Category: Action

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D OH-10), Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is calling for an investigation of lifting of the $400 billion cap by the Treasury Department and possible corruption.

This is Rep. Kucinich’s statement:

As Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I’m announcing that the Subcommittee will launch an investigation into the Treasury Department’s recent decision to lift the current $400-billion cap on combined federal assistance to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, opening the way for additional, unlimited funds through the end of 2012. This investigation will include the role played by Fannie Mae chief executive Michael J. Williams and Freddie Mac chief executive Charles E. Haldeman in the decision, if any, and will seek to ensure that the additional assistance is used for homeowners and not Wall Street.

Many questions remain unanswered regarding this move by the Treasury. Why suddenly remove the cap? Indications are that Freddie and Fannie, even as millions of Americans lose their homes, have used just $111 billion of the $400 billion previously available to them. Is lifting the cap on assistance a back-door TARP?

Additionally, I want to determine whether Fannie and Freddie have a cohesive plan to buy up the under-performing mortgages that remain on the books of the big banks, at appropriate prices, and undertake a massive reworking of the terms of the mortgages so as to stem the foreclosure crisis that continues to plague our country.This new authority must be used responsibly and for the benefit of American families. This cannot be used simply to purchase toxic assets at inflated prices, thus transferring the losses to the U. S. taxpayers and acting as a back-door TARP.

As a result of a curiously-timed Christmas Eve announcement by the Treasury Department, the mortgage giants will have access to unlimited funds without having to come back to Congress. Since the federal government is the majority owner of both companies, their operations will remain under Administration control.

This relationship between Treasury and Fannie and Freddie bears inspection, particularly in the wake of reports that the mortgage giants’ chief executives will now receive $900,000 each in annual compensation, bonuses of up to $6 million each, and an additional $42 million in special compensation will be spread among a dozen other executives.

Have we become too comfortable, sitting behind our keyboards and silently typing away our anger?  Has the progressive movement embraced the wonderful technology of the internet at the expense of real world activism and organizing?

I’m afraid this might be so.  And it’s time to turn that around. On Bill Moyer’s Journal this past Friday, economist Robert Kuttner brought up a striking fact that is missing from nearly all of the plethora of analyses – ranging from Obamapologist to Obama hater to everything in between – that I’ve seen of this presidency:

ROBERT KUTTNER: The other thing that’s missing, if you compare him with Roosevelt or LBJ or Lincoln, the other thing that’s missing is a social movement. In all of these great periods of transformation, you had social movements doing a complicated dance with the president, where sometimes they were working with him, sometimes they were beating up on him. That certainly describes the civil rights movement and Lyndon Johnson. It describes the abolitionists and Lincoln. It describes the labor movement and Roosevelt. Where’s the movement?

John Burton, former state Senator of California and current official in the CA dem party, has drawn up a petition to Harry Reid which is aimed at ending the abusive tactics used by Joe Lieberman to hold the Senate and the country hostage.

It involves a simple rule change, and can be done easily.

This is the text of the petition:

As a member of the Democratic caucus, Joe Lieberman enjoys a key committee chairmanship and other plum assignments and we get next to nothing in return.

Enough is enough. It’s time to end Joe Lieberman’s reign of terror and restore democracy to the Senate by changing Rule 22 and ending the filibuster.

And you can sign it here.

Short and sweet.  Take Action.

(Cross-posted from The Free Speech Zone)

AP – A huge demonstration started today with actions being held around the world in a month long campaign to bring knowledge to the world.  Internationally thousands of students and people filled the libraries of their towns and schools in order to check out the maximum allowed amount of books and media to bring them home, scan them, and upload them for free download on the internet.  

Many armed with only portable and pocket-sized HD video cameras taped their own personal tours of museums all over the world in order to allow millions to view them on YouTube and other video sites.  The demonstration was peaceful with no arrests reported.  Demonstrators explained that what they were doing was “liberating the humanities” while police and workers at the institutions targeted were powerless to stop them.

“We have no reason to arrest anyone since what they’re doing isn’t illegal at all and even if what they do with the materials afterward might be illegal, we have no proof that they’re going to commit any crimes” said one officer outside one of the libraries.  

Many of the museums targeted had online virtual tours posted on their websites, but that didn’t stop demonstrators from making their own “custom” tours of the premises.  There were some requests by security to not use flash photography with some of the exhibits which were rules that the demonstrators had no problems abiding by.  “We’re not here to start a fight, we’re here to show there’s no reason for conflict” said one demonstrator we talked to.  While the publishing companies are nearly powerless to try and prosecute so many who will be taking part in the action, the museum authorities saw no reason why this should be seen as a “demonstration” at all.  “To call something a ‘demonstration’ is to suggest that there is something that is being opposed although no one here is opposed to what these people are doing and in fact many of our staff have helped with the effort” said a curator at the premises.  In fact, many were welcomed seeing how generous they were with donations as they walked into the museums.  

Some public officials have spoken out against the group taking books and media out of the library in order to make them available to the entire world.  They believe the purpose of these groups sponsoring the event is to make publishing industries cave to the demands of those who believe all literature should be made freely available despite income.  As strong as the words were from many officials, they were powerless to stop the demonstrators from pulling off their actions.  There have been suggestions that those who orchestrated this month-long campaign could be charged with “enabling and promoting copyright infringement” by making calls for these types of actions.  However, no formal charges hav

From:

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And, David Swanson, reminds us “It’s Not the President’s Decision!”

The U.S. Constitution leaves the decision to wage war to Congress, and Congress can enforce its decision not to wage war by refusing to fund it.  Blocking a funding bill for wars requires the House of Representatives alone, and both Democrats and Republicans in the House are rapidly joining us in saying No to war funding.

It’s time to finally get serious, to lobby, to protest, to sit in, to nonviolently disrupt and resist in local district offices until enough Representatives commit to voting No on any bill to fund more war.

Here’s a link to a rapidly-changing whip list in the form of a google document that you can embed* on your own website:

Public Opposes Wars, Will Our Representatives?

Please call your representatives and find out they will vote on funding the wars, urge them not to, etc. and post responses from them in the above site beneath the chart.  The chart is regularly updated.  This is a great way to keep a running to “track” of our representatives

*unfortunately, it’s not possible to embed the link here

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Support over 100 outstanding, leading peace activists in their “Emergency Anti-Escalation Rally,” on December 12, 2009, at the White House, by going to Ends the Wars Org and signing the letter to the President.  It’s easy, send them an e-mail and ask that your name and state be included.

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From:

JUST FOREIGN POLICY!

Tell President Obama: No More Troops for Afghanistan!   – AND –

Demand a Congressional Debate on Troop Escalation

And to think that there are a couple of bills in Congress, that ask for taxing the American people for these wars??

(crossposted from daily kos) (here: http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

Too many promises betrayed, and now this new war escalation.

Is this blog called “Daily Kos” or is it called “Daily Barack Obama?”

I thought we were activists.

This sort of conflict continues to arise, where people are living in below-code situations and shut down – to go live in below-code situations in other venues, presumably.

This time somebody went to jail for arranging the housing, though.

Cross-posted at Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/…  OpenLeft, and FDL.

Back in the 1960s, Time and Life had many subscribers.  These magazines dropped plenty of photos about the reality of war onto tens of millions of living room coffee tables across the country, every damn week.

And, Walter Cronkite made sure that Mr. and Mrs. America had a close-up view during the dinner hour.

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We don’t see that anymore.

Let’s take a look back.

And if any of these historic and recent photos are upsetting at all, it proves you are normal and that there is nothing wrong with you.

I originally submitted this as a sample blog post to become a blogger on change.org, but they rejected me, so here goes.  I have two other posts like this up my sleeve, too.

I don’t know about you, but when I go to the supermarket it’s a chore.  With every single item there are thousands of things that could potentially go wrong.  Is it USDA organic?  Is it fair trade?  It doesn’t have palm oil in it, does it?  And if you’re like most people, the supermarket is unfortunately your best choice for a wide variety of food.

If those are the kinds of thoughts that run through your head while you’re wandering through the aisles, then I have some good news.  There is an easy way to break free from the grip of the agricultural-industrial complex that’s much easier than continually checking labels – and as usual, it will improve your budget, your health, and your life.  I’m talking about raising chickens.

Raising chickens may seem like a daunting task when you first hear about it, but in reality it’s very easy.  After the initial effort of getting them and setting up their living arrangements, chickens are nice animals and easy to take care of (and they don’t even smell!).  I’ve heard people say that their temperament is similar to that of cats.

Last year, I decided that I wanted chickens.  My family and I put a lot of research into it, and we finally found a farm and a carpenter (to build the coop) that we were happy with.  If you live in eastern Pennsylvania, I’d be more than happy to give you the name of both.  After about a year of delays, and with the help of Chicken Owners of Philadelphia, we finally got ourselves three beautiful heritage chicks in April.

This past week the last of the three started laying eggs.  I really encourage everyone to get a few chickens for themselves.  They are cheap – the chicks were five dollars each and the coop was a steal at seventy bucks – and entail little responsibility.  They provide fresh eggs that you know are grass-fed and humanely raised.  They give you local and possibly biodynamic food for next to nothing, without the hassle of reading labels.  They’re great for any garden, with their manure and taste for bugs and weeds and seeds.  And they’re great pets.

If you’re interested in getting some chickens of your own, I’ve got a wealth of information and advice from websites, books, and my own experience.  Just email me at RossMLevin at gmail.com if you’re curious.