Action Alert: Don't Let The Fascists Steal The Election Again

dailykos: Call to Action: Voter Rolls in several States purged!!!

In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.

Robert F. Kennedy and investigative journalist Greg Palast are teaming up to get this information out into the public eye. They're fundraising here; you can get copies of Palast's DVDs and books for certain levels of giving.

If giving money is not your thing, isn't this the perfect topic for your weekly letter to the editor of your local paper?

Hillary Is Wrong

Yesterday in an interview, Hillary Clinton said one of the reasons she's still in the race is because historically primary season isn't decided until June, or later.

Then she put her foot in it. She said we all remember Robert F. Kennedy being assassinated in June of 1968 after California's primary. Lots of people (mostly Obama supporters) are outraged by her bringing up RFK's assassination, and are implying that she meant that she's in the race because maybe Obama will be assassinated.

I watched her remarks (video here) and didn't think that was her point. She was trying to claim that it was OK that the Democratic primary isn't over because it isn't even June yet. But her statement was very wrong, for two fundamental reasons:

1) You can't use an assassination as an analogy. (I would also advise against using any analogy which includes Hitler, the Holocaust, or 9/11.)

One of the principles of communication is: It doesn't matter what you say. It's what the other person hears that is the essence of communication. If you are trying to say, the campaign in 1968 continued through June, say that. Don't bring up an assassination which is TOTALLY UNRELATED to the point you are trying to make, other than temporally. By bringing up the murder of RFK, Hillary begs to be misinterpreted. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. But I can totally see where people find what she said deeply offensive.

2) The California primary isn't in June any more. The second reason what she said is wrong, as well as stupid, is that the primary calendars in 1992 and in 1968 were totally different than the accelerated 2008 calendar. The reason Bill Clinton and Robert F. Kennedy were in the California primary in June is that the California primary used to be in June. This year, the primary in California was on Super Tuesday, in February. Hillary won the California primary. But Super Tuesday wasn't the knockout blow that Hillary's campaign had counted on. Obama won the next 10 contests and essentially knocked her out of the race with his superior organization. There aren't enough primaries or enough delegates left for Hillary to win.

It's over, Hills. Move on. Challenge Harry Reid for Senate Majority Leader. Get a killer Cabinet position. (Oops, sorry, no pun intended.) Angle for a Supreme Court bid. But please, no more references to historical tragedies.

Ted Kennedy, Living His Own Words

[A] good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.

- Edward M. Kennedy
Address at the Public Memorial Service for Robert F. Kennedy


Boston Globe: Legions he aided now praise Kennedy
Ordinary people recall his extraordinary help

Kennedy is best known as a legislative powerhouse, a tireless legend at courting allies and cutting deals, and as the battle-scarred face of the nation's most famous political family. But out of the spotlight and behind the scenes, his constituents say, the senior senator and his staff have cut through red tape to change countless individual lives, advocating for even the narrowest personal needs with a ferocity and attention to detail that still inspires awe in those on the receiving end decades later.

Few causes, it seems, have been too small to warrant his aid, be it helping an Ethiopian maintenance man seek immigration papers for his family; encouraging the activism of a young diabetes patient from Plymouth; or calling top officials in the military to stop a Westford stepmother from being deployed to Iraq.

As the well-loved senator begins his fight against brain cancer, people who have benefited from his service said they are praying for the recovery of a man who heard their cries and answered when it seemed impossible amid the din of politics.

RIP Robert F. Kennedy

Hard to believe that it has been 39 years since Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Robert F. Kennedy's Speech on Martin Luther King's death:



Ted Kennedy eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy: