Reply #33: This doesn't surprise me at all. I thought Obama's speech to the

[Peace Patriot]

Democratic Convention was a whole lot of nothing. I couldn't understand why anybody thought it was "impressive." At a time when our country was torturing people, and still slaughtering people in a completely illegal war, and Diebold and ES&S were preparing to the steal the election with "trade secret," proprietary programming code in the new, Tom Delay/Bob Ney-designed election theft system, and the Bush junta was looting this country blind, and destroying honest people in the military and intelligence communities, and our economy was being ruined and our democracy was being destroyed, and Bush-inspired military recruiters were measuring our young, black, poor "cannon fodder" for body bags in the oil wars, he mostly talked about himself, and preened over himself and all the great "opportunities" he'd been given. I thought it was an egotistical speech. None of the other speeches were any better. Kerry's sucked. ("Reporting for duty," my ass. What? --to unjustly slaughter more innocent victims of US imperialism?) But everybody was getting all gooey over Obama's speech, and I just didn't get it. It left me cold.

I worked for Martin Luther King in Alabama in 1965. I understand something about poverty and oppression, from the inside, and what kind of spiritual resources it takes, and what kind of greatness it takes, to be a REAL advocate for the poor and the oppressed. Obama is a fake. He trades on his black skin and spouts pablum, and avoids the extraordinarily difficult, gritty matters that we face now, brought upon us by Bush fascists and their Democratic Party colluders.

We need to strategize on the basis of truth and reality--and not be deluded in our assessments of Democratic Party leaders or anyone else. We may choose to make compromises, because we have no other choice, or because we seek some strategic advantage for restoring our democracy and our country--and TRANSPARENT elections. But we need to do it with our eyes open. This may be the main thing that we can contribute to saving this country: the end of delusionary politics, delusionary "news," and delusionary government, in which emptiness and lies qualify as thought.

Joe Lieberman is part of the same semi-fascist camp that Hillary Clinton is part of--war profiteering and war mongering with a few sops to the liberal base, such as women's rights, which are under assault because of Democratic Party MALFEASANCE in failing to protect our right to vote. Let us not be deluded, please. And Barack Obama is sucking up to the them because they have huge financial backing and have made deals with the fascist Bushites and, undoubtedly, with their fascist voting machine companies. That's my assessment of him. Doesn't mean I might not support him, for what it's worth--or Hillary, for that matter--if I thought it might be a step toward restoring democracy, or gave the people of this country some advantage toward that end.

Truth and reality. That's my motto these days. There is not a chance in hell that any real representative of the people can become president, or that the Congress will become anywhere close to being representative of the majority of Americans. Bushite corporations control the vote tabulation with SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code! That is the reality. And the truth of it is that we have a long battle ahead of us JUST TO restore our right to vote, let alone to reform this country and make it into the country it could be and should be. That's what we have to work with. We mustn't fool ourselves about it. We have to face it--and FIX it. It's OUR country. It doesn't belong to these mandarins--these privileged people in the Senate and House, with fat salaries and the best medical care in the country, who dare to call themselves our representatives and vote to give their war powers away to George Bush.

We must make our leaders responsible to us once again. Step one: Throw Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!