I want to apologize for my lapse in passing this along. Our new friends Fred and Jed at the Fred and Jed Radio Show on Blog talk radio were gracious enough to invite me onto their show for an interview. You can hear the archived recording.
They are live at 5:30 pm Central on Saturdays. They're great gentlemen and there's a lot of humor in their show.
Thanks, guys. Hope to talk with you all again soon.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Why They Hate Democracy
The tea brains now have a choke hold on our democracy, and they are holding the nation for ransom. They’re about to drag the US into a new low; quite likely to be downgraded by defaulting on our obligations.
Gotta love those “patriots”. They’re all about flag waving, costume wearing, country first, and... hold on thar pardner..., except for MY wallet.
Make that country second.
They want freedom, alright, freedom to plunge their country into default.
“Don’t Tread On Me, Just Downgrade Me”.
They can’t get what they want legislatively because we still have a little too much democracy for their liking. They want their way or the highway. Like spoiled brats growing into thugs, they have become a serious threat.
Every sane person knows we need to pass the stupid debt ceiling to continue functioning. The Tea Baggers have blown a common procedure into a crisis. They’re acting like bullies on a tantrum. Like the Gingrich Gang of the’90’s they don’t care what happens. Consequences are for other people to worry about.
Like Gingrich, they too, will soon be kicked out of the House. But not before doing their damage.
Americans have agreed for quite some time how to deal with the deficit. And they don’t agree with the Republicans. And they certainly don’t agree with the tea brains. They are now feeling buyers’ remorse with the extremist Tea Party’s attempt at minority rule.
Former Reagan advisor Bruce Bartlett compiled polls taken the past year reflecting a clear mandate by the people for a tax increase, along with spending cuts to address the deficit.
We the People still support higher taxes.
Polls and support for tax increase:
Washington Post/ABC News (7-19-11) – 66%
NBC News/Wall Street Journal – 62%
CBS News – 69%
Quinnipiac – 67%
Gallup (7-13-11)– 73%
Washington Post/ABC News (6-9-11) – 61%
Bloomberg – 61%
Ipsos/Reuters – 61%
Gallup (4-29-11) – 76%
USC/LA Times (California only) – 62%
New York Times/CBS News – 66%
Washington Post/ABC News (4-20-11) – 62%
Washington Post/ABC News (3-15-11) – 67%
Washington Post/ABC News (12-12-10) – 62%
This is not a passing phase. This is the consensus over most of the past year. The people have spoken. Boehner and the Republican Party are not listening to the people.
Geez, I wonder who they are listening to.
Ka-ching! Who else?
But now the Ka-ching Machine is worried their bratty little pets have grown into a Bear in their China Shop, sending the market down the tubes.
Ah, ya get whatcha ya pay for, eh?
Meanwhile we the people want jobs. Jobs the Republicans campaigned on. Jobs the Democrats campaigned on. We the people want the rich to pay to fix the problem they helped create. We have overwhelmingly expressed our position.
Yeah, thanks a lot, Boehner, Cantor, minions and thugs. We see how much jobs and governing by compromise matter to Republicans. We know who you really represent.
And too many of you Democrats are even more pathetic, cowards and appeasers, instead of representatives of the people. Surrender to the Tea Cult and we all lose.
Democrats, do you want to know how to win? Here’s a secret. Serve the people. Represent us like your jobs depend on it.
Embrace democracy for a change.
Gotta love those “patriots”. They’re all about flag waving, costume wearing, country first, and... hold on thar pardner..., except for MY wallet.
Make that country second.
They want freedom, alright, freedom to plunge their country into default.
“Don’t Tread On Me, Just Downgrade Me”.
They can’t get what they want legislatively because we still have a little too much democracy for their liking. They want their way or the highway. Like spoiled brats growing into thugs, they have become a serious threat.
Every sane person knows we need to pass the stupid debt ceiling to continue functioning. The Tea Baggers have blown a common procedure into a crisis. They’re acting like bullies on a tantrum. Like the Gingrich Gang of the’90’s they don’t care what happens. Consequences are for other people to worry about.
Like Gingrich, they too, will soon be kicked out of the House. But not before doing their damage.
Americans have agreed for quite some time how to deal with the deficit. And they don’t agree with the Republicans. And they certainly don’t agree with the tea brains. They are now feeling buyers’ remorse with the extremist Tea Party’s attempt at minority rule.
Former Reagan advisor Bruce Bartlett compiled polls taken the past year reflecting a clear mandate by the people for a tax increase, along with spending cuts to address the deficit.
We the People still support higher taxes.
Polls and support for tax increase:
Washington Post/ABC News (7-19-11) – 66%
NBC News/Wall Street Journal – 62%
CBS News – 69%
Quinnipiac – 67%
Gallup (7-13-11)– 73%
Washington Post/ABC News (6-9-11) – 61%
Bloomberg – 61%
Ipsos/Reuters – 61%
Gallup (4-29-11) – 76%
USC/LA Times (California only) – 62%
New York Times/CBS News – 66%
Washington Post/ABC News (4-20-11) – 62%
Washington Post/ABC News (3-15-11) – 67%
Washington Post/ABC News (12-12-10) – 62%
This is not a passing phase. This is the consensus over most of the past year. The people have spoken. Boehner and the Republican Party are not listening to the people.
