Tag: boycott

As people are fond of noting…sometimes as if I didn’t know this…the best way to get people to believe in our need for equal rights is to share our stories.  I’ve tried to do that in my time here, which began in 2005.

Today I have a few more people I’d like you to meet.

And there’s a boycott that needs to be countered.

(Image from Greenpeace)

Hello all – hopefully I can make this into some kind of a short series or get someone to help me with this, but if not you’ll probably see at least one more diary on the subject from me.  Basically, here’s a post where I’m trying to assemble all the information for protests that you need to know in order to take action against BP and for some kind of a clean energy future.

Go below the fold for a list of events/websites/facebook pages/etc.

(Just because of my own time constraints, I’ve only listed events in the US)

A reminder that May 1 is the International Worker’s Day and early American labor rights protesters initiated it. It’s an American tradition – not a Communist tradition. And it’s a pagan tradition from the dawn of time.

I hope you all had a great May Day. As I post this it’s still May 1 from the CDT zone westward. For those who saw the original post, you can just skip it or get refreshed. For those who haven’t seen it, it has some interesting background on the history of the day.

Herewith, a recycled essay:

May 1.

A lot of Americans have apparently been brainwashed during their formative years. Especially the crowd over at the site that shall not be named. The vast majority associate the first day of the month of May as a Soviet Communist celebration day. Then again a sizable number of Uhmericans think Saddam Hussein was complicit in the 9/11 atrocities. Oh, and the wiretapping started after 9/11 and not like late February or early March of 2001.

May first was a holiday before there was a May. It’s a cross-quarter day. That means it falls about halfway between a solstice and an equinox. Back before keyboards, laser mice and high-speed internet connections people used to notice these things. The only thing that emitted light, besides fire, was in the sky. You can check out the sky anytime. Just click here. Cool, huh? And you didn’t have to let go of your mouse to do it.

So back in the days of stone knives and bearskins, and I’m not talking about the Star Trek episode where Spock and McCoy have to build a time-machine thingie with 1930s tech, or even the dark ages of eight bit processors, RAM limits of 65536 bytes and machine code, I’m talking real stone and real bear. Hell, sabre-tooth tiger and wooly mammoth times. Back when chipped flint was high-tech. In the time of neo-pagans (not to be confused with the neopaganists of today).

Together with the solstices and equinoxes (Yule, Ostara, Midsummer, and Mabon), these form the eight solar holidays in the neopagan wheel of the year. They are often celebrated on the evening before the listed date, since traditionally the new day was considered to begin at sunset rather than at midnight.

Festival name Date Sun’s Position

Samhain 1 Nov (alt. 5-10 Nov)

Imbolc 2 Feb (alt. 2-7 Feb)

Beltane 1 May (alt. 4-10 May)

Lughnasadh 1 Aug (alt. 3-10 Aug)

There are Christian and secular holidays that correspond roughly with each of these four, and some argue that historically they originated as adaptations of the pagan holidays, although the matter is not agreed upon. The corresponding holidays are:

   * St.Brigids Day (1 Feb), Groundhog Day (2 Feb), and Candlemas (2 or 15 Feb)

   * Walpurgis Night (30 Apr) and May Day (1 May)

   * Lammas (1 Aug)

   * Halloween (31 Oct), All Saints (1 Nov), and All Souls’ Day (2 Nov)

Groundhog Day is celebrated in North America. It is said that if a groundhog comes out of his hole on 2 February and sees his shadow (that is, if the weather is good), there will be six more weeks of winter. February 2nd marks the end of the short days of winter. Because average temperatures lag behind day length by several weeks, it is (hopefully) the beginning of the end of winter cold.

It’s been Groundhog Day in Iraq for five seven years now. But who’s counting?

UPDATE: we’ve been lobbing explosives into Afghanistan since Clinton’s time. The definition of insanity is repeating the same act and expecting a different result. Our MIC PWOT is insane – but it keeps their funding flowing while we lose our jobs and homes.

It’s 2010 now and nothing has really changed that much, has it? I hope you enjoyed this May Day. It’s a day for Working Class Heroes.

There’s more:

It’s official.  The USA Patriot Act is no longer the greatest social achievement of our time.  The Baucus/Lieberman Perpetual Serfdom Act has just been awarded that distinction.  Obama is immensely proud of it.  “Pragmatic” progressives are saluting it.  They’re telling us we should be grateful for the crumbs Democrats toss us, they’re ridiculing us for taking a stand on principle, they’re calling it “wanting our ponies”, they never shut up, their condescending lips are always flapping, their lips never stop flapping until police state decrees like this are issued from on high . . .

After hearing passionate arguments from the Obama Administration, the Supreme Court acquiesced to the president’s fervent request and, in a one-line ruling, let stand a lower court decision that declared torture an ordinary, expected consequence of military detention, while introducing a shocking new precedent for all future courts to follow: anyone who is arbitrarily declared a “suspected enemy combatant” by the president or his designated minions is no longer a “person.” They will simply cease to exist as a legal entity. They will have no inherent rights, no human rights, no legal standing whatsoever.

Every time Obama channels Cheney and goes all medieval on us, his Obamabots fall silent. All we hear is crickets.  Until the next greatest social achievement of our time is announced. Then the festivities begin anew and anyone who doesn’t join in gets burned as a witch.  

For corporate fascists keeping score at home, that’s two great social achievements in one week!  For “pragmatic” progressives, it’s one great social achievement and a minor disappointment.  Nothing to dwell on.  Clap louder and it’ll go away.  For actual progressives, it’s the final evidence that we no longer have any choices left.  There is only one way to fight back now.  We have to boycott the major parties in the 2010 Midterms. Vote 3rd party. Vote for a write-in candidate.  Take electoral action in whatever way you think is most effective.

Iranians can die for democracy . . .

But we can’t even boycott an election?  

Don’t argue about it.  Do it.  Call it what you want.  Get to work organizing it.  Get to work publicizing it.  Help in any way and every way you can or get the hell out of the way.    

Democrats told us they couldn’t Impeach because “we don’t have the votes”.  They told us they couldn’t pass single payer because “we don’t have the votes.”   They told us they couldn’t give us a strong public option because “we don’t have the votes.”  They told us they couldn’t even give us a watered down public option because “we don’t have the votes.”  

When progressives boycott the Midterms, Democrats will discover the true meaning of “we don’t have the votes.”  They’ve been using it as a bullshit excuse, we’re going to use it as a warning, as a nationwide declaration that we will no longer tolerate betrayal.    

“Pragmatic” progressives will freak out, we’ll be lectured about “reality” by people who think that gutter they’re crawling in is the Yellow Brick Road to Incremental Change.  They’ve been crawling in that gutter of “political reality” ever since their anti-Impeachment days.  They weren’t worth listening to then and they never will be.    

We’ve supported Democrats over and over again, election after election, but nothing ever changes. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is insanity.   It’s insane to keep reelecting corrupt politicians who keep betraying us.  

Crossposted at Daily Kos

Beck:     “This guy (President Obama), is, I believe, a racist.”

Dobbs:     “And there’s Van Jones saying, “Well, you know, you said something I don’t like, so what are we gonna do? We’ll just attack your sponsors.” That didn’t work out so shiny for him, did it? So, by the way, I gotta say hats off to Glenn Beck for having the guts to stand up to this.”

     More commentary, a transcript, and my civil rights friendly boot up Lou Dobbs keister below the fold.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

AGAIN! On Fox, and AGAIN, with Micheal Scheuer!

WTF?

Michael Scheuer:     “Oh sure we’re going to be attacked, Brian, and it doesn’t carry, and, you know,  Rahm Emanuel wants an attack. He loves crisis, and crisis, the Democrats, he says, can get all of their programs through. These people simply do not care.”

    WTF???

    And this isn’t the first time Michael Scheuer has said something as horrible as this, nor is it the first time Fixed Noise has given him the air time to do so.

More of this madness below the fold.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

I’ll keep this relatively simple.

    In memory of Senator Kennedy, hear me roar.

    Per DKos diarist slinkerwink’s Reclisted diary from yesterday, the DLC is trying to justify losing the Public Option in healthcare reform via there bullshit third way think tank.

    And frankly, I think that sucks ass.

    Therefore, I have decided to share my thoughts with the DLC and other like-minded organizations, as well as you, my most welcome readers.

Just to clarify:

Once upon a time before I discovered teh blogs I made a few contributions to the DLC..

That is why I wrote this. I haven’t contributed anything in over a year, but I am sending this to them and to everyone I know who does contribute, or who cares about the Public Option

    More below the fold . . .  

Reminder more or less that May 1 is the International Worker’s Day and early American labor rights protesters initiated it. It’s an American tradition – not a Communist tradition. And it’s a pagan tradition from the dawn of time.

I hope you all had a great May Day. As I post this it’s still May 1 from the CDT zone westward. For those who saw the original post, you can just skip it or get refreshed. For those who haven’t seen it, it has some interesting background on the history of the day.

Herewith, a recycled essay:

May 1.

A lot of Americans have apparently been brainwashed during their formative years. Especially the crowd over at the site that shall not be named. The vast majority associate the first day of the month of May as a Soviet Communist celebration day. Then again a sizable number of Uhmericans think Saddam Hussein was complicit in the 9/11 atrocities. Oh, and the wiretapping started after 9/11 and not like late February or early March of 2001.

May first was a holiday before there was a May. It’s a cross-quarter day. That means it falls about halfway between a solstice and an equinox. Back before keyboards, laser mice and high-speed internet connections people used to notice these things. The only thing that emitted light, besides fire, was in the sky. You can check out the sky anytime. Just click here. Cool, huh? And you didn’t have to let go of your mouse to do it.

So back in the days of stone knives and bearskins, and I’m not talking about the Star Trek episode where Spock and McCoy have to build a time-machine thingie with 1930s tech, or even the dark ages of eight bit processors, RAM limits of 65536 bytes and machine code, I’m talking real stone and real bear. Hell, sabre-tooth tiger and wooly mammoth times. Back when chipped flint was high-tech. In the time of neo-pagans (not to be confused with the neopaganists of today).

Together with the solstices and equinoxes (Yule, Ostara, Midsummer, and Mabon), these form the eight solar holidays in the neopagan wheel of the year. They are often celebrated on the evening before the listed date, since traditionally the new day was considered to begin at sunset rather than at midnight.

Festival name Date Sun’s Position

Samhain 1 Nov (alt. 5-10 Nov) ? 15° ?

Imbolc 2 Feb (alt. 2-7 Feb) ? 15° ?

Beltane 1 May (alt. 4-10 May) ? 15° ?

Lughnasadh 1 Aug (alt. 3-10 Aug) ? 15° ?

There are Christian and secular holidays that correspond roughly with each of these four, and some argue that historically they originated as adaptations of the pagan holidays, although the matter is not agreed upon. The corresponding holidays are:

   * St.Brigids Day (1 Feb), Groundhog Day (2 Feb), and Candlemas (2 or 15 Feb)

   * Walpurgis Night (30 Apr) and May Day (1 May)

   * Lammas (1 Aug)

   * Halloween (31 Oct), All Saints (1 Nov), and All Souls’ Day (2 Nov)

Groundhog Day is celebrated in North America. It is said that if a groundhog comes out of his hole on 2 February and sees his shadow (that is, if the weather is good), there will be six more weeks of winter. February 2nd marks the end of the short days of winter. Because average temperatures lag behind day length by several weeks, it is (hopefully) the beginning of the end of winter cold.

It’s been Groundhog Day in Iraq for five seven years now. But who’s counting?

UPDATE: we’ve been lobbing explosives into Afghanistan since Clinton’s time. The definition of insanity is repeating the same act and expecting a different result. Our MIC PWOT is insane – but it keeps their funding flowing while we lose our jobs and homes.

It’s 2010 now and nothing has really changed that much, has it? I hope you enjoyed this May Day. It’s a day for Working Class Heroes.

There’s more: