If Dennis Kucinich is silenced, who will tell America.....

*that Single Payer Universal HealthCare is not only possible, but cheaper.

*that "For Profit" HealthCare is obscene

*that Mandatory Health Insurance is NOT REALLY Universal HealthCare

*that the Democratic Party and American taxpayers should NOT be forced to subsidize some of the richest CEOs in history by subsidizing the HealthCare Insurance Corps and HMOs.

*that the USA SHOULD give the Imperial Palace (Green Zone) back to the Iraqis, close the permanent bases, expel all Corporate Consultants, withdraw ALL US Troops, and begin paying reparations NOW.

*that redeploying some troops at some future date is a PRO-WAR position.

*that the "Oil Law Benchmark" supported by the Democratic Party is a War Crime

*That we can have election accountability with "Paper Ballots publicly hand counted at the precinct".

*that we CAN cut $Billions$ from the Defense Budget

*that the RICHEST Corporations in history do NOT need $Billions$ in welfare subsidies

*that NAFTA (Free Trade) has not been a good thing for Americans who have to work for a living

*that Impeachment is not optional, our reps are SWORN to protect The Constitution

*that the USA should join the rest of the civilized World in banning Land Mines

*that the USA should join the rest of the civilized World participating in the International Criminal Court.



Who will tell the truth to America if DK is kicked off the Democratic stage? :shrug:

Dennis Kucinich's voice is one of the few reasons I am still in the Democratic Party.


I am sorely disappointed that the three "Media Endorsed" candidates failed to stand with DK, or even mention that he had been removed from Las Vegas debates against his protests.



The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

I thought you had switched to Edwards.

:shrug:

are starting to channel Edwards.

Funny how that works when a guy is speaking the truth to power.

He is my compromise candidate and I support him 100%, but I will always love Kooch.
I proudly stood for Kucinich in the Minnesota 2004 caucus.
And I proudly stand with him today in his battle against the powers that would silence him.
I am completely aligned with Kucinich on the Issues. His VOICE is my VOICE.
I will NEVER quietly allow Kucinich to be silenced.

I am disappointed in the three candidates who betrayed Kucinich and the Democratic Party last night.
I am especially disappointed in John Edwards who missed a wonderful opportunity to point out exactly HOW the MegaCorporations/Media are controlling our government.



I am strategically supporting Edwards because he is offering some of the things I want, and Progressives stand a REAL chance of gaining some ground with Edwards in 2008. I feel that my time and money is better spent taking a chance on some of the things I want and possibly changing the direction and Powerstructure of the Democratic party than to futility curse the darkness and allow the government to default to BIG Corpo candidates.

although I cannot get past his persuasive arguments for the Iraq invasion knowing the intelligence was not up to date...then not reading the hastily prepared report. And then saying he did read the report and back peddling when questioned further.


At least for me there are several instances where a red flag is raised that makes me doubt his judgment in critical times (the Iraq invasion arguments based on older intel), his sincerity and the promises he makes. Also I believe that his health care plan could severely delay and/or hurt the push for single-payer insurance and feel that time is not on our side. See part of linked post at the bottom.


"I am strategically supporting Edwards because he is offering some of the things I want, and Progressives stand a REAL chance of gaining some ground with Edwards in 2008. I feel that my time and money is better spent taking a chance on some of the things I want and possibly changing the direction and Powerstructure of the Democratic party than to futility curse the darkness and allow the government to default to BIG Corpo candidates.'

If I believed in him then I would agree with your statement above, there were several times when Edwards could have agreed with Kucinich during the earlier debates to highlight certain issues, accountability for this administration, privatization of Iraq Oil and Bush's war drums against Iran. He stayed silent, Dennis was allowed to remain the outsider, instead of Edwards using his voice to, at the very least, throw a few bones and lend credibility to the issues Dennis was raising. In essence Dennis was paving a path on some some serious, controversial and current injustices (the Iraq Oil Law & Iran), Edwards chose not to join him. Those inactions spoke to me as well.

Last night Chuck Todd praised Edwards "He was the heart and guts of the debate" this after Todd notified Kucinich a few days earlier that the rules for his inclusion were being altered and he was no longer invited. Again it gives me pause and makes me wonder just who is a threat to the big corporations. I hope we take a few steps forward, as I did in 2006, although for the few reasons stated above I have serious doubts. There are other reasons as well.

:shrug:

Thanks for the detailed and courteous reply and for supporting Dennis in 2004. I did not, our primary always came so late that many candidates were out by then. Since many states have moved their dates forward this year there are a greater number of people who have a chance to vote for the issues they support, so that is what I'll do. Besides I really never heard much about Dennis the last election, the little that may have seeped into my mind was that he was so far to the left I did not even look. The power of the media!

Again thanks :) :)


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2687915&mesg_id=2689588

By that time we'll be in such bad shape IMO, according to some
reports those eligible for Medicare will double in less than 20 years.

At the same time SS will need to be funded (2013-2017) because they spent the Two Plus Trillion dollars extra that the baby boomers had paid into the system since the 1980's SS overhaul.

Add in the health care costs of returning vets which will be massive, more soldiers are living, but they will have very high care costs for years to come.

Trade deficits, loss of manufacturing, resources being depleted etc.

We need to start building that not for profit system now, it will take years to do.

Couldn't one of the three puppets been brave and decent for a moment and complained about the censorship (through absence) of Kucinich?


Guess not.

...to the degree that the American public is permitted to get to know Kucinich and what he stands for, he becomes a real threat to the Ruling Class -- and they can and will preempt this threat.

:thumbsup:

Doesn't mean that he can't get his message out. The marketplace of ideas. What a concept.

Bake

The media is a monopoly. Monopolies limit one's ability to access product variety. The electronic media is the boob tube and the greatest influence in our information society. Nothing else compares. A rigged marketplace by tycoons who only want you to hear what they want you to hear. Why else would they be sacking news rooms as fast as Detroit is divesting itself of auto production.

We won't vote for a lesser candidate. These debates have denegrated to issuelesss speeches. As someone said, Networks get bored with issues/ We are staying to Kucinich all the way. The candidates say nothing, that way we can't hold them accountable.
***
Debate: Without Kucinich, Democrats Agree on Iraq
By Matt Renner
t r u t h o u t | Report
**

Las Vegas, Nevada - At Tuesday's Las Vegas Democratic debate, the top three contenders for the Democratic nomination did not differentiate themselves on Iraq policy. All said they all would begin a limited withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, but with their opportunity to discuss Iraq limited by the debate organizers, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards spent only a few minutes on what may be the most difficult issue they will deal with if elected.
**
The two-hour conversational debate had a much different flavor than the past Democratic forums. After a slew of questions about the recent racially charged fighting between the Clinton and Obama campaigns, the debate seemed to focus mostly on areas of agreement between the candidates, with some exceptions, like the use of nuclear power and the type of leadership each candidate would bring to the Oval Office
**
The debate began with questions targeting the recent dust-up between the Clinton and Obama campaigns regarding comments made at a Clinton campaign event by Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, that alluded to Obama's past drug use, and the work of Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson in bringing about the Civil Rights act, a keystone achievement of the civil rights movement. The race issues brought up by the moderators made everyone on stage uncomfortable; the moderators looked like they were holding their breath in anticipation of every answer

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011608I.shtml


( Did not miss a thing.)

.

In response to the OP thread title/question: Edwards, Obama, Clinton (in that order).

Edwards seems to be positioning himself to acquire Kucinich votes (on the many serious questions listed in the OP). Obama seems to be positioning himself to acquire Edwards votes (once the mainstream media finishes off Kucinich and focuses on finishing off Edwards). Clinton seems to be positioning herself to acquire Obama votes once she takes the Nomination.

I am not saying I think that is a good thing, or even an accurate assessment. It simply seems that way to me.

Why am I still here? Dean taking the DNC chair. How it happened. Why it happened. What seems to be happening since it happened.

H.R. 1955: Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007

Info here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4071912&mesg_id=4086972

...after the race, however, one way or another, he will not do a damn THING.

M$M RULEZ!!! ALL HAIL THE HYPNOTOAD!!!

http://userpic.livejournal.com/51830088/605500

Without Kucinich or Gravel in the "debate" last night, we had three variations on the same theme. :shrug: Someone needs to be telling the truth to America in the damn debates -- lord knows the Big Three weren't doing a whole lot of that...

Dennis Kucinich's voice is the only reason I am still in the Democratic Party.

sadly

people cant read that list and compare it with their candidats stance/votes/rehtoric and see what a true progressive is. If they did they would see clearly kucinich has us in his mind and heart.

oh and for those who say kucinich is just grandstanding or playing a game i ask you. Why are your candidates not addressing all of these issues?

:cry:

I agree with everything you said, especially this "Dennis Kucinich's voice is one of the few reasons I am still in the Democratic Party."

The Democratic Party is becoming a empty shell.

the U.S. could easily cut the "defense" budget in half . . . and if we stopped the practice of starting foreign wars and occupations, we could do even more . . . right now, the U.S. "defense" budget is the world's largest ATM for corporations . . .

and INCREASE Defense Spending.
I'm not sure where Edwards stands on Defense Spending.

so neither one is on my radar screen.

*snip

(Democratic Leadership Council on a conference call today told reporters they’re “very happy about the two candidates” Americans are considering…I think in the end, Senator Obama’s appeal that he’s made very firmly and directly to independent voters, and Senator Clinton’s appeal to the forgotten middle class are going to add up to a very smashing Democratic majority in the fall.”…)

*snip

(During the rest of the call, the two men (Al From & Harold Ford Jr) said they were pleased that none of the Democratic candidates supports a single-payer health care system, that they are all taking the environment seriously, and that they’re focusing on national security — a strength that Mr. From admits, “we’ve not always had.”)

snip*

Since the media has pretty successfully negated the Kucinich candidacy with barely so much as a whimper from those claiming to be "progressives", then I guess that leaves Edwards who seems to be staying alive by co-opting many of Kucinich's positions as his own of late. In fact, Edwards supporters seem to cheer the loudest whenever he channels the Kucinich message. It's of course a shame that they could never find their way to support the true source of that populist message they love so much, but that's a discussion for another time.

While in my heart I find it difficult at best to believe that Edwards has truly changed his stripes from the DC insider he conspired to be during his Senate term, he has no doubt been at least influenced by the Kucinich campaign and is "talking the talk" even if it is nothing more than campaign rhetoric, at least it gets aired.

The biggest advantage to the Edwards campaign from my viewpoint is that he is being shunned by the DLC this go-round (the enemy of my enemy is my ???) so that in itself is causing me to think once again about a candidacy I had written off from the get go.

Let me be clear, as a resident of NC I felt betrayed by Edwards as our Senator, and in truth his hardest work seemed to be in trying to become one of "the good ol' boys", and his support for the war and the Patriot Act were blatant betrayals of the publics trust in him, although like I said at the time he was working to be "an insider" more than anything else so I suppose he felt those actions would benefit him amongst the "in-crowd". It is clear he would not have been reelected to a second term in this State.

Regardless, in considering (once again) the lesser of three evils, I guess I would have to concede that perhaps Edwards is that "lesser" candidate.

"On January 13 an emerging Sunni-Shiite nationalist bloc in Iraq signed a groundbreaking agreement aimed at ending Iraq's civil war, blocking the privatization of Iraq's oil industry and checkmating the breakaway Kurdish state. It's a big step forward, and it could change the face of Iraqi politics in 2008..."


posted here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2702613


If we think Iraq and their resources belong to the people then now is the time for Dennis, he is the only candidate that shares those sentiments and will tell the truth.

As he says it would be a whole new direction.

Who coulda guessed?

The "Oil Law" was the #1 "Benchmark" demanded by the USA....and yet, the USA (including Hillary) continue to insult the Iraqi Parliament because they are dragging their feet!!!

This is also the reason behind Hillary and Obama's murky position on the withdrawal of American Troops. They both say that some "Combat Troops" must stay in Iraq "to protect American interests".
Anyone want to guess what those "American Interests" are?

which is another reason I trust him more than the top three and one reason I'm staying with him.

Silence can sometimes speak volumes :)

Senator John Edwards Addresses the Council on Foreign Relations

Senator John Edwards, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, gave this May 2007 speech, entitled "A Strong Military for a New Century," at the Council on Foreign Relations.

http://www.cfr.org/publication/13432/

"...We must be clear about when it is appropriate for a commander-in-chief to use force. As president, I will only use offensive force after all other options including diplomacy have been exhausted, and after we have made efforts to bring as many countries as possible to our side.

However, there are times when force is justified: to protect our vital national interests...to respond to acts of aggression by other nations and non-state actors...to protect treaty allies and alliance commitments...to prevent terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons...and to prevent or stop genocide..."

It's sad how power and greed trump humanity. :cry:

Why do the Democratic 'frontrunners' fear the truth?

:kick: