Newsflash:

9 Ideas for Congress to Address the 99 Percent

Monday, 21 November 2011 20:20 Written by Michael Ettlinger, Gadi Dechter | Center for American Progress

Simple Steps to Get Our Economic Engine Running Again

The Occupy Wall Street movement presents a growing chorus of millions who are fed up with mounting economic inequality in the United States.

The movement reflects the frustrations of people across the country saddled by debt, working harder for less, and with less chance of getting ahead.

It has captured our national attention by demonstrating that America’s economy is not working for most Americans today. But it is working for the richest 1 percent, who control two-fifths of the country’s wealth and get a quarter of all income.

Some people in Washington think the right response to this economic inequality is to give more to the 1 percent and hope it reaches the rest of the country. They support tax cuts for the well off—and spending cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and other programs that the middle class relies on. They want to slash education, energy, and technology investments that are the bridge to our future prosperity.

We disagree.

To further the important public discussion on economic inequality catalyzed by the Occupy movement, we propose nine simple steps that policymakers can take immediately to reduce inequality, get our upside-down economy back on its feet, and begin restoring the promise of the American Dream—the idea that no matter who you are, if you work hard and play by the rules, you can succeed.

To be sure, the modern economy is a complicated creature, and all our problems will not be solved by these nine ideas. But these common-sense measures, described in detail at the links, are actions that Congress could take today to strengthen the middle-class backbone of the economy and pave the way for a brighter future for everyone.

Reduce student debt and hold colleges accountable.

Federal student loan debt, piling up faster than credit card bills, will reach $1 trillion by the end of this year. The government backs these loans, so it should take the lead in preventing credit-ruining defaults and helping borrowers keep their debt loads manageable.

The administration’s “Pay As You Earn” proposal, which allows borrowers to cap their student loan payments at 10 percent of discretionary income, is an important step, but it should go further. This income-based repayment option should be an automatic part of the student loan program, rather than a small, opt-in program.

We should also hold colleges accountable when their students routinely fail to pay their loans or get meaningful work. And the government should give serious consideration to adopting for nonprofit and public colleges a version of the for-profit “gainful employment” rule, which penalizes schools that saddle students with overwhelming debt.

Ease the crushing debt burden of mortgages.

Homeownership has long been a source of economic security for middle-class Americans. But that came crashing down with the collapse of the housing market. One in four homeowners is currently “underwater,” owing more on their homes than the properties are worth.

It is difficult to refinance a loan on an underwater mortgage, so these homeowners can’t take advantage of current low interest rates. If they could it would help them and the economy as a whole since they could do more with their income than pay down debt. When more borrowers can refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates, it is good for the consumer, good for the taxpayer, and good for the economy.

The Obama administration should vigorously implement recently announced changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, making it easier for underwater homeowners to refinance. But action shouldn’t stop there. There are still some unnecessary barriers to beneficial, competitive refinancing, and federal regulators should ensure financial institutions face significant consequences if they do not participate actively in such refinancing.

Other reforms to help struggling homeowners should also be pursued. For borrowers who can no longer make their monthly mortgage payments but could afford to rent the same property, the Federal Housing Finance Administration should expand the Fannie Mae “deed for lease” program in which eligible homeowners have the option to exchange their mortgage for a monthly rental agreement. In this way more homes remain off the for-sale market and occupied, helping communities struggling with too many foreclosures. And through a carefully designed “lease-to-own” option, some of these new tenants could be given the opportunity to rebuild equity in the home over time though slightly higher rent payments.

Repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

The evidence is in: Lower taxes for the rich don’t help the economy. They inflate the deficit and they weaken support for the middle class. At a time of mounting inequality, it’s long past time to repeal massive tax cuts for the rich passed last decade by President George W. Bush and a Republican-controlled Congress.

Extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, as conservatives are demanding, will cost about $90 billion over just the next two years. Instead, we could lower taxes even more for middle-income Americans; make sure that teachers, firefighters, and police officers aren’t laid off; rebuild crumbling roads and bridges; and invest in science and technology research.

Congress should make permanent the lowered tax rates for the 98 percent of Americans earning less than $250,000 and ask the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share—by letting their rates go back to where they were under President Bill Clinton, when the economy was strong.

Rein in government giveaways to corporations and the top 1 percent.

Besides ultra-low tax rates for the wealthiest, our tax code is, in many ways, upside down. Many of the largest tax breaks disproportionately benefit the wealthy. Whether the purpose is to promote homeownership, retirement savings, or investment, many of our $1 trillion in annual tax breaks provide the largest subsidy to those who need them the least.

This happens because deductions and exclusions are more valuable to those in higher tax brackets. Congress should make the upside-down subsidies right side up—making the benefits of special tax provisions the same for all. That’s only fair.

The tax code is also stuffed with about $130 billion in annual tax expenditures benefiting businesses or industries. Many of these are indefensible giveaways, such as low taxes for hedge fund managers, subsidies for corporate jet owners, and drilling incentives for oil companies already enjoying record profits.

Congress should scrub the tax code of these ineffective corporate subsidies.

Require Wall Street to contribute to the middle-class recovery.

It’s time for Wall Street to provide some relief to the taxpayers who funded their bailouts two years ago.

That’s why the United States should join other countries in imposing a very small tax on trades of stocks, bonds, derivatives, and other Wall Street products. Trillions of dollars in financial instruments are traded every year, so even a tiny tax could raise $50 billion a year in the United States alone.

A miniscule transaction tax wouldn’t be felt by ordinary people who “buy and hold” stocks as ordinary investments, but it could curb the kind of high-frequency robo-trading that causes market volatility and exacerbates bubbles.

France and Germany are spearheading a European push for an internationl financial transactions tax, which Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently came out in support of. The United States should be leading the effort. An international tax will make evasion much harder for an industry where the nature and location of a transaction is often just a matter of changing the books.

To its credit, the Obama administration has proposed a 10-year bank tax called the Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee to be paid only by firms with more than $50 billion in assets.

Whatever the mechanism, firms at the center of the financial crisis that caused the Great Recession should also be at the center of the middle-class recovery Americans are still waiting for.

Regulate banks and financial firms to protect consumers.

The animating sentiment that fuels the protests of the 99 percent is this: After the financial crisis, big banks got bailed out but the middle class got left behind. And we’re still hurting.

That’s why the administration proposed and Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: a powerful watchdog looking out for ordinary people in their interactions with big banks and other sellers of mortgages, credit cards, and student loans—financial products that weigh heavily today on the 99 percent.

But now conservatives in Congress are blocking a confirmation vote for the CFPB’s first director (which it needs to assume its full authority), and fighting to weaken its mandate to take on powerful financial interests.

That’s an outrage. The economic hardships facing the 99 percent are a constant reminder of the need for a strong cop watching out for consumer interests.

Congress should immediately schedule a confirmation vote and support the CFPB. It should also resist efforts to weaken other new Wall Street regulations in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill.

Protect middle-class wages.

The federal minimum wage is worth more than a dollar less per hour, adjusted for inflation, than in 1968.

The people at the lowest rungs of the economic ladder are disproportionately hurt during times of economic crisis. A boost in the minimum wage would reward these employees for their hard work and help the economy by boosting their consumption of goods and services.

If that’s not reason enough, recent studies show that raising the minimum wage is good for people and good for the economy even in hard times. It reduces turnover, makes employees work harder, encourages job training by businesses, and can increase demand for goods and services. And it does not decrease employment, as opponents claim.

Congress should raise the minimum wage.

Give workers a voice.

A key reason for mounting income inequality is the unequal distribution of political and workplace power. Indeed, countries with high union representation, such as Sweden, tend to have less income inequality. In the United States, employers are using increasingly ruthless tactics to push unions out of the workplace. Meanwhile, labor laws have failed to keep up and have actually been weakened.

The result has been devastating for the 99 percent. The share of U.S. national income going to the middle class has steadily declined as the percentage of the population in labor unions has fallen. At the same time, the top 1 percent’s share of national income has skyrocketed.

Congress should pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would protect workers' right to join a union and make it harder for management to threaten organizing workers

Help Americans get back to work.

There is no more pressing problem for the 99 percent than the shortage of jobs. This isn’t just a problem for the 14 million unemployed. Lack of demand for labor keeps wages low, while the buying power of those stagnant wages is eroded by rising prices. That’s why Congress should pass the president’s American Jobs Act, either in full or in pieces. It’s the least they can do.

The bill introduced in September will create as many as 2 million new U.S. jobs by putting people to work repairing the country’s infrastructure, cutting taxes to spur consumer spending and hiring, and preventing up to 280,000 teacher layoffs.

It will also prevent more than 2 million jobless people from losing their unemployment insurance by doing what Congress has always done during periods of high unemployment: extending benefits to the long-term unemployed. And failing to extend benefits could lead to nearly a million more job losses.

The sign of a healthy economy is the well-being of all families, not just corporate profits and a rising stock market. The U.S. economy today is not working for most Americans and that’s why people across the country are demanding attention—and answers.

These nine measures are not a cure-all for what ails us but they will go a long way to making the economy work again for most Americans, not just the privileged.

And they will help restore the promise of the American Dream: If you work hard and play by the rules, you can build a good life for yourself and your family.

Link to original article from Center for American Progress

Michael Ettlinger is Vice President for Economic Policy and Gadi Dechter is Associate Director of Government Reform at American Progress.

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Steve Benen | The Maddow Blog 28 Sep 2012 Hits:640 Blog Articles

Fifteen Issues this Election is NOT About

Neither candidate is interested in stopping the use of the death penalty for federal or state crimes. Neither candidate is interested in eliminating or reducing the 5,113 US nuclear warheads. Neither candidate is campaigning to close Guantanamo prison. Neither candidate has called for arresting and prosecuting high ranking people on Wall Street for the subprime mortgage catastrophe. Neither candidate is interested in holding anyone in the Bush administration accountable for the torture committed by US personnel against prisoners in Guantanamo or in Iraq or Afghanistan. Neither candidate is interested in stopping the...

Bill Quigley | Common Dreams 24 Sep 2012 Hits:526 Blog Articles

Shocking Report Explodes 5 Myths About American Education

A new international report demolishes several deeply held myths about our educational system. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report, which compares the educational systems of over 30 developed nations, provides data that, when it comes to education, proves we’re so far from being number one, that the entire idea of American exceptionalism should be called into question. Rather than thumping our chests, we should be going to school on how other developed nations, especially those in Europe, invest in education....

Les Leopold | AlterNet 22 Sep 2012 Hits:883 Blog Articles

Flight to Mexico in His Memoir? Does Accuracy Matter?

While presidential contender Mitt Romney attempted to sway Latino voters at a Univision Forum in Florida last night, the fallout over his taped quips at a Republican fundraiser also include a joke about his Mexican-born father, George Romney. If he had been "born of Mexican parents," Romney said, as opposed to his Mormon transplanted ones, "I'd have a better shot at winning this." One year ago, in a piece for Salon.com, I took a closer look at Romney's family history in Mexico, and more particularly, their illegal flight from...

Jeff Biggers | Huffington Post 22 Sep 2012 Hits:640 Blog Articles

A MESSAGE FOR MALES – especially in this demographically oriented election

Without regard to whether you are a Democrat, an Independent, or a Republican, no matter which of Mitt’s 47% groups you find yourself, there is lodged in the DNA of every man one concern and love. That love and concern exceeds a love for the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, our job or our work. This love and concern most often underlies our willingness to enlist for our country in time of war. We often sacrifice for this willingly and without question. Of all the above, this – exceeding even food as...

Rev. George Six 21 Sep 2012 Hits:649 Blog Articles

House Republicans Plan Two Month Vacation, Leaving Key Bills Awaiting Action

House Republican Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) announced Friday that after next week, the House will stand in recess until November 13. His plan for a nearly two month vacation will undoubtedly allow more time for campaigning, but will leave several vital bills awaiting action. Among the important legislation the House will likely not address before the November elections: 1. Violence Against Women Act re-authorization. Though a bipartisan Senate majority passed the a strong re-authorization bill in April, the Republican House leadership refused to allow a vote on the Senate...

Josh Israel | ThinkProgress 16 Sep 2012 Hits:822 Blog Articles

CNN released an interesting poll yesterday that, on the surface, appeared to offer bad news for incumbent officeholders, especially President Obama. A plurality of Americans believes they're worse off than they were four years ago, and only a third believes the economy is in good shape. ut the larger question is more important: who do Americans hold responsible for our ongoing challenges? I put together a simple chart to show why Republicans are discouraged by the results. (click to enlarge) Among registered voters, the results just aren't...

14 Sep 2012 Hits:699 Blog Articles

On Tuesday, Universal Music Group submitted a cease and desist letter to Heidi Svenda Bernasconi - better known as Romney Girl - threatening legal action if the Romney Girl video is not removed from the internet by tomorrow. In the letter, Universal Music Group attorney Cory Greenwell warns that: "In the event that you fail to comply with any of our demands... we shall take whatever legal action we deem necessary and appropriate to protect our rights and interests in and to 'Barbie Girl,' including, but not limited to, commencing legal action...

Agenda Project.org 13 Sep 2012 Hits:1186 Blog Articles

Advertise on NYTimes.com Social Networks Can Affect Voter Turnout, Study Says

A study of millions of Facebook users on Election Day 2010 has found that online social networks can have a measurable if limited effect on voter turnout. The study, published online on Wednesday by the journal Nature, suggests that a special “get out the vote” message, showing each user pictures of friends who said they had already voted, generated 340,000 additional votes nationwide — whether for Democrats or Republicans, the researchers could not determine. The scientists, from Facebook and the University of California, San Diego, ...

John Markoff | The New York Times 13 Sep 2012 Hits:961 Blog Articles

Will Americans stick with Obama? (video)

Progressive Democrats of America's Tim Carpenter on Al Jazeera Inside Story The US unemployment rate registered a drop on Friday, but mainly because so many have simply given up looking for work. Barack Obama was aware of the new figures as he took to the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday night to promise that he could still fulfill his pledge of hope he made in 2008. The US president spared no insult against his Republican opponents, taking on their plans...

Al Jazeera.com 08 Sep 2012 Hits:1267 Blog Articles

Convention: Pulling Democrats’ platform to the left

Proudly liberal activist Tim Carpenter, who toiled in Orange County for more than 20 years before resettling in Massachusetts and co-founding Progressive Democrats of America, has made a career of standing staunchly to the left of mainstream Democrats, relentlessly beckoning and cajoling others to come a little closer. His 8-year-old PDA group was at it again Tuesday, with a “People’s Convention” at a Charlotte church and soup kitchen that featured the Rev. Jesse Jackson, former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, a couple Congress members, several Congressional hopefuls...

Martin Wisckol | OC Register 05 Sep 2012 Hits:539 Blog Articles

GOP Has Deal With the Devil

In the year 1960 Jack Kennedy ran against Dick Nixon for President. Nixon had much going against him, including much less comfort with TV, which was becoming the medium of persuasion. But many believe his biggest headwind was the willingness of Chicago Democrats led by Richard Daley the father to diddle the election in Chicago and thus deliver Illinois. Whether he really did, the GOP believed he did and the election had been stolen. They vowed “Never again.” In 1964 the GOP nominated Barry Goldwater, a man much too far to...

Philip L Marcus 04 Sep 2012 Hits:707 Blog Articles

Greatest Reasons to Vote Republican in November 2012

If starting wars without exit or pay is better than two year end to Iraq today, and for troops in Afghanistan you have nothing to say, Vote to take back America to the Republican way With Convention preaching America in decline, while applauding how system helped parents and grandparents climb, being full of Red dread, Vote off center with Clint in prime time Defining “Exceptionalism” with Founding Father religious liberty hypocrisy, hailing birther jokes with praise of meritocracy, Vote Lady Statue torches hopes of immigrants by...

Marcello Rollando | The Reasonable Voice 02 Sep 2012 Hits:988 Blog Articles

Republicans, at their just-ended convention, featured not one but two "debt clocks." Led by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, they made countless references to President Obama's supposedly horrific tax policies, his failure to balance the budget and so on. Unfortunately for them, the U.S. Constitution is very explicit about who is responsible for budget, borrowing, spending, and tax policies: "Article One, Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide...

