ladies, but I think we can all take something away from it.   YUR

“Subject: Eve Ensler on Sarah Palin

EVE ENSLER
Drill, Drill, DrillI am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a
member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned
and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for
Polar Bears. Maybe it’s their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact
that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or
touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice.
Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don’t like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying
to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is
hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all
the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the
goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to
Feminism which for me is part of one story — connected to saving the earth,
ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our
minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices
of my lifetime, and should this country chose those candidates the fall-out
may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may
never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would
have on the rest of the world. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. In my
lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the
presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her
world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or
evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic,
the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of
cancers, are all part of God’s plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears
off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin’s view, is here to be
taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and
plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be
taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, “It was a task
from God.”

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are
raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to
determine whether they have their rapist’s baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine
her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that
makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has
tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people
who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and
difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next
president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse
populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She
has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves
from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But
when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared
in God’s name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the
end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America
has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in
our hands. This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of
the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to
save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will
determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the world or
whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It
will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest
our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction.
It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether
we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America
is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism
and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don’t move you to go and do everything in your power to
get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin
spoke at the RNC, “Drill Drill Drill.” I think of teeth when I think of
drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I
think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the
brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of
the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and
peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?”

(Hey, Sarah!  If Eve was the first woman, maybe you should pay attention to this one.)   YUR

Bruce Springsteen is throwing his support to Barack Obama.  Not exactly a HUGE surprise, but I suppose he could’ve endorsed Hillary.  This should play better with the Boomers than with the *kids*, but Bruce does have a fairly wide fan-base.  He has always been a champion of/for the common man.  His roots are blue-collar, and he’s never lost sight that, though he has a much broader appeal.

His support of John Kerry, in 2004, was not enough to do the trick.  But then again, Bush was playing that whole: Don’t change horses in mid-stream crapola, due to us only being a year or so into the Iraq occupation. (now we’re +5!)  That and a heavy dose of – that old Republican favorite - The Fear Card!  AND, a lot of right thinking (not politically, mind you) people felt that Ol’ George stole THAT election as well! (Ohio voting machines and assorted polling place irregularities)

And, let’s not forget the other thing . . . it was John Kerry.  Yet another silver-spooned, Yale educated, Skull and Bones elitist.  His wife was way too opinionated for most, and richer than GOD.  He bore a striking resemblance to Fred Munster, and had all the personality of a wet dish rag.  At least this time we’ve got an athletic, charismatic guy who’s comfortable in his own skin, and knows how to grab and hold an audience.

http://brucespringsteen.net/news/index.html

But, check out Bruce’s letter on his official website and read for yourself.  It’s short and to the point.  Just like a directive from your Uncle Rave!  Enjoy!