Help Me Ronda! “Billionaires For Bernie”: Why Sanders Needs an Independent SuperPAC (tags)
JFK Said: "Things Do Not Happen. Things Are Made to Happen." In 2015-2016, LIBERAL Billionaires Such as Ronda Stryker, Nick Hanauer, and Ted Turner (To Name a Few) Can Help Elect Bernie Sanders President by Giving His Supporters Fundraising and Spending Near-Parity With Hillary Clinton's $1 Billion.
Another Israeli War Criminal of the Year Award (tags)
police state
Imperial Warrior Kerry at State (tags)
anti-wa
Chicago's Mayoral Election: Rahm Emanuel's Eligibility At Issue (tags)
city politics
Obama's New Chief of Staff and Economic Team (tags)
Wall Street dominated
Ruling on Behalf of Wall Street's "Super Rich": The Financial End Time has Arrived (tags)
"Alas, the Obama administration has backed the Geithner-Bernanke policy that “the economy” cannot recover without saving the debt overhead. The reality is that it is the debt overhead that is destroying the economy. So we are dealing with the irreconcilable fact that the Obama position threatens to lower living standards from 10% to 20% over the coming few years – making the United States look more like Greece, Ireland and Latvia than what was promised in the last presidential election. Something has to give politically if the economy is to change course. More to the point, what has to give is favoritism for Wall Street at the expense of the economy at large. What has made the U.S. economy uncompetitive is primarily the degree to which debt service has been built into the cost of living and doing business. Post-classical “junk economics” treats interest and fees as payment for the “service” for providing credit. But interest (like economic rent and monopoly price extraction) is a transfer payment to bankers with the privilege of credit creation. The beneficiaries of providing tax favoritism for debt are the super-rich at the top of the economic pyramid – the 2% whom Mr. Obama’s tax giveaway will benefit by over $700 billion. If the present direction of tax “reform” is not reversed, Mr. Obama will shed crocodile tears for the middle class as he sponsors the Deficit Reduction Commission’s program of cutting back Social Security and revenue sharing to save states and cities from defaulting on their pensions. One third of U.S. real estate already is reported to have sunk into negative equity, squeezing state and local tax collection, forcing a choice to be made between bankruptcy, debt default, or shifting the losses onto the shoulders of labor, off those of the wealthy creditor layer of the economy responsible for loading it down with debt."
Immanuel Wallerstein's Worldview (tags)
important views
From "Hizzhonor" to Dishonor (tags)
Rahm Emanuel will likely enter Chicago mayoral race
BTL:Progressive Challenger to Hawkish Democrat Rep. Jane Harman Gets an Early Start (tags)
BETWEEN THE LINES Syndicated Radio Newsmagazine
FDR's New Deal v. Obamanomics in Their First 100 Days (tags)
stark mirror opposites
Obama's New Appointments (tags)
as bad as the others
Jeremy Scahill: 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House (tags)
U.S. policy is not about one individual, and no matter how much faith people place in President-elect Barack Obama, the policies he enacts will be fruit of a tree with many roots. Among them: his personal politics and views, the disastrous realities his administration will inherit, and, of course, unpredictable future crises. But the best immediate indicator of what an Obama administration might look like can be found in the people he surrounds himself with and who he appoints to his Cabinet. And, frankly, when it comes to foreign policy, it is not looking good.
A reality check.
The deepening economic crisis.
Rahm Emanuel: Face of Change? (tags)
A formal announcement by Obama of his chief-of-staff pick is expected this week. The name of former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle, an early and ardent Obama backer, has long been high of the list of prospects. So, too, has that of Emanuel, although his divided loyalties--he was a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton and a congressman from Obama's hometown of Chicago--sidelined him during the Democratic primary campaign season.
Edwards Veers Hard Right, Supports Escalating Middle East Conflicts (tags)
“As to the American people, this is a difficult question. The vast majority of people are concerned about what is going on in Iraq. This will make the American people reticent toward going for Iran. But I think the American people are smart if they are told the truth, and if they trust their president. So Americans can be educated to come along with what needs to be done with Iran.” - John Edwards “Educated” Or Brainwashed?
