My Encounter With Senator Bill Nelson

My encounter with Senator Bill Nelson Wednesday, October 31 2007 by Samm Simpson
Last Saturday I happened to see Senator Bill Nelson in the hallway at the Democratic convention in Orlando. The Saturday night dinner - which I didn't attend - had been in progress for fifteen minutes and Senator Nelson was in a side hallway, looking for an open door. Here's the exchange - to the best of my memory.

The Senator is pulling on a locked side door. I begin to speak.

"Senator Nelson, you know our occupation in Iraq has led to the death of over one million Iraqis. What are you going to do about this? We are controlled by what General Eisenhower told us about, the Military Industrial Complex. . . . it's here!"

The Senator says, "Yes it is." He walks away from the door. I follow.

"What are you going to do about it, and what about nuclear weapons in space? We have criminals running our country, Senator Nelson, they should be impeached!

The Senator smiles, begins to walk down the hall and replies, "We can't impeach the President, look who'd we get."

"I'm not talking about impeaching the President, Dennis Kucinich has a bill, H.R. 333 that will impeach Vice President Cheney. Why won't you support that?

The Senator chuckles. He does not stand still for one moment during this discourse.

I say, "Why are you laughing, this nation is in trouble!"

He dismisses my concern, does a 180 in the opposite direction and while walking away, remarks, "We're on the same side."

He speeds away, still looking for a back door entrance into the Democratic party dinner. I raised my voice as he leaves the area.

"We are not on the same side, you signed the Military Commissions Act last October, you took away the writ of habeas corpus!

The senior Florida Senator disappears. I'm assuming he found an open door leading to the Saturday night dinner at the Democratic State Convention. I'll bet they praised his presence.

Meanwhile, Baghdad burns. The Constitution lies forgotten.

"We the People" are discounted.

Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.

CodePINK Florida Sings at the Oct27 Orlando Protest

Please turn the SOUND DOWN before you check out this video - the microphone on the camera gets saturated at several points.... Tallahassee's Lydia Vickers leads the CodePINK Florida women in song at the Oct27th protest on Orlando.

Corproate Media Censors October 27th Protests

War Protests: Why No Coverage?
By Jerry Lanson Christian Science Monitor Tuesday 30 October 2007

Newspapers have a duty to inform citizens about such democratic events.

Boston - Coordinated antiwar protests in at least 11 American cities this weekend raised anew an interesting question about the nature of news coverage: Are the media ignoring rallies against the Iraq war because of their low turnout or is the turnout dampened by the lack of news coverage?

I find it unsettling that I even have to consider the question.

That most Americans oppose the war in Iraq is well established. The latest CBS News poll, in mid-October, found 26 percent of those polled approved of the way the president is handling the war and 67 percent disapproved. It found that 45 percent said they'd only be willing to keep large numbers of US troops in Iraq "for less than a year." And an ABC News-Washington Post poll in late September found that 55 percent felt Democrats in Congress had not gone far enough in opposing the war.

Granted, neither poll asked specifically about what this weekend's marchers wanted: An end to congressional funding for the war. Still, poll after poll has found substantial discontent with a war that ranks as the preeminent issue in the presidential campaign.

Given that context, it seems remarkable to me that in some of the 11 cities in which protests were held - Boston and New York, for example - major news outlets treated this "National Day of Action" as though it did not exist. As far as I can tell, neither The New York Times nor The Boston Globe had so much as a news brief about the march in the days leading up to it. The day after, The Times, at least in its national edition, totally ignored the thousands who marched in New York and the tens of thousands who marched nationwide. The Globe relegated the news of 10,000 spirited citizens (including me) marching through Boston's rain-dampened streets to a short piece deep inside its metro section. A single sentence noted the event's national context.

As a former newspaper editor, I was most taken aback by the silence beforehand. Surely any march of widespread interest warrants a brief news item to let people know that the event is taking place and that they can participate. It's called "advancing the news," and it has a time-honored place in American newsrooms.

With prescient irony, Frank Rich wrote in his Oct. 14 Times column, "We can continue to blame the Bush administration for the horrors of Iraq.... But we must also examine our own responsibility." And, he goes on to suggest, we must examine our own silence.

So why would Mr. Rich's news colleagues deprive people of information needed to take exactly that responsibility?

I'm not suggesting here that the Times or any news organization should be in collusion with a movement - pro-war or antiwar, pro-choice or pro-life, pro-government or pro-privatization.

I am suggesting that news organizations cover the news - that they inform the public about any widespread effort to give voice to those who share a widely held view about any major national issue.

If it had been a pro-war group that had organized a series of support marches this weekend, I'd have felt the same way. Like the National Day of Action, their efforts would have been news - news of how people can participate in a democracy overrun with campaign platitudes and big-plate fundraisers, news that keeps democracy vibrant, news that keeps it healthy.

Joseph Pulitzer, the editor and publisher for whom the highest honor in journalism is named, understood this well. In May 1904, he wrote: "Our Republic and its press rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press ... can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery.... The power to mould the future of the Republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations."

It's time for the current generation of journalists - at times seemingly obsessed with Martha Stewart, O.J. Simpson, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and the like - to use that power more vigilantly, and more firmly, with the public interest in mind.

--------
Jerry Lanson is a professor of journalism at Emerson College in Boston.

h/t T O via MFSO-FL...

Fascism in Fantasyland - John Russell Booted From FL Dem Convention

On October 27, 2007, John Russell went to the Peace Rally in Orlando, then he went to the annual Florida Democratic Party Convention. John ... all » walked in the door carrying John Edwards signs and said hello to the people at Clint Curtis' table. The two women at the next table said that they were also Edwards supporters, that they were covering up their table, and that he could put some signs there. John introduced himself to them, and one immediately took off to get Mitch Kates.

