Truthout roundup 9/2

Steve Weissman Bashing Obama's Dream?
http://www.truthout.org/article/bashing-obamas-dream
Steve Weissman, Truthout: "Hearing Barack Obama speak last week in Denver, I found it hard to avoid bittersweet memories of Dr. King's 'I Have a Dream' speech at the March on Washington in August 1963. How far our country has come! And how much further we have yet to travel on Dr. King's road to peace and social justice! For me, one memory stands out, a small piece of history that throws new light on why many progressives find themselves faulting Obama for moving toward the right wing of the Democratic Party. A few days before the march, a battle-scarred hero of the civil rights movement came to the University of Michigan to practice the speech he planned to give in Washington as chairman of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). John Lewis was - and is - an Old Testament prophet, and his words heaped moral fury on President John F. Kennedy, a man whom young civil rights activists at the time did not see as on our side. If JFK wanted to support meaningful political and economic rights for the poorest black share croppers, that was good, said Lewis. If JFK did not, the movement would rise up without him like Sherman marching through Georgia."

George Lakoff Warns Democrats of "Reality-Based" Arguments
http://www.truthout.org/article/george-lakoff-warns-dems-reality-based-arguments
George Lakoff, DailyKos: "This election is about realities. But the election campaign depends on the political mind - how people understand the candidates and the realities. Democrats have mostly criticized Sarah Palin as unqualified to deal with the realities we face as a nation. But the choice of Palin had to do with the way the political mind works in elections. In dealing with the McCain-Palin ticket, Democrats must take the way voters think into account, in addition to the external realities.... Election campaigns matter because who gets elected can change reality. But election campaigns are primarily about the realities of voters' minds, which depend on how the candidates and the external realities are cognitively framed. They can be framed honestly or deceptively, effectively or clumsily. And they are always framed from the perspective of a worldview."

"Democracy Now's" Amy Goodman Arrested in St. Paul
http://www.truthout.org/article/amy-goodman-and-two-democracy-now-producers-unlawfully-arrested-at-rnc
"Democracy Now!" reports that host Amy Goodman was arrested Monday afternoon in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she was covering the Republican National Convention. Police seized Goodman as she attempted to defend two "Democracy Now!" producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who had just been arrested on "probable cause for riot." Goodman was recently released.

Thousands March Against War in St. Paul
http://www.truthout.org/article/thousands-march-against-war-st-paul
Bryan Bender, The Boston Globe: "The father of a Boston Marine killed in Iraq led thousands of antiwar protesters today in a boisterous but largely peaceful demonstration outside the Republican National Convention, while riot police and National Guardsmen clashed separately with a collection of small fringe groups who smashed windows and damaged public property. Police using pepper spray arrested a total of at least 56 people.... But the scene outside the convention on the opening day was largely a cacophony of peaceful voices - many of them supporters of Democrat Barack Obama - calling for an end to the war in Iraq and linking Republican presidential candidate John McCain with the policies of the Bush administration."

Gustav Spares New Orleans Area, but Reveals Vulnerability
http://www.truthout.org/article/gustav-spares-new-orleans-area-but-reveals-vulnerability
Bruce Nolan, The Times-Picayune: "A diminished Hurricane Gustav sideswiped an eerily empty metropolitan area Monday without the frightening power it displayed offshore and spared the region, especially the vulnerable West Bank, from widespread flooding. But in its relative weakness, Gustav demonstrated again how vulnerable the region remains. Although it passed inland 70 miles southwest of the city as a downgraded Category 2 storm, Gustav's surge filled the Industrial Canal to the brim."

Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process
http://www.truthout.org/article/disclosures-palin-raise-questions-vetting-process
Elisabeth Bumiller, The New York Times: "A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain's choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket. On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father. Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the state's public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge."