LIBERADIO(!)

Must Read: “The Bush administration has “courted disaster” in Iraq, Iran and North Korea and is so inept that it could not cope with a major domestic disaster, according to Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell.”

Anyone want to bet that Mr. Wilkerson will be smeared on the Sunday morning talk shows? Pinky bet, $1.00.

Roger Abramson’s editorial in the Nashville Scene is spot on. Let’s hear it for participatory democracy! Whoopee! If you’re interested in running for public office but don’t know where to start, or simply need a little help and support, check out Democracy for Tennessee, the state affiliate for Howard Dean’s Democracy for America. Part of their mission statement is to recruit and encourage progressives to run at every level of our government.

Coincidentally, this Saturday, October 22, Democracy for Tennessee is running a “Root Camp,” at the Madison County Democratic Party headquarters in Jackson, TN. Beginning at 9:00 AM and for only $10.00, Root Camp will focus on intensive training to teach activists, campaign managers, and candidates the skills they need to run aggressive, organized campaigns for 2006 and beyond. Workshops and breakout groups will include Creating an Action Message, Developing a Communications Plan, Voter Files, Data, and Walklists and Door-to-Door Tactics and roleplays. Call 731-423-9069 for more info.

And when you do run for public office, we’d love to have you as a Liberadio(!) guest…

MONITORS IN IRAQ REVIEW VOTES WHERE ‘YES’ BALLOTS HIT 90%
“Iraqi election officials said Monday that they were investigating “unusually high” vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces, where as many as 99 percent of the voters were reported to have cast ballots in favor of Iraq’s new constitution.”

TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE

”Our country is sick at heart at the spin and false expectations,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., told Rice. ”They want the truth and they deserve it.”

How true.

”The terrorists want us to get discouraged and quit,” Rice said. ”They believe we do not have the will to see this through.”

This is so 2004.

SENATE FAILS TO RAISE MINIMUM WAGE “A labor-backed measure by Sen. Edward Kennedy would have raised the minimum to $6.25 over an 18-month period. A Republican counterproposal [Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.] would have combined the same $1.10 increase with various breaks and exemptions for small businesses.”

“The Kennedy amendment to a spending bill went down 51-47, and the GOP alternative 57-42. Under a Senate agreement, they would have needed 60 votes for approval. ”

What part of “Kennedy…pointed out that a single parent with two children working a minimum wage earns $10,700 a year, $4,500 below the poverty line” and “Enzi’s proposal would provide tax and regulatory relief for small business, permit tips to be credited in complying with minimum wage hikes and expand the small business exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act” don’t they understand?

STAY ISSUED IN PREGNANT INMATE CASE “The United States Supreme Court temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that Missouri prison officials drive a pregnant inmate to a clinic today for an abortion. Justice Clarence Thomas, acting alone, granted the stay pending a further decision by himself or the full court.” (10/15/05)

STAY VACATED IN PRISON ABORTION RIGHTS CASE “The full court vacated an order that Justice Clarence Thomas had issued late Friday that had prevented a Missouri prison inmate from obtaining an abortion, to which a federal district judge had found she had a constitutional right.” (10/18/05)

I’ve never seen the Supreme Court move so fast!

From SF Gate, “On Friday, DeLay is expected to be fingerprinted, photographed and booked this week, despite attempts by his attorneys to bypass that process, which court officials say will probably take less than 20 minutes.

“Perkins [State District Judge Bob Perkins] believes that if God was charged with a felony, he would have to go through the booking process, too,” said D’Ann Underwood, court coordinator for the judge.”

Can’t argue with that.

It can be argued that in 1994 the Republicans took control of Congress using the “Contract for America.” They promised, among other things, to restore ethics and reform Washington politics as well as balance the budget. The time is ripe for a new contract – a Progressive Contract – that should include a series of simple and powerful statements from the Democratic leadership. You can watch this little movie to get a taste of what it could be like. And here’s a sample:

1. Protect all Americans – from natural disasters and terrorist attacks
2. Promote economic opportunity for all Americans
3. Make America’s Education System the best in the world
4. Fix America’s failed healthcare system
5. Restore fiscal sanity – balance the budget!
6. Protect American Civil Liberties

oh, and let’s throw this one in for good measure:

7. Restore ethical behavior in the Congress – the people’s house.

And that’s it! Simple! bam-bam-bam-bam.

Many Conservatives will tell you that Democrats are without ideas. Barbara Boxer was asked that very question in the NY Times Magazine today and her answer was simple and spot on, “It’s hard at this stage because we don’t really have a soap box. We don’t run anything, not the Senate, not the House, not the White House. Zero, zippo. We fight for the microphone when we can, and we will have the microphone as we get closer to the midterm elections in 2006.”

The Democrats should soften the electorate by using only broad strokes now, six or seven simple statements that will get the message out that we’re not like the other guys (you know, the guys that suddenly have enough rope). Election time and the time for specific ideas will be here soon enough. And this time we’ll be ready.

Go here to see how the Deanocrats are clambering back into the opposition cockpit and turning off the autopilot (er, no pilot).

Last Sunday on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Pat Robertson said, “The elimination of Roe v. Wade won’t stop abortion. Abortion’s a private decision. But I just think it shouldn’t be federalized.”

Does the Christian Broadcast Network know that Mr. Robertson is pro-choice?

It’s very easy, no matter how hard you try and be open-minded and accepting, to backslide into an anti-Christian mind-set, loudly complaining that most self-professed “Christians” are anything but Christ-like. The disconnect between the words of Christ and the words of the pro-war, pro-death penalty, anti-homosexual (aka anti-God’s creation), anti-science, liberty-squashing ‘Religious Right’ can make any sane (not to mention open-minded and accepting) person a bit loopy. Factor in the long journey one takes on the road to agnosticism/atheism, or what Julia Sweeney calls “Letting Go of God,” and you end with a pretty decent case of the “what the hell am I doing living in a place where they have a prayer circle after a softball game?!?!” blues.

But something strange is happening. Something strange and wonderful and uplifting. Jesus is reclaiming Christianity. And he’s doing it through the words and deeds of liberals and progressives.

Believe me, I’m not talking about what it will take to win the next election. Right now, I could care less. But to be able to interview Christians like Rev. Tim Simpson of the Christian Alliance for Progress, and to read essays by people like Alessandro Camon writing in Salon, and to read books by people like Jim Wallis*, who likes to remind us that Jesus is neither a Republican or Democrat, and to know that they are spreading the real message of Jesus Christ – love, peace, tolerance, hope and above all, good works – is a revelation.

This miracle is occurring locally as well with good people spreading the good word: Cole Wakefield, Josh Tinley and Joey Hood of Christian Dissent, and Glendale Baptist Church, a member of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America.

These voices may be relatively quiet right now, but they are getting louder.

Camon sums it up, “Liberals have let the right claim Jesus for themselves. But the legacy of Christ is far too precious to be left in the hands of the hypocrites who use it to justify war, bigotry and injustice. It is time to reclaim Jesus — not to start another religious party, but to free him from the one that’s hogging him as their poster child. It’s time not just to ask “what would Jesus do?” but to actually listen to the answer.

It’s about poverty. It’s about peace. No true Christian can have anything more important in mind.”

So the next time you are accused of being a “socialist” because you believe in welfare programs for the poor and the hungry and the sick, ask your accuser first if they are a Christian, and then ask, “Oh yeah? Then what do you think Jesus would do?”

*Jim Wallis will be appearing in Nashville as part of the Cole Lectures at Vanderbilt University on Thursday, October 13 and Friday, October 14.