As Senator Barack Obama continues pivoting away from those primary-election positions and promises that once galvanized his Democratic base, he may have a new worry looming on the horizon in the person of Cynthia McKinney. A former Georgia Congresswoman, McKinney is said to be a shoo-in as the Green Party's 2008 presidential nominee when their convention is held in Chicago, July 10-12.

Securing the Green Party's 2008 standard-bearer position would bestow on McKinney the historic title of 'first' African American woman to be on the ballot as a viable candidate of a major party for President of the United States. That title alone will not only lessen the aura surrounding Barack Obama's position as the 'first' African American male presidential nominee, but she may also siphon off just-enough left-wing, African American, and women voters, to sink both their chances for victory in the Fall.

So, even if you have given to Obama, why not donate to McKinney as well. You know that her campaign will help build the Green Party and it's base of support in the Black community, as well as in already established Green communities where her campaign has been well received. Remember, McKinney has attended and spoken at Green Party national meetings in the past, and has also sent video taped greetings. Many Greens from across the nation went to Georgia to help her in her race for Congress because they knew that she was as Green as she can be, and our values are her values.

So, I have a proposal for you. Declare your independence by going to McKinney's website and donating $177.60 to her campaign. Or, if that is too deep in the wallet, give $17.76. Of course, if you can swing it, give $1776.00 But the main thing is, give. Give to keep Cynthia McKinney's voice in the debate. Give to build an alternative to the tweedle-dum / tweedle-dee politics of the Democrats and Republicans. Give to support a champion for grassroots democracy, ecological wisdom, non-violence and social justice. Give to support yourself, your values, your family's future. And please, give today.

Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who seems poised to capture the Green Party presidential nomination, in Chicago, this month, "is at this juncture in history the only vehicle through which progressives can both register their outrage at Barack Obama and begin the process of rebuilding a mass, Black-led movement for real social change." Meanwhile, the frequency of Obama's Right turns seem to increase in direct proportion to the nearness of the general election. "Surely no one with a brain any longer believes that Obama is a closet progressive, or even a genuine liberal." The question is, How many progressives will put their votes and resources to honorable use?

. . .

The platform on which McKinney runs is straightforward, eminently understandable, and in conformance with the substance and spirit of international law. It is what Barack Obama used to pretend to say, in front of progressive audiences, only without his mitigating language designed for ease of reversal - commonly called flip-flop, but more accurately, betrayal - terms that ultimately smother peace in a pillow of words like "respectable, responsible and honorable."

This is how Obama uses his impressive language skills: to lure constituencies that seek peace into the maelstroms of war; to assault the integrity of language itself with his relentless tinkering with meanings, until finally, his original peaceful promises turn into their warlike opposites.

Obama's modus operandi is consistent and, especially after his recent flurry of policy reversals, transparent to all who care to observe him dispassionately. He is a word-hustler, a slickster, a politician/actor who has always been eager to serve the global aims of the very rich.

. . .

There can be no effective reasoning with those African Americans who want only that a member of The Race occupy the Oval Office - no matter the character and politics of that Black individual. But self-described progressives of all races cannot excuse their own docility in the face of Obama's rightward lunge - especially when there exists one last opportunity to threaten the Democratic nominee-to-be with a backlash against his betrayals of progressive principles - one last chance to affect Obama's behavior before Election Day, November 4, and beyond. Cynthia McKinney has made herself available to the Green Party's convention in Chicago, July 10-12, and will almost surely be their nominee.

If progressives cannot bring themselves to vote honorably, they can at the very least go to McKinney's campaign site and send money. Even a little principled behavior is better than none at all.

McKinney said a Green vote counts, not just for each party candidate, but for the party as a whole. If the Greens receive 5 percent of the vote in November, the party will be qualified to receive federal election funds, and in many states, have a place on the ballot at the next statewide or national election.

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“If the Green Party gets 5 percent, then we’ve upset the two-party apple cart,” McKinney, 53, said.

McKinney, her party’s presumptive nominee, wore an orange baseball cap printed with the slogan “Impeach Both” and she spoke to about 20 people on the third floor of the Skagit Valley Food Co-op for about two hours.

It is not surprising to me why “white” liberals America loves this guy… but for those who really want a change, or at least throw their support behind the potential for a real change from the norm… especially among the Black community… I would have thought that former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, an African-American woman, would at least be given some consideration. In December 2007 she announced that she was seeking the presidential nomination for the Green Party of the United States. She has brought this message to the electorate:

“For far too long Black America has been at the mercy of political pimps and usurpers, particularly of the Democratic Party. It is now the year 2008, and we in Black America, in conjunction with our Brown, Red, Yellow, and White sisters and brothers have a genuine and serious choice in order to build a true people’s movement for real systemic change through the “Power to the People” campaign….”

Mckinney has been a constant thorn in the political establishments’ side since being first elected to the Congress in 1992… to the point where it is believed that the Democratic Party itself worked against her 2006 primary re-election. Interestingly when asked about her views on Obama she stated: “We have to be careful with the black people who are put before us by the media.”

“I was more loyal than the [Democratic] Party deserved,” McKinney says. “I think I probably am a reflection of many African-Americans who retain a visceral connection to a party that left them behind a long time ago. I changed political parties because the political party that I was a member of totally didn’t reflect my values any longer.”

The former House member testifies that corporate interests have taken control of the public policy debate, and the Democrats and Republicans have become corporate political parties that no longer look out for the interests of the people.

Unlike the Democrats and Republicans, the Green Party favors the single-payer universal health care plan that polls say health care professionals and the American public favor. McKinney criticizes her former party for their failure to end funding for the war in Iraq since they regained control of Congress in 2006, and she doesn’t believe Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama when they say they will complete a full withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The Green Party advocates what McKinney calls “radical common sense” policies that would result in real change in the United States.

Want to see the state’s multibillion dollar budget deficit disappear? Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney says it’s a snap. If we cease spending money on the war in Iraq today, the state budget could be balanced overnight. Well, almost overnight. The controversial former congresswoman from Georgia estimates the United States spends $1 billion on the war every two days, so it would take 40 days to cancel out the state’s $20 billion deficit.

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“We need to end U.S. wars abroad, extend health care to all and increase resources for students in kindergarten through colleges and universities,” she told a small but enthusiastic crowd during a campaign stop at Carol’s Books on May 12.

As the first black woman in Georgia elected to the House of Representatives, the outspoken McKinney instantly became a magnet for Republican attacks. Her views on 9/11 U.S. foreign policy and the Katrina debacle, considered heresy by mainstream media, are in fact shared by many Americans, if not the Democratic Party.

So, McKinney, who served six terms as a Democrat (1993-2003 and 2005-07), has gone Green. The daughter of a police officer who became a Georgia congressman after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 thanked her supporters for their hospitality. “It’s almost like I’m back in the South,” she said.

This is May, 2008; and it was in this very month in the year 1925 that our beloved warrior and Black prince - Malcolm X was born. Despite every effort by the 21st Century Amerikkkan power structure to distort and sanitize the words of Brother Malcolm, the fact is that Malcolm X was uncompromising in the struggle for justice and Black Liberation. It would have been utterly unthinkable for Brother Malcolm to have figuratively thrown Rev. Jeremiah Wright under the proverbial bus and then backed up to run over him again and again at the behest of the racist U.S. corporate, military, and prison industrial apparatus. As Malcolm X repeatedly said, “No sell outs!” Brother Malcolm made it crystal clear that the Democratic and Republican Parties [i.e. the Republicrats] are “foxes and wolves.” Their ultimate objective is to keep Black, Brown, Red, Yellow, and yes even White peoples - disempowered while pretending to be doing the opposite. Their actual masters are the elite of the corporate / military / prison apparatus.

Just as Malcolm X was and remains, in the words of the late, great Ossie Davis, “Our own shining Black prince;” so it is that we have been blessed to currently have our own shining Black princess in the person of Cynthia McKinney. She is of us, and we of her.

The “Power To The People” Campaign is about all of us. Our love and respect for Malcolm X, John Brown, Harriet Tubman, Assata Shakur, Martin Luther King, Jr., Huey P. Newton and so very many others; is alive and well in the person Cynthia McKinney and the “Power To The People” Campaign.

This is not only about the United States of America. This is about the peoples of the entire world. This is about our Mother Earth. This is about political, social, and economic justice in South and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Mexico, and every nook and cranny on this planet. This is about US – the people - everywhere.

Get involved now. Make it real! Onward then…. Let’s get busy.

WILKES-BARRE – Luzerne County’s Green Party on Saturday nominated former six-term Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as the party’s choice for president.

The vote of support came at the local party’s caucus, held at the Northeastern Pennsylvania Organizing Center on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Times-Standard: So why the Green Party and why now?

McKinney: Why now is the obvious one: Because of the condition of our country, the failure of the Democrats -- particularly now that they are in the majority -- to even live up to the expectations of their voters, I won't say their campaign promises, but I will certainly say the expectations of their voters.

Of course, I do believe that in November of 2006 the American people went to the polls and voted, and they voted for peace. We don't have peace yet. I do believe that a significant chunk of the American people would also like to see justice in this country. The Sean Bell verdict is an example of many examples that are possible. Of course, the Mumia (Abu-Jamal) verdict is another example that we don't yet have justice in this country.

I believe in November 2006 the American people went to the polls and they voted for respect for our constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights, and we don't yet have that either.

The American people expect health care, a single payer form of health care such as Medicare for all, and we don't have that either.

We desperately need a livable wage -- well, we haven't got that yet either. And, if the minimum wage had kept pace with CEO remuneration, according to United for a Fair Economy, the minimum wage would be $22 an hour. We don't have that yet either.