Poverty and Boats

Imagine our nation and the economy as a three-masted sailing ship. Then give the people at the top of the tallest mast a lift to an even higher position. Did that help the people in the hold of the boat who are still below the water line? A recent article in The Nation by Katrina vanden Heuvel discusses this issue in our nation.

Our economy today with the Bush tax cuts concentrates wealth in the nation in the top 1% of people to a degree not seen since 1928. The theory of trickle down economics by which tax cuts for the highest wage earners has not brought any measure of real benefit to the middle and lower class wage earners. Robert Greenstein, Executive Director of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said,

Never before on record has poverty been higher and median income for working-age households lower at the end of a multi-year economic expansion than at the beginning. The new data add to the mounting evidence that the gains from the 2001-2007 expansion were concentrated among high-income Americans.

The article continues to discuss the falling numbers of Americans without health care. This change is a direct result of more people being covered by Medicare and Medicaid along with children taken under government programs. The change is a good one but not an indicator of improved status in our nation.

In conclusion Ms. vanden Heuvel says

Unless (and until) we tackle the gap between the very rich and the rest of America--including the growing number of people falling into poverty --it will be increasingly difficult to confront the major challenges of our time.

The truth is, lifting the boats at the bottom has historically been good for all Americans.

The time for lifting from the bottom of the boat is now. We are late already. If we fail to begin to change course today we will lose even more ground in the future. The time to take a new direction in our nation is at hand.

Peace.

Castle's Failing Memory

Congressman Castle continues to insist he puts "people before politics" and says he has the people's interests at heart these days. He forgets his support of the Military Commissions Act relieving the people of the right of habeus corpus. He ignores his support of the No Child Left Behind Act condemned by most educators and leading to a decline in the actual teaching of our children. He ignores his steadfast support of the Bush administration with more than 80% of votes overall with the administration and more than 90% with the administration on the war and on economic issues.

The time has come for a new direction in Delaware and the nation. We, the people, can ill afford the kind of support offered by Congressman Castle and the Bush administration.

Peace.

Change Direction on Energy and the War

In a recent op-ed article, my opponent in the Democratic congressional primary, Karen Hartley-Nagle, listed a series of problems facing the United States and the world. What she did not do was suggest solutions to the problems we face. Delaware voters deserve more than a restating of challenges; we deserve ideas and solutions. We need a new direction for this state and the nation.

For most Delawareans, the top issues are the state of the economy and the Bush administration's disastrous foreign policy adventures. Nearly eight years of Republican mismanagement of the economy, including an utter lack of any energy policy, has left many Delaware families on the edge financially.

Add to that the increasing cost of health care, food and fuel and the financial pressures on the men, women and children of this state are overwhelming. Clearly, we need a new direction in these areas.

Much of the economic crisis facing Delawareans stems from two dramatic errors made by the federal government: the lack of a comprehensive energy policy, and no regulation whatsoever in critical financial markets.

My economic solution calls for the creation of a national energy policy that will incorporate new and sustainable long-term energy sources with a steady decline in U.S. reliance on foreign oil. While the notion of complete energy independence is laudable, to get there we must fully exploit existing and emerging technologies.

Delaware is uniquely poised to be on the forefront of these technologies. For example, converting the soon-to-close Chrysler plant in Newark to build wind turbines would not only create a new industry for Delaware, it would play an integral role in energy policy and benefit the environment.

Without doubt, the federal government must play a more substantial role in regulating the financial industry, especially those segments that touch people directly, such as the mortgage industry. That is why once in office, I will submit legislation to ensure Americans never again are the victims of predatory lending by mortgage companies or other financial institutions.

American foreign policy has led to us being less secure. Our military is facing exhaustion. The war of choice in Iraq has cost lives, resources and strength, making it nearly impossible to respond to crisis spots around the world.

Contrary to what Republicans such as President Bush and Congressman Mike Castle believe, going to war does not make a nation stronger. It just puts us in greater jeopardy.

As a Vietnam veteran myself, I support bringing the bulk of our troops home as soon as possible and rebuilding our military so we can defend ourselves from credible threats, such as terrorism.

In a short newspaper article, it is difficult to touch on all the critical issues facing Delawareans and all Americans such as health care, crime, the environment and property rights. That is why I have a comprehensive list of issues and solutions at my campaign Web site, www. Northington08.com.

I am asking for your vote in the Democratic primary Sept. 9. Together we can turn Delaware and the nation in a new direction.

Biden for VP!!!

Obama has made his announcement. Joe Biden is his choice for Vice-President. Good days for Delaware and the nation are on the horizon. Biden brings large amounts of foreign policy experience to the pairing. In addition Biden's 30+ years in the Senate give him the experience of government the administration will need to make progress on issues facing the nation today.

Walking the streets the last several days I found many people anxious to see this particular pairing. The opinion among voters in neighborhoods seems to be uniformly positive about Obama. Now with the addition of Biden Delawareans have more than one reason to celebrate.

Onward and upward we go! This is the best year the Democrats have had in a long time. This is the year when I feel confident we can sweep the House and possibly take a veto proof majority in the Senate. The pairing of Obama and Biden goes a long way toward making the year an overall success in Democratic Party politics. Let us hope this is the mark of the beginning of a truly new direction for our nation.

Peace.

I Call Foul!!!

The News Journal today published an op-ed piece by one of my Primary Election opponents, Karen Hartley-Nagle. There are many issues with her writing as she leans far to the Bush administration fearmongering side. That is not the reason to call FOUL.

FOUL is called for the newspapers loose journalistic reporting as she is called the "Democratic candidate for Congress." In fact there are three people in a Democratic Party Primary Election scheduled for September 9. On that date the candidate for U.S. Congress will be chosen by the voters, not by the News Journal editorial board.

A retraction and an apology had best be in the offing. This is journalistic failure of the worst degree. The newspaper may or may not favor one candidate over another but to promote any candidate in such a blatant way is unforgiveable.

We need a new direction in our nation as a whole these days. The News Journal would do well to take the same ideals and work for journalistic excellence as opposed to this sort of sloppy work.

Peace.

Some of My Positions as a Peace Candidate

In 1970 I came home from Vietnam a young but change man. From that day until this day I have been a peace activist standing in steadfast opposition to military intervention in place of diplomacy, negotiation, and peaceful resolution. My time in Vietnam allowed me to see the effects of war on the troops on both sides, the people of the nation, and the countryside. War is not a solution but rather is a generator of too many different probems.

My actions as an activist at long last drove me to a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in Delaware, my home state. After beginning the campaign I discovered many issues in need of correction in our nation today. We as a nation need a new direction for our future.

We have many people without health insurance at all and too many with too little health insurance. A universal, single-payer health insurance system is necessary today. We stand as one of the only two developed nations around the globe without single-payer health care for our citizens. We can no longer afford to let our citizens languish without adequate coverage. Every American deserves the best medical care we have to offer.

I am a veterinarian. I have been a scientist all my adult life. We need more scientists in government to insure we make decisions on the basis of facts and not emotion and hollow slogans. We must seek new alternatives for energy production. Science offers the answers to renewable energy and new means of transportation but we will find those solutions only if we seek them. We must stop poisoning our environment if future generations are to survive on our planet.

Our prisons are overcrowded today with people in need of drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Yet we fail them and release those people without benefit of any help along the way. We must begin to treat the people in need. We must offer housing and job training for released prisoners lest we see the rate of return to prison become even higher than today.

As a veteran I am ashamed of the treatment our returning troops find today. In my time the GI Bill was enough to allow me a fine education. Health care in those days was free and available. Today we are failing our troops. Any nation that fails its troops is a failing nation.

We are failing our children in our educational system. We must begin to rebuild the infrastructure and to allow our teachers more time for teaching and less time for required testing. An educated population will build an economy filled with better paying jobs far into the future but we must turn to a new direction soon if we are to make that change. A nation that fails its children is a failing nation.

Government today should be about fairness, openness, and accountability. I am first and foremost a peace candidate but that is only one small aspect of a greater whole. I stand for human rights for one and all. We as nation will stand together or we will fall apart.

Today we stand on the threshold of historic times. We have the opportunity to turn our nation to a new direction if we take the time and make the effort to support candidates who live our ideals. We are each and every one responsible for the future of our nation. We must not allow our elected officials to forget their responsibility to the voters. Elected officials are place holders for the people. The people, ALL the people, are the ones responsible for the future of our nation.

Peace.

Questions to be Asked

In a fine article Roberto Rodriguez poses questions reasonable to ask of various elected officials and candidates across the nation. He ends with perhaps the single most important question of all.

Question for the mainstream media:

You in fact do ask the tough questions -- not of the strong and powerful, but of those who question the strong and powerful. When can we expect to see a return to the journalism that is preoccupied with protecting freedoms as opposed to the bottom line?

When indeed may we expect to see true journalism once again in our nation?

Peace.

The Military Commissions Act

One more in a series of questions posed to me by a fellow blogger and human rights activist:

Do you support the Military Commissions Act of 2006?

In a word, NO! A very emphatic and loud NO. Of all the rights granted by the American Constitution and the Bill of Rights perhaps not one is of greater importance than the writ of habeus corpus. As defined under American law

A writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate to a prison official ordering that an inmate be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully and whether or not he should be released from custody.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 serves to remove the right of habeus from all detainees classified by the administration as military combatants. No judicial review is allowed those so named. The law in effect allows punishment without judicial proceedings, a concept foreign to the American way.

Our nation was founded on principles of liberty and justice for ALL. There is not one mention in our Constitution of any distinction among human beings. One may argue the Founders saw some races as inferior and intended to keep them subservient, but the wording works to the benefit of every person in the nation. Any person deprived of any rights is in effect punished. The MCA works in ways that violate the sense of our Constitution and of the ideals of our Founding Fathers.

The United States cannot hope to recover any measure of moral standing so long as the MCA is allowed to remain a force of law. We as a nation owe it to ourselves and to the world to repeal the act and get on with fair and open trials of those charged with crimes against our nation. Those detainees for whom the law was intended to punish and are not to be charged should be released and resettled in their own nation posthaste.

Given the wording of both the MCA and some Bush signing statements the greater danger to Constitutional rights in this country today may be the application of the MCA to any person (citizens are not excluded from the reach of classification as an “enemy combatant”). To insure our freedom in future times we must restore the balance of power as established by the Founders. A triumvirate government is only as strong as the weakest of the legs (just like in the three legged stool).

Peace.

"Inadvertent" Deaths

According to the dictionary inadvertent means

unintentional

Today we get news of the "inadvertent" killing of 4 women and a child in Afghanistan. The deaths are the result of actions taken by US led troops against militants in the area.

How can we forget those who suffer most in war are often the women and children? We should keep in mind there are always innocents in war zones. War is not a game played on a board in the comfort of a living room. As Sherman said

War is hell.

We need to remember that fact on a daily basis as our nation continues to consider increasing our military presence around the world.

Humankind is in real danger if we fail to change our course and take a more peaceful way into the future. We humans possess far more than enough weapons to destroy the entire globe. We had best be careful or we will leave nothing but a burned cinder behind one day.

Peace.

500

In the United States today we tend to forget there is still a war going on in Afghanistan. That military action continues to be deadly for American troops. We have reached a milestone with 500 US soldiers killed.

How many more must die before the nation recognizes the mistake? We are fighting a local insurgency that is becoming more and more entrenched. We should be fighting the causes of terrorism by reducing economic woes around the world. We as a nation need to lead the world in peaceful and humanitarian moves. We cannot continue to be the world's largest bully if we hope to lead in any measure into the future.

In memoriam for the fallen,



Peace.

DailyKos Fundraiser

Friends of mine in the blogging community are hosting a fundraising fest at DailyKos. Please feel free to visit and join the conversation or follow along to see how we fare.

For 4 evenings, we're raising money on DailyKos for Jerry Northington, or Possum, who is running in Delaware. Possum's primary is this September. Possum is a Vietnam Vet and veterinarian who will provide our caucus with a much better Democrat!

All times are PST.

Possum 4-day DailyKos Fundraiser
Sunday August 3
3:00 p.m.	Al Rodgers
5:00 p.m.	Seneca Doane
7:00 p.m.	noweasels
9:00 p.m.	Patriot Daily
11:00 p.m.	llbear
Monday August 4
3:00 p.m.	One Pissed Off Liberal
5:00 p.m.	Avila
7:00 p.m.	Elise
9:00 p.m.	blueness
Tuesday August 5
3:00 p.m.	OrangeClouds115
5:00 p.m.	pico
7:00 p.m.	srkp23
9:00 p.m.	Magnifico
Wednesday August 6
3:00 p.m.	clammyc
5:00 p.m.	gildareed
7:00 p.m.	melvin
9:00 p.m.	A Siegel

This should be a good time for one and all. Many thanks.

Peace.