On the fourth day of April, 1968, in Memphis Tennessee, shots rang out, shots heard around the world, shots fatally wounding one of our greatest American heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King. Four years, seven months, and six days before that dark day in April, Dr. King stood at the Lincoln Memorial and spoke those famous words that we still hear and carry with us today. Words that will be spoken at elementary schools, words that will be written in newspapers, words that will be posted online, and words that will echo across college campuses “I have a dream!”
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
How powerful those words were then; how powerful they still are today.
We stand now at the start of a new millennium, and more than forty years have passed since Dr. King gave us, gave our nation, a powerful dream. We have traveled far down the path to give all people in this great nation equal justice, equal opportunity, and an equal chance at the American dream.
Last week, a woman finally broke the glass ceiling in congress and became Speaker of the House. On January 28th, 2005, Dr. Condoleezze Rice was sworn in as the first Aafrican-American female Secretary of State and broke the glass ceiling in the White House. Before her, Colin Powell became the highest ranking African-American in the Executive Branch and was the highest ranking African-American in the military in the history of the United States. In 2008, Barak Obama may well find himself as the first African-American president of the United States.
But we celebrate these accomplishments NOT because of the color of their skin….NOT because they are women….but because they are Americans. We judge them by their deeds, by their actions, by their abilities, and by their accomplishments. We look beyond race, beyond gender, and celebrate them for the hope the bring in realizing Dr. King’s dream.
Although we have traveled far down this road, we still carry many burdens and we still have many miles to go. Today , as the stock market reaches recod highs, 35% of African-American children still live in poverty.i One in three black men between the ages of 20 and 29 is either in jail or prison.ii The wage gap between men and women is NOT shrinking, earning only 77% of what men earn.iii As congress debates increasing the minimum wage, the gap between the rich and the poor has not only grown, it has ballooned.iv
We should all be reminded that, as Dr King told us “their destiny is tied up with our destiny” and that “their freedom is inextricably linked to our freedom.” We should recognize that we have a long way to travel down the path Dr. King has set before us. We should embrace each other as people, as Virginains, as Americans. We should celebrate who we are, our diversity, our accomplishments, our hopes and our dreams. We should not let our religions, our faith, our gender, or the color of our skin divide us. We should stand tall, and live the dreams Dr. King set out for us.
Indeed, let freedom ring.
Let freedom ring from our all our fifty states.
Let freedom ring in Virginia.
Let freedom ring in Staunton.
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i http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/indicators/4Poverty.cfm
ii http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00-01.htm
iii http://www.now.org/issues/economic/122006wagegap.html
iv http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0817-02.htm
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Thoughts on our Constitution.....
I should remind you that President Bush in his oath as president swore “…to the best of [his] ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” To this end, he has failed miserably. As a matter of fact, he has tried to eviscerate the bill of rights, and on that fact alone should be impeached.
It is NEVER acceptable for the government to monitor my calls, to read my mail, to check my bank statements, to snoop on me UNLESS there is reasonable evidence that I am guilty of or about to commit a crime AND that a warrant has been issued by the judicial branch of government. To willingly allow this fundamental right to be abridged is cowardly and shameful. Our founding fathers recognized the critical importance of this right, and placed it squarely in the bill of rights, not in some footnote of the Constitution.
It is criminal to hold indefinitely and to torture American citizens, in violation of the fifth, the sixth, and the eight amendments. This is precisely what our government has done to Jose Padilla. The irony now, as Jack Balkin from Yale Law School points out is that “"You can't believe Padilla when he says we tortured him because he's crazy from all the things we did to him." In December 2003 the 2nd circuit ruled that “"the President lacked inherent constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief to detain American citizens on American soil outside a zone of combat.” Yet he is still in custody and has still not been tried.
If you take the guarantees of civil liberties for granted, what will go next? Will you sit still while the second amendment gets gutted? While you remain silent as the first amendment gets burned to ashes?
