Should Signal the End of the Republican Party

This truly is unbelievable- Senate Republicans filibustering to prevent help from going to 9/11 first responders. But they did get their tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. Tea Party wake up! If these people are willing to let 9/11 heroes die- do you think they really care about you?

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Obama Folds Again!

While campaigning, Obama ridiculed the idea that "we should give more and more to millionaires and billionaires and hope that it trickles down on everybody else." But despite his campaign promise and the fact that most Americans oppose more tax cuts for the very rich, the President has reversed himself and once again caved in to the Republicans. Under a tentative plan, over the next two years, the richest 2% would get large tax breaks they do not need and which are inefficient at stimulating the economy. Further this "bipartisan" plan would irresponsibly add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit (as Colbert said "bipartisan" now means the Republicans present a partisan plan and Obama buys it).


We are grateful to Congressman Hinchey (NYCD 22) who has signed on to the Peter Welch letter opposing more bailouts for the rich in the House. There are also signs of a rebellion in the Senate. Bernie Sanders has vowed to do all he can to end more bailouts for millionaires and billionaires. He has not ruled out a filibuster. Go Bernie go!


Call your Senators 202 224-3121 and the White House 202 456-1414 and say you expect them to stand up for hard working American families instead of the richest of the rich. No extra tax cuts for those making over $250,000 a year. The survival of the middle class in America depends on it!

No Bailouts for Millionaires and Billionaires!

Barry Blitt, New York Times

From 2002 to 2006, as American's median income went down and poverty rose, 3/4 of all the economic growth was captured by the top 1%. Today, the disparity in income in our nation is comparable to the Gilded Age when Robber Barons ruled. Plutocracy (government control by the wealthiest) has been growing in the United States for over thirty years. From 1980 to 2005 more than 4/5 of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1%.  If Republicans have their way, this ongoing financial coup, that threatens the very existence of America's middle class, will continue with the top 20% getting 60% of the Bush tax cuts.

Proponents of further enriching millionaires and billionaires call our country's wealthiest "job creators" and say America's small businesses cannot afford to be further taxed during a recession. Hmmmm, but the Bush tax cuts for the super rich have been in place for 10 years- how has that worked out in creating new jobs? Also, 98% of small businesses in our country will see NO tax increase if Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire for those making $200,000 or $250,000 for a couple. Further, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that tax cuts are the least effective means of spurring the economy of 11 policy options.

Not letting tax cuts expire for the wealthiest among us will also add $700 billion to the deficit. David Stockman, former budget adviser to Ronald Reagan is against it and says the Republicans "should be ashamed " for proposing it. Stockman also said "the top five percent have a net worth of $40 trillion. The top five percent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980."

Making the Bush tax cuts permanent for millionaires and billionaires is all about politicians rewarding their biggest donors- it is not about growing the economy or helping hard working American families.

Please call your elected representatives today- 202 224-3121- Tell them no bailouts for the super rich.
Don't increase the annual income to $1 million as Sen Schumer has proposed. If you are making $200,000 as an individual or $250,000 as a couple, chances are you are already a millionaire and can well afford having your taxes increased by a measly 3% or so.

One statistic has stayed with me from the Bush era- under his administration the richest 400 families were enriched by over $400 billion! We should be working to get that money back, not giving them yet more. In our country, the richest 400 have more wealth than 155 million people combined. This is not sustainable for a democracy.

This is a perfect issue for Democrats to be strong on. Decouple the tax cuts for the middle class that everyone agrees should happen. Then make the Republicans make a case for making the super rich even richer at a time when our deficit is ballooning out of control and the middle class is suffering at levels not seen since the Great Depression.

Nicholas Kristoff  recently said the USA is now in the notorious league of banana republics, where there is a vast disparity in wealth. We now have greater inequality in income than countries like Nicaragua and Venezuela. We are in the midst of a class war and we, the 98% who make less than $200,000 a year, are losing.

It is time for America citizens to come together to restore government to "we, the people", and to fight for  fairness, equal opportunity and our democratic way of life.

175,000 for Jobs and Justice!

One Nation Rally  Oct 2                                                                   Huffington Post

175,000 to 200,000 Americans attended the One Nation Working Together Rally October 2 in Washington to promote job creation, education, health care and tolerance. Yet on NBC News (the only major network to even mention it) Sunday night there was a screen shot of the rally for all of about two seconds. Compare that to the Tea Party's rally on the same Mall that was estimated at 87,000 and garnered tons of news coverage. I think it will be harder to ignore Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity on Oct 30th!

Lou Schultz delivered a fiery message telling the politicians to represent us, the people- not the big corporate special interests. He talked about how Republicans are all about profit, shipping jobs overseas and concentrating wealth at the very top and urged everyone to vote on Nov 2.

"This gathering here today is America’s wake-up call. The giant called democracy is at last stirring again. Citizens are coming together to say freedom does not sleep. It may have been fueled and lulled for the moment into a lethargy, but it’s fully awake now. And we the people are its engine."                                                                                Harry Belafonte

NAACP President Ben Jealous said it was the most diverse gathering on the National Mall ever. “We have environmentalist and mine workers. We have conservative faith groups. We have Black people, Brown people; Jewish, Christians and Muslims; White people, Asian people and Native Americans all working together towards this goal of increase in investment in creating jobs and making sure that every child goes to a great school.”

