After Saturday's decision by the DNC to allow the Florida delegates to be seated at this summer's DNC convention but with only one-half a vote, the reaction of Democrats from the Sunshine State has been one of voters angry enough to contemplate staying away from the polls or possibly voting for John McCain, the Republican candidate.
Florida Senate Minority Leader Steve Geller, D- Cooper City, a super-delegate who hasn't endorsed either Clinton or Obama, felt that the decision by the DNC was "offensive". Geller sarcastically wondered whether Dem Floridians should "only raise 1/2 as much money as we normally raise" and whether Florida should "turn out half as many Democrats as usual".
Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D- Boca Raton, said that Democrats were "extraordinarily upset, beyond what words can describe".
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, a national co-chairwoman of the Clinton campaign said that emails from constituents contained "pretty deep dissatisfaction" and that the decision made it harder to "motivate voters".
Clinton delegate and Broward County leader Jack Shifrel, was more succinct:
"You'd be an ostrich with your head in the sand if you didn't accept the reality that there are going to be Democrats that we're going to have to work very hard to convince," he said. "There are good decent Democrats that are very upset and it's going to take a lot of work to get them to vote at all."
A Floridian demonstrating in D.C. at the DNC meeting on Saturday gave this reaction when learning of the decision to allow only 1/2 a vote at the Democrat's convention:
A majority of the anger stems from the 1/2 vote decision. One unhappy Florida voter felt their their "civil rights and constitutional obligations" had been infringed upon:``It’s a slap in the face,’’ said Margaret Grostefon, 44, of Fort Lauderdale, who joined the demonstration. ``Fifty percent? It’s like saying we are half of a citizen.’’
``In the general election, I am debating whether to vote at all,’’ she said.
``I’m not going to make a decision on my vote today,’’ said Vanessa Alikhan, 31, of Fort Lauderdale. ``I’m going to fight for my civil rights and the constitutional obligations that the government has to the people of the United States and ask them to count 100 percent of our votes.’’A May 21st a Rasmussen poll showed Republican candidate John McCain with a double digit lead over Obama, 50 to 40%. Rasmussen also reported that phone surveys concluded that an estimated 57% would vote for Obama while 27% of Democrats said they planned to vote for John McCain.
According to Rasmussen, even before Saturday's decision, McCain has a 75% chance of winning Florida, a key state in the Presidential election.
While the DNC's decision centered on Florida scheduling its Democratic primary earlier than was allowed the DNC made a crucial error in its decision to penalize the delegates and their votes. The DNC could have looked at other measures, such as "probation". Instead they decided to penalize the very heart and soul of the party, the very people who should count, the voters who showed up for the Democratic primaries. Those voters were dissed by the DNC by declaring the delegates would be "allowed" to be seated at the convention, but would be considered 1/2 vote "outcasts", a ludicrous solution at best.
The attitude of the DNC further underscores the fact that, in the end, the voters were merely a means to more money in donations, that their votes were a sham and a mockery, that, all along, the superdelegates held the key to who will be declared the candidate on the top spot of the Dem's ticket in the 2008 Presidential election.
No one likes to be used and it looks like quite a few Floridians were merely pawns in the Democrat game of Stratego. Close to 1.4 million Democrats voted in the Florida primary. The DNC decision on Saturday has been called a "compromise". The only persons truly compromised were the electorate who cast their ballots believing they would have a voice in choosing the candidate for the Dem's top ticket.
By LBG
Source - Real Clear Politics
Source - Rasmussen Reports
Source - Sun-Sentinel - Many South Florida Democrats still unhappy about delegates
Source - Sun-Sentinel - Florida Democrats protest their own party
Image - Florida Democrats
Sean Taylor was sometimes called "half-man, half-beast" for his unbelievably hard hits.
Two days ago, the part of Taylor that was a man lost his battle to a beast with a gun.
Because of his prowess at football, Taylor, free safety for the Washington Redskins, was a young, well-known black man. The funeral won't be long over before the usual suspects use his death to try and advance whatever line they're selling that day.
Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star and weekly columnist at Fox Sports.com writes an angry piece and it's well it was read. "Taylor's Death a Grim Reminder to Us All" is well worth reading in its entirety. It might make you think about old things in a new way.
You don't have to be a sports fan to feel the power his anger at another needless death brings to the piece. You also need not be a sports fan to recognize what he says is true.
One thing that stands out is his condemnation of the Black KKK.
