Day 10 on Wall Street- Undeterred despite Police Brutality

If you are as outraged by this video as I am, I ask that you share it and raise your voice to condemn the use of excessive force by the NYPD on nonviolent Wall Street protestors. I called the Mayor's office (212 788-2958) and was immediately forwarded to NYPD. After talking to a few people, I was given this email to register my complaint- dcpi@nypd.org. I hope many are calling and writing!

In spite of the police brutality, something momentous is happening on Wall Street and around our country. OccupyWallSt.org reports that "52 cities in America are occupied or organizing" in solidarity, but the media still is hardly covering it. Join FAIR's action to tell the major news networks to report on what is happening there!

It is the beginning of a massive protest movement in this country against a financial system that unfairly benefits corporations and the rich at the expense of the other 99% of us. Today is day 10 of the Wall Street occupation. The protestors have had Michael Moore, Chris Hedges, Immortal Technique and others stopping by to offer encouragement.

Chris Hedges said it all-


This is a defining moment and these, mostly young, protestors deserve our support and gratitude. Let's not forget what happened at the 2008 GOP political convention when activists were charged with "conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism." Watch the trailer from the documentary "Terrorizing Dissent."  Without a means to expose and fight a corrupt, closed and grossly unequal system, we lose our democracy and a chance for a better future. Support the Wall Street occupiers and join them if you can!

Protester arrested by NYPD. Via @NYCRevMedia on Twitter.

A movement is being born, Go to occupytogether.org 
The people united will never be defeated!

"The State of Georgia Killed an Innocent Man"

Troy Davis                                                            CBS News

 "Tonight the state of Georgia killed and innocent man," said Ben Jealous of the NAACP. Despite 7 out of 9 eye witnesses recanting their story (5 claiming police coercion) another man telling others he did it, (the 8th eye witness) but threatening them if they told, unreliable forensic evidence, jurors saying they would never have given the death sentence if they had known all the facts and over a million signatures on petitions calling for clemency- the Georgia Dept of Pardons and Paroles denied it and Troy Davis was put to death by lethal injection at 11:08 last night, September 21.

Troy told the family of the slain police officer that he was innocent, asked his family and friends to keep up the fight for justice and told his executioners, "God have mercy on your souls" and "God bless your souls."

Yesterday was a tragic and very sad day for his loved ones and for fairness and justice in our country. But as his attorney said "This case struck a chord in the world, and as a result the legacy of Troy Davis doesn't die tonight," adding that his death could lead to systematic reform of our criminal justice system, "so we will never again witness, with inevitable regret, the execution of an innocent man as we did here tonight."

A friend who couldn't sleep the night before he was to be killed, told me his words (below) helped bring her some peace. May they do that for you too and may we all continue the fight for justice.

A Message from Troy Anthony Davis
September 10, 2011

To All:
I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me, she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about, and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand, I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.
So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated.

There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!



 "

Wall Street Occupation and Taxing the Rich

Surprised to see such a fired up protest taking place on Wall Street? There is a mainstream media blackout on this. MSM has covered Tea Parties numbering in the dozens, so you would think that thousands of Americans taking to the streets would be newsworthy. But no, they are censoring the voice of the people which shows how corrupt and worthless they are. We should boycott them and support alternative media. *Update- Yahoo admitted to blocking emails referring to "Occupy Wall Street" They have censored emails about protest in China in the past. Although they say this has been corrected (with residual delays) they should be boycotted too.

ANOTHER UPDATE- PEACEFUL PROTESTORS ARRESTED- SOME HURT


This video is hard to watch.These people are exercising their First Amendment rights! The media is ignoring this, but we shouldn't be! I hear a protest is starting in San Fransisco too. And of course there is the planned  Oct 6 sustained protest  in Freedom Square in DC. Their slogan, "Human needs, not corporate greed!" They too are committed to nonviolent resistance.

Thousands are mobilizing across the nation in a nonviolent, but direct way to say "Enough is enough!" We are sick of millionaire politicians protecting the richest among us, while allowing more in the middle class to lose their jobs, their homes, their pensions, their dignity and their hope.

Life is even more devastating for those in poverty, that now claims more than one out of every five American children. At the same time, some hedge fund managers make over one billion dollars a year. A billion is hard to imagine- especially as an annual salary. A salary of a billion translates to almost a half million dollars an hour! No one is worth $1 billion dollars a year. That salary and the fact that hedge fund managers pay at the same tax rate as someone who makes $10,000 is obscene.

