Apropos to #42 Nelson Mandela. Here we have the case of a man who lived the life of pure pacifism with spectacular results. No army the world has ever seen will ever match the results of Nelson Mandela; and, this does not even begin to account for the future of the results of the life works of Nelson Mandela. How do you respond to the inquiry that perhaps there is a third level of inequality that hasn't yet been addressed by the current world paradigm? A third level of inequality that indeed can be addressed by the asset of the common good and universal reason? A third level of human rights that equites with human beings far beyond any state of human rights or equality? A third level of human rights that equates with human spiritual equality? Imagination is only limited by creativity; and, creativity is only limited by imagination, Perhaps it is time to abandon our perception of reality for a more preferable one. We are only limited by our imagination, therefore, we are only limited by our creativity. Let our creativity define who we are and our ambition define who we aspire to be.

Palin -- Would you venture to say that locally owned businesses are offshoring jobs and putting their profits in offshore accounts? I find it very difficult to think that. The loss of jobs after a few years when Walmart comes to town would tend to suggest what you venture to say would be invalid for locally owned businesses.

RT tv did a balanced story on Mandela, the only one I've seen so far.

How does equality come to speak only of money and poverty? When will consideration of equal political representation of both men and women happen? With a percentage of one woman to four men the world is preventing a whole social group from contributing to the management of their own issues let alone the planets. Surely equality means that the views and rights of a generally honest and peaceable three and a half billion are valid.

Loren Bliss: in reply to yesterdays #19.......You referred to President Obama as Barack the Betrayer, the most brazen liar, and tyrannical president in U.S. history. We all share your frustration but mine has a little different focus, and it's not President Obama.

The biggest betrayal in U.S. history: Citizens United and the five Supreme Court public servants who made it possible.

The biggest liar in U.S. history: hands down, Fox News and the corpse media in general.

The most tyrannical: The current Fascist Oligarchs who with their wealth have purchased the souls of most of our politicians, notably Republican.

The first protest I ever attended was back in the mid-seventies, it was an on campus protest demanding University divestment in South Africa.

"Like slavery and apartied, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings."............. Well said Nelson.

The use of "homeland" is very interesting. I just watched the live "Sound of Music" performance on NBC last night, having never seen the movie with Julie Andrews. The edelweiss song refers to Austria as the homeland, and in this context it was anti-Nazi. On the other hand, the show was clearly written by an English speaker well after World War II.

I listened to the caller who mentioned Fidel Castro's involvement with Nelson Mandela with considerable interest.

There is a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) documentary series, called "The Passionate Eye". One of the documentaries that was featured on that program was titled, "Fidel". (An alternate title was "Fidel Castro: The Untold Story".

One of the more moving scenes in that 90 minute film was a meeting between Fidel and Nelson Mandela. Mandela kept telling Fidel, "You must come to South Africa. You must come to South Africa."

A later scene shows Fidel being welcomed in the South African Parliament, where he received a hero's welcome.

This documentary is avaiable for viewing on YouTube, at the following URL:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52efX1FQTzY

If Mandela were in prison today, I fear that western media coverage of him would have embraced Reagan’s ‘He’s a terrorist’ Attitude at best and would have ignored him at worst. Would we know who he was? God Speed, Nelson...

Thom, You asked Bernie, today, if the T-party & Boner would crash the Gov. in Jan/Feb. While I haven’t Bernie’s experience; If sCrotus rules in favor of McCucheon, the answer is yes, because the ease of buying elections combined with DIE!-bold and voter suppression bills will make it possible for them to completely disregard public opinion. The kRoches and the like have already spent billions through organizations to back candidates and create a gov. that will destabilize the US in order for them to bring about disaster capitalism. Default on our debt is a perfect solution for them. They see a combination of austerity designed to deny access to resources, pollution and climate change as the perfect storm that will finely rid them those whom they see as dependents who have grown far too numerous and unnecessary...and who serve as nothing more than a threat to their security in terms of access to resources.

Marc...Can't address the Kucinich matter now as I have a very full day that's already started. But I'll return to the question this evening it you're interested. My objections to him include not just his positions on certain critical issues but his allegedly less-than-admirable conduct as a mayor.

Here's 3 articles that I found I thought that it was very interesting, how far of any reasonable intelligence will the radical right go, do they not know that there is a Internet, and the truth is out there. I think that Rick Santorum believes that Americans are idiots. Fox News should be proud of themselves.

I personally believe the man was a superhero

Rick Santorum Compares Obamacare To Apartheid

Rick SBY ADAM PECK ON DECEMBER 6, 2013 AT 9:44 AM

Rick Santorum, the erstwhile Republican presidential candidate with a penchant for controversy, appeared on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor on Thursday night and memorialized the passing of South African leader and global visionary Nelson Mandela by equating Obamacare with apartheid.

Praising Mandela for standing up to a “great injustice,” the former Pennsylvania senator continued by ascribing his own conservative principles to the civil rights pioneer:

Six Things Nelson Mandela Believed That Most People Won’t Talk About

BY AVIVA SHEN AND JUDD LEGUMON DECEMBER 6, 2013 AT 10:11 AM

In the desire to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life — an iconic figure who triumphed over South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime — it’s tempting to homogenize his views into something everyone can support. This is not, however, an accurate representation of the man.

Mandela was a political activist and agitator. He did not shy away from controversy and he did not seek — or obtain — universal approval. Before and after his release from prison, he embraced an unabashedly progressive and provocative platform. As one commentator put it shortly after the announcement of the freedom fighter’s death, “Mandela will never, ever be your minstrel. Over the next few days you will try so, so hard to make him something he was not, and you will fail. You will try to smooth him, to sandblast him, to take away his Malcolm X. You will try to hide his anger from view.”

As the world remembers Mandela, here are some of the things he believed that many will gloss over.

1. Mandela blasted the Iraq War and American imperialism. Mandela called Bush “a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly,” and accused him of “wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust” by going to war in Iraq. “All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil,” he said. Mandela even speculated that then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan was being undermined in the process because he was black. “They never did that when secretary-generals were white,” he said. He saw the Iraq War as a greater problem of American imperialism around the world. “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care,” he said.

2. Mandela called freedom from poverty a “fundamental human right.” Mandela considered poverty one of the greatest evils in the world, and spoke out against inequality everywhere. “Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times — times in which the world boasts breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation — that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils,” he said. He considered ending poverty a basic human duty: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life,” he said. “While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”

3. Mandela criticized the “War on Terror” and the labeling of individuals as terrorists, even Osama Bin Laden, without due process. On the U.S. terrorist watch list until 2008 himself, Mandela was an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush’s war on terror. He warned against rushing to label terrorists without due process. While calling for Osama bin Laden to be brought to justice, Mandela said, “The labeling of Osama bin Laden as the terrorist responsible for those acts before he had been tried and convicted could also be seen as undermining some of the basic tenets of the rule of law.”

4. Mandela called out racism in America. On a trip to New York City in 1990, Mandela made a point of visiting Harlem and praising African Americans’ struggles against “the injustices of racist discrimination and economic equality.” He reminded a larger crowd at Yankee Stadium that racism was not exclusively a South African phenomenon. “As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, it is intolerable, unacceptable, that the cancer of racism is still eating away at the fabric of societies in different parts of our planet,” he said. “All of us, black and white, should spare no effort in our struggle against all forms and manifestations of racism, wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.”

5. Mandela embraced some of America’s biggest political enemies. Mandela incited shock and anger in many American communities for refusing to denounce Cuban dictator Fidel Castro or Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who had lent their support to Mandela against South African apartheid. “One of the mistakes the Western world makes is to think that their enemies should be our enemies,” he explained to an American TV audience. “We have our own struggle.” He added that those leaders “are placing resources at our disposal to win the struggle.” He also called the controversial Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat “a comrade in arms.”

6. Mandela was a die-hard supporter of labor unions. Mandela visited the Detroit auto workers union when touring the U.S., immediately claiming kinship with them. “Sisters and brothers, friends and comrades, the man who is speaking is not a stranger here,” he said. “The man who is speaking is a member of the UAW. I am your flesh and blood.”

The Right Wing’s Campaign To Discredit And Undermine Mandela, In One Timeline

BY IGOR VOLSKY AND ZACK BEAUCHAMPON DECEMBER 6, 2013 AT 11:04 AM

The world is celebrating Nelson Mandela as a selfless visionary who led his country out of the grips of apartheid into democracy and freedom. But some of the very people lavishing praise on South Africa’s first black president worked tirelessly to undermine his cause and portray the African National Congress he lead as pawns of the Soviet Union.

In fact, American conservatives have long been willing to overlook South Africa’s racist apartheid government in service of fighting communism abroad. you can click here for more information

Aliceinwonderland ~ Same here. I'll never forget how the Democratic Party in 2008 extricated him from the primaries here in California before I even had an opportunity to vote for him. As far as I was concerned he was the number one candidate. I almost lost interest in the election after he was railroaded. I almost resigned from the party myself. Reluctantly I cast a vote for John Edwards just one day before his scandal nullified that vote. I was very PO'd and felt both thoroughly screwed and betrayed. As far as I was concerned Hillary and Barack weren't even worth considering. Bottom of the barrel. That should be the name of the Democratic party--"The Bottom Of The Barrel Party!"

Of course when it comes to seeking out the least qualified people for the job of POTUS, both parties exceed at that task.

very well said, sir