The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is proud to announce our new blog ai??i??Ai??The Daily Change.
It will be spearheaded by former ThinkProgress investigative blogger Zaid Jilani. OnAi??this site, we hope to achieve 3 goals.
1) Investigative activism. Through practices normally associated withAi??investigative journalism, we will break actual news on this blog. There will be a special focus on campaign finance issues ai??i?? including connecting the dotsAi??between politicians, their donations, and their issue positions.
Whatai??i??s unique about this blog is that it will go beyond merely reporting theAi??problems. By connecting this blog with our million-person email list, weAi??will empower people to solve the problems reported on this site. Hence, theAi??concept weai??i??re coining here ai??i?? investigative activism.
2) Elevating progressive movement voices. There are a lot of greatAi??movement thinkers who offer reporting and commentary thatai??i??s much moreAi??insightful than what you hear in the corporate media. Many of these thinkersAi??believed in the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and supported ourAi??activism when we were just getting off the ground, for which we are veryAi??thankful.
PCCC members deserve to be aware of these inspiring voices. On this blog,Ai??we will highlight these progressive movement voices ai??i?? starting today.
3. Fostering community among PCCC members. Email is very useful forAi??communicating with a million bold progressives. Through email activism,Ai??weai??i??ve drafted Elizabeth Warren for Senate, revived the public option fromAi??the dead, successfully pressured the White House and congressional leadersAi??on many issues, flipped control of the Wisconsin Senate, and achieved manyAi??other victories since our launch on January 7, 2009.
But email has its limitations. We hope this blog can go beyond email to foster an ongoing sense ofAi??community and conversation among our members.
We predict that some major activism campaigns will inspired by theAi??comments on this blog. So if something in one of our posts sparks yourAi??interest, or if you have a thought to add, please please share it. Chances are,Ai??many others will agree with you. And the PCCC co-founders and team willAi??read your comments and engage.
To kick the conversation off, weai??i??d like to focus on one of the issues of the day: PaulAi??Ryanai??i??s budget. We know that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan support ending Medicare.Ai??But our friend Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks online show and Current TVAi??show, explains some of the lesser reported extremism in Ryanai??i??s plans:
What do you think about that? And what are some other facts about Paul Ryan andAi??Mitt Romneyai??i??s budget plans that you think people should know?
I pray people learn from history. Before the 2010 mid-terms, Republicans
obstructed every attempt made by President Obama to promote a bi-partisan approach to the challenges facing our nation. But in the 2010 mid-terms, Republicans retook the House by promising to focus on the economy. But instead they have tried to dictate how Americans should live their lives. They ant small government and hope to achieve it through attempts like the Ryan budget which slash needed support for the poor and middle class….needs which have increased due to the economic disaster of the Bush presidency.
Yet, ironically these proponents of small government wish to involve Big Brother in the private lives of women and their families.
Ryan and Romney, and the Republican Party, believe by telling a lie a 100 times people will come to believe it.
I pray Americans learn to recognize that a lie, even told a million times, is
now and always a lie. Romney and Ryan, and the Republican Party, remain in the pocket of the rich and powerful. They steal from the poor,
and those of us scrapping out a living, to give to the rich.
Learn to recognize the lies. Vote Democratic.
Andy, I couldn’t have said it better myself. I just hope that the Dems can get the vote out in States that are trying to block the vote as this is where the Presidential race will be decided. More importantly, the Dems need to throw as much money as possible into congressional races and get rid of these ultra right wingers who have taken over the Republican party to the point that nothing gets done. Last, but not least reforms need to be made as to how the filibuster is used so that every vote that congress takes does not need a 2/3 vote.
I agree that voting for the Dem’s is the answer at this time. It should only be our short range plan though because they are just the lesser of two evils. With communication and Blogs like this maybe we can truly move toward a progressive party.
I think a third party is just a third problem. I believe we need to reform our election and campaign laws eliminate the advantage political parties have in selecting who we can vote for.
In George Washington’s farewell to the people he warned us about the political parties:
“All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.”
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
Some progressives here (Palm Beach County, FL) think that Independents can only be reached via the debates if there are questions about 1) protecting the EPAs budget/where the candidates stand on Climate Change, 2) Medicare, the Ryan vouchers and Obamacare, 3) splitting up the Too Big to Fail banks (Eliot Spitzer calls them “the too big to prosecute banks” 4) ending the war in Afghanistan sooner than planned. In other words, real issues. Clearly the Red state governors and legislatures have no interest in releasing the stiumlus money for alternative energy program. In Florida, 60% of the money remains unspent.
In other words, these issues need to be discussed during the debates; platform planks at party conventions are forgotten right after the election,.
I would have to respectfully disagree that the Dems are just the lesser of two evils, it is just that they, like the president himself, have no choice but to navigate their agenda through an evil system. The Dems are the progressive party, always have been, their agenda is progressive, but nearly half of the country has been duped by the constant lies coming from the other party and the Dems can not legislate without the peoples support.
I really think that the media in our country, for example fox news, which went to court to be able to legally lie, slant the news and even use propaganda all legal in our country is to blame. I just got done reading a gallup pole on evolution and was astounded to see that 47% of the people polled believed people were only made 10 thousand years ago and the earth was created then also. Not only are our children being taught lies like this, in texas they want to make it illegal for teachers to encourage critical thinking. You couldn’t make this stuff up and its scary because all of the fox news zombies vote and they are unable to comprehend the reality of our world and will get quite mad when you attempt to show them the true facts.
I am campaign manager for a very progressive lady here in Tennessee, one of the REDDIST states around. She is running for US House of Representatives, Third District, Tennessee. She is a retired physician from Union County in the upper part of Tennessee. She won her primary election with 69% of the Democrat vote. She is running against Republican Chuck Fleischmann (incumbent). The Republicans here nearly annilhated
each other in the August primary and he came away with only 39% of the Repub vote. We ran the primary on a shoestring budget as most Democrats around here do but we are getting labor endorsements and many small contributions because the peiople who hear her speak are impressed and connect with with her honesty and intelligence. Her Repub. oponent said on election nite he would meet her to debate but now he has become mute on the subject. She has the will and the guts to win this thing and represent us in Wahington. Just had to get that out. It would be nice if we could get some attention as those in other areas who get more publicity than we do. She is all over the state-11 counties, of which at least 2 do not have adequate high speed internet or cell phone coverage. Spread the word if you will Mary Headrick for Congress
The Ryan budget has one good outcome, it is as least a plan that we can discuss with at some facts that we can consider. It moves the discussion from lies and opinions to actions that politicians have to comitt to. We cannot continue right up to the election with negative mud slinging and emotive moral issues, someone has to comitt to a plan to reenergise the economy. If we allow politicians to continue this mockery of a democratic government then we deserve everything that we get. Here are a couple of facts that you are not hearing. 50% of the people in this country are on governement provided healthcare, this includes Medicare, Medicaide, Politions, Prisoners, government workers, armed forces et.c. The cost of this is consuming nearly 40% of the Total Federal Budget, your taxes. Any other major developed country would provide quality universal care for half this cost. Regulating the healthcare industry like every other major country would reduce the cost of governement healthcare and save about 20% of your tax money!! Medicare is not the problem our stunning inefficient, fraudlent and abusive healthcare system is the problem. You are not qualified to know what healthcare you need and you have no cost or value data to be an informed consumer. You have to trust HC professionals to make those decisions in your best interest. THEY DON’T they make them in their best interests for profit. Every other major country regaulates this model and they have better and cheaper HC than we do.
If we want to set a plan for a “new” successful economy we need to tackle HC first. We don’t need to touch Medicare benefits we need to fix the system that provides healthcare. The HC reform act regulates the wrong side of the equation and is a lobbyists dream.
I think “Medicare For All” or at least a “public option” needs to part of the mix to keep the insurance industry honest is needed. It will be much more cost effective than the current system.
In order to have single payer medicare for all, we need to examine/expose the currant insurance system – who invests in it, who it invests in, how it connects with doctors, big pharma, and pharma advertising.
Excellent post and i also hope that everyone votes democrat this year and that they are progressive democrat.
Nope, history isn’t what we are allowed to learn anymore, they are removing it from the history books, the history channel, and more, because no one cares enough. The news wouldn’t talk about anything that matters, even if people were watching. We are doomed. The wold world is doomed because we refuse to pay attention.
This is no good choice, only less bad ones. Our left wing is to the right of Nixon, and Nixon would be called a socialist by the current right wingers, but then so would Reagan.
The republicans need to go the way of the Whigs, the Dems need to go back to being the right wing, and a new left needs to take over so we can get back to what used to be the center. But the dems won’t be able to get enough votes because the repugnican’ts are trying to make it harder for dems to vote (sometimes impossible), and it is working.
…and for the record, three times is all it takes for a lie to be bought, hook line and stinker for most people. (though you have to say it 100 times to get enough people to have heard it those three times).
Oh well, we won’t likely survive the century anyway. We let evil win.
I agree with you. We don’t really have a liberal party any more to offset the conservatives. The Democratic party today occupies the same space as the GOP in the late 1960’s/early 70’s; and the GOP occupies the same space as the Fascists of 1930’s Italy and Spain. With the median wealth/assets of Senate members being close to $13,000,000 and of House members being $2,000,000, most of them have little concern or empathy for the average American with $70,000 of wealth/assets. With President Obama saying that everything is on the table and constantly starting his negotiations with extremists by sitting on their side of the discussions, just voting for Democrats is not going to make a difference any more. If we look at the Great Depression, President Roosevelt put just enough change in place to save Capitalism, the extreme poverty that resulted from the 1930’s Depression is still with us today. With the exception of the members of the Progressive caucuses in Congress, The Federal government is set to do away with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education, and every thing that protects the American people from the excesses of multinational corporations; and the shame is that they are doing it with the support of a significant part of the American people. I think it’s time to stop voting for the lesser of two evils and go ahead and let the right wingers take control and commit the harm they have in mind. When the American people started to abandon BOTH parties after the Great Depression and rejected the cruelty of predatory Capitalism by supporting Socialist candidates in elections, that was the only thing that made the establishment even begin to address the needs of the American people. It will be the harsh realities that result from the agenda of conservative sociopaths that will finally make working Americans reject the lies of conservatism. Let them have their way so we can start rebuilding rather than continuing the gradual loss of everything we care about.
Jim, sad as your analysis is, it just may take a LOT more fiscal and social pain to allow the 30 plus year subversion of the ‘common sense of the American people’ to rise to prominence again.
Personally, I’d like to see this new blog shy from discussion of current events and how we can beat the repubtards, though necessary at times, to one of exchange of ideas on how to reestablish some degree of honor, truth, integrity and transparency in the system with the intent of making WETHEPEOPLE’s voice the dominant point of social and fiscal determination for the nation.
The establishment of this country, regardless of in the moment motivations of it’s founders, has a definite large pipe of connection through the millenium to the quest for a level playing field, socially and fiscally, for WETHEPEOPLE.
The kings, the princes, the dukes, the earls…and the sheriffs, have always been out there making sure WETHEPEOPLE had no real voice.
The founders of this country, through the Federalist Papers, Paine’s Common Sense, the Declaration of Independance, the Constitution and Bill of Rights and much other public dialogue at the time, sought to make that voice a reality…
We NEED to get back on track folks, and this is a good gathering point and my thanks to it’s founders and staff for making this possible!
I forgot the BISHOPS, the great crowd mezmerizers aka, the money, the law and the lord.
Very well said , on top of your statement is the fact that selling out to foreign corporations is treason . Vote republican and become a refugee, Mexico will welcome you . Bring your own tent. Being a refugee is a fun game and it lasts a life time ,there is no return.
Hearing Romney lie unabashedly with regularity, I finally googled “Is lying a tenet of the Mormon faith?” Sure enough – “lying for the Lord” is permissible. One wonders if Romney feels he’s ordained to become President thereby making anything that gets him there fair game. The prospect to that happening is frightening in the extreme to me!
I’ll be damned!
What a great comment – lying for Jesus as a theological tennet – what kooks are these cult members.
Please be careful. Bold progressive are defenders of religious freedom (unlike most current Republicans). We need to respect people’s rights to join whatever existing religious organization or to establish whatever personal spiritual beliefs they choose. The Church of Latter Day Saints is not a cult. We may disagree with some tenets of their faith, but I believe that bold progressives would not deny “Mormons” their choice of religion. Similarly, Paul Ryan’s choice to be a Roman Catholic is his choice. What is important, I believe, is to ensure that no one group’s religious beliefs are forced on others. And our federal laws and Constitutional rights should not be violated.
I think any “religion” that goes door to door seeking converts is a cult. I believe in freedom of religion, but I also believe in freedom from religion.
In the case of Romney and Mormonism there is a rather alarming prophecy that I believe Romney is trying to live out as the chosen one.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/29/mitt_and_the_white_horse_prophecy/
i agree with you and i have also seen the prophecy. Its rather scary to think that our country would elect romney and ryan, and i worry about what a nighmare that could be
I worked in a company that had some key positions filled by Mormons. One of them got friendly with me and gave me a book to read over the weekend. It was “The Book of Mormon.” I came in on Monday morning andn he was eagerly awaiting for me to arrive. Excitedly he asked me what I thought about the book. I asked him if he wanted the real truth and not just a bs answer to make him feel good. So I told him first that I found a lot of plagiarism taken from previous bibles in the Judeo-Christian religions. But I continued to tell him this. Why do the Jewish and Christian religions have prophets with names like Moses or Jesus and the Mormon religion comes up with John Smith And when Jerusalem is the main focus for so many religions then why are the Mormons believing that certain land in Pennsylvania is hallowed ground. He looked frustrated and didn’t answer me.
One other point; I never saw a real religion consider being successful in business and amassing wealth to get ahead in the Church like in the Mormon Church.
I am not a bold progressive then, because I think all religion is wrong, harmful to the education and advancement of our species, and down right evil.
A tool used by those in power to control the non-thinking masses. (as you would have to be non-thinking to buy into to that garbage, at the age of 3 I knew is was full of contradictions, hypocrisy and lies).
I used to think it was OK to let people believe what they wanted as long s they were not pushing it on others, but there in lies the problem doesn’t it? Not only are they not content with that, they will not rest until they have killed everyone who has not converted.
Religion is evil and a pox on any society.
My personal definition revolves around the indisputable fact that there is a Unity of viewable and describable form in which we and all things dwell.
Modern physics shows that we are more space than matter, as is the Unity-verse and that we, as beings are, without question, manifestors of that Unity-verse of the viewable and describable.
Some gropper after personal power and personal security took that notion way back when and made a tool called religion exclusively based upon the Unity, One G_d idea.
Bastardized from the start, peddling fear as its base, quivering, quailling humanity cowered on into the folds of that power and security which then became free to adminster that power via war and you know the rest.
Jus’ sayin’…
The whole lack of health for women including abortion, are in the tenents of many of our Evengelical and Catholic religions. Regardless of my personal beliefs, I do not have the right to force my beliefs on everyone else in this country. This country is founded on the separation of church and state. It is time that the tea party realizes that.
You are right but nothing in our constitution says that we have to help or encourage the teaching of superstition and lies to our children, People are way to tolerant to these con men and crooks that make up the world religion. Think about this and do your part.
Thanks for beginning this! I ‘ll be reading and commenting regularly starting in about 2 weeks. I’ll be out of touch for a while, but look forward to your insights and dot-connecting. I hope this will reach many people soon – the lies need to be exposed. I did not know that Lying for the Lord is permissible in the Mormon religion – does that remind you of anything? Remember the communists saying the same thing?. I’m not saying Romney is a communist, but I am saying that the same morals, or lack of them, apply.
The continuing Republican rant that lowing taxes stimulates job creation is pure rubish. 100% of employment costs are deducted before taxes are even calculated on “net income”. In fact, raising taxes stimulates job creation because there is more tax benfit for a deduction at a 30% tax rate then at 20% tax rate, i.e., a $1.00 deduction is worth 30 cents versus 20 cents.
President Clinton raised taxes on the rich and cut taxes on the middle class. That does two things. 1) encourage investment 2) creates consumer spending.
It is consumers that generate jobs. No business is going to hire or expand unless there are customers. That’s why tax cuts for middle class works (and doesn’t work for the rich) and why properly designed stimulus works.
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/18/us/clinton-s-economic-plan-the-details-clinton-s-plan-austerity-and-change.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
You are correct, and even Reagan ended up raising taxes and putting thousands of public employees to work.
You raise an important point about the conservative lie about raising taxes on “job creators”. Jobs are created by increased demand for goods and services – that is the only thing that creates jobs. The American people are the engine of job creation when they spend virtually all of their income on goods and services. Multimillionaires are not job creators when they spend a fraction of their income on goods and services and hide the rest in secret bank accounts in foreign countries and tax shelters (that actually takes money OUT of the economy). Giving tax cuts to millionares who are already taking money out of the economy has never created jobs and never will. If that worked, then every 3rd world country on this planet would have zero unemployment and no poverty.
I think that’s something we need to keep pushing at every opportunity. This is a consumer driven economy. I know I shouldn’t pimp my own blog but, I recently posted an exchange about job creation. http://bit.ly/N8fZsK
By all means you SHOULD market yourself. Specifically if you are trying to get a message out of positive change in this country.
I will check it out
your blog contains very astute analysis, and is well written. I hope to see more information as you put it out.
People should realize that lowering tax and running up debt on our credit card causes tax to double and triple. It costs three times as much to borrow money for a project than it does to pay cash. Uncle Sam needs to have his credit card taken away .
First of all congratulations on this new blog. I think it’s the right idea at the right time. I agree that email has it’s limitations even in a group discussion format. A little concerned about how quickly we can ramp up participation, but I’m hopeful that has already been taken into consideration.
Paul Ryan’s budget is a disaster for America. Romney is even backing away from it. But he supposedly selected Ryan as VP because of his experience in the federal budget and fiscal conservative credibility. In the general Romney is going to have to move towards the center if he’s going to attract independent voters. Our job is to remind independents and what’s left of moderate Republicans that Ryan is a radical conservative. Here’s a good article pointing out some things about Ryan we may want to push.
The Ryan Pick Confirms Romney’s Commitment To A Radical Conservative Agenda. | The New Republic http://owl.li/d8L7j
I don’t think it’s enough to attack. We have to put forward our own ideas as well. I’m a supporter of the Progressive Caucus Budget for all http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/budget-for-all/ that I wish the President would adopt. I also offer some of ideas that probably aren’t original but I think are worthy of discussion. http://bit.ly/g6AJ1I
The main thing is we have to defeat conservatives wherever they are, regardless of party. “Blue Dog” Democrats are just Republicans that can’t win as Republicans. They are just as much an enemy of the progressive movement as any Republican.
It isn’t enough to re-elect Obama. We need to have a Democrat controlled House and Senate or we’ll see at least two more years of the obstructionism that has plagued us for the last two years. The legislative branch has an approval rating in the teens. We need to drive home the fact that the GOP has deliberately done everything possible to not just undermine the President but our economy, America and Americans in general. A vote for any Republican is a vote for stagnation and obstructionism. That’s all the GOP has to offer. Tax cuts for the rich didn’t work. Deregulation didn’t work. Subsidies to fossil fuels didn’t work. Off shoring and out sourcing didn’t work. What else do they have? Nothing. They haven’t had a new or original idea since the 50’s. At every opportunity we need to challenge GOP candidates by asking them for specifics of what they support. Don’t allow them to run against Obama, make them run on their ideas which we know they are drawing from a very shallow pool.
Look forward to seeing where this effort can lead us.
I hope you will follow education closely. Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action is one of many organizations and individuals fighting to preserve our system of public education. Thanks!
I hate to be the Grinch but we need a new blog like we need a new hole in the head. The Nov. elections are not going to be won on the Internet but in the trenches. Most of the voters who will be disenfranchised with voter ID suppression laws will not obtain ID from a web site or even learn they have been disenfranchised until they show up at the polls. There is less than three months left and much more work to be done. Unless some miracle idea is posted here your better off investing in voter registration. Obtaining valid ID before the elections is going to be really tough. IMO
Are you aware of the sites online that will help people verify that they are registered, and then if needed what they need to do to be able to register in there state. I wish so much that the whole country did there voting like we do in my state, which is by mail. We have an awesome turnout
I am excited about your new blog and think its a great tool to the progressive community interacting. Just off the top of my head, I would like to put this idea out there. As it relates to the Affordable Care Act, we the people as tax payers provides a generous benefit package to each federal worker as well as our elected officials, ie., POTUS, Senators, Congress and their staff. I strongly feel that if their health care benefits we provide were linked to the Affordable Care Act Law, we would get the much needed compromising, negotiation and participation to make this legislation work for all the American people. Its time we make this issue personal so that as we move to improve upon this law, they also have some skin in the game.
Wonderful idea S. Lynch. Too bad it was not set up that way at the start.Very, Very good idea. Everyone on this blog owes you a thank you. THANK YOU.
The only problem with trying to take away some (or all) of their benefits is that most of the people we send to Congress are already wealthy. Those that aren’t soon will be with all the lobbyists ready to throw money at them. They’re in it for the power, not the money.
Very inspiring. we need to something about voter suppression. Why
doesn’t the Justice dept enforce the laws passed by Lyndon Johnson?
I’m in.
I’m in, too. I like the looks of this and the way you are developing it. Thanks.
I’d be a little more optimistic about reading your blog if there were ANYTHING about how Obama is NOT a democrat. let alone a Progressive.
Until democrats recognize that, and that they now support policies right out of the Rethuglican playbook, we’re not likely to make any actual PROGRESS.
Amen
Obamma is a left wing fascist while Romney is his brother to the right.
NO change will occur until a viable non-corporate controled third party garners enough momentum to oust the two handed corptocracy.
Cutting 96% of the alfabet army of federal brownshirts is not enough.
Ryan’s budget cuts do not cut the budget at all they just decrease the funding. His assumptions of our economy growing are fallatious or at best overly optimistic. It is already mathematically impossible to pay off the debt and still allow people enough to live on.
We need a societal change away from greed. There are enough resources and food in the world to support everyone in a cofortable middle class level. I am not a communist, however capitalism is also failed – both concentrate the resources of this world into too few hands. And Socialism, the suppossed safe middle ground is now proving to have flaws as well. Socialism fails when there are no more people to take wealth away from to redistribute.
To fix it all of our current political-societal perception will have to change. I too agree on religious freedom… as long as the basic tenant of that religion is to treat others as you would like to be treated. The golden rule is the basic tenant of most of the worlds major religions – sadly, it is the most ignored.
Stop the wars.
Stop the police state alphabet army of brownshirts.
Stop spying on me.
Give me the right to say and protest as I choose as long as it is peaceable. (not in a cage 1/2 mile away from the event I am protesting)
I agree with a lot of you wrote, but I think calling the President a “left wing fascist” is over the top. I don’t like the Patriot Act or NDAA. I’m concerned about the growing police state and the militarization of those who are charged to protect and serve. It’s embarrassing that we have the largest prison population per capita in the world. We can fix that.
We can also fix deficit spending and the debt. It’s not that difficult if we can get the right people in office and have them do the right things. President Clinton gave us an excellent template to work from. Raise taxes on the richest, cut taxes for the rest. Stop corporate welfare. End subsidies to oil, corn and cotton. Legalize Hemp and marijuana which would create a new jobs and new tax revenue.
But as I’ve written before and I’m sure people are already getting tired of it, a third party isn’t the answer. Political parties are the problem.
I completely agree ackack…to be a progressive is SURELY not to be a Democrat in these times. The litany against the present holders of the keys to the left is long and the point list for them is barely discernable.
I suggest that WETHEPEOPLE, the true progressives, focus upon the ethical, moral and honorable rather than the practical politics and lesser of two evils and SCOTUS appointment ruses presently at hand.
Progressives, in the true sense, are NOT practical tow the party line folks and our ideas about what is real and true are what hopefully abraid the present holders of the Demkeys enough to put public light on their unprogressive ideas.
No more torture, no more extraordinary rendition, no more drones, no more looting of OUR treasury by the MIC and all hangers on, no more back door deals with Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Energy, Big TSA, Big NSA/CIA/DOD and MORE support for the people of the United States.
Aka, education, infrastructure, health care, subsidies and tax breaks for 21st century energy technology not focused on fossil fuels, fight to federally fund elections, eliminate electronics from the voting process, regain influence over the media air waves, reestablish anti-trust, regulation, oversight and enforcement…WE WANT REALITY, NOT PROPAGANDA!!
Paul,
You have it right!
just about what I said at 3:08 but it is still awaiting moderation. I must have hit a keyword or tow and I did notice a couple spelling errors that are possibly holding it up.
Interesting…my guess is that there is a debate going on about how much reality PCCC can allow regarding the bent, twisted and mutilated DNC, DCCC, DLC and by direct implication this non-hopey changey administration.
My couple of paragraphs above took 3 or more hours to get out of ‘moderation’…
We are here for the dialogue and gowth of progressive ideas, and not in support of the lesser of two evils, for no matter how that little twistie is bent and mutilated in meaning remains a vote for evil.
Progressives are not about practical politics…we are about shining million candle watt sunshine beams on the corruption and highlighting the needs of the people with that same intensity.
Obama is not a Progressive, he’s a Centrist leaning left. That represents a good segment of the Democrat Party. Until we change our election and campaign laws to allow other choices, we’re going to continue to see these close to center candidates. Not much difference between early Gov. Romney and President Obama today. Health care reform a good example.
Great initiative! Winning elections and change in the country must be done through every mean availabe and possible!
what do we know about mitt, follow the money, 13% taxes 20% counting chariety mostly his church. 7% of his income goes to the mormens.what do mormans believe, we in calif know that they spent millions opposing gay marage onelection daythe street corners were filled with youths holding pro prop 8 signs.I believe this election is all about religon.the right to believe in a god however I understand or how those people in pulpis think I should understand the word.
Tax churches at 15% use money to pay down debt. PROBLEM SOLVED!
even 10% just might do it 🙂
But I would realy prefer Government to live within it’s means and not plan on growing 5% every year. My income has been static, it is or was essentially the same level in 2012 as I was making in 1995 due to layoffs, recessions desperation to find another job to support my family and etc.. But the value of that income has declined due to inflation. I used up my savings and retirement with a couple of start ups that ended up not going anywhere. But, I tried to create something for myself and others that would create jobs and put out an ethical and useful product.
When I did work for someone else the best cost of living raise I saw in the public sector was 3% and on average it was around 1.5%… all at or below the inflation rate. They currently change the indicators they use to calculate inflation. If they still calculated it based on how they did in the 90’s inflation would be around 2% higher then the government reports. The traditional goal of the Fed was to keep inflation at 3% through adjusting the prime interest rate (what the Fed charges the banks to use our national currency). When the banks receive these funds they in turn loan them out at a little bit higher rate to the consumer. Right now the Fed is loaning to the Banks at a little less than 1%. which is why, if you are willing to pay a few points, you can get a mortgage in the 3% range. This is also why you are only receiving less than 1% on your simple savings and just over 1% on Money Market funds. which means you are losing the difference between inflation and the money you have in savings with a reported inflation rate of around 3% (5% calculated the way it was in 1990). When actual inflation is running, in my estimate, based on food prices and gasoline and other things that are necessary to maintain life, at around 10% (I add in an estimate for the increase due to the fact that most things now come in smaller quantities by weight but are the same price they were). that is part of why the American middle classs is disappearing.
Now, The Federal Reserve is NOT a Federal as in government branch. It is a private corporation that charges us to use our money! Yes there is some cost involved with printing the money and shiping it to the banks so some renumeration is called for. But ALLOWING A PRIVATE ENTITY TO CONTROL OUR MONEY SUPPLY IS LUDICRIS and giving them the power to lower and raise the interest rate is insane. OF COURSE they will manipulate it for their gain.
Sorry got off on a bit of a rant there but my point is that the Government should only be allowed to grow when the economy does and not at a flat 5% as they assume. If they undergrow, each department should set the funds away in a slush fund to maintain their current funding when the economy slows. Much like a responsible family or individual puts money aside for tough times.
I just caught a recent Catholic Church full blown political ad. I have no clue why the DOJ or whoever oversees the issue, has not begun some kind of legal action to stop it.
The churches are instrumental in politics these days, preaching politics from the pulpit, producing political ads and even funding the various political efforts of candidates.
TAX THE CHURCHES…they are presumptuously now infringing onto the secular public stage.
Agreed. The stark, unambiguous language of the very first words in our Bill of Rights means complete separation of church and state. They need to be taxed if they use their money to influence state policy.
Bear in mind that Corporatecrafters united with Christiancrafters tried to ratify the proposed Constitution blank of the people’s well-demanded Bill of Rights. Outraged, activists united en masse throughout the American Colony against ratification of the proposed document. This led to the Ten Amendments to the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights. Adherents of the many different Christian sects actually wanted the safeguard noted in the very first words of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….” They knew that Quakers, Native Americans and individual TruthSeekers had been executed by Christian demonics for the crime of acting on their God given reason and free will. President 4 James Madison said it best in reflection of what had been happening in the Colony at the behest of demonic Christiancrafters: “It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties….Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other sects? God gave humankind reason and true theology, Deism, not man-contrived religioncraft. Check out Thomas Paine’s “The Age of Reason—The Complete Edition” which is a brilliant composition on morality and the true theology, Deism. As the Great Paine to Kingcrafters, Corporatecrafters and Christiancrafters noted: THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD and it is in THIS WORD, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man.”
heck this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwOUxtSF4IA
This is a song for everyman, protesting the failed economics of the trickle down theory. The rich get richer and the middle class pays more and more. What’s trickling down is not money but something else. The wealthy pay a low percentage of income tax while the middle class pays more and more. The theory that the wealthy will create jobs through their excessive spending is not happening. People are ready to work, ready to have a job…just waiting for something to trickle down.
Music written and performed by Bo
Video by Lauren Karbula
First and foremost we must unite and stand on American principles. The Constitution mandates a “Republican Form of Government” based on the “res-publica” the public good, the public thing as clearly indicated by the Mission Statement under the Preamble: “WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” The selfish systems that are the base opposite of a “Res-Publica Form of government” are monarchism, communist/corporate politburo-ism, fixed-market capitalism, libertarian fascism— all privatizing gains and communizing loses but masked as “free-market enterprise,” etc., ad nauseum. Article III, Sec.2 of our Moral Compass and only Authority under our constitutional Republic, mandates: “The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution…–to Controversies to which the united States [and Citizens] shall be a Party…” The Founders from all walks of life had the wisdom to demand that the legal principles of Equity by constitutionally mandated. ” ‘ Equity’ has said to be the name of the principles under which substantial justice may be attained in particular cases where the prescribed or customary forms of ordinary law seem to be inadequate. The word describes a system of jurisprudence and it is employed to designate the principles or standards of that system. Such a use of the word is illustrated by he maxim, ‘Equity’ regards as done that which ought to be done.’ ” Jur (1996), p. 520-21.
A little history will show that it has repeated itself. The American Revolution was fought to be free of evil “conservatives” of Dark Age Thought based on evil Kingcraft,evil Corporatecraft and demonic Christiancraft. “Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion?” “History, I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes.” “In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.” James Madison observed: “Rulers who wished to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not.” In his “Four Letters On Interesting Subjects” Thomas Pained closed his argument
for Revolution written between May 20 and July 2, 1776 and after his famous “Common Sense” and just days prior to the Declaration of Independence on July 4. At the close of Letter III Paine wrote:
“As to Corporations themselves, they are without exception so many badges of kingly tyranny, and tend, like every other species of useless pomp [such as Christiancraft], to the oppression and impoverishment of the place without one single advantage arising from them. They keep up a perpetual spirit of distinction and faction, engross emoluments and advantages to themselves, which ought to be employed to better purposes, and generally get into quarrels and lawsuits with the other part of the inhabitants. They diminish the freedom of every place were they exist….But of all Corporations that of Philadelphia is the most obnoxious, its power resembling that of an hermaphrodite, or is at least a kind of aristocratical Corporation made hereditary by adoption.”
I would like to email a thought-provoking article to anyone at BoldProgressives.
Is that possible?
Lewis Black said this during one of his specials; The problem is that the Republicans blow while the Democrats suck. I think there is such conflict within each of us. Obama isn’t perfect by any stretch. Tell me why were are in Afghanistan? I see it this way; Osama is dead and we drove al-Qaida out of the country. So now what is the reason? To me it seems we have partnered with a drug dealer and we should be ashamed. The President is supposed to be the Commander in Chief and I am tired of those who say I will follow what my generals tell me.
But Obama is one who was blocked even before he stepped into the Oval Office for the first time. I worked for Bobbby Kennedy back in ’68 and I have watched so many Presidents give State of the Union speeches but never saw any of them have a congressman scream out “Liar” during the speech. And the very next day the right wing was applauding that act. But if we bring up racism then we are at fault for trying to divide the country. Makes sense right?
Since Reagan was President our infrastructure has been ignored. Our roads and bridges are just places where potential tragedies will happen.How about a jobs program to rebuild America? Kill two birds with one stone but what do we do about a congress which on the House side is dominated by lunatics and the Senate side where everyone lacks the balls to do anything. BTW, if Reagan was alive today the current right wing would have crucified him because as much as I wasnt into him one thing I alkways remember was how he and Tip O’Neal would work things out.
http://www.amazon.com/Commoners-Guide-Defeating-Aristocracy/dp/1469131463/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328188770&sr=8-1
Here is a Progressive book worth the read. A little history, a little economics, a little pop culture, written by a teacher. It’s an easy read. “A Commoners Guide to Defeating the Aristocracy.”
If it’s true that Mormons actually have a tenet that says “lying for the Lord” is permissable it would be good to site verifiable references for that. Right wing activists are bound to troll through here looking for “evidence” to use against us. They might even plant ideas or words. It would also be good not to use words like “cult” or abusive terms for anybody. That and spelling errors make us look like tea party types and can also be used against us. DON’T arm the enemy!
Interestingly enough, from what I have heard, (I do not speak Persian or Hebrew) both the Talmudic sect of Judeasim and Islam have a very similar tenant.
I am Jewish and went to Yeshivas as a kid. The most famous story in the Old Testament is when Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac when God sent angels to stop him at the last time. It was over 40 years later when I learned that the Muslims believed in the same story except they say it was Ishmael and not Isaac who was about to be sacrificed. The similarities between the religions are uncanny but with one diffeence and that is the fanatic Muslims who have perverted the Koran and the islamic law to come up with reasons that only portend for violence.
Not to be classed as a relious nut ..I remmember the saying ‘Eye for an eye Tooth for tooth…And I believe it’s used today…there are exsremist on bothsides and ..We all should live under the Golden Law ..do unto others as you have done to yourself” is quite applicial for ALL
Are you Talmudic?
from what I understand, and please correct me if I am wrong, Talmudic Judaeism is a sect that took the ancient knowledge of Solomon (sorcery, numerology, astrology & etc.) and continues to apply it and is not consistent with the general faith of judaeism as laid out in the Torah (Old Testament) and what many people consider the Jewish religion.
I may have my wires crossed and it may be Cabalistic Judeaism I am thinking of not Talmudic.
John, I never heard that desciption before regarding the Talmud. To me it is volumes and volumes of arguments between rabbis in the old days which definiitely has the positive effect of teaching students to think more logically and more astutely. You are probably thinking more of Cabalist Judeaism although I must reveal something personal. I am the heir to a very famous Hasidic sect as I was the first born male after my grandfather. When I was a kid I was just beginning to learn the Talmud. It began with “if an egg is born during a holiday” and then goes on and on with opposing rabbis arguing. I raised my hand and simply asked my teacher, who was a young rabbi, “who cares? It’s only an egg!!” the look I got from the young rabbi could make a flower wilt and with repeatedly being told “who knows? only God” whenever I asked a question because some of what I was told didn’t make sense it didn’t take too long before I realized this all was a crock of crap and was stuck in an untenable situation
Michael,
Thanks for the clearification. I must be thinking of Cabalistic Judeaism.
Couldn’t help but wonder if that is perhaps one of the origins of the easter egg in modern culture. I know it is a symbol of fertility for spring in Pagan lexicon.
Randy,
Please Google “Is ‘Lying for the Lord’ a tenet of the Mormon faith?” I was prompted to do so when observing Romney’s blatant lies without any hesitancy or embarrassment. I’ll let God judge the merits of the Mormon religion; that was not genesis of my googling the above.
Welcome to my world! :^) Coupla’ things, suggestions, really…
1.) Don’t be bashful about banning trolls and crackpots. Once they settle in, you’ll lose your audience.
2.) On the Blog Roll…Ditch HuffPo. Now that they are regularly referenced as a source by Fox News, they should have no credibility in the Progressive blogosphere (and their comments are just right-wing rant threads, see item 1 above). Add Krugman (NYT) and Charles Pierce (Esquire).
Good luck!
I would http://www.salon.com/ to that list although not technically a blog.
I would interpose a caution that our group thought discussion does not stay as a self reinforcing intellectual circle jerk since what we think we see clearly as obvious will not reach thru the emotional jungle that populates those in the lower half of the distribution curve, those who pray for interventions from imaginary gods to solve our problems and then vote against their own economic and social interests because they are attracted by the gut activating pseudo issues to cover up the redistribution of wealth from those struggling with life to those struggling to satisfy their insatiable greed for wealth and power. The key question is not one of issue postilions as how to get support from that other part of the mental spectrum.
It’s very difficult to reach that audience. Even when they given undeniable, documented facts, they refuse to budge. They have been brain washed to believe that all liberals are liars and everything we do or say is an attack on their freedom, liberty and money – mostly money.
Rather than trying to reason with the unreasonable, we should reach out to those who are not engaged in the political process at all. Those that voting is a waste of time because nothing changes. That both parties are equally bad and to blame. Those that just don’t care. Let’s reach out to them and have them join us to create reforms of our political system so more diverse voices can be heard.
This is all very interesting, but we all already know this. Money, money, money. Who has it who wants it and who has a “right” to it. It’s all true, but, to me it is secondary.
More important is the Republican social values. We are the most incarcerated country on earth, EVER, and we call ourselves “free.” These people want to invent more prosecutorial tools and make more human activity illegal simply to satisfy some moral tenet of intolerance. Everybody knows damn well that no amount of law will stop abortion, for example. It will only lock up doctors and pregnant women, or force people to travel to CIVILIZED countries or FREE countries for the procedure.
More important is the problem of the right wing overload in the Supreme Court.
More important is the failed social experiment of the war-on-drugs and the mass denial of its failure.
More important is all the stupid war mongering and foreign policy failures. More important is how we choose our “friendly nations.”
A man sitting in a prison cell because of stupid intolerance and who has lost his family, home, reputation, career and all he ever loved does not care so much about the economy. Let me put it this way: My greatest regret is that no matter how deep the dungeon they bury me in for the “crime” of my choice of imbibe, I am still obligated to breathe the same air as the stupid, vicious scum that would do to a man the equivalent of multiple class I felonies for copping a buzz. Please try to forgive my obvious ad hominem strawman, but, as they say down in the iron hotel: “turnabout is fair play.” So, how does it feel to be spoken of that way?
Mr Dean, you have said in public that you are not “ready” to legalize drugs. Well, sir, what the hell ARE you ready for? When will you be ready? Are we supposed to watch this madness go on forever?
Heh, the alphabet army would loose half of its funding (the illicit half) if we ended the war on drugs… they would no longer be able to get their cut of the sales and bribes. How then would they pay for the militerization of our police force? Do the local “Peace Officers” really need assault vehicles? For what purpose?
Oh,…and Wonkette! (Where the commenters actually stand up to and shut down the trolls before they can gain a toehold!)
Michael,
We are in Afghanistan to protect Unocal’s gas pipeline. Why do we go anywhere? Vietnam for Texaco’s Mekong delta wells, Iraq for take back the wells Saddam stole, Libya to take back the wells Qadaffi stole.
Note that not only is Iran not allowed to have a nuclear weapon, they are not allowed to have an oil refinery, either! They have to ship crude to a Western nation for conversion to useable fuels. This way, we can keep them in dependent and toeing the line on oil prices.
Kev,
Do you believe it is right for us to sacrifice our precious children for those things you cited. Also, we didn’t invade Iraq to recapture oil wells. The real reason is that invading Iraq is not that big a deal. Chris Rock said it would be tougher to take over Baltimore. The real issue is the money is in rebuilding Iraq and who is doingn that? Well try Halliburton, GE and a slew of other corporations and guess who had to pay for that. Why us of course? We have been spending about 15 billion a month to rebuild Iraq. To me the whole scheme was to redistribute wealth from American citizens to corporate entities. Didn’t you ever wonder why Bush was so adamant about staying there? You donlt kill any cash cow as long as it is producing mucho dollars for your own people.
Right on the money Michael!!
All wars by the United States have all been fought for oil. This is why I have always been against minorities joining the military. We have always been used as fodder to be killed for the enrichment of white, rich people who do not send their sons and daughters into battle. Ask the Romney family why not one of them served in the military.
Most for oil, yes. But definately all for corporate interests.
How can Haliburton get all the government contracts? They are an offshore company. Oh yeah, they are owned mostly by politicians and their family’s.
We are at a crossroads a very important time in history.We are going to decide if we want this bought country to continue to be bought;We are alowing Freedom to be bartered for who can buy Votes and corperations are people…It’s rampent fuedalism..Jack 1% has this much (Money)power and he runs Banks and Bill 1% runs welfare Ect;Ect…We peons of color the poor sick and elderly can just wait for the Yellow trickle down…You can’tsee it it’s all hiden in Oz like smoke and mirriors of owned Media ;TV (FOX) propaganda..Wall Street news papaers(Murrdock)..It’s a shame that we have departed from the basic tax shelter for the people when the rich paid to point where it hurt them as much as it hurts the poor…40% off the top..We pay about 35% with all the hidden taxes …Where 1% maybe pays as much as 14% and corps like GE pay nothing and get reimbursements for Hundreds of millions yearly…You see we will slowly die as a nation taxed to proverty and will in fact become slaves to the Republathug masters if we elect them…Then earned (saved moneys for retirement)entilements (SS) will fall into the 1% and be subject to reduction for exspedatures else where(their pockets) The monies for Education …roads and health care …Will be reduced or done away with not in keeping with demands of our Republathugs aggenda to bleed us dry and form a more perfect Dictator oirentanted and as form freedom ..you then have the rights to work for pennies (no health care ) and DIE period…Fuedal Law dictates so..If you don’t belive me look at all the take aways here lately and what do you SEE…Yeah you guessed it just what I’m showed you!!
Most Feudal Peons or Serfs were only taxed 10%.
We currently are taxed at about 33% not including hidden taxes like the Gas pump tax, and various liscensing fees. In Oregon to get a minimum wage job serving in a restuarant you have to get you Food Handler’s Card. Isn’t it the Owner’s responsibility to teach his employees proper food handling? Why a fee to do a minimum wage job? I worked my way through HighSchool and college in the food industry, I never had to have a card… and now that I cannot get work I have to pay a fee to get a card to do work I did for 10 years in my youth?
Crazy!
I’m considering going Grizzly Adams, oh wait, but then I’ll be poaching, guess I better beg enough money for a hunting and fishing liscense.
I think this blog is a great idea as long as it does not become simply an outlet for attacks and complaints. I would like to see it become a source for ideas and action. I offer the following thoughts:
Until the November elections I am fully with the Democrats. At least they are not attempting to strip women of reproductive and economic rights (abortion, birth control, preventive care, Lilly Ledbetter Act, Fair Pay and Family Violence). They are not proposing to strip unions of bargaining rights (Wisconson), political representation rights (Michigan city manager rules), voting rights (as in all the toss-up states), or religious rights (by establishing a Christian theocracy.)
After the election I would love to see an action agenda:
1. Get the money out of politics. All the money. Elections should be either publicly funded, or funded by individual citizens only, with extremely tight caps. Capitalism is our economic system, not our political system. Free speech should not be for sale and a rich citizen should not be able to buy more of it than a poor citizen. Only citizens should be allowed to contribute. Their votes are equal – so their speech should be equal. No corporations and no unions – the rights in our constitution accrue to citizens, not economic constructs. Debates should be publically funded and all outlets with FCC licenses should be required to carry them.
2. The electoral college should be eliminated. It made sense in the 1700s and 1800s given the speed of transportation and communication but it is counterproductive today. The result of the electoral college today is that opposition votes in strong red or blue states are void and elections are decided by a handful of states or even counties that are buried by campaign literature and advertising while much of the country is deemed irrelevant to the outcome.
Agree on both points.
I propose a simple law for campaign finance: “Only individuals eligible to vote for a candidate can donate to that candidate”. No PAC’s, No lobbyists. No special interest groups. No corporations. No Unions. No political parties. It would also outlaw third party advertising for or against a candidate. Groups would be restricted to advertising for or against issues.
I agree – but you have to include a fairly low cap on donations. Otherwise one extremely wealthy individual could outspend everyone else in a district!
We’ve seen where extremely wealthy individuals have been unsuccessful in elections. I think completely transparent donations would do the trick. None of this quarterly bull either. Have a web site where they post the information directly so anyone can see at any time who is supporting who and how much. Having a single large donor could backfire.
I agree wholeheartedly that the electoral college needs to go.
In a period of time when one group (Republicans) take such an extremist view, wouldn’t it be a good move to point out when someone has tried to act in a bi-partisan or non-partisan manner–recognizing a good idea regardless of where it comes from? Which do most people really want? A spoiled brat, my way, all my way, only my way approach? Or one which seeks good solutions, where ever they come from.
How is it that President Obama can recognize a health plan (Romney Care in Massachusetts) which the people there seem to like and benefit from–but Mitt Romney has to distance himself from his own record? That is a point I sit up and take notice of. Blows my mind that Republicans didn’t go the opposite direction and point out how our President, a Democrat, was just copying their good ideas and trying to take credit for them! To this voter, they really blew it on that one. If Romney can’t run on his own record of government service (and receive party support for it when he leads their ticket) when it involves a major (and yes, business type program)–who wants him in the White House?
Be careful what you wish for, Mitt Romney, you just might live to regret it!
By the way, who are we really electing if we vote Republican this year? The name on the ballot? Or is that just a puppet whose strings are being pulled by the money bags behind that puppet? Follow the money. . . . Could it be there are no big bucks to be made by anyone from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Food Stamps, etc–and that is the real reason we “need” to kill those programs?
I have a question.
How come people still see the Democrats as any different than the Republicans?
They are both bought and paid for by the same corporations.
It is a simple divide and concour tactic by the power elite. They bandy the issues of abortion/gay marriage/minority rights/illegal rights (as if anyone in the country illegaly should have a say in the politics of running it) about, yet nothing gets done one way or the other. While they consolidate their wealth and line the pockets of their friends with taxpayer money.
I agree that both Republicans and Democrats are compromised by the influence of money. This must change. The Republicans however, don’t even seem to be trying to work towards a common good anymore. They idolize wealth and success, however achieved, while denigrating the contributions of well educated teachers or courageous firefighters who will never be wealthy.
The program cuts the Republicans propose hurt the working poor and middle class disproportionately. The tax cuts favor the rich disproportionately. And nothing the Republicans propose does anything about reducing the deficit or creating jobs. The proposals the Republicans have on the table now favor the wealthy and corporate interests to a radical extreme. And corporations and wealthy contributors know it – that is why they are pouring money into Republican campaigns generally and the Romney-Ryan campaign in particular. Anyone who is not independently wealthy and who votes Republican this year is voting against their own self interest and against the interest of the country as a whole.
We need to repeat that statement everywhere constantly. Republicans are enemies of the people. Conservatives need to be defeated at every government level.
Both parties are the enemies of the people… They are two hands on the same body. They are Both controlled by the same brain trust of corporate think tank spin doctors.
They scream out the word of the day “gay marriage” or whatever knowing it will divide us. while in the back room they all agree 100% on NDAA to remove our rights, then sign it into law at midnight on new years eve? They can not agree on anything that people THINK is important. But, they sure can work together to push the corporate fascist agenda.
Fascism is when Government controls the corporations… lol maybe we do need a better term because in this case the corporations control the government…. Maybe that is what threw you on my fascist statement earlier.
I agree with you the parties are the problem. That is why a third uncorrupted (hopefully) can break the corptocracy
Fascism is generally regarded as a right wing ideology, but anymore I think the labels are pretty much worthless.
I reject the premise that both parties are the same. There are significant differences on social and economic issues. Pretty much night and day. They both may be “bad”, but the GOP is clearly worse if you’re part of the 98%.
We have to rid ourselves of political parties, not add another one. We need free thinking individuals acting independently for the greater good.
I understand the gist of what you are saying and to a large part I agree and as I think about it I can see how one man could create his platform and garner support as an individual with no party behind him. It will be very difficult to get the rest of America behind it unless the man is a marketing genious and is message profoundly speaks to the rest of the population.
But America loves a party, any excuse we adopt national holidays from other countries as an excuse to drink their national drink and eat their food. What would we ever do without parties? 🙂
Democrats are part of the problem. I am a registered Democrat but vote Independent, Green, ANYONE besides the two corporate parties. The system is rigged against any third party infiltration. I KNEW that Obama would be no different than Bush – not imagining that he would actually be WORSE than BUSH. War criminals, all!
President Obama fell short on some things like getting out Afghanistan and not harrassing/raiding medical marijuana dispensers in states that they are legal. But he has done some good things and he’s not as bad as Bush, not even close.
http://obamaachievements.org/list
A third party is just a third problem. We need to work to eliminate or at least diminish the power of political parties.
lets see…. he signed both the continuation of the patriot act and enacted the new NDAA which essentially removes your 4th, 5th and 6th ammendment rights.
Has assasinated US citizens without due process using drones. Granted the man was an Islamic priest, however he was a US citizen and did deserve a trial before he was hanged. His son who was also killed may or may not have been innocent but considering he was in his early teens…
He created Obammacare that forces you to use the Mainstream Medical Big Farma death mill of doctors or pay a fine… and don’t even read the section on page 1193 regarding implantable medical devices. I have read it and drawn my own conclusions. The complete bill is available online in .pdf. I’d link it but I am not on my home computer.
Failed to get us out of Afganistan, got us into Syria, Pakistan, Lybia.
Great President, he should face a war crimes Tribune with the Bushes, Clintons, Panetta… well basically all of the cabinets of the last 4 presidencies
Sorry John but I think that is an oversimplification of what Obama has done. For example to those who complain about the use of drones take into account that one benefit of that is that we don’t lose our soldiers. Plus American citizen or not how would you deal with that American born fanatic? And the kid wasnl;t the target but collateral damge but think about all the plots the father was planning and how many people would have been killed?
As far as Obamacare is concerned consider that it is only a first step and then consider that Presidents going back to Teddy Roosevelt have tried to tackle the health issue so it was a major achievement for Obama. But also consider that we are the only civilized, industrialized nation on earth that treats its own citizens needs as a profit making vehicle. Of course we need to go after the pharmaceautical companies and one has to ask what role the insurance companies play other than just the middleman who is ripping off their own profits.
I also would like to know what makes you say he went into Syria, Pakistan and Libya? I think those were handled adroitly. I am not excusing Bush or Cheney for outright lying to get us into wars.
The issue with the drone killing was not the fact that he was a bad man. The problem was the fact that he was a UNITED STATES OF AMERICA citizen. It sets a precident. With NDAA if someone calls you a terrorist and the president puts you on the hitlist you get killed.
Read the TSA/NSA/alphabet army pamphlet on who could be a domestic terrorist.
Being critical of the current political system is on the list… how else can you discuss changing something without being critical of it?
… we could be on the list.
Remember kids, Janet says, If you see something say something!
Alciadah is a database of mercenaries hired by the CIA to fight the Afgan War against the russians back in the 80’s… They are funded and trained by the US. They were bad this time in Afganistan and I assume they still are… But why are they good in Syria?
I say we are in Syria because we are on the ground by proxy through Turkey, NATO and CIA assets. We are there with NATO lending air support bombing and droning as well.
We rocket bombed Libya from numerous military ships during the ousting of Quadaffi (sp?).
We send enough drones into Pakistan that they have issued numerous complaints regarding the collateral damage as we track down afgan insugents that cross the border with drones.
It is a common drone pilot tactic to kill the insurgent, then wait around to kill anyone who goes to help the injured/dead. Regardless of age or sex.
How souless are we that we can shrug off collateral damage? we have killed hundreds of thousands but they were “collateral damage” They were not human beings with mothers or children They didn’t feel love, hate, passion. No they are a statistic listed as collateral damage.
Get rid of the drones and guns and bombs and planes and make them do it the old fashioned way, with a sword. Let them look into the eyes of the human life they just took and watch the glint of intelligence fade and die.
Collateral damage is murder plain and simple or at the very least manslauter. But when the yearly toll is in the hundreds of thousands it looks more like genocide.
So you’re saying America shouldn’t get involved in any conflicts outside of our borders. We should allow government of other countries to kill as many of their people as they want without interference. That way our conscious is clear, we didn’t kill anyone.
Pretty much yes
Read the obamacare bill.
It should still be available online.
I agree everyone should have healthcare.
The only things you need a doctor for are stitches and to set bones. And I can usualy stitch my own wounds if I can reach them.
Everything else (nearly) is an issue of impropper diet and lack of excersise.
90% of depression can be cured with excersize
if you have a propper diet and get all the necessary minerals you very rarely get sick.
Our healthcare is expensive because they overperscribe inorganic coppies of things that can be found in nature and combined wholistically with no side effects.
Our healthcare is expensive because when precious little Johnny has a sniffle Sue Soccermom takes him to the doctor instead of handing him a bowl of chiken soup and a kleenex. Sure her copay is only $10.00 but the doctor charges the insurance company $300.00 to walk in after the nurse has stuck a thermometer in his mouth, checked his pulse and BP, looked in his ears, and determined he has a head cold; patts little Johnny on the head and CHA CHING! off to the golf course.
Our healthcare is expensive because oh so many things that don’t have to be, but they make money lots of it for big pharma, the insurance companies and the medical industy. They create new “tests” that are unneccesary then they set up a recommended schedule to keep you coming back. “but you need to know if you develop X…” It makes me want to pull my hair out.
Then on the other side of the coin you have big Ag with all their GMO which is making america sick. Monsanto, everyone who works at Monsanto should be tried for crimes against humainity. not to mention their heavy handed takeover of the family farms throughout the world with bogus lawsuits saying that the farmer stole their “proprietary pattented seed” the thing only grows once then the seeds are infertile. cross polination, wind, bees OMG. you want to know how to truely control a population… control the food.
and the process used to insert their genetic material to make is “Crossbow safe” is using part of the ecoli bacteria. Wonder why there are so many Ecoli outbreaks?
Ok. So now what? What is it you expect people to do?
Regarding wars, many americans went and fought in the Mexican revolution on one side or the other, it was their choice and the rest of America didn’t have to pay for it. I believe many US citizens also went and fought in the Spanish revolution in the early 1900’s. If a person feels strongly enough about it , by all means go and kill someone you don’t know over something that really is none of your business and you probably don’t have the full story or picture of. You would also be free to donate to whichever side you felt strongly about.
But fighting wars for corporations and resources? The goverment has killed a lot of people in the name of “human rights”. “You will be democratic like us or we will kill you” then we set up some puppet dictator who ends up pissing off the people who put him in place so we have to go in and kill him to put in another… Eddi Amin, Quaddafi, Osama Bin Laden, Ayahtola Kholmeni, the list goes on, all placed in power by our government and then removed. Let them sort it out themselves.
In Reply to & Support of John:
“I spent 33 years . . . being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. . . . I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1916. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City [Bank] boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. . . .In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. . . .I had . . . . a swell racket. I was rewarded with honours, medals, promotions. . . . I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate a racket in three cities. The Marines operated on three continents.” — The Corporation by Joel Bakan, p.93. General Butler surprised a packed American Legion convention in Connecticut on August 21, 1931 with those words of truth.
Smedley Butler’s “War is a Racket” is a must read for any true citizen of these United States.
Don’t eat anything that comes in a box or bag, drink nothing out of aluminum container (alzheimers’) drink nothing that comes in a plastic container (BPA) Eat absolutely nothing with corn syrup, soy oil (lowers testosterone) or any chemical you cannot pronounce, read all labels. (It really is easier to not buy anything premade boxed, canned or bagged including bread, I’ve read most all of the labels and everything I loved to eat is absolute junk). Only eat things that are food, butter is food- ingredients: milk, cream, salt. I only started this about 4 years ago but I feel much better and have lost and kept off 50 lbs.
Only eat organic non GMO foods. Protest Monsanto every chance you get.
Only go to the doctor when you truely are sick they cannot do anything for a virus, anti biotics only work on infections (if you are still sick after 2 weeks it is most likely an infection). NOTE: I am not a doctor, these are my personal guidelines for me.
I have been to the doctor 2 times in the last 12 years each time for a bronchial infection. I was self employed until recently and had no health insurance it would have conservatively cost me $24,000.00 for health insurance over those 12 years and I went to immediate care and spent about $300.00 total for the two visits and another $60.00 or so for generic antibiotics. Even if I was regular employed my insurance through the company would have cost me about $50 or so a month so that would be about $6,000 vs the $360.00 out of pocket I’ll take my $6,000 please and put it to work for me. The only reason I could see for having health insurance is for catastrophic accidents like car collisions, or shark attacks. If I have a heart attack, it must be my time here is up, I’ll either get better or die.
Congratulations on the new blog. Looking forward to reading about progressive issues.
One more thing about our current wars. I marched many times back when the Vietnam War was raging. But there were those hardhats who kept screaming at us for avoiding the draft since the draft was compulsory. Today it is all a volunteer armed services. So that is one reason why the Army “re-ups” many soldiers for extended duties even to the point exceeding what is healthy for any individual. But when I saw that we were not allowing the press to see the caskets coming home I began to realize that the right wing realized how much more beneficial if the public didn’t get to watch the fighting or its results like my family during the Vietnam War where we all sat watching the Vietnam War on the TV. Anyway I became a staunch believer that we should reinstitute a draft and then we can watch the ruckus in the streets because we would wake everybody upabpout what was going on.
Michael,
Yes!
I totally agree.
Ironic how all of these men, (most of) who never went to war, are so eager for it.
Ironic how the Republicans who are supposedly of the “religious right” are all about Greed and war for profit.
Ironic how the Democrats who are supposedly the people’s champion are all about Greed and war for profit.
That is exactly why we don’t ,and never again will have a draft.
I agree with reinstating the draft. But it must be universal. It must provide people for a variety of public services in addition to military service (which type of service to depend on conscience and a lottery). It must come with free college education upon completion.
If we could limit political donations to only US citizens (not corporations), and enforce transparency of those donations it would be a very big step in the right direction.
Yes!
and limit it to something anyone concerned could afford Say $100.00? Might be nearly of of reach for someone working minimum wage but doable if they are concerned and involved.
Transparency is a wonderful word, but it raises a few questions. How? When? Where?
