Hey Progressives! The DNC is crowd-sourcing. This is a good time to make demands.

So the DNC is polling it's base to see where people's hearts and heads are at.

This is a really good time to make demands of the party. Here's what I wrote in. I encourage you to do likewise by clicking here.

No matter what you do, you will be called a socialist. Which is absurd, given the policies and staff of the Obama administration so far.

But you know what? A majority of Americans think that socialism is a good thing. So why not do socialist things, and win the votes of the majority?

Fight for the following:

* A minimum wage that is indexed to the cost of living

* Single Payer Healthcare

* Universal College Tuition

* Raising income taxes on the richest, and bringing back the inheritance tax.

* Ending the wars and bringing our troops home.

* Tobin Tax on Derivatives trades and hedges and naked short selling

* A new Works Progress Administration, for REAL Green Energy, not baloney like "Clean Coal" which still kills thousands of people during the mining process.

* Gov't loans for people who install solar panels or wind turbines, to be paid back via the difference in energy savings.

* Gov't grants for weatherizing homes- not tax credits (tax credits only go to those who have the money to spend to start with, and the poorest are the ones who most need to weatherize their homes).

* A ban on Mountaintop Removal mining.

* A constitutional amendment ending corporate personhood.

If you fight for this, and ask the people of the USA to elect a congress that will give this platform to you, you will win back the congress in 2012, and hold the white house, by a landslide.

You can do so by clicking here

States the allow Same-Sex Marriage vs States that Allow Marriage between 1st Cousins

h/t to @bytegoddess

Lee Camp: Moment of Clarity-- Is Wall Street set up to reward EVIL?

Lee Camp's moment of Clarity can be found on YouTube here Click thru and subscribe to this raving genius.

Lee Camp: Moment of Clarity-- Is a two party system really democracy?

Lee Camp's youtube channel is here.

Cock and Bull: Glenn Beck calls Alabama Tornadoes "God's Plan"

Oh dear lord, yes.

When the real news sucks, you can always make the news up. Maybe take a few quotes from randian regressive pundits that were said about Hurricane Katrina, and use them in a new context.

That's where the Cock and Bull comes in.

The Cock And Bull's YT channel is here.

Elizabeth Warren on the Daily Show: Extended Interview

Part 1:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Elizabeth Warren Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Part 2:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Elizabeth Warren Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Part 3:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Elizabeth Warren Extended Interview Pt. 3
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Are we at war or not?

Are we at war -- or not?
The reason I ask this is this:

If we are at war, then there must be a pretty good fucking reason that we’re at war. We must be facing an existential threat so large, so well-organized, and so powerful, that it could wipe our entire nation off the map in an instant. If that is the case, then surely, we must be at war. War is something reserved only for the most extreme situations. War is our Tool of last resort. Because we’re America, and we’re a peace-loving nation.

And so, if this threat we’re facing is so massive, and so threatening, then we better get all hands on deck. We need to institute a draft and be at war for real. We need to tax all income at 90% and fund this thing and get it over with. We need every man, woman, and child to be part of the war effort. We need to institute rationing: No more coffee, no more sugar, donate your steel appliances to the war effort, grow a victory garden. Let’s be all in! Let’s win this thing!

But wait-- we’re not facing down any threat like that. There’s no invading army perched on our border. We’re facing down kids throwing rocks, and disgruntled teenagers with no economic future building bombs in their own backyards, who are a far greater threat to our soldiers stationed there, than to our national security.

Less than 1% of Americans serve in the military, and it’s not fair that we should be asking them alone to shoulder the burden of fighting our wars of convenience. Wars that are the pet projects of pencil pushers in DC, with abstract foreign policy agendas.

Some people complain about the constitutionality of these wars-- and they aren’t wars. But I actually don’t really care about the constitutionality of it. That to me, seems like an academic exercise in the face of the fact that people are dying for no goddamned reason.

Yes, while people bicker about the legality (which is important), back in the real world there are people dying for no goddamned reason (which is more important).

I work with so many women whose husbands are serving right now, who are on their umpteenth deployment, who haven’t been around to see their kids grow up. We, the 99% who do not serve, are far too willing to throw other people’s families through meat grinders. We are too willing to let 1% of the population bear all the burdens-- the heartache, the worry, the lost time with their family that they will never get back, the lost limbs, the vivid nightmares that never go away-- while we talk in the abstract about "Supporting the Troops." It's not fucking fair.

So-- are we at war or not? If we are-- let’s institute a draft and be at war for real. If we’re not at war then BRING THEM HOME.

Teacher Lindsy Floyd- "It's time to be human"

One of her students said, "You can't be our teacher right now, you have to be a human. You have to make the human decision. This is our future."

And so she made the human decision.

It's small acts of courage like this that build into social movements.

PowerShift storms the Dept of Interior

Environmental activists have heeded the call from 350.org leader Bill McKibben, that in regards to inaction on climate change, "we are playing with fire" and that "widespread civil disobedience" is needed, and law school student cum activist leader Tim DeChristopher, who was there to lead the march into the building, and was heard speaking at the end of the protest:

This action today wasn't put together by any big green group. It wasn't put together by any group that is corporate funded... or that has huge amounts of money. This was put together by small collectives that want a massive change in society. It's important that we keep this movement our own. It's important that we don't sell out to those big green groups that are after corporate money.

This sort of civil disobedience needs to be continuous, long term. Just as during the civil rights movement, where the jails were filled to capacity, every day, and the court system was clogged with minor charges for nonviolent civil disobedience.

KEEP IT UP.

More footage:

LOBBY FOR INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING IN MAINE- MAY 9th!

So Portland Rep, and friend of the show, Diane Russell, just received word that:

A public hearing for your bill, LD 1126 "An Act To Require That the Governor Be Elected by the Ranked-choice Voting Method" has been scheduled for Monday, May 9 2011 1:00PM, Room 437 State House.

So I'm asking you, are you gonna be there to lobby for it?

---

My interview with Rep Diane Russell:

FREE THE CORPORATIONS!

So there’s been a lot of noise recently about ending corporate personhood.
You can check out Public Citizen’s “Don’t get rolled” campaign for more info, or you can check out MoveToAmend.org.

The idea is, that since the Koch Brothers fought the legal case of Citizen’s United vs the FEC and won, and since the conservative majority on the supreme court said that Corporations should have unlimited free speech, laws limiting corporate influence in our elections that helped to slightly unfuck our elections system, going all the way back to President Teddy Roosevelt, has been overturned.

Now, Move To Amend wants to amend the constitution to state clearly, once and for all, that Corporations are NOT PEOLE. I think that this would be a great step forwards for progress, and an essential one as we move forwards through this next century. If we don’t end corporate personhood, our nation may not be around another century.

But I also think it’s not likely to happen without a hell of a lot more people getting off their ass and making a stink about it at town hall meetings with their congresspeople, challenging their congresspeople- both democrats and republicans- to either support this movement or face primary challengers, to support this movement or face electoral challengers.

But there’s a legalistic approach we can take while that movement is building. TAKE THINGS TO THEIR LOGICAL EXTREME.

Vaclav Havel would often, in his plays, take some nugget of absurdity thrown down my Czechoslovakia’s communist government, and using logic, take that absurdity to it’s logical ends, in which things would break down into surreality. I propose that we do exactly this.

If corporations are people, fine. They’re people. But let’s explore what that really means:
If a corporation is a person, it cannot be owned by anyone. Owning another person is slaveholding, which is specifically banned by the 13th amendment.

Just as we’ve decided that Corporations are protected by the 1st amendment, they must be protected by all the other amendments as well. Like the 13th amendment, which states:

“Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

Why are we allowing law abiding corporations to be sold into slavery? And who is doing this selling? WALL STREET. Every day... well, every weekday, people down on wall street sell shares of ownership in the corporate people we all know and love. Wall Street is nothing but a slave trading pit! It’s really time we put an end to the slave trade once and for all! Close down wall street!

If it’s illegal for a person to own another person, it’s certainly illegal for GE or Verizon to own so many other people. GE owns people like GE Electric, GE Energy, GE engineering, and Verizon owns people like MTV and Comedy Central. It’s time to set all of these slaves free! Nobody can own anybody else! End slavery! Free the corporations!

When executive boards dictate new business plans, spending a corporate person’s money for them, anti-slavery orgs should be suing on behalf of the poor corporation! This is akin to elder abuse! Where did GE sign over it’s power of Attorney to these people to start making financial decisions on his behalf? I want to see GE’s signature on the legal documents giving these people the power of attorney! If GE didn’t sign, then these people are fraudulently managing GE’s finances! It doesn’t matter that they do such a good job that GE actually makes money on it’s taxes. What matters is the LAW. And these people may be acting illegally.
Lastly, there’s the slaveowners themselves. Most CEOs are majority shareholders, I mean slaveowners. And thus they are the most guilty of slaveholding, and should be arrested and jailed.

FREE THE CORPORATIONS!

The Citizen's Filibuster by Peaceful Uprising

YES.

There's something magical about this. The idea that the simple act of a few people singing could bring things to a screeching halt. More proof that you don't need bombs or guns.

Art is the most effective tool in our arsenal.

9 young activists interrupted the proceedings in the US House by singing one at a time. As each activist was detained and taken out, another began and Congress was forced to pause their proceedings. They sang the following words to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner:

"Oh why can't you see
It's my life that's at stake
When you sell out our world
You are stealing my future
Can you look in my eyes
As you gamble our lives
When will you stop the lies
So that we can survive?
If you represent me
Not the fossil fuel industry
You must stop wasting time
Chasing your dollar signs
Oh, say will you listen to
Our generation
If you refuse to hear us now
Then we have to shut you down"

Texas Wildfire: Cock & Bull World News Update

Thank you very much to the Cock and Bull World News Update for picking up on this story, which I first published here.

*Note: Both the article I published and the Cock and Bull World News Update are parody. If you cannot tell the difference between reality and parody, please see Poe's Law for more details.

