You'll fit in just fine.

I'm Brendan and I'm from the greater Los Angeles area. I used to be a member of the old message boards - I'm so not in the loop with what happened to Randi - and now I've joined the new one.

I started listening to Randi on Sirius Radio back in the fall of '04. Finally, I thought, someone out there thinks like I do. Once the elections were over and it became apparent that W was going to keep his job, I was shocked. But I kept listening....for a while.

Now I like listening to Randi like most of the folks here, but I do have one small problem with her. She talks too much about herself. It's like suddenly she realized she was becoming a public personality nationwide and her ego grew a bit.

Don't get me wrong. I still listen to her. I still agree with much of what she says. But when she goes off about the Joan Jett concert or whatever, I switch stations. I don't listen to her to hear about her escapades. I listen to hear about politics.

So...sorry, Randi, but you are now #2 behind Thom Hartmann on my list of best progressive talk radio hosts (or, as appropriate, hostesses).

More about myself...I'm a former Republican (left in '97) and current Independent. I tend to agree with progressives much more than I used to, but that's because I think the paradigm has shifted.

My presidential voting record: George H W Bush in '88...Perot in '92...Dole in '96...Gore in '00...Kerry in '04...and if I had it my way, I'd be voting for John Edwards instead of Barack Obama this time around. Score card thus far....2 Repubs, 2 Dems, and 1 Independent. Dems will take the lead simply because, once again, I simply cannot vote Republican. What has become of that Party, anyhow? Wow.

I'm a truck driver, an aspiring fiction writer, and an in home nurse for my disabled wife of 13 years (which pretty much precludes much driving these days).

Good luck to Obama in the coming election. It looks like we'll take it this time. But...that's what I thought last time. So please, do not take this thing for granted. I know many think Obama is a lock. Remember the past two 'elections' and get out and vote!

Brendan

Hartmann REALLY seems to get under the skin of some folks with his frequent visits/debates with righty personalities, and I've never understood why it bugs them so. I mean, I guess I'd see the problem if Hartmann were not capable of applying facts to their arguments, telling the REST of the story, and so forth. But my perception is that, no matter how vociferous or prominent that guest is, Hartmann typically has little trouble with pointing out the fallacies.

It does boggle the mind the way the guy can talk about virtually anything and recall the names of 2-3 books on the subject, and name their authors, then compare and contrast their works, and he does this off the cuff as a subject is mentioned during a call. Hell, I'm reading a book right now and keep forgetting both the title and the author's name. The idea of carrying a card catalog file in my head the way he does is just spooky.

Hi.

As I'm sure you can tell, on this board I go by Hardball. Those of you who have ever used the Mike Malloy message board:

http://www.mikemalloy.com/board/index.php

Know me as Bryan

and anybody who trolls on Human Events may catch me posing as Joey Fatone, canvassing for Bob Barr.

Too funny

Nice.... Fixed My Avatar.... Sweet

Hello All,

Today, Randi said that she will be in Seattle on Aug 16th. Does anybody know where she is appearing? I see she was at Hempfest in 2006, so I'm guessing that's what it is. I went to the Hempfest site, however no updated speaker list has been posted. If any moderators or other insiders might know I'd greatly appricate the info.

Hi all, I'm Lisen and probably considered new to most board members here, even though I've been around since the Malloy days!

About 5 km South of where I live, on the 49° parallel stands the beautiful Peace Arch monument, built by Sam Hill and dedicated in September of 1921.
The Peace Arch monument is built on the exact United States – Canada boundary, between Interstate 5 and Highway 99, in the grass median between the northbound and southbound lanes. The inscription on the U.S. side of the Peace Arch reads "Children of a common mother", and the words on the Canadian side read "Brethren dwelling together in unity". Within the arch, each side has an iron gate hinged on either side of the border with an inscription above reading "May these gates never be closed".

The Peace Arch Monument:

Hi...my name is Steve. Lawyer from New York. Randi and I bantered about "ex post facto" quite a bit once. You may remember me. If not...well...READ YOUR CONSTITUTION!!!

Hello, I'm paracelsus. I was swiss and the first person to theorize that all substances are poisons.

Hi Everyone!!!

It is really great to be with like-minded people who have a firm understanding of subject-verb agreement. That pretty much leaves George Bush out, eh?

We live in a country now where we honestly have to think in advance about what we might say during a telephone conversation with our friends. The Nazi's could only have dreamt about the tools and rescources these assholes have to monitor our activities, hear our conversations, view our bank accounts, whatever they want to do.

Everytime they clearly break a law, the Pussycrats in Congress let them get away with it.

I have pretty much about had it. I own a house in Michoacan, Mexico, and I have enough in the bank to last my family and I a few years until we find work. If McCain steals, er...., I mean wins the election in Novemeber, I might have to move to a place where at least the corruption is small scale and straight forward.

God Bless America! In fact, He can have it!!!!!!

Hi i'm Chris

I'm from Upstate New York

I've been able to post so much (not that that's a bad thing LOL) due to the fact that i've been on administrative leave for approx 6 months and I have been sittiing around waiting for the arbitration process to play
out it's a job I've had since my early 20's and i've had it for 13 yrs, and if I lose I'm done
anyways i talk too much

my hearing is in August

hopefully justice prevails but ya never know

It's been fun to actually participate on this board ,my second time around

Luv ya all

Hi all![/size]

[size="3"]Although new to the message board, I have enjoyed Randi’s insight for several years.
Her accent is nostalgic, since I’m a displaced New Yorker living in Huntington, WV.

I am a portrait artist and work at home in my studio where I have to stream Randi’s show.
That is the only way I can hear it. ….
Saved my sanity - (maybe) - being able to listen to progressive talk.

Last election, they slapped a posted note on my back; labeled me a democrat.
I’m an outcast!

You can see my artwork if you would like


http://mysite.verizon.net/woodlomond/

Hi all!

Although new to the message board, I have enjoyed Randi’s insight for several years.
Her accent is nostalgic, since I’m a displaced New Yorker living in Huntington, WV.

I am a portrait artist and work at home in my studio where I have to stream Randi’s show.
That is the only way I can hear it. ….
Saved my sanity - (maybe) - being able to listen to progressive talk.

Last election, they slapped a posted note on my back; labeled me a democrat.
I’m an outcast!

You can see my artwork if you would like


http://mysite.verizon.net/woodlomond/

Hey. Lue. Welcome.

Funny about the accent - it really turned me OFF of Randi for the longest time. I just couldn't listen to that. Midwestern born and raised, it was just too foreign and harsh to me. Then one day I just realized I was listening and it had stopped hitting me so "wrong." I can't say it's now endeared to me, it's still no "radio voice." But I simply don't notice it most of the time, and she uses it well for some of her jokes.

Remember, try not to take what folks here say too personally. I think that's what takes some newcomers a bit aback. It's the internet, and so each of us is much smarter, tougher, able to read minds and quicker to criticize than the vast majority of us would EVER be in person. (Except me - I'm pretty nasty in person, too).

Anyway, welcome.

b

Sorry about the double post!
I am a newbe, hope that gives me a free pass this time.
Thank you for the welcome, b

Hi everyone! I am not big on introductions, all there is really about me is that I am a full time working mom of two active school-aged boys (who are both now playing video games) and that most of my spare money has been going to donations for Obama and other Democratic candidates. One of my friends is running (non-partisan race) for school board in my county, and we need change because our school system here needs BIG TIME help.

In my free time, which I don't have much of lol!!! I like to sing, cook, hike, and go to wine tastings with friends and co-workers. Ok so I guess that makes me a wine-drinking liberal lol! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Randi and I stream her show at work and listen to it on the way too and from work and dropping kids off at summer camp/school on XM. It sucks that we don't have a regular radio station in Tampa that carries liberal talk! Now that I found Randi's message board, I might have found a new hobby.

Hope to pop in and out of here when I have a free momemnt, whatever that is! lol!


Ahhh I like the doggy, so I'm going to use the doggy as my Avatar because he is cute and we have a dog too. Woof! lol

welcome

Welcome tampamomof2, may I call you tmom for short? We have a lot of fun and a lot of serious here. Just jump in where ever you feel the urge.

Thank you! Tmom is fine, hey, that's cute! Thanks for the warm welcome.

I'm Jen. You could consider me a new Randi Rhodes Fan, I've been listening for about a year now.
I grew up in Washington State, near Seattle. Now I live in Vancouver, B.C. and in the Canadian immigration process. I still got my U.S. voting rights though and like to keep involved in and informed of the political climate of the U.S.
Lucky for me I found Randi and her message board

Welcome Jen..... I live in the Seattle burbs. If you can, I implore you to vote in the US this November.

Hola Tmom....

It make no sense that you can't get Randi in Tampa. Anyway welcome to the zoo.

Already voted in the primaries! I was relieved that they took out that silly rule of having to vote in a declared party. I like my independence.

I Am Joaquin
by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales


Yo soy Joaquín,
perdido en un mundo de confusión:
I am Joaquín, lost in a world of confusion,
caught up in the whirl of a gringo society,
confused by the rules, scorned by attitudes,
suppressed by manipulation, and destroyed by modern society.
My fathers have lost the economic battle
and won the struggle of cultural survival.
And now! I must choose between the paradox of
victory of the spirit, despite physical hunger,
or to exist in the grasp of American social neurosis,
sterilization of the soul and a full stomach.
Yes, I have come a long way to nowhere,
unwillingly dragged by that monstrous, technical,
industrial giant called Progress and Anglo success....
I look at myself.
I watch my brothers.
I shed tears of sorrow. I sow seeds of hate.
I withdraw to the safety within the circle of life --
MY OWN PEOPLE
I am Cuauhtémoc, proud and noble,
leader of men, king of an empire civilized
beyond the dreams of the gachupín Cortés,
who also is the blood, the image of myself.
I am the Maya prince.
I am Nezahualcóyotl, great leader of the Chichimecas.
I am the sword and flame of Cortes the despot
And I am the eagle and serpent of the Aztec civilization.
I owned the land as far as the eye
could see under the Crown of Spain,
and I toiled on my Earth and gave my Indian sweat and blood
for the Spanish master who ruled with tyranny over man and
beast and all that he could trample
But...THE GROUND WAS MINE.
I was both tyrant and slave.
As the Christian church took its place in God's name,
to take and use my virgin strength and trusting faith,
the priests, both good and bad, took--
but gave a lasting truth that Spaniard Indian Mestizo
were all God's children.
And from these words grew men who prayed and fought
for their own worth as human beings, for that
GOLDEN MOMENT of FREEDOM.
I was part in blood and spirit of that courageous village priest
Hidalgo who in the year eighteen hundred and ten
rang the bell of independence and gave out that lasting cry--
El Grito de Dolores
"Que mueran los gachupines y que viva la Virgen de Guadalupe...."
I sentenced him who was me I excommunicated him, my blood.
I drove him from the pulpit to lead a bloody revolution for him and me....
I killed him.
His head, which is mine and of all those
who have come this way,
I placed on that fortress wall
to wait for independence. Morelos! Matamoros! Guerrero!
all companeros in the act, STOOD AGAINST THAT WALL OF INFAMY
to feel the hot gouge of lead which my hands made.
I died with them ... I lived with them .... I lived to see our country free.
Free from Spanish rule in eighteen-hundred-twenty-one.
Mexico was free??
The crown was gone but all its parasites remained,
and ruled, and taught, with gun and flame and mystic power.
I worked, I sweated, I bled, I prayed,
and waited silently for life to begin again.
I fought and died for Don Benito Juarez, guardian of the Constitution.
I was he on dusty roads on barren land as he protected his archives
as Moses did his sacraments.
He held his Mexico in his hand on
the most desolate and remote ground which was his country.
And this giant little Zapotec gave not one palm's breadth
of his country's land to kings or monarchs or presidents of foriegn powers.
I am Joaquin.
I rode with Pancho Villa,
crude and warm, a tornado at full strength,
nourished and inspired by the passion and the fire of all his earthy people.
I am Emiliano Zapata.
"This land, this earth is OURS."
The villages, the mountains, the streams
belong to Zapatistas.
Our life or yours is the only trade for soft brown earth and maize.
All of which is our reward,
a creed that formed a constitution
for all who dare live free!
"This land is ours . . .
Father, I give it back to you.
Mexico must be free. . . ."
I ride with revolutionists
against myself.
I am the Rurales,
coarse and brutal,
I am the mountian Indian,
superior over all.
The thundering hoof beats are my horses. The chattering machine guns
are death to all of me:
Yaqui
Tarahumara
Chamala
Zapotec
Mestizo
Español.
I have been the bloody revolution,
The victor,
The vanquished.
I have killed
And been killed.
I am the despots Díaz
And Huerta
And the apostle of democracy,
Francisco Madero.
I am
The black-shawled
Faithfulwomen
Who die with me
Or live
Depending on the time and place.
I am faithful, humble Juan Diego,
The Virgin of Guadalupe,
Tonantzín, Aztec goddess, too.
I rode the mountains of San Joaquín.
I rode east and north
As far as the Rocky Mountains,
And
All men feared the guns of
Joaquín Murrieta.
I killed those men who dared
To steal my mine,
Who raped and killed my love
My wife.
Then I killed to stay alive.
I was Elfego Baca,
living my nine lives fully.
I was the Espinoza brothers
of the Valle de San Luis.
All were added to the number of heads that in the name of civilization
were placed on the wall of independence, heads of brave men
who died for cause or principle, good or bad.
Hidalgo! Zapata!
Murrieta! Espinozas!
Are but a few.
They dared to face
The force of tyranny
Of men who rule by deception and hypocrisy.
I stand here looking back,
And now I see the present,
And still I am a campesino,
I am the fat political coyote–
I,
Of the same name,
Joaquín,
In a country that has wiped out
All my history,
Stifled all my pride,
In a country that has placed a
Different weight of indignity upon my age-old burdened back.
Inferiority is the new load . . . .
The Indian has endured and still
Emerged the winner,
The Mestizo must yet overcome,
And the gachupín will just ignore.
I look at myself
And see part of me
Who rejects my father and my mother
And dissolves into the melting pot
To disappear in shame.
I sometimes
Sell my brother out
And reclaim him
For my own when society gives me
Token leadership
In society's own name.
I am Joaquín,
Who bleeds in many ways.
The altars of Moctezuma
I stained a bloody red.
My back of Indian slavery
Was stripped crimson
From the whips of masters
Who would lose their blood so pure
When revolution made them pay,
Standing against the walls of retribution.
Blood has flowed from me on every battlefield between
campesino, hacendado,
slave and master and revolution.
I jumped from the tower of Chapultepec
into the sea of fame–
my country's flag
my burial shroud–
with Los Niños,
whose pride and courage
could not surrender
with indignity
their country's flag
to strangers . . . in their land.
Now I bleed in some smelly cell from club or gun or tyranny.
I bleed as the vicious gloves of hunger
Cut my face and eyes,
As I fight my way from stinking barrios
To the glamour of the ring
And lights of fame
Or mutilated sorrow.
My blood runs pure on the ice-caked
Hills of the Alaskan isles,
On the corpse-strewn beach of Normandy,
The foreign land of Korea
And now Vietnam.
Here I stand
Before the court of justice,
Guilty
For all the glory of my Raza
To be sentenced to despair.
Here I stand,
Poor in money,
Arrogant with pride,
Bold with machismo,
Rich in courage
And
Wealthy in spirit and faith.
My knees are caked with mud.
My hands calloused from the hoe. I have made the Anglo rich,
Yet
Equality is but a word–
The Treaty of Hidalgo has been broken
And is but another threacherous promise.
My land is lost
And stolen,
My culture has been raped.
I lengthen the line at the welfare door
And fill the jails with crime.
These then are the rewards
This society has
For sons of chiefs
And kings
And bloody revolutionists,
Who gave a foreign people
All their skills and ingenuity
To pave the way with brains and blood
For those hordes of gold-starved strangers,
Who
Changed our language
And plagiarized our deeds
As feats of valor
Of their own.
They frowned upon our way of life
and took what they could use.
Our art, our literature, our music, they ignored–
so they left the real things of value
and grabbed at their own destruction
by their greed and avarice.
They overlooked that cleansing fountain of
nature and brotherhood
which is Joaquín.
The art of our great señores,
Diego Rivera,
Siqueiros,
Orozco, is but another act of revolution for
the salvation of mankind.
Mariachi music, the heart and soul
of the people of the earth,
the life of the child,
and the happiness of love.
The corridos tell the tales
of life and death,
of tradition,
legends old and new, of joy
of passion and sorrow
of the people–who I am.
I am in the eyes of woman,
sheltered beneath
her shawl of black,
deep and sorrowful eyes
that bear the pain of sons long buried or dying,
dead on the battlefield or on the barbed wire of social strife.
Her rosary she prays and fingers endlessly
like the family working down a row of beets
to turn around and work and work.
There is no end.
Her eyes a mirror of all the warmth
and all the love for me,
and I am her
and she is me.
We face life together in sorrow,
anger, joy, faith and wishful
thoughts.
I shed the tears of anguish
as I see my children disappear
behind the shroud of mediocrity,
never to look back to remember me.
I am Joaquín.
I must fight
and win this struggle
for my sons, and they
must know from me
who I am.
Part of the blood that runs deep in me
could not be vanquished by the Moors.
I defeated them after five hundred years,
and I have endured.
Part of the blood that is mine
has labored endlessly four hundred
years under the heel of lustful
Europeans.
I am still here!

I have endured in the rugged mountains
Of our country
I have survived the toils and slavery of the fields.
I have existed
In the barrios of the city
In the suburbs of bigotry
In the mines of social snobbery
In the prisons of dejection
In the muck of exploitation
And
In the fierce heat of racial hatred.
And now the trumpet sounds,
The music of the people stirs the
Revolution.
Like a sleeping giant it slowly
Rears its head
To the sound of
Tramping feet
Clamoring voices
Mariachi strains
Fiery tequila explosions
The smell of chile verde and
Soft brown eyes of expectation for a
Better life.
And in all the fertile farmlands,
the barren plains,
the mountain villages,
smoke-smeared cities,
we start to MOVE.
La raza!
Méjicano!
Español!
Latino!
Chicano!
Or whatever I call myself,
I look the same
I feel the same
I cry
And
Sing the same.
I am the masses of my people and
I refuse to be absorbed.
I am Joaquín.
The odds are great
But my spirit is strong,
My faith unbreakable,
My blood is pure.
I am Aztec prince and Christian Christ.
I SHALL ENDURE!
I WILL ENDURE!

Amigo, that is the longest poem since...I don't know. !!!Bueno, Bueno, bienvenidos aqui!!! Yo nunca tengo mucho amigos en Espaniola!!! !!!Vive la Randistance!!!

How did you extrapolate that yo soy de españiola? Allow me to introduce you to Chicanismo in case Corky's poem confused you.

Do you know que es un Chicano?

To quote the late great Ruben Salazar.

http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?...mp;brand=eschol

Hi, Diana, I'm totally new to this medium, and just popped in here because it seemed like a place a newcomer would be readily forgiven for being almost completely lame. [In fact, this is my first ever reply to a post on this board. I hope I'm doing it right.] I echo your above sentiments exactly! I don't know exactly how to tell you to access an album of art work I've started in here, but do invite you try. My only album of images so far, has some political art I've done recently. Everything in there is non-copywrighted and I encourage all visitors to make use of the imagery freely and in any way they like, if so inclined. If yo do manage to visit, please try to send me something to let me know you were there.... just another way to help me figure out if I'm actually using this means of communication effectively. Hope so. Well, I hope this message gets to you.

Peace and welcome to the boardland,


Howard Gindoff AKA HowOnEarth (That's what my wife calls me and also my user name in here. I have a great wife with a great sense of humor.)

God, you must be like, really old.

I am !

It did, and it appears you escaped without mishap or faux pas! Congrats, and welcome to the board.

Now, understand that, if you're at all like the rest of us, this may be the last time you get by without making a mistake, stepping on someone's toes, or expressing an opinion someone doesn't like. And when any of those happens, it'll be OK.

b

Hello everyone

It's my first venture on the new boards, I'm glad to see the red and orange colors are back!
Anyhow, it's good to see the RRMB back in action.

Now if I could find my old avatar and siggy.......

Welcome all, Chicanos especially!!! This board is easy to get the hang of, so don't sweat it, or just ask and you'll get more help than you thought possible.

ME
USMC 74-82

OOH-RAH SEMPER FI BROTHER, We have a few brothers and sisters here, and some squids (JK ISH) too...Lot's of Army and AF too.

Then let me take this opportunity to both welcome you to the RRMB and to apologize for the family for my ancestor's role in invading Mexico at Veracruz, marching his army overland and defeating the Mexican Army at Cerro Gordo, Molino del Rey, Cherubusco and Chapultepec Palace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winfield_Scott


While we recognize now that this was an act of aggression and that great-great-great-great-granddaddy Winfield was "only following orders", this does not absolve him of responsibility in that war. If there is a danegeld, or blood price he had to pay, the formulation of the Anaconda Plan that ended slavery in the US and preserved the Union may count in his favor. Also, Scott's Army had two secret weapons, Major Robert E. Lee as his adjutant/troubleshooter and the fact that the Mexican Army was commanded by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, possibly the worst general in history.

So welcome aboard from a fourth-generation Native Californio in diaspora in the Land of Enchantment and, once again, Sorry for that whole invasion thing.

Credo quia Absurdum!

What I really want is a formal apology for US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson coordinating the coup d'tat on February 18, 1913, where President Madero was forced to resign and was executed four days later. I want his descendent's heads on spits.

Yeah we all know how the US plays fair when it comes to land and power grabs. How Mainfest Destiny was written in your scriptures.

How was it that a young lieutenant names Ulysses S. Grant said about the Mexican American War? Something about it being immoral and an example of a greater stronger nation beating up on a weaker ill prepared nation.

I know Grant. He did 30 days in the Benicia Arsenal guardhouse, also as a young lieutenant, in my home town of Benicia, Ca. He replaced Lt. William Tecumseh Sherman, the adjutant to Col. Roberts Barnes Mason, the last military governor of California. I also lived for 15 years in Vallejo, named for Mexico's Benedict Arnold. While it IS true that Mexico claimed most of the present-day Western US, other than Alta California and present-day New Mexico, most of the territory was still Indian country. In fact, the northernmost sign of Aztec culture I've ever seen is the ringball court in the Casa Grande, Az. ruins. I would also remind you that the Spaniards didn't fare too well in NM with the Pueblo Revolt throwing them out for some 60 years. If there is really any one group you can thank for Mexican Independance, it's the abolitionists. They opposed the total annexation of Mexico because they knew that any states from that region admitted would be slave states. They knew that would permanantly skew the number of slave states to an outright supermajority.

You ARE correct about Grant's statement. As the first practitioner of the Combined Arms concept in war, he certainly was an authority on the subject. Also, remember the Mexican lament:

I find it very hard to thank any American for Mexican and Mexican Americans current state of affairs.

I have researched the US's sordid past with Mexico and do not consider any action the USA made as benevolent.

As a Chicano I am bewteen two great nations that do not accept us. In Mexico I am no longer Mexican and in the USA I am not american enough. Even though I wore the dress blues of a Marine it was never enough because as soon as I took it off I still receive the scowls of the Americans.

I live in Arizona and grew up in El Paso Texas. I have traveled the world and know a thing or two about a thing or two.

Which is why I do not want to see another old caucasian leading the nation I served and risked my life for. But ultimately I have resolved that I did it for my Children and grand children's sake. I refuse to let them serve. I served so they would not have to. My father was a WWI (Decorated) Vet and my brother did tours in Nam and feel "QUE YA BASTA".

No more of our blood for this republic who has given us back so little after we gave so much.

Oh please.
What a bunch of crap. "Not American enough" to who?
I certainly don't feel that way.
You're blaming an entire country for the actions of a few and there is simply no logic in that mindset.




Which Americans? You're American. Do you scowl at yourself?

Welcome to the board, but I can do without the lamentation concerning your nationality dilemma.

Case in point !

My drum does not beat to your Revolutionary beat of stars and stripes for ever.

Our plight and history has been overwritten by the crap in American History Books the ones that I am sure feed your dissapointment in me and those like me.

Your advise to get over our historical wounds is trite and not right.

Tennessee Huh? Been there seen that. My sista lives in McNary County, Bethel Springs, home of Buford Pussard.

I see you live up to your own self assigned accolades.

Come on out here to the Border where we have droves of these few Amerikans. They are called Minute-men and other names. Xenophobia is alive and well in this country. Even African Americans come out to beat the war drums out here. They have militarized our traditional homelands. Something you may have not experienced or even heard of possibly.

Damn took me long enough to respond!

No I'm not. that's one of the things that got me as I listened to her though. We have traveled a lot of the same roads. But I'm not a beautiful red head.

Hey All-

New to the room but a long time Randi fan and listener. I guess there is no time like the present in getting vocal, having meaningful dialogue and just plain getting involved. Honestly, this is the first time I have ever really paid attention to politics. I am disgusted yet determined to do my part in reclaiming this country and hopefully leaving a better world behind for my son. So here's to standing up for change and demanding accountabliity. If my 10 year old nephew has to answer for what he does wrong so should every elected official and unlike Anderson Cooperson who is "keeping them honest" when in actuality he is just reporting the dishonesty,let's actually make them accountable by truling being involved and making our voices heard.

Well, I suppose you could either run for election on a chicano-separatist platform and good luck to you. Or you could recognize like Che did that it is class not race that divides us. I have more in common with you or the black man that's unemployed than I do with the rich white fuck who's shipping the jobs overseas. So come to Pow-wow with me next April and recognize that native people throughout the Americas have been getting a raw deal since 1492.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h30ma8pRivM

My old keychain. Imagine my Cubano landlady's surprise when she first saw it:

A lack of empathy is usually not considered a virtue.

This is not an empathy issue. Captainkona can empathize with the best of us. Even better. I think that it's more a lack of tolerance for crap issue.

Well Tyo, let's imagine it's sometime in the 50's or early 60's and an 'African-American' person was writing about their experience in America. Here's Captainkona's response, with one word changed:

"Oh please.
What a bunch of crap. "Not American enough" to who?
I certainly don't feel that way.
You're blaming an entire country for the actions of a few and there is simply no logic in that mindset.

Which Americans? You're American. Do you scowl at yourself?

Welcome to the board, but I can do without the lamentation concerning your racial dilemma."

Basically, CK's response ignored and negated the experience of the person writing, with a burst of excessive nationalism. As did your reference to it as 'crap'. So, yeah - maybe it's not an 'empathy' issue. Maybe it's just plain bigotry.

The current status of Chicanos is in no way analogous to the institutionalized Jim Crow that African-Americans were in the process of overturning in the 1950s and '60s. If we are talking about the past, of course Latinos were screwed over and obviously there are still issues today both social and economic. We are still feeling the repercussions of our imperialist land grab in the Southwest back in the 19th century. I accept that. Shit, is was no picnic for the Chinese and other Asians either and I'll tell you what. There are some racial issues there that we haven't put to rest yet. It was the tone of the post that bothered me not the factual content. I guess I just have a low tolerance for self-pity and victimization and that's how it came across to me. I'd rather fight.