The truth is non-partisan

Senator Obama made this statement on a radio talk show WIP 610 AM: "The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn't. But she is a typical white person who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn't know, you know,
there is a reaction that`s been bred into our experiences that don`t go away and that sometimes come out in the wrong way. And that`s just the nature of race in our society. We have to break through it."

A first step to get rid of racism is to recognize that there are no typical people of any kind. Stereotypes lump people into categories, that are often untrue. We are all distinctly and uniquely different.

Last week Obama presented his views on race in a lengthy statement that got wide media publicity. However, this statement hasn't received much coverage, except among bloggers.

You can read more at:
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/03/barack-obama-my-grandmother-is-typical.html

Glenn Beck had an interesting report last night about the fact that many people in America feel disenfranchised. They don't trust government. They don't feel government represents or protects them.

Senator Obama's minister, Jeremiah Wright, has declared: "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. Governments lie."

Beck's question was: How many people agree with Wright?

The answer is quite startling. Says Beck, according to a 2005 Rand Corporation/Oregon State University survey of African-Americans, an amazing 53 percent of those surveyed believed that, "There is a cure for Africa, but it`s being with held from the poor." More than one in four believe that AIDS was produced in a government laboratory.

The problem, according to Beck, is that people feel disenfranchised. He said: "Now, once you believe this stuff, of course you're not willing to trust the government. Of course you're not willing to help police solve crimes. But where are the leaders, standing up and saying, "It's not true"?

As the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq reaches 4,000, a
USAToday report shows that Utah has the among lowest number of deaths
per million in the nation. Its rate is 8.3 deaths per million
population. (Connecticut and New Jersey are lower at 7.7 and 7.9,
respectively.) On the other hand Vermont with 29 per million is among
the highest. (American Samoa has 138.7 per million.) Why is that?
Coincidence or phenomenon?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-20-iraq-4000-deaths_N.htm

To my friends - Rep. Mike Thomson, Missouri House, and Genevieve Fulsom, Chair of the Nodaway County Republican Committee:

I attended the Nodaway County Republican Caucus, earlier today where you were both in attendance. The process was unethical and unparliamentary. At the least it denied the rights of the citizens of this county to participate in the democratic process. Those of us, who were denied our rights, felt betrayed because we had been conciliatory in electing Mark Allen as chair of the caucus meeting.

A number of us had come to the caucus with resolutions for the state republican convention platform. We did not have an opportunity to put forward the resolutions for voting and discussion when in the normal business of the meeting we should have been allowed to.

After the selection of delegates chairman Allen quickly requested a motion to accept a set of resolutions he had brought. The motion was made and seconded. Then he called for the vote. I requested the opportunity to discuss the platform as did my wife. He called us both "out of order" and went on with the vote without discussion. The vote was held, before I could claim that his actions were unparliamentary. He counted the vote twice, the first time getting only 10 votes. The next time the count was 11 to 10 for the motion.

We then asked to allow amendments and other resolutions. However, he refused, saying the vote had been taken. One of his supporters saw the process was flawed and unfair and asked to have the chair's decision overruled. We couldn't get two-thirds vote to override the chair's decision.

Here is information about the role of the chair from http://www.rulesonline.com/start.html#rror-10.htm

"The chairman cannot close debate unless by order of the assembly, which requires a two-thirds vote; nor can he prevent the making of legitimate motions by hurrying through the proceedings. If members are reasonably prompt in exercising their right to speak or make motions, the chair cannot prevent their doing so. If he has hurriedly taken and announced a vote while a member is rising to address the chair, the vote is null and void, and the member must be recognized."

Here is a stated purpose for Robert's Rules of Order:

"The application of parliamentary law is the best method yet devised to enable assemblies of any size, with due regard for every member's opinion, to arrive at the general will on the maximum number of questions of varying complexity in a minimum amount of time and under all kinds of internal climate ranging from total harmony to hardened or impassioned division of opinion." RONR (10th ed.), Introduction, p. XLVIII

As my representative and the chair of the committee, I was disappointed that you did not protect my rights and prevent this charade from happening. I'm disappointed because I thought the process would be fair and ethical and follow established rules of order.

When we fail to give voice to other opinions and fail to follow republican principles, we lose the basic freedoms our founders fought for. We are no better than other oligarchies like Russia and Mexico.

The Republicans coronated their nominee for President this week - John McCain.

However, as Doug Wead points out, they may have a nominee, but the
real winner has been Ron Paul.

The reason is simple. The effects of Ron Paul's message will reshape
conservative thinking for generations to come.

In his bid for the presidency, according to Wead, Ron Paul made a
classic political mistake. "He told the truth."

"In debate after debate he pointed at his party, his president, his
fellow contenders for the GOP nomination, shouting aloud like the
little boy in the proverbial story, "they have no clothes" and lo and
behold, we looked and they didn't. They were all naked."

"Ron Paul showed us, that we have lost our way. We are no longer
conservatives. We are fighting for power not for principles. We have
become corrupted by the process and the only way back is to retrace
our steps and find all the things we discarded along the way."

Wead wrote that Barry Goldwater lighted a similar fire with his
Conscience of a Conservative. "Its truth and arguments were so obvious
and so honest that one laughed aloud while reading it. But Goldwater,
himself, was doomed to political defeat. And Ron Paul had no chance to
win this election either. One could see that when he first opened his
mouth."

Goldwater's revolution produced Ronald Reagan and a change in
Republican values. Ron Paul's revolution will likely do the same.

"John McCain and his poorly chosen words, of staying in Iraq a hundred
years, have almost guaranteed that he will be the answer to the trivia
question, who was the Republican candidate who lost to the ticket that
claimed the first woman and black for the presidency? Another question
may very well be, "What other candidate ran that year and launched the
movement that has dominated national politics for the last generation?"

"And the answer will be Ron Paul."

Go to http://dougwead.wordpress.com/ to see the complete article by Doug Wead.

Doug Wead is a presidential historian and New York Times bestselling
author. He co-founded Mercy Corps in 1979 and served as special
assistant to the president in the Bush, Senior White House. Recent
books include All the Presidents' Children and The Raising of a
President. He is the editor of www.whitehouseweddings.com