Dennis Kucinich running for President in 2007

So Google Video is shutting down, and I've moved the videos over from my Google Video account to my YouTube account. I had the opportunity to re-watch them, and one that stood out was this video that I uploaded (but did not shoot) while I was working for Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign back in 2007.

Listening to this speech, and seeing how Obama has courted Wall Street at the expense of working people, courted big energy companies at the expense of working people, and continued with the policies of spying on the American Public, and created a new policy of claiming the extra-judicial right to assassinate US citizens deemed to be terrorists, I just have to ask-- WHAT THE FUCK?

FULL VIDEO of DNC fundraiser singing protest

"White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said later that Obama thought the protest was funny and that it "perked up his morning," CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller tweeted. Knoller, aboard Air Force One with the president, also tweeted that protesters chose the wrong gig for their schtick: Press ground rules at the event called for no TV or radio coverage, only pen and pad."

--via TFD news

Yeah, Mr Knoller, but you forget that we live in the era of iPhones, FlipCams, vimeo, and YouTube, where people can share things with thousands of people via Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. You forgot about that. In fact, if the blogosphere picks this story up and runs with it, you're probably going to broadcast this very YouTube video on the nightly news. Oh cocky mainstream media reporters...

Bernie Sanders' Guide to Corporate Freeloaders

BrokeFix takes LePage to Court

nice.

Bill Whittle is a douchebag.*

Ignore that this douchebag* spouting ad hominem attack after ad hominem attack; against the British, Michael Moore, liberals, et al.

Ignore the fact that he calls Michael Moore a hypocrite for being a millionaire who says that millionaires should pay more in taxes. (And why is that hypocritical, exactly? Shouldn't he have MORE right to talk about how much millionaires should pay, being one himself? Seriously, wtf? Is Bill Whittles idea of an un-hypocritical person a poor person defending the rights of the rich to pay nothing in taxes by sheltering their income in offshore tax havens? Clearly logic is not a big part of this guys day-to-day life.)

IGNORE ALL THAT:
The meat of the video is this: In trying to "blow a hole" in Michael Moore's "money hoarder" argument, Bill Whittle proves Moore's point for him. This video illustrates quite well, even with the narrow scope that it presents it's evidence with, that most of the money is in the hands of the super-wealthy. That we're able to make it through 2/3rds of the year on the salaries of a few thousand people alone is striking.

What he leaves out is that right now they aren't paying their fair share. And at the end of his argument, we're still one day short, so the rest of us get stuck with a whopping $40 in annual federal taxes!

Dear me! I've already had $2,000 withheld from my paycheck, and I'll be lucky to make $16,000 this year. I'd gladly pay $40 in federal taxes as opposed to what I pay now. The elephant in the room here, is that since the ultra-rich aren't paying in, the burden of taxation is falling on working people.

And he doesn't even touch the "dark market" shit on wall street- naked shortselling, derivatives trading, etc.

A Tobin tax of 1% applied to these "dark market" trades would raise 1.7 trillion annually.

I'm skeptical of the numbers he has on ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Eliminating these wars would reduce our spending every year after we end them from here to infinity, but they are portrayed in this video as being a one-time cost reduction-- which is a misleading error at best, and a deliberative deception at worst. No matter though, because either way, it's bullshit.

If we're spending $170 billion every year on killing people in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our budgeted discretionary pentagon spending is $815 billion, then that leaves an additional $645 billion (that's more than half a trillion) in discretionary pentagon spending we could free up. Keep in mind, this is discretionary spending, not mandated spending for soldier's wages, VA benefits, etc.

What would his little fiscal calendar look like if we shut down all those 737 military bases we have all over the Goddamn planet?

What would it look like if we reduced our nuclear weapon stores by 50%? Between 1940 and 1996, we spent more than 5 trillion on maintaining our nuclear weapons. Just by letting them sit around and making sure that they don't explode on us. And keep in mind, we currently have enough nuclear weapons to replicate Hiroshima 150,000 times over.

The issue here isn't that we want to take everything from the rich. The issue here is that they don't pay taxes, and working people do. If you're rich enough, you can hide your money in tax shelters in the maldives and not pay a goddamn cent.

The issue here is that the richest among us got that way because our society provided them with the means to do so. If they manufactured products, everybody who paid taxes provided them with the means to do so-- electricity, water, sewage, waste disposal, etc-- and if they sold those products, everybody who paid taxes provided them with the means to do so-- we paid for the roads, bridges, and rail-beds that they shipped their products on.

It isn't uncouth to expect that since the wealthiest amongst us became wealthy because of social spending, that they should give back accordingly-- the more wealthy they become, the more they should give back to the society that allowed them to become wealthy. Also, I think we can conclude soundly and firmly, that Bill Whittle is a contemptible douchebag.*

* Not an ad hominem attack-- I've presented solid evidence that this is the case

Current.com's Modern Lady on the Wal*Mart Descrimination Case

And on Women's unequal pay:

Tim DeChristopher at PowerShift 2011