Edwards Veers Hard Right, Supports Escalating Middle East Conflicts (tags)
During a speech at the Herzliya Conference, a major international gathering dedicated to Israeli security and diplomatic issues, Edwards stuck to his hawkish positions on Iran.”—The Jewish Daily/Forward John Edwards promised to be a progressive candidate, but he now appears to be a devotee of the Democratic Leadership Council who is obviously under the heady ether of the Israel Lobby.
level 7
Taking Impeachment on the Road (tags)
Impeachment can play a vital role in building resistance to dictatorship, both in the electoral politics and on the street. It’s not an either/or proposition.
data theft huge and wholesale, and oth crimes ... - and - ... waves ... (tags)
the unprecedented physical theft of personal data by a U.S. intelligence operation to populate Total Information Awareness (TIA) surveillance databases ...
Comments on Greg Palast's New Book Armed Madhouse (tags)
PALAST EXPOSES US ELECTION FRAUD, CRIMES AGAINST IRAQ AND LOTS MORE
Washington renews demand for cuts to Social Security, Medicare (tags)
The Bush administration, echoed by much of the mass media, seized upon reports released May 1 on the fiscal health of the Social Security and Medicare system to renew its demand for drastic cuts to these two major entitlement programs, thereby gutting retirement benefits and health care for older Americans. According to the reports, issued by the trustees of the programs’ trust funds, the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund is projected to become insolvent by 2018, due largely to rapidly rising costs of American health care outstripping the payroll taxes that fund the program. The report on Social Security indicates that this program will be able to pay out 100 percent of benefits until 2040, when the trustees predict the fund will be exhausted—a year earlier than previous projections. After that it would be able to cover 74 percent of promised benefits out of revenues until 2080, when it would decline to 70 percent.
It's Spring and Talk of Impeachment is in the Air (tags)
Extra! Extra! Senator files censure motion against President Bush and the media actually report it the next day!
With Biden announced, Clinton a near certainty, and maybe even Kerry wanting a second try at the White House, the 2007-8 Democratic primary season looks to be grim stuff, and the likelihood of continued Republican dominance good. The one possible wrench in Democratic party hacks’ suicide plans: Russ Feingold. ------------------
Road Ahead: Nonpartisan Alliance vs the Right (tags)
[A summary of the independent intervention by the left in Chicago, the lessons learned, and future prospects]
Time to Crash the Party (tags)
Instead of bemoaning the Bush election victory and calling Canadian Immigration, progressives should be busy organizing and planning to take over the Democratic Party, so this kind of debacle will not happen yet again.
Bush's Hidden Majority
Silver Linings Dept: Russ Feingold Shows Dems the Way to 2008 (tags)
While Kerry’s timid Republican-lite, pro-war, pro-free trade campaign was a loser, progressive Sen. Russ Feingold, running against the war, against the Patriot Act, and against NAFTA, trounced his opponent to win a third term in bellweather Wisconsin, showing Democrats what they need to do to win next time.
Wireless World: Fighting terror wirelessly (tags)
Great story about a civil liberties in today's post - Sept. 11 digital world.
Who is smearing Ralph Nader? Corporate law firms and lobbyists tied to big business! (tags)
The progressives and peace activists who are helping to stop Ralph Nader and Peter Miguel Camejo don't realize it but they are being used by people who represent the corporate interests, especially the military-industrial complex, of the two major parties.
Gag and Bear It: Why We Lefties Have to Vote for Kerry (tags)
It’s time to face some hard realities—Nader is not going to bring us a third party, but too many votes and he could bring us Bush and the Republicans, and these days, that could mean we’re on the road to a real one-party state, not just a state with two parties that seem pretty indistinguishable.
Democrats: Pussycats Against Republicans, But Tigers Against Nader (tags)
Astonishingly, the Democrats had a chance to try and keep George Bush's name off the Florida ballot this November. They took a pass and instead have been fighting, and so far succeeding, in keeping Ralph Nader off instead.
Senator John Kerry and the Democrats are Peeing their Pants Cowards (tags)
Now that campaigning to the far right has failed to get a rise out of the American public all my Democratic Party friends are running around bumping into each other in fear and loathing realizing that the Democratic leadership Council and its lead poisoned leader Al From - who is cowering inside the pup tent he pitched inside the Big Tent to perform by pass surgery on Bill Clinton's heart (which is so full of saturated fat it really does need bypass surgery) so that Clinton could sign the child poverty creating Welfare Reform Act - has led Senator John Kerry down a rabbit hole.
Green Strategy 2004-2008 (tags)
How did the David Cobb/Pat LaMarche ticket receive the Green Party nomination? And what does it mean for the Green Party in particular and American politics in general? My conclusion is that the so-called "red states" Greens, by rejecting Ralph Nader/Peter Camejo campaign, first of all served to diminish the Green Party's own strength in the "safe state" of California, ironically without helping the pro-war Democratic Party candidate John Kerry (despite the hope of the Cobb/LaMarche faction) in the most crucial "swing states": Ohio (20 electors/3.6% victory margin in 2000), Florida (27/0.0%), Pennsylvania (21/4.1%), and Michigan (17/5.1%).
Coming Soon: The Return of the Draft, a Bipartisan Production (tags)
Barring a sudden reversal in the direction of US foreign policy, a strong bipartisan push to reinstate the draft can be expected soon after the November elections. Whether or not Bush wins is irrelevant. The logic of empire requires more boots on the ground, and conscription looks like the only way to get them.
While Dean Conned Anti War Vote Party Bosses Laughed (tags)
Now that the Democratic party bosses have effectively driven the anti-war vote into the ground with more than a little help from the corporate media that gave Governor Dean's campaign the red carpet treatment up until mid December while at the same time purposely ignoring Congressman Dennis Kucinich's campaign Governor Dean's campaign now looks more like a very effective con job
"Howard is not a liberal. He's a pro-business, Rockefeller Republican."
Wesley Clark: Stalking-Horse for Bush Junior (tags)
It is this obviousness with Bush’s stalking-horse Clark that offends even the weakest minds. The obviousness that the vast majority of all the people, all the time, never even see at all. Lincoln was wrong!
Retired General Wesley Clark: Stalking-Horse for Bush Junior and The Grey Men (tags)
Should Wesley Clark win the primary nomination for president for the Democratic party, America loses and Bush wins; or Clark wins the general election and America loses. America loses and Empire the only winner.
Bush's Big Tent is torn on the Right (tags)
Young white men--the conservative Republican base since Nixon--are embracing Schwarzenegger's moderate politics in California. This can only strain the GOP coallition of the Christian Right, Libertarian Economics, Free Trade, and Conservative Main Street greed.
Pacifica's New Bylaws: A Victory for All of Us (tags)
The third (of five) radio station advisory boards voted Saturday for an historic set of bylaws for the Pacifica radio network. This was the last hurdle required under a Settlement Agreement to get the anti-war network back on track, and ends a period of vicious acrimony within the Pacifica community, which has important reprecussions for all Independent media in the United States.
MLK, 40 Years, a Donkey, the Deregulation and Blackout of Our Civil Rights! (tags)
Yesterday I witnessed the most incredible irony as I monitored the corporate media. George Bush was giving a speech yesterday afternoon in front of a friendly only crowd of Marines when he stated "May God continue to bless America".
Democrats Considered "Too Liberal" (tags)
If Democrats are considered "too liberal", what does that make those who consider Democrats to be right-wing fascist?
GREEN PARTY SETS SITES FOR 2004 PRESIDENTIAL RACE (tags)
GREEN PARTY SETS SITES FOR 2004 PRESIDENTIAL RACE - ENDS MYTH OF DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE SUPPORT
BTL:Progressive Groups Gather in Washington, D.C. to "Take Back America" (tags)
Interview with Yaniz Iczkovits, Israeli reservist and cofounder of "Courage to Refuse," conducted by Between the Lines' Melinda Tuhus
The DLC blasts Activists…Time to Fight Back! (tags)
Take Action, let the DLC now that it is the lack of “backbone” that has allowed Bush to get away with whatever he wants. We need a Democrat who stands up for what is right, and doesn’t take the safe road. Let them know that since the day they were given leadership positions in the party, there has been no unified message and the Republicans have continued to increase their grip on power.
The peace protestors inspire hope in a nation that seemed headed for its own destruction.
Lessons from the Lott exposé (tags)
The Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) scandal did more than expose the racist underbelly of the former Senate majority leader and the Republican Party. It also showed the growing importance of the struggle for equality and against racism in the political life of the nation.
[RWWATCH] Strange Bedfellows: Republican Donors Fund DLC meeting (tags)
The DLC (Democratic Leadership Council) a splinter group of "centrist" Democrats whose membership has included Joe Lieberman, Al Gore, Bob Kerry, John Edwards, and now Hillary Clinton. One of the sponsors of their upcoming annual "Strategy Session" is Koch Industries of Kansas, owned mainly by two arch-conservative brothers (David and Charles) who are major donors to to the Bush campaign and the Bob Dole campaign, and provided startup funding for both the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy, anti-labor advocacy groups with close ties to the Bush administration.