American Scholars for Honorable Evolution (ASHE)

Clinton's Racial Fear-Based Strategy

2008-05-02T10:59:00.002-04:00

The Clinton campaign has clearly shifted its campaign to play on racial fears in a way so blatant and damaging that it could have lasting negative effects for the Democratic Party. This type of racial fear-based campaign has not typically been seen from Democratic campaigns in decades, and will only further divide the populations that real Democrats have worked so diligently to unite in recent years. It appears that Hillary is so hell bent on being the nominee that would destroy the party in the process and eliminate even her own chances of winning the general election. I am sadly dissapointed in her campaign's tactics and can no longer honestly say that such deceitful practices are mainly Republican campaign strategies. Her campaign's (and the main stream media's) obsession with Obama's former pastor has had no other real effect other than playing on the less-educated white people:

"Regardless, Clinton appeared to be gaining strength among voters, especially the white working-class which has reacted negatively to Obama's association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright — the Illinois senator's former pastor who called from the pulpit for God to damn America for it's treatment of African Americans.

Reflecting that shift, a poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press showed Clinton's lead over Obama nationally among whites who did not attend college had increased from 10 points in March to 40 points at the end of April."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_rdp

Obama Winning Pledged Delegates, Clinton Winning in the Media

2008-01-30T09:39:00.000-05:00

Here's a good article summing up how Obama is actually winning the pledged delegate count:
http://www.slate.com/id/2182565/

Many media outlets are reporting either the number of states won in which they often mention Florida and Michigan where 0 delegates will be awarded due to their disobeying of the DNC by moving their primaries before 2/5/08 and they give Clinton the victory in New Hampshire and Nevada. New Hampshire was a tie for pledged delegates and Obama actually won more delegates in Nevada, 13 to 12. Or the media uses the super delegate count which is actually generated from endorsements from other elected or previously elected officials and not chosen by voters at all! This includes the endorsement of former President Bill Clinton! See more info here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18277678/

Roughly 40% of the delegates required to win the nomination are based on political endorsements and not actually decided on by voters. Not very democratic at all.

The Cost of the War in Iraq

2007-11-16T18:06:00.000-05:00

$1,300,000,000,000.00 dollars by the end of next year (http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital-commerce/2007/11/14/is-the-iraq-war-costlier-than-doing-nothing.html)

1,220,580 estimated Iraqi deaths since the invasion in 2003 (http://www.opinion.co.uk/Newsroom_details.aspx?NewsId=78) Another more conservative estimate is 655,000 (http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.deaths/)

2,000,000 displaced Iraqi people (http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1DD49F17-737A-40E6-B1C9-42128BE2E963.htm)

3,864 American soldiers dead and at least 28,451 wounded (http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2007/11/16/american_deaths/)

“…one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror,” G.W. Bush, 9/6/2006 (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/06/five_years/main1980074.shtml)

The Campaigner in Chief

2006-11-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

The Campaigner in Chief, I mean the Commander in Thief, I mean Bush recently said," ... The Democrat approach to Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses." Hopefully American voters are not susceptible to this level of blatant attempts of voter manipulation. Doesn't he have a job he's supposed to be doing?
I find an interesting paradox in his statement. I believe that the victory for the terrorists he is referring to actually comes with every wave of fear forced upon American people by the Republican led administration. Or the almost three thousand lost lives of American soldiers sent to a poorly planned war based on false intelligence gathered to support a pre-September 11th plan to invade Iraq. Or perhaps the terrorists might view the over half a million Iraqis dead and the hundreds of thousands displaced as a bigger sign of victory than Americans electing Democrats to office. But I suppose Bush should know what the terrorists view as a victory ... it takes one to know one.

Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives. - US Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Terrorists

2006-10-19T13:29:00.000-04:00

We’ve let radical right White House extremists
steer our nation into the abyss
until we became the terrorists,
until we became the terrorists.

Guided by power and world domination,
they’ll stop at no unjust abomination
to remain the world’s most powerful nation
and deliver to us hatred and alienation.

Our hunger for power and greed are the beasts
that fuel our existence within the Middle East
while corporate giants continue to feast
at the expense of the innocent they care about least.

Where does it end, our addiction to oil
that keeps landing our soldiers upon foreign soil?
With freedom and terror wrapped together in fists
we have become the terrorists,
we have become the terrorists.

The Radical Right Is Never Wrong

2006-10-10T12:30:00.000-04:00

According to Bill O'Reilly, the reason for the recent actions of North Korea and Iran is soley to influence the outcome of the upcoming elections and get Americans to vote against Republican candidates. But then he says, "America's enemies are emboldened by the stalemate in Iraq and feel they can do anything they want to do." So what I don't understand is that if America's enemies are so emboldened by the actions of the blundering Bush administration then why would they want American's to vote out the those responsible? Once again O'Reilly's lack of logical thought is replaced by his simple-minded sound bites of America good, enemies bad.

O'Reilly Article

Bush Declares War On Hatred

2006-06-17T10:30:00.000-04:00

Published: June 17th, 2006

UNASSOCIATED PRESS, June 17th - Due to President Bush’s difficulty claiming true victory in the never-ending Global War on Terror, or the Struggle to Protect American Freedom from the Terrorist Adversary, or The Battle Against Islamic Insurgency, or whatever happens to be the name of the week, he has declared a Global War on Hatred. “If we could just get them folks to stop hatin’ so much, then we’d all be better off, the American people would be better off, and the loved ones of those who lost their lives in the tragic events of September 11, 2001 would be better off,” said Bush at a White House press conference on June 16th, 2006. Bush cited “new scientific research that shows indespicable proof that terror is linked to hatred, much more indespicable than the proof that linked Iraq and al-Qaeda, this is real scary stuff folks…I’ve seen the numbers and numbers don’t lie." He added that the administration has absolutely no plans or oversight beyond this declaration of war, other than “the immediate obliteration of any persons or group of persons displaying any type of hatred-type thoughts or actions.” Bush has announced the creation of a special division of Homeland Security, in cooperation with the CIA, FBI and ATF, to assess hatred levels in all human beings across the planet, beginning with the United States and the Middle East (excluding Israel). The Hatred Elimination Leaders for Protection (HELP) was created and funded with approval of the Senate at 2:45am, early Friday morning. After the President’s press conference, Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld expressed concern that there may, in fact, be a number of bearers of hatred right here in our own system of government. Although he did not expand much on this statement, he did add, “these haters often have very opposing views to the current administration, do not support the American troops, are unpatriotic, and have difficulty understanding the fundamental principle that freedom isn’t free.” He also requested anyone with information on such a person to contact HELP immediately. Strangely, there were no Senate or House Democrats available for comment. Chief White House Citizen Manipulator, Carl Rove, added,” The War on Hatred will also have benefits other than curbing terrorism, like a positive turn in Bush’s approval ratings, for instance.”

Project for the New American Century

2006-04-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

I know I've discussed this document with many people and it is currently available on the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) website (minus the signatures that once appeared at the end of it). The PNAC is a right-wing think tank devoted to bolstering American Defenses (or Offenses) and making sure our number one priority is to remain the one true world superpower at any cost, as well as the importance of invading Iraq to secure a dominant position in the Middle East. The signatures that were there were of many of the major players in the current administration. I'm not sure if any other information has been removed or tampered with, but the following line on page 63 is still there:

"Further, the process of transformation,
even if it brings revolutionary change, is
likely to be a long one, absent some
catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a
new Pearl Harbor."

This document was released in September, 2000, one year before the WTC catastrophe. Here is the link to the full document:
Rebuilding Americas Defenses

Here is the link to the Project for the New American Century website:
Project for the New American Century

Many people discussed this document and the plan of this administration to go to war with Iraq immediately after 9/11, even though Iraq had nothing to do with it.

Immigration

2006-04-06T10:48:00.000-04:00

Well this certainly is the issue of the day. I agree that something should be done about the current immigration situation, I just wish more people were discussing an attempt to improve conditions in Mexico. If only they had more oil and were in the Middle East, then our government would surely be more concerned about their people and the state of their government.
Here is a link to an article about the new immigration proposal by a group of Senate Republicans: Senate Republicans Strike Immigration Deal

Bush: Man of Fiscal Responsibility?

2006-03-07T09:33:00.000-05:00

``Now it's time to bring this important tool for fiscal discipline to Washington,'' said Bush. Fiscal discipline and George Bush are two completely different animals. According to Bloomberg.com,"While Bush often cites the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and subsequent military campaigns along with natural disasters as the cause for the spending, increases aren't confined to those areas. From 2001 through 2005, discretionary outlays -- those set by Congress each year -- surged 49 percent, to $969 billion from $649 billion."

See entire article here.

Bush in Denial

2006-03-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

It is interesting how the same man who could be so insistent that there were WMD's in Iraq can now be in such denial about the potential civil war there. Maybe he should stop getting his information pre-filtered through his panel of experts and actually watch (or read) the news for himself someday.

Bush denies Iraq heading toward civil war

Feb 28, 2006 — By Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, hit by polls showing America's support for the Iraq war at an all-time low, denied on Tuesday Iraq was sliding into civil war, despite the worst sectarian strife since a U.S. invasion.
The decline in Bush's public approval ratings came as he told Iraqis they faced a choice between "chaos or unity" amid violence that has dented U.S. hopes for the stability needed to pave the way for a U.S. troop withdrawal.
At least 60 people were killed in Baghdad on Tuesday in the latest in a series of deadly attacks following the bombing of a major Shi'ite mosque last week.
Asked what Washington would do if civil war broke out in Iraq, Bush told ABC News: "I don't buy your premise that there's going to be a civil war."
He said he had spoken to leaders of all Iraqi sects and "I heard loud and clear that they understand that they're going to choose unification, and we're going to help them do so."
Despite that, sectarian bloodshed has complicated efforts to forge a new unity government.
At home, pessimism over Iraq, and Bush's support — despite bipartisan objections — for letting a state-owned Arab company take over operations at six U.S. ports, appeared to be major factors driving his job performance rating down to 34 percent.
They were the lowest CBS News poll numbers of his presidency, creating a grim picture in a midterm election year.
Bush brushed aside the findings, saying ups and downs in the polls were not worth worrying about.
"I've got ample capital and I'm using it to spread freedom and to protect the American people," he told ABC before leaving on an trip to South Asia that offered a breather from problems and miscues that have recently plagued him in his second term.
U.S. TROOPS WANT OUT
The same CBS poll showed public approval for Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, once among his strongest suits, falling to 30 percent from 37 percent in January.

Rest of article

Civil War in Iraq?

2006-02-27T10:02:00.000-05:00

It is not surprising that this level of unrest exists in Iraq. In fact, many sources knowledgeable of Middle Eastern culture predicted this before Bush chose to invade and force a system of Democracy upon the people of Iraq (James Dao, 10/23/02). I am sure the Bush administration was given this intelligence as well as the less credible intelligence that they chose to grab on to. It is frustrating to hear surprise at the possibility of an all out civil war when many people knew it was inevitable as soon as we went in there to oust Saddam.

Message of Hope

2006-02-25T17:25:00.000-05:00

This blog is dedicated to the possibility that one more outlet for political discussion might positively influence the public sphere and, therefore, democracy as a whole. This will be a forum to discuss present, past and anticipated future topics in the political realm. More specific topics will be presented on a regular basis.