tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99066852011-04-21T14:42:21.144-04:00Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.comBlogger2641100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-38387797571815040232009-03-16T18:45:00.000-04:002009-03-16T18:46:58.695-04:00

In his 1941 State of the Union address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt identified what he called the "four essential human freedoms." He knew that these were necessary for the citizens of this country to enjoy in the rights that define a Constitutional democracy The four essential freedoms are:--Freedom of speech and expression;--Freedom of religion;--Freedom from want; and--Freedom from

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-84188153022032442452009-02-04T08:32:00.001-05:002009-02-04T08:34:11.198-05:00

"Why the matter is simple enough. A Congressional appropriation costs money. Just reflect, for instance. A majority of the House committee, say $10,000 apiece -- $40,000; a majority of the Senate committee, the same each -- $40,000; a little extra for one or two chairmen of one or two such committees, say $10,000 each, $20,000; and there’s $100,000 of the money gone, to begin with. Then, seven

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-8989417376266702322009-01-14T12:44:00.000-05:002009-01-14T12:50:39.318-05:00

{A} "Without justice, there can be no peace. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it."--Martin Luther King, Jr.One of the most important issues that will face the Obama administration will be how it approaches the questions regarding the alleged crimes committed by members of the Bush administration. This appears to involve members of the

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-50866752172287475202009-01-06T12:16:00.000-05:002009-01-06T12:17:10.088-05:00

The report that Leon Panetta will serve as the Director of the CIA in the Obama administration is getting a lot of attention in Washington, DC, and in the national news media. It is interesting to view this within the larger context of the controversies involving who gets to take positions of power in our country, either by elections or appointments. Considering that the current White House

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-64579853262907050302008-11-07T08:30:00.000-05:002008-11-07T08:32:00.821-05:00

"The New Left has tried to create a sense of revolution in the nation by shouting slogans and marching up and down the streets. But when the hated establishment is left secure in its citadel, certain that it cannot be dislodged, then it has very little reason to pat attention to them and maintains the power to suppress them. The New Left should use the system to create uncertainty in the minds of

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-60574509796394133792008-10-09T07:19:00.000-04:002008-10-09T07:20:13.576-04:00

"I have an abiding faith in America, and an audacious faith in the future of mankind."--Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Oslo UniversityLast night, my daughters and I went to the Grand Opening of the Chenango County Democratic Headquarters in Norwich, NY. On the ride, I told them the story of when one of my cousins ran the Democratic Headquarters there in 1960, and campaigned for Senator John F.

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-35977362062825982752008-10-01T08:40:00.000-04:002008-10-01T08:42:13.704-04:00

{1} "One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’." – Daniel Quayle.The debate between Joseph Biden and Sarah Palin promises to be the single most important in our nation’s history. In the past, the Office of the Vice President was considered a relatively bland position to hold. In more recent times, presidential candidates tended to

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-11010060213912949102008-09-04T12:21:00.001-04:002008-09-04T12:23:23.592-04:00

{1} A Disorganized Dust of Individuals"Durkheim, in his classic work on suicide, assumed that the cause is to be found in a phenomenon which he called ‘anomie.’ He referred by that term to the destruction of all the traditional social bonds, to the fact that all truly collective organization has become secondary to the state, and that all genuine social life has been annihilated. He believed that

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-44517806103698512572008-08-24T10:25:00.001-04:002008-08-24T10:26:33.596-04:00

"Reporters had begun circling Muskie like buzzards, just as they had done to Romney in 1967; everyone wanted to be the first guy to claim the scalp of a front-runner. ….. Richard Nixon showed more than a casual interest in the news. It was evidence his campaign plan to get the Democrats to scratching each other’s eyeballs out was bearing fruit."A White House staffer, not ‘Paul Morrison,’ had

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-3348834584815631892008-08-18T08:09:00.002-04:002008-08-18T08:11:48.581-04:00

" The day after that press conference where {President Nixon} tried to frame the thirty-fifth president of the United States for murder, as Americans absorbed the Attica massacre, he received the resignation of eighty-five-year-old Supreme Court justice Hugo Black. Almost simultaneously, Justice John Marshall Harlan announced that he, too, would retire."John Mitchell proposed Richard Poff of

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-37466995765263422832008-07-18T08:36:00.000-04:002008-07-18T08:37:43.049-04:00

"The situation in Vietnam presents us with our most urgent problem today in the field of foreign affairs. But the Vietnam problem is only the most vivid expression of a deeper crisis in American foreign policy. The roots of this deeper crisis lie not in the malevolence of men but in the obsolescence of ideas."For we live in a time when the velocity of history is greater than ever before. The

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-15619413232039665012008-07-07T22:01:00.000-04:002008-07-07T22:03:16.318-04:00

"Adlai Stevenson and his learned speechwriter had coined a useful word, Nixonland. They just did not grasp its full resonance. …. Thus a more inclusive definition of Nixonland: it is the America where two separate and irreconcilable sets of apocalyptic fears coexist in the minds of two separate and irreconcilable groups of Americans. The first group, enemies of Richard Nixon, are the spiritual