The perspective he offers is one you may never have considered before.There's a reason I call them the Black KKK. The pain, the fear and the destruction are all the same.
Someone who loved Sean Taylor is crying right now. The life they knew has been destroyed, an 18-month-old baby lost her father, and, if you're a black man living in America, you've been reminded once again that your life is in constant jeopardy of violent death.
The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time.
No, we don't know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor's death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it's no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You'd assume a heart attack, and you'd know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.
Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.
When the traditional, white KKK lynched, terrorized and intimidated black folks at a slower rate than its modern-day dark-skinned replacement, at least we had the good sense to be outraged and in no mood to contemplate rationalizations or be fooled by distractions.
Our new millennium strategy is to pray the Black KKK goes away or ignores us. How's that working?
After laying out an air-tight case, he brings the hammer down.You're damn straight I blame hip hop for playing a role in the genocide of American black men. When your leading causes of death and dysfunction are murder, ignorance and incarceration, there's no reason to give a free pass to a culture that celebrates murder, ignorance and incarceration.
He lines up the cultural culprits and mows them down--just like they've mowed down so many young black men themselves.
He's aiming his fire at one group, one color; though the culture he's speaking of has plenty of admirers who are white, brown or yellow.
But today, he's speaking to, and about, a particular group.Let's cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner's office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren't checking W-2s.
The three closing sentences should be required reading of anyone--any color, any age--who thinks there's nothing wrong with the glorification of failure and perversion.
Rather than whine about white folks' insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we'd be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.
But we don't want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people's hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.The Black KKK is enforcing the same crippling standards as its parent organization. It wants to keep black men in their place — uneducated, outside the mainstream and six feet deep.
Read his entire story, "Taylor's Death a Grim Reminder to Us All".
In all likelihood, the Black Klan and its mentality buried Sean Taylor, and any black man or boy reading this could be next.
It's too late for Sean Taylor. For someone reading Jason's Whitlock, if they listen: it doesn't have to be.
by Mondoreb
[image:nypress & redskins.com]
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
The NY Daily News is titled "Blame US for 911 Idiots in Majority". The story by Andy Soltis, reports Scripps-Howard/Ohio University poll results showing that "nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the federal government had warnings about 9/11 but decided to ignore them".
Some will shake their head in sad resignation, others in vigorous agreement with those particular figures. However, what is really interesting to those who fret about the U.S. becoming "Jerry Springer Nation" was at the end of the story.In the latest Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll, 811 US adults were interviewed Sept. 24 to Oct. 10. Among the findings:
And some finding from the same poll in 2006.
* 42 percent believe the federal government knew in advance of the plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy, compared with 40 percent who call that theory "not likely."
* 37 percent believe UFOs are real and that the feds have been hiding the truth about them.
The 2006 poll found 36 percent believed the government was also hiding proof that intelligent life exists on other planets.
* Eight out of 10 Americans suspect oil companies are conspiring to keep fuel prices high and 50 percent said a conspiracy is "very likely." Only 14 percent felt it was unlikely. In that (2006) poll, 16 percent said the Twin Towers might have collapsed because of secretly planted explosives - not hijacked passenger jets flown into them.
And what hit the Pentagon? Twelve percent figured it was a US cruise missile.
Anger at the federal government and skepticism in general by younger Americans is fueling the popularity of crackpot conspiracy theories.
Only 12 percent of Americans expressed anger at the government following the 2001 terrorist attack, but that grew steadily and reached 54 percent last year.
Most young adults give some credence to a conspiracy theory, while seniors are the least likely to believe in one, pollsters found.
Is the whole country populated by kooks?
These poll results might be used to illustrate almost any point one is trying to make: that U.S. education is failing miserably to teach students critical thinking skills; that video games are the ruination of the Republic; that lunacy loves company; that the system works; or, that the "truth" is getting out.
Soltis' point is a good one: anger and mistrust at the federal government has clouded the judgment of many Americans participating in polls.
Once, only Democrats had to worry about feeling the wrath of that mistrust.
Now Republicans, once the party of limited government and lassez faire are known for 'compassionate conservatism', and other fuzzy re-labeling of federal government expansion.
The frenzy of Republican-controlled Congressional earmarks further alienated conservative voters.
Any presidential candidate need only look at these poll results to see, come next November, which side to be on.
by Mondoreb
& Little Baby Ginn
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
