Credit: Wuerking Drawings from Politico

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There was one remark in last night’s GOP debate that we here at PFAW whole-heartedly agreed with. Asked about his view on judicial appointments, Mitt Romney said:

Let me note that the key thing I think the president is going to do, is going to be with the longest legacy. It’s going to be appointing Supreme Court and justices throughout the judicial system. As many as half the justices in the next four years are going to be appointed by the next president.

Judicial nominees will indeed be the most lasting legacy of the next president. And that’s why we can’t afford to hand over those decisions to Mitt Romney.

At last night’s debate, Romney joined his fellow candidates in praising Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court’s ultra-conservative base. Under these justices, the Court has moved farther to the right than it has in decades, consistently privileging big corporations over individual Americans. When Romney declared this summer that “corporations are people, my friend,” he was summarizing, and approving of, the Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC.

But it’s not just that Romney wants more Alitos and Thomases on the Supreme Court. Romney sent a signal that he would move the federal courts even farther to the right than they are today when he took on Robert Bork as his campaign’s chief legal advisor. Bork’s conservativism is so extreme that a bipartisan majority of the Senate rejected him for the Supreme Court in 1987. He was against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He thought it was just fine to criminalize homosexuality. He was a professed fan of censorship. And since then, he has become even more extreme in his defense of corporate power and dismissal of individual rights. But not, apparently, too extreme for Mitt Romney.

Romney is absolutely right that appointing judges will be “the key thing” the next president will do. And it’s exactly the reason why he shouldn’t be president.

More on Robert Bork … here

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From UKIAH (CA) Community Blog published December 16, 2011

As evidence of a failed Obama presidency accumulates, criticism of his administration is mounting from liberal Democrats who have too much moral authority to be ignored.

Most prominent among these critics is veteran journalist Bill Moyers, whose October address to a Public Citizen gathering puts the lie to our barely Democratic president’s populist pantomime, acted out last week in a Kansas speech decrying the plight of “innocent, hardworking Americans.” In his talk, Moyers quoted an authentic Kansas populist, Mary Elizabeth Lease, who in 1890 declared, “Wall Street owns the country…. Money rules…. The [political] parties lie to us and the political speakers mislead us.”

A former aide to Lyndon Johnson who knows politics from the inside, Moyers then delivered the coup de grace: “[Lease] should see us now. John Boehner calls on the bankers, holds out his cup, and offers them total obeisance from the House majority if only they fill it. Barack Obama criticizes bankers as fat cats, then invites them to dine at a pricey New York restaurant where the tasting menu runs to $195 a person.”

As it happens, Moyers’s remarks anticipated the trenchant question posed in an interview by another prominent liberal, Barbara Ehrenreich, just after billionaire Michael Bloomberg and mayors of other cities cleared public spaces of Occupy Wall Street protesters: “Where in all this was Obama? Why couldn’t he have picked up the phone and called the mayors of Portland and Oakland and said: ‘Go easy on these people. They represent the anger and aspirations of the majority.’ Would that have been so difficult?” Well, yes, particularly if your principal occupation is shaking down bankers and brokers for campaign donations on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Related: Mr. President, Stop Protecting Bankers From These State Law Enforcement Officials

By now it should be obvious that the system, and the Democratic Party, run Obama, not the other way around. Under this arrangement, the president carries out his duties as pre-eminent party functionary—fundraising being at the top of his list of responsibilities—and defers on legislation, leaving it to corrupt Democratic barons such as Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.), devoted friend of the insurance, pharmaceutical, and banking crowd, and sworn enemy of reform.

As Ron Suskind’s book “Confidence Men” confirms, there was never any question of doing things differently. Describing the then president-elect’s choice of economic advisers, he notes, “Obama, after all, had selected for his top domestic officials two men [Lawrence Summers and Timothy Geithner] whose actions [in the Clinton Administration] had contributed to the very financial disaster they were hired to solve.” These anti-reform appointments did not go unnoticed by party regulars, even though they were ignored by Obama groupies. “I don’t understand how you could do this,” Suskind quotes Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.) saying to Obama. “You’ve picked the wrong people!”

The “wrong people” included Rahm Emanuel, now mayor of Chicago, and his replacement as White House chief of staff, William Daley; both of these advisers were four-star generals within the Chicago Democratic machine who cut their teeth in Washington during the campaign to pass that job-killer North American Free Trade Act and who later worked for investment banks. But Obama’s hypocrisy in Osawatomie, Kansas, set a new standard in deception. Among other things, his speech blamed “regulators who were supposed to warn us about the dangers of all this [the unfettered sales of bundled mortgages], but looked the other way or didn’t have the authority to look at all. It was wrong. It combined the breathtaking greed of a few with irresponsibility all across the system.”

What’s truly breathtaking is the president’s gall, his stunning contempt for political history and contemporary reality. Besides neglecting to mention Democratic complicity in the debacle of 2008, he failed to point out that derivatives trading remains largely unregulated while the Securities and Exchange Commission awaits “public comment on a detailed implementation plan” for future regulation. In other words, until the banking and brokerage lobbies have had their say with John Boehner, Max Baucus, and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner. Meanwhile, the administration steadfastly opposes a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act, the New Deal law that reduced outlandish speculation by separating commercial and investment banks. In 1999, it was Summers and Geithner, led by Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin (much admired by Obama), who persuaded Congress to repeal this crucial impediment to Wall Street recklessness.

And then there’s Afghanistan. Obama should be condemned for escalating this grotesquely expensive, destructive, and self-defeating war. Thoroughly discredited by analysts on both the left and the right, the Afghan madness seems to bore liberals who once would have marched against Vietnam. I suggest they watch the brilliant new documentary “Hell and Back Again” to enhance their knowledge of the war’s casualties. The pitiful story of Marine sergeant Nathan Harris ought to make them furious at our commander in chief; shouldn’t it also spark an intra-party revolt?

Related: Anniversery is apt time to re-evaluate Endless War

I urge people who haven’t given up on politics to examine the career of Allard Lowenstein. Lowenstein founded the Dump Johnson movement in 1967 and, against all odds, persuaded Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota to launch a Democratic primary challenge against the incumbent president over the issue of Vietnam. His example, I hope, might inspire someone to challenge another Democratic incumbent who has forfeited the trust of the people.

You may say it’s too late, that Obama is impregnable. Consider Gene McCarthy’s obscurity on November 30, 1967, when he announced his insurgent crusade. At the time, many Americans confused him with Senator Joe McCarthy (R., Wis.), the notorious communist hunter, and in January 1968 a Gallup poll showed him winning just 12 percent of the votes in a presidential election. But on March 12, McCarthy nearly beat Johnson in the New Hampshire primary. The opposition was galvanized, Robert Kennedy jumped into the race, LBJ announced he would not seek re-election, and American democracy was revived.

Granted, there are big differences between 1968 and 2012 — for one thing, there’s no military draft to frighten the young — but the great issues are the same: an immoral war and a merciless money power. Moreover, high unemployment and the dominance of Wall Street do frighten the young. They need a tribune.

In November 1967, before he announced his candidacy, McCarthy told an audience of college students, “There is deep anxiety and alienation among a large number of people…. Someone must give these groups entrance back into the political processes. We may lose, but at least in the process of fighting within the political framework, we’ll have reduced the alienation.” Two days later, in remarks that would have pertained just as well to the current Occupy Wall Street movement, he said, “Party unity is not a sufficient excuse for silence” and Vietnam was “not the kind of political controversy which should be left to a children’s crusade or to those not directly involved in politics. It should rather be taken up by adult political leaders and activists in America.”

Are there any adults left in the Democratic Party?

~

Related: Barack Obama End of 2010 Scorecard

John R. MacArthur is publisher of Harper’s Magazine and author of the book You Can’t Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America. This column originally appeared in the Providence Journal on December 14, 2011.

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David Corn Tweats Me

Says he is keeping the url until 2016 … in case Herminator runs again ???

You should visit that website to see amazing video of dogs actually eating with (their?) hands:

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Security Theater for airline passengers

Perhaps you recall the major uproar over President George W. Bush’s use of massive telephone and wire tap surveillance in cooperation with major telecommunications companies after the New York and Washington 9-11 terror attacks.

Don't Worry, We Will Protect You

Ultimately the Congress adopted FISA legislation in 2006 that was supposed to curb these wiretaps by judicial review, with then U.S. Senator Barack Obama one of Bush’s leading critics.

Last Monday a three-judge federal appellate court dealt a serious blow to the Bush/Obama tactic for shielding government’s unconstitutional eavesdropping from judicial review by trying to place secret executive surveillance above and beyond the rule of law.

The unanimous court ruled that the plaintiffs’ fear that they will be subjected to expanded warrantless eavesdropping is reasonable given the sweeping powers the law vests in the Executive, that these fears substantially impede their work, and that these impediments constitute actual harm sufficient to allow them to challenge the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments.

The court’s ruling was a major victory for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in their continuing constitutional challenge to newest FISA law.

Note that I referred to the “Bush/Obama tactic” of conducting illegal surveillance.

Bi-Partisan & Unconstitutional

Nothing like “bipartisan cooperation” in Washington, eh?

Another horrendous example: last month the extension of the Bush-era PATRIOT Act jointly was assured by the most important Democratic power brokers (the Obama White House and Senators Feinstein and Leahy), plus the congressional Senate and House Republican leadership.

That’s the same sort of bipartisan coalition that has repeated for the last decade as constitutional civil liberties in the U.S. steadily have been eroded in the specious name of fighting “terrorism.”

Only 26 of the 241 House Republicans, larded with scores of new Tea Party supposed pro-US constitutionalists, voted against extension of the PATRIOT Act. Did they even read it?

[A note to the reader: Cory Gardner betrayed his 'small government' roots by voting to let snoopy FBI agents see what you read at the library.]

Repressive Laws, Here & There

On the very same day that President Obama demanded that Egypt repeal its repressive 30-year-old ”emergency law,” he joined with those House Republicans to extend America’s own emergency law, the PATRIOT Act, for three more years — with no new judicial or congressional oversight.

Another example: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admonished Egypt’s faltering Mubarak government for imposing an Internet blackout during what would be successful protests, calling it a baseless attempt to limit free speech during a time of social upheaval.

But can you believe that President Obama wants another new law that would give him the power to use an Internet kill switch? The law would allow the president to block access to the world wide web if an Egypt-style revolt or other unrest occurred in the U.S.

Obama Wants to Read Your Email

Not to be outdone, the Obama U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) also wants another new law too. This one would require Internet companies to retain data and records of user activity online. In doing so, the Obama administration is supporting measures advocated by the Bush administration that pose a grave threat to free speech and the freedom of the Internet. The sweeping legislation would cover cell phone service, Internet records, and email.

Data retention legislation would jeopardize the privacy of millions of Americans who use the Internet. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes, “A legal obligation to log users’ Internet use, paired with weak federal privacy laws that allow the government to easily obtain those records, would dangerously expand the government’s ability to surveil its citizens, damage privacy, and chill freedom of expression.”

Once again, congressional Republicans are more than happy to cooperate in passing such a dangerous law; anything to go after those awful terrorists — even if it shreds the U.S. Constitution.

Laptops Galore

Although they can cite no legal basis for their high-handed actions, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security claims that its agents have the right to look though the contents of a international traveler’s electronic devices, including laptops, cameras and cell phones, and to keep the devices or copy the contents in order to continue searching them once the traveler has been allowed to enter the U.S., regardless of whether the traveler is suspected of any wrongdoing.

Documents obtained by the ACLU in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for records related to the DHS policy reveal that more than 6,600 travelers, nearly half of whom are American citizens, were subjected to electronic device searches at the border between October 1, 2008 and June 2, 2010.

No law authorizes this power nor is there any judicial or congressional body overseeing or regulating what DHS is doing. And the citizens to whom this is done have no recourse — not even to have their property returned to them.

FBI Run Amok

In a review of nearly 2,500 pages of documents released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed what I would call alarming trends in the Bureau’s intelligence investigation practices. The documents suggest that FBI intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of American citizens far more frequently, and to a greater extent, than previously assumed.

These FBI flagrant legal violations included submitting false or inaccurate declarations to courts, using improper evidence to obtain federal grand jury subpoenas and accessing password protected documents without a warrant. In at least one fifth of the cases specific violations of the U.S. Constitution were cited.

Based on a review of reports by the FBI top its own Intelligence Oversight Board, from 2001 to 2008, the FBI admitted approximately 800 violations of the Constitution, laws, executive orders, or regulations governing intelligence investigations, although it is likely that significantly under-states the actual number of violations.

From 2001 to 2008, the FBI investigated, at minimum, 7000 potential intelligence violations. Based on the proportion of violations reported to the IOB and the FBI’s own statements regarding the number of violations, the actual number of violations that may have occurred from 2001 to 2008 could approach 40,000 possible violations of law, executive order, or other regulations governing intelligence investigations.

One year ago, the Inspector General’s Office, the independent DoJ audit arm, issued a lengthy report (pdf) detailing that the FBI, for the years 2003-2005, had used “National Security Letters” (NSLs) to gather information on thousands of Americans in violation of the law. Under the PATRIOT Act, “NSLs” permit the FBI and other federal agencies to obtain all sorts of invasive information from telecoms, Internet and email providers, even health care providers, without any judicial warrants or any other oversight of any kind.

Last year’s IG report documented thousands of cases where the FBI abused the extraordinary power of NSLs — the FBI made false statements to obtain the information, did so where the information had nothing to do with any pending investigations, obtained far more data than even The PATRIOT Act allows.

And if you think this power is being aimed solely at suspected terrorists, think again. No wonder that some Swiss and other offshore banks refuse to discuss by telephone their accounts with Americans.

Freedom of Speech Curbs

The so-called Shield bill, now introduced in both houses of Congress in response to the WikiLeaks disclosures, would amend the Espionage Act of 1917 to make it a crime for any person knowingly and willfully to disseminate, “in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States,” any classified information “concerning the human intelligence activities of the United States.”

Although this proposed law may be constitutional as applied to government employees who unlawfully leak such material to people who are unauthorized to receive it, it would plainly violate the First Amendment to punish anyone who might publish or otherwise circulate the information after it has been leaked. At the very least, the act should be expressly limited to situations in which the spread of the classified information poses a clear and imminent danger of grave harm to the nation.

A Plague on Both Houses

And by that I mean both political parties and both houses of the U.S. Congress – both of which have lost their understanding of American history and an appreciation for the genius and meaning of our Constitution and our constitutional system.

Be assured that the Sovereign Society in this time of great troubles will continue to give you not only a truthful account of the threats we face, but specific legal ways and means to protect yourself, your family and your wealth.

What bothers me most, as a conservative, as an attorney and as a student of American history, is that the great mass of U.S. citizens are oblivious of the fact that their rights and liberties are being destroyed. Most seem unaware, and those who do know a little about what’s happening, seem unconcerned.

Dark days for Americans and for our freedoms.

Posted by Gypsy Chief

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Scott Walker's Unintended Consequences

Fight Back at Lory Student Center

Fight Back!!

On Tuesday, April 5th, from noon-2:30 in the Lory Student Center, room 210 we’ll
participate in a National Teach-In. It will sort of take place in 2 parts.

Part I will take place from 12-1, and will be a panel discussion, via live
streaming, facilitated by Frances Fox Piven and Cornell West.

Part II will take place from 1-2:30, and will focus on a discussion about
bringing this home, and will include an overview of what we are doing locally
and where we can take our action.

Come with ideas, suggestions, energy, rage, or simply a need to find kindred
spirits.

For More information, please email CJPE or call us at 419-8944 or check out:
Fight Back National
~~Source: Center for Justice, Peace, and Environment

Fight Back Teach-in April 5

Fight Back Teach-in for more information about this nationwide effort.

Wall Street Banks, American corporations and their political allies have declared a one-sided war on the American people. This war is being waged at our schools and colleges, on public employee unions, in our workplaces and in our communities.

Today, Americans are working harder and earning less while corporate profits soar. Homeowners, consumers and students are seeing their wealth being stripped away by banks. Our government plunges into debt waging trillion dollar wars. Meanwhile, our infrastructure erodes, climate change proceeds unchecked, our schools, daycare centers, senior facilities, clinics, parks and emergency services are all starved while corporations and elites get billions in tax breaks!

“Austerity” policies falsely suggest that spending on social needs is the reason why governments– at all levels– are facing massive budget short falls. NO! Our debt and deficit problems are a direct result of corporate tax breaks and extortionist bank practices that have lead to a scandalous and unprecedented transfer of wealth– from hardworking Americans to the richest segments of US society.

The courageous actions by the citizens in Wisconsin are an inspiring defense of the core values of this country: a civil society based on freedom of association, healthy and stable communities that value public services and the public good.

The outpouring of support nationally shows the possibilities for challenging deepening economic inequality and political marginalization of the majority of the American people. We are on the cusp of a great movement to resist and roll-back the corporate domination by banks, energy companies and war profiteers.

Balance of this story and link to Colorado event(s) here

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Response to WI Gov. Scott Walker

Dear Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker,

Thank you for your assistance in bringing together workers from every walk of life: teachers, firefighters, police officers, government employees, nurses, union members, people of faith, civil rights activists, environmentalists and many others. Thank you for giving us a reason, and a renewed commitment, to publicly declare that we stand together in solidarity to protect the middle class, and to ensure justice for workers. Thank you for helping us find our voice for democracy, and our passion for equal opportunity to the American Dream.

You see, when you and your corporate friends threatened the very fabric of our society — the working middle-class people of America — with your heavy-handed wrecking-ball policies, we woke up. We were not stupid; we knew this is not about the economy, or one state budget, or helping small businesses. We knew your power grab was really about weakening our voices — the voices of millions of hard-working people, as well as students, youth, immigrants, and people between jobs. We knew it was a way to make more profits for billionaires, at the hands of struggling American families. We are awake now, and we are not going to let you take our country from us without a fight.

On Monday, April 4th, we will stand together with our working brothers and sisters all over America. We will participate in marches, vigils, teach-ins, rallies, demonstrations, protests, and other events. We will take back our country, demand jobs that earn a living wage, and make our country better for all working people.

You see, we’ve been here before.

In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. joined a group of 1300 city sanitation workers who marched for economic justice in Memphis. Dr. King stood with civil rights leaders, the faith community, and worker’s unions to demand justice for the striking workers. Together, they faced all who sought to suppress their free speech that day, and they won the moral battle.

The following day, April 4th, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated. We will not allow history to record that his life — and his work — were in vain.

Forty-three years later, Mr. Walker, you also threatened peaceful demonstrators — your own good citizens — that you would bring in the National Guard and illegally bar the doors of the Statehouse to the people of Wisconsin. You dared to take away the civil rights of hard-working Americans — public servants who only want their right to bargain collectively. Like the unified voices of the people’s movement four decades ago, our unified middle-class will not back down. We will not be intimidated. We will not be afraid.

We will stand together.
We will fight back.
We will WIN.

On April 4th, 2011, we will remember April 4th, 1968. Coloradans will join the people of Wisconsin, and Michigan, and all of the other United States of America, and we will honor the memory of Dr. King with our own courage and determination to reject your political over-reach, and your attempt to steal the American Dream. We will stand together for the future of our children, and for the future of this country. Together — firefighters, teachers, police officers, students, small business owners, sanitation workers, and many others — will take back America for the middle class.

Why? Because “We are One.”

Sincerely,
The People of Colorado

For the Colorado Event Schedule, please go to http://local.we-r-1.org . Check it frequently, as new events are being added daily. See you there.
Posted on Colorado Pols Thank you letter to Scott Walker and crossposted to Square State

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Professional Right-Winger Character Assassin

America’s right-wingers have orchestrated an aggressive assault on those they consider to be their enemies. Well, we don’t have to lay down and take it.

March 20, 2011 |
Politics is a dirty business. Its history contains some of the most unsavory and slanderous conduct imaginable. In recent years there seems to have been an escalation by conservative activists who were never able to accept the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States. From Inauguration Day, when Fox News immediately began speculating that Obama was illegitimate because Supreme Court Justice John Roberts flubbed the oath of office, to the present where we see the president still shirking off allegations of treasonous sympathies for Muslim terrorists, America’s right-wingers have orchestrated an aggressive assault on those they consider to be their enemies. Well, we don’t have to lay down and take it. Here are some of the ways we can fight back:

1. Trust, No. Verify, Yes:
   

   The easiest way to smack down a conservative is to do some cursory research. In all likelihood whatever they are using against you is filled with errors or is entirely made up. It shouldn’t be too difficult to expose their attacks as vacant smear tactics. Mike Huckabee’s recent assertion that President Obama holds views that are different than the average American due to his “upbringing in Kenya” is a perfect example of right-wing disinformation. It was quickly debunked, which led Huckabee to offer even more ludicrous falsehoods to cover his original deceit. We are fortunate to be blessed with opponents who are, more often than not, idiots. Let’s exploit that good fortune.

2. Mock Treatment:
   

   When you’re dealing with the sort of people who vote for former witches for the senate there is sometimes little you can do other than laugh. And while the antics of right-wingers are often indistinguishable from satire, it is still an effective response to their attacks. The latest inanity from Sarah Palin can be addressed at length in a point-by-point rebuttal or a brief skit by Tiny Fey. Which do you think has a more enduring impact?

3. Talk Back:
   

   The purpose of most attacks from the right is to influence public opinion, and eventually, social behavior and legislation. They must not be left alone on that field of battle. A concerted effort should be made to inform the media that the attacks are baseless. That means letters to the editor, op-eds, call-ins to radio shows, and speaking out at public forums. The PR response is critical. The latest, loudest assertion is often the one most remembered. Don’t let it be a Tea Partier.

4. Consider the Source:
   

   Attacks from the right often emanate from notoriously disreputable characters whose grousing is better ignored. Their hypocrisy is legendary. Why should we care when the corpulent Rush Limbaugh calls Michael Moore fat? And the next time Ann Coulter proposes that the way to deal with violent extremism (or in her view, with anyone of the Muslim faith) is to “invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity,” we ought not to pay attention to the violent extremism she espouses. This isn’t giving up. It’s tactical disregard, but it should only be employed against irrelevant figures whose opinions are widely ignored anyway. I know, that’s a pretty big chunk of the rightosphere.

5. Hit the Streets:
   

   Nothing has been more illustrative of the power ordinary people have to effect change than the determined and courageous example set by the people of Wisconsin. They have been relentless in asserting their rights to speak, assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. Sadly, their governor and his GOP minions have resisted the will of the people — so far. But this battle is far from over. And the example set by Wisconsin Democrats, unions and citizens, has inspired a national movement in support of working families and the notion that tough economic times require sacrifices from everyone, including wealthy individuals and corporations. This movement has flourished despite scant attention from the conventional media. That’s the power of numbers and a public presence.

6. Sue the Bastards:
   

   This action can only be undertaken by actual victims of right-wing attacks, but it is effective and underutilized. Recently lawsuits have been been filed by Shirley Sherrod (against Andrew Breitbart) and Juan Carlos Vera (against James O’Keefe). These suits can serve as notice that people will not tolerate being slandered or otherwise harmed by spurious attacks. They can also preoccupy conservative evildoers who will have to spend both time and money on their defense. The publicity from these suits can help to advance progressive activism, particularly if they are successful. But just keeping their dastardly exploits in the news has a beneficial effect all its own. It would be great to see more of this from aggrieved parties like Van Jones and George Soros.

7. Get Up, Stand Up!
   

   Last, but not least, it is imperative that we coalesce into a culture of pride and conviction for the ideals we cherish. We must cease to buckle under pressure from rightist factions who will oppose us even after we make every concession they demand. Has the criticism of the White House declined since the departure of Van Jones? Did the opposition relent after we removed language from the health care bill that was falsely lambasted as “death panels?” Has there been any let-up on charges of over-taxation and socialism from Tea Partiers despite the extension of Bush-era tax relief for the rich? Of course not. So why on earth would we continue to try to appease an opponent who is insatiable and resistant to compromise?

   Our side has to stop firing people just because they were subjects of criticism from the right. That just empowers the other side and highlights our weaknesses. It’s long past time for us to stand up for ourselves and our own. And when we get hit, as we will, we need to hit back. We have a moral obligation to stand up for the principles that we share with the majority of the American people. And now we must augment that with the will to advance those principles even in the face of dishonest, dirty dealing by our opponents.

One more thing: have fun! There is no reason we can’t pursue our goals with a positive demeanor that reflects our hopes and aspirations for a country that cares about its people and the people of the world.

Related link: News Corpse
Photo Source: AlterNet
Related: Right-Wing Media Attack Renewable Energy

Posted by Gypsy Chief

Recall Campaigns Growing Momentum

I love the Youtube video on Alberta Darling, very catchy. Click on the individual campaign website links to see the progress in that area. Reports say the Darling recall has already collected half the signatures needed to get it on the ballot.
Wisconsin Recalls Explained

Today we’re going to be talking about Wisconsin, and how workers there are fighting back against the State’s Republican legislators and Governor, who seem to have gone out of their way this past three weeks to govern without the consent of the governed.

It’s kind of chilly today in Wisconsin…but I can assure you, things are heating up fast-and it ain’t because of spring.

Sold to Koch Industries

Posted by Gypsy Chief

political games continue in DC

Amazing Press Release from Senator Tom Udall [D-NM] today. I couldn’t make up anything half as good so I will quote for you. Please understand I generally support Senators Udall, Tom and his cousin Mark. Still spin is spin no matter where it comes from.

Dear Gypsy Chief

This week, the latest round of the filibuster fight came to a close. While we achieved steps in the right direction, the Senate lacked the will to enact the truly substantive reforms that we desired.

But as my Uncle Mo used to say, reform is not for the short-winded, and my commitment to making the Senate a more transparent and efficient body to better serve the American people is stronger than ever.

Your activism has successfully shaken up the institution in a way that hasn’t happened in more than 35 years. We HAVE put the Senate on notice that when our country calls out obstruction, it’s time we take a hard look at the way we do business here

Some Reforms Achieved

This press release goes on to describe some important baby steps toward real Senate reform.

• We’ve finally put an end to “secret holds” so now senators must be on the record opposing bills and nominees. This will help restore some accountability to the chamber so that senators are no longer able to block bills and nominees without facing the consequences of doing so.
• We’re reducing the number of Executive branch nominees that require confirmation so the President can appoint the best and brightest to government and fill empty posts without unnecessary delay in the Senate;
• We neutralized an important obstructionist tactic – forcing bills and amendments to be read in their entirety on the Senate floor;
• And finally, we sent a clear message that unprecedented gridlock is
  unacceptable, culminating in an agreement between leadership to make the Senate
  more deliberative than obstructive.

Let’s not kid ourselves folks. Baby steps are just that … baby steps. We cannot count on Washington to provide real leadership. But maybe just maybe next time a critical nomination may not be held up because a senator was afraid that south Georgia pigs and chickens would sue their owners

Posted by Gypsy Chief