What we're trying to say is that the Democrats need to develop a backbone and start challenging the Republicans. So many of us are voicing our dismay on Alternet. I've tried contacting my representatives and others in Congress. It's like throwing your voice into a black hole. Is anybody out there or in there? We can say what we feel and believe on the Internet. How do we reach these people in Congress?

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I just recieved a letter from Senator Feinstein stating that she is against withdrawing troops from Iraq beecause it will leave Iraq in a state of civil war. This does not make any kind of sense so remembering a San Francisco Chronical article on the Carlyle Group I googled my way to find out that Feinstein is married to Blum and Blum holds twenty percent of Carlyle's stock. Other members are Bush and Majors. a Carlyle firm, Global Crossing just got a two billion dollar contract for Iraq.

If we are going to Start Making Sense, perhaps we should begin by exposing those members of the DLC that are prifiting from this war.

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For shame, Lakshmi. You've totally undercut your own message here. While I know what you seem to be trying to say about diversity and "other voices," you've let the creeping bigotry of "over-diversification" (diversity for no sake but it's own, regardless of merit) infect your post here.

To quote: "Pardon me for saying so, I think we've had plenty of revolutionary movements of change headed by white males."

Um, excuse me, but what exactly am I, a liberal, enlightened male who happens to be white, supposed to take away from this? That being a white male is some sort of disqualifying factor in leadership? That the screwups of white males past as somehow the legacy of white males everywhere? That white males are all the same and it's time for someone else?

For cripes' sake, how is that ANY different from saying "all blacks are good at dancing, singing, and basketball"?

If you're looking for a leader, I think gender and color are irrelevant. I value diversity and difference of all kinds, across or within races and cultures. It's great to see racism and sexism be overcome, to see qualified folks who've been systematically excluded get their due (a process that is still ongoing)-- but you feed into the paranoia of the right wing (and "prove them right," they'll no doubt say) by appearing to be not so much pro-people-of-all-kinds, but anti-white-male.

Like I said, I know what you're trying to say-- but read your post over and see what I mean. This is absolutely not the sort of viewpoints I've come to expect from the pages of Alternet, which has always been a sensibly progressive, non-extreme sort of place.

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Lakshmi, I am on usually on your side on most issues, but this post is --quite frankly-- disappointing.

I cannot speak for all males, but I am sure that out there are --must be-- plenty of men who, like me, have wifes, sisters, cousins, girlfriends, sisters-in-law, who hold them in great esteem, and who woudn't want more than to see those female relatives succeed in life, both romantically and professionally.

If women want to be bloogers, all they have to do is, well... do it. It really doesn't take much. Why do you feel so griped for the lack of estrogens in the Bloggosphere? I am at odds to understand how males of any colour are to blame for that. Neither do I understand how or why one's gender and race are disqualifying factors in leadership. Isn't the message what really counts? I, for one, never even thought of researching any blogger's gender or race.

We were supposed to be past all that. At least trying. Or so I thought. We obviously cannot get enough of it. Racism is so ingrained in everyone's psyche that even those who claim to be progressive revert back to bumbling comments, like those in your post. If those comments were meant to empower women and minorities, they fail miserably: They only perpetuate the notion that colour, and gender do matter after all.

You outdid yourself when you said: "Call me crazy, but I'd like to hold out for one that includes folks who look like me." So if there are no people of Eastern Indian descent in a movement, you wouldn't want any part of it, no matter how right they are, and/or how much you agree with it? And why hold out instead of joining? That way there would be people who look like you. Namely, you (duh!).

And now that you have told us how you really feel about males of European descent, maybe you should tell us how you feel about Chinese, Africans, Hispanics, etc. And while I am asking: Do you think half-breds are a debasement?

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I just responded to your concerns in my latest entry. Please feel free to comment.

http://alternet.org/blogs/lfiles/25614/

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