The Young American

Archive for August 2007

Wed. August 22nd Live Podcast

By Daniel Solis in Democrats, Election 2008, On the Fringe, Youth Issues on August 22, 2007

From Wed. August 22nd, co-hosted by Dan Solis, Johnny Camacho, Jeff Pritchard, Savage apologist KoKo Chassid, Jordan Stearns and Thomas Senecal. We discussed how Hillary believes the new Iraq War strategy is “working” and how Dennis Kucinich has “Jusdom”.

We also spoke to Bill Bowman the author of “Savage Lies“ about Michael Savage and the Fairness Doctrine. Thanks Bill, “Keep the faith”.

sal-mohamed.jpgWe tried to talk to Sal Mohamed but he HUNG UP on Think Youth. When questioned about how being born in Egypt makes him ineligible to be elected President of the United States, Sal hung up.

“(I was) born physically, by body in Egypt, at the same time, born spiritually, by soul in America and in 1977 when I came to America, the body and soul came together.” [Grant Miller Media]

We called Sal back, he shut off his phone, and hilarity ensued.

The entire podcast:

[audio:http://boss.streamos.com/download/blogtalkradio/show_47109.mp3]

[Download MP3]

Ask Sal Intros, by Johnny Camacho:

[audio:http://www.thinkyouth.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/asksalall.mp3]

[Download MP3]

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Al Gore on Environmental Civil Disobedience

By Daniel Solis in Activism, Al Gore, Climate Change, Environment on August 17, 2007

Al Gore wants you to take a stand against large corporations who are building power plants that are harmful to the environment. He believes that climate change is as big a threat as even Al-Qaeda. His solution is to literally take a stand against these companies.

“I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers,” Mr. Gore said, “and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.” [grist]

It is our future we should be worried about. I hate to sound cliche, but it really is necessary to our livelihood to finally stand up, and demand change. Gore is THE leader of the modern environmentalist movement. Al Gore, after you win the Nobel Peace Prize in December, please run for president.
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Wed. August 15th Live Podcast

By Daniel Solis in Fairness Doctrine, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Karl Rove, Live Podcast on August 15, 2007

From Wed. August 15th, co-hosted by Johnny Camacho, Dan Solis, Jeff Pritchard, big NEO-CON KoKo Chassid, and Thomas Senecal.

Topics discussed were Bush Declares War on Iran, Sort Of, Karl Rove to Resign, Will Hillary ever run out of steam?, and the Fairness Doctrine.

[audio:http://boss.streamos.com/download/blogtalkradio/show_46420.mp3]

[DOWNLOAD MP3]

Rudy Giuliani's 9/11 Power Grab

By Daniel Solis in 9/11, John Edwards, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, War on Terror on August 12, 2007

On Thursday Rudolph Giuliani was ‘caught red’ nosed when he said that, referring to September 11th that, “I was at ground zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers. … I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I’m one of them.” [NYT, The Caucus]

A Firefighter whose son was killed on September 11th said, “That’s insulting and disgraceful. He’s a liar. I was down there on my hands and knees looking for my son. [Giuliani is] living in a dreamland.” [Fox News]

And in regular John Edwards fashion, he called out the Republican presidential candidate, as well he should. The Edwards camp called Giuliani a “fraud”. Rudy’s camp blasted back by saying that Edwards is “the same guy who thinks the War on Terror is simply a ‘bumper sticker.’” Read the rest of this entry »

The Human Rights Campaign-LOGO Presidential Forum Summary

By Daniel Solis in Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, GLBT Rights, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Primary Debates on August 9, 2007

hrcdebate.jpg

The debate format was more like an individual interview forum. It was one of the more innovative and honest open debates I have seen. The only two Democratic presidential candidates not to attend were Joe Biden and Chris Dodd. Did they really think being associated with the gay community would somehow hurt their campaigns? The following is my post debate wrap up, written during the forum:
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Wed. August 8th Live Podcast, Max Blumenthal Interview

By Daniel Solis in Interviews, Live Podcast on August 8, 2007

From Wednesday August 8th 2007. Hosted by politically progressive teens, Dan Solis, Johnny Camacho, Theo van der Deer, Jeff Pritchard, Jordan Stearns, and KoKo Chassid.

We discussed, Rupert and Hillary: The Love Story, Money Talks: Where do the candidates get it from, and does it matter?, Does Obama Want to Invade Pakistan? and the AFL-CIO debate.

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We also interviewed Max Blumenthal. Visit Max at his website, MaxBlumenthal.com

[audio:http://boss.streamos.com/download/blogtalkradio/show_43831.mp3]

[Download MP3]

Money Talks: Where do the candidates get it from, and does it matter?

By Daniel Solis in Campaign Donations, Chris Dodd, Democrats, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Media, Republicans, Right-Wing Bias, Rudy Giuliani on August 3, 2007

Earlier this week it was reported that Hillary Clinton’s campaign received over $20,000 in donations from News Corp, the company owned by the same man who owns Fox News, Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch and his son personally donated to Clinton’s presidential campaign as well.

Is News Corp donating to Clinton’s campaign in hopes that she’ll get the nomination? Then that means Fox News would try to smear her during the general election. In their eyes, there is no easier target than Hillary Clinton. Well, Hillary has never lost an election, and I don’t think she plans to. She has successfully weathered smear campaigns before, and she could do it again. But the enemy, Fox News, could be harder, as it is the most viewed cable news network.

That said, Senators and Democratic presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Barack Obama have also received large donations from a News Corp top executive, Peter Chernin. John Edwards was not happy about this, and he asked them to return the money, citing Fox News’ right-wing bias.

So who is Fox News’ real candidate? Rudy Giuliani. And earlier this week it was reported that he has extremely close ties to the man who is in charge of Fox News, Roger Ailes. Ailes had previously worked on a Giuliani mayoral campaign in the past. Needless to say, they are begging for a Clinton vs. Giuliani general election. The whole thing reminds me of the Republicans donating to Ralph Nader in hopes of stealing votes away from the Democratic candidate.

Does it really matter where the candidates get their money from? I’m sure there are many people donating to candidates that they don’t completely agree with on the issues. Earlier this month there was a Republican scuffle between Tom Tancredo and Sam Brownback. It was over donations given to the Tancredo campaign by a pro-choice contributer with close ties to Planned Parenthood, a pro-choice organization. Both Brownback and Tancredo run on pro-life positions, and Brownback demanded the donations to Tancredo’s campaign be returned. Tancredo declined saying that the contribution did not reflect his own view on the issue.

Obama also announced that he will not be accepting money from PACs, (Political Action Committees). I just don’t think it could hurt a campaign for accepting PAC donations, especially if the PAC agrees with the candidate on the issues, and well if they are a progressive PAC.

Whether or not you agree with where the money comes from, money powers this race. Money is a message. Money gets out the message. It can buy the White House, it can lose the White House. If campaigns were publicly financed, then maybe we would spend more time on the real issues. Many candidates have promised that once they get elected to office, they will make campaign financing changes, but they have an election to buy first.