Mike Hersh | PDA Communications Coordinator 02 Sep 2012 Hits:673 Blog Articles

Police really hate puppets. (And we don't mean the politicians!) Every four years the United States becomes gripped in morbid fascination with our electoral machinations, and grassroots organizers often find their ongoing work derailed by the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions that precede our presidential elections. This 2012 cycle is no different. As activists prepare to protest, the police departments and ruling elites in the host cities are acquiring the newest non- and less- lethal weaponry, while passing laws and regulations that vie for...

Nadine Bloch | Waging Nonviolence 30 Aug 2012 Hits:560 Blog Articles

GOP Effort at Keeping US Citizens From Voting is Like Robbing a Bank in Broad Daylight

This is the skinny: lacking a majority of supporters for its extremist social and plutocratic economic policies, the Republicans can only win with three combined strategies: lie and make it appear that they support prosperity for all Americans; make appeals to racism and dividing the white working class (union vs. non-union); and suppressing the vote. The New York Times posted an August 22nd article, entitled "Racial Comment by Republican Official in Ohio Rekindles Battle Over Early Voting." Being status quo doormats as usual, the Times wouldn't put "Racist" in its headline....

Mark Karlin | BuzzFlash Blog 24 Aug 2012 Hits:604 Blog Articles

Vulture capitalists are trying to take over life's most precious resource...

Water. According to a new report by Food & Water Watch, a growing number of pirate equity firms are moving into struggling cities and buying out their public infrastructure – namely – the city’s water infrastructure. Anyone who is familiar with Mitt Romney – is familiar with pirate equity firms like Bain Capital – which take over a company – strip it to the bones – and sell it off for a profit. When this strategy is used on public utilities – then consumers get...

Louise Hartmann | Thom Hartmann Blog 23 Aug 2012 Hits:697 Blog Articles

If Americans who are embracing Rep. Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity" -- and that now includes Mitt Romney -- spent a few minutes reviewing a few recent research reports, they just might conclude that the Wisconsin Republican's plan to reduce the deficit might better be renamed the "Path to the Poorhouse" because of what it would mean to the Medicare program and many senior citizens. Ryan's proposal, which will get new scrutiny now that Romney has made him his running mate, would end the current...

Wendell Potter | PR Watch 19 Aug 2012 Hits:832 Blog Articles

I was born in Detroit in 1961 and grew up in a working-class neighborhood just south of the famed 8 Mile Road. My block was stable; most of the fathers of my friends worked in the auto plants. In 1968 my parents divorced and my mother, armed with a high school degree, was thrust into the workforce. We were taken out of our Catholic school and moved into public schools. Dinner was often breakfast foods, which was fine with us. Mom is still a...

James C. Roumell | Washington Post 18 Aug 2012 Hits:826 Blog Articles

Will the Threat Ryan Poses to Rural America Swing Swing States? Yes

There are, of course, many reasons to attend the Iowa State Fair. As they say on the billboards: “Nothing Compares.” The Canned Food Sculpture is striking. Reserved seats are sold out for Saturday’s Journey, Pat Benatar and Loverboy show on the grandstand, but there is still standing-room-only space to be had for $40 a pop. The deep-fried butter on a stick is, by most accounts, scrumptious. And, if you are campaigning for, say, vice president of the United States, you could talk farm policy at the same place where Dwight Eisenhower,...

John Nichols | The Nation 17 Aug 2012 Hits:851 Blog Articles

Time to take the battery out of your cell phone

On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth District threw the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution out the window, ruling that police can track cell phone GPS data – and thus track you – without a warrant. The case of United States v. Skinner centered on a suspected drug trafficker who was tracked through his cell phone and arrested by the DEA. The Judge in the case, John Rogers said in his ruling, “Skinner did not have a reasonable expectation of...

Louise Hartmann | Thom Hartmann Blog 15 Aug 2012 Hits:838 Blog Articles

Deep down we know if we keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome, we’re marketing victims. First step out of the fog of programmed thinking is asking our political, corporate and government leaders, different and better questions. As every magician’s trick needs to distract our attention, corporate hands in our pockets are trumping our thinking with marketing deceptions, as in ‘now you see a thriving economy, now you don’t.’ How did an America that produces fifteen trillion dollars worth of product internationally (in...

Marcello Rollando | The Reasonable Voice 13 Aug 2012 Hits:561 Blog Articles

Romney’s Death Squad Ties: Bain Launched With Millions From Oligarchs Behind Salvadoran Atrocities (video)

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is facing new scrutiny over revelations he founded the private equity firm Bain Capital with investments from Central American elites linked to death squads in El Salvador. After initially struggling to find investors, Romney traveled to Miami in 1983 to win pledges of $9 million, 40 percent of Bain’s start-up money. Some investors had extensive ties to the death squads responsible for the vast majority of the tens of thousands of deaths in El Salvador during the 1980s. We’re joined by Huffington Post reporter Ryan...

Amy Goodman | Democracy Now 12 Aug 2012 Hits:737 Blog Articles

The 2012 Elections Have Little To Do With Obama's Record … Which Is Why We Are Voting For Him

The 2012 election will be one of the most polarized and critical elections in recent history. Let’s cut to the chase. The November 2012 elections will be unlike anything that any of us can remember. It is not just that this will be a close election. It is also not just that the direction of Congress hangs in the balance. Rather, this will be one of the most polarized and critical elections in recent history. Unfortunately what too few leftists and progressives have been prepared to...

Bill Fletcher, Jr., Carl Davidson | AlterNet 12 Aug 2012 Hits:830 Blog Articles

12 Things You Should Know About Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan

Mitt Romney has picked as his running mate 42 year-old Republican Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), the architect of the GOP budget, which the New York Times has described as “the most extreme budget plan passed by a house of Congress in modern times.” Below are 12 things you should know about Ryan and his policies: 1.Ryan embraces the extreme philosophy of Ayn Rand. Ryan heaped praise on Ayn Rand, a 20th-century libertarian novelist best known for her philosophy that centered on the idea that selfishness is “virtue.” Rand described altruism as “evil,”...

Igor Volsky | Think Progress 11 Aug 2012 Hits:1295 Blog Articles

Why Is America's Most Progressive Voting Block Often Overlooked?

The renowned physicist Max Planck once said, "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." And this isn't just true of science: the same principle holds true in the political arena. Most progressive advances don't come about because vast numbers of people are persuaded to drop their prejudices, but because younger generations to whom new ideas...

Adam Lee | AlterNet 07 Aug 2012 Hits:737 Blog Articles

Obama's Second Term Agenda: Cutting Social Security, Medicare, and/or Medicaid

This is probably the least important Presidential election since the 1950s. As an experienced political hand told me, the two candidates are speaking not to the voters, but to the big money. They hold the same views, pursue the same policies, and are backed by similar interests. Mitt Romney implemented Obamacare in Massachusetts, or Obama implemented Romneycare nationally. Both are pro-choice or anti-choice as political needs change, both tend to be hawkish on foreign policy, both favor tax cuts for businesses, and both believe...

Matt Stoller | Naked Capitalism 04 Aug 2012 Hits:1270 Blog Articles

Ex-Lobbyist Convicted For Corruption Is GOP's New 'Voter Fraud' Expert

A former lobbyist convicted in the Jack Abramoff congressional lobbying scandal has found a new line of work while still on probation: becoming a spokesman and self-appointed expert on allegedly rampant illegal voting by Democrats, according to an excellent report by Ryan Reilly in Talking Points Memo. The ex-lobbyist, Horace Cooper, has authored a 'paper' for the right-wing National Center for Public Policy Research that recites a litany of instances where Democrats allegedly impersonated voters or thousands of non-citizens were on voter rolls. Needless to say, Fox...

Steven Rosenfeld | AlterNet 04 Aug 2012 Hits:1804 Blog Articles

Pre-empting Mitt Romney's campaign visit to Israel, President Barack Obama last Friday signed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Co-operation Act of 2012. The bill was drafted by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and co-sponsored by Israeli firsters Barbara Boxer and Howard Berman, of the US Senate and House respectively. The omnipresence of Israeli lobbyists at the signing of the "rare bipartisan" bill provided a perfect background display of the foreign lobby's power in the US. President Obama used five pens to sign the Act as he was flanked by the...

Jamal Kanj | Children of Catastrophe 02 Aug 2012 Hits:723 Blog Articles

Gore Vidal in 1974. I remember Gore Vidal like a Bond villain. He was sitting on the edge of his bed in that same big house in the Hollywood Hills where he died Tuesday night. Holding on to a glass of whiskey with one hand, he used the other to stroke a giant white cat with an angry mouth and a cloudy gray eye. He called it “pussy.” Of course he did. I was there to record the great man with the booming voice while he...

Peter Z. Scheer | Truthdig 02 Aug 2012 Hits:695 Blog Articles

Population and Women’s Reproductive Rights

I recently retuned from population training by the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club promotes the stabilization of world population through: Increased access to voluntary family planning and sex Advocating for women’s and girls’ basic rights Educating youth to support family planning Grass roots organizing to increase public awareness While PDA and the Sierra Club are different organizations both groups identify the importance of women’s reproductive rights and how birth control has elevated women’s lives. Birth control was not always legal in the United States. When it was it was often only provided...

Drew Martin | Palm Beach Progressive Post 31 Jul 2012 Hits:652 Blog Articles

Watch the London Olympics Opening Ceremony Footage Censored By NBC [Video]

A six-minute tribute to the victims of the London subway terror attacks of July 7, 2005, was cut from the American broadcast of the London Olympics opening ceremony. The NBC network showed a Ryan Seacrest interview with Michael Phelps instead Choreographer Akram Khan told the BBC that he felt “disheartened and disappointed” by the NBC decision against airing his performance for U.S. television viewers. He added that “I am really sad that I couldn’t show the work in America, and that really upsets me, because I don’t...

The Inquisitr 30 Jul 2012 Hits:852 Blog Articles

Debt-Ceiling Battle Cost The U.S. Government $1.3 Billion: Study

Here's something for Congress to maybe think about the next time it decides to have a big, stupid argument about the debt ceiling: These big, stupid arguments, while entertaining, cost a lot of money. How much money? The 2011 argument about the debt ceiling--the most recent battle--cost the U.S. government about $1.3 billion in extra borrowing costs, according to a new study by the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan congressional watchdog. And that's just the costs that the GAO bothered to count. There are also probably extra...

Mark Gangoff | Huffington Post 23 Jul 2012 Hits:672 Blog Articles

Come NovemberSoon it will be presidential voting time again in the U.S.. That four year cycle comes to us with the regularity of a returning comet, accompanied by a shroud of campaign fog that makes a guessing game of discerning fact from fiction when it comes to political promises. A hefty minority have opted out of this process. Thus, if history runs consistent, when the designated day in November arrives, between 38 and 40% of America's eligible voters will automatically (without even thinking about it)...

Lawrence Davidson, To the Point Analyses | Op-Ed 15 Jul 2012 Hits:641 Blog Articles

I'm writing from Oceanside California, where budget constraints forced the city to cancel July 4 fireworks for the third year in a row. This is just one example of many US cities cutting back on essential and non-essential programmes during hard economic downturns. The economy is the lead issue in the upcoming election between presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney and unopposed Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama. Despite the long and rigorous primary process, the voters' choice is limited to two candidates who have surrendered their worth to large campaign contributors. On...

Jamal Kanj | Gulf Daily News 13 Jul 2012 Hits:735 Blog Articles

Mass Arrests Likely at Political Conventions: 6 Historical Precedents

Clinton's law designates political conventions National Special Security Events, a category of state security that virtually dooms the exercise of First Amendment Rights. The Republican and Democratic Party conventions later this summer will probably witness the mass arrest of many American citizens assembling to exercise their First Amendment rights. Mass arrests accompanied the Republican conventions held in New York in 2004, when 900 people were busted, and in St. Paul in 2008 when 300 were detained, including 30 journalists. A political convention is designated...

David Rosen | AlterNet 05 Jul 2012 Hits:814 Blog Articles

For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Heat In On, the Power Is Off. So Are We Ready for a Miracle or Another Lie We Tell Ourselves?

Minions maneuvered by marketing minutes of minute manipulated memories of the biggest, best and most powerful nation in the world, blindsided by those benefiting most from dumping loads of the unnecessary on the sold, to blot out “average” in education. It’s easier to control someone who buys the over advertized, diminishing adrenalin, momentum and drive to, where’s the remote and pass the fries. Masters control best by prohibiting reading, writing, learning, knowing an educated people, inevitably transform from subservient property to dangerous minds. Corralling the masses to keep them “fat, lazy...

Marcello Rollando | The Reasonable Voice 05 Jul 2012 Hits:693 Blog Articles

Justice won't prosecute Holder for contempt

The Department of Justice is telling Congress that it won't prosecute Attorney General Eric Holder for contempt of Congress over his decision to withhold information about the "Fast and Furious" gun-tracking operation. In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, the department says that it will not bring the congressional contempt citation against Holder to a federal grand jury and that it will take no other action to prosecute the attorney general. Deputy Attorney General James Cole says the decision is in line with long-standing Justice Department practice...

Steve Frank | The Ed Show MSNBC 29 Jun 2012 Hits:1221 Blog Articles

Conservative Southern Values Revived: How a Brutal Strain of American Aristocrats Have Come to Rule America

America didn't used to be run like an old Southern slave plantation, but we're headed that way now. How did that happen? It's been said that the rich are different than you and me. What most Americans don't know is that they're also quite different from each other, and that which faction is currently running the show ultimately makes a vast difference in the kind of country we are. Right now, a lot of our problems stem directly from the fact that the wrong sort has...

Sara Robinson | AlterNet 29 Jun 2012 Hits:2338 Blog Articles

Arizona's Immigrants Under 'Reasonable Suspicion'

Has the Supreme Court made it possible for hundreds of thousands of police officers throughout the country to racially profile millions of people? When she heard the Supreme Court decision upholding the “reasonable suspicion” (a k a “papers, please”) provisions of Arizona’s SB-1070, immigrant rights activist Isabel Garcia saw the Arizonification of the nation. “We’ve been fighting local ‘reasonable suspicion’ laws here in Arizona for decades,” said Garcia, a Pima County public defender and co-chair of Coalición de Derechos Humanos, an organization dedicated...

Roberto Lovato | The Nation 28 Jun 2012 Hits:705 Blog Articles

Veteran Democratic pollster Peter Hart recently conducted a focus group in Colorado, and if President Obama's supporters want to feel depressed, they should certainly read what the undecided voters had to say. One woman, a 49-year-old a customer service representative for an airline, said she'd consider voting for the president, but only if he "could do something huge, like really lower the price of gas." Of course, the notion that Obama, by sheer force of will, can lower the price of gas is deeply foolish. The public's expectations...

Steve Benen | The Maddow Blog 26 Jun 2012 Hits:794 Blog Articles

How to Tell if Your Favorite Companies Are Truly Progressive or Secretly Selling Out

Fran Hawthorne, author of "Ethical Chic: The Inside Story of the Companies We Think We Love," dishes on some big-name companies. Many progressives know that some of their favorite companies have dirty secrets. Many are also aware that in the last 30 years, a number of socially responsible independent companies have accepted buy-outs from larger corporations for various reasons. French Group Danone acquired organic yogurt purveyor Stonyfield Farms in several stages over the last decade. Unilever bought Vermont-based ice-cream company Ben & Jerry’s in 2000. Colgate-Palmolive...

Brittany Shoot | AlterNet 19 Jun 2012 Hits:866 Blog Articles

Did Republicans deliberately crash the US economy?

Be it ideology or stratagem, the GOP has blocked pro-growth policy and backed job-killing austerity – all while blaming Obama So why does the US economy stink? Why has job creation in America slowed to a crawl? Why, after several months of economic hope, are things suddenly turning sour? The culprits might seem obvious – uncertainty in Europe, an uneven economic recovery, fiscal and monetary policymakers immobilized and incapable of acting. But increasingly, Democrats are making the argument that the real culprit for the country's economic...

