Activism Across America

Yesterday, it was revealed that, last month, a B-52 took an unauthorized flight, carrying live nuclear weapons mounted on cruise missiles ready to be fired, from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport. Those nuclear weapons were flown over the homes of tens of thousands of people’s homes in Lousiana even before they reached Shreveport.

The commander apparently did not even bother to check whether the nuclear weapons had been loaded on the missiles. Had there been an accident, or the decision to test fire one of those missiles, Shreveport might be nothing more than a smoking, blasted pile of radioactive rubble.

The incident is a reminder of the constant threat all Americans are placed under because of the insistence of our own government that it be allowed to keep a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons. As the recent unauthorized flight of nuclear weapons over American communities shows, we cannot be protected from human error on the part of the people who are entrusted to keep America’s nuclear weapons from threatening the American people.

The wise course of action is to disarm. No nation on earth ought to have nuclear weapons, and that includes the United States of America.

It’s not a story that many of us outside of Kansas have heard about, but people in Kansas are celebrating a major cultural and legal turning point. Governor Kathleen Sebelius has signed an executive order that bans any agency of the Kansas state government from engaging in discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation.

Jason Dilts of the Kansas Equality Coalition writes, “Being alive when a historic and significant event occurs is interesting; being able to watch history unfold and witness a historic act is an amazing privilege. I was witness to an amazing privilege on August 31, 2007. That is the day Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius issued an executive order banning discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered state employees by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes that can not be discriminated against in employment. This order does one, simple thing: it makes the State of Kansas a fair employer. It brings our state government in line with close to 90% of America’s Fortune 500 companies and mirrors the non-discrimination policies of many of the state’s largest private employers. As the Governor explained when she signed the order, it brings Kansas into the 21st century.”

Congratulations, Kansas. Now, if you can just keep evolution in high school biology classes for three years running, the 21st century Kansas rumors will be confirmed.

There’s no question that Dennis Kucinich is, ideologically, a solid progressive candidate for President. But, the question has been nagging in the back of my mind for some months now - is Dennis Kucinich, organizationally, a solid progressive candidate for President? That is, does Dennis Kucinich have the operational wherewithal to turn his progressive ideals into progressive action?

Tonight, I thought of a practical test for that question: Is Dennis Kucinich in Oklahoma?

California and Vermont are all very well and good, but they’re liberal states, and one expects Kucinich supporters there.

Oklahoma, on the other hand, is traditionally a red state, where the presence of progressives has been much less strong. If Dennis Kucinich has any campaign presence in Oklahoma, then that would be a good confirmation of an adequate operational ability for his candidacy.

I checked, and…

lo and behold, Dennis Kucinich is in Oklahoma! The Kucinich for President campaign has two grassroots groups affiliated with it in Oklahoma: Okies for Peace and Oklahoma for Dennis.

One of Kucinich supporters in Oklahoma, acknowledges the long odds for a Kucinich for President campaign, saying, “If we have a hope left, it is Dennis Kucinich. The obstacles to getting him elected are significant but the conditions he will be thrown into are dire, at best.” Yet, people are turning out in Oklahoma to give Dennis Kucinich their support.

If there’s a stronger testimony to the resilience of hope, I can’t think of one.

The biggest news out of the Texas Republican straw poll, other than the stunning failure of Fred Thompson to defeat third tier candidate Duncan Hunter, is the shockingly low turnout.

The Texas Republican straw poll is supposed to be an event to rally the GOP faithful. The faithful, it seems, just weren’t interested in showing up this year.

Even the right-leaning Dallas Morning News admits the dramatic Republican Party failure to get Republican activists to attend the straw poll.“The turnout by 1,300 party activists fell short of the GOP’s initial hope of attracting between 10,000 and 20,000 Texas Republicans,” the newspaper reports.

Texas has been a stronghold of die hard Republican support. It seems, however, that even in Republican strongholds, Republican activists just don’t want to show up to support their political party any more.