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-11754476424568507522008-07-01T12:38:00.002-04:002008-07-01T12:42:28.934-04:00

(Note: This essay originally appeared on the political discussion forum, "The Democratic Underground.")"In the eyes of history, our greatest presidents have proved their qualities of greatness when confronted by great challenges -- war, depression, and moral issues from slavery to civil rights. The discovery that the Soviet Union had secretly rushed nuclear missiles into Cuba tested JFK's wisdom,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-17395919878335234852008-06-10T08:37:00.000-04:002008-06-10T08:38:19.103-04:00

June 9, 2008Obama, like JFK, has the wind behind himThe Democrat presidential candidate is trying to create a new kind of politics in the United States - and beyondWilliam Rees-MoggObama is the Kennedy of a new generation. I have strong personal memories of the Kennedy election in 1960 that took a Roman Catholic to the White House for the first time. As early as January and February of this year,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-84212136156142516062008-06-08T11:02:00.003-04:002008-06-08T11:04:52.240-04:00

(This essay appears on the political discussion forum the "Democratic Underground."){1} " ‘End of the Ali Legend’ a national sports magazine front-paged its coverage of The Fight. But the next day, lying in bed with his head out of shape but still very much together, Ali was proving himself an extremely lively corpse. Could a Super Ego like Ali, who has made braggadoccio a way of life, live with

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-65431568376519984852008-06-06T09:36:00.001-04:002008-06-06T09:37:43.491-04:00

{1} Unconventional PoliticsI recently spoke with a friend who expressed frustration at the path that Senator Hillary Clinton has taken in the democratic presidential primary. She said that Senator Clinton’s behaviors suggest that she "only cares about herself." I understand why many good democrats and progressives on the left feel this way. This has been a long and often harsh primary season, and

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-67676117276107483242008-06-05T08:56:00.001-04:002008-06-05T08:57:42.438-04:00

Every morning, my oldest daughter (age 14) and I watch the news together, and discuss "current events." Today, of course, there is coverage of the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. She asked me what I remembered from that day? As I answered her, I felt a lump in my throat, something I suspect others my age are experiencing today.My oldest brother used to be

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-23019542480179657092008-06-04T10:01:00.000-04:002008-06-04T10:03:10.946-04:00

{1} Visions of Our Fathers"This world and yonder world are incessantly giving birth:every cause is a mother, its effects the child.When the effect is born, it too becomes a causeand gives birth to wonderous effects.These causes are generation on generation, but it needsa very well lighted eye to see the links in their chain."--Jalal-ad-din Rumi; Persian Sufi poetOne of the things that I have

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-81893880521064804992008-06-01T11:51:00.001-04:002008-06-01T11:53:20.817-04:00

{1} Letter from a Region of My MindYesterday, the democratic party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee met to decide how to resolve the issues involving the seating of Florida and Michigan’s delegates at the Democratic National Convention. For some, the solution is unsatisfactory, and there is concern that the Clinton campaign might attempt to contest the decision at the convention. In a discussion on

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-73822769956225267872008-05-28T09:55:00.001-04:002008-05-28T11:58:03.612-04:00

{1} "Important elements of democracy existed in the infant American republic of the 1780s, but the republic was not democratic. Nor, in the minds of those who governed it, was it supposed to be. A republic – the res publica, or ‘public thing’ – was meant to secure the common good through the ministrations of the most worthy, enlightened men. A democracy – derived from demos krateo, ‘rule of the

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-16485765880177360192008-05-27T09:58:00.001-04:002008-05-27T10:01:37.470-04:00

(This essay is from the political discussion forum "Democratic Underground," which has been experiencing harsh differences between Clinton and Obama supporters.)I want t take a minute to talk about the need for unity within the democratic party, and our allies on the progressive left. It is a topic that I gave a lot of thought this weekend. I am a "Kennedy democrat" who supports Senator Barack

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-8265079036653932342008-05-25T09:19:00.000-04:002008-05-25T09:20:24.316-04:00

{1} "God, whose law it is that he who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God." --AeschylusThis Memorial Day weekend, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the Kennedy family. In 2003, Thomas Maier published a fascinating book, "The Kennedys:

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-90572806971534635922008-05-21T09:20:00.000-04:002008-05-21T09:21:50.868-04:00

What a day. The primary’s in Kentucky and Oregon alone were historic. And then there were two other events that made May 20 one of the most significant days in the democratic party in many years. It was truly "the best of times, the worst of times."{1} Senator Hillary Clinton won an important primary in Kentucky, that provided yet more evidence that she represents a significant portion of the

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-206696904176847832008-05-19T18:26:00.000-04:002008-05-19T18:27:44.496-04:00

Malcolm X was born on this day in 1925. Malcolm avoided politics until he left the Nation of Islam, but in the last year of his life he advocated a program of voter education and registration.While he recommended that black people register as independents, he was most closely associated with progressive democrats, such as Percy Sutton and Adam Clayton Powell.Today, I thought it would be worth

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-4571615854995357682008-05-19T11:43:00.001-04:002008-05-19T11:45:21.326-04:00