It is ONLY when we strictly adhere to the principles of the Constitution and only when we genuinely protect civil liberties, ONLY when we truly treat people justly and fairly, that we maintain legitimacy not only with the American people, but with the world. And it is only then that we fully realize the benefits of democratic governments.
Note: This was originally posted by me on the Staunton News Leader Blogs on 1/6/07.
It is NEVER acceptable for the government to monitor my calls, to read my mail, to check my bank statements, to snoop on me UNLESS there is reasonable evidence that I am guilty of or about to commit a crime AND that a warrant has been issued by the judicial branch of government. To willingly allow this fundamental right to be abridged is cowardly and shameful. Our founding fathers recognized the critical importance of this right, and placed it squarely in the bill of rights, not in some footnote of the Constitution.
It is criminal to hold indefinitely and to torture American citizens, in violation of the fifth, the sixth, and the eight amendments. This is precisely what our government has done to Jose Padilla. The irony now, as Jack Balkin from Yale Law School points out is that “"You can't believe Padilla when he says we tortured him because he's crazy from all the things we did to him." In December 2003 the 2nd circuit ruled that “"the President lacked inherent constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief to detain American citizens on American soil outside a zone of combat.” Yet he is still in custody and has still not been tried.
If you take the guarantees of civil liberties for granted, what will go next? Will you sit still while the second amendment gets gutted? While you remain silent as the first amendment gets burned to ashes?
It is ONLY when we strictly adhere to the principles of the Constitution and only when we genuinely protect civil liberties, ONLY when we truly treat people justly and fairly, that we maintain legitimacy not only with the American people, but with the world. And it is only then that we fully realize the benefits of democratic governments.
Note: This was originally posted by me on the Staunton News Leader Blogs on 1/6/07.
Thoughs on our "strong economy"......
You are correct; we have a very strong economy....if you get your income from the stock market or if you are a CEO. Average CEO compensation has risen 150% in the last decade, while the minimum wage has grown 0%. Average incomes have gone up, but only because the top incomes (the far right on the bell curve) have grown - median family incomes have actually fallen, with low income families falling the furthest.
Things are especially good if you are a war profiteer like David Lesar, CEO of Halliburton. Your pay went up 170% while from 2003 to 2004, all while the government is investigating $1.4 BILLION of questionable spending by Halliburton. By the way, Halliburton's stock traded at $6.55 in the fall of 2001. By January 2006, it was at $39 a share, almost a 650% increase.
The reality is that that the “war on terror” and the Iraq war are a financial bonanza for the US ruling elite. And thus some of the measures we use to gauge the economy, like the Dow and NASDAQ, are up.
But what you would realize if you study the economic theory of John Keyes, which says that a government should take on debt in an economic bust cycle and erase the debt in the boom cycle, is that the money borrowed now to pay the military complex leads to short term benefits. Long term economic viability will require that we continue to spend enormous amounts of borrowed money to maintain our vast war machine.
In simple terms, our economy looks good now because the federal government is pumping massive amounts of deficit spending into the economy. This cannot continue.
Already we owe almost $9 trillion ($9,000,000,000,000; if divided out equally, $120,000 for each family of four). We spend almost as much on the military ($540B) as on interest payments ($460B). Mostof the debt (and thus the interest payments) are owed to foreign banks; much of it to the Chinese, by the way.
In 2005, the federal government reported a $318 billion deficit. If you follow standard accounting rules, however, the deficit was closer to $760 billion for 2005. If Social Security and Medicare are included may have been as high as $3.5 trillion. Washington is able to report lower deficit because they don't count the growing burden of future pensions and medical care for federal retirees and military personnel.
Note: This was originally posted by me on the Staunton News Leader Blogs on 1/6/07.
Things are especially good if you are a war profiteer like David Lesar, CEO of Halliburton. Your pay went up 170% while from 2003 to 2004, all while the government is investigating $1.4 BILLION of questionable spending by Halliburton. By the way, Halliburton's stock traded at $6.55 in the fall of 2001. By January 2006, it was at $39 a share, almost a 650% increase.
The reality is that that the “war on terror” and the Iraq war are a financial bonanza for the US ruling elite. And thus some of the measures we use to gauge the economy, like the Dow and NASDAQ, are up.
But what you would realize if you study the economic theory of John Keyes, which says that a government should take on debt in an economic bust cycle and erase the debt in the boom cycle, is that the money borrowed now to pay the military complex leads to short term benefits. Long term economic viability will require that we continue to spend enormous amounts of borrowed money to maintain our vast war machine.
In simple terms, our economy looks good now because the federal government is pumping massive amounts of deficit spending into the economy. This cannot continue.
Already we owe almost $9 trillion ($9,000,000,000,000; if divided out equally, $120,000 for each family of four). We spend almost as much on the military ($540B) as on interest payments ($460B). Mostof the debt (and thus the interest payments) are owed to foreign banks; much of it to the Chinese, by the way.
In 2005, the federal government reported a $318 billion deficit. If you follow standard accounting rules, however, the deficit was closer to $760 billion for 2005. If Social Security and Medicare are included may have been as high as $3.5 trillion. Washington is able to report lower deficit because they don't count the growing burden of future pensions and medical care for federal retirees and military personnel.
Note: This was originally posted by me on the Staunton News Leader Blogs on 1/6/07.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
My thoughs on I-81 (Part I).....
Transportation departments in other states have learned the hard way a lesson I hope will not be learned in the I-81 corridor: “if you build it, they [too many] will come”
The VA DOT points to the fact that traffic counts on I-81 through Augusta County are reaching 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles per day. The obvious solution, in their opinion, is to build bigger interstates. But the fundamental question has not been asked. Do the people of Augusta and Rockbridge counties want 100,000 vehicles passing through their counties belching exhaust every day? Speaking for myself, the answer is a resounding NO, and I am certain taht I am not alone in this sentiment.
The DOT makes several fundamental mistakes in their philosophy. The first is their emphasis on highway construction. Other states, such as Texas, Georgia, and California have attempted to resolve traffic issues by adding and adding lanes. The results have been uniform across the country. Gridlock on ten lanes instead of two, momentous cost overruns bailed out by the tax-payer, and uncontrolled urban sprawl and haphazard growth. The reason for a highway-centric tilt is that the DOT is managed and staffed by highway engineers and that traditional role of a DOT has been to build highways. As the short-comings of this approach have become evident, other DOTs have become just that, Departments of Transportation, with an understanding of and an emphasis on planning that encompasses the entire spectrum of transportation capabilities. The archaic monolith of the Virginia DOT needs to make this same transformation.
The second mistake is that the DOT has taken estimates of vehicle counts as gospel. As is so prevalent in planning documents, the figures that are used to justify an end are based on out-of-thin-air assumptions. The real fact before the DOT is that traffic counts MIGHT reach the 100,000 mark, and therefore we MIGHT have a need for more interstates. As the price of fuel continues the march toward $3 per gallon, traffic growth rates may stabilize or even decline.
But let us assume the figures are correct. We then reach the DOT’s third major mistake. If, given current trends, we will reach 100,000 vehicles per day, the first question that must be asked is do we want vehicle counts to get this high. The answer is not for the DOT to decide, but for us, and the answer should be NO. The DOT’s job then becomes the management of our total transportation infrastructure so those vehicle counts remain reasonable. How we choose to act on the prediction of vehicle counts determines whether those counts become reality.
The final mistake that the DOT has made is its failure to manage our infrastructure effectively. Current traffic counts on I-81 include 20,000 trucks per day, 12,500 above the design of the interstate. While trucking is an essential part of our economy and has its place in moving goods, it is the least efficient mode of transportation. The lack of a sensible state policy regarding the trucking industry has led to a proliferation of trucks as the primary mode of transport. It is the trucking industry that is the major contributing factor to traffic problems on I-81. To simply build bigger interstates is nothing more than a multi-billion dollar taxpayer subsidy of the trucking industry. Since the DOT and the state political machinery are so wedded to this industry, little is likely to change.
The DOT must take the following steps to address this problem. First, the DOT must go through a complete needs-analysis that exhausts all possibilities of managing this traffic. Second, the DOT should have an independent consulting agency conduct a thorough environmental impact statement so that we may fully understand the impact of their plan. Third, the DOT should place an emphasis on improving rail capability in western Virginia. Fourth, the DOT should build road to rail facilities in all major cities served by the I-81 corridor. Fifth, the DOT should place an emphasis on public transportation. Sixth, the DOT should limit any road building on I-81 to passing lanes on steep grades, and improved on ramp access. And seventh, the DOT MUST work in concert with all states in the I-81 corridor, if not all states on the East Coast, to define a comprehensive rail plan to move goods from southern ports and southern points of entry.
The VA DOT points to the fact that traffic counts on I-81 through Augusta County are reaching 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles per day. The obvious solution, in their opinion, is to build bigger interstates. But the fundamental question has not been asked. Do the people of Augusta and Rockbridge counties want 100,000 vehicles passing through their counties belching exhaust every day? Speaking for myself, the answer is a resounding NO, and I am certain taht I am not alone in this sentiment.
The DOT makes several fundamental mistakes in their philosophy. The first is their emphasis on highway construction. Other states, such as Texas, Georgia, and California have attempted to resolve traffic issues by adding and adding lanes. The results have been uniform across the country. Gridlock on ten lanes instead of two, momentous cost overruns bailed out by the tax-payer, and uncontrolled urban sprawl and haphazard growth. The reason for a highway-centric tilt is that the DOT is managed and staffed by highway engineers and that traditional role of a DOT has been to build highways. As the short-comings of this approach have become evident, other DOTs have become just that, Departments of Transportation, with an understanding of and an emphasis on planning that encompasses the entire spectrum of transportation capabilities. The archaic monolith of the Virginia DOT needs to make this same transformation.
The second mistake is that the DOT has taken estimates of vehicle counts as gospel. As is so prevalent in planning documents, the figures that are used to justify an end are based on out-of-thin-air assumptions. The real fact before the DOT is that traffic counts MIGHT reach the 100,000 mark, and therefore we MIGHT have a need for more interstates. As the price of fuel continues the march toward $3 per gallon, traffic growth rates may stabilize or even decline.
But let us assume the figures are correct. We then reach the DOT’s third major mistake. If, given current trends, we will reach 100,000 vehicles per day, the first question that must be asked is do we want vehicle counts to get this high. The answer is not for the DOT to decide, but for us, and the answer should be NO. The DOT’s job then becomes the management of our total transportation infrastructure so those vehicle counts remain reasonable. How we choose to act on the prediction of vehicle counts determines whether those counts become reality.
The final mistake that the DOT has made is its failure to manage our infrastructure effectively. Current traffic counts on I-81 include 20,000 trucks per day, 12,500 above the design of the interstate. While trucking is an essential part of our economy and has its place in moving goods, it is the least efficient mode of transportation. The lack of a sensible state policy regarding the trucking industry has led to a proliferation of trucks as the primary mode of transport. It is the trucking industry that is the major contributing factor to traffic problems on I-81. To simply build bigger interstates is nothing more than a multi-billion dollar taxpayer subsidy of the trucking industry. Since the DOT and the state political machinery are so wedded to this industry, little is likely to change.
The DOT must take the following steps to address this problem. First, the DOT must go through a complete needs-analysis that exhausts all possibilities of managing this traffic. Second, the DOT should have an independent consulting agency conduct a thorough environmental impact statement so that we may fully understand the impact of their plan. Third, the DOT should place an emphasis on improving rail capability in western Virginia. Fourth, the DOT should build road to rail facilities in all major cities served by the I-81 corridor. Fifth, the DOT should place an emphasis on public transportation. Sixth, the DOT should limit any road building on I-81 to passing lanes on steep grades, and improved on ramp access. And seventh, the DOT MUST work in concert with all states in the I-81 corridor, if not all states on the East Coast, to define a comprehensive rail plan to move goods from southern ports and southern points of entry.
Saddam's execution.....
Three thoughts....
- Saddam deserverd the death penalty. He deserved to die for his crimes. But his trial made a mockery of the new Iraqi justice system, and his lynching looked like a bad fraternity ritual. But what is done is done.....I hope the Kurds can find some solace in the fact he is dead, and that they did not get their day in court.
- Some very interesting reading from an Iraqi perspective.
- I watched to video; it is difficult to watch someone die. Let me explain....Saddam's atrocities have not touched me directly, so I cannot temper the difficulty of watching someone die with emotions of true anger and vengeance. having said that, here is the link: Cell phone video.
The 5 Things you never knew about me....
I've seen this several blogs now..WestoSshockoe, Waldo, and Vivian Paige...the 5 things list. So here is mine:
- I was a member of the College Republicans and pres of my fraternity while at Washington and Lee University.
- I was the first student to get an email at W&L (the year was 1986 and my cousin sent it from Europe. I had no idea what it was). I also graduated with more credits than any other student (171, needed only 121 to graduate). I didn't realize that is was quality, not quantity that mattered with your GPA.
- I got 25 speeding tickets in 4 years at W&L. That number was only surpassed by the number of parking tickets. The last 3 times I have been pulled over, I talked my way out of it. It took me a while to figure out what to do....
- I wanted to be a pro-soccer player after college while I worked at the Atlanta Zoo as a horticulturalist to make ends meet.....my dreams ended when a vicious slide tackle tore my lateral collateral ligament and fractured the top of my tibia. This was after I broke my wrist and suffered 3 serious concussions.....
- I secretly want to be a sheep farmer. Or run a horse farm. And live in New Zeeland.
Darn, I have to limit that list to 5......
My last comments on Waldogate....
Here are the things that have amused me most about this whole debacle:
- 1. The "Stupid justification for lying about who you are" award goes to Spankthatdonkey [STD didn't lie; he just justified GGD lies] . Lying about being an attorney to confuse people from finding out who you really are? Sorry. That is just dumb. Ok, disclaimer. I have no problems with using pseudonyms. But when you LIE about yourself, you lose all credibility when you post. GGB/JM has no justification for lying and deception.
- The "Suffering from Hyperbolism award" goes to Waldo himself. The image in question was not pornography. And it was not really that disturbing. If Waldo had just stated the real reason for removing GGD.....most of GGD's posts were a variation of "woof,woof" and added nothing to the debate at hand. While I would not have pulled the blog out of the aggregator, Waldo had every right to. And if he had not, the whole silly mess of GGD/JohnMaxfield ruse would not have been uncovered. So I amend the award with a Kudos asterisks.
- The Tartuffery reward does to SWACGirl. She puts the "CENSORSHIP!" label on Waldo, and claims to moderate her blog to prevent foul language. The reality is that SWACGirl only allows comments on her blog that praise her; comments that she does not like never appear.
- The Fatuous award goes to all the bloggers (me included) that have spent time reading, writing, and contemplating this circus. It took away much blog space and time when significantly more pressing issues should have been discussed.
- "The ugly Bloll" award (A troll who specializes in blogs) goes to GGD. I give him credit for his photoshop abilities. But really, I have seen enough of the "woof, woof" comments and sophomoric writings not to be amused anymore.
Bumper sticker......
[the image will be back up shortly] If you lean left, you know what it means. If you lean right, it stand for "W the Finest".
If you want one, email me.
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