As Malcolm X suggested, revolution by any amd all means necessary and suffient: the ballot or the bullet.
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/malcolmxballot.htm

^^^
Yes we can be uniters , not dividers.

Who was the first woman of color to run for the office of Vice-President on a national ticket? Was it not Wynona LaDuke, who was chosen as running mate by Ralph Nader in the last election cycle? I like Wynona LaDuke and I have never seen any evidence that she is an exclusionary person against white women or men of any color. This year, Ralph’s running mate is Matt Gonzalez, apparently a son of a Latino woman and a San Francisco liberal (who I admire and support) who is as close as a man can possibly get to being a woman of color supporter.

Are these fine men to be chastised because they take a holistic progressive approach to politics and not a woman-of-color-centric platform?

Nader has been excluded repeatedly from debates and media exposure and has fought for everything he has gotten. Yet he continually works to enlarge the electoral tent to allow for independent parties and other tickets to work their agendas, including Cynthia McKinney and her running mate.

I don’t admire Cynthia McKinney because she is a woman of color or because she has a woman-of-color-centric agenda. I admire Cynthia to the extent that her agenda benefits everyone, including me, a white male. I believe she does exactly that in substantial ways.

I can’t help but notice that Obama did not choose Cynthia McKinney as his running mate. I would say that Obama and McKinney are opposites in substantial ways and not colleagues. Obama chose Joe Biden, a party functionary with a low I.Q. and a big mouth and a lot of financial support. Obama is more like Nancy Pelosi than McKinney, and that is tragic. Nader is more like McKinney that Obama is.

To me what is truly tragic is that lefties are so power hungry these days that they are willing in one election after another to support the lesser of two evils, which by definition means supporting evil. Why not mass those votes, surely there are millions of anti-war progressives who could vote in large numbers for someone/anyone who is NOT evil.

I have no problem with Cynthia McKinney building a movement. But if she wants to build an exclusionary movement limited to or focusing on the wants of women of color only, she will exclude me because I don’t have the pigments or the chromosomes to qualify as a first-class supporter in such an agenda. But I would advise Cynthia to enlarge her focus and think of the welfare of everyone. I would urge her to think of coalition building, not exclusionary biases. I do think women of color have much to offer society, and especially in terms of knowledge of how to survive and thrive in conditions of relative powerlessness. The trick, in my opinion, ought to be to learn to attain power in a gracious and complimentary manner to others in society. It is undeniably true that many have been victimized by our civilization, and some more than others, but ranking victimization is probably counterproductive to coalition building and I believe everyone is better off seeking consensus solutions to the greatest extent possible.

Stan Moore
Petaluma, CA

long lines in georgia county
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/georgia.voting/?iref=mpstoryview#cnnSTCPhoto

getting a jump [apparently he's got a number of advisers going over new deal history.]
http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2008/10/getting-a-jump.html

third debate – 50 seconds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxi8xIeK1II

wow obama actually knows that labor leaders are regularly assassinated in colombia … he just passed one of my US foreign policy tests – wow.

with all the cheating going on and the importance of who is in the white house, we cannot take any chances as to who is elected — yea, obama is this and that, but compared with mccain/palin — a doom unimaginable indeed.

as some have pointed out though, after obama is elected [hope, pray] –> George Bush will remain in power for 12 weeks after the next president is elected . . .

it’s late in the game. her campaign hasn’t had the resources or institutional support it should have. if she polls at 1% nationally, that would be quite amazing, and an incredible statement.

for many of the same reasons stated in the article, I still support publicizing her campaign, building awareness and long-term commitment to a party with the politics she represents, and voting for her — despite that. I wrote the piece with a long-term project in mind, to get people to think about and consider a sustained party-building campaign as possible.

it was painful to witness McKinney’s marginalization as a woman of color, by the left.

I support her to say something about the direction that those questioning the two-party system should head. to help people
recognize what she represents even with the total blackout against her — and consider that a women of color ticket should be viewed as a viable contender including in the world of Third Party politicking.

if progressives truly believe in challenging institutional racism and sexism, while taking down the corporate two-party duopoly, we need to create a united front that works on those principles. to be honest, I think it would have been more principled for Nader to use his big name and star power to campaign for McKinney, and back her.

in my opinion, his relative race- and gender-blindness has come out as a weakness particularly this election with Obama and Clinton.

I don’t just want to use my vote as a protest vote, but be part of building something — whether consciousness, or a concrete party structure.

peace.

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/56149

The fundamental point I am trying to make is that the Democrats and the Republicans mirror each other in portraying each one’s lofty ideals and weaknesses of the other side, while ignoring their own failures and ultimately sacrificing their own supporters in the quest for further power. Unfortunately, this would certainly occur if one or both of the current major parties faltered and was replaced by a current minor party, such as the Greens, Independents, etc.

On a completely different tack, I just checked out from the public library the book, “Chasing the Flame: Sergio Viera de Mello and the Fight to Save the World” by Samantha Power.
This is a fantastic book about a fascinating life. And what an amazing man who was the ultimate insider who wanted to do right for mankind and had his successes. But his death was also enigmatic of the human dilemma — he could have survived that bombing of his office building in Baghdad if help would have arrived promptly, but his life ebbed away even as he periodically communicated with potential rescuers. Very tragic! But what an amazing life! And I just read another amazing autobiography about musician Eric Clapton, who has had a really messed up life in many ways, but whose turmoils and talents have left behind a trail of amazing music. Sergio Viera de Mello was sort of the Eric Clapton of world affairs — read the two books back to back like I did and you will see what I mean

Stan Moore

Petaluma, CA

What is your expectation of people voting for McKinney, given Mr Obama’s weakening lead, especially considering the tendency for whites to claim to support a black candidate, but then not vote for that candidate (Bradley effect)?.

Will you continue this campaign, if it fails to yield the 5% you’re hoping for this time?

First things first …. INFORM the people about how evil the Republicans truly are …. http://stevemoyer.us/reason

Tell the truth. Republicans are the party of the rich, the super-rich and poor fools. Enlighten the fools and expose the rich.