John McCain and Barack Obama: Two visions of the Supreme CourtBy David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer May 19, 2008Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.), in a speech two weeks ago, echoed the views of conservatives who say "judicial activism" is the central problem facing the judiciary. He called it the "common and systematic abuse . . . by an elite group . . . we entrust with judicial power." On

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-26674668839997016342008-05-14T07:44:00.000-04:002008-05-14T07:45:34.033-04:00

"In May 2002 I flew over the hills of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennesse, and saw a sight that would sicken most Americans. The mining industry is dismantling the ancient mountains and pristine streams of Appalachia through a form of strip-mining known as mountaintop removal. Mining companies blow off hundreds of feet from the tops of mountains to reach the thin seams of coal beneath. Colossal

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-71098809341248012332008-05-10T16:20:00.000-04:002008-05-10T16:22:16.597-04:00

"I don’t think it’s possible." – Senator Ted Kennedy on the possibility of an Obama-Clinton ticket; Political Capital with Al Hunt.As the democratic party moves closer to making Senator Barack Obama the nominee for the 2008 presidential election, there has been speculation on who he is considering for his running mate. Some people, including former representative Harold Ford – who is now the DLC

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-22839398523811062832008-04-30T10:04:00.001-04:002008-04-30T10:08:27.008-04:00

{1} ``Habeas corpus has little to do with terrorism. Nothing in our present circumstances requires the suspension of habeas corpus. We are dealing with a fundamental provision of law (which) is at the very foundation of the legal system designed to safeguard our liberties. We are putting in jeopardy a tradition of protection of individual rights by federal courts that goes back to our earliest

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-42902830906593058972008-04-27T07:49:00.001-04:002008-04-27T07:52:14.819-04:00

{1} Mere Tolerance is NOT Enough"The American people were, in the beginning, Revolutionaries and Tories. The American people ever since have been Revolutionaries and Tories regardless of the labels of the passed and present. Regardless of whether they were Federalists, Democrat-Republicans, Whigs, Know-Nothings, Free Soilers, Unionists or Confederates, Populists, Republicans, Democrats,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-12625051018326220882008-04-25T07:23:00.001-04:002008-04-25T07:27:24.382-04:00

This may sound like a bit of speculation, but I think there is an explanation for the apparent coordination between the McCain and Clinton campaigns’ attacks on Barack Obama. Watching the news in the past few days, I have been reminded of discussions with my late father, who was an FDR democrat. In fact, the whole family was FDT democrats at that time. I remember him telling me about his Aunt

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-69727385415361830612008-04-23T07:19:00.000-04:002008-04-23T07:20:50.412-04:00

One of the problems that democrats face in winning the competition in the marketplace of ideas is that we allow the republicans to frame debates. There is no better example of this than the current discussions about Senator Clinton’s rather odd statement about a US response to Iran if it initiated a nuclear attack against Israel. Much of the on-going discussions, even on progressive internet

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-87840204116140994792008-04-20T11:54:00.002-04:002008-04-20T11:58:13.842-04:00

(Note: This is from the forum Democratic Underground.){1} "Bullfight critics ranked in rowsCrowd the enormous Plaza full;But only one is there who knows,And he’s the man who fights the bull."--Domingo OrtegaPresident John F. Kennedy used to carry a copy of this verse in his wallet. It was inexplicably included in Kennedy’s last morning Intelligence Checklist, after analysis of estimates on Saigon

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-72239937519619974832008-04-15T09:16:00.001-04:002008-04-15T09:19:40.082-04:00

(Note: This essay was posted on the political forum the Democratic Underground, or "DU.")There has been some confusion about Senator Barack Obama’s comments on rural culture which I would like to address this morning. He had commented on a concept known as "nativism," which has a interesting history in the United States. In general, nativism is defined by the tensions that are created when a

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-53485347751066849422008-04-13T14:47:00.000-04:002008-04-13T14:48:58.461-04:00

{1} "We change, whether we like it or not." – Ralph Waldo EmersonHuman nature predisposes us to seek "safety." The Acacia tortilis of the savannahs is imprinted in our collective memories.There is no serious question that our country faces difficult and often dangerous situations today, and that we must change in order to deal with these threats. These include the environmental crises, disease,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-90251730103151763512008-04-12T08:56:00.001-04:002008-04-12T08:57:19.774-04:00

{1} "What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise." – Oscar WildeThe attention being given to Senator Barack Obama’s comments about the bitterness that many Americans feel is a good thing. What’s more, the manner in which Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain react in identical ways to Obama’s message is also helpful to the Obama campaign. Let’s take a closer look.An easy

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-82051318089633238032008-04-03T08:24:00.000-04:002008-04-03T08:25:53.349-04:00

{1} "Senator Edward M. Kennedy, rejecting entreaties from the Clintons and their supporters, is set to endorse Senator Barack Obama’s presidential bid on Monday as part of an effort to lend Kennedy charisma and connections before the 22-state Feb. 5 showdown for the Democratic nomination."Both the Clintons and their allies had pressed Mr. Kennedy for weeks to remain neutral in the Democratic race

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-66664118759031919732008-03-31T10:25:00.001-04:002008-03-31T10:28:24.828-04:00

{1} "Sean Wilentz is well known as a leading historian of his generation. With this magisterial work, he establishes himself as a major figure in all of American historical scholarship." – Randall Kennedy, Harvard Law School; author of "Race, Crime, and the Law"; from his review of Sean Wilentz’s 2005 book "The Rise of American Democracy"On Wednesday, February 27, Sean Wilentz’s article "Race Man

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-84502213483409785162008-03-30T07:50:00.001-04:002008-03-30T07:51:53.351-04:00

"By the end of September, the president’s war resolution was no sure thing. The White House had trimmed it back, dumping the language that authorized Bush to go to war to achieve stability in the region. Still, the White House faced a threat. Senator Joe Biden and two Republican senators on his foreign relations committee – Richard Lugar and Chuck Hagel – were pushing an alternative that would

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-75243766355991931012008-03-28T12:15:00.000-04:002008-03-28T12:17:24.322-04:00

"Many people are seized by one and the same effect with great consistency. All his senses are so strongly affected by one object that he believes this object to be present even if it is not. If this happens when the person is awake, the person is believed to be insane. … But if the greedy person thinks only of money and possessions, the ambitious one only of fame, one does not think of them as

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-25798801348298216442008-03-27T12:24:00.001-04:002008-03-27T12:27:27.016-04:00

One of the curious aspects of the 2008 primary is how different groups of democrats view Bill and Hillary Clinton, and how those different groups view each other. I think it is interesting to compare what is happening today with some history from the 1990s. Let’s take a few minutes to review some information from the journals of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.Schlesinger was a liberal democratic

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-18413170026195513382008-03-23T07:28:00.002-04:002008-03-23T07:31:36.249-04:00

(Note: This is my daughter's letter to Obama, which included a donation to his campaign.)March 18, 2008Dear Barack Obama,I would like to start off with this note: fantastic job on your speech today. "Worthy of President Lincoln," as Chris Matthews said. It's nice to see that someone is actually standing up for unity in this country. After all, isn't that what this country was built on? Uniting

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-33887446708414031582008-03-22T12:40:00.001-04:002008-03-22T12:43:47.768-04:00

" I thought I had to say something. I don’t know if ‘careful thinking’ would have caused me to revise the speech. I was politically unwise, but morally wise. I think I have a role to play that may be unpopular. I really that someone of influence has to say that the United States is wrong, and everybody is afraid to say it. What I did was go beyond the point that anybody has done who is of

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-80906361758585644652008-03-16T07:35:00.002-04:002008-03-16T07:42:47.331-04:00

{1} On March 17, we celebrate the life of a man born 1619 years ago in Britain, who was kidnapped and brought to Ireland. The feast day for this giant among men will be held in the USA, Canada, parts of Africa, Europe, India, Australia, the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, and China.The New York Times carried an article on March 18, 1981, that told of "Mayor Koch, swaddled in a huge green, white,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-45631915862082830142008-03-15T11:16:00.002-04:002008-03-15T11:20:45.647-04:00

{1} "I am glad to hear that any words of mine, though spoken so long ago that I can hardly claim identity with their author, have reached you. It gives me pleasure, because I have therefore reason to suppose that I have uttered what concerns men, and that it is not in vain that man speaks to man. This is the value of literature. Yet those days are so distant, in every sense, that I have to look

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-83667263625376075012008-02-25T13:29:00.000-05:002008-02-25T13:30:11.660-05:00

"Southern trees bear a strange fruit,blood on the leaves and blood at the root.…strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.…Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,for the sun to rot, for the tree to drop.Here is a strange and bitter crop."--Lewis Allen/ sung by Billie HolidayYou can tell a tree by it’s fruit. The Obama campaign is providing a crop of

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-82709193017045148102008-02-24T09:32:00.000-05:002008-02-24T09:33:06.239-05:00

"On Saturday afternoon Al Gore called me from Carthage, Tennessee, and asked whether I would help on his acceptance speech. I said of course and asked what he had in mind saying. He spoke for quite a time about global environmental problems, ‘family values,’ the ‘spirit of caring,’ and the need for ‘connections.’ He talked with passion about the rescue of the planet – ‘the central organizing

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-22323527725118723152008-02-23T07:50:00.001-05:002008-02-23T07:52:12.463-05:00

(Note: This is an essay I posted on the Democratic Underground discussion forum.)"I am happy to be friendly with the conservatives. If a boat is sinking, it is not a question of progressive and conservative, socialist and capitalist, Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Hindu – for we are all in the same boat. Better a calm and courageous conservative than a frightened progressive if you want to

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-23345590122290724622008-02-22T07:09:00.000-05:002008-02-22T07:10:25.974-05:00

"The great disappointment at the convention was Bill Clinton’s nominating speech. I have very high regard for Clinton, an intelligent, spirited and ( I thought ) sensitive man; and I find it hard to understand how he could have perpetrated so tedious and rambling a speech – and then persevered in it when the response from the crowd made it obvious it was not going over."I also find it hard to

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-79173179845771032542008-02-20T15:40:00.001-05:002008-02-20T15:42:51.282-05:00

{1} "I felt that I was being chased on all sides by a giant stampede. I was being forced over the edge by rioting blacks, demonstrating students, marching welfare mothers, squawking professors, and hysterical reporters. And then the final straw: The thing I feared from the first day of my Presidency was actually coming true. Robert Kennedy had openly announced his intention to reclaim the throne

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-14152387682445121322008-02-16T10:23:00.000-05:002008-02-16T10:24:18.382-05:00

Barack Obama is a talented communicator. Even his opponents admit that. Some of his supporters have compared him to John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. These comparisons have been the source of bitter attacks by the Clinton campaign in the democratic primary, and the same attack tactics will be used by the McCain campaign in the fall. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-24992309886674477892008-02-15T11:27:00.000-05:002008-02-15T11:29:25.774-05:00

"The Bureau expended much of its energy, it must be said, on singularly inane objectives – trying to stop King’s honorary degrees, the publication of his articles, his meeting with British leaders after he collected his Nobel Prize. The vendetta reached its climax on November 18, 1964, when the director, in a rare press conference, denounced King as ‘the most notorious liar in the country.’ King

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-57140954099121888162008-02-14T09:45:00.001-05:002008-02-14T09:47:21.056-05:00

"In the course of American history the nation has been confronted with wrongful events that went to the core of its existence, and the resolution of these events spoke of who we are as a people. Beyond question, the U.S. Supreme Court’s handing the office of the presidency to George W. Bush by its ruling on December 12, 2000, was one of them. And with these epochal events there have been

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-49842628480467857412008-02-12T08:02:00.000-05:002008-02-12T08:04:03.983-05:00

This from last week’s TIME:"I was told by someone close to the President that he thinks he won New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton. If so, he is wrong. ….."In the past two weeks, though, Bill Clinton has redefined his wife’s campaign. He has made it a co-candidacy. He has cheapened it by using cheesy, misleading tactics against Obama. He began this the night before the New Hampshire primary, when

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-34361768712010092312008-02-10T15:15:00.000-05:002008-02-10T15:17:26.654-05:00

"No American, young or old, must ever be denied the right to dissent. No monirity must be muzzled. Opinion and protest are the life breath of democracy – even when it blows heavy."But I urge you never to dissent merely because someone asked you to or because someone else does. Please know what you protest. Know what it is you dissent from. And always try when you do disagree to offer a choice to

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-17563049143424520022008-02-09T20:48:00.001-05:002008-02-09T20:48:58.261-05:00

"Newscaster Chet Huntley wrote a piece in LIFE magazine, containing what were considered unfavorable remarks. The suggestion for retaliation against Huntly, in a White House memo by Mr. Higley, contained a statement of broad philosophy: ‘What we are trying to do here is tear down the institution.’ …"The broader tactics used against the press included meetings between Mr. Charles Colson and media

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-86361386699969789412008-02-09T14:17:00.000-05:002008-02-09T14:18:34.454-05:00

The potential for a brokered democratic convention, in which the decision to select the party’s nominee could be made despite the will of the voters, reminds me of the historic experience of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964.In 1964, the democratic party in the state of Mississippi was run by some politicians who had been in office for a long, long time, and who were not used to

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-7936410251790816042008-02-07T18:18:00.000-05:002008-02-07T18:19:51.787-05:00

"All people whose minds are healthy can desire peace, and there is an ability within all people -- especially the young -- to grasp and hold strongly to the principles of righteousness. These principles of justice demand that all thoughts of prejudice, privilege, and superiority be swept away, and that recognition be given to the reality that the creation is intended for all equally." –

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-20188668692960145322008-02-02T17:22:00.000-05:002008-02-02T17:24:58.257-05:00

This morning I had a :45 minute wait between dropping my daughter off, and the beginning of an 8th grade basketball game. During a stop at a convenience store, I picked up The New York Post. At the counter, I took part in a conversation with three other people about the up-coming primary. All four of us were democrats, which I took as a good sign considering that we are in a very conservative,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-18923055294656308702008-02-01T09:45:00.000-05:002008-02-01T09:46:35.094-05:00

{1} "Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history." –Oscar HandlinIn 1958, Senator John Kennedy quoted Harvard historian Oscar Handlin’s 1952 book "The Uprooted" in his pamphlet-sized book "A Nation of Immigrants." Handlin’s work, which studied the experiences of the European immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-14879941273098505052008-02-01T08:04:00.000-05:002008-02-01T08:05:39.351-05:00

"I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved. If I left the woman I really loved – the Great Society – in order to get involved with that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. ….And I knew that if we let Communist aggression succeed in taking over South Vietnam ….that would shatter my Presidency, kill my administration,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-35018091408380419262008-01-30T12:49:00.000-05:002008-01-30T12:51:43.280-05:00

In December 2007, after being knocked out by Floyd Mayweather, boxer Ricky Hatton was asked what had happened? "Well, as I said, this isn’t a tickling contest," he said.I think that is true of the democratic primary contest, as well. A number of good candidates, who could have made good presidents, have been knocked out of the contest.Today the candidate who seemed to best represent the

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-50963629551377962812008-01-28T18:39:00.000-05:002008-01-28T18:41:01.233-05:00

"All of us of Irish descent are bound together by the ties that come from a common experience; experience that may exist only in memories and in legend but which is real enough to those who possess it. The special contribution of the Irish, I believe – the emerald thread that runs through the tapestry of their past – has been the constancy, the endurance, the faith that they displayed through

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-21016302505346514622008-01-27T08:43:00.000-05:002008-01-27T08:45:01.735-05:00

"There are those who regard this history of past strife and exile as better forgotten. But, to use the phrase of Yeats, let us not casually reduce ‘that great past to a trouble of fools,’ for we need not feel the bitterness of the past to discover its meaning for the present and the future." – John F. Kennedy, 1963.{1} Hillary Clinton: A few years ago, my brother-in-law and I drove to the village

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-41886698046382578112008-01-25T18:32:00.000-05:002008-01-25T18:35:05.762-05:00

(NOTE: This is an essay I posted on the Democratic Underground political discussion forum.){1} "Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed."--Mao Zedong; 1938Yesterday I posted an essay about Senator Barack Obama’s difficult campaign choices ("Hamlet’s Soliloquy"). I thought that it might be of interest to those DUers who, even if they endorse one candidate or another

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-4096102115763799602008-01-24T14:03:00.000-05:002008-01-24T14:06:11.207-05:00

(Note: This is an essay I posted on the Democratic Undergound political discussion forum.){1} To be or not to be, that is the question;Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing, end them.--HamletThere have been a few interesting threads in DU:GD-P regarding how Senator Barack Obama can best

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-53927660894561443052008-01-23T14:21:00.000-05:002008-01-23T14:22:14.065-05:00

As we approach the democratic primary in South Carolina, just a short time after Martin Luther King Day, I thought it might be interesting to look back at a couple of paragraphs from this essay. Martin’s "A Testament of Hope" was published posthumously, and perhaps for that reason, has too often been overlooked. I like it because he speaks of "human rights" instead of simply "civil rights." And

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-51553615484199545692008-01-20T20:32:00.000-05:002008-01-20T20:36:10.244-05:00

{1} "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lies only a few miles from us tonight. Tonight he must feel good as he looks down upon us. We sit here together, a rainbow, a coalition -- the sons and daughters of slave masters and the sons and daughters of slaves, sitting together around a common table, to decide the direction of our party and our country. His heart would be full tonight. …."We meet tonight at

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-48534709681572854552008-01-18T12:52:00.000-05:002008-01-18T12:54:07.041-05:00

{1} feudal system: A medieval European political and economic system based on the holding of lands on condition of homage or military service and labour. Feudalism probably originated in the Frankish kingdom in the 8th century and spread into northern Italy, Spain, and Germany. It was introduced by the Normans into England, Ireland, Scotland, southern Italy, and Sicily. The nobility held lands

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-27981579957309411812008-01-14T20:37:00.000-05:002008-01-14T20:38:14.114-05:00

It was twenty years ago this week that the US Supreme Court denied a New Jersey prosecutor’s appeal, thus affirming Judge Lee Sarokin’s 11-7-85 reversal of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter’s conviction for a crime he did not commit. It was the end of what F. Lee Bailey called "one of this century’s most important legal sagas." I was looking through some of the old paperwork related to Rubin’s defense,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-65715879817839313212008-01-13T17:59:00.000-05:002008-01-13T18:00:41.781-05:00

June 9, 1968"It is beyond belief, but it has happened – it has happened again. …"It is all too much. That evening I went with so many others to Butler Aviation to await for the plan bearing the body from Los Angeles. It was all too familiar. The night was warm rather than cold; but the same sadness penetrated everything. In a way my friendship with Bobby had become closer than my friendship with

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-5267999173432872812008-01-11T09:58:00.000-05:002008-01-11T09:59:29.394-05:00

For my generation, "The Hate that Hate Produced" was a 1959 TV documentary in which Louis Lomax and Mike Wallace introduced middle class white America to the Nation of Islam. It featured the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, and most importantly, Malcolm X. The next generation knows it as a Sister Souljah production, with some curious relationship with the 1992 elections. We all have

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-84845076828385584662008-01-07T11:49:00.000-05:002008-01-07T11:50:56.972-05:00

"Comedians have often suggested that Ronald Reagan’s immense popularity might have been helped by television-induced confusion. But I would like to make the case that this was concretely true, and that it’s not so funny."Ronald Reagan spent his adult life being an image, sometimes fictional – as when performing in films – and sometimes in that odd semi-reality that performers obtain in

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-27507891946136864572008-01-07T09:56:00.001-05:002008-01-07T09:56:58.618-05:00

Late last week, a person taking a poll for Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, called my house. They asked if there was a registered voter who would be willing to answer a few questions about politics, and my son said, "You should probably talk to my father."The questions were part of a survey to measure possible support for a potential 3rd party run by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. I am

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-59754658920203567362008-01-07T09:28:00.000-05:002008-01-07T09:29:23.923-05:00

"There are those who regard this history of past strife and exile as better forgotten. But, to use the phrase of Yeats, let us not casually reduce ‘that great past to a trouble of fools,’ for we need not feel the bitterness of the past to discover its meaning for the present and the future." – John F. Kennedy; 1963.I watched the presidential debates again on CNN last night. Two things stand out:

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-60722247119350688282007-12-30T12:48:00.000-05:002007-12-30T12:50:26.208-05:00

{1} "A Pakistani diplomat I talked to at the time acknowledged that the situation was ‘explosive.’ Much of the concern stemmed from the Reagan Administration’s decision to finance many of today’s Taliban leaders in their successful war against the Soviet Union’s presence in Afghanistan. Pakistan was the main conduit for American support. ‘At one time, it was a three-way game,’ the diplomat said.

