Yesterday, 30- members of the Democratic National Committee decided that it would seat Florida’s delegation to the party convention, but that each delegate would get only half a vote. Alcee Hastings says he will boycott the convention.
Back in 1968, at its convention in Chicago, the Democratic Party similarly dismissed the voters of several Southern states. In those days, the conventions were carried live on network television, so we got to see this happen. First, the galleries were packed with non-delegates. Most of them appeared to be African-American. Then the chair called for a voice vote on whether to refuse to seat the legal delegations from the states. I could clearly see the people in the galleries, who were not delegates, shouting their “votes” against seating. The Georgia delegation asked for a roll call vote of actual delegates, but the chair refused to recognize the head of the delegation, and refused to take a roll call vote. The legal Georgia delegation was replaced by a much more liberal group led by Julian Bond, of all people. The fix was obviously in.
For folks who don’t know, the South was solidly Democrat back then. People talk about Nixon’s Southern strategy – to lure white voters into the Republican Party. Nixon’s strategy worked because the Democrats first had kicked these people out of the Democratic Party.
Florida came into the union in 1845 as a slave state. Back when the Constitution was written, northern states wanted to limit the number of Congressmen the southern states had, so they wrote in a requirement that only 3/5 of slaves be counted towards determining how many Representatives a state got. Now folks refer back to this as a slave being counted as only 3/5 of a person.
The Democrats will be meeting in Washington this weekend to decide what to do about seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan. Party officials from Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi down to state officials are talking about seating only half of Florida’s delegates. In other words, Floridians will count as only half a person – less than a slave – if the Democrats have their way.
Ian Fleming, born 100-years ago today, May 28, 1908
The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. Then the soul-erosion produced by high gambling – a compost of greed and fear and nervous tension – becomes unbearable and the senses awake and revolt from it.
James Bond suddenly knew that he was tired.
The opening paragraphs of his first novel, Casino Royale.
In every state where I have lived, folks have told the same story. Either during or immediately after the Civil War, two old ladies were visiting a cemetery in that state, and one said to the other, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a day to remember the men who gave their lives?”
Who knows how Memorial Day really started, but within a few years of our bloodiest war, every state had a day set aside to remember the war dead. They were different days of the year and depended on when flowers grew locally. In the early 1970s, the Nixon administration created several Monday holidays, so for the first time there was a national Memorial Day – the last Monday in May.
It’s not a day for honoring our troops, it’s not a day for saluting veterans – it’s a day to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for those of us still living. When I was a kid, we had to learn a poem written by a soldier from The Great War – World War 1. Do they still teach it now?
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The Libertarian Party in convention in Denver have nominated former Georgia congressman Bob Barr as its presidential candidate. Barr left the Republican Party in 2006 citing what he called reckless spending and civil liberties violations by the Bush Administration.
Stay tuned.
Update – here’s the news release from the party:
Denver – The Libertarian Party has nominated former Congressman Bob Barr as its candidate for president for the 2008 election.
“I’m sure we will emerge here with the strongest ticket in the history of the Libertarian Party,” Barr stated in his victory speech shortly after being selected as the Party’s nominee. “I want everybody to remember that we only have 163 days to win this election. We cannot waste one single day.”
More than 650 Libertarian delegates met in Denver from May 22 till the 26 for the 2008 Libertarian National Convention. After six rounds of voting Sunday afternoon, Barr was selected as the Party’s presidential nominee.
“We’re proud to present to the American voters Bob Barr as our presidential nominee,” says Libertarian Party spokesperson Andrew Davis. “While Republicans and Democrats will fight for their own power in November, Libertarians will fight for Americans. Bob Barr is one of the strongest candidates in the Party’s 37-year history, and we look for him to have an enormous impact in the 2008 race. Republicans and Democrats have good reason to fear a candidate like Barr, who refuses to accept the ‘business-as-usual’ attitude of the current political establishment. Americans want and need another choice, and that choice is Bob Barr.”
The Libertarian Party is America’s third largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.LP.org. The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.
Update 2 – Here’s the video from the Associated Press.
