In Part I, I attempted to lay out possible interpretations and directions that could or might be drawn from Barack Obama’s campaign. I’ve mentioned the possibility that he seeks to empower the people of this country such that they would become sovereign. That his means to that end would be justice as the measure of political policy, not profits. This would of course displace corporations from that seat of sovereign power that they have so infamously projected and corrupted throughout the Bush and many other administrations.

In the context then of who we want to be and how we are going to get there as a people, we must become aware we are limited by our ignorance, by our lack of vision, by our lack of purpose. Instead of a national discussion toward such quality purpose in national life we have accepted substitutes. Foremost, we have signed on for mountains of consumer goods—gadgets in place of life. To life’s great question, whether ‘To Be or to Have,’ Americans have overwhelming chosen getting and having. Choices that were for the most part completely oblivious and impervious to the profound effects they would have on our selves, on our children, on our environment, on our loss of control of our government.

We have allowed a media owned and operated for profit alongside an entertainment industry with the same purpose, to sell images in place of careful and thoughtful, skeptical inquiry. Their obvious purpose is to soothe, divert and convey a diluted, pathetic version of our political condition. Neil Postman called it Amusing Ourselves to Death. A captured press largely beholden to government regulation of the airwaves and trust combining mergers, is constantly bleating its corporate voice, questioning little or nothing about government connivance with corporations in order to gain more government help. It speaks the bah, bah, bah of corporate sheep, asking for welfare, nothing more.

The least benign substitution for a national purpose of quality is the U.S. world wide military empire. Created at our expense by constantly invented and reinvented fear, it conveys, portrays and portends that we might—could possibly be—certainly are vulnerable to—and almost certainly will soon face—being run over. This by the government that spends more on military might than all the rest of the world’s countries combined.

It is the grand strategy for it guarantees that the greater part of the economy is under military-industrial control or linked to it. Such profits can be secure and inflate others because are in fact guaranteed, the economy steadied by the preposterous military waste. There will always be the ‘need’ for more and little competition to build it. That civil society is stricken, starved and wasted by such allocation is seldom considered. In hidden speech and ruling circles it is made out that prosperity could not exist without military waste. Some of that is undoubtedly believed by the public until the economy collapses under the weight of so much diversion of resources. Fortunately, reality is now more transparent as our sand castle economy disintegrates before our eyes.

The deceitful and simplistic explanations and excuses for this disintegration frightens witches off their brooms but unless the public is vigilant it will all be devised and redirected to divert attention from the madcaps. That is, from the scarab beetles like Dick Cheney and his cohorts who have been tunneling into the ground of national life for years, sucking the resources of the country toward themselves.

As a people we have far more to be afraid of than a black man as president. When the working classes complain they ‘don’t know him’ or accept snide descriptions of him as ‘elitist’ they are really accepting the fear that he might have a vision beyond their imagining. That he might believe in a freedom they are afraid of and have been trying to escape from: that they are the engine of their growth and freedom. That he might be asking them to make a sacrifice of spirit and purpose to commit themselves in establishing the development and implementation of their rights and their purposes such as a health care ‘right,’ not a diluted ‘responsibility’ as John McCain would have it.

Nothing is clearer to American voters today than the monumental need for change on many fronts, economic, environmental, political, and social. Yet nothing is scarier to some of them than real ‘change’ because so few know what is really wrong or have the barest framework of understanding for fixing it. Having not the slightest inkling they are prey to the most ridiculous and preposterous statements and rumors. Sarah Palin has made this her province, her self the very provenience of such claims to her everlasting discredit and whomever she represents, claims to represent, or thinks she represents if they allow her to speak for them.

. Working up a crowd to characterize the opposing candidate as a ‘terrorist’ is despicable politics in any culture, certainly in a nation that calls itself a democracy. Such accusations undermine our national political health, raising a deranged cry to bring on the rabid haters and racist threats of a time long past burying. Call her ‘Mommy Cracker,’ she is channeling America’s racist past from the deep South and throwing in George Bush’s favorite category of fright and fakery, ‘terrorists.’ She is stirring a cauldron of ignorance, to allow a vivid cesspool of prejudicial ideas about minority peoples to bubble to the surface. Ideas that can be used, as they always have been used in the United States, to scare such minorities along with whatever other parts of the public are gullible—into subservience. It was the lowest point of John McCain’s rebuttal Wednesday night when he claimed he had repudiated all such deceit which, of course, he had not done and still has not done as of this writing.

Corporate money likes to ‘own’ its candidates as it clearly does John McCain. That is where his tax deduction scheme for corporations comes from. Should Obama win he must also obtain ‘advisors’ or experts to run the country. Many of these are tainted having been educated, outfitted and gained their experience running various aspects of corporations. President elects are always besieged by such ‘advisors’ to make decisions based on providing emoluments (advantages of office) to those who because of their executive positions managing wealth, come to think of themselves as having created it.

This essentially autocratic position is the deepest, most flawed philosophical, political and psychological misperception of our age and it is not going to go away quietly. Like a toothy carcass of a dead animal this belief in their expertise, their claims of ‘free markets’ has been hung around our necks to stink and scare us to go along, to just go along. ‘Free markets’are free only for those who can pay for them, money that we have a slight shortage of right now.