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-16997665288620497902007-11-29T07:48:00.000-05:002007-11-29T07:49:50.894-05:00

Last night’s CNN/ YouTube republican debate was probably the most entertaining performance that the democrats could hope for. Several things stood out. The most obvious was that Rudy G. was distracted by yesterday’s report about his abuse of funds as mayor, in order to carry on an affair. In the next few days, this report may get more attention than Rudy’s feeble attempts to deliver zingers at

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-43180774609822038262007-11-27T08:50:00.000-05:002007-11-27T08:51:47.281-05:00

"I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved. If I left the woman I really loved-the Great Society-in order to get involved in that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. All my programs…. But if I left that war and let the Communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-70515362674402535932007-11-21T17:22:00.000-05:002007-11-21T17:24:17.462-05:00

{1}"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-77764973311977775192007-11-21T12:30:00.000-05:002007-11-21T12:33:06.152-05:00

{1} "….This is a time for courage and a time of challenge. Neither conformity nor complacency will do. Neither the fanatics nor the fainthearted are needed. … Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause…."--From a speech JFK was to deliver on 11-22-1963November 22, 1963 was one of the most important dates in American history. When we read the above quote, from a speech President

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-7846978970403076412007-11-19T10:14:00.000-05:002007-11-19T10:16:25.277-05:00

{1} Water ThanksThe drop of waterhangs from the faucetpulsing, the heartof the well still beatingI never drink waterHarold Elm told meeven from the sinkwithout sayinga prayer of thanksthe drop of watertrembles, holdingthe face of all the worlds.--Joseph BruchacThanksgiving time was when I used to be asked to speak at schools, often with Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman, about "Indian issues." I

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-9671715339090110272007-11-16T11:01:00.000-05:002007-11-16T11:03:28.163-05:00

I enjoyed watching the CNN debate last night. I thought that the democratic candidates showed that our party has the potential to exercise the type of leadership that is going to be necessary to repair the severe damage that the current administration has done, both domestically and internationally.At this point, I have not decided which candidate I will vote for in the primary. There are some

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-67921338515147946542007-11-04T11:58:00.000-05:002007-11-04T12:04:26.262-05:00

Impeach Dick Cheney: Part 1{A} Introduction"The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury …."--Article III, Section 2; US ConstitutionIn "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill," author Ron Suskind tells of the Bush2 administration’s first National Security Council’s first meeting. On January 30, 2001, President Bush

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-18155130235097017472007-10-24T09:05:00.000-04:002007-10-24T09:06:23.256-04:00

One of the issues that I think is important to consider between now and the November 2008 elections is the relationship between the democratic party leadership and the grass roots progressives. The 2006 elections were a wonderful example of how well these two groups could coordinate efforts: the grass roots progressives were outraged by the Bush administration’s war of occupation in Iraq, and the

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-89474319846282025662007-10-20T11:23:00.000-04:002007-10-20T11:26:28.272-04:00

Note: This essay is from a post I made on the Democratic Underground forum. In the past 72 hours, a few DUers had expressed outrage at my position on impeaching President Bush and VP Cheney. This is my response to them:{1} "Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of papers instead of children. …. We could not, so help us God, do otherwise. For we are sick at heart

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-50507079402800742352007-10-12T21:10:00.000-04:002007-10-12T21:12:07.083-04:00

The excitement among progressive democrats are feeling as a result of Al Gore’s winning the Nobel Peace Prize is encouraging. In the years since the US Supreme Court selected George W. Bush to be president, despite the fact that Gore won the election, the former US Senator and Vice President has undergone a transformation.His books "An Inconvenient Truth" and "The Assault on Reason" were evidence

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-67665746793064115762007-10-11T08:49:00.000-04:002007-10-11T08:50:25.168-04:00

President Jimmy Carter’s statements about the nature of VP Dick Cheney as a human being, and his role in the current administration, has caused quite a reaction. Some in the news media, including several folks on MSNBC, are taking the position that ex-presidents should not speak ill of a sitting president. That, of course, indicates that they recognize the current vice president has a firm grasp

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-28498793079905442242007-10-10T07:42:00.000-04:002007-10-10T07:44:21.194-04:00

{1} "First, our people have to become registered voters. But they should not become involved actively in politics until we have gotten a much better understanding than we now have of the gains to be made from politics in this country. We go into politics in a sort of gullible way, an emotional way, whereas politics, especially in this country, is cold-blooded and heartless. We have to be given a

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-51132176696910794812007-10-08T09:26:00.000-04:002007-10-08T09:27:18.375-04:00

I have a lot of good memories of Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman. We used to have fun around Columbus Day. Different groups of people would come to Indian support group meetings with questions or suggestions, and area news reporters would call me to try to get a chance to interview Paul. It’s always interesting to see people from different cultures interact, and to see that when different cultures

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-3500811535979889102007-09-25T19:52:00.000-04:002007-09-25T19:53:41.897-04:00

"Bernard Shaw says in Man and Superman: ‘This creature Man, who in his own selfish affairs is a coward to the backbone, will fight for an idea like a hero.’ Of course, we would not call Fascism or Hitlerism ideas. They are archetypes, and so we would say: Give an archetype to the people and the whole crowd moves like one man, there is no resisting it." – C. G. JungOne of my best friends called me

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-57907720940420915322007-09-21T08:23:00.000-04:002007-09-21T08:27:34.887-04:00

{1} " ….there shall be a new election of the members of the Grand Council every three years; and, on the death or resignation of any member, his place should be supplied by a new choice at the next sitting of the Assembly of the Colony he represented."--Ben Franklin; Albany Plan of Union; 1754There was a lot of tension in the colonies in the 1750s. There was the series of battles that are known

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-27729022220114195582007-09-17T06:33:00.000-04:002007-09-17T06:34:09.702-04:00

"Surely this [award] belongs to all the mothers of the world. May they be seen, may their work be valued and raised. Especially to the mothers who stand with an open heart and wait. Wait for their children to come home from danger, from harm’s way, and from war. I am proud to be one of those women. If mothers ruled the world, there would be no god-damn wars in the first place." – Sally FieldsThe

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-74562479114209184712007-09-13T17:30:00.000-04:002007-09-13T17:31:50.417-04:00

{1} "A function of free speech ….is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces ….unrest ….or even stirs people to anger."--Justice DouglasI found the above quote in Associate Justice Abe Fortas’s 1968 book, "Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience (We have an Alternative to Violence)." I had been thinking about Fortas’s book, after reading some of the curious

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-57916462222087807942007-08-29T19:10:00.000-04:002007-08-29T19:11:34.477-04:00

Fair Salamis, the billows’ roar,Wander around thee yet,And sailors gaze upon thy shoreFirm in the Ocean set.Thy son is in a foreign climeWhere Ida feeds her countless flocks,Far from thy dear, remembered rocks,Worn by the waste of time–Comfortless, nameless, hopeless saveIn the dark prospect of the yawning grave....Woe to the mother in her close of day,Woe to her desolate heart and temples gray,

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-40308802051238947702007-08-27T18:51:00.000-04:002007-08-27T18:52:44.362-04:00

"This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land …" -- Article VI of the Constitution of the United StatesAlberto Gonzales is a thief. In fact, he is one of the worst thieves in this nation’s history. He was among the gang of

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-47513144742767543342007-08-23T08:02:00.000-04:002007-08-23T08:03:17.714-04:00

Did you find yourself wondering why the media pretended that President Bush was making a rational point with his attempts to justify the US war of occupation in Iraq by comparing it to what didn’t happen in Vietnam? Did you wonder why Ari Fleischer’s commercial that used images of 9-11 to justify the continued war of occupation in Iraq went largely unchallenged?Do journalists believe that honest

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-74667603978308986642007-08-19T16:17:00.000-04:002007-08-19T16:18:49.304-04:00

In the past couple of months, I have posted essays on a few of the candidates in the democratic primaries. My goal is to try to focus on some of the strengths that each of our candidates has. It is important to me to consider what each of the democrats who wants to be president has to offer those of us at the grass roots level. If we are being asked to invest our time and money in the primaries –

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-53851921386527936712007-08-13T08:53:00.000-04:002007-08-13T08:55:30.579-04:00

"We are faced with evil. I feel rather like Augustine did before becoming a Christian when he said, ‘I tried to find the source of evil and I got nowhere. But it is also true that I and a few others knew what must be done if not to reduce evil at least not to add to it.’ Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-59444127026918805492007-08-07T10:02:00.000-04:002007-08-07T10:04:21.278-04:00

ACT I"In the beginning, seeing, they saw amiss,and hearing, heard not, but like phantoms huddledIn dreams, the perplexed story of their daysConfounded."-- Aeschylus; Prometheus BoundWhat is congress? Is the House of Representatives a collection of individuals? Individuals advocating for their constituents? Upholding that Constitution? Or is it the bee-hive, an entity that transcends the

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-37795683711679407222007-07-24T10:08:00.000-04:002007-07-24T10:10:11.137-04:00

"You may well ask, ‘Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9906685.post-52381563900913460392007-07-22T22:52:00.000-04:002007-07-22T22:54:30.505-04:00

This is an essay I posted on the forum Democratic Underground:{1} "The increasing complexity of both technological tasks and the built environment is a source of many negative stress response patterns. In buildings, institutions, and communities, the nurturing properties of vegetation can ameliorate stress and provide maintenance for a healthy society." – Landscape Views and Stress Response in

Patrick O'Watermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060092843279532694noreply@blogger.com0