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Jimmy Carter was right. It was bound to happen. The combination of the weak economy, the Internet, and the election of Barack Obama as America's first African American president have come together to cause the Republican party and Conservatives to be influenced by white supremacists and white nationalists. I call them the "Confederate-flag-waving conservatives."

(And I don't for one minute think that black nationalists – or Asian nationalists or Latino nationalist or Whatever nationalists - are any more tolerable and certainly just as insane as those who happen to be white nationalists. The operative word for me is "yuck.")

Unlike their ilk of decades past, these racist activists don't always have sheets over their heads, or KKK t-shirts, or even salute Hitler (those guys are jailed). Yes, they do yell, most of the time. Yes, some of them fly the Confederate Flag from the back of their pickups driving through shopping center parking lots.

Look, for those who need a history lesson, the Confederate Flag is a historic symbol of the support of black slavery. OK?

(And for the record, Rep. Joe Wilson, who's "You Lie!" comment to President Obama set off a new conversation on race and politics, did argue for the right to fly the confederate flag, in fact, in 2000 he said "the Confederate heritage is very honorable" and he has not taken back his statements. Rep. Joe Wilson should clarify them; it's possible to fly the flag and not be racist, but that's a rare breed of person from my personal experience.)

Yes, they do include "birthers", tea-baggers, and wingnut fringe types, but not Alan Keyes because even though he's conservative, to those folks he's just another black guy who they don't take seriously.

I can't believe 21st century America has people like that on its shores, but they walk among us. They're the people who send emails of watermelons planted at the White House. The ones who place "black face" photos of President Obama in the succession of pictures of presidents. The sad sacks who make doctored pictures of Obama as a spear-carrying witch doctor. The radio talk show hosts who commonly use unfavorable stories involving blacks to insight white anger. And those who say anyone who accuses them of being racist, is racist; thinking that old trick's going to curb scrutiny of their actions.

The Top-10 dumb lines of Confederate-flag-waving conservatives

These types aren't policy wonks and act more like the cyborgs called "The Borg" in Star Trek TNG. It doesn't matter where I go: an airplane or on the street for that matter, I hear the same line from Confederate-flag-waving conservatives again and again when politics is the subject (maybe this is you). The Top-10 dumb lines of Confederate-flag-waving conservatives:

1.First, I'm a Conservative. (I didn't ask.)
2.I believe in small government (I didn't ask that either, but the idea's batcrap stupid. Government is more than the federal level – its federal, state, and local and of a size that reflects our democracy.)
3.We're in trouble because the wrong people got housing loans. (This sends me through the roof. Who the heck's the "wrong person" and why are you the right one? And do you realize that without a job a person can't pay any kind of loan? So what is the problem then, Huh? Huh? Huh? Duh!)
4.Illegal aliens are taking over America. (First, I didn't ask that either. Second, which ones? The Latinos you're thinking of or the sexy blonde Irish waitress you hit on? When I ask that the answers is always silence because the person never stopped to think that people comes from all parts of the World to be American, and well, it's OK to be a pretty blonde Irish waitress and an illegal alien. )
5.Obama's socialist. (I didn't ask that either. Plus, when I explain how much government's a part of our lives, I get silence on that too. What's really annoying is these so-called conservatives – but are really political racists – show how little they understand about their own country's political economy. It's tragically silly and almost as bad as the percentage of young people surveyed in Oklahoma who don't know who our first president was.)
6.Obama's not American. (I didn't ask that either and by this time you've either driven me to drink scotch-on-the-rocks if I'm on a plane or looking for a way to escape your company if I can.)
7.Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck are right. (About what? Again, I really didn't ask and have presented my views in my videos. I hate repeating myself. Plus, by this time, I'm so enjoying the scotch with my salmon-spinach-and-rice dinner I'll listen to anything, even you.)
8.There are "good black people" like Colin Powell. (Again, I didn't ask and if I'm on a plane, I'm asleep by this point, accept to mutter that Powell endorsed Obama for President. The assumption is that every white person is good, but one has to find a good black person. Plus, this is said to a good black person. Me. As I'm trying to sleep. With the scotch and food putting me under.)
9.Asians are the model minority. (I really didn't ask and didn't realize I was on earth to be in a "model minority" contest. Let me sleep.)
10.The "Jews" have our money. (Now, I'm asleep and really pissed off with you for four reasons: the comment, your interruption of my sleep, the fact that my last name is Jewish, and that I've dated a few Jewish women. And that comment was actually said to me and posted on my Facebook page.)

The simple fact that I can list a common line of thinking from these conservative Confederate-flag-waving types is proof that America's school system is in the crapper and has been for some time. What in the world were they learning in school? How to get high? Such a constant, unwavering, thoughtless, uninformed, and race-based view is an attack on intelligent, detailed, critical thinking.

If Confederate-flag-waving conservatives are out of work, that stokes the fire which hardens their views. Right now, some of these folks are so far gone – so "mental" – I doubt they can be reasoned with. They must have someone to hate – someone who doesn't look like them. Our ever-more-well-integrated America gives them a lot of choices of color.

What's the future with these hate-mongers? Well, there's not a lot of them, so that's a good thing. It's just that Fox News does a good job of making them seem like a lot more people than the thousands that have time to dump good hard earned tea they bought with your tax dollars because so many of them are drawing unemployment! .

And on that, Fox News is becoming "wingnut central" for America. Having met some of the Fox News anchors, I know its all an act as they're cool, sane, and urbane, but sadly they've figured out that the Confederate-flag-waving conservatives provide ratings and entertainment for America. People who know Fox News is, well, off, tune in anyway just to witness the next level of craziness, then whine about it. I've not watched Fox News in about a year. I'm not missing a funny moment I can't see on YouTube.

The only hope we have is to get this economy moving. Got that President Obama? We need to produce millions of good manufacturing jobs for low-skilled workers, and give a $5,000 check to every American worker under $100,000 in income – I call it the taxpayer bailout.

