This is from the official Youtube Channel for former US Senator Mike Gravel (Alaska):
In 1971, I waged a successful one-man filibuster for five months that forced the Nixon administration to cut a deal, effectively ending the draft in the United States. I am, perhaps, best known for my release of the Pentagon Papers, the secret official study that revealed the lies and manipulations of successive U.S. administrations that misled the country into the Vietnam War. Today, I have come back to politics because the United States needs a president with my background now more than ever to take on the military-industrial complex and to fix the damage that has been done to our great country. For more information, visit my web site at gravel2008.us. Please make a donation to help me take back Washington from those who seek to saddle the United States with more wars and debt.
Gravel for President '08 (Former US Sen. D-AK)'s BlurbsAbout me:
For up to the minute information, forums, to volunteer or donate please go to the official campaign site...
Mike Gravel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to French Canadian immigrants. He attended French-speaking Catholic schools, and as a teenager, when he wasn’t working with his father and brothers in the house painting and construction business, he volunteered in local Springfield politics, developing an avid interest in governance and government.
In the early 1950s, Mike Gravel enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as adjutant in the Communications Intelligence Service and as a Special Agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps in Germany and France.
After graduating with a B.S. in economics from Columbia University, Mike Gravel moved to Alaska, where he built a real estate business. He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966, and was then elected to two terms in the U.S. Senate, representing Alaska from 1969 to 1981.
Senator Gravel served on the Finance, Interior, and Environment and Public Works committees, chairing the Energy, Water Resources, Buildings and Grounds, and the Environmental Pollution subcommittees. During the environmental watershed decade of the 1970s, he co-sponsored or co-authored every piece of meaningful Senate legislation dealing with air, water, waste and energy.
In 1971, as a freshman senator critical of the Vietnam War and of government secrecy, Mike Gravel used his position as a senator to release the “secret” Pentagon Papers and facilitated their publication as The Senator Gravel Edition, The Pentagon Papers, Beacon Press (1971). This publication occasioned litigation, Gravel v. U.S. Government, resulting in a landmark Supreme Court decision relative to the Speech and Debate Clause of the United States Constitution, establishing the precedent that members of Congress cannot be bound by the official secrets of any presidential administration.
Senator Gravel waged a successful lone filibuster for five months, ending the military draft in the United States. He forced an end to the undersea testing of obsolete nuclear warheads in the earthquake-prone area of Amchitka Island, Alaska, which could have compromised the food chain of the North Pacific. He also initiated the national and global critique of nuclear power generation.
Despite being opposed by both government entities and the oil industry, in 1973 Senator Gravel introduced the amendment to authorize the construction of the Alaska oil pipeline, building support and allies to secure passage of the amendment by a single vote. In addition to providing jobs and a wide array of economic benefits to citizens of Alaska, the pipeline has been responsible for providing 20 percent of the United States’ oil supply over the last generation.
PUBLIC LIFE
Senator Gravel’s business activities have encompassed real estate, finance, and energy. He also worked as a cab driver in New York City, as a clerk on Wall Street, and as a brakeman on the Alaska Railroad. Senator Gravel was the founding president of the Democracy Foundation, Philadelphia II, and Direct Democracy—nonprofit corporations dedicated to the establishment of direct democracy in the United States through the enactment by American voters of a federal ballot initiative called the National Initiative. The National Initiative will permit citizens to vote for or against policy issues that affect their lives. Senator Gravel lectures and writes about governance, capitalism, Social Security, tax reform, energy, environmental issues, and democracy. Books authored by Senator Gravel are Jobs and More Jobs and Citizen Power. He holds four honorary degrees in law and public affairs.
Senator Gravel is married to Whitney Stewart Gravel and has two grown children: Martin Gravel, living in Colorado, and Lynne Gravel Mosier, living in California. The Gravels have four grandchildren: Renee, Alex, Madison and Mackenzie.
Senator Gravel announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 presidential race on April 17, 2006.
Please note: “Gravel” is pronounced GraVELL.
Gravel For President 2008
I'm Still In It!
Dear Friend,
At this point, I have become accustomed to many trying to silence my message to the American people -- the plain, simple, uncompromising truth. Nor does it come as any great surprise that the mainstream media is now putting words in my mouth. Not kind words, but bold-faced lies. Thursday evening at New Hampshire headquarters, on the most frigid night yet this winter, my campaign staff was dumbfounded to watch MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann announce I had dropped out of the race.
With only days left to go until the New Hampshire Primary, Olbermann's report was news to me!
Fortunately, there is nothing further from the truth. I have no intentions of leaving this race, and will continue to bring my message to the American people. I brought this to the attention of Mr. Olbermann, and you can see video of him retracting his statement posted on my site, gravel2008.us.
My schedule here in New Hampshire is full through primary day, and I will soon after be traveling to many other primary states. Nevada. Michigan. Florida. And beyond.
What message will I continue to share? It will include: Ending our corrupt, oppressive tax system. Making quality healthcare and education a basic, fundamental right for citizens. Ending our feverish addiction to oil and imperialist wars. Protecting our environment and precious ecosystems against short-sighted interests. Dismantling the military-industrial complex and our culture of fear. Not allowing those in power to exploit our fears and insecurities to their own gain, but building a society based on love and courage. Finally, I will continue to press for empowering the American people by enacting the National Initiative for Democracy.
I'm asking you today to help us turn the tables. New Hampshire is an opportunity for me to send a very pointed message to the media and those that might silence my message.
If you're in New Hampshire, please canvas for the day, hold signs at a busy traffic spot, or call up your friends and family who are still on the fence about who to support. If you're in New England, give our New Hampshire office a call, or join up with fellow supporters in the Granite State. The weather dipped to -15 degrees recently, but that has not chilled our spirit here.
Real change is not popular at first. It is not a soundbite you can digest in 30 seconds. It's gritty and raw and is going to upset some people. I have never shied away from a fight! Two decades ago Nixon wanted to throw me in jail for telling the American people the truth about Vietnam. Today I have been the first candidate to speak out against the dangers of war with Iran, and will continue to be the fiercest critic of our destructive foreign policy.
It doesn't matter whether the media deems my views as "unpopular" or "dangerous." It's time to tell the truth, and it's time for America to wake up. Some might lament or opine that my candidacy won't be appreciated in its own time. I say, the year is now 2008, and this is the time to make it resonate.
I hope to see everyone in New Hampshire at the polls on Tuesday.
And for those of you who live in other parts of the country, please make your most generous donation today.
I know you believe in this fight. Please help today.
Here at the national
campaign office, we are working hard to keep Mike in this fight. It's our
mission to get his name on primary and caucus ballots in states across the
country. We have also been working with our state directors to shore up support
in key states like New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa, Florida and Michigan.
However, if you do not take action
today by making a donation, Mike could run out of funds to keep going.
You heard that correctly. . . . After all of our hard work,
Mike could literally run out of funds.
It
is that serious.
We all know that Mike has made a difference in this presidential race. Let's look at what he has
done so far:
* He forced the other
Democratic presidential candidates to clarify their positions on whether they would be willing to use nuclear
weapons on countries like Iran;
* He brought national
attention to those neoconservative politicians who seek to widen the war in
the Middle East;
* He sounded the alarm on the
fact that some of the leaders in the Democratic Party have tried to drive
progressives from the party; and perhaps most importantly,
* He has consistently been a fierce
advocate for the millions of Americans out there who are growing increasingly angry over the direction in which
this country is headed.
The risks Mike has taken by
not playing it safe, and the backlash he has faced as a result of standing up
for our country, will be for nothing if you do not take action today.
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