TheNewMexicoChannel.com – Commitment 2004 – Text Of John

Kerry’s Address To DNC

I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a vice president who will

not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a secretary of Defense who will listen to the

best advice of our military leaders. And I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States.

My fellow Americans, this is the most important election of our lifetime. The stakes are high.

The following are my favorite parts of

Kerry’s speech. You can follow the link to the full text. mjh

The complete text of Kerry’s acceptance speech

Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities — and I do — because some issues just aren’t all that simple.

…

For us, that flag is the most powerful symbol of who we are and what we believe in. Our strength. Our diversity. Our love of

country. All that makes America both great and good.

That flag doesn’t belong to any president. It doesn’t belong to any ideology

and it doesn’t belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people. …

We believe that what matters most is not

narrow appeals masquerading as values, but the shared values that show the true face of America. Not narrow appeals that divide us, but

shared values that unite us. …

And let me say it plainly: In that cause, and in this campaign, we welcome people of faith. America

is not us and them. I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago, and I want to say this to you tonight: I don’t wear

my own faith on my sleeve. But faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don’t

want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God’s side. …

These

aren’t Democratic values. These aren’t Republican values. They’re American values. We believe in them. They’re who we are. …

What if we have a president who believes in science … ? …

That is the kind of America I will lead as president — an America

where we are all in the same boat.

Never has there been a more urgent moment for Americans to step up and define ourselves. I will

work my heart out. But, my fellow citizens, the outcome is in your hands more than mine.

I do have two objections. First,

what about those of us who believe you can be decent and moral and not believe in god or church? We’re used to be left out; we’re

pariahs in a nation founded on freedom from religious oppresion — oh, but wait, not freedom from religion itself.

Finally, I’m very

sad that I didn’t hear anyone at the convention protest the ‘free speech cage’. That not one ‘liberal’ would say ‘tear down that

cage — America is a free speech zone!’ This is how bad things are today. mjh

If we are going to

compile a top ten list of Bush’s flip-flopping, the ‘nation-building’ example noted by Nicholas Brown (see UNM Lobo) belongs on the list. Also on the

list is his opposition to a Department of Homeland Security and a 9-11 Commission. And his insistance that, as President, he would push

the Saudis to lower oil prices. At the top of the list is Bush’s statement, “I’m a uniter, not a divider.” No, wait, that’s not a

change, that’s just a delusion or a lie — take your pick. mjh

Bush’s flip-flops

Las Vegas casino boots Ronstadt for lauding Moore’s

‘Fahrenheit 9/11’

“It was a very ugly scene,” Aladdin President Bill Timmins said.

Timmins, who was watching the show, said

he didn’t allow Ronstadt back in her luxury suite and she was escorted off the property.

Hotel spokeswoman Tyri Squyres said it

wasn’t Ronstadt’s message per se that management objected to, but, “She wanted to incite the audience, and she incited them to the

point where they were very upset. . . . She was hired to entertain, not to preach.”

Ronstadt Will Continue Praising Moore Rapid

City Journal:

“This is an election year,” she told the Los Angeles Times Tuesday. “I want people to get their head up out of their

mashed potatoes and learn something about the issues and go and vote. … I’m not telling them how to vote. I’m saying, get information

about the issues.” …

Ronstadt, 58, told the Times her remarks were “modest,” adding: “They didn’t throw me out.”

“I

didn’t even know there was trouble,” she said. “Those places operate like little city-states. They are all-powerful. And I had already

said I never want to come back.”

Our Opinion: Real desperado Tucson Citizen

The hotel-casino is a private entity; its managers

can hire or remove whomever they choose.

The booting of Ronstadt did not violate her right to free speech. But it did constitute

one of the worst public relations moves imaginable. People love or hate Moore, but almost everyone savors Ronstadt’s music. A

more circumspect reaction would have been wise.

”Circumspect” sounds suspiciously French to the Radical Right.

mjh

The Corner on National Review Online

My wife & I were at the Linda Ronstadt performance in question, at

the Aladdin in Las Vegas, and quite frankly, Aladdin President Bill Timmins’ account of what happened is complete crap. There was mixed

booing and cheering at Ronstadt’s pro-Michael Moore comment, and that was about the extent of the “bedlam” that supposedly broke out.

… Frankly, my suspicion is that Timmins is way overdramatizing what happened, in order to justify giving Ronstadt the boot. It simply

wasn’t that big a deal. [mjh: Thanks, NewMexiKen]

Of course, we should trust the

corporate stooges. After all, Lush Limbaugh calls Ronstadt ”the 50-year-old hippie relic” (she’s 58 — Lush doesn’t care about

accuracy) and a kook.

It is interesting to note that this casino is in bankruptcy. If you’re looking for a buyer, it makes sense to

appeal to the people with money. Probably a lot of government regulators involved in such things, as well. mjh

mjh’s Weblog Entry – 03/19/2003: Dixie Chicks – who is being disloyal?

Dissent is NOT disloyalty.

NewMexiKen: The discrimination amendment vote

The discrimination

amendment vote

Republicans who voted to block the amendment were Susan M. Collins (Maine), Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), John E. Sununu

(N.H.), Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.) and John McCain (Ariz.). Democrats who voted to bring up the amendment

were Zell Miller (Ga.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.).

Thanks to NewMexiKen. I guess McCain’s not going to

get the GOP VP offer.

This vote was nonsense at so many levels. An utter waste of time. mjh

Moore-wellian fables skew

truth by Alex Hughes, Daily Lobo Opinion

Another thing that really irks me is the constant banter stating what Moore is doing is

simply ”patriotic discourse.” Michael Moore is not a patriot. He is a traitor. …

[T]o be a patriot, one has to love

their country. Moore hates America and Americans with equal fervor. I think if it were up to him, he would have sent Osama a

basket of muffins with a nice little thank you card after the Sept. 11 attacks.

I applaud Alex Hughes for actually seeing

F/911. Most of the conservative commentary I have read indicates he’s rather unusual in that regard. That he would then calmly discuss

the movie’s flaws is also respectable. Still, he manages to earn his true credentials as a conservative by declaring Moore a traitor and

dictating what constitutes ‘acceptable’ patriotism (to him). Finally, he finishes trashing Moore by stating Moore is glad America was

attacked. Shameless, Alex. Were you afraid your cohort would reject you if you stayed rational? Or is it that calm conservatives don’t

make it into print — or office?

Hughes says of Moore, he ”doesn’t lie, per se, he just tells the version of the truth that

ignores things that are problematic to the advancement of his world view.” Sounds exactly like what Bush supporters say in defense of

Bush, who said, ”I’m a uniter, not a divider.”

I would call that a lie, per se, told to deceive in order to get something one

would not get if the truth were known. Of course, there is that other classic defense of Bush, ”it wasn’t a lie if he believed it at

the time” (all evidence to the contrary now). Maybe not, but then it is an indication of delusion. mjh

Republicans

get Moore than a challenge from filmmaker By Marisa Demarco

Republicans Review 9/11

Opinion > Guest Columnist: Dude, Where’s That Elite?”

href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/01/opinion/01EHRE.html”>Dude, Where’s That Elite? By BARBARA EHRENREICH, NYTimes

My point

is not to defend Moore, who — with a platoon of bodyguards and a legal team starring Mario Cuomo — hardly needs any muscle from me. I

just think it’s time to retire the “liberal elite” label, which, for the past 25 years, has been deployed to denounce anyone to the left

of Colin Powell. Thus, last winter, the ultra-elite right-wing Club for Growth dismissed followers of Howard Dean as a “tax-hiking,

government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing

freak show.” …

But the left I encounter on my treks across the nation is heavy on hotel housekeepers, community college students,

laid-off steelworkers and underpaid schoolteachers. …

But it would be redundant to speak of a “conservative elite” ….

So

liberals can take comfort from the fact that our most visible spokesman is, despite his considerable girth, an invulnerable target for

the customary assault weapon of the right. I meant to comment on his movie, too, but the lines at my local theater are still

prohibitively long.