The richest 1% have more wealth than half of all Americans combined. We have not seen such gross inequality since the 1920's. We are living in a new gilded age and the masses are suffering as they always do when the mega-rich greedily hog endless riches and power. Republicans want these inequities to be even larger. Some good democrats are reflecting the will of the people who demand a new course- shared sacrifice, jobs, quality education and health care, a preservation of the safety net and a restoration of the American Dream.

Internal Revenue Service data show that the tax burden on the US’s wealthy has fallen for the past two decades.

Thank goodness Obama finally is saying the rich should pay their fair share! It is ludicrous to hear the Republicans describing this as class warfare on the "job creators". Huge tax breaks for the wealthiest have been in place since 2001- how has that worked out for us in terms of new jobs?

“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Warren Buffett

Obama's new found moxy may be coming a bit late, but like Michael Moore, who sounded fairly ecstatic last night on Rachel Maddow, I'll take it! And tonight the White House pretty much said the phase of "compromise by necessity" is over. Keep going!

I was encouraged seeing so many young people at the Wall Street protests. Click here for a livestream of what is happening on Wall Street now. They began the occupation Saturday, Sept 17th and they plan to stay! Check out the young man who came from California for this action.

It is also encouraging that in addition to multi-billionaire Warren Buffett, a growing number of millionaires are asking that their taxes be raised to fairer levels as a matter of patriotic duty. Add your name to the petition at Patriotic Millionaires, (you don't have to be a millionaire!) who did the video below.




Keep faith!

Remembering 9/11- A Call for Peace

"The lesson of 9/11 is that we live in a connected world. We rise or fall together. As Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” On this 10^th anniversary, let us honor those we lost by recognizing our kinship with people all over the world, and affirming the values and principles that will guarantee peaceful tomorrows for everyone." 

September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

The tenth anniversary of 9/11 should be a time of remembrance and mourning for all who were lost on that tragic day and I agree with the 9/11 families who are also calling for it to be a time of reflection for the terrible price we have paid for the "War on Terror". After the tragedy of 9/11, we had the world on our side. Al Qaeda was beatable using the resources and policing efforts of a world united against such horrific violence, but we squandered that opportunity by engaging in wars that have created untold suffering that continue to this day.


I hope that as we remember the dead of 9/11, we also think of the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians who have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq and the millions wounded, displaced, sickened, widowed and orphaned by these wars. I hope more make the connection between militarism and the dire condition of our present economy. I hope more reach out to help returning veterans, get the health care, jobs and services they need. I hope people will talk about the true costs of war and realize that hatred, death and destruction have never and will never make us safer. I hope they will ponder these statistics and be less gullible the next time the military/industrial/media complex tries to beat the drums for another war of aggression.

• As of today, September 9-  6,552 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. 45,170 have been wounded, many grievously. 

• In addition, the Pentagon estimates that 360,000 US veterans have suffered brain injuries.

• 340,000 suffer PTSD or major depression.

• For the second year, more active duty troops have killed themselves than died in combat.

• We have spent $7.6 trillion on defense and homeland security since 9/11 ($1.36 trillion for the 2 wars and counting, Pentagon up 43%, Homeland Security up 301%, nuclear weapons up 21%)

•  Just 1% of the Pentagon's $685 billion budget would allow states to pay for 100,000 K-12 teachers' salaries with benefits.

• The PATRIOT Act and the Military Commissions Act are still on the books. The later says the President can declare anyone an enemy combatant and he or she can be locked up for life with no ability to challenge the detention in the courts.  
• 70% of our brave first responders have chronic lung ailments and many are coming down with cancer.

• Muslim Americans have faced growing hatred and bias in our country

Our wars of aggression have been used as recruiting tools by terrorist organizations. Our economy is in shambles and campaigns of violence and torture have seriously undermined our moral standing in the world. It is time for people to wake up to the disastrous impact of war and militarism on our nation  and how corporate media sells us war with fear and hatred of "the other".


"War is a Racket" by General Smedley Butler is as relevant today as when it was written in 1935!


"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small 'inside' group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."


He goes on to say he was a "gangster for capitalism" waging wars in Mexico to make it safe for oil interests, in the Dominican Republic for the sugar industry, in Honduras for United Fruit and that he "helped in the raping of a half dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street".


Wars destroy the very fabric of life, with women and children suffering the most, while a very few get very rich. For the sake of future generations, we have to rise up to say No More War, because as John Kennedy once said,"Either we end war, or war will end us."