Michael Cohen | The Guardian 11 Jun 2012 Hits:2877 Blog Articles

When we hear progressive individuals speak about ‘special interests’ we are all pretty sure what they mean. Whether it is a financial conglomerate or a super PAC run by resource companies, we are clear on whom they are talking about. The term is a little less clear cut when we hear conservatives use it. Recently, Scott Walker declared that “finally someone has stood up against the powerful ‘Special interests’ and put the tax payers back in charge.” In this instance, it is obvious what Walker means. He means Unions. The...

David Joseph Deutch 09 Jun 2012 Hits:992 Blog Articles

Five Things the House is Doing to Attack Choice

Last week, a divisive bill introduced by anti-choice Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) failed to pass the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Franks calls his bill the "Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act" (PreNDA), but contrary to its title, it does nothing to end sex discrimination or gender inequity. All forms of reproductive coercion are wrong -- including societal pressures to have a child of a particular sex. But the Franks bill exploits the very real problems of sex discrimination and gender inequity while failing to offer any genuine solutions that would eliminate disparities in...

Nancy Keenan | Huffington Post 06 Jun 2012 Hits:704 Blog Articles

Occupy Wall Street to rubber stamp money with anti-corporate slogans

Occupy Wall Street protestors march down Fifth Avenue towards Union Square (Monika Graff/Getty Images/AFP) One half of the ice cream duo Ben & Jerry’s has a message for Wall Street: Jamaican Me Crazy. The man behind flavors such as Cherry Garcia, Chubby Hubby and, yes, Jamaican Me Crazy, is rolling out a plan to stamp out corporate money in US politics. Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen might rake in a hefty paycheck for being on top of the American ice cream game, but he hasn’t lost touch with the 99 percent....

RT Question More 05 Jun 2012 Hits:882 Blog Articles

I gave a talk last week at Canada's Wilfrid Laurier University to the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Many in the audience had pinned small red squares of felt to their clothing. The carre rouge, or red square, has become the Canadian symbol of revolt. It comes from the French phrase carrement dans le rouge, or "squarely in the red," referring to those crushed by debt. The streets of Montreal are clogged nightly with as many as 100,000 protesters banging pots and pans and...

Chris Hedges | Truthdig 04 Jun 2012 Hits:896 Blog Articles

Three times in my life I’ve visited altars reputed to be “more powerful than a locomotive:” Lourdes, a NJ cloistered priests community and a tiny chapel in Lake Worth, Florida where a touring Madonna waited. Each time, I was struck dumb, save for the words “thank you for forgiving me” and “I love you.” I always say, never miss an opportunity to say, I love you, but getting tongue tied on thank you and forgiveness, was perforce, a command performance. Our 2012 election year...

Marcello Rollando | The Reasonable Voice 03 Jun 2012 Hits:669 Blog Articles

I got an e-mail the other day from Richard Engle telling me that his son Charlie would be getting out of prison this month. I was happy to hear it. Charlie’s ordeal isn’t over yet, of course. When he leaves prison on June 20, Charlie, 49, will move temporarily to a halfway house, after which he will be on probation for another five years. And unless he can get the verdict overturned, he will have to spend the rest of his life with a felony...

Joe Nocera | New York Times OpEd 03 Jun 2012 Hits:838 Blog Articles

In an extraordinary article in Tuesday’s New York Times, “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will,” authors Jo Becker and Scott Shane throw macabre light on the consigliere-cum-priestly role that counterterrorist adviser John Brennan provides President Barack Obama. At the outset, Becker and Shane note that, although Obama vowed to “align the fight against Al Qaeda with American values,” he has now ordered the obedient Brennan to prepare a top secret “nominations” list of people whom the President may decide to...

Ray McGovern | Consortium News 30 May 2012 Hits:715 Blog Articles

Mitt Romney appeared in Craig, Colorado, to deliver the same message he repeats at every campaign stop: the people in the area are "hurting right now under this president." The traditional Democratic response is that blaming President Obama for the economic crisis he inherited is ridiculous. But yesterday in Northern Colorado was a little different: the small town of Craig isn't really hurting at all. The community's economy is faring pretty well, it weathered the recession better than most, and locals are pretty optimistic about the...

Steve Benen | The Maddow Blog 30 May 2012 Hits:684 Blog Articles

National Nurses United (NNU), the union spearheading the drive for a Robin Hood Tax, also calls for a “participatory democracy,” evidence of the current vitality of a concept born at the Port Huron convention of SDS fifty years ago this June. Saying, "Democracy is not a spectator support,” a chart by the NNU envisions participatory democracy flowing into economic democracy, then political democracy, and finally into representative democracy. Paradigm Publishers is publishing Participatory Democracy this September, a volume including writings by Tom Hayden, Linda Gordon, Robby Cohen, and 12 original participants...

Tom Hayden | Tom Hayden.com 29 May 2012 Hits:692 Blog Articles

Remembering Who We Are, We Remember What to Honor

All my uncles were Veterans. My Dad, of both WWII and Korea. All said, wars change those who fight them. I say, corporations have now changed War, so only the funeral homes and they win them. Still as a Veteran who sang his way through wartime with The Soldiers Chorus of the Army Field Band, I bow before and salute all Veterans who have sacrificed their blood, body parts, time with loved ones and life here on earth, for they are the best among us. I ask only that as...

Marcello Rollando | The Reasonable Voice 28 May 2012 Hits:658 Blog Articles

How the Post Office Is Being Destroyed By a Phony Budget Crisis

Local post offices all across the country, which function as community commons, including this one in Gerry, New York, are threatened with destruction because of Congress's shenanigans with the USPS budget. (Photo by Ross Griff under a Creative Commons license from flickr.com) As every 6 year old learns, there is real and there is make believe. The massive Post Office deficit that is driving its management to commit institutional suicide by ending 6-day mail delivery, closing half of the nations’ 30,000 or so...

David Morris | Common Dreams 27 May 2012 Hits:2885 Blog Articles

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Quiet Drama in Philadelphia

“You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out. You will not be able to skip out for beer during commercials, Because the revolution will not be televised. . . . The revolution will be live.” --From the 1970 hit song by Gil Scott-Heron Last week, the city of Philadelphia's school system announced that it expects to close 40 public schools next year, and 64 schools by 2017. The school district expects to lose 40% of its current enrollment, and thousands of experienced, qualified teachers. But...

Ellen Brown | Common Dreams 27 May 2012 Hits:809 Blog Articles

Former GOP Congresswoman Blasts New GOP Women’s Caucus: ‘They’re Not Voting In Best Interest Of All Women’

Former Rep. Claudine Schneider (R) was the first — and only — woman to represent Rhode Island in Congress. Over five terms in the House (from 1981 to 1991), she helped pass key environmental, health, and gender-equity laws, including the Economic Equity and the Pension Equity Acts. Like former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO) and former Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD), Schneider told ThinkProgress there is no longer a place for centrists like herself in the modern Republican Party: THINKPROGRESS: Why do you think today’s Republican Congresswomen are so much...

Josh Israel | Sourced from ThinkProgress 27 May 2012 Hits:939 Blog Articles

Can Occupy Fight Back Against the War on Women?

Three hundred feminists blanketed the concrete in Washington Square Park last night, their attention focused by the now-familiar mic check. The “Raging Grannies” had just performed. A banner, framed by the park’s iconic arch, declared that the first NYC Feminist General Assembly, presented by Women Occupying Wall Street (WOWS), was in full swing. After seven months of reporting on feminism and the work of women activists in the Occupy movement, I wanted to know: could this meeting be a model for how OWS collaborates with...

Sarah Seltzer | The Nation 22 May 2012 Hits:932 Blog Articles

Are Democrats Bent on Political Suicide?

With the Republicans outspending progressives 20-to-one, Obama’s Democratic National Committee stubbornly refuses to invest a penny in the battle to unseat Walker. Jerry Brown, my California state’s Democratic governor, is a crushing disappointment. We voted for him over the former Ebay CEO, rightwing Republican Meg Whitman, who promised to fire 40,000 public workers and end welfare, mainly because Brown trailed nostalgic clouds of progressive glory. A one-time governor himself, he banked on us remembering that he is also the semi-hippie son of a much-loved 1960s two-term governor,...

Clancy Sigal | Counterpunch 20 May 2012 Hits:921 Blog Articles

Koch Brothers, Republicans Join Forces To Close Technology Gap On Obama, Democrats

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the 2008 presidential race, Barack Obama was famously effective in using new technologies to raise money, mobilize voters and target his message of change. In this year's campaign, his opponents are determined to turn the tables. Republican political operatives, some with deep financial backing from the billionaire Koch brothers and others, are unleashing about a half dozen major projects that take advantage of advanced database technologies to manage campaigns and target voters with personalized messages. Few doubt...

Peter Henderson | Huffington Post 17 May 2012 Hits:1028 Blog Articles

Military Detention Law Blocked by New York Judge (Update 1)

A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a part of the National Defense Authorization Act that opponents claim could subject them to indefinite military detention for activities including news reporting and political activism. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan today ruled in favor of a group of writers and activists who sued President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Defense Department, claiming a provision of the act, signed into law Dec. 31, puts them in fear that they could be arrested and held by U.S. armed forces. The complaint...

Bob Van Voris and Patricia Hurtado | Bloomberg 16 May 2012 Hits:868 Blog Articles

White House & Dems Back Banks Over Protests: Newly Discovered Homeland Security Files Show Feds Central to Occupy Crackdown

A new trove of heavily redacted documents provided by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) on behalf of filmmaker Michael Moore and the National Lawyers Guild makes it increasingly evident that there was and is a nationally coordinated campaign to disrupt and crush the Occupy Movement. The new documents, which PCJF National Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard insists “are likely only a subset of responsive materials,” in the possession of federal law enforcement...

Dave Lindorff | Nation of Change 15 May 2012 Hits:1015 Blog Articles

For Democrats, one of the principal goals of 2012 is to persuade American voters not to go backwards. Bush/Cheney left all kinds of crises for Obama/Biden to clean up, and Dems intend to urge the electorate not to return to the failures of the recent past. With this in mind, I suspect Democrats are happier about today's news than Mitt Romney is. Mitt Romney has the support of George W. Bush. "I'm for Mitt Romney," Bush told ABC News this morning as the doors of an elevator closed on...

Steve Benen | The Maddow Blog 15 May 2012 Hits:993 Blog Articles

What happened to us mothers? We allowed this holiday to get away from us. We allowed it to become commercialized, individualized, commodified, unpoliticized. We allowed it to be about superficial symbols of love—flowers and chocolates and store-bought cards. We allowed it be a time when we, as mothers, sit back and receive personal recognition, instead of a time when we, as mothers, stand up together to make collective demands. Let’s be clear about what Mothers Day was supposed to be, before it fell...

Medea Benjamin | Common Dreams 14 May 2012 Hits:777 Blog Articles

Girl Scouts caught in a culture war (again)

Conservatives' antipathy towards the Girl Scouts used to be found on the fringes. In 1994, for example, James Dobson's Focus on the Family published a memorable attack on the Girl Scouts, insisting the group "lost their way" after the Scouts made a religious oath optional for membership. I can't find it online anymore, but back in 2005, Amanda Marcotte had a great item about various paranoid voices on the right, complaining about "radical lesbian feminists" having taken over the Girl Scouts. [Update: Amanda wrote...

Steve Benen | The Maddow Blog 11 May 2012 Hits:869 Blog Articles

Who You Gonna Believe? Me, or Your Lying Eyes and Ears?

Romney will not win with his Extreme Right positions on Women, Immigrants, the Gay Community and his support of the "Marvelous" Ryan Plan, which is cruel and ugly to the poor, disabled and the under-served, as stated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. No "etch a sketch" change in statements will make a difference with all the miles of video tape footage about Ryan's "Courageous" attempt to deal with entitlements, thanks to FOX News and all other media networks. We all know that his only real chance of winning...

Margarita Mercure Hibbs 07 May 2012 Hits:3570 Blog Articles

One thing appears as a shared consensus amongst the global political right today, “no more government spending on social programs.” What with the Eurozone crisis enforcing harsh austerity and the US economy recovering in drips and drabs, the most important aspects of social development are set to be wholly neglected in the next generation. Now, more than ever, it is essential that governments, rather than simply investing in social security nets, actively seek to provide social capital in the form of education and vocational training. From the high days of the...

David Joseph Deutch 05 May 2012 Hits:875 Blog Articles

Oranizers, Not Occupiers: The Young People Working in the Shadows of a National Movement

By chance, the revelation of how Apple evades millions of dollars in taxes broke three days before May Day, when workers of the world traditionally protest such injustice. Although the Apple practices aren’t illegal, the dodging of taxes on revenue generated, to a large extent, by low-wage Chinese workers, was a perfect introduction to this year’s May 1 observance, highlighted by the Occupy movement’s call for strikes and demonstrations around the country. The goal: Protest corporate domination of an economy being pulled downward by...

Bill Boyarsky | Truthdig 02 May 2012 Hits:839 Blog Articles

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House budget committee, knew some Catholics were spoiling for a fight with him Thursday when he was scheduled to speak at Georgetown University, a Catholic institution. Nearly 90 faculty members and administrators sent him a letter expressing concerns with his recent comments that his proposed budget, which includes massive spending cuts to programs for the poor but not a single tax increase, was inspired by his Catholic faith. "I am afraid that Chairman Ryan's budget reflects the values...

Stephanie Mencimer | Mother Jones 29 Apr 2012 Hits:1208 Blog Articles

Hardcore Band for Secret Service all atwitter over Chaperone Employment Opportunities on Facebook for Double Dipping Fee Disputes

And that’s just the title of this rant and rage compilation of raw anger at opportunistic, holier than thou, hypocritical “mad as hell” venting. YES, finally an American institution is held accountable for last call profiteering behind closed doors, where there’s more going on and coming in than jilted call girls. Sad that both civilian and military in positions of authority, responsibility and power need ‘free will’ limitations imposed in order to do their duty without doing the deed; Who among us need ‘prohibition...

29 Apr 2012 Hits:982 Blog Articles

CISPA Passes House: Cybersecurity Bill Approved Despite White House Veto Threat

The House of Representatives passed cybersecurity legislation Thursday aimed at protecting American companies from hackers who steal intellectual property. The bill passed 248 to 168, largely along party lines, despite the Obama administration's threats to veto the bill and its claims that the bill falls short in protecting civil liberties The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, sponsored by Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), would give businesses and the federal government legal protection to share information about cyber-threats with each other. The...

Gerry Smith | Huff Post 27 Apr 2012 Hits:856 Blog Articles

76 Arrested At Capitol Hill For Protesting Paul Ryan’s Drastic Medicaid Cuts

76 people, including actor Noah Wyle, were arrested yesterday during a protest in the Cannon House Office Building. The protest, organized by the group Americans with Disabilities for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT), was focused on Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, which makes deep cuts to federal Medicaid spending. Ryan’s proposal would cut federal Medicaid funding by $810 billion, or 22 percent, over the next ten years, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). By 2022, states would be receiving an average of...

Zachary Bernstein | Think Progress 25 Apr 2012 Hits:943 Blog Articles

When walking Jesus and his disciples saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, "Master, is this man a sinner or his parents that he was born blind?" Jesus answered that neither had the blind man sinned, nor his parents…that the man was born blind so that the works and meaning of God's plan should be known. HIS meaning was that those born with infirmities and genetic flaws are not sinners, had not sinned, and that their parents had nothing to do with their defects....

Ron DuBois | Oklahomans for Single Payer 25 Apr 2012 Hits:837 Blog Articles

The Senate voted today to begin the slow dismantling of the United States Postal Service and to attack injured postal workers by slashing their workers’ compensation benefits. The NALC has argued for months that S. 1789 would fail to preserve the long-term viability of the Postal Service because it embraces the downsizing plans of Postmaster General Pat Donahoe. Today, by voting against an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) to preserve six-day mail delivery (by a vote of 56 to 43), and by rejecting an amendment offered by Sen....

Natl Assn Letter Carriers President Fredric V. Rolando 24 Apr 2012 Hits:1178 Blog Articles

What’s the big deal about Our 2012 Elections?!?

Answer: recapturing America. Ah but which America, the America of 1776, black & white 50’s, embattled 60’s, Watergate 70’s, the 80’s Trickle Down & CIA “Team B,” NAFTA 90’s or the dawning of the age of “drill, baby drill wars? If only we could agree on which America to elect. In 2012 we vote about the Right to Work, Corporate Personhood, Voter Suppression and a politically compromised Supreme Court. It’s about “show me the money:” those who have it, those who used to and...

23 Apr 2012 Hits:948 Blog Articles

The Republicans’ gamble that they could ride a backlash against the Obama administration’s efforts to increase the availability of contraception has gone terribly bad. It turns out that most Americans, especially women, agree that insurance companies should have to cover contraception – for example, birth control pills – in their health insurance plans. One result of this battle has been a record gender gap in the presidential race, with President Obama leading likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney by a huge margin of 57-38 percent...

Mark Weisbrot | Sacramento Bee 20 Apr 2012 Hits:835 Blog Articles

Meet ALEC's Equally Despicable Anti-Choice Cousin -- AUL

Think the anti-choicers in statehouses around the country are coming up with abortion bans all by themselves? Think again. When statehouses across the country started passing abortion bans at the seemingly arbitrary threshold of 20 weeks, was it a mere coincidence? When the "right to know" bills that required mandatory ultrasounds -- sometimes transvaginal ones -- before abortions were introduced or passed, in state after state, from Virginia...

arah Seltzer and Lauren Kelley | AlterNet 19 Apr 2012 Hits:1014 Blog Articles

The Republicans Who Want Ignorance to Get Equal Time in Schools

Education is the new Republican enemy. No more free thinking and empirical evidence, just the Bible, rumour and Fox News Not content with merely waging war on women, Republicans are targeting another enemy of conservatism: education. New Hampshire state Republican Jerry Bergevin recently railed against science and the atheist eggheads who call themselves teachers: "I want the full portrait of evolution and the people who came up with the ideas to be presented. It's a world view and it's godless. While New Hampshire didn't end up passing Bergevin's...

Diane Roberts | The Guardian UK 17 Apr 2012 Hits:1297 Blog Articles

Book on Occupy's Tent City Era Helps Anchor Roots of Evolving Movement

There has likely not been a sociopolitical phenomenon more heavily documented than the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. What took root in Zuccotti Park and quickly blossomed in over 1,000 sites throughout the United States captured the world's imagination, but also its cameras, laptops, iPhones and Twitter accounts. No sooner had OWS celebrated its two-month anniversary, the first "Occubooks" began to appear, offering first cuts at making sense of the most exciting populist movement to rock the United States in seventy-five years. Unsurprisingly,...

Michael Busch, Truthout | Interview 15 Apr 2012 Hits:1055 Blog Articles

Mitt Romney, Allen West: Every Liberals Dream Ticket

Will Romney pick the GOP darkhorse to accompany him on presidential run? With presidential candidate Mitt Romney dominating the Republican primaries, and his victory appearing more likely as the race winds down, there is much conjecture as to which Republican leader will serve as Romney’s running mate. While many names have been thrown on the table, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), seems to be the most fascinating suggestion thus far. As a freshman in Congress, West appears to be an unlikely choice. Politically wise, however, Romney placing West on...

Gerren K. Gaynor | Loop 21 14 Apr 2012 Hits:1248 Blog Articles

Report: Treasury Snubs Struggling Homeowners

Only 3 percent of the $7.6 billion in TARP funds that are targeted for troubled homeowners facing foreclosure have been spent, according to a report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Fund. The Hardest Hit Fund was created in 2010 to help struggling homeowners, but the Treasury Department has failed to distribute the vast majority of the money in the last two years due to "a lack of comprehensive planning," the report said. "Look at the TARP money that...

Common Dreams Staff 12 Apr 2012 Hits:874 Blog Articles

Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Dispel Outrageous Allen West Claims

Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva and Keith Ellison today responded to Rep. Allen West’s unsubstantiated claim that approximately 80 CPC members are communists: “Allen West is denigrating the millions of Americans who voted to elect Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) members, and he is ignoring the oath they took to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution—just like he did. Calling fellow Members of Congress ‘communists’ is reminiscent of the days when Joe McCarthy divided Americans with name-calling and modern-day witch hunts that don’t advance policies...

Congressional Progressive Caucus 11 Apr 2012 Hits:1097 Blog Articles

If you need to know what’s wrong with American conservatism in the early 21st century you have only to look at their view of the Girl Scouts. You would think that legislatures would want to honor the 100th anniversary of an organization like the Girl Scouts but empowering women isn’t exactly what the patriarchal GOP is about. Even worse from their standpoint is an imagined connection between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood. The end result is that anyone seeking to empower girls and women is...

Hrafnkell Haraldsson | PoliticusUSA 11 Apr 2012 Hits:1621 Blog Articles

Take off your hat. Taps is playing. Almost four decades late, the Vietnam War and its post-war spawn, the Vietnam Syndrome, are finally heading for their American grave. It may qualify as the longest attempted burial in history. Last words -- both eulogies and curses -- have been offered too many times to mention, and yet no American administration found the silver bullet that would put that war away for keeps. Richard Nixon tried to get rid of it while it was still going on...

Tom Englehardt | TomDispatch 10 Apr 2012 Hits:749 Blog Articles

'72 presidential candidate George McGovern hospitalized

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Former South Dakota senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern has been hospitalized in Florida, his daughter said Wednesday. Ann McGovern told The Associated Press her 89-year-old father was admitted to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, Fla., on Tuesday evening for tests to figure out why he occasionally passes out and loses his ability to speak. "He's comfortable. The tests are continuing to see if they can determine what's causing this," Ann McGovern said. Hospital officials said the elder McGovern is in stable condition....

CHET BROKAW and KRISTI EATON | Masslive 07 Apr 2012 Hits:1004 Blog Articles

Jean-Luc Mélenchon: the poetry-loving pitbull galvanising the French elections

In a packed agricultural hanger in a rural town in central France, an enraptured crowd raised their fists and chanted: "Resistance! Resistance!" On stage, arms flung wide, sweat pouring down his face, stood the charismatic, hard-left firebrand hailed as the best orator of the presidential campaign. "The French Revolution of 1789 hasn't breathed its last!" roared Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the poetry-loving pitbull of anti-capitalism. "If Europe is a volcano, France is the crater of all European revolutions!" Mixing brute rage with killer, comic one-liners about the...

Angelique Chrisafis | U.K. Guardian 06 Apr 2012 Hits:1062 Blog Articles

“JOBS Act” a “Recipe for Fraud” Creating a “Race to the Bottom”

WASHINGTON - April 5 - WILLIAM K. BLACK, is available for a limited number of interviews, Black is now an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and the author of “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One.” He was the deputy staff director of the national commission that investigated the cause of the savings and loan debacle. He was just interviewed by The Real News: “JOBS Act 2012 a Recipe for Fraud.” Black recently wrote...

Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA) 05 Apr 2012 Hits:969 Blog Articles

Hallelujah, Washington has finally heard the people's cries for jobs! In an urgent bipartisan push, Democrats and Republicans have joined hands across the aisle to pass the JOBS Act. In this time of "The Great Hurt" — with widespread unemployment, middle-class incomes tumbling and the price of gasoline skyrocketing — we can all applaud our stalwarts in the capital city for meeting the No. 1 need of America's hard-hit economy: deregulating Wall Street. Huh? I thought this was a jobs bill? We'll get to that, but...

Jim Hightower | Creators.com 04 Apr 2012 Hits:844 Blog Articles

Canada, U.S. and Mexico vow to boost trade, fight drug crime

Obama endorses Canada's bid to join Trans Pacific Partnership talks Prime Minister Stephen Harper emerged from a three-nation summit Monday pledging to work with his counterparts on joint efforts to boost economic growth and trade, fight organized drug crime and promote energy development. While he secured a public endorsement from U.S. President Barack Obama for Canada's aspirations to join negotiations in the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership, there is still no guarantee the U.S. and others won't demand stiff concessions from Harper. Harper met with Obama...

Mark Kennedy, Postmedia News | Vancouver Sun 03 Apr 2012 Hits:757 Blog Articles

How GOP candidates get Europe wrong

The state of the European economy has become something of an issue in our presidential campaign. So just how bad ARE things over there? We asked Allen Pizzey to check it out: Springtime brings out the best in Europe - the cafes move out into the street, all the better to absorb the history that surrounds you. The recession is biting here, just as it is everywhere. It's just that Europeans seem to have a way of getting by - unless you look at them from the Republican presidential hopefuls' point of...

CBSNews.com 31 Mar 2012 Hits:900 Blog Articles

The Supremes & Obama Care: Five Hypocrites and One Bad Idea

The Supreme Court is so full of it. The entire institution, as well as its sanctimonious judges themselves, reeks of a time-honored hypocrisy steeped in the arrogance that justice is served by unaccountable elitism. My problem is not with the Republicans who dominate the court questioning the obviously flawed individual mandate for the purchasing of private-sector health insurance but rather with their zeal to limit federal power only when it threatens to help the most vulnerable. The laughter noted in the court transcription that...

Robert Scheer | Truthdig 31 Mar 2012 Hits:790 Blog Articles

I recently looked at Paul Ryan’s FY 2013 budget rollout. Unlike those who emphasize the budget’s conservative slant, my sense is that the key thing this year (as last) is how sketchy the whole thing is. With some justification: it ain’t going anywhere, so why spell out painful cuts and tax trade-offs? All of which I mostly don’t blame Ryan for. He has his own set of incentives to work with. But I do blame any reporter who reports this as a serious budget. The thing...

Jonathan Bernstein | Washington Monthly 30 Mar 2012 Hits:999 Blog Articles

We’re Paying a “War Tax” at the Gas Pump

It’s hard to miss the higher cost of gas every time we fill up our cars these days, but the News Media doesn’t do a very good job of explaining why. There isn’t any mystery, though, if you read the financial press and oil industry sources: We’re paying extra for gas because of rising tensions in the Middle East and especially the scare over a possible US or Israeli attack on Iran. In effect, we’re paying a “war tax” at the gas pump, and the cost will only get higher...

Jeff Klein | CounterPunch 29 Mar 2012 Hits:1047 Blog Articles

Dem Rep. Rush kicked off House floor for ‘hoodie’ in Trayvon Martin protest

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) on Wednesday morning was asked to leave the House floor after removing his suit jacket to reveal a “hoodie,” then putting the hood on his head to protest the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida. “Racial profiling has to stop,” Rush said. “Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum.” Rush also put on sunglasses. The Illinois Democrat quoted the Bible while presiding officer Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) repeatedly interrupted him, then asked the sergeant at arms to enforce the House prohibition on hats in...

Pete Kasperowicz | The Hill 28 Mar 2012 Hits:1032 Blog Articles

I’m Roman Catholic but that’s not why I’m against abortion, for that would be like saying I’m Jewish because I’m against adults sexually forcing themselves on children, like some in Afghan tribes believing ‘women are for children and boys are for fun.’ The equalizing truth is, there is no difference between the Afghan in Toulouse, France who shot Jewish children, the American Sergeant who massacred Afghan children and the Floridian vigilante who, in “self-defense,” gun downed a seventeen year old on a TV...

Marcello Rollando | The Reasonable Voice 27 Mar 2012 Hits:961 Blog Articles

Supreme Court battle between two conservative views on health care

Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court began a marathon three-day session debating the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Obama two years ago on March 23, 2010. At the crux of the matter is whether the Federal Government can force citizens to engage in an act of commerce, namely, the purchase of health insurance. Referred to as the “individual mandate”—if people fail to purchase insurance—they will be subject to a tax penalty. Four federal appellate courts have rendered decisions...

Byron DeLear | Examiner.com 27 Mar 2012 Hits:896 Blog Articles

Obama Pledges Approval of Keystone Pipeline’s Southern Leg

President Barack Obama traveled to one of the nation's oil transportation hubs, offering what administration officials hope voters will see as a centrist alternative to the polarized debate over the Keystone XL pipeline - and quickly drew fire from activists on both sides. Earlier this year, Obama deferred the building of a pipeline from Canada's tar sands region to the Gulf Coast through environmentally sensitive parts of the Midwest. On Thursday he said his administration would expedite construction of the southern part of the route, starting in Cushing, Okla. Obama has tried...

Christi Parsons and Neela Banerjee | Nation of Change 24 Mar 2012 Hits:1016 Blog Articles

Gangster Banks Keep Winning Public Business. Why?

A friend of mine sent this article from Bloomberg, along with the simple comment: "Perfect." What's perfect? That the banks that have been caught repeatedly ripping off communities and munipalities -- banks that have paid hefty settlements for rigging bids, bribery and other sordid misdeeds -- keep winning the most public business. Apparently, our public officials aren't concerned about whom they hire to serve as the people's investment bankers. From the piece, entitled "JPMorgan Claims No. 1 for Government Debt After Jefferson County": JPMorgan, which emerged from the worst financial crisis since the...

Matt Tiabbi | Rolling Stone 23 Mar 2012 Hits:1342 Blog Articles

In Small Groups and Small Towns, Opposition to Citizens United Spreads

Jennifer Robinson describes herself as an introvert. “I’m not really the kind of person who likes doing presentations,” she says. But on January 23, Jennifer found herself in front of the Greenbelt, MD, city council and dozens of community members, proposing a resolution in support of an amendment to overturn the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision. “I really had to work myself up to do it,” she says. “But seeing all the other people there supporting this cause was so exciting. And the city council passed the resolution...

Sarah Byrnes | Yes Magazine 23 Mar 2012 Hits:880 Blog Articles

PDA Radio

Meet Freeda Cathcart - ERA Candidate - May 21,2013
Freeda Cathcart is running for the 17th House of Delegates in southwest Virginia. The Virginia Senate has recently passed the ERA but the House of Delegates has refused to bring it to a vote. Freeda promoted the petition to the White House to...
Mimi Kennedy on the ERA - May 14,2013
Join PDA Advisory Board Chair, Mimi Kennedy in a discussion of the Equal Rights Amendment and how it impacts work and life today.ERA | Mimi Kennedy | 14th Amendment | Supreme Court | womens rights
Conversation with Maggie Priebe of Working America - Apr 26,2013
Working America is a national organization for working people who don't have the benefit of a union on the job. Started in 2003, we mobilize our 3 million members throughout the year to fight for good jobs and a just economy. The majority of...
Examining America's Drug Policy - Apr 23,2013
Our guest panelists today are: Norm Stamper, Retired Seattle Police Chief and LEAP Advisory Board Member Jasmine Tyler, Deputy Director of National Affairs, Drug Policy Alliance Drew Stromberg, Outreach Director, Students for Sensible Drug Policy...
Understanding the Federal Budget - Apr 12,2013
Our guest is Chris Hellman, Senior Research Analyst from National Priorities Project. Our topics will include: Federal budget basics, whats going on in Washington including the latest budget action, whats happening with sequestration, and whats...
Conversation with Jim Hightower - Apr 09,2013
Join us at a special date for a conversation with special guest, Jim Hightower. Our conversation will revolve around progressive politics in the South. Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of Swim...
Conversation with Bill Fletcher, Jr. - Mar 29,2013
Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a longtime labor, racial justice and international activist. He is an Editorial Board member and columnist for BlackCommentator.com and a Senior Scholar for the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. He is the...
ERA - The History You Need to Know - Mar 26,2013
Eileen Davis Has worked as a professional Nurse ,community advocate for the uninsured,and Adjunct Professor in Central Virginia . She is the current state Coordinator of ERA-NOW Virginia and is on the planning committee for the WOMEN MATTER:...
Spreading the Word about Fair Trade - Mar 22,2013
Fair Trade Towns USA National Organizer Courtney Lang discusses what needs to be done to improve Fair Trade in the southeast. Lang has over 5 years of community organizing to Fair Trade Towns USA, building the Local Food and Fair Trade networks...
Climate Change and Communities of Color - Mar 15,2013
Our show today is about Climate Change, the Environmental Movement and Communities of Color. Our guest is Jacqueline Patterson, Director, NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program Prior to joining the NAACP, most recently a global womens...

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