Barack Obama has made an impressive case that he sees and expects to lead us to a different place in American life. As a body politic we should have the strength to place him a position to do so and then challenge him to make good on his words. Perhaps he will find the substance in us and we can find what there is in him that can make it actual.

I.C. Presumptive

When talks between the state and Amtrak lagged over the expansion of commuter rail service on the New HavenHartford Springfield line, U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy intervened and got the ball rolling. In doing so, Mr. Murphy, a Democrat from Cheshire and a one-term incumbent, showed that he understood the importance of energy conservation to the nation's future.

Although much of the energy debate has focused on offshore drilling, Mr. Murphy could see that getting people onto trains, and thus out of cars, would save a lot of energy right away. This pragmatic intelligence, the ability to see what is right in front of his nose, has influenced much of Mr. Murphy's work in Congress. He has pushed for more disclosure of profits and CEO salaries in government contracting, stronger congressional ethics and more federally funded supportive housing. He is the youngest member of the delegation at 35, yet has the poise of a veteran legislator. He said he challenges voters to understand the subtleties of issues — a bold thought. He deserves another term.

Every week it seems to get worse for House Republicans. As we will demonstrate below, we have expanded the number of possible to likely net gains for Democrats from our previous 15 to 20 to a new and rather astounding 22 to 27 seats.

The past week has been a wild one for congressional races nationwide. Some contests have gotten more competitive, and in some districts one party has even pulled away. And by "one party," we do in fact mean "one party"--the Democrats. This week the Crystal Ball is making 33 changes to its House ratings, some of them major, and others minor. In all but two of those races the changes benefit Democrats.

Were he to speak so clearly he would frighten the wealthy classes and not just a few of the less wealthy. They would create as great and as marvelous a political panic as they have created an economic panic. That is what the McCain/Palin slurs and lies are all about—fear. It is a matter of creating the fear that the bailout or ‘Goldman Sachs socialism’ of Treasury Secretary Paulson which has been declared ‘indispensable’ might be demanded by the public at large.

The great pooh-bahs have declared such welfare urgent and absolutely necessary for the banks. Senator McCain has supported it is as such while denouncing with considerable sneer and ridicule Barack Obama’s idea of “spread the wealth around.” Sen. McCain implies such a diversion to other classes would be dastardly and ruinous to the body politic. Clearly, he is channeling President Herbert Hoover from the early days of the Great Depression.

The McCain value set is that Americans must be allowed to pile up wealth as they see fit, even mountains of wealth. Of course, all Americans will not be able to pile up such wealth, only a very few will and have. Everyone knows that. Why then McCain’s outrage? Sen. McCain says the ‘hard work’ of the wealthy is greatly deserved and should be praised as he conflates that work with all other Americans who actually work. He has not gone into how much hard work the bankers could possibly have performed to justify their $23 million to $90 million severance packages for ruining their corporations. Quite obviously it was less hard work than conniving and manipulating.

Then why is it that consideration and discussion of how the people of the United States might come to own the wealth of the country, wealth that they have created, frightens so many Americans to the core? That would be ‘socialism.’ One word brings panic. It must be a very powerful concept to frighten so many people. Thus Obama can only hint about sovereignty of the people and justice made predominant even though it doesn’t imply socialism at all. It does imply a change in power relations which is what all the gaseous wind of the political right is all about.

The John McCains of this world are terribly resentful that ‘it’ might and ‘he’ might. Just believing Obama might think about sovereignty of the people stupefies large sections of the public. No one knows whether he believes in such sovereignty and justice for the people or not, or believing in it would or could make it possible. And he couldn’t unless an aware and focused electorate would demand it after the election in more detail and purpose than they are frightened of it today. Yet he has been talking about such change for a very long time to audiences all over the country from at least 1991.

This non-speak and silence of our culture hides the shallowness, unreality and lack of functionality of our democracy. The very blandness of our speech, its omissions and fears, questions our touted freedom. It provides a revealing backdrop to the irony of our political system as it stands rigid against examining any new idea, any position which might lead us to our presumed but unfulfilled national destiny. Why is it considered so dangerous to think outside the collapsed system we now have in order to prosper and gain real freedom? Even progressive candidates cannot talk about what is basically wrong and the people find it difficult to accept explanations for improvements because they have been so grievously lied to in the past. Those who control the system have made it politically expedient to stop discussion well back from the edge of reality. They must foreclose clarity and make discussion impossible in order to maintain control.

In this way the Republican Party has reacted in horror to Obama’s unusual and popular candidacy claiming ‘class warfare’ at the slightest suggestion of even a minimal leveling of the economic table we all sit at. That is why we see John McCain in his most pompous role of Lord Protector of America channeling Oliver Cromwell, the mastermind of wealth protection in 17^th century England . Cromwell’s opposition at the time was known by the opprobrium ‘Levellers.’ They didn’t believe in leveling at all, of course, being largely artisans merely asking for redress of grotesque differences of wealth brought on by exploitation. Not really so much different from today. Perhaps that is why Sen. McCain attempted in the last debate to impugn and re-characterize Obama’s proposed taxes on the wealthy by ridiculing his “spread the wealth around” phrase as though it was some kind of smutty excrement.