Geez, I wonder who they are listening to.
Ka-ching! Who else?
But now the Ka-ching Machine is worried their bratty little pets have grown into a Bear in their China Shop, sending the market down the tubes.
Ah, ya get whatcha ya pay for, eh?
Meanwhile we the people want jobs. Jobs the Republicans campaigned on. Jobs the Democrats campaigned on. We the people want the rich to pay to fix the problem they helped create. We have overwhelmingly expressed our position.
Yeah, thanks a lot, Boehner, Cantor, minions and thugs. We see how much jobs and governing by compromise matter to Republicans. We know who you really represent.
And too many of you Democrats are even more pathetic, cowards and appeasers, instead of representatives of the people. Surrender to the Tea Cult and we all lose.
Democrats, do you want to know how to win? Here’s a secret. Serve the people. Represent us like your jobs depend on it.
Embrace democracy for a change.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Shared Sacrifice
President Obama, on creating a deficit-reduction deal that includes increased tax revenue:
"This idea of balance, this idea of shared sacrifice, of a deficit plan that includes tough spending cuts but also includes tax reform that raises more revenue, this isn't just my position. This isn't just a Democratic position. This isn't some wild-eyed socialist position."
That’s right, Barry, it is not. In fact it is both a rational socialist position and the consensus of the vast majority of Americans.
Those are very nice words, though, as you prostrate yourself to gut public programs and safety nets while appeasing the Republican Greed Machine.
Gotta love that “bi-partisan” deal making where this “idea of balance” gets thrown under the bus so you can be seen as a...as what, exactly?
"This idea of balance, this idea of shared sacrifice, of a deficit plan that includes tough spending cuts but also includes tax reform that raises more revenue, this isn't just my position. This isn't just a Democratic position. This isn't some wild-eyed socialist position."
That’s right, Barry, it is not. In fact it is both a rational socialist position and the consensus of the vast majority of Americans.
Those are very nice words, though, as you prostrate yourself to gut public programs and safety nets while appeasing the Republican Greed Machine.
Gotta love that “bi-partisan” deal making where this “idea of balance” gets thrown under the bus so you can be seen as a...as what, exactly?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Defending Democracy
We learned from last month’s CNN poll that an overwhelming 86% of Americans agree that, “Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by the pressure they receive on issues from major campaign contributors”.
This number has increased over the past decade and is a hopeful indication that most Americans want their democracy back, despite the Right’s hysteria about “wanting their country back”, whoever “their” means, and whatever “country” means. We may reasonably suspect they don’t mean us, or the majority of Americans.
The good news is Americans are waking up.
There are growing grass roots efforts to defend democracy from corporate personhood and money as free speech. Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap serves as Field Organizing Coordinator on the Executive Committee of Move To Amend, a “a national coalition of hundreds of organizations and over 113,000 individuals”. She tells us, “In April, voters in Madison and Dane County, WI overwhelmingly approved measures calling for an end to corporate personhood and the legal status of money as speech by 84% and 78%respectively.”
At their website we see the statement of their mission:
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:
* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.
* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.
The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.
They are at the front of our struggle for democracy and freedom, with the mission to “end corporate rule” and “legalize democracy”.
Please check them out and help them however you are able to do so.
There are more signs of an “American Awakening” in today’s release of a Washington Post-ABC News Poll under the headline, “Obama Tops GOP on Helping Middle Class”.
Asked who cares more about the financial concerns of middle-class Americans, Obama has a big advantage, 53 percent to 35 percent, over the Republicans in Congress. He’s up 47 percent to 37 percent when poll respondents were asked about themselves and their families. On protecting the interests of small businesses, 48 percent of Americans say Obama cares more; 39 percent say so of the GOP.
Majorities across party lines see the GOP as caring more than Obama about Wall Street and big business.
I find this quite encouraging, especially knowing how difficult it is to get our message out in an environment where most national media are under the control of Corporate America.
As We the People rise to the task of defending democracy, we can expect the forces of plutocracy and tyranny of the minority to resist the will of the people even more tenaciously. They will not surrender. They must be defeated. If today’s Americans love freedom and democracy as much as our Founders did, we will prevail.
”I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”- Thomas Jefferson
This number has increased over the past decade and is a hopeful indication that most Americans want their democracy back, despite the Right’s hysteria about “wanting their country back”, whoever “their” means, and whatever “country” means. We may reasonably suspect they don’t mean us, or the majority of Americans.
The good news is Americans are waking up.
There are growing grass roots efforts to defend democracy from corporate personhood and money as free speech. Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap serves as Field Organizing Coordinator on the Executive Committee of Move To Amend, a “a national coalition of hundreds of organizations and over 113,000 individuals”. She tells us, “In April, voters in Madison and Dane County, WI overwhelmingly approved measures calling for an end to corporate personhood and the legal status of money as speech by 84% and 78%respectively.”
