Now if we look at the way in which the labor movement itself has evolved over the last couple of decades we see increasing numbers of black people who are in the leadership of the labor movement and this is true today.

It simply cannot be disputed that for decades the Palestinian leadership was more interested in there not being a Jewish state than in there being a Palestinian state.

You know the sad thing of post-9/11 which was of course horrific was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades suddenly people like us - brown people - were looked at as the 'Others.'

There are certain moments in the history of a nation when the choices made define the decades to come.

Decades ago women suffered through horrifying back-alley abortions. Or they used dangerous methods when they had no other recourse. So when the Republican Party launched an all-out assault on women's health pushing bills to limit access to vital services we had to ask: Why is the GOP trying to send women back... to the back alley?

Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.

We know from our own history that democratic institutions take decades to mature and we know from past conflicts that freedom is not free.

In South Africa we could not have achieved our freedom and just peace without the help of people around the world who through the use of non-violent means such as boycotts and divestment encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the Apartheid regime.

For more than four decades the Libyan people have been ruled by a tyrant - Moammar Gaddafi. He has denied his people freedom exploited their wealth murdered opponents at home and abroad and terrorized innocent people around the world - including Americans who were killed by Libyan agents.

Actually criminal sanctions that are given could be up to five years for violating the rules and regulations under the campaign finance reform. This is like the Alien and Sedition Act of years and years ago decades ago.

The last three decades have seen the collapse of the family wage system.

You can almost see voters nodding their heads at home: The public's faith in politicians and political institutions has been on a steep and dangerous decline for decades because elected leaders fail to deliver.

Watching the evening news in 2011 is a strange time-travel experience. 'The CBS Evening News ' 'ABC World News' and 'NBC Nightly News' haven't changed their style over the decades still going for that old-fashioned mix of voice-of-authority pomp and feel-good fluff. The difference is that people aren't watching.

My own life has in some ways been a decades-long tour of the sibling experience. I have full sibs I have half-sibs and for a time I had step-sibs.

Public discourse has been polluted now for decades by corporate-funded disinformation - not just with climate change but with a host of health environmental and societal threats. The implications for the planet are grim.

This Nation has realized significant environmental improvements over the last three decades.

We all recognize that in recent decades many important achievements have helped create a cleaner healthier environment yet our national needs in environmental health are not being fully met.

Liberals in Congress have spent the past three decades pandering to environmental extremists. The policies they have put in place are in large part responsible for the energy crunch we are seeing today. We have not built a refinery in this country for 30 years.

In a few decades the relationship between the environment resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights democracy and peace.

During the decades after Brown v. Board of Education there was terrific progress. Tens of thousands of public schools were integrated racially. During that time the gap between black and white achievement narrowed.

My dad was a bartender. My mom was a cashier a maid and a stock clerk at K-Mart. They never made it big. They were never rich. And yet they were successful. Because just a few decades removed from hopelessness they made possible for us all the things that had been impossible for them.

Although the war in which you fought took place more than half-a-century ago your courage your sacrifice and your patriotism reaches through the decades and inspires us today.

Overcoming the Cold War required courage from the people of Central and Eastern Europe and what was then the German Democratic Republic but it also required the steadfastness of Western partner over many decades when many had long lost hope of integration of the two Germanys and Europe.

It was used for decades to describe talented computer enthusiasts people whose skill at using computers to solve technical problems and puzzles was - and is - respected and admired by others possessing similar technical skills.