That will get everyone, especially the Confederate-flag-waving conservatives, back to work. And you know, maybe when they're in those nice, integrated work places they'll slowly dump that racist mental garbage they accumulated over the years and actually think for a change.

Time will tell.

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Readers and viewers have asked me to offer my opinion on the discovery by a couple of conservative activists that a couple of workers at the Washington DC office of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN were giving advice on how a pimp and a prostitute can hide themselves from IRS scrutiny.

The "pimp" and the "prostitute" were "played" by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, she a columnist at TownHall.com in Washington, D.C, he a filmmaker and activist.

What they reportedly did was go around America on a tour of different ACORN offices posing as pimp and prostitute. According to CNN, most ACORN offices called the police on them with the exception of the Washington and Baltimore offices. Here's the video of what was said in the ACORN Washington office:



Now, what do I think? Well, the ACORN workers were wrong of course. Do you think I'm going to defend someone giving tax evasion tips to a pimp and his, well, you know. (I can't help but wonder if O'Keefe and Giles were sleeping together during their tour posing as people who were in the sex business. I mean all that talk and travel had to make them horny at some point, right?)

I also think it's a lot like the Chevron Ecuador case, where Ecuador Judge Juan Nunez was secretly caught on video in a meeting talking about the Chevron case and how he could rule and what the cost would be - $27 billion. Even though the Judge picked his words carefully, it was clear he knew about "that other thing" (because he used those words) which were the bribe arrangements where two environmental consultants would pay $3 million for the right to get a part of the remediation work the $27 billion was to pay for, in part.

Here's that video:



The cry in that case was that the consultants worked for Chevron; actually that's not exactly true but I'll deal with that in another blog post. The whine in the ACORN case was that the videos were made without the knowledge of the workers. In both episodes my response is if the subjects know that they're doing the right thing, they don't care if a camera or camcorder's in the room.

The simple fact that being secretely filmed is an issue for both the Judge and the ACORN workers means they knew they should not have been in those situations saying what they said.

Period.

The ACORN workers on camera were advocating a corrupt practice. The Judge and his friends in the Chevron video were caring out a corrupt practice.

I tell everyone I know this: if you're always in the right, you can't fear the use of a camera or camcorder because it will show that you were correct in your actions. The video made by O'Keefe and Giles doesn't damage the overall intent of ACORN at all; but it does call into question the ethics of some of the workers hired to staff the offices in certain cities, like DC.

The best action for anyone is to have their own camcorder. It's a good idea to have video evidence of one's actions anyway. But the bottom line is to just be on the right side of an ethics fight and to use the Golden Rule: do onto others as you would have others do on to you.

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On YouTube.com

I received this email below from a viewer which explains the person's shock over the Calvin Klein SF Union Square store front display. I went over to make the video above and get your view on the display.

As I've stated in the video, it was not a good idea to approve a store front that is at best questionable. Everyone who's seen the video thus far has a reaction to it, from furled brows to frowns and raised eyebrows, the video does not make for a stoic reaction.

Why someone would do this is a question I will ask Calvin Klein's staffers in the days ahead. Indeed, the worker that talked to me through the glass admitted that she did not the racial overtones in the display until they were pointed out to her.

But for now, read the email below, then take my poll on this certainly controversial Calvin Klein store display.

The email:

Hey Zennie,

I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture (I don't usually use my phone for anything other than a phone, so it escaped me in a moment of anger), but I just got back from the San Francisco Shopping Center where I happened upon an appalling window display in the Calvin Klein store next to Bloomingdale's on the 3rd floor.

Imagine a window full of frolicking monkeys, swinging from tree branches in various playful poses, but instead of monkeys, there are mannequins wearing the latest Calvin fashions. And instead of swinging from tree branches, the mannequins are swinging from ropes finished in nooses at the ends. All of the mannequins are black. It doesn't sound like much, but I'll tell you, those nooses caught my eye in the first place, and it didn't take long to piece it all together.

Why am I sending this to you? Well, you've got a voice on several forums, and could make this very public and embarrassing for Calvin Klein. That anyone could get past the basic design stages of such a display without questioning its bad taste is unbelievable. That such displays are crafted by designers with an eye on every detail makes it even less excusable. That such displays are often dictated to stores by corporate headquarters and duplicated at all locations makes it a disgusting travesty.

If you happen by that store, or know someone in SF who could take some pics for you to post, you could shine a bright light on a very ugly message going out to the thousands of people who pass by that carefully composed collection of symbols. I was deeply offended, but rather than contact Calvin Klein so they can quietly change their windows, I figured I'd contact someone who can give it a bit more exposure.

Thanks for listening and keep up the good blogs,

Name withheld by Zennie
San Francisco

Poll

More fun polls on pollsb.com

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I just happened upon Berkeley professor and dweller, Robert Reich's blog and a post title that caught my eye: "The Guns of August and Why The Republican Right Was So Adept at Using Them on Health Care" and a particularly true statement he wrote:

"The Left had ideas; the Right has discipline"

Prof. Robert Reich

The former professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and former Secretary of Labor is right. I'm stunned over the almost "Borg-like" efficiency the right brings to the effort of getting out a message consistently, and getting its members to follow the cue cards chapter and verse, time after time.

(Oh. The Borg were characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation who were part machine and part human and ran by a central computer system.)

Now, if one thinks about my Borg analogy, they might say I'm implying that there's little or no independent thought on the Right. One would be correct here. After all, it's independence of thought that leads to the creation of a new idea.

While the idea-laden Left needs to get its messaging act together, the Couch Potato Conservative representatives on the Right must show the ability to think about what they're talking about. For example, the who notion of "The Public Option".

Conservatives I've talked to think the "Public Option" in the proposed Health Care Bill means you going to a government-run hospital, or having the feds pick a doctor for you. Not so. Ir's just another insurance program. Period. That's it. End of story.