Mitch came right back, shoved John, and said, "Why are you here. You weren't invited. You have to leave." John asked why, and then the women said that he was putting stuff on their table without their permission. John immediately removed the signs.

Mitch’s physical attack would likely have continued, but Mitch realized that John had supporters with him and that he was on camera. So, Mitch took his overly aggressive behavior down a couple of notches. Obviously, the FDP leadership had planned to exclude John if he showed up at the convention as John did not do anything to cause any disturbance. In fact, he was relatively calm after being pushed hard enough that many people would have struck back.

The FDP leadership knew that others were going to try to remove Karen Thurman as chair. Apparently, Thurman and her supporters did not want John there also calling for her removal. Rather than debate the merits of her leadership, or lack thereof, force was used to silence Russell, one of Thurman’s critics. No wonder Thurman also voted for the infamous “Patriot” Act and the authorization for Bush to use force to start the unconstitutional wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, Thurman also takes money directed to her from Republican lobbyists. Once again, it’s time for a change in the leadership of the Florida Democratic Party, unless you want more of the same.

The full version of the Fascism in Fantasyland video can be seen here.

For more information see:

The video of John Russell asking Karen Thurman about the Miami Herald article.

Michael Collins’ article on Scoop - Florida Citizens Versus Party Insiders

Mike Gravel at the Oct. 27th Orlando Protest

Mike Gravel at the Oct. 27th Orlando Protest - Some videos of his radio interview and a partial transcript of his comments at the protest rally...
On the Iraq War and Oil


On the National Initiative...

partial transcript of speech at the protest, big H/t to Eileen Fleming for Gravel's comments (and ADS for pointing the way)...

"You bet I am angry! If you have a heart you would be angry too!...It boggles the mind how one human being can kill and dismember another's body and Congress sits in their air conditioned office and says it's just Foreign Policy [when] its murder!

"Our education system is in the toilet, our tax system is corrupt and our infrastructure is tumbling and we consume more energy than anybody else! The U.S.A., the great free country has imprisoned six times per capita more than Hitler had in prison in 1938!

"I don't have any power now; I don't know if there was a conspiracy in 9/11, but if I am elected president I will use subpoena powers and have a Commission [to investigate] and will put their butts in jail for perjury! Bush, Cheney and all down the line- we should be impeaching them right now! We made a mistake when I was young by not putting Nixon in jail!

"Do you know that the Minutemen were insurgents? Insurgents are those that fight for their country! 80% of Iraqis want us to leave! I offered a proposal to Congress-a way to get out of Iraq; all we need is leadership! Hillary Clinton is Bush light and is bought lock stock and barrel by the Industrial Military Complex!"

Mike Gravel really is the Rocky of the 2008 race, t'aint he?

Thousands Expected In Orlando For Oct27th Protest

Thousands Expected As Orlando Joins 10 U.S. Cities Mobilizing to End the War in Iraq

WHEN: Saturday, October 27, 2007 12:30 pm – 4:00 pm

WHERE: Rally at Lake Eola (NE corner). 3 mile march from Robinson to Parramore to Church St to Orange Ave to Central and returning to Eola Drive & Robinson.

On October 27, thousands of people from all walks of life will take to the streets in Orlando and 10 other cities as they host regional marches and rallies to end the War in Iraq and prevent new wars. The event in Orlando is expected to be the largest peace rally ever held in Florida. Local organizers from a variety of groups are working together to host the October 27 march, which is welcoming participants from throughout Florida and the greater Southeast.

Speakers Include:
Michael Albert - activist, author of "From SDS to Life After Capitalism" & founder of Z-Magazine
Lucas Benitez - Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Debra Booth - AFL-CIO & Central Florida Labor Council
Scott Camil - Veteran for Peace
Michael Canney - Green Party of Florida, Co-Chair
maTT De Vlieger - SDS @ UCF (M.C. of the day)
Denise Diaz - Central Florida Jobs with Justice
Sen. Mike Gravel - Anti-war Candidate for President '08
Clifton Hicks - Iraq veteran against the war (IVAW)
Jesse Kern - Veterans for Peace (Korean War Veteran)
?Congressman Dennis Kucinich - Presidential Candidate for Peace '08
Omar Masri - Speaker from UFPJ Steering Committee
Peg McIntire (97yo) - Grandparents for Peace, St. Augustine
David Rucker - Metropolitan Democratic Black Caucus & former President of the Orange County NAACP
Bruce Wright - St. Pete for Peace
Lydia Vickers - CodePink

What you need to know: Rally starts at 12:30 and the march will begin nearly an hour later. Our main speakers will address us before and after the march. There will be water distributed before and during the march. There are bathrooms at the rally site and businesses along the way. Please help distribute flyers until the day of the event. You can find them and all the other resources you'll need below. Please consider holding a streetside solidarity protest in your community before the OCT27 rally in Orlando, to stir up interest and invite people who may not otherwise know. Leafletting to pedestrians and drivers has been very successful for us in Orlando. We plan to hold our next streetside protest soon. You should begin organizing yours.

Important Resources for Oct 27:

For a copy of the press release, click here:

For a map of parking arrangements, click here:

For a map of the march route, click here:

For full page and ¼ page flyers, click here:

For ½ page flyers in Spanish, click here:

For a list of endorsers, click here:

To retrieve a letter to endorse officially, click here:

To add your group as an endorser on the website, click here:

To post an offer or request for housing, click here:

To post an offer or request for a ride, click here:

To volunteer. click here:

For information on Lake Eola Park, click here:

See you soon!!
--
Be Well,
maTT de vlieger
actlikematt@gmail.com
954.536.7461