One Nation                                                                    Huffington Post

This is the real face of America- diverse, optimistic and striving for justice for hard working American families.

This video from Crooks and Liars is shaky- but I think captures the spirit of the day-

Obama Warns about Threat to Our Democracy

I have been writing about the Supreme Court decision since it was decided last January. Five activist justices ruled that corporations with their unrivaled wealth can spend all they like to defeat or elect candidates of their choosing. As our president says- this a a threat to democracy itself.
    CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE!        MONEY IS NOT SPEECH!

Thousands of Americans Rally for Religious Freedom

2,000 attended a candlelight vigil for religious freedom 9/10   DNAinfo

9/11 Rally against Racism and Islamic Bigotry      photo: Shirley Warren

A Rally for Tolerance                                       Photo: Shirley Warren

                 
Two thousand came out September 10 for an interfaith candlelight vigil in support of the Muslim community center project in New York City. The next day, on 9/11 thousands more marched peacefully in an Emergency Mobilization against Racism and Anti-Islamic Bigotry. Where was the news coverage? When a fraction of that number of Tea Partiers show up for an anti-mosque rally, the mainstream media is all over it.

The New York Times did quote one young man who attended both  rallies for religious freedom. He spoke of his friends who have been wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and said he found it offensive that, on one hand we ask young people to fight in Muslim countries for their freedom, "but peaceful Muslims can't build a community center in New York City in their own country."


Contrast this with the "No Mosque" and "USA" chants from a rally a few blocks away on 9/11. When Muslims were mentioned there, there were shouts of "kill them all". Geert Wilders, who has likened the Koran to "Mein Kampf" and wants it banned in the Netherlands, was one of the speakers at that rally.

So although there is a rising tide of anti-Islamic speech and actions around our country (the stabbing of a Muslim taxi driver, the destruction and desecration of mosques, the hate speech) there is also a rising up of ordinary Americans who are standing in solidarity with Muslims and speaking out against racism and religious intolerance. Leaders of three dozen mainstream US religious denominations recently said, "We stand by the principle that to attack any religion in the US is to do violence to the religious freedom of all Americans."

Feisal Abdul Kauf, the coordinator of the Muslim community center project, was Bush's "go to guy" to represent moderate Islam after 9/11. He has a 37 year history of countering radical ideology. In a recent Op Ed in the New York Times he spoke of wanting to cultivate understanding among all religions and cultures. The center would have separate prayer spaces for Muslims, Christians and Jews. He said he saw it as a "center for unification and healing." And just for the record, the mosque will not be "looming up from the ashes of Ground Zero" but will be two city blocks away and will not even be able to be seen from the World Trade Center property.


Voices of reason, compassion and tolerance are needed now more than ever. Voices like Pastor Steve Stone, who when he heard a mosque was being built next to his Heartsong Church rushed out to erect a banner- and this is what it said:

                                                   screengrab from MSNBC's "Countdown"

That is the America I know.





 

Stand for Religous Freedom and against Intolerance!

PLEDGE:
We are proud to live in the United States, a country founded on constitutional principles of tolerance and religious freedom.

We affirm America's commitment to these principles.

We condemn bigotry and intolerance by any and all, especially those who murder others in the false name of their religion.

We condemn the act of burning the Koran, a sacred text for millions of Americans and others around the world, as we would condemn the burning of all sacred texts.

We pledge to remember Americans and others from around the world, including Muslims, Christians, Jews, and people of other faiths, who were murdered on September 11, 2001, American service men and women of all faiths who have lost their lives in the wars since then, and innocent civilians, of all faiths, who have died in those wars, and to honor their sacrifice by reaffirming our commitment to the principles of tolerance and religious freedom.

We encourage all to light a candle on the evenings of September 10 and 11 in memoriam and in reaffirmation of these principles. 

SIGN THE PLEDGE AT:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/632/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4685
 

Rich's Op Ed in NY Times

Op-Ed Columnist

Freedom’s Just Another Word

Barry Blitt

by Frank Rich
Published: Sept 4, 2010

What was so grievously missing from Obama’s address was any feeling for what has happened to our country during the seven-and-a-half-year war whose “end” he was marking. That legacy of anger and grief is what “Freedom” mainlines to its readers. In chronicling one Midwestern family as it migrates from St. Paul to Washington during the 9/11 decade, Franzen does for our traumatic time what Tom Wolfe’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities” did for the cartoonish go-go 1980s. Or perhaps, more pertinently, what “The Great Gatsby” did for the ominous boom of the 1920s. The heady intoxication of freedom is everywhere in “Freedom,” from extramarital sexual couplings to the consumer nirvana of the iPod to Operation Iraqi Freedom itself. Yet most everyone, regardless of age or calling or politics, is at war — not with terrorists, but with depression, with their consciences and with one another.