But the facts don't stop the Right from tossing out more untruths, take this email I got from a friend recently:

Hiya,


I got this in my mail. Can you forward it on to Zennie. Could be good stuff for his blog.


It's kinda scary... It seems like it's coming from a legit website.


Below are the items you may find interesting and worth more investigation:




Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!


Pg 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get


Pg 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill - YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!! You can only get so much "care" per year


Pg 42 of HC Bill - The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits 4 you. You have no choice!


PG 50 Section 152 in HC bill - HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise


Pg 58HC Bill - Govt will have real-time access to individs finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!


Pg 59 HC Bill lines 21-24 Govt will have direct access 2 your banks accts for elective funds transfer


PG 65 Sec 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community orgs (ACORN).


Pg 72 Lines 8-14 Govt is creating an HC Exchange to bring private HC plans under Govt control.


PG 84 Sec 203 HC bill - Govt mandates ALL benefit pkgs for private HC plans in the Exchange


PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs for Benefit Levels for Plans = The Govt will ration your Healthcare!


PG 91 Lines 4-7 HC Bill - Govt mandates linguistic appropriate services..... Example - Translation for illegal aliens


Pg 95 HC Bill Lines 8-18 The Govt will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individually for Govt HC plan


PG 85 Line 7 HC Bill - Specs of Benefit Levels for Plans. #AARP members - your Health care WILL be rationed


-PG 102 Lines 12-18 HC Bill - Medicaid Eligible Indiv. will be automat.enrolled in Medicaid. No choice


pg 124 lines 24-25 HC No company can sue GOVT on price fixing. No "judicial review" against Govt Monopoly


pg 127 Lines 1-16 HC Bill - Doctors/ #AMA - The Govt will tell YOU what you can make.


Pg 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public opt plan. NO CHOICE


Pg 126 Lines 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HC for part time employees AND their families.


Pg 149 Lines 16-24 ANY Emplyr w payroll 400k & above who does not prov. pub opt. pays 8% tax on all payroll


pg 150 Lines 9-13 Biz w payroll between 251k & 400k who doesnt prov. pub. opt pays 2-6% tax on all payroll


Pg 167 Lines 18-23 ANY individual who doesn't have acceptable HC accrdng to Govt will be taxed 2.5%


Pg 170 Lines 1-3 HC Bill Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (You and I will pay for them)


Pg 195 HC Bill -officers & employees of HC Admin (GOVT) will have access to ALL Americans financial/personal recds


PG 203 Line 14-15 HC - "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax" Yes, it says that


Pg 239 Line 14-24 HC Bill Govt will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor will be very affected


Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill - Doctors, doesn't matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same


PG 253 Line 10-18 Govt sets value of Dr's time, professional judgments, etc. Literally value of humans.


PG 265 Sec 1131Govt mandates & controls productivity for private HC industries


PG 268 Sec 1141 Fed Govt regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs


PG 272 SEC. 1145. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS - Cancer patients - welcome to rationing!


Page 280 Sec 1151 The Govt will penalize hospitals for what Govt deems preventable readmissions.


Pg 317 L 13-20 OMG!! PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Govt tells Drs. what/how much they can own.


Pg 317-318 lines 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Govt is mandating hospitals cannot expand


pg 321 2-13 Hospitals have oppt to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can you say ACORN?!!


Pg335 L 16-25 Pg 336-339 - Govt mandates estab. of outcome based measures. HC the way they want. Rationing


Pg 341 Lines 3-9 Govt has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing all into Govt HC plan


Pg 354 Sec 1177 - Govt will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs


Pg 379 Sec 1191 Govt creates more bureaucracy - Telehealth Advisory Cmtte. Can you say HC by phone?


PG 425 Lines 4-12 Govt mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life. Seniors will be interviewed every year for health issues and decisions made as to what care they can or can't receive


Pg 425 Lines 17-19 Govt will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!


PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Govt provides apprvd list of end of life resources, guiding you in death


PG 427 Lines 15-24 Govt mandates program for orders for end of life. The Govt has a say in how your life ends


Pg 429 Lines 1-9 An "adv. care planning consult" will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates


PG 429 Lines 10-12 "adv. care consultation" may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from GOV


Pg 429 Lines 13-25 - The govt will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order.


PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Govt will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life


Pg 469 - Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit orgs. Hello, ACORN Medical Services here!!?


Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORG. 1 monthly payment to a community-based org. Like ACORN?


PG 489 Sec 1308 The Govt will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Govt into your marriage


Pg 494-498 Govt will cover Mental Health Svcs including defining, creating, rationing those services


This is all in there, check it out yourself! And be afraid. You must contact your representatives and STOP this insane Health Care Plan before they pass it some night at midnight.

Now none of the points in the email is true. For example, the first item on the list, "Pg 22 of the HC Bill MANDATES the Govt will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!" is a load of crap. The Heath Care Bill calls for a study of the ABILITY of self-insured programs to cover their obligations. It's part of a call for a national study.

I was pretty upset with the email because of the list of distortions you saw, so I asked harshly "What idiot sent out this email?"

I got this response from the friend of my friend who originally sent the email:

I do not know who wrote it which is why I ask a few friends if they knew anything about it.


My persoal opinion is not an F for who wrote it but a F for the ones that wrote such a complex plan and involved bill. No wonder there is confusion on both sides of the fence. Seriously who will interpret the plan if no one can read it? Will it be the politicians that interpret it to the doctors and patients?


That is I want to know.


Thank you.

To which I replied:

Hi


Just saw this.


The Bill is not complicated to read. It's simple but one had to take the time. You're asking for the "dumbing down" of an important piece of legislation. Please don't do that.


Take time to get a cup of coffee, turn off the TV, and read the bill for yourself. It's that important. I'm really concerned with the apparent lack of desire of Americans to absorb information that's not in small bites.


Read. Read. Read.


...And then ask questions.


Best,


Zennie

But do you see how the Right's sending out these takes on the Health Care Bill and scaring the uninformed with their own uninformed view? Part of me thinks its deliberate and they know its wrong, but a larger part of me thinks they just can't comprehend what's before them.

We've always complained about America's declining levels of education, so it should come as no surprise and complete alarm that we now have a good set of the population that's just not used to reading large amounts of information and turns off past page two.

And it seems most of those people have decided to be on the Right and not the Left.

(I'll return to this list for more vetting soon.)

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In a blockbuster development, Ecuador Judge Juan Nunez, the key legal figure in the Chevron Ecuador environmental damage case, is captured in a video shown here explaining that he plans to rule against the oil giant and for an award of $27 billion "more or less". The judge explains that the verdict will happen and that Chevron will be blocked from filing an appeal of his ruling. In that segment of the video, the Judge explains he's only there to talk about the verdict, not about "the other stuff" which refers to a $3 million payoff request. Later in the video its implied that Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa will benefit from the bribe amount.

On video today I talked to Chevron Media Relations representative Sean Comey about the video and Chevron's investigation.



In the video Judge Nunez, Aulo Gelio ServioTulio Avila ("Avila"), and Pablo Almeida and are talking with two gentleman, Wayne Hansen and Diego Borja who are environmental remediation contractors and in the Judge's chamber in Lago Agrio, Ecuador.  Hansen and Borja have pen-installed camcorders in their shirt pockets.  Diego Borja has worked for Chevron before, Hansen has not, according to Chevron.

Judge Nunez (on the left)

The idea of the meeting was for the Judge and his political associates to be paid by the environmental company for business that would come to them as a result of the Judge's planned verdict.  Here's what the Judge said from the video and the Amazonpost website:

Núñez:             “Any other questions for me as a judge?”
Hansen:           “Oh no, I, I know clearly how it is, you say, Chevron is the guilty party?”
Núñez:             “Yes Sir.”
Hansen:           “And the, the, the act (decision) is October or November of this year?”
Núñez:             “Yes Sir.”
Hansen:           “And it’s….?”
Núñez:             “No later than January.”
Hansen:           “January 2010. And the money is twenty-seven (billion dollars)?”
Núñez:             “It might be less, and it might be more.”

The Judge says "I have nothing to do with that other part" which is not explained in full but Garcia below fills in "the blanks" later, explaining that the Judge will be paid part of $3 million from the consulants.

 Patricio Garcia

The second part of the video has an operative Patricio Garcia (photo from the Amazonpost website) who's reportedly a member of Ecuador's ruling party talking about how the $3 million would be delivered and transfered. This is what was said by Garcia:

Borja: “OK. Of the three million … one million is for the judge?”


Garcia: “Yes.”


Borja: “One million for the presidency…?”


Garcia: “Yes.”


Borja: “And one million for the plaintiffs?”


Garcia: “Yes, that’s right.”


Borja: “But, Loco, for the plaintiffs, who gets the money? Fajardo?”


Garcia: “No. The thing is, we’re going to handle it here.”


Borja: “You mean Alianza PAIS would receive the payment here?”


Garcia: “Right.”

Here's the 30 minute version of the video (the full two hour version is here):



But there's more to this video than what's reported in the press thus far. The focus here is on President Rafael Correa, who's office is named by Patricio Garcia as a beneficiary of the planned bribe money as is "his sister" as stated in the video above. As of this writing Correa has not issued a statement, but his reputation has already come under attack.

The second part of the video was filmed at Alianza PAIS (which means "Proud and Sovereign Fatherland" according to the Wikepedia listing)  Offices June 22, 2009.   PAIS is a political movement led by President Correa.   Who Patricio Garcia is beyond his appearance in this video and his role in PAIS is still basically unknown as of this writing. 

Garcia says that the President's sister  Pierina will be helpful (presumably in making sure that the businessmen get their piece of the planned $27 billion pie) and will meet with "The Gringo" (that's Hansen).  I checked and "Prierina" is indeed  described here as "Pierina Correa, the president's sister and an Alianza País leader in Guayas province".  That confirms my assertion that Garcia is tied to the President and his family as he states in the video.


Shocking.  


Chevron wants Nunez taken off the case

The implication here is that as Chevron's Comey said in my video above, Chevron wants Nunez taken off the environmental damage case.  But given that Chevron has informed the U.S. Department of Justice, the revalation could have deeper implications.  

It could cost the country its Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) status, which was just renewed in June of this year.  Whatever the case, this news sends a clear message that doing business in Ecuador is not the "clean" experience it should be. Until now, blogs have reported the problems of corruption in Ecuador and with respect to President Correa's involvement in the Chevron case, but now we have visible evidence to back those claims.

The news also forever destroys the claim made by Ecuador lawsuit legal advisor Steve Donziger and others who say that the lawsuit against Chevron has nothing to do with the Ecuadorian Government and is brought by citizens of the Amazon. But Correa has appeared with Donziger in public and has been interviewed about the case.

Right.  

One can see that the bribe money's not going anywhere near those groups of people Donziger claims to represent; the political party PAIS would get it and "handle it" as Garcia said in the video.  The question is, did Donziger or his associates in Ecuador and America know about this bribe plan?  Was he to be one of the plaitiffs that would get the bribe money? In the Amazon Defense Coalition statement today, he does not address the possibility that he may be involved, instead he said "As the facts come out it's going to backfire heavily on Chevron."



Amazon Defense Coalition defends Judge Nunez

Karen Hinton of the Amazon Defense Coalition told Reuters that the video shows Judge Nunez resisting the bribery matter. (This is Hinton's full statement.)  In point of fact, the video shows the judge saying that he's speaking in the role of Judge and "does not know about that other matter" which is a way of saying he does know but does not want it to be officially said that he does know.  It's called "plausible deniability ." 

Stay tuned.

Notes:

Full video transcripts:


Meeting 1 Transcript (228 KB)
Meeting 2 Transcript (195 KB)
Meeting 3 Transcript (218 KB)
Meeting 4 Transcript (217 KB)

TAKE THE POLL - http://www.pollsb.com/polls/p2137290-...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/a...

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2009/0...

When I learned that teen star and Twitter mogul Miley Cyrus had literally done a number on a stripper pole at the Teen Choice Awards Monday night, two thoughts entered my mind: first, who convinced the 16 year old to do it, second, does this mean a sex tape's in her future too. I say and write that because I learned she and her father Billy Ray Cyrus came up with the dance production idea. So if her dad's cool with his daughter dancing around that pole at her age, the sky's the limit, right?

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YouTube ,Yahoo, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, StupidVideos, Sclipo and Viddler

Thursday, President Barack Obama held a "Beer Summit", as some have called it, with Harvard Professor Henry Lewis Gates, Jr., Cambridge Police Sergeant Officer James Crowley, and Vice President Joe Biden, bring an end to an unfortunate but necessary event in American Cultural history, and starting a new chapter in American race relations.

It was the first time in American and world history a sitting president met publicly with a white police officer and the person the officer arrested, a black man. And to add to the moment, the president is African American. I think the teachable moment President Obama referred to was that two gentlemen of seemingly different stripes but of one culture can not only meet, but (as they agreed to do) meet again and again.

 

Sgt. Crowley assists Prof. Gates as President Obama leads the way

President Obama issued this statement:

"Even before we sat down for the beer, I learned that the two gentlemen spent some time together listening to one another, which is a testament to them," the president's statement said. "I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart. I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode."

And I think everyone did, even if Sapporo, my personal favorite beer, wasn't on the menu, (Obama had a Bud Light, Crowley chose Blue Moon, and Gates had Samuel Adams) it was still gratifying to see the four men sit together and talk. It provides a great example for a country that seems ready to split over differences of opinion. We have to get to the point of communicating openly and often and without fear. While it's hard to know exactly what was said between the men, we can read between the lined in Crowley's press conference - in the video - when he said "We agreed to disagree." It's not hard to determine what they disagreed about.

In the arrest of Gates, basically because Crowley judged him to be disobedient after what turned out to be a case of a mistaken 911 call in since Gates was entering his own home, Crowley said he was "going by the book" or word to that effect. But the whole point of critics of racial profiling is that the "book" argument is used all the time. The "book" is tossed out when an officer uses his or her own personal emphathy, and please don't tell me this isn't done. Water Goldstein over at the Huff Post has a great blog on why white guys like him come away from such encounters gaining the help of an officer, and not handcuffs.

Gates and Crowley say: "time to move forward"

In the website "The Root", Professor Gates, its editor and chief, wrote:

Sergeant Crowley and I, through an accident of time and place, have been cast together, inextricably, as characters – as metaphors, really – in a thousand narratives about race over which he and I have absolutely no control. Narratives about race are as old as the founding of this great Republic itself, but these new ones have unfolded precisely when Americans signaled to the world our country’s great progress by overcoming centuries of habit and fear, and electing an African American as President. It is incumbent upon Sergeant Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.

In his press conference held after the "summit", Crowley said that both he and Gates would talk again as soon as next week.

That the two plan to meet and seize the moment to create a lesson for America is really exciting. I really believe God made this happen. It's too good to be true that a professor of Black Studies and a police officer who's also an expert in racial profiling are working together and have this exchange to build from. That's a miracle.

Toward American Culture

I hope people realize from this that we really are one people and there's much that binds us together below the surface. I don't know if it's from reduced education spending, longer work hours, or what, but we seem to be less patient with the idea of study and more willing to just go with our prejudices, but that's countered by the ever-more-well-mixed society we live in. We have extremes like the thoughtless Glen Beck (who said the President was racist in a horrible misuse of the term) and the thoughtful Gates and Crowley right before us. With a little communication we'll have more people like Gates and Crowley and far fewer people like Glen Beck.

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For more perspective on this story, click on the above links.

On Youtube from iwearyourshirt, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FXCComxqu4

We couldn't resist posting this because of our interest in the power of social media.

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In the story that will not die, we now learn that John Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator and VP running mate to John Kerry, now reportedly has a sex tape. According to Rush & Molloy, the gossip columnists of the New York Daily News, Edwards former aide Andrew Young just finished a book proposal that described first, that he is not the father of the child of Rielle Hunter, John Edwards mistress, second, that Young just happened to see a sexually-explicit videotape as he was unpacking after moving to California from the East Coast, where he lived with Rielle Hunter, Edwards' mistress, and Young's wife and family.

The story is known by now: in August of 2008, after the heat of the Democratic Primary had cleared and just before the Democratic National Convention, former Senator Edwards admitted he cheated on his wife Elizabeth starting in 2006, while she was battling breast cancer. The scandal was originally reported by the Enquirer as far back as November of 2007, and just a few blogs, including Zennie62, then called "Zennie's Zeitgeist" followed it.

Rielle Hunter was an amateur film-maker Edwards befriended in New York City in 2006, but the friendship turned into two things: a $200,000 video job for Hunter and an affair for Edwards. Then - aide Andrew Young told the media - or those new media types paying attention - that he was the person who had the affair with Hunter and evntually got her pregnant.

This video I created gives you a look at what Rielle Hunter did for Edwards on the campaign trail:



Now Young's changing his story, claiming there's a sex tape and he has it, stating that he's not the father of Hunter's child and that Edwards is, and throwing Edwards so far under the bus he's going to be ran over by it and have skid marks on his back.

Yikes.

The question is why, after all this time, would Andrew Young do this to his former boss? Loyalty can last forever, can't it? According to the Huffington Post, Young feels "betrayed" by the "once-friendly" Edwards family. That turnabout may have come at the hands of Elizabeth Edwards, as the NY Daily News claims it was she who blamed Young for being an "enabler" of Edwards affair with Hunter, even to the point of arranging cell phone calls between Edwards and Hunter. Reportedly, Ms. Edwards threatened to leak information about Young's criminal past.

Yikes.

And The Enquirer, which rose from tabloid obscurity to gain mainstream media attention by breaking this story, reports that Young expressed displeasure with Edwards after he visited Hunter just after the child was born last year. Then, just after Edwards admitted his affair in August of 2008, Fox News ran a post presenting Young's unfortunate past of arrests. Young, with his image damaged, felt backed into a corner and like any wounded animal, struck back with this new story. The real story.

(Some websites, like the Enquirer claim the story of Young's past came up in The Daily Beast, but that's not true. It was Fox News.)

That the Edwards matter has degenerated to this point is sad to say the least. A once-promising man and family have essentially reduced themselves to the point of slinging mud at former friends and vice versa and who knows who else is next, given that Elizabeth Edwards is writing a book too.

Yikes!

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As of July 26th, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will resign her post as Alaska's governor. I deliberately used the term "governor" twice, because even though I disagree with her politics, I always respected her as a governor of a state in America. Moreover, I root for women in politics, period. But I always believed Governor Palin - as I will continue to call her, much as some still refer to California Attorney General Jerry Brown as "Governor Brown" even though he's not been that since the 80s - had too thin a skin to deal with the new level of stardom she achieved after her time running to be vice president of the United States. A lot of this has to do with the life she crafted for herself in Alaska, which totally drove her and the GOP nuts when the media started asking her about her past.

Indeed, with the spotlight on Palin came a set of issues so great in number, I predicted she would be forced to resign in the middle of her run with John McCain and said so in this video:



Here's the list:

1) TrooperGate, where Gov Palin is accused of using her position to fire a state trouper, who's still on the job as of this writing.

2) The news that Palin was part of a group that wanted Alaska to leave the Union.

3) Palin was fundraising director for Senator Ted Stevens' 527 committee.

4) Palin was almost recalled as Mayor of Wasalia, Alaska.

5) She says the Iraq War, costing over 80,000 iraqi lives and several thousand American lives is a war for oil -- she's right, but Republican, so she should not say that.

6) She took earmarks totalling over $197 million, while saying she did not.

Then there was her family. The role her husband Todd Palin had in acting almost as a "shadow governor". Her daughter Bristol Palin, who's on-then-off relationship with Levis Johnston became a media circus itself (and now Johnston's writing a "tell-all" book about the Palins.)

Then there was Sarah the character: the wink, the nasal accent, the dress skirts, the pumps, the boots, and especially the "you 'betcha". Add to that Palin's constant stream of factual errors on federal government operation as she's trying to convince voters she's ready to run the country, and you have what we saw: a media train wreck in slow motion. The process evolved into one where Palin was constantly in front of a camera talking not about Alaska, but putting out some kind of media fire about her family or herself; there was the Bristol / Levy issue, the Bristol / Letterman joke, and the snipping about the McCain campaign staffers. Nothing about Alaska and all that from its governor.

Not good. And it's worse now: she's on Twitter! Yep. Palin's taken to the Twittersphere to attack her critics. Take this latest tweet:

Attached is my "thank you" sent yesterday to express gratitude, & smack down lies at same time http://tinyurl.com/q28wl5
about 2 hours ago from web

Indeed, Governor Palin's used Twitter to deny whatever guess has surfaced about her reason for resigning, particularly those surrounding the charges that Palin steered contracts to build the Wasilla Sports Complex to the company that built her home. (In this, the FBI stepped in and said there was no investigation of the issue.) Take a look at this list of tweets:

Trying to keep up w/getting truth to u, like proof there's no "FBI scandal", here's link http://tinyurl.com/nzlae8 Thanks, AK!
about 2 hours ago from web
so I'll make attempt to keep up w/attaching corrected info. I head 2 West AK villages today, look forward to their busy comm fish activity!
about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Critics are spinning, so hang in there as they feed false info on the right decision made as I enter last yr in office to not run again....
about 6 hours ago from TwitterBerry
To see full text of the letter from my attorney on baseless allegations of past 24hrs check http://tinyurl.com/mmhv4u
about 15 hours ago from web
See letter from my attorney on baseless allegations of past 24hrs @ http://tinyurl.com/l4ct5n
about 17 hours ago from web

Oh, here's the letter:

Happy 4th of July from Alaska!

On this Independence Day, I am so very proud of all those who have chosen to serve our great nation and I honor their selflessness and the sacrifices of their families, too.

If I may, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the last 24 hours and share my thoughts with you.

First, I want to thank you for your support and hard work on the values we share. Those values led me to the decision my family and I made. Yesterday, my family and I announced a decision that is in Alaska’s best interest and it always feels good to do what is right. We have accomplished more during this one term than most governors do in two – and I am proud of the great team that helped to build these wonderful successes. Energy independence and national security, fiscal restraint, smaller government, and local control have been my priorities and will remain my priorities.

For months now, I have consulted with friends and family, and with the Lieutenant Governor, about what is best for our wonderful state. I even made a few administrative changes over that course in time in preparation for yesterday. We have accomplished so much and there’s much more to do, but my family and I determined after prayerful consideration that sacrificing my title helps Alaska most. And once I decided not to run for re-election, my decision was that much easier – I’ve never been one to waste time or resources. Those who know me know this is the right decision and obvious decision at that, including Senator John McCain. I thank him for his kind, insightful comments.

The response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the “politics of personal destruction”. How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it’s right for all, including your family.

I shared with you yesterday my heartfelt and candid reasons for this change; I’ve never thought I needed a title before one’s name to forge progress in America. I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint. I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!

God bless you! And I look forward to making a difference – with you! Sarah

If you think about it, Palin declared her independence from the State of Alaska. But a run for President would be completely stupid. I can see and hear the comments now: "Palin quit on Alaska; she'll quit on America." No. I really think, just looking at her tweets, that something "snapped" perhaps after the detailed and far-less-than-flattering Vanity Fair article by Todd S. Purdum. Palin just signed a book deal herself, one that makes her a millionaire, so she doesn't have to deal with politics anymore. She's made it.

When I worked for Elihu Harris, when he was Oakland's mayor, I talked to him about why so many blacks went into politics rather than the private sector in post-war American history. "We could gain power that way," he told me. Of course, there was the major problem of private sector racism, but Harris explained that politics was the best way to "get in the game" of power. It's also true for women, even today.

In Palin's case, politics was her key to wealth, but now that her celebrity has essentially "paid" her, I'm sure she started to see being governor a kind of burden she had to carry; she let it go, and I think forever.

What will she do next? For some reason I think Rush Limbaugh's success presents a window to a possible future for Palin. But if she even thinks of running for office again, she's going to jump right back into the purgatory she's getting out of. I can't see her doing that at all; I just can't see it.

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Michael Jackson's passing is still a shock to me. The very idea that someone I feel like I grew up with left us at the age of 50 is just not right at all. I first saw Michael perform when I was 10 years old at the old Chicago International Amphitheatre in 1972; the Campbell family, who babysat me, took me and I remember it like it was yesterday. The Jackson Five was then the must see event and Michael was the star.

Michael was like my brother. In a way for many African Americans he was just that, a sibling. I knew him as the guy who grew up in Gary, Indiana. We knew people who knew them in Chicago, so I felt close to him long ago. I think it's for that reason so many African Americans were on Michael's side during the years when it seems he was kind of flying the coup: changing his skin color from brown to near white; narrowing his nose, and basically seeming to channel his best friend the legendary singer Diana Ross. Then, of course, there were the claims that he "liked boys" which we figured wasn't the case, and was more a byproduct of the money and attention seeking people who surrounded him. Michael was a person with an arrested development: he never had a childhood so to escape the trappings of a constant adult life, he created a childhood for himself.

I think being an adult just literally killed Michael.

For me, Michael Jackson was the person who wanted to bring us all together, as shown in his "We Are The World" effort. That amazing production and song, created with a group of the World's best known music talents, with Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Steve Perry, Bob Dylan, the late Ray Charles, and a host of others and to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, was just amazing. Amazing. I loved that song then; I still do today and I cry every time I hear it. (the lyrics and video are at the end of this post).


Talking with people About Michael's passing

The death of Michael Jackson is one of those events that will cause you to remember where you were when you learned of it. In my case I'd just emerged from a private movie screening at the Saul Zaentz Film Center in West Berkeley, CA. My Mom just happened to call with the news as I was walking to my car; I was stunned. Just stunned. So I took my Flip Video Camera and set out to talk to people about what happened to Michael. I had plenty of places to do this: the BART train station, the San Francisco Magazine "Best of The Bay" party, and all points in between.

What's amazing is the sheer number of people who were immediately informed via text messages and the reactions: shock, sadness, but not joy. No. No one expressed anything close to that at all, even given the part of his life where it seemed he was overwhelmed with "kid" issues. Nothing.

Dominic Phillips, the master of event planning in San Francisco, and who produced last night's "San Francisco Magazine Best of The Bay" party said "It's horrible. First and formost, anybody dying is horrible. There are so many family members that are just gonna be torn apart. But also Michael Jackson; on the one hand he was a very maverick person. But on the other hand he was part of my generation's life. He was like part of my experience, my growing up and I feel a little robbed that he's not there anymore. Like whether you thought his experience was your experience,that doesn't really come into it for me. I just sort of bonded with him in my youth and now he's gone."

Another woman I talked to on Howard Street in San Francisco said "I was just walking and three people got text messages (that he died)...just terrible. My friend Beth Schnitzer, who's the Director of Sponsorship Marketing at Pier 39 said "I can't believe it. Every time I listen to his music, it brings back a great memory from growing up somehow, some way. You know, it really hasn't hit me. He was too young; way too young." Jerusha, "The Last Single Girl In The World" said, as only she can, "We all have to go sometime and boy did he have a fabulous life before he went. He did it up and he did it up right. You know what they say, you only live once and that's all you need if you do it right!"

I talked to a lot of people, and if you see my video there are more than what's presented here, but all just variations on what was expressed. People loved Michael, warts and all. The "Best of The Bay" event turned into a kind of tribute to Michael, with his music playing continuously through the evening, and people danced, especially to "Thriller" which is a modern classic.

Sad day it was to have this happen. Michael, the world will miss you.

We Are The World - Lyrics and video:

Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, produced by Quincy Jones.



There comes a time
When we head a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can't go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of
God's great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There's no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change will only come
When we stand together as one

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

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I'm sure anyone black or white can relate to this because it's a common conversation:

White person to me: "I as a white person don't know what it's like to be in your shoes as someone black.

Me to the white person: "Well, you can do it; I don't mean to be insulting but it's called empathy. I have a lot of white friends who get the experience just by having black friends."

I've had that episode replayed over and over again in my life, though less so today than in the past. I've never thought the white person who was in the conversation - and they have been many people - was racist. Indeed, I did think they were race-concious and that's a very good thing.

Why? Simple. Because that person's not being colorblind and for that moment at least recognizes that it's really impossible and a total joke to be "colorblind". We make choices positively or negatively who we want to associate with regarding a person's skin color every day. In my case, having a diverse set of friends is extremely important because it shapes and keeps in check my "world view". A racially complex set of friends keeps you're mind sharp and makes life fun.

It's for that reason I assert Supreme Court Justice Designate Sonia Sotomayor's not racist. She's certainly as race-concious as the white persons who've made the statement I opened with, but that's not being racist. To be racist is to put another person down because of their skin. Period. Moreover Sotomayor's 2001 comment in a very long speech given at U.C. Berkeley (and called "A Latina Judge's Voice) reads like this:

"First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

Think about that, and combine it with the statement I presented and made to me many times by someone white. It's the flip-side of the white person's statement. Think about it. Think again. Sotomayor's 2001 comment essentially confirms what has been said to me many times and some of the white persons who said this were, drumroll please, conservative and all male come to think of it.

So what's the real problem? Well, there isn't one; it's manufactured by a conservative PR machine led by radio yeller Rush Limbaugh, always feeding the minders of his $400 million broadcast contract, and repeated by television producers seeking ratings to maintain a level of post-election political interest. Gotta have something to get your blood going and this is red meat for some folks, especially Limbaugh.

But Rush, in his zeal to pin Sotomayor as racist, has started telling lies. He said on his show today, Wednesday,...

"I mean, when she says that she'd do a better job than a white guy, what is it? It's racism. It's reverse racism, whatever but it's still racism. She would bring a form of racism, bigotry to the court."

But she didn't say that.

The comment I presented by Sotomayor above was made in a remark about how judges have responded to civil rights cases over our history. Since that has impacted people of color, Sotomayor was simply saying a wise person of color -- in this case a Latina woman judge - with experience would hopefully make a better decision in that context than someone white and male who did not have the experience.

We have to pay attention to what is said here in specific. Indeed, if I were to challenge Rush in person he'd have to admit he was wrong, if he was honest with me, of course. The bottom line is because we as a World don't know how to talk about race, the door's open for folks like Rush to confuse the discourse.

We Need To Learn How To Talk About Race

The real problem is some people, regardless of color, don't know how to talk about race. Too often conversations focus just on their personal perception of a racial issue rather than a broad read of what people do. (I'm not discounting the value of a personal perception, just the application of it. Ok? Really stop and think about what I'm explaining before you react here. Thanks.)

For example, I tried to explain to a friend why her friend, who was making and selling a product like the terrible "Obama Waffles", was doing a bad thing, very racist in that it took a black stereotype and used it to make fun of President Obama. I further explained that her friend's product would be roundly panned in the blogsphere and give her friend a bad name.

My friend, who's white and not involved with the product, reacted defensively and then launched into an explaination of why she's not racist, which wasn't my assertion at all as I was talking about her friend's product not her. I explained that we're not talking about her or her experiences and I know she's not racist, but she's got to understand how society around her is changing and what's acceptable and what's not. After a time of a lot of frank and a bit rought talk, she understood what I was saying and said she'd talk to her friend. Oh, and we're still the best of friends.

But episodes like that mean we need to take stock of what's happening beyond our personal experience. It's good to get a constant statistical and content read on how society is changing (Marketers are you paying attention?) so you're not caught in the backwash of social change.

The GOP's fighting this problem right now and Limbaugh - as the GOP's standard bearer - by calling Sotomayor racist, has once again revealed its own racism.

The reality is, even with people like former Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-Colo.) staffer, conservative writer, and activist Marcus Epstein pleading guilty to the hate crime of calling an innocent black woman the N-word and striking her with a karate chop in 2007 (he says he wants a second chance and accepts that he behaved terribly, which is an understatement.), we've still come a long way in America. You don't have to be black to understand the black experience or Latino to "get" the latino experience, or Asian to feel the Asian experience, or white to get the white experience, but all of us try, accept our physical limitations, and listen.

A lot. With love.

Yeah, that word again.

 

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I went to my stepfather's burial place today. Even though I was really ill, I forced myself to go and place flowers at his grave site as I've made it a habit to visit him on Memorial Day each year. He fought in World War II.

But this time, I took my biological father's burial flag with me. Both my father and stepfather died in 2005.

To some who are anti-war, the title of this video-blog will upset them. It should not. I'm against war and always have been, but the reality of my life is that both my late father and stepfather fought in World War II, and in my father's case, Zenophon Abraham of is his name (he lives in Chicago), I am the proud owner of his neatly folded burial flag and two bullets wrapped in them. I've never unraveled it.

Chester Harding Yerger III of Oakland is my late stepfather and he  often talked of his time in the service and of attending "Officer Candidate School", and being taught how to kill. While the stories were never ones I looked forward to, I learned that sometime people go to war not because they want to harm people but because they feel their duty to protect America. I used to question this "duty" but now I honor it, even as I disagree with the idea of war.

Why? I frankly can't explain the reason as well as I'd like to but I'll try. I think as I reach deep it's because I now know some people don't feel its their job or "place" to question authority, yet, those same people made it ok for me to question authority. That was my father and my stepfather, especially as they aged.

I think it's also because people who have taken the lives of another in a time of war generally have an appreciation for life that can't be measured. At times my stepfather would think back to the war and cry. That was hard to witness. My father never talked about the war, so I never asked him about it. My dad talked about Chicago architecture, planes, trains, and automobiles. Not the war. It wasn't until he died and his funeral that I understood his role in the war; he received a 21-gun salute that October day in 2005 and I can feel the noise from the gun fire pass through me today.

It's those memories that cause me to thank a soldier when one is in my presence. I did that on a plane ride as I was standing next to a Army officer in uniform. I asked him where he was going and he responded "Home. And I'm so happy." I said "Hey, thanks for your service"; he said "I tell ya, I really appreciate that."

I got what he was saying. He was telling me, "You know, what we do isn't appreciated by a lot of people and believe me I understand why. But I'm glad you see that I'm carrying out my duty to my country, even if I may not agree with what we're doing all the time."

Thank a soldier today. Even though you may be anti-war, don't blame them for our foreign policies of the past or present. They're doing the best they can in an impossible situation.

Thank a soldier today, or any day. Even though you may be anti-war, don't blame them for our foreign policies of the past or present. They're doing the best they can in an impossible situation. They're serving our country and could die doing so.