Join us any Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30PM in front of the Elting Library in New Paltz to make a stand for peace with New Paltz Women in Black. We have been there every week for 10 years.


post script
We also may be nearing a tipping point in discovering the truth of 9/11 itself.

Remember in 2000, the Project for a New American Century (many signatories were high level Bush administration officials) put out a report, "Rebuilding America's Defenses" that called for American hegemony, "full spectrum" dominance and "the ability to fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars". It also stated that a "catastrophic and cataclysmic event- like a new Pear Harbor" would speed their goals. 


We should not forget "Operation Northwoods" which was a plan put to Kennedy by his military chiefs that called for bombings, hijackings, plane crashes and dead Americans- to justify invading Cuba. Kennedy said no and was assassinated a few months later.


To commemorate the tenth anniversary a new documentary, 9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out, features the testimonies of controlled demolition contractors, high rise architects, structural engineers and world-renowned scientists, all of whom are taking a courageous stand for the truth." The film is by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. It is playing Friday, 9/9 at the Elting Library in New Paltz at 8:15PM. 

Hundreds of American Arrested, Endless War and The Coddled Rich

Up to 1,000 Americans may be arrested to protest the Tar Sands Pipeline

As we anxiously await Hurricane Irene all along the east coast, we are reminded that storms have grown much more violent in recent years. Hurricanes draw their strength from the warming waters of the ocean and this has resulted in wind speeds of storms increasing 50% since the 1970's when sea surface temperatures began to rise. They are also growing in size. Irene spans 600 miles!

To fight against global warming, many are focusing on the proposed 1,700 mile Tar Sands Pipeline that would bring oil from Canada to Texas. This project could mean "game over" in our struggle to curb global warming emissions according to James Hansen of NASA. Tar sands oil is the dirtiest of the dirty fossil fuels and would create 400 gigatons (400 billion tons) of new carbon pollution into our atmosphere.

So far, 322 Americans (including 350.org leader Bill McGibbon) have been arrested demonstrating in front of the White House demanding that President Obama say no to this dangerous pipeline. The police tried to make an example of the first 50 arrested, by detaining them for two days under harsh conditions, but the next wave proceeded as planned. Another 700 have signed up to also risk arrest, making this the largest environmental civil disobedience this country has seen! Unfortunately, not many are actually seeing the drama play out, as the media is ignoring it.

This begs the question: If 1,000 Tea Partiers were being arrested to make a statement would the media fail to cover that?

It is so obvious that our future resides with green, clean energy! Consider this- The Maryland governor proposed a bill to construct about 100 wind turbines,10 miles off the coast. They could run a half million electric cars at the low price of $1.50 a gallon and create 2,500 new jobs! It is estimated that it would also save $4 billion in health costs by replacing polluting energy.

This could be Obama's shining moment to stand up to the dirty fossil fuel industry and to re-motivate a demoralized base, as he has the sole power to deny this pipeline. Call 202 456-1414 and tell our President to be strong and do the right thing.

Other News 
The Scourge of DU
Our Depleted Uranium munitions have left an epidemic of childhood leukemia and major birth defects in Iraq. In Fallujah, the site of two intense battles in 2004, they have 11 times the world average of major birth defects. In Basra, which was hit hard in the Gulf War, childhood leukemia more than doubled from 1993 to 2007.Read about it and sign a petition to ban DU weapons now!

Endless War? 
In a little noticed report, it was said that US forces, including special forces and air power, could stay in Afghanistan until 2024! There is also talk of extending the deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq past Obama's promise of December of 2012. The very few continue to get very rich on death and destruction, while our country sinks into a deepening economic crisis. Bring the troops home now and invest that money in creating jobs and rebuilding America!
    
The Coddled Rich
Some hedge fund managers in the US make $1 billion a year and they are taxed at a lower rate than you and I are! The median income in our country is $29,000 (half make more, half make less)  It would take 34,482 years to make $1 billion! The 400 richest make more than 150 million Americans combined and most of them don't want to pay an extra nickle to help us in our time of greatest need.

Thank goodness for some voices of reason like Warren Buffet who wrote an op-ed in the NY Times called  "Stop Coddling the Super Rich", but most of the mega rich in this country, like the Koch brothers, want even more at the expense of everyone else. They should learn something from Buffet and from the millionaires and billionaires in France, who have asked for a tax increase to help save their country! 

All the Presidents Say It- Will Obama Do It and Say No to Tar Sands Oil?

Women in Black in the Hudson Valley and Beyond- new video!

