Image from SLdkos

John McCain comes in three flavors: red, white and...get off the d*mn lawn!

"I want to publicly acknowledge Hillary Clinton for the outstanding race that she has run.

"She is a great senator from New York she is an extraordinary leader of the Democratic party and she has made history alongside me over the last 16 months and I'm very proud to have competed against her."

--Barack Obama on Hillary Clinton

"I know Senator Obama understands what it is at stake here. It has been an honor to contest these primaries with him. It is an honor to call him my friend."

--Hillary Clinton on Barack Obama

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, two of the ablest politicians in recent memory, have declared an end to hostilities. Understanding that they share the same goals, with some respectful disagreement on how to achieve these goals, they are beginning the process of coming together to form a united front against John McCain in the fall.

As passionate partisans, it is now time for us to follow their lead and start the reconciliation process among the netroots so that our country can turn abruptly away from the edge of the cliff it's been skating along these past few years of the Bush administration, and start heading in a direction that restores our values and reunites our country.

That's why I say: Obama Me With Fries!

"It was Soviet troops that liberated Auschwitz, so unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there's no way Obama's statement yesterday can be true," said Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant. "Obama's frequent exaggerations and outright distortions raise questions about his judgment and his readiness to lead as commander in chief."

link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/natio nworld/chi-obama28may28,0,6921695.story

The above is a confident statement from a confident American political operative, working for a jittery party that senses its own demise. Desperate for any political traction, they grasped today upon Obama's mis-statement that his relative liberated Auschwitz, and not Buchenwald.

For this small historical gaffe, the GOP would have us infer that Barack Obama is not fit to be President of the United States.

But what is the greater gaffe, mislabeling one of several Nazi concentration camps, or misunderstanding the lessons of the Holocaust as our country stumbles, and trips, and reaches for light straws of hope as we seek to restore our moral authority as the world's leader on human rights after the abuses at Abu Ghirab and the ongoing detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay?

"We want to say to China, 'We thought that the Olympic Games would help you improve your human rights record," Tutu said. "We still hope... But what we are saying to the heads of state, to President George Bush, is, 'For goodness sake, don't go to the Beijing games... for the sake of our children, for the beautiful people of Tibet. Don't go!'"

link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg i?f=/c/a/2008/04/08/BAAS101V1O.DTL&t sp=1

Today we remember how loved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was, and is. But we forget how hated he was during his lifetime. We forget the awful slip of the tongue that some employed to belittle him and call him "coon" instead of "King". We forget the constant death threats, the government surveillance.

We forget that some people's first reaction upon hearing Dr. King was shot was one of relief, not grief.

But to get an insight into that hate all one has to do is peruse today's headlines and see the level of vitriol hurled against the Dalai Lama by the Chinese government.

"I sympathise with the Tibetan cause. This is my way of standing by the people of Tibet and their struggle. I abhor violence in any form," Bhutia told the Times of India newspaper.

link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/73 23803.stm

Baichung Bhutia, an Indian footballer, is making headlines across Asia and the world by making this statement and refusing to carry the Olympic torch across India later this month.

This is the power of one.

Where governments fall short in decrying injustice, it remains for all of us, regardless of religion, or ethnicity, or politics, to stand up and let our voices be heard.

In the midst of China's carefully stage-managed PR tour with select western journalists, a small group of Tibetan monks seizes the moment:

The outburst by a group of 30 monks in red robes came as the journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, were being shown around the Jokhang Temple -- one of Tibet's holiest shrines -- by government handlers in Lhasa.

"Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!" yelled one young Buddhist monk, who started to cry.

snip

"They want us to crush the Dalai Lama and that is not right," one monk said during the 15-minute outburst.

"This had nothing to do with the Dalai Lama," said another.

link: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5Z6b JwtN_roGSIUQiQnfbf2NkhgD8VLNFBG0

First, more news about brutality being used against protesters in Qinghai:

"They were beating up monks, which will only infuriate ordinary people," the source said of the protest on Tuesday in Qinghai's Xinghai county.

A resident in the area confirmed the demonstration, saying that paramilitaries dispersed the 200 to 300 protesters after half and hour, that the area was crawling with armed security forces and that workers were kept inside their offices.

The Beijing source said resentment at the paramilitary presence around Lhasa's monasteries prompted one monk at the Ramoche temple to hang himself.

snip

"It's very harsh. They are taking in and questioning anyone who saw the protests," the source said. "The prisons are full. Detainees are being held at prisons in counties outside Lhasa."

link: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCri sis/idUSPEK369654