Saturday, December 22, 2007

America and the American Dream


I remember hearing US Sen. Jack Kemp from NY talk about the "Gold Standard" back on Voice of America in the late 1980s. We used to connect our shortwave radion to the cable TV antenna lead to pull in Radio Moscow (in "special" English) and plenty of foreign news and music. We listened to the former NFL football player go on about how we didn't need a "rising dollar" nor a "falling dollar", but a stable dollar. Sometimes we do not completely understand what someone is talking about until years later, as in this case. I also found this in the NYT from 1988.
From the speech...
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not running for President for the prize of prestige and power. I'm running because I want to challenge America -as no other candidate in our party will - to reach for our greatest potential. I believe in unlimited and boundless opportunity for our future."
Ah, the good old days...

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Sen. Mike Gravel for "Consiglieri"!

I saw on the TV news that US Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska is having trouble keeping his presidential campaign going... not heard of him? Again, let us re-visit the "ancient" history of the 1970s where a very brave Gravel helped get the Pentagon Papers published by Beacon Press of Boston in 1971. The "Gravel Edition", especially in paperback was seen on every college campus as students learned how we conducted the war.
Previously the secret history of our involvement in Southeast Asia was serialized in the New York Times after the famous Daniel Ellsberg leaked them - because he had a soul and a conscience! So, while the aging Gravel may not be a viable candidate for the Democratic nominiation, he should be considered as a leading candidate to advise the next president - because he too, like, Ellsberg, has a soul and a conscience!
Perhaps Beacon Press should warm up the presses since a Pentagon Papers II is on its way documenting the conduct of the current war, complete with massacres of civilians, torture and much worse...
Do not forget to take a look at this PDF where the FBI's harassment of Beacon Press is documented on a handy timeline.

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Deja vu all over again?

Seeing Se. Ted Kennedy on TV speaking on the FISA court in the Congress was interesting. I kept waiting for the reporters to remind us he introduced the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill way back when in the mid-70s after the truth about our corrupt and criminal government was reveiled. Remember Watergate? Or the Rockefeller Commission? Or the Church Committee? Remember the wireless wiretapping going on back then? Well, after a few attempts under Ford, Pres. Carter signed the bill into law on October 25, 1978. Can we PLEASE have a 30th birthday party for FISA? We are adults, we know the CIA spies on foreign embassies and theur diplomats and/or secret agents working out of the UN. Just be honest!

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