Dennis Kucinich : The Kuro5hin interview (awesome)

[Desertrose]

http://www.kuro5hin.org/
.....then click on story.....


by Mike Pence ( a former Dean supporter who has come on board with DK!)

These are times, Dennis Kucinich says, for hope, not fear. We're standing in Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport, transformed by the recently raised national terror alert into a hive of police and security guards. We seem to be surrounded by fear, yet Kucinich is undaunted. There is a gleam in his eye, and a rising excitement in his voice as he leans still closer to me, fixing my gaze with his.

What's got this Democratic congressman and presidential hopeful excited right now isn't universal healthcare, an unjust war, or a national media bent on excluding underdog candidates before a single primary vote has been cast. He will speak passionately about all of those things and more before he steps through the security gate and presents himself as another shoeless potential terrorist to the guards. What has Dennis Kucinich excited right now is open source software, creativity in the development process, and the need to keep IT expertise here at home.

* * * * *
Kucinich is no klieg-light populist. He and his staff embraced the opportunity to talk to Kuro5hin, to address the tech community directly about issues that we deal with every day. As I stood there for over 30 minutes with him in the din of the airport, slightly disheveled with a digital voice recorder in hand, I got the sense that more than anything else, what Dennis Kucinich wanted to say to us is, I am one of you.



Your platform reads like Progressive pillow talk - universal healthcare, full employment, fully funded public education through college - but is America ready for that radical of a shift to the left?

"What is radical about healthcare for all? What is radical about education for all? What is radical about jobs for all? When that starts to be radical, we have to ask ourselves, what in the heck has happened to this country? All of a sudden somebody starts talking about peace and prosperity and is seen as a radical? My God, where are we going as a nation? What does that say? All of a sudden "mainstream" is supporting monopolies? Mainstream is supporting war? Mainstream is supporting a healthcare system that is stopping people from being able to get care? It's like America has gone upside down, and so, you know, I am here to help put it right side up."

<snip>

What role do you see for open source technology, for software that isn't about corporate ownership but that is about collaboration?

"The beauty, the essence, of IT is creativity. The worst thing for creativity is monopoly. This is the dynamic tension that exists in society between freedom and tyranny. This is what it comes to. The programmers, the system designers, they realize that this is about freedom. It is important to have a President who can stand up to these monopolies, and who can have a Justice Department work to make sure that there is competition and that you can set policies in commerce that support open source. Because really open source is the key to economic growth.

I helped run a computer software company. It was a multi-lingual, multi-currency accounting package - general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory management - and I helped market it around the world. I took it through to several European countries and it was very exciting to be a part of it. I helped grow a company. I understand the business and the excitement of creating something. This is where the real entrepreneurs of America have been moving forward with passion and excitement. That's why when this industry is asking for help, boy, we sure better be there to give it to them. That is why we have to take it very seriously when we are learning about thousands and thousands of people being thrown out of work because of changes in the market and people gaming the international trade laws.

So, I'm there. I understand this from somebody who has been inside the industry......"


lots more...great interview...Dennis never holds back- you always know where he stands!!!


Peace
DR

[cosmicdot]

1. ah, yes ... dropped off a friend at John Wayne Airport in Orange Co., CA

5-ish this a.m.

... glimpses of martial law in place as if Orange County really required much training in implementing such ...

entrances to the airport were closed off creating traffic backup for 'security' checkpoint charley ... some travelers got out on MacArthur and hoofed it over to the airport to avoid that line of cars ...

the domestic passport will likely be around the corner


great coverage for Dennis

what IS radical about those things!
and, if they are, just what kind of people, society have we become

thanks, again DR

[revcarol]

2. One smackdang killer interview.

Read it and weep for our country.

IT types, he's with ya.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. I didn't know about the software company part

That's an interesting kind of foreign policy experience that the other candidates don't have.

Excellent interview, as always.

By the way, I just phoned in my Christmas contribution, and I could hear things like, "Try some of these cookies" in the background.

It sounds as if the office party has started.

[Union Thug]

4. That's why..

..Dennis is my man! Go Dennis!

With the exception of Lieberman, I'm not going to bash any of the other candidates. I think that we've got a pretty decent lineup. But Dennis is the only one who speaks like *I believe* a Democrat should speak.

We've allowed the center to be so skewed to the right, that traditional Democratic values are labeled "radical". In my opinion, we need to yank that center straight out of the hands of the America's fascist right. Placating them and their whore media with 'centrist', whitewashed, oatmeal bland ideas has done NOTHING for us.

It's time to fight. "which side are you on, boys? which side are you on?"

[hippywife]

6. Welcome, WillW!!

To DU and to the campaign for the only true occupant of the democratic wing of the Democratic Party. :)

[LWolf]

9. Welcome, WillW!

In the words of the man himself:

We begin today to renew this country, to bring this country back towards an upward path. The future of humanity can be secure, because we stand for democratic values. Because we stand for peace and because we stand for social and economic justice. Because we care enough to challenge our government in a moment of crisis to set our government back on the right path.

--Dennis Kucinich

[LWolf]

5. Why do we support Dennis Kucinich?

Here ya go:

Your platform reads like Progressive pillow talk - universal healthcare, full employment, fully funded public education through college - but is America ready for that radical of a shift to the left?

What is radical about healthcare for all? What is radical about education for all? What is radical about jobs for all? When that starts to be radical, we have to ask ourselves, what in the heck has happened to this country? All of a sudden somebody starts talking about peace and prosperity and is seen as a radical? My God, where are we going as a nation? What does that say? All of a sudden "mainstream" is supporting monopolies? Mainstream is supporting war? Mainstream is supporting a healthcare system that is stopping people from being able to get care? It's like America has gone upside down, and so, you know, I am here to help put it right side up.


Let's turn America around.

[Zomby Woof]

7. Dennis rocks

And so do you Mom! :yourock:

[redqueen]

8. Kick!

:yourock:

[dpbrown]

10. A kick for public financing!

https://www.kucinich.us/contribute.php

The BFEE is the problem - Kucinich is the answer.

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[Zomby Woof]

11. ZombyKick

[goodhue]

12. big kick for prayer or not

Q: The current administration is ideologically bent toward Christian fundamentalism. General Boykin's recent comment about a Muslim warlord - "I knew my god was bigger than his" - went un-condemned by the White House. Is religious extremism in the White House causing a problem for America?

A: I think that we should pray for the people in the White House, or not, depending on our religious disposition. This approach of 'my god is bigger than your god' is, shall we say, unsophisticated, lacking in common sense, and provocative. It is not mindful of the founders intention that this country achieve a separation of church and state. On the other hand, the founders never wanted us to be separate from spiritual values. It is very unspiritual to claim that anyone has cornered the market on ancient wisdom, on metaphysics, on transcendence, on paths to redemption. So, I think that we should pray for these people.


http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/12/23/171559/76

[LWolf]

13. This is a rich passage, isn't it?

He models how to express firm opposition to something or someone in a reasonable, civilized way. He sounds so civilized that you almost don't notice that he just called Boykin unsophisticated and lacking in common sense. Drawing a clear distinction, and modeling sophistication.

He exemplifies the intent behind interfaith councils all across the nation. I don't think you'll find a politician more inclusive of all paths of growth, healing, learning, redemption, and "religious disposition" than Dennis Kucinich. Which is a crucial step in bringing our nation together; it seems like many of the fractures fall along spiritual lines.