When the Wealthy and Powerful Do What's Right

It doesn't happen often, that the wealthy and powerful in this country step up and do what's within their power to benefit our nation.

But today, at the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear at the Mall in the Nation's Capitol, even the sponsors did the right thing.  This was a magnificent charity event to benefit the Washington Mall -- the people's mall -- which has been in decline since the 80's, when the powerful decided that money should not be spent on the rest of us, and capital improvements on roads, bridges, and our great Capitol were none of their concern or responsibility.

With their usual mix of humor, hipness, modesty, satire, and talent and energy, the Stewart production made this rally an historic event, for many reasons.

They did not just meet at the Nation's Capitol to rally for their cause, their cause was the Nation's Capitol.

The celebrities were not just the famous but those who were heroic in ways in which we all could be heroic if we so chose to be.

And the message, from Father Guido Sarducci (maybe you could give us a sign, or maybe not...), to the duelling duets of Yusef/Ozzie Ozbourne and Stewart/Colbert, to the Fear Awards to the media who were not allowed to attend, to Tony Bennett's America the Beautiful, to Stewart's final plea to think for ourselves, and work together to make this country work, did just that.

And I hate commercials.  And I hate advertisers.  I knew 9/11 was serious because there were, for a few days, no commercials.  We began to lose NPR when they began to be controlled by advertisers (Garrison Keillor, how could you???)  But Stewart found advertisers that were willing to put the message first, and I will do something I guarantee I will never do again.  The advertisers were:  LG, Reese's, and VW.  They sponsored the rally, live, on Comedy Central, for those who could not attend, without commercial interruption, and with limited identification during the program.

Jon Stewart ended by saying, "I know that many of you made a great effort to be here today, and I want you to know that everyone involved with this project worked incredibly hard to make sure that we honored the effort that you put in and gave you the best show that we could possibly do...."

When capitalists look to those who provide them their great wealth and power, and see the obligation it entails, our Nation will have the means to move forward again.

Where In the World Is Alvin Greene?

Haven't heard much from Alvin Greene.  He hasn't answered either of my emails, one of which included a link to this blog, when I was still writing about him, but that's not unusual for a Democrat.  They are usually too busy fighting the good fight to realize how important it is to acknowledge a potential voter and constituent who has actually contacted them.

But he also hasn't taken advantage of the national stage, people who love to highlight the underdog, and believe me, Alvin Greene is the underdog of all underdogs.  His publicity organization, who were to provide their services pro bono, have also been silent.  Couldn't even find them on the internet to thank them for taking up this fight.

Apparently he has turned up at a meeting of the State Democratic Party, but nearly had to be dragged up to the podium, at which time he had no prepared remarks.

Now, I don't believe Greene is dumb, as some do.  He may not be a genius, but jeez, have you taken a look at our Senate lately?

My first impressions about Greene were that he was a Republican set-up.  Slipped $10,000 to get his name on the primary ballot against a legitimate candidate.  And then, with the help of the Neanderthal primary voting rules in this fair state, which allow us all to vote for the least appealing of the opposing party's candidates, and no doubt some plain old poll-booth tinkering, voila!  The mysterious Alvin Greene, with the added bonus of Jon Stewart getting to thank South Carolina once again for our comedic flair, this time for the stupidity of its voters.  

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-14-2010/alvin-greene-wins-south-carolina-primary 

But, you know, Jim Demint is really despicable.  So I decided to take a long, hard look at Alvin Greene.  Since that wasn't possible, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.  That story goes like this:

A young, naive but idealistic young man saves every penny he earns while in the military (while also bucking some military authority, also because of his ideals), so he can help his friends and neighbors back home, and yes, his country, by running for office.


You don't have to be terribly astute politically to know how bad Jim Demint has been for South Carolina, so, encouraged by his church and family, he took that nest egg and used it to run in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.  And, because Vic Rawl, also running on a shoestring despite his long list of credentials, had a name that begins with "R", Greene was able to walk away with his name on the ballot for November.


Hard to believe, isn't it?


Yes, I have to admit, it is harder to believe than Greene being a shill for the republicans, and understanding that he needs to try, but not too hard, so that it will seem like he is really running for office.

Meanwhile, Jim Demint doesn't even have to give the appearance of running a campaign, which frees him up to use his substantial PAC dollars to help elect other radical extremist right-wing fanatics to office across the country.

So, let me just conclude with this:

Don't let Demint's thugs get away with this.  Vote for Alvin Greene in November.


Because, regardless of how it came about,

Alvin Greene

because he's

Better than Demint!