About 100 people attended the screening of "We Are Still Standing: The Stories of Women in Black" at Upstate Films in Woodstock, NY, yesterday. Kudos to producer and director Ellie Bernstein for this informative, moving and  inspirational account of Women in Black; the largest mobilization for peace in the world! 

Jane Toby, who brought Women in Black to the Hudson Valley from Verona, Italy spoke briefly and gave a loving tribute to Jane VanDeBogart, a leader in the Women in Black movement in Woodstock.

I also spoke and shared the actions of Women in Black in New Paltz over the years. In over 500 vigils we have protested war, militarism and violence in all its forms. Additionally, we have organized rallies to support workers' rights, protect the environment, for health care for all, for election reform, to make Wall Street accountable, to protest torture, the loss of our civil liberties, illegal wiretapping and the rise of corporatocracy. New Paltz Women in Black has also organized photography shows to expose the scourge of depleted uranium, and art shows to show visions of peace from adults and one that focused on the children of the world. We raised money for Iraq Veterans against War and for Iraqi refugees. We were also the main organizer of "We, the People" a forum at SUNY New Paltz to educate and mobilize on how to overturn the terrible ruling of the Supreme Court in Citizens United. We believe that action is the antidote to despair and we have hardly stopped these last ten years!

After the film and video showing we invited all the Women in Black to the stage. We sang the Women in Black anthem, by composer Shirley Warren, who is also a member of New Paltz Women in Black and gave each woman a rose for her dedication to creating a more just, peaceful and loving world.

New Women in Black Film- Sunday, Woodstock!

Don’t miss this fascinating documentary on the 20 year struggle of the largest women’s peace movement in the world.

Award-winning filmmaker, Ellie Bernstein, traveled the world to interview women who have taken to the streets to protest war and violence in all its forms. Archival footage and photos bring the Women in Black story to life.

Local women have been standing in vigils for peace every week for 10 years and they will be honored. There will be a short "slide show" featuring them. Jane Toby, of Woodstock Women in Black, who brought the movement to the Hudson Valley from Verona, Italy and I, from New Paltz Women in Black, will give brief talks. Ellie Bernstein will be available to answer questions.

We are planning some fun surprises too. We will be singing the Women in Black anthem, by composer Shirley Warren of New Paltz Women in Black and everyone will leave with an affirmation citing a gift they have that will contribute to world peace!

Please join us for this celebration of women’s dedication to creating a more just and peaceful world. Go to www.wearestillstanding.com, or write to me at clearstreammedia@gmail.com. You can also sign up here.

"We Are Still Standing: The Stories of Women in Black", Sunday August 21 at 1PM, Upstate Films, 132 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY. See you there!

 

"Where Are the Jobs?" Rally in KIngston

We had a spirited rally Wednesday in front of Congressman Hinchey's office as part of the national launch of the American Dream Movement. Although some of the personal stories were sad, there was an abundance of impassioned energy as folks chanted "Jobs, Not Cuts", "Tax the Rich" and "Jobs Not War". Thanks so much to all who came!

Linda Abbott, Core Coordinator of the Ulster County MoveOn Council began by talking about the Contract for the American Dream that serves as the blueprint for this new, peoples' movement. It calls for investing in America's crumbling infrastructure, a new clean energy economy, education and Medicare for all. It also is about protecting workers' rights and Social Security, returning to fairer tax rates so the wealthy pay their share and ending the wars (that cost $3 billion a week). Lastly, it is about strengthening democracy by publicly financing elections to end the corrosive influence of money in politics.

We want to thank our wonderful speakers; Nancy Mathisen, Cameron Williams, Susan Ganzer and Darlene Hargrove. We heard about the "new poor"- folks over 50 with decades of experience who cannot find jobs, kids on food stamps, worry about retirement, and just how much people are suffering in our own community. Our hearts go out to them and their families and we wish them all the best in the days ahead. Thanks too to Lori DuBord, Congressional Representative who did an excellent job in outlining the Contract for the American Dream and all the ways Congressman Hinchey has been a leader in promoting those policies.

We even were treated to a brief, surprise visit as Congressman Hinchey drove by. We were able to present him with a bouquet of flowers to thank him for consistently being on the side of the people and to wish him well on his recovery from surgery. You may be wondering why he is not in the above video. Well, I goofed. I thought I was recording it all, but had actually turned the camera off for that great moment (sorry)!

I co-coordinated the event and spoke about my own son who is struggling to find a job in Phoenix. He told me he went for a manager's position for Taco Bell and there were 300 applying, some even traveling from Las Vegas and Los Angeles! I also talked about the "rich man's coup" that has been in the works for 30 years. Our salaries, adjusted for inflation, are less today than they were in 1971! Yet there has been a huge increase in income in America; it is just going to fewer and fewer people. Since 1980, 4/5 of all the increase went to the richest 1%.

We need a public jobs program like the WPA to turn this country around. If we depend on the private sector alone this recession could last a decade and get much worse. Slashing programs at a time of economic crisis is precisely the wrong thing to do. Of course, we have to deal with our deficit long-term, but right now we need an infusion of dollars to ensure our recovery.

We need to continue to rally around the policies set forth in the Contract for the American Dream. Over 130,000 Americans helped to write it. Kudos to MoveOn.org for going through such a painstaking process to ensure all our voices were heard.

Our strength is in our numbers and in the fact that we are standing for the American ideal, that all who are willing to work can find a good job and give their families a better life. We are also standing for fairness- that those who do well IN America, do well BY America! To stay in the loop, please join our Council by writing to ulstercmoveon@gmail.com and please Sign the Contract and ask all your friends and family to too!

Onward!

Immoral Deal, How We Fight Back and More

        Photo from Bernie Sander's site

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism- ownership of government by an individual or by a group. " Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Code Pink calls it "the rich man's coup". It has been in the works for 30 years and now we see it reaching its culmination in the dreadful, deficit ceiling deal. The poor and middle class are being asked to bear all the burden for reducing our deficit as trillions are slashed from critically needed programs, but the super rich and corporations making record breaking profits are not asked to contribute one cent. Is it clear now who "owns" the Tea Party, the Republicans and yes, many of the Democrats too?

Last night we had a great MoveOn meeting to begin fighting back to Rebuild the American Dream. First we all said one word to summarize how we were feeling about the deficit deal. About 30 people had a very similar response- disgusted, angered and frustrated, but one person, Mike Compain, said "motivated". That's the spirit we need now. We know we are up against huge power with limitless money, but we have millions of impassioned Americans and right on our side.  We are not going to sit back and let corporate America and the moneyed elite continue to steal from us and not pay their share. We are rising up all over this nation!

Please join us Wednesday, August 10 at noon in front of Congressman Hinchey's office at 291 Wall Street in Kingston. Because we have an unemployment crisis, not a debt crisis, this will be a day of nationwide action to ask Congress "Where Are the Jobs?" We will be demanding  job creation, that the rich pay their share and that the safety net not be shredded. Lucky for us, Congressman Hinchey is with us, so we are also there to thank him. We hope to have a huge turn out so the media and politicians in DC see how serious we are. Check MoveOn.org for more information.  If you have lost your job and would like to say a few words write to me at clearstreammedia@gmail.com or you can wear a sign, ie "unemployed teacher". Bring a pair of binoculars if you can- so we can all be looking for where the jobs are- a great visual the media will like. It will be a great rally and we hope to see you there!

1. We Could Have Eliminated the Deficit with This 

A recent first time audit shows that the Fed secretly gave banks and corporations $16 trillion, not $800 billion. TARP was just the start. "As a result of this audit, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided more than $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the United States and throughout the world," said Sanders. "This is a clear case of socialism for the rich and rugged, you're-on-your-own individualism for everyone else."

2. Right-wing Policies Spreading Like Wildfire 

Forty seven states have introduced legislation that will disenfranchise millions of Americans in 2012. Using the nonexistent threat of "voter fraud" (which only occurs in a tiny, tiny fraction of 1%) legislatures are making it harder for the elderly, people of color and students (read Democrats for the most part) to vote. In Texas for instance, you can use your gun registration as ID, but not your student ID card. Thirty states have introduced anti-immigration legislation (to help fill up profit-making prisons), 42 states are considering legislation to declare the national health program unconstitutional and 24 states have introduced anti-worker provisions. Read about the front group for the Kochs and right wing lobbying groups- called ALEC- that is the driving force for this extreme agenda.

3. Air Force Cites Jesus and a Nazi to Justify Nuclear War

Information released under the FOIA, shows that nuclear missile officers (those who would push the button if the command came) in the Air Force were given a training that used the Bible and a Nazi scientist to justify launching nukes. One officer said the training could have been called  "Jesus Loves Nukes". Since Truthout exposed it, the Air Force has shut that training down.

