December 2009 archive

An Open Letter to Gov. Howard Dean

I may be the hardest individual on Democratic voices right now as it pertains to how President Obama and the Democratic majority are making decisions.  I was hard on Gov. Dean in this diary.

Gov. Dean has been one of the most outspoken voices for real health care reform, so, when he stated that the current bill, minus the public option, was a “step forward”, I slammed him as tossing in the towel.

Gov. Dean has now stepped out and stated that this bill needs to be killed.

So, here is my open letter to Gov. Dean…

(cross-posted at Daily Kos sans TU status… Meteor Blades yanked mine)

The Sun and the Hope of AmeriCare

The sun’ll come out

Tomorrow

Bet your bottom dollar

That tomorrow

There’ll be sun!

Just thinkin’ about

Hope

Clears away the cobwebs,

And Bushian sorrow

Til there’s change!

When I’m stuck in an empire,

That’s broke,

And lonely,

I just stick out my chin,

And Grin,

And Say,

America!

The sun dun come up

It’s Tomorrow!

So we gotta hope on

Til change

Come what may

It’s Tomorrow! It’s Tomorrow!

America, I love ya, It’s Tomorrow!

We always hope

A day

Was today!

I remember a lot of hope about this time last year, but I also knew any incoming President would be handed a steaming pile of incompetence. Being from the Left, I shuddered to think what Bush Administration might have accomplished had they follow traditional logistics in their ambitious missions. Or basic common sense.

We are lucky George W. Bush isn’t wickedly smart. Very lucky.

Remembering that the big scandal when Clinton left was that someone had stolen all the W keys, how more innocent those times now appear? Like when Bart Simpson was the center of the national attention in the late 80s, the great moral problem of our time.

How green those valleys were.

Like during the campaign season, when politicians would pour the possibility of universal healthcare down our ears. I always thought public option would be the booby prize. The Congress of our country cannot allow the insurance trust act as the company store for healthcare anymore. That is exactly what it has become, a monopolized national company store we are all subjected to, without an opt out.

That is one of the more comical issues that has not been address. If conservative Republicans want a free market, how can they deny entry by another market member, the government?

If their argument is that the government as an entity cannot be involved in a free market, then they are suggest that the corporate entity has more power than our sovereign government to participate in the marketplace.

If that be the case, healthcare reform is the least of our problems, but is the issue de jour.

It’s the hard-knock life for US

It’s the hard-knock life for US

Congress cares for you a smidge

When you’re an uninsured

And down

It’s the hard-knock life!

Least we forget, SCHIP was passed so America took one small step towards being a civilized country when it comes to access to healthcare. Someone finally thought of the children.

The reason Republicans never wanted SCHIP passed was because the parents would see the great care their children were getting and request the same.

Republicans are scared of government programs because they only know how incompetently Republicans can run them.

What Democrats failed to do was present the healthcare reform as liberation from the insurance company store and the peace of mind that universal healthcare can bring. But the Democrats started the dealing at the booby prize and it all went downhill from there.

When this was rolled out it should have been a new national program to grant access to healthcare to all citizens. Something with a snazzy new name like AmeriCare. It would have been an easy sale; it allowed access to any doctor anywhere when a citizen had any pressing medical need, and timely care for less urgent procedures. Like fake noses.

Any citizen feed up with their corporate capitalistic insurance company could give the citizens’ insurance reserve a whirl, as we slowly grandfathered and babied in all Americans. By expanding SCHIP up while lowering the age of Medicare down, you meet in the middle of AmeriCare and slowly ween the insurance trust off the tit of our collective wealth.

Overall, AmeriCare would offer the assurance that anyone could get help anywhere at anytime not based on insurance company’s bottom lines, but for the general welfare of the republic.

A father and mother would instantly have peace of mind that any ailments that might befall their children, access to the best medical care in the world would not be based on their ability to pay, but on the needs of their child. They would also know the same for their parents.

We would all have peace of mind that any family member or loved one, to far away for us to help them, any citizen would know no longer would the doctors’ hands be forced into idle while a corporate bureaucrat weighs the value of our lives on the abacuses of their bottom line and wild and obscene profits literally based on our blood and tears.

That must end, and every citizen should reserve the right to equal healthcare that our bountiful country can provide, even to go as far to put AmeriCare in as an amendment to our Constitution.

We would all have peace of mind that at anytime a medical need comes up we would all have access to the best doctors on Earth.

Peace of mind that is AmeriCare.

Democrats decided to go another direction.

 

Musings from the New World Order

My wife works the night shift so I was in bed when the phone call came in. Her co-worker wanted the swine vaccine decontamination protocols because her high school age daughter is now autistic.  She was already done with Boston Childrens and was seeking a naturopath, I gave her my internet keywords.

More feedback comes from the 911 truth group.  I forget emails can be had instantly on blackberrys and one of our members was on the subway when my link of a Homeboy Insecurity “drill” came through.

My daughter is still being shit upon by Dr. Dickhead.  She never should have complained about them screwing up her son’s circumcision in the first place.  In a more calmed down state it makes more sense now.  Missed appointments=substance abuse test, a pre-emptive slander smear tactic as far as my family is concerned.  She told me what one staff member said

“You are upset because we care about you?”

No, I think not.  This is not Lindsey Loohan and the Hollywood Rehab cesspool, we actually take false accusations so you can cover your own asses quite seriously.

Oh, BTW did you know we are at war with/in Yemen?  Yeah, Yemen, Saudi Arabia but hey they are only “advisors”.

http://alethonews.wordpress.co…

Air support included.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.a…

More interesting is how,where I found out about “us” being “at war” in Yemen.  It comes from an anti-vaccination site?!  Damn those “unconventional” Americans who just can’t shut up and do what lamestream tells them to.

Check out the receptor binding domain changes.  H1N1 is now D225G, D225N,H247Y and “R2D2”, none of which the current vaccine bioweapon will address.

The Heart of the Matter

(…sometimes only an acoustic song will do…)

I got the call today, I didn’t wanna hear

But I knew that it would come

An old true friend of ours was talkin’ on the phone

She said you found someone

And I thought of all the bad luck,

And the struggles we went through

And how I lost me and you lost you

What are these voices outside love’s open door

Make us throw off our contentment

And beg for something more?

I’m learning to live without you now

But I miss you sometimes

The more I know, the less I understand

All the things I thought I knew, I’m learning again

I’ve been tryin’ to get down to the Heart of the Matter

But my will gets weak

And my thoughts seem to scatter

But I think it’s about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore

These times are so uncertain

There’s a yearning undefined

…People filled with rage

We all need a little tenderness

How can love survive in such a graceless age

The trust and self-assurance that can lead to happiness

They’re the very things we kill, I guess

Pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms

And the work I put between us,

Doesn’t keep me warm

I’m learning to live without you now

But I miss you, Baby

The more I know, the less I understand

All the things I thought I figured out, I have to learn again

I’ve been tryin’ to get down to the Heart of the Matter

But everything changes

And my friends seem to scatter

But I think it’s about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore

There are people in your life who’ve come and gone

They let you down and hurt your pride

Better put it all behind you; life goes on

You keep carryin’ that anger, it’ll eat you inside

I’ve been tryin’ to get down to the Heart of the Matter

But my will gets weak

And my thoughts seem to scatter

But I think it’s about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore

I’ve been tryin’ to get down to the Heart of the Matter

Because the flesh will get weak

And the ashes will scatter

So I’m thinkin’ about forgiveness

Forgiveness

Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore

Outrage Overload

For everyone who just needs a break from the lousy politics of our time…and our so-called progressive politicians.  I’m fed up, too: so I offer a distraction diary.  Hope y’all enjoy it:

funny pictures of cats with captions
see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This is what a Democratic Party democratic revolution looks like

Admittedly, at a local level. But magnify this organized, directed passion to a nation-wide effort, pushed in communities across America, and you’ll start to see Full Court Press candidates win, even with minimal $$.

New Brunswick Ward Campaign 2009 from Daniel Dalonzo on Vimeo.

(From Empower Our Neighborhoods, that generated the wins described in the PDA article Progressives and Revolutionaries Win 25 Seats in Local Democratic Party)

The Scientific Basis for Taking On the Obamabots

To fight or not to fight. That was the question Budhy posed last week in regards to the more venal elements at Daily Kos. To be honest, even posing the question reminds me of a Monty Python script. The city is under siege and the elders are sitting around debating whether to defend it or not. But I understand the dilemma. And there were some good points on both sides. But I believe all questions are answered best by tackling them rationally. So let me address the issue in the most rational way I know how: scientifically.

Much of my educational background is in physics and philosophy. And I want to share with you a really cool way to see human interactions, and specifically politics, through the eyes of physics.  If you’re physics averse, don’t worry. There’s nothing technical here. And as you will see, it is with this understanding of the laws of nature that we can draw some light on whether or not to engage the opposition.

The first thing to understand is that there can be no change without force. This is evident in Newton’s first law of motion:

Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

In other words, absent an outside force, things tend to want to stay the same. Sound familiar?

Now it may seem a mere curiosity to apply the laws of physics to human behavior. But I assure it is far more important than that. For the underlying principle that governs how things change, and are changed, applies to all things – big and small, alive or inanimate. It even governs politics.

So when you notice that people, like trains, have their own intellectual inertia and will resist changing their minds or behavior unless pressure is applied, it’s not a coincidence. This is a fundamental truth of nature. In almost all cases, whether its atomic physics or molecular biology, dramatic changes almost always occur from an outside force. Maybe that sounds familiar too.

Now, here’s another concept that is important to understand. The measure of force between two objects is proportional to the difference between the properties of those objects. In other words, the bigger the difference, the greater the force. For example, if the two cars are traveling in the same direction (not much difference), their collision wont have much force at all. But if they are traveling in opposite directions (maximum difference), their collision will have a lot of force. This shows that force, and energy itself, is relative.  

In political terms, the political force between two parties depends how much their views differ. This website, for example, has very little, internal, political force compared to some place where say, socialists are put in the same arena as tea baggers. As a result, Docudharma generates relatively little change. Mostly, we are all here agreeing with each other and confirming and refining each other’s views.

Understand, I am not implying that this is not valuable. It is, especially to those out fighting on the front lines every day. It’s a nice place to come home to.

But you are not going to have much impact here. That’s just a fact. If you want to have an impact, and cause more change, you have to increase the force. And that means jumping in to the rough waters, embracing the conflict, creating pressure and friction. It means going where the action is. And guess where that could be.

Daily Kos has some serious potential for force. The reason is, in their limitless attempts to accommodate Obama’s dramatic betrayal of almost everything he appeared to stand for in the campaign, our once dedicated allies have actually embraced pretty much everything many of us (and many of them) had been fighting against for years.

Daily Kos, if you’ll remember, used to be hostile territory for the DLC, Republican-lite segment of the Democratic party. Kos himself frequently took on the Bob Shrums of the world and a consensus emerged that rejected the idea that we had to tolerate selling out the interests of ordinary Americans to achieve electoral victory.

It was a hard fought consensus that involved much conflict, and much political force. I remember back in the early days a commenter accused me of waging “class warfare” by mentioning wealth inequality. Not a “troll”. Not a plant. Just another Democrats who had been brainwashed by the corporate media.

But over time, one argument at a time, we chipped away and Daily Kos, which was quite centrist really when I arrived, slowly became pretty damn progressive. That consensus is gone now.

I can barely even recognize the place. I don’t go there often, but some of the things I have seen there horrify me. And even when the recommended list isn’t filled with cult worship and the intelligentsia’s defense of everything they despised about Bush, it is almost devoid of progressive activism. Rare are the diaries really speaking truth to power now because that power often includes the administration.

If I frame what’s happened at Daily Kos and across the progressive netroots in general as a battle in the war between the Plutocrats and the The People, I would have no choice but to call it a coup. I mean, the formally, pretty progressive Daily Kos recommended list has gone from a place where a lot of positive, progressive change took place to a propaganda front for the corporatist movement. I’m not exaggerating.

A classic example of this is the insipid diary, Let’s thank our lucky stars for big corporate law firms. Suddenly, because Obama was being criticized for appointing a corporate lawyer who represented the terrorist sponsoring Chiquita banana company, hundreds of Daily Kos members voted up this piece of propaganda.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. I have observed a mass abandoning of long held beliefs, all for the sake of realignment with Obama’s corporatist policies.

Lastly, does Daily Kos even matter? Some would argue that it is slipping into irrelevancy anyway and we should just ignore it. On this point I respectfully disagree. Daily Kos, for better or worse (worse I think) is like a hub for the progressive netroots. Not only does it have the most readers (among community blogs), it has the most powerful readers and contributors. A lot of power players drop by to urinate on the Daily Kos lawn. It is true Kos is slipping. But Daily Kos is the face of the Democratic netroots. And until that changes, it is the theater of operations for the fight to reform the Democratic party – or destroy it if need be.

But remember, this isn’t really about Daily Kos the website anyway. Nor is it about Docudharma. It is about the people there. Many are still good progressives. And there are a lot of people who have been mislead. Some sense that they’ve been betrayed. Some are hurt. Others are lashing out. Some are just volunteers or paid operatives who have ulterior motives. They live to attack critics. They sit there sometimes 18 hours a day waiting to attack anyone who is perceived as a threat. Some of them form email lists so they can tag team opponents and exaggerate their numbers. I caught on to that when I was there.

Throughout this essay, as I’ve described the principle of political force, I have only referred to differences of opinion. But what we’re dealing with is far more nefarious. We’re dealing with people who will lie and distort to protect political power. They must be challenged.

I implore you to get back in the fight. Retake the rec’d list of Daily Kos. Stop letting yourselves get bullied and discouraged from participating. Daily Kos used to be the home of People Power. Now it’s just an extension of the PR arm of the Obama campaign and those who benefit from his presidency.

There can be NO CHANGE without force. Without conflict. Without resistance. Without some pain. It’s as much a law of nature as gravity.

Training Tuesday with #org20: Getting Through the Bureaucracy

originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change



This week, we have something new for our Training Tuesday series. We still have plenty of videos left to come from Democracy for America’s Campaign Academy, but a couple weekends back, we attended the Organizing 2.0 conference in New York. This conference was a unique opportunity for activists to learn about new media and online organizing from some of the greatest online organizers around.

Iraq War Inquiry, Day 13

Iraq – Phase Four, Fissiparous and Catastrophic Success!!

Blair’s critics are asking the wrong questions

Lethal Illusions

In Empire of Illusion, Chris Hedges examines the pervasive ways in which Americans are separated from the complexities of reality and become trapped in a mind-killing, reality-destroying, one-dimensional existence.  For most of them, there is no way out of this corporate capitalist prison; for most of them, there is no escape; they can’t even try to escape because they don’t even know they’ve been locked up. They don’t see the guard towers, they don’t see the walls, they don’t even saw the bars of their own cells.  

Chris Hedges . . .    

We consume countless lies daily, false promises that if we spend more money, if we buy this brand or that product, if we vote for this candidate, we will be respected, envied, powerful, loved, and protected.  Reality is dismissed and shunned as an impediment to success, a form of negativity, it is condemned as defeatist.  Those who question, those who doubt, those who are critical, those who are able to confront reality and who grasp the hollowness of this culture, are shunned and condemned for their pessimism.

Human beings have become a commodity. They are objects, like consumer products.  They have no intrinsic value.  Life is a brutal world of unadulterated competition. Life is about the personal humiliation of those who oppose us.  Those who win are the best. Those who lose deserve to be erased.  Compassion, competence, intelligence, and solidarity with others are forms of weakness.

In accordance with these lethal illusions, progressives are weak and deserve to be erased. Conservatives are strong and deserve to rule.  Capitalism is sacred.  Conformity is sanctified. Dissent is condemned.  The corporate media pounds this narrative into the public consciousness every hour of every day, in every conceivable way, through every visual, aural, emotional, and psychological form of communication ever devised.  The consequences have been devastating.      

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

37 Top Stories!

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Eyes of the world are on you, UN chief tells climate summit

by Chris Otton, AFP

1 hr 14 mins ago

COPENHAGEN (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon said world leaders faced a “defining moment in history” as they balanced their nation’s interests with a global clamour to halt the juggernaut of climate change.

With just over three days left to broker one of the most ambitious, yet also fiendishly complex, deals in human history, conference chair Denmark appealed for all sides to embrace the spirit of compromise.

But China and the United States — the world’s two biggest carbon polluters — brushed aside European calls for concessions on emissions reductions, the thorniest issue of all.

Health Care Debacle

There is a lot of blame to go around over the Health Care debacle. A lot of people (DailyKos) are focusing their anger on just Joe Lieberman or Harry Reid.

Harry Reid tried at least to put in some token amount of reform, but then he knuckled under the pressure — not so much from Joe Lieberman — but from Rahm Emaneul and Obama.

You see, Leiberman knows that he can just walk the thing backwards all day long, because Obama and Rahm Emanuel will never arm twist or pressure him — just as they never pressured the Drug and Insurance Companies themselves.  They will always gut the reform part out of the bill, and instead conspire to please whatever corrupt demands that Lieberman and the GOP make of them.

It is time to understand that Obama is just a theater President.  He likes to create the illusion that he is on the side of the people, but he has really done nothing but place pro-WallStreet, pro-Bankster, pro-Corporatist, pro-NAFTA, pro-War, Pro-Drone, and pro-Bush-NEOCON apologists into the key positions of real control and power to ensure that their crooked agenda always carries the day.

Obama thinks nothing of going to the progressive wing and telling them all “you have to get in line now” and making that demand on them (and the House will now cave-in and vote for this charade just for Obama’s sake).  But would Obama ever in a million years ever go to Joe Lieberman and tell him “Joe, you have to get in line“?

Of course not.

This tells you everything you need to know about Obama, and the Obama Presidency.

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