In the area of security cooperation, the President and the Prime Minister agreed that improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals -- such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.
"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said.
(Update: I have the whole speech text in Update IV)
[Obama Comments in Update V)
Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace.
I think I've heard everything sometimes, but this is something new.
TPM reports that McCain's campaign is comparing Obama to Bush!
"I think the American people have had enough of inflexibility and stubbornness in national security policy," Scheunemann said. When asked later by the Huffington Post's Sam Stein whether the campaign was disparaging President Bush, Scheunemann dug in: "We cannot afford to replace one administration that refused for too long to acknowledge failure in Iraq with a candidate that refuses to acknowledge success in Iraq."
I gave Barack Obama $25 today. Why does that matter? Because I maxed out for Edwards and had not contributed to Obama yet.
Why did I do it?
I'm still pissed about his move to the right the last few weeks. I'm not happy with his FISA vote. I'm not disillusioned, because I never was illusioned. During the primary I saw him as slightly left of center. I still do, and "slightly left" seemed to be overstating it lately.
I am a progressive populist and clearly to the left of Obama. Many of us here are. And he needs to know there is a left in this nation. We matter, because we often are right, morally and pragmatically.
McCain always has been worse, but that's not why I gave. It's because of something positive Obama did. Today, I saw the 2002 Obama whom I liked when I first heard about him in his Illinois race for the senate. The one who understands there are limits to the American Empire, the one who may not be fully comfortable with Empire. That's real hope.
He was right on many things today in his speech. Come around, after the fold, and I'll explain why I gave and what I like.
I just got back from vacation and saw an email from the United Farm Workers, part of which I quote below:
Ramiro Carillo was the fourth farm worker in the last two weeks to die of heat stroke and the second this week alone!
Ramiro Carrillo Rodriguez, 48, father of two, died in Selma, CA on Thursday afternoon after working all day for Sun Valley Packing in Reedley thru a farm labor contractor.
snip
42 year-old farm worker Abdon Felix Garcia, father of three, died on Wednesday after spending the morning and early afternoon working for Sunview Vineyards in Arvin. The coroner says Felix's body core temperature was measured at 108 degrees just 13 minutes before his death.
64 year-old Jose Macarena Hernandez died during a record-breaking heat wave on June 20 while harvesting butternut squash in Santa Maria on land owned by Sunrise Growers.
People keep dying and few give a shit. I'm pissed off and you should be also.
Russ Feingold and DFA have a petition we should all sign. DFA will deliver the petitions to every Senator on Tuesday morning, right before the expected vote.
I stand united with Senator Feingold and opposed to the so-called FISA compromise bill. Any bill that untimately grants retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that helped President Bush spy on Americans must not pass. Vote No. Support a filibuster. I am depending on you to stop this bill.
I see that a celebrity from cable TV is leading the Rec List today with an attack on Glenn Greenwald. In the interest of discourse and pluralism, I include part of Mr. Greenwald's response to Mr. Olbermann, and a link to his full response in this diary.
I have no doubt that some will attack me for presenting a view contrary to the views presented by the cable TV celebrity. But the FISA bill matters. The Constitution matters. My own self respect and nearly 40 years of fighting for progressive change require me to provide this to those who wish to hear.
I understand Olbermann says: "I don't know much about Mr. Greenwald and I didn't read his full piece." Yes, Keith Olbermann is quite a celebrity. So fucking what that he does not know Greenwald!
Many here, including Markos, consider Greenwald an excellent progressive. I first saw Greenwald's work being quoted by Markos here. Now Markos may [or may not] disagree with Greenwald on this issue, and either position's fine.
I'm about principles, not persons. I don't even have cable TV and rarely see Mr. Olbermann. Please forgive me if I fail to genuflect to him and his ideas, just because they are from him and he is a celebrity.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced this evening that he will vote against the compromise FISA legislation and work with likeminded colleagues to strip immunity for telecom firms from that bill.
It is a position that puts the Democratic Senate leader at odds with his own party's presumptive presidential nominee, Barack Obama, who also has pledged to fight for the removal of immunity but will vote yes on the final package.
Today, the New York Times reports that the military exercise Israel performed a few weeks ago looks like a "rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities."
More tidings of possible war, and why Obama, while perhaps not perfect, is far better than McCain on this, after the fold.
For those of you who do not know what Juneteenth is, I'll have a little history for you after the fold.
As of June 2008, 29 states and the District of Columbia have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday or state holiday observance; these include Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming
In the year in which an African American candidate was nominated by the Democratic Party, which prior to the Civil War was a party complicit with slavery, the Juneteenth celebration this year is particularly special.
Rudy has been taking pot shots at Barack Obama lately for McCain, claiming that "Barack Obama appears to believe that terrorists should be treated like criminals -- a belief that underscores his fundamental lack of judgment regarding our national security."
Back in 1994 when terrorists who did the first attack on the World Trade Center were convicted, he said the complete opposite:
the verdict "demonstrates that New Yorkers won't meet violence with violence, but with a far greater weapon -- the law."
Yesterday, Barack Obama stood up for our Constitution.
Today, the demogogue running as the prospective Republican nominee struck back:
"Once again, we have seen that Senator Obama is a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mindset," McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann said.
Yesterday, John Edwards appeared on "This Week" interview with George Stephanopoulos as a "surrogate" for Barack Obama and his campaign. In a nine minute plus interview, John Edwards hit hard on McCain.
The big news, of course, was John Edwards saying that he was not ruling out completely running as Vice President if Obama chose him. I wrote about that yesterday:
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the tragic and preventable death of 17-year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez. She died from heat stroke while laboring in a Stockton area vineyard when the company failed to provide her with the shade and water required by California law. Her body temperature was 108.4 degrees when she was finally taken to a hospital nearly two hours after she collapsed. Doctors found after her death that she was two months pregnant.
To date no one from the companies involved has had the decency to express condolences to Maria's family.
snip
We want to let Maria’s family know that people from all over North America care about this tragedy—that people from all walks of life and of all backgrounds recognize the value of Maria’s life and death. Tell the family that you share the sorrow of Maria’s death and pledge to do what you can, so other farm worker families do not have to endure the same agony.
Now, the United Farm Workers are asking people to sign a condolance card to her family.
Today, I have good news. A panel of the California Court of Appeal ordered the Cintas Corporation to pay more than $1.18 million in back wages and interest to hundreds of Northern California workers for violating the city of Hayward’s Living Wage Ordinance. This judgment likely is the largest living wage award in U.S. history.
"Cintas had a moral and legal obligation to pay workers a living wage, but they ignored it." says UNITE HERE General President Bruce Raynor. "The company would rather fight workers tooth and nail than pay them what they deserve."
Labor union officials and some liberal activists were seething Tuesday over Barack Obama's choice of centrist economist Jason Furman as the top economic advisor for the campaign.
The critics say Furman, who was appointed to the post Monday, has overstated the potential benefits of globalization, Social Security private accounts and the low prices offered by Wal-Mart -- considered a corporate pariah by the labor movement.
We all support Obama against McCain. And many of us support the labor movement also. Our support of Obama is not the kind of support that believes he can do no wrong: that's for those who support Bush.
Labor leaders are rightly critical of Obama's choice of Jason Furman as the economic policy director. While I continue to support Obama and work for his election, I must speak out here. This is the wrong direction.