At their website we see the statement of their mission:
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:
* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.
* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.
The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.
They are at the front of our struggle for democracy and freedom, with the mission to “end corporate rule” and “legalize democracy”.
Please check them out and help them however you are able to do so.
There are more signs of an “American Awakening” in today’s release of a Washington Post-ABC News Poll under the headline, “Obama Tops GOP on Helping Middle Class”.
Asked who cares more about the financial concerns of middle-class Americans, Obama has a big advantage, 53 percent to 35 percent, over the Republicans in Congress. He’s up 47 percent to 37 percent when poll respondents were asked about themselves and their families. On protecting the interests of small businesses, 48 percent of Americans say Obama cares more; 39 percent say so of the GOP.
Majorities across party lines see the GOP as caring more than Obama about Wall Street and big business.
I find this quite encouraging, especially knowing how difficult it is to get our message out in an environment where most national media are under the control of Corporate America.
As We the People rise to the task of defending democracy, we can expect the forces of plutocracy and tyranny of the minority to resist the will of the people even more tenaciously. They will not surrender. They must be defeated. If today’s Americans love freedom and democracy as much as our Founders did, we will prevail.
”I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”- Thomas Jefferson
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Democracy In Decline
Thanks to the Corporate Cronies on the Supreme Court deciding in “Citizens United v FEC” that it is fine for Big Money to secretly spend fortunes on election ads, democracy sinks lower into its grave.
All is not lost yet, however. We the People are not entirely the foolish dupes that Corporatist Republicanism needs in its war against democracy. More of us are waking up to the true picture. As I reported in my last post the people are way ahead of the politicians and the bureaucrats on medicinal marijuana.
The people are also figuring out who is really represented in our anti-democratic Corporatist Republic. Guess what? It is not the people.
Last month a CNN poll showed most Americans think elections are bought by Big Money.
“Most Americans are cynical about the effect of money on politics in the U.S., and that cynicism is significantly higher than it was in the 1990s...” and “86 percent of the public thinks elected officials in the nation's capital are mostly influenced by the pressure they receive from campaign contributors.”
This is not news to most of us, and it is great that more Americans are waking up to this destruction of our democracy. This is why we advocate democracy-enhancing Constitutional Amendments to rescind corporate personhood and provide public funding for public elections. At this time the forces against democracy are too powerful for real change to occur. Perhaps the lesson that the struggle for democracy never ends will be learned by the new generation of Americans after all.
Here are some results of that poll:
June, 2011-
Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by what is in the best interests of the country - 12%
Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by the pressure they receive on issues from major campaign contributors - 86%
Oct. 1997
Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by what is in the best interests of the country - 19%
Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by the pressure they receive on issues from major campaign contributors - 77%
June, 2011
Elections are generally for sale to the candidate who can raise the most money 67%
Elections are generally won on the basis of who is the best candidate 30%
Oct. 1997
Elections are generally for sale to the candidate who can raise the most money- 59%
Elections are generally won on the basis of who is the best candidate - 37%
***
Who knows when this expanding consciousness will finally enlighten enough of the people to realize that there is class war against them, and their democracy? It is good to have such a glimmer of real hope.
All is not lost yet, however. We the People are not entirely the foolish dupes that Corporatist Republicanism needs in its war against democracy. More of us are waking up to the true picture. As I reported in my last post the people are way ahead of the politicians and the bureaucrats on medicinal marijuana.
The people are also figuring out who is really represented in our anti-democratic Corporatist Republic. Guess what? It is not the people.
Last month a CNN poll showed most Americans think elections are bought by Big Money.
“Most Americans are cynical about the effect of money on politics in the U.S., and that cynicism is significantly higher than it was in the 1990s...” and “86 percent of the public thinks elected officials in the nation's capital are mostly influenced by the pressure they receive from campaign contributors.”
This is not news to most of us, and it is great that more Americans are waking up to this destruction of our democracy. This is why we advocate democracy-enhancing Constitutional Amendments to rescind corporate personhood and provide public funding for public elections. At this time the forces against democracy are too powerful for real change to occur. Perhaps the lesson that the struggle for democracy never ends will be learned by the new generation of Americans after all.
Here are some results of that poll:
June, 2011-
Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by what is in the best interests of the country - 12%
Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by the pressure they receive on issues from major campaign contributors - 86%
Oct. 1997
Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by what is in the best interests of the country - 19%
Elected officials in Washington are mostly influenced by the pressure they receive on issues from major campaign contributors - 77%
June, 2011
Elections are generally for sale to the candidate who can raise the most money 67%
Elections are generally won on the basis of who is the best candidate 30%
Oct. 1997
Elections are generally for sale to the candidate who can raise the most money- 59%
Elections are generally won on the basis of who is the best candidate - 37%
***
Who knows when this expanding consciousness will finally enlighten enough of the people to realize that there is class war against them, and their democracy? It is good to have such a glimmer of real hope.
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