Cynthia McKinney comes to Amherst

[jaqeboy]

AN AFTERNOON WITH CYNTHIA MCKINNEY ~~~

In her sole New Hampshire engagement, five-term Congresswoman Cynthia
McKinney visits New Hampshire, at one of twelve stops on her New
England fundraising and speaking tour, from 2 to 4 pm Friday August 24th at
#1 Fells Drive, Amherst, New Hampshire.

The Congressswoman represented a district in Atlanta, Georgia, until her
last campaign in 2006 saw defeat at the hands of a conservative Democrat
overwhelmingly supported by Republicans.  By removing McKinney from the
House of Representatives, a cabal of Republicans, conservative Democrats and
touch-screen Diebold voting machines forced a premature end to her
congressional career.

How that all came about is the subject of a documentary released earlier
this year, American Blackout, from which brief excerpts will be shown
preceding her talk in Amherst, which will include comments on the current
state of electronic votecounting, increasingly in the hands of defense
contractors who have quietly bought up controlling interests in electronic
voting machines and the programming software that counts the votes.  DVD
copies, autographed by Ms McKinney, will be available for purchase
following Q and A.


Cynthia McKinney distinguished herself from the beginning to the end of her
ten years in Congress as a visionary progressive who refused to meekly get
in line behind the conservative/moderate Democratic faction who actually ran
and still runs the House Democratic caucus.  Issues they would not touch
were those that Cynthia most forcefully brought to the attention of her core
consituents, from the economically debilitating effects of globalization at
home and abroad to the complete lack of accountability by the Democratic
Party in addressing the impeachable crimes of the Bush-Cheney regime.  Her
last offering in Congress prior to leaving office was a bill of impeachment
for George W Bush.

Cynthia McKinney's most prophetic moment came in the immediate wake of
9/11, when on the House floor she challenged Congress to address the
question no Democrat dared ask, "Qui bono?---Who Benefits?" from the War on
Terror, which was soon to plunge the nation into an ongoing transfer of
wealth from the US Treasury into the coffers of Vice-President Cheney's
former employer, Halliburton, and what was then a small arms-delivery
company called the Carlyle Group, headed by George H W Bush.  In sworn
testimony, she diligently asked and got answers from then-current Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard
Myers regarding the numbers of drills, exercises and war games which had
been scheduled for the morning of 9/11 and which had minimized any sincere
air defense, details which no one in Congress theretofore had revealed
to the American people.  She followed up by holding an entire day of
hearings with CIA operatives detailing the seeming inability of the
Adminstration to protect the nation from attack.

Cynthia McKinney, most assuredly a Woman Making a Difference, looks forward
to meeting the people in the First Primary state prior to continuing the
rest of her career in public service.

[Fragilityh14]

though I disagree with Cynthia McKinney on some pretty profound things, I quite like her for standing up when no one else would, especially about some things as crucial as the integrity of the election process and the so called War on Terror

i absolutely recommend American Blackout, it is on Google video

[penguins4me]

Isn't this the same woman who repeatedly refuses to abide by the rules the peons must abide by (wearing a security badge to enter Congressional buildings), and gets uppity when those same peons do their jobs (slugging a security guard who DARED to touch her as she was about to rush through a checkpoint without wearing said badge - how dare the guard not memorize all 600+ faces of the congresspersons!)?

[KBCraig]

It goes without saying that I disagree strongly with Cynthia McKinney on political issues.

I find it hilarious that she represents "the integrity of the voting process" (no offense, Fragility), when she only came to office by running for the most horrendously gerrymandered district ever seen. When she was elected to the former 11th District, her district map looked like a drunken snake had crawled across  Georgia. It was a district carefully carved out to have a majority black population, to ensure a black Representative would be elected.

Okay, I better shut up now... enough "political" talk for the General Discussion forum. 

[Fragilityh14]

It goes without saying that I disagree strongly with Cynthia McKinney on political issues.

I find it hilarious that she represents "the integrity of the voting process" (no offense, Fragility), when she only came to office by running for the most horrendously gerrymandered district ever seen. When she was elected to the former 11th District, her district map looked like a drunken snake had crawled across  Georgia. It was a district carefully carved out to have a majority black population, to ensure a black Representative would be elected.

Okay, I better shut up now... enough "political" talk for the General Discussion forum. 

there were a whole lot of people in congress silent about not one but two stolen elections.

[Nicholas Gilman]

    Caught in the act.  Choicepoint is one of the largest
contractors of info to DHS.  Private companies are not
bound by the fourth amendment when gathering info,
and DHS violates the constitution by having Choicepoint
do the dirty work.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPOmOTyDm1w

[Lloyd Danforth]

During the badge incident, she, immediately played the race card.  I have no use for her.

[dalebert]

though I disagree with Cynthia McKinney on some pretty profound things, I quite like her for standing up when no one else would, especially about some things as crucial as the integrity of the election process and the so called War on Terror

i absolutely recommend American Blackout, it is on Google video

Hmm... "integrity" and "voting process". Sounds like a complete oxymoron. Still, maybe her movie will help others realize it's an oxymoron.

[Rochelle]

Please, there have got to be better people who have been locked out of Congress due to electronic voting machines...I'll save my sympathy for them.

[mvpel]

[jaqeboy]

This discussion is a good example of the divide in the freedom movement caused by "intellectual perfectionism" - which disables people from working in effective coalitions with people they are in agreement with on single issues.

A good article on this just came out on 08/14/2007, The Libertarian Movement: An Oxymoron?, By: MARK W. HENDRICKSON,   http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=18695442&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6

While they preach tolerance of individual differences in theory, they can't stand ideological nonconformity in practice. If you've ever spent time around libertarians, you know what I mean. Two libertarians may agree on 95 percent of issues, but they will end up arguing passionately and splitting over the other 5 percent. Essentially, for many libertarians, libertarianism has become a religion. Each faction has its own orthodoxy, and any self-professed libertarian who deviates from the orthodoxy is treated like a heretic or apostate. Thus, a potential ally in the fight for freedom becomes Public Enemy Number One..."

[Trust me, I've seen this over and over for ~38 years in the movement - when I got in, Rand was just excommunicating Branden and his associates!]

and from the conclusion:

A "libertarian movement" will remain an oxymoron unless libertarians cease their fratricidal feuding, agree to disagree about certain things and quit allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the better.

It is difficult to identify if people that practice this are provocateurs or innocently just haven't thought this through. It is clear, though, that their efforts work to alienate and isolate them and others from some who are doing effective work to expose and fight the state gangsters who are taking away our freedoms. So, the question is, as Dr. Phil says: "Is that working for you?"

Video below of Cynthia McKinney on the war, USA PATRIOT act, Military Tribunals act, opposition to both Bush and the Democratic leadership, Pentagon waste and corruption, war crimes, torture, government lies and other freedom issues, mixed in with some things you might not agree with her on. She "Declares her Independence" in the speech!  What's her pro-freedom score in this speech then? Give her a +1 if you agree and a -1 if you disagree. Where does her score fall in comparison to other people in public office (or formerly in office)? Compare her score to some Republicans, for example.:

[youtube=425,350]5G3eq-I7CzM[/youtube]

Would it be interesting to get to talk to someone in an intimate setting who has put it all on the line to fight these fights and ask her about your differences to get a better understanding of why she takes those positions? This is the opportunity you have in the political season in New-Hampshire.

Your call - you're still free to choose.

[jaqeboy]

OK, I took my own advice and rated her speech:

Of ~41 points in C-McK's talk, I found 35 to be libertarian, or a score of ~85% - that seems like someone we should meet, get to know and learn some things from. She's been there and fought in the trenches in the belly of the beast!

Next Friday in Amherst.

[penguins4me]

This discussion is a good example of the divide in the freedom movement caused by "intellectual perfectionism" - which disables people from working in effective coalitions with people they are in agreement with on single issues.

Note that those "libertarian" issues are fashionable because the current fad is to bash anything and everything associated with the "Bush regime".

What does her congressional career voting record look like? (I'm not going to bother looking it up, but if someone does and finds principled consistancy, I'll be ready to admit I could be wrong about McKinney, once I verify.)

[jaqeboy]

This discussion is a good example of the divide in the freedom movement caused by "intellectual perfectionism" - which disables people from working in effective coalitions with people they are in agreement with on single issues.

Note that those "libertarian" issues are fashionable because the current fad is to bash anything and everything associated with the "Bush regime".

And, you're supporting the Bush regime, I take it, for which stand of theirs?: Pre-emptive war for our lifetime? Spying on Americans? Elimination of Habeus Corpus? Indefinite detention? Torture of suspects? - Just curious. The point is that it appears that American people are waking up and joining us in making libertarian opposition to rapidly building totalitarian fascism and imperial presidency fashionable. Is this for some reason a bad thing?

What does her congressional career voting record look like? (I'm not going to bother looking it up, but if someone does and finds principled consistancy, I'll be ready to admit I could be wrong about McKinney, once I verify.)

Remember that if you travel down the road of intellectual perfectionism here and demand a 100% "agrees with me" score, you are lost to effective activism (though you won't be lost to endless criticism, should that be your goal - they ARE 2 different things).

Also, remember the question here is whether or not to get out of one's house next Friday afternoon, travel a few short miles down the road and meet and hear an activist speak about their congressional career of fighting the totalitarians (and hawk the movie, I'm sure), not whether or not you should throw your full energies and unwavering support and overwhelming financial weight to some campaign - I don't think she's running for anything.

[jaqeboy]

#1 Fells Drive didn't show up on google maps because it's a new housing development, so I asked the organizer for directions:

It's just off Baboosic Lake Road.....take the highway back [west on Rt. 101] to the Amherst/Route 122 exit, up at the stop sign, turn left onto Baboosic Lake Road, stay left at the 'Y' in the road, go past Dream Lake (on your left), and as you come to Ralmer Road (also on your left) diagonally across the road is Fells Drive....in a new housing complex....it's the first house...the clubhouse on the right.

Or, it's near here on googlemaps: