One of the most surreal experiences of my life was living in Sydney last fall (their spring) when the Prime Minister, the universally despised Gorden Brown, of eleven years was finally voted out of office.

The upcoming election does not just have the national economy and welfare at stake, but also America's standing abroad.

> May of 2008
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> New Statement from Assata!!
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> First of all, let me say thank you, to the many people who
> have helped me to celebrate my 60th birthday. Thank you for
> your beautiful birthday cards and for your warm and eloquent
> messages. Thank you for your activism, your radiant energy
> and most of all for your love. I am sincerely grateful for

peace without sickness, failure without denial, and democracy without restriction

Hope and change have gained a great footing in not only the 2008 Presidential elections in the US, but also in the communities of Northern Uganda. Peace talk negotiations and a cease-fire in fighting have allowed children to return home, families to rebuild, and communities to begin creating lives without fear from conflict. The conflict in Northern Uganda is often tagged as a "civil war," but largely centers on a rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). (Read more here) Thousands displaced, abducted, lost - hundreds killed. The peace talks have been going well and two weeks ago (April 10th) Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA, was supposed to come out of hiding to sign the peace agreement. He did not show up and his spokesperson claimed he had been sick. Sick or afraid? Kony and his top officials are now on the top of the International Criminal Court's arrest list. It seems he may have been sick with fear of being held accountable for his long-running violent resistance.

Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, "intends to stay
in power until death." Honestly this is not the best news I've heard all
day. Nothing makes my blood boil more than a "democratically" elected
leader who has abused Marxist principles and black nationalism, and in turn robbed his people of their infrastructure, property, education, and livelihood.

Where did Mugabe go wrong? How has it gotten to this point?

Is in entirely Mugabe’s fault?

If it happens in Africa it must just be the primal instinct based in tribalism. The mass media has been covering the situation in Kenya as a near exclusive tribal and ethnic conflict without accounting for the history of Kenya's political turmoil and where ethnicity is put into a colonial context. The crisis in Kenya is not solely ethnic and tribal. It is a crisis based on democracy and fueled by past divisions created by British colonial rule.

Upton Sinclair once said that fascism will come to this country draped in the American flag, and carrying a Bible. Little did he know that its sincerest agents of apologism would come from mainstream academia instead.

In a previous post, I made the argument that one of the Christian Right's greatest achievements has been its mainstreaming of extremist views. I would make the same argument for neoliberal economics. Namely, that market fundamentalists use the ideological cover provided by mainstream economic theory to safely advocate extreme, anti-democratic ideas.

Read more below.

In 1964, Bob Dylan wrote "the times they are a'changin"; providing a sense of hope and possibility that the power rested within the hands of the people themselves. It continued the push for change, the drive to fight and the passion for revolution. In one phrase, Dylan captured the sentiment brewing in America at the time, a time that was battling systematic discrimination.

The context in which the song was written, one where change seemed imminent and on the brink, seems to have dissipated. Rather than feeling that we have the power to initiate change and collectively ignite this desire to build from the bottom up, why have so many become satisfied with the unsatisfactory, normalized by the conditions that be? We have become foreign to the idea of democracy and in doing so, have sat back and allowed for history to repeat itself...over and over again.  We are today in the same position as the farmers of the dust bowl, who were divided by the line of privilege and poverty, one that weaves through our population today.

Periodic Revolution "at least once every 20 years," is "a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."

Attributed to Thomas Jefferson.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.

John F. Kennedy

After reflecting on the paradoxes of America's birth this past the 4th of July, I was reminded by the quotes, above, attributed to two of the most celebrated American political figures.... advocating for the power of the people to hold its governing institutions accountable for our collective social welfare, political rights, and economic prosperity.

Have we become so docile that we are afraid of revolution?

Have we become so complacent that we are hostile to it?

Have we become so unimaginative that we are incapable for it?

In a recent survey conducted by  DC Vote , over 80% of polled citizens were not aware that DC residents do not have equal constitutional rights, including a vote in congress.

Today, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security voted 9-1 on the DC Voting Rights Act in favor of granting DC its first-ever voting member of Congress. All the Democrats on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted in favor of the bill (S. 1257). They were joined by three key Republicans: Senators Susan Collins (ME), Norm Coleman (MN) and George Voinovich (OH).