PALAST, KRUGMAN, GOODMAN and RHODES!

I went to an event on class warfare last night sponsored by the New York Society for Ethical Culture
http://www.nysec.org/
The 800 seat auditorium was completely sold out with an enthusiastic crowd. A funny thing: when the panelists were walking in, Paul Krugman bumped into the flagpole on the stage and the flag fell on him. I'm still trying to make up something significant, or at least witty, about that.
Amy Goodman was the moderator and made a brief statement at the beginning, starting with three Arabic names, which I knew instinctively were the names of the three Gitmo prisoners, even though I had not heard them before. Then Paul Krugman got up to speak about the way America has changed from when we were growing up. He stressed that the period after WWII was the height of the middle class and that the period we are in now is definitely resembling the Gilded Age. He spoke about the polarization of the Congress and it brought to mind a lecture I attended during my college reunion this past weekend. There was a graph showing that polarization and the lecturer said that we seem very polarized because most of us grew up in a time of a record-low polarization but that where we are today is actually not nearly as bad as the period from the 1870's to around the 20's. Anyway, Krugman ended by saying that we need a new FDR and he's wondering who that might be.
Then Palast got up to speak (Randi came in late after her broadcast) and went through some of the material in his book in his usual manic and snarky style. During the panel discussion afterward, during which they took written questions, Palast said something very important. He wanted to respond to the question prompted by Paul's comment; who will be the next FDR? He said that FDR didn't create the New Deal but that the New Deal created FDR as the president he became. He said that the New Deal actually began with the flood of New Orleans in 1927 and the populist movement created by Huey Long. FDR started with a watered down version of what Long proposed and that those in the Establishment (no accusations toward FDR)who couldn't figure out how else to shut Long up eventually shot him, as Palast expects will happen to Chavez (whom Palast respects as quite a sharp character).
Palast said that we should stop waiting for a leader to come and save us. We have to lead and then a leader will step out from behind or among us who can put our desires into law. We are asking for some serious changes and the leader who can help us get there needs to be assured of solid support to be able to stick his neck out that far.
Randi and Greg both spoke about Gore's failure to lobby the Senate for the initial stop to the 2000 election grab. Apparently Trent Lott had threatened Gore with massive retribution to the Democrats in Congress (and to Gore) if Gore allowed any challenge to gain momentum in Congress (no wonder Lott is bitter toward Bush). They were not excusing Gore, just explaining what happened. Palast has some harsh words for Gore in his book regarding NAFTA but I think he might be willing to give Gore another chance if he was the one who ended up being the leader who comes forward. I think it would be worth finding out if Gore regrets the NAFTA vote which he pushed (and, just so you know, I really like Gore).
Palast commented that the voting machine company that Chavez bought (Sequoia?) will have paper trails because it certainly matters to Chavez that the US has fair elections (that got a good laugh).
Randi had a good comment about 9/11 based on her Air Force experience; that there are protocols that launch a NORAD response when a transponder is turned off in a commercial plane and that there is NO explanation that makes sense as to why NORAD was not protecting us that morning other than gross incompetence or deliberate orders to stand down! Thank you Randi!
A wonderful time was had by all. There will be audio and video of the event from either WBAI or Democracy Now or someone else and I urge everyone to watch or listen.

and I don't want it to sink without a trace.

It's so important that we all hear about these kinds of conferences that might slip by us otherwise.

Thanks for giving it to us!

Thanks for the response. Check out the audio/video when it becomes available; it was a great discussion and I can barely do it justice.

:kick:

TC

It looks really good, judging by the clips

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/allthekingsmen/

Wonder what the repukes will say to smear it.

that he was blushing. Palast seems to be unembarrassed by anything.