4. Desperate for Democracy in Iraq

"The U.S.-based women’s rights group MADRE (6/10/11) reported that members of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq—its partner organization in Baghdad—and other protesters were brutally beaten and sexually assaulted in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on June 10 by government-sponsored mobs. What were they demonstrating for that so threatened Iraq’s government...Democracy."

5. Mother Earth Protests Fracking in Arkansas

"A moratorium on well activity had been in place for months as geologists investigated a possible link between fracking activity and the outbreak of more than 1,200 earthquakes that measured lower than 4.7 in magnitude."

Tea Party Madness

John Sherffius                                                                             

Tribune Media Serivces

"A good chunk of the Republican caucus is either stupid, crazy, ignorant, or craven cowards afraid of the Tea Party people." Bruce Bartlett, former Reagan Policy Advisor

Yes, even former Reagan officials are denouncing House Republicans for their intransigence in addressing raising the debt ceiling to stave off economic calamity that will once again hit America's middle class and poor the hardest. The Tea Party radical ideologues in the House would rather see our country humiliated by losing its triple A credit rating, see markets crash (already down a whopping 4%) and allow a deep global depression rather than compromise one iota. They are an embarrassment and disgrace. Are some voters finally having voters' remorse? Maybe they will if they do not get their Social Security check in August.

Any serious, rational attempt to deal with our nation's deficit will have to include increased revenue- there is almost unanimous agreement on that- except for the Teapublicans. They are more concerned with protecting the 400 richest families in our country that make on average $270 million a year and pay at a tax rate similar to the poor- about 18%  (armed with the best tax lawyers money can buy- they often pay far less than that). They say we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem- but they are lying. Tax revenue is the lowest it has been since the 1950's! We are still in a painful recession and to not ask the very rich to pay their fair share, as we are all being asked to sacrifice so much, is an abomination. A recent Washington Post poll showed that the vast majority (72%) of Americans, Democrat and Republican think that taxes should be raised on all making $250,000 and more a year. Yet, that provision is missing from any of the proposals on the table.

If you are feeling as frustrated as I am, please join us Monday night at the Rosendale Community Center at 7PM to work on building the movement to Reclaim the American Dream and letting Washington know

"Enough is enough. Make the rich pay their share. Protect the social safety net that has made American strong  for decades. End the wars, create jobs, invest in infrastructure and a new clean energy economy!"

We have to come together to be effective in protecting our rights, because there is an extremely well-funded, organized corporate-led movment to eviscerate them.  Write to me at clearstreammedia@gmail.com for more information about the MoveOn-led peoples' movment to fight back.

The American Dream Revolution Has Just Begun!

New Paltz House Party- one of 2,000!

About 25,000 Americans attended house parties this past Sunday to launch a new movement to reclaim the American Dream for the everyday working people in our country. We gathered to protest the growing plutocracy; government of. by and for the rich and to restore economic fairness and democracy to America.

At the New Paltz gathering, that Linda Abbott and I co-hosted, here are some of the priorities for the American Dream agenda we agreed upon-

Good Jobs Now!

Move toward a clean, green independent energy future

End the huge waste of wars and invest in job-creation

Put Americans back to work through a public jobs program (relying only on the private sector would take at least a decade for us to reach full employment)

Make Them pay!

Return to fairer tax rates

End all Bush-era tax cuts

Make corporations pay their taxes

Make Democracy Work!

Put elections back in the hands of the people with clean elections

Eliminate corporate personhood (roll back the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, by constitutional amendment if necessary)

Stop the assault on unions and workers' rights

Build Strong Communities!

Medicare for all

Invest in public education

Substantially reduce military spending

MoveOn is busy calculating results from about 2,000 gatherings and we will all get behind the top rated priorities. There will be rallies before every congressional district's representative on August 10 at noon, including Rep Hinchey's office on Wall St in Kingston. More info to come.

There is also a meeting planned for Monday, August 1 at 7:00PM at the Rosendale Community Center. Sign up to be a part of really taking our country back by writing to me at clearstreammedia@gmail.com, or Linda at linabbott@gmail.com. You can also rate ideas for the American Dream agenda here.

Thank you to Mike Compain, Saugerties; Jodiah Jacobs, Red Hook; Judith Simon,Woodstock; Helen Harkasti, Kerhonkson; and others for also hosting gatherings Sunday! What is powerful about this movement is that the major unions and progressive groups are lining up behind it! We are united in our efforts to make the American Dream of equality, liberty and justice for all a reality once again.

Watch this video and you get a sense of what we are fighting and how important this movement by the people is. Please join us and be a part of history.