The McCain campaign has gone even further turning loose the Sarah Palins of this world. John McCain on the David Letterman’s show praised her as a marvel of political presence and character. That is quite a contrast to the junkyard dog she emulates behind her beatific smile. If the image dominates and cloaks the message it is meant to.

Americans have been raised on images rather than thought and logic. Thus a pretty woman may speak platitudes of patriotism and praise for ‘this wonderful country’ while the men and women who are destroying its wonders and its wealth stand right behind her or next to her. “Gosh darn” she says in her pleasant charm, “I just love this country,” as she advances the political smut of racism and terrorist fear mongering that undermines it. Just last week she began a new tact claiming some parts of the country are true patriots, other parts left undefined but suspect. That is a very strange position when you and your running mate, are attempting to be chief executive officers of all the people.

I.C. Presumptive

Solution 1:

Change the comment system from an anonymous to a sign-up service. In other words, in order to post a comment, you would have to sign up with an email address and you would not be allowed to post a comment without an email verification.

Solution 2:

Get rid of the comment section of the site and go back to the old format where comments are only allowed in the message boards (if I'm correct, this was the old, old format prior to 2006 when comments to articles were allowed).

• Flooding the News-Times with phone calls?


• A MASSIVE protest?


• Requesting businesses that purchase ads to write the News-Times and threaten to pull their ads?

At the August 21, Labor Management meeting, the Danbury Nurses Union Unit 47 expressed interest in holding a voter registration drive at the hospital. Hospital Vice President of Human Resources, Phyllis Zappala, said no.

“We couldn’t understand why the largest employer in Danbury wasn’t interested in helping to register its employees to vote,” said Mary Consoli, president of the Danbury Nurses Union. “With this being the biggest election in our nation’s history, it doesn’t make sense.”

When the union found out in September that they could petition the registrar of voters to conduct the voter registration drive, they immediately began collecting signatures and submitted the petition to the Danbury Registrar of Voters on September 22, requesting the drive be held on October 8. Registrar of voters Marge Gallo explained that if they were unable to conduct the voter registration drive, they would either have the League of Women Voters conduct the drive, or that Consoli could be deputized to conduct the drive.

On September 26, Hospital Director of Public and Government Relations Andrea Rynn, faxed the Danbury Registrar of Voters to inform them that they had received an exemption from the Secretary of the State’s office from holding the voter registration drive.

AFT Connecticut contacted the Secretary of the State’s office and discovered that no such exemption had been given to Danbury Hospital. Secretary of the State Staff Attorney Ted Bromley contacted Rynn on October 16 and explained that the hospital had to “make a suitable location available on site to conduct such registration session and shall publish notice of the date and time of such session.”

On October 20, the Registrars of Voters sent a letter to Frank Kelly, CEO of Danbury Hospital informing him that they would be conducting the voter registration drive, Tuesday October 21, 2008 in the cafeteria from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM for employees only and that prominent notices would need to be posted on the bulletin board and other places where general notices to employees are customarily posted.

That afternoon, hospital administrators changed the location from the cafeteria to the facilities conference room located in the basement of the hospital and changed the time from 1PM to 4PM. An email was sent to employees through the email system however, postings of the drive were not seen on bulletin boards.

“This is not right,” said Consoli. “Registering to vote should be the easiest thing to do, instead the hospital has made it virtually impossible. We followed the law by petitioning for the drive and it should have gone forward unobstructed.”

“Today is the last day to register to vote before the election,” said Consoli. “The administration’s efforts to keep this drive from happening beg the question, why?”

It’s bad enough that the employees of ACORN have had to endure days of baseless and outlandish attacks by John McCain and the RNC. But after McCain outrageously claimed before a national audience on Wednesday night that ACORN was “maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy,” the group came under attack, literally. In the following days, ACORN’s Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized and at least one employee received a death threat.

And for nearly two weeks, ACORN offices across the nation have been subjected to an onslaught of racist and threatening voicemails and emails. We have secured copies of some of the most disturbing and offensive messages and have reproduced them below in order to show the very real consequences of the Right Wing’s overheated and misplaced “voter fraud” rhetoric.

“Hi, I was just calling to let you all know that Barack Obama needs to get hung. He's a fucking nigger, and he's a piece of shit. You guys are fraudulent, and you need to go to hell. All the niggers on oak trees. They're gonna get all hung honeys, they're gonna get assassinated, they're gonna get killed.”

"You liberal idiots. Dumb shits. Welfare bums. You guys just fucking come to our country, consume every natural resource there is, and make a lot of babies. That's all you guys do. And then suck up the welfare and expect everyone else to pay for your hospital bills for your kids. I just say let your kids die. That's the best move. Just let your children die. Forget about paying for hospital bills for them. I'm not gonna do it. You guys are lowlifes. And I hope you all die."