>> <
>>
>> Date: August 10, 2006 4:36:41 AM PDT
>>
>> Subject: Cynthia McKinney's Election Night Remarks
>>
>> Tuesday, August 8, 2006
>>
>> After Listening to Pink's "Dear Mr. President"
>>
>>
>>
>> I wanted you to hear this song because it says so much about why
>> *this*
>> election in Georgia was so important.
>>
>>
>>
>> In the film American Blackout, you saw that I say that my
>> district needs
>> jobs. And so, in partnership with faith-based organizations and
>> labor, I
>> put together a program to train my constituents to acquire the
>> skills for
>> jobs that won't be outsourced overseas, and that pay more than a
>> living
>> wage, with health and retirement benefits. Last month, we took
>> in 500
>> students. Who at the end of their training will have
>> transportable skills,
>> internationally-recognized certification, and a chance to live
>> the American
>> dream, supporting their families and our community.
>>
>>
>>
>> The news media didn't tell you about that because they wanted you
>> to focus
>> on my hair!
>>
>>
>>
>> Tonight my mother was hurt by someone in this room, a member of
>> the press.
>> My staff assistant was hurt by someone in this room, a member of
>> the press.
>>
>>
>>
>> I first got into trouble when I was compelled in 1991, while
>> serving in the
>> Georgia Legislature, to speak against George Herbert Walker
>> Bush's war
>> against Iraq. And during a point of personal privilege, I
>> declared that I
>> could not support *any* of George Bush's reasons for war.
>>
>>
>>
>> My colleagues got up and walked out on me, I was vilified in the
>> press, and
>> compared to Julian Bond, who too had spoken out against an unjust
>> war.
>>
>> Ladies and gentlemen, there comes a time when people of
>> conscience are
>> compelled to dissent.
>>
>>
>>
>> Bobby Kennedy said, "The sharpest criticism often goes hand in
>> hand with
>> the deepest idealism and love of country."
>>
>>
>>
>> We love our country, and that is why we dissent: because we care.
>>
>>
>>
>> We care about the dignity of all the world's people.
>>
>>
>>
>> We care about minimum wage workers; we care about no wage workers;
>>
>> we care about the homeless--too many of whom are veterans;
>>
>> we want a healthy future for all our children;
>>
>> we want our seniors to live in dignity.
>>
>>
>>
>> Our country is too rich to tolerate such poverty in our midst.
>>
>> We have more to give to our people and the world than DynCorp,
>> Halliburton,
>> and the Carlyle Group.
>>
>>
>>
>> We care about the air and the earth and the water. And so we
>> reject George
>> Bush's science lessons that distort the facts and justify
>> policies that
>> support drilling for oil in Alaska; exacerbate global warming;
>> and allow
>> more human consumption of known toxins and pollutants.
>>
>>
>>
>> We care about the projection of US power around the world.
>> Either we can
>> be a force for good in the world; or we can rely on force and
>> upset the world.
>>
>> Sadly, this Administration has chosen the latter.
>>
>>
>>
>> At a time when this country has failed to train enough certified
>> teachers
>> to educate our children, George Bush is spending billions, nearly one
>> trillion, dollars for war. And in a point of personal privilege
>> right now
>>
>> I echo what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "A time comes when
>> silence is
>> betrayal; we are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless,
>> for the
>> victims of our nation, for those it calls 'enemy.'"
>>
>>
>>
>> One year to the day before Dr. King was murdered, he declared
>> that the
>> greatest purveyor of violence in the world was his own country.
>>
>>
>>
>> With Israel's invasion of Lebanon, there might even be a call for
>> more US
>> or UN troops to be stationed in the Middle East, we--here
>> tonight--say to
>>
>> our Commander-in-Chief: Sir, No Sir.
>>
>>
>>
>> And so, before we engage in yet more war, I declare tonight that
>> we stand
>> with the families of our hurt soldiers and the hundreds of
>> thousands of
>> innocent hurt and dead Iraqis.
>>
>>
>>
>> We stand with the homeless Vietnam and Gulf War veterans.
>>
>>
>>
>> We stand with the Agent Orange victims and the 160,000 sick Gulf
>> War veterans.
>>
>>
>>
>> We stand with the 37,000 green card soldiers, not even citizens, but
>> willing to trade their lives for a chance to live and work in America
>> because our foreign policy has failed to uplift their hopes and
>> aspirations
>> in their own countries.
>>
>>
>>
>> Dr. King told us that in order to stop the madness we would have
>> to match
>> actions with words. Mario Savio before that told us that we have
>> to put
>> our very bodies against the wheels and the gears and the levers
>> of the
>> machine and we have to say to those who own it, that they must
>> stop it, or
>> we will stop it.
>>
>>
>>
>> Tonight I am joined by noted men and women activists who have put
>> their
>> bodies against the wheels and the gears and the levers of the
>> machine and
>> they are trying to stop it. They are not tricked by red herrings
>> that the
>> corporate media throw to us. They are focused on our objective
>> to make
>> America a better country.
>>
>>
>>
>> Something is happening around the world: countries with little
>> or nothing
>> are standing up, rising up against the utter and complete domination.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank goodness for the people in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,
>> Chile, Cuba,
>> Venezuela, Malaysia, all standing up and speaking for the weak
>> and the
>> voiceless in their countries. A change is sweeping the world.
>> And America
>> must not be left out.
>>
>>
>>
>> So my new friends are the mothers who have lost their sons in
>> George Bush's
>> war and we say to them hold fast to your faith--your suffering
>> will not be
>> a stumbling block for us. We will make this stand with you--you
>> are not
>> alone.
>>
>>
>>
>> Denise Thomas' daughter went to Iraq once and when they tried to
>> send her a
>> second time, Mama got political. She's now the founder of the
>> Georgia
>> Chapter of Military Families Speak Out. First told her story at
>> a prayer
>> vigil organized by Ann Mauney. Prayed at by Reverend Timothy
>> McDonald.
>>
>>
>>
>> Then one mother who wasn't so lucky. She couldn't save her son
>> from the
>> War Machine. The first Georgia soldier to die in Iraq came from
>> the 4th
>> District. Patricia Roberts, Jamal Addison's mother, now
>> politically active
>> and my new friend.
>>
>>
>>
>> Another mother, lost her son, Casey, and decided to take her case
>> directly
>> to President Bush. Cindy Sheehan.
>>
>>
>>
>> There's something special about these women. Their names aren't
>> Deborah,
>> or Esther, or Ruth. But they are women for these times. Women,
>> called to
>> make peaceful revolution.
>>
>>
>>
>> President Kennedy warned us that "Those who make peaceful revolution
>> impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
>>
>>
>>
>> Electronic voting machines are a threat to our democracy!
>>
>> So let the word go out: we aren't going to tolerate any more stolen
>> elections; we're watching you. And we want our leaders back--or
>> we will
>> become the leaders.
>>
>>
>>
>> And not only do we want our country back, we want our Party back.
>>
>> There *is* a growing force for peace in this country. And the peace
>> movement that we are building is backed by millions of young
>> people. I
>> want to thank the hundreds of people who volunteered in our campaign,
>> especially the young people who were excited about getting
>> involved in
>> something good.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thank you all for a lot of hard work, thank you for the thousands of
>> volunteer hours, thank you for helping to make a stand in Georgia.
>>
>> I wish the new representative for the 4th Congressional District
>> well.
>>
>>
>>
>> A snake in the bush is easy to fight. But one already in the house
>> becomes a problem!
>>
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