This mood has not lifted and may be thickening as we trudge toward Year 10 in Afghanistan. But Obama only paid it lip service. It’s a mystery why a candidate so attuned to the nation’s pulse, most especially on the matter of war, has grown tone deaf in office. On Tuesday, Obama asked the country to turn the page on Iraq as if that were as easy as, say, voting for him in 2008. His brief rhetorical pivot from the war to the economy only raised the question of why the crisis of joblessness has not merited a prime-time Oval Office speech of its own.

That Obama did consider Iraq worthy of that distinction — one heretofore shared only by the BP oil spill — was hardly justified by his tepid pronouncements of progress (“credible elections that drew a strong turnout”) or his tidy homilies about the war’s impact. “Our unity at home was tested,” he said, as if all those bygones were now bygones and all the toxins unleashed by this fiasco had miraculously evaporated once we drew down to 50,000 theoretically non-combat troops.

Americans are less forgiving. In recent polls, 60 percent of those surveyed thought the war in Iraq was a mistake, 70 percent thought it wasn’t worth American lives, and only a quarter believed it made us safer from terrorism. This sour judgment is entirely reality-based. The war failed in all its stated missions except the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

While we were distracted searching for Iraq’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, Iran began revving up its actual nuclear program and Osama bin Laden and his fanatics ran free to regroup in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We handed Al Qaeda a propaganda coup by sacrificing America’s signature values on the waterboard. We disseminated untold billions of taxpayers’ dollars from Baghdad’s Green Zone, much of it cycled corruptly through well-connected American companies on no-bid contracts, yet Iraq still doesn’t have reliable electricity or trustworthy security. Iraq’s “example of freedom,” as President Bush referred to his project in nation building and democracy promotion, did not inspire other states in the Middle East to emulate it. It only perpetuated the Israeli-Palestinian logjam it was supposed to help relieve.

For this sad record, more than 4,400 Americans and some 100,000 Iraqis (a conservative estimate) paid with their lives. Some 32,000 Americans were wounded, and at least two million Iraqis, representing much of the nation’s most valuable human capital, went into exile. The war’s official cost to U.S. taxpayers is now at $750 billion.

Of all the commentators on the debacle, few speak with more eloquence or credibility than Andrew Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University who as a West Point-trained officer served in Vietnam and the first gulf war and whose son, also an Army officer, was killed in Iraq in 2007. Writing in The New Republic after Obama’s speech, he decimated many of the war’s lingering myths, starting with the fallacy, reignited by the hawks taking a preposterous victory lap last week, that “the surge” did anything other than stanch the bleeding from the catastrophic American blundering that preceded it. As Bacevich concluded: “The surge, now remembered as an epic feat of arms, functions chiefly as a smokescreen, obscuring a vast panorama of recklessness, miscalculation and waste that politicians, generals, and sundry warmongers are keen to forget.”

Bacevich also wrote that “common decency demands that we reflect on all that has occurred in bringing us to this moment.” Americans’ common future demands it too. The war’s corrosive effect on the home front is no less egregious than its undermining of our image and national security interests abroad. As the Pentagon rebrands Operation Iraqi Freedom as Operation New Dawn — a “name suggesting a skin cream or dishwashing liquid,” Bacevich aptly writes — the whitewashing of our recent history is well under way. The price will be to keep repeating it.

We can’t afford to forget now that the single biggest legacy of the Iraq war at home was to codify the illusion that Americans can have it all at no cost. We willed ourselves to believe Paul Wolfowitz when he made the absurd prediction that Iraq’s oil wealth would foot America’s post-invasion bills. We were delighted to accept tax cuts, borrow other countries’ money, and run up the federal deficit long after the lure of a self-financing war was unmasked as a hoax. The cultural synergy between the heedless irresponsibility we practiced in Iraq and our economic collapse at home could not be more naked. The housing bubble, inflated by no-money-down mortgage holders on Main Street and high-risk gamblers on Wall Street, was fueled by the same greedy disregard for the laws of fiscal gravity that governed the fight-now-pay-later war.

Our attitude toward the war’s human cost was no less cavalier. We were all too content to let a volunteer army fight our battles out of sight and out of mind, on a fictional pretext yoked to a military strategy premised on a cakewalk. For too long we looked the other way as the coffins arrived in Dover off camera in the shroud of night, as the maimed endured inhumane treatment in military hospitals at home, and as the Iraqi refugees who aided Operation Iraqi Freedom at their own peril were denied the freedom to seek a safe haven in our country.

Both President Obama and Glenn Beck, in his “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington last weekend, were fulsome in their praise of the troops, as well they should have been. But the disconnect between the civilian public, including the war’s die-hard advocates on the right, and those doing the fighting remains as large today as ever. As one Iraq war vet e-mailed to me after hearing Beck’s patriotic sermons: “What does gathering in D.C. do for the troops?” He was appalled at the self-regard of those who thought their jingoistic rally would help returning troops abandoned by the military’s “criminally poor mental health care” or save any soldier who was “two seconds away from getting his leg blown off by an I.E.D.”

The other American casualties of Iraq include the credibility of both political parties, neither of which strenuously questioned the rush to war and both of which are still haunted by that failure, and of the news media, which barely challenged the White House’s propaganda about Saddam’s imminent mushroom clouds. Many pundits, quite a few of them liberals, stoked the war fever as well. Some eventually acknowledged getting it wrong, though in most cases they stopped short of apologizing for their failures of judgment and their abdication of journalistic skepticism about the government’s case for war.

Even now those think-tank types who kept seeing light at the end of the Iraqi tunnel are ubiquitous on television and op-ed pages making similar stay-the-course prognostications about Afghanistan. Their embarrassing track records may have temporarily vanished into the great American memory hole, but actions do have consequences, and there must be an accounting. America does have a soul, and, as Franzen so powerfully dramatizes in “Freedom,” when that soul is violated, we are paralyzed until we set it right.
And yet here we are, slouching toward yet another 9/11 anniversary, still waiting for a correction, with even our president, an eloquent Iraq war opponent, slipping into denial. Of all the pro forma passages in Obama’s speech, perhaps the most jarring was his entreaty that Iraq’s leaders “move forward with a sense of urgency to form an inclusive government that is just, representative and accountable.” He might as well have been talking about the poisonous political deadlock in Washington. At that moment, there was no escaping the tragic fact that instead of bringing American-style democracy and freedom to Iraq, the costly war we fought there has, if anything, brought the bitter taste of Iraq’s dysfunction to America.

Stewart Nails Fox!

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Terrific "Target Ain't People" Video!

This action was in response to Target donating $150,000 to a far right, gay-bashing candidate. Sign the petition to boycott Target. This is the beginning of corporations swamping our political landscape to defeat or elect candidates of their choosing. Sign the Fight Washington Corruption pledge to restore democracy to the people! Here are 10 great reasons why you should! (Thanks to MoveOn.org!)

10 Outrageous Reasons to Fight Corruption in Washington

What Happens When Corporate Influence Goes Unchecked:

1. Exxon Mobil made billions in profits, and yet paid not one dime in federal income taxes in 2009.
2. The 2005 energy bill had a little-known provision, commonly called the Halliburton Loophole, which exempted natural gas drilling from the Clean Water Act. The result? Water so contaminated that you can light it on fire.
3. Massey Energy was cited more than 2400 times for safety violations in its mines, but chose not to fix potentially lethal problems because low penalties made it cheaper to simply keep paying the fines. This spring, 29 miners were killed in an underground explosion at a Massey mine in West Virginia.
4. Michael Taylor was the FDA official who approved the use of Monsanto's Bovine Growth Hormone in dairy cows (even though it's banned in most countries and linked to cancer). After approving it, he left the FDA—to work for Monsanto. Until last year, when he moved back to the government—as President Obama's "Food Safety Czar." No joke.
5. Internal Toyota documents outline how the company was successful in limiting regulator actions in the recalls last year—saving hundreds of millions while the death toll continued to climb.
6. GE and its lobbyists—including 33 former government employees—have successfully lobbied Congress to override Defense Department requests to cancel a GE contract to work on a new engine for the Joint Strike Fighter jet. GE will need $2.9 billion to finish the project.
7. Top executives at 9 big banks including Citibank, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley paid themselves over $20 billion in bonuses just weeks after taxpayers bailed them out to the tune of $700 billion.
8. During the waning days of the Bush administration, officials responded to a long-term lobbying campaign by pre-empting product liability lawsuits for dozens of entire industries. They bypassed Congress entirely and rewrote rules ranging from seatbelt manufacturing regulations to prescription drug safety.
9. Sunscreen manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough, in the interest of profits, are opposing an FDA proposal requiring full reporting on sunscreen labels. The New York Times just confirmed that current SPF ratings don't even measure sun rays that cause cancer.
10. And of course BP—a company with a record of 760 drilling-safety and environmental violations—was granted safety waivers in order to operate the deepwater drilling rig that ultimately created the worst environmental disaster in US history.

Sources: http://s3.moveon.org/pdfs/top10outragesources.pdf

Hinchey Signs the Pledge!

Good news. Congressman Hinchey agreed to sign the "Fight Washington Corruption" pledge last Friday. We are grateful to him for that and for his work to overturn Citizens United and for fair, clean elections! Call his office and thank him! We also need to call Senators Gillibrand (518 431-0120) and Schumer (914 734-1532) to make sure they join the dozens of elected officials signing the pledge. Almost half million Americans have also signed. Sign here if you haven't yet!

Here are a couple more photos from our rally last week. Look for an article on it and this new national movement in this week's New Paltz Times!

Bob Lusk and Gene Cotton lifted our spirits in song!  M. Kretschmar

New Paltz Rally to Fight Washington Corruption!

Thanks to All Who Came to the New Paltz Rally Aug 10!

Thousands of people across the country took to the streets yesterday to protest the corruption and domination of multinational corporations in our government. Approximately 50 citizens attended the rally in New Paltz, NY, organized by the Ulster County MoveOn Council.


It was a spirited gathering with local musicians Bob Lusk and Gene Cotton providing music while people held signs demanding the overturn of Citizens United (the Supreme Court ruling that will allow corporations to buy our elections) and demanding passage of the Fair Elections Now Act (FENA)- so that grassroots candidates can compete against corporate backed/wealthy ones. Most there agreed that the overwhelming influence of corporate lobbyists, who push for more and more deregulation and higher profits at any cost are hurting hard working American families, our environment and the future of our nation.


Until we can restore the electoral and legislative processes to the people, we will have little chance of passing any meaningful reform- be it in healthcare, reining in Wall Street, clean energy, corporate accountability, or in putting an end to "endless war".

Participants were encouraged to call Congressman Hinchey's office- 845 331-4466 to ask him to sign the Fight Washington Corruption Pledge. It was noted that he has taken a leadership role in co-sponsoring legislation to overturn Citizens United and Fair Elections, for which he should be thanked. Now we just need him to join the many others, including Scott Murphy and Paul Tonko, representatives from the Albany area, in signing the pledge.


A new poll shows a majority of Americans agree with us. Seventy-nine percent (including 72% of Republicans and 75% of Independents) said it was important that candidates commit to reducing the influence of corporations over elections. A whopping 89% want to reduce lobbyists' influence over the way laws are written and 67% are more likely to vote for candidates who support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United!

Please make sure you sign the pledge yourself! And stay tuned for next steps to make our elected officials answer to us, the voters- not to the moneyed special interests!

                                        

National Movement to End Corproate Abuse of Power!

Please join us to kick off the biggest (and most important) MoveOn initiative ever planned. Go to MoveOn to find a rally near you (or start your own!) If you live in the MidHudson Valley come to the rally in New Paltz -

Fight Washington Corruption and Rein in Corporate Abuse
Tuesday, August 10 - 5PM
In front of Elting Library -  93 Main St, New Paltz, NY
(Bring signs- some will be available. Bring musical instruments if you have them!)
Sign up here

Multinational corporations are dominating our politics, destroying the earth, decimating our economy and threatening democracy at an alarming rate. From the despicable actions of the profiteering insurance companies and Wall Street, to BP and Halliburton (whose latest crime is injecting dangerous chemicals deep into the earth where they leach into the watertable in fracking) - corporations are out of control. The middle class, the poor and the earth are being sacrificed at the altar of the big corporations' insatiable greed.

We need a massive groundswell of community support to rid our democracy of corporate corruption. We are asking elected representatives to sign the Other 98% "Fight Washington Corruption" pledge which has three planks.

1. Amend the constitution to overturn Citizens United v FEC that gives corporations the right to spend unlimited amounts from their vast treasuries to defeat or elect candidates of their choosing. This disastrous ruling overturns a century of law and will result in a tsunami of corporate cash that will swamp our political landscape and drown out the voices of the people. The president has called it  "A strike on democracy itself."

2. Pass the Fair Elections Now Act (FENA) that would provide voluntary public matching funds so that non-wealthy citizens can also run for office and if elected be accountable to us the voters rather than to corporate special interests. There are currently 150 cosponsors of FENA, HR 1826.

3. Pass Lobbying reform! The current system with the revolving door between Congress and K St is unworkable and corrupt. Thousands of lobbyists swarm the Capitol's hallways everyday. We are telling Congress to listen to us- the Other 98% who do not have lobbyists!

We are asking Congressman Hinchey to sign onto this pledge. Please call his office to ask him to too - 845 331-4466. As the congressman already has taken a leadership role in overturning Citizens United and is a co-sponsor of FENA we expect and hope he will have no problem signing. But for elected officials who will not sign - citizens will make this known through meetings, media, emails and any other way they can. It is time for politicians to come clean- are you on the side of special interests or the people?

This rally is being organized by Linda Abbott and Barbara Upton of the Ulster County MoveOn Council. Please come August 10, sign the petition and be a part of the movement to restore democracy to the people!

                                   "This Is What Democracy Looks Like!"

Portrait of a Tragic and Failed War

Most of us didn't need the Wikileaks "War Logs" to know that the war in Afghanistan is a disaster on every level. As the leaked documents show there have been hundreds of civilian casualties that have gone unreported. Like the time we dropped six, two thousand pound bombs on a compound where we thought a "high-value individual" was hiding- but ended up killing 300 civilians instead, or the machine-gunning of buses, yes, even a school bus, resulting in injury and death. We lost the hearts and minds of the Afghan people years ago.

We also learned that the US covered up news of the Taliban's use of heat-seeking missiles (the ones they used to defeat the Soviets in the 80's) and our use of psyops to plant news friendly to coalition forces in the Afghan media. We did the same in Iraq and it was a major embarrassment when that was disclosed. What are the Afghan people going to believe- US propaganda or the carnage all around them?

Over 1,200 US troops have lost their lives there and nearly 7,000 have been wounded. 2010 is on pace for being the bloodiest year yet with 126 young Americans being killed in June and July. And for what? To support a corrupt government that does not have the support of the people? To destroy Al Qaeda that has moved on to other countries? To help our "ally" Pakistan- which we find has been providing support to the insurgency killing our troops? To wipe out the Taliban (which is said to be stronger than at any time since 2001 in spite of our loss of blood and treasure)?

Even the generals tell us there is no military solution in Afghanistan, but we continue to spend 90% of allocations on death and destruction instead of development, aid and peacekeeping. Drone attacks are surging and Petraeus tells the troops to "fight hard" but "to be a good guest". Really? Is that something like "We had to destroy the village to save it?" Another strike recently killed 50 civilians causing a village elder to ask "Have you come here to protect us or kill us?"

Petraeus has also said our stay there will be "an enduring one". Not if the American people start tuning into what is really happening in Afghanistan and demand an end to this misbegotten war.

BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!

BP's Ugly Past and Present

                                      Visualizing the BP Disaster as
IfItWasMyHome.com Thanks to this site for bringing home the reality of the enormity of this disaster.

Almost three months after the explosion that left 11 dead and resulted in the worst environmental catastrophe in our nation's history, BP has capped the gusher that has spewed over 200 million barrels of oil into the Gulf. But don't break out the party hats any time soon- no one really knows what the effect all that oil will have on this fragile marine ecosystem AND there are signs that oil and gas could be coming up now through the seabed floor. The government is worried. They have asked BP to monitor the situation carefully, but the news is BP is already ignoring the warning signs.http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/03/nation/la-na-oil-spill-20100803

The use of Corexit is also an unprecedented environmental experiment. In the trade it is known as Hides It- because that is all it does- break oil into little globules so it is less visible on the ocean surface. Its main ingredient is a neurotoxin pesticide four times more toxic to human and aquatic life than oil. In the beginning government officials asked BP not to use it, but again BP listens to no one. Over 2 million gallons of Corexit have been dumped in the Gulf. BP writes their own rules, not to mention their own faked safety reports.

Here is just a small sampling of their criminal behavior-

• BP had 760 citations for "egregious, willful and flagrant violations" of OSHA's rules over a three year period. In comparison Exxon Mobil had 1citation and Citgo had 2 over the same period.
• They were fined $108 million for willful negligence that resulted in the deaths of 15 workers and injured 170 more at the Texas refinery in 2005.
• BP had to pay $363 million in penalties and settlements for price gouging US consumers
• Fined $20 million for ignoring leaks in the Alaska pipeline. 

Speaking of the Alaska pipeline you may have missed that a BP leak there in May released 100,000 gallons of oil. State inspectors said "procedures were not properly implemented". In the past when a whistle blower complained of conditions at the Alaskan pipe's tanker facility BP's CEO of Alaskan operations got right to work. Fixing the deplorable conditions? No, no. The BP executive hired a former CIA expert who broke into the whistle blower's home. His phone was tapped and they ran a smear campaign against him. A US federal judge called BP's actions "reminiscent of Nazi Germany."

The video below from WKRG in Mobile, Alabama took water and sand samples from beaches that people were told are safe. The amount of oil should be no more than 5 ppm (parts per million). Oil is toxic at 11ppm. The water that tested the highest came out of a hole a little kid was digging in the sand. It was 221 ppm. Even more ominous, one of the beakers exploded in the lab indicating high levels of  methanol or methane gas in the water.



There seems no end to the damning evidence against BP- like the allegation that emerged recently that they helped to free a terrorist who was the mastermind of the Lockerbee bombing to get their hands on Libyan oil. But what can we expect from a company that has its roots in the overthrow of a democratically elected leader in a sovereign nation? I'm referring to BP's beginnings as the Anglo Iranian Oil Company in 1928. British personnel lived lives of luxury while Iranian laborers were paid 50 cents a day and lived in squalor in a shanty town with no water or electricity The company was to pay Iran just 16% from selling that country's oil, but they never let anyone audit the books, so it was probably much less. By the 1950's Iran's prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq tried to nationalize the oil company so that his country could benefit from their own resources. Eisenhower's Sec of State Foster Dulles, a lawyer for multinational corporations viewed this as a dangerous example, so our CIA intervened. Mossadeq was overthrown and the US friendly Shah (with his dreaded SAVAK secret police) was installed. This brought about the rise of Islamic extremists who took over the country in the 1979 revolution.

If BP is a person like the Supreme Court Five insist then it is a psychopath.

The neo-con mantra of "deregulate and allow the free markets to take care of all" is now exposed as the sham it always was.  BP is all about greed and it is the people and marine and coastal life that are left paying dearly.

85% of Public Disagree with the Supreme Court

From People for the American Way- pfaw.org


An important new poll commissioned by People For the American Way shows that Americans of every political stripe resoundingly reject the Roberts Court's dangerous decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which opened the floodgates of unlimited corporate cash in our elections.


We should have a government of, by and for the people. The polling results show increasing concern among Americans that, in part because of the Court's decision, which equates corporations with people, we are becoming a government of, by and for the corporations. The poll also shows broad awareness that when corporations spend unlimited amounts to influence the outcome of elections, it infringes on the rights of the rest of us by drowning out the voices of the average citizen.


The Court's decision in Citizens United was so disastrous that voters overwhelmingly support a constitutional amendment to correct it.


Three-quarters of voters said that they support a constitutional amendment to limit the amount that corporations can spend in elections. A similar majority are more inclined to support a candidate who has spoken out in favor of an amendment. This support cuts across party and ideology, with majorities of Democrats, Republicans and Independents in support of the measure.


Leading up to Election Day, People For the American Way, along with Public Citizen and other allies, will be asking congressional candidates to pledge to support a constitutional amendment, and sharing that information with voters.


Here are some of the polling specifics:

• 85% of voters say that corporations have too much influence over the political system today while 93% say that average citizens have too little influence.
• 95% agree that "Corporations spend money on politics mainly to buy influence in government and elect people who are favorable to their financial interests." (74% strongly agree)
• 85% disagree that "Corporations should be able to spend as much as they want to influence the outcome of elections because the Constitution protects freedom of speech." (63% strongly disagree)
• 93% agree that "There should be clear limits on how much money corporations can spend to influence the outcome of an election." (74% strongly agree)
• 77% think Congress should support an amendment to limit the amount U.S. corporations can spend to influence elections.
• 74% say that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for Congress who pledged to support a constitutional amendment limiting corporate spending in elections.

Some Good News

From People for the American Way- pfaw.org

Florida Special Election Shows Strength of Opposition to Citizens United
Deutch made a Constitutional Amendment to fix Citizens United a centerpiece of his campaign

Democrat Ted Deutch decisively won a special election yesterday to fill the open seat in Florida's 19th congressional district. Deutch made his supprt for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC a centerpiece of his campaign.

Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American Way, issued the following statement:

"I congratulate Senator Deutch on his decisive win, and wish him well as he continues his work on behalf of the people of Florida. Senator Deutch's vocal support of efforts to fight back against corporate influence in elections, and his advocacy for a Constitutional Amendment to undo the Supreme Court's devastating decision in Citizens United, earned him overwhelming support from Florida voters. He'll be a strong leader in the fight to preserve the power of everyday Americans in our democracy.

"Deutch's opponent attempted to paint the election as a referendum against the President and Democratic congressional leadership. Instead, he was roundly defeated by an electorate fed up with the growing corporate influence in elections and determined to take back the democratic process. This election sends a strong signal that the public won't stand for the Supreme Court handing outsized influence to wealthy corporations, and that voters are ready to take powerful steps to reclaim their power over the electoral process."

What We Can Do to Oppose Corporate Domination of Our Elections!

What We Can Do to Oppose Corporate Domination of Our Elections!

Sunday, April 18 was a great day for democracy in New Paltz, NY. Approximately 200 people came to "We, the People: A Forum to Defend Democracy at SUNY New Paltz. Congressman Hinchey and our presenters did an excellent job of outlining the challenges before us and how we can meet them. Here is our "What You Can Do" flier so you can get started with action steps to defend our democracy! Thanks to all who attended and hope to see even more at future events!

What We Can Do to Fight against Corporate Domination of Our Elections!

Congress must once and for all put to rest the idea that corporations are people and reassert Congressional power to regulate campaign finance. This can only be accomplished through a Constitutional amendment.

Pass a Constitutional amendment
Progress to date:
Congressman Hinchey, Co-sponsor of H.J. Res. 74
Senator Gillibrand, Call and ask her to support S. JR. 28
Senator Schumer, Call and ask him to support S. JR. 28
(See below for other requests for Senator Schumer)
Capitol Switchboard- 202 224-3121

Sign petitions for a Constitutional amendment:
FreeSpeechforPeople.org
MovetoAmend.org
People for the American Way- pfaw.org

Tell your elected officials to pass legislation to immediately mitigate this ruling’s effects.
Senator Schumer and Representative Van Hollen are proposing legislation that would:
Exempt corporations 20% or more foreign owned from electioneering.
Exempt corporations receiving federal contracts.
Require disclosure. It needs to be strong (ie I’m John Dough, president of Halliburton and I approve this ad.)
Require shareholder approval. The New York Times reported that this has been dropped. Let Senator Schumer know that wording of HR 4790 to protect shareholders must be in any final bill.

Tell your elected official to pass the Fair Elections Now Act
Progress to date:
Congressman Hinchey, Co-sponsor of H.R. 1826
Senator Gillibrand, Co-sponsor of S. 752
Senator Schumer, ask him to Co-sponsor S.752

Pass State and Local Resolutions
Urge your state legislators to pass a resolution calling on Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment and to send to states for ratification. This is already happening in Massachusetts and Maine. Pass a similar resolution at a local level.

Work for clean elections in New York State
Support Democracy Matters.org and Citizen Action.org, which are working to pass NY S. 7506.
Establish Democracy Matters chapters in your high school or university and apply for an organizing internship with Democracy Matters.

Join FaceBook Pages
Amend the Constitution so Corporations Can Not Buy Elections
We, the People, NOT We, the Corporations
Abolish Corporate Personhood Now!
Free Speech for People, People for the American Way and Democracy Matters

Personal Actions:
Write Letters to the Editor
Call in to Talk Radio (WVKR, WKNY, WAMC)
Host a house party
Engage people
Blog about it
Sign up here or at HudsonValleyProgressives.org to stay informed and involved!

CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD- 202 224- 3121

For more information:
FreeSpeechforPeople.org, People for the American Way-pfaw.org,
DemocracyMatters.org and stay tuned to this blog.

In a Democracy the People Rule!
We Can Do This!

We, the People: A Forum to Defend Democracy

We, the People: A Forum to Defend Democracy

Video of "Defending Democracy Street Rally" April 10, 2010

This Sunday, April 18, something good is happening in New Paltz,NY. Citizens are fighting back against the Supreme Court decision that will allow corporations with their mega-wealth to spend unlimited amounts of money to overwhelm our elections.

"We, the People: A Forum to Defend Democracy" will feature Congressman Maurice Hinchey (NYCD 22) who will talk on the growing dominance of corporations and the need to restore voters at the center of the electoral process.

A panel of national experts will talk about the consequences of this ruling and what we can do to mitigate its effects and eventually overturn it. Let's put out a red carpet Hudson valley welcome to: Margery F. Baker, executive vice-president of People for the American Way; John Bonifaz, legal director of Voter Action and director of Free Speech for People and Joan Mandle, PhD, executive director of Democracy Matters.

If you are on Facebook- please sign up here
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114025838607474
and click on "invite other people" in the upper right corner to invite your friends to this important event.

This forum appears to be one of the first in the country to take on the Supreme Court ruling and how we can challenge and overturn it. The question is simple- Should Congress represent and be accountable to the people or the big corporate, special interests?

People from across the political spectrum are upset with this ruling and all are welcome Sunday. Let's start a grassroots movement to rein in the abuses of big corporations with their bail-outs, multi-million dollar bonuses, lobbyists and disregard for workers, public safety or the environment.

In a democracy- the people rule!

See you Sunday.

85% of Democrats, 81% of Independents and 76% of Republicans Agree!

85% of Democrats, 81% of Independents and 76% of Republicans Agree!

Polarized America just came into alignment in their opposition to the Robert's Court decision Citizens United v FEC.  With a one person majority, the Supreme Court overturned a century of law and precedent to give corporations the right to overwhelm our elections with their massive wealth.

Approximately, eight out of ten people across the political spectrum (85% of Democrats, 81% of Independents and 76% of Republicans-Washington Post/ABC poll) see this as a threat to our democracy. President Obama called it an "assault on our democracy" and that he could "think of nothing more devastating to the public interest." Justice Stevens in a blistering dissent said the ruling  "threatens to undermine the integrity of elected  institutions across this Nation."

We are facing a Constitutional crisis, yet mainstream media (MSM) moved on almost immediately (it was only Justice Alito's injudicious reaction to being called out on the ruling by Obama that kept it there a little longer).  It shouldn't be a surprise that corporate owned media are not reporting the disastrous consequences of this decision. Allowing corporations to spend whatever they want on political ads will send TV advertising revenue into the stratosphere. So you cannot depend on CNN to inform you on this issue (or much else for that matter). A sterling exception to MSM ignoring this is Bill Moyers Journal that has done five segments on this ruling and plans one more. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02052010/watch.html

The good news is there is a massive grassroots movement growing to counter the threat of this decision. FreeSpeechfor People.org, MovetoAmend.org, People for the American Way (pfaw.org) Public Citizen (citizen.org) and many more are leading the way. People are getting steamed up, organized and mobilized to say no to this democracy-killing ruling.

Think your elected officials are too remote now? Ha! Wait until they begin raking in the megabucks of ExxonMobile (bye-bye green energy) Halliburton (can you say "endless war"?) Aetna (don't get sick!) and Citibank (hello next economic meltdown).

In a democracy we, the people are supposed to be the center of the electoral process. We are guaranteed one person- one vote, a sacred right for which people have died. It ensures the poor and the middle class that they have a voice and that they will be protected against corporate tyranny. The Supreme Court just took a sledge hammer to that bedrock principle of democracy.

We will be organizing a forum in New Paltz, NY on April 18 to educate and mobilize people to fight this ruling. We hope it will empower, activate, connect and organize us to defend our democracy. Details to follow, but save the date now!

And remember- 85-81-76! Together we can stop this.

The January Supreme Court Ruling in Pictures

The January Supreme Court Ruling in Pictures

 

 

Daniel Kurtzman 

  

We, the people must rise up against this! 

Alito's Milder "You Lie!"

Alito's Milder "You Lie!"

Most of us have seen Justice Alito shaking his head, grimacing and mouthing the words, "Not true" in response to Obama calling out the Court in his State of the Union  for their recent decision that will radically upend democracy in America.

Our President said, "With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that, I believe, will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections.

"I don't think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests or, worse, by foreign entities.They should be decided by the American people."

Everything Obama said was true. Looks like Alito doesn't want to own up to what he and four others have done. His face registered disgust and I find disgust the appropriate reaction to this ruling- but in Alito's case it should be self-directed!

Glen Greenwald in Salon said, "Alito is now a political (rather than judicial) hero to Republicans and a political enemy of Democrats which is exactly the role a Supreme Court Justice should not occupy."

Greenwald went on to say, Alito has been "unmasked as a politicized and intemperate Republican."

I'd say the ruling itself unmasked five of them.