One of our Own

One of our Own Recognized as Political Writer of the Year

Special Report from the Creative Youth News Team

December 17, 2008

Last night at the Patrick Henry Democratic Club of America, the annual awards were announced and Natasha Hull-Richter was recognized as the Political Writer of the Year, 2008. The Patrick Henry Democratic Club of America has the reputation of being the most progressive Democratic Club in California and possibly the nation. Youth rights supporters in Congress, Dennis Kucinich and Maxine Waters were recognized as the Congressman and Congresswoman of the Year, 2008. Both have made major contributions to protecting the rights of Americans and opposing the wars waged by the U.S. Government in the Middle East. Russ Feingold was recognized as the Senator of the Year. Both Kucinich and Feingold opposed the Wall Street Bailout. Kucinich has been especially outspoken regarding the misuse of money by those receiving and engineering the bailout.

The PHDC declared as joint Villains of the Year the media giants who rigged the primaries of 2008 through the exclusion of all anti-war Democrats from the debates. Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel were excluded from nine debates preceding primaries, seemingly for the purpose of conveying the false impression to the public that they had dropped from the race. The media rigging eliminated any chance that the people would have any say in the Democratic nomination. The Villains were the Des Moines Register, ABC, CNN, and NBC.

Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales tied for World Leaders of the Year. Both have shown the courage to stand up to the World Trade Organization and to George W. Bush.

California State Senator Lou Correa, who took the lead in opposing intrusive legislation that would have allowed the police to break into any home suspected of having a dog and maim or kill any dog they found and place a carcinogenic tracking chip into dogs. This was legislation that passed the Assembly before it was crushed in the State Senate.

Cynthia McKinney, the most outspoken of the Presidential candidates in the general election received the Courage Under Fire Award. Ms. McKinney is a former Congresswoman who filed Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condeleezza Rice in 2006. Similar legislation was also filed by Dennis Kucinich in 2007 and 2008. Ron Paul received the Grass Roots Motivator of the Year Award. Ron Paul led the Republican opposition to the wars and attacks on civil liberties. He later told voters to vote for an independent Presidential candidate.

Additional awards went to the Black Agenda Report (Online News Journal of the Year), Citizens For Legitimate Government (Online News Service of the Year), Chuck Anderson (Peace Activist of the Year) and Thu-Trang Tran (Peace Organizer of the Year).

The PHDC meeting started with a speech by world-famous humanitarian Blase Bonpane, the co-founder of the Office of the Americas. This is an organization that has worked to counter the School of the Americas and to right the wrongs committed by U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.

The PHDC meetings regularly attract intellectuals of all backgrounds. Past speakers have included members of Congress, state legislators and other popular leaders. The club has had the courage to host showings of documentaries, such as "Loose Change," "Sicko," and "American Blackout."