The ads pour into our heads through papers, radio and TV tens, perhaps hundreds of times a week, maybe each day. Are disclosures of value if they are not within the body of the ad, itself? If the disclosure is posted on some website no one ever visits, is it disclosure? (Did the tree fall in the forest?) If the disclosure is to an agency like the FEC, how soon must the funders be disclosed, and how soon must the agency publish the names? Last minute ads whose funders are disclosed a week or more after the election get away scot-free.
I say that full disclosure means disclosure in the body of the ad, itself. It must be both audible (at the same volume and pace as the ad’s primary message) and visible (at the same size type, background, legibility, etc.).
I will definitely vote for Obama and the Democrats in November. I’m sorry to disillusion people, but the Ralph Nader third party idea did not work in 2000. Instead it delivered the election to Bush. (Yes, if Nader had dropped out before the election and urged his supporters to back Gore, then Gore could have carried Florida.)
Progressives need to win elections. I donated heavily to progressive candidates in 2010. Every single one of them lost. Until progressives can actually put people into office, no one will take them seriously.
While I wish that Obama would adopt more progressive stands, I’d suggest that progressives look at how Congress, particularly the Senate, operates. Unless progressives want a Republican millenium – then they must support Democrats – who at least will do some of the things that progressives want.
So every time I do something nice for someone (open a door, help carry their groceries, give them a ride etc. etc.) I want to hand them a small card that says, “You’re Welcome! You have been helped by a socialist”
Also, on a serious note and about voting and political parties Noam Chomsky said
“To some degree it matters who’s in office, but it matters more how much pressure they’re under from the public”.
In order for us to get true policy positions and true campaign statements, all bloggers should get after the media to do their jobs and call lies for what they are. The media is the biggest problem in the country and we need to go after themin a big way. The Republicans lie because they get away with it. The blogs need to push this!
We need to first re-elect Obama to at least keep things from getting worse, and start working right away on a real alternative to the current two party system so that we can break the grip of money on politics.
Ryan has espoused ther crap of Ayn Rand who believes only the rich are deserving of anything. Where is the media coverage of all those cuts proposed by him? Is this what we have fought wars for and arestill engaged in fighting for DEMOCRACY globally….
please stop notifying me
You can turn off notifications if you signed up for them using the links at the bottom of the emails you get.
REAL PROGRESSIVE CHANGE
As I read many of the comments on this site I note many extreme positions on topics such as the environment, religion, anti war and socialism. There is bitterness and disappointment about the failure of the current system to address these viewpoints. Just as much bitterness and frustration as is expressed by extremists on the right.
This is a Democracy. Most of us want to keep it a Democracy. The role of a Democracy, when it is working properly, is to express the viewpoints of a majority of citizens while protecting the fundamental rights of minorities. A true Democracy is not going to pursue any extreme position, left or right, not because the system is flawed, but because the majority of people don’t agree.
And that is how it should be. I do not want to be governed by extreme positions of the left any more than I do by the right. Both sides can try to convince me and others, but in the end, it should be the will of the majority.
You will not eliminate war as long as a majority of people believe there are circumstances in which it is justified. You will not eliminate religion as long as a majority of people believe in some sort of faith. Most citizens balance environmental and business concerns. Most citizens have no problem with some people having wealth as long as they themselves can live a reasonable life and perceive a pathway to wealth for them or their children.
I want to see the current system cleaned up so that money no longer stifles and warps the opinions and the voice of the majority. I want basic freedoms preserved for all. I do not see increasing the number of parties as a solution. My goal is to insure that politicians and the parties are responsive to the will of a majority of citizens instead of to the lure of money, special interests and corporations. Then you are free to do your best to convince the majority of the validity of your truth and position and citizens are free to make an informed and fair decision which will be addressed by the political system.
That is the progressive change I want to see.
I personally belive that the majority of America would like to see an end to the endless wars.
Watch Panetta squirm and think talk his way around the question of congrssional approval for military action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SokwQswLPZU
Congress and the House are the peoples voice and he basically tells the senator from Alabama that the President NATO and the UN say when the US will go to war. They have completely removed/ignore the check’s placed upon the President by our Constitution.
Part of the wisdom of our founding fathers is that we are NOT supposed to be a pure democracy. We are a democratically elected representative republican form of government. Pure democracies fail because of mob rule and whims of fashion. I do not want, for example, my civil rights to be conditional according to some form of popularity contest. When that happens, and it is couched in beliefs and quasi-religious moral tenets, you get horrible social experiments like prohibition. It is up to we voters to elect people who best represent us. Since people tend to take care of their own first, we need to look at who and what these people are rather than who they sell themselves as. Why, for example, is it so surprising that such a high percentage of black people vote for Obama? Would you expect them to be more inclined to vote for a white man who SAYS we has a pro black agenda? Honesty is important but when it comes to getting votes salesmanship is more important to politicians..I think it OK to vote for a verbal policy. But I can’t depend on it ever happening in this Left/Right single dimensional dichotomy. I, for one, am tired of the damage cause by an ideology of trying to fix things that are not broken. These people run on platforms of what they will DO. Then, they DO things and we all suffer. I wish I could vote for a person who will UNDO the mess created by the last gang who DID things.
There’s something I’ve said quite a bit since the late 2000s. I’ve been alive for 36 years. I am convinced that I’ll likely be spending the next 36 cleaning up after the mess that decade and the W administration handed to us. I feel like that something like this is an important start, though I do wonder if the “investigative activism” has already been underway for some time. My read on the subject is that it has lacked a formal focus and structure up to this point, which, if we play our cards, may well become a formidable force against the folks who want to turn back the clock. You all know who I’m talking about.
Best of luck with this new project. I hope you intend to use it to generate new ideas on how to fight back. As a progressive, I hate having to use terms like “war” and “fight” in the political context…but a war is what we have, and fight is what we must do. I’m hoping you’ll use this blog to promulgate tactics and strategies for countering the “marching morons”, the legions of Low Information Voters who stand poised to ruin this country by believing everything they’re told by Fox News, World Net Daily, et al, and then, believing themselves informed, voting accordingly. This will be the undoing of the Great Experiment. It’s a vexing problem, and requires intelligent counter-measures. We need an Anti-Rove, an evil genius who will be able to come up with a decades-long plan to overcome this cancer…but one that is palatable to Progressives.
Best of luck.
Thank you! This is the exact encouragement we need for the fight ahead of us. Best of luck to all who fight the good fight!!!!
The Declaration of Independence is the Founding Document of the United States, and by definition, is a Deistic Declaration in rejection of all man-contrived religioncraft as false theology. When Corporatecrafters united with Christiancrafters tried to ratify the proposed Constitution blank of WE THE PEOPLE’S demanded Bill of Rights the Original Occupiers rose en masse against ratification of the Constitution. This led to the First Amendment of Ten known as the Bill of Rights. The very first words command: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion….” Period. Citizens had a protected right for “free exercise” of their chosen brand of religioncraft but restricted to their residence or place of worship. All religious influence and opinions were prohibited in governmental and civil matters. The Founders from all walks of life knew the evil of Christiancraft. Thomas Jefferson wrote: “The Quakers were flying from persecution in England. They cast their eyes on these new countries as asylums of civil and religious freedom; but they found them free only for the reigning sect. Several acts of the Virginia assembly of 1659, 1662, and 1693, had made it penal in parents to refuse to have their children baptized, had prohibited the unlawful assembling of Quakers; had made it penal for any master of a vessel to bring a Quaker into the state; had ordered those already here, and such as should come thereafter, to be imprisoned till they should abjure the country; provided a milder punishment for their first and second return, but death for their third, had inhibited all persons from suffering their meetings in or near their houses, entertaining them, individually, or disposing of books which supported their tenets.”
Thomas Paine’s “The Age of Reason–The Complete Edition” is a brilliant composition on the true theology: Deism, based on the Creation. This is a mindblower as is the entire website at http://www.deism.com. Paine wrote at p. 27: “That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in His works, and is the true theology.
“As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of human opinions and of human fancies CONCERNING God. It is not the study of God HImself in the works that He has made, but in the works or writings that man has made; and it is not among the least of the mischiefs that the Christian system has done to the world, that it has abandoned the original and beautiful system of theology, like a beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to make room for the hag of superstition.” God gave humankind reason and the true theology, Deism, not man-contrived religioncraft. This true theology is the Founding principles of the United States. “The Age of Reason–The Complete Edition” should be required reading beginning at the high school level or earlier. Paine’s “Rights of Man”, as all his writings are very inspirational. Get informed on true American principles. Paine wrote and spoke for humankind and was the most influential on the Founders from all walks of life.
I believe that an unfettered Wall Street was allowed to destroy the economy and now the Republican facilitators of that collapse, such as Paul Ryan, are attempting to use this economic disaster by shifting the blame from the Wall Street Banksters to the very victims of their diliberate and anti-social behavior. So long as Wall Street and the ultra wealthy are allowed to buy and corrupt those who pretend to represent their constituents, we will continue to see economic plans such as Paul Ryans which are aimed at the continued distribution of wealth upwards and the destruction of the middle class and the social safety net that helps to maintain it. People have to become informed and make a decision as to what kind of society they actually want to live in. Personally I don’t want to live in a country where the haves have no accountability to the have nots. President Obama suggested that we don’t achieve success on our own, and I believe that that could be said of the country as a whole as well. If the Middle Class vanishes because of the greed of the haves then ultimately we, as a country, will all sink together.
I agree with you that the middle class is needed if we are to have a thriving economy
The ink wasn’t dry on the Constitution when the evil Corporatecrafters still united with demonic Christiancrafters began their sabotaging efforts to re-usurp their political power lost during and after the American Revolution in defiance of the Constitution:
“Would you believe it possible that in this country there should be high & important characters who need your lessons in republicanism, & who do not heed them? It is but too true that we have a sect [of Christiancrafters] preaching up & pouting after an English constitution of king, lords, & commons, & whose heads are itching for crowns, coronets & mitres. But our people, my good friend, are firm and unanimous in their principles of republicanism & there is no better proof of it than that they love what you write and read it [“Rights of Man”] with delight.”—Thomas Jefferson Letter of June 19,1792 to Thomas Paine.
However, in 1816 Jefferson wrote that “virtue and interest are inseparable. It ends, as might have been expected, in the ruin of its people, but this ruin will fall heaviest, as it ought to fall, on that hereditary aristocracy which has for generations been preparing for the catastrophe. I hope we shall take warning from the example and crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”—Jefferson Letter of November 12, 1816 to George Logan.
Just months before his death on July 4, 1826, Jefferson recognized that “I doubt whether a single fact, known to the world, will carry as clear conviction to it, of the correctness of our knowledge of the treasonable views of the federal party of that day, as that disclosed by this, the most nefarious and daring attempt to dissever the Union, of which the Hartford convention was a subsequent chapter; and both of these having failed, consolidation becomes the fourth chapter of the next book of their history. But this opens with a vast accession of strength from their younger recruits [and politically ignorant blind followers], who, having nothing in them of the feelings or principles of ’76, now look to a single and splendid government of an aristocracy, founded on banking institutions, and monyed incorporations under the guise and cloak of their favored branches of manufactures, commerce and navigation riding and ruling over the plundered ploughman and beggared yeomanry [The 99%]. This will be to them a next best blessing to the monarchy of their first aim, and perhaps the surest stepping-stone to it.”—Jefferson Letter of December 26, 1825 to William branch Giles (Jefferson apparently went to his grave knowing that the Republic had been re-usurped by treasonous Corporatecrafters.) More history to follow.
First of all. How can we fix anything the W administration did as we have our guy in power but this administration won’t go after Goldman Sachs and Blankfein. I think Eric Holder is a good man and very knowledgeable but somewhere along the way he lost his balls. But the truth is one of the faults I do find in Obama is what I think can only be called naivete. It is said that Obama read “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kerner Goodman and decided that Lincoln had the right idea about bringing everyone together. A noble thought and a great achievement by Honest Abe but anyone should be astute enough to see that 2010 isn’t even close to the 1860’s. Also I cannot believe that Obama doesnlt know that half the guys he tried to negotiate with would like nothing better than to have him swinging from a tree. If anyone want sot see where a lot of this crap comes from then just watch the great series that HBO created “John Adams” and watch how Alexander Hamilton is trying to create a similar goverment to what the English had at the time, i.e. a kingdom. I hate to say this because it is honestly the last thing I want to see but I am really wondering if this coiuntry doesnlt need another revolution simply because those in power canot be removed because the stakes are too high. Think about this; There are billions of dollars at stake and peacefully means we have to vote the suckers out. But pray tell how do we do that when the country is being intentionally “dumbed down.
We rank about 35th in the world when it comes to education and no one stops to ask themselves or others why that is so? Or is it because it is being done for nefarious reasons?
Look at the various presidents cabinets and look at what companies, groups and organizations they are from. and you will find out that Clinton=Bush=Obama=Romney. They are all owned by the Wall Street Corporate Machine. They will talk a talk of change and difference from the previous puppet, but the men pulling the strings remain the same.
Well my problem is this; Why are we still in Afghanistan? Osama is dead and al Qaida and the Taliban were driven out and now I see it like we are in partnership with the Consigliori of the drug trade there since the Prez there is the brother of the cuntry’s top drug kingpin. If anyone says to build a democracy and bring them into the modern age well good luck because so many have tried and failed. Besides I think the Afgahanese people want to live in the 12th century and it isn’t our business. If it is for women’s rights we can do plenty without having a soldier die there. Also, why has no one who played a role in our economic downfall been held responsible and why did Cheney get away with outing Valerie Plane. This seems to me that this isn’t acountry divided into parties but a country divided bertween the “have” and “have nots”. But go back in history and one of the problems is what we were taught as kids. This country has deified the Founding Fathers and turned the Constitution into a bible. Well sorry to say but the truth is that the founding fathers were well edcuated but white landowners who woke up one day and decided they donlt want to pay taxes any longer to a monarch on the other side of the world. Now they couldnlt go to the masses of people and say fight for us because we donlt want to pay taxes because the masses would have laughed in their face. So they had to make up better reasons for a revolutiuon and so they had plenty of talent and came up with enough high sounding platitudes to get everyone riled up. But rememebr this; when they wrote the constitution it was great unless you were black a woman or an Indian. I once got into an argument with a group of conservatives at a chatroom and one day I received an email from one of the guys in the South. He simply said “You’all need to learn your American history first before you speak.” My repsonse to him might have surprised him because I told him, “You are right but maybe you can help me out since you know so much. Which part of American history do you want to begin with? The attempted genocide of the Indian or was it the capture of so many africans to become slaves?
The history of the Americas is one of conquest, this is also true of much of the world. Every culture and People have been displaced and or moved at one time or another. Unfortunately political correctness hadn’t been invented in the 1600’s. And, yes, I do realize much of the genocide in the United States continued into the late 1800’s and to a degree continues on today depending on your perception and how awake you are to what is really going in in the world today.
Most slaves were initially sold to the slavers by other indiginous African people they were either rival tribemembers or politically dangerous to their own tribe.
The Dutch were actually the most instrumental in the early part of the slave trade. Slavery has existed in many forms throughout human history, the Native Americans also practiced slavery. I’m not saying that slavery is good in any way shape or form just trying to put it in a historical perspective.
Interesting how people think that ol dishonest Abe was such a great guy. He sold all of the United States into our current System to finance the Civil War. The Southern States had a right to succeede from the union based on the 10th ammendment. How come Honest Abe didn’t free the slaves until the 2nd year of the war? How come he set up Liberia as a country to send all the slaves back to Africa after the war?
Now, a strong argument could be made that we all are slaves in this current economic system. You NEVER own your home, the bank does – you meerely hold title to it. You are an asset of the USA. You and the land of the USA are the collateral that the Federal reserve issues our currency against.
I think that education is a problem because it’s focus tends more toward teaching people stuff rather than teaching them to think. That I think is why so many people seem to be so easily swayed by media propaganda. The smooth talking propagandists serve as teachers for the corporate owned media, and they are paid extremly well for drawing the unwitting sheep into the assemblage of salivating wolves. Of course the talking heads are themselves more akin to the sly FOX who disguise themselves and infiltrate the flock, gaining their trust with their cool demeaner and feigned concern for their future well being. The true shepard though is in the sheep themselves, but if they are to preoccupied, or are no longer able to hear him, then the FOX, and the wolves who enjoin them, are only to happy to take over the job for them, and what they have in store for them not pretty vision.
Good point Jim. I have been making this argument in my discussions for a long time. Critical thinking is an enormous aspect of any argument. If people are not taught this skill, they resort to the only tool available to them which is to regurgitate what they have heard along the way.
I really think that the President is doing as well as one could possibly expect considering the corrupted nature of the system that he has no choice but to work within. Consider where we would be right now had Obama lost and McCain and the Republicans were empowered to continue the obviously tragic policies of the Bush administration. As Obama himself told us in his inauguration speech, “I can’t do it alone.” We can’t continue to blame the President for our own failings. People seem not to recognize how much legislation this president has actually gotten through an obstructionist Congress, but without the support of the people which forced the obstructionist to concede the issue to him he could never have won the day. I agree with the above reply that americans are being dumbed down and are seemingly most easily duped by the right wing corporate backed propagandists, but that can hardly be blamed on the President. If people themselves don’t wake up and recognize the evil that the multinational corporations and their bought and paid for Congress have in store for them then they will really have no one to blame but themselves for what ensues.
It is astonishing to find among so many progressives, a lack of understanding of the real key issues which have destroyed our nation. Recognition of the problem is absolutely necessary to finding a solution. One must think outside of the box to get outside. Fear and ignorance must be faced. Long held assumptions from the past must be re-examined because we have all been brain washed into the new paradigm that “everything changed on 9/11.” The continued hysteria is still palpable since common sense was turned upside down and sheer madness has become business as usual. Voting no longer matters as long as electronic vote counting supported by our courts is allowed to continue. Period. We as a people can not have a meaningful discussion of pertinent issues as long as a cult of secrecy permeates our government and our courts. Democracy does not exist when money is allowed to take the place of free speech and moneyed interests are allowed to control the media. When politicians who are corrupt liars are regarded as normal by the public, and two sides of one coin perceived as separate, a great awakening is desperately needed. Americans I call on you to look at the reality of where we as a nation are, to see the evil that has crept in among us, and to realize our problems as well as our solutions lay within us and not on a boogie-man that we can kill with majestic military might.
Good thoughts and I respect what you wrote but herein is the problem; You describe what the problem is but don’t offer any solution that makes sense or is feasible. All this begins from the cradle on and what I am talking about is the intentional “dumbing down of America.” The end results are obvious. How can any right winger (and I am including guys like McConnell) spout their lies and actually say things that make no sense at all and be applauded by a significant percentage of our population. People liken MSNBC to the liberal version of FOX. I don’t like that comparison because although I am a progressive I can be objective about what is said on both sides until I can’t take it anymore. I have found that the MSNBC anchors might use hyperbole but it is always based on the truth. FOX I used to watch especially when Beck was on because he was so ludicrous it became a cartoon show. But there is nothing based on truth there and bullshit truly reigns but if you want to get depressed then take a tour around the country and you will find that dummies have taken FOX’s word as if it was gospel.
salient freefall…
1. we have all been brain washed into the new paradigm that “everything changed on 9/11…VERY key for progressives to not only ‘grok’ ourselves, but to weave into solutions that we propose…WETHEPEOPLE cannot be bound to a reflexive idea, we MUST ‘think outside the box’ and gain back the seat of creativity and being the origins of what WETHEPEOPLE need to nurture and grow our highest ideals as a society!!
2. Electronics in the vote process…ANYWHERE, is an obsurdity and an unequivocal point of rote and easy manipulation…Argonne Labs changed the vote count an two Diebold machines from one half mile away via a laptop and a ten buck gizmo..
3. ‘meaningful discussion’ IS IMPOSSIBLE as long as the ‘cult of secrecy’ prevails.
What this past decade of sheepdumb, participated, activly or passively by WEEEETHEPEOPLE has done is allow OUR MONEY, OUR TREASURY to build a cult of paranoia measured in HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS and manned by millions of money grubbing tech companies, to not only dictate the present, but to have the funds to lobby the daft pigs of Congress to continue their paranoid delusions into the future…AND WE PAY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN…
JUST TOOOOOO WEIRRRRDD PEOPLE!! We pay to enslave ourselves…in America????????
I agree with some of what you have said. I am particularly concerned about the corporate owned voting machines and the ease with which they can be hacked into, but I vehemently disagree with the idea that the two patries are just two sides of the same coin. The Democratic party is progressive, they have always been the party of the middle class and the poor, i.e. the 99%, and they have proven that once again under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and President Obama. I think that we have to stop equating them with the Republicans that way and recognize that they, the Dems, can only pass a progressive agenda if the people are behind them, if the people have their backs. Take a look a what Nancy Pelosi and the Dems were able to get through congress and what the President signed into law when they had a majority. We have to stop blaming our progressive politicians, recognize the Conservative obstructionism supported by the the special interests, and get active. If Democrats vote, Democrats win and the Republicans know this very well which is why they are trying to suppress the Democatic vote all over the country, particularly in the big swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida etc etc. They are attempting to undermine democracy in their will to power and only the people can stop them.
Obama:
Continuation of unlawful, unwanted, unnecessary wars – check
Expansion of the police state through expansion of the TSA and alphabet army – check
Expansion of the Police state through reenacting NDAA and Patriot act – check
Did not close Gitmo as promised – check
Contined erosion of the Constitution and Bill of Rights through execuitive order – check
Obama had a majority in the house first two years of his presidency, accomplished zip
Obama is progressive? How?
He is a teleprompter reading stooge just like Bush was before him.
Only democrat that I can see fighting for the american people is the RESPECTED (by me) Bernie Sanders. I am certain that there are others that are uncorrupted, however they have not come to my attention like Bernie.
The majority of the Democrats are Republicans. What, in reality, is the difference between a centerist leaning Democrat and a centerist leaning Republican? Just a few issues that, as I have said before, nothing ever gets done about. They are issues that quite frankly are state issues and should not even be discussed on a National Level.
Divide and conquor… Out of chaos, order. Watch it unfold. Enjoy the comming slavery.
John, you, we, none of us are ever going to personally agree with everything that our elected reps do, nor are we privy to all the information that goes into their decision making so I am not going to argue with you about this or that particular piece of legislation. You seem to be focused only on the things you do not like while totally ignoring the progressive legislation passed by the house under Pelosi’s leadership or the progressive bills signed into law by the president. All of that was fought long and hard for by the Dems and the president over and against the Republican obstruction backed by the special interest. The House under Pelosi passed more progressive legislation than any House in history, 420 bills of which were derailed in the Senate through the filibuster. But they still got much done in the short time they had. BTW, the President did order the closing of Gitmo but the Republicans derailed that effort as well by refusing to appropriate the necessary funds. I can give you a whole list of legislative accomplishments that you, if you truly are a progressive, would surely be appreciative of. But if you truly can not see the difference between the two parties, what they stand for, and what they fight for, then you are not really paying attention.
I have to agree that none uf us are going to agree :). The possibility of coming to a complete consensus regarding politics is an exponential equation something along the lines of c=(x*n)^n+x where c is Chance of consensus, x is the number of people,n is the number of issues.
I am progressive in that I believe that NO ONE should be descriminated against for ANY reason. No one should get preferential treatment because they or the group they belong(ed) to were at one time descriminated against. The only just laws regarding descrimination are the laws that punish those who discriminate.
I am all about getting value for something that I have paid into… I have paid taxes since I was 15 I have paid into the social secutrity net for 30 years. I know I will not see a penny of the 10s maybe 100s of thousands of dollars I have paid into it.
Is raising taxes the answer? NO
Is having an equitable tax system that is fair to everyone? YES
How do we get there?
Close the loopholes. Make Income income. Whatever source income comes from, it is income. Everything you made that year, sale of stocks, properties, dividends, rents, wages or salery, and etc.; add it all together and that is your income. Based on your income you are in x tax bracket and you pay $y in tax. Corporations want to be people, they should also pay on the same scale as people have to. People wo live at or below the poverty line pay no tax. No government employee can make more than the national mean average income for the previous year. Any Government employee convicted of taking a bribe gets all of their assets siezed, and the death penalty or a one way ticket to the country of their choice with no chance of ever being let back in, not even a tourist visa.
Now the Feds can calculate assuming % employed curent jobs trends and etc so they can plan their budget; they should take the estimated $ amount and subtract 25% add the remainder from the previous year’s 25% hold back and that should be their planned budget for the next fiscal year.
Programs that people paid into that were spent by the government should be paid back… They were stolen. Anyone who did not pay into the system should not be able to take out of it.
Am I progessive? Do I want change and reform? YES
Do I believe that our government is corrupt? YES
Do I believe the corruption is pandemic in both the Democrats and the Republicans? YES
Do I believe that ALL of the Republicans are corrupt? NO
Do I believe that ALL of the Democrats are corrupt? NO
Do I believe the Constitution and Bill of Rights could point the way to correcting the problems we are facing? YES
Is the Federal government outside of it’s legal rights as laid out in the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and ammendments? YES
Is the majority of the legislature put out by the Federal Government not in their jurisdiction? YES
Should the majority of the Federal governments legislature be handled by popular vote on the State level? YES
Government employee = elected officials,
Any Elected Offical convicted of taking a bribe gets all of their assets siezed, and the death penalty or a one way ticket to the country of their choice with no chance of ever being let back in, not even a tourist visa
Well written but I am sad to say it is a foregone situation that things cannot improve. The country has become full force in this kind of divisive manner. There are the “haves” and the “have-nots.” The only hope is that it doesn’t go to the extreme where the haves donlt have every single thing. Truth is, and I am the last person to advocate this, blood will have to flow in the streets as the masses of have-nots have to take matters in their own hands. Is a new revolution possible? No, I don’t think so. I remember an interview David Crosby gave during the 60’s. He was asked what the chances were for a revolution and said no chance simply because, and he pointed out that he was speaking directly to the young audience, ask yourself who has all the tanks, guns and military stuff and you will realize fighting them will be a lost cause. I live in New York City and sometimes I simply wish the South would be allowed to secede from the Union’. The right wing in this country can’t forgive us and they blame us for losing the Vietnam War. Well do many here realize that the South has never been forgiving for the North beating them in the Civil War.
Sadly Michael, you are correct.
Our government is preparing for massive civil unrest, why else militarize the police force?
I wonder though, will the police and military fire on their families, children and parents?
Afganistan has been fighting a war of survival since the 80’s against Russia and now the US. A few Bearded terrorists (patriots I would think if you were Afganni) with AK 47s and RPGs have withstood two of the worlds superpowers for almost 30 years. Much like the SE Aisa and China Poppy wars… it is all about resource control and GREED.
Well the comparison to the Afghanis doesn’t really work. They live in the 12th century and many countries have tried to take them over but they have national pride and have beaten everyone who tried. But the real difference is simple. There is no way to have a revolution in the USA because look at what is at stake for those who are in power. Billions upon billions of dollars so they will do whatever they can to stomp out the “have-nots.” Lewis Black said in a special that all his life since he was in his 20’s all he wanted was a viable 3rd party. Then he said “after all that all I got was the Tea Party.” Welcome to America Louis.
Well I have always felt that Anarchy (2nd definition) the absence of government, could be the best way. Unfortunately, the human race is not mature enough to police itself. It would require everyone to be altruistic and look out for each other. Pitty that we can not accomplish it.
I too have wanted a viable third party and have argued for it. The Tea Party, until it was corrupted, nearly had a chance. Unfortunately, with the money the power elite can bring to the table, they manage to infiltrate and or corrupt anything that has a chance to upset the program they are working toward.
Sadly, many people will not open their eyes until the see someone they know shot for disagreeing with the program or they begin going house to house to officially disband the 2nd amendment.
R.I.P.
1st ammendment
4th amendment
5th amendment
6th ammendment
7th ammendment
8th ammendment
9th ammendment
10th ammendment
America: once known as land of the free
Well, as I said, apparently you can not see the difference between the two parties, their agendas, what it is that each party is fighting for. If all you are going to do is focus on the negative without explaining the best way to achieve the goals that you want the government to aspire to then you aren’t going to get anywhere. All we need do is help to put those progressives in office who also aspire to the goals. It is the Democrats who are advocating the closing of loopholes, it is the Democrats who are advocating capital gains to be income, it is the Democrats who are advocating that corporations pay their fair share. It is true, and we can all recognize that the government is corrupt, but it is the system into which our reps are thrust that allows for the that corruption and we are not going to rid ourselves of it just by wishing it away. There are only two ways that can be done the way I see it and that is by insurrection and civil war or by throwing the bums out who refuse to act according to desires and best interests of the people and the country as a whole. Now it is the Democrats who most advocate for those things you mentioned, who advocate a progressive agenda, and it is the Republicans who most advocate for the wealthy and the special interests even though the special interests are lining both their pockets. You will never get rid of the special interests and the power of their money if you keep electing Republicans because as it is plain to see that is their core constituency. The only way to do it, in my opinion is to elect progressive Democrats and hold their feet to the fire once they take office the same way that the monied interests, such as Grover Norquist holds the feet of the corporate puppets of the republican party to the fire if they don’t follow his orders. Or do you have a better suggestion?
My best friend called me about ten years ago when he started teaching high school classes in Paterson, New Jersey. He was complaining about the behavior and how behind the black kids were compared to the other students. I told him that he is a little too late because the problem started from the time these kids went to school. Has anyone here ever heard of East St.Louis which is located in Illinois. Google it and I think you will learn what real racism and poverty is. But the problem, and I say this to you John, is that you are right but the system is rigged in such a way where we can’t do anything about what is wrong. I was on the phone earlier with a young man who was a bill collecter and by the end of the conversation he thanked me for the swift education he just got and for the first time he understood what the “dumbing down of America” meant. I told him to watch the Kardashians show and he will understand what I am talking about.
Yes Michael you have a good point as does Jim.
I usually tell people to turn off their TV and grab a book, play a games with the family or go have a real conversation about something other than sports or what happened last night on Dancing with the Kardahian Wives of the latest trendy city.
My point that I am trying to get across Jim, is that while Democrats may be the lessor of two evils they are still evil. Yes there are some that are actually working for WE THE PEOPLE, but the majority are not. It is my OPINION and yes you are welcome to differ from my opinion, however until I am overwhelmingly convinced to the contrary I will continue to hold my current opinion that both the Democrats and Republicans are pushing the Corptocracy Wall Street, Big Pharma, GMO, MIC agenda.
The way I see it, both are pushing the same main agenda which includess the erosion of the middle class, the dumbing down (no child left behind), and many other programs that appear progressive but the end result of which is less for everyone but big businesses and big government.
The Right Left paridigm is merely an illusion. Yes the Democrats are kinder and gentler on social issues, while the Republicans don’t even pretend to be for small business anymore. But, at the end of the day, a kind and gentle raping is stll RAPE.
My dear friend, all one had to do is watch fatso bully Chris Chrystie’s speech tonight and then ask yourself if you can imagine any democrat making the same kind of speech.
Have I ever said the Republicans were good? I said I regestered Republican so I could vote for Ron Paul in the Primary. Never said I liked anything about the Republicans. Said I liked the Tea Party whish was founded by Ron Paul before It was Hijacked.
It really doesn’t matter even if there was a viable third party that was independant of the machine Diebold would lie and elect whomever TPTB want.
I’ll stop flogging the dead horse of the only way for change to happen being a third party. People just can’t wrap their minds around the idea that the illusion of choice is just that. The illusion is put before you to make you think there is a choice and that there is anything that can be done to get this country off the road to hell.
I agree that, in a sense the Democrats could be defined as the lesser of two evils, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the system they are in, is itself corrupt, and they have no choice but to work within it if they are to to have any hope of remaining in office with any hope of changing that system. Who do you think the fat cats are backing, the Sheldon Adleson’s, the Koch Bro’s, The Waltons, the hundreds of millions in hidden superpac money etc. etc.? I think you know the answer to that question. They are backing Romney and the republicans. Do you think it is for altruistic reasons that they are giving to them all that money? Do you think that it is because they are concerned for the people of this country. Of course it isn’t, it is because they want own the country and they want the elected officials in their back pockets. The trajedy of the whole thing is that we have one party that is only to happy to continue with this corrupt relationship which is quickly turning into fascism. You think it is both party’s. But you don’t see the republican party trying to close loopholes, you don’t see the republican party advocating fair corporate taxes, you don’t see the republican party trying to put an end to the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy. You don’t see republicans advocating regulation of the banks after they nearly drove the country into depression, or against the corrupt insurance company’s who are ripping off the people while making huge profits. And you don’t see the Democrats trying to destroy the american workers right to collectively bargain. The Republicans are all about the wealthy and the corporations even at the expense of the great majority of the american people. And their corruption knows no bounds, they are blatant liars. Anyway’s I don’t see how you can equate the Democrats with the Republicans as far as Corporatism, aka fascism, is concerned. There is really only one choice right now if we ever want to get out from under this Corporate takeover and the corruption in Government, only one, and that is by re-electing Obama and progressive Democrats. Thats my opinion anyway and I know that you probably differ, so do you have an alternative solution to stopping this corporate takeover now?
More and more I was thinking of just staying home on election day because to me health is where we are supposed to give our approval to one side or the other and I can’t, in good conscience, do that. But then I watch the Republican convention and I realize that there is a distinct difference between the two parties as the Democrats are responsible for introducing every single piece of legislation that would benefit the average American and further their ability to take advantage of every opportunity. I look at the crowd and wonder what is going through their minds but then I start to go crazy and those people are not worth anything like that.
I agree Michael, it is difficult to fathom how so many of the 99% can be duped into believing that the Party of huge tax cuts and loopholes for the wealthy and the corporations, the party of unpaid for wars, the party of deregulation of the Banks, the party of union busting, the party of defunding social programs for the needy, the party of defundy the safety net, social security, medicare, medicaid, unemployment insurance, the party that allows for the destruction of the economy, it is very hard to understand how so many of the 99% can be duped into supporting that party. If I am to be totally honest I have reluctantly to say that I don’t think that the economic crash was an accident. I think it was planned for the express purpose of giving republicans reason to come back to the american people and blame it on the social programs. Think about it, Bush gives huge tax cuts to the wealthy, costing the government nearly a trillion dollars in revenue,he passed big Pharma wich cost taxpayors nearly a trillion dollars, he starts 2 unpaid for wars which cost the taxpayors trillions, and then, right on que the financial system crashes costing the government who knows how many trillions in bailing out the banks, the auto industry, unemployment insurance, etc etc. And then the republicans come back and blame all of our misfortune on the social programs that they have been trying to get rid of ever since their conception. I’d call that treason against the american people.
They don’t give a shit about treason. I mean wasn’t it treason when Cheney outed Valerie Plane? The main cuprit to those republicans is FDR. They have been trying to undo everything he did to save this country and anything that helps the Amreican people. Therein lies the problem; We live in a country where masses of people walk into the voting booth and vote against themselves or against anything that benefits them. Maybe I should call it the “dumbing down of america” but instead the “stupefying of America.” I used to write a column on many different subjects and during the W-Kerry election I asked a simple question, “What is more important to you? Putting food on your family’s table or whether two guys are screwing each other in a state in a place distancely removed form you? I once received a redneck’s email who told me “Y’aal needs to learn more about American values!” I wote back to him that he is right and being that he is such an expert on the subject maybe he can teach me but where would we start a) with the attempted genocide of the Indian or b) the enslavement of black people including the breakup of their